Jachut

I have had more hunger since banding than I ever had becuase prior to banding I rarely had a chance to get hungry, I just ate all the time no matter what. Now I get STARVING around meal times, I wake up hungry too. But its easily quelled with a small amount of food and doesnt return unless its appropriate. Like if I get truly hungry between meal times I would eat. I have had to work on the head hunger a lot but its disappearing month by month, it strikes me less and less. Hunger I respond to. That's what we're meant to do. I find it easy to eat appropropriately and judge how much is enough when I'm responding to true hunger. That's much harder to do when you're just eating for eatings' sake.

Mine's the same, I had a fill yesterday so I"m up to 2.5 in a 4cc band and STILL no real restriction in the way that other people describe, I can still eat bread for crying out loud. I cant eat fast and I eat about half what I used to be able to get through, but I still have to work at the head hunger, which after eight months of practicing is way easier than it used to be. I can still go out and eat a "big" meal for a bandster. I've decided to work with it, take what I can from the band and work on the rest. I love to run so that helps. It is possible to still lose steadily without maximum restriction for a lot of people and it is easier than it was with no band. I actually enjoy and appreciate the ability to have a little "break" from banded life, to enjoy a restaurant meal or a party etc. I just do it in controlled amounts, I eat what I should, healthy fresh food in appropriate quantities most of the time and if I get hungry, I ignore it until meal time. Whilst my band doesnt physically stop me eating a reasonable quantity or eating six times a day, it has provided enough behaviour modification for me and I've had good enough results that I just am now motivated to put in the work and do what I know I should. It still took a band for me to reach that stage. I believe a large part of my success is I took up running and am now focussed a lot more on running performance than on weight loss for weight loss' sake. So my advice would be to soldier on, give it your best effort and hope that somewhere along the line in a schedule of regular fills, restriction will come. Obviously it takes longer for some than for others.

We have something similar called Lite n Easy here and the food is terrific, I have considered it, yes, because its a measured 1200 calories a day and I always lost well on it. I cant take it for longer than about 6 weeks, its the frozen dinners, but in 6 week blocks it would be effective for me. The trouble is its so expensive, I just hate spending money on food.

My weight loss happens in spurts too. I had another fill this morning, and my doc questioned me at first because I'd lost 2.1kg since I saw him 5 weeks a go which is just under a pound a week. But as I explained, the only weight I've lost in the past four or five months has come right after my fills - I'm swollen for a week and have great restriction during which time I lose weight, then the restriction eases off and I maintain for the next four or five weeks till I see the doctor again. So he gave me another fill but warned me that as I've now gotten to 2.5 cc I should take it very carefully the next few days, but that hopefully this may make my restriction a little more adequate over the rest of the month. But it still adds up. I suppose I feel OK about it becuase I've only got about 13kg left to lose, so I can see that happening inside 12 months. Its a bit different if you're having that trouble and you've got lots more weight to lose. Nobody wants to think its going to take years and years.

That's kind of what instinct tells me to do too - start off eating the MOST calories you can to still lose and gradually cut down as you need to. At first I was losing on 2000 a day, I"ve gone well for ages on 1800 or so and now I think its time to shave it down to a tad under 1500. That's all guesswork by the way, I just mentally tote things up in my head.

Nor for me, I'm fast running out of time and too much running around of kidlets to do. Nevermind, I've done something every other day this week.

I wouldnt want to but I would, I was very careful not to lose any weight over the entire period I was considering the surgery. As it turned out in Australia you dont need to worry about that stuff at all, but I got all my info from here and even though I realised our health system is entirely different, I thought I may be excluded on the basis of my BMI of 35. As it turns out, you can get done from about BMI 30 here.

I'm pretty immune to bad smells, the only time I've ever been queasy stomached was when I was pregnant with Eliza. Otherwise, nup, its gross but it doesnt affect my stomach.

I went to the gym today, did 40 minutes on the elliptical at various speeds - keeping my heart rate at 130, so a nice easy workout, 500 calories or so. Then I did 2 circuits of the circuit room.

Dinners are the same as I always ate, just smaller servings. We generally eat a Protein such as meat, chicken or fish, and steamed vegetables, I often leave out any potato or rice for me now as I cant fit it in. We also like Pasta such as lasagne or spag bol or pesto with roast veges, home made Soups, lots of things out of the slow cooker including many lentil dishes, good healthy food. When I go out, sometimes I make healthy choices and sometimes more indulgent ones, life is for living afterall, but I never eat a huge amount. I like a glass of wine when I'm out too. Usually I cant fit in dessert.

Not at all. I order something reasonably band friendly - I can eat almost anything but I wouldnt eat a steak in public, just in case - and I eat however much of it it takes to make me satisfied. Nobody cares what you're eating or is even likely to notice.

Well, der GeezerSue. That's exactly what I meant. For what it's worth, I do consider that coming to the decision to have weight loss surgery is hitting the bottom before you claw your way back up. I include myself in that naturally. Getting obese enough to have weight loss surgery is not one of the high points of my life. I'm thankful I wasnt morbidly obese, didnt have comorbidities and didnt need to consider a bypass. I'd feel pretty low if the band didnt work for me for whatever reason and I had to move onto another surgery. Its not meant to be an insult, its an observation that it's not exactly a great place to be in. Not that its worth explaining that when you lot get in this mood. Or maybe I'm just missing the fact that most people are hysterically happy to suffer weight problems?

Liz you're not weird. I have a 4cc band which I would have thought because I'm a "big" person, tall, well built etc that I'd have a big stomach too and that I'd therefore get great restriction with the smaller band. Not so, I'm at 1.9 (I think) and I can barely feel it really. It helps me eat less than I used to and its helped me with great weight loss but I attribute a lot of the weight loss to my running becuase I eat a LOT for a bandster. I eat a normal size bowl of Cereal in the morning and I can get away a fair bit during the day, just get tighter at night. I can eat anything, and only get occasional blockages and discomfort and have never pb'd. In some ways I wish I'd just get a big fill and be done with it, I havent needed a lot of restriction till now but I just cant get my weight moving again now, I"ve been stuck at around 89 kilos for 2 or 3 months. I'm going tomorrow, but it'll be a small one, I'm too chicken.

Mine was a fetching shade of khaki green, lovely. The doc said it was caused by not eating solid foods - they exfoliate the tongue and keep it clean. It brushed off and the problem went away once I was eating normally again

I was really worried about this but the fact is that with the loss of weight, the reason I was comfort eating has disappeared. I dont feel horrible, bad about myself, disgusting or any of those things and therefore ironically I dont need to sooth myself with food. I just havent had the need to comfort eat since I finally had some success with getting control of my body and my eating habits. I exercise a lot too and that keeps me on a high, hard aerobic exercise is really great for elevating your mood and keeping you happy.

*shudder* I absolutely loathe ice cream, loathe it *shudder*

I havent made it to 2ccs yet and I'm 8 months down the track so aggressive fills arent something I'd want. I think the thing is that you might not tolerate the lot at once but will if its done in small increments. What's the point of being filled and then being unfilled?

did a 5km run on the treadmill. Nothing else planned for today.

It really is vital that you find an exercise you can do and do it regularly and with reasonable vigour. Swimming would be great and as the weight comes down you'll find yourself able to other things. Also you mention in another thread that you're only eating around 1000 calories a day - you're young and could probably do better on a higher intake than that. YOu might be undereating.

Maybe its just me but I'd suspect that another fill would make not being able to eat in the earlier part of the day even worse and not do much for the night time eating. I'm the opposite, can eat too much in the daytime and am much more restricted at night. I'm afraid of more fills because I think its only going to make this more extreme and I'll just end up not eating at night, which is stupid - I eat my healthiest meal at night and have no wish to change my meals around because it doesnt suit my lifestyle. Sigh. I'm not sure what I'd do if I were you, I do tend to think that the band has its limitations for some people when it causes illogical restriction at various times of the day. I guess though the beauty of it is that you can try a fill and have some out if it doesnt work.

Probably not but then who knows. I need about 2600 to maintain too and I generally eat around 1800 but I'm not losing more than 2 or 3lb per month, so really, you cant predict anything. You just dont know what your body will do.

I'm not going to - I'm going to look like an almost 40 year old who's had 3 babies but that doesnt worry me - I dont have any apron at all and was never morbidly obese so for me, the scars would be every bit as bad as the minor flabiness I have. Not sure about my boobs though, those I would like lifted and may well do it once I've returned to work in a few years time. I think for me the decider is how I look dressed. My tummy looks flat dressed, its just a bit soft and doughy when you see it bare. Big deal. But my boobs drag my whole look down dressed or not so they may be worth it. I cant say I overly care though. I might do it, I might not.

I was told not to go into a pool or even the bath for four weeks simply because of the risk of infection to healing wounds but after that it was fair game. So if you're allowed in so soon (and its only a risk, the infection, not a certainty) then if you feel you can swim, you probably can. Its not high impact or anything, just take it gently for a few weeks. By four weeks you should be able to swim laps.

You'll lose in the beginning without exercise, losing weight is mostly about what you put in your mouth. But to keep weight off and to enjoy the health benefits, you need to exercise. It will become easier as you get lighter and its not necessary to go as hard at it as some of us love to.

Oh that's great news, I did actually think about you a few times during the past week or so. Breastfeeding can surely only help your weightloss journey too - not to mention how great it is for your baby.