Jachut

I kind of feel the same. My belly is pretty darn good but with a tummy tuck, I would have one of those perfect model stomachs, I'm just that shape. But the scar defeats the purpose. Yes, you can cover the scar with a bikini bottom or underwear - if it were the 1980's when we all wore those high cut ones that come up to your navel. With today's low rise clothing, the scar would show. I dont want to exchange a bit of skin for a huge scar.

I bounced back pretty well but I do have loose skin. Do I need surgery? Really ..... no. But that depends a lot on how you feel about showing yourself off. I'm happy enough to put on a bikini but my stomach IS a bit loose. I would never ever ever go topless on a beach, my boobs are hideous. But no, i dont have anywhere than hangs or causes problems. But I just dont really care. I am dressed 99.9% of the time and dressed I look great. I can hide my flaws very easily, much more easily than I could ever hide my rolls of fat! I dont need to be perfect, I dont care about being perfect. To the next person, if they were me, they might think they needed surgery. I dont believe there's a single thing you can do to prevent it. It's completely down to luck and genetics.

Yes, mine is very visible and obvious.

I try to eat only 3 times a day. Its what my doctor recommends, and its what works best for me. Its such a simple rule, so easy to stick to because there's no margin for error - you either eat or you dont. I find with the five small meals kind of eating that my meals are too big, I eat too many calories. If I eat 3 solid meals a day I lose weight, end of story. And I just say NO to in between meal eating. It certainly cuts out a lot of opportunity for eating the types of foods I shouldnt eat and have trouble with - Cookies, cakes, etc. Not that I always stick to it, lol.

Yes, its very obvious but it doesnt worry me.

You've got so much on your plate, I wouldnt worry too much about what is actually on your plate! It really doesnt matter in the short term, what is important is your little girl and your family. I think running is a healthy and sensible way to deal with the stress and grief. Its how I've coped with my cancer diagnosis. Its one thing you can still do, you can still control and if you get those endorphins flowing, you do feel better. You can even go out and run and have a good cry while you're doing it, without upsetting your family. God bless, I hope it all turns out OK.

I dont think you'd know if it was just stretched a little. I mean, once upon a time, I had great restriction with 1cc in my 4cc band. That was early on. I now have 2.8cc to maintain, not lose. How much of that is due to me losing the fat around my stomach (thus makign the band looser) and how much due to pouch stretching? I mean, I can certainly eat a normal meal these days for a thin person with a small appetite, yet I cant eat anything like what most people get through. Is my pouch stretched? According to my doc, probably a little. But if you really overeat consistently and stretch it out big time, you tend to lose restriction quite noticeably. And when you in for the fill you think you need, you can display the symptoms of being too tight like night reflux and coughing whilst STILL being able to fit to much in

Truly, I dont miss anything. I can eat anything I want to really, but the harder foods like hamburgers I have just naturally kind of gone off. They dont appeal anymore. So I just dont miss them. I'm getting unfilled at the end of the week for a surgery and I've thought about it, but there's simply nothing I want to run right out and eat. I havent felt deprived being banded at all.

Yes, it can shrink. I spoke at a lapband info night last week and my surgeon (whom I hadnt seen for ages, only seen the doctors at the clinic) had seen my file and had a chat to me about my cancer. I was saying how scared I was to unfill my band this Friday and he said to me that most longer term bandsters do have a somewhat stretched pouch - not seriously but it does stretch out a bit and that unfilling for a couple of weeks would probably result in me not needing the same level of fill for maintenance as i currently have. He said I'd probably get better restriction on less fill because the pouch would settle down and shrink again, particularly since the surgery I'm having the week after will involve a week or so of a liquid diet.

My stomach (and DH's he's banded too) is so loud when we lay down in bed at night! What I think happens is that with good restriction, less air escapes up your esophagus. YOu dont burp as much and less just comes up without burps. Along with the gurgles and noises, I can feel the gas moving around but its in my small intestine, becuase its high up in the abdomen and in the centre. It must come from my stomach and be air that ordinarily would come upwards. It never seems to make its way out becuase I dont fart a lot, lol. But you know when gas is in your large intestine because you can feel it lower down and it DOES make its way out.

You must feel wretched about this. I suppose at the end of the day, its only weight. It can come on and come off, the same way it has always done. Its just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other and regaining control. You can do this. You need to remind yourself every time you got to eat inappropriately about what matters more. Easier said than done, I need to remind myself of this today as well. Home from work, lack of routine and lots of junk has gone into my face. But if you succeed more often than you give in, then the weight will come off again.

I agree with what's been said. I think the issue that needs to be sorted is whether he is threatened, unhappy, insecure, whatever about the changes in you or whether he genuinely had a preference for a heavier woman. Counselling would probably help if he's willing, and he should be if he's not just using this an excuse for other feelings. I know that my DH is supportive and happy for me, but I could probably get him to admit that he's sorry that my boobs are in such a sorry state and that my stomach puddles unattractively if I lie on my side. Same as I often think DH could look so much better with a bit of a tan and if he would wax those bits off his back! But I love him regardless and that's what sex is about, or should be.

Nope, I'm not really sure why but my mnind just doesnt really work like that. I mean I had weights that I wanted to get to but they werent "goals". To me, the goal was always the end point, I dont really tend to set little ones along the way. But even the end point was only a vague range (a pretty ambitious one, I mean I wanted to be THIN) so I never really "got to goal". I dont remember a moment when I thought yeah, I've made it, instead I thougtht "hmmm, maybe I could lose a little bit more?". Scarily I now weigh less than I did at 13 years old and I still think "hmm, maybe I could lose a little more" when I know I absolutely dont need to and shouldnt try to. Its a bit addictive - not eating disorder stuff, dont worry, but it is a bit addictive. I've got some things I'd like to do and some new boobs is one of them but I'm not sure that I ever will. I'm having enough trouble convincing myself to part with $500 for keratin hair straightening. The real problem is I tend to by whatever i want whenever, and nothing is left for rewards - or for birthday or christmas presents for that matter, lol.

I think with anything, you'll maybe do fine at first without exercise. But exercise is really the difference between a good and a spectacular result and anyway, you exercise for reasons other than weight loss too. But many people DO suffer from various problems that prevent a lot of weight bearing exercise and for them, they might get better results with a sleeve or bypass. Anyhow, I got a band because that's pretty much the most common surgery here in Australia, I was borderline at a BMI of 36 anyway and I dont think I'd have been able to talk my way into a bypass, nor did I want to do something that "drastic". The adjustability of the band, hmmmmmm. Its a plus, but its a double edged sword, I have to unfill next week for a surgery and really really really dont want to. I'm absolutely terrified. I find myself wishing I'd be sleeved so that I couldnt be told to do something like this! Now that I have a band and have lost weight, I dont really want that "out". I wouldnt care now if my insides had been rerouted, because being a healthy normal weight would be worth that to me - in hindsight. I didnt feel like that pre band -when even banding seemed like a crazy and extreme measure which took me a lot of courage to go through with.

Gosh, I'd take the bump any day over being fat as I was. Mine makes a very distinct round lump, andits very hard to feel. You can feel some of the tubing too. I *might* swap it over for a low profile port but then I have to wait for the scar to heal and then fade too. After five years, my scars are pretty hard to see. Seriously, the port is only one sign of your being overweight - even when you get out of loose skin fairly lightly like I did there are signs all over your body that you were once fat. You need to accept that you wont be perfect. I have this little bit of wrinkled skin in my elbows that drives me nuts and whilst I dont have batwings, the skin looks strange, just not quite right. My breasts are completely wrecked, my stomach is a little loose and my thighs are too. None of it is what I would consider bad enough for PS and I look fine dressed. I'm not putting a downer on things but you do need to be prepared - you will have a port lump, you will have some scars and you will probably have some loose skin. Its all better than being obese.

i have a bmi of 21 now and my port is very noticeable.

I had no problems.

Nope, for me its entirely about the calories in/out ratio. I lose weight equally well either way and I hate to admit that I know this but I also eat weight eating nothing but carby sugary junk. As long as calories are less than what I burn (and that isnt low for me, I lose on 1500 a day) then I will lose weight.

I've gone from an e to a c cup and gone from having downward facing nipples to upwards facing ones. I've also completely lost all breast volume above the nipple and were I to do anything to my breasts now they'd need total reconstruction WITH implants. There's no way I could have foreseen this prior to losing so much weight, they've changed totally. Ive personally been very pleased with the reduction in size, having big breasts really doesnt interest me much (having nicely shaped ones does though). However, they've shrunk so much in recent months I've gone to cheating with some of those chicken fillet things, lol. My son was in fits of laughter the other day when I had a nightie on, kind of a big loose thing and I looked entirely flat chested, like a man, sigh. Definitely wait until AFTER the weight loss.

Actually virtually nothing turns out the be the trauma you imagine when you're considering banding. Like we said in the other post, for better or for worse you still CAN comfort eat. The foods that you cant eat, the ones that just wont go down or stay down (different for everyone) you dont tend to miss, they start to revolt you after a while, or at the very least they cease to become attractive. Likewise, if you cant drink 1.5 litres in the morning, you'll probably end up finding you dont feel any better or any worse for that and it wont worry you. If you're a big water drinker you will be able to remain that way, you just might do it a little differently.

Hmmmm, for me its more to do with putting a lot less on my plate and being satisfied with it (even if I could eat a bit more) rather than a lot on my plate and eating until I feel a stop signal. That skill does come with time though. And you may very well need another fill since four courses is quite a bit. It can take a few days to settle as well, just see how you go and dont panic, you will get there.

I'm prone to this too. I make a deal with myself to go for a run first. Getting your blood pumping, listening to some music and getting out in the fresh air is just the best stress relief. If you work hard enough to get the endorphins flowing you will feel much better. I've really found this has helped me to deal with having cancer. My deal is that AFTER I've done that, then I can have the junk food pig out but nine times out of ten, the desire has gone away.

Same here, i can drink normally. That said, I'm not sure I could down 1.5 litres first thing in the morning and if I did, I'm not sure I could eat any Breakfast, I'd be too full. If you have to cut it back some, just make it up at another time. Moral issue or not, you dont truly NEED 1.5 litres of Water at a time. Your health wont suffer if you only drink 750 ml in the morning once you're banded. But technically, the band wont impede your ability to drink unless you're too tight. But in answer to your question, gulp down a glass of cold water on a sensitive early morning stomach (as bands tend to be tight first thing) and it a) cause you pain and :rolleyes2: cause you to vomit. I personally cant drink very cold things either, it gives me intense cramping.

Here's fine! I've had my band for five years. I've never had a single problem with it, have lost weight pretty easily (although I do run 7 or 8kms every day, do bootcamp, eat healthily so its not like its magic) and lost 134% of my excess weight. I've had really great results from my band. Can I still "binge eat". Yep. I didnt have a binge eating disorder, but I did eat for reasons other than hunger and would do things like eat entire packets of chocolate biscuits at a time. Four donuts that came in a pack, that sort of thing. But not so much that I'd be sick or anything like that. I'll be honest. That behaviour is very very rare for me now but I do still do it on occasion, usually its a reaction to stress, I get home from a hard day at work, make a bad decision in the car to stop and pick something up and I'll also be honest, it DOES make me feel better. That's because my only problem is being tired and stressed from a busy day, not an unsolveable problem. I dont worry about that. Its infrequent, I believe its not entirely abnormal and I lost all my weight and maintain it no problem. I cant eat four donuts anymore, but I can still eat a packet of chocolate biscuits in entirety - they go down fine. So I'd have to say if you truly have a binge eating disorder that needs to be dealt with. If you have occasional or even frequent lapses of good judgement, which is how I'd describe my eating habits, then I think you can overcome that with the help of the band. I can tell you, when I overeat those foods, i cant eat my dinner, so the calories do balance out, which is not necessarily ideal nutritionally but the band does do its job. I do practice things like saying if I still want that pig out after I've been for a run I can have it. I rarely do, but sometimes its what I WANT to do so I do it. Band plus behaviour modification and a bit of honestly with yourself works really well. I feel in control and like I can do this forever.

All its ever taken for me to lose weight is to reduce calories and rebalance the in/out thing. It makes sense to me that markers such as cholesterol and blood pressure reduce when weight is lost (no matter how) because its really obesity that's central to those problems more so than what you're actually eating. Its the cancer thing, and other unknown health factors that would scare me. But then again, who knows. I've always eaten a wholegrain, high fibre diet, kept alcohol moderate, remained fairly active, my biggest crime was becoming overweight (despite fairly healthy habits,get the balance wrong and obesity still results). I still got cancer. I think its all way too complex and the best policy is moderation. I wouldnt fall hook line and sinker for ANY nutritional theory or advice, no matter who it came from. Even the experts change their minds every decade or so.