Jachut

I think I'd find clear liquids only would have me starving hungry too, fill or no fill. You can do it after surgery because you're swollen and recovering and you wouldnt have a huge appetite anyway at that point. But after a fill, its not the same, I've never felt restriction in the same way that I feltt that swollen artificial restriction. I still have an appetite and get hungry. My doc doesnt require any change to eating habits before or after fills so I just eat normally and I guess I'd find out soon enough if I overdid it. But if you're on clear liquids, good on you for sticking with it, but dont be suprised to feel you could chew the ass out of a low flying duck. I'd say that's pretty normal.

The plateaus really suck and there seems to be no rhyme or reason for them. You cant anticipate them and you dont know when they're going to end or why they happen. As long as you stick to your diet, do your exercise, you just have to learn not to rely on what the scale says every day. Its evil and we shouldnt weigh daily but most of us do. I've had the same thing recently. I'm due back to the doc on Friday for a checkup and I feel I've lost a fair bit of restriction, but in actual fact its there if I choose to look for it properly and not cheat it with easy to eat foods. Up until Sunday I'd lost nothing all the entire month since I last saw him. Suddenly, despite an huge mothers day weekend involving lots of chardonnay and several pizzas (not all down my gob), not to mention a bang up Breakfast of bacon, eggs, danishes, I've suddenly dropped a kilo. What's even weirder is that since the weekend I appear to have dropped an entire dress size. Its insane. Dont try to figure it out, just have faith that it works over the long term and every day, heck even week to week fluctuations just dont reflect the true picture.

1. Weight when banded 245 2. Study duration 5 months 3. Percentage of meals where you drank during the meal or within 2 hours after the meal 100% 4. Average minutes per week you exercised during the study period 200 5. Number of fills you received during the study period 2 6. Regularly used diet drugs during your study period (yes/no)? no 7. Race Caucasian 8. Weight loss during the study period (in pounds) 44

I've got a 9.75cm, 4cc band. I've been happy. I dont know for sure that there's any real hard data or proof of the advantages of one band over another in terms of problems such as erosion etc. So I'd always choose a 4cc band becuase it's quicker and easier to get to optimum restriction - although I'd be realistic that my doctor may need to place the larger band if my stomach was bigger, fatter, more muscular or whatever.

Now caffeine addiction is one I have no intention of fighting, lol! It doesnt make you fat so I dont care. I'm not sure whether you actually live longer without coffee anyway or whether it just feels that way.

I wouldnt call myself an emotional eater but a stress eater, yep, for sure. But it must be sugar. One of my worst habits was the morning run around, getting kids off to school, fighting about signing notices, picking up their dirty clothes, makign their beds, eating their darn Breakfast, getting into the freaking car NOW, all whilst keeping a 2 year old happy, and running late to boot. I used to get home and inhale a packet of biscuits and a few coffees. I'd feel that sugar hit my bloodstream and it was like a drug, I'd feel caaaaaaaaaalm and restored somewhat, ready to get on with the day. Either that or I'd head straight to the shops for a huge latte and a big big muffin. My head still leads me in that direction, but I've broken what I'm sure was a true addiction and I can easily say no to it these days. I just have the coffee instead.

Huge difference - neck, shoulders, your arms dont stick out away from your body anymore, you dont have the upper belly overhang any longer, and the back views show the change even more clearly. By the way you have great legs and beautiful skin! I wish I'd taken some before shots. I never wanted to but now I'd love to compare. I do have ordinary photos and I can see my face looks a lot different.

Hehe, now I've completed a race I feel I can call myself a "runner". I just did my first fun run, finished 4kms in 29 minutes, about halfway through a pack of 12,000 people or so. I was so elated, I've worked hard and I never ever thought I'd be able to run ever again. A year ago I felt like I was staring down the barrel of middle age as my 30's draw to a close, I was depressed, I looked like shite and I felt like shite. It was one of my big goals to run again but I didnt know if I ever would be able to with my ankle, which actually hasnt given me a moment's trouble. I used to run a bit when I was around 20 but this was my first ever race and I"m training for the next one in a month. I'm going on the circuit, lol, want to build up to 10km races, although I'm not sure I'll ever do a half marathon. This honestly means MORE to me than any amount of improvement in my appearance. Anyone else caught the bug?

The best thing about the band though is that whilst you may struggle to get on top of destructive habits at times and you stop losing, its really hard to gain significant weight. A bit of a breather doesnt matter, you can always get back on that bike. It doesnt fix your head and we all need to work on that.

Apart from fitting into a certain size, which I dont think is so terribly important, I'm halfway to my goal weight and have achieved EVERYTHING I wanted to achieve with this band. I have my health back, I have a healthy outlook, I look much better and plenty "good enough", I am running again, if I never lost another ounce I"d be so so glad I did this.

I feel like responding so that at least you know someone has read what youve said and thought about it. It really is a head space thing. The band works if you use it properly but you already know that. I dont think seeing a shrink would be a bad move, becuase its not YOU that's a lazy fat loser, its just that your attitude needs resetting. Your puppy is only young, he needs training, he will be able to walk with you eventually. In fact that's your responsibility now you've bought him, you are going to have to do it. Start with small outings (even if you have to carry him) and he'll get his nerve eventually. Not that I know anything about dogs. And could you keep some old shoes in the backyard so it doesnt matter what you step in? As to working out on your day off - well it depends how you look at it. It's not a punishment you know, its doing something good for yourself.

I know, I'm just so excited that I achieved this. Being able to run to me is the true marker of this band's success, well MY success. People look at me like I"m nuts for being so thrilled with this. They say "run and fun dont belong in the same sentence". They dont know what they're missing out on!

I voted Tankini, although more likely board shorts and a bikini top or similar. My top half is quite showable, its just the flabby bum that needs hiding.

I get the bandster Protein thing, protein is important and it makes you feel more satisfied. I get the thinking behind low gi eating - that white sugary processed carbs are poison for your body and we just dont need em. I think cutting out processed food and replacing it with wholegrains is a great thing. But I really am very anti low carb diets like Atkins. There is no scientific evidence that supports this way of eating and the reasoning in the books etc has never been proven. You're right in that it's high fat and its likely to do your body damage in the long run. Your body needs carbs to function efficiently and ALL excess calories you eat, in whatever form are stored as fat, not just carbs. I think you're sensible in your approach to keep your eating relaxed and not get so carried away with a program that you get fed up with it. In the long run it really just comes down to calories in versus calories out and when you stop losing it really only means one of two things - that you've hit a natural plateau which will eventually pass or that you're ready for another fill because you've started eating enough or your body's energy needs have dropped enough that the calories in/out balance needs redressing.

Ok - I've just had a good feel between my breats, lol, and its all bone there. There's nowhere soft to put it - do they put it lower down on the centre of your tummy or on your breastbone?

Mine is about 3 inches about my belly button and about 2 inches to the left, pretty typical placement. Its never ever been a problem to me, I've actually only felt it once or twice when I've leaned over the kitchen bench. It doesnt come anywhere near the waistband of anything I own but I wouldnt wear anything with a fly longer than about 4 inches anyway, lol. No nana pants here!

My husband had his reservations but said he would support me all the way with what I wanted, so I would have gone ahead and done it. But he came to the doctor with me and to the information evening and it kind of helped him feel better. But I nearly went insane with all the "you've done it before, you can do it again" comments. That's not a reason. If you've done it before and are here now considering surgery then you havent been successful have you? I'd also rather have a lap band round my stomach than stents in my arteries. He sounds like he has only your best interests at heart but his fears are pretty much unfounded and no different to what we all think about ourselves. It really is your decision in the end. For myself personally, I thought I was kidding myself if I thought that this time would be the time I would succeed. It just wasnt ever going to happen.

Sigh, plenty of skinny women choose bad men and get treated badly too. I honestly dont think size is the issue, everybody has their own unique beauty and there's plenty of people around who can see that. You dont want a man who would find you repulsive when overweight and love you when you're thin anyway. That's shallow and stupid. And any man who would be with you even though he found you unattractive has his own issues to deal with and isnt worth your time. You need to be fussier. You dont have to take crap because you're overweight and that's the truth. Its so so sad to be lonely but its better than being in a bad relationship. People of all shapes and sizes have trouble finding love and nobody can really tell you where to find it, just hope for you that you're lucky and you come upon it one day when you're least expecting it. I was lucky, I found my hubby when I was 16, he lived only a street or two away and I met him through another friend. We started a teenage courtship, stayed together and married seven years later and have now been married for 15 years. We've never really had hard times, I've been blessed. Remain open to it, treat yourself with respect and dont waste your time on bad people.

Yeah, takeaway at six weeks out would have been difficult. It really does get much easier. I find too, I just dont care that much now. Its only food. I dont care if it goes to waste because I dont eat it and I enjoy what I can fit in more, not worry about not enjoying what I cant eat.

I wasnt given guidelines on portions, my doc's idea being that you eat when you're hungry until you're not hungry being the goal. Which is pretty much what I do, so I never feel deprived. I've lost 20kgs with no dramas, however I've lost only about 1kg in the last month, and I feel I'm eating a bit more than I was a month ago, so I need another fill. That's about as detailed as I get when measuring, I'm not filling myself to achieve a goal "portion" but to achieve a state where eating to satsifaction leads to weight loss. At the moment, I can eat about as much as an adult "small" eater. Nobody would notice I wasnt eating a lot. I had a small bowl of Cereal and a tub of yogurt for Breakfast, that makes me full, I can eat a sandwich and a piece of fruit for lunch, that makes me full. I can eat a smaller dinner, I seem to be tighter in the evening, a piece of fish or chicken about the size of a casette tape and some salad or half a plate of steamed veges will do me. However I also tend to have a little something in the afternoon - and I can eat quite a bit when I'm out or celebrating something. All this is adding up to not a lot of weight loss at the moment, so I need to have just a teensie bit off that.

Sounds like a rather stupid comment to me, if you need a fill at 6, why on earth would you wait till 12. What would you have to gain by that, apart from weight? I wouldnt have a fill I didnt particularly need but it sounds like she's talking crap to me.

I ran in my first fun run this morning! Its mothers day in Australia, I ran in the mothers day classic, the proceeds go to breast cancer research. I ran the 4km run in 29 minutes, my sister came down from Sydney to do it with me (even though she could have done in in Sydney) did the 8km in 38 minutes. I'm hooked! Training for this run has kept me focussed and motivated and gotten me through that initial six weeks where you tend to drop out of execise programs. I'm doing my next race, a 5km on June 18, the "Run to the G" which goes from Federation Square in Melbourne to the MCG (our big cricket ground). Cant wait. Now I have a reason to train harder and add a kilometre to my distance.

I'm halfway, have about 40lb to go, so who can really be sure, but I have a relatively flat stomach now, its not saggy or loose or spare at all - and i"ve had 3 babies. I dont have any stretch marks. I'll eat my hat if I need a tummy tuck, its always been pretty much the last place I gain weight and whilst I've never had a washboard flat stomach, its fine as it is. I wasnt that overweight (less than 80lb) and wasnt that fat for very long either and I'm also only 38. My boobs are a different story but they're not really worse than they were before, I've always been large breasted and that means saggy, particularly as I've breastfed for 6 years in total. I may get a lift but I dont know that its certain I will, they look OK trussed up when I'm dressed and I dont really care that much to be honest, how many people am I going to be parading round naked in front of? You can buy so much swimwear with underwire these days too.

Its nearly impossible when you see yourself every day. I only know I'm different because I fit into smaller clothes. I see an improvement when I look in the mirror but I've changed my hair significantly, had it straightened, and I cant pick what's making the difference kinda thing. Went to my nieces birthday party, and saw some of my sisters friends whom I wouldnt have seen for 12 months and noticed the female half of all 3 couples checking me out surreptitiously, lol. They kept looking and then one finally said later on "have you lost weight". So at 18kg down I've changed enough that people I havent seen for ages can tell. One of my 10 year old's school friends asked me the same question at basketball the other night and one of my friends walked past me in the street the other day because I had sunglasses on. When I see a photo I can really tell. But it's take almost all that 18kg, probably it was noticeable from 14kg onwards, I had about 36 to lose.

I thought of having this op in terms of "if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten". Dieting just doesnt work, I think the scariest thing about the operation is perhaps the fact that it might work - then you really would have to give up your vices, the comfort eating, the easy eating etc. I guess nearly all bandsters will experience a PB at some stage, me included, but at 5 months out, I've never even come close. I eat a totally normal diet, nobody who didnt already know me would have any idea that I had a band and I just dont have a bad thing to say about it. I've had no problems. And its working.