Jachut

Oh, I've had my band 3 days, lol. But those are my reasons why I have faith it will work.

I had a small pouch after my C-section almost 3 years ago which horrified me beyond belief so I did loads and loads and loads of abdominal work and it has disappeared entirely. I think it depends on how overweight you are, mine was from weak and stretched muscles after the c-section, I dont have enough fat on my stomach (which is no washboard, believe me) to cause it to hang. So you may be able to reduce it substantially, depending on how overweight you are you may not get rid of it entirely. But I have read and have known people personally who have larger aprons and they do indeed cause problems like pain and cysts. My girlfriend who had her baby only 5 weeks ago suffered serious infection because the weight of her stomach hanging caused her incision to keep opening up, it simply unzipped. She is wearing a pregnancy brace for the time being to support her belly, but she faces some hard work to make sure she stays healthy. Regarding exercise - can you swim? Do deep Water running? There's no impact at all to the body. How do you go on an exercise bike? What about a rowing machine?. You can even get DVD's called Chair Dancing and Chair Aerobics for people who are partially immobile. Where there's a will there's a way! By the way I saw those at www.collagevideo.com. And of course some abdominal strengthening will help you loads. If you can get yourself to a place where you have a positive mental attitude, you will find a way. I hope you dont mind me saying it but you sound like you're not feeling positive about it at all the moment and are expecting to fail (again, as most of us have done many times). You dont have to accept that! You can do loads about your situation and a lap band will help you do it. I got very dejected about being unable to walk or run because of my bad ankle, and I let that cause me to gain weight but in the end I figured I'd go for the lap band. It may or may not fix my ankle (chances are it'll help a lot) but if I've got to have a bad ankle I'd rather be thin and have a limp than fat and have a limp, lol.

My goodness the difference is amazing. You are a really beautiful woman and you were many pounds heavier too. I know you obviously want to lose more, but if you never lost another pound, you've come an incredibly long way.

When I have a cold I prefer to use just a saline nasal spray and a mild pain reliever rather than any kind of cold medicines containing adrenaline - its very embarrassing but they make me suddenly feel outrageously energetic and like I love everyone I see to death and have to tell them so - even if they're complete strangers. My family have had loads of really good belly laughs at things I've said and done when I've taken cold medicine. I find if I can control the discomfort caused by the sore ears, sore throat, headache or fever, and keep my noise moist with the spray then being phlegmy and blocked up, unattractive as it may be, doesnt worry me that much.

It sounds to me like you need to track your calories, focus more on exercise and just hang on with all your willpower till you get that restriction level right. Even if you only restricted calories mildly till restriction set in you could lose a pound a week. You can do it, its probably the last time you will ever have to.

Sigh, its insane isnt it? I decided that after a lifetime of dieting my way from normal weight to obese I was going to do it once and I was bloody well going to do it right. I'm never ever ever going on a diet again. I'm so glad too that my daughter is 2 years old and will only ever remember a healthy mother who does not indulge in insane dieting behaviours.

I have to be honest, I was edgy about this procedure and had a thing about if I could stop all my bad habits with the band then I could stop them without it. But I must admit, I never had that many truly bad habits that will be hard to give up. I just overate a little bit every time I ate but I basically got fat on healthy food in the wrong quantities. I dont have a takeway addiction or chocolate or ice cream problem, I just have too big an appetite for my body's energy needs. I was more like yes I've exercised today so I can have two sandwiches instead of one. I felt that made me a good candidate, but I did a lot of soul searching to come to that conclusion. Now obviously the band has helped others that were in worse trouble than I was so it works. But you need to take as much time as you need to to feel comfortable with that. Overeating fills a need in us and its very very scary to think of having that coping mechanism taken away. If it takes you 12 months to decide then it does, once I felt comfortable, all my fears literally evaporated. Start the process but wait till you're ready to finalise it. Its also surprising that once you no longer feel hopeless, the drive to overeat disappears somewhat. I must admit, I had no trouble avoiding pre surgery pigging out, I just didnt want to do it because I wanted to feel that I'd started my new healthier lifestyle from the minute I decided to, not wait 3 months down the track till the actual surgery.

I never fed my babies commercial baby food, so I'm definitely not going to eat it. Its so easy to cook decent pureed food at home and probably healthier for you too. Some of the info I was given suggested blending up Lean Cuisines which revolts me to be honest. I never ate those things before so I'm sure as eggs not going to start eating rubbish like that now. Fresh and healthy is the way to go, you cant go wrong if you do that.

Oh, they wont know you've done badly. I was asked my weight by the anaesthetist but not weighed. My surgeon said dont bother about the Optifast, you dont need to really shrink your liver, but everyone else mentioned it to me, so I rang his office, there was nothing on my file, his secretary told me to start and she would check with him, he said no, dont bother but I kind of half did it anyway and then after the surgery he asked me if I lose much weight on the Optifast! He had no clue! They cant tell by looking at your insides what you've been eating.

17lb is a great effort, nobody has such minute control over their weight that they could predict down to a pound or two what they were going to lose. They wont cancel for that, they might if you didnt lose any. Good luck, you'll be fine. I'm on day 4 now and feel like I could do almost anything. But I"m milking it for all its worth anyway :-)

It'll no doubt improve greatly. But even thin women often have cellulite, its a curse of being female.

That said I think its sensible to treat yourself well before surgery though. Take your vitamins, keep exercising, dont eat everything not nailed down. I simply cannot believe how easily I recovered from this surgery and I swear its because I was so healthy (if pleasantly plump) beforehand.

I didnt have to, but then I have a BMI of 35. But it would annoy me and insult me to be told that I had to prove my commitment to the surgery. Having to lose weight under the enormous pressure of being denied surgery if you dont proves nothing if you ask me. Its just cruel and not at all understanding of the troubles obese people have with food. I wouldnt choose a surgeon that demanded it.

Good luck. I've been astounded at how easily I've gotten over this surgery. I'm not running marathons yet on day 4 but I feel absolutely fabulous. I needed no pain relief by day 2 and I'm about to drive the boys to school - I lack a bit of mobility but will be fine to do it. I've been Christmas shopping and on several decent walks, have slept well and comfortably too. Its sooooo worth it.

I'm scheduled for my first one at 6 weeks post op. So a week after I go onto solid food.

I was recommended Mederma too in the information I got from the hospital. I'm a bit vain, I will probably use it. My tummy us absolutely unmarked till now so the thought of the scars does upset me a bit.

I've been thinking about this too. Instinctively I've sat up straight to drink and walked around a bit later, so I guess that would be the first thing I'd try.

Still on liquids but I will be very upset if I cant eat salad. Its would be very frustrating to not be able to eat foods that are good for me and still be able to eat crap. Never eating white bread again doesnt bother me but I actually love salads.

Oh yes, I usually mix some protein powder in with the milk on my cereal or whatever and of course there's protein in milk itself. I find it does stick with you much better and reduces the afternoon hungries if I do that. But I need my carbs/fibre too.

I'd either do oatmeal or fruit & yogurt in some form, or any other cereal that goes down like bran or whatever I find I can eat. I like some carbs in the morning, I function better if I do and I've never eaten things like bacon and eggs as regular breakfast, its just not really common to have cooked breakfasts like that in Australia. A boiled or poached egg I might do though.

I had clear liquids 2 days only, every doctor seems to have different rules. Of course the first day you dont even care if you had absolutely nothing, by 24 hours later on the second morning, I was starving hungry! But it was easily quelled with drinking - clear liquids for me meant Water, apple juice, coffee and tea and broth. A hot drink fixed everything, as it always does, lol. Today I started free liquids - anything that will go up a straw and boy that feels different. I got a definite feeling that I'd had enough, before I had any pain. And any sign of hunger has entirely disappeared.

Ooh, I wouldnt like a hot tummy, I'd be off to get some antibiotics I think. But re the weight, I"ve had no solid food for about 7 days now and I just got on the scales and havent lost anything (surgery yesterday morning). I figure I'm full of about 4 bags of saline and 30 or 40 litres of gas, it'll come off dont worry about it.

Hi there, I'm home from hospital and feeling great. That was way less traumatic than I thought it would be. I was given plenty of morphine quickly as I woke in recovery so that took care of pain for most of the day. Had a pretty awful night, not in pain exactly as very restless and unable to get comfortable on the horrible hospital bed. I ended up pacing the floor for a few hours because I felt better standing up and moving than lying flat, in the end I was given some sedatives to allow me to get some sleep and this morning I woke up feeling fab. I was very fearful of swallowing! Just ice chips yesterday then the barium swallow and xray but it was this morning before I was game to actually drink, am going great guns now. Boy I look about 9 months pregnant and the noises going on in my belly are very impressive. When it decided to exit you'd all better duck for cover over the other side of the world! Just been out for a half hour walk, which I handled with no problems. All in all I'm feeling positive and happy!

I'll take slower weight loss for being able to eat 3 squares a day anytime. It's not a race, it will happen. My main concerns with the band before I decided to do it were things like this, I felt there's a lot of people out there who sacrifice health and nutrition for a faster weight loss, that's so not what I wanted to get out of this. I'd get an unfill.

Well as of today I can answer this. Immediately after surgery I woke in some pain, it felt a bit like having lead fishing weights hanging off all my internal organs, every movement made them feel heavy and sore. But they dosed me up with morphine pretty quickly and that knocked any pain on the head for the entire day (I was out of surgery by 10 am). I was drowsy and slept on and off in a way that was actually very pleasant, lol. Beats the chaos at home hands down. However by night I was not in a lot of pain but getting really restless and unsettled just from having slept all day and not being able to get comfortable in the bed, after pacing the floor for a few hours, because I felt better up and moving than lying down, I finally had something to help me sleep and that knocked me out for a good few hours. I woke up feeling wonderful, most of the pain gone and was allowed to have a cup of coffee and some juice, my fear of drinking has abated now, I was really apprehensive at first. I had no trouble having a shower by myself, getting dressed, I came home and we've just been out for a short walk. I'd say the pain now is just like a bit of a stitch in my side, I havent really needed anything more than paracetamol for it. Just the belly gas, I'm very distended but that just feels weird, not sore. All in all much less traumatic than I was anticipating.