Hi Moe,
Welcome to mini's. Good for you for taking the plunge and going for the banding!
It's difficult to answer your questions in a nutshell really! I'll give it a go, but if you've got time, have a look at past threads on here. My diary thread is a bit rubbish because I never get around to updating it (!!) but Alliecat's (Secret Diary of a Gastric Bander) and Lovebug's diaries are a great read and give you loads of insight into what to expect.
I had the band 4 weeks ago now. I feel totally back to normal in terms of energy levels and physical ability. The main challenge for me is working out what I can and can't, should and shouldn't eat.
With the WGA package, you'll probably be advised to have a liquid diet for 2 weeks and a mushy food diet for a further 2 weeks post op. On the liquid food diet, I mainly ate slimfast shakes, runny yoghurts with no bits in, and soup that I blended to within an inch of it's life. On mushy foods, I found that porridge went down beautifully and mostly baked beans and scrambled eggs went down well (although I sometimes was sick with them). Mashed potato and mashed veggies (carrots, parsnip, swede, etc) always go down well. I also found that salmon was great, as long as I steamed it and didn't overcook it so it was still really flaky and moist.
I started my solid foods a little early on the surgeon's advice (after 3 weeks) because my xray showed that my band was quite loose. I've been sick quite a lot since I started on solids - I think from a mixture of trying the wrong foods and from not chewing well enough when I am eating on the go (especially at work when I don't have the luxury of time to sit and eat slowly).
In terms of hunger, I felt hunger quite early on. I guess after about a week or 10 days I started getting hunger pangs. I think this varies according to the individual though and I know that others have said the hunger didn't come back for a lot longer than that.
I think the thing that has been the hardest in terms of hunger is that of course the band doesn't get rid of head hunger. I often find myself wanting to eat when I am not physically hungry but just mentally so. Today I ate way too much just because I was having a lazy day in front of the TV. The band is great for cutting down portion sizes but it is quite easy to cheat with it. You can graze quite easily with it, and unfortunately things like crisps, biscuits and chocolate go down easily so you've got to use willpower to avoid them.
Your other question was about going out for a meal. I've been to a restaurant only twice since having the band. Both times I skipped the starter. The first time I ate in a restaurant, I had a pasta dish with a chicken & mushroom sauce. I picked out the chicken chunks and just ate the pasta and sauce. It went down well and I ate most of the portion (it wasn't enormous - before the op it would barely have touched the sides!!). I had lemon sorbet for desert and ate 1 out of 3 balls they served me with. I was stuffed afterwards. The other time I ate in a restaurant, I just had one course and I ordered Salmon steak with new potatoes and broccoli. I ate about half of the salmon, all of the broccoli and about 3 new potatoes.
I've just booked to have my first fill done next week, so I'm hoping I will be able to eat less after that... fingers crossed!
Hope that helps!
Alice xx
