Jachut

Hmmm, I agree its an average which means many lose more, many lose less. I find it interesting that I've gotten to about that level of weight loss - 65% and the weight loss now is very slow, every kilogram is really hard won and takes a lot of work to achieve. But it is ENTIRELY within my control too, its harder because I no longer have that flush of initial enthusiasm and am not working as hard as I was and its also harder because you dont lose weight as easily when you have less to lose. What I am enjoying however is that I can work my butt off to lose 3kg now and I will be rewarded with lots of NSV's - 3 kg makes a big difference on my body now. Whereas I had to lose 15kg initially to go down a clothing size. If I never lost anymore weight Id consider this operation a resounding success though. I'm no longer obese (just overweight), I can shop in any store I please, I run regularly, I swim, I go to the gym, I'm fit and healthy, my ankle issues have largely resolved. The rest of the weight loss for me is purely cosmetic. I've introduced fitness as a daily part of my life, I am no longer staring down the barrell of becomeing soft, doughy and middle aged (my biggest fear I think, getting old and less mobile). My main motivation to lose the rest is purely to look better and to improve my running performance. So 65% aint so bad, but I definitely want to be in the category of those who lose 100% and its entirely within my control to do so. There's an awful lot of people who have surgery and arent compliant - dont have fills, dont change their eating habits sufficiently and many who dont exercise, there's no reason to accept falling into that category if you dont want to.

well I think that's right - you absolutely cannot depend upon what you learn on a forum as we all have our own biases. I personally think the Protein theory is bollocks but that doesnt make me right. And I dont think the medical profession knows either. Heck, they cant even reach consensus on issues directly related to the band. Every doctor has different opinions. Your own experience is all you can really work with. Whilst I said above that I was shedding at an increased rate, I certainly am NOT losing my hair luv2luv. I've got plenty and it looks much as it ever did, and I have fairly fine hair. But I think its wise not to aim for very fast weight loss if you care about your hair. Slow and steady, moderation, seems to be the key to all things.

It can be a little humiliating at first - not because people stare at you either. The muscleheads in the gym are usually to worried looking at themselves in the mirror to notice anyone else. But if you're like me, its a bit stressful letting people pinch bits of your fat, letting them see your true weight and getting red faced and puffed doing the fitness test, lol. Never fear, you'll get through that and they've seen it all before. Once you have your program and can get working, you've as much right as anyone else to be there, so dont feel embarrassed, good on you for doing it.

I can get a bit stressed by the slow weight loss until I remind myself how much it has really added up over the months. It really is very very optimistic to think your body is just going to merrily shed 2lb each and every week for a year or more. It jsut doesnt work that way. And if it does, it has very very little to do with good health.

Or "why can I still eat an entire pizza?" I dont get why you'd even try to.

I've always eaten normally before and after fills. But I wouldnt have a huge breakfast and then have a fill, it generally tends to be mid morning when I see my surgeon so a few hours after breakie. I take lunch that day very carefully, but I've had no instructions to go on liquids or mushies after a fill. I've never had a problem.

kellie! How the heck are you all these months down the track? Hope you're feeling GREAT and everything's healing up nicely.

Hi Kat, my husband is a little on the hefty side too - he's always been prone but had lost a lot of weight when we met at 16 and in the early years finishging school, beginning work and doing his accounting degree at night, giving up sport and starting drinking as you do when you're first out in the workforce (oh, those Friday nights at the pub, lol), started to gain it again. He sits at a desk 10 hours a day, spends at least 2 hours in the car going to and from work, its hopeless, he walks in the door at 7.30 pm and he's gone at 7 am in the morning. BUT - I've learned that where there's a will there's a way. I dont have a lot of time for myself either with 3 kids and a uni degree to finish. We bought a treadmill for this reason. I can manage, so why cant he? He has the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic centre over the road from work, and Albert Park Lake (a 5km track around the lake). He could walk (or run) at lunchtime, he could go for a swim after work instead of staying in the office till 7 pm to avoid the traffic home, he could pull his finger out and actually do some outside work at home on the weekend. Due to his lack of activity, he's gotten overweight on a pretty small quantity of food (oh, he overeats but not as much as you'd expect) and when he does put in supreme effort he is not often actually rewarded with weight loss, sad to say. But he's nearly 40 and he's mildly obese and he works a stressful job and is sedentary. Heart attack waiting to happen and I get very very angry with him that if he cant do it for himself, does he not care enough about staying here fit and healthy for his kids? He insists banding is not for him, fair enough but its beyond me how he can see the success I've had, seen how easy its been to live with a band (for me) and still not consider it. But if there's one thing I know, people have to do this for themselves, you cant influence their decisions on what they eat or how much they eat or how little they exercise.

It might take you several fills to reach a good restriction level. It can be a slow and frustrating process but I've found it possible to lose weight in the process, although I've lost slowly. But I do what I know I should and get my fills and doing what I know I should gets a tad easier with each fill. I think for me, I'm happy to stay a little underfilled for the freedom and lifestyle it affords me, I want to be able to eat out and do all that stuff and it has been possible to do so and lose weight. So hang in there, and realise it may take a few months to reach optimum restriction but that doesnt mean you wont lose anything in the meantime.

I dont think preop success is an indicator at all of how you'll go post op. There's two ways to look at it, nearly anybody if they really set their mind to it, can diet for short periods of time. Its a whole different ball game keeping the weight coming off week after week, month after month and then maintaining that loss. So you can stick to a liquid diet for a week or two? Doesnt really mean you can hack it for the long haul. Or the other way to look at it is that if you just cant get your head around living on premade shakes - like me, lol - or if like me your body just absolutely cannot function on that muck, and on so few calories without doing weird things like fainting in public - that also does not mean that the band wont work for you. I didnt have to do a preop diet but thought I'd do so anyway for the kick start and I failed it utterly. I've been kicking goals ever since my surgery - modest ones, but goals nonetheless. Dont worry about it, you get banded to help you with this process and its nowhere near as hard after the surgery as the pre op diet is. And I do believe that stupid as it is, some physicians like to "test" you and your resolve by this process which is just ridiculous, whether or not you stick to it means nothing.

I'm 8 months out and sometimes my port is still a little sore, particularly after a fill. It can be a little uncomfortable to press on and sometimes sends a sharp shooting pain out if I move the wrong way.

I'd do the same, cook and freeze. And when you buy chicken breasts or whatever freeze in single portions. With chicken breasts I cut them in half thickness ways so you have an ordinary sized breast but very thin.

I get it, totally. I have been soooooooo lucky with this band and whilst I cared enough about my weight problem to have the surgery I was and have always been pretty fill shy. The way other people talk about living with their bands, well I know I could not live like that. I could not live with entire food groups disappearing off the radar, I absolutely could not live with PB's being a regular feature of my life. It might comfort you to know I'm now up to 2.5cc in my band (4cc band) and I dont have those problems. Its harder now, I have to eat more carefully but I can still eat virtually anything and I still eat enough so that people wouldnt notice how little I eat kind of thing. I'd still eat a cup, cup and a half of food at a time. I'm losing weight just fine. You dont need to give up anything. The most I notice now is the band is sometimes a bit finicky, I have sat down to eat a few times and just not really wanted to perservere. I still need my willpower at those times of day when I tend to get head hunger, becuase I can eat plenty of crappy foods, lol. Get the fill, inch your way up, for me, I havent hit that spot yet where the band stops becoming a tool and becomes something that strictly polices what and how much I eat and I personally want to stay shy of that point. But that magical after surgery restriction where its so easy to lose - hmm, not sure that will ever return (for me anyway). Dont know that I want it either.

Only when its argumentative Jack. When someone pulls up something you said to pick it to pieces. It makes me really mad. Like "get a life" and go bother someone else. I cant figure why someone's so obsessed with what I have to say. Or why they cant construct their own arguments that contribute to the debate but have to just disagree with things other people say. It makes them sound petulant, childish and not a little silly.

I've just had my fifth fill and am a bit like this now. I'm not a worrier by nature though so I dont really fuss about it. But I bought lunch while out yesterday - a lamb and salad kebab and a coffee - knowing I wouldnt be able to eat the whole thing of course, I mean come on a huge pita bread full of shaved lamb and salad? But BOY was I mad when I could only take 3 bites - it cost me 10 bucks! Then I proceeded to eat a huge dinner last night! Its become more erratic with this fill, I wasnt so bad before. But I think I've realised that I'd rather work with what I have now - JUST able to eat any food and in OK (not tiny) quantities - than to get tighter and start having annoying problems like this. Its a personal thing, but if its really bothering you you could always have some fill out.

I sent you a PM Sammee, it was most definitely NOT directed at you. I tried to put a disclaimer in even. I AM genuinely happy for those that finish their journey will a necessary and needed fine tuning.

Dont know, but I do know somebody who had Dr Leyani (although she had her op on the Gold Coast I think) and speaks highly.

Ouch Tricia. My back is giving me the sh*ts today too so I went for a swim. I think I have been doing too much running, and have to be realistic about how much and how far my body can handle. So I went for a swim and was blown away to almost effortlessly swim 1.5kms (60 laps). I took my pulse a few times and it was 150 - and yet I felt like I was having a splish splash. Same when I run now, I can chat away like I'm not even exercising yet my heart rate is 150 bpm. That's a great measure of increasing fitness.

Huge congratulations Barb, that's fantastic news.

I had a bowl of tinned apricots with a spoonfull of greek yogurt and a sprinkling of meusli for breakie this morning. Then I had 2 anzac Cookies and a cup of coffee after a very hard 1.5km swim. Then I had 3 bites of a lamb kebab for lunch, just too filling, I was stuffed. And I had a latte. Tonight I'm planning on an Optifast shake and a bowl of steamed veges. I'm on a blitz from now till our holiday in a month's time. I have some clothes for the warmer climate that I must get into.

I hate it when people disagree specifically with something someone else says. Like when they quote you specifically and then pick what you've said to pieces. That pisses me off and I've not been back here for five days for exactly that reason. Rude rude rude. Although I have done it once or twice myself. Oops, I probably just killed this thread. Sorry, I dont mean to be so grumpy. I'm a bit over the plastic surgery threads. I'm so happy for the people who've lost their weight and have to get that skin taken off, what a fitting end to a highly victorious battle. But all the "I'm going to be so HOT" bores me. That's fantastic, but sometimes it all gets so superficial. What we are going to be is wondefully happy, victorious and feeling the best we can about ourselves. Whether or not we look HOT to others is irrelevant and very very superficial. What in the heck is wrong with looking 40 (or 45 or 80) for crying out loud? Who needs a washboard stomach? Or gravity defying boobs? Those arent what make a person beautiful.

It wasnt bad before but its better now. Mainly becuase I'm not utterly stuffed by bedtime and have some energy for it.

I think it is, that whole Protein first thing doesnt seem to exist here. I wouldnt get half the protein that people talk about and I'm fine, I can eat carbs and lose weight and my hair isnt falling out either so I dont worry about it. Its an each to their own thing I think.

I dont. I prefer fresh food. I hate protein shakes.

Awesome work Sammee. How great are you going to be feeling in a few weeks?