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I am with the Darebin Weightloss Centre with two wonderful surgeons but my primary provider is Dr Aly. They come highly recommended! 195 Thompsons Road, Bulleen 3105 03 9852 3777

Hi guys I hope you guys don't go through I went through on the weekend. I had another fill on Tuesday night, giving me awesome restriction. In fact I thought it was slightly too much as I wasn't eating enough. My gut feeling was right as by Friday it had obvioulsy settled as I had one stuck episode after another over the weekend. The first two 'stuck' periods resolved themselves within an hour and were quite minor, however, eating baked potato, cheese, sour cream, beetroot, bacon and coleslaw absolutely floored me. A couple of mouthfulls into my meal and I could feel a blockage. So I stopped eating (much to my chargrin)! Then the slime started, then the PB'ing, then the major slime started, then food with the slime. Normally the offending piece of food goes down within an hour or two. This one didn't. It was painful beyond explanation not only in the band area but all of my chest hurt. I couldn't lie down, I couldn't sit comfortably, I tried to walk it out to no avail. I slept upright in the lounge chair all night wondering if this could be a heart problem. All through the night, I was still PB'ing. In the morning, I tried drinking, to no avail - everything that went in came back up immediately. I rang to see my surgeon, who unfortunately was in surgery until 1pm. So I had to wait - I didn't think I would make it to be honest. I was in in so much pain, and the pain intensified each time I vomited. My surgeon was terrific, he withdrew 3ml (from the 7ml he put in on TUesday) and the pain immediately subsided. I felt whatever the food was pop through too. I could breathe properly and I could now walk properly. But best of all I could drink and keep it down. So for 18+ hours I was in agony for a small piece of food that I can only think was a piece of cabbage that I didn't chew properly that was blocking the entire entrance to my band. This is a very good lesson for someone who still hasn't learnt to chew her food properly! I will have to be more careful when I eat now, as I think I am closer to being at the sweet spot than ever before. I hope you never have to endure the sort of pain I went through! PS. I used to be 'vomitphobic'. In fact I hadn't vomited in more than 2 decades. I have vomited more in those 2 days , than in my entire lifetime! I think I am sort of used to it now.

These events obviously clouded my mind. When I went for a refill yesterday (20.1.09) I checked my levels and fills in my file. I had 0.7ml put in before the stuck episode. During the stuck episode he took out 3.0ml to ensure the food cleared, thankfully. Yesterday he put in 2.0ml and I am at great restriction although it may take a few days to settle.!

I acutally come here most times but am too embarrassed to post as my weight hasn't moved much in a long time. I have been cheating and I did lose my way - you know the honeymoon is over - and everytime I looked at tickers and saw how much people were moving or had moved, I would get a little disappointed at my own efforts. That didn't help at all. I need support but I don't know if I can trust myself in following through with promises and the advice. It all comes down to state-of-mind and up till yesterday when I could eat anything in large amounts my mind was all wrapped in chaos. Now that I have good restriction again, I will be back and posting more often. I am less busy at work too, which does make a difference! I have to convince myself that the next 10kg will be worth it, as I am quite comfortable with where I am at the moment!

tapshoes I hear ya! Yesterday was replacement fill for the 3ml I had taken out just before Christmas for my big stuck episode. Since then I have been able to eat anything in any quantity! Today I am on a new road. Since being able to eat anything and cheating for the most part of three or four months I am going to get myself right again. Today I ate and will eat the usual sort of breaky and lunch with a different dinner: B: Porridge with banana L: Cottage cheese with fruit (today it is mixed berries) D: Grilled fish with salad. With this refiill I already feel better. I have restriction again and I am not hungry and looking for something to put in my mouth every minute. I have to work on the physiological side of my eating behaviour now.

I live in Eltham but work in the city. Happy to catch up for a coffee somewhere in town if that suits.

There would be no harm in the alcohol as long as it isn't too fizzy and you don't have too much of it. Fizziness might and make you burp too much irritate your band site so just be careful.

That deserves a celebration! Well done and keep up the good work. To concentrate that long to lose that much weight deserves a medal. Congrats.

Ooops! :tounge_smile: Yeah I meant 0.7ml, how stupid of me! No I did't get the 0.3ml put back in. I had too much restriction before having it out and I wasn't keen on going back there. Having rested it for a week now I think I need a slight adjustment upwards, but probably only 0.2ml at the most. When I go back in late Jan I will have some more put in. Tapshoes, you are right. Sometimes the brain doesn't engage with the mouth to chew so much that it forgets, and swallows too big sometimes...

Just thought I would start another Thread (did we have this one before and it has gotten lost) on what you ate today. I love the one on the main site, but there's far too much on there us Aussies may not know or be able to obtain. It's a great site for ideas for meals. Me I am pretty much eat the same thing daily except for different dinners. I would like different ideas as I am open to trying most foods. I lack much creativeness with my food I am afraid. I will lead: B: Porridge and banana L: 125g Cottage cheese and sliced mango S: Cup of tea and biscuit (to come) D: Fish and vegis (to come)

B: porridge with banana L: Mango (we have a box of 24 to eat!) with a slice of pizza D: Spag bol. Ex: 1 game netball tonight :thumbup:

Pah..2kgs before the end of Jan.. I did that over the weekend! (see "horrible experience" post). Unfortunately the loss was due to being blocked, but I still lost. Hope I can capitalise now that my restriction is near perfect.

Thank "god" for another fill. I had 0.7ml put into mine on Tuesday and thankfully I have a good restriction. Let's just say I am not making much progress with my stir fry beef and vegi salad I just bought. I had been able to eat anything I wanted for quite a long time (months) but had only put on .5kg which is good considering I have eaten myself stupid on jelly lollies. I know naughty me. I would like to lose another 2 kilos before the end of January. Considering I have been on plateau for many months that may not be achieveable. But I am thinking positively and with this last fill am going to do it! Good luck everyone.

Aussie_jules you are a success no matter how you look at it. 30kg in one year is an ASTOUNDING amount of weight to lose. Don't get depressed seeing other losses and comparing it to your own; I did that and it sent me to the chocolate! I had 30kg to lose, but stopped at the 20kg mark due to a plateau. This plateau has been going for months and even though I play netball 5 times per week, the weight won't shift. I am a little annoyed that I am in this position, but I still think that 20kg is a large amount to lose. No matter what you think, or how you look at it, you have done a wonderful job already. Hugs

Vez My port sticks out to but it doesn't cause me any problems. I occasionally will brush it with something, and when I go to bed I lie on my tummy, but it really doesn't bother me. Actually when I went for an unfill recently my doc said that it was sticking out, and that it was unusual. Maybe because I have no weight left to lose off my upper body! It is a small piece of wonder, that reminds me that I have something in there. Occasionally I will feel it to remind me what it was like to feel my babies feet sticking out! You may have to have this repositioned if it is causing you problems.

Hi Jachut Yes I couldn't agree with your comments more. I am so much happier now than ever, my endurance is improving and I am happy exercising. I just love to play netball. I guess I am disappointed I can't break this plateau I have been at the last 4 or 5 months. I know when I have been at this weight before my body shut down, then I got depressed again and gained it all back. At least I know this time I won't put the weight back on. I have had a few ups and downs with my band over the last three months. I have had to be unfilled, then gradually make my way back then unfilled again. I go for another (minute fill I hope) tomorrow. I also have to reeducate myself with proper chewing again as I have gotten out of the habit, and ended up paying badly for it. I get it that the next 12 months is going to be harder than usual. If I can lose another 5kg over that period I would be ecstatic. My goal is 70kg but that is only a number. I am pretty comfortable with where I am right now except for my lower body. The good thing is I don't have to think about this 24/7 like I used to. I am actually concentrating much more on family and work life which is terrific. I will continue with my netball as it's an obsession right now. I will just continue to do what I am doing, and perhaps change a few eating habits again and hopefully the weight will slowly but surely come off. Yes I have been successful with this and that is a wonderful thing. Thanks for the positive words.

Whilst I generally agree with the comments above, I am one of those people that undertook this lapband journey, because exercise was doing nothing for me. In fact, more than nothing, it was helping me put on weight. The more sport I played, the more weight I stacked on despite eating the right things (but probably too much). I have been in the dreaded plateau mode for so long now it hurts. I lost some, then had to have fill removed, put on some and lost a bit again. Despite playing netball 5 times per week the last 6 weeks or so, the weight just won't shift for me. What is happening is that I am toning more with the exercise rather than dropping the kilos. However, all the weight I need to lose is in my butt and legs and that is the hardest to lose (in my experience!). Exercise is not for everyone, and everyones bodies are different. I am just one of the unlucky ones that it doesn't help!!!

My BMI was 36 when I was banded. My loss has been great up to now, when I have reverted into old ways and not eating right, but happily not putting on any weight. I have lost 20kg and am so happy. I would like to lost 10kg more but my doc is not keen on me doing so. I am a skinny on the top half of my body, but carry all my weight on my bum and legs. Despite playing between 3-4 games of netball each week, I am not losing all that much on the lower half, but I am toning up. When I get the motivation I will get back on track eating wise and really make a go at losing the rest of the weight. It's been 8 months for me.

Wow that is just fantastic! That is such an awesome amount of weight to loose. Celebrate

Nat - Have a small unfill, believe me you will appreciate the difference it makes. I don't think your situation is normal in any way. I think you would be better to be on the safe side rather than to slime in the middle of the night. I had a 0.6ml unfill yesterday (2nd unfill since last fill 5 weeks ago- What the!)and at least I can get more down now. I feel better. I had lost 4kg in the last 5 weeks which is too much (but a good loss nonetheless) as in the last week I wasn't eating much. Here's to a better outlook.

I had the unfortunate task yesterday when I went for an unfil (too tight - that's 2 unfills in a row-5 weeks apart!) to have to sit and listen to my surgeon tell me that he doesn't want to see me lose much more weight! When I lie down I have no stomach so my port actually sticks up. He said this was quite rare! But because I have more weight to lose in the butt and thigh area I would like to lose another 9kg to get down to 70kg. He said that I would look and probably feel quite sick if I went down that far. But I remember when I got married 16 years ago, I was 72kg and looked quite good! So I said that I would like to try to lose some more weight and tone the legs and the butt area and we would review at the next adjustment. As I was tight and had to get another unfil. I had lost 4kg (8.8lbs) in the last 5 weeks, which is a little too quick going by my previous form. So I am still a fair way from goal, and probably moreso now that my surgeon thinks I could plateau or put on a little. I will try to either maintain or lose and hope that I do OK with more out of my band. Goal is looking further and further away at this point. But I refuse to let that get me down. I feel so terrific and looking quite good at this point. I have lost 20kg (44lbs) and people are starting to ask what my secret is. Little do they know!

Yup. I hear ya! I am finally at the sweet spot although sometimes I feel like I need an unfill due to all the stuck episodes I am having. Did I read somewhere that it can become more restrictive during a woman's period? Or am I just going insane! I have had the week from hell. I spent the last week PB'ing up my dinners. Not pleasant as one night I spent at my kid's junior production, hoping not to slime anymore and hoping like hell I didn't need to run out of the auditorium and spew! I have had episodes during the week where I have had to stick my fingers down my throat just to rid the pain. This comes from a person who was 'vomitphobic' and would run a mile if I saw anyone dry retch. Now I can slime up a beauty and vomit with the best of them..not that I am promoting that sort of thing of course. I try really hard not to! My surgeon said to eat for 20 minutes only and anthing longer than that is grazing. Sometimes I spend 20 minutes waiting for the bit to go through the band (ouch) and don't eat much else as I am frightened. I am sure it's a mixture of not chewing enough and trying to eat too much. I just haven't learned yet. It is really difficult teaching yourself to chew and eat slower. Habits over a lifetime are going to take just as long to break. No matter how uninterested we can be in food (post band) sometimes we tend to shovel it down. For no reason really and we get reminded too often too late into our meal. I have spent the weekend thinking that I may need an unfill. I am going to wing it this week and see if my period did cause more restriction than usual. I hope to get back to eating a bandit normal meal tonight.

I hear ya! It's wonderful that even though you are at a plateau, that your body is still thinning. It's these things that keep us motivated!

This is a darned good question. I hadn't considered what I was going to do when I got to goal. It seemed so far away. I think I will jsut continue gong the way I am until I am comfortable. I am really happy with my upper body size (although I have lost my boobs!) but my bum and thighs need slimming down more. I still have another 9kg (19.8lbs) to go until I get to my first goal. Once I get there I will reevaluate my goal and if necessary try to keep losing. Once I am at my ultimate - I probably will then have some taken out of my band to maintain the weight and not overeat. But honestly this is a long way off yet! It will be interesting to see how others will answer this question.

Well done. At least you are current (well sort of) I am still boiling my laundry over here! Someone recently invited me to join Facebook the other day. You don't think I was confused....at least I sort of knew what it was :omg_smile: