Jachut

I just ate a toasted sandwich for lunch, and I had my second fill yesterday. I think too much bread is best avoided, I dont think that white bread is a worthwhile food at all and I did in fact stop eating that sort of thing quite a while before banding. But I do eat spelt bread which is a good, heavy, low GI organic bread and find it a worthwhile addition to my diet. As my doc pointed out to me yesterday, there will come a point where the trade off to being filled enough to continue losing will be not being able to eat bread, or meat, or other foods. So be it, I'm finding the adjustment to a restricted diet to be quite gradual and not too difficult to deal with at all. I actually havent eaten a piece of steak or roast beef or red meat in that form at all since I"ve been banded 2 months ago, not because I"m avoiding it but I just havent thought too. Its much harder thinking about giving up these things than it is actually doing it. And it's not always necessary either by any stretch of the imagination - I've lost 12% of my body weight in 2 months and I was a low BMI patient to begin with.

I didnt have to do the pre op liquid diet but I lost a couple of kilograms anyway.

I love Palmers Cocoa Butter formula I always use it all over, I'm also extremely partial to fragranced body lotions - never buy perfume without buying the matching lotion. I notice Palmers do a scar/stretch mark oil too. I am using a little bit of Bio Oil on my scars (not sure if this is an Australian only) product and they are healing up really really nicely, lots of their redness is gone after only 2 months.

I've just had my second and as with my first, I was a bit tighter yesterday when I had it done, but I expect that to dissipate. All I noticed with my first fill after several days was that I would get discomfort at the start of a meal if I hoed in and ate too fast. I have to take a bite, chew it slowly, swallow it and wait a bit to see how it goes down, do that witht he first two or three bites and then generally I"m able to eat slowly for the rest of the meal. But if I jump in without thinking I get some pain. But I've still never PB'd. I also cant say that I feel tighter in the morning and more open at night but I most definitely have less appetite in the morning than at night.

Its so stupid isnt it? YOu could lose a LOT of weight on a supervised diet and still be back to have a lap band 2 years later. If you could do it I would self pay. Its so much different here, all you have to say is yes I've done Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig blah blah blah and no it hasnt worked. But your'e right, you dont want to lose weight but still be obese and no longer qualify for surgery. You could always do the 6 month stint though and purposely not lose weight at all, protesting that you have no idea why!

On the other hand I've never been told to do anything. I came home yesterday and had lunch - cautiously, lol, but lunch just the same.

Has anyone considered just this after weight loss surgery? I have a friend who's had it done, she'd lost a fair bit of weight and did have some stretched out overhang on her belly (just a little) and looooong saggy boosies. She's been all fixed up with just lipo and looks great with NO scarring. Ok, so she doesnt look like a Baywatch model, still has a little stretched out skin (but no hang) and her boobs are just a smaller version of their previous shape, but boy, I'd be happy with the results she's had. They've taken 50% of the volume from each breast and in so doing, while the shape is pretty much the same (she says, I'm not on intimate terms with her boobs) since lots of the volume came from the top, she now has lovely pointing up nipples, a much happier look. Normal looking 40 year old boobs, not round melons. I'm really interested in this - I just dont think I'll have enough of a problem to warrant the huge scar from a tummy tuck, but boy do my boobs need some attention - they're slightly assymetrical too which apparently they fix easily just by taking a bit more out on one side.

In the early days I did measure out a cup, nowadays I have no idea how much I eat, just that it's less than before. I was thinking about this and I think its hard because when you're dieting you expect to have to stop before you feel full. So eating to the point of being satisfied and reasonably full *feels* like overeating doesnt it? Its very hard to get around the fact that you can trust your body and that its full signal will come at an appropriate time as long as you're honest about listening to it. Because despite the fact that I feel like I'm overeating, I'm certainly losing.

Perhaps its time to try filling again in teeny tiny increments. Like a whole nother ml in one go might be too much, but I just had my second fill a few hours ago and where my first was 1ml, this one was only .3. I believe that many people tolerate a level of fill that previously gave them problems when it's approached very very cautiously. And try to sit back and reflect on your fantastic progress so far. It really is great! I've managed to become relaxed with the fact that in all probability this weight is not going to come off steadily at 1kg a week so that I'm all gorgeous for this event or that further on down the track. It's going to happen in fits and taper off as I need more fill and it make take 6 months, a year or 18 months but all I can really know is I'll be much happier, healthier and look a lot better in that time than I did a few months back. So just try to enjoy each stage - for instance it doesnt matter to me that the last time I was 100kg I was desperate about it, now it feels FANTASTIC compared to 112kg.

No, if you tell your doctor what a struggle it is that's a start. Its testimony to your determination not whether you need a fill or not. BUT - how much of a struggle is it really? Personally I'd rather have to use a bit of willpower and remain less filled - because the trade off to the band doing more of the work for you is that you can eat less and less variety. I'd want to save those big guns for when I really needed them personally, and health wise for you the more you can eat and the wider the variety, the better off you are. When you think of the restricted diet of a well filled bandster, there are bound to be long term health trade offs for that - things such as osteoporosis. Because lets face it, do all bandsters eat and exemplary diet? Probably not and they no doubt do NOT get all the Vitamins and minerals they require. Nobody's been banded long enough for there to be data on that sort of thing.

My oldest son is getting just a tad tubby,but he's not overweight. He just has a bit of fat on his belly and some little man boobs, but it could be he's about to hit puberty and shoot up, he's going to be a seriously big boy - as in tall. But overall, no. I'm a really strict mother like that. I know we've had our discussions about tolerance and understanding of fat people and I feel I can make my confession that when I see fat women walking round the shopping centre with fat children eating hot chips, I am utterly disgusted at them that they could not only do what they've done to themselves (which I can understand afterall) but to their children. You cannot say you feed your children badly because you have emotional eating issues. Its just lazy and bad parenting. As parents the buck stops with us. It is totally our responsibility to ensure our kids eat well and get sport and exercise and an active lifestyle. There is just no excuse, absolutely none for filling your child with pizza and McDonalds etc. I'm sorry if that's harsh but there's not. Even if your children have inhereted the fat gene that may or may not exist (but I think it does, for sure) you can do worlds of good for their health and self esteem by keeping the family diet balanced and healthy and keeping them involved in healthy activities, away from the television and playstation. Much of the reason I decided to have this surgery was that I cannot keep expecting my children to behave one way whilst I behave another. At the same time, I really dont want to introduce the diet mentality and all the body image issues that go along with it - and I certainly want them to be able to enjoy junk food in moderation with their friends. They may grow up fat and they may not, but it sure as heck wont have been from poor lifestyle choices and ignorance on my part. They will at least have the foundations of a healthy lifestyle and wont be malnourished on 5000 calories a day. Ditto the cat. She relies on me for food and like with my children, to do other than to provide her with what she needs would be abuse in my book. You can achieve this without being a diet nazi, which would be just as bad. If you start them on the right foot, right from the word go, create a relaxed and healthy environment around food in which no food is bad, but some foods are not everyday foods, they tend to move on and make good choices for themselves. I think the teen years will be a challenge though.

I just think that they have it ALL wrong. Its not about the physicality of it and where you're body's at with the weight it's carrying, its ALL about the mental struggle of diet and exercise. If you cant keep it up, you WILL get heavier and your health will suffer in the future.

I think it's genetics really. I find it quite amazing that I do have them on breasts and hips from when I hit puberty, so they're only fine silvery lines now, but I got NONE at all during 3 pregnancies. I mean you'd think the stretching that occurs over the last few months of a pregnancy would be more likely to result in stretchmarks than the gradual growth over hips or boobs wouldnt you? I'm just hoping, praying that this means my tummy will flatten out reasonably OK with weight loss.

She lost about 35kg (80lb??). With my eyes I mean my corneas actually rip. They cornea rips open which does cause profuse watering and pain. Its this weird condition where the cornea is all uneven and bits stick to my eyelids when I'm asleep and dry out and then I open my eyes and r-i-p. If I have a bad one it can take days to repair, the little minor ones I have every night take about 20 minutes. So I have to use this awful gooey ointment that is so greasy and yuck and it makes me look old and tired during the day.

Yep, its the same principle as overwashing your hair. Although it takes a bit of getting used to if you cut down gradually, you can wash your hair waaaaay less. I used to be a daily washer, now it's every 3 or 4 days - any more than that it's not oily but it just doesnt sit well. THe more you wash your hair the more oil your scalp produces and the more you have to wash it. Its the same with using harsh things on your face I think. I mentioned in a post the other day thought that I have a friend who had just a little flab left on her belly after a large weightloss and it was treated very successfully by liposuction. She's got a flat belly now, with just a touch of wrinkled skin, rather than a smooth belly with an enormous scar across it. and with regard to your eyes, the heavy moisturiser on the eye thing is so true. I have a condition of my corneas which causes them to dry out and tear when I sleep so I have to fill my eyes with thick ointment to keep the moist overnight. It makes the skin around my eyes dark and look awful, I have to have my eyes lasered soon to (hopefully) cure this condition. On the odd night that I dont use the ointment I always look so much better and less tired the next day.

Yes, I had a BMI of 35-36 preband, I had about 35-40kg to lose so well less than 100lb. I had no trouble being approved since my body WAS starting to protest carrying that much weight, pure and simple, and I really and truly felt that if I didnt act now, I would be in a lot worse situation in another 10 years time. I'm in Australia though, where they have a much more lenient view of banding low BMI people, even as low as 30. It has been a good solution since even now, if I never lost another gram, I've halted the slide into real obesity and am much fitter and healthier and have significantly less ankle problems at just 12kg down. I look pretty normal, yes, I'm overweigth but not enough to stop me doing anything I want to and certainly not enough to attract notice from others. So I kind of feel that I've achieve my biggest goal - to stop gaining and getting really obese and that whilst I know I'll lose the rest of my weight over time that's just going to be a bonus. I've lost enough to make significant gains in health already. I havent had the enormous fast weight loss that others that were heavier have enjoyed, but then again, I think 12kg in 2 months is absolutely fantastic, more than I've ever done before. I think it was a great solution and I think there's loads of arguments for doing it now rather than later - the fact that I'm unlikely to have yards of loose skin and require expensive cosmetic surgery (may have some work done on my boobs for vanity's sake but needed that anyway) is one of them.

Kirstey Alley:kiss Tee hee, couldnt resist. I sooooo reckon she is banded.

I've heard quite a few accounts of the 10cc band and not being restricted when its filled to full capacity. But apparently it can hold more than that, up to 11 or 12 cc.

I wish I could hear you talk. I loooooove Scottish accents. I can even understand Taggart when I watch it, lol! Good luck with your journey Yvonne!

I'm as addicted to the ritual of a hot drink as I am to the caffeine. I like 5 or 6 a day. So I really had to find a good instant coffee and a good decaf - there was a time when I drank 7 cups of brewed coffee a day. That's not good for anyone. Now I just have real coffee first thing in the morning or if I have a yen to use my espresso machine, and I make decaf in the plunger (french press) the rest of the time.

That's a really good idea.

I did cut down a fair bit because I knew it would be a few days before I was back to regular intake, lol, so I didnt want the caffeine withdrawal headache as well as recovering from surgery. But I drink my normal amount now.

When I was a physio student we dissected human bodies, yeuch but extremely interesting. All your abdominal organs are attached to this big sheet of slimy, slippery, fatty stuff - you cant just dive in in surgery and remove an organ without dissecting it from the omentum first. From memory it plays some sort of immune role, although it used to be thought that it played a role in warmth. I wouldnt want to lose bits of me until the medical establishment was certain of the efficacy of the treatment.

Yeah, the goal is to change your eating habits of course, but the band does save you from those times you revert. I ate really really badly yesterday. I picked all day. I'd had my daughter rushed off to hospital in an ambulance on Wednesday (she had croup), and she spent ours in resusc. and was admitted for the night. I got no Breakfast, no lunch and NO dinner on Wednesday - public hospitals suck big time. What's the point of private health insurance (in Australia) when you cant get your kids in to a private hospital due to lack of paed. wards? Anyway I digress. Got home midday yesterday after no breakfast and proceeded to graze my way through toast, crumpets and Cookies, the only things in the house. It felt the same as any old pig out but when I tallied it I ate nowhere near what I would have previously AND although I made roast chicken for dinner, I couldnt eat due to being full. End result, got on the scales this morning and have still lost. You've done brilliantly over the course of a year, just brilliantly.

It's quite a headtrip isnt it? I rememeber pre banding, all of the last year I went on shopping sprees where I bought size 16 clothes to stockpile. I bought a few 18's too which I am wearing now. In my mind, 16's (US 14) were tiny tiny tiny and they represented my goal weight. I have to say I think sizing has changed an awful lot since I was last a 16, since I'll be wearing those clothes in another 10kg! But I cant get my head around it - I try them on and they slip on easily - just cant get the zippers done up yet, lol. Before I couldnt even get them past my thighs. But I cant reconcile I'll be a 16 but I will still be overweight because I know they'll fit by 90kg which is still 20kg over my goal weight. So what, I'm going to be a 14 or even a 12? Last time I was a size 12 I was honestly 10 years old!!!!! But you just look the same to yourself however many pounds down dont you? You cant see that you've shrunk apart from when you catch sight of yourself suddenly or unexpectedly.