Reality is setting it!

TrimKim · 08-15-2007, 09:03 AM

OK, had my pre-op visit yesterday. After the support meeting and before the Dr. Appointment, I found myself questioning as to wether or not I really want to do this. Don't eat this...can't eat that... PBing... sliming... tiny bites... chew to mussy... little sips of water... forign object in my gut. Nothing about eating is ever going to be normal again! Not to mention the effect it is going to have on friends and family. Everything about my life is going to change drastically!

Oh yeh, I knew all this before, but now that I'm in the home stetch (Banding in 12 days) I'm just sitting here dismayed and trying to figure this all out. Yes, I still want to have the surgury. That hasn't changed. But please, somebody tell me it's all going to worth it and it's really not that bad. Please!!??? :faint::straight:paranoid:ranger:

Manatee · 08-15-2007, 09:12 AM

Well, I've had my band for 3 months. I'm not quite at the right restriction yet, but as of now I haven't had any problems.

Eat slow and pay attention to what your band is telling you. For me, I get a pressure in the chest that says "you're done." If I ignore that, I start to get hiccups. No sliming, no pbs thus far. I can't eat bread, but other than that I'm eating normally.

I still go out to eat with friends and family. Very occasionally I will have to stop during a meal and just sit there waiting for something to clear, but that's only happened when I was eating too fast.

Let me be clear about this: this was one of the best things I've ever done for myself, and my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner.

kacee · 08-15-2007, 10:27 AM

You know what, that was one reason I had never really seriously considered WLS before (also I didn't like the thought of major surgery with the bypass). However, I feel just like I did before....only a million times better. Your life adjusts...believe me. You will be eating pretty much the same stuff you ate before (though judging by how that affected my weight initially, I've revisited that and tried to alter my way of thinking about which foods I eat now), but less. I am 2 months out and I am still trying to get my EYES to adjust to my STOMACH (the old eyes are bigger than your stomach is completely TRUE now). The worst thing I find I deal with is still having the mindset of loading my plate...when I am only going to be able to eat a small portion of what I load on. I don't miss anything. I don't feel deprived at all. I don't feel like I have sacrificed anything and I didn't really go through a "food grieving" period. Things just got BETTER for me all the way around. I thought initially I might feel like something was taken from me after it was done...that is TOTALLY 100% NOT the case. I feel like I have just awakened from a 20 year sleep, and my life is starting over!

lisah25 · 08-15-2007, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrimKim

OK, had my pre-op visit yesterday. After the support meeting and before the Dr. Appointment, I found myself questioning as to wether or not I really want to do this. Don't eat this...can't eat that... PBing... sliming... tiny bites... chew to mussy... little sips of water... forign object in my gut. Nothing about eating is ever going to be normal again! Not to mention the effect it is going to have on friends and family. Everything about my life is going to change drastically!

Oh yeh, I knew all this before, but now that I'm in the home stetch (Banding in 12 days) I'm just sitting here dismayed and trying to figure this all out. Yes, I still want to have the surgury. That hasn't changed. But please, somebody tell me it's all going to worth it and it's really not that bad. Please!!??? :faint::straight:paranoid:ranger:

Yep, your life will change. You will have a little friend implanted in you, and you won't be able to eat like you do now, and there will be some foods you just won't be able to eat. You'll learn to keep on eye on where restrooms are in restaurants, just in case. You'll learn to drink slowly, and not to drink while you eat. And it will become second nature after a while, a new normal really.

My life has changed in other ways as well. I can fit into a chair with arms. Or a booth in a resturant. I can wear clothes in styles and sizes I had given up on. I can go through a day without being totally pre-occupied by food. I can climb stairs and carry on a converstation at the same time. When I go to the Doctor now, I hear about how much healthier I'm getting, instead of dire warnings about what I was facing if I continued to gain weight. I can take my niece to the park and play along with her.

So overall, well worth it. Doubts are normal, I sure had them, but I'm really glad I did this. And I'm only just over 1/3 of the way to where I want to be!

**Jack** · 08-15-2007, 01:26 PM

I think we all go through something like this kind of melt-down.....

re: "Nothing about eating is ever going to be normal again!:

Actually, eating like Normos IS 'normal' and our entire preBandster life has been a distortion of reality.

Most Morbidly Obese have no idea of the dysfunctional eating behavior and distorted social life our collective Eating Disorder has produced, in what we all vaguely recognize as 'something not quite right'....

How many of your Normo sized friends pick up a bag o'burgers.....just for their OWN use....

I know you don't need endless examples, so here is the News:

postOp Life is GREAT!!!!

and :welcomeB: to BandLand for sure in 12 days.....

Raven5683 · 08-15-2007, 02:55 PM

I'm just over four and a half months out! I feel Wonderful! Really things with your friends and family don't change except they may pick up on your better eating habbits and that's a good thing!
My doc gave me a brochure with different foods that don't work well for banders and I avoid them. I have never PB'd or slimed! I go out to eat (I even ate out two weeks after surger we went to TGI Fridays and I had the French Onion soup and guess what I asked if they could blend it up for me and they did it for me!). It was so worth it being able to go out to eat with my family. When we go to friends for dinner we usually bring food with us and this ensure I can eat and eat healthy.
Everyone around me is excited for me, even if they don't understand my diet restrictions, they are willing to work with me.
And I'm excited for me because I feel Wonderful!!! 54 lbs since surgery (3/29/07) and 99 lbs since heaviest weight last year! I feel like a new person! It is soooo worth it!
It's a new way of living: healthier food choices, exercise these are "Normal"!
The way I ate and lived pre banded that was NOT normal!
Best wishes...you will make the right decision! :clap2:

TrimKim · 08-15-2007, 05:45 PM

Thank you so much Raven! You're right about "before" eating not being normal. I know that's true. And I know this time I will have success. So yes, I'm ready... Thanks to all my band buddies! You all are a terrific bounding board.

givemglory · 08-15-2007, 05:51 PM

Kim,
The reasons for considering surgery are become healthier. Avoiding diseases associated with being overweight, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease. It's so important to keep the important things always before you. As for me I had surgery 6 weeks ago. And I had the same thoughts but the good out weighs the bad in the long run.
Right before my surgery I was diagnosed with diabetes. Hopefully this will cure it completely that is my prayer.
Quality of life is what is important for me and possibly the same is true for you.

newmel · 08-15-2007, 09:29 PM

I also went for my first dr visit. I am trying to figure out if I am strong enough to go through the changes banding takes. I feel like this is my only chace at a healthier skinner me . Can anyone who is 6mths to a yr out let me know what the eat? Can you have any kind of bread at all?
Pizza?Steak?hamburger meat , noodles, rice ?

WASaBubbleButt · 08-16-2007, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by newmel

I also went for my first dr visit. I am trying to figure out if I am strong enough to go through the changes banding takes. I feel like this is my only chace at a healthier skinner me . Can anyone who is 6mths to a yr out let me know what the eat? Can you have any kind of bread at all?
Pizza?Steak?hamburger meat , noodles, rice ?

Some can eat those foods, actually most can eat those foods. I don't eat pizza or white carbs anymore, I just don't want them.

You are thinking like an unbanded person. ;) Food isn't a big deal, I couldn't care less if I ever eat pizza again. I cared very much before I was banded but your thinking changes and you come to a point that you have to decide what do you want more? Lots of pizza or lots of skinny?

Pasta and rice are nothing but white carbs and do little for your body. You know, I never thought I could ever get to this point but I am here and I'm telling you, your thinking changes. Food is no longer the #1 priority in your life, you don't think about it all the time. You don't eat lunch while wondering what you'll have for dinner. You don't look at a menu in a restaurant trying to figure out what has the biggest portions. When you plan to go to a restaurant you don't sit and think about everything you are going to order, the thought doesn't typically cross your mind until you are reading the menu.

This is how normal size people think, that is what we are striving for and honestly, the day will come when you don't worry if you can have hamburger, rice, pasta, etc. It just doesn't matter. But to answer your question, I can eat steak but in verrry small quantities. I can eat rice but I don't. I can't eat hamburger, pizza, or pasta.

As far as being strong enough to do the changes, with a band you really don't have a choice. If your band says no pizza, I assure you... pizza won't be something you'll eat on a regular basis. It's no longer your choice. Most people have a few foods they just can't do, bread is typically one of them. But there are some that can eat anything, just in smaller quantities.

kacee · 08-16-2007, 06:48 AM

I am 2.5 months out and just tried my first hamburger patty yesterday. Absolutely NO problem. HAHAHAHA However, I was only able to eat HALF of it!!!! YEEEHHHHHAAAAAA!!!!

Happyhayley15 · 08-16-2007, 07:22 AM

I thought about this too and when food commercials come on the tv I am still thinking oh Ill never have that satisfaction of just eating that WHOLE THING. But the more I think about it and remember all my thin friends in my mind the more I think I'm the only one who finishes the plate and then can still go home and have a snack if I wanted to. And when everyone is like OH GOD SOOOO FULL im the one thats thinking "really? I feel fine. You didnt even eat all of yours"

So really. Who is the normal eater. Me now or me after I get this band. Which is today by the way. YAY FOR TODAY. (sorta nervous)

blj5362 · 08-16-2007, 07:37 AM

Im just alittle over a year out and I do get frustrated sometimes about wanting to eat like I used to eat. I don't think that feeling will ever completly go away. But I have to say that the majority of the time I am glad I can only eat just a small portion of what I used to. Last night was one of those evening when I wished I could just eat a whole sandwich with a tall glass of milk. Instead I ate a couple bites of peanut butter and a couple sips of milk (Skim) and this morning I got on the scales and its all worth it. I am down 92 pounds yipppppeeee and you know what I feel great and would do this over and over and over again. I am finally learning to look in the mirror and tell a difference in me. Which everyone has been telling me for a long time that they could tell a big difference but I just could but when those scales said 159 this morning I took a long look in the mirror and I saw it for the very first time.

valzie · 08-16-2007, 07:48 AM

I have been banded for four days and my in-laws came over last night to help with my kids because hubby had to go to work. They brought over chicken, mac and cheese, ice cream and doritos. It bothered me a little but I know that I am doing the right thing.

I think it is normal to question what we are doing. We are trying to change habbits that we have had all of our life and whith change comes mourning for who we were. But if you think about it what we were- overweight and not healthy.

Val

Mary-2b150 · 08-16-2007, 01:23 PM

I'm not banded yet (just a few more days...), but I'm preparing myself mentally for the transition in a few ways...

First, the past few weeks when I've been eating something that I might not be able to eat after the band.... I eat it, then ask myself "was eating that worth being overweight and unhealthy my whole life?" and each time I conclude, it just didn't taste that good!

Secondly, I figure.. well if I were "dieting" I wouldn't be able to eat certain foods either.. I was on atkins for almost a year, lost 90 pounds, felt great, and that was very restrictive! Then I went off, gained half of it back, and here I am.... If I can do atkins for a year I know I can live the band lifestyle - and I WON"T gain it back this time because I'll have the band to help me!

I also tell myself... well some people are allergic to certain types of foods, and it's not like they lead unhappy lives because of it

Anyway these are all things that I've been telling myself.. I know ultimately I would rather be healthy and skinny than eat those types of foods.. hopefully I'll remember that after I'm banded!

Goodluck with everything! :clap2: