PaleoKris

Haha, after I got onto solids after my op my mum waved the left over Optifast shakes at me and asked if I wanted any... The thought of those is still enough to put me off, haha! Incidentally, how they give you liquid paracetamol (or whatever it is) afterwards against the pain? I couldn't handle the smell of orange flavoured liquid soap for about a year after the operation! I have to say I admire your ability to still have optifast, Aldesa! I have to say my self control has gone a bit lacking in the last year... There has been a definite increase in the amount of chocolate consumed. And an unfortunate decrease in the amount of indoor hockey played, but that's being fixed. And running. The fact it's slowly turning into spring is helping a lot... If I lost a hundred grams or so every time I got hit by the ball playing hockey I'd be a few kgs lighter after every practice, but be that as it may...! Actually had a hilarious conversation at work today. Three of the guys I work with have started taking an afternoon break in an office I share with one of them, which suites me fine - gives me a break as well and the topics of conversation are weird, amusing, and quite interesting. At one point we were talking about the definition of a meter and a kilogram, then one of the guys started talking about gastric banding. I was sitting there with a cup of tea trying very hard not to laugh while they were talking about it. Most of what they were saying was on the mark, but there were some comments which were a bit far fetched and had me almost choking on said tea, but either way. Was really funny - was so tempted to say I had personal experience, but the fact I couldn't get a word in edgewise anyway helped hold me back a bit, haha. But that's something I've noticed since being over here - the lap band has come up in conversation twice with people I work with in the year I've been here... It never came up in my hearing in NZ unless I was the one who brought it up (either me telling someone or discussing it with someone I'd already told) or it was the documentary that was on a while ago of Dr Fris and the 16? year old boy that was on a while ago. Makes things a little less stressful living in a country which is so laid back about it, I have to admit.

She's the nutritionist in Dr Fris' office! Well, she was a couple of years ago, anyway. I liked her too! Ouch about eating on planes, that sounds worse than me - I can generally eat about half the meal at the start, progressing down to picking at it one or two bits by the end of the flight(s). I managed to score an upgrade into premium economy for part of my flight home before Christmas and got an annoying reminder about self control though - got a bit carried away with trying the amazing food they have in that class. Think I managed to eat most of the meal actually, but I paid for that a bit. Sounds like I'm lucky it's pretty settled with me. Mind you each morning when I've been writing these replies it's been taking me about an hour to eat Breakfast, which is a bit frustrating, but oh well! But yup, supportive people are awesome! I think that's a key thing to remember, for us and people who don't understand, that it's just a tool... It made me realise I can't rely on it to do the job for me, so that, and a number of other things, got me going with the exercise here which was great. (Got to my goal weight a year or two before I moved, but it was when I was over here that I first had a long period of time without access to scales and stopped worrying about the weight at all - what with the amount of exercise I was doing and all that, it worked quite well). For me it just seems to correct whatever made my body decide it needed to store every bit of energy it could get... All things considered the amount of exercise I have to do to eat whatever I want would actually be kinda depressing if I was still the same person I was in high school or the first couple of years of uni, but fortunately people change, hehe. It's definitely easier at first though, the band does all the work, later on is when we have to do the work (boooo). Heh. Can totally understand the uptight before dinner thing, even if I think I'm relaxed I find it harder to eat in those situations sometimes. I suppose all things considered it's not that surprising to feel like that. Usually I have to give myself a stern talking to and tell myself no one will notice and if they do, make an excuse and they won't worry anymore. Of course, the flip side of being my goal weight now is that a friend recently kept going on about how I didn't need to watch what I eat (I told her I don't eat much when we were going out for lunch recently). I ended up telling her about the band, she'd talked earlier about how she'd heard someone had had it done and she didn't understand how he had sworn by some Calcium diet or something, but she's part of my research group and that's one of the stressful situations, our annual week-long meetings, so hopefully knowing someone there knows will make the dinners there slightly less stressful now. Haha, I'm the same with sushi! Feel lucky it only takes you an hour to get through 5 pieces... In that time I get through 2, maybe 3... I got a 6" subway for the first time in several years when going on the Eurostar to London - was being very careful with it so I wouldn't need to find the bathrooms (didn't know where they were anyway), and it took me the whole 4 hour train ride. Congrats on the grades Laura! Some girls on my bus at high school used to eat baby food all the time... You just really randomly reminded me about that. Goldfield fruit pot things might be good? They do an apple puree that I've heard is really nice (haven't tried it myself). Used to eat their two fruits one (diced fruit) fairly often. I like all the info the scales at Dr Fris' office give actually... Maybe tonight I'll be able to go for a run. So sore from indoor hockey on Wednesday, was meant to try running again yesterday but couldn't bring myself to do it. Used the excuse I was working late, but it was more because I can't go up and down stairs without limping a bit at the moment. Ah well, my legs will get over it and stop complaining eventually. Needing a lot more control at the moment than I did at the end of last year, not sure why. Maybe cos it was kind of depressing leaving NZ summer holidays and coming back to blah winter weather, but weather's getting nicer here now, at least!

I'm on the Shore when I'm in NZ too, in Birkenhead.. Heh! Hi Aldesa! The metabolism thing I mentioned I only noticed at about... what... year 3? I really noticed it when I did that multisport race though, not sure if it had changed much before that though. Was just something interesting (and cool!) I noticed. Mind you, when your two team mates throw temper tantrums that would do a two or three year old proud - because they're hungry - and you don't, it's kind of noticeable, haha. That morning tightness, yeah I get that. Food is a bit slow in the morning (mind you I usually have a bowl of muesli, so could be that), and gets better during the day. I've found if I don't eat a proper breakfast (or claim coffee is a meal, has happened when I'm in a rush) I can hardly eat anything the rest of the day... Felt like things needed a kick start or nothing would quite wake up for the rest of the day. Can totally understand why you loosened it, when I just started going out with my ex I was quite tempted to get it loosened... Being in Dunedin meant that that involved organising an appointment, getting flights that I would not be able to afford at short notice, getting the time to go up there anyway... I managed to talk myself out of it, and just told him, which was funny cos he totally didn't know what I was going on about it seemed. His family visited NZ a couple of years ago (he's Norwegian) and that actually had an interesting situation. Had had a fill the week before and it hadn't quite settled - that and there was a tendancy for cooked breakfasts while they were here for some reason - so I wasn't eating much. His mum noticed, then visited my family when in Auckland and saw a formal photo of me before my graduation ball for high school... Ball dress, hair done, makeup... And 40kg heavier. Haha. She got so worried about me and started bringing it up with my parents that she was worried that my mum ended up telling her - she understood a lot quicker of course! The airline thing isn't just me! WOO! I wasn't sure if it was pressure changes (Dr Fris assured me I could be an astronaut afterwards if I wanted, I was more concerned about if I could go diving), or if it was sitting down for 24 hours. Hmm. Must be the pressure then. Y'know, my favourite part of flying (after I've gotten well into the journey and I just want to get off the plane!) is when I'm on, say, Air New Zealand, and they say they have a 'light option' meal available. Less wastage when I only pick at it, haha. You're allowed to be biased! Heh. Yeah, on the subject of exercise I just got back into running this week. I only managed 3km! 3! And my legs hurt! 4 months ago I ran 10! Not impressed. Legs need to get their act together. Mind you, the 4 months off was all my own fault. And I may have slipped in the past few months and eaten whatever I want (including more chocolate) and not done much exercise..... Oooops. Probably put on the 3kg I happily lost without noticing last year. And yeah, Heather's really nice, but so skinny! Mind you, she never made me feel like she was judging me cos I was overweight. None of them in that office did - a good thing else I wouldn't have got past the first meeting with any of them, let alone get to the surgery. The only time they gave me a judging feeling was when I ended up getting the band overfilled and Dr Fris told me I couldn't just rely on the band to do the work for me.. Ehm. The "I've been there, done that" angle would be nice though. Haha, Aldesa, I was wondering if I should mention wine... My alcohol tolerance has halved since I got the band, I think. I'm not a big drinker, usually, anyway, but feel the effects a lot quicker. It does go down way too easy. I have to admit that's one of the ways I cheat a little if I'm going out for dinner and feel under pressure to 'look normal' eating. Start with a glass of wine and then it feels like my stomach is really relaxed so I potentially won't have as many problems (set menus are so annoying!). Probably not the best idea, but I figure seeing as the band worked otherwise, I can get away with it if it isn't all the time. And everything in moderation, including moderation, right? Also, the nutritionist there told me to have a glass of wine a night. Have to do what I'm told, afterall. Hehe.

Haha, yeah, sometimes things just feel like they should be done now. Had that feeling about a few things lately. Good on you for raising the money too! I was just having a chat in another forum with a Dutch man who's getting the surgery done soon - comparing differences in insurance paying for these sorts of things... Huh, lucky you got a bank loan... My bank wouldn't give me one last year. Which reminds me, need to email them. I remember Dr Fris being really relaxed about the first few weeks. Probably a good way to be though - your body gets put under a lot of stress having a rubber band stuck around your stomach so it pays to take some time to get used to it. (Actually, because I got it done before Christmas he actually told me he wasn't bothered if I put some weight back on. Heh.). Once you're off liquids it is a lot easier... And hey, 5 years down the line and that summer holiday is just a blip, so even the memories of it get better. Hmm. And now you're making me want mashed potato... Lol. You can still eat rice, but be careful with it cos it fills you up real fast. Probably don't try it too soon, and pay attention to how much you're eating (remember the example I made of a friend thinking I was bulemic? ... Yeeeah. Hehe.). To be honest I don't think there's much I can't actually eat, it's just the amounts that have changed. I have even had garlic naan when friends and I have gone for Indian food - though only a tiny strip of it. You appreciate the taste/texture/all the other characteristics of the food a lot more when the amount becomes a lot smaller. It is a bit hard when you're restricted to only liquids or something. You can actually get pretty creative. A friend of mine recently mentioned a 'Moroccan-spiced autumn vege soup with orzo'. I haven't looked up a recipe but probably best to wait till you're back on solids before trying anything that is chunky (like I'm guessing this is) or orzo (or other pasta). But I've discovered looking up different recipes to test out is fun. You could try making your own smoothies for breakfast, too, perhaps? All I know is I was pretty damned sick of optifast by the time I was off liquids... Heh. Of course, that doesn't help being sick of soup, really, but... It won't last forever! Haha! Yeah, the port does feel really weird. My mum kept poking me in the stomach for a while... Did think of two other things today that I've noticed throughout the time I've had the band (amourette, would be interesting to see your thoughts on this, too) - 1) Energy efficiency - much more energy efficient now, mentioned this before as well. My body is a lot better at using the energy it gets now, which is really good. 2) Don't go hungry for too long... I found I'm walking a very fine line now of being hungry vs being full. Sure, I can't eat much, but I can't go hungry for long either. I usually keep snacks on me - a muesli bar in my bag, for instance, or pretzels in a draw at work. I was away with others for a conference once when back in NZ (about 3 years ago now) and I couldn't eat much of my lunch (a potato salad) and didn't have any snacks on me. We went to the beach for the afternoon and it was probably 7 hours till dinner... Walking around looking for a restaurant turned out to be the last straw and by the time I ordered dinner I was so low on energy I almost fainted. Fortunately I'd also ordered an orange juice which came out almost immediately and that helped me wait for dinner to arrive. You don't want to over eat, but I know I can't /not/ eat either. I've only felt the same way twice since when I didn't keep suitable snacks nearby and nowhere near as strongly as that time on the conference. Sort of makes the 'small meals often' thing ring quite true. Semi-related observation: Actually, my stomach seems to be really sensitive now days - I get stressed, I can't eat as easily. I go on a plane, can't eat as easily. Try sitting down for 33 hours of flying - all I managed of my last meal on the plane was the tea and a bit of a roll. Found when I was in Amsterdam in February last year that put 33 odd hours of flying + stress of an interview together and I had a week of surviving off about one to two meals a day, could hardly eat anything for the first few days I was here - Jet lag really messes up my appetite as well. Things change a lot. My alcohol tolerance seems to be a bit lower, but then I don't drink all that often anyway, so could just be because of that. My tastes seem to have changed as well, but that could just be an age thing or something. Good to hear you managed work!

Get the insurance companies to pay out money for something that hasn't happened yet? What? How shocking! Heh, yeah, insurance companies are annoying. I guess their reasoning is if you haven't died yet (or got something seriously wrong with you that they will actually pay out for) then there's always the chance you can get better without their input. Maybe. So yeah, basically wait until you get worse, then pay. Though you'd think that it'd cost them less to get the band -first- than wait until you've got diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, all that fun stuff that you're dealing with on a long term basis (medication, etc).... Plus the band if you then decide to get it. Who knows... Hang on... Wouldn't you need to be approved by the specialist to get the surgery in the first place anyway? For the specialist to go ahead and do it on you? Or if they don't approve but you make enough of a fuss and say you'll pay will they then go ahead with it anyway? I suppose in the grand scheme of things I wasn't really that bad - BMI was under 40, somewhere between 35 and 40 anyway (I just remember noting that I wouldn't be allowed to go to Antarctica on medical grounds, haha) - but I definitely know about the whole lose 5, put 10 on type of 'not-really-weight loss' and it didn't look like THAT was going to change no matter what I did. No! This will be my first Queen's Day! I'm looking forward to it, haha. Though I'm meant to move apartments around then, so trying to figure out when I'm going to do that - hopefully NOT on the 30th. Just missed it last year - got here on May 5th.

LBT forum fail. Wrote out a reply the other day and it wouldn't go through. Stupid interwebs. Life is nuts at the moment, too, which doesn't help. Hopefully this works this time... Laura - yeah, that's why I got banded at the start of the summer holidays, to give me a month or so to get used to it before I went back to uni. Totally depends on when they have time to do the surgery though I guess! Also depends how much you want to enjoy Christmas dinner, mind you, as my first week eating solids I remember it was still pretty enjoyable, haha. Amourette, the more the merrier of course! I don't know if it is about being proactive, as I don't consider myself particularly proactive (maybe I am? no idea), but it might be. I had a slightly strange situation as I was studying in Dunedin and flew up for long weekends to visit family and go see Dr Fris, so it had to be pretty compact. They were good about seeing me when I accidentally ended up with an overfilled band though, back in the afternoon, got it sorted, fortunately before I flew back the next morning. To be honest I'm surprised they let me get it done with them as I was based in Dunedin, but it all worked out ok. Good luck with the weigh in. Can sympathise about the gym... I kinda didn't have the motivation to go unless I was meeting my personal trainer... That was solved by her leaving the gym and me following to continue working with her, heh. Might not be the best idea with lack of time because of your baby, but perhaps finding a sport you enjoy might help? Something that keeps you active and is entertaining... Looking back soccer is probably the main reason why I didn't top 100kg at my heaviest... That and I still managed to stay relatively fit (good for putting up with a rather over enthusiastic personal trainer, heh). Even when I was really bored with gym work soccer would get me running around no trouble. Tofu! I haven't tried that since I got banded... Might check it out if I find it over here, or when I'm next home. Yay for easily edible protein! I'm definitely planning on coming back home... One day. Visits, definitely (if you guys want to have coffee when I'm next home - probably Christmas - we can def. plan something!), not sure when I'll move back 'for good' as it were. Probably won't get to for another 10 years or so - have to wait for a job to come available. Gives me an excuse to see the rest of the world in the mean time anyway.

@Laura - Carbs are sooooo sloow. I try and have pasta meals before floorball training or pasta the night before any big exercise things I do and I can be sitting on it for ages. At the moment for lunch (unless I'm organised and not lazy) I have one piece of bread folded into a sandwich with a spread or ham. So essentially half a sandwich. That can take me half an hour sometimes. Most times... My workmates have given up on me, hehe. If I'm organised and I've got leftovers or salad I try and have it in an opaque container so no one notices how slow I'm eating so little. I made pumpkin soup at the start of the year and that took me about an hour to get through about a cup of it... Mind you it was really thick... Incidentally, while soup is good, thick soup is harder than thin soup, especially if you're stressed! At least, that's what I've found. Everything is harder if you're stressed, especially about the band. Meat varies... I love chicken, but it acts like a carb half the time. Steak is a bit hard to eat too, but fish is pretty good. I get around that by making meals where the meat is cut into bite size chunks and just make the chunks smaller... Works for having friends over to eat too cos then you can fool them a bit with how much you're having. I was in Dunedin at Otago uni when I had this done so was only at my parents place for visits and they never got used to me eating slow (I apparently influenced my ex-bf to eat slower because I ate so slow, haha!), so they'd still rush through meals, but one thing my dad got good at was making sure there were some small chunks of meat for me if he was cooking... Didn't know that about milk! Nice to know, could explain how I managed to lose even more weight since I've been here. And then put it on when I stopped going to training in Feb, probably, but I don't have any scales over here. Ah well. Also took me way too long to figure out which was the skim milk here in the Netherlands, I used to drink light blue without fail in NZ but I've been lazy here and just buying full milk. Should get into 'halve-volle' milk again though. Argh, my family kept buying Wisconsin Burger for a while... Pure cruelty on their part! Oh, related, used to eat Subway fairly often, I don't bother anymore. Takes like 4 hours to eat a 6-inch if I'm careful and make sure nothing gets stuck. I tend to sleep on my stomach as well, I can remember being annoyed having to stay on my back... Can't remember how long I did though. I remember a few days after surgery going for a walk to the nearest postbox and back (like 10 minutes return if you're walking slow - took me and my mum half an hour!). And I really can't believe how much I've forgotten about Christmas 5 years ago, think part of my brain melted or something. All those academic papers. Yikes. @amourette Haha, we try. Congratulations on the baby! Why'd you get the band loosened in the first place 2 1/2 years ago? Yeah, it isn't exactly cheap, which is why I can't understand the 'drink melted chocolate' friend of a neighbour I mentioned earlier... My parents paid for mine and refused to tell me how much it was but I found a bill one day after the op was kinda shocked. My parents complain enough about sending me and my sister to a private school, kind of surprised (and glad!) they didn't complain about the cost of this. I think I've had a surprisingly easy time of it to be honest. The sweet spot has been kind of easy for me to find, most of the time. I do have days when I rush things or I'm eating a new food and suddenly have problems so I can understand the issues you've had there. I've gotten into the habit of checking out where the bathroom is as soon as I sit down, just in case... I also tend to come up with various excuses - I have a cold, sorry, just need to blow my nose, oh my god contact lenses are annoying, need to go check the mirror... It's taken me 5 years but I'm a bit better with not rushing now, was terrible in the first year. Had one date with my ex when we first started going out and I think I ended up 'checking on my contacts' 5 times... Too much new food I didn't know how I was going to react to. I gave in and told him that night, actually. He was a sports person who never had a spare ounce on him and didn't really understand what it was I had done I think, but he was really supportive of me. And ate most of my food, haha. Actually, since moving here I've been wary of social dinners and stuff, though if there are more people I find I'm more comfy about it because they concentrate on me less. Meeting one or two people for lunch is a bit harder. I've actually given in and told two friends about it because of two situations like that. They were really good about it - seemed like they would be from stuff they'd talked about earlier in the evening at least. Dr Fris had told me that you can get it removed but that people just go straight back to eating too much... Thought he was joking (never considered removal because of prospect of painful surgery!), but it's a shame to hear the self-control we think we get with the band is really more the band than us. Hmm. Now I'm worried that I might not know something. I know long term there can be slippage or erosion... Or terribly painful indigestion (fail). Hmm. Thinking about what you said about the surgical office I think I can see how you felt abandoned... I've always been quite intuitive, so when Dr Fris said that because I was intuitive he'd basically give me free reign to decide when to have inflations, etc, (and Heather deciding I could decide how much) I was a bit surprised, but just ran with it, so I felt ok. They also dealt with weekend phone calls well when I had really bad indigestion for the first time... But yeah, they aren't all that forthcoming with more than the basics I think. I think you need to be proactive asking questions and all that. My problem was I could never think of them and I was coming up from Dunedin for the visits, so... A bit of a weird situation I suppose. (And now that reminds me of after I woke up after the surgery I polished off the whole glass of water they gave me 'just in case I was thirsty' over about an hour or two and the nurse told me off for drinking too much. Oops.). Randomly, what kind of salads did you eat? I don't often have problems with salads unless they have too many extras... And yeah, I think the general public forget that it's a tool and think it's an easy fix way too often, which makes it a bit harder for the rest of us with the stigma attached. And that's really good to hear a c-section isn't as painful! I'm not decided if I want kids or not, but at the slight thought of going through all that if I had to have a c-section... Well, I'd do it but I wouldn't be happy about it! Apparently there's a support group called the Bandits or something? That might have been the one you tried - Dr Fris told me about it but I never joined. I guess that's why they got in touch with me to email Laura when she was thinking about it a few years ago. I think it's a lot more prevalent in the northern hemisphere - from what I've seen here the US doctors seem to allow their patients a lot less leeway (my 'intuitive' weight loss wouldn't have been allowed I don't think), and in Europe everyone seems to know someone who's had some sort of bariatric surgery. Really good to hear you have a supportive husband though! Really helps to have someone close like that who supports you. Good luck with your second attempt Wow, long post. And now someone's trying to tear down my building apparently. Good luck for the appointment, Laura!

I know NZ is small, but seriously. What are the chances... The gym I went to had a strict 'no under 16 without a personal trainer' policy... And even then they were very unhappy letting 15 year olds do gym work. Sounds like my sister - we were both around 95kg at our heaviest... And she managed to lose it and get down to her ideal weight. We ate the same food, I worked harder at the gym (that's what it felt like, we trained together quite often and the PT we had always ended up having me running when she'd only walk on the treadmill, having my work at higher intensity... And I didn't complain as much as she did!), she lost all the weight and I went through a yo-yo period. the main thing about Dr Fris is that he hit it right on the head in the first meeting we had - pointing out that he realised how hard it must have been to not lose a pound while my sister was out trying to figure out if she was a size 10 or a size 12 now. Anyway, the result of that is Dr Fris went up in my estimation and my sister thinks everyone can lose weight by themselves without surgery. She thinks the same as your dad I guess - that it's a quick fix, or cheating, or something like that. Dr Fris explained that sometimes there's a weird chemical imbalance going on that he think might be what was up with me? Not sure of the details there, but now I can eat whatever the hell I like, do the exercise, and it stays off. Or comes off more, if I get too carried away with the exercise. Basically - my body behaves normally now, rather than storing all the energy when it doesn't need to. Though to be honest I think half of it is my sister is used to being the skinnier one out of the pair of us and she wasn't impressed that I ended up almost 10kg lighter (and two dress sizes smaller) than her. She's a lot taller than me though! It's definitely not a quick fix. You still need to do the work to lose weight, it's just that now your body will actually do what it's supposed to and energy in will equal energy out, rather than energy in equaling 'omg no energy out!!!' or something like that. My dad came round to it after a little while - reckons it was good for me now. Don't know what my sister thinks, I gave up on her opinion about it a while back. I think she's realised it's not as easy as it looks, but still thinks loosing weight by yourself is better. Which I do agree with her on that. If you can lose weight by yourself, definitely do it that way. Fancy restaurants totally win! The ones where you pay more to get a smaller portion? Love those. Went to one a while back for a family lunch, I had the exact right amount for everything, my dad was complaining cos there wasn't enough food for him, so I gave him some of my main anyway, but it was perfect. Love being able to finish my meal without stress and enjoy it. Usually I end up getting an entree (a couple of times this has included the waiter taking the time to explain that what I ordered is tiny and won't fill me up - have to patiently explain that that's what I ordered so that's what I want), or soup. Actually, Indian food (shared pots of different curries) works quite well - other people don't notice how little you're eating and you can pick and choose. Hehe. Hmm... I miss NZ icecream... The Netherlands is as much of a dairy country (more, really) than NZ and they have a fair bit of icecream here, but it isn't quite the same. Probably can't play that card much now, drinking so much more milk over here for some reason.

Woah! I was thinking about the girl I was given the email of when I wrote the last message and was wondering what happened... I know she was turned down because she was too young... Were you emailing someone with an ihug email address? If so this is actually hilarious! Good to hear you were finally allowed to get it - can understand the reasoning for not letting you a few years ago... They don't even let people under the age of 16 use gym machines without a personal trainer (my sister started going to the gym as soon as she was old enough). Suppose they want to make sure the body is settled before they mess with it. Haha, sounds like my parents. I just kept telling dad it felt like doing about a million sit ups in 30 seconds and that seemed to get my point across. I may have played it up just a little. Dr Fris and Heather love showing me my 'before' photo... Can't believe how much of a difference 40kgs makes... Especially because I was convinced I 'didn't look that bad' beforehand. Oh well! I've actually found that except for the irritation mentioned above - which generally relates to portions served by people who don't know better, or carbs, I enjoy food even more now because I can only have small amounts... Had a really nice honey-glazed salmon dish when I was back home at a restaurant in Takapuna - was a really small dish, but was the perfect size for me and tasted amazing. Which reminds me, have to try and recreate it at some stage. One thing with getting on to solids... Don't push it when eating foods you used to eat all the time. Take each food as if you're trying it for the first time... I found that some foods I just couldn't handle as well as I expected. I can't eat chocolate coated coffee beans, for instance... No idea why. And some are surprisingly more difficult to eat than others. Possibly not so surprising is it's still amazingly easy for me to eat desserts. And icecream. Ahem. (though so saying, Dr Fris' nutritionist told me to eat more icecream so I can get more calcium - win!) And I can enjoy chocolate without worrying about if I'm gonna gain 5kg now (yay!), but covering everything with chocolate isn't a great way to try and lose it all in the first place! Good to hear you have some family with inside knowledge. I'm the only one in my family or friends from back home, so always felt like they didn't quite get it, even though they were super supportive. Workmate I told here, her sister had the stomach stapling, but my workmate doesn't think much of the surgery. She thinks it's just an excuse for people who don't want to put the effort in. Funny thing there is my sister is of the same opinion so I'm not too worried. At least she knows what's happened if I fall over complaining of my stomach for some reason... Heh.

Amsterdam is a really nice, relaxed city! Enjoyed it here so far. My boss keeps apologising for the weather but it's so much like home sometimes it's scary. Except for the fog. Can't get over this city and fog. And the lack of hills. Haha. Seems like it's doable from what my surgeon said, but better to deal with it here seeing as I'm paying all this health insurance. Of course, hopefully nothing happens whatsoever - haven't had any problems so far, but better to be prepared than suddenly freak out if something does go wrong! Thanks for the head up about VUMc or AMC. That's actually another thing, it's awesome that your insurance is paying for this! Mine wouldn't because it was 'preventative'. I'm 25, got banded just after I turned 20, and they wouldn't pay because I didn't have diabetes (yet, according to my gp back home!), sleep apnea, or any other obesity-caused problems. Oh well, still, not a cent wasted really!

It definitely gets easier! Hehe. I got my surgery done right before Christmas 2005... Dr Fris appeared to think I could decide when to go on solids myself, so managed to time that alright so I could eat a bit of Christmas dinner. That's when I realised people don't notice much outside of themselves - hadn't told my aunt or uncle and they didn't notice anything different on Christmas day! Can totally sympathise about the sleeping thing too - whenever I woke up for the first couple of weeks I had to have my mum help me get out of bed. My abs were totally shot. Used to do crunches ALL the time but since surgery notsomuch. Haven't had the discipline to do them as much over the last few years and for a while after the surgery it hurt too much! Should start doing them again... I think I timed my surgery quite well... It was at the end of my second year of uni which included some bitchy flatmates, so didn't see much of them after that, and new flatmates/friends didn't really notice. One was in that multisport race, the third girl was one I'd been friends with since first year and when I told them neither really seemed surprised. Geez, family telling people without you knowing - totally get that as well. I'm not even sure how many people my mum has told! Ended up having some odd conversations with a neighbour for a while, haha. Incidentally, that same neighbour had a friend who got banded and didn't lose any weight whatsoever... (She kept being amazed I lost 40kg in under 2 years). Apparently the neighbours friend had been melting chocolate and drinking it through a straw from when she was on liquids! It definitely makes it easier having someone to talk to though. My trainer at the gym was excellent for that till she moved to Aussie. For a while after that not having anyone in Dunedin I could talk to (family and friends who knew were in Auckland) was kind of difficult. It's just for the mental/emotional support.

Hi! Just out of curiousity, which surgeon/hospital/wherever are you going to? I'm a New Zealander who moved to Amsterdam last year, I got banded 5 years ago but I've been considering checking out a surgeon here just in case something happens (a 33 hour flight with a band-related problem is not my idea of a fun two days, though my surgeon in NZ did tell me one of their patients flew from the UK to NZ to see them just because he wanted to see 'his' surgeon, not an overseas one...). Just wondering what your thoughts are on whoever it is you've been going to. For what it's worth, 5 years post-op and I definitely don't regret getting the band done. It's so much more prevalent here than back in NZ, though, that's for sure. Seems almost common in comparison! Good luck and hope the decision comes out in your favour!

As Laura said above me, Dr Fris is brilliant, I definitely recommend him. He's really onto it and helpful in a relaxed, optimistic way. The other staff at his clinic are really nice too - the secretary is helpful and nice, Heather is brilliant and supportive (not sure if she's a doctor or a nurse or something? She deals with inflations and checkups after Dr Fris is satisfied everything is going ok).. The nutritionist was really helpful too - I went to her a couple of years ago (if they still have the same one) to discuss food options for multisport races of all things. Very helpful. At the above mention of multisport races you might already get that my life hasn't been all that restrictive. Sometimes I get a bit annoyed at my family or friends (or boyfriend when my ex and I first started going out) having a real preoccupation with food - going out for dinner, getting pizza, eating bread-heavy sandwiches... You really notice how much food plays a role in what you do. Going out to dinner on a date, social nights out for dinner, family and friends asking how you live on eating so little... But for the most part they just shrug it off as an oddity (at the moment I also say I don't need to eat much because I'm sitting down all day, which is true!). Apart from that annoyance sometimes it's not bad at all. The thing that convinced me to go ahead with it was that Dr Fris assured me I'd be able to go diving after the surgery. Since then I've continued playing floorball (indoor hockey), gotten into climbing (only problem is too light to belay some of the heavier guys now!), and I've also started running. And I'm considering more multisport races. You just need to adjust how you eat... The multisport race I did was with two friends who I told about the surgery - they were worried I wouldn't get enough energy because I couldn't eat much, but after talking to the nutritionist I made sure I had high energy snacks and just ate small amounts really often. Almost constantly on the hiking sections of the race. Incidentally, out of the three of us I was the only one who didn't have problems with getting a sugar/energy slump because I was eating almost constantly compared to them more less often. Incidentally, I found last year I was eating a little more than I expected and when back in NZ I checked in with Heather at Dr Fris' office - I've upped the exercise regime a lot (for fun! Can't believe I finally got to that point!) and she assured me that now I'm 'normal' - I'm at my ideal weight (or there abouts) and my body uses the food I give it to fuel exercise, so I'm actually eating the amount I need and not freaking out that I'm eating too much or too little. It took almost 5 years, but there you go! Hope the above helps. Despite getting annoyed that I can't enjoy a foccaccia roll (unless I spend about 4 hours on it), or nachoes (unless I have a handy friend or boyfriend to eat about 3/4 of them!) as well as I used to I definitely don't regret it. You figure out tricks to deal with eating out soon enough. (Salads and soups are good!) Oh, and another thing I realised is that people are generally more supportive than you think they'll be. Especially if they knew you before and know you after. Or see before and after pictures (I crack up whenever Heather shows me mine!). Straight after the surgery I did have a friend ask me if I was bulemic (don't have sushi on your second day of solids! I'd just lost about 10kg from the op and she noticed I wasn't eating much), but once I told her what I'd had done she was relieved and really supportive. Not that I've gone and told everyone, but I'm more relaxed about who knows now, than back when I first got it done. If you really don't want to tell anyone though, I realised something pretty quickly - people are usually too interested in themselves to notice. And if they do notice, just say you've been working really hard at the gym. Or watching what you eat. Most people I know (except those really close to me like my two friends from that multisport race, two other close friends, past boyfriend) congratulated me on loosing all the weight and left it at that. I did find that I got heartburn after I got to my goal weight, and when I moved to the Netherlands no one here knew - apparently stress can trigger it, as once I told a workmate here about my surgery I haven't had heartburn since. Go figure! Laura, if I was still in Auckland I'd offer a trip out for coffee/juice/something, but I've moved to the Netherlands (where, incidentally, it seems gastric surgery is being given out more commonly than cold and flu meds!). How much longer are you sticking to liquids? I can tell you know that after 5 years it's happily blanked out of your memory. Or mine at least. Think it's because of all the optifast. If you don't find people in Auckland and want to email rants or whatever give me a heads up. Think you can email via my profile here... Hmm.

Hi! So to be perfectly honest, I've lurked on this forum a little when I've been unable to work out what the hell is going on with my band at a couple of stages, but never registered until now. There's loads of useful info on here, it's great! Anyway, come December I'll have been banded 3 years, and despite amazingly supportive family and friends, its a little different talking to people who actually went through it as well, I think, so here I am. Trying to get back to my goal weight for the second time (first time was slightly overfilled, got heartburn and had a deflation, then put on weight again, go figure). :bored:

Thanks, both of you. :ohmy: As it is after my fill 3 weeks ago I'm now at a conference for a few days, which is an interesting test. Still can't eat anything that can be passed off as a 'normal, if tiny' amount except when taking about an hour to eat it! But oh well. Just have to keep coming up with excuses, haha. There's a lot of food-related socialising (as usual, go figure), and its tempted just to state I had stomach surgery, I don't eat much at all, but I know I'll regret that if I do. I think I had approximately the same amount of Fluid in the band at the same conference last year, so I suppose its just because I'm having a sensitive few weeks while I get used to it. Again. :confused:

Kiwis! :thumbup: It doesn't look like this thread's been active for a while but I thought I'd say hi anyway. I was banded almost three years ago by Dr Fris (he and Heather are awesome!) and have to say I wish I'd found this place a little closer to then. Oh well. It's been an interesting three years, anyway.

This is an interesting thread. I'm new to the forum, but I'm a couple of weeks short of the three year mark since I had my LAP-BAND® surgery... Over the past three years there have been definate moments when I wondered if it was worth it or if (as my sister (who lost the same amount of weight on her own) still claims) I could've lost the weight myself. In the long run, it was worth it. :thumbup: In the short run, sometimes its been annoying as hell. The last year in particular has been a bit like that at times, as I got to my goal weight then promptly had problems with indigestion (my doc didn't tell me about that side effect!), so had to have the band unfilled a bit. Have been putting on weight again and finally had it refilled a little a couple of weeks ago and I'm only just managing a 'normal' meal again (which is still about half the size of what I could eat a month ago). The fill-doc said at the appointment that I'm sensitive, but going out with family that evening and only managing a few spoonfuls of Soup is a bit ridiculous in my opinion... Related to that, has anyone else found they're particularly sensitive to fills if they haven't had one in a while (say... 6 or 8 months)? Also, MrsBerggren mentioned a couple of posts up about forgetting about the band and eating fast accidentally - I've been living with my SO for a year who's eating slower now because he's used to my eating speed, but visiting family gets annoying sometimes as old habits tend to come back and I really have to think about the eating speed (they all eat fast and aren't used to me eating slowly). Ah well. Fortunately I think in the long run the frustrations are generally small compared to everything else. I have to admit one of the advantages is eating such small amounts that despite being a university student on a limited budget I can buy whatever fancy food I want because it lasts multiple meals rather than just one.