suepro

Mr Super has an excellent reputation, you will be in very good hands with him. If he has accepted you for surgery then your BMI is high enough. For a private patient the guidelines are BMI over 35 to have a band, although sometimes people who start at 35 are a lower BMI by the time of the op if they have been on a pre op diet. Good luck, hope it all goes well. I started at BMI 41 and how have a BMI of 24.5 I weigh 10st 10lbs which I never dreamed possible a year ago.

Mr Somers operates at a few private hospitals and also does private patients at the NHS hospital. Below is a link to his website, hope that helps Streamline Surgical LLP website Terms and Conditions

I love salads and eat a wide variety of salad vegetables. Greek salad is a favourite of mine although I find romaine a bit tough so use other more tender dark salad leaves, baby spinach, lambs lettuce and mix a little iceberg in to crisp it up a little.

I can now wear my engagement ring for the first time in 15 years! Sue Banded 6 November 08, 260lb's current 148lb's

Your scar will fade very quickly, so hopefully you won't have to worry about this matter for too long, mine is barely visible after 10 months.

Congratulations on an amazing weightloss and on achieving your goal. Sue

Thanks for sharing your story Quakergirl and a very useful reminder to all of us not to neglect our bands and get sloppy in our eating and drinking habits. I hope the total defill shrinks your pouch back, please do let us know how you get on when you go back. Best wishes. Sue

Good luck for your op Brighton Belle! I had my band done privately last November and it has been the best thing I have done. I have lost over 7 stone and am very nearly at my target weight, currently I am 10st 10lbs. I told everyone about my operation and I never regretted it as I am a lousy liar. I also get lots of support from friends, family and work colleagues and when people say 'haven't you lost weight' I find myself evangelising about weight loss surgery. You will get a lot of support on these boards and all your questions will be answered so glad you have found us. Where are you being done? Sue

I can only speak from my personal experience and I lose weight better when I am able to eat proper solid foods. I was once too tight for 10 days and whether I was consuming too many calories when on mainly liquids and slider foods or whether I wasn't having sufficient calories and the body went into starvation mode and held onto its fat reserves I don't know, but it was the only time I didn't lose anything.

If you have been pb'ing a lot then perhaps a couple of days on liquids to let everything settle down would be a good idea, then building up slowly to mushies, then solid food. All the foods you list that go down well are 'slider foods' so if you are unable to eat any solid Protein, then you may need a small defill. I avoid some foods that I know won't go down well, bread being one of them, eggs another. You do need to find a range of healthy foods you can eat, I can eat chicken, fish, prawns and a wide range of vegetables and salad and fruit. If you are at all worried then call your bariatric team to discuss. Sue (banded November 08 260lbs, August 09 149lbs)

Sorry that you are struggling- you have come to the right place for some help and encouragement. Perhaps if you start off by listing an average day's food & drink consumption it will give a good idea of how much restriction you have. How many fills have you had & what is your exercise regime? I am sure that the helpful people here will be able to help. Sue.

The other reason why restriction after a fill wears off is that as you lose weight you lose internal fat so the band is looser. It does sometimes take a while to get restriction just right and it isn't an exact science, more trial and error. I am now only a few pounds from my desired weight and I have had 4 fills and 2 small unfills. some of us find our bands tighten with our monthly cycle so I get one pretty tight week every month. Sue (Banded November 08 weight 260lbs, August 09 weight 149lbs)

It must very very frustrating for you that your surgeon won't give you the fill you need because you are losing weight by dieting. You are in a no win situation because you had the band to lose weight and you don't want to deliberately not lose just to get the fill you need. My surgeon has always listened to me and even though I have lostweight I have been given a fill each time I have asked for one. End of October seems like a long wait for an appointment with no restriction. Can you not ask for an earlier one? Best of luck to you, hope your surgeon starts taking notice of what you are telling him and you get the fill you need to make your band work. Sue (Banded November 08 weight 260lbs, Aug 09 weight 149lbs)

Good decision to have an unfill to a level you are more comfortable with, i can never understand why some bandsters struggle on with tiher bands so tight that they can barely eat any solid food. I prefer to keep my band looser so I have a much better choice of foods I can eat. The foods I can't eat aren't ones that I miss. I like to be able to eat solid Proteins, veggies, fruit and salad. it works for me, only 6lbs to my goal weight. Sue

I would rather live with a few wrinkles than a whole load of fat. Wrinkles won't endanger your life in any way, carrying too much weight will. Having just one chin after years of living with at least three is wonderful for me. Actually at the ace of 47 my face is in pretty good shape, but some of this is down to inheriting good skin from my mothers side of the family and in taking good care of my skin and not getting too much sun on it over the years. I have to say I have never come accross anyone who deliberately overate slider foods to avoid losing weight. If you are really unhappy with your face and neck once you have lost weight there are plenty of cosmetic procedures that might help. I hope you come to terms with your new face and body. Sue