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Hello You aren't doing anything wrong. Everyone gets restriction at different times, some of us early and others a little further on in the journey. What's important is to know that you made a life changing decision and you can't just give up on that unless you are prepared to go and spend the same amount of money to have the band removed. Are you? Do you think you are pressurising yourself too much and think that just because you and others around you know you have the band think you should be some skinny minnie by now? We all get there in the end and it doesn't matter if we take 6 months, 12 months or 3 years. It's not a race but a life changing choice to help you control what you weren't able to before the band. Why not take a break from focusing on it so much and just get on with life and enjoy it. Celebrate what you have lost to date and don't forget that you may not be losing weight but you might be losing inches and changing body shape. I am happy to share my excel spreadsheet that tracks weight, BMI amd measurements. You'll have to pm me your email addy. Don't be too disheartened because you could be the other way and not have eaten anything properly since October last year. I would love to be able to eat a piece of chicken and not feel it blocking or hurting however much you have chewed it etc. So slowly slowly steady steady and it will start to come off. Keep a food diary aswell to see what you are having and track the calories. I now it's tiresome and boring but you made need to do this to see what the foods are that are causing you to stay at the weight rather than lose it. HTH stay positive Claire

Welldone on your loss. That's really good. It's not pleasant when you can't eat until a certain time. That's what my day is usually like. I spoke with Dr Chris the other day about further surgery and he said a 2ml defill. But ask Frederik for clarification. HTH Claire

That's brilliant news - well done you for all your hard work. Fingers crossed all goes well. Take care and well done, keep us posted ... Claire x

Good to see you here mmm. Well done on your weightloss. (Looking at your ticker - is this upto date?) How are you finding the band? Just thinking that it's so important to have good support on our weightloss journey do you have anyone near to you ho has been banded? It's been a little quiet on here but I am sure everyone is either really busy with work or they are lurking around the thread. Take care and thnaks for the positive comments Claire x

This may help: http://www.helioscopie.fr/anglais/traitementChi.php Cx

Fills - restriction via the band using saline usually given as a 3ml at first fill appointment then 2mls at the next one and then 0.5ml for third and then other amounts as discussed with Dr Chris or his colleagues, How often? Varies from person to person. Can be monthly or could be like me where I went in September then October and then didn't go back until March and then May. Had good restricton from the October fill and didn't feel that I wanted to go back until March when I knew I needed a little fill. We are all very different. Restriction makes the opening from the newly formed pouch to the stomach smaller so therefore you feel fuller quicker and it reduces down the portion sizes that you can manage. You have to have some self control over this aswell the band doesn't do it all for you! It's not a cheat it is hard work and those around you will soon come to realise this when they eat & live with you for long enough. I don't think there is any point in hiding it, be open and honest and people will be more understanding. The band doesn't do anything except restrict. It is the receptors in the stomach that tell the brain that they are no longer hungry and we have to tune into these if you want to lose weight. http://www.lapbanduk...stric-band-work hth and explains more. Book via Frederik and no one else especially a French based company. Frederiks details are: http://www.lapbanduk...-bruyne-belgium I didn't have a pre-consult, if you do I think it's a £100. However I sent all my details to Frederik, booked a date, booked Eurostar tickets and arrived the day before and met with Dr Chris that evening. Payment for my surgery I did in one transfer so that I didn't have to carry the cash with me and have the added worry. HTH feel free to ask any questions. Good luck and enjoy your journey - there will be ups and downs but that's just like life and I have to say it is well worth it in the end!! Take care Claire x

Week 41 Been a good week in terms of flying by. Probably quite a few shocked that they had to do a 5 day week. Need the routine to keep me busy! Had a fill last week, had 0.5ml, with Dr Chris. He's very good and very quick at doing the fills. When he weighed me I was shocked that he had told me I had only lost x amount of kilos and so when I was walking along chatting to my husband on the phone I asked him to double check the kilos and it seems Dr Chris' scales may be out by 12 kilos! I am planning to email Frederik to ask him to check my computer record and get the scales recalibrated! So have lost 90lbs (yes you have read it right!) can't quite believe that that was a magic number when I first started this journey back in July last year. One I thought I might never achieve or believed that the band would work so well. But it has. Although I have now been subjected to a few comments that I have taken it too far! One was my neighbour and the other was my mum! She said I looked haggered! Thanks a bunch. Well it's not going to deter me as I have a target and need to get to it. I don't want to go any lower than that though as I think it would be too much. So 16 pounds to go and I'll be there. I am going to book my GP appointment so that I can go and see him to get the ball rolling on the boobie side. Just keeping fingers crossed they agree to the funding on the NHS you know what it's like. Anyway will check in again, hope everyone is looking after themselves and taking the journey at their own pace. Take care Claire x

Well done on your lovely journey. You feel so much better when you are lighter. 4 stone is a good achievement! What a wonderful way to spend the year cruising and some wonderful, lovely places aswell. Enjoy your next cruise and congrats on your first year. Never regret always learn & look forwards ... is my motto and I have similar sentiments it been a tough journey at times but the rewards are so worth it. Well done & enjoy. Claire x

Off to see Dr Chris tomorrow will be the first time since the band was put in in July last year. I am so looking forward to seeing his reaction to the weight loss and I have decided I just want 0.5ml in. I had a lovely scrummy scone (yes gulp!! how did it go down but it did over a period of time) and it was lovelllllyyyy and what a treat. A little butter, blackcurrant jam and some thick cream. Just scrummy! Amazed that I was so okay with it as I have had so much restriction up until a few days ago. So I know I am ready for another fill. Hoping it will knock this last 20 pounds off! Anyone else going tomorrow? Appt is 12:10 Take care Cx

Yes know the feeling but I am all over cold. Have to go to bed with a hot wheat bag! Quite obsessive about that one. But it's because we have lost our thermal loft insulation!! as I was politely told by my colleagues at work. I layer up in the morning and then eventually start to peel off by about lunch time. Hope you soon have warm extremeties. I bought a lovely pair of kumfipumps so that I had warm feet & wear them when I am teaching yoga if it is very cold. Claire x

Week 39 So we are getting nearer and nearer and I have 20 lbs to go. I know I know to be so obsessed! However I have been so focused for the year that I shall be glad when I reach target and can start to just get on wthout having to be so obsessed. So pleased with results to date although starting to look at loose skin! Bit daunting but just another hurdle to attack nearer the time when I am ready. I am now in a 12 top and 14 bottom so very chuffed how many dress sizes I have decreased. Someone said that they thought I had taken it too far! They are so used to seeing a plump me and not a slimmer version! I think I am fine and feel fab. Few aches and pains but feel great and that's what matters in this journey - how you feel about what you are doing. Yes it's lovely that people compliment you but you have to feel comfortable in your own skin don't you??? So this week was a little better on the food front although I have got good restricton and find I can't eat until later during the day. Had a bit of an issue with the elimination aspect of my body and will address this with my GP as I don't want to go there again - just to say it was very painful! So have lost 2.5 lbs and now weigh 11st 13 lbs and BMI is 27.8 inch loss this week was 1 inch. Total inch loss is 71.25. Since the fill on the 10th March, when I had 0.5ml, I have lost 18 pounds which is great. I am not sure how much I want to have put in on Thursday and shall be debating with myself if I should have 0.5ml or 1ml or somewhere in between. My common sense tells me 0.5ml so that I just maintain what I am losing nice and steadily. I am off to Edinburgh this weekend for a study day with the lovely Sarah Buckley and can't wait to be away. Looking forward to a lovely positive day around birth colleagues. Just not sure about the travel as it's overnight both ways on a coach. Should be fun just hope I can sleep. Anyway going to close, everyone stay positive and keep going it will come off and you are all doing so well. Gently, gently. Claire x

Fantastic news well done. Enjoy your trips and have lots of fun shopping. Cx

Can sympathise with you completely as this is what I was like in October last year. It's not the most pleasant experience but I was very determined to work through it and like you phoned the numbers and chatted to various people who could defill but worked through it until Feb/March of this year - this is why I have been having just soup. It's painful and teaches you very quickly about your band, your limitations and what you are prepared to go through. I was very close to a defill but then one day it just eased and I thought well lets wait and see. Cancelled the November appointment and then the January and then the February. I came to the conclusion little fills were better for me. I had 0.5ml last fill in March and I am going again next week (5th May) and will have 1-1.5ml if they can do it. So glad you are ok and that there was someone able to come and defill for you. I bet it was a welcome relief. Weather has been lovely hasn't it, I was sat in the garden today marking & doing assessments and preping school work. So glad you are ok, take it easy for a few weeks and be gentle on yourself. Restriction I have found comes & then gently eases off. We all react so differently. Take care Cx

Hello all I have just seen this area for July 2010 bandsters. Is it ok if I join in? I was banded by Dr Chris in Belgium July 31st 2010 and to date I have lost 6 stone (84 pounds) and my target is 106.5 pounds to get my BMI under 25 and be able to have further surgery to sort the top half of me out. Feel free to follow the link to my weightloss journal. I would love a T-shirt that says "been there, done that etc" as I have had the awful vomiting episodes, the restriction that has lasted from October to March and where I have lived on Soup, soup and more soup because I found eating solids so difficult. I am 22 pounds off of my target and look at this as a stroll in the park. I am very focused and want to achieve this target so much as my life has become so much better since the surgery and I know that I will feel a lot more positive about myself once I have had the other surgery. I have 5.5mls in my band and am due to go for another fill in two weeks. I am hoping that will be my last one but then that could be wishful thinking. Anyway lovely to see other July bandsters here and look forward to reading their experiences. Take care Claire

Men ehh sorry to any of the lovelies we have on here but they can be rather insensitive about all things female including the odd compliment now and then especially when we have done so well! So this is an unofficial celebration but I have now lost 6 stone yeahhhhhh! Will officially know on Friday when I weigh in. But am such a happy bunny!!! Cx

Have pm'd you C x

When I was banded last year I was told no steak / roast beef ever again and I am sure that there is reference to it on the forum. Mince was ok as it was ground. The structure of beef or steak makes it difficult to swallow and digest properly. I wouldn't have thought you have any stuck there now as the body tends to get rid and won't put up with anything stuck in the digestive tract However you may be swollen from vomiting. Try an ice lolly to see if this helps or suck on ice. Wait on the defill thought for a few days Hope ths helps Cx

I'm in Northampton yes lets wait until after the hols. What days would be good for you? Take care Claire

http://www.tickerfactory.com/weight-loss for tickers Glad you are feeling positive today go get those pounds!! Claire x

Please be gentle on yourself. Firstly don't compare yourself to others on here as you have read you will see we all react very diferently to the band and have restriction at different points. You will lose weight and just need to be aware of what you are eating. I know I am not really in the position to tell people what they should or shouldn't be doing. I found (please remember I had restriction from the 2nd fill which is unusual from what I have ascertained and been told by Chris Duprez) that I could no longer eat somehting just for the sake of it. It had to be nutritious as I was probably going to get one chance at eating something at that point in the day and couldn't afford to mess it up, otherwise I would have my head down the toilet. Sorry if too much information but sometimes we need to know what the worst case scenario could be. Perhaps try a smaller plate size and split the plate up into protein (important!) then the vegetables and a little potato. Make a healthy chunky soup and food process it down and store in the fridge or freezer (in portions). Have the dessert if you fancy a treat but just don't go overboard. You will get there and when you have restriction you will definately know about it and the pounds will start to fall off. As for the others around you just say time will tell and say positive don't let them goad you into hitting the biscuit box or whatever your achilles heel is. What is your achilles heel? I had a photo of myself that I placed near the fridge when I was losing weight to get married (14 years ago) and I found that did wonders for me. I lost a lot of weight and my dressmaker was always having to take the frame of the dress in until she said enough I have now got to cut the real thing and need you to stop losing weight or you will be walking down the aisle in this. I lost quite a lot and my wedding dress definately doesn't fit me anymore - it's far too big!!! So I must have been bigger than I thought! Stay positive and look after yourself. Take care Cx

Fabulous photo you are lovely and have lost loads. Well done beautiful lady! Have a good weekend. Cx

Hello all Wow Fattypatty wonderful weightloss, come on post a picture of the Karen Millen dress! Want to see - I have a very glam Monsoon dress so if you do then so will I! Dare you! It's always good to see how you have done and photographic evidence is usually the only way we start to acknowledge and see that we have changed. Nat 1977 - when wouldyou like to meet up? Where? Let me know... Laila160 - well done on your loss keep going as it will come off and it isn't a race but what is right for you. Such wonderful progress. Well I set myself a new target today as I had a GP appointment yesterday and in order to have the breast reduction I have to have a BMI of 25 or less. That equals 10 stone 7 lbs so I have the extra challenge of another 6.5 pounds. So 25.5 pounds to go. Only then will the GP put the application in. He thinks it will be accepted but they say that you have to have lost the weight for a year. As he said with the band they will probably see that as a positive. So hoping to go back nearer to July and have another chat. My fingers are crossed and I now face South instead of South West and West hasn't featured in a very long time! Anyway have a good week everyone and look after yourselves. All for now Claire x

Hello Yes it is the Salcey Forest in Northampton. Wow just up the road. Fancy meeting for a coffee? Going for hopefully my final fill on the 5th May. Would be great to touch base. You have done well with your weightloss, it's 4 stone you won't regain - yippeee! Take care Claire

Thank you that's really lovely. I was very brave last night and went live to friends on facebook. Why? Well on Friday I bumped into a previous client and I felt when she was talking to me that she didn't know who I was. Especially as I had my two children with me and she has never met them. Probably thinking who the hell has stopped me and is asking how I am, and saying isn't it wonderful news about so and so.... so I decided to post. Anyway the cat is out of the bag although I didn't say on facebook what I had had done because everypne who I openly and honestly tell is genuinely very good and says well done you! I did get an odd response yesterday as if to say "ohh my god why?" I was so positive that she said that all she had ever heard was negatives and had never actually met anyone who had had one. I thought I bet you have but they just haven't said. We aren't that small a minority or are we? Anyway have a super weekend what's left of it. Enjoy ... I'm off for the enxt two weeks bliss! Cx

Thank you I always think it is good to put a name to a face. So I have taken the plunge and be open and honest all the way, "you've lost weight"- "yes I had a gatrric band", "ohh I only ever read about that in magazines and heard so many negatives", "never met a real person with one and such a positive experience you have had, wow you have lost how much!"! So yes open, honest all the way and wouldn't want it any differently. Even went live on my Facebook page tonight how brave am I or perhaps that should be stupid. But then I always believe that there is a message for everyone that there is always a choice and that it isn't dependent on someone from the NHS saying yes or no and that we can take control of out own destiny! Hence why so many of us end up with Dr Chris. Thanks for the lovely comments, I am now stepping off my soap box and going to make cupcakes for tomorrows visit to nanny & gramps and hopefully a trip to Salcey Forest tree walk! Have fun Claire x