Tons of questions...

I am sure all these have been answered, but please humor me, and save me from digging through umpteen pages of history. I am considering the Realize band... actually I have decided and am waiting for the Surgeon to hurry up and decide on a date! So... caffine... I have a nasty 2 liter a day diet dr. pepper habit... should I quit that now, or wait to go through that misery til after the surgery? Any suggestions from any former caffine-a-holics on how to kick it? Do you get the sick hungries? When I don't eat for a few hours I go through the headache, nervous, nauseated thing that says hey moron, you forgot to eat!  Do you still experience that? The first few weeks on the clear liquid only diet... how is the energy level? How much time would you take off of work? The seminar said 10 days would be nice... really? I had a tubal and was back at work the next day.  Is it like that? I will start with those... I have more though! Thanks in advance!

SheriGone,  Here are my experiences

Caffeine - according to my Doctor and Nutritionists it’s a MAJOR NO-NO !! Basically because Caffeine is a diuretic - it take liquids outta you. If you drink 1 cup of caffeinated products, you’d need to drink 2 cups of water to make-up for the liquid you lost. Since you’re suppose to get 64 oz (8 cups) of water in a day - some folks have trouble drinking this much water a day. I was a 1-2 pot of coffee drinker, and the thought of me going cold turkey was insane. So this is what I did. 1 week was all caffeine. The next week was 3/4 caffeine & 1/4 decaffeinated. The next week was 1/2 caffeine & 1/2 decaffeinated. The next week was 1/4 caffeine & 3/4 decaffeinated. And the final week was all decaffeinated.  Now remember, there is NO SODA what-so-ever. This includes: regular; diet or caffeine-free. Soda can EXPAND your “band pouch”. So you may want to start weaning off now, and drink flavored waters (with no sugars and/or minimal calories).    I rarely get hungry. In fact, I need to force myself to eat. On those rare occasions I get HUNGRY, it is quickly diminished when I drink something (especially a protein shake). The only time I notice I get Hungry is when I don’t eat/drink over a long period of time and/or have no protein in my system. I make sure I have something almost every 3 hours. Breakfast at 6:00 a.m.; Protein Drink at 9:00 a.m., Lunch at noon, Protein Drink at 3:00 p.m., Dinner at 6:00 p.m. - and then I’m done. Of course I am drinking water (Crystal Light, Diet Caffeine Free Iced Tea) during the days - every 10 minutes or so.  When I was clear liquid diet it was only for 48 hours - so I was fine. After that, I was on “full liquids) which consisted of protein shakes; low-fat cream soup (made with skim milk); yogurt (non fat/no sugar); apple sauce, puddings, etc. My Doctor recommends to do this for about 2 weeks, but I did it for a month - because I felt so good and full.  As for time off - it depends on what type of work you do. If you do strenuous work you may want to take a week. Truth be told - I could have went back to work in 2 days but I took two weeks because I didn’t have a vacation for over a year - plus I was afraid if something DID happen at work - my coworkers wouldn’t know what to do. But I had NO COMPLICATIONS, and in hindsight I could have worked.

Please remember you (and others) may have different experiences then I did.  We all react to things differently.

Feel free to send me a personal message if you have any other questions !! Good luck, and keep your focus on the ultimate goal !!

Tom