Fanny Adams

I have problems with this and if I'm not very careful it can get very severe at times. Drinking more Water does help and I have 10-12 pitted prunes as my morning snack every day. I noticed several people have mentioned prunes and some have said they didn't help much, but maybe they just weren't having enough of them. I know 2-3 prunes a day isn't enough for me, but 10 does the trick. I also eat a fairly high fibre diet (lots of fresh vegetables), which keeps everything moving. Also, the worst times for me are whenever I take any kind of pain killer. For example, two doses of paracetamol (Tylenol?) in the same day will stop me up for sure unless I double my vigilence on my diet. Given I eat a packet of 24 paracetemol every month at that time, I really really have to watch it then :cursing:.

My surgeon didn't discuss it with me but I knew I was likely to want a breast lift and tummy tuck anyway. The boobs were hanging pretty low before the band (I was up to a size G), have deflated somewhat (now an E-F), and will deflate more before I reach goal. I had always planned on waiting at least a year after reaching goal to see what recovers and what doesn't, so I know the extent of what is needed. I have fairly young elastic skin, so I'm hoping I can get away with the minimum but it may end up being a full lower body lift, the boobs and the batwing arms... and the turkey neck... *sigh* just do it all, eh?

Sorry to hear that it's been so hard on you. Hopefully the worst is over now and you can move on to your new life.

No worries mate. Actually, I was thinking I'd given some good advice and then after I posted, I saw that you had lost more than I have and thought "who the hell am I to give you advice!!" LOL! :blushing: Hang in there - you're doing great! And a little bit of indulgence now and then obviously isn't hurting - that's what "normal" sized people do! We just have to remember the "now and then" part and not make it an every day habit.

Congrats on becoming an athlete! It sounds like you are really getting fit and that has to feel good! I'm curious though - why have you given up steak? Is it because you can't eat it or haven't you tried? I still eat steak but now, instead of trying to find the biggest steak I can for my money, I go for the best cut and get a small fillet rather than a huge piece of rump. I'm fussier about how it's cooked - it has to be TENDER - but if I cut small and chew properly, I have no problems and savour every bite. I would hate to have to give up steak!! BTW, a small piece of good steak, say 150g (5.3oz) is only 185 calories.

Check out this poll: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f9/how-many-calories-day-do-you-eat-24106/ You'll see that 1000-1100 a day is about in the middle, but I think a lot of those who have replied are also in the early post-op stages like you. As you heal and get back onto solid foods properly, you're likely to find the calories go up to about 1200. There was a similar poll running for ages (I'll try to find it) that shows a much higher concentration in the upper ranges (ie more at 1200ish). PS: Had to laugh about the "GASP! You piggy!" thing - like 1000 calories is overeating in ANYONE's book! Isn't it funny how we put that negative stuff on ourselves. Chin up mate - one of the best things about this band is getting out from under that cloud of thinking and learning how to eat without guilt.

Hi Blue Eyed Girl. One of the pitfalls of the band is that "slider food" goes down really easily but good healthy fibre food is harder to eat. Slider food is all that stuff like chocolate, icecream and chips, that have very little in the way of bulk to stick in your pouch and just slide right though the band - unfortunately, they are also all the high calorie high fat foods. You need to fill up on good healthy food, so that you are not hungry and have enough willpower to concentrate on making good choices, instead of using up all your willpower on trying not to eat when you're hungry. If the healthy foods are filling you up faster - GREAT!! That's the whole idea right there in a nutshell. It's up to you to work WITH the band and eat right. What you are describing is not a symptom of a band problem - that's exactly how the band is meant to work. Good luck mate! PS: You're doing fantastic on the weight loss!! Don't sabotage it now by turning to chocolate and chips!

I use a food diary most days and use plastic measuring cups occasionally, although I am getting much better now at estimating by eye and don't need them as much. My best "measurement" tool is my plate - I use a sandwich plate for dinner and have a rule that I can't put anything on top of anything else (ie no piling it up) but whatever goes comfortably on the plate, I can have without guilt.

I think you'll find that 1000 cal is at the low end of the scale even for bandsters. What's more important is that you are losing on this and feeling satisfied - don't change that just because you think others are eating less! I'm usually at between 1200 and 1400, with occasional days down at 1000 and occasional days up at 1500. Don't worry about the calories so much - do what feels right for you and what helps you continue losing! If you hit a plateau, just ride it for a couple of weeks and see what happens, but if it doesn't start moving for 3-4 weeks, then worry about calories... You've done fantastically with 30lb in 2 weeks!! It took me 3 months to lose that much!

I won't miss standing in the centre of a major shopping centre with a fistful of cash, crying my eyes out in public, after having spent all day unsuccessfully trying to find SOMETHING that fits the idea of "for that special occasion".

No, my doctor is Stephen Watson at St John of Gods Murdoch.

It changes depending on where you are in the healing process and whether or not you have found your sweetspot with the fills. At the moment for me (I'm just over 5 months out and had a fill 5 days ago), the hunger is almost non-existant. The week before my fill, I was starting to get quite hungry between meals again. Most of the time, the band is keeping its promise to me and is definitely controlling the hunger - the degree of that control does change with fill levels, but it has never been the uncontrollable urge that it was before banding.

I think my doc has the right idea with no hard and fast rules on times spent at each stage. He's a big believer in listening to your body, taking it slowly and introducing new foods carefully and seeing what you tolerate. If your body is ready to move quickly, that's fine, if you need to take longer at each stage, that's good too. Everyone is different.

You go girl, you're almost there!!

Welcome and WOW - congrats on the loss! That's a great achievement!

TerriDoodle, that is an EXCELLENT idea! I was just about to suggest it, as soon as I read the other lady's post about it showing on the Home page but you beat me to it. Rants and Raves is a great place to let off steam but it is hardly welcoming to newbies. Excluding it from that list is a great compromise, as it means people have to seek it out and will be able to clearly see the warning notices before entering.

It doesn't seem to be interfering with anything - in fact, the doc gave me my half ml fill yesterday and doesn't think he needs to see me again until August when we get organised for the correction. Of course if anything changes in a big way, I'll contact him again, but for now it's business as usual and apparently no biggie...

Ok, had the CT scan and it's been confirmed. There is a loop of the tubing that has come back through the abdominal wall and circles off to the side before going back through the muscle where it should. It kinks forward much more when I lie on my side, but when I lie flat on my back the loop sits fairly flat on the surface of the muscle and isn't a big problem. The good news is that the port is anchored properly, the band is sitting in exactly the right spot, it's just this extra length of tubing that has worked it's way forward, as shown: It isn't serious and isn't urgent but they will keep monitoring it and if necessary, go it to fix it in a few months. The funny thing was, that I was supposed to wait until I saw my surgeon again to get the results, but I sort of badgered the nurse into giving me a clue. She told me that "everything was fine and what they'd found was a kidney stone that was causing all my pain". I tried to tell her that this couldn't possibly be a kidney stone as it was in the fat in front of my abdominal muscles and I know perfectly well where my kidneys are, as I had a major kidney operation when I was 10. I couldn't believe how hard I had to argue with the radiologist assistant to get her to accept that the kidney stone wasn't the problem and that I needed to speak with the radiologist. After arguing with her for a few minutes, she finally went and got the radiologist, who spoke to me about it. Apparently, I do have a kidney stone, right near the site of the old operation, but it is not anywhere where it is likely to dislodge and get passed and may well have been there for years. He confirmed the loop in the tubing and agreed that this was what I was feeling. So... I'll wait on what the surgeon thinks (haven't seen him yet) but I think everything will be ok for the next little while anyway... Update: Spoke with the surgeon and we're going to schedule a correction for soon after when my insurance matures. Not a big worry in the mean time but probably shouldn't be left like that forever.

Thanks again, Susan. I was clicking on the Subscribed Threads link on the right, not User CP.

One of my favourite meals in the mushy stage was home made spaghetti bolognaise with a meat sauce. I didn't have the cheese on it though, and it's the bechamel sauce in the lasagne that has most of the calories. I probably wouldn't try it as one of the first mushies but as you get to know how your tolerances, I think you're okay to try it slowly and carefully and in small quantities. Lasagne is a trigger food for me, though - it is probably my all time favourite meal, and I find it hard to limit the quantities. If you are a lasagne nut like me, you might want to think about that aspect of it...

Oh well, hopefully this will be just a little hiccup on the journey but it's a bit of a PITA anyway :wink_smile:... A couple of months ago, I started noticing an odd lump deep under my skin, near the port, about 1-2" above and left. It only showed up when I am lying on my right side and relaxing all my stomach muscles. I knew it wasn't the port, because I could still feel that in its usual place. At first I thought it was the band itself, but another post in here that I saw made me think it might be the tubing. Over the last few weeks, the lump has become more prominent and seemed to move closer to the surface. It really felt to me like it was part of the tubing kinking forward. Last week it started getting a little sore, not much, just like it was a little bruised but it was definitely closer to the surface, so I rang the doctor. Today, I had an ultrasound and it looks like my guess is right but they're not sure, so tomorrow I go back for a CT scan. The surgeons says it is an extremely rare occurrence but should be a simple fix. He'll just need to move it and suture it down so it doesn't come back up. I'm hoping we can put off any corrections until late August, as my private insurance doesn't kick in till then. I only joined the fund last year and there is a 12 month waiting period on pre-existing conditions :tt2: I was self-pay on the lapband but I really don't want to have to shell out for another op from my own pocket. Wish me luck to say that hopefully the situation isn't serious and can be just left as is and monitored for the next three months till I'm covered.

Thanks for that, Susan! Now for one more dumb question: Having subscribed to a Forum, how do you find the list quickly? I subscribed to a couple but can't find "Subscribed Forums" listed in the Members Area, where the Subscribed Threads link is, or in the Quick Links dropdown.

The Protein shake and Vitamin supplement emphasis seems to be recommended exclusively by US doctors. I ran a poll on it recently, and found only one Australian who said they had been given that recommendation. Here, while they might suggest Meal Replacement shakes like Optifast for the pre-op diet and during the liquid phase of the post-op healing, once the healing is done, the emphasis is on getting good nutrition from a balanced diet of solid foods. The advice I get says that if you find that you can't eat solid foods and need to subsist on protein shakes, you are probably too tight. Personally, I think the US doctors recommend the protein and vitamin supplements because they are far more familiar with the bypass and lump lapband patients in with gastric bypass patients, who do need such additions. In Aus, the bypass is very rare - 98% of all WLS are lapband, only 2% bypass or other WLS types.

I just went for the plain old steak and veg tonight, but it was yum and oh so filling!! There was nothing about the meal that screamed "DIET!!" and the portion size would look normal on anyone's plate (just not on my pre-banding plate! I love that now that I am no longer focussed on buying the largest possible steak for my money, I can focus on buying the best cut! Previously I would have looked for the biggest rump steak I could find, this time I was stoked to get a beautiful piece of filet that was less than a third the size but soooo tender! I had: 150g filet steak (pan fried, no added oils) 1 tbsp tomato sauce 2 baby potatoes boiled in their skin 1/2 onion and 5 button mushrooms sliced and fried in a tbsp of light butter (50% less fat) 1/4 cup peas & corn (boiled from frozen) 1/2 carrot (boiled from fresh) All up, 470 cal for the meal, which fits in beautifully with my goal of 1200 for the day (200 Breakfast, 300 lunch, 200 Snacks, 500 dinner).

Thanks! And I just realised another thing - I AM NO LONGER MORBIDLY OBESE!!! Ok, I'm now Severely Obese, but that's an improvement from "Morbidly"!! God, but I hated that label!