Jachut

So true. The fact that I'm achieving it makes me a bit gushy about how wonderful and easy it all is, how its the best thing I've ever done. But it is ME making those good food choices and avoiding the bad ones.

Sigh, theres' always one in any group isnt there? :-) I was banded December 9 in Melbourne, Australia at The Avenue Private Hospital.

What a great feeling!! It takes a while at first, has taken me almost 10kg to get to that point. But suddenly I have a lot of clothes to wear again. Just wait - as you get closer to your goal it takes less weight off to make a HUGE difference. What a terrible problem, buying new clothes only to have them too big weeks later, lol. Well done!

My grandad had really bad mid back pain for years, doctors just couldnt diagnose anything concrete, but in the end it turned out to be a hiatus hernia. I have intermittent side/upper back pain a month out still, well not really pain, more an irritating ache but I know it's nothing serious, I suffered with it after each of my pregnancies for about 3 months too. It seems to be when my abdominal muscles are put through trauma, they take a while to regain strength and I think I must collapse from that midpoint in my back, posturally.

I've noticed too that where there always used to be a kilogram or so difference in my weight from morning to night, there's now only half a kilo. So much less food going in.

This surgery has truly reinforced to me that beforehand there was simply something broken with my appetite regulation mechanism. I have willpower, I know I do. I'm eating an exemplary diet now. I dont eat chocolate or ice cream or other foods I know I shouldnt because I know i will hinder weight loss. I go to the gym even when I dont feel like it because I know its what I need to do. I am driven and I know now this weight will come off slow and steady. It just didnt work before because what ever it was that was broken told me to eat eat eat the whole time. I was always hungry. I know now it wasnt just head hunger, since banding I've had virtually no head hunger. Something was wrong. I can see now that all the willpower in the world would not have gotten me anywhere. I'm also not afraid to admit at all that a very very large part of this surgery was done for vanity. My health has not suffered yet as a result of my weight loss, in fact pre surgery I was very fit and healthy - apart from my bad ankle. And the ankle was really just the excuse that let me get this process started. I actually dont think that weight loss is going to help it much, there's something really wrong with my ankle. So I definitely dont have anything against cosmetic surgery, because to a large degree that's what lapbanding was for me. So I expect the same understanding when the tables are turned. By the same token though, I wouldnt go a tummy tuck or arm lift unless I were really badly afflicted by loose skin because I'm too vain to put up with the scars. I think a little loose skin (and I know for me that's probably all it will be, a tiny bit) is way better than big scars.

My early fatigue was fixed by getting some good carbs back into my diet. All bran in the smoothies, wholemeal pasta in the soups, that type of thing. I felt better from the first meal.

7th January Breakfast: 200g carton of pineapple and coconut yogurt Midmorning: a latte and a few organic cherries that we bought at a roadside farmer's market on the way to the beach lunch (picnic at the beach): 2 Ryvita's with cream cheese, tomato and cucumber, about 1/2 cup canteloupe pieces Late Afternoon: a lemonade icypole (popsicle to you I think). Dinner: 2 (very small) slices ham and pineapple pizza

I weigh myself every morning, and since banding every evening as well because believe it or not, I am also losing weight over the course of a single day. Digital scale, tiny increments but still. That will stop but a plateau (which I had the entire week before my period) reminds me to keep on track and keep trying, losses are encouraging and I havent seen a gain yet but it would tell me to pull my socks up and do better. I dont think I'll ever break the habit.

Too many vitamins just = expensive urine in my opinion. I did start dosing up though, I'd been eating crap for way too long. I take a multi and I take just a nip of Floradix for iron everyday too as my preop testing showed I was just a little low. I should probably take calcium as well. But you can go on and on and on cant you - fish oil, herbal supplements etc etc.

Yeah, I eat 3 times a day because it fits in with what's expected and fits in with the family. But seriously, for me, I could eat at 11 am and about 5.30 pm, just twice a day and that would suit me really well.

I think I've got a fairly health dose of the fear factor working on my side, I really am too afraid to push it at all. We've had a wonderful family day down at the beach, 2 and a half hours drive away and we just came in at 7.30 pm - so we ordered a pizza. I do think takeaway has its place and when you're out all day and walk in at almost bedtime for the kidlets, its fair enough to order a pizza. Ok - I'm brave enough at a month out to try it, with some trepidation. Went down well. Was not satisfied, afterall I had not eaten since midday, 7 and a half hours ago. Had a second very small slice. Yum. I want another one. But I'm WAY too afraid to even try it. But I do sometimes find I feel really cheated when something is really enjoyable, its finished so quickly! My mind cant catch up with the fact that my body has said enough, already.

I think its almost totally down to good genetics. You cant tone your skin through exercise becuase it works your muscles. It can maybe improve the look of your skin if the muscles underneath your skin are firm. Same deal with increasing the size of your bust through exercise - breast are just fat and glandular tissue. Exercise can also bring more blood to the skin and help to maintain skin health that way but if you're going to get a hanging apron on your belly, you're going to. It also has way more to do with how overweight you were to start with and things like having had babies.

I think they all taste yucky. Well the ones I've tried anyway.

If I really get a craving for something though, I would have it have it - but I havent had that since banding. Whatever works for each of us but for me carrot sticks just cannot be substituted for chocolate!

January 6th Breakfast: small can of baked Beans Lunch: 2 Ryvitas with spreadable tuna, chopped tomato and cucumber and 30g grated cheese Afternoon: cup of tea and a tiny piece of Christmas Cake - I had the belly rumbles, was really hungry Dinner: fresh flathead fillets (caught by DH) panfried, tossed salad with tomatoes, avocado, sprouts, cucumber, lettuce, capsiscum and seeds, dressed with a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper Had 1.8 litres Water and my soluble Vitamin exercise: finally did some, did Cardio Coach Vol 2 on the elliptical and light weights at the gym

Gawd, no idea what happened there!

OOOOOH - then I will look forward to that Alexandra. Now if you can figure a way for me to fit my legs under our antique dining table, I'll be really pleased. It's so low to the ground.

OOOOOH - then

OOOOOH - t

Im exactly the same. I'm 4 weeks out of surgery though, so I guess anything could happen in the next 2 weeks till I'm due for my first fill but I've already decided if I'm feeling like this at that stage, I'm not getting a fill. I feel like I have cut my portion sizes by at least 1/2 maybe even 2/3, I'm satisfied with a small amount of food, I'm not hungry in between meals and I'm losing at least 2lb a week. I can eat enough and enough variety of foods to be eating what I consider a super healthy diet, I feel fantastic and I look healthy too. Why on earth would I want to mess with that? Only get your fill when and if it is necessary, there is no health advantage in being filled more than you need to be. The more you can eat and still lose weight the healthier you will be.

I did a dance for joy two days after surgery when I bought a latte at the shopping centre and could only drink half of it, lol. What a sick thing to get excited about. But it was very exciting, to the person who not only got that latte in a mug previously but ate a huge muffin with it too. Since then I've lost that level of restriction as the swelling's gone down but I count myself extremely lucky that I seem to have enough to have the weight dropping steadily right from the get go. It must be really frustrating to have to wait months for that, but you will now be 40lb down before you know it.

I can cross my legs, but I used to be able to not only cross them but twine the foot of the top leg round the back of my calf. Always gave me pins and needles but it is an elegant way to sit. Now as for crossing my legs in a plane seat or in a stadium, I will never be able to do that. They're way too long, I have to sit either on one buttock with my legs to the side or like a bloke with my legs apart in those tiny seats, they're designed for short people. Oh well, probably just have to fly first class instead, I wish.

Mine was soup and toast. I didnt get my act together to do a "last supper" and anyway, I'm determined this is not a diet but a lifestyle, that can and will incorporate my favourites.

OK, I think this band is having some definite undeniable physical effect. Afterall I'm eating 3 small meals a day totalling 1,000 to 1200 calories and no hunger pangs, I'm not struggling with it in the slightest. But I also think a lot of the "restriction" I say I have is all in my head. I'm eating about a cup of food at a time, but I'm not getting stuffed, yet I know definitely to stop. Is it the expectation that a cup is all I should eat? Is it the slow and cautious way of eating that makes it easy to stop? I dont know and I dont care. All I know is it's working. I go to see the surgeon in two weeks for my first fill, I guess it'll be very tiny because they weight's still coming off by the day - and I can still say I dont think I need a fill a month down the track. It really is a miracle to me. I couldnt have dreamed it would work this well.