Jachut

I've got 1.3 ml in a 4ml band and I can still eat bread - but I do have to go carefully - ditto cake, muffins etc. Anything doughy like that I can see that after a fill or two I will no longer be able to eat.

I've got no idea. I will never weigh and measure food again, nor will I count calories. I have no idea how many calories I eat nor how much I eat in a sitting - all I know is that it is significantly less than I used to because I'm losing weight. I never eat to the point of discomfort and pain and the fear of a PB is enough to keep me in line. Its never happened to me yet so I nibble slowly and I dont eat a lot, but I have no idea whether it's a cup, 2 cups - I would say a cup to a cup and ahalf though at a guess.

Its so frustrating isnt it. I've finally got down to a normal store size 18 (which is a US 16), not the fat shop 18. But its taken me 15kg to do it (over 30lb). The more overweight you are, the more fat you have on places like hands, face, neck, feet and arms which dont really affect your clothing size. And its often the last fat to have gone on which seems to mean its the first to come off. Plus it just makes less difference to your overall frame. My half marathon running sister loses 2kg and her clothes fall off her. As you lose more and become thinner, it will take less weight lost to go down a clothing size. You will get to the point where 10lb will take you down a size. I also think for me personally because I'm so tall, it's spread out better and it doesnt make as much difference when I lose it - the other side of "carrying your weight well".

I've got lots of pyrex containers with plastic lids. I'm sure you guys have pyrex over there right? It probably came from there, lol. Anyway you can get round ones, square ones, big ones and small ones and they're fantastic because you've got the lid but its a glass dish so can go straight to oven, microwave and onto the table. They cost a bit more than cheap plastic containers but they're fabuluous. We have little single serve square and round ones and I might make a lasagne or casserole and freeze singly and Doug just takes them to work. And I've got big ones for entire family meals.

Once I went onto mushies, after the deprivation of liquids, everything taste SOOOOOO goooooood. That hasnt lasted, its just back to being regular food to me. But now I've been eating healthier, and I've seen the results, the bad foods have really lost their hold on me. I've lost interest. I was sitting at a table in my friend's back yard with a big group yesterday, the table was laden with dips, chips, biscuits, cakes, and I would have hoed in thinking it was a once off previously. But I looked at it and thought "nah, its only food, not worth it" and just had a cuppa and one piece of the cake my best friend stayed up till 1 am for (waiting for it to cook). That was my lunch. It is honestly so unlike me to be unmoved by food like that, I was amazed.

Good points made above - what feels like a ton of food now really isnt, I just find it really hard to let go of the idea that I have to be starving to lose. Everytime I get on the scales and see weight gone, I think "how on earth did that happen". It feels like normal eating to me, but it's obviously less than what I used to eat. I think its a fine line between using the band properly and expecting it to do all the work. Its just my personal opinion and the way I choose to use mine, but I feel like I still need to perceive that I'm doing some work - ie. putting in the exercise, making good choices when I feel like eating rubbish, stopping when I know I should. I dont want a band that is so tight that I lose simply because I cant eat anything. That's not a lifestyle I want to lead. If I were in your shoes, well I kind of am, because the loss is really slowing now, I'd do some hard thinking about what I could do better - for me I know I could exercise more regularly. If you honestly dont see areas where you could improve, then try another small fill.

It's not inevitable. I'm 3 months out and I've never PB'd, never even come close. I'm losing but dont find I need to be super restricted to do so.

I think it depends what you want from your fills too. I just went back last week for my third and elected not to have it at all. I dont really have restriction, can eat anything and everything and can eat quite a lot if not nearly as much as before. I sometimes get discomfort from eating too fast but that is all, I have never PB'd. But I'd lost 1.5kg in the 3 weeks since I'd last had a check up, so I said I didnt want any more fill for the time being. I've lost about half a kilo since then too, so why fix something that aint broke? I dont know when my next on will be. If I stop losing I'll look long and hard at what I'm eating and how much exercise I'm doing before I have another fill. The way I choose to use my band is to knock the edge off my hunger and make it easier to stick to small meals. I do not want the band doing all the work for me by forcing me to stick to a limited diet in very tiny quantities. I can make a lot of those sensible decisions for myself. If you need it to work that way for you because you suffer more emotional and psychological eating issues than I do, then I think yes, you run the risk of eventually being too tight and having to have fill removed. Not that that's the end of the world, the blessing of the band is the adjustability.

I can drink as much as I could before banding.

Yeah, me too. All you need is Love by the Beatles. Sheesh. I dont even like it.

Ok today for Breakfast I had bircher meusli with chopped banana and kiwifruit on top - we put the meusli in the fridge the night before with organic apple juice poured over and in the morning mix in a spoonful of yogurt and add fruit. Yummy. For lunch I just had a banana and an orange, I'll probably have a handful of macadamia nuts later this afternoon. dinner tonight is going to be leftover zucchini slice - a sort of fritatta - and salad. I had a latte down at the shops before. I'm not into Protein much, dont really believe in putting protein before everything else, I'm more concerned with getting my fresh fruit and vegetables in. I think what amounts to a couple of eggs in the zucchini slice and some nuts, plus what's in the dairy I've had during the day is plenty. I know that's a fair bit different to what's generally advised in America but it works for me. I'm feeling healthy and well and losing well.

I find it funny that I've celebrated getting under 100kg on my scales by a big spending spree, when at my surgeon's office, I'm still over 100kg.

I agree with you but cant stop watching just the same. I had to laugh the other day on the subject of Big Brother. I saw one of the girls from the last Australian Series down at our local shops working in a land sales booth in the middle of the mall. Not as some special promotion, that was her actual job. Trying to sell land in Pakenham. Sheesh, how the mighty have fallen! Our suburb is not exactly in the heart of bustling cosmopolitan Melbourne, this is the outer south east, home of the 3 bedroom brick veneer, 2.5 kids and family truckster in the driveway.

Gosh, I only have two phobias. Spiders and vomiting. Now I'm even more phobic about vomiting and catching gastro. Its so darned easy, we've had a tummy bug this week, thank god it involved mainly the runs and no vomiting for me. I literally shake with fear when one of the kids starts up, because I know I've had so much contact with them while they've been mosts contagious without even knowing it. I know they say vomiting can slip your band but that's the first story I've actually heard about it really happening. Makes me want to live in a plastic bubble.

Jeez, I dont think that's funny at all. What a rude bastard! I'm glad you see the funny side of it, but to me it's yet another example of a surgeon who has no freaking idea what it's like to be fat.

Well obviously the one that has you heavier is WRONG!

Well, its not about good stuff/bad stuff with the band anyway, if you ask me. When you dont overeat at all, it really ceases to matter whether you become obsessed with particular food groups, types of diets, avoiding things etc etc. I can still eat a muffin. I can no longer eat 6 muffins. Therefore, muffins are no longer a problem food for me. Its that simple. If I eat a muffin, it replaces a meal, I am so full. Not a great food choice for every day, but not a great drama either. So to me, there is no finality. Granted, I can still eat lots of chocolate or quite a few Cookies. There are many reasons beyond weight why I dont want to do that. It makes me feel awful. It gives me an upset tummy. It makes me feel out of control. It doesnt soothe whatever feeling I intended to soothe. Therefore making the choice not to do that most of the time is a lifetime thing anyway and has very little to do with what I actually weigh at the time. I honestly feel FREE, and liberated now I have this band, not the other way around.

I think ALL fruits are acceptable. Bananas are so good for you.

I was only on clear liquids for 2 days. After that within a couple of days I'd made real soups with pasta and lentils and things like that in them, just blended up.

I figured my new life started from the minute I made the final decision to have surgery. I didnt have to do the pre op diet but I made positive changes right from that minute. You dont want even more weight to lose than you have already.

I'm going to Sydney for a weekend with my hubby AWAY FROM MY CHILDREN! yay yay yay. I'm going to fit in the plane seat, well I did before, but better now. I have funky clothes to wear. I can go out for Breakfast dinner and lunch both days and wont gain weight. I am going to see my beautiful sister and her hubby. The weather is beautiful. My funky jeans are size 18 (US 16) from a REGULAR STORE! I just did the bank reconciliations because the statements came and there's no explaining to do to Mr Anal Accountant Hubby. Life is good.

Thanks for the giggle :mad: That is just sooooooo true. Honestly, it is. Wear a fair dinkum (a little Aussie colloquialism in there for you) Rolex and expensive clothes and nobody will even look at your neck.

You feel it more than see it anyway. I think if you are exercising purely to "see" results you just wont keep up the motivation. Most long term exercisers dont do it for what they "see" they do it for the way it makes them feel. Things like getting on the treadmill and just out of the blue finding I can jog for 30 minutes motivates me!

I'm not bored or angry at hearing about people's problems, their reasons why they became fat. But I'm sick to death of the defensiveness every time somebody posts a perfectly reasonable opinion on ways to get your head around the fact that if you continue to eat like you did you will continue to be fat. Empathy and understanding aside, if you dont change what you're eating and the way you think about food, you will continue to be fat. Sounds reasonable to me, I'm tired of people acting like that's some kind of insult. It all comes down to basic maths in the end, no matter what excuses you bring into it to explain why you're different and cant be expected to do that. And correct me if I'm wrong but however long you've had the band you've been through the same trials and tribulations as everyone here in trying to lose weight, so you have plenty to offer. What a load of rubbish to say that you dont know what you're talking about. But none of that's bent my nose out of shape particularly, you expect it on a big forum. What I'm really sick of and what has me wondering whether I'm here talking with adults or a bunch of teenagers is all this stupid XXXX stuff. I just avoid it, but cant help thinking "for pete's sake this is a lap band forum". But even though I think oh well just wont read that one, it does make me question the maturity of some.

Its the same for me. I had one first fill of 1cc. I felt a slight effect from that. Then I had .3 cc, I'm slightly more restricted again - well to be honest I dont feel "restriction" I feel lack of appetite. I'm nowhere near the point where I'm tight, cant eat certain foods etc. But I'm losing weight due to the lack of appetite. Smaller amounts of food satisfy me, I'm never ravenously hungry anymore. So I'm not overly worried about the time it takes me to get to the sweet spot.