Fanny Adams

To me that sounds like some deep bruising from the operation that has finally surfaced but is almost faded out. Does it look like the yellow you get when a bruise on the surface fades?

I think giving yourself permission to eat the 1.5 - 2 cups also plays psychological games with your head. You're not as frantic to eat quickly when you know you can eat till you're not hungry. Also, I tend not to eat breakfast till a couple of hours after I get up. I drink coffee in the mornings and take my breakfast to work with me and eat that at morning tea time. You might find having a warm drink before eating helps - 30 mins before if you are being strict about the drinking and use normal or peppermint tea (or ginger, lemon, etc) if you are staying away from coffee.

It sounds like you already know what the problem is - eating too fast and not chewing enough. It takes time to break old habits and learn new ones, but this is probably THE most important thing to learn when living with the band. Have you tried changing your cultery? Using a baby fork or a teaspoon to eat helps, as does putting your food on a much smaller plate. I used to play games with myself like "how long can I make this bite last in my mouth?" until the new way of eating took root. I have to say, eating small bites and chewing forever and a day, DOES help to make you more satisfied on much smaller amounts of food. It gives you the physical feedback sensations of having eaten a "full" meal, allows the tastes to linger in your mouth for longer than when we were shovelling our huge meals in as fast as they'd go (I was guilty!!), and gives your stomach time to recognise and send back the "I've had enough now" signal. Don't worry about the 1.5 - 2 cups per meal at this stage - tell yourself you can eat that much if you need to - just concentrate on trying to slow down each bite and CHEW! PS: 30lb since January is great!! Well done!!

I don't know if this is the issue, but everyone always says that muscle weighs more than fat, so if you've stopped working out, maybe you are losing muscle mass? You have posted several times that you are very athletic and do a LOT of exercise (well a lot in my book anyway ). Maybe you could look more at doing light cardio and toning exercises rather than heavy stuff that builds up muscles? Still, being fit and muscly isn't a bad thing at all, so don't let some silly numbers on a scale stop you from being what you want to be!

Bah! I decided to vote anyway. I'm away on site on my bandiversary, so won't be able to get an official weigh in then anyway. Besides, I'm counting my loss from the start of my pre-op diet which began on 1st Dec, so it's really cheating to wait another 2 weeks to count the six month mark. I should be happy with the 47lb that showed on 1 June. Can't wait to find out if there's more though!

Hmm... I'll make a point of asking for it when I get round to having the TT and BL. I don't shave, other than a close trim and tidy up, because my stretch marks go right down beneath the pubic hair and I figure it probably looks wrinkly as hell down there. No need to expose THAT, right? It would be nice to have the skin feel taut again.

I manage to get both major diarrhoea and constipation . On the day I get it, I always know before it comes because I start the day off with really heavy cramps and diarrhoea. I usually take an entire box of panadeine over the next 48 hours, so by Day 3 I have constipation, lasting until it finishes on Day 6. Such a lot of fun...NOT!! :thumbup:

I'll be getting a lift for sure, but don't think I'll need implants to fill them out - there'll be plenty of left over fat and breast tissue to plump them up. I just want them raised up about 6 inches! At my heaviest, I would have been a 24G (Aussie sizes, not sure of the US translation), but those are impossible to find so most often I squeezed into a 20-22F and got that horrible double boob effect when it cuts in in the front and accentuated back fat rolls in back *cries*. As the weight came off, the bras fitted better and better, and now are too big, so I've gone down to an 18F. When I was a skinnyminnie back in the day, I was a 12E (38" bust, 23" waist, Aus size 12 = US size 8). I'm figuring they're saggy as all hell now, so they're only going to get worse and are definitely deflating even as I watch. I'd like to end up at a 12DD after PS, which would mean being able to buy bras in normal shops for the first time ever!!

Hehehe - mate, that was my home territory . I spent so much time up before the Head Mistress that we became quite good friends by the end of high school and had quite the "Bart and Principal Skinner" relationship going :thumbup:.

My sewing teacher in high school would be shocked! I spent almost all of the year outside on the "naughty bench" :thumbup:. Same for cooking classes too . My mother is exceptionally crafty though, so I know the lingo - can't sew buttons on but I can tell you all about it, HA!

I've posted in The Mens Room occasionally - I try not to, because it feels like "invading their territory" but sometimes I'll respond to a post from the New Posts list and not realise where it was placed...and other times I do it just to be contrary! LOL! I figure what's good for the goose...

Just look at the weave of the cloth and how it falls. If the cloth runs like this, when the garment is held up straight: ++++++++ ++++++++ then it was cut normally. If it runs like this: xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx then it was cut on the bias. Selvedges are "self-edges" - the natural left and right edges of the cloth, which doesn't need hemming.

I have heard several people in here say that oestragen is stored in fat cells, so with rapid weight loss, you get a flood of hormones in your system that can play havock with your periods for a while. Mine seem a little bit heavier but they've always been heavy and nastily painful and my weightloss has been fairly slow and steady.

Cloth is woven with vertical threads (warp) and a horizon thread that goes over/under it (woof or weft). Normally when you cut fabric to make clothes, you align the pieces so that the warp runs top to bottom on the piece. "Cut on the bias" means that you align the pieces diagonally on the cloth, so that the warp and woof make a cross and the top/bottom line runs through diagonally through it. Usually only skirts or the bottom sections of dresses will use this cut, and it makes the skirt flare out more and twirl better. It is sometimes used on a tartan top to give that diamond crosshatching look. How wow - I am SO not girly and I flunked sewing in Home Ec in Year 8 and never took it up again, but I must have learned SOMETHING in the few classes where I wasn't sent outside to sit on the bench! My mother would be so proud! *edits* Oh pooh! I was so excited at knowing the answer to a girly question, that I didn't read down and see that someone had already answered it :Dancing_wub:

My "rules" have been much the same as yours. I do count calories occasionally and did so much more in the beginning. In spite of what I thought I knew, I had a very distorted idea of what a portion was and how many calories were in each item. Now, I keep a rough track in my head and only use the online programs if I think I'm getting out of control. I have a pretty good idea now of what I can and can't get away with and I don't stress over little ups and downs, as long as I don't get carried away with the indulgences. Mostly, I just try to eat "healthy", choose low fat/low cal options and don't get ultra strict with myself, because that leads to rebellion and self-sabotage from me. I just want to live a normal life and eat and drink like a normal person and be a NORMAL SIZE.

It's different for everyone but I am one of those who has had no problem with bread, rice, Pasta, steak, etc. I avoid carbonated drinks as the few times I've tried it, the fizz gave me terrible heartburn, even when left to go flat. If you take your time eating, chew well and don't try to have restriction tighter than a mouse's ear, you probably won't have many issues. I have small, well balanced meals of meat, veges and good carbs and almost always have a tiny dessert to satisfy the sweet tooth. The difference is all in portion size, e.g. a piece of cheesecake 2" x 1" instead of a whole wedge, but I haven't had to give anything up. My weightloss isn't as fast as some, but it is steady at around 8lb a month and I am exactly where I planned on being at 6 months out. Good luck in your journey!

To me that sounds like you are too tight, especially since it has been happening since your last fill. When you get close to the spot, even a little fill can make a big difference. I'd see your doctor and ask to have half of the last fill taken out (i.e. if you last fill was 0.5ml, take out 0.25ml), then see how that goes. You are not supposed to be so tight that you can't eat at all or can only manage liquids! When you are having problems with liquids, it's time to see the doc.

I'm going to wait till my bandiversary - I'm hoping to pass the 50lb mark by then! This last month has been a good one for me - the scale is finally really starting to move! :thumbup:

Wow Connie! That's GREAT!! Congratulations!

ROFLMAO!! I don't know whether to confiscate all your kitchen knives or offer to help bury the body! :thumbup::frown:

I'm sorry to hear that your doctor didn't prepare you well with the expectations of how the band works, but hang in there - it will happen for you! There are many reasons why they don't just fill it up tightly and start off with a huge restriction. I think the most important of these is the long term results on what is healthiest for your body. You need time to heal and time to learn to adjust your eating habits. Too much restriction at the beginning, when you haven't learned how to eat bandster style properly, can result in a lot of PBing episodes and that is one of the most common causes of slippage. At six months out, I don't have a lot of long term experience to draw on, but I can offer this advice: * In the first few weeks of the healing stages, follow your doctor's advice about liquids, mushies, etc. This is important for the long term health of your band. Your stomach needs time to heal and for the band to settle into place. Eating solid foods too early causes the stomach to work in digestion and interferes with the healing. Don't worry about quantities so much though - if it takes 2 cups of soup at a time to satisfy you, eat it! If you are careful with your choices, 2 cups each meal will still see you well under 1200 cal a day and that is going to give you some good losses. * In the bandster hell stage, when you can eat solid foods but haven't had the first fill, concentrate on changing your food choices. If you can eat a full meal of good healthy food, go for it. You don't need to be existing on only half a cup at a meal to lose weight. Make healthy choices and watch the calorie content. Eat 2 cups (or equivalent) if that's what it takes to stop you being hungry. It will still be FAR less than you were eating pre-band, and the losses will come slowly. * After your first fill, don't expect miracles. You probably won't notice all that much of a difference, but if you eat solid foods you should find that you aren't hungry between meals and even though it still takes willpower to choose the right things, it IS easier to make those choices because you aren't QUITE as controlled by the hunger daemon as pre-banding. Make sure you don't let yourself get too hungry, because that's when our willpower deserts us and we make bad choices. Yes, you are on a "diet" at this stage - don't expect not to be! But if you eat good quality food, you should find that it is possible to stick to it, whereas in the past it wasn't. * After the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fills: Each one will give just a tiny bit more restriction and unless you are really listening for it, you may not notice the difference but it will be there. Practice eating "bandster style" in tiny bites and chew every bit till it is liquid in your mouth. If you don't have a PB or a stuck episode - congratulations!! You are learning the rules well! It is most commonly the 3rd or 4th fill that really kicks things into gear and you can really tell that it is working, but if not, don't despair. Some people take 5, 6, 7 or more. Overall, don't expect that the band will mean that you are never hungry. It is normal to be hungry at meal times. Eat! You can expect, however, that you won't be hungry between meals and that the quantities gradually drop until you hit that sweet spot where a half to a full cup of food each meal is all you really need to not feel hungry. Train your body into not expecting to feel FULL and STUFFED after a meal - that's what got us fat in the first place. Learn to listen for the "not hungry any more" feeling rather than "I'm so full, I CAN'T eat any more." Good luck on your journey!

It's a great feeling, isn't it? Congrats!

Have you combed through the hundreds of recipes already posted in the recipe section in this forum (and nicely categorised into liquids, mushies, etc)? If not, it's definitely worth a look and you can always PM the people who made the post to ask their permission to reproduce the recipe. Here's the link, in case you've had difficulty finding it: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f82/

I couldn't watch it all but all I could think was those poor poor kids. Somebody needs to get that woman some psychiatric help, because that is not the behaviour of a mentally healthy person.

If you advertise at all on dating sites, it's best to be honest about yourself and believe me, ticking BBW feels a lot better than ticking FAT! Sure, people should love you for who you are on the inside, but the outsides have a lot (not all but a lot) to do with who is attracted to you. On those sites, you have two choices - truth or lies...guess which one works best? LOL - ironically, the banner ad as I am posting this is for the BBW Romance site :sad: