cakegirl

Wow! Great news!

My surgeon told me to eat to my hunger in the first couple of months. He said I was just healing, and there was no reason to expect the band to be doing its job while I'm healing and it's only minimally filled. He told me to make healthy choices, but that if I was hungry after dinner, to go ahead and have some supper. And to just not expect too much weight loss until the fills start and we can get the band working with me. He was right - I lost weight on the pre-op diet and in the couple of weeks immediately post-op, then I plateaued. I've now broken the plateau (with the 3rd fill), I'm out of bandster hell, and the band and I are working well together!

Wow, what a great bunch of NSVs! I look forward to hearing what your mother says when she notices how much weight you've lost.

Wow, a 5km run! That's amazing!

What a great NSV! Congratulations!

We should all submit our before and after pics to that website I have one pic of me on there... I'll probably upload new ones with each 10kg I lose.

My fill went OK. I tried some creamed cottage cheese and felt myself starting to get stuck on my second spoonfull... So I'm on liquids for today too, just in case... Just having optifast (bleurgh) shakes yesterday and today. Went out for "dinner" with some friends last night and just had a coffee and some ice cream! They all know about the band, so it's OK I'm pretty sure I've lost a kilo this week - we'll know for sure when I weigh in on Monday - and thank GOODNESS since I've been stuck at the same weight for so long. wantingtobethin - maybe your body is just used to what you've been doing? It might be time to step up or change your exercise - maybe get a workout dvd you can do at home on the days you're not doing aqua or something like that? I have been naturally increasing my exercise. I put my gym membership on hold when I had the surgery because my doctor didn't want me lifting anything too heavy or twisting - and all I did at the gym was weights and zumba, which is ALL twisting!!! Since the surgery though, I've planted a big vegetable, herb and fruit garden, and then built a huge chicken coop (took days and days and days) and a fence, and now I'm keeping chickens. So those jobs are keeping me on my feet and outside and much more active than I have been in years. I went for a big 9km power walk on Sunday with a couple of friends, which was awesome. Going again this weekend, and then the following weekend I'm going for my first scuba dive since the surgery! But now I've got to figure out what size wetsuit to rent because the old one won't fit me now! And I have no idea how many weights I'm going to need on my weight belt, because I'm 10kg lighter than last time I dived!

Jamie83, I feel your pain - I've also been hiring a big men's wetsuit that just doesn't fit right. I have a women's wetsuit from yeeeears ago, and I can't wait to be able to fit into it again and not have all that Water pouring down my back and up my legs!!! I'll be going on my first post-band dive in a couple of weeks.

I have donated some of my "professional" clothes to a local women's refuge. It feels much better than just dumping them in a clothing bin somewhere.

After my preop optifast diet and the postop liquids, I realised how much people talk about food! I was fantasising about every possible food I could eat, and people were constantly chatting to me and bringing up the topic of food! It drove me mental!

I have definitely saved money since getting the band. I'm out and about a lot with my daughter, and we often eat out for morning tea/lunch/afternoon tea. Prior to the band, I would quite often have a coffee and cake "snack" and then a big ham and salad sandwich and a drink for lunch, and then some other snack thing for afternoon tea. Now, we just bypass the snack things unless my daughter is hungry. And if she's hungry, I tend to go for "easy" rather than "delicious", iykwim. As in, I'll duck into a fruit shop and buy her a banana. Come lunch time, I still get my latte, but I'll just eat a couple of sushi rolls. And I'll spend less than $10 Aussie dollars on my lunch, whereas before I'd be spending that on the morning tea AND the afternoon tea, and maybe $15 for lunch!

How you look depends on so many things, like your body type, where you store fat, if you have loose skin, your age, your activity level, the type of activity you do, etc etc. My Body Gallery is a website where people can upload photos of themselves and enter their stats. This is the results for 5 foot 9 and 200 pounds. All body types included. http://www.mybodygallery.com/search.html?height=5+9&weight=200&pant=any&shirt=any&zphoto=Large&new=1

I don't drink any protein shakes at all. If I want something like that, I'll make my own with oats, almonds, frozen berries, yoghurt, fruit, an egg, etc in it. It has heaps of protein, but doesn't taste like crap the way that all the processed powders do!

Hi everyone - I've been at a plateau for over a month. I got a fill 2 weeks ago, which has finally seemed to give me a feeling like there might be a band in there. I am getting my 3rd fill tomorrow. Here's hoping!

This sounds really dangerous, and the doctors should be questioned for agreeing to go along with such a regimen. How can they possibly be getting their daily nutritional requirements? Where is the protein in a glass of juice and some pureed veggies?

It took me about 3 weeks before I didn't feel it any more.

I was the same - I lost a whole lot in the first couple of weeks, and then nothing. I've had 2 fills and am going for my 3rd tomorrow. I am feeling some restriction since the 2nd fill, but not quite enough. Weight has started to come off sloooowly since then, so I'm hoping this third fill does the trick. At 6 weeks out, like you, I could eat ANYTHING! I'll be 3 months out in 6 days, and I feel like I can see the end of bandster hell!

I was put on a high-protein, high-cholesterol (i.e. eggs), low carb diet when I was found to have pre-diabetes/insulin resistance. It's very band friendly.

Before I had my surgery, I had a couple of times where I had to cut people off, and say something like "Look, I've made my decision and I'd rather not have to justify myself over and over again to different people, so maybe we should just talk about something else now..." (For me it was friends, not family.)

You must be so proud!!!

I had my 2nd fill last week and will go back in 2 weeks for another teeny fill. I plateaued from when I go tmy first fill until I got my 2nd. Now I'm ffeling some restriction, but I still feel like I'm eating more than I should, so hopefully this next fill will do the trick. Problem is, my mothers' group is going out for dinner the night of the fill! It's OK, they all know i've had the band, but it's going to be tough to just order an appetiser soup when everyone else is having gourmet pizza! I weigh in every morning after using the toilet, wearing my pyjamas.

Welcome to the forums! The answers to your questions vary from surgeon to surgeon and patient to patient! For me, my weight loss was fast for the first 6 weeks and I've plateaued for the following 4. I'm getting my second fill in 2 days though, so I hope it will pick up then.

I'm also plateauing. I haven't lost any weight since my first fill. I'm going back for my second fill on Thursday.

I burp a lot!

I take a spoonful of benefibre every day in whatever the first thing I drink is. It's completely flavourless, so it can mix in with Water, Protein shake, tea, coffee, whatever. I hope you find a solution that works for you.