lellow

I get a side stitch sometimes when I've eaten too much. Cut your portions down, eat slower, allow yourself to feel satisfied sooner. I don't know for sure, but I choose to treat that 'stitch' as a warning signal, like when your car is running hot. You don't want to wait until your body is sending you warning signals. And I get those even when I'm not in the green zone. I think it's more about the WAY I'm eating than whether the band is well restricted.

I won't lie though, I thought the title was a bit off tangent, myself, but I do think you gave us the opportunity of providing context. I actually think that is article is a timely reminder to everyone that they need to fully disclose their medical history, including the fact that they have the lapband or any other medical issue that may impact their overall health, when seeing a physician. You're not a doctor, don't think you know better as to what it might be. Give them ALL the information so that they can make an most educated and informed decision for you.

When I'm in the green zone, Water doesn't dislodge food that's stuck. It makes it MUCH worse. So I would say you're not in the green zone if you can 'wash it down' with water. And I hate throwing up too. I don't know anyone in the right mind who would like it lol. So that should be a good deterrent from you ever wanting to get to that point. Chew well and stop before you get to the point of being uncomfortable. You'll figure how where that point is soon enough.

She is from my hometown, and this article highlights the fact that people should disclose their medical history (lapband or not) when seeking medical attention. It's like a person with an allergy not mentioning that they're allergic to penicillin. :/ I have fronted at a emergency department before for excessive vomitting. The FIRST thing I said was that I had a lapband and I needed an unfill. Why on earth wouldn't you? So yes, absolutely this was preventable. It's such a tragedy.

I am committed to me being my best. This means I will not: - Reward myself with food. I love food, and I love beautiful tasting food, but it's not a reward, I am not a dog. I have to maintain a healthy relationship with food, which means I can enjoy it without it being the centre of my life. - Forgot that that for most people, achieving 'fullness' at every meal is not their goal. This is something I realised just recently. My partner is not a big guy, and he stops eating when he's no longer hungry. I have spent my whole life stopping only when I'm full. This is a FUNDAMENTAL difference between us, and the reason I have struggled with my weight all my life. But not any more. - Tell myself I don't have time. If I can find time to be there for others, I can find time to be there for me. Whether it's exercising, sitting on the couch reading a book, or just doing what I want to do instead of what someone else wants to do. In this way, I nourish myself and allow myself to be a better person for everyone around me. - Focus on being skinny instead of being healthy. This is important - I got to a BMI of 21 at one stage, and my ribs were showing and my hip bones stuck out. I had no muscle tone to speak of. That's not healthy. My BMI is 24 now and I get sick less, I feel strong, and I feel womanly. My body fat percentage is lower now than when my BMI was 21. I was so focussed on losing, I was losing sight of why I did this, which was to be healthy. - Hate my body. It has borne 4 beautiful kids, and my eldest is now 23 and watching how women hate their bodies and themselves in the process. That's not a lesson I want my daughter to learn. I have parts of me that I don't like, that's just human nature and it's silly to pretend I could stop doing that, and that's actually ok in small doses, but I will not hate my whole self. I am beautiful, whether I was big or small, and I am the same person on the inside. And I will value that, even if society may not (yet). - Compare myself to others. This is part of the above point too. Envy is a nasty, self-destructive thing. "I wish I was younger, prettier, smarter, thinner, richer". I now say "I want to be happy" and to do that, I need to stop hurting myself by wishing my life away and not seeing the things I should be thankful for. - Sit by and do nothing. Counting my blessings doesn't mean I just sit by crying into my soup about the things in my life that make me unhappy either. I change what I can if it's important to me, don't change what isn't important and accept what I can't change. And know that no one is responsible for my happiness but me. I'm writing this because in the last few years these ideas have formed in my head but I've never said them out loud in one place. Yet I think it's important for me now to see it in black and white. And while it's not just about me being a lapbander, but a person, I thought that this was a good place to put it.

I'm in the Eastern burbs of Melbourne and I got my original band in 2008 and a replacement band 2 months ago. Happy to chat with any fellow Victorians. I was originally from WA and made a few banded friends there so hoping to do the same here in Melbourne.

I had what I term to be a persistent leak. I had two port replacements (both unsuccessful at stopping the leak) because I was leaking 'slowly' so they were sure it wasn't the actual band. I went through a period of being very disillusioned (and gaining weight) before deciding that someone had better listen to me or else. 2 months ago I had a full band replacement. They never did discover where my band was leaking from despite a barium swallow, and now I'm finally experiencing restriction that 'sticks'. The leak was considered a band fault and not a patient fault and therefore my revision (as well as my port replacements) were covered by my insurance. The fact that I was consistently losing Fluid from my band - to me- meant that there was proof that the band was leaking. I didn't think they needed to actually locate the leak for them to fix it.

I'm a week away from my lipo surgery now, and I'm getting nervous about the recovery. I need to be back at work within a few days (just starting with a new client) and I'm worried I won't be fit to do that. Aside from that, I'm excited! Looked at myself in the mirror today and I honestly think if I get some definition in my waist and my thighs were shaved just a little, my 43 years old body is going to look as good as it's ever going to get. And probably better than it ever has been in my whole life too! How can I not be happy about that?

I have to admit, seeing the look on my boyfriend's face whenever I buy something he likes is ALMOST as much fun as actually buying it. You look great btw!

I was asked recently, if I ever would be satisfied with myself. I'm having lipo in a week, where I'm getting a little bit of contouring on the lovehandles and backfat left over from the body lift, and some fat taken from my inner thighs. It won't be drastic by any means, it's just a little bit of shaping, really, but despite telling very few people (non-banders) about it, the resounding feedback seems to be that there's something wrong with me, because I don't seem to be happy with myself. And yet, I think that's never been further from the truth. I am actually happier with myself than I have ever been in my life. It's because I like myself that I'm not thinking twice about doing this for ME. The difference is, that where I used to think that if I didn't like something, I had to suck it up and suffer, because how I felt wasn't important in the scheme of things, now I don't. I don't like something, I change it. I think I approach things with moderation and I'm not going to end up being nipped and tucked until I look like an alien, so it's not like I have some addiction to plastic surgery, I just want to look as good as I possibly can. My whole life, I looked after everyone else: my man, my kids, my parents, my friends. I always came last. I was brought up to feel selfish for thinking of myself. The lapband changed all that. I learned one important lesson in the last 5 years of being banded: If you love yourself, you will look after yourself, you will make time for yourself, you will make your needs AT LEAST equal to the needs of the people you love. And if you look after yourself, you're being the best person you can be for the people you love too, and more importantly, a good role model for what good self esteem looks like. And if you're not happy with something, change it, because no one will change it for you, and YOU are the only one who can take control of your life. I'm amazed at how we are constantly told that considering our own needs is a selfish thing to do, and then people wonder why we suffer from low self esteem. Break the cycle. I am not asking you to be a heartless, mean-spirited person to others, I'm asking you to learn to love yourself. It's because I AM satisfied with myself and love myself that I can choose what I want to do to make me happy.

I had my band done at a BMI of 35. In Australia with many insurances, you qualify for the band at that BMI or more, and for it at a BMI of 30 and above if you have co-morbidities. This is because it has been recognised that most long-term overweight people do not go on to lose weight and keep it off so lapbands are used as preventative medicine to stop people from becoming even more overweight than they already are. The band is also very effective for lower BMI patients, as opposed to, say, bypass. I had steadily gained weight all my adult life, and I was heading for major health problems if I continued the way I was. I'm grateful to have arrested my weight gain with the lapband when I did. I have no doubts that if I hadn't I would have had it done anyway at a higher BMI and had to work a lot longer and harder to get the weight off.

It's easier to avoid temptation for the 30 seconds it takes to throw it out, than to avoid temptation for days while it sits in your freezer, I reckon. I still have ice cream on occasion, but it's on special occasions only. It's just not an everyday food, as much as I'd love it to be!

OMG me tooooo! Chocolates and ice cream are my weaknesses. Which is why whenever my boyfriend brings some home, they magically find their way into the garbage can outside. Even I don't love it enough to get it out of the garbage once it's there!

Just to throw another consideration into it all (sorry!), with my old band it took 8.5cc to get to the green zone (10cc band), and since having my band replaced, I'm topping out at under 7cc. My surgeon believes it is because it's a different band and different placement, and it was placed when my BMI was low - BMI of 26 - that it's working differently now. I agree that if you feel like you're not getting the 'help' that the band should be giving you, you should be getting your doctor to at least explain why this might be.

You should be able to eat chicken with your band. You should be able to eat hard Protein as this is what will keep you fuller for longer. It's more about how much you can eat and how long it keeps you full, and by the sounds of it, you're saying you're getting hungry quickly despite eating hard protein. In a small group of people the lapband never gets tight enough to achieve good restriction. But having said that, you can go from not feeling the band to feeling it in a matter of 0.1cc. I am one of those people who needs a lot of fill to even feel the band. Until you get to 12cc don't lose hope. But if it's true that you can't feel the band even at 12cc, then this is a conversation you need to have with your doctor.

Ahh it makes sense then. My partner is vegetarian and he had protein shakes every morning to supplement his protein intake. I think I would too if I didn't eat meat (but I do lol)

My dr was very firm about this. No Protein shakes after the healing period. So except for 24 hours after a fill, I'm not supposed to have Protein Shakes (i.e. don't drink my calories). I've never done drunk protein shakes as part of my diet in all the years I've been banded. I get protein from actual food. But each to their own.

You are proof that you need to be in this for the long haul, even if it feels like you're taking babysteps, even if it feels like you're not getting there RIGHT NOW. You are an amazing inspiration for everyone (including me) on how not to give up on yourself, no matter what. Congratulations on your loss, you certainly deserve every single one of our good wishes coming your way.

I honestly believe that anyone who wants to get a band should be told right from the start that this is going to be 30% the band, and 70% YOUR commitment. Commitment is hard, or anyone would do it. Weight loss is hard, or everyone would be thin. But even many lapbanders don't all lose the weight, and why? Because if you don't get your head in the game, you can still sabotage yourself. That's not the band's fault. It all boils down to whether YOU want it enough. I have a friend who keeps getting her band filled and unfilled because she's too tight already. So even the smallest adjustment makes her unable to swallow her spit. And she doesn't understand why, coz she exercising lots (more than me!) and can't lose. And yet when I point out that she will sit and eat cookie dough one small bite at a time ALL night, or nurse a milkshake for hours until she gets it all in, or she eats one bite of fish so she can snack on chocolates for the rest of the day, she doesn't understand that THAT may be why she's not losing? Like I said, if you want this, you can do this. But get your HEAD in the game too. Or you'll always struggle with the band not meeting this crazy unrealistic expectation you have of it.

I've been around these boards a long time relatively speaking and yes I have seen people keep their weight off after complete unfills. Can't speak to removals because most don't stay on the boards after removals. BUT it seems to be the exception not the rule. Just saying that it's not impossible. I had a persistent leak which meant my band wouldn't hold restriction for more than a day or so after a fill, and I had that for 15 months. In that time, I gained 35lbs, and in the last 5 months I lost 15lbs of that through diet and exercise. I honestly believe that without the band, I might be able to maintain with MUCH difficulty, but always with the fear that my hunger would sabotage me eventually and I'd regain. So when the time came to decide what to do about my leaking band, I chose to replace it. Because, for me, life with a band is much easier than life without one. Having said that, I empathise with the band causing you to have a poor quality of life, so in the end, it was about deciding which you'd rather live with, and if I was in constant discomfort, I'd rather chance it without the thing that was making me feel awful. So I'd say start from now to look for an alternative to control your weight. There are MANY people out there who lose without the help of the band, who is to say you can't be one of those people?

A lot of those things apply but I would say that overall it's been my self-confidence that has benefited most from the weight loss. Now don't get me wrong, I was always opinionated, strong and confident but it's almost like when I lost the weight, people actually couldn't dismiss me as not worthy of having an opinion. And if I want something now, less people were inclined to say no to me. I believe 100% that that says more about how society perceives people who are overweight that anything that has to do with me - I am the same person I was when I weighed 80lbs more, it's more about how suddenly, they can't pretend I'm invisible or not worth their attention. And that has made me more assertive and my confidence in what I look like on the 'outside' now matches my confidence on the inside, if that makes sense.

I gained 35lbs when my band started leaking. I then made the resolve to get it under control while I was waiting for it to be fixed. I lost 15lbs in 5 months as a result of watching my diet, and while it wasn't weight loss comparable to having a working band, and it was hard work, it can be done. Yes, you can gain back FAST when your band isn't working, coz you can eat lots - that's how we all got to be overweight to begin with! But get it under control until you get restriction again. It's like being in bandster hell all over again, work it until your band starts working again.

My dr said while I was still in hospital that I could exercise as soon as I felt up to it, that I couldn't 'dislodge' anything by exercising. I started walking 3 days post op and was back to doing crunches 1 week post op.

Yeah during pre-op diet and in the weeks after the op he's going to have to be patient, but tell him to hang tight, if all goes well, you'll be tiring HIM out soon!

Anecdotally I can see why people may think if you didn't pay for it, you wouldn't be committed, but I think in this case, it's really such an individual thing. My insurance paid for it, I didn't have to jump through any hoops or anything, in fact I called my surgeon for the first time on the 4th July and got banded on the 1st August (I'm in Australia, so I 'qualified' just by having a BMI over 35) and I believe I'm a successful bander (lost weight relatively quickly, kept it off for 3 years, kept most of the weight off despite a complication, and am back to living the 'banded' life now) Commitment is for an individual to have. Some may be motivated by the money they spent, but I suspect that if someone isn't motivated to lose weight and improve their health, no amount of money spent is going to change that.