Hi from Ireland!

[allure 0]

Brenners that's great news that it has been brought forward - I'm sure you would have cracked up if the news had gone in the opposite direction and the date was being postponed!!!

I know what you are saying about looking forward to a new you! I see people on this site have been calling it their "bandiversary" and celebrating their 1,2,3 etc. banding date anniversary like a birthday! I am just getting back to my desk in work now at 4:30pm after missing Breakfast and lunch and I have a crappy sandwitch from a petrol station - I wouldn't be able to do this anymore and I'm sure my body will thank me for it!!! I'm looking forward to having to put the time in to look after myself in the future, which is something I'm not very good at up to this.

You're little fella sounds like a cutie. Children are just the best at adjusting to things. I have decided at the moment not to tell anyone except my other half that I am doing this, but I think you have approached it great with your son and I'll talk to you more about it when we're banded!

[allure 0]

Just wondering if any of you recent Irish bandees have been back to the site since been banded?

I am scheduled for next Monday and I'd love to hear how you got on. If anyone sees this before then and wants to chat I would love to hear how it went for you!

[holly123 0]

Hi Allure. I had my band op last thursday 26th april. I am doing very well. Have lost 8lbs so far. I had my stitches out today. Yesterday was the first day that I felt hungry. I was able to start on mushies today which was a great relief after all the liquids. The recovery was much easier than I expected. I went back to work on Tuesday, but could easily have gone on Monday. The best advice I can give you is that as soon as the nurse asks you to get up, DO IT! I had read about how important it is to walk to get rid of all the gas they pump into you during surgery, so that's what I did. I kept walking, then going back to bed for a little sleep, then up walking again. I was the only one who did walk, the other women wouldn't get up. They paid for it later. They were in a lot of pain from gas and had bad shoulder pain - I had none. They were given morphine through a drip that night while I was sleeping soundly without any medication. I really feel that early walking helped me a lot. Its easy to lie in bed and just rest all day, but its reallly worth pushing yourself to get up. I was quite sore on day 2, muscle pain really - like I had done about 1,000 push ups! This was a lot better on day 3 and nearly gone on day 4. Its exactly a week now and I feel great! Hope this helps! Good luck on Monday!

[holly123 0]

A few of us have started up a very informal support group here in Dublin. If anyone is interested in coming along send me a private message and I will give you the details. It's really just a chance to meet and have a chat with other people who have being banded, whether in Ireland or abroad. Its just nice to meet and compare notes. Sometimes you can feel a bit alone if you don't know anyone else who has had the op. Anyway, contact me if you would like to come along!

[allure 0]

Holly123 I'm so glad that your blood pressure came down and that you were successful in getting banded 2nd time around! I keep thinking of your unluckiness at having to go home 1st time around and hope this does not happen to me! I've never had any health problems and my bloods came back fine but you still have a niggling feeling in the back of your mind that the procedure mighn't go ahead as planned!! Now that I'm getting ckloser to being banded, I now know you must have been devestated when they told you they weren't going ahead with it and that you had to go back home!! Still I'm really looking forward to Monday and all that lies ahead.

I did go out for a last supper last night though - great big steak - as I reckon I will never sit down to a 12oz again!!! Not that that's a bad thing but it was kind of like saying good by to an old friend - food!!!

Wondering if there is anyone else out there due to go with ACS next Monday?

[allure 0]

...any of you out there? Really would love to know how you are getting on?

[lunasa 1]

Hi Allure...

Sorry I haven't been to this thread in AGES...

How you gettin on?

I'm doing great. It'll be 3 weeks since banding next tuesday & i'll be moving on to mushies then... As you can see from the ticker the weight is going really well too.

I had bad shoulder pain for just over a week but back to normal now... On the senecot today as I'm totally gridlocked!! LOL

[lunasa 1]

I must PM Brenners...She popped into the April thread recently & I know the pains were bad for her too...must find out how she is now

[allure 0]

Lunasa, I just looked at your weight loss there. Well done, 21.5Ib's!! Sure it's nearly worth the shoulder pain!!!

How are you coping on the liquids stage - what are you actually consuming?

[lunasa 1]

Hiya

Yeah, I'll take the pain thanksI can hardly believe I've spent nearly 3 weeks on fluids and the week pre op! It's mad

I'm having a Protein shake in the morning, usually with Water but sometimes with milk as I need to boost the calories so I don't start to Starve &have my body store fat.

For lunch I either have Soup or a glass of whole milk

And then at dinner time I have more Soup. Supervalu have a georgous red thai chicken soup. It has bits of chicken in it but nothing I haven't been able to handle. I've also had the avonmore Soups in basil &tomato &their cream of chicken, which are nice.

Minestrone (strained) and once I had a bowl of custard & once I blended avonmore creamed rice with milk.

I try to have something different every night so I don't get bored

smoothies are good too...I have had varying consistencies in everything with the thickest being a chicken & rice soup which was fine but I only did that once.

I am taking advantage of this liquid stage by sticking to it to maximise my start off point

Next week will be different as I move to mushies I may gain or stay but I'm prepared for that

I also Blend leftover brewed coffee with milk lots of ice &1/2 tsp sugar (if needed) to drink for a change or a hot latte if I'm in a cafe or whatever (milk milk!)

, and I keep Green & Blacks organic chocolate in the fridge.

I use this chocolate becuase it's bitter & I don't need anymore than a square in the evenings. I just suck on it if I'm watching TV getting nancy..it does the trick. A bar lasts me a week. Much better than cadbury's as it's not as addictive. And satisfies the sweet tooth.

I have drank once, last week. I had 5 gin & cranberry, slowly, one an hour. Won't be doing that again, just didn't know what else not fizzy to drink. Gin is sickening & the cranberry juice is full of sugar.

I'm going to try glasses of Guinness next. I can drink guinness, but will limit it (or any other session) to 4 drinks

How's that? What stage are you at?

And where are you in Ireland?

[lunasa 1]

Sorry Allure, just reading back there & see you're due for monday?

Very good!! right after a bank holiday too!!!

any plans for the weekend?

Did you do a pre op diet?

Anything I can help you with just ask

[Big As Life 0]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Hope you are doing well...I see that you had your surgery on 4/26/07...that is great....

[lunasa 1]

Hi girls...

I'm just reading back through this thread & see all your posts.

I'm so sorry I didn't check this thread in so long. When I started it I got no new posts so I guess I assumed nobody was here. I just delete all emails from LBT coz I check the posts here instead.

Thank you for wishing me well on my procedure...In my absence

I will be 3 weeks post op next tues!!!

How are you all?

(I feel bad!!) :rolleyes

[allure 0]

Lunasa, that's brilliant thanks detailing all the different liquid options! I was going to go do a little bit of shopping at the weekend and stock up so it really help out with what to buy. I have stayed away from the shops for a few weeks now since I knew I was going to be banded. The reason being that I am the biggest secret eater on the way home from the shops and I really need to put a stop to this behaviour before being banded! I am concerned that even though I am making the changes in my behaviour towards food that I have done this before and lost considerable amounts - 5 stone last year, 4 stone the year before etc. and put it all back on. From my research on this site it seems that this is where becoming friends with your band and respecting it will hopefully break the yoyo effect and when I get the weight off that I successfully keep it off!

I really am just looking forward to getting going now with the band on Monday.

I'm not scared of the surgery bit at all, even though I have never had surgery before but more aprehensive of not even feeling the effects of the band when it's in!!! Probably silly to think this way especially since I am always so positive about everything but it's just the way my brain is working at the moment!!!

BTW, were you aware of the support group that Holly123 mentioned earlier in this thread? Sounds good to support each other at a local level.

Anyway, have a nice weekend and thanks for the advice.

[lunasa 1]

Hi allure...

I did read about the support group meeting in DUB, maybe I'll PM holly to find out more.

I just want to say something to you. Get the fear that the band won't work out of your head. That's your current or previous self (the one who keeps regaining) trying to trick you into thinking you will fail so that it can have it's bingeing back!!

I am the secret eater too...I eat in the car almost non stop. If I am home alone I have hidden crap for my private party too.

Having the band in is not going to change any of this. It will make your portions smaller but it won't stop you grazing or eating stuff that you shouldn't or have hoped you wouldn't.

You are not alone in your behaviour allure...Just know that.

You have to make this time more about the behaviour & understanding why you turn to food when you do. Don't put all your focus into it being another diet & what the scales is gonna do after monday.

I tell you thins because like you I lost 7 stone on my last attempt and it absolutely broke my heart & spirit to gain that back.

I couldn't face loosing it again..I went about it numerous ways and I just hadn't the heart to face it again.

So I began working on what was going on with me, getting to know myself, my triggers & patterns. I made lists of what worked & what didn't work. I also got very real about what if anything I could possibly be getting out of maintaining my fatness & I actually came up with answers. I never believed that I could be benefitting from it, but I was. I had placed a lot of importance on negative things like it not being fair & comparing myself to others.

A lot of soul searching really, until I decided to have the band & that I was in the right frame of mind for it.

I found a very good book too...called THIN FOR LIFE by Anne Fletcher.. It's all about people like us who yoyo'd forever but profiles those who finally got to the bottom of things, got it right & maintained their final attempts.

there's a lot of talk on here about bandster hell...banders seem to get it between surgery & the first fill. They all describe it as having no restriction & that they're starving & desperate & eating too much or the wrong things.

Be very wary of this in your thoughts, don't let it happen.. it is as much a frame of mind as anything. Don't let yourself believe you won't succeed or that you are relying solely on the band. You are obviously a very experienced & successful dieter and there's no doubt you can do this for the last time & learn this time from your history.

Don't try to be perfect, and find out why you regained each time. That is the key. for me, one thing I have always done when dieting was my all or nothing perfectionist attitude. I would BAN EVERYTHING and make it almost impossible not to fail. When I would "go off the tracks with whatever little thing it was, that was it. Licence for an all out binge & eventual collapse. Then I would eat ANYTHING!!!!

I'm sorry if I'm being a bore but this is something you really need to work on...your self. Forget the number on the scales.< /p>

Check out that book on Amazon and if you haven't already heard of the motivation weight loss clinics check out www.mla.ca ... that programme has books & tapes on motivation, behaviour & emotions & all that.

We'll keep in touch too...Did you say you're in Dublin? Where?