Fanny Adams

Whoohoo!! Underwear pics!! YAY!! :biggrin::frown: I think you look great and, as Jachut says, all that's left is a bit of loose skin and you're gonna be much harder on yourself about that than anyone else would be. You might consider beefing up your upper body a teensy bit (but not too much!) just to get a little more of that V-shape guys tend to strive for, but you look just fine right now :thumbup:.

Good luck ladies!!! Hope to hear from you soon!

Congrats! I think quick is the best way to go, provided you have put in sufficient forethought and research time before asking for the surgery. I spent a couple of months seriously researching the op (after dreaming about it for years), then had to wait 6 weeks between getting the referral from my GP and my appointment with the surgeon. That was mostly because of my own schedule though - I work away from home 8 days out of 14. At the first surgeon's consultation, he said "let's do it!" and made the booking for the op on the spot - for only 2 weeks later. Then, about 5 days before the op, he called and said he had a cancellation and had an opening even sooner! I ended up going under the knife only 12 days after the consultation! It was a whirlwind and felt frighteningly fast, even though I had spent so much time thinking about it beforehand, but it did have the advantage that I didn't have much time to fret about it. How exciting for you!! Good luck!

You should be agreeing with me about the underwear pics!! :cool2: If enough of us request, them, you never know our luck! :coolgleamA:

OOH! That sounds delish!! I'm going to try that when I get home from the mine site! Do you think it would freeze? I'm away from home for 8 days at a time and only home for 6 and there's no way I'd eat all that in 6 days! Even cutting the ingredients down to 1/2 or 1/4 would probably make more than I would go through in a week. *edits* Actually, it's probably pretty dry, isn't it, until you soak it overnight? So should be fine to keep in the fridge. Mmmm...definitely gonna give it a whirl - bet it is really filling too!

I have a friend with an American wife who wanted to cook her hubby a pumpkin pie. She spent half an hour searching the shelves at the supermarket for canned pumpkin! Finally, she asked one of the shop assistants who, after looking at her like she had suddenly sprouted an extra head (I mean CANNED pumpkin???), pointed her to the fresh produce section. Catherine had never cooked fresh pumpkin before, so she bought an ENTIRE Queensland Blue! She took it home and rang her mother in the States for instructions on how to cook it. Her mother told her it was easy - just boil it for about 15 mins and it will get really soft, then you can mash it up for the pie. Unfortunately, the mother neglected to tell her about that all-important step of cutting it up first! Yep, Catherine found the biggest pot she had and stuck the whole pumpkin in there to boil. Apparently, she rang her mother back in tears about 2 hrs later, wanting to know why the pumpkin was still hard as a rock! Hahaha! I was kinda hoping the story would end with it exploding pumpkin guts all over the kitchen but sadly, it didn't :wink2: Still.. canned pumpkin?????

That sounds great, except I don't know what mountain bread is. Is that some kind of lavash or pita bread?

Ok, so like I said: "if you drink with your meals but DO NOT snack between meals or eat larger portions at meals as a result" then the water doesn't magically make you gain weight. I think people need to keep this in mind. The rule against drinking water is so that you don't eat larger portions at meals or quickly become hungry again after meals. If the water is NOT causing you to do these things, then taking a couple of sips with your meal to help rinse your mouth probably won't hurt a great deal. Knocking back a full glass or more with dinner is likely to have that result and should be avoided.

Many of us gained just after surgery, with the most common time around 2 weeks post-op. I think it is a combination of several things: 1) some of the weight we lost in our pre-op and immediate post-op was just Fluid and the body eventually balances this out, causing a slight regain 2) the body does go into that starvation mode shock, when you drop the calorie level down as drastically as the post-op liquid diet dictates (I gained 3lb when I was averaging 4-500 cal a day!) 3) if you are eating a lot of canned Soup (very high sodium) or putting extra salt on your soup to try to boost the flavour (like I did), you retain a LOT of extra Water, which is reflected in the scales. For me, I lost 15lb in 15 days - 10 days pre-op, 5 days post-op, then gained and lost 3lb over and over again for the next 15 days. It was 20 days post-op (30 from starting to lose) before I dipped below the 15lb lost marker again, but since then it has been slow and steady. Don't panic if this happens to you - it seems to be pretty normal for many people and will happen no matter what you do! Mind you, cutting out the salt did help to some extent.

I did the Optifast pre-op for 10 days prior to surgery, which was 3 x 150 cal shakes + 2 cups of steamed low carb veges at dinner. It would have been for longer, except that my surgeon had a cancellation earlier in the week and moved my scheduled date back a couple of days. It was hard but I was doing the nicotine patches at the same time and found that those were better than any appetite suppressant drug I've ever taken (and I've tried a few!). I lost 10lb in 10 days, which made it worth it!

Sorry to hear you had such a rough time. Adventure World is sucky like that - almost no healthy food options at all! You might have to take a picnic lunch with you next time, but I still wouldn't recommend solid foods so quickly after a fill. My doc says liquids for 48 hrs then slowly introduce solid foods to see what you tolerate. So far, I've tolerated everything coming back into the diet but boy howdy do I know that I have restriction now! I have to eat very slowly and carefully, else I can get stuck and have those horrid episodes too - never been stuck for 6hrs though! OUCH!!

"One lady even said her DR. said the band was a failure and was going out of style and wouldn't even be on the market in 5 years." Hehehe - that made me chuckle too! I guess no-one told her doc that it has been a great success for many years in other countries and is still growing in popularity?

I do a 3hr flight every week to and from my work (I work on a remote mine site, 3000km from home) and I have never noticed a difference in tightness. I have noticed however, that I can no longer eat all of the meals provided on the plane - I used to eat it all, as well as the cheese & crackers snack, and get off the plane still hungry. Now, I can only manage the meal and leave the bread roll, crackers and cake because it won't fit in. That's been the same however, from the time of my first flight after banding and the portion I eat is no more or less than I would eat at any other main meal.

Those are my favourite veges too and I would have at least one of those at every evening meal and occasionally all of them. However, I limit the portion size to 1 baby potato (max 1" diameter) or 1/4 cup of mixed peas & corn, etc. My mid-morning snack is almost always a dozen pitted prunes - I find this really helps with constipation problems :smile2:

I don't understand this. I am under the impression that not drinking with meals is so that you don't wash the food through the band, causing you to get hungry more quickly between meals and consequently eating more. However, if you drink with your meals but DO NOT snack between meals or eat larger portions at meals as a result, how does simply drinking make a difference in the weight loss?

It's interesting how doctors in the different countries approach these surgeries. In Australia, the Lap Band accounts for well over 90% of all WLS and I think this figure is growing, rather than reducing. The numbers in the link below are a little old (2005) but you can see that the trend is there. I know that when I first brought up surgery with my GP (PCP?), I said I wanted to give the drug therapy one last bash and if that didn't work, I would consider the surgery. When I went back after failing at that (yet again), he didn't bat an eyelid and wrote out the referral to the surgeon without hesitation. When I went to see the surgeon, he asked me (once!) if I had considered other types of surgery (which he also performed). When I said I had investigated them but would not consider doing it, he dropped the subject and was quite happy to recommend the band, with the warnings and provisos that it did require more effort by the patient. I find it extremely peculiar that doctors in the US are actually pushing RNY or DS in preference to the Lap Band. Obesity, weight loss and bariatric surgery - published by the Australian Medical Association Some extracts: "The surgical treatment of obesity (bariatric surgery) is the most rapidly growing area of surgical practice in Australia today.23 This reflects both the ability of bariatric surgical procedures to provide a solution to an otherwise insoluble problem and the evolution of safer, less invasive procedures. Today there are essentially three procedures in use: laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) and biliopancreatic diversion (Box 1). There is variation in preferred procedure between countries, often reflecting local regulatory and insurance factors. In Australia, LAGB is the procedure of choice in more than 90% of cases, with RYGB making up most of the rest...The key features of LAGB that have led to its acceptance are its safety, minimal invasiveness, adjustability, reversibility and overall effectiveness." 2 Annual number of bariatric procedures performed in Australia, 1994–2004* LAGB = laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding. RYGB = Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. * Medicare Benefits Schedule item numbers 30511 (LAGB and other gastroplasty procedures) and 30512 (RYGB) (from unpublished Health Insurance Commission data).

Congrats on the work you have done so far!! Sounds like you are very close to goal - good for you. I think the main thing left for you now (sorry to say) is exercise and more exercise. I don't think any diet will give you 6-pack abs - only sit ups and ab crunches will achieve that effect. It also sounds like you have lost your weight quite quickly, so your skin hasn't had much of a chance to adjust yet. If you work on toning up and resculpting your body, rather than focussing on losing more weight, it will probably adjust (to some extent anyway) as you are still young. Hard to predict because everyone is different, but worth aiming for. I wouldn't worry about the naysayers - they are probably finding it hard to adjust to the new you. Post some piccies for us, and we'll tell you how hot you're looking :w00t: *angles for some underwear shots* :tongue2:

[ame=http://youtube.com/watch?v=hHTojtx89Cw]Youtube rendition - not sure which version (there's dozens out there), as I'm at work and can't play the videos[/ame] And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda Eric Bogle Now when I was a young man I carried me pack And I lived the free life of the rover. From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback, Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over. Then in 1915, my country said, "Son, It's time you stop ramblin', there's work to be done." So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun, And they marched me away to the war. And the band played "Waltzing Matilda," As the ship pulled away from the quay, And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving, and tears, We sailed off for Gallipoli. And how well I remember that terrible day, How our blood stained the sand and the water; And of how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter. Johnny Turk, he was waitin', he primed himself well; He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell -- And in five minutes flat, he'd blown us all to hell, Nearly blew us right back to Australia. But the band played "Waltzing Matilda," When we stopped to bury our slain, Well, we buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs, Then we started all over again. And those that were left, well, we tried to survive In that mad world of blood, death and fire. And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive Though around me the corpses piled higher. Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head, And when I woke up in me hospital bed And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead -- Never knew there was worse things than dying. For I'll go no more "Waltzing Matilda," All around the green bush far and free -- To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs, No more "Waltzing Matilda" for me. So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed, And they shipped us back home to Australia. The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane, Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla. And as our ship sailed into Circular Quay, I looked at the place where me legs used to be, And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me, To grieve, to mourn and to pity. But the band played "Waltzing Matilda," As they carried us down the gangway, But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared, Then they turned all their faces away. And so now every April, I sit on my porch And I watch the parade pass before me. And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march, Reviving old dreams of past glory, And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore, They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war And the young people ask "What are they marching for?" And I ask meself the same question. But the band plays "Waltzing Matilda," And the old men still answer the call, But as year follows year, more old men disappear Someday, no one will march there at all. Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda. Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me? And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong, Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me? ************************************* Sadly, the year before last was the last one in which a veteran of WWI marched. All the old men have died now.

Fair enough...

That's how I'm approaching it. I was never one for lots of junk food, takeaways or sweets. I had them now and then of course, but those weren't the things that made me fat. What made me fat was eating a dinner that should have fed 3 people at most sittings and pushing it to the equivalent of 4 servings on special occasions (that seemed to occur quite often :rolleyes2:). I'm trying to just stick to good healthy cooking, fat free as much as I can, and I use my sandwich plate as my serving size judge - if I can get it on the sandwich plate (no piling it up allowed!!), then that's what I'm allowed. So far it has been working for me. The loss isn't as fast or dramatic as it has been for some, but it is steady and I don't have any problems with hunger - feel full all the time - and no PB problems from being too tight. That's what I call the sweetspot anyway :cry_smile:

Hehe - know how you all feel! I had what I'm calling my Lamb Roast Victory the other night. Cooking a lamb roast (or any roast) dinner has always been a really pleasurable day for me and usually only done when having the whole family over (i.e. parents and grown kids). I was kinda sad thinking that I'd never be able to do that again or if I did I'd revert to my old bad habits and just pig out, but my daughter talked me into it, so I went for it. Did the roast with fresh garlic and rosemary out of my garden, roasted veges, broccoli cheese - the whole nine yards. Then I took my little sandwich plate and had: 1 small slice of meat (used to have 3 and go back for at least 1 or 2 for seconds) 1 piece of roasted potato (used to take 4 on the first go and 2-3 for seconds) 1 piece of roasted sweet potato (much smaller piece) 1 piece of roasted carrot (again much smaller piece) 1 small roasted onion 1 small floweret of broccoli with cheese sauce (instead of 3 big ones) 1 tablespoon of peas & corn (instead of 3) Homemade gravy with pan juices At the end of that I was absolutely stuffed but I had tasted everything and didn't feel a bit deprived! Probably a little more than I should have had but it was a treat and MAN was it GOOD!!! The victory part for me was that I didn't overeat, was absolutely satisfied, couldn't eat another bite, with less than 1/3rd of what I would previously have eaten in the first serving, let alone seconds, and had not one hint of getting stuck or PB'ing. I truly think I am at my sweetspot - loving it!! It's not something I'll do every night or even every week, but I feel so much better knowing that I CAN do it and enjoy doing it "bandster style".

Thanks for that, Jachut. Do you know in all the years I have loved and listened to Chisel and/or Jimmy, I've never actually read those lyrics before. They are great!! Not quite Anzac Day stuff but excellent nevertheless. Thanks again :rolleyes2:

I'm not sure I understand your problem, Aus girl. You say you are hungry but you are struggling to eat even soft foods and PB'ing/sliming regularly? If you are already so tight AND you are losing weight so quickly (you've done REALLY well!), why would you want another fill? It will only make the PB'ing and sliming even worse! I think you'll find that you will continue to feel hungry as long as you are sticking to the soft foods - you need to take in solid, high fibre food for the band to work properly. The only way to do that when you are so tight is to take extremely small bites and chew those absolutely thoroughly, waiting between each bite. I know you said you already do this but how small is small to you? How thorough is thorough? How long do you wait? I know I had trouble imagining how small the bites needed to be, so I asked around on this forum before I had the op. Several of the longterm bandsters replied and assured me that "small" means the size of the little pink eraser that you get on the tip of a pencil!! I was astonished - that is TINY!! And "thoroughly" meant chewing that tiny amount AT LEAST 30 times, more if even the tiniest lump was left in your mouth. I was also given a great tip on how to measure the wait period too - do not cut up your food all at once, make sure you do it as you go. Cut off a tiny piece, put it in your mouth, then put down the utensils. Chew and swallow in tiny sips, until it's gone. Do not pick up the utensils until every last bit has been swallowed. Wait a few seconds and try to feel how that is hitting your stoma. If all is well, pick up the utensils and cut off the next piece. I'm not as tight as you and consequently am losing more slowly. However, I am not feeling hungry at all. Iin fact, I feel quite full and satisfied at the end of each meal and this lasts well until the next meal time. I also have very few PB episodes - every one of them caused by talking while I'm eating and not paying attention - a single less than completely chewed bite is all it takes :rolleyes2: Good luck in your journey! Congrats on the loss so far!

That's a big relief to hear - I was worrying about you! Well done for taking the sensible step and correcting the minor glitch before it became a problem. Sounds like you've got a good handle on how your restriction should feel now, so I'm sure you'll be posting even more success stories soon. Best of luck in your future journey!