Jachut

I can relate, fills really muck me up for a few days. I get bad gas, really sharp pain in the very low belly, ones that can double me over, I always go three or four days without doing number 2's and get a bit constipated and my stomach rumbles and carries on making weird noises for a few days too. Once it even set off a severe bout of irritable bowel, it was horrendous. Then it seems to all even out and I'm right as rain. I had a fill on Monday and thankfully just had a most satisfying session in the bathroom, lol, (sorry, TMI) and feel normal today, not bloated and gassy.

That's what I learned at the gym anyway - I asked about that, becuase really, it always struck me as bizarre that people say "Oh, I've started working out and gained 10lb but its muscle" - ah, if you could gain 10lb of muscle in a couple of weeks, you'd probably qualify as Miss World Champion. Its not possible. Anyway the fellow at the gym said, no, when you start you cause microdamage to the muscle fibres (which is the point of lifting weights, when the damage is repaired, it becomes stronger and bigger) it causes a lot of Fluid retention in those muscles which accounts for the weight. Over time, this effect dissipates as your body becomes more used to the process. You can actually gain muscle weight of course, but it takes a lot of effort and a lot of time and would likely not be more than a few pounds for the average woman - but that makes a big difference and of course, the point is also to PRESERVE the muscle tissue you have as you lose weight.

I can eat it too - well I could 3 days ago, havent tried since my fill on Monday. But if it does that to you - stay clear. Ouch.

Thank GOODNESS, cakes, donuts = pain for me. They were my very worst food habit, one I have ditched completely. Just made a cake for the kids for afterschool and didnt even lick the bowl.

I just feel, well, full like I did before banding. I stop before I feel REALLY full though. Unlike before banding, lol.

Oh, not really significantly at all in those ways. I mean I feel better about myself, am healthier, have more energy to cope with what life throws at me and have a better outlook but I can honestly say I've never been discriminated against, felt ashamed of the way I look or let my weight stop me doing things before.

I think that's a good decision - it doesnt sound like there's any need to have it right NOW, and i've always felt frustrated when people say "but I can eat more than a cup of food". So what? If you're losing, what does that matter? I've had a couple of appointments with my doc where I've elected not to have a fill - but I do feel strongly that its YOUR right and YOUR decision, not someone else's! I'd be very annoyed by that. But really, you just dont want to lose faster tha 4 to 5lb a week anyway.

Oh, rain, hail, shine, I'm at it every day, lol. Its winter here now and I'm glad to see the back of 40 degrees celcius days thats over 120 Fahrenheit I think. Now its rain and darkness that keeps me on the treadmill rather than running outside, which is my real love. I'm sorry daylight savings has finished. But, you jsut have to keep at it in all conditions dont you?

Its to shrink your liver. These diets are designed as pre surgery diets for a variety of surgeries, you're right that in general its not a healthy thing to do that to yourself, suddenly cut calories to nothing and lose weight very fast. Its not great fat loss, it involves a lot of Water and lean body tissue - but its not FOR weight loss, its for liver shrinking. They dont stitch the band to the liver but the liver being enlarged can mean they cant get around it, its a delicate organ, they cant bend it and be rough with it and if they cant get under it they'll either have to cut you right open or worse, not be able to do the surgery at all.

Oh, golly, the way the health system works there and the attitudes to banding are just so darn different from here, its hard to say. I do think, if I was losing 4lb a week and not hungry I wouldnt fill but if you are genuinely hungry and not snacking out of head hunger and havent had a fill yet, I dont see why in the world it wouldnt be time for your first. Keep that loss going. We all lose weight fast at first almost regardless of what we're eating sometimes. I also think its better to creep up on restriction, safer on your band than agressive fills but that requires a gradual, steady process or else you'll suddently end up starving, not losing and take five fills to find restriction. If you creep up on it, that doesnt tend to happen, you may need more over time but you wont be left totally empty and have months to get through until you get restriction if that makes sense. Gradual fills keep your weight loss going steadily for as long as possible, before the inevitable plateaus and slowing down occurs. Will they truly not fill you if you are insistent? I would be saying "look here, this is MY body, its MY money and I want it done". I could lose 10lb in the next 2 weeks by not eating, but that's not to say I wouldnt be starving to death doing it, its the same principle, just because you've lost that could be down to your hard work, not the fact that you arent hungry. This makes me mad a little becuase to me it indicates an assumption that fat people are hopeless and have no control and that if they've lost weight, well of course, it MUST be due to the band, not due to any effort they've made. And your doctor obviously supports you. There's lots of evidence that little fills gradually are the safest way to do it. But snacking wont actually harm you if you fit it in with your daily needs. Some people snack, some dont, for me, it doesnt work, I just keep on eating once I start, and I do way better on 3 meals a day. After a fill when I'm tight for a week or so I tend to pick all day rather than eat, I do much better with the capacity for larger meals and no snacking. But its different for different people.

I've really found I need five days of HARD exercise a week to keep weight moving off me. By all means kick the ball with the kids, but that's active leisure, not exercise. Go for a run also on those days or a really hard walk - for an hour. Perhaps increase your cardio on the days you're at the gym to 45 minutes to an hour. What you're doing exercise wise is so fantastic, so good for you and fabulous for long term weight maintenance, and loss too, but it gets harder as you get lighter. Unfortunately weight loss can take some really extreme measures. salad? Calories? Sometimes I think that I think of a salad in different terms - to me its lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot, onion etc and tuna salad is a tossed salad with some tuna on top of it, not a mayonnaise concoction. Is that what you mean? If you mean a tossed garden salad like I think of it, there's no way you can ruin your day's calories with that unless you drown it in fatty dressing. Things like that are nearly always "free" foods on any diet plan.

That'd be because your body actually needs carbs - particularly when you're active and need energy. Stick with healthy ones and there's no problem.

<p> </p> <p> </p> <p>Me too. I just dont get the attraction. </p> <p> </p> <p>Sorry, but there's just no way you can drink those confectionary style coffees on anything like a regular basis. Learn to love good coffee would be my advice, the black stuff with a dash of cold milk, like you'd drink it at home.</p> <p> </p> <p>A latte here is about 1/3 strong espresso, and hot milk (skim of course!), its just a plain drink, not a syrupy creation. I love a latte or cappucino, but generally I stick with plain coffee.</p> The "Americanisation" of Australia's coffee industry is driving me nuts. Australian's love really good coffee. We are very European in our tastes. We dont want this sweet rubbish, any more than we want Krispy Kremes! Well my generation dont, trouble is the Generation Y is lapping it up and its going to take over, :cry Sorry, I'll get off my soabox, lol.

I just dug out some photos of myself at 28, and 78kg, same weight I am now at 39. Nuff said. I was podgy when I was 28, I'm lean now. I weigh the same but I have a lot more muscle and a lot less fat. And I'm an entire dress size smaller.

I think you'd know - the thing with fills is that you feel the needle go through the skin but then you dont feel the discomfort you normally get with injections becuase the fluid is being injected into the port, not into your muscle. If he missed, you would feel the saline being pushed into your muscle - it woudl hurt.

They dont generally use fluoro here in Australia, and it can take a while to get good restriction - I must admit I'd like to have it done that way now - I suspect I'm someone who could take the full 4ml in their band and not be overly restricted, and I'd just like to get it right for once and get this last 15lb off!

Oh that's so insane, it makes me so mad to hear what people have to go through to get what is their RIGHT - quality healthcare to fix the problems they have. 10lb is neither here nor there and it is utterly ridiculous to lose out over the small amount of weight. Do you have a set of adjustable dumbells - the ones where you slide the weight plates on and off. I had about 5kg of those ready to go in my pockets, but I chickened out in the end. And didnt need them anyway because in Australia we have a healthcare system that actually is fair and makes sense. I'd try to avoid gaining actual weight if I could but if I had to, I'd do it. Its not good for you but if it gets you the surgery. Lots of salt, bloat up. Eeek.

<p>Oh, I was useless, I didnt have to do a preop diet but thought I would for the kickstart. Hahahaha, I made it 3 days. I nearly went insane. No way on earth could I do that unless someone held a gun to my head. When I started fainting I thought I was justified in ditching it.</p> <p> </p> <p>I like to eat. I refuse to do low carb. I wont count calories. And I've been a 100% success.</p> <p> </p> <p>Its all about healthy, moderate eating and good exercise habits, honestly. Whether or not you can stick to some torturous liquid diet is no indication at all of how successful you'll be - but you need to try if you need to shrink your liver. You've lost weight and you will have derived benefit from it in terms of liver shrinkage. So dont beat yourself up - but try to stick to it if you've been told to.

I can eat popcorn just fine. Being banded is not all about never having a treat and you can have whatever you like in moderation, but you really do have to work on breaking food associations like that. I mean if you go to the movies after dinner for example, do you really need to eat popcorn? Have popcorn at the movies by all means but do you need it every single time?. You need to get to a place where you can enjoy a movie without eating.

those are only statistics - and include people who are non compliant, people who are older and much less active, people who dont exercise, people who cant break old habits, people who suffer complications etc. Its up to you to take the bull by the horns and make this work the way you want it to. There is no reason not to lose 100% of your weight, barring complications, if that's what you want

My doc doesnt prescribe any liquid days after a fill. I do go extremely carefully though!

I know how you feel, I had a fill on Monday because I wanted one to get down to the lower end of my healthy weight range, on my build, being up at the top end is fine, but still a bit podgy. My doc was happy enough to do it but did sort of express confusion as to why I was wanting to lose even more, he thought the fact that I was no longer even overweight was marvellous and a 100% success. I'm not someone to do things by halves though, lol, a good result is great but I want better than good. As long as it doesnt take stupid effort to get there or maintain it. You've done really well though, but I can understand you wanting to do more. However it does get hard from this point, I've had to add in more exercise in the form of weight training as well as running and am looking for tighter restriction - even the 2.9 I have now in my 4ml band isnt restricting me to below 1500 calories a day. I can eat for maintenance just fine but I'm not good at deprivation, lol. And I too found that bad habits were creeping back in but that the fill has fixed that, even if it hasnt made me tight.

I didnt do one single Protein shake in liquids - I liquidised real food - I used either chicken stock or tinned tomatoes to Water down whatever I was eating, so it generally tasted like real food, but I adjusted the consistency to be appropriate with the stage I was at. I was banded in December 05 and I didnt miss out on Christmas dinner - mine was mushed up and I had only a small amount but I sat at the table, joined in and enjoyed it as much as any other Christmas dinner - more in fact since I was able to keep my jeans buttoned and didnt need a sleep afterwards!

It feelsl like you ate a golf ball, one with spikes sometimes! I've only ever PB'd twice, but it was no burp, it was a loud ralph, lol! Not horribly painful, only embarrassing and impossible to do quietly. Usually any blockage I have clears with some (very violent) hiccups.

OK, if you dont want me to hold back, lol. I once test drove one, about 9 years ago, it was awful, but Kia's have come a long way in Australia since then. My main problem with korean cars is that here they are termed "throwaway cars". Cars are relatively more expensive in Australia than in America so that may make it different but here, you'd be insane to spend money on a now Korean car, they devalue so darn fast, they're a financial nightmare. Much much better to stick with something like a Honda, Toyota, etc. Unless you're buying it to run it into the ground over 15 years and then you'd STILL be better with something like a Toyota that will go the distance. I've owned a Daewoo because I was desperately in need of a new car, but we kept it 3 years on the knocker, and got rid of it immediately, still did a ton of money on it, but were afraid to keep it, they seem to fall apart at the 3year/100,000 km mark. I'd always buy a Japanese car second hand in preference but again, perhaps the whole finance thing is different here.