WrenBird

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've visited, so I thought I'd pop in and share something with you. The other day I ate KFC for the first time in about a year. The smell of it actually made me want to be sick and as soon as I put a greasy piece of chicken into my mouth, the taste and fat of the chicken was unbearable. These days I mostly eat salads and lean meat. A few years ago, when I got my first job, all I would eat is McDonalds and KFC chicken. The thought of eating salad or vegetables disgusted me and I never thought I'd be a salad lover. I never thought I'd come this far and I considered I'd be a junk food addict for the rest of my life. The thing that lead me to wanting to try KFC again was that I'd gone to a party and eaten greasy finger food (it was the only thing to eat there) and was craving it for a few weeks afterwards. I'm going to stay away from this kind of food for the rest of my life. I actually think sugary and fatty foods can be addicting and when you cut them out of your diet completely, you forget about them and start enjoying the foods that your body deserves. I'm interested to know if anyone else has had an experience like this.

I've surpassed my goal

Coffee helps for me. I also drink this breakfast milk drink here in Aus called 'vive', which helps me a lot. Fruit and vegetables are your friend too. Are you on solid foods yet?

Hi Awanda, If your band has failed, that's unfortunate. I'm really sorry to hear that. Bringing other people down to your disappointment isn't the answer though. I've lost 154 lbs and I did it in a few years time. I'm happier and healthier then ever. If the band didn't work for you, then maybe you need to find another forum to complain on.

The before photo isn't really a before photo because I'd lost 25 kilos, so I'm not at my biggest. But here it is! Also, I've lost about 10 kilos since my after photo.

Since I've visited this forum. I've lost 33 kilos! I looked in the mirror this morning, curled my hair, put my best skirt on and jacket and went for a job interview. I went to McDonalds afterwards because my fiance wanted a burger and low and behold, when my fiance went to the bathroom a guy walked in and looked straight at me for a while, I smiled and he blushed...Then he checked me out when he thought I wasn't looking. Best feeling in the world! I just hope he wasn't looking at something like a booger on my face or something like that. I've got another 30 or so kilos to go, but I'm feeling pretty good right now :-)

Ahaha yesss! Mustard is my favourite :-D

Thanks :-) It's good to see you again. You probably don't remember me, though.

Agreed. I don't drink AT ALL for this reason. Also, I probably wouldn't be drinking while eating. It's a personal decision that you can only make for yourself, though.

Betty. Only because I'd love to look like Betty Page someday.

At the moment, yes. It feels very different to how it was before, though...Like sharper and more triangular almost. When I first got my surgery I could barely feel it when I touched it, but it was very very painful to touch...If that makes sense lol.

My fingers touch when I put my fingers around my wrist! A couple of week ago, I couldn't do that! What's the first things you noticed about your body changing during the weight loss process?

Aha. My butt is getting boney too. Does yours hurt when you sit down for a while now?

:w00t: She's trying to make you fail at your weight loss! Nah. Anyone who would do that sounds a little creepy to me...So either way, she sounds a bit creepy lol. I've got a friend like that...Alwayssss tries to give me advice and I just think to myself, "if you know so much about it then go out and lose weight, it's not fricken easy"...At the end of the day we win, because we're losing weight and they're not...I hateeee it when someone who knows nothing about me, or what I'm doing tries to give me advice...Especially when they;'ve failed, or have lost weight with liposuction (yes, I know someone who's had liposuction and tries to give me advice). I don't complain about weight loss in real life, so I'm wondering why the hell everyone thinks they have a right to tell me what to do. :blushing:

I can imagine that if I worked fulltime I'd be too tired to do any exercise at all. I'm making the most of it before the end of the year. Awww, I'm so sorry to hear about your knees. Are they still bad? My mum had a foot and knee reconstruction and I started aqua aerobics with her which is how I got into it. She can't walk for a long time or anything, so it's good for her. Have you tried aqua aerobics? It's awesome :-D Zumba is great, but like most workouts, it gets a bit boring after a while. I started doing Zumba and then switched to walking because I got sick of it. It's fun at first, but if you're watching the tape over and over again it can get a bit blerghhh. lol. I would rather go to a gym to do it so the workouts change each session. I need to work more on my arms and my upper torso...It's starting to look a little imbalenced...Plus one of my legs is losing weight faster than the other (lol, what the?). I think my weight loss has been the way it is because I've had time to do those kinds of things. I respect anyone who can work full time and still have the energy to workout.

Hey Porter, I was banded in September on the 27th. I've lost 33lbs (15 kilos) and started seeing results recently. I've had 2 fills, but need another to make my band tighter. I exercise 10 hours a week. I walk for an hour 4 times a week and do 2 hours of aqua aerobics 3 times a week. I'm in a plateau stage at the moment, so I've found that I've had to replace walking (which doesn't really burn that many calories) to doing Zumba. Last night I'd noticed I'd lost a kilo, so I'm guessing that's worked. Everyone's different. I think you're doing fantastic and try not to compare yourself to other people. People lose weight faster than others because everyone's body is different. Your doc wasn't lying, you are doing great :-) I'm lucky because I have time to do stuff like exercise because I'm a student. Others aren't so lucky.

Mine has gone missing for some reason :-( It was on my left hand side just below my ribcage. I can't seem to find it anymore.

Awesome. It must be a great feeling. I haven't gone clothes shopping yet. I'm just going to wait until I've lost a lot more, plus I have a lot of tight clothes from when I was a teenager that I never chucked out.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. Betsy, I'll get back to you on that one in a couple of days if that's ok...I have a lot of opinions on the subject and at the moment I don't really have time to write an essay (it'll be a long one hehe). I'll get back to you though. <3 Thanks everyone else for replying. Keep them coming if you want :-) I'm interested to know what your opinions are.

I figured I'd start 1 thread instead of 5, so if there's one subject you just wanna talk about you can ignore the rest or visa versa. I have some very strong opinions on certain subjects in relation to obesity. I'd really like to hear your thoughts on the following topics: - This forum and what it's used for - People who struggle with adjusting to the band - Lack of nutrients with the band - The importance of willpower - Fast food (high calorie food) advertising. Some thoughts on this forum and why the band may look bad: If you’re looking at an area for people who are looking for support in regards to a certain issue then OF COURSE it’s going to look bad. If you go looking for problems, you’re more than likely to find them. The band was disappointing at first, but I gave it a go and it worked: I was one of those people that regretted getting the band. Why? Because I wasn’t losing as much weight as I thought I would. I was hungry all the time and I had some serious depression because I was unable to self medicate myself with food. This is temporary and you’ll probably find that a majority of people grow out of the phase. After my first fill, my appetite became increasingly suppressed. A lot of people find the band useless until their first fill. These people come here for advice on these issues which are why it looks like there are a lot of problems with the band. This is an advice forum, not a praise forum. Occasionally things go wrong as they do with every surgery. This is rare. It is less of a risk than actual obesity which is the leading killer in a lot of major countries across the globe. The biggest risk could be argued that the band doesn’t suppress your appetite. Lack of nutrients: Malabsorbtion often doesn’t occur unless you’re not eating properly, or you have a serious problem with your stomach absorbing nutrients. It occurs occasionally with a lap band and that’s usually because people are used to eating more food in order to get their nutrients. Changing your eating habits is hard, but you eventually get used to it. In regards to willpower: With the band it still takes a huge amount of willpower to lose weight. The band does ¼ of the work. It’s a tool that is used to help you with your weight loss journey, not to do the work for you. Junk food advertising (I don't expect everyone to agree with me on this): High calorie addiction has been proven recently to be a real thing. Sometimes people can actually experience ‘highs’ from eating high caloric foods such as fast food. They describe it as the same chemical reaction as someone using heroine, but not as intense. If someone were to be addicted to Heroin it would be hard for them to just stop cold turkey...It’s similar as it is with us, though obviously not the same thing. There is more support out there for heroin addicts than what there is for obese people. That support is free and often a detox program can be free too (though I’m going to assume this is different in other countries). I’m not saying they’re the same thing, but an addiction is an addiction. Obesity is the leading killer in a lot of countries and yet nicotine advertising is banned, and advertising drugs (obviously because they’re illegal) is banned, but we have food waved in our faces all day every day, so it could be argued that it’s quite hard for us. Imagine waving a bottle of liquor in front of an alcoholic or some poker chips in front of an obsessive gambler and dropping him off at the front door of a casino. This is stuff we have to deal with all day everyday and when you have an addiction to food, it’s ok to advertise the product that’s slowly killing us, even if it’s the biggest killer in our country. I just thought I’d share my thoughts with you. I know sometimes I can come across as argumentative, but it’s mostly because I get very offended when people assume we don’t have to work hard to lose weight.

ahahaha. I can't wait! I have a skirt at the moment that doesn't have elastic in it (it has a belt instead) that will not stay on...If I do the belt up, it looks all bunched and silly. I know I haven't lost that much, but people are saying there's a lot that's come off my face. I looked at a before picture yesterday and I'm not sure...I think I might post some pictures tomorrow and let other people decide. I have a charity ball to go to in a couple of days and some people wanted to see my dress so I'll kill 2 birds with one stone. What's the best thing for you about weight loss?

The best way I find to concur my eating habbits is remembering I said things like that and looking back at how I felt. When you've just eaten something bad, how do you feel? Guilty? I try to keep that in my mind everytime I walk through the lolly section at the grocery store. It's become such a habbit now that whenenver I look at something bad to eat I think about how horrible I'd feel afterwards, it's pretty much automatic now. Ahhh, that might be the problem. and once you get filled again it might not work straight away either. It may take a few more. I didn't really start losing all that much until my first fill...Then that fill kind of wore off a bit (yeah...weird lol) and I got another, now I'm losing again. I think the fills are important with restriction. I've had the same problems, but I've been banded for nearly 2 months and I've found that the fill is the key for me! I'm cheering for you! Good luck! Remember that you're strong minded and have the willpower to resist bad foods!

Ohhh I see. I have a bit of that too when I eat sanwiches. My belly still rumbles because it wants more food, but I don't want to eat anymore food so I just wrap it up and put it in the fridge (or the bin, depending). Is it possible you may need to adjust your psychological thinking over eating?

Congrats on the new belly button!

Eeek :-/ Is that common? I've never heard of the food backing up in your throat...That sounds painful. So when you get that feeling you want to keep eating?