mss

I was actually thinking the same thing at work today. I have noticed that I am constantly crossing and recrossing my legs and I get this big smile on my face because I can!

I use the fit of clothes as my mini-goals rather than what the scales say as I have cupboards full of clothes in various sizes. My first goal was to be able to breathe in a pair of jeans that I have! I am pretty sure that I will never run out of mini-goal possibilities this way and once a lot of my clothes start being too big for me I will start rewarding myself by buying new ones.

On the days that I eat snacks in between my meals I find that I feel hungrier and want to eat more so I tend to stick to 3 meals a day. This has been a big change for me compared with my pre-band style of maybe 1 main meal a day and lots and lots and lots of snacks!

I don't have any problems flying, I just make sure I take some of my own food with me to eat.

breakfast - Protein shake lunch - Protein Shake dinner - stir fry chicken with broccoli, mushrooms, bean sprouts, onion and noodles - I ate a medium bowl full I will have a snack later of either 100ml yoghurt or a small tub of fruit. I tend to be hungrier in the afternoon/night so if hungry before sleeping I will have a small tin of tuna or another protein shake.

Today I wore a pair of jeans that have been too tight for me ever since I bought them about a year ago. I tried them on just after my surgery ....yep too tight...I could either button them up or I could breathe!!!! This morning I could do both. woohoo!!!!!

My doctor warned me that it may take 3 or 4 fills before I start feeling a significant restriction. I had my first fill about 4 days ago and don't feel any restriction yet. Were you nervous leading up to your first fill? Have you let your doctor know how you felt after the fill and your fears about getting your next one? Maybe they can prescribe medication to take a few hours before our next fill to calm you down a little. They may also keep you there a little longer after the fill to ensure that you are feeling ok. It may also be helpful to practise deep breathing exercises - slow deep breaths from the abdomen (lower in your tummy) rather than from higher up in your chest. Counting to 5 as you inhale, pause for a count of 2 and then exhale for a count of 5. All the best

I agree with some of the previous posters that have suggested that you work on clarifying what 'support' means for you. Your wife may be finding it hard to give you something if you are not clear on what it is that you want - if that makes sense. If you have not identified what support means to you it may be difficult to recognise when you are receiving it. Maybe you could start by writing a list of ways that you could ask for support from others and also the type of support that you would like. Set it up in the same way that you would develop goals for yourself - achievable, realistic, able to be measured - eg yes it is there, no it isn't and time frames ... in fact (thinking about this as I write) you could link the support in to your goals so that your wife knows what your particular goals are and can assist you to achieve them eg. don't buy ice cream, remind me to chew more or slow down when eating.

You may also be feeling a side affect from the anaesthetic which can result in a low mood/depression in some people. Unfortunately there isn't a specific time frame in which your mood will improve as everyone is affected differently...if your tearfulness/significantly low mood do persist for more than another couple of weeks I would suggest that you have a chat to your doctor. Congratulations on getting the band.

I was banded on 10.10.07 and was also concerned about not being mentally alert enough to return to work so I had taken 2 weeks off work. I found that I was feeling physically and mentally fine within a week and returned to work on about day 8. I am a psychologist and imagine that my clients expect nothing less than 99.9% concentration from me. I am having fairly light meals while at work (yoghurt, salads etc) as the band is still new to me and I don't want to experience stuck foods, PB's etc in my rush to eat in between clients.

I had my first fill yesterday - my surgeon was pleased with my weight loss so far. He told me that he prefers to go very slowly with the fills so I am preparing myself to maybe not notice too much difference for a while yet. My next fill will be in Jan 08 as I am going to be away next month and he doesn't want to rush things. I didn't feel any pain, just a little discomfort at the time. I was on clear fluids for 24 hours and have just had a couple of spoons of mashed potato as my first meal.

Woohoo my first follow up appointment with my Doctor is tomorrow and I am hoping that he will give me a fill. I have already lost quite a lot of weight (much more than I had expected) but it is because I am making sure that I make healthy food choices and really limit the amounts I eat....I can actually go shopping now and walk straight past the lolly and potato chips aisles!!!!! Mel

My doctor told me 4 - 6 weeks. I started a very light workout with weights (light weight and only one set of 10) right on 4 weeks after surgery and have been very slowly building it back up ...it is now 6 weeks after surgery and I am back to 3 sets but not at the weights I was doing before surgery.

Hi Matilda Congrats on losing 5 kg and keeping it off since June. Rather than measuring your weight loss by what the scales say are you noticing if any of your clothes fit better? Dr Watson had also told me that he wanted me to lose weight slowly and steadily as he wants (and I want) to make long term improvements in my food choices and exercise habits. I am going for my first appointment since my surgery with him tomorrow!!!! I am both really excited and very nervous. all the best Mel

Welcome to the forums bansterboy. Maybe we all need to have some sort of badge to wear when seeing Dr Watson so that we can recognise other members!!!

I was told to stay away from weights for 4 weeks so I had my first venture back to the gym today. I used lighter weights and only did one set of 10 reps for everything as a test run. I also did half an hour of walking on the treadmill - it feels really good to be starting my gym program again. Up until now I have been doing a home based program of stretches and gentle fitball exercises and also hydrotherapy - both programmes were checked by a physio before I started doing them.

It didn't have a 'it depends' response in the poll which is what I would have chosen. I am always barefoot at home simply because I prefer it. I am from an Indian background and I know that a lot of my relatives always take their shoes off when entering someones house so I just see if there is a pile of shoes by the front door and add mine to the stack if needed.

One of the things that will work in my favour (hopefully) is that I have always been a very very slow eater! When going out to restaurants or peoples houses for dinner I will generally be the last person to finish their meal and often my friends would have even finished their desserts and I am still on my main meal. To stop the wait staff trying to clear my plate before I am finished I will often hold my fork so that they know I haven't finished.

My local lap band group also does a clothes swap so once I start attending some of their get togethers I will take a pile of my clothes along. Mind you, I had got into the habit of buying stretchy material clothing to fit my every expanding body so I imagine they will fit me for quite a while yet.

I had my surgery on 10.10.07 and am booked to see the doctor on 20.11.07. I hope that I wil be getting my first fill as I am now starting to feel really hungry.

I have had the lap band in for a month so am still in the early stages of adjusting to the changes. I used to eat due to boredom, habit and when feeling down and a big change for me has been charting when I eat and why. There are free food diaries on the net which help you to record your emotions when you ate. If I feel hungry now (in between main meal times) I give myself permission to have something to eat as long as I wait for ten minutes before having it! I am finding that I then get distracted and may not think about eating again for another half hour or hour and I start the process again....wait 10 minutes, if still hungry I give myself permission to eat something. I also have not banned myself from eating anything.... it was an Indian festival yesterday so I was surrounded by Indian sweets which are very rich and sugary, I had a quarter or one piece and really took my time eating it... it tasted great and I felt so satisfied afterwards.

I mix plain cottage cheese with hommus to make it a bit tastier.

Like others replying to this thread I am also newly banded (10.10.07). I keep on reminding myself that this first month is the time for me to focus on healing as well as doing whatever I can to help my lapband adjust to my body. This is so much easier said than done though!! When eating I practise mindfulness (raising my awareness of the taste texture, smell etc of the food) rather than wolfing down food mindlessly which is what I used to do in the past. I also make myself chew each mouthful 30 times - if I lose count I start counting from the start. My food is well and truly liquid by the time I swallow. I stop eating before I feel full and give myself permission to eat more in half an hour if I am still hungry. I rarely go back for more food before my next main meal. Distraction is the other thing that works really well for me - if I feel hungry I say that I will have something to eat in half an hour if I am still hungry and then I start doing something else. and again, I rarely remember that I was feeling hunger after 30 minutes have passed. Giving myself permission to eat later on if still hungry seems to take away the pressure that I put myself under if I give myself restrictions and then eat more that I said I would.

I am probably eating a similar amount of calories to you nume and I was banded on 10.10.07. I have a feeling that the amount that people can eat at this early stage varies from person to person, for me it is wonderful to see that I am making healthier food choices and eating significantly smaller portions ... I am sticking to mushies at the moment though my doctor had said that I could start adding other food if I felt ready.

I was banded by him on 10.10.07 and have a friend that was banded by him in July.