757 replies to this topic

[cookey]

Hi everyone


I have been banded for 5 years & from differnet forums i have been on the band effects everyone in different ways.
Myself I have 6mls in my band & getting a top up again next week.

I have found the foods the give me grief to avoid & others I stick to as they are tried & tested.

Grilled lamb loin chops make me rush to the toilet but can eat a crumbed lamb cutlet (go figure)
I can basically eat anything.

BUT

I had to control myself from years of eating fast & shoveling food into my mouth.

I found putting a small amount in my mouth & chewing my food well solved alot of problems.
Putting the knife & fork down on the table between mouthfuls also hoped.

Mind you every know & then something gets stuck.I found when eating a certain posture caused me more problems so
I adjusted the way I sat at the table.
Definatley no fizzy drinks while eating also.

I found the best way was to experiment with different foods & know i am pretty happy with everything.

I found walking 1 hour a day & I was losing 4-5kg a month.

I hope this helps in any way.

[Junior]

nikki67, on 25 March 2012 - 10:39 AM, said:

Makes sense to me, are you in Melbourne? I had my band placed by Jason Winnett but havent seem him for a while as he has a sidekick who does the fills and he is the one not listening to me. I will be seeing Jason tomorrow night and hopefully he will take more than a point of a ml out. I am going to ask him if I can have an xray as well to make sure my band hasnt slipped or something....I am certain something is not right.

Hi Nikki

Yep I'm a Melburnian. I was banded by Stewart Skinner from the CBS. He sees patients once a week (I think) In Frakston which is really handy for me since that is where I live. Interestingly, when I went to the catch up (was that just last week????) a few others said they were banded by him but could not develop a relationship with him. He's laconic. Hard to talk to. Nice man, helpful and clearly wants to help people lose weight but his general bedside manner is poor.

Definitely push to find out what is wrong. I am managing with the help of some homeopathic stuff I got from my naturopath but as I said, I'm going to see my gastroenterologist at this point (I'm on a screening program for bowel cancer as my brother had it at the age of just 26; he's all clear and is now 51but they still like to check me every few years). I want a gastroscopy done to see if it IS gastritis. I've had a scan and it's not gallstones or anything but whatever it is, it's not going away.

Good luck tomorrow. Let us know how you go.

[LaniBani]

Just a quick note to see how everyone is!
Hope you're all well!
I'm jumping on the exercise bandwagon this week!
Went to a pole dancing class on Tuesday - hilarious time! but gosh have a found a new respect for strippers lol the upper body strength they have - heck!
Got a kickboxing class tomorrow night, and then bikram yoga on Saturday!!!
Will try catch up on all these posts as soon as I can!
Law School is killing me!
Thinking of you!
xOx

[eviljoy]

Hi Guys,

I know I have not been by in a long time. A personal note from Junior tonight gave me the push I needed to get back in and let you know how life is going. My weight loss is slow but steady. I am averaging about 500g / week but some weeks that is up and some it is down. I seem to have found the zone pretty quickly and easily and that left me feeling a little guilty over the ones who still seem to be struggling. I have the occasional stuck moment but they are few and far between. I still eat the occasional bag of twisties or bowl of ice-cream but for the most part I manage on my smaller meals. I definitely have bad days where the emotional eating kicks in, but they don't last long.

I've been working on the treadmill and doing indoor rock climbing, but not doing either as often as I should. I am slowly gaining upper body strength and stamina and I am proud of my progress. For me now, it is just a matter of getting on with life and keep on making the small changes that I need to, to keep this journey moving forward.

I have received a LOT of comments about my success with the weight loss. Some of it has made me quite uncomfortable. Getting used to accepting compliments is difficult for me. My friends, family and work mates who know about the surgery are very proud of me and tell me so. It is the people who are not in my inner circle who want to know my secret, that make things difficult. Depending on who they are and my mood I will tell them more or less of what I have been through.

Life is set to get very stressful and emotionally charged for me. My mother is ill, and I am her main emotional and logistical support person. I am not close with the rest of my family and do not relish having this crisis throw us together.

I do so truly appreciate all the love and support I have received from all of you on here through this journey and I know that many of you still need support from the rest of us. But I will be honest and say that I do not think I will be able to provide much in the way of support around here for a while. My time and emotions are going to be drained on the home front, for the foreseeable future.

For those of you who have not yet reached your green zone keep at it. I can only imagine your frustrations, but I can tell you that things do get easier when (if) you finally get the right level of fill. Keep seeing your surgeon/ fill Dr and make them get you to the right place. I also recommend seeing a psychologist if you have the chance. They really do help with the emotional side of things, especially when things are not going to plan.

Thank you to Junior for checking in with me tonight and Justin who sent me a message a couple of weeks ago. I am so proud of all of us for doing this very difficult thing. I am pleased for those who are having amazing success and I am hopeful that those whose journey has been more difficult will have their own success in the not too distant future. I will try to check in from time to time, but don't expect a lot.

It sounds silly, but I love you all.

Shelle.

[nikki67]

Great to hear from you Shelle
Sorry to hear that your mum is ill, and hope she will be on the mend soon . My journey is still a rollercoaster with the band being too tight for a couple of months, I lost a lot of weight but suffered for it. Now after having .4ml out I think its too loose as i'm gaining....grrrrr....its doing my head in. If I ever hear any one say that lap band is the easy way out, I swear I will punch them straight in the face...lol
Take care darl and dont forget to pop your head in every now and again

[Junior]

I'm with you Nikki. I think all my problems have been due to my band being too tight. Then the stress once it was loosened which effectively tightened it again. Sheeesh!!!

No one has ever suggested to me that getting banded is the easy way out... and after this, they wouldn't want to!!

[riverliver]

Good to hear something from you all at last.
Shelle I can relate to you're caring for a parent. I care for both of mine which takes a big slab of time from my life daily,I love them to bits but it can be really difficult. You are only very young and with full time job and relationship it becomes so difficult at times. I hope she recovers and becomes more independent for you.
My problem weight wise is still no restriction to speak of, I however amstill banding my head effectively most of the time however no loss on the scales for atleast 6 weeks can be depressing. I have started to swim regularly which hopefully will strengthen up my muscles a bit.I'm still trying to edge my way into the 80's.
Stay well everybody.

[eviljoy]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your kind thoughts re: my mum. We are still waiting on further tests so it's a bit like limbo at the moment.

I got my days mixed up and showed up for a surgeon's appointment today that I should have attended on Tuesday. Needless to say I did not get in to see anyone, so I didn't get an official weigh in. Because my fill level seems okay, I didn't feel like I needed an adjustment. I will have to make another appointment at some stage but I am in no great hurry to do that.

I am happy to say that unofficially I have lost 25kgs.

Things are really starting to settle into a routine for me now. For the longest time I was grabbing subway for lunch, because it was a controlled portion with a known calorie count and I knew I could eat it with ease. Now I being a little more organised and bringing lunches from home and things still seem to be going okay.

I have a personal trainer now. I had my first session last weekend and she made me do a bazzilion squats and my thighs ached for days, but I think it was great. My next session is tomorrow 5 am. So I can work out, shower and still be at work by 7am. The trainer is actually a girl I work with who just did the PT course as a hobby and trains her friends for free (hooray).

I have registered myself for the Mother's Day Classic 4km run. Another one of my friends is an avid runner and she has agreed to run this one with me. She usually does 1/2 marathons so this will be a bit like slumming for her. I have just under four weeks to get myself to a point where I can run 4 km in one go. I was able to run 1.5 last night before needing to walk for a bit to get my breath back. I have confidence that I will be able to do it though. I am still enjoying the rock climbing too. I really love being more active.

I better get to bed now if I want to be up at stupid O'clock tomorrow for my PT session.

Take care all and I hope you are feeling well.

Shelle

[eviljoy]

Hi Guys,

Someone said that we should be sharing both the good and the bad in here.

For the most part I have been extremely happy with my band and my success so far, but it is not always rainbows and puppy dogs. I had a terrible stuck experience during the week. I had my small meal and chewed everything thoroughly and everything went down a treat. However there were two tiny lamb steaks left over and I decided to finish them off. A crazy decision in itself as I am usually satisfied with a small meal and don't feel the need to snack after. I ate the steaks while sitting watching tv and obviously didn't chew properly as I was coughing and pb'ing for some time. That wasn't enough for me to learn my lesson. After I cleared all that up I decided to snack on some vegetable chips I had purchased as a treat. I ate half before pb'ing again. Obviously I had not cleared all the lamb steak out the first time and there was still a small blockage that the chips just couldn't get past. I would really like to think that my second pb for the evening would have taught me my lesson, but no. A little later I decide to finish off the vege chips. They were beetroot, sweet potato and white sweet potato and they were quite tasty. However the beetroot stains everything a lovely purple colour when I had my third pb for the evening.

Now as you know I have lost 26 kilos so far. The band has worked wonders for me. I am fitter and healthier and I am getting a lot of exercise (although I should still be doing more). For the most part I am satisfied with my small meals and I have been making much healthier food choices. I have embraced the chewing and I rarely have any problem eating anything, as long as I take care. Because I have lost 1/4 of my total body weight and because I am more active and am sleeping better, I thought it was a good time to halve my dosage of anti-depressant. I did it with the consent and supervision of my GP and that worked really well for me. I was going along smoothly for a couple of months. Until this week when I didn't fill my prescription in time. I went two days without taking my pills when the withdrawal symptoms started. For some reason I decide to stick it out and see how things went without the anti-depressant. By the end of the week the withdrawals had stopped but I had experience two separate pb'ing episodes. Usually I don't have those kind of issues so I started to worry that without the medication, food was starting to gain a little influence over me again. I spent a good couple of days just thinking about food when I otherwise would not have. But at the same time, I made some excellent food choices and managed to avoid overeating at a very large, very fancy morning tea that we had at work. It is a three day weekend in QLD (not sure about the other states) and I have come down with a cold. I've decided that all bets are off and I can have a naughty weekend. I've eaten chocolate, had chips, drunk a large bottle of 'nuddie' that my loving partner bought for me as it was 'healthy fruit juice'. I've also been eating much larger portion sizes and eating when I wasn't hungry.

Now the point of me confessing all of this is i am incredibly scared that I could fall off the wagon and undo all of my good work. I have a psychologist appointment scheduled for Monday week and if things don't improve by then I will go back on the anti-depressants. I've been on them for two years now and I am a little scared that I can't function without them. I know my GP wanted me to try weening off them at some stage, but not to go cold turkey like I did. I'm just so nervous that this sudden change in eating habits is directly linked to the medication, whereas it could just as easily be emotional eating due to the stress and nerves of the going without and all of the withdrawal symptoms. I also went out and bought a stack of new clothes during the week (ranging from size 8-14) and I cleared out my closet of all the old and ugly clothes that are too big for me now. I think I freaked out about that too. The cost of buying new clothes and that fear that I will have to do it again if I regain the weight I have lost (who hasn't had to do that a dozen times before).

Anyway that is me. Crazy and bloated, sick and feeling sorry for myself but looking smoking hot in my new (mostly) size 10 work tops.

I hope everyone is doing okay and I am glad to hear that Nikki is coping a little better now that she has all of her fill out.

Take care all.

Shelle

[eviljoy]

Hi Guys,

Well, I'm still thinking about food and making bad choices and eating larger and more frequent meals. I was feeling guilty and depressed because of it, until I realised that I probably just need another tiny fill. I was making excellent choices when the band was just right but now I think it is a little loose. My boyfriend wanted to know how that could change as it was working before and I explained that the band was like a belt around your stomach. When you loose weight, you have to tighten your belt or it will stop doing what it is meant to and your pants will fall down. I've lost about 8kg since my last fill, so it isn't unusual to think that some of that will be visceral fat between the band and my stomach.

I am so relieved now that I have realised what is going on. I'm not crazy and I am not going to back slide and undo all of my good work. I just need to follow up with my surgeon and get some more fill. With that in mind I have an appointment on Tuesday. I've got busy schedule coming up. PT session tomorrow, 4km fun run on Sunday (SO NERVOUS) lunch with my mum for Mother's Day, Psychologist appointment Monday and Surgeon on Tuesday.

So just a reminder to us all. The people who have this most success with the band are the ones who keep in regular contact with their weight loss team. It's easy to feel like a failure when you start to eat more and make bad choices. Feeling like a failure can make you want to avoid your surgeon but that is exactly when you need to see him(her) the most. It probably means that something is wrong and the band is not working the way it should and some adjustment might be in order.

How is everyone else doing? I hope you are all having some success.

Shelle

[Tamara]

I was doing so well lost 24kg I was 17kg from goal and then it stopped my motivation died and I made all the wrong choices I began to savant age my success and set myself up for failure. I have not gains but have not lost for two months I was ment to loose my 17kg by August for wedding now I'm fearful this won't happen as I can't seem to motivate myself. I gave myself 5months now I only have 3 left and I find I feel like I'm gaining rather than loosing.

How can I kill off those inner demons and solder on towards my goals again before it's too late and I end up back where I began. I keep telling myself tomorrow and it never comes.

[eviljoy]

Hey Tamara,
What's your fill like. I know it seems like an obvious question but really try and sit and analyse where you are in the zone. It's really easy to assume that because the band was working for us and now it has stopped, it must be our fault. We must be failures and self sabotages and our motivation sucks and once we get on that shame spiral our choices might begin to suffer.
But consider this, you have lost 24kg and how many centimeters off your waist measurement. That loss in abdominal fat will be matched in a loss of visceral fat. If your pants have become too loose in the past couple of months chances are your band could be loose too.
Give yourself a break psychologically. Your not failing the band you might just need to tweak things a little. Make an appointment with your surgeon and discuss what is happening and see what s/he recommends.
Also you still have 3 months which is a long time considering we've only been banded for 6 months.
Also try not to put too much pressure on being a certain weight by a certain date. Just try to be the healthiest and the fittest you have ever been on your wedding day. That is a much better way to approach your new life with your husband. Would you rather be healthy and fit or x-number of kilos?
A psychologist might be able to help with your individual weight loss demons. A PT might be able to kick start your motivation again. Even training with a friend (hubby to be) will keep you more accountable and make things more fun. Try to find someone who will encourage and push you to go further than you would by yourself.

Take care Tamara

[eviljoy]

Ps. The key to motivation is to stop telling yourself you will fix things tomorrow and start saying I will improve this TODAY. go for a walk, dance around the living room, whatever it is that you enjoy doing most.

[eviljoy]

I ran (mostly) the 4km Mother's Day Classic and finished in 31mins and 39 seconds. I came in 1,133rd place.

It was kinda fun and I am very grateful to my extremely fit running buddy who despite her long legs and über fitness levels ran at my pace to keep me company.

Plus I got a medal for finishing. It was kinda tacky, but a medal is a medal in my books. Being a very unfit child, I never won any Ribbons, Medals or Trophies. I'm trying to make up for it now.

[riverliver]

Congrats on your run Eviljoy, I'm no runner but I love swimming so I did my 50 shortcourse laps today, this really doesn't feel like exercise, I enjoy it so I figure it must be good for me!
Tamara ,I'm at the other end of the age scale to you but my weight loss has also dried up, motivation is a continual problem. I hope you be kind to yourself and dwell on the wonderful job you have done so far, you're not gaining so you must still be doing all the right things, Hang in there and change the theme a bit -as Shelle recommends.

[eviljoy]

Hi guys.

I just had my fourth fill. It was 0.2mL to give a total of 4.2mL although I can't remember the size of my band (I think it is 10, but I will have to check).

The first glass of water went down a treat and now I am having a shake for lunch. I hope this tiny fill will give me the push to get back on track as things really were going well for the first three months after my last fill.

My surgeon was happy to give me the fill, but warned that trying to get from good to perfection can often end up worse and also reminded me that if I do feel like it is too tight to come straight back to get some out. He said I might hope that it will improve with time, but it won't.

That echoes What Nikki told me, that if I ever stray into the red zone to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible.

I hope you are all doing okay.

Shelle.

[deb5291]

hi all
for those that are jogging / running - how did you start - by that i mean did you walk first then get faster or jog a little & slowly build it up - all i have been doing is walking (when its not raining) & i religiously (NOW) use a viberating platform

would love to start jogging - but i find that even 100m im puffing - im just turned 50 & smoked for years - gave up January 2 yrs ago

i think im starting to enjoy my weight loss journey - i saw a specialist last week (not my usual one) & the way i had been carrying on about my weight loss not being very good - he thought i had been done for a few yrs & was happy to talk about other options - UNTIL he asked how long ago i got done - um 24 weeks , we he sat me on my bum & gave me the pat on the back i needed instead of the kick in the bum i had been giving myself - its unreal how hearing that from him has made me feel heaps better.

I havent lost any physical weight this week (but im badly constipated) so im not that bothered - it is coming off & coming off at a healthy rate

thanks for listening to my whinge

Deb

[eviljoy]

Hi Deb,

I did reply to your message the other day, but I did something stupid and I lost it. I was so frustrated with myself that I couldn't rewrite it straight away.

First and foremost as a 50y/o, former smoker who is overweight (although less so than previously) I advise you to seek the advice of your GP or an exercise physiologist before undertaking any exercise program. The answer to your question on how I started running is, slowly, SLOWLY. I was 100kg flat when I started this journey and I did not do anything other than walking until I hit about 83kg. I didn't think my joints would handle it before then.

When I was ready I started interval training, running/ walking, running/ walking, slowly building up the time spent running and decreasing the time spent walking. When I started I was running for less than a minute/ 100m and it would take me a couple of minutes to get my breath back before I could run again. If you are using a treadmill, it is easy enough to judge the time/ distance. If you are outside, try visual clues like the distance between telephone poles.

I think the hardest thing is trying to work out what speed you should be running at. While I can run at 10-11km/hr, I get winded VERY quickly. Whereas if I run (jog) at 8km/hr, I find I can maintain the pace for much longer.

I am glad to hear that the new specialist was able to allay your fears and make you feel better about your success so far. It is so easy to be blinded by how far we have left to go, instead of revelling in the success we have had so far.

Shelle