Apologies - I haven't been posting much lately - I do read all the new posts every night tho. I am finding it a bit isolated here in Ireland, I feel I don't have anything to contribute advice-wise as my experience of surgery etc seems so different from all of your experiences with the american / mexican doctors.

As I haven't told anyone here (except for our two dearest friends!) that I have the lap band, I feel like I am the only person in the universe going through this banded life! Thank god for this message board - it's (imho) the friendliest board and I smile every night reading the posts (and cheer for you all too!). So basically, I am feeling kinda lonely here, and having a bit of a moan! Please, you guys, COME VISIT!

Well, that was the bad news (which isn't so bad really) - the good news is that I feel I am doing really well with this amazing little tool. I have lost 30lbs to date, (today it is exactly 6 weeks since surgery) and yesterday was my birthday (34 - yay!). My family know I have been "dieting" and were all complementing me on looking slimmer - apparently my face shows the most, and whoda thunk it, but I may actually have cheekbones! Who knew???!!!! I just took a photo now at the pc to compare with my little avatar photo - which was taken last summer - please be kind and bear in mind it's after 11pm here, I had a long hard day and did my make up last at 7.45am!!!

I dunno if this will work anyway but here goes!

Really well, you look great. how is Ireland? Congrats on your losses.

you're too kind! Ireland is fantastic, wonderful and magical as usual (sorry, just love this little island!) but we're having typical December weather - chilly but not frosty, or snowy, but raining and muddy everywhere! My parents-in-law just came back from two months in florida and were disgusted at how muddy everything looks - all the cars are filthy! But we're used to this I guess - we almost never have a white christmas - usually get snow in january or February. But it's very christmassy here all the same!

On a weight loss note, my parents-in-law really noticed my "missing" 35lbs! I was just going to france for the surgery when they left so it was perfect timing! I did not mention anything to them about the lap band, or even that I was dieting, so I was really thrilled to to have them stare at me and exclaim: "are you ill?"

Another little pleasure of the lap band!

take care everyone

Hello Bright,

I just reread your initial letter where you were saying that you felt like the only banded person in the world! Well, just thought I would share what drove me over the edge and prompted me to seriously look at my life and weight....

Last year my hubby and I went to Europe- England, Germany, Austria, Italy for a very long awaited vacation. It was nice, but the most stressful thing for me was being excruciatingly aware of my size- nobody came near me sizewise! I felt (and per my husband truly was) like the hugest person for miles around. And then to add insult, my uncle in England told me I was way too fat and needed to do something about it!!!

Was it my imagination or are there just not all that many obese persons around Europe? No wonder you feel so alone!

I am rather lucky as I am a nurse and the lap band is done here at my hospital commonly. So I get to see lots of bandees and a couple of my friends have one also.

By the way, you are really nice looking- your adventures in trying to get your pic posted cracked me up! I am worthless as far as

anything but the basics goes! So I doubt I will ever get my pic posted!

you are so right - there aren't many obese people in Europe - I have been overweight since I was about twenty - and I reckon I have been putting on 10lbs a year since then - I was 140lbs and was 315 having surgery, and I have to say I found it really difficult here - I was always the only one! My family members are all slim, my friends are all slim, and it is very daunting and depressing to live here and feel so isolated. There was only one store in Dublin City Centre which did outsize clothing and I used to visit at all the excruciating times of the year when I had to get something to wear, summer holiday, Christmas parties, important work event, etc - that was a time when I used to try to squeeze into smaller clothes and be almost in tears in the store. Then things changed (in Ireland at least - Irish people really embrace American culture, and are quite influenced about what goes on "across the pond"! I guess it's because so many Irish people emigrate to the USA, that we remain so interested in the happenings there - I heard some pundit on the radio describe us as European Americans recently!) and suddenly big malls started sprouting in suburbia, with McDonalds, Burgerking, pizza Hut etc, food courts, bagel bars, (I can actually remember Mc Donalds coming to Ireland when I was a teenager - my uncle brought me and I can vividly remember him explaining to me that we were going to a restaurant that didn't use cutlery and all the food came in little boxes! And I'm only 34!) So in the last five years, I have really noticed a lot more obese people around - Irish people are definitely getting bigger - especially the women.... Now there are three stores selling extra large clothes - up to 32, and most "ordinary" stores do up to size 20.....Sign of the times I guess! It's a different story in France, Spain, Netherlands etc - we holiday in France mostly, and I have NEVER seen an obese french person! I feel like a landed blimp there! But they do lots of lap bands there so obviously that's their little secret!?

thanks for all your kind compliments - made my day!!!

take care!

ps sorry this is so long! Next lesson in Irishness coming up soon!

by the way, all the above is just my humble opinion - maybe some other Irish person will come along and be outraged at my comments - so I apologise to all the culturally sensitive in advance!

and suddenly big malls started sprouting in suburbia, with McDonalds, Burgerking, pizza Hut etc, food courts, bagel bars,

I don't think it is mere coincidence that you started noticing a weight problem in Ireland after the arrival of American fast food. I think there is a truly addictive quality to these refined, high fat foods that make us want to eat more and more of them.

I know that pre-band I was good for burgers and fries at least three to four times a week! Let alone the large, deep dish Pizza Hut pizza I would consume all by myself twice a month, alternated with fried chicken twice a month.

I was commenting the other day that it was so weird to learn that these were not just "trigger" foods that I craved - but that I only really craved them in HUGE quantities. I can still eat pizza, and fried chicken, and not really so much burgers and fries, but I find if I can ONLY eat a piece or two, there is no point - it just isn't interesting to me. I have no good explanation, but apparently the chemical reaction in my body to obscene amounts of these high fat/high carb foods flipped the switch to "on" in my insatiable compartment. Now that the switch can no longer be flipped on, I do not have those same cravings and drives for those foods.

Weird, huh? :cry

weird - i was just emailing you back Donali - worried that I may have insulted the whole of the USA, alluding that fast food was it's only influence on Irish culture..... I mean Dallas and Ben & Jerry's came too ! Kidding, just Kidding for all the humour impaired! And here you are in LapBandTalk at the same time!

You're right tho, I was obsessed with fast food - my fridge was full of healthy stuff but I ate Big Macs or Whoppers three or four times a week - tomorrow it will be ten weeks since I have eaten any fast food and I can't believe either how the cravings have suddenly disappeared - not just that, i had been using way too much salt on food and recently find that "real" food tastes so great - I nearly always forget to put it on at all these days! My theory (more of my humble opinion) is, is that there is so much sugar and salt, not to mention chemicals added to fast food that everything else tastes bland in comparison - and you're right, Donali - junk food is never satisfying, you always leave craving more..... I'm too scared to go back to even small amounts of Mcdonalds etc in case my switch gets flipped to "on" and I'm back on the constant craving cycle....

We know fast food isn't the only thing we gave to Ireland - we gave you St Patty's day parades, too, remember? lol

NO OFFENSE TAKEN!! By me, anyway!

Oh, and I should have mentioned in my post before, that just the high fat/high carb content itself would be enough to start packing on the pounds, let alone the QUANTITY the combo seemed to induce me into eating...

But it is "drug like" - actually, that shouldn't even be in parens - it IS a drug, and was my drug of choice. I used food as a sedative, and those high fat/high carb foods in huge quantities sedated me. I think that's why lots of people on depression medication also notice a difference in their hunger levels - the medication fills the missing chemical (or whatever it is) that revs our appetites.

Too bad I never studied something that really mattered, like chemistry... lol