Jachut

Funny you should mention it. I"m glad overall you're OK. I was in a car accident last week where I was crunched in between two cars, five cars involved in total. It was just a hard bang for Eliza and I, we were second car from the front, but I did have a few bruises. Then a day or two after I woke with a pain in my belly, right in my stomach, it gradually spread through my abdomen and pretty much lodged on the rightish side, but I spent quite a while being terrified of erosion or slippage. I think it was actually my back as it hurt between my shoulder blades too and there was absolutely no nausea associated and eating and drinking didnt affect it at all but moving did. After 3 days its pretty much gone today apart from the odd twinge. I also went for a run on Monday night (it started Tuesday) with Eliza in the jogger but Doug was with me and I had to run awkwardly and steer with one hand to accommodate him on the footpath and I"ve put my back out doing that before. So yes, its probably just that you've had a nasty wrenching, and associated with that but it would never hurt to check it out with your doc. If I wasnt feeling so much better today I'd definitely be at my doctors office and I will mention it at my next visit.

I wouldnt be hard on yourself eating wise until you've started having fills. It takes time for your eating habits to adjust and improve and I reckon its taken me a whole YEAR for some of that stuff to become automatic. But there's no excuse not to exercise, lol. No band is ever going to make you exercise. So that is something that YOU can control and that you can start right now!

Quite small weight losses can make BIG differences to your health too. Just by losing 10% of your body weight, you can make a huge difference to obesity related conditions, for some of us that's as little as 20lb.

I went for a 3km walk the day I came home from hospital, did that every day for a few weeks and then got back onto the elliptical machine at the gym. About 3 months later I tried my first run and the rest is history, I'm an 8km a day girl now!

Just get back with the program. No need to panic or crash diet or do anything silly, slow and steady wins the race. Just get back to your normal routine. Its entirely normal to gain a little on a holiday, I'd only worry about it if you're still wearing it in two months time.

I'm the same as you, I think I see myself as skinnier than when I am. These days when I see a photo of myself it actually matches the image I have in my head, I dont think "oh, goodness, I AM thin". But when I was at my highest weight, I didnt see how fat I was, for sure. I still saw what I wanted to see. And I hear you on the social functions. I managed to avoid all reality until something formal would come up and then it'd be tears and tantrums and refusing to go. I still dont like those, lol. I'm just not 24 and gorgeous anymore, boohoo.

Cereal and fruit for breakfast, maybe a salad sandwich, sushi, soup or a salad for lunch, meat and 3 veg for dinner.

I didnt vote because to me it takes how long it takes - how on earth can someone else tell you how long its going to take to finish every meal you eat from now on. I'd stop after about 20 minutes though because after that I find the first part of my meal has gone through and if I eat slowly enough I can eat forever. But generally it depends on what I'm eating, how loose or tight my band happens to be at that point in time, what else is going on around me (one day in the far off future I may actually be able to sit down and eat a meal without my 3 year old acting up and wanting attention the minute I start) and whether or not I'm eating with others. I just think its impossible for someone else to tell you how long its going to take. You eat at a speed which you're comfortable at, if it takes too long you're eating too slow and if you get discomfort you're eating too fast.

Running! I am utterly addicted. Gotta get better, get faster, go further. I am not kidding myself that all my worst eating habits are gone, but I run a lot, and I walk about 8km 4 or 5 times a week as well, so I'm fairly sure that if I were to lose my band, I could maintain as long as I kept up the exercise and tried to eat reasonably most of the time. So its not an addiction that I find a problem in any way. It brings me great joy but it also does my body good (well lets ask my knees that in 20 years time). My sis inspired me - she took up running when she quit smoking and now does half marathons.

Halloween isnt celebrated in Australia really apart from kids who come knocking on the door begging for lollies. Man, who in this day and age lets their kids wander the streets at night without an adult? So no problem foods or gatherings yet, although Christmas is only round the corner. I've always been better at being "good" during the holiday season than I am long term during the year. Anytime I know is going to be a problem (Christmas, Easer, holidays away, pregnancy) I can batten down the hatches and I always manage to avoid gaining. Its the day to day stuff during the year that's my problem.

Banded nearly 11 months and am at 2.5cc in a 4cc band, which is doing zip for me at the moment. Three weeks ago I saw my doc and felt that I didnt need any more, I had fantastic restriction for about 3 weeks, lost a spurt of weight and its gone again now. I just ate a chicken and avocado and lettuce sandwhich on multigrain bread AND an apple for lunch. A healthy meal and not really a problem, BUT I'm not really losing anymore and its a heck of a lot for a bandster with that much fill. So I think I need a bit more, obviously I'm nearly at goal and dont have a lot of abdominal fat anymore so I guess I'm just going to have to go up to near full with my band. I'm not sure I want to though, that's the thing. I like the freedom to eat well - I have no desire to eat now after that lunch whereas previously that wouldnt have filled me up, so I'm seriously thinking about the dreaded D-I-E-T to get to my goal weight, I might do Liteneasy for a while (home delivered calorie counted meals).

Oh easily. I cant wear stockings at 5ft 10, I always have to buy the Xlarge, and that's as big as they go in Australia. I'm sure you can get 1X, 2X, 3X somewhere but generally in department stores you cant. Talls are nowhere near tall enough for me. I just avoid them whenever possible. I dont work, and when I do go back to work I"ll be a teacher so apart from the odd formal occasion, I'll never have to wear the evil things again. I wore a pair to a formal thing in July, that'd be the first time I've worn any for 5 years or so.

It sucks doesnt it? I feel like I've worked SO hard for this, the lap band doesnt make me go to the gym or go for long runs pushing my daughter in a jogger. It doesnt get me across the finish line for my first 7.5km race. That's all me. So are the good food choices and the saying no when my head tells me I want that cake. I've had a lot of trouble reaching good restriction, for me its been a fleeting thing that's happened maybe two or three times in the last year and when I have it the weight pours off. The rest of the time I have to work at keeping the weight coming off. I can still eat enough that people I havent told would never realise I"m banded. But through the hard slog of exercise, I've kept losing. The best thing the band does for me and this is no mean feat - is stopping me from regaining during the times when I'm not so good. I dont fear I'll get to goal weight and put it all back on. I feel like I've been made to really WORK to change my bad habits because the band hasnt made it impossible for me to indulge them, far from it. Those are the things that matter to me and I dont really care that much if someone else understands them or not, but I wish they had more brains than to think weight loss surgery is an easy way out.

I agree with Liz, there's nothing magic about half a cup. The important thing with the band is that you stop before you feel stuffed full, however much food that is. I dont think stretched out pouches are as common as people thing, however if somebody has a stretched pouch, they're obviously not going to get the same stop signals. But for the average bandster if it takes 1 cup before you're satisfied (not stuffed) then so be it, and you judge by your weight loss whether or not you need another fill. Personally I do lose weight on more than half a cup of food at a time, so I dont worry about how much I eat. Over time my restriction lessens, often suddenly after a spurt of weight loss and then I stop losing and its time for a fill, as it is now. Yet 3 weeks ago I told my doc I couldnt imagine any more fill for the time being. its totally an individual thing, and part of what's so valuable about the band is learning to read your body. I think you also have to make your own decisions about what's a healthy diet since I agree, it seems a LOT of doctors jsut lump all bariatric patients in together and it really concerns me that this high Protein thing is just a fashion too, it seems to translate into way too many animal products and not enough fresh produce.

Not me, I'm a cereal and fruit girl from way back. I hate protein shakes.

Oh, yes ONLY thin crust. I loathe thick gooey crusts and the thought of that cheese filled crust makes me want to hurl. Yuck. I wouldnt have eaten that before I was banded. I like making pizza on pita breads, but the kids dont like that.

I could eat it, I think at about 12 weeks, well that was the first time I tried anyway. I have no problem with it if I eat it slowly, but I can only eat one piece. I usually have one small piece with some fresh salad if we have pizza for dinner, but I'd only buy gourmet style pizzas anway, I'd have to be starving to death before I'd eat Pizza Hut. So I like pizzas with lots of fresher toppings than the production line style thing. Nine times out of ten it would be home made around here anyway since none of us particularly like bought pizzas unless they're expensive gourmet ones.

At the moment, nothing, lol. I tend to get a fill, have a little run of good weight loss and then peter out again. My doc worked out I've averaged 4lb per month, which is about what they expect. I need another fill though. I've had a little burst of weight loss about 3 or 4 weeks back and completely lost my restriction all of a sudden. It tends to happen that way for me.

I can eat it. I also eat a high carb diet - mainly wholegrain carbs though, I stay away from the processed stuff apart from rare treats, and I've lost plenty of weight.

Doug is a capricorn and Im a Leo and we're both VERY typical of our starsigns so are complete opposites - especially on things like finances and disciplining children. But we tend to cancel out each others most extreme personality traits. If he hadnt met me he'd be a mummy's boy living at home with a fortune saved from never going out and having any fun and if I didnt have him, I'd have jewellery, designer clothes and a ferarri, but I'd have no home, no money and no prospect for a secure future, lol.

This has happened to me once but now I look back, I believe its unrelated to my band, in so much that its often what means my period is about to start. I've never been a PMT sufferer and havent had painful periods since before I had babies, but nowadays, I'm a hormonal disaster area. So it could jsut have been a coincidence.

Neither really, but I guess I always have a rough idea in my head about calories consumed for the day, after 30 years of dieting its pretty much second nature. I really dont believe in counting carbs, I dont think low carb is a healthy or balanced lifestyle. I like my bread, cereals and fruit and veg and I think its an essential part of a healthy diet in moderation.

Well I usually jsut get out there in it anyway unless its pouring rain but I live in Melbourne and the coldest it might ever get is 0 degrees celcius in the middle of the night in the very middle of winter. I have a treadmill which is a blessing, a really worthwhile purchase. Otherwise, a gym membership would be a good idea.

I can eat it with no problem - the rice and the seaweed as well. but two small handrolls would be enough to have me very full and would take me a long time to eat - sushi is a go slow food for me, but still something I can eat.

I have had a few disastrous weeks myself. I think for me, I have to go back to eating proper meals, I've been picking and of course when you pick, you can eat a lot. So this morning, I"m having a big Breakfast, which is a proper breakfast. I might have Cereal and fruit AND then have yogurt. I know if I eat that lot, its a good healthy balanced meal but it will keep me stuffed for hours. Once I break a cycle I'm pretty right. That's what I'd suggest. Eat well at meals, dont try to eat too little, and make sure you have enough in your tummy to get by on so you dont pick.