Jachut

I've known a lot of people that say the same thing - too tight and the weight loss stops becuase you start going towards all the softer food options - eating more calories overall and eating more rubbish.

Its freaking hot that's for sure!

Here's me, mid event and at the finish line! Its taken 10 months to get to the point of running 10kms (although I dont look very fast in that first photo, lol). If I can do it ANYBODY can!

At some point in time, hard as it is to hear, YOU are responsible for what you lose, not your band. It really does take some time to get your head around that, but if your band is giving you the full signal quite quickly then its doing what it should, you just need to listen to it. I can eat past "full" too and lets face it, we all have dysfunctional eating behaviours or we wouldnt be here, so dont think I"m preaching. But you need to get a handle on that, and modify your behaviour, and work out with your doctor if you need more fill, not top yourself up.

I'd rather a cautious doctor than an overly aggressive one. Very tight fills and having more in than the capacity of the band is not something I'd want to try without having crept up on it very slowly.

I'm sorry but if you routinely eat 2 whoppers or 6 oranges just because you can, then perhaps the band wont work that well for you whatever the level of fill. At some point in time, most bandsters do realise that the hard part of the task is still down to them, same as it was before the band. Get your head around what you know you should be doing, and use your band as a helping hand, dont rely on your band to do the work for you. Its a subtle difference but it means you dont have to wait for the magic sweet spot - I've never hit that yet and I'm 13 months banded. And plateaus and a slow down in weight loss are normal and part of the journey, a plateau does not automatically require a big fill. Patience is a virtue, you didnt get this way overnight and you wont lose it all overnight either. Slow and steady wins the race. I just cant believe you'd take the risk of doing some damage there, please think really hard about ever doing that again.

Its interesting isnt it how few people are really benefitting from this surgery. I have several really obese friends and they just are not interested in the lapband. They dont WANT to change, they see the surgery as extreme and they're attached to their deadly habits, they simply do not want to change them. They can go on diets because they know they're not really going to succeed so there's no real risk to their lifestyle but when they face something that might actually work, they're scared of it. I felt like that myself, the thought of really letting go of bad habits was quite scary. Interestingly they can also be a little nasty about how "you werent really that fat to do something like that". Like I dont qualify because I dont know what it is like to be morbidly obese. I just wanted to avoid ever getting there is all. But the band has only enhanced my life. OK, so I've been very lucky with mine, but it has not changed my lifestyle in any substantial way other than I dont eat as much when I eat. I still eat out like I did and I still enjoy it, I can eat any food, and even those that cause me problems, I just dont miss. If I had to live my life without bread, I could do so without a problem. What's really changed for me though is exercise, I never knew what it could be like to really love it - but it took me 6 months of hard slog to build the fitness to get to that point. I wish I could get across to people just how much difference it makes. But really, you cant help people unless they want to hear what you have to say, and that's why I think the band may not have taken off like Prof. O'Brien hoped it would. Many people, if not "fat and happy" are very comfortable in their ways, their habits and fatness serve a purpose and it cant all just be solved by physical measures - there's way more to obesity than that in many many cases. Sometimes surgeons I think fail to understand this if they've never been obese themselves - I think Prof. O'Brien is a little naive in this attitude. private health insurance does help of course, I've often reflected on how, yet again, I get to enjoy better health than the next person because I have more money. It should be a commonly done public procedure as well.

Ah, yes, alcohol has done that to me once or twice. Not to PBing point but whereas one glass before a meal loosens things nicely, any more and I really have to remember to eat slowly.

I agree but I also think its personality dependent. My mum's a dieter - she loves to live her life on a "routine", she likes the discipline, it doesnt mean she doesnt enjoy her food or that she's obsessed in any way, she loves to make lists, shop to a plan, eat to a plan etc. She eats a normal level of calories becuase she's a normal weight, not trying to lose but she just likes to live that way. I loathe it. I got the band so I'd never have to diet again. For me dieting makes me obsessed with food and breaking the diet. I eat more on a diet than when I'm not on one. It overrides my body's instincts, destroys my ability to make good choices when they're not dictated to me, it infers that at some point you come "off" the diet and if I do anything that's not on the plan I tend to go on a big bender. So for me, dieting is dysfunctional behaviour that I now resist.

How well I remember being that age. I met my now DH when I was 16 and still at school. I went on to university to do physiotherapy, something I had to work very very hard at school to get into as it required similar entrance marks as law or medicine. Unfortunately, our relationship had matured to the point where we were ready to think about marrying, and physio was very very hard, it required long hours at uni, lots and lots of hard study and no time at all to work part time for a little independence. I was living at home totally dependent upon my parents for money and Doug did his accounting part time so was out in the working world. I just drifted away from my studies, began to fail and eventually dropped out. I went and did a secretarial course and went out to work and we got married when I was 23. Life has been great since then but I've always regretted simply not taking a year off and having a break from study and working. My parents wouldnt "let" me do it, they believed I'd never go back and that if I wasnt studying then it was up to me to support myself so it was study or get a job. I dont harbour bad feelings but I feel they made a mistake as parents in that, I can understand it as I am the oldest and they hadnt had the experience before me, but I do believe I should have just taken a break and gone back to my studies. I've now gone back to university to do teaching, something I always wanted to do but which my family and school didnt believe was prestigious or challenging enough for my academic abilities, another area where I think my parents made a mistake. I was kind of forced into physio because I was a good student and they all wanted to see me do the best I can do but there's no shame in being a teacher! They just felt it wasnt good enough given my private education and good results. So if it were my child I'd encourage her to defer her studies and get a job. Its a bit more difficult if she's acting up, but you cant make her do anything. I also dont believe its EVER too late to go back to your studies so if she doesnt do so for 10 years that's her choice, not yours. She will eventually come to realise the benefits of being trained as a professional and may want to return, if she doesnt then that's her choice. Also, I think the more you try to break her away from this boy who seems to be a bad influence, the more she'll cling, she needs to learn that lesson for herself. I'm really dreading getting to this stage of life with my kids - its easy to say what I just said, much less easy to actually do it.

It doesnt sound normal to me - I'd get it checked out. Especially after a year, you'd think you'd be getting really into the groove of it all. Although I am always "aware" of my band in that every time I eat I have to remember to do so slowly. I had my first ever PB last week after 13 months of banding and I did feel a little mourning after that for my old life and the freedom to just eat anything without thinking about it.

Well I think its different for everybody as we all have our different issues. For me, key is not "dieting". I've left that behind forever. I just eat what I want when I want now - but I do "want" to make healthy decisions, so I eat really well most of the time. But if I want pancakes for Breakfast or some chocolate, I dont hesitate. I just have them and move on. I dont ban any foods at all, I eat bread regularly, I dont count Protein or calories. I'm nearly at goal weight and I really feel that by not overriding my body's instincts with a "diet" I've really changed my habits for the better. I'm no longer afraid of danger foods, they're not danger foods to me anymore. And I run regularly, up to 10kms five or six times a week. I also take every single opportunity in my day to be active. But though I'm dedicated to my running and work hard at it, I'm not obsessive and if life dictates that I dont go for a week, then I just dont. I dont lose fast, but that's not what I consider "success". Losing it and keeping it off are what I'm aiming for. I just havent approached banded life as being about rules. That always makes me rebel. I've done it more with a view to caring for myself and living the way i'd like to live for the rest of my life. And that means enjoying good food in moderation and getting lots of regular exercise.

Upper body for me - back, chest, neck, arms. Which surprised me as I'm pretty much a typical pear shape and didnt think I was carrying a lot of weight there. In fact I bought quite a few new tops at the start of our Winter back in May or so thinking that I wouldnt get too small for tops, it'd just pants I'd have to replace - WRONG! I'm almost at goal weight and I'm really only still carrying around the hips and stomach and thighs - typical of most women probably.

Honestly - nothing. Food is no longer the enemy or scary to me so there's nothing I dont eat. I'm also lucky that I dont ahve any trouble with any food in particular. Everything in moderation has worked well for me.

This did happen to me, over winter here in Melbourne I was freezing, I always was running up to the bedroom to grab a jacket. Its summer here now and very hot so I'm not sure whether it has passed and I've acclimatised to my lower fat levels or whether its just because its hot.

Yes, my family have benefited, but I always took the responsibility of feeding kids seriously so they never ate badly before. More changed is our levels of physical activity. My kids always played basketball and football and playstation time has always been rationed so they are active but now our family entertainment revolves around physical activity. We do so much more as Doug and I are not tired and lazy anymore. Doug has lost a fair bit of weight and has been inspired by my running success so is starting out for himself, its nothing for us to take our kids on a very long walk - for example prior to Christmas we drove in close to Melbourne, parked in an inner suburb and walked into the city to do our Christmas shopping, along the lovely boardwalks along our Yarra River. We found rock climbing walls under the freeway bridges which kept us entertained for ages, we walked all around the city and then had a big play in the playground in Birrarung Mar and then walked back to the car in Richmond, all up a walk of about 16kms. That's so good for the kids as well as for Doug and I when previously we would have driven in and parked in the city and walked very little. We also often park in Middle Park and walk to Luna Park in St Kilda (6kms), spend a few hours there and walk back. We've just bougth a tent are about to start camping. Its all good for us. And for the kids their diet has not changed, as I still cook the same but just eat less. For Doug he's been inspired by my success and has lost weight as well although nowhere near as dramatically. As the mum, I guess my behaviour was influential over the entire family.

I've honestly never had anything really bad said to me before, but then I never got to a BMI over 36 so I have never been morbidly obese. But the time it really hit home for me was when my obestrician failed to realise Eliza was breech until he did an internal exam at 37 weeks. I had too much fat on my stomach to make it really easy for him to palpate the baby through it all. He could feel there was something in there, but he couldnt feel what he should have been able to feel and would never have noticed if he hadnt felt inside and noted that there was no head presenting. I'd gained no more than 3kg for the entire pregnancy too, I was really careful. But still my weight could have made her birth dangerous and likely fatal as it turned out.

I'd say a ind of no. Most people look better at a healthy weight though - photos of me now at my heaviest look bloated and just not glowing, plus I'm not naturally that beautiful and pretty and I look way better now you can see bones and not 4 chins. I'd say I'm average looking - attractive to some pople and just not other's cup of tea. But I have several obese friends who would be beautiful by anyone's standards, glossy dark hair, olive skin, brown eyes kind of beatiful for example. My girlfriends is like that, she's gorgeous. She also has the most marvellous sense of style in both herself and her home, she's gregarious and outgoing and popular and just an allround gorgeous person. Some people just arent blessed to be that attractive and they put on weight in an unfortunate way too. Some people can be big but carry themselves well and look "together" whilst others look slovenly and sloppy and dont dress well and can look dirty and unkempt too. But they probably wouldnt look great as thin people either, kind of thing. As to popularity, I do believe if you look unattractive, you probably will face discrimination in one form or another but on a personal level I dont differentiate or choose friends based on what people look like though I probably respond differently to people I dont know. I get way more male attention now, though, that's for sure. Its wrong but its the way the world works.

How hilarious to see this post after so long - I can answer my own question now, lol. I can feel it easily, I cant see it unless I'm lying down on my back and my stomach is FLAT!!! Yay, no rolls, no sags, no evidence of 3 babies.

I've always had the motivation and desire to exercise but having the band meant I actually lost weight at the same time so it became easier and easier and easier. Now in total I may sometimes do like 4 hours exercise in a day if you count an hour's run, a lovely long walk with my DH and my kids along the beach or something and some gardening, all jsut in a days work for me. I have the energy to easily do that now and I naturally want to be active but I didnt start out at those sorts of levels so dont let that kind of thing scare you. As for eating, I've never ever dieted with my band, never added up calories or followed a commercial program. I eat any food, bread and carbs included, in moderation, just in smaller quantities and I'm nearly at goal weight after a year. It works if you want to make the changes you need to make - I would eat McDonalds if I really fancied it, but I dont really fancy it more than once in a blue moon anymore. We had it on Thursday because we always make a stop at the Maccas in Bairnsdale on our way to and from our holiday spot every year. But instead of a hashbrown, sausage and egg mcmuffin, orange juice and coffee, I only fancied a hashbrown and coffee on the way up and on the way back I just had the coffee as I'd eaten a banana in the car. Those are natural changes, not forced ones, but they only come about because you do stop and evaluate whether you really want things or are just eating them out of habit. The changes and the work must come from you but I think its actually better and leads to real life changes if you allow them to happen naturally rather than overriding the process with a diet. I trust my body now to tell me what it needs and I trust myself to make healthy decisions - a variety of foods, treats included.

Me too, nothing for a month or even two and then suddenly a kilo or two gone.

Wine before dinner works for me too, lol. I dont PB as a general rule, in fact I had my first one last week after 13 months of being banded. But I do get blocked and uncomfortable and slime sometimes and its ALWAYS the same things - first few bites of dinner, if I'm eating out, or with others and not concentrating. Which is exactly what happened this time and I hadnt had my glass of wine either, it arrived at the table late. Know your triggers I guess, and avoid them if possible. If I take insanely small bites and chew really really well for the first five bites or so I'll be fine. If I dont then I have trouble.

Sounds like complete garbage to me. HOnestly I think so many surgeons are just that - surgeons - and they dont necessarily know all that much about diet and nutrition, and they are subject to their own biases and misconceptions just like the rest of us. I've lost weight perfectly well on 1500 to 1800 calories a day over the course of ayear and surprise surprise, I havent lost my hair, I dont PB or have issues with tightness as a general rule (I had my first PB ever last week) because I dont need to be super tight to achieve that. And most importantly I feel as though I've learned to eat well at that level, not grab my willpower by its bootstraps and just endure some horrible diet until the weight is gone which I will then go off kind of thing. If I'd stuck to 800 calories a day I'd probably have been at goal 6 months after banding but at the 6 month mark I didnt feel as if new habits were set etc, whereas I do after 13 months.

Ask yourself whether you really NEED The fill or whether you can make adjustments. Now I'm almost at goal I most definitely eat more than I did in the early days of banding, I'm more comfortable with a wider range of foods, and I'm not in that first flush of enthusiasm. I also exercise a lot more now being fit enough to run 10km instead of 3. The weight is moving very very slowly for me now, it will be 2 months and I'll lose nothing and then suddenly a kilo is gone. Everytime we go away on holidays the activity levels rise (I run and walk heaps) and I tend to eat less when I'm busy and with other people, then the weight drops. I had my first PB ever though last week on holidays and so I know I have restriction, in fact I've been feelign tighter a lot lately. Its just how those last pounds go. I do notice though that I lose a kilo, it feels like losing 7 at the start, each little gram off your body makes so much difference. Just hang in there, you're already enjoying the benefits of the weight loss, so there's no need to be anxious about it or hang out till you get there thinking that THEN you'll have made it. You already have! Enjoy it, and the rest will just trickle off slowly.

The less you smoke the better, smoking dramatically increases the risk of infection and slows healing, not to mention the effect it has on your blood chemistry. There's talk in Australia recently of surgeons refusing to perform many elective procedures on smokers. Things like hip replacements etc, the plan being that if the person smokes its no go on the surgery until they have quit. I'm not sure that's right but that's how many surgeons feel about what smoking does to the projected success of an operation. Its a very hard call though, its the most addictive habit known to man. Good luck with it.