Parvathi

Oh .. and meant to add, sometimes you'll feel more restriction later, like even a week or two after a fill for some reason.

Yea, you don't normally hit the "sweet spot" with the first fill. For me in my 4cc band, it took several fills. From what I've heard of the VG bands, they take even longer. Whoever said patience is a virtue, must have had the band in mind lol. Don't worry, you'll get there.

I've got big ole baby bearing hips. At my heaviest, 262, I had real problems the last time I flew fitting into economy class. But as babs said, it depends on how you're weight is distributed. I'd go ahead and call the airline and just "see" what they say, to save embarassment or hassles later...

You're a machine! Oh how I wish I could get into running or heck, any kind of exercise. I was doing good for a while but somehow, my motivation got misplaced and I just can't seem to get into it anymore :/

Yup - 3pm is when it hits me too, right as I'm picking up the little one from school and she's saying, "Muuuuuuum, can't we stop at 7-11?!?" I guess old habits die hard lol. I try to always have a small handful of Brazil nuts in my bag (cause I love em and they're a yummy snack) or a piece of fruit.

LOL .. congratulations!! Everyone else is right - you've lost an amazing amount in a very small time. That's incredible. Before my slippage, I had lost my lawyer's wife (48kgs), I put a few back on, but it's slowly coming back off. I want to lose her and their kids lol.

La_Madam, you truly are an inspiration. When my band slipped, I piled the weight back on. You've gone a year now without your band and managed to find the willpower to maintain. I don't know that I could have done it. Oh, and in the words of Jack .........:Banane43: :Banane19: :Banane09: :Banane31: :xena_banana: :Banane53: :Banane38: :bananapartyhat: :Banane01: :Banane22: :Banane28: :bananalama: :Banane52: :Banane50: :Banane48: :Banane57: :Banane21: :Banane06: :Banane27: :Banane08: :Banane10: :Banane24: :Banane49: :banane58: :Banane40: :Banane32: :Banane59: :Banane07: :Banane30: :Banane51: :bananajump: :Banane04: :Banane25: :Banane14: :Banane18: :Banane42: :Banane13: :Banane45: :purplebananna: :Banane02: :Banane35: :not_ripe: :Banane03: :Banane17: :Banane44: :Banane32: :Banane54: :Banane41: :Banane11: :Banane20: :Banane29: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Glad to hear its all sorted for you. Like Jacqui, I'm so glad to have the private health cover. My revision surgery would have cost me a bundle had I not :/

No regrets here, even with the complications I've had, the band is still the best thing I've done for me, bar none. No system is perfect, but for me, this was as close as it gets.

I know this thread is old(ish), but I just found it lol. With my tummy tuck, I bounced back alot quicker than I did with the band as well. When I was first banded, I had sleep aponea, was 120kgs and a smoker. When I had the tt and reduction, I no longer had the aponea, was 74kgs and had quit smoking. I'm sure being in better health had something to do with it - that and the fact that I knew more of what to expect, pain wise. I was rebanded a few weeks ago with the new APS band after slippage. Fingers crossed this one will do what they say Do wish I could find more info on it online, but with it being so new, haven't turned up much at all with google.

Hey folks, Next Friday I'm off to paradise. Paradise for me, being the sunny white sandy beaches of the Maldives (staying here if anyone is interested). It's the first actual holiday the hubby and I have had since getting married five years ago. Usually when we go away, its to visit my family (which leaves us more tired than when we left lol) or for work conferences. Whilst it truly sucks that I'll just be on mushies there, something tells me their mushie fish will be nice and fresh hehe. Anywho, because of the revision surgery, I now have the fresh incision sites again. I know those aren't meant to be sunbaked, but does that mean simply to put sunscreen over them or to put bandages over them? Thanks in advance!

I've still got 2 more sleeps til we leave (but who's counting lol). I wish I could fall asleep now and wake up there! I'll post while there though, cause we'll have wifi access on the beach. I did get a chance to pop by the solarium twice. Not sure that it'll make much of a difference cause the lil man there looks at me and goes, "Wow, you're white!!" and sticks me in a 10 min bed for 4 minutes LOL. Took me longer to get my clothes off than it did to lay there hehe.

WoW! I've never actually thought about it like that. It's actually quite scary. I remember at the lapband information night, when the surgeon told us that diets have a 95% failure rate, the look on my mom's face. I think that's all she needed to hear to be at ease with the fact that the band was right for me. Thanks for the new perspective.

I had my first fill 2 days shy of four weeks out, with no problems. It was a 1.0ml fill, the rest were much much smaller (like 0.1ml or 0.2ml). Good luck.

Have you talked to your doctor about how often you PB? I agree that you might want to have a slight unfill of .1 or .2 cc. It can make such a huge difference. The weight might not come off as fast, but really, in the grand scheme of things, the health of you and the health of your band is much more important than how fast you lose.

I don't think that necessarily means the poll is flawed. She's just trying to get an idea of rough numbers, from the people here who are still around. As for the second part (the ticking time bomb bit), have you talked to anyone about that? Sounds like its causing you a good deal of anxiety, which isn't good for your system. You're two years out - Have you had much success overall with the band? What makes you feel that you're going to erode? Yes, things do go wrong with the band occasionally, like my slippage, or other people's erosions, but it is rare. Just because a handful of people here have eroded in our small community (and I feel for them, I really do!), doesn't make it any more prominent of an occurrence. The overall statistics, worldwide, show that it just isn't that common in the grand scheme of things, considering the number of people banded every day. I guess my point is, you can't dwell on what might happen. You're banded, even if in hindsight you wish you weren't. Try to take advantage of it whilst you can.

I didn't know where the Maldives were a few years ago either lol. My husband's taught me all kindsa of stuff. The Maldives are a group of islands, off the coast of India. It's also where TomKat are currently on their honeymoon lol, but I'm sure they're off on some private island that costs $10,000/day or something haha. We're staying here .. I'll post lots of pictures when we get back. Have to get one of those underwater cameras for snorkling.

Okay, this is so off topic it's not funny LOL, but I'm so excited I had to share. On Friday, the hubby, daughter, a friend and myself are off to the Maldives for ten days. We're meeting my Mom and Dad there for a wonderful pre-Christmas relaxation getaway. I've never been to a tropical island, so this is extremely exciting for me. But even MORE exciting than that .. ... when we leave the Maldives, we've booked 4 days in Singapore for shopping. Last night I realized that Singapore is where a friend of mine had Breakfast at the zoo with an orangutan named Ah Meng. I love love love orangutans lol. They're my favorite animal and I've always wanted to go to Malaysia to see the sanctuaries there, but haven't gotten a chance yet. So this morning I looked up the zoo's website and booked the 6 of us in to have breakfast at the zoo with Ah Meng. From my friend's description of it, it's absolutely amazing. He said she didn't have the best table manners (stole his toast once lol), but that it was a really great experience. This might even be more thrilling for me than 10 days laying on the beach LOL.

I was able to exercise 6 weeks after the TT, til then it was only walking. So if you had it done early Feb, you'd be back up and at em mid March. That still gives you a few months to train, but do realize you'll still be a bit sore at times. The swelling can vary from person to person. It was definitely noticeable for me, even 3 months after surgery, when I was wearing pants without elastic lol. Like, in the morning I'd put on jeans, but by lunchtime, they'd be hurting, even if I hadn't eaten anything. I'm now 7 months out now though and all of that has well and truly gone away. As for the pregnancy thing, I'm not sure. I started young lol. We're the same age, but my daughter is 8 now. My surgeon though, told me that I'd want to maintain my weight from here on out if possible, as radical loss or radical gain would be detrimental to his work.

One of my favorites, as Jack suggested, is water packed tuna, finely mushed with some ff mayo. I love love love it! For breakfast, I've been having either thick gourmet yougart with fruit or some low fat smooth cottage cheese with crushed pineapple or canned mandarins. Very tasty! I know you said you don't want to stick to soups, but I love a really thick split pea and ham soup (ie so thick you can eat it with a fork lol). I bake a ham about once a month and use the leftover ham to make the soup. It blends up nicely for the mushie stage and because of the thickness, its really filling. Split Pea and Ham Soup Ingredients: one bag of dried green split peas 2 small onions, diced leftover ham (about 3 cups, chopped) 4 cups of chicken stock Method: Add ingredients together in crockpot. Cook on low for 3 to 4 hours, stirring occasionallyEasy peasy! Makes a huuuuuuge amount though, so have some extra mouths nearby to feed lol, or be ready to freeze some for later.

I occasionally have popcorn when we go to the movies at night. Just have to make sure to chew chew chew. I love the fact that I used to be able to down a large popcorn at the movies alone and now I can't even eat half of a children's size lol.

When I first started talking about getting the band, my husband was skeptical and worried. He initially said, "No!" I talked him into letting me go to the seminar for it to find out more info. My Mom was visiting at the time, so he insisted she come with. Mom's a very well respected nurse and he trusts her opinion. She too was skeptical when she first heard about it. After the seminar though, she was impressed with the surgeon and the facts. The whole percentage of diets that don't work thing was a shock to her. Mom of course, knows I've struggled with my weight my whole life. She remembers taking me to stuff like weight watchers when I was 10 and being on diet pills almost all of my teenage years. She also knows that for quite a few years I was bulimic, so she knows what desperation over weight issues can lead to. She came home from the seminar and told him that she thought it was a good idea. That's all he needed to hear. Since then, the whole family has been mega supportive.

Not drinking with meals was the biggest thing for me to overcome. I love Water and very rarely drink anything else (other than coffee). I go through gallons of it a day lol .. always have. I had to find things to do, directly after meals, to help keep me from grabbing a glass of water after eating. Things that helped me are:- Not eating "dry" foods. If I'm having chicken or something that's not moist, I have to have a sauce of some sort. I've always had a massive fear of choking, so this helps alleviate that a bit. In the morning, I have my coffee, *then* I have my Breakfast. After breakfast, I take the kiddo to school straight away. Because of traffic and the fact that she doesn't go to school in our suburb, it takes me around an hour round trip, so I can grab a glass of water as soon as I get back. After dinner, I do the dishes straight away, or go take a nice bath, or a walk .. or basically, anything that will keep me away from a glass long enough. lunch is the hard one for me cause I'm at the office and can't go find something else to do lol. It does take some getting used to, but you'll get the hang of it! You can do this :girl_hug:

Jacqui, I'm a huge fan of the gourmet yougarts!! My favorite at the moment is Envy, with passionfruit. I'm so glad they've finally started selling them at the supermarket, rather than just the small fruit and veg shops I used to find it at. Because I'm on mushies, I've been having that occasionally for Breakfast. Another breakfast thing I've been having is low fat smooth cottage cheese mixed with either crushed pineapple or canned mandarins, all wizzed up with the stick blender. I've never really liked cottage cheese before, but thought I'd try it again, as it is a decent source of protein/calcium. Tonight for dinner, we had homemade split pea and ham Soup and I must say it was delicious!! It was the perfect consistency after blending it for a moment and extremely filling.

I definitely eat more than an egg cup! Every doctor/surgeon is different on what they recommend. Mine told me when I was on solids last time, I'd probably on a normal day eat around a cup for Breakfast lunch and maybe even 2 cups for dinner. Some days I did, some days I didn't. It wasn't a "you can only have this much" kind of comment though, more of a what to expect.