She Smiles

It took me 8.5 ccs in my 10 cc band before I had what I was comfortable as proper restriction. BUT that last fill was on 21 March and now I am eating like a (bandsters) horse (ie twice of what I'd like to be eating haha). I'm off to get another fill in the next few weeks. I beleive that as you lose more weight (I've lost about 18ish pounds since that last fill) your band gets looser. I'm just wondering how much looser my band can get when there's 8.5 already in there!! Cascadian - enjoy the restrcition!! Its a great feeling being able to say "no" to food!!! :clap2: I don't know about you but it sure was a new feeling for me!

I don't know that I can vote in the poll because my exercise which was once at least 5 x 45 minute cardio sessions at the gym and 2 x weights sessions a week has dropped off to be almost non existant in the past few weeks because life and all its hassles dramas and stresses has gotten in the way. That said, I know that had I not exercised the way I did for the first 6 months of my banded life, I couldn't have still enjoyed the occasional treat and still lost the way I have. I am very happy with my weight loss thus far. I'm getting married this weekend and I have promised myself that I will get back into it after the honeymoon. I know I need another fill and I have enrolled in a 12 week boot camp course starting July 2nd (2 x 1 hour sessions a week) and so I am hoping that will kick start my exercise again - I've lost nothing for 4 weeks because of my slovenly behaviour and I have a way to go to goal yet.

I had to start my pre op diet 2 days after I was told when my surgery date was, but I sure tried to fit as much as I could into that 2 days. Makes me ill now to think how much I used to eat (A lg Big Mac meal and 6 nuggets was my last pre-band fatty-me sized meal. Gah!!).

Yeah I'm with the majority of these guys. The only down side - the more weight I lose the more I realise that if I want to resemble some one "normal looking" naked in the mirror its going to cost me $$$ to get more surgery (plastic obviously). But hey, if I 've got extra skin and not 80 pounds of extra weight on me, thats a good thing, right? I love my band.

Ditto.........

Stamp duty sucks, but you can kind of offset it if its your first home and get the $7000 first home owners grant. That paid most of my stamp duty on my modest 3 bedroom place in Canberra. But I think the stamp duty here is one of the lowest in Australia.

Karen, I am very glad that you are feeling a little better. I must admit prior to meeting you guys with MS on this board i was a bit ignorant to the details of the illness. But having done some research on it since then, I really applaud you guys for dealing with it, and addresssing your weight problems at the same time. My hat off to you all. jelewis56, I'd say you'd probably have to wait until the scars are no longer scabby and are healed over. This is one you might have to ask your surgeon about. You should be right to physically do it almost immediatey if you feel up to it, but you don't want to compromise the healing process of your incisions, so a quick call to your surgeon is probably your best bet!! I wish I could swim - I can't it irriates my severe eczema. oh well.

Tarajane, I am the same! I walk past some of the more trendy sorts of young womens shops and wonder if I would fit into anything from there yet. I think in another 5 kilos I might go in and see, maybe an XL will fit me by then! I squeezed into a pair of hipster urbane jeans I had from a few years back yesterday that are a 16, so I was pretty happy about that!

Hi Karen, I'm sorry to hear you've been having a tough time with your MS lately. Are you feeling better now? Your weight loss is looking awesome!! I'm sorry about your posts that got missed on the other thread. I think its hard catching up on all the posts when you haven't checked in for a couple of days/weeks, so I most certainly don't think it was intentional that anyone didn't specifically reply, but I do apologise all the same.

Jelew! Of course its ok to join the thread! Welcome! Well done with the optifast! What is your surgery date???

Yeah Bronnie, I'd wondered where you'd gotten too aswell stranger! Glad that you're back!! Hope that your fill next week makes some difference for you! Meredith

Hey Bronnie! Long time no hear!! Good job on you loss so far!! Hopefully the shoulder pain doesn't last!!! We have all moved over to the Australian Chat thread because this thread was getting a lot of gross porn spam, come on over there and catch up with the gang

Wow Jacqui your project sounds great!! Congrats on getting it done! I booked in today to get another fill next Wednesday. I'm going to ask my fill Dr to take all my fill out and see whats in there. I've been eating like a horse, and that means one of two things, I need more fill, or my pouch is stretched. I'm praying that its the first!!

I had my band surgery only a few days before the lady at your seminar had her bypass and I've lost almost 73 lbs. The band can be just as successful if you put your mind to it.

Oh no Susannah!! Thats a bit of a painful oversight by the Doc to put that extra .5mls in your band! .5 mls can be a lot when you're getting towards the pointy end of reaching perfect restriction! Hope you are feeling better with the unfill. Tara, hope your girls getaway was a blast!!! Sounds like a lot of fun to me! Is anyone doing anything exciting for ANZAC day? I'm just planning on lounging around enjoying the day off. I just got up and it actually looks like it might have rained here overnight!! Yay!

I strongly believe that my back pain was due to my excess weight, I had LOTS of tests, and lots of physio which didn't help all that much - I used to take the anti-inflammatories daily, and now, I take them maybe once a week or two when it flares up. I think my loss of 70lbs has been the main contributor to this, so hopefully you will have the same results. Back pain is the worst! That said, if I do take it, I take a soluble feldene tablet immediately before eating my dinner as advised by my GP and band surgeon. There is less chance of it doing any damage if it is disolved in Water (and won't sit as a large hunk in your pouch) and will be "worked through" the pouch in the next hour or so with the food.

Thanks! I really appreciate it!

Any chance you can point me towards some info/literature that supports this? I am cautiously on anti-inflammatories for a back injury and am very interested in this about-face in this theory.

I'm past my surgeon's goal. He predicted that I would only lose 30kgs (60%) of my excess weight given the stats (which show that a 50% excess loss is typical). He gave me an extra 10% because I "seemed determined" - I told him I would lose more than 60% of my excess weight. I weighed 65kgs breifly in my early twenties and I was very happy with my size then. I think this time though, I might end up a little more toned at that weight than I was then cos I am doing a lot more exercise. I really want to fit into an Australian size 12-14 (US 8-10) comfortably.

I agree with Anna on this one Lisa. I had the same experience in my transition from thicker liquids to mushies and I spoke to my surgeon about 5 days into my thicker liquids stage and he cleared me to start mushies a little early. If you aren't having any probs with what you are having now, your Doc will might give you the green light to go ahead too, but please check with him first! But just a note, I found I was hungry as heck between weeks 1 and 3 post op. Nothing seemed to satisfy me once all the swelling had gone down. But you have to remember you won't have much restriction to start with. This time is for healing, so look after your self! Well done on the weight loss by the way! So, I just did my very first RPM/Spin class at the gym! I loved it! I think I will make it part of my regualr routine!

Thank goodness for that, I was disgusted to see it on there. I wasn't sure what action would be taken when I reported it, but I am glad its been deleted.

A fav of mine is a can of lentils, a can of chickpeas, a can of salmon, a can of crushed tomatoes, an onion and garlic and herbs to taste. Makes about 5 or 6 1 cup serves. I just pack it up in containers and freeze it. I pop it in the microwave at work to warm it up and its super tasty.

Oh and I am doing ok Susie. Had a big/late night last night for a friends birthday. We went dancing, and I wore heels and my feet are killing me haha. I felt incredibly old being in nightclubs though, I haven't been out on the town for ages! Good job with the loss too! You're gonna be under 100 in no time!!

My Doc didn't come in to see me, but then I didn't expect him to. His offsider did and so did the anethetist. I was happy with the after care I received.

And Susannah, I am finding the new layout makes the pages slower to load up. Anyone else got that prob?