Parvathi

Not much?!? Half a kilo is 1.1 pounds. Well done!! hehe That's fantastic news. Looks like that plateau may just be behind you now!

Congratulations, LilAngel Geez, that's not long now, just a few weeks. You'll do fine.

hehe thanks everyone Feeling heaps better today, just needed to whinge a bit (and my hubby is definitely sick of me whinging to him lol). Ruthie, you're welcome to vent in my posts anytime ya like LOL. *hugs* thanks Kel! How did your appointment go with the doc on Thursday? Did he check for a leak?

LOL .. ya'll have just made me feel sooooooooooooooo much better. I too, am a scaleoholic. My scale is downstairs and I weigh everytime I walk past it (generally 4 to 5 times a day). Just so glad to know I'm not the only one

My doctor also prescribed a medication for reflux, although, for the life of me, I can't remember the name of it. I was on that for about a month, after finding a good restriction, but nowadays, I don't really need it anymore. I get the occassional heartburn when eating something spicy, but nothing a mylanta tablet can't handle.

LOL .. better make that some Australians. I have my 6 month consult with my surgeon next week and can ask him if they use the 11cm band here, if you'd like. He works out of Professor O'Brien's clinic.

What fantastic news!! Congrats to both of you - amazing stats and in such a short time. Well done

Thanks for bumping this up, Jess. A very interesting read. I was a cna and activity coordinator in an aged care facility (mostly working with Alzheimer's patients), before moving to Australia. Now I do technical support for a webcam chat community with over 2 million members. Quite the change in careers, but I love my job and it gives me time to roam the boards through out the day heh

What a fantastic NSV!! The price makes it all that much sweeter hehe. Congrats

Thanks Dr. Hekier And great to have another Doctor on board here!

*laffs* sure as heck feels like it! I don't think I'll ever get used to having Christmas in the summer time. I want my snow .. waahhhh heh. East coast Australia is 14 hours (currently) ahead of EST - if that helps anyone.. (ie if its 8pm in NY, its 10am here).

Don't have any advice, but let us know how things go after your appointment tomorrow.

I take a Multivitamin daily, as prescribed in the lil information book they gave me post op. Took a while to find one I could take, as I wanted one specifically for women, but finally found one that's easy to swallow (no getting stuck), with a few extra herbs and stuff for things like pms pain, stress, etc.

One of my dearest friends asks me for an update almost weekly. This morning he asked if I had any regrets, how hard its been, etc. He's going to start checking with his insurance company this week to see if he can ge covered for it.

I just started exercising a few weeks ago. I don't enjoy it (by no means get an adrenaline rush as some people describe), but I had hit a plateau and wanted to get off it. It worked, as when I went back to the Dr last week, I'd lost 4kgs/8lbs. The weight loss has slowed a bit now for me though. I'm hoping that I'm just gaining muscle now and will lose some more soon. I'm trying to go to the gym Mon - Fri before work. I don't make it there everyday, but I do try. I find that I just don't have the energy after work and will make excuses to get out of it if possible lol. It's beginning to be a habit for me though, which I'm thankful for. My program (which my trainer set up), is like this:- Monday/Wednesday - 45 min weights training: 5 min warm up on bike 2x10 of bench press on 12.5kgs 2x10 of seated row on 23kgs 2x10 of dumbbell crunches on 4kgs (each) 2x10 of fitball squats with dumbbells (4kgs each) 2x10 of leg press on 32kgs 2x10 of lunges with 4kgs dumbbells 2x20 fitball crunches (for abs) 2x20 arm/leg (opposite) lifts (for abs) 2x20 medicine ball twists (for abs) 2 min cool down on bike stretches Tuesday/Thursday - cardio: 15 mins free runner 15 mins exercise bike 15 mins treadmill I can mix these up with different cardio machines if I choose, but these are the ones I like so far. Friday - 45 min session with personal trainer; varied week to week.

LOL .. I was just thinking of bringing this back up this morning. Fantastic Okay, so I've updated my stats, special for this thread, without weighing in at the doctor's office, but going by my home scale (which generally, is exactly what the dr's scale says anyway). I've been on 94.5kgs/208lbs for the past few days, so figured its safe enough to trust it. Watch it come back to bite me in the arse though hehe and me put on 2kgs :/ So that puts me down 24.5kgs/54lbs since March and half way to my goal weight!!! I've went from a size 22 to a size 16. I'm feeling really great, although a bit tired, but that's not the band's fault. I have my 6 month post op visit with my surgeon next Thursday, so I'm quite excited about that.

I still enjoy food. I look forward to dinner and deciding what we're having, even when I'm not hungry lol. But I don't obsess over food like I used to. I'm satisfied with a small handful of chips, rather than the family sized bag. There are so many other things in life, I'm now realizing, than just food. The band has opened up a whole new window for me

I still don't count calories unless I hit a plateau ..and then its only to review to see what I need to adjust.

Hi alatina, I'm one of those people that the restriction doesn't kick in til a few days later. If I get adjusted on Monday, I'll feel it on Thursday. I usually have to stay on liquids/mushies for about 2 days after that. By the next Monday, the fill has generally settled in for me. It seems like a big inconvenience and my hubby reckons I'm crazy for waiting it out lol, but I know that if I go get an unfill, I won't have the restriction I need. I can usually get by with veggie and chicken soup (sometimes it needs to be pureed), which atleast makes me think I'm eating healthy. Make sure you get your Multivitamin in and I hope the fill settles down for you soon

Wanna come take my dog with ya? LOL .. the poor thing is sad cause I didn't get a chance to walk him today :/

I'm fat because I love food. Like BandedPrincess, I love to cook and I love to eat. I had a really happy childhood for the most part, celebrated good times with food. Mourned the bad times with food. Passed the boredom with food. Fought back the anger with food. Enjoyed the company of friends and family with food. I'm slowly learning to eat to live, rather than living to eat though. I've even cooked a pan of brownies to bring the office workers recently, without indulging in one myself. Back in the day, half the pan would have been gone before I even got to the office heh.

I took a whopping 2 weeks off, but I'm a big baby LOL. Luckily, I'm able to work from home on the laptop when need be, so that's what I did for the second week. Just make sure to get plenty of rest and don't push yourself too hard. Our bodies hurt for a reason - they're telling us to take it easy.

Hey fee I see you're in Melbourne too. Which surgeon/clinic are you using?

For me, its definitely the happiness and healthiness that counts. I haven't lost as much as some people, nor have I lost as much as I wish I had yet, but I feel great and I'm able to walk down the street with my head held high, looking people in the eye. That's something I haven't been able to do in years! I've even had a couple of guys hitting on me lol, which was a shock! Everyone is different and as such, we'll all lose at our own pace .. and that's okay. Some people have also added on muscle since the sugery, as they feel motivated enough to exercise. For some of these people, the scale may not be moving, but they may be losing inches. My doctor said when I went to see him this week, that what he tends to go by (loosely) is:- 1/3 excess weight lost by 6 months post op 1/2 excess weight lost by 12 months post op 2/3 excess weight lost by 24 months post op For me, that would have meant that I needed to lose 16kgs/35lbs within the first 6 months. I was luckily able to do that (its not been quite 6 months for me just yet). But I think that if I had started lifting weights earlier, I might not have hit that mark when I did. My weight loss has definitely slowed since starting the gym a couple of weeks ago, but my pants fit sooooooooo good right now hehe

Gotta agree with Kathy on this one. Ten days post op, just sip sip sip. I'm almost 6 months post op now and while I can't get much water in early in the day, from mid afternoon til I go to bed I'm drinking like crazy. I can generally get in a good 6 big ole Dixie cups of water in from the time I eat dinner until bedtime. You're doing just fine