lellow

Because my BMI is pretty low now, yes my port does stick out. You can see it easily. My surgeon said I have not much fat between my stomache muscles and my skin, so of course it'll stick out. I still prefer it sticking out than having the fat there! No one I know has complained about the port sticking out yet tho.

I have been out with overweight men, even obese (by BMI standards) but not anyone who is very overweight. I do think looks matter and even when I was myself overweight I still looked for a man I found attractive to me personally. The last person I was seeing was overweight and it didn't faze me in the least. The person I've only just started seeing is an ex-body builder and has the whole super buff, muscular thing going, and again it doesn't faze me, coz their personalities were important too. Unlike Jachut, I'm pretty petite. Someone who was very very overweight probably wouldn't get past the point with me where I'd consider them to begin with. Just being honest.

Actually Brad, I think I subscribe to that too. I eat when I'm hungry. I'm not hungry in the morning. I'm hungriest in the evening. I eat slowly and after about 10 mins I'm not hungry anymore. I snack. I do sometimes. Whether it's a coffee, or a piece of fruit. I eat when I'm hungry. I am not hungry often tho, and that's despite the fact that my band is qute loose. food doesn't interest me anymore unless my stomache is growling.

It's an unusual day when I eat 3 meals. Mornings, I usually have a drink and no meal. If work is busy, I'll be lucky to have lunch some days. Not the healthiest option, I know.

It took me months to do a closet purge after I was first banded. But I'm glad I did. Now almost 2 years down the track and I know I wouldn't have gone back to them. And I don't miss anything I got rid of. Even now, as soon as something's too big for me, I bin it or give it away. I recently lost another 4kgs despite not trying to and my favourite jeans were getting loose, so I gave them to my daughter. She asked why I didn't want to hang onto to them in case I gained some weight back, but I find it helps my state of mind to wear what fits me, and not hang on to what doesnt.

Even post surgery, it isn't easy. Until you get a couple of fills, the band doesn't actually help much with restricting the amount of food you can eat. So this is a good time to try to get into the right headspace. Remember, these difficulties you're experiencing is not forever. Remember why you're doing this. I am now almost 22 months post surgery, and I eat pretty normally, akin to a small eater. This is the hard part - the losing. Then life returns to some semblance of normality after that. This is just a small period of your life, and once you get to goal, the rest of your life will not be so wrapped around your weight, and around food. Don't look at the whole 13 days ahead of you. You're screwing with your head then. Take one day at a time. Deal with each day on it's own, get to the end of each day and don't think of the next day. One foot in front of the other, step by step.

The liquid pre-op diet sucked. No doubt about it. But if you keep at it, you will get the surgery, your liver will shrink, and in 13 days you will be banded. My liquid diet was a lot less difficult - I could have one meal a day (I started with a low BMI) and even that was really really hard. I too weighed myself every minute of the day, praying I would lose, so I could have the surgery. But then it was done! Trust me, after surgery, when you can't eat much for the first month, you're not going to feel great either, you're going to weigh yurself constantly, and you're going to obsess. We all do/did it. But over time, your mind adapts, your body adapts, your energy levels come back, you stop having sugar-withdrawal headaches, and you start feeling a semblance of being normal again. Hang in there!

I have split with my husband of 9 years post banding, tho I'm not entirely sure the weight loss was the biggest contributing factor. It was a factor in that I became more confident in myself, and what I felt I deserved. He definitely became more insecure, and was noticing the increased attention I was beginning to receive. But in the end, there were issues there to begin with. Issues I had hoped that me losing weight would assist with, but of course, issues often don't get fixed in that way. I don't know that if I didn't get banded, that it would have saved my marriage. At best, I think I would perhaps have been more prepared to stay unhappily married.

I've never been unfilled for weight maintenance. I got to goal, then went on to lose another 19+ lbs on the restriction I had then. My weight now stays between 127 - 135lbs, and when it starts to creep above that, I go in for a small fill. Have only had to do that twice since going into 'maintenance' mode. So no when you get to goal, generally speaking, you don't get unfilled. You just live with that level of restriction, which tends to ease over time.

Like Jachut (and also from Australia) I wasn't given a lot of rules to follow. I had a post-op diet, which I followed, after which I was told to eat healthily, exercise at least 20 mins 3 times a week, and only eat when I was hungry. I didn't do low carb, didn't count calories, ate a balanced diet from all food groups, I drink alcohol (always have) and I exercised. I started with a relatively low BMI too and I lost all the weight I needed to within 7 months, then lost more, and then have maintained for over a year now. I think following the post-op diet is important because that's when you're healing. But after that, how you lose is pretty much dependant on you, and how sensibly you eat. Mind you, I don't drink carbonated drinks coz they make me feel sick. If something doesn't 'sit well' with me, I don't eat/drink it. But I try everything at least once. Personally I think if I'd had too many rules to follow, I would have been more likely to fall off the wagon. Having few rules made it easier to 'follow' the rules I did have. I even drink with meals sometimes, when I'm out at a restaurant. Then again, I'm not very restricted anymore. :waytogo:

Probably the most important bit of of wisodom I wished someone had told me was that while you're losing, you obsess about every thing you eat, how much you exercise, how much you weigh every minute of everyday. And you pretty much have to when you're losing, you have to WORK at it. But eventually, you lose the weight, and if your band is working right, you start to not think about it a lot anymore. Your relationship with food changes, and because you eat less, you crave less, and if you exercise regularly and more incidentally (coz you're lighter), suddenly you mostly forget about the band, and you don't lose, but you don't gain either. Even tho most people know I have a lapband, now I'm in maintenance mode, I eat like a 'regular' unbanded person. I don't have to think too hard about 'right foods' and exercise schedules. I rarely PB, I can tolerate almost anything, and my weight is being maintained by just living a normal life. I wish someone told me I wouldn't have to work at it ALL my life, because that's one of the reasons I didn't get the band earlier. And knowing what I know now, I regret that I waited so long to get the surgery.

I can and have always been able to eat pizza - thin or thick crust. It one of the foods my band just seems to tolerate.

Yeah this is pretty normal. I've had my band for almost 22 months and I still experience this - tighter in the mornings and looser in the evenings. I tend to eat only when I'm hungry. Not much at all in the first half of the day, and more in the evenings. I currently am not very restricted because I can have a fair sized lunch and then a good-sized dinner, which I can't do when I'm well restricted. But I'm trying to maintain, and I'm not gaining, and not losing, so it suits me.

My husband and I split 6 weeks ago. I guess it's taken me this long to admit that it's over. I have been asked if it's to do with the weight loss, but to be honest, the problems were there when I was big, and they didn't go away when I lost the weight (which I was hoping would happen - it's funny how you think losing weight will miraculously 'fix' what's wrong with your life). So here I am, at 40, single again. I am lucky to have a good job, am in the position to be able to buy over the family home, will have primary custody of my 4yo son, and sole custody of my 16yo son (from my 1st marriage), so it's not all bleak. I know this is the right thing for us, but being single again is scary, and not having been single for any longer than 3 months since i was 16yo, I feel like a fish out of Water, all of s sudden, not quite sure of what my new life entails. Anyhow, I would love to chat with others in the same boat, who can help guide me through the 'maze' of this change in my life.

Hi I'm 5'4" and my goal weight was 154 (BMI of 27), as per my Dr's instructions. He believed that that was achievable and was healthy. I have passed that weight now and am sitting on about 130lbs. It's about right for me. I weighed less than this at one stage and was looking gaunt and had lost my boobs and butt, so I prefer to be this weight. It puts me at a BMI of around 22, and it looks best I reckon.

I have only just realised the possible correlation. I notice that if I'm aroused, my band seems to get tight for a few hours after. Could that be hormonal? I am not so tight that I can't eat now, but when I was losing and was well restricted, I found that I would get so tight that I could barely drink. And half a day or so later, I was fine again. Just wondering if others have had the same experience?

Just thought I'd update that I saw Maria on Tues and she was really wonderful. Even though my weight was lower than ever, I explained that I was gaining a little, and was eating more than I considered normal, and wasn't really getting stuck on anything anymore. So she gave me a 0.25ml fill. Now I know that I really did need it. I am still not as restricted as I was at my sweet spot, so I can only imagine how much less restricted I was before this fill. She actually said that she believed that I needed a fill if I was gaining, no matter how slowly, because what was the point of me gaining 5 - 10kgs only to have to get filled then and then try to have to lose it again? Best have a small fill as a preventative measure. So I'm happy as larry. I don't have another fill appt now. She said she thinks I've had enough success with the band to understand how it works for me, and to know for myself when I need a fill. :thumbup:

I'm glad you've finally got someone listening to you, Fanny. I think you needed it, for sure. It shouldn't be this hard for anyone to get the restriction they need. Esp if you're gaining! I am in a slightly different situation, and I hope it will still mean I can get a fill. I am not unrestricted, I just am far less restricted that I am happy with. I like not fighting hunger, and I am fighting hunger now. But whether a fill would make me lose more when I don't need to lose more, is I suppose is what she will have to weigh up. It may be I have enough restriction for maintenance. For a while, due to work stress, I was even losing despite poor restriction. But now my appetite is back and I don't like it. I guess I personally don't feel comfortable with the restriction I currently have. But it may be that I actually don't need a fill per se, and I should be eating more at this stage, to maintain. So we'll see how we go on Tues, when I see her I guess.

I just got an appt with her too! Thank god you're happy with her, because my weight is lowish now (61kgs) and I was worried I'd get Max and he wouldn't give me a fill. I need one, just a small one, but I need one nonetheless. If I can eat a bowl of rice, then I'm losing restriction, and I'm maintaining this weight with will power alone and I can feel my will power slipping. Hopefully it will be as easy for me as it was for you. :thumbup:

My holiday was fab! Got snowed in so spent a lot of time sitting by the fire, eating too much, drinking too much wine, having incredible conversations with my husband's sister, and at the end, I'd put on 5kgs! Lol! But I've lost all of that plus some since being back, so can't complain!

Fanny, I only just saw this. I agree Max can be difficult, but so far I've managed to get him to do what I want him to do. However, it did occur to me that when he was saying I shouldn't be any lighter than 70kgs (I'm 60kgs now, wonder what he'd say about that?) and was saying I didn't need another fill, that to get around him, I would email Steve Watson directly to complain that I felt like I wasn't being heard. Have you thought of doing that? Steve is really good about answering emails, and I don't think he would like the idea of losing clients in such a way. Why not try that first and see how you go? BTW I'm too scared to go in for my 'check-up' with Max in case he decides to take fill out coz he thinks I'm too thin!! My band is plenty loose enough already!

Glad to hear someone else is facing the same issue, Jachut, though I'm sure it's not nice for you either. I got told by my GM that I need to eat more yesterday, that I'm fading away! Lol! I have been trying to do the same, i.e. eat good healthy foods, make sure I take my Iron, graze throughout the day, but I'm not always good at following the rules, esp when I'm flat-tack all day at work. I eat a third of a tub of yoghurt, get called away, then have to bin the rest 3 hours later. Same with my morning hot chocolate. My project officer buys one for me every morning, and he's been complaining that most days now he comes to my desk halfway through the day and I haven't even touched it. I know I have to make more of an effort. I will try to. At least so I don't lose anymore (I've lost another lb since my last post)

Thanks for your reply Mimi. I guess this isn't a common occurence. :thumbup: I still haven't gotten my appetite back. My band is loose and yet I've still lost over 10lbs now in about 10 days (from 143lbs to 132lbs). I didn't go for my fill on Friday - I didn't see the point! My hubby now wants me to see a Dr about it, because I am starting to look very thin, but I am afraid my problem is psychological and not physiological. I am under a lot of stress at work, and I've been finding that the more stress there is, the less I have an appetite. I guess it's a nice change trying to put on weight instead of trying to lose. :ohmy:

I know I would normally be thanking my lucky stars for this problem, but about a week ago, my appetite completely disappeared. My band does it's job - it makes me control my portions. Because appetite is something I've always had. Now it's gone, I'm shedding weight FAST. I've lost over 7lbs in just 4 days and am still losing. I find everything unappetising. I start to eat, don't enjoy the taste, leave the rest. My band doesn't even get the chance to work, so I know it's not because I'm too tight either. In fact I'm due for a fill on Friday! My husband and parents have commented that I'm looking skinny. My husband even said my ribs are sticking out. I don't want to lose anymore. Has this happened to anyone else? Anyone have any suggestions on how to stop the weight loss? By my estimate, I'm not even getting 600 calories a day at the moment.

I lost the ring my husband bought me on our honeymoon. I knew it was loose but it couldn't get resized so I just left it. One day I noticed it was gone! Couldn't tell you where or when I lost it. I now wear tubing on my engagement ring to keep it tight against my finger (and to hold my wedding ring in!) but I do need to get them re-sized properly!