SageTracey

thanks Jake. I'll give these ideas a go except for the artificial sweetener as you have found that they give me severe headaches.

sending positive thoughts from downunder to everyone affected by Hurricane Irene. We suffer plenty of natural disasters here in Australia from time to time so I can empathise with what you are all going through. Safe safe everyone.

Slightly to the left, couple of inches below my rib cage. Not quite where I understood it would be from the surgeon who indicated it would be below my largest scar and that he needed the scar to heal well so he could access my port - but it's nowhere near it!

Sex - when you feel up to it. Alcohol - on your dr's advice.

hi Red. I'm an Aussie too. Banded in April. I just looked at your profile. Wow! You have done so well. Congatulations.

My husband actually suggested it (without knowing that my dr had also suggested I look into WLS.) My husband was concerned that he would lose me if I didn't take control of my weight and he wants to keep me around for a long time - his words after 27 years of marriage!

Sounds like you need to get to a dr ASAP and insist that they listen to you! Good luck and please let us know how you are.

do you need a fill yet? If you are eating well, have satiety and are losing weight then you could ask dr to delay a fill until you need it. Your Dr should ask these questions and discuss it with you before doing anything. And you have the right to refuse a fill or ask for a smaller one than offered. Good luck.

just sent you an invitation via myfitnesspal.com hope we can support each other. cheers Tracey

i've got the same challenge! I always figured a plateau would come but I didn't realise it would be this frustrating.

Sounds like you are whipping yourself back into shape! Just remember that it took us all many years of poor eating and/or exercise habits to get to the point where we have turned to WLS and we can't undo those habits of a lifetime in a matter of days, weeks or even months. You know, the only habit I ever broke overnight was biting my fingernails at age 37. I just looked at my nails one evening and thought that it was such a disgusting habit and I didn't know why I was biting them and that was it, never again! The difficulty with weight loss is that we have to eat every day so we really do have to learn new behaviours. Good luck with your journey and remember, it's not about how often you fall down, it's about how often you get back up again!

Hey, that really sucks! Good luck with getting it fixed. I was banded 13 April here in Australia and have enjoyed really good weight loss (60lb) until the last week or so, now it looks like I have plateaued. I am just pushing on with monitoring my diet and exercise and hoping that I will start losing again soon. I have good restriction so am fairly confident (but still suffering the nerves of, "oh, what if this is all there is for me!")

Same here in Australia but I was wondering whether it was because of my newly regained self confidence. I think I may project a happier persona and others, including strangers, pick up on that.

Hi QTD, I was banded on the same day and feel as though I have to work with the band every day but that is a good thing until sensible eating practices and exercise become habitual for me. I have had really good weight loss until now although I think I have reached a plateau in the last week or so - that is going to test me! I started to feel restriction after my third fill (total 5.5 in a 14) and I now feel satisfied on quite small amounts of food, typically less than a cup, plus I don't feel hungry for about 4 to 5 hours. Where I struggle is if I am in situations where I used to eat a lot like sitting down at the end of the day. I'm not hungry but my head still tells me I need to eat something. Good luck and keep on working that band. I hope you feel restriction soon and enjoy the benefits of losing weight!

Hi Kim, congratulations on making the decision. I was worried about the same sort of thing before achieving restriction. Now I know that I will suffer with too much food (I feel sick and bloated and get left shoulder pain) and am finding it much easier to enjoy the smaller amounts now. That said, I am not perfect and still occasionally eat too much but not very often! Good luck with your journey.

I'm like you Isabella, I judge by eye to a cup-full for total meal, and even then I still find myself leaving food on the plate as I feel satisfied. I have been losing quite well although seem to have hit a plateau in the last week or so. Maybe I should actually measure my food for a few days to see how accurate my eye is!

I definitely have to exercise to lose weight. Fortunately, the more I lose, the easier the exercise becomes. I like to mix it up with cycling (stationary and outdoor), walking and plenty of dancing. Rock and roll is really energetic and fun, too.

Congrats, that's awesome. Had my own NSV just this morning. After years of the doona falling to my husband's side of the bed and leaving me cold and my husband saying it's because I'm bigger and therefore gravity makes it fall off me, last night it fell off HIM! It's not that I'm smaller than him (yet), but much, much closer in size than I have been for many years.

Being overweight can mess with our menstrual cycles so it's normal for them to change as we lose weight. Not sure about the nausea though.

Yes, I get it too (four months post op.) I find it happens when I eat too quickly and I am learning to SLOW DOWN (yelling at myself there )

I know exactly what you mean! You could try putting pix of yourself then and now side by side and noting all the differences to help your brain catch up. I'm trying to get my head to accept that I can lose more weight because I've reached the point where I have always got to in the past before stacking it all back on. Our heads can be the toughest part of this journey! Good luck.

Tonight's episode of Four Weddings (Australia) features a rock n roll wedding of our friends. This was filmed in February before I began my banding journey so I'll be very interested to see just how different I look now! I know I can dance much better now without that 30kg (60lb) to carry around. Good luck to our friends and don't believe a thing about how any of the brides are presented - our friend is a lovely person!

Hi Elcee, I found it really interesting to learn from my friend's experience about how many times they asked her the same question in a different way to try and elicit a nasty comment from her. But she stayed true to her nature and was really quite positive throughout the show. And it blew my mind to see just how much I have changed since then! Nothing like a bit of inspiration to keep me going. good luck with your journey. Tracey

Hi Jo and Lea, I'm going really well. I've lost 30kg and enjoying restriction after three fills. 5.5cc in a 14 cc band. I get a pain in my left shoulder if I eat too much or too fast. Biggest challenge at the moment is getting enough calories in. I'm using My Fitness Pal to track calories and it keeps telling me I need to eat more or my body will go into starvation mode yet there is just no way I can eat any more in a day! On a different note, I don't know if you watch Four Weddings, but our friends' wedding was on tonight's episode. It was the rock and roll wedding and my husband and I got plenty of air time with our dancing! We were wearing red shirts and I had a black skirt with colored music notes all over it. It was amazing to see how I looked before I started this journey cos I can certainly feel the difference when I'm dancing! How are you both going? Tracey