Jachut

very frustrating and very normal. Its called 'first bite syndrome". For me, I suffered a fair bit with it in my first year and then never again. DH suffered for about 9 months and hasnt had a problem in a year. Everyone in real life that I know with bands had a bit of this in the first year or so. It does seem to pass once the band's been in there for a while. In the meantime, it can really help to have a hot drink before you eat and also, make your first bites teeny tiny and wait to let them go down (even teenier and wait even longer than your band sized interpretation of this) before you start to eat more normally

The important thing is getting back on track. Its amazing how little damage these one off binges do if you get right back on the wagon instead of doing the old "well, I've wrecked this week, so I'll start again next week". at 3 weeks though, you could do some damage eating that much, although if you did it and didnt have pain and vomiting, you're probably fine. But believe me, that size binge will be a thing of the past soon. However, you still most definitely CAN go off the rails no matter how restricted, so you need to work on the why's of what you're doing.

I'm fascinated by these things, we dont have them here. Oh, there's coffeemate, which is a powder, hidden on the bottom back shelf in some supermarkets but here, we just put a dash of cold milk in coffee. Does nobody do that? Not a criticism at all, just one of those cultural oddities.

Sigh, been there. Not quite so bad I guess, but DH was about to be retrenched, there appeared to be no job on the horizon for him, my second son was just about to start school and I was going back to work. Then I got pregnant. I was pretty upset about it too, it wasnt ideal, it was going to be tough financially and I just plain did not WANT three children. I too scheduled a termination, but I simply couldnt go through with it in the end. I couldnt condone it in my situation because I agree, I just didnt feel I could make the decision about a child's life based on something temporary like finances. I really really feared for my long term emotional and mental health - and consequently my marriage - if I did it. Well, it has been tough. It may not have been struggle to put food on the table tough, but it put paid to a lot of our ambitions and hopes for our life and set us back 10 years in progress - and I really really get why you'd be so upset about it happening at 40, I thought 35 wasws bad enough. DH did get a job, a really good one, and I was stuck at home for another five years - dont even ask about our retarded tax system here in Australia that made it absolutely not worth my while to work. So I went back to university to do what I always wanted and am now about to graduate as a teacher. Our worse gripe now is that we're trying to book a holiday and all the resorts in Bali, thailandm, Fiji want to make us book 2 suites to house 3 kids, which doubles the cost of everything. Things have a way of working out. I've taught myself to run and run a half marathon with 3 young children. I ran with Eliza in a jogger stroller. I went ahead with what I wanted to do and studied although its been hard at times. I put aside my feelings that babies dont belong in childcare and forged ahead, because I felt that was just how it has to be when you're blessed with an unexpected child. I also ate very carefully, exercised and gained NO weight at all during that pregnancy (with the blessing of my doctor). You can do it, especially with a band. She was a healthy 8lbs. I really empathise with you, but I do believe it'll be a blessing in years to come. They do bring all their love with them and just create their own space in your heart and your life.

dont forget in any community theres' always a lot of obese people who protest that they dont eat that much. And you know what? Sometimes its TRUE. There's plenty of people here who have done all the right things and not lost weight because their body's just dont respond like they logically should. I know to maintain my weight now, I eat about 1800 calories a day. That's simply NUTS for a 5ft 10 150lb woman who's on her feet all day and runs for an hour a day on top of that. I should be able to eat at least 1000 calories more - all the charts say so. But I cant. And I know I eat a helluva lot more than most here, carbs included. 2 weeks to get used to eating different? If that's really the case most of us would never need a band. Most of us cant EVER get used to eating different without surgical help. We need our bands in there for LIFE to keep the weight away. those are the reasons why we do it - becuase for many of us our bodies arent working quite right, and for MOST of us, we simply cant change our eating habits and set appetites permanently without some help. ALL of us could get used to exercising regularly though.

I'm flat chat at the moment - I'm working full time doing my last teaching placement to finish my degree. At night, I'm applying for graduate positions - being an Australian, you'd understand the ridiculous beaurocracy and tedium of the public service, lol I've also been introducing my 14 year old son to the gym in what spare time I have.

I dont think it matters how much weight one has lost or how fat one was, everyone here can understand why that means so much to you. Well done!

I am a carb eater - I still eat breads, cereals etc but I only eat wholegrain organic versions. I too avoid bad carbs like white bread, rice, Pasta. And I just plain wouldnt eat bread, pasta and rice in ONE day. I dont for a second believe we need as many carbs as most of us ate. But I feel awful awful awful without any carbs in my diet and I dont believe its that healthy either. I dont know how many I eat in a day but its MUCH less than before being banded. But seriously, i wouldnt even bother counting the carbs in brussell sprouts. To me, those are a healthy food, end of story. I dont limit fruit, vegies etc at all other than the amount I can fit in my stomach.

Well, you cant even really have any other type of WLS and not have to "diet". Sad to say, you simply cant eat nothing but crap, no matter how small your stomach is and be healthy. With bypass and DS you have to watch the sugar/fat combo anyway you you can feel very ill, with the sleeve you can have issues with lactose, with ALL of them you can slip in way too many calories if you choose slider foods. And if you want to lose weight without putting any effort into exercise and waste away all your muscle and look like an empty gaunt bag of skin at the end of it, then I guess that's a choice you can make. With ALL weight loss surgery, its a tool, nothing more. Weight loss may be automatic to some extent with all of them, but your health and long term well being, not to mention your looks, take a bit more effort than that. The lapband maybe requires a little more user effort, but I'd argue that banded patients by and large look pretty healthy and good after their weight loss too. Its slower, you lose less muscle, they dont tend to have that awful scrawny look like they're wasting away from a disease rather than just getting healthier. Which is worth the extra work, I think.

Yes, I know people who've had bands 7 to 10 years who are doing fine, but those people are few and far between. The band has been done for a long time in Australia now, but the modern adjustable version of it really didnt get popular until four or five years ago, even though it was available easily enough. But the advice given to me is that the materials the band is made of are designed to last a lifetime, but its highly unlikely that the band actually will. Then most likely scenario is that the balloon will fail at some point and begin to leak. The band was the option that I had so I dont let that worry me. If I have to have another surgery down the track to maintain my weight loss then I'm not really phased, but I must say our medical system is such that if I need a revision, I get it, no questions asked, no money to be paid. I find it quite humerous to read the comments of a lot of the band's critics, saying that they wouldnt choose a surgery with such a high risk of repeat surgery, only to notice they've got a list of cosmetic surgeries as long as your arm in their signatures. Put in those terms - if you're expecting breastwork, a tummy tuck etc, why on earth would you worry about a short op to replace a band?

You sound filled just right to maybe a little bit too tight - not being able to eat salad, meat OR bread must be a little frustrating. Unfortunately the band simply does not work quite so logically and nicely that ALL foods are restricted equally. We cant have cruskits in the house, lol. Last week we bought some after ages and I age six, yes six in the space of five minutes, slathered with butter (in fact rice cakes also, both those and cruskits are simply a convenient delivery system for butter to me!). I only stopped because they were all gone. Sooooo easy to eat. There will always be foods like that, going tighter and tighter in the hopes that you band will eventually take the willpower out of it for you and stop you eating chocolate is simply guaranteed to fail - you will always find yourself unable to eat anything healthy first and start resorting to these foods to stay alive. I would even say that perhaps you could get a little bit removed. But from here on it, its down to 2 things - good choices and exercise. Fills from now are top ups, not quests for tighter restriction. And if you push it, you've seen what can happen, not something you want. It seems once you push your body past a certain point with the band, to the point where you have unpleasant side effects, that its not uncommon for there to be no going back. Its not always as simply as removing fill, as you can set of a cycle of intolerance to fills that you cant recover from. so take it easy and dont let anyone talk you into fills you dont need. When I was still on a schedule where I saw my doc every six weeks, I told him when I didnt think I needed a fill, and I'd maybe only lost 3kg in that space of time. After the first 9 months or so, then I just didnt go back until I needed a fill and now its simply once a year for a review. By the way, I was no star loser either. It was most often half a kilo a week for me too - not even that, it'd be nothing for a couple of weeks then a kilo and a half overnight kind of thing. I still lost 45kg or so and got way down to a low BMI and now I couldnt care LESS how fast or slow I lost it. Its gone for good either way.

I was the same, I ate all the time and never got hungry. Now that I dont do that, I do get truly hungry at mealtime. But its normal hunger and you'd expect to feel that. Hunger shouldnt be worse in that you're completely starving all the time, apart from that bandster hell period. If you're that hungry, its time for a fill!

Oh dear. Lol. My SIL did the same to her dishwasher, unintentionally. She had one of those Fisher and Paykel dishdrawers and its intererior was very oddly white plastic. Every other dishwasher I've ever seen in my life had a stainless steel interior. Anyway, it was a very whizz bang, expensive, fancy dishwasher six or seven years ago when they first came out. But one meal of spaghetti bolognaise and the inside was forever orange. I notice they now have stainless steel interiors. Just be sure you dont wash your *new* pants with any other clothes and dye them as well!

Of course it gets better, dont worry! After you're all healed up, you will be able to eat socially again, you'll eat with others, hopefully choose the healthier options and simply stop when you're full. Maybe I was lucky, i didnt have too many food issues aside from plain overeating and being greedy and apart from volume, my eating habits were reasonably healthy. So I find now, my life is exactly as it was before, I eat the same way but less. I leave half of a restaurant meal on my plate (and they're not as big here in Australia as they are in America, lol). But I eat whatever I want to in all sorts of situations.

I'm sorry to be blunt, but to do that without your surgeon's say so is just out and out crazy. You are risking your band. The transition diet is there for a reason - its to allow your stomach to recover and the band to heal into place - so that its held firmly where it should be. You may *feel* fine. But it wont feel so fine if you have your band slip somewhere down the track because of what you decided was OK in the first few weeks. Every surgeon differs, so I wouldnt say that because i had liquids for three entire weeks that the next person should have to. But solids after 9 days isnt on any regime I've heard of.

Even for a 5ft 10 female ........ I was darn fat at 200 .... rolls round the stomach, big floppy boobs, dimply thighs. Heck, I was still pretty darn fat at 180. At 150, I've STILL got weight I could lose. I'm no longer overweight, but I could stil reasonably trim off 15lb or so (without becoming underweight). It also depends totally on your body type. I'm meant to be skinny, I'm finely boned and muscled and I just dont carry any excess weight well. There's no point for me calling it curvy or anything - its fat. It may not be on someone else.

yes, well and truly, my belly is flat and quite muscular. but I'm pear shaped. I never had a lot of belly fat to begin with. It could just as easily be me posting Have you lost your thigh fat? To lose and get a flat stomach, all I've really done is run and engage my core with circuit style strength training - I havent been as consistent with this as I have with running - I have never specifically dont abdominal exercises like crunches as I firmly believe them to be a complete waste of time. You get a flat stomach by having a very strong core, which you dont develop by performing only one isolated move - which is why the hula hooping would be GREAT for your abdominal tone - complex moves involving all the muscles! And you lose all fat, including belly fat - with a combo of cardio and strength training and there is LOTS of evidence showing that interval style training is more effective than slow cardio - forget that old fat burning zone myth. However, you do need to work up to it! Other than that, you have to learn to appreciate your body shape. You're usually either an apple or a pear, and whilst you can get very lean and have a flat stomach either way, its harder for apples, just like I will never have a great ass.

I'd hazard a guess you've gradually begun eating easier foods to get round the heartburn, throwing up issue too and that once you can eat well - fruit and veg and lean Protein - again, it probably will have a good effect on weight. And of course, if you dont already exercise regularly now is a great time to start!

Um, the band has ALWAYS been sewn into place! But they did change the sewing technique a few years back, perhaps that's what he was referring to. even so, its not an Iron clad guarantee. Bands still slip. But statistically its a low risk.

Nah, dont like piercing and dont like tattoos. Neither would put me off a guy if I really liked him though, same as not being perfect looking wouldnt put me off. It sounds cliched but barring someone who really turns your stomach, as occasionally people do, its not about looks. DH doesnt have any either though, and I agree I wouldnt be happy about him going out and doing it.

Yes, my doctor said this to my husband. His second fill was done by a locum, who removed all Fluid first, checked then refilled with some extra. DH ended up way too tight. When he went back to our doc, who had returned from overseas, he tut tutted and said it is NEVER recommended in his practice to do this becuase yes, it places unecessary stress on the band, but also because its a prime reason why people react badly to fills - it causes irritation of the stomach, more so than just adding a tiny amount of fill on top of what's there. He says you should never remove fluid unless there's a reason to check. This was well over a year ago. It seems common practice in the US though.

We have different sizings but the same principle, a 12E is the same thing as a 14D. the D cup in a size 10 is not the same as the D cup in a size 18 - the term A, B, C, D etc is really more of a measure of the proportionate difference between your rib cage measurement and your actual bust measurement, not a measure of the VOLUME of your breast, if that makes sense.

Good and bad, lol. On the bad side, I can more clearly see the effects of age and multiple pregnancies - empty breasts and slightly loose stomach. On the good side, I am muscular, I have discovered that I have a really lovely shapely upper body - my arms, shoulders, back, all nicely muscled but very feminine and you could slice an apple on my collarbones. My lower half, not so great, lol. But not bad. I can feel how firm and strong my body is, in a way I never could even at 14 or 15 years. Most of the changes have come from exercise - losing the fat has just meant I can feel and see them.

I eat the same way I did, only with portion control and without between meal Snacks. I appreciate the wisdom behind eating 6 small meals a day but the truth is for me, I dont stick with it, I just keep eating. I'm better to just BAN eating between meals and not do it. So 3 meals a day - I normally cook from scratch and I always did, and basically healthy meals so my family routine has not changed at all. For breakfast I eat things like oatmeal, cereal, toast lunch sandwiches, salads, Soups, or dinner leftovers dinner - meat and 3 veg type meals (roasts, barbecues etc), Pasta dishes, soups, lots of vegetarian meals. I will occasionally have junk food - a takeaway lunch or dinner, I like a glass of wine at night and very very occasionally will have some chocolate or ice cream after dinner.

Oh gosh yes - even four years banded when my appetite and food intake has normalised a lot from the early days i find it amazing what people can put away and how FAST they can eat. I like eating as slowly as I do, it makes food much more enjoyable. What amazes me more though is how I can do the exercise I do, eat about 1500 to 1800 calories a day and not be stick thin. All the charts say at my actitivy level, height and weight I should be eating about 2,800 calories a day! There's no way I could, I got fat on eating less than that.