nina874

Take painkillers and dont try to bluster through it. Avoid shaking the duvet out and things like that for a good couple of weeks and remember you have had surgery, dont be too hard on yourself. The burping is probably a combo of the gas pain from the keyhole and your tummy getting used to its new situation, and dont forget they move things out of the way to get to your stomach when they do the surgery, a little bit of bruising on your diaphragm is not uncommon. Hope you feel better soon and start to enjoy the benefits that your new best friend will bring to you

Mine came off fairly evenly to start with but the last 14lb seemed to come straight off my boobs! I went from a 38g to a 34C and let me tell you it was not pretty, it was like the ultimate trade off. After coping with shovelling the sad little sack of beagles ears type skin into my bras for 2 years and having the trauma of rolling over at night and trapping my own nipple under my arm and waking myself up - yes really - I treated myself to a brand new set. I viewed it more as a restoration project than an augmentation Did exactly the same thing when I had to fold my tummy into my trousers, best decisions I made in a long time, I have a better body in my 40's than I had in my 20's and it is all thanks to my band (and a couple of very skilled plastic surgeons lol)

I think if you eat too much of anything you can get fat - except maybe celery, it would be pretty hard to get fat off celery - but it is a lot easier to get fat eating a smaller amount of bad food than it is to get fat eating huge amounts of good food. There are loads of things that I love that arent necessarily bad when taken individually but when you add a cream sauce they become calorific, steak au poivre with asparagus, sweet potatoes and sauted baby carrots springs to mind....... I have to say as well that my step sister is a vegetarian and her love of cheese definitly, as she will admit, is reflected in her butt size

I am so glad that I didnt have to do the pre op diet, the post op one drove me mental, I was fit for eating my own feet by the end of it I was that desperate to chew on something. Keep your chin up hon, it will be worth it!

Are you eating slider foods? I notice that you say that you are eating food that you shouldnt, if you are eating crisps and biscuits that type of thing then getting a fill wont make any difference, you just need to get your head back into the game. If you can eat more normal dry type food than you could before then it is time for another fill.

I cant feel my band but I can really see my port now! I was sore when I woke up, but only sore not in real pain and the day or so after I was fine. Now she is just part of me, I call it my choke chain, it just hangs around in there unless I start to pull my eating too far , and then it yanks me back. Its a sharp learning curve about how to eat - hint , very slowly with each fork full lovingly prepared and cut down to tiny bitesized pieces ( I always was a perfect mouthful girl so its no hardship for me) - but you soon get the message. Getting to the sweet spot can be tricky and overfills are no fun at all, but I have never ever resented my band, I just learned by my mistakes and altered what I was doing. i do feel physically different, I just ran 3 miles and did my yoga, I can wear lycra and look pretty damn fine if I say so myself, I am bursting with confidence and look 10 years younger than I did 10 years ago!

Good luck! This is the first step on the journey to the new you See you on the other side.

I dont like blind fills, if it was part of your package at the time then I would say request one just to make sure that you have the right restriction before you leave.

Well done hon, I think that exercise is the key to it all. To be dong it all with no fills is amazing - do you have restriction?

I get a terrible pain under my ribs if I get well and truly stuck - or when I fly which I do every other week? - it has only started happening in the last 12 months, but it always wears off. Cant tell you why, but wanted you to know that you aren't the only one!

What a fantastic milestone. Huge congrats to your nephew too.

Well done you!!! It is such an amazing feeling isnt it Keep going hon, you will reach that goal in no time and will be looking back in another year thinking about whether you need to put a couple of pound back on

Oh I am sorry that you had such a crappy day. I am sure that your body is a bit confused at the moment with the pre op diet and then the procedure yesterday. Just try to focus on all of the good things that will come when you have had the procedure and you are on your way towards your goals. I always found that picturing being able to wear hipster jeans gave me the kick that I needed when I got down

It depends, as the previous poster pointed out, on how fatty your liver is. I didnt need a pre op diet because my BMI wasnt too high and I dont ever drink. If you have fallen off just be extra strict with yourself for a few days to make up for it - the liver is an amazing organ and if you give it the chance it will sort itself out.

Oh I had forgotten spaghetti, slippery little suckers get away for my teeth and then wrap themselves around the band yeuk!! I have to say that I had a very unfortunate experience with a Big Mac that got stuck in carpark of MD's and I tried to wash it down with a cola - it can only be compared to a heart attack pain followed by a mount Vesuvius eruption........ Carbonated drinks do NOT work for me.

I found that a balance between right fill and learning the difference between genuine hunger and 'mmmm that cake looks nice' was the key. Trust me I got to the right fill a long time before I learned to slow my eating down, listen to my body and when struck by the raging munchies to just have one biscuit!

Hmmm, I struggle with bread sometimes, I guess that is because it is just so hard to chew right down. As long as I either pre cut my food into small pieces or chew really well I am pretty much ok with everything as long as it is a couple of hours after I get up. First thing in the morning is a no no for me. I am fine with rice, and veggies, most fruit is good, but apples that arent peeled can cause issues. Its common sense really, if it is too big to go through the gap it will get stuck, so gulping your food down will cause you problems no matter what it is.

I know that there have been a number of people on here who have had what is sometimes referred to as a mummy makeover which is breast and tummy at the same time, I believe it is quite common - why dont you google mummy makeover and surgeons in your area? I would say that due to blood flow issues they may try to avoid doing your arms and breast lift at the same time, but I know a lot of people have breast and tummy done at the same time. I would say that post op will be a b*tch but it will be all over at once rather than having 2 lots of down time.

Bubbs, it could well be that you havent reached the right restriction yet, something that we used to refer to as the "sweet spot". It depends on what types of food you are eating. If you are eating lots of slider foods, chips, chocolate, ice cream - even normal food with a lot of sauce on them - then you will be able to eat a lot more than you should because they just slide past the band - hence the term slider foods. I actually disagree with the other posters, I have had my band for nearly 5 years now and even now if I ignore the warning signs and try to wolf down that extra 1/2 a plate full I will throw it back up again. That isnt because my band isnt working its because it is! I call it my choke chain - it yanks me back when I get greedy. The best tip that I can give you is to eat your food dry. By all means have chicken and veg - but you cant have mash because that sliiiiides down too easily - but you have to have the chicken dry, no gravy or mayo or anything else that will turn it into a soup in your mouth. I ate a lot of salmon mashed up with a smidge of mayo that I spread onto ryvitas ( dont know if you have those in the states) loads of chicken and fish and flavoured rice - but I never allowed myself a sauce. If after doing that you can still eat whatever you want, you need a fill! You should not be able to eat a 12" sub when you have a band - I know, I tried and it did not go well for me! When I could eat a 12" sub my doctor told me I needed a fill, the whole point is, as you rightly said, that it RESTRICTS the amount you can eat. I also had no restriction at around 7 but reached my sweet spot at 8.5. The band is a tool that if you use it correctly will enable you to no longer worry about food, if you cheat constantly, it wont work.

I had a kind of moving goal, my first was to get to a comfortable 168, and I remember saying that I would be very happy at 140lb. But even the getting to 168 I took in bite sized pieces, so if the scales said 178 I would aim to get into the low 170's, once I got there my aim would be for the number to start with a 16, once I got there it was for it to be under 165 and so on. By breaking it down to manageable peices of 5lb at a time I found it to be less daunting. All I can say is that it worked for me, and by using that approach before I knew it really I was in the mid 110's (though it did take 2 years! lol) and now I just weigh myself to make sure that I am not dropping too low as I dont like the way I look below 110. My surgeon talked about BMI's etc, but as I work out a lot I can have a bmi of around 20 and look too skinny even though that is in the the healthy range. I would say do what I did and dont really set an end goal, I was quite curious about where I would end up

Here are my before and after pictures, it was a long journey but worth it. I started at 210lbs in October 2007, had a tummy tuck in February 2008 when I weighed around 180lb and have been maintaining at around 120lbs for the last 3 years. I kept meaning to come on and post some pictures so I thought better late than never! I got such an enormous amount of support from all of the forum members at the time and you certainly helped keep me focused, I still miss my wonderful canadian friend green, hope you are rocking where ever you are eh? x

I am at goal now, but my DH is about to get banded at a BMI of 33, I am proud of him that he has decided to tackle this now as he is just going up and then down and then up further, better to get it under control before you have a mountain to climb!

46.1% !!! I am very happy with that

I did ok, I did get up close and very personal with my stepmums sherry trifle ( mmmmmm it is sooooo good! I actually stole it from her house and took it home ) but other than that I didnt stray too much so I just upped my exercise and maybe put on 1lb?

You need to schedule a fill! Once you have some restriction you will find it much easier to lose the weight. The diet advice that the previous poster gave you was good advice, if you combined high Protein low cal with the band then you are onto a winner.