Gastric Band Surgery Part 1
Hi,
My name is Jim and I am currently about one month into the three month pre-op phase.
The first visit to the surgeon's office I had to watch a video about the procedure. They talked to many people and discussed the different details of the procedure.
The MA then asked me questions about my eating, drinking and exercise habits. She selected three things from the list she compiled and I selected one. Her three were start taking a lunch to work, keep a food log for five consecutive days (including a full weekend) and exercise two times a week for 15 minutes. I selected stop drinking soda.
So, I'm ready for appointment number two and I did everything I was supposed to do except I did not do the twice a week exercises. I did have three sodas in a month. I will do better next month, but it felt like three out of four ain't bad.
OK, some thoughts that have run through my head.
I have gone from one extreme to the other about this. I am going to be eating three (and only three) 2 ounce meals a day! Oh my God, I used to eat more M&M's than that in one sitting. A little bit scary. But, I've been told, after the first few days it very quickly becomes a routine.
I had a class with the nutritionist tonight and she said that once the band is in place and adjusted two ounces of food will make me feel full and keep me feeling full for about four hours.
The first three full days after the surgery are liquid only. eight ounces of milk or an eight ounce protein shake. The eight ounce meals are to be taken in two ounce increments fifteen minutes apart. In fact,for a very long time I can only drink 2 ounces of liquid at a time and fifteen minutes apart.
Once off the liquid diet the cardinal rule is NO FLUIDS FOR 15-20 MINUTES BEFORE and 60 MINUTES AFTER any meal. The two ounce meal should take no less than 20 minutes and no more than 30 minutes to eat. Tomorrow I am going to try the 15 before and 60 after thing. I have always been a wash the food down kind of a guy. I'll let you know how it goes.
