Jachut

When I was pregnant I dreamed about being kids running round out in the street outside our house. My sister was chasing the neighbours' black labrador Buffy. Buffy had a ring of fire like a halo above his ears and was running round having a great time, going 'WOOF". My sister was laughing like a maniac and shooting fireballs from the end of her index finger at the dog. I was frantic, trying to stop her, but my legs wouldnt run and she couldnt hear my voice. Then our cat, Rocky, walks into the picture with a huge hole in the top of his head, his brain showing. All of a sudden I realised I was pregnant and began sobbing "what kind of a world am I bringing this baby into". Then I woke up and tears were streaming down my face and I had to just have a huge cry because all the emotions were real even though I knew I'd woken up and it was just a dream. Bizarre. I also always have dreams where I'm driving along a road in a car a bit like Chitty Chitty bang bang and there's an enormous HUGE hill, so steep that it's at a right angle to the ground, straight up. As we drive up it I can feel the car beginning to fall away from the road, because of course a car cannot drive up a hill which is perpendicular to the ground! The fear I feel as I realise the car is simply going to fall backwards when we are literally miles in the air is horrible, then I wake up, with my heart pounding. Lots of naked dreams too, naked at work, naked at school. But I havent had one of those for years.

Oh, boy, it hasnt been a great week for me, lol. This isnt typical though. Breakfast - we had a big cooked breakie because the boys had two friends over to stay. I didnt overeat, but had 1 rasher of bacon (lean only), one dry fried egg and half a croissant with apricot jam. Lunch - some almonds (maybe 1/2 cup) and some dried mango - six or seven pieces and a bit later a cup of pumpkin soup Afternoon: - went to the movies to see DaVinci code. I ate popcorn out of Ewan's tub. A few handfuls, plus a diet coke. No dinner, but I just ate the other half of the croissant I had for breakfast - sans jam this time. Not to self: Croissants OUCH. Its weird because a few days like the last 3 prior to my band and I would have eaten large quantities of everything. Now I still feel like I pigged out but when I add it up, I really havent. Probably wont lose much this week (weigh in on Monday mornings) though.

I definintely find that if I eat "harder" to eat foods like bread, then I get fuller more quickly and stay full for simply ages. This is my own personal non proven, non medically sanctioned theory on band management 101: I think that the sweet spot is actually the spot which still allows you to eat these foods, not the spot at which you eat so little food in total that you lose weight. Personally I think what you're aiming for is a spot where if you eat a meal say consisting of a piece of steak and some steamed veges or a salad sandwich, you'll get full quickly and stay full. If you PB on that you're too tight. If to get those foods in you have to resort to eating easier forms of them, then you're a bit too tight and are really "eating around your band". of course when your band is loose enough to allow you to eat steak and bread, you may also be able to eat too much of easier to eat foods. Its just up to you not to. If you elect to have your band tight enough that you can not eat steak or bread and cannot overeat easier to eat foods you are placing yourself at risk of complications such as slippage or erosion. Please everybody dont let this start a war. Its just how I see it and choose to approach it for myself. Like I said its not medically proven or anything (and makes no concession to just how sensitive some people's bodies are to their bands), just how I choose to use my band. Feel free to disagree!

I havent lost cup size either in over 40lb. Just back size. In fact, becuase I had to go down to a 16 in the back from a 20, I actually went from a DD cup to an E. That sounds like HUGE bosoms, but I'm pretty tall and medium build so they really dont look particularly big. And they dont get in my way terribly much, no neck, shoulder problems etc.

Oh thank goodness they've found it Dody. Good luck, hope you're in a much better place soon.

I would have spoken up in that situation but I"m a big mouth. I would have said really loudly "EXCUSE ME! Did you MOO at me?" So that everyone else could hear. The I would have said "I may be fat, but you are ugly. At least I can go on a diet". Then I would have gone to the toilets and cried.

I did 3 weeks liquids, 2 weeks mushies.

What scars Donna? Where are they? They look incredibly good. My port scar is much larger than yours, its still quite purple, but I noticed the other day that the little ones have started losing the pigmentation and are now colourless along tiny segments, so no doubt soon they will be unnoticeable. But I think it'll take a year or two for the port scar. I think time is the biggest factor to be honest. Although I thought of trying that silicon stuff, that you lay on the scar to flatten it out.

Yeah, but what do you do when one headlight stares straight ahead and the other stares at the floor, lol? I have to be careful never to get cold in public!

Restriction seems to work on me by deadening my appetite but I dont feel nausea with it. I just have little interest in food so therefore its easy to just eat a tiny meal. I dont seem to feel the physical stop signals that others talk about very often. June 1 is pretty close, I'd reschedule. My fills have been more like 2 months apart. But that's just what I'd do.

Breakfast - raisin toast - with butter again Lunch - hehe, 3 hot chips and a dim sim (at basketball) and then later on some dried mango and almonds Dinner: a slice of corned silverside, cheese sauce, broccoli and carrots and mashed potato and a nice glass of sav blanc. Doug's parents came for dinner. I passed on the ice cream for dessert. I also replaced a few cups of coffee with peppermint tea today.

I'd be right on the phone too.

I reckon if you're a B cup odds are they wont fare too badly as you cant have that much fat in there anyway. Spare a thought for me - DD's and have breastfed 3 babies for a total of over six years! They werent that great before I got fat and had kids. One is bigger than the other too. But hey, they look OK trussed up, and I'm not going to be walking around topless in public anytime soon. I can always get a lift I guess, which I might just do. I dont hate them, even though they're far from perfect. They've served me pretty well, did what they were supposed to do and they look as good as anyone else's. I dont view this as something that I have to come out the other end of looking perfect. I'm 38, I've had 3 kids and I dont mind looking like it. I dont need to look 20 anymore, I've got way more to offer than I did when I was 20 in so many more ways.

See, that would indicate to me that there's something not right and i'd be having it checked out. When the band is working properly everyone will have certain problem foods but it shouldnt be like you are describing.

Like a thermal undershirt.

Ok, so you need a winter coat for wearing to Aussie Rules footy matches in the dead of winter. Last year my cord jacket wouldnt zip up. Tonight I wore it as Fraser had a night game. It zips up with room to spare now of course. But underneath it I also fitted two long sleeve Tshirts, a spencer AND a denim jacket, plus a scarf round my neck tucked down the front, lol. And it was still loose enough that I got a cold breeze up my tummy. Gawd, it was bloody freezing. Eliza and I had to sit in the car and watch from the edge of the oval. Ridiculous, anyone who's ever seen a game of Aussie Rules will know that the poor kids were out in 9degrees celcius wearing sleeveless jerseys and tiny shorts, and that's all.

Havent seen or heard of it over here. My oldest son is a little chubby at the moment, but I have the feeling he's about to shoot up, and he's going to be a BIG boy, his dad is 6ft 3 and I think he may be going to be taller than that. I just try to encourage lots of organised sport, both boys play basketball twice a week and Aussie Rules during the winter, they have an hour or so of sport a day during school too - either formal PE or the lunchtime heroes competition where they play footy, soccer, bombadier (dont ask me what this is) etc. And I just dont have junk in the house.

Stick with it MelAnne, you really get fitter so much more quickly and Spinning is a great way of getting in some really intense aerobic exercise for the overweight, without much risk of injury. You couldnt work out with that much intensity in a fully weightbearing exercise like you can on a bike. But the sore bum, oh yeah, those seats are HARD Think of how great it is to encourage kids to enjoy activity like this too! I love to take my 10 year old on a short run with me.

OK, since I only post here when I've eaten good things, I'll be totally honest about today. Freaking disaster, lol. Not a lot in quantity, less than usual but horrible choices. Breakfast - 2 pieces of raisin toast with butter Grazed during the day on a pack of Maltezers. Fundraising chocs from the kids school. dinner - half a bag of hot chips at the footy. Not one single fruit or vegetable!

Best of Luck!

I guess that what the docs say are only guidelines and everybody heals at different rates. Perhaps take it a touch more slowly, make sure your food is very mushy and eat little and often, not a larger amount in one sitting?

Ok, I found your other thread. Those are the exact issues that bothered me - the social aspect of food. I really didnt want to give up the legitimate enjoyment that eating brings to my life. Family celebrations, weddings, parties, dinners out with friends etc. It just wouldnt be much of a life without those things. To be honest, I didnt find very much amongst support forums to assure me that life would be relatively normal after banding, and the accounts of Protein first, no bread, and what I felt was a marked lack of fresh fruit and vegetables in everyone's diets made me decide it wasnt for me. I really felt that on the whole, the typical bandster diet was not something I wanted to live on - both for my health and social reasons. It was actually going to the surgeon's information night and getting some information on how they view it here in Australia that was my turning point. I'm not disrespecting or dissing what anyone's doctor has told them to do but I have discovered they dont do it the same way here and yet we still get the same results. The people I heard speak at 2 information nights by 2 different surgeons all recounted perfectly normal lives where they ate socially still, had a few problem foods to avoid maybe, but overall they just ate less and lost weight. That's how its been for me too. There has been no disruption to my lifestyle at all as a result of this procedure. I've lost weight, slowly and steadily. I dont have any problem foods, and I love eating out and eating with family. It hasnt affected my family other than what I choose to buy and prepare is healthier these days. I havent had to eat the "typical" bandster diet - its important to remember that you have control over your fill level. I can consume a normal size meal for a small eater - nobody's eyes pop at the lack of food on my plate! Its small enough for me to lose, but totally normal compared to what many people eat. People that dont overeat that is. I eat plentyt of fibre since I still eat wholegrain breads, cereals, fruit, vegetables, meat, I love sushi and have it often. Some foods are hard to eat, I normally know within a bite or two that its not going to be great and leave it on my plate. I have had to eat less things like cakes, muffins and stuff like that that I used to love, but when it becomes hard work and uncomfortable to eat these things you give them up easily and I dont miss them. The anticipation of missing them was worse. I've been extraordinarily lucky though, I think I'm in a minority with how easy I've found this but I too just had to take the plunge without knowing that that's how it would be. People can find their eating very limited and restricted but chances are youll fall somewhere on middle ground and it'll be OK. Nearly everyone here enjoys eating out and the like occasionally. As to losing friends - well I dont have people in my life that are that shallow fortunately. My friends are nearly all very long term friends that I've had for over 20 years, they loved me before and they love me still. Even my one or two girlfriends who have very serious weight problems have not been snarky or envious or jealous, just supportive. Now alluding to things that have gone on here where people (me incuded)have gotten their noses out of joint recently because of people speaking the truth about the downsides of the band and seeming negative- here would be a really good place for people to do that, to give you realistic expectations. I dont think I'm a good candidate since I'm having an utterly charmed run.

I've honestly never faced discrimination over my weight, but at my highest I was no more than 80lb overweight - given I'm tall that's fat for sure but I always blended in with people in general since these days more than half the population is overweight. However, had I wanted to return to receptionist type work over the past few years rather than stay home with kids, I'm pretty sure I'd have not gotten jobs based on the way I looked. Mainly because I just couldnt pull together that efficient, groomed look when I felt sloppy and fat and poorly dressed.

I think you'll find they're as many and varied as are everyone's personalities. What works for me - not dieting. Eating when I'm hungry till I'm not hungry and within reason eating whatever I feel like eating. Even if its not the healthiest choice. I've lost fairly steadily and I find I no longer think about food and what I am/am not going to eat, every second of the day. And I believe in the benefits of doing more than just walking round the block and getting into some real blood pumping, sweat inducing stuff both for weight loss and your mood/outlook. Although obviously that's one to tackle in stages as you feel able.

I think there's always room for your favourite indulgences personally. As long as you dont overdo it. I, on the other hand have a massive coffee habit, although not rich milky ones generally. I've been resistant to cut down for many years, but now nearing 40, I'm starting to become aware of some small signs of aging and think I could use a little less caffeine and a bit more Water. But once a week? Enjoy it!