Any Arizona Lapbanders out their!!

HI! I was banded 4 weeks ago and have lost 23 lbs so far. Dr Juarez was great. He's not much in the talking dept but if you ask questions, he always answers. Andrea, the gal in his office who does the lap-band classes and support groups, is great too. The only bad part is that i couldn't attend the lap-band class till about 3 weeks after my surgery. Since Dr Juarez' office only does them once a month, that was the soonest i could do it. I had so many questions about what/how to eat and I didn't find out a lot till AFTER the fact! They gave us a handout at the lapband class that would have helped tremendously if I had had it right at my surgery date. I have found that my problem is eating too quickly. The first few bites of my meal always get stuck, but actually, that's a good thing cause then i slow down and only eat a little bit afterall...I really have to work on eating slower and chewing more too. You read about the band that you feel full longer, etc, but you don't believe it till you feel it. I honestly have to make myself eat on a schedule or i find myself skipping meals because i don't have that OH I NEED TO EAT RIGHT NOW feeling. What happens alot is that my stomach growls and I still don't feel hungry! weird. I am barely making the 800 calories a day - usually, i eat less. I felt the restriction for about 9 days then it went away. I still feel it sometimes, but not often. I feel full after just a little bit of food, but if i haven't eaten my whole teeny portion, i try to fini**** later (I find that i am not getting enough protein if I stop right away). One thing that helped me alot was learning from Andrea that you can drink right up until you start eating, then stop for at least an hour. I had been told previously that you should not drink 30 mins before or after a meal, but that was really hard to do, since you don't always know when you will eat! Just knowing that i can drink and really hydrate myself then eat is somehow easier for me. It sounds like a long time but the hour goes by fast. If i have eaten something spicy, etc, i chew a piece of gum to help me till the hour has passed and i can drink. Anyhow, i hope my experience helps someone - I am new to all of this and love reading everyone's advice Happy Holidays! Sue

Hi there! I had the lap band on Feb 4th 2008 by Dr David Podkameni at the Banner Gateway Hospital.  I was only in overnight. The first 3 days I had a lot of pain, at the port site, as well as all the gas from the surgery. The first day I did not have pain, I was afraid to eat because I felt so full. I was afraid that the fullness would go to nausea. I am still on the bariatric full liquid diet, but that day I just drank water. I am a big coffee drinker and was concerned how I would exist without coffee. I have found that bariatric choice.com sells vanilla Cappuccino protein drink that I mix with decaff instant coffee and carmel dip protein powder from bariatriceating.com for a total of 38gm of protein. Then I take a 42gm new whey protein bullet which I got from bariatriceating.com for lunch. I have my 80gm of protein in and will have something light for dinner, like small can of v8 juice. I bought the chicken flavored unjury protein powder but it was too bland for me. I have added it to creamed soups and it taste okay that way. I will put cream soups in the blender to make sure to get all the pieces small so they will not cause me any problems. I had gainned 10# after the surgery but how now lost that plus another 10#s for a total of 20# in 2 weeks. Cheryl