jhawkchick75

Happy early birthday! And congrats on your success thus far - you have done great!

Gongrats and welcome to the other side!!! Can't wait to hear about your success!

Great tips from everyone! And let me also agree you are NOT alone! If sticking to a diet were that easy then I wouldn't need the band! I tried really hard, but there were times I fell off the wagon. In those occasions I did not let myself say - OK well I screwed up today so let's just eat like crap the rest of the day. I admitted it and got right back on track! I was really bad those last few days before surgery b/c I felt like I needed to get those foods in one last times which was so stupid. I am still able to eat most of them except bread, just smaller amounts. We are all going to screw up that is life. So once you do tell yourself OK you messed up and get right back on track! Try to lose as much as you can but don't freak out about it. However don't become complacent and assume they will do your surgery. I've also heard sticking to your pre-op diet makes your healing post-surgery easier. Not sure if that is true, but that is what i've heard. I truly truly believe that for many food is an addiction so it is going to take time to break the bad habits. So work hard and do your best, but also don't make excuses! Get back on track right away!

Here are a few ideas of things that I have on a regular day. Breakfast: Protein shake Eggbeaters with a piece of turkey bacon Weight Control Oatmeal Lunch: Wendy's chili lunchmeat, veggies, and an apple starkist tuna pack and veggies or cottage cheese Dinner: Weight Waters or Lean Quisine meals Chicken breast marinated and baked in italian dressing and veggies Small steak and veggies Most of these I can only eat a small amount of, so i'll eat a couple bites of meat then a couple bites of veggies until i'm content. Everyone is different on what they can tolerate, but these are still good for me right now. I keep a journal daily of what I eat and keep an eye on how much protein I get and that is about it.

That is so exciting congrats! Which doctor did you end up going with? Ohhh I can't wait until I can get my arms done. They are already gross and I still have a lot more weight to lose. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Everyone is different, but for me personally whatever restriction I have after my fill is all I have. Mine don't get any tighter but I have heard many folks that theirs do just that. In terms of number of fills, again it's different for everyone but this last fill (4th) is the first time I really feel what restriction is and that is only at breakfast and lunch mostly. Although even though i'm not feeling the tightness and restriction so much, I definitely can't eat nearly as much. In terms of snacks I really don't think that is an issue, but I try not to make a habit of them unless I really need it. I'm afraid for me personally if I utilize them too much i'll start eating around the band. So I try to eat foods that will keep me full and have a 100 cal pack or a healthy snack as needed. Sorry, I know I wasn't a lot of help there but everyone is so different you will have to pay attention to your body and see what works for you. Good luck!

Wooo Hoooo Congratulations!!! I also can't wait to see the pictures!!! Have a wonderful day tomorrow!!! Can't wait to hear all about it!!!! And congrats on your success - happy 1 year!!!

Sooo there with you all! The first time I ever got on the eliptical I could only go like 3 minutes! I was like screw this i'm getting on the treadmill! Yeah, sounds to me like this woman has some issues - that is really unfortunate. That is just entirely too long to me!

Definitely let us know how you are feeling! Congrats!

Fantastic! Congratulations on your bandiversary! You are doing great keep up the great work!

Welcome! We are glad to have you here! Please feel free to jump in and chat. We would love to hear your input!

My niece lives with me part time and when she's not here I get the pleasure of eating on her Cinderella dishes!!!! I feel so fancy!!!!! You know for me as I get each fill, it's like I have to re-learn what fullness is for me. I'm almost there I think since my last fill and it's been almost 2 weeks. I struggle to find the balance of eating too much or not eating enough and being hungry 2 hours later (then that starts me eating too many times a day and eating around the band). Everyone is different, but for me as long as I portion it out i'm OK. Snack sized ziplock bags and the really small gladware are my new best friend! Now on those times when portioning is not an option, if I eat nice and slow then I will get one giant hiccup which is my body telling me i'm done. For me, it is also that "content" feeling and not that stuff my face which I used to always do and love. It is hard though - the fat girl inside me keeps screaming that i'm not feeding her enough so I am working to shut her up!

Ditto to a lot of what has been said. Keep in mind, those folks see you every day pretty much so it's hard for them to see it. Heck, it is hard for me to see it in myself until I look at pictures. Also, at least in my situation I know many people notice, but like was said before they don't say it to you. For me, that is for two reasons. One, are those folks that do not want to offend you or embarrass you by asking if you have lost weight. I've had a lot of people at work tell me that others are asking them if i've lost but aren't saying anything to me. Then, there are the second group of folks that have seen me lose and gain weight about a million times and probably don't say anything b/c to be quite honest they probably are figuring i'll just gain it back again. That sounds bad, but I wouldn't blame them one bit for that. They don't know the level of dedication I have this time so I really don't hate them for thinking that way. I would too if I were in their shoes. We all want others to notice - it's human nature so don't feel bad at all for that. I was with a group of friends that I hadn't seen in a while and not one comment. I'm not gonna lie it hurt! But you know I have to remind myself that I am doing this for ME and I have to relish the NSV's and the knowing that I have lost almost 45lbs and appreciate that. You are doing a great job! Keep up the good work!

Sounds like your trip went really well and great job on your success so far! As you get fills it will go even better! And the drinking and eating thing I thought would be the worst but it hasn't been nearly as bad as i thought it would. I used to drink a TON of water while I ate and thought I could never break that, but I have and it's not too bad at all. Good luck and I can't wait to see your future successes!

Ehhh that is kind of a loaded question. If you get on youtube and on the OCC website, they have videos about the procedure and what they do. It is pretty quick - around 30 min I was told no idea was too doped up!

congrats on your upcoming milestone! That is great! It sounds like you have a great attitude about it and are aware of what things you could be doing to improve your loss. You have done a great job - keep up the good work!

Woops! Looks like we were posting at the same time. Glad it went well! My first fill was 1.25, so you got a good one. Everyone is different but that is about average.

Yeah, ever since my first fill bread is out of the question for me. I really didn't feel much of anything after those first couple of fills, but now I can definitely feel the restriction especially earlier in the day. Morning most foods are out of the question and then it gets better at lunch. Dinner I can eat most stuff but still need to go slow and chew well or it gets stuck. I used to be able to eat an entire frozen meal and now that is out of the question, so it is nice to see a difference. You've already had your fill so you know this, but the fill is a piece of cake! I was really nervous about the whole needle in my stomach thing, but really the pain is very minimal. I actually thing the worst part is after the needle is in and they are moving it around trying to hit the port. But even that is a piece of cake to me. Let us know how it went!

Too funny! You would have been OK, but it will be nice for you to have her with you. It's nice to have them help with stuff. That's great!

Welcome to the group! Congrats on your decision and if you have any questions ask away!

Thinking happy thoughts that it all turns out well!

Yea! I was just there last Tuesday I really hope you like him. Be sure and let me know how it goes! It's funny, I had me a little snack a bit ago and as I type this my tummy is gurgling! Just letting me know it's working I guess!

For me, when I first started solids I could eat very little. I was still recovering from the surgery so I think that had some to do with it. I also ate incredibly slow and chewed really well so I got full a lot faster. I was told you can eat 1/3 of what you used to, but I used to eat so damn much that might not be a good idea for me! So I try to stick with the one cup or 3oz of meat and then some veggies. Again, make sure and eat real slow it helps you fill up faster. I always feel like i'm eating too much, but when I look at it compared to how much I used to eat it's nothing. I've also been watching calories more than anything lately to keep me on track. I aim for 1200-1500 calories a day depending on if I worked out or not. I journal because my problem has been not getting enough in since my last fill. But before that it wasn't an issue I could really eat whatever. The first 2 fills did nothing for me except cut out bread and the 3rd did a little, but not a ton. Now with the 4th I can really feel a difference. I hope it sticks for a while b/c my weight loss had stalled. The hardest for me is the real hunger v. head hunger. The feeling of full after you are banded is completely different then that full feeling you get regularly. It's more of a content feeling not a man i'm stuffed type feeling. As I get more fills my head hunger gets worse so I am trying to deal with that now. I don't want to eat too much, but also don't want to not eat enough then be hungry 2 hours later and start eating around the band. So after each fill it takes me some time to really figure out how much to eat. Still working on that since the 4th fill.

Yeah, it really just depends on the person. I seemed to be in more pain that most others were, and that is unusual for me going off my pain tolerance in other surgeries. I was banded on a Thursday and went back to work on a Wednesday. If you have a desk job, make sure and get up and move once in a while and take short walks or you will be hurting. My first day back was an almost 14 hour day and that was really rough so you might want to consider doing a half day your first day to see how you feel. Gas X is a must as well as some type of liquid pain meds. They taste terrible, but do the trick. I also got those kellogs k20 powder packs that you can put in a bottle of water which was helpful in the hotel, airport, etc...I didn't take it with me, but once I got home my heating pad was my best friend! So if you don't have one i'd suggest buying one. I also propped myself up and slept on the couch it was more comfortable. Luckily I have wireless internet at home so that kept me occupied!

I think you will be fine on your own. I agree I wouldn't go venturing out of the hotel on your own, but there will be other folks there having surgery the same day as you so you will make buddies. It was nice having my mom there, but I think I would have been fine alone too. As far as telling folks, I specifically only told people that I thought would be encouraging about it. I did have a couple friends that were concerned and had a lot of questions, but were supportive and still are. My dad was against it which I knew he would be, but after a chat with my mom he got on board. I told some folks at work about it out of necessity since I would need help once I got back and they were all great about it. I've told a few others since, but that was planned that way. I knew they would be against it until they saw the progress so I purposely told them later when they asked me what I was doing to lose weight. As I move along i'll probably tell most folks b/c I am not ashamed of it and if they have issues with it I really don't care! I am so very happy with my decision and don't regret it one bit so like you said, you only want to be surrounded by positivity and just make that clear to them. Nobody is gonna stop me from being healthier and happier! Best of luck on pre-op! According to my scale I lost all my weight but when I got on the scale at OCC theirs was different and said I didn't, but that caused no problems and I got the surgery anyway. I did the Atkins shakes as well as EAS and still do them both when needed. Good luck!!!