She Smiles

I agree, eating isn't a chore. I have to actually chew each mouthful now and take my time, but its by no means laborious. You just have tp be prepared to change your eating habits. But after 5 months for me, its just second nature now, we adapt very quickly when we have to!

Gee Susie, you're such a trooper exercising when you are sick, you put lazy old me to shame! i'm going to try to get back to it tomorrow, but I'll have to see if my ears are all funny still, my balance has been a bit out of whack with the sinus thing I have!

I haven't done any exercise for a few days. I've just not felt up to it either. I think we both need to jsut give our bodies a change to heal and get better. I think if I went for a run, my nose would be running the whole time! I'm keeping warm - hope you are too!! And yeah the spam sucks! If we wanted to look at porn, we'd go find it ourselves!! Grrrrrrrr!

I've been sleeping crappily (I think I just made that word up haha) too. Its hard to breathe! I've been taking cold and flu tablets but they aren't doing all that much. A visit to the Dr might be in order for both of us this week it looks! Hope you feel better soon!!! I think BB this year is going to be a bit boring. Because of all the ho-ha last year with the turkey-slap thing they will be super cautious about anything. I just want to be entertained!!

Nah Becky that doesn't go away with a man, my guy and I are sitting here on our laptops both on the internet as I type. Its how we chill out for the evening in preparation for a big day at work tomorrow.

Hey Cleo, first of all you are doing GREAT! This is a life time of habits you are trying to break here, so you have to give yourself a break. You're only weeks out from surgery - you will get there. I find if I start to get the "go get some food" thoughts I jump online here, or do some house work or call my mum or dad. Anything to distract me from that. I think for me, the head hunger battle is going to be a long one. I admit openly that I don't eat great food ALL the time - if I could do that and "diet" forever, I wouldn't have needed a band, right? But I eat good maybe 90% of the time and for me, that is an incredible improvement on what I was eating before. I'm not going to not go out for a friends birthday or not go to a farewell for some one at work because I have a band - I'm just going to try to make the best food choices I can while I am there. Wel all have our days. And I figure one bad day a week every now and then I can deal with, as long as I get back with the program straight away. Its all about keeping as focused as possible. As for slippage, I think you need to do something a little more serious than eat a lolly snake to cause a slippage. I mean I'm not a Dr, but I think if you do a search for slippages on this forum, there will have been a history of band food choices, PBing, sliming, reflux etc for a while before the band in diagnosed as slipped. If you are really scared about it, talk to your surgeon again and go over the "rules" that he gave you when you got your band. Follow them and you should be fine. All of that aside, you are stil very newly banded - you have lost over 7 kilos, and that is AWESOME!!:clap2: If something is wrong with your band, or you eat something that doesn't agree with it, you will know, your body will tell you - trust me on that! Your food intake sounds about right for where you are at. I was snacking between meals up until my last fill (and I've had 6!) and I've still lost weight. You should head on over the Melbourne Chat thread too, I'm sure the others will have other thoughtful ideas to help with the lack of motivation levels!! See you there! Meredith

Hey Paul, welcome from me too! Most of us Aussies hang out on the Melbourne Chat Thread if you'd like to come over there and meet the gang! You'll find they are a friendly bunch and are full of lots of helpful information and support. We all love our bands!! Meredith

Ahh Susannah sounds like you have the sickness I have had for the past few days! Is making the rounds everywhere! I haven't noticed any difference in my band tightness at that time of the month, but then my band is different from day to day normally so I don't think I could tell if there was a difference! As long as you don't PB, you'll be ok. I've been super careful chewing and eating slowly since my first PB the other day. I don't want a repeat of it anytime soon. I saw my Mum today and she is very nervous about her lap band surgery on Tuesday. I told her that it will all be worth it in the end and to just focus on that when she is thinking "what on earth have I done to myself". She's lost 4 kilos on optifast (she started last monday) so she's got a great head start!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope if the easter bunny came, he hasn't been TOO kind this year hehehe. Hope you enjoy however you are celebrating your day!!

Hi all! Bronnie you sound like you are having a bit of a rough trot with food! I think my last fill has kicked in properly now. Every time I eat, each mouthful kind of gurlgles in my throat (i've asked my partner and he can't hear it and he says he can't). Yesterday I had my first PB. It wasn't as bad as I expected. Not all that painful for me, I just sort of felt that the food wasn't going through, went to the bathroom, opened my mouth and out it came. And yep, it was with chicken. Not all that much of a surprise about that!! Hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend (if they get one)!

Hi all, Well this morning I got on the scale and for the first time that half a kilo I have been dancing around on the scales for the past few weeks was gone. I actually punched the air with joy when I saw 84.9 kilos! :clap2: WOOOOOO!!! thats a total of 30 kilos lost for me. I am so happy!:biggrin1: I agree with Susannah. If this woman wasn't willing to be honest about how she managed the loss, then she should have just kept her pride and acomplishment about it to her self. She was entirely deceitful, and we all know that obese people will try anything - there must be hundreds of people eating aroudn the inside of thier plates and STARVING, wondering how the heck she did it. Silly woman! I admit I have band shame. I am disgusted that I let myself get as obese as I was. I knew that there was no way I could lose all the weight myself again, only to put it and more back on the next time (such has been the cycle of my life). I think its a personal choice as to whether we divulge the knowledge of our bands, and I for one don't want to have to defend the decision I made for a second. For me, and I am working on this one, the judgement of others plays a major role in my own feeling of personal worth and self esteem. I guess that comes from years of being the bigger girl/person in every circle I travelled in (even when I was "thin" I was still the biggest girl!). HOpefully one day I can be like Susannah and tell those people casting judgement to mind their own business. I guess thats just another step in the process of sorting out my food/weight gain/personal issues which the band is helping me with

I couldn't agree more Susannah about the Govt subsidising gyms (or SOME kind of exercise programs). That would tackle a lot of obesity, that and better education. I'm feeling much better today thank goodness. I was concerned I was going to be sick for my long weekend!

Why not just stay here then, where the folks ARE accepting and don't have to be reminded of that by a sticky??? I come to LBT for support and friendship and thats what I get. I deliberately started avoiding an Aussie forum I was directed to pre-op because the environment and attitude didn't appeal to me and I've been happy here since :clap2: I guess we are all a little protective of what has worked for us (or we will make work for us), but pooh poohing every other obesity surgery just isn't fair, especially when there is a lap band section on that board. Surely that means that the intention is that lap banders will frequent it? (I've never been over there myself). If the main board isn't labeled RNY then I would think that lapbanders are welcome there too......you'd think anyway.... Anyway I love that we know we are always welcome here

Good luck Bronnie! I felt a bit disheartned that no one outwardly noticed my loss after I went back to work. But then no one knew I was having the surgery (do your workmates know?) and I had more weight to lose than you (the bigger you are the less noticeable the loss is). Its only been maybe in the last couple of week actually that people have been saying "wow the weight is falling off you" and "how are you losing all this weight". Thats been feeling pretty good. I am feeling pretty crappy today. I'm home sick from work with the sore throat virus thing that is going around. I've been in bed all morning feeling crappy. I hope it doesn't get any worse, that would suck, just in time for Easter!

Bronnie, I find with Chicken (well all meat actuall), I need to make sure its been marinated, or has some kind of moisture with it (in a pasta sauce or with a little bit of ranch dressing or mayo for example). I haven't PBed on it (touch wood haven't PBed yet) but if I eat it dry (I get the same feeling with bread, cakes or anything "dry"). It hurts A LOT. So I did my fun run this morning 5kms in a personal best time of 35 minutes and 53 seconds. Not all that fast (the winners do it under 17 minutes), but I am proud of my efforts. 6 months ago I couldn't have even run for 53 seconds, never mind another 35 minutes! Hope every one had a great weekend. I'm off for my Mum's last supper before she starts optifast tomorrow.

Totally normal! I have had 6 (is it 6? Or 5??) fills and I have only just felt restriction properly. Like I take a few bites and have to sit back and let that go down before I can assess whether more is ok or not. I think maybe I could do with a teeny tiny more in there. But I'll go with this for a month first and see how my weight loss is. Before this last fill it wasn't like that really, maybe for 24 hours after the fill but then I was back to eating anything and quite quickly. Some people are lucky and don't need much in thier band to feel restriction (like my dad who PB's with 3 mls in his 10ml band) and then theres some like me who can eat most everything even with 8.5 mls in a 10 ml band (except bread and english muffins, they always give me chest pain, I learned that the hard way!). Like EVERYTHING with our bands its a lot of trial and error. You'll get there Susannah!! I want to be one of those 50kg losers yesterday too. God, that would be just so bloody awesome! It would be like dream come true... I often try to picture myself another 20 kilos lighter and I just can't even imagine it. Very surreal!! So an NSV for me today. I went to the gym and jumped on the treadmill this afternoon and before I knew it I had jogged a whole 5kms! I haven't ever done that far before but I kind of wanted to test myself before Sunday's fun run rolls around. I was so chuffed. Burned 500 calories doing it too. Pat on the back to me :clap2: Hope everyone has a great weekend planned!

I am SO with you on the treats Bronnie! (she says 5 minutes after eating a freddo frog hahaha)

Ahhh Becky I think we have all been there (and will be there again!), my eyes are still adjusting to the size of my tummy..... You'll be able to work through the pain and you know what? Tmorrow sure is another day. You'll be fine, I just hope you're not in as much pain as I was one night after to much delicious risotto oh my that so bad!!!

I love my lap bad because it has changed my life. I have my over eating under control, am fitter than ever and my self esteem is through the roof. Its the best investment I have made in my self ever.

Anna, congrats on your loss! Under 120 is a great milestone! I think its SO important that we set mini goals along the way and celebrate (with new clothes of course hahaha) when we get there! Thanks for the kudos, by the way! I'm chuffed with my loss so far!

YAAAAAAAAY! Susannah I am so happy for you!! I'm stoked for you! *does the happy dance* So do you feel a little more restriction tonight with your fill?? How big is your band again? I have 8.5 mls in a 10 ml band, and I reckon I could go another 0.2ml to be perfect (I'm VERY close), but I'm going to ride with what I have for a little while and see how I go. I'm going away to the coast with a bunch of my girlfriends over easter (some who don't know and some who do) and I don't want to be vomiting up food in front of them...! Oh and by the way, this weekend is my 5km fun fun! eeeep! I am going to try my darndest, but I don't think I will run the whole way. We'll see!

You know, I didn't even know there was "another" forum! I tried using a forum specifically for Aussie bandsters and found it just wasn't for me. There was a lot of "lets keep this on topic" and that annoyed me that you couldn't really have a joke or post about your life aside form the band. Since then I always just come here. I know I will get honesty and support and really for me, thats what I am looking for.

Good luck Susannah!! Let us know how it goes, and if you want to talk about it, you know how to contact me

Welcome to the thread, the site and to banded life Paulie! I wouldn't be as confident as I am with my band without the support of my fellow bandsters on this forum, and specifically on this thread! I have learned some valuable lessons, gotten great advice and even made some great friendships since I joined last year! I hope you are able to take something of value from your time here also!

I had to pay the $5000ish surgery fee and for all the consult appointments, xrays, blood tests etc (maybe another $800 or so?), the rest was covered by my private hospital insurance. I was very lucky that I had a 1 year waiting time on using my health insurance and I got my band only 3 days after it ticked over to a year. I am in Canberra, I think I am the closest Aussie bandster to you on this thread Christie....