Cazzy

Best wishes and good luck

I weigh myself once a day first thing in the morning but only record my weight once a week. I like to do it daily as if the scale has gone up a 1lb i work harder that day to get rid of it, i know sometimes if u gain it can be distressing but i am over that now and accept the odd lb either way with no emotional pressure

yea almost a year ago on the 14th jan .. 5cc i didnt have that much restriction but when i hit 6 i really began to feel it more Just bear in mind that we all feel the band at different fill levels and different stages of the process, what u have got is a nice big band to play with so u can try lots of fill amounts to find what works for you .. dont get disheartened, it may take a bit of time to get there but once u do the wait will have been worth it !

I have a 14 ml band and am 7 fill so far almost full restriction now, i did go to 8 but had to have some removed as it was just too tight

same here

Dont be so hard on yourself, everyone goes through whats called 'bandster hell', but also u may not feel much difference with the first fill, so u need to get ready to exert some more willpower and start as u mean to carry on. U can eat a lot of food on around 1200 calories a day as long as you choose wisely. Make sure u are exercising and burning the calories to create a deficit. Its hard work but look how good you feel already losing the weight you have, use that feeling to help motivate you further:) Good luck !

The time post surgery where u have to drink liquids is to help heal and let the band settle in, eating so soon after surgery isnt such a great idea. Gas pain in the shoulder can be very painful, just make sure you are drinking the amount you should and to try walking to help shift it. Eating before you should will also cause more gas to accumulate so please do try and follow the guidelines you were given you will benefit in the long term

I am not a great lover of fitness dvd's but leslie's ones are great, ive never been a fast walker and i do find she walks a little fast for me but i just keep going and i enjoy it ! She has been doing these walking dvd's for a long time now and is still very popular which shows how good they are

I find it quite sad that you have to pay so much for a fill, it must make the decision to get one done so difficult, in the uk the equivalent of a self pay fill at the hospital i am is £80 maybe $150 equivalent, any chance u can find a new fill doctor ? I think getting a partner to work out with will help the motivation too, so good luck with that. I would be wary of OJ it has a lot of fructose in it and ofc calories, maybe water it down some or actually eat an orange so u get some bulk and therefore fill u up a little .. Just dont give up on yourself, you thought u were worth investing money in to pay for the band, so dont make it that u paid all that money out for it not to work. Find food that will fill u up without adding empty calories or that passes through too quick. As u are a teacher set yourself some homework to do call it 'Project me' and become your own expert at what u can and cant eat to lose weight and what exercise u need to do to create a defecit in calories each day. Good luck to you and i hope u can get to do the next fill u need !

The food doesnt stay in the pouch longer than around 5 mins what gives u the feeling of fullness is about triggering a response from your brain that u are full/filling up which is, and i think this is right, the nerves that send signals to your brain regarding hunger and satiety are placed around the top of the stomach , so the pouch fools your brain into thinking that its full/filling up that is why the band is placed where it is. People do have problems with when food is still in the pouch and drink before it has all gone into the stomach. A safe time is around an hour after eating, some dont need this time and some do, what u dont want to do is stretch the pouch with both food and drink at the same time. Food can stick more if you drink while eating . Obviously this is my understanding and my experience so maybe talk with your surgeon if u want more definitive answers you might find this interesting to read, not saying its right or wrong but gives 1 doctors views on how it all works http://drsimpson.net/fills/Lap-band-eating/lap-band-not-restriction/lap-band-and-restriction.html

gratzzz what a great way to start the new year !

great news !

I understand your fears, my biggest one was failing, or they couldnt fit the band, or it would go wrong, I am sure we all get those sort of feelings, but u know yourself, if u have enough determination u can do anything, the band will support you in this. Being banded was the base line for me to start again, wipe the past away and start setting goals for the future. I know i needed this base line, i have mainly relied on myself to lose all the weight i have but my band supports me, i still have a good appetite, i do sometimes get stuck, not often , but mainly i can eat smaller amounts of good healthy food and not feel hungry so much as i did before the band was fitted. I chose the band over anything other WLS because it felt right for me, and because i made this decision it made it easier to have the determination to make it work. Surgeons like sleeves and bypass as they dont have to do any fills u are in effect a short term patient, bands create work with maintenance fills. Gather all the information and make an informed choice based on what u feel is right for you good luck ! Ive lost on average 3lbs per week since i started and since christmas its dropped to 2lb a week. Theres been 2 weeks where i lost 0lbs but thats all !

Its a small amount to gain, could be something as simple as extra salt in something that created some fluid retention. Might be an idea to change just doing cardio and do some strength training .. Ive always been of a mind that if something doesnt work then make a small change to something, so if the plateau keeps up then think about confusing your body for a while lol it works for me anyways

Thanks If your friend wishes to contact me through here and needs any questions answered pls encourage her to do so i will help all i can in a balanced way, I support the band a 100% but i do know that for some its just not the right answer for them.

Many years ago i also worked nights for 10 yrs as a nurse and i can remember being hungry most of the night too. Im not sure theres an easy answer to this as your bio clock works so differently if u are working at night. What i would do is concentrate on small meals more often and make sure u get plenty of fresh protein if you can, greek yoghurt is good to fill a hole and other low fat low calorie protein rich food will keep u satified for longer. I drink tea and coffee with skimmed milk as and when i want to help stave off hunger. Some use almonds as a snack too, u can use something like home made soup, or ww tomato soup is also great for filling the gap. Many people on here use protein shakes too either for a meal or inbetween. The thing to do is preparation, plan food to take to work and know u have something with you to snack on. Its important too to keep up exercising, i know this must be difficult as u probably dont feel like it very often, but maybe after work might help before u sleep during the day. Sorry if this doesnt give u answers that u may want/ need but its not an easy situation and i really wish you luck with it

It is not 'luck' my dear it is dam hard work. Its not luck that watches what i eat, its not luck that makes me control portion sizes and its not luck that makes me cycle 8 miles a day .. its me and my band. I have worked really hard over the past year to lose the amount of weight i have and to dismiss this as just being 'luck' i find quite offensive to be honest.

8 days from 1 yr banded

Thanks we have a saying here in the UK too .. a bad workman always blames his tools..

In 8 days i will have been banded a year and I LOVE MY BAND .. Everyone here loses weight in a different way and at different rates but what is common to all of us is that we have to change the way or what we eat. Some will manage with smaller portions, some will manage with counting calories some will manage with incresed exercise. What is apparent is that if you start putting on weight and whatever you are doing isnt working something needs to change

I eat a lot of soup mainly veg soup made with cauliflour, broccoli, celery, zuchini and frozen peas and a chopped onion, veg stock cube , then blended with a stick blender tons of good vitamins and protein and very filling. The other soup i eat is weight watchers tomato soup is low calorie and is the only one that taste any good to be honest. ww soup is the only shop bought soup i eat i sometimes add chilli flakes to the veg soup to spice it up a bit, u can add 0 fat yoghurt too to make it more creamy.

Absolutely correct !

Losing weight slowly is meant to help and so is rigorous exercise, hydration, moisturising etc but alas if u have a lot of weight to lose, age, sex, etc all means that this impacts on the amount of excess skin u may get, some get none others like me gets quite a lot. I will be getting rid of mine later this year, but i would still rather be lighter with excess skin than where i was before

Makes it all worthwhile when something like happens enjoy the moment !

I think you may find it useful to read a British article on the band fluffy http://www.bospa.org/Information.aspx?Page=2 I quote directly from that report.. Risks and Side Effects Fortunately, complications are rare but it is important you learn about the potential problems before you decide to proceed with the surgery. Firstly, being obese makes any surgery more risky. Anaesthetics are more difficult, and obesity–related diseases that you may have can add further complications. Statistics show the death rate associated with gastric band insertion to be about 1 in 2,000 operations. The most common cause of death is the development of a blood clot in the lungs (pulmonary embolism). Occasionally patients may develop other complications at the time of operation such as an infection in the lungs, stomach or at the site where the reservoir is placed under the skin, which may delay recovery. The placement of the gastric band laparoscopically helps to reduce the risk of complications, and the team who manage your surgery and anaesthetic are specially trained in the treatment of obese patients. They will monitor you closely in the period immediately following your surgery, and take a range of measures to prevent complications from arising, including giving you medications to help prevent vomiting (and dislodging the band) and blood clots and getting you up and about soon after the operation. Overall, international studies suggest that 1 in 10 people with a gastric band will need a further operation at some time in the future. This may be due to: Slippage. Months or even years after the operation, there is always the risk that the stomach will move up through the band and the upper pouch will become enlarged. The band can be re–fixed in the correct position. Erosion. Very slowly, and particularly if the balloon is tightly inflated, the band can work its way into or through the wall of the stomach and cease to be effective. In this case the band would be removed and and replaced if possible. Leakage. This may be due to damage of the reservoir or tubing if fills are not carried out with extreme care or if two of the band components come apart. Again, this would necessitate replacement of the damaged component. Infection of the reservoir/port or tubing. It may need to be resited or replaced if the infection persists and in the case of severe infections which have been resistant to antibiotic treatment, the band may have to be removed. The band itself is made of silicone and there are no known side effects to this material inside the body. However, you do have to bear in mind the possibility that some time in the future your band may need to be replaced simply because it has worn out or newer, better bands have been developed to replace current ones (hip replacement prostheses are replaced for these reasons). If you have a lesser known brand of gastric band from a small company, they may not be around in 20 years time when you need your band replacing. Some people will fail (lose less than 25% of the excess weight) with a gastric band and in these cases, the surgeon may advise that a gastric bypass operation is performed. However, don’t give up too soon on your band if you are one of these people – experience in Australia shows that it can take a full 2 years for people to get their heads around how to live effectively with their gastric band, and when they do, they start to lose weight. The most common cause of the worst risk which is death comes from pulmonary embolism which is a result of any surgery, the lapband and sleeve gastrectomy actually are the safest forms of WLS its bypass surgery which carries a 1:200 death risk ( according to statistics) resulting from complications of the bypass, this is not the case for lap bands. Of course you are entitled to your opinions Healthy informative discussion is good, but the US is only 1 country and if you really want to start down the line of facts and figures then you need to look at things on a more global basis.