emmaf106

Hey all, Last week it was 12 months that my fiance & I were banded. I've written a bit of a long post about it at my blog: lapbandlife.wordpress.com if anyone is interested! Cheers Em

Hi Lou, My fiance and I were both banded by Dr Watson 12 months ago. You're in fine hands. Good luck with it all! Em

Hiya Nat, We had a good chat with the Dr Fill today about this actually. He said that as you lose weight, your whole body is losing weight including your stomach. So your stomach is getting smaller so the band effectively is getting looser, which is why you may be at the optimal level for months and months and then start to creep into the "yellow zone" where you start to feel hungry and begin to graze and you'll need a small fill. My partner was starting to get here - he'd last had a fill last September so he gave him a .25ml fill today. I decided not to get a fill. Although I'm not losing as much as I want to, I'm still finding it difficult to eat before 1pm ish so I don't want to make it harder than that! Overall, 12 months banded he was really happy with our progress with both of us in the "success circle". Meaning we'd both lost more than 2/3rds of our excess weight which is what the band aims to do.

Awesome work Nat!

My advice, add ice and blend it up. I found it tasted A LOT better ice cold. Also you can almost convince yourself that the coffee flavour is an iced coffee!

Poor bugger - I had the same issue - SOOOOOOOO itchy and lovely red, blistery marks for some time.

Yep no brekkie for me either. I usually have an iced coffee around 9.30am but nothing solid till lunchtime.

Hi Megs, I got a fill of 2mls at my first post op appointment. I would think 5-6kgs in 4 weeks is a great result. I found it took my 2nd fill before I felt proper restriction. At the moment I feel like I'm close to the elusive 'sweet spot' as I've had fills and removals to get here. I still struggle to eat stuff like bread and dry meats but most things I can get down as long as I eat slowly and chew properly. Good luck!

Congrats! Take it easy this week guys.

Good luck for your ops all!

You are right. At the end of the day the band is still just a tool to help your weightloss, not a miracle cure. You still need to exercise and use some self control to get the results. However, the band does help controlling your hunger and portion sizes (which a traditional diet doesn't). Regarding food addiction, I used to LOVE me a whopper with cheese. And for the first month, that's all I wanted to eat. But after you've PB'd for the 7th time on a burger, it starts to lose its appeal. And frankly, I rarely think about those burgers anymore. Once you realise you literally can't eat certain foods, they do fall off the radar.

Please visit me at http://lapbandlife.wordpress.com I post semi regularly and love to know you're out there reading, so leave me a comment! Em :tounge_smile:

Please visit me at http://lapbandlife.wordpress.com I post semi regularly and love to know you're out there reading, so leave me a comment! Em :thumbup:

I agree. The first week was just awful. Just remember though, once you get through that first week, you'll be well on your way.

Re the constipation stuff. It may have just been me but I found that the coffee Optifast kept me regular for some reason. It may work for others.

superstar! thanks for that!

Hi Em, Em here I think I drove about a week after... but then I didn't have anywhere to go anyway! Good luck!

Congrats on getting to goal Nat! Not sure about the surgery for your mum. I'd suggest she speaks to a surgeon about it.

Thanks Paul. I'm getting some fill removed tomorrow but thanks for the tips. For the past few weeks everything is coming back up (although I did manage to keep 2 sushi rolls down yesterday for lunch - yay!) including drinks, so I know I need adjusting. Wouldn't mind the shepards pie recipe though! Ta Em

Hi All, I was banded by Dr Watson at SJOG Murdoch on 19th March 2008. Since then I've lost over 25kgs which I'm pretty happy with, particularly given I had fill removed while I was overseas for 7 weeks holiday and I ate and drank up a storm!! Anyway, if you want to read up on my journey feel free to check out my blog. Em :wink_smile:

I find the hula hooping brings out a sweat for sure!

you should be stoked with 30kgs in a year! I can only hope I manage the same thing! Maybe try setting smaller goals so that 70kgs doesn't seem so far away. I like to look towards each 5kgs. It seems a lot more achievable than 30kgs :wink_smile: Good luck!

Good luck! I'm sure you'll be absolutely fine.

Geez I would have thought at a size 8 you'd have no probs finding clothes! hahaha I guess that problem never goes away hey! I hope to be able to answer your question in a year or two :biggrin:

If I have a bad PB day, it usually takes another day or so for me to get back to 'normal'. A lot of bandsters can't tolerate bread at all (myself included) so you may want to leave that out of your diet for a while. I would also go back on liquids for at least 24hrs and then slowly introduce proper foods - start with saucy types of foods, well cooked so they're really tender. Small bites and chew chew chew chew. If you're sure you doing all this and still PB everything then go back to the surgeon and get a bit removed. Good luck!