Jachut

Anything really. I can just about guarantee that when I sit and think "hmmm, what do I want for breakfast" my appetite will steer me to the easier food. It may not be ice cream but it might be yogurt, or a particular Cereal I find easier to eat and the thought of an egg on toast makes me think "nah, dont feel like that". I guarantee the egg on toast will sit with me longer, give me more energy and end up with me eating less overall during the day. But I want the slider food - the one that is easy to eat and doesnt take much concentration or effort. Its the biggest challenge of banding for me.

Well, its up to you. You dont sound OVERfilled, just like its a bit hard getting used to the new level of restriction. But restriction is personal and you dont have to have any more than you are comfortable with.

I dont have a night time hunger problem, and never was a night time eater BUT I do struggle for time to cook. I make a habit of cooking on the weekend and freezing, or getting things into the slow cooker during the day so that its ready and all I have to do is serve and eat (or heat, serve and eat). I do big batches of steamed vegies - enough for 2 or 3 days so I dont even have to bother preparing vegetables. I make and freeze mashed potato in batches too. It really does help if your dinner is ready to go when you walk in the door. Since we ALWAYS have meals in the freezer, we tend to eat very well as a family at night time.

At 5ft 10, with a BMI of 36 I was in a similar position. It worked really well for me, there's a lot of credible evidence around to say that if you're a lower BMI patient, chances are the band will work better for you than if you are heavier. In real terms this means you have more chance of losing 100% of your excess weight instead of the 50 to 70% statistic often quoted. I have turned into an exercise junkie - I'm sorry to say it but I think if you're going to lose ALL of your weight and keep it off, then you need to learn to love a daily dose of cardio at the very least. If not, you lose weight, sure but you probably wont lose it all. No, you cant feel the band. Not unless you eat too fast, too much or something that doesnt agree with you. That's the major downside of the band, food can get stuck and you'll need to bring it up again. Its not like vomiting, its quite different, it just comes up without nausea or stomach acid and is usually small in amount, but it is quite uncomfortable and you can salivate profusely before it occurs. Not somethign you want to do in public, so you do learn to eat very slowly and carefully. Bands require regular maintenence - you need fills on a regular basis and sometimes, it really doesnt do much for you until you've had several fills. I was lucky, I began losing weight right away. Weight loss tends to be fairly slow and steady with the band, rather than spectacularly fast, but that's good - it means you're losing fat, not muscle.

Whilst I said I probably wouldnt choose a band if I lived in America, there's some advanges. One thing to consider is that I find I do have to eat about 2000 calories a day to fuel my average daily activities and maintain my weight. I love to run, so I burn a lot of energy. I am thankful for my ability to manage my restriction to the level I require, because I know how poorly I feel when I dont eat enough and PARTICULARLY when I dont eat carbs like bread and Cereal. I really dont know how I'd go with something that was non adjustable - if a sleeve restricted me to half cup sizes etc, I think I'd need to eat 20 times a day. At least with a band you can alter how much you can handle at one time. Another thing I found today: Sleeve Gastrectomy Melbourne, Tube Gastrectomy Obesity Weight Loss Surgery Australia 40 to 60% of your excess weight in a year? Sounds about comparable to a band to me. And it also sounds as if its the same story as with a band - the more obese you are, the less likely you are to lose all your weight from it. So if you have to go back to have the malabsorptive process done to lose ALL your weight - are you happy to do that? Long term outcomes arent really known because the sleeve is relatively new. But we DO know you can live a long and healthy life with less of your stomach than you were born with, so I wouldnt consider the issue of losing half your stomach too much of a bother. Its more to do with how much of that weight will stay off, how much stretching really occurs (like the band and its complications, how much truth are the medical professionals really telling us about how sleeved stomachs dont stretch?) and what do you do if you regain and dont have anything left to work with? I'm glad its not me making the decision, sleeves werent an option at all 4 years ago, so I have a band. I really dont know which way I'd swing these days.

I was so worried about these same things. And you know, I believe once an emotional/over/compulsive eater, whatever applies, you always will be. The band doesnt make that go away. But obesity doesnt result from truly awful eating behaviour all the time, it results from slight imbalances in energy intake that go on for years at a time. And likewise, weight loss does not result from utterly perfect dieting behaviour for the rest of your life. It results from slightly changing that energy balance to the negative side and maintaining that for years. With a band you can do that. Will you eat poorly again in the future? Yes. But the band gives you an awfully big kick in the behind, a big shot of determination to make it work. It helps you get back on track when you fall off the wagon and most of all, your blow outs will be minor compared to what they are now. You may like to down a cheeseburger, fries and a large coke, but you simply wont be able to anymore. You will feel equally as guilty for having eaten a small fries! And if you can get the exercise going, which no surgery can EVER make you do, that you have to do yourself, that really really helps you to get good results. I'm the same person I was before banding in many ways, I tend to eat in the same situations, I have the same problem foods, etc. But the balance has changed enough to cause me to loose weight, I've gained confidence in my ability to manage my weight. Most of all, since I gave up dieting forever and allowed myself to eat what I want when I want it, confident that the band would keep me in control, my vicious cravings for certain food have pretty much gone away. Why eat an entire packet of Cookies when you know you can have one any old time you want anyway? And I discovered a real passion for running, and now a real love for being super fit that keeps me on the straight and narrow. So really, its just the end result of a thousand little steps. There's no transforming yourself into a perfect person, no need to.

I'm not being facaetious - I truly cannot understand how anyone could consider a fill in any way painful enough to require numbing beforehand. Its not even like an ordinary injection -which generally hurts a bit because they're pushing something thick like penicillin into your muscle tissue. With a fill, the Fluid goes into your port, so all you get is a tiny prick as the needle enters the skin. It doesnt hurt in the least. But - my port is very visible, completely straight and easily accessed. I dont know that I'd want to be poked at 100 times trying to get the needle in.

Lap bands *can* be complication free but I have to say if I lived in America and had to cope with your health system, I dont think its what I would choose. Because a band does need constant maintenance and a good relationship with your doctor - if you're flying in and out to see a doctor, paying $800 for a fill or whatever and thus having a big aggressive fill under fluoro to try to get to a sweet spot in one go, then I think its much more likely to be problematic from the start. Good fill procedure is a series of tiny fills to sneak up on restriction and that's only easy to do if you can drive a suburb or two to your doc every couple of weeks and pay nothing for it. But I wouldnt touch a malabsorptive procedure with a barge pole. The sleeve really is looking like a good option. I'd do some research on it. I think bands are great and when they work they work really well, but they dont suit everyone.

Yeah, I just had a glass of apple juice and it came back up. I really struggle with juice, which I dont drink regularly anyway, but I dont get why it wont go down when cold Water will. I also struggle a lot with yogurt, it takes me hours to eat a yogurt. And weird though it is, I too can eat any shaped Pasta but spaghetti! Also ice berg or cos lettuce is fine, but forget about those gourmet salad mixes. As for drinking with meals, well I found it made no difference to me for the longest time, it didnt stop me feeling full, it didnt make me able to eat more and I didnt have any trouble losing weight. But eventually, you get to a point of restriction where you CANT do it - apart from maybe a couple of tiny sips of wine or whatever. As for eating meat, I've had no trouble. I dont need to moisten my mouth to eat it but I dont cook it in ways that dry it out either.

Sorry, I've never had to "make myself throw up" either. I wouldnt know how to do it, lol. If I'm sick enough to vomit, I panic, I cry about it and behave like a complete baby, but eventually I vomit. If I'm not that sick it doesnt happen. And I would always do everything I possibly could to avoid it. I dont know why I'm so afraid of it. Its never as bad when it happens as I think its going to be. But it hasnt happened to me with a band. My digestive tract is one way too RM.

Sorry, but no. I too would love to always feel like I did for that eight or so weeks post surgery - never ever hungry, not even vaguely interested. But that went away and has never come back. I get normal hungry now, meaning, if I havent eaten for a few hours, especially if I've burned a lot of energy (like been for a run) then I get hungry. So ah, I eat something! That's what you need to learn - how to get hungry appropriately and respond appropriately. Killing your hunger forever, well, I dont really get the point in that. So really, I'm kidding when I say I'd want to be like that forever. There's a lot of pleasure to be had from food and eating and the whole social thing around it, and I dont get what's wrong with that, we just have to learn how to manage it! If you were seriously never interested in food, how would you like to have to force somethign down your throat at least 3 times a day for the rest of your life? If I have to eat, I want to enjoy it. So to me, a sweet spot is a level where the amount you can eat is enough to nourish you but little enough to cause weight loss and you're not constantly bothered by hunger, you basically make it from meal to meal or meal to snack to meal without food consuming every waking moment. But never hungry? No.

DH discovered this about two years ago. Here in Australia, our sun is VERY strong and skin cancer is our biggest national health concern. Most Australians will have experience of some kind of cancerous skin changes within their lifetime. So we slip slop slap (shirt, sunscreen, hat) and avoid the sun at all costs, unless like me you're simply too vain to resist in the summer time. DH being of English heritage with the peaches and cream complexion to match, lol, avoids sun like the plague. He also works in an office from about 7.30 am to 6.30 pm every day and doesnt pursue that many active outdoor pursuits except when he's on holidays. When he does venture out, its 30+ all over. Whereas I would only apply the 30+ if I were going to be out all day, like at the beach. He developed a Vitamin D deficiency purely from lack of exposure to the sunlight. He got outside, its just he was covered head to foot in sunblock and clothing. He went on a short course of supplements - during which time his mood picked up noticeably - he had been suffering from mild anxiety and depression and all the non specific yet very real back pain he'd been having disappeared. Since then he does make sure to get 10 or 15 minutes outside at lunchtime and more on the weekend WITHOUT sunblock and he's never had a problem again.

Yeah, but that's the benefit of teeny tiny pictures, lol! I dont "need" surgery. I also dont look quite as great as that photo would indicate. I'm a bit flabby, and I still have cellulite on the backs of my thighs. I do look like a 41 year old woman who's had a couple of babies. But I'm certainly not complaining, my skin issues are very minor and I try not to let them get to me. The only thing I would consider is if I ever manage to have a spare 10 grand, I will get my boobs done, they're poor sad empty sacks.

I have this problem too. I now see a basically slim person, although its taken 18 months at goal to see it and its taken over 3 years to forget the fat me. However, I have just as many dissatisfactions with my figure as I did before. My boobs sag, my stomach doesnt look like a 20 year old's, and the sad fact is, I will NEVER have anything other than a saggy old backside. I could not BE fitter or in better shape than I am and I still dont look how I expected to in my imagination. But overall, I do have a fairly healthy self image, so it really doesnt bother me alot, certainly not enough to start slicing and dicing myself in the Quest to empty my wallet and tighten up bits of me. But I dont know how to not be on a diet!! Its been the hardest thing of all. I havent been able to ditch the quest of always wanting to lose a few pounds. I dont know how to just be the weight I am and stop this from being one of my main goals in life. I cant really accept that I'm fine as I am because then what am I going to focus on?

Sheesh, I'm glad I live where I do! Nobody in Australia would even think of carrying things like that around, the thought is bizarre to me, to be honest. And people just dont own guns here. I run either at about 7 am or about 5.30 pm, safe times. I dont go out alone in the dark. I live in a built up suburban area and I stick to the main roads. I wouldnt run in deserted areas, such as parks, reserves or roads with no houses on them. If its late and dark, I run on my treadmill. I have a little laminated card laced onto my shoe with my name, address and phone number on it, in case I get hit by a car or collapse or something. And I take my phone in a little waist pouch. I'm usually quite vocal about just doing it, not making excuses not to run. But in a situation where you would actually consider carrying a gun (my jaw hit the floor, I must admit) then really that's a fair indication that its a bit too dangerous.

I doubt it will affect the band, its the hiatus hernias that cause problems. I have something similar, I have small hernias at each end of my ceasar scar - I had NO idea I had them till I lost weight, now it almost looks like I have testicles, lol. I was really alarmed one day when I pushed one and it squelched. So lovely to know your bowel is showing!

It totally depends. Sometimes you can eat a bite of something and think "ooh, that doesnt feel right" and up comes that bite after maybe a little sliming. I woudlnt want to continue eating, that's generally the end of a meal for me, but I'd eat normally next time I ate. Others however, its only happened to me twice now, but they can involve several hours of time and seven or eight vomiting episodes - a few weeks back by the end of it, I definitely had bile and stomach acid coming into it, it was vomiting and it hurt and was awful. I went on liquids for over 24 hours after that one- I had a fill three days before my period, lol, talk about TIGHT. I could eat and drink but not the way I'd eaten and drunk before the fill, as I found out.

Before I joined this forum a few years back, I had faith in the medical profession. Since then, I'm not so sure. Although to be fair, none of the horror stories are About Australian doctors, roflmao!! Seriously though, it seems you need to be the one to tell THEM a) what is wrong with you what treatment you need for it c) whether you need surgery d) how to perform said surgery and e) how to manage the condition long term! Our main problem here is language - these days when you visit a GP its in a huge bulk billing clinic with 75 doctors so you never see the same one twice, they are always idonesian, malaysian, chinese or indian, they dont speak anything resembling intelligible English and they spend more time staring at your computer screen rather than at you yet they still dont appear to have read your file or have ANY idea of your history whatsoever. It drives me crazy. The very doctor that gave me my referral to the lapband surgeon asked me, when I returned for a renewed referral, if I was now going back to have it removed now that I'd lost weight. And my MIL has is now facing chemo after having her bladder removed a few weeks ago, having been managed by her GP for an entire YEAR without the idiot ever wondering why her "urinary tract infection" didnt respond to any form of antibiotic.

I havent dont anything for the past few days as I've had some sort of fluey virus chewing on me. Havent been really sick but just kind of wiped out and headachey. I finished my health unit at uni last week and started phys ed today (am doing a teaching degree) and we had a 2 hour prac and BOY did we do some running. It was another of those moments when I felt so so thankful for being lucky enough to have had this journey and lost weight. We had to be the kids, so we played games like doing suicides and relay races and etc. As easily the oldest student there today at 41, I was really proud to not only be able to keep up but actually be one of the fastest and to not let my team down! Nonetheless I will drag myself out for an easy run in an hour or so, I just popped a couple of panadol to dampen the headache. An easy run wont hurt.

At 5ft 10 with 80 to 100lb to lose, I had to lose a good 30 before I could say I'd gone down a size. In that time, I did squeeze into a few tighter items in my wardrobe, but I didnt need new clothes until I'd lost 30 or so. At this end of the journey, if I lost 10lb all my clothes would be way too big. It depends entirely on how much you have to lose and where you carry it. I went down sizes much more quickly in tops than I did in jeans and pants too. Also, post surgery with the liquid diet and all, you lose a lot of Water weight. You probably havent lose 24lb of fat in 36 days. Fat loss takes a lot longer but fat loss is what makes the size difference.

My doc never set goals but the nutritionist (I had one compulsory visit) scoffed at me when I said at 5ft 10, I wanted to be 70kg. I pretty much told her to f..k off, yes, in those words! Rude biatch. She was really scornful and said I'd never do it. The averages lost with the lapband are due to a number of factors, nearly ALL of them within your personal control. Averages are a conglomerate of things, including people who are ill, people who are much older than you, people who dont exercise, people who got banded coz their neighbours knew a friend of a friend and it sounded like a good idea at the time, and people who are non compliant for a whole number of reasons, not to mention the growing number of people who appear to have complete idiots for doctors, who insist on doing insane things like trying to put 5mls in one single fills into a 10ml band to ah, reach good restriction quicker, and the have to unfill and start again whilst the patient recovers! You are in control of what you put in your mouth, how much you exercise and especially of how much you know about the band so that if your doctor is one of these ones that just jumped on the bandwagon so to speak and saw it as a good way to make a bit of money, YOU can tell HIM that huge fills are not a good idea or that you actually can have fills closer together than four years or whatever it is they're trying to pass off as knowledge and experience. You just have to empower yourself and then set yourself to the task. 100% of weight lost with a band is not unusual and its not a really big ask either, it just takes consistency and common sense.

5ft 10. I think height has been an advantage, definitely. Not in losing weight, but for me 100lb overweight was not enough to result in a huge stomach or any disproportionate areas. I was simply "beefy" or "hefty". I hated that. In lots of ways I'd far rather have been petite and round. But I dont have to deal with lose skin now and for that I'm very glad.

I'd take some professional advice on it. Havent had PS, dont really plan to but I can tell you the last 20lb changed my entire body WAY more than the first 80. The only think I'd do is my boobs, and believe me, 20lb ago, they still looked like they had, only a little smaller. Since then they've completely and utterly deflated. I now need to be looking at a lift and implant rather than just a lift. I dont particularly want to restore the size, as I find a C perfect, but I need the implant to fill out the stretched out skin on the tops of them. So for me personally, I'd say wait but I know loads of people have found tummy tucks a different thing and it of course depends on your problem in the first place.

Oh, dresses and skirts are great to buy for this reason! I have skirts that are a size 10 - a US 6 - and that gives me a real thrill. I could never in a million years squeeze my ass into a size 10 pair of jeans!

I would say 4 sizes too, here in Austalia. We dont have junior, misses etc. There's kids clothes and adult clothes. Some jeans chains do 12, 13, 14, 15 etc. But our sizes generally start at an 8, occasionally a six, which is about the equivalent to a 2 or so. So when I say I'm a size 12, in your terms its really about an 8. I really really want to come to the states just to go shopping for clothes with an 8 on the label, since that size is TINY here. Not something a big 5ft 10 clod like me would ever get into,, and if I did, I'd probably need to be hospitalised.