Fanny Adams

The band does work better for people with portion control problems rather than a sweet tooth, but it can help the sweet eaters too. I'm hoping that now that you have your fill right (ie not too tight) you will be able to eat enough solid food to satisfy your hunger. I have found that when I'm not "using up" all of my willpower simply fighting the hunger pangs, I have enough "left over" to put towards making good choices. It's when I get really hungry that I lose all self-control. Before you write yourself off as failing or give up on the band as being not right for you, try to work with it now that it is operating as intended. You know now that wasn't happening for you before, so that's not your fault or your failure, just unfortunate. It's now Water under the bridge and you have an opportunity to start afresh. My advice (for what it's worth, and it IS only an opinion) would be for you to keep your restriction level light, make sure you fill up on plenty of fresh healthy foods and plan to include sweet stuff in your daily allowance, either with sugarfree sweets or low fat/sugar free Desserts or both. Plan to have "good" treats, so you can look forward to eating them guilt-free and plan not to have "bad" treats easily available to you. I don't know for sure if this approach would work, but I think it is worth a reasonable try. Good luck!

I said, "Do you speak-a my language?" He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich :thumbup: Fosters is a brand of Australian beer, but it is mostly made for the export market these days. It would be hard to find an Aussie that will admit to drinking it. If you want to taste a beer that is popular within Aus, look for Victorian Bitter, Carlton Draught or Emu Export.

You know that doesn't mean you can have hotdogs, don't you? LOL!! Glad to hear you're feeling chipper, mate :thumbup:

Heheh - think you have to be weaned on Vegemite to get the taste for it. I've known a few converts but they are very rare. BTW, when I say weaned, I really mean it. My daughter was breastfed and the very first thing she ever had that didn't come out of my body was boiled water with a half teaspoon of vegemite (it was summer and she needed extra fluids, but not extra milk). She was around 5-6 months at the time. Also, toast with vegemite cut into fingers is an absolute staple in any Aussie toddler's diet.

Heheh - yeah, I know, that's one of the reasons I made this post. The other is that the protein fixation is really starting to bug me :thumbup:. I've been doing a fair bit of research about this on the net and one thing that has really struck me has been that the people who recommend the HP/LC diets are all people who have a vested interest in that diet, e.g. selling Protein shakes, or selling a new diet plan or book, whereas recommendations for a balanced diet from all food groups come from neutral sources such as universities, nutritionists and medical groups. I think that's significant in itself.

Hmm... I never had Up and Go or Sustagen or any particularly milky drinks when I was on full liquids. I went through the entire Campbells and Heinz low fat soup ranges, blending anything that was chunky, until I was allowed mushies. There are so many varieties out there, that I was rarely bored, although you do have to watch the sodium levels as many of them are pretty salty. Breakfast was often a low fat yogurt and sugar free jelly, but as often as not I'd have soup for breakfast too.

BrandyII, I have to agree with everything Jachut has said and I really hope this is the answer for you. Now that you've had a little unfill, and are able to eat more normally, maybe this will be the turning point for you. I'd also like to add some suggestions of my own, and a couple from my doctor: From my doctor: * If you aren't hungry in the mornings, don't eat! Don't try sticking to the "must eat breakfast" thing - save those calories for when you are hungry in the afternoons or evenings. * Use a child sized plate to measure your portions. Don't pile anything up, but if it fits on the plate without piling up, you can eat it guilt free. * Eat only until you are not hungry any more. Stop after each bite and assess - when you stop feeling hungry, not when you think you are full, stop eating and take the plate away. You can always go back and have the other half of your child sized plate later when you feel hungry again. From me: * If you have a sweet tooth, plan for it. Buy bags of those sugarfree sweets or mints; you can snack on those all day without taking in calories. * Plan to have a dessert or sweet treat every night, but make it a sugar free and/or low fat one. My favourites are the fat free chocolate drinks like Chocolatte from Jarrah (60 cal, 1.5g fat) and the Diet Creme Caramel from Nestles. When you know you can look forward to a sweet treat all day, it is not as hard to forego the unplanned ones. * Don't buy icecream or Cookies in large quantities. Those are way too easy to overindulge in when they're in the house. Look for low fat options in single serves and factor the calories/fat into your allowance for the day. Above all, include fibrous foods into each meal, such as fresh salads, vegetables and whole grains. Good luck with everything and I hope that you will soon feel you are back on track and will see the results on the scale.

I agree with you about only picking one raid per week and having that not conflict with family events. I also agree that the game can become utterly time consuming and lead people into neglecting other facets of their life - that's one of the main reasons I have stopped playing. However, my point was more about the timing of asking them to stop. Picking the middle of the major guild raid of the week as the time to demand that your significant other just turns off the computer and walks away IS akin to asking a football player to just walk off the field in the middle of the game. It lets everyone else on the team down and will lead to HUGE resentment and very likely some volatile fights. A much better way to manage that would be for them to plan for the raid time and some practice time (not every night!) and to plan for family time too. When you are trying to break someone of the gaming habit, you need to pick your times for "battle" and right in the middle of a raid is the worst possible time.

What about us fat blondes? :thumbup:

I'm speaking as a former gamer and one who understands the lure of the gaming addiction. I know that you have said several times that you don't want to tell him not to play or make his decisions for him, but I think you are missing the signals he is sending to say that he wants YOUR HELP in stopping. Think of it in terms of a food addiction. Do you remember the last time you broke your diet pre-banding days? Imagine that you had promised yourself and everyone that you would lose the weight, but there you were again, on the couch with a bag of Cookies. You look up at your husband and ask him "Should I have one more?" He doesn't want to tell you what to do, wants to let you make your own decisions and take responsibility for your own actions, so he says "Sure hon, if you want to." You eat the cookie... you feel guilty... you reach for the next one and look up at him and ask, "Should I have one more?" Once again that sad disappointed look comes over his face but he still answers "Sure hon, if you want to." How supportive in your dieting efforts would you think he was being, if he did this? As many times as you have said that you don't want to make his choices for him, you have said that he has ASKED you, "Should I stop now?" You have reported here that every time you have replied "No, it's fine." I understand that you want him to take this responsibility but gaming addiction IS an addiction and it is incredibly hard to resist. I got myself to the point that I was barely speaking to family, would get completely antsy if I left the house for any length of time and would bail out on any social events after an hour or two because I just HAD to rush back and get back on the game. He is reaching out to you and trying to do the right thing by asking you. By telling him that it's ok, he doesn't have to stop, you are not just enabling him, you are lying to him about your true feelings. It's not ok for him to play all day, is it? So why are you playing mind games with him and expecting him to know that even though you say it is ok, you don't really mean it. All that leads to is resentment from both of you - you resent him because you think he should know better, he resents you because he knows you're lying about how you feel but he can't resist the lure without your help. Give him the help he's asking for and let him know honestly how you feel when he asks. If it is not ok, TELL him the truth. On the occasions when it IS ok, tell him that too and stop feeling resentful about it at the same time. Help him to plan fewer days, give him some incentives to get away. I know you don't want to feel that you have to "entertain him" but while you are trying to help him break the addiction, you have to help him to find something that occupies his attention in the same way. That is the lure of the game - it is something that you can become completely absorbed in and that you have complete control over. It is a total escape from reality. When you first try to break away, your mind is used to thinking rapidly with total concentration on a few simple manouveurs. That brain buzz feeling is what is addictive, and it is hard to wean yourself away from it. You need to find something else that will get his attention and will include you and your family. Do you guys play cards? Board games? Get him out the house to go on a walk with you... Last point re asking them to stop in the middle of a raid. A raid is a team effort with each participant having a carefully planned role. To just down tools and walk away in the middle of it, can mean that the entire raid, which several people have probably spent several hours planning, will fail and get everyone "killed". This is especially true if the hubby is a good key player. Imagine if he played football. Would you just ask him to walk off the field in the middle of a game? Can you imagine what that would do to the game, especially if he was the quarterback? How do you think his team mates would react if you showed up on the sidelines and demanded he drop the ball right in the middle of the winning play, and come home?

I have a blender and a cheap set of plastic measuring cups (1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4). I don't weigh anything but I'm reasonably good at using the measuring cups - I tend to use them as ladles, so it means there's no extra fuss when serving up food. The blender doesn't get as much workout now that I am past the healing stage, but I still use it on occasions, especially on the day and day after a fill.

You found us :thumbup: Welcome Mel!

LOL - proof that I am not a weirdo!! YAY! One thing I really can't stand is when you stay in a hotel and the beds are made up so tightly. The first thing I have to do is pull out the sheets from the bottom of the bed, so I can stick my feet out at night. In cooler months, I'll allow them to be covered, as I do keep a window open at night, but even then the blankets/sheets/doona have to be LOOSE. I can't stand the feeling of any pressure on my feet and if it's hot, even just the weight of a sheet is too much.

This one's got my vote too - ouch!

Hi Kombimel, welcome to bandland :frown: There's quite a few of us Aussies floating about and if you check the main forum list, you'll find we even have our own section *feels important* heheheh

Well I got back in the pool and went on a lunch date yesterday. It went ok, nice restaurant, nice conversation but absolutely no spark and no desire to see him again. Oh well...it beat sitting home alone yet again.

I found the good old banana smoothie was great for breakfast. 1 cup of skim (0%) milk, half a banana and 1 tablespoon of honey, whip it up in the blender and it makes 2 glasses full, so enough for breakfast and for lunch! Sooooo filling and yum! 205 calories, 1g fat, 34g carb, 9g protein.

My doctor would count chunky chicken soup run through the blender as a full liquid, so that would have been quite acceptable at 8 days out. The uncomfortable feeling is probably because you ate a little too much of it and you are not yet used to the new "full" feeling. You'll be surprised at how little it can take to fill you up in the first weeks post-op. Take advantage of it while you can, as it will take more and more over the next few weeks, as you heal inside and are waiting for your fill. Just take it slowly and carefully and listen to your body between each bite. When you stop feeling hungry (not when you think you are full), stop eating. If you keep eating till you think you are full, you'll experience that uncomfortable feeling often.

I've been trying to move this next 1.5lb for weeks now, so I could have clicked the 40+ option but it doesn't seem to want to move. It's been 6 weeks since my last fill and I think it is time for another one, as my portion sizes are gradually increasing again I just want to be able to FINALLY say that I have LESS than 100lb to lose!

Welcome to the Merry Losers group, Babs. There are some wonderful people in here and all over the forums - I'm sure you'll get the support you're looking for. I know this place helps me enormously, so I'm confident it will do the same for you.

They emailed you with that crap in writing??? Kick 'em to the curb, mate, they're not worth it!!

I think all of us can relate to the doubts you are having. We have all struggled with diets and failure and all of us knew deep inside that our eating was out of control and our willpower not strong enough to keep us committed to the diet and exercise routine for the long haul. WLS is not the first option anyone reaches for when trying to lose weight, it is usually the last and only reached after years of trying and failing with other methods. For me, the biggest difference has been the change in headspace. In the past, I had started a diet with great enthusiasm and tried hard, but I was never able to sustain that commitment. Restricting my food intake was HARD when I was HUNGRY all the time and the thought of having to sustain that willpower for the 18 months needed to lose 140lb was daunting. Every time I hit a plateau in a diet, all those thoughts of failure would loom up and overwhelm me and I would quit, thinking "damn it, I'm just going to be happy being fat and EAT!!" Now, the hunger daemon is tamed. It took a while but now I am not hungry all the time. Because I am not "using up" all of my willpower just to try to restrict my portions, I have much more willpower "left over" to devote to making good choices and keeping up the exercise. I don't find the idea of an 18mth journey to be horrifying because I know I won't be fighting hunger every step of the way. I have confidence in my ability to do this, because I know that a little slip up here and there doesn't mean I will quit and go back to my old bad habits. I don't freak out at a plateau any more, I just remind myself that this time I'm in it for the long haul and I WILL get to goal. Good luck with whatever decision you make.

I posted this in the recipe section but thought you guys might be interested. It's not exactly from scratch but has a bit more oomph than the recipe on the jar (which is basically just "brown meat, add sauce"). Ingredients 900g (2lb) lamb chops - all fat trimmed (approx 6 largish chops) *1 x 540g jar Pataks Rogan Josh simmer sauce 1 large brown onion 1 medium potato 2 small carrots 2 medium tomatoes 1 tsp crushed garlic (from a jar is ok ) 1 tsp crushed coriander (from a jar is ok :tt1:) Method Brown the chops in a non-stick pan or wok. Add garlic & coriander Dice onions, potatoes, carrots and tomatoes and add to pan. (If you dice and add each vege in the order given, the timing works well). Add jar of Rogan Josh sauce + half a jar of Water (use RJ jar and shake to get all the extra sauce). Cover and simmer for 1 - 1.5 hours. Serve with Jasmine rice and green Beans. Makes enough for 6 child/bandster sized portions or 2 adults/2 kids. Nutrional Value per serve (assuming 6 serves, ie 1 chop + 1/2 cup veges/sauce, not including rice or beans) 321 calories, 13g fat, 13g carb, 34g Protein * I counted the calories, etc, using the Patak brand sauce but noticed that other brands had quite different calorie/fat numbers, so the numbers above are only correct when using that brand.

Ingredients 900g (2lb) lamb chops - all fat trimmed (approx 6 largish chops) *1 x 540g jar Pataks Rogan Josh simmer sauce 1 large brown onion 1 medium potato 2 small carrots 2 medium tomatoes 1 tsp crushed garlic (from a jar is ok ) 1 tsp crushed coriander (from a jar is ok :tt1:) Method Brown the chops in a non-stick pan or wok. Add garlic & coriander Dice onions, potatoes, carrots and tomatoes and add to pan. (If you dice and add each vege in the order given, the timing works well). Add jar of Rogan Josh sauce + half a jar of Water (use RJ jar and shake to get all the extra sauce). Cover and simmer for 1 - 1.5 hours. Serve with Jasmine rice and green Beans. Makes enough for 6 child/bandster sized portions or 2 adults/2 kids. Nutrional Value per serve (assuming 6 serves, ie 1 chop + 1/2 cup veges/sauce) 321 calories, 13g fat, 13g carb, 34g Protein * I counted the calories, etc, using the Patak brand sauce but noticed that other brands had quite different calorie/fat numbers, so the numbers above are only correct when using that brand.

I'm with luluc on this one. I avoid drinking 2-3 glasses of water with a meal, as was my previous habit, but I don't stick strictly to the no drinks 30 min before/1hr after rule either. I like the restriction level I have, which is fairly subtle and allows me to eat whatever I want but stops overeating. If I finding myself feeling hungry soon after meals, I will be a little more strict on it, but mostly I'll sip a half glass or so throughout a meal, just to keep my mouth wet. When I go out for dinner, I'll nurse a half glass of wine throughout the meal and it doesn't seem to make me overeat, as I only order an appetiser meal anyway.