gillian

just back from my "not fill"! i was sure i didnt want a fill and wendy agreed with me.so just had weigh in and advice. i have quite a good restriction at the moment and could manage a little fill maybe but this portion size i have just had to get used to in the last 2 weeks since last fill is taking some getting used to!..and i am leaving food on my plate for the first time!..the dogs love me at mo!..i want to have this restriction for another few more weeks and really make my brain believe it! (yes cant weight, i would say its mind over matter!) its hard to get out of the habit of having big plate full, and i still like to see my plate full, even though i cant eat it! anyway its 2 weeks since last fill and today i had lost another 5lb..and im pleased about that..might not sound a lot, but its a safe amount to be losing in 2 weeks...and the best bit is...ill never put it back on!.im going to see her in another 2 weeks, where ill maybe have tiny amount put in, or maybe not depending, might leave it another month. i totally trust what my fill nurse says anyway so i leave it all up to her. hope everyone has had a great easter,were taking kids to legoland on friday for weekend..hope weathers ok x

:drool: Oh i am very wise!!. its what i have read in my book and also my experience. suppose the band works different for everyone. you can still have a bit of what you fancy though..i have been having some chocolate, just not anything like as much..but think it will be little bit more this weekend! im not that bothered about ice cream tho so wont be doing that anyway. im same as you with the curry, i can eat the popadoms, chutney and yoghurt mint sauce, but only tiny bit of curry and rice, def not naan..rice sticks bad with me. can also eat nachos with cheese,salsa,jalepenos and sour cream...bit i can not tolerate any potatoes, even very very buttery mashed ones!..its wierd init, pasta is bit hard for me too.seems the crunchy things go down better(?!). no bread either, except tiny bit of seeded wholemeal i have found is ok if ate very slow. anyway everyone, have nice easter weekend, im full of cold and miserable today myself, think i caught bigsisters cold!? x

Freckles your daughter looks lovely, and she is the spit of you!!.. anyway freckles..think the thing with ice cream etc is that you dont have to chew it, and can shovel it in, and it turns to liquid so just slips thro band into big tum, same with chocolate really. but at least with real food, (which you should be eating to make your band work for you) you are taking time over cutting it up, chewing it and then when it reches your small tum, it is hanging around, waiting to pass thro bit by bit (thats why no drinks to wash it thro)..and you have more time for your brain to register you have had enough, plus youll get the full feeling when your little tum gets full, as it backs up towards the osopheguos(cant spell that!) thats where the PB-ing and spasming come from its the sphincter(cant spell that either!) contracting trying to push the food down..or if theres too much it pushes it back up. i know when i have gone too far cos my mouth starts watering like mad..and that is my body making more spit to either help the food down, or throw it back up. anyway...hope that helps?! sorry its bit graphic! gillian x

:thumbup: Great to hear your back ok cant-weight!..glad it went well!..there really is nothing to worry about for these future bandsters is there?! Dr Chris, hospital and staff are all A1 arent they! look forward to your coming posts on how your doing x

Hi freckles, just looked at it..there seem to be loads of protien shakes going off there!..no way could i get a granola bar down but i love(d) them!..looked at the uk link too, they are from 2 to 3 years back, but some good results by sound of it. x

i will ask her how she feels with this fill, and let you know! oh yes, meant to say, its always been at its tightest the day i have the fill then slackens over next few days, wasnt it like that with your old band? x

this is true!..as i had my head stuck in a very good book!..(milly johnson, have read all 3 within 2 months,typical chicklit!..i choose a book by the pretty pink pictures and colours on the front! so shallow i am!) i took my drinks up with me..wouldnt have slept anyway was awake from 8 with police helicoptor circling my house...it wasnt me, i didnt do it!..whatever it was, it was up for ages hovering. x

message from wishfull! her lap top wont charge so she cant get online!..anyway she contacted me yesterday to ask me to tell you she had had 1.5mls put in her band.and she said that there shoulda been 5ml in it already but she didnt think there was, as she saw him wipe some of the saline away that didnt go in..anyway fred pulled only 4ml back out of it..so thats all she had..hopefully shes up to 5.5ml now...that should give her some restriction hopefully as i have 5.25ml in and i dont think i want anymore putting in next tues..think ill leave it a month to get used to it! happy easter everyone!..dont go mad with those easter eggs!..David bought me big lindor one before he went away...grr!, whats he doing to me!?..anyway i shall just pace myself with it instead of my usual stuffing it in one day!..suppose its up to me to eat the kids aswell (their eggs, not the actual kids,not that hungry, and couldnt manage a whole one!).they eat the sweets from inside then move onto the next one leaving all the empty shells for me to dispose of! x

Hi Freckles, glad your fill went well, everyone is told a different eating plan depending on different fill nurses it seems..we are told liquid for 3 days then mushy for 4. the woman i worked with is told just 24hours on liquids, (she had her band done in june over here in sheffield) and i think fred says 2 days liquid? anyway,i hope this band works so much better for you than your last one..its looking promising already isnt it!. like you said a week ago to me, with your old band,when it worked,you couldnt eat breakfast early,and just had to drink..thats what im doing..it was 11am before i could even get about 4 spoons of very milky museli down. so just drank tea til then. x

hope i havent missed you before you went away Mmm?..but thanks for that good info,it woulda been a great saving! its quite expensive. but managed to get a deal from the legoland site with nice hotel for 2 nights and meals, and 4 2 day passes to legoland nearby.so looking forward to that.i looked on the site and its not just figures made out of lego like it used to be!.suppose ill be going on these water splash rides etc! anyway Mmm, hope you didnt eat too many of those cakes you made?! x

Have a lovely time Mmm!..hope the weather is better for you than it is over here!..its raining in sheffield now and easter doesnt look too promising weatherwise. were gonna have couple of days break with kids next weekend instead as david working in london at mo. was thinking maybe going to legoland for kids? not relly my kinda thing but found really nice hotel in windsor, and can go to the castle maybe and some other nice places hopefully, and hopefully weather will be good, but knowing my luck with weather on holidays it will be snowing or summat!. x

:smile:good luck with you all having fills tomorrow!..hope it makes all the difference, and gets you on your way! x

i say the same as boboboldy mandy!..it costs twice as much over here for the band.and some doctors seem to be making a lot of money out of it too..if they didnt charge as much then i would have "supported" our uk doctors. like most of the people on here, my doctor was supportive..and after i got back, very impressed..she says she will be keeping her eye on me like a hawk and sending her patients over to chris in their droves. she didnt blame me at all for going abroad and said that she was only sorry that i couldnt get it done on NHS over here as it will be seen as preventative surgery soon enough, and that will save the NHS money in the future on treating you for things you WONT need,,its already recognised in america as that. i think we need to "support" ourselves and get the help that we need, not our uk doctors. and £300 for a fill?!..why? my fill nurse at WLS charges £80, and does it all day every day for anyones patients, it only takes a minute too!. I do feel for you cos after we make the descision to look after ourselves, we want "support" not criticising..its not fair. good luck with whatever you do, and make the right descision for you x

ouch, that pasta didnt go down at all!.so had 2 french fancies for my tea!.x

isnt it wierd what goes down and what doesnt!..i cant eat mash potato, but can eat tortilla chips!..i tried to eat a plum other day, and the skin on it got stuck..ooh that hurt too! but millies cookies (very naughty!) go down ok! x

either brave or daft!. i keep trying things, knowing that they may really hurt..but i do. one thing that really hurts is anything potato (except crisps!) so im ok there cos ill not be touching chips again, and i used to have chips with everything!.not too bothered about crisps anyway. i have bought a pasta ready meal for tea..i dont even like pasta so dunno why, just thought it may go down ok!(rice doesnt go down either easily by the way!).dogs will be happy if it doesnt! x

im sure your throat will get better, mine has although i still get that backed up feeling. boiled egg is one thing that seems to be a bit of trouble going down with some people, so your lucky with that one. i cant eat any bread not even the crispbakes, get terrible pain if i try..but having said that, earlier i tried to finish off my sons cheese toastie(ill never learn!) i took it really slow,it was wholemeal seeded batch loaf (on offer £1 at co op!) it did have melted cheese on it so that prob helped, but i went carefully and it went down ok..only half a slice.. but i read in my band book that if summat hurts, leave it out, but then just try it again a few weeks later cos it might be ok then. it was nice to taste bread again!.darent try white bread though yet, i know thats the worst!. i hope your throat will soon start to feel better,things have only just started to fully heal for me over the last few weeks, so give it a bit more time, just remember to go very slow and carefully, have plenty of sauce or gravy and mush it up in your mouth before you swallow. also, try icy drinks, or an ice lolly?ice pop..thats what our fill nurse told us..im sure youll be ok in another few weeks x

sounds exactly how ive done!..nearly a stone in first week, then standstill then 2lb in 2 weeks, then nothing in 2 weeks then another 2lb etc!..Arghhh! at least its going in right direction and not going back on is it! whatever we lose should be permenant though with the band in place. x

yes, its normal really, it does ease off as the weeks pass on though..it forces us into making different food choices, eating slower,chewing more and eating less. im avoiding all sorts of foods now.and with each fill another couple of foods in added to my "band banned food list".im hoping to be able to report some better weight loss to you all soon..may be several more weeks though!.i have gotta be patient, i will get there!..got to remember its just a tool to help me! it cant stop me putting the wrong foods in my mouth...i need a magic wand for that! oh where can i get one? x

your goal weight is same as mine bigbones.ill be delighted when i get there(gotta stop saying "if"!) it just seems so far away! ill even be happy at 1lb a week thats nearly 4stone in a year. but apparantly when you get good restriction you should be losing 1.5 to 2lb a week easily..thats recommended as a safe loss...so yes afraid its just..patience,patience,patience (frustrating though isnt it!) lets just concentrate on the fact that we wont put it back on again like with all the previous diets weve been on.

it is quite normal!. i have just started to get restriction with the 3rd fill..not losing much at all, but i hope it will start up again now im eating less, im just getting used to it now,suppose my next fill next tues will give me even more..mind you,every morning im saying- OMG! im not having another fill, cos its been that tight first thing, only cuppa tea goes down. i will take the advice of my fill nurse, she knows best, as to whether i should have one or not..might be ok to have one next week,might loosen off. wonder why its so tight in a morning?..ill ask her next week and report back. x

glad you got your cats sorted..im trying to get my dogs sorted so we can have weekend away next week... kennels cost a fortune, if you can get them in one. asked my eldest son if hell come and look after them at our house, but hes not got back to me yet. Davids working away in London over easter so it would be nice to get away when he comes back even if it is summat like a rainy weekend in a caravan in skeggy!...OMG..my kids are driving me up the wall!..bloody school holidays, could throttle em by now! x

hi freckles..glad you let us know your still here!..have a nice day x

flirty, i know what you mean with the top part of your belly hanging over, but im sure they will make a good job that youll be pleased with with just a full tummy tuck..have a look at some of the before and after pictures..theres some great ones..wht not go for a no obligation consultation first and discuss what they would do and ask to see their before and after photos? x

hope you get some cat sitters! have a great time at your mums. does your mum know about your band? we dont go for fills with fred, but we are advised to not eat for 3 hours before, or drink for an hour before a fill. hope it does something for you! hear from you in two weeks x