Chickie

There was *no* way I could have known what my skin would look like at 107 lbs when I was 297. No way at all. Yeah I knew I would need something, but not exactly what and where. And there was no way to know just how bad it was till I was there. Personally, I didn't want to have PS till I was at goal. There way no way I was going to have surgery, then lose a heap more weight, then end up back where I was before surgery (and pain, time off work, and expense) That idea didn't apeal to me, so I waitied till I was at goal weight. As it was, I still lost some weight. While it didn't ruin my surgery, any more weight lost would have. Add to that that most Aussie reconstructive surgeons will ask to to at least get to a healthy BMI or goal weight before they will touch you. (Plastic surgeons are different though, they will do anything, and are not covered under health funds and medicare) I know that the surgeon I went to would have turned me away if I had been 20 or 30 lbs overweight when I went in for my consult.

I think some personality types just enjoy being sad and sorry. Some people love being the person who says "I'd love to exercise and eat right, but my car broke down, and my cat died, and when I was six I got chicken pox. Exercise is impossible because of it, and it also means I can only eat cheetos and drink coke" I am just tired of being given shit for being the person who loves to say "I kicked my obesity in the ass, and have regained my health and fitness! It takes work, but I did it" But meh. Human nature just sucks I am afraid.

I told people (I ended up telling Australia! LOL). I am glad I did. I never shocked anyone with what I did. I found people to be fairly supportive.

Hi Sam, congrats on the big date! From another Sam (fab name by the way!)

This. Only when you get to your goal weight will your know if you will have issues with your skin. Sorry.

Crap BBK. You don't need this. You poor thing. I am thinking of you!

At the risk of becoming even *more* unpopular, I'd like to add to my reply. I hear people when they say that they don't want the arguments that happen between other surgery types and bandsters. I get that people don't want that conflict. But. And this is a big BUT... If people were to let go of this "My surgery is best, yours sucks because of X, Y and Z" it might cause less fights. I don't just see other surgery types doing it, I see a lot of bandsters doing it too. Mostly newbies, who are still full of excitement over their surgery, but you do get the odd bandster who is a few years out who does it. We might be able to coexist with other surgery types quite happily if that was to stop. As to the fact that they are pretty empty, uh, they are fairly new sub forums, so they won't be exactly brimming with posts yet. That will take time. And if we at LBT are open minded about other surgery types, we might just get along better than anyone expected. I am pretty sure there is a way for people to ignore forums still, for those who really object to the new forums.

Yeah. If I ever lose my band, I am going to be sleeved, and I don't like the idea of being turfed out because I no longer have a band. There is plenty of room for other surgery types.

That's the thing. We all have our moments. It's just that the people who are successful take responsibility for them, accept them for what they are, and move on.

Sorry it has taken so long to reply to you Linda! I was totally unfilled at the 6 month at goal point because I was still losing weight. I had several small unfills, and was still losing slowly, so we took it all out, and I cut back on my running (at that stage I was running anywhere up to 55km a week) So I had to unfill to stop losing. I didn't gain any weight after the unfill I just stopped losing, and that was the aim. I never maintained a tight fill, because it wouldn't have fit with the lifestyle I was creating for myself. I wanted to be fit and healthy. And that meant that I needed to be able to eat a decent amount of food. I wanted to exercise, so I needed to be able to eat more than Protein shakes and soft foods to support the exercise. So I never got to a point where I ate less than 3/4 to a cup of food. That was about the tightest I got, and I wasn't happy. I was too tight. I was eating too little. Despite the fact that we are banded, we are not supposed to limit our intake to an anorexic quantity. We are supposed to be able to eat *real* food. Fruit, veggies and real, solid protein. The idea of the band is to keep us fuller for longer, not to stop us from eating entirely. It is okay to enjoy food post op. It really is. As humans we do derive pleasure form eating. In our society it is a socal thing. And I wanted to to be more socially acceptable, not less. That is the long answer. :thumbup:

When I had my TT just over 2 years ago, I didn't have it done. I don't regret not having it done. I guess I never put that much thought into it.

What it means is, she didn't like what I said, and either wanted to dob me into the mods for something, or did. Susan. Not everyone who uses new posts takes the time to read more than the thread title, some just skim (myself for one) Some threads are so generic, they could have been posted anywhere.

I wasn't informed, but I did assume correctly. I had an abdominoplasty 2 years and 2 days ago.

Good luck BBK!

Well. I know you are not talking about me there, because as a rule, I don't give advice on band related matters. People who see the advice as harsh, tend to do so because of something lacking in their lives. Be it exercise, eating right, or following the band rules. It hits too close to home. It hurts them because they know that it could be true, that they are NOT doing whatever it is that is being talked about, and that is the cause of their weight gain / failure to lose / whatever. People then go one of two ways. They do something about it, or they do nothing but whine about why it is so tough. Why they can't. Why they are special. So yeah. Maybe the second sorts are better ignored by those who give fantastic advice. But how would one know what group they "asker" ends up in if they do hit the ignore button?

I highly doubt that I would get "into trouble" for saying that you could if you wanted to, ignore the people who are making you unhappy. But I don't think you want to. So feel free to carry on.

BrandyII / Nanook, no one made themselves feel good by putting anyone down. That's not what happened here. What happened here was she asked for advice, got it, and didn't like what was said. Much like what happened in your train wreck. If you honestly don't like what people have to say here, perhaps you should make use of that handy "ignore" function. Because if these people you are talking about are makng you so unhappy, and clearly bitter, it would be best if you did ignore them. For your own sake.

Just saying, incase everyone thinks banded folk end up bitter if they wake up pain free. It would be such a shame, don't you think BrandyII?

I plan on sitting on my ass, and watching the marathon tomorrow when the boy-child is at school.

Mine was pain free too. I have been at goal over 2 years. Sorry to squash your theory!

That's one short race!

And some 10 year olds have been through more than some 50 year olds. It doesn't mean that they have the maturity or wisdom of the 50 year old.

I find it amusing that so many people think others get "Lucky". So far I am; "lucky" to have not had pain. "lucky" to be able to eat right. "lucky" to be able to exercise. "lucky" to have lost down to goal. "lucky" to have stayed there for over 2 years now. That's an awful lot of "luck" for one person. I wonder if it comes down to what you expect & are willing to work for. If you expect to be in bed for a month post banding, you likely will be. If you expect that you can't exercise, you likely won't be able to, if you expect that you won't like healthy foods, you likely won't, and if you expect failure, you will get exactly that. I can honestly say, without a doubt in my mind, that pushing a baby out of my vagina was far more painful than having a band wraped around my stomach when I was out. I was awake for the baby thing. That did hurt because, well, I was one of these fools who said "no thanks" to all the drugs they offered. So for my money, expelling another human being from my body was more pain. But yeah. Those who don't have pain that puts them in bed for a month are "lucky".

Anemia in women of childbearing age is surprisingly common. If you are getting lots of Iron rich foods, and taking Vitamins, you will need to have it looked into further, but if it does tun out to be diet related, it is super easy to fix.

Trust me, there have been people who have all but starved the weight off with a band. Some people just do crazy shit.