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Coco, you are so right I know I need a fill except I could not get to talk to anyone in ACS this week as I was working all over Ireland this week and was out of phone coverage so much. I know Jerome is out of the country now again for 2 weeks but I am working in Dublin on Monday and I'm going to make some me time to make the appointment for the fill. I am really struggling with the not over eating at the moment. I still haven't resorted to eating any crap - sweets, cakes, crisps or chocoalte but I know I am only a short way away from feeling the need for even a small taste and then I know I will be on a rocky eating road again. I am loosing weight but this is because I am an exerciser and always have been so I have increased my exercise to keep away from the food. My fella keeps saying "sure you're eating the same amount as me and we've paid €10k for that!!". He is only joking but it is making me conscious that I need to do something quick to make sure that band starts to do its job! Dini, I know you're doing well after your initial pain cos I'm talking to you & SIB you seem to be getting on well too. What I've written up above will show you that once you have the band that you are 100% more concious of what you put in your mouth and that you start to respect your band and try not to overdo the eating for fear of hurting it, even when you don't have restriction!! I was lucky because I had restriction for 4 weeks after being banded. The other girls that got banded with me lost their restriction after 2 weeks and then really struggled until their first fill. The best advice I have if or when you get to that stage is to keep coming on the site for advice and support - it's mostly referred to as BAND HELL here on the site! I'd definatly be on for having an online chat and I'm sure we're nearly due another meet up face to face soon?

...it has been so long since I checked in here that I got sent a reminder email from the site to come visit!!! I have been very busy in work over the last few weeks, working 13-14 hour days which has been good for distracting me from not overeating. However, I just need a fill. I haven't had any restriction in 4 weeks now and as a result I am eating as much as the fella can at meal times! The only reason that I am still slowly loosing the weight is because I am still exercising but I know that if I wasn't eating as much that I would be seeing greater weight loss results! I also haven't eaten any crap when I am eating and keeping to healthy salads and proteins takes a whole lot of willpower and I didn't think I signed up for all this to use willlpower!! How is everyone else who is 1 - 3 months banded coping with the feeling of hunger?

Wenjea, my best advice for keeping you on the staight & narrow eating wise is to read the post about PBing and those who have slipped bands! If that doesn't frighten you in to eating according to the band rules nothing will!!! I am banded a few weeks ahead of you but I have no restriction at the moment and could eat my way through the refridgerator and I'm really struggling. Instead I come on here and read the horror stories - works for me and might for other who are struggling.

Coco - you lucky thing heading off on your holidays, have a ball and enjoy that fact that after that huge weight loss you won't be all sweaty betty like you probably were on your last holiday and the fact that you can now wear nicer clothes!!! I know I'm really looking forward to my holidays in September and I hope to have worked hard enough at the proper eating & exercise to have lost as much as you. Thanks for the inspiration, you are looking fab!!! So another weekend, and another struggle to keep away from all the nice food that everyone around is consuming! I defiantly am not eating 1 third of what I use to be able to eat, but I am still able to get as much food in as my slim boyf and I am not feeling any restriction at all. I am using amazing self control and keeping my motivation up by trying on clothes that haven't fit in a year! The best thing over the weekend was that I was able to buy a pair of jeans in a normal shop - M&S. It felt so good to come out of the changing room with a smile on my face and go straight to the cash desk with something on the first try on!! Size 22 but hey I'm getting there! I know most of you who struggle to get nice, fashionable clothes know exactly what I mean. I have been living in the jeans all weekend since the purchase and keep going back to the wardrobe to find more things that will go with the new purchase!! The boyf thinks I'm a sex god too as he's never seen me in a proper pair of jeans!! skinnyirishbabe - to answer your question I have a 7ml band from Dr. Manuceau in ACS

Welcome skinnyirishbabe, just keep chippig in with your questions and experience & you'll get loads of support online here. Welcome back Brenners, we missed you! So today I broke the 17stone mark when I hopped up on the scales this morning. I haven't been here in a long while so it was a good feeling of success. However, this was short lived because when I went to get dressed just after I couldn't find anything in the wardrobe that I could wear! It took me 2 hours to get dressed through all the tears and the total despair. I just can't figure out what clothes I wore on the way up to this great weight! So subsequently I was 2 hours late for work which I can't let happen again over a wardrobe crisis! To add to it, I have an important presentation tommorow and I should be stressing over delivering that, instaed I have been going through the wardrobe trying to find anything to fit. Mind you it beats the binge eating I would usually have done in this situation. I didn't think I'd have problems like this but it just seems that the weight is coming off in different areas than when it went on. Is anyone else finging this? I got my first fill yesterday and so now have 3ml in a 7ml band but at this stage I am feeling no different than I did yesterday before the fill. I eat 2 hearty cartons of Soup yesterday and I could have eaten a whole lot more only I restrained myself because I wanted to fell restriction so badly with just the soup - well it never came so I kept the hunger distrected and at bay by having plenty of cups of tea. Today I had yougurt for brekkie, soup for lunch and then was anxiously awaiting dinner, where I managed to get in a large stuffed mushroom and a whole salad and still I didn't feel full! I'll eat more solid foods tommorow and see if restriction comes - maybe I might be the same as Brenners and it will kick in a week later!

Lunasa, I know what you mean about the dredded alcohol! I'm finding that although I no longer drink beer, cider and G&T's, I've switched to red wine, I can still get exactly the same quantity in as before and unfortunatly this leads to the most humongous desire for food. I just try my best to stay out of the kitchen when I come in from the pub, but I know that I am better able to do this at the moment as I've just parted with my life savings and this is fresh in my mind and quite a motivator! This is not a long term solution. I too drank wine 3 times last week and I'm feeling guilty as a result but it would be nice to limit or even eliminate the drink during the weight loss stage - I even acted as the designated driver on 2 occassions over the weekend to avoid the temptation! I am good at the walking and walk in Marley Park a few times a week and I have been known to go to the gym on an odd occassion. This is something I need to increase too though as I have not had any weight loss in 2 weeks despite the exercise and this is getting me down. However, I got my first fill today and I am hopeful that this will restart the weight loss. I have just finished a whole container of Soup from Dunnes - 3 & half ww points if counting! I really didn't think that I would be able to get that much in so soon after a fill. I was expecting great restriction to the point that I wouldn't be able to get food down, but that hasn't happened. I will keep to the Soups until Thursday and then see how restricted I feel after a chewed meal before I make judgement.

I'm just bumping this thread to see if there are any other Irish banders out there online this morning! There is a rapidly growing support group getting together but there must be more of you out there who are looking to talk with others who are going through the same thing locally. Get in touch as we would like to hear about your experiences. Luanasa, Brenners et al. where are you girls? Coco glad you found us! You were a great inspiration on Saturday and I'm looking forward to catching up on the weight loss!!

Hey girls, it was good to meet up with you all on Saturday in Bewelys. A big thank you to Holly123 for teling us about the meeting. I got to ask loads of questions to those of you who had been banded ahead of me and I think the 2 ladies who came to ask about getting banded had a lot of their questions answered. I would definatly be on for meeting up again in the near future with even more questions!! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f18/hi-dublin-36324/ The link above has been started by coco who was at the meet up on Saturday so check in with her over there too! I am in for my first fill hopefully on Monday - really need it as I could eat the same as before if I allowed myself! I will let you know how I get on. Anyone else in ACS on Monday for a fill or Consultation?

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f18/hi-ireland-31912/index6.html Coco, good to meet up with you on Saturday! Here is the link to a thread that a few of us that you met on Saturday have already been contributing to. Dini, Laura and Holly123 all visit this thread quite often. You might even know some of the others from Fat Happens that are on here. Talk to you soon.

My experience with ACS was great. I asked to speak to some people who had gone through the procedure and they provided me with mobile numbers of people. I spoke to a lady as she was checking out of the clinic the morning after her operation and she was very reassuring that she was not in too much pain and even more importantly , she was not hungry!!! This was very reassuring when you are about to part with €10k!!! The best thing to do is to PM me your contact number and I will give you a call at a time you can talk and I'll tell you all about what you need to expect. It has been a great experience so far, with mimimal pain, more so discomfort and the feeling of being full for 2 weeks after the procedure was great ( I guess this is how it will feel when you have restriction too!). The only thing that I wasn't prepared for was the idea of being provided with suppositorys just before you go into theatre but I'll explain all that in a phone call!!!! There is a meeting this Saturday coming that might be very useful for you to come to where there will be people who are banded that you will be able to ask questions to. You might consider going to that. PM me your number and a good time to call you and we can talk.

I have been banded 4 weeks today and boy am I struggling with my eating and alcohol consumption. Now I will admit that it is nothing like I use to be consuming but that is because I am relying totally on will power and suceeding better than I ever have in the past. I am cruising the sites and reading threads that relate to band slippade etc. to scare me from over eating and to keep me on track but it is so hard. All I can think of is food and when can I next have some!!! I am trying to have 5 small meals throughout the day to counteract these food thoughts. I have my 1st post-op consultation in ACS next Monday and I'll be running there. I have been weighing myself on a daily basis as a source of motivation but alas I have not lost a single pound since my initial 14 pound loss from the 2 week liquid diet but I keep telling myself that this is the healing stage and not the weight loss stage!! Is there anyone else out there at the same stage as me who can trade war stories???

Tanderson, thank for the support! It actually is great when someone tells you that you are doing somethings right and definatly spurs you on. I hope I can return the support in the future!! Laura - welcome abord! It might be a good idea for you to come along to the meeting that Holly123 has posted above. It would be a great opportunity to ask questions to people who are at all different stages of their life changing after being banded. I am only 3 weeks out but I have gone through many different experiences - good & bad - that would be useful to share. I use this website as a tool when I am anyway thinking about returning to my binge eating and overindulging ways. I haven't contributed to any threads except this one but I read the new posts that interest me and get helpful infomation and perspectives from other band users.

Hello ladies, I hope everyone is doing well. I have been doing very well with having fairly substantial restriction over the last 3 weeks since being banded, however this weekend has been such a challenge. Friday evening I went out to a Birthday parthy that had a running buffet. Now I am usually one of the first up in the line at one of these but managed to hold off until everyone else had gone up, thinking that there wouldn't be much food left to choose from! How wrong I was, sure there was still enough left to feed an army. I managed to just put a deviled egg and a scoop of fresk salmon on the plate and I scoffed it all. The rest of the night I was tormented by the thoughts of one bite of the lovely Birthday cake. I managed not to fold and satisfied my cravings with a couple of salty peanuts instead - the nicest I've ever tasted!!! But still sat for the whole night sipping on a glass of Water and thinking of all the food calling me from the buffet!! Couldn't wait to go asleep that night and stop thinking of food! Saturday night I went out for a meal with the fella to the Chinease and actually managed a heallhy enough meal opting to share the shredded meat in lettuce to start, followed by King Prawn in garlicand soy. Totally not what I would ever have gone for but surprised myself with how nice and tasty they were. The other big challenge was the dreaded drink! I have been the designated driver now for a full 3 week and gave in to the call of a lovely big glass of red wine, followed by another and yes another!! How nice they were after all that abstinence! Sunday was yet again another challenging food day, when I was around for a family meal in my brother's house and had to try and avoid nearly everything nice on offer as it was far from healthy. I did manage to eat some meat for the first time which I chewed and chewed and chewed for fear that it wouldn't go down and the family would notice (I haven't told anyone about the banding except the fella)! Got away with it but couldn't really eat much more which was swiftly commented on since I was always the one to pile the food on the plate, eat it the quickest and fill it again with seconds!!! So my big problem now is after being exposed to all these lovely food temptations over the weekend I think I am head hungry. I just can't stop thinking about food. I am writing this all down to distract myself because all I want to go do is go down and chow through the contents of my fridge like I use to when I was bored, tired, sad...you get the picture!!! Just wondering if any of the rest of you are going through this? I got the book Lunasa recommended, Thin for Life and I keep turning to this when I am tempted to go overindulge but I'm still finding it increasingly difficult. Anybody out there got some words of wisdom?

Prune juice!!!

Well this must be a first - I managed to go out an celebrate my birthday with out a slap up meal and all the drinks that usually go along with this! I am in the mushies stage so I ended up ordering a "baby bowel" which consisted of mash and gravy, followed by a pot ot tea an hour and a half later!!!! Happy Birthday to me! It just goes to show though that you can have fun without having to resort back to my bad old ways of overindulging. The band really has helped inintially in changing my emphasis on the importance of food. I am always the first when anyone has been out for a meal to ask "So what did you eat?", which from my skinny friends the response usually is - "I don't remember"!! Geez, I can remeber what I had for a meal I had out 6 years ago!!! I just thought that it was funny when I was out yesterday that I didn't really take notice as much as usual of what everyone was eating and I wasn't even tempted by the hot fudge cake the 3 girls around me were eating!!! Can't explain this one!! Just wondering is this a long term condidtion I am going to suffer from???!!!

Lunasa, having you 2 weeks ahead of me is great!!! So I know already what to put on the shopping list for the mushies stage - eggs and tinned fish are doing the job for you!! I actually like both so I'm not complaining! Actually I was watching "the f word" on channel 4 last night and Gordan Ramsey went and caught a giant crab and cooked it and it looked great. As a result I've been thinking about eating crab ever since - oh how my cravings have changed this week!!!!! I did go and get soup as you recommended but they didn't have the chicken one you talked about in Super Value, I'll go back and check it again at the weekend. I am still on Actimel's today as it is only day 2 and I have no hunger at all but I am looking forward to some soup. I also bought Drink 10 in Tesco's and diluted a glass of that to get some Vitamins in - totally surprised myself as it actually tasted quite nice. You are so right about the treats too, it is better to have the low cal options and treat yourself to 1 treat then keep away until your driven to a frenzy and want to have a binge. I'll check out the Milky Moos, not a chocolate fan so I'll pass on the Green & Black's but I'm sure that recommendation has helped the others looking in! My surgeon actually recommends that you have 2 treats if necessary in a week for exactly that reason that you don't go off on a binge because you think you are being deprived. I know in the future it will most likely be 2 large glass of the vino on a Saturday night for me! I'm a G&T drinker but the thoughts of having flat tonic does not appeal at all. How oirish am I - not able to give up the deamon drink!!!

Lunasa, I ordered the book you recommended, THIN FOR LIFE by Anne Fletcher, on amazon the other day and I am expecting it before the end of the week. So thanks for that recommendation. I am much more mobile today after a very stiff and sore evening and night yesterday. Up and walking around but still very tired. Need to go back to work tommorow though. How was everyone else on day 4, were you able to go to work?

Brenners, that is crap to hear! Hopefully all will be well when he replaces it on the 21st of the month. I now know how much pain you must be in as it probably feels like the day you got it done with no improvement! No one said this journey was going to be easy!!!! However may I point out well done on the pounds lost so far! A good inspiration to us all recent bandees. You must be doing a lot of things right despite your band turning! It would have been great to see you yesterday - but heck, hindsight is a great thing! There was meant to be 6 people in total to be banded but in the end there was only 4 of us. We all seemed to have very different experiences though with some people suffering more pain than others. The support we gave each other was invaluable too. None of them had heard of this site yet so I am about to text them the address so they can use it for all their Q&A's. I'm not sure if you know that there is a local group who meet up in Ireland. I PM'ed Holly 123 to be included in the group for the next meet up. Perhaps if you do not know about it send her on your mobile by PM.

Just homenow after been banded! Uncomfortable but not in pain at the moment. Kept walking and walking when I was in the clinic and this definatly seemed to diminish the pain! Totally on a positive buzz now and looking forward to working hard and seeing results. Managed to get 2 actimel type drinks down already today so not feeling too weak at all. Thanks for your words of wisdom lunasa, definatly struck a chord! About to get back up now and have another walk. Lets hear how everyone else is getting on...brenners are you out there at all? How are you doing?

Lunasa, that's brilliant thanks detailing all the different liquid options! I was going to go do a little bit of shopping at the weekend and stock up so it really help out with what to buy. I have stayed away from the shops for a few weeks now since I knew I was going to be banded. The reason being that I am the biggest secret eater on the way home from the shops and I really need to put a stop to this behaviour before being banded! I am concerned that even though I am making the changes in my behaviour towards food that I have done this before and lost considerable amounts - 5 stone last year, 4 stone the year before etc. and put it all back on. From my research on this site it seems that this is where becoming friends with your band and respecting it will hopefully break the yoyo effect and when I get the weight off that I successfully keep it off! I really am just looking forward to getting going now with the band on Monday. I'm not scared of the surgery bit at all, even though I have never had surgery before but more aprehensive of not even feeling the effects of the band when it's in!!! Probably silly to think this way especially since I am always so positive about everything but it's just the way my brain is working at the moment!!! BTW, were you aware of the support group that Holly123 mentioned earlier in this thread? Sounds good to support each other at a local level. Anyway, have a nice weekend and thanks for the advice.

Lunasa, I just looked at your weight loss there. Well done, 21.5Ib's!! Sure it's nearly worth the shoulder pain!!! How are you coping on the liquids stage - what are you actually consuming?

...any of you out there? Really would love to know how you are getting on?

Holly123 I'm so glad that your blood pressure came down and that you were successful in getting banded 2nd time around! I keep thinking of your unluckiness at having to go home 1st time around and hope this does not happen to me! I've never had any health problems and my bloods came back fine but you still have a niggling feeling in the back of your mind that the procedure mighn't go ahead as planned!! Now that I'm getting ckloser to being banded, I now know you must have been devestated when they told you they weren't going ahead with it and that you had to go back home!! Still I'm really looking forward to Monday and all that lies ahead. I did go out for a last supper last night though - great big steak - as I reckon I will never sit down to a 12oz again!!! Not that that's a bad thing but it was kind of like saying good by to an old friend - food!!! Wondering if there is anyone else out there due to go with ACS next Monday?

Just wondering if any of you recent Irish bandees have been back to the site since been banded? I am scheduled for next Monday and I'd love to hear how you got on. If anyone sees this before then and wants to chat I would love to hear how it went for you!

Brenners that's great news that it has been brought forward - I'm sure you would have cracked up if the news had gone in the opposite direction and the date was being postponed!!! I know what you are saying about looking forward to a new you! I see people on this site have been calling it their "bandiversary" and celebrating their 1,2,3 etc. banding date anniversary like a birthday! I am just getting back to my desk in work now at 4:30pm after missing Breakfast and lunch and I have a crappy sandwitch from a petrol station - I wouldn't be able to do this anymore and I'm sure my body will thank me for it!!! I'm looking forward to having to put the time in to look after myself in the future, which is something I'm not very good at up to this. You're little fella sounds like a cutie. Children are just the best at adjusting to things. I have decided at the moment not to tell anyone except my other half that I am doing this, but I think you have approached it great with your son and I'll talk to you more about it when we're banded!