lellow
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Everything posted by lellow
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Tully, thanks! I've added you as a friend now so feel free to have a look at the pics in my album. Will post more after my BA too - I can't wait! I will be wearing a string bikini this summer lol! I will definitely have a read of your blog, too! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
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Hi Cam, I don't know if I'm an exception but I have no problems maintaining a BMI of under 25 with the band. In fact, if I'm not careful, I lose rather than gain these days and I have to make a conscious decision to stay above a BMI of 21, or I get a little bony and loose my curves, which I don't want. I don't exercise much - very much an incidental exerciser these days - but my relationship with food as been broken thanks to the band and I don't crave much and am very rarely hungry. My band is also quite loose (no fills since Jan) but I just don't have an appettite like I used to when I was big. So don't know if there is a hard and fast rule - I certainly don't think maintaining a higher weight is easier, it hasn't been in my experience with the band.
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oh no, that's not good. If you're seeing them in a week, hopefully you'll start getting filled again soon and won't be struggling for long. You can ask to have smaller fills than 0.5mls. You know your body best. I have asked for smaller fills before - just let them know you've had to be unfilled twice and you'd rather go slow this time. You don't want to have to keep going back to the beginning. Good luck!
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I hope they don't do a complete unfill - that would be disheartening for sure. If you're experiencing problems with aggressive fills, ask them to go smaller fills (I've only ever had a 0.5ml fill once, the rest have been 0.25ml). And see if you can get them more often instead - once a month or something. Good luck. I think going slower with the size of the fills might ease of your problems.
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Hi Tully, I ended up not getting a tummy tuck but a full lower body lift. I have pics in my profile page if you want to have a look. I got it done in April 2009 and since then have had a tattoo done over the scars (just in the last two weeks!). I'm also have breast augmentation done on the 28th Oct. I chose not to do it at the time of the body lift, but now regret it and have booked myself in to get done. I'm only going back up to a C/D cup where I used to be a DD, but I'm almost almost half the weight I used to be, so a C/D cup will be proportionate and not porn-star like, lol! My BA will not be covered at all by Medicare or my PHI, but my body lift was covered in part by both as I was given item numbers for the surgery. I ended up paying about half of the total cost of the body lift out-of-pocket (about $16k) and the rest was paid by Medicare and PHI. I had no history of rashes or anything, but had a massive 'overhang' of skin, and received item numbers simply because they were so 'abnormal' looking. Pics are, again, in my profile, but you may have to add me as a friend for you to see the album (if you haven't already lol!).
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hey hunny, don't know how often you come on here anymore but wanted to let you know that I got a tattoo on my tummy and back around and over my body lift scars and my tattoo looks bloody awesome! The pics on my my profile page in my body lift album
. And I'm getting my boobs done (decided I really wanted to after all) on the 28th of Oct, so maybe already done and dusted by the time you read this! Wish me luck hunny and hope you're doing marvellously! If you want to stay in touch, would be happy to PM my mobile number! xxx Janice -
Hi Kelsey,
thanks for the comments in the before/after thread. I lost 100% of my excess weight in 7 months, but went on to lose approximately another 30 pounds in the year following that. I now tend to struggle to put on weight rather than lose.
My band is pretty loose now but my appetite died a long time ago!Good luck with your journey. I hope the band works for you as well as it did for me!
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From the album: This little duck's journey
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From the album: This little duck's journey
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Hahah just saw your second picture comment! Ok, I was 215lbs at surgery, and I lost all my excess weight and got to 150lbs within 7 months. My Dr (Australian obviously) didn't believe in no carbs or anything like that, so I mainly ate from all food groups whenever I was hungry, and lost about 7lbs a month doing that and exercising 40 mins three times a week (I cycled on a spin bike). When I got to goal, I reduced my exercise to incidental exercise only - so walking, running after my son, that sort of thing - but continued to lose for the next year, and am now 125lbs. I have about 7.5cc in a 10cc band, but it's quite loose now, I don't get stuck anymore, I can eat almost as much as an unbanded person, but I don't get cravings, I don't love food like I use to, I only eat enough to stop me being hungry and I still only eat when I'm actually hungry. I haven't had a fill in over 6 months now and I don't think I'll be getting one soon either. My weight seems to maintain itself these days.
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From the album: Body Lift, Breast Augmentation, Liposuction - before and afters
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Does thr port stick out
lellow replied to TRACIENEW1217's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Because my BMI is pretty low now, yes my port does stick out. You can see it easily. My surgeon said I have not much fat between my stomache muscles and my skin, so of course it'll stick out. I still prefer it sticking out than having the fat there! No one I know has complained about the port sticking out yet tho. -
I have been out with overweight men, even obese (by BMI standards) but not anyone who is very overweight. I do think looks matter and even when I was myself overweight I still looked for a man I found attractive to me personally. The last person I was seeing was overweight and it didn't faze me in the least. The person I've only just started seeing is an ex-body builder and has the whole super buff, muscular thing going, and again it doesn't faze me, coz their personalities were important too. Unlike Jachut, I'm pretty petite. Someone who was very very overweight probably wouldn't get past the point with me where I'd consider them to begin with. Just being honest.
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Do you only eat three meals a day?
lellow replied to lauragshsu's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
Actually Brad, I think I subscribe to that too. I eat when I'm hungry. I'm not hungry in the morning. I'm hungriest in the evening. I eat slowly and after about 10 mins I'm not hungry anymore. I snack. I do sometimes. Whether it's a coffee, or a piece of fruit. I eat when I'm hungry. I am not hungry often tho, and that's despite the fact that my band is qute loose. food doesn't interest me anymore unless my stomache is growling. -
Do you only eat three meals a day?
lellow replied to lauragshsu's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
It's an unusual day when I eat 3 meals. Mornings, I usually have a drink and no meal. If work is busy, I'll be lucky to have lunch some days. Not the healthiest option, I know. -
Have you been keeping your fat clothing?
lellow replied to LapNYC's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
It took me months to do a closet purge after I was first banded. But I'm glad I did. Now almost 2 years down the track and I know I wouldn't have gone back to them. And I don't miss anything I got rid of. Even now, as soon as something's too big for me, I bin it or give it away. I recently lost another 4kgs despite not trying to and my favourite jeans were getting loose, so I gave them to my daughter. She asked why I didn't want to hang onto to them in case I gained some weight back, but I find it helps my state of mind to wear what fits me, and not hang on to what doesnt. -
Just Down About Everything!
lellow replied to Tori1983's topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Even post surgery, it isn't easy. Until you get a couple of fills, the band doesn't actually help much with restricting the amount of food you can eat. So this is a good time to try to get into the right headspace. Remember, these difficulties you're experiencing is not forever. Remember why you're doing this. I am now almost 22 months post surgery, and I eat pretty normally, akin to a small eater. This is the hard part - the losing. Then life returns to some semblance of normality after that. This is just a small period of your life, and once you get to goal, the rest of your life will not be so wrapped around your weight, and around food. Don't look at the whole 13 days ahead of you. You're screwing with your head then. Take one day at a time. Deal with each day on it's own, get to the end of each day and don't think of the next day. One foot in front of the other, step by step. -
Just Down About Everything!
lellow replied to Tori1983's topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
The liquid pre-op diet sucked. No doubt about it. But if you keep at it, you will get the surgery, your liver will shrink, and in 13 days you will be banded. My liquid diet was a lot less difficult - I could have one meal a day (I started with a low BMI) and even that was really really hard. I too weighed myself every minute of the day, praying I would lose, so I could have the surgery. But then it was done! Trust me, after surgery, when you can't eat much for the first month, you're not going to feel great either, you're going to weigh yurself constantly, and you're going to obsess. We all do/did it. But over time, your mind adapts, your body adapts, your energy levels come back, you stop having sugar-withdrawal headaches, and you start feeling a semblance of being normal again. Hang in there! -
Divorce/Split Rates post lap band
lellow replied to Me3's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
I have split with my husband of 9 years post banding, tho I'm not entirely sure the weight loss was the biggest contributing factor. It was a factor in that I became more confident in myself, and what I felt I deserved. He definitely became more insecure, and was noticing the increased attention I was beginning to receive. But in the end, there were issues there to begin with. Issues I had hoped that me losing weight would assist with, but of course, issues often don't get fixed in that way. I don't know that if I didn't get banded, that it would have saved my marriage. At best, I think I would perhaps have been more prepared to stay unhappily married. -
A Question for Band Veterans
lellow replied to HAL380's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
I've never been unfilled for weight maintenance. I got to goal, then went on to lose another 19+ lbs on the restriction I had then. My weight now stays between 127 - 135lbs, and when it starts to creep above that, I go in for a small fill. Have only had to do that twice since going into 'maintenance' mode. So no when you get to goal, generally speaking, you don't get unfilled. You just live with that level of restriction, which tends to ease over time. -
How important are the rules really?
lellow replied to SavvyCat's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Like Jachut (and also from Australia) I wasn't given a lot of rules to follow. I had a post-op diet, which I followed, after which I was told to eat healthily, exercise at least 20 mins 3 times a week, and only eat when I was hungry. I didn't do low carb, didn't count calories, ate a balanced diet from all food groups, I drink alcohol (always have) and I exercised. I started with a relatively low BMI too and I lost all the weight I needed to within 7 months, then lost more, and then have maintained for over a year now. I think following the post-op diet is important because that's when you're healing. But after that, how you lose is pretty much dependant on you, and how sensibly you eat. Mind you, I don't drink carbonated drinks coz they make me feel sick. If something doesn't 'sit well' with me, I don't eat/drink it. But I try everything at least once. Personally I think if I'd had too many rules to follow, I would have been more likely to fall off the wagon. Having few rules made it easier to 'follow' the rules I did have. I even drink with meals sometimes, when I'm out at a restaurant. Then again, I'm not very restricted anymore. :waytogo: -
wisdom you wish you knew prior to surgery
lellow replied to teach724's topic in LAP-BAND Surgery Forums
Probably the most important bit of of wisodom I wished someone had told me was that while you're losing, you obsess about every thing you eat, how much you exercise, how much you weigh every minute of everyday. And you pretty much have to when you're losing, you have to WORK at it. But eventually, you lose the weight, and if your band is working right, you start to not think about it a lot anymore. Your relationship with food changes, and because you eat less, you crave less, and if you exercise regularly and more incidentally (coz you're lighter), suddenly you mostly forget about the band, and you don't lose, but you don't gain either. Even tho most people know I have a lapband, now I'm in maintenance mode, I eat like a 'regular' unbanded person. I don't have to think too hard about 'right foods' and exercise schedules. I rarely PB, I can tolerate almost anything, and my weight is being maintained by just living a normal life. I wish someone told me I wouldn't have to work at it ALL my life, because that's one of the reasons I didn't get the band earlier. And knowing what I know now, I regret that I waited so long to get the surgery.