lellow

I agree completely elcee. That first 'green zone' feeling settled down and eventually I could eat most things just in smaller portions. Which was great for maintaining but not necessarily losing. That's the part I miss though. The small portions, the not feeling hungry between meals, the ability to graze a little and not feel like I need to wolf it all down! I'm maintaining now but I could easily, so so easily eat more, so it's hard work. And walking away when I'm not even close to satisfied is hard to do 3 times a day. In fact if I'm distracted, before I know it, I've finished a huge plate of food (I did that yesterday ). It's just disheartening when I know the band would have reminded me to stop long before then.

I called last week and tried to get in earlier! He's pretty good in that he knows I know my own body and know when I need a fill. But he was away for a bit so I can't see him until this Friday. I'm just impatient lol. I'm actually not having too bad a time with it I just want to get there already! With the leak it's been 16 months since I've felt real, lasting restriction and I don't want to wait any longer damnit! I've been fighting my food demons on my own for so long I just want the band to take over already.

MsMaui you and I had a small run-in on a thread and you PMed me when I explained why I thought you had been negative. You were lovely and I really appreciated you clearing the air, so I feel like I know some of your motivations at least, and I do believe that they stem from frustration more than anything. But from what I have seen here on LBT I can understand why your posts sometimes gets people's nose out of joint because there have been some that were fairly alarmist for what is in fact a rare condition, or about the inferiority of the band instead of your personal experiences. I think that for anyone who has put their faith in the band (and you need faith to succeed), or had success with the band, this makes them feel like you're insulting them, and their choices. It also makes them feel like you're saying they're stupid for their choice. I am not saying you're actually saying that, but it can be how it comes across. I wouldn't wish what you're going through on my worst enemy and if I were you, I'd be damned angry and hell yes I would blame the band and want to shout from the rooftops so people know what might happen to them. But constant and repetitive posting of stats and opinion pieces on band failure and the band's inferiority *will* make it look like you're band bashing (see paragraph 2 above). You may not be able to see it, but I'm not part of any clique that I know of, and I see it. I have reacted to it, despite my usually cool exterior, so I'm telling you that's how it comes across. I would love to support you through your complications, and hold your hand (virtually) when things get hard or you get down. Other have done that for me and more. I too got some interesting responses that weren't always what I considered supportive (and funnily enough these were more 'why are you not just revising to a sleeve?') but if you're really looking for support, you tell your story, you invite people into your life and empathy will follow. Huge hugs, hunny.

PS appointment tomorrow! Is it bad that I'm leaning towards trying to get it done asap? I just want it all out of the way. This year alone, I broke my tailbone, then the week that stopped hurting, I broke my foot, then just as that healed, I had my band replacement. I would like to get this done and over with so I can get on with healing and actually have some sort of a life in the 2nd half of the year!

I drink. Drank through the whole losing period and the whole 5 years I've had the band. I don't drink everyday but I do have big nights out with my friends drinking. I know they're empty calories but I'm not about to stop living just because of my band. Same reason I still eat ice cream sometimes. If you chose to drink and have those empty calories, either work it off or don't moan if you don't lose fast. Simple. Only once I got to the point of needing to vomit. It was horrendous. That once was enough. I've drunk a lot some nights but never ever to the point of needing to vomit, ever again. I drink slowly and steadily and I don't do shots. Shots are evil for bandsters, mmkay?

This thread interests me because when I decided to revise to another band, I got asked over and over again (here and elsewhere) why I didn't 'just' revise to a sleeve. Jean's blog post is the perfect example of why I chose the band. The sleeve was so unknown, and the band was so known to me. I have had a good experience with the band for the most part, so it seemed the safer route to go. I can live with the band, I don't know if I could live with the sleeve, because I knew nothing about living with a sleeve. A friend of mine has the same fill/unfill dance and she's sick to death of it. We talked last night and she said she was sick of the band not working. And yet what she considered 'too tight' was what I considered my green zone, it turned out. She couldn't eat cookie dough? Naturally she should get an unfill! I don't get an unfill unless I can't swallow my own saliva. And without fail if I baby the band, I'll be able to go back to eating solids after a few days even after a stuck episode. We were also out to dinner when I was well restricted (and when she said she was 'too tight'), and got a piece of salmon and 3 balls of arancini to share. I ate 2 balls of arancini and half the salmon and she ate the rest. Then as we were walking through the city, she stopped at two chocolatiers and an ice cream parlour to get 'treats'. I was well restricted so I actually could not physically eat anymore, but she could! I know my band and I know it well and I know when it helps me control my hunger. I am completely happy with my decision to revise to another band, and I think they would have to tell me that I couldn't ever have another band to revise to a sleeve.

Again snorted coffee out of my nose. Though that's not quite an enema so I don't think it'll help me lose weight.

My son was 2 when I got banded, and I picked him up (because sometimes you just have to) at 2 weeks post-op. The hubby stayed home for the first 3 days post-op, afterwards I looked after my son myself. I just sat down and put him on my lap if I needed to cuddle him. I would say that's not ideal but I managed fine. By 4 weeks post-op though, I had him in a sling on my back and was taking walks around the neighbourhood, using him as weight to make the work-out harder.

You have a band, give it a chance to help you. I know it's not easy getting in to see youor surgeon - maybe find out if he can recommend one closer to you? When you have the right restriction, it can help with youor food addictions. I can tell you now that I struggle with the temptation of food everyday when my band isn't filled to the right level. When it is, I don't feel as tempted by food so losing is easier. Feeling full for longer helps you say no to food. And if you put exercise on top on that? Girl, you're set for success! So try try try to get in for a fill!

Darling, you are not defined by your weight, how quickly you lose, or even if you lose. But I can promise you this, the people around you will be scared of the change in you. They will be scared for you too and it will come out in awful ways that they don't really mean. Or it will be an issue that they're dealing with and the way they deal with it is in ways that make you feel bad. My advice to you is to own this. Whether you lose or not, whether you lose fast or slow or not at all, make this all about YOU. I say this out of experience. My family were and still are incredibly unsupportive of the lapband. Despite the fact that it probably saved my life. They didn't like me no longer fitting into the role of the 'fat daughter/sister' and I've lived with jibes and little passive aggressive comments for years. But I understand that I forced a change on them that they found difficult to cope with. They saw me transform right in front of their eyes, changing a lifetime of behaviours, concentrating on myself more (where I used to be the one everyone depended on to 'be there' and drop everything for everyone else) and it changed the dymanics of the family. So yes he is an ass to have done that to you, but I reckon you need to see it for what it is - he's scared and this is the way he's showing it. I feel sorry for my family more than anything. My life changed for the better, and their's didn't seem to.

I'm not sure how any of us were supposed to know that it was passive aggressively directed at one person. Me? I thought you were just being general. In which case, I chimed in with my two cents. Seems a bit redundant now. I hate when that happens. And I reiterate that if this person is making up names and making fun of people behind their backs, I'd wager she was always a bit of a moll, heavy or thin. In which case, people will eventually see through her, and she'll get what's coming.

I am as nice thin as I was big. I also am pretty damned forthright and will say it like it is, and always have. I don't consider that bitchy. I say my piece because this is a forum, but in the end, I'm only invested in my success and not in anyone else's, so take my advice, don't take it, whatever, no skin off my nose. I come on here and offer support because others did that for me, including smacking me in the head when I needed it. If someone doesn't want that or thinks I'm being 'mean', pfft perhaps they need to say 'only agree with me please, or else don't post'. I'd happily comply. Mean people come in all shapes and sizes. So do nice people. If you get thin and 'bitchy', then I would hazard a guess you always were a b***h. Individual people chose who they want to be and they have to live with that. I don't think it's associated with size if you ask me.

I was the complete opposite. I loved going in to a shop and thinking I was many sizes bigger than I actually was. I went from hating shopping because I could only shop at the big girl's stores, to loving shopping because I could buy anything I wanted because I could get it in my size. When I was losing I mainly shopped cheaply because I knew I'd go down a size in a couple of weeks, but even that felt amazing to me!

How long ago was your surgery? The band has evolved from a 4ml band to a 10 ml band and some even put in a 14ml band. 5 years ago when I got my first band I got a 10ml and when I got my band replaced a month ago it was also a 10ml band. I was under the impression they didn't place 4ml bands anymore.

carole, I've been a lapband patient now for 5 years. I got my lapband in 2008. I've maintained most of my weight loss despite a band leak that was present for 15 months. I had a body lift 4 years ago and the plan was to go back to get lipo after 8 months or so to tackle the stubborn fat but I never went back and tried to diet the fat off instead. That didn't work. I have maintained at a BMI of between 22 and 26 for 5 years now, and I currently do not wish to lose anymore. I have had both a breast augmentation and a lower body lift and both definitely made me happy. So I don't expect the lipo effects to be temporary.

I must be nuts. My boyfriend keeps reminding me how miserable I was in the week after my band replacement 4 weeks ago. But honestly I don't care. Or I don't remember! I came into a little bit of money and I want to get lipo done. Even at my lowest weight (BMI of 21) I had pockets of fat that wouldn't go away - my inner thighs, my love handles (above my body lift scar) and upper back fat (near my bra line). I remember trying to lose more and more trying to get rid of those spots and while I did manage to reduce them, they were never really 'gone' and the rest of me was looking VERY thin, as in "you could see my ribs clearly in the valley of my cleavage" thin. So I've made some decisions - I like the weight I'm at now, a BMI of 24. I look voluptuous, womanly and healthy. I want to stay looking like that. But I want to get those stubborn pockets of fat out. Contour this body so it doesn't look lumpy, like it always did until I got way too thin. I have tossed this up over and over the last few days. I know it's about vanity. I know I look good for my age (43) and am fit and healthy, and to spend that sort of money on me again seems, I don't know, a bit indulgent. But then I think - why not? The money came from my hard work. Some of it is going to paying some money off our mortgage off and doing stuff around the house, boring stuff like that. Why can't I spend some of it on me? Plus, as I've always said when people ask me how I justified the WLS and the body lift and the breast augmentation, that most people spend more than I have on a luxury car they drive for a couple of hours a day. I drive this body 24/7, so why shouldn't I spend that money on it? The boyfriend is worried about me going under the knife again quite so soon, so while I have a consult with a PS on Tuesday, I'm thinking of waiting for a couple of months before I go ahead. But I won't lie, if he says it's no problem to do it now, I'd probably go ahead! Lol! No pain, no gain. With weight loss and everything else.

I fell asleep on my guy last night while he was surfing the net, and today I've been sending him sexy messages all day. IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT BAYOU!

Aww Cazzy thanks hun you are awesome. I think what you said about never being happy was the reason I didn't go back for lipo all those years ago. I thought, I look great for my age, I should be happy. And even now it feels like vanity. But you know what? I remember someone once asking me how I could justify the amount of money I spent on WLS and then my body lift and BA and I said to them "People spend that much on a car, and they only drive it for a few hours a day. I drive this body 24/7, why wouldn't I spend more on it than a car?" So I'm doing it. My surgeon has had a fair amount of experience with banded patients so I'm just going to come out and ask him when he thinks I'll be ready to do it. I love my body lift, I love my BA and if this is one more thing to love, than it'll be worth it. And I know there will be other things I don't like, but at least there will be less of them!

I look forward to hearing about it! Spoke to my surgeon again and he is going to do Vaser lipo so I've been doing some research on it. It looks like there's less downtime for it. He also said I could do it on a Thursday and all going well, will be back at work on the Monday. I hope so! I've taken so much time off work recently they're starting to wonder if I actually work there. I also spoke to my man and he's said that he's not keen for me to do it so soon after my band replacement surgery, especially since that knocked me around a LOT and I've still got tenderness and swelling at my port area. So I'm going to schedule the lipo for August I think. At this point, I'll probably do all three areas. I'm still a bit shell shocked that I'm spending that money on something that really is a vanity thing, but strangely enough I didn't think twice about doing it for my breast augmentation, but I think that maybe that was such instant gratification! The other weird thing I'm worried about is having to have an unfill (no one's mentioned it and I don't want to) because after 18 months I'm finally seeing the possibility of getting back to the green zone and I don't want to go backwards!

Lapband nymphos... it sure has a ring to it. I think I've always had a high libido but didn't have the energy to go with it. And the improved self esteem from the weight loss certainly helps! And for all you ladies not getting some - go get some! When my marriage broke down I was like a starving man at an all-you-can-eat buffet (pardon the food reference). I had a new body and I used it with extreme prejudice.

When I got my lapband 5 years ago, the port stuck out when I lost the weight. When I got a replacement band 3 weeks ago (because my band had a persistent leak, an very uncommon band fault) he put in a new style of port, deeper down and I can't see it even though my BMI is 24. I was someone who I suppose chose the lapband over other WLS, not once but twice. The first time I chose the band because it was a band or gastric bypass and I was scared of removing so much of my stomache. The second time I chose the band because: a) it was very successful for me, so why not stick with what I know works? when something went wrong, I could fix it and get back into the game c) The recovery was shorter (though this didn't end up being true through no fault of the band) d) I'm less scared off removing so much of my stomache but between that and NOT removing it, I prefer the latter So when the time came to decide between a replacement band and revision to a sleeve, I went back and got a replacement band.

Lol elcee. I do think I'm being vain because with clothes on I look just fine. But I hate that my pants slip down to my hips because of the bulge just above my body lift incision. I've had a body lift and a breast augmentation but I just sold an investment and made a little bit so thought, what can I do for *me*? Paying some money off the mortgage and doing stuff around the house is fine but I wanted to do something I wouldn't normally be able to afford to do. I spoke to a surgeon today and he mentioned a few areas that he would suggest lipo on - those love-handles, my inner thighs and my upper back (on my bra line) because that's where I seem to have stubborn deposits of fat. And he said the recovery is no worse for one area than 3 areas so if I want to do it, I should consider doing it all in one hit. But omg I didn't think I needed it in so many places so now I'm hesitating. I thought love-handles and that's it. But the difference in price between love-handles and adding the thighs and upper back works out to be just 50% more all up. AND he can get me in on the 13th of June so now I'm panicking!! I only just had band replacement surgery and I'm thinking that 13th of June is too soon!