MyNewLife

Hi Babe and congrats on the 30lbs lost! I think for alot of people that the weight loss is a slow process. The last 5 months have been turtle speed for me and is does get VERY aggravating when you eat as little as you eat and the weight is not falling off. I have found for myself that I can NOT eat that many calories and lose weight. I have to each much much lower. Honestly I would say no more than 800 day and that is really low. Everyone is different so you might have to adjust to see if maybe you need to lower your calorie intake. I do keep a log of what I eat everyday. I am the person that can not eat ANYTHING that is bad for me or it goes straight to the scale. I have to make REALLY good food choices and count everything that goes into my mouth or I will NOT lose the weight. I was not one of the lucky ones to be able to eat anything they wanted, just smaller portions and lose the weight. Please dont get discouraged. Dr. Miranda is correct, just keep on making good food choices and exercising and it will sooner or later come off. Dr. Miranda told me that since I am about 32 pounds away from my goal that exercise was going to HAVE to be my new best friend.... .... Words I did not want to hear...lol Good Luck to you! Carrie

Hello! First of all, you have came to the right place to research your decision, this is a WONDERFUL place! I deceided at age 32 to get banded after fight all of my life of being overweight. I weight 262 when I started my preop diet a year ago. I chose not to hide my decision, I was SO excited about it and I told everyone that would listen, I think this is all I have talked about for the past year...lol. My hubby is VERY supportive with my friends and family as well. I think it is a personal decision as to whom you talk to about your decision. As far as the band it is a tool. It helps you but you have to do ALOT of work yourself! It does monitor the amount of food that goes in your mouth with proper fills, but just not the type of foods. There are alot of foods that I stay away from because they are "slider" foods for my which mean I can eat ALOT of, Ice Cream and Chips and Dips are a couple. The band does "keep me full". When I do eat my little amount of food, I do get that "full" feeling. It is mostly head hunger for me, just want to eat bacause that is what I have always done, not tummy hunger. If I ate when I was "tummy" hunger, I would not eat much at all!! I would really suggest you read as much information, good and bad through out this board, there is some really great stuff that you will find! Good Luck to you! Carrie

Lindsay! I agree, this is a GREAT list. Angie as for as rice, I can do rice, never have I had a problem....Gotta Love tha Band...lol Carrie

I too wanted to say Welcome! Everyone on this board is AMAZING!!! Any questions you may have that we can help you with, please post them!!! I agree with Kristi, there is ALOT of wonderful information on this board, trust me you will be INSPIRED! Good Luck to you !!!! Carrie

Hi Kristi! You do look AMAZING! You have done really really well with your band. Congrats to you and keep up the good work, you will be at goal in NO TIME!!!!!! You go girl! Your pics are Bea-U-Ti-Ful...... Carrie

Thank you Kristi! I am doing much better! This was alot worse to me than the Lapband surgery, guess because I had something cut out....not sure... Carrie

Angie, The gas pains are getting better, they are finally moving...I did however sleep in the recliner again last night , but tonight Im getting back in my bed!!! I miss my hubby! Carrie

Angie, I just LOVE you! You are so dang AMAZING!!!! Ok but I will have to admit, you scared me there for a moment...lol. I knew you have been having the muchies, and I just seen the first pic and thought OMY she does need a fill...LMAO!!!! Whewwwwwwwwwwwww was I glad to see that second picture ....lol Carrie

B-None S-None L- 1/2 can Chicken Noodle soup / apple sauce S-None D-1/2 cup Veggie Soup 20 oz of water 8 oz apple juice

Amy, As far as the cokes, I just stopped cold turkey and have not had one since. I was told that carbination can stretch your pouch and could even cause band errosion (band grows into your stomach), that was it for me lol. It is amazing to me how I dont miss them either. As far as my pre-op I did not do coffee, strictly water with crystal light, after I was banded I starte drinking coffee, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my creamer in my coffee. I do get the Sugar free creamer. the Hazel Nut is AWESOME and I use splenda for the sugar! Also if you will take 2 fiber pills around 9am and 2 more around 3 with a Chromium pill at noon, this will cut our your hunger pains. Dr. Miranda told me to do this and trust me I promise it HELPS! After about the third day, I was fine! Good Luck to you and if I can help with anything else please let me know! Carrie

Hi Amy! Welcome to the board and congrats on your up coming surgery. For me the preop diet was not too bad. I was SO scared that I would get all the way there and them not do the surgery because I did not shrink my liver, so I think the scare tactic was my motivation. I did the shake for breakfast and lunch, them a Lien Cuisine (under 300) calories for Dinner. I started early because again was scared that I could not do it. I did this pre-op for 17 days and lost 16lbs....I lost 10 pounds the first week, 4 the second and 2 more by the time I weighed at the OCC.... This board is wonderful. Start taking pictures and logging your measurements. You dont realize just how much you can change from week to week. It truely can be amazing. We however look at ourself everyday and until you can put pic by pic, sometimes we just dont realize it! Again welcome and congrats. Anytime you have a questions, please post! Carrie

Shelby I totally agree. It is a VERY scary thing about waking up and this will be all over. When I was sick before they found it was my GB I was SO SO scared it was my band and was SO excited that it was my GB...That sounds CRAZY!! Take the GB, need a lung...lol Just PLEASE PLEASE nothing with my band.

Margaret! I think the best thing you did for yourself was the hit post, you just showed how much courage you have and sometimes I really struggle with that. I have ALWAYS been the fat girl, pretty face and hair ....It is a scary feeling, you body changes but for me I feel more alive than ever! The attention does come from people that never looked twice and honestly to me those people are very shallow, but on the other hand, If I did not like myself how could they. I dont take compliments very well, even from my husbad. I just not use to them. I have a WONDERFUL husband that is truely everything to me. I thank the ones for the compliments and go about my business. If it does get out of hand, I just tell them how proud my hubby is of me! lol. I have had to really dig deep within myself and figure out why I let myself get to 262 lbs to begin with. I still struggle with this, but not as much. The weight is going to come off, I look it as layers of bad in my life that I am shredding, write it down, how you are feeling at that time. Go back form time to time and read your thoughts. Food for alot of us it self medication, your mind is a very powerful thing. I ate to just to have something to do...SO weird but true! I think you are an amazing person and you will do great! Good Luck to you and keep us post. Anytime you need to hit post, please please do not talk yourself out of it, there are such wonderful people on this board who will help you! Carrie PS Angie - Great Post!

Thank you so much Revy!

Lisa B Glad to hear you are doing better, that is pretty scary! Thanks for posting, again everyones experiences are so different....Helps so much to know that it could happen.... Keep us posted! Carrie

Had my GB surgery yesterday so I will be on liquids/soups for a couple days... Yesterday I had an 8oz Apple Juice.....

Hi Everyone, Just wanated to give an update. I got home last night from Surgery and I am doing pretty good. I dont remember having this much pain with Lapband, mybe because I was taken such good care of at the OCC. Dont get my wrong, Hubby has done a wonderful Job, but I did not have a hospital bed to sleep in which helps SO much. I slept in the recliner last night, cant lay flat and have ALOT of gas pains. I having been sipping and walking, seems to help. I have four more little insision just like the ones from lapband for a total of nine, so it does look like a cat has gotten a hold of me...lol My surgeon was really cool. He has told me in his office that If I did not get it removed that it could cause infection in my port area so I was pretty worried about that. While he had the scope in me, he did look at my port and my band and even printed me out a picture of the area and said everything look great with my port and band! How cool was that !!!! Anyway I am going to take it easy for the next week or so! Thanks for everyones concern! Carrie

Angie, The comment you made was in no wasy bad....It really made me realize how far in this journey I have came inside and out. It struck a place in my heart that I will NEVER forget! I thank you SO much for that. You have been such and AMAZING friend to me on this board and YES we have SO got to meet. I have a tripped planned to see my sister in Iowa next year maybe around Christmas time, WOULD love to come for an extra day to see you!!! We will so have to make plans! Thanks again Angie for EVERYTHING! You are an AMAZING person! Carrie

Hi Sabrina, This happened to me almost a month ago, was VERY tight for about 4 days. EVERYTHING except liquids would get stuck. I just took it slow and it did go back to my normal....I think the reason mine tightened up was a had a pretty big stuck episode and think I was swollen...... Please keep us posted! Carrie

I agree, thanks for stopping by and letting us know what is going on with you....I always wonder how people are doing after they hit or are almost to goal. Congrats on have a special person in your life, having that kind of support makes all the difference. You are such and inspiration to everyone on this board!!! Good Luck to you Carrie

I agree with most of everyone who is saying that you are too tight. I would call the OCC and talk with them. Sounds like to me that your body is storing because you are not eating and you will not lose if you are too tight. What kind of foods are you trying to eat???? There was someone and I am sorry I dont remember who it was, that was too tight for WHILE and when they got an unfill, it made ALL the diference. They were able to eat and started losing the weight! I know it would be easy to have the Magic number of calories, but I have found in my experience that someones "magic number" or what works for them may or may not work for you.....I have still not found my magic number.....Everyone is SO different! Good Luck to you! Carrie

Thank you guys! I have said this before and like Sabrina said, I feel like I know each of you. I have such GREAT friends on this board. The support is amazing and anyone that comes here will find that out!!!!! I look forward to sharing my advice and continued journey with you! Thanks again! Carrie

B-1/2 Whole Grain Pancake and Breakfast "bowl" S-None L- The other half of breakfast S-None D- Margarita and 1/2 order bean and cheese nachos...chips and dip Water - I HAVE GOT TO START DRINKING MORE WATER!!!!!

Congrats to you and welcome! I think it is very important to share our experiences so that other that are thinking are even have schedulesd their surgery can read these post. It helped me so much to put my mind at ease! Thank you for posting! Carrie

I have been thinking all week how I was going to feel when this day came. Its amazing how fast this year has FLEW by but it is SO amazing to me how much my life has truly changed inside and out. One year ago today I received my band and the new me. When I came home I kinda guess I thought it was going to happen overnight and honestly never realized for about 3-4 months that I was really changing. A friend of mine who was banded told me to take pic and measure everymonth, which I did because you see yourself everyday and dont see the changes. I have lost 76 pounds in one year! This was honestly the best decision I have made in my life. My attitude is different, my outlook on people, life, work, you name it has changed. I kinda LOVE me now...lol...The mind is a very powerful thing and its amazing to me how it can keep you down. I just wanted to say thank you for all the support everyone on this board has given to me! There was something that someone wrote about one of my pictures that has really stuck with me and I guess until reading it I did not see it. I just wanted to say THANK YOU Angie for really showing me the real me! She wrote on my year face shot "Carrie - you smile is so alive! It no longer looks painful! You are such a super star!" I read this to my mom and I started crying. I cant even read it now without cyring. It was not only my smile That was NOT alive, I was not alive. I was a MISERABLE person and made everyone around me miserable! This year not only is my smile alive but I am alive! Thank you SO much Angie, you are my super star! I also wanted to post my measurement. I wished I would have done them at preop! My weight when I started measurements was 238. Today 186... Surgery .................Today Neck- 14 .................Neck -13 1/4 Chest-48.5...............Chest- 44 1/4 Arms- 17..................Arms -14 Stomach- 49 ............Stomach - 40 3/4 Hips- 54 ...................Hips -46 1/4 Upper Legs -27..........Legs -23 1/4 This can work, with your determination!!!!! Carrie