lellow

I have been in the same place. I got down to 117lbs, and I still felt like I needed to lose. I was a size 2 US and people were starting to say I looked boney. And I was. My hip bones stuck out. If I wore a low top, you could see my ribs clearly between my breasts. I wasn't even tight really. I COULD have eaten more, but I was refusing to. I was so tied to those scales that gaining seemed like a blasphemy. It took a while to talk myself round to it. I decided I was going to gain until I got to 130lbs and then I would stop. My dr said that if I didn't stop losing he would take fill out. I knew I had to take control of it. I cried the first time I couldn't get into my size 2 pants anymore. But I stuck with it, despite feeling sick with dread that I was gaining. I finally got to 130lbs after about 4 months. I felt huge. But I still fit into size 4 - 6 clothes, so I was not huge. But your mind plays terrible tricks on you sometimes! I maintained 130lbs for almost a year and it started to become 'normal' for me. I look more voluptuous in my opinion, now that I'm getting used to it, but people still tell me I look like I'm going to snap in a strong breeze. Now my band is leaking and I'd started to gain. I gained 5lbs and panicked! So I watched what I ate, exercised, and I've lost it again. I know that that mentality of not wanting to gain will serve me well henceforth, band or no band, because as obsessive as I am, I know I will do whatever I have to to maintain my weight. I just had to 'break' that habit of losing. And you can too.

I did not journal, I didn't count calories, I didn't avoid carbs, I just avoided foods that were obviously bad for me (we all know what those are, elcee mentioned a lot of them earlier) and ate smaller portions and exercised, until my band kicked in with enough fills and took over all the portion control for me. The band, when you get the right amount of fills, stops you from eating too much. When I got to that point, I preferred to get in proper nutrition than eat chocolates. I needed the energy to exercise. So between the lifestyle change - exercising - and the mindset change - changing the way I thought about food and hunger, plus the band, it worked for me. And it actually wasn't that hard to do once I got the 'head' part right.

For me personally, I know I didn't do this without the band. The band did it along with me. I remember the years I tried to lose weight and didn't succeed, or couldn't keep it off, so I personally don't want to perpetuate the idea that if you just eat less and move more, you're going to have the success I've had. As if heavy people are just lazy gluttons, which is something that most of society so strongly believes already. I know it's not true. I ate like a 3yo to lose the weight and eat much less than most people now to maintain the loss. I couldn't have done that without the band all these years. So I'm not going to pretend I did it on my own, because I would hate that someone else who might have sought the help I did, doesn't do it because I led them to believe that I didn't need help. But that's my own PERSONAL decision, and I understand too that for a lot of people, their own privacy is paramount. I get that too, so I'm not for one minute saying others should talk about their bands to all and sundry. Those are just the reasons why I talk about mine.

I picked up some Optifast too. I don't like protein shakes either - bluergh. And yeah I won't stick to just 3 shakes like a diet - I'll have as much liquid as I need to not be hungry, coz yeah, I figure it isn't about trying to lose weight but to give the band a chance to reposition. Coffee, tea, soups, wine etc are all still on the menu for Monday!

I relocated across Australia 3 months ago, so I got my old dr to send a referal to a new dr here where I now live so I could get continued aftercare. My band has been loose for about a year, and there isn't much I can't eat. I very rarely get stuck. My band has felt looser and looser every month. Then about 3 weeks ago, it's like it 'disappeared'. I couldn't feel it at all. My appetite returned in full force and without restriction, I have been enjoying it a little too much . I gained 5 lbs in 3 weeks. So when I saw my new dr yesterday, I mentioned that I couldn't feel my band. He then decided to withdraw all the Fluid in my band, and found that I only have 6cc in it, when, according to my old dr's notes, I should have had 8.5cc in it. But because I still had fluid in it, I should still have some restriction, so he is concerned that I'm not feeling anything at all. He therefore suspects either I have a leak and have slowly lost any restriction I once had, or my band has eroded. He added another cc to my band, and lo and behold, I'm feeling something today. Only barely, mind you, but I can definitely feel my band again. So I'm hoping it means it's just a slow leak and not erosion after all. But either way, he's booked me for a gastroendoscopy next Tuesday so we can found out for sure what it is. So please, cross your fingers for me that it's not an erosion. P.S. In the meantime, I'm back on the wagon, exercising (which I'd already restarted recently) and now watching what I eat again. I intend to lose those 5lbs and maintain no matter what the outcome of the gastroendoscopy is. I have worked too damned hard to lose the weight to gain any of it back now. I've kept it off for 12 months with a loose band, I can do it now.

Oh hell yes, I let go of the bandster habits. The last 12 months, I've been pretty unrestricted so I have been enjoying it. I eat what I want, drink what I want, and I've maintained pretty well. It's probably only been in the last month when I couldn't feel the band at all anymore that I thought, oh wow it's like not having a band at all! I started eating til I was full at almost every meal - I couldn't even remember how that felt before this - and started gaining past what I was comfortable with (2kgs). That's when I thought, um ok, maybe I need a fill now. But the truth is, I didn't need a fill to lose it. I've lost that 2kgs now already so I know I was just be being an opportunist and I can still stay the course if I need to. I am happy to hear, though, that you only have a leak and a small prolapse too. While it would have been better to have nothing, this is not the worst case scenario at least. I reckon too that a liquid diet might be what needs to be done. Might be a good starting point to get back into bandster habits again at the very least. If it prevents the need to be unfilled, even better! I'm thinking I might start mine on Monday. Weekends are hard for liquid diets. That's my reason and I'm sticking with it. And yeah, I'm sure we'll be fine no matter what. You and I have the same 'we're not giving this up so easily' attitude, I think!

I have gone months without vomiting, then forget myself and have too much food way too fast, and I get stuck and it all comes back out. I disagree that I was too tight at the time. Sometimes bad eating habits can cause vomiting, not just tightness. I got stuck after my 3rd fill, when I only had 4cc in my band. I was not too tight then, I can assure you.

I've been there - not sure if I had another fill, I'd be too tight. But also finding myself getting hungry more quickly. You're probably close to the green zone, so I'd say get a small fill (0.25cc or less) and see how you go. Make sure you nurse that band those first few days after a fill too - slow and steady so the swelling from the fill can go down. I lost most of my weight prior to getting to the green zone, but getting there once I had lost the weight made maintaining so much easier. Plus it got rid of that last 10lbs I was struggling with.

I was losing fast, and pretty consistently, but when the time came to get that first fill, I did it, because even though I was doing it on my own a lot, I wanted the band to take that hunger edge off, to make it easier for me to stop eating. That's what it's there for. The mental side of it, the will-power, it's awesome, but it can be tiring, and that's why so many people eventually fall off the wagon. I have no restriction right now. My band is leaking and I have a small slip and I can eat whatever I want. I maintain my weight with careful eating and exercise, but I miss my band just stopping me from eating too much, or even wanting to eat too much. When I was well restricted, I was not even hungry. I didn't think about food. If you're worried about getting stuck, ask your surgeon to be conservative with your fills. Take it slow. And adjust to it slowly. And can I say, your fear about not being able to eat bread and Pasta etc? When you're well restricted, you may not be able to eat those things, but you really don't miss them simply because you don't need them to make you full. Well, I didn't miss them anyway.

Did you Mimi? I want to see!!

Good luck for tomorrow! The best advice I can give you is to take it easy. Like seriously, even when you feel fine, don't push it. The more you push it, the longer the swelling will take to go down. Use this time to rest and recover. You'll be so happy with the result! Don't forget to take photos!

I have to appreciate someone who just NEEDED to tell someone about the unexpected benefits of his weight loss. :woot:

Rewarding yourself is an awesome idea to keep yourself motivated! I can't remember all of my little 'rewards' to myself now but I remember my first one for getting under 90kgs for the first time since before I had kids - I bought myself an iPod. It was the best investment because that thing blasted music in my ears every single time I worked out until it died a year ago!

I've actually never heard of the 'no straw' thing and I've been banded a long time! I never stopped using a straw ever.

Jacqui, I occurs to me now that I should have asked for recommendation on here when I was looking for a dr in Melbourne, lol! I will keep both Gary Crossthwaithe and Stuart Eaton in mind if it turns out to be too difficult continuing to see Peter Nottle. Though for now, I'm rather grateful to Mr Nottle so will hang in there!

I was sick and tired of: Feeling tired if I walked too fast Only being able to shop in one shop (the big girls' shop) in the entire mall Worrying that the next time I saw my Dr, he was going to tell me I had diabetes, or heart problems Not wanting to be in any photos (and therefore now looking like I was not there the entire time my son was growing up) Having people say 'she's got a pretty face' because they couldn't think of anything nicer to say Those are just some things. I learnt more things once I lost the weight. I never realised how 'invisible' I was in a crowd until I lost the weight and suddenly wasn't invisible anymore. But that's a whole different thread!

I didn't get tight enough to truly restrict my food until I had about 8cc in a 10cc band. At 5cc in a 14 cc band, it's very possible you're not feeling anything. If you're hungry, then he needs to know that you're nowhere near feeling the band. And if he doesn't listen, you need to find another dr. I agree too that the band is only part of it. I lost almost all my weight before I achieved real restriction. But not getting even close to feeling it must be very frustrating - you need to know there will be light at the end of the tunnel or its very hard to keep your motivation up. So I hear you on your frustration. The band is not doing anything for you right now, so if I were you, I would try to do it yourself until you either do get restriction and until your dr listens to you or you get another dr.

Well I'm home now and the good news is - there is absolutely NO erosion! I have a small prolapse, which is what he thinks is making me feel like I don't have restriction, but he thinks my head is playing games with me, making me think I'm eating heaps when I probably am eating no where near what I would have pre-band, albeit more than when I had restriction. Add that to the leak, and I'm feeling like the band isn't even there. He is almost 100% sure that the leak is from my port, so I now have a follow up appointment with him on the 5th of March, where he will remove all the liquid from my band again to see how much I've lost. Then he will determine if he will replace my port to stop the leak or it will just be managed with regular fills. He has told me to just eat normally from now on and we will discuss the possibility of trying to reduce the prolapse at my next appt, but he doesn't think it's too much of an issue. I'm thinking of doing the 5 day pouch test just to see if I can shrink the prolapse in the meantime, but haven't yet decided if I should go that way - would love opinions! But all round a result I'm happy with. A leak I can live with, an erosion would have meant losing my band, and I wasn't relishing that. So I'm going to stay a bandster! I'm very very relieved!

Yeah I'm not keen on driving to Williamstown either I went to see him when he was at Windsor, that one day a month that he works there. He's a lovely dr but omg I had to wait 2 hours just to get in to see him. But he came highly recommended so I'll see it out and trek down to Williamstown if I have to. Who do you see now? I know he has drs at Windsor who do fills for him...

Hey elcee, I moved from Perth where I was Steve Watson's patient and I'm now in Melbourne and am now with Peter Nottle.

I'm here Doing it without any restriction atm, but still staying on track.