Jachut

Yes, it can happen. I had awesome restriction without a fill for months after surgery. I had to eat much more carefully during this time than for the following 8 or 9 months while I had 4 fills. Even after 4 fills I didnt have restriction equalling what I had had in the first 3 months. Its only now after my 5th that it feels anything like it did initially. I didnt get anything stuck during this stage but that was because I was very careful. The newness of surgery and the novelty of it etc meant that I didnt stretch the boundaries one single bit.

Actually I had little stalls at all my previous long held weights too. Which means that even though I've just got the scales going again, and am only 4 kgs from 75 kilograms, I'll probably sit on 76 for months, aaaargh.

How long did it take you to eat it? I find if I eat very slowly over a long time I can eat a LOT. Its like the meal starts moving through whilst I'm still loading from the top end, lol. If you wolfed it all down in 5 minutes (not that many bandsters could do that even with less than perfect restriction) you'd have to be wondering where it was all sitting. As to drinking after you eat, I ignore that personally. It absolutely does not make a difference to me with regard to fullness etc. It may indeed wash the food through quicker, but it does not make me hungrier, I cant notice a difference whether I do or dont drink after eating so I drink when I want to.

I think overall I'd wait. I know personally, I probably could have had a TT before pregnancy because I'm very tall and dont have very big babies, they were all an average 8lb or so. So I didnt get huge, didnt get stretchmarks, and particularly didnt get the diastasis recti (separation of abdominal muscles). I have lots of room in there for babies. But I didnt know that, you just never know how a pregnancy is going to affect you, all 3 of mine were different in some way or another. BUT - if you're littler, get a bigger belly, or have bigger babies and get to the point of your abdominal muscles separating (which happens to lots and lots of women) then you could seriously undo the muscle repair and skin work of a TT and require repeat surgery to look as good as it did.

Awesome! That must feel great.

I dont, it doesnt seem to make any difference to me. I dont tend to drink while eating unless I"m having a glass of wine, and then its only a sip or two. But I often finish my meal with a coffee straight afterwards. And I'm usually drinking coffee whilst eating my Breakfast. I've only got 4kg to go to goal so I'd say it doesnt matter to me, lol.

I didnt get to do it due to Doug being away and needing to pick up my kids in Newport by 11 am. Not enough time to run 15kms and get there. So what do I do? forget about it entirely and try to drive to Newport via the monash freeway, only to get stuck in horrendous traffic, due to closure of the Domain tunnel and Westgage freeway! Bloody hell, I should have known that, I knew the route! I had to get to Newport via Flemington as you couldnt get to footscray rd through the city either, due to spencer st being closed, it took me AGES. Would have been a lot easier if I'd remembered and gone straight through Carlton and not had to wait an hour on the freeway just to get off at Batman Ave. It was awful traffic! Well done Meredith. I've been running a year and it would still take me 30 minutes to do 5kms, I'm slow and always will be. I dont hope to ever WIN one of those things, lol.

I cant eat battered flake anymore, it KILLS me. Even the chips. They're just a whole different kettle of fish (scuse the pun) than fries arent they? I know we have to have fish and chips this week with some friends down at their holiday house and I really think I"ll pack a can of baked beans for dinner that night. I had a fill last week and if I couldnt do fish and chips before I sure as heck cant now. Actually fish is a very difficult food for me all round, which doesnt phase me as I dont really like it anyway.

Once I knew I was going ahead with this, I decided to change my life from that point on. I was not so hard on myself with food, I didnt go on a strict diet, but I made a real effort not to do that last supper thing. But what really helped was that I started exercising seriously about 4 months before surgery - elliptical at the gym, and DVD's such as Walk Away the Pounds at home. I trained very hard on the elliptical - with Cardio Coach, which is an interval style training. Probably 8 weeks after banding, when I was ready to do something vigorous again (I walked EVERY day from the very day I got home from hospital) I tried running and was amazed that I could run 3kms. I think all my hard work from starting before surgery had paid off and running is truly what has made this journey so successful, hassle free and well, easy, for me. I now run between 6 and 10kms five or six times a week, I have never ever gained even an ounce, and whilst I've plateaued like most people do, I always get going again.

Yes, it is thrilling to not be able to eat more than a few ounces at a time, but you do have to eat *enough* dont you? Still, if it takes a few weeks for your fill to settle and for you to eat relatively normally, that probably wont do you any harm and might give you a nice jump start on weight loss again. If it cost me $200 for a fill or removal I think I'd wait a bit too. As long as you're not PBing every five minutes.

Saturday was a bad day, I ate some fruit for breakfast and was sooooo busy I virtually didnt eat all day. I got by with coffee, a spoonful of Peanut Butter and probably 4 potato chips and a glass of wine at ,y niece's birthday party. I had spaghetti bolognaise out of the freezer for dinner, about 1/2 a cup. No vegetables, hardly any Protein, too much caffeine. Difference is in my previous life on a day like that I would have swung through the drive through for a large quarter pounder meal and hoed into the chips, cake and junk at the birthday party. Yesterday was better: Breakfast - muesli with greek yogurt, pureed berries and skim milk lunch - brie and mustard preserved apricots on Water crackers (4) and a banana Dinner - a bbq'd sausage, new potatoes and a big salad, small glass of wine.

That's an awesome and inspiring story! Although I'm 39, its very similar to mine. I've discovered running, I have developed a real love for it, but I swear its the BIGGEST reason for my success with the lapband. It is just so important to exercise, and to do so fairly vigorously. I still have to deal with the appetite too and I think its because of how much running I do, but I've learned to do that and I think I now have a way to help me stay thin for life. I hope I'm as inspiring as you in 20 years time, I certainly plan on being a running granny too!

I think I'd like your nutritionist. That's exactly how I feel and its worked just fine for me too. In fact I must update my ticker, I'm even closer to my goal weight now, yippeeeeee!

Its been a while since I had good restriction but I have it again finally. To me, it feels like there's only 2 states of being - hungry or not hungry. When I'm not hungry I dont care about food, dont think about food, dont eat for the sake of it, and when I am hungry, I can eat a smallish portion of what I choose, slowly and carefully and I'm satisfied easily. What I've had is not so good restriction - I can eat a smallish portion and be full but in between being hungry, I'm not "not hungry" if that makes sense. I'm like my old self, thinking about what I could eat, just picking at this and that, always interested if anything's being passed around, drinking too much coffee so that I dont eat. I've still lost weight but its taken a lot of willpower and diet tactics, like it would have without a band and then I plateaued out for ages. Got a small fill, got good restriction back and its like "WHOA, where did that 2kg go?". I dont need to be so tight that I suffer sliming, PB's or golfballs anything but very occasionally, usually through eating too fast. But at this current level, I do find myself just looking at food, being hungry physically but unable to make up my mind what to eat because more things are "hard" than before.

You've answered your own question -"If I take my time and eat small bites and chew my food - it doesn't give me any problems." This sounds like your problem, not overfill, just not eating the right way. Dont worry, you dont really learn this until you *have* to and it comes gradually with each fill. Once you're filled right, if you eat too fast and dont chew enough you'll have problems, well you can have problems well before youve hit your sweet spot if you eat like that. Being well restricted is, well, restrictive! You cant just go out and eat anything, you have to choose carefully and eat carefully. It gets to be second nature though and I enjoy food more now than I did when I could just inhale it.

I didnt have problems for a while after surgery, not until about 7 months but my periods have been foul since then. PMT, pain, irritable bowel problems, just awful. I feel like crap the whole time until its over, and that's after a lifetime of trouble free symptom free periods. My doc thinks I may have developed endometriosis and thinks its not band related, but who knows. I'm also nearing 40 so I guess its all on a downhill slide from here :phanvan . Losing a lot of fat can throw your hormones out though and that of course will affect periods.

I had a real problem with breakage, rather than coming out at the root. My hair did thin noticeably in that I had no part spreading or hairline issues but it got very ratty on the ends - and very quickly too. This happened to me from about 10 months post banding. I was desperate about it, as I'm pretty vain about my hair. In the end, I solved it by paying more attention to my diet which hopefully will pay dividends over the long run but cant help short term. What I did, as I've always had dry hair, was stop trying to saturate it in moisturising products and switched to Protein products instead, on the advice of a new hairdresser. So I started using the Redken Extreme range (although I note Nioxin is now available here, wonder if its the same sort of thing). Reconstructive shampoo and I use Redken CAT treatment every single shampoo followed by a conditioning treatment after that. So yeah, every two days I'm spending almost an hour washing my hair, but I just had to. I've done that for 2 months, then I had a hair cut and colour the other day and my hairdresser said its in perfect condition and that I should now wean myself down to just the Extreme conditioner and shampoo and do the treatment routine once per week. All my life I've had fine, frizzy dry hair and this is honestly miraculous. Since I straighten my hair I want it shiny and smooth and it has a feel of silkiness and strength that I've never experienced before. I never realised that what my hair wanted wasnt moisture but protein. I think perhaps the quality of hair you're growing drops due to the decreased nutrients when you're banded, and you have to take a supplement, eat as well as you possibly can but still be prepared to have to put some hard work in from the outside. But this routine has really worked for me. Its time consuming but worth it.

I wish I could give people just a window into my life after banding so they could understand how great it really is. But I was just as scared. Eventually you just get desperate enough, or determined enough, to take the plunge and do it. Honestly, life after banding is what you make of it. Mine hasnt changed a big. I eat the same food, just way less - and I've cut out most of the junk. That's most. I do eat out, I do have treats, I do all the same things I used to do. I've just cut down on portions and started running seriously. I dont do low carb, I dont diet, I dont count protein, I dont do any of it. I just eat what I want, when I'm hungry. I have found it so easy really. I've had plateaus, and stopped losing, but I've always had faith that I'll get there. I guess it helps that I just plain didnt care if it took me 3 years to get the weight off, its going to take me probably close to 2 years by the time I'm finished, but I was looking for a lifetime answer, not a quick one. Its honestly the best thing I ever did for myself. Every single day I get up I get at thrill at not being fat anymore.

There's so much great underwear around now that ALL women can benefit from. I wouldnt wear constrictive girdle style things everyday, ugh, but for special occasions, slinky dresses etc I think most people overweight or not look better with spanx style undergarments holding everything in. They're remarkably comfortable and not the least bit rubber like. It will come off with weight loss - eat right and lots of cardio are the primary weapons, and abdominal exercises fine tune things. Honestly, I'm nearly at goal weight now - under 80kg this morning - but I have a 40 year old body, that has born 3 babies. I've still got plenty of flab. Difference is now I have figure problems that I can dress to hide, not just all round hugeness. You'll get there and you dont have to torture yourself with a rubber girdle to do it. It just takes time.

I just pretend I've never heard of skin cancer or photo-aging and lie there and enjoy it. I dont tan often, as I am frightened of looking like a leather handbag in five years time, but pre summer and for a special event, I love to have an *excuse* to do it. Early on I put bandaids on my scars but I've had two times where I've built up a tan since then and I dont do anything, if anything its faded my scars out and made them less noticeable. I do love a spray tan too.

Good girl, lol!

I'm like Wheetsin, there's both healthy and junk foods that are difficult to eat. I cant eat pizza, anything battered, donuts, burgers, or chinese foods, which is pretty much the run of everyday junk foods here. I can eat the, but they're so much work! We had pizza the other night through forced circumstances and I just had a fork and ate the topping, I could be bothered with the base. I hate ice cream, loathe it. I like chocolate but am in no way a chocoholic, I find it no problem to resist. Perhaps Cookies are my biggest downfall, I dont keep any in the house as a general rule and I dont bake either. I do keep some kids Snacks but usually potato chips which again, I dont really like that much, I dont have any trouble resisting them. When I do buy a bag of cookies, I'll overeat them everytime. So when I eat them its a conscious decision to have a pig out. Which I do very very occasionally. I can eat cookes without restriction, I could eat the entire packet if I let myself. My worst habit is just picking out of boredom, but I'm as likely to pick on healthy foods as not, since I never keep junk in the house.

I put it down to cultural differences a lot of the time, I guess I just have a different outlook being from a different country. I approach it pretty much like Kat, I eat what my family does in smaller amounts and I eat from all food groups. I really do believe though that a couple of years into the future, low carb diets will be debunked again just as they were in the 70's. They are no miracle and scientifically they're not proven at all. You will always lose weight when you cut out an entire food group, its as simple as that. It does worry me how little vegetables and fibre people are eating on low carb diets. You need two fruits and five veg per day.

French Toast - havent eaten Pancakes - OK if taken slowly and just one Waffles - havent eaten Muffins - fine if eaten slowly Pastries - havent eaten English Muffins - havent eaten French fries - just a few, then I tend to block up Pita bread - really hard, cant really do anymore Flat bread - same as pita Pie crust - no problems Stuffing - havent eaten I can eat ordinary wholegrain bread, slowly but without any real problem. Fluffy white breadrolls are a bit beyond me now.

I think its totally worth it. I have a treadmill at home and mainly just run both on the treadmill and outside, I run long distances five or six times a week. However, I'd love to do some strength work as well but I need the gym for that, I just dont have the space or equipment at home to do it as quickly and efficiently as you can with the gym. And I'd love the option to do some classes like Spin or boxing rather than always running. But the deal was, no gym fees till we've paid off the treadmill. Which is next month, I cant wait!