oz girl

I just had my first fill. It has been pretty smooth sailing in terms of no pain/vomiting etc but it has not had a dramti effect on my hunger. I ate a relatively large (not excessive but plenty) dinner on sunday night and an hour later felt hungry. i had a cup of tea but did not eat again but is this normal? i see my doc in 2 weeks should i immediately get another fill?

Id go with the pasta. It is softer. Carbs are not some kind of enemy. Everything is fine in moderation unless it is hard to digest like steak. Eat lightly during the day as you know there will be a lot of food and then after the mains are served concentrate on dancing.

I think the key is to eat slowly even when it is the wrong stuff. I know how hard shift work can be on he diet. Usually you are so exhausted and miserable you "reward" yourself with takeaway. Can you possibly get a job with better hours?

A few days before the actual surgery I got really scared of the pain and complications that Id read about. The surgery went really pretty well and I am loosing about 2 pounds a week. My doctor said that the more you "follow the rules" the less the chance of complications. So i am sure you will do great. You needed to be motivated and ready yourself.

there is a lady with a blog called sandy who used to be that big and now is normal weight. She looks fab and had kept the weight off for like 5 years (I am not sure if i can post her site without permission) I think the key is whether you are ready to make the commitment required for this.

I see there are one or 2 other aussies on the forum. I am 34 and just got banded on the 27th of may. I used to work in the corporate world but was retrenched in a merger. Since i was making a lot of changes this year anyway i have gone back to uni to do a masters in social work. This kind of work is more my speed anyway. Had my first fill yesterday. So far so good. I seem to be loosing about 1.5 kilos a week but as i am a far too hefty 150 kilos i have a loooong way to go. I have joined this forum because i am not really a face to face support group kind of girl. But it is easier for me to share the mortifying personal details of my life (like just how fat i really am) online. I guess my story is pretty unremarkable. I have spent a lifetime fluctuating from normal to voluptuous to grotesque and tried a lot of insane fad diets. 2 years ago i went for a standard check up and kind of hoped for a wake up call but it turned out i was as fit and strong as an ox (go figure) but the doctor warned me that relative youth will fade and then i will probably be up the creek. Sure enough I got even fatter and over the last year have had horrible trouble sleeping and feel tired all the time. I also found normal walking around the shops made me tired and climbing a normal set of stairs made me puffed out for the first time in my life. As these horrifying changes were beginning to occur i met a woman at a party. She was not overweight. She took me aside and told me that she used to be. But she had surgery (the sleeve thing) and it changed her life. I kind of marvelled at her sheer nerve but afterward told the party hostess and she showed me a picture. This woman had been very big, bigger that i am. So i figured if she could do it then so could I. So i upgraded my private health, saw the doctor and started the countdown. Here i am a year and a bit later newly banded. I hope this works.

I am not much one for 12 step philosophy but I think the day by day approach is the best. I had a bad day yesterday and felt pretty depressed about it. But today had a walk to clear my head and have resumed. One thing about snacking i read was dont eat standing up. This means everytime you go to put a snack in your mouth stop what you are doing and go sit down and chew it really thoroughly. This means you have to stop what you are doing and really focus. With hungry kids this practice will soon become a pain. Good luck 40 pounds is still 40 pounds less than before.

I should add i struggle with the exercise thing. Just go 1 step at a time. Like every day do 1 thing. Even a 10 minute walk is more than nothing. Also maybe hop off the scales for a bit. Concentrate on how many calories you are having and try and make sensible choices on a dad to day basis. afterall we all know a ham salad sadwitch is much healthier than a burger. When you do slip up move on it is not the end of the world! It honestly sounds like being down on yourself is thebiggest thing. I know i ve been there!

yeah overall I am loosing weight. I am eating less overall and eating better, but can still fit a fair bit in and am hungry between meals

I have thus far avoided pizza becuase I am a real guts when it comes to it. I am not sure i would exercise that kind of control

dinner was chichen cacciatore-2 small skinless chicken thighs with lots of veg (no potato) and a piece of multigrain bread to mop up the sauce. I thought that 1 thigh would be more than enough

I agree wrap it up and throw it in the bin

Ive been thinking about this a bit as I had one "helpful" friend behave similarly. I think it is fear too. i did not tell everyone I knew I guess because I felt like i would look a bit of a goose if I failed. I have come to the conclusion that I will just ignore it and keep going. I have a very sweet elderly nana who is still alive who just insists "just 1 lamington wont hurt" i dont bother arguing becasue I love her. But i do say "youre right it wont, but I dont feel like it today". It is the same at parties etc. I dont talk about why i just say no thanks or not today. This may be something you adopt at workplace birthdays. Not today. That way maybe on the day it is your birthday you will say yes because it is a once a year treat. or maybe you will say no because the treat is a new dress that you used to be too fat for. But not today has become my diplomatic way out and my own internal dialogue for temptation. This way when i fall it is easier to get up. Good luck with it.

i am trying to change most of my bad eating habits. it is quite a challenge! But the one thing I am terrible at is night time eating. I will have done the right thing all day including exercising then around 11 as i am up studying i will find myself at the fridge door. Some nights i dont give in to it but sadly some i do. Last night i did and i wasnt even that hungry. If anyone else has dealt with this bad habit and overcome it I would love to hear your tips. It makes me really frustrated!

My view is to block out the negative things you read. I have a "friend" who called me the day i was out of hospital and preceeded to tell me of all the people she knew that had regained it all. I did not need to hear this. So i just put it down to her own issues and ignored it.

try hopping off the scales. Wieght yourself once a week. it is impossible to guage things on a day to day basis

I agree that all or nothing thinking is not the answer. My weak spot is full fat mayo. Now my rule is only on a tuna wrap or sandwich and this is once a week at most. Or things like pies and pasties i can have only when i go to the football (once every couple of months) On those "special occasions" I try to make my other meals healthy. One mental exercise i am trying right now is I am imagining myself doing something that i need to have lost weight for. Like I have always wanted to scuba dive and I got too fat so I am making that a goal. When you gain try not to get mad at yourself this only makes it worse. Just get back on the horse

I could relate to this I am a foodie who lives in a restaurant town! I also love dinner parties. I am glad to see this has worked for you.

I go the a little of everything approach. I get low fat milk cheese and yoghurt but sometimes have cereal for breakfast and a sandwich with lots of healthy protien (tuna, ham, turkey) for lunch. In the past when i have been sucessful and now (so far am loosing each weigh in) variety has pretty much done it.:thumbup:

my doc says plateaus are pretty normal. It might be an idea to mix it up a bit. Like instead of bacon have a cup of yoghurt with some chopped up fruit and nuts on some days and some porridge on another. Also you might want to keep the weighing yourself to once a week or fortnight (every other week for you americans:wink2:) I sometimes find it can get discouraging to weigh myself every single day because hormones, water and a whole lot of other stuff have an influence. Good luck