Jachut

I often feel weird for a few days after a fill, nauseous, a bit of heartburn, shoulder pain, and bad bad gas. It takes me about a week to feel normal again and I always get constipated, although its something I never usually suffer from.

OK, I'm not really a high Protein advocate but I do certainly get that protein makes you full longer and is more satisfying, so if I snack, I eat protein foods. If I eat simple carbs like a few crackers, the danger is I just keep eating and eating. I like the little snack packs of raw nuts - portion controlled since I tend to way overeat nuts if I buy big bags a cold hard boiled egg - I usually do a dozen a week and keep them in the fridge as the kids love them too a piece of cheese half an apple peeled and sliced with Peanut Butter spread on it. No idea how many grams, I dont count, but good filling Snacks.

My band seems quite changeable, I've had good restriction a few times, but it changes very easily with weight loss. To me that's GOOD though. I cant live with the restriction a tight band places on my lifestyle, its not what I wanted from this, and if you work the band in a way that works for you, you dont have to live like that, many other people find it a more than acceptable sacrifice for weight loss, its up to you. That's the beauty of it. But my band loosens very considerable with only 10lb loss or so, perhaps because I was lower BMI to start with.

It'll be your port

Yes, I'd order the drink and simply not really drink it. I wouldnt tell anyone until you felt comfortable but these days I find I'm very slow to eat and it starts to worry me the thought of eating in situations (such as in a staff room with strangers when I'm on teaching rounds) where I simply cannot eat quickly or the types of foods that I'd normally eat at home.

I had a chronic bursits problem in my right heel, to the point where I could hardly walk on it and it was severely impacting my daily life. I had a cortisone injection and the Fluid drained right befor band surgery which really helped and since then I've taken up running. Its not gone, I still have a problem with that foot, and it can get pretty sore after a long run, I always hobble when I get up in the morning for a while too, but it is totally manageable and once I warm up for the day I dont really notice it. A big improvement after losing 80lb but there is something wrong there that I"ll have to address.

I dont know precisely becuase I dont really bother much about stuff like that - not going against my docs orders but he's pretty much a work it out for yourself the band is different for everyone kind of guy, I never got given any more than the vaguest guidelines in the presurgery material. I can eat a small serve of muesli for Breakfast, depends what it is for lunch but I can eat a reasonable bowl of thick chunky Soup (with meat and veges in it) and a ryvita or two, or a couple of crispbreads with cheese and tomato or similar and a small banana, about 1/2 a sandwich very slowly, a reasonable salad with Protein such as tuna in it, dinner last night I ate a chicken schnitzel (which I made with a thick chicken breast cut in half widthways and sliced in half thickness ways - so 1/4 of a big chicken breast), a big spoonful of mashed potato and about 1/2 a cup of steamed mix veges and a glass of wine. On my plate it always looks like a smallish though normal meal, nobody would blink at it and say "wow, is that ALL you're eating". With my last fill now, I'm getting very slow, which is fine most of the time but its going to be horrible when I'm under pressure to eat. As it is now, I carry my muesli bowl around with me for 1/2 an hour in the morning, have bite or two, get in the shower, finish it off while I'm drying my hair kind of thing. If I had to sit down and eat it in 5 minutes, I couldnt do it.

I dont know, that confuses me too. I'm no help but I hope you get it worked out, its so disappointing to have come so far and then have it all look threatened by bad luck such as this. In Australia, you'd get a new band, no questions asked, wouldnt matter that you're not obese any longer but I know its different there.

Guaranteed to destroy your computer and overrun it with spyware and shareware is what it is. I wouldnt TOUCH this with a 40 foot pole, its soooooooo dangerous. Its like an open invitation into your finances, personal records, banking, anything on your computer. Much much much better to pay the money and go somewhere reputable like itunes. My son downloaded it without asking, the computer froze instantly. Doug took it to work to be fixed and the IT guy said never ever ever go on anything like this or download it.

This always confuses me. Flu IS an upper respiratory tract infection so I dont see what its got to do with vomiting. Stomach bugs make you vomit and give you diarrhoea, flu doesnt (unless you're one who pukes with a fever). In Australia anyway, there's no way a flu vaccination would prevent stomach bugs. They're two entirely different illnesses. But the answer to whether or not you can vomit seems to be some people can and some cant. Getting unfilled can be a good idea, but these things always seem to strike in the middle of the night and such for us, I can bet I'd not get to my doc for an unfill. The kids brought home gastro three days after I got home from hospital from being banded, I hotfooted it to the GP and got a script for an anti emetic to prevent nausea and vomiting. I got the bug, felt shocking - had the fever and chills and general malaise and nausea but no vomiting, it worked. I think its wise to always keep someting like this on hand. Since then we've had a bug through the house four or five times - 3 kids = lots of poo and vomit. Sigh. But I'm ridiculous with it, theyre not allowed to touch me, lol, disposable gloves to clean everything up, and then dont touch the gloves, straight in the bin, bleach bleach bleach and disinfectant spray all over EVERYTHING they touch - taps, toilet, doorhandles, couches, all over the outside of the washing machine, etc etc, dont touch ANYTHING of theirs, clothing, bedlinen etc to wash without gloves and I have actually miraculously avoided what is normally such a contageous illness.

I only use one occasionally to track a running route - since I've found there's a BIG difference to driving it in the car and running the actual route, I've overestimated by as much as a 2 kms in the car (since you drive round the "outside" of the route on the road, rather than on the footpath type of thing. Yeah, do an 11km run and the calories burned is MASSIVE, but really what matters is how it affects your weight and I find at this point in time I can quite easily burn 1100 calories in a run, and eat 1500 that day and not lose any weight! In fact I've done that routinely for months and months and months and stayed the same. So I dont obsess over it.

Hey! I've got my red cellophane glasses on and they're working really well, lol.

I tell you what, as an outsider from a country where we all complain about our health system but where it is really very good, your health care system is appalling. It must be so frustrating and enraging not to have what I see as your god given right. You want lapband surgery, you darn well have it! You need your gall bladder removed? You darn well GET it, WHEN you want. Applications to insurance companies and waiting with bated breath for approval for things you need is not fair or sensible in any way. I have made a solemn vow never ever ever to get sick in America should I ever happen to visit.

Oh, sob sob. I can so identify with this. I thought at 37 I looked amazing for 37, now at 39 and 80 something pounds lighter, I do look like someone who's about to turn 40 in six weeks. Even got the teeniest tiniest beginnings of a turkey neck. It makes me feel sick, lol. And talk about dark undereye circles, I had deep set eyes to begin with, now they're soooo hollow as there's just no fat left on my face at all. But my overall persona is younger looking, definitely in terms of I no longer have to hide between long boring heavy curtains of hair, and can carry funkier shorter layered styles, I can wear funkier clothes, I'm brighter and happier etc.

Yes, I find even my doctor does it, even now that I'm not overweight anymore. He just expresses amazement each time I go in for a checkup, like none of his patients ever exercise. Either they dont, or he's guilty of stereotyping badly!

Buying a new top, or outfit, you know THE one that's going to make you look gorgeous. Getting dressed up in it and going out feeling pretty darn good. Then getting the photos back and realising you look like a huge oaf compared to everyone else and you really are fat and disgusting and were deluding yourself that you didnt look fat and disgusting.

Well, nobody HAS to have PS if they dont want to no matter what the condition of their skin. Its your choice, so if you're afraid of it, dont do it. But you can believe all you like that skin is resilient and will recover, but it wont change the fact that if yours isnt, if you've been obese enough, if you carry the weight concentrated in certain places etc then chances are you WILL have problematic excess skin at the end of this. Those two schools of thought arent mutually exclusive, they're just different ends of the same spectrum. That said, I'm not a big fan of PS probably because I'm lucky not to have a skin problem of any major degree. I've got a little lose skin and would look better naked if it were removed, but I dont feel strongly enough about it to risk surgery. And I think its vitally important that you love yourself enough to have a stopping point, people scare me sometimes with how *hot* they're going to be etc etc and really they are just the same people they always were, with or without the fact and with or without extra skin. If you dont like that person, no amount of PS is going to fix it. But everybody has their reasons and their right to choice.

I run 3x a week and do a weights circuit 3 x a week - I tried Curves (had a free pass) but I'm pretty fit and it wasnt challenging enough for me, nor would it alone provide enough aerobic exercise. But I think its a fantastic place to start, in a supportive environment without demanding a scary amount of time.

I always think its so lovely when people do this sort of thing as a couple and I really believe that strength from the other person makes you more successful. My DH isnt banded and he does need to lose a bit, but we work out together and I love it.

Depends what you call significant. I lost about 30lb pre my first fill - and that was more than 1/3 of the total weight I needed to lose. But I had really good post surgery restriction for about 8 weeks. I did NOT lose 30lb with no restriction.

Lol, I was both. I ate too much at mealtime and snacked heavily too. And yes, the lapband has done very little to curb the snacking, I've had to do that myself, it will be a habit I always always have to resist but with practice, you do get better at resisting. And of course, a snack now is small compared to large before.

Woohoo, that's GREAT news Sunta. You've inspired me. Just a few weeks of being strict and I'll truly be where I want to be. I'm too darn lazy, lol.

Honestly, this is one of the most common worries and ironically one of the most common frustrations afterwards is that people feel they can still eat too much. I'm a little unusual I guess in that I've gotten to 2.9mls in my band and I'm not tight. Its weird. I dont have a stretched pouch and I dont have a leak. I just seem to be extremely fill resistant. I would say I eat probably the way a naturally thin person with a small appetite would eat. And I eat like a lady now, not like a pig scarfing at a trough, which is what I used to feel like. But if you didnt know me, and know I was banded, you would see nothing amiss. You might comment "arent you very hungry" but most often, I eat enough that people would never notice. I have not given up any food, my enjoyment of food has actually increased since I am no longer controlled by it, I love to cook nice things, enjoy gourmet things, eat out, etc. Sunday cooked breakfasts are great - now I eat lightly and enjoy it, before I used to stuff myself stupid and spend the rest of the day regretting it, life is so much better than it was now that food has its rightful place in my life. You can enjoy it, eat it but not be controlled by it. I have been lucky though - whereas some would have despaired at my lack of restriction and been unable to lose, I've filled the gap with running and still lost weight but not had to give up much. But you do need to be prepared that you might not be able to eat certain foods, this or that. There's some things that just arent worth eating for me, too uncomfortable, generally pizza, fish and chips and junk foods like that, but honestly, you associate them with unpleasantness and very quickly get over them and dont miss them at all.

I was always active and fitter than other people my size, I've always liked to exercise. Its entirely possible to be fit and heavy, but by golly when you compare what its like to run without 80lb of fat on you, there's a HUGE difference. I was fit for ME, but I could never have competed against someone half my size. But I really believe my relatively good physical condition when I went into banding made it possible for me to do well, lose weight and exercise effectively right from the get go. Its always worth looking after yourself! Being fit is about a lot more than being thin.

Yes, definitely. I tend to eat a reasonable mouthfull at a time and depending what it is, I might swallow it in little bits, but have more in my mouth, golly that sounds disgusting doesnt it? But with a lot of my previous binge foods, its not worth it. Who wants to eat a cooky in teeny tiny bites? If I cant shove em in my mouth one after another I cant be bothered. So its a good thing.