Jachut

I'm not getting one but I've found the last 15lb were the ones that made the MOST difference to my body. Like before that you're losing fat generally all over and shrinking but after that, I've REALLY noticed my boobs shrinking, my tummy flattening and my I guess if I could lose another 15 I'd find my thighs really getting slimmer. The difference has been so marked, I'm now convinced that whilst a TT would be worthwhile when you're carrying an apron of skin, if you can wait till you're at goal because by then you've done your maximum reshaping. Of course many people set their goals at higher weights than what the chart says is normal and then I dont think it'd make a lot of difference because you wont go through that incredible shrinking that happens at the end.

For me, nothing happens. But I could count on one hand the number of carbonated drinks I'd drink in a year, I'm just not into them. When I go out I drink wine and when I've had enough wine, I drink water. Same at home, more water than wine though, lol, dont normally drink alcohol on a daily basis.

Yeah, mine are miserable. Breast lift in my near future. They're still an OK size - a D cup at goal and will probably become slightly smaller with a lift, which is fine by me.

Nothing really. If I'm bored, I'm bored, I find something to do, I jsut dont eat anymore.

Water = fluid guys, that is the biggest misconception out there. There is NO difference to your body whether you take it in as tap water, protein water, bottled water, cordial, juice etc, as long as you get enough FLUID your hydration needs will be met. Even decaf coffee can count. OK, so your body will get a whole lot of EXTRA things that it doesnt need such as caffeine (diuretic), sugar, artificial sweetener etc so drinking plain water is a good habit to cultivate. But you dont need 8-10 glasses of plain water on top of an already adequate fluid intake. You just need to drink enough in total.

For me, its normal, I just get full quickly. And I cant eat fast or drink a lot while I'm eating or I get blocked. But eating, is exactly the same for me as it always was. You cant really "feel" restriction in that way, or I cant. I know I'm restricted becuase I get full quick, I need to eat food very carefully, small bites, lots of chewing, waiting between bites or I get pain/blockage. When my restriction wanes as it does as you lose weight, I find myself becoming much hungrier, and notice that I can eat a bit more before I become full.

Not exactly, but kind of. When I get a bit blocked, and start to slime a little, I couldnt put my finger on what I actually feel but I get a premonition that its about to happen, then a sense of relief as the blockage clears. Yet I cant actually "feel" it go through, I just suddenly know it has. Does that make any sense?

I did this for a while as a home business but I'm in Australia so totally different. Basically I set up my own secretarial business, I was open to taking any sort of work, but I had previous work experience as with dicta-typing and I'm a very fast and accurate typist, PLUS I did 2 years of a physiotherapy degree and have good medical terminology and knowledge. So I just simply sought out work, I did lots and lots of work for CRS Australia, a govt organisation assisting with return to work following workplace injury and I also subcontracted to a medical typing agency. It cost me a lot to buy my own dictaphone - about $800 for a dual tape size one, and I soon had terrible shoulder problems from typing for hours on a non-ergonomic desk - home set ups can be a problem, and I certainly wasnt going to a) invest the money and ruin my loungeroom with proper office furniture. I did it for about a year but I couldnt afford to pay daycare too and it was really really difficult with a 4 year old and 2 year old in the house, I spent lots and lots of nights up all night typing. It was satisfying for me, not really worth the money as I didnt have the time to put into it to work full time hours, but I am proud of the business I managed to build, and I did actually sell it for a nominal sum when I decided it was just impacting family life too much. Good luck, I found it rather interesting, especially when I ended up typing psychological reports on people I knew well who had made workcover claims over the awful situation going on at DH's work with a takeover, lol. That was VERY interesting! Especially since people made a fortune from payouts and my DH suffered years of depression and never claimed at thing. Not in his nature.

I really dislike the standard explanation for this - when you can only eat 1/2 cup of food and cant eat bread. If so, I've never had good restriction, yet I'm below goal weight. Good restriction is, I think, when you are able to eat little enough to lose fairly steadily at around 1 or 2lb a week (averaged out, it does come in spurts I think) without being hungry. For some people, that means tiny amounts of food, others like me eat much less than they did but more like a cup at a time. Its totally down to your own personal calories in, calories out equation, although that's within reason, if you were still able to eat 2 cups worth I'd say you need a fill, lol. And when you're at the end of your journey like I am, and just wanting to lose a bit more to fine tune, I dont think ever increasing fills to try to lose 1lb a week is a wise idea, you just dont lose weight that fast when you dont have a lot to lose, and just becuase it takes 4 weeks to lose 1lb does not mean you've insufficient restriction or are eating too much. Just as losing 4lb per week in the early days doesnt mean you're overrestricted or undereating.

There is NOTHING I love more than following the progress of someone who's the same height and weight as me, lol. I'm five ten, 163lb. I'm not so bad with the loose skin but it definitely gets a bit worse, the further down mybody you go! Keep us posted and pics pics pics!

If you regularly eat the point of feeling really full, you do risk stretching your pouch. YOu need to learn to eat to "satisfied" not "full". If a cup takes you to satisfied, then that means its moving through fast enough to keep from stretching. Unless your pouch is already stretched out! Which is not likely if you've been a fairly compliant bandster and if you havent allowed your band to be really really tight.

For quads - grab your ankle/foot by bending your knee and reaching behind you, pull your foot up to your backside, making sure to push forward from the hip. This bends the leg in the same way as kneeling on it does but whilst standing. You might have to hang onto something whilst standing on one leg!

Good luck, I hope the unfill works. And you might even be lucky enough to tolerate some fill again in the future, its a very strange thing the body.

I was a bit of a joker too, you know, make the joke first, then nobody else will kind of thing. I would call myself fat without hesitation. Yet in some weird way, i didnt really think I was. Like I thought I could dress to hide it and I didnt see it when I looked in the mirror. I knew it but I didnt.

If you really cannot get this fickle band to work well for you, can you just be unfilled rather than go through another operation? It makes sense that removal is expensive too, its the exact same process in reverse, you still have an anaesthetic, recovery, need a hospital bed and you still want the best of care. Have you tried complete unfilling?

3cc, after 2 years and 6 fills. I heard something VERY interesting today though.I'm really unusual to have that much in my band and not be tight, I can still eat bread etc, I just get full quickly. I was dropping my daughter off at daycare and someone asked how I'd lost so much weight so I told her. She said her MIL and SIL both have bands, but SIL is on medication to dry up her saliva because otherwise the band doesnt work for her, she produces too much saliva which means her body can lubricate ANYTHING through and food empties from the pouch very quickly. Whodathunk it? Never heard of it, but it makes me wonder if I have more saliva than normal since I seem to be so much in the minority with how much freedom I have with 3cc in a 4cc band. But I've lost all my weight so I dont really care, its just interesting. In fact I'm going to start another post to see if anyone's heard of it!

Not at all, I still enjoy a totally normal lifestyle, I'm really lucky. I can eat almost anything I want to, I just get full much quicker. So I do really enjoy meals out, I love cooking and creating great meals etc. Sometimes I'm tighter than others and I'll just have a mouthful or two and I'm done and dont really care about that, so my attitude is different - I dont force food in when I really dont want it anymore.

Hi Rhonda! I'm in Melbourne, whereabouts are you?

PB = productive burp = bringing back up what is bothering you. First bite syndrome, very common, I suffered from it for a while but not so much now, but you MUST stop eating when it happens. Its really important to start eating with ridiculously tiny bites and long waits in between, just to get your stomach used to the idea of what's coming, if you try to take another bite, you'll be in trouble. Whenever you become even slightly stopped up, STOP. You absolutely cannot force it. I find with a lapband, more important even than small bites and chewing is waiting between bites. Wait for the knowledge that the bite has gone down before taking another. You can easily get in five or six forkfulls before you realise that the first has stuck. Waiting in between bites is the most important skill to learn, I think.

Nothing wrong with swimming! Exercise doesnt have to be in the gym, I rarely go in one myself, prefer to run.

I will eat when I'm alone too - that's why I seem to have an Iron will and dont gain weight on holidays, over Christmas, etc. All that eating is done with other people. I'm not afraid to eat in public and I'm not afraid to have a bit of an indulgent pig out in public, but having the house to myself signals EAT. Being at the shops alone signals EAT. Its not that I wont do it in front of others or that I truly binge at these times, its just being alone = ah, peace, quiet, relaxation (no kids, lol). The first thing I used to do when I relaxed was pour a coffee and eat half a dozen Cookies. I could feel it hit my system and the morning's stresses would be wiped away. So the habit, the urge remains but I dont do it any longer, since I no longer believe that if noone sees me consume the calories, they dont count. Funny thing is, I've never been a nighttime eater, my danger time is always late morning. So if I am up alone at night, it would simply never enter my head to eat something, dinner is the last food of the day, end of story. That's why I believe these things are not necessarily eating disorders or signal that you have issue, they can simply be very deeply entrenched bad habits.

Yes, fluoro cant predict how your body is going to react can it? Even with being able to see that you *should* be perfectly restricted, they cant tell how sensitive you are to it.

I believe working out is AS important as eating right. One without the other, may work for a while but long term, no good. You wont get great results and you wont keep the results you do get if you dont work out. You'll more than likely be one of those only 60% of excess weight lost statistics.

Nobody really knows. Its safer not to have oral sex just to be sure..... Well not to give anyway!

I feel cynical. I think yeah, lets see you in five years time. I have no doubt I could have lost weight, not as much as I have lost, but I could have gotten back to a healthier weight, I wasnt too far from it. Statistically, losing 20kg is possible and that would have had me much healthier. But I really think I would have just ended up fat again over the long run.