So at my last appointment I got 1ml put into the band. I now have a total of 8ml in my band (it has a capacity of 15ml so plenty of room to play around with.
I can't imagine myself going any tighter than what I am now. You hear everyone speak of this "sweet spot". I am not 100% that it exists. At 7ml I knew I was not tight enough. I was dropping the weight but ever so slowly.
Now that I am at 8ml I am fairly sure the band is a little tight, I find it really hard to eat. Today is the prefect example. At work we had a Melbourne Cup day lunch. I get there and all there is to eat is meat and bread. A bandits worst nightmare. I dished myself a very small piece of chicken, a piece of salami, a piece of ham and a little bread roll. Suffice to say that I didn't need all of that. In fact as it turns out I only needed less than half of that.
I had a piece of ham and a piece of chicken, I then proceeded to spend the next half hour after the race pacing back and forward to the toilet to get rid of what I had. I really am off meat at the moment. Previoulsy meat was in every single one of my meals. The weird thing is that most of the time I actually don't miss it at all.
It always amazes me how many times you will have to go to the toilet to PB when you only have something small, you always think surely that must be all of it but there is always a bit more.
Anyway, back to where I was. I think the band might be a bit tight but I also think that I have a personality that says if you give me an inch I will take a mile. By that I mean if I get fill taken out so that I can eat more I wont just have a little more I will have a lot more. So as far as I am concerned the band stays at 8ml for now. I will have awkward moments with it being that bit too tight but I don't care. I am back to dropping a kg a week with the band at this level.
Whilst it might sound silly to keep the band too tight, I think that I am the exception to the rule. I need to lose massive numbers here and I can't afford to do it too slowly. My advice to anyone that only needs to drop, say less than 50kg is that if your band is too tight, get a bit taken out. It might slow the progress down a bit but it will allow you to be more comfortable.
I will continue on with monthly doctors appointments even though I don't need a fill. I think they are important as they remind you that you have a band and my doctor always runs over the rules of the band with me.
Well that will do for now, hopefully next time I post I will have hit the big 50kgs lost!
Cheers
Monday, November 1, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
back in the swing of things
So since the OP I have now had two fills. The first fill was 4ml and the second was 3ml to take me up to 7ml (I have a 15ml band so still plenty of room to move if need be. It seems to have done the trick, I am now back to losing about a kg a week which is good.
I am fairly restricted at 7ml, however I think on my next visit I will get another 0.5ml-1ml put in, I don't think I am quite at the sweet spot yet. Nonetheless I am really happy with it.
I must admit that sometime if I eat a meal and don't get restriction I get really scared that the band is broken again, but it proves to me it is there the next meal!!!
The band is a funny thing in that sometime you can, for example, eat two pieces of toast without a problem (if you eat slowly) whereas at other times you wont even be able to get down one piece of toast. I never use to put much weight (no pun intended) into people who said that feeling stressed etc can effect how the band works, but I think they are actually correct. Depending on how you are feeling both mentally and physically seems to effect how the band is working. It is all very interesting.
I am struggling with eating in social situations a bit, most of my friends and family know about the band so they understand but some friends who know about it obviously forget that I have it or don't understand how it works properly (that is proably my fault for not explaning it) and question why you haven't eaten all of your meal. I was a breakfast the other day with friends and one of my Mates questioned why I didn't eat all of my muffin, he knows about the band but obviously doesn't understand how it works, it was no drama as I explained to him the reason etc. Its just that it sometimes feels weird.
Also I find myself continuously wasting money on food, I think this will take a long time to overcome. For example if I have sushi for lunch I still order 3 rolls. Now there is no way that I can eat 3, so I always throw one roll away. But I keep ordering 3. It is weird. Hopefully that changes over time. There was a time when I would automatically order 4 rolls, so I surpose I have progressed down to 3. I am a slow learner!!!
I have set myself a goal to be down to 180kgs by christmas. I think that might have been a bit ambitious when I set it as it is now early October so that will mean dropping another 16 kgs over the next 3 months or so. I am not sure I will make it but I will give it a go.
Next goal is 187.5kgs, that will be 50kgs down for me from when I started this journey. Hopefully that will come sometime in November. That will probably be my next post unless I get motivated to post before then.
That will do for now.
Cheers.
I am fairly restricted at 7ml, however I think on my next visit I will get another 0.5ml-1ml put in, I don't think I am quite at the sweet spot yet. Nonetheless I am really happy with it.
I must admit that sometime if I eat a meal and don't get restriction I get really scared that the band is broken again, but it proves to me it is there the next meal!!!
The band is a funny thing in that sometime you can, for example, eat two pieces of toast without a problem (if you eat slowly) whereas at other times you wont even be able to get down one piece of toast. I never use to put much weight (no pun intended) into people who said that feeling stressed etc can effect how the band works, but I think they are actually correct. Depending on how you are feeling both mentally and physically seems to effect how the band is working. It is all very interesting.
I am struggling with eating in social situations a bit, most of my friends and family know about the band so they understand but some friends who know about it obviously forget that I have it or don't understand how it works properly (that is proably my fault for not explaning it) and question why you haven't eaten all of your meal. I was a breakfast the other day with friends and one of my Mates questioned why I didn't eat all of my muffin, he knows about the band but obviously doesn't understand how it works, it was no drama as I explained to him the reason etc. Its just that it sometimes feels weird.
Also I find myself continuously wasting money on food, I think this will take a long time to overcome. For example if I have sushi for lunch I still order 3 rolls. Now there is no way that I can eat 3, so I always throw one roll away. But I keep ordering 3. It is weird. Hopefully that changes over time. There was a time when I would automatically order 4 rolls, so I surpose I have progressed down to 3. I am a slow learner!!!
I have set myself a goal to be down to 180kgs by christmas. I think that might have been a bit ambitious when I set it as it is now early October so that will mean dropping another 16 kgs over the next 3 months or so. I am not sure I will make it but I will give it a go.
Next goal is 187.5kgs, that will be 50kgs down for me from when I started this journey. Hopefully that will come sometime in November. That will probably be my next post unless I get motivated to post before then.
That will do for now.
Cheers.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Second Chance
So about a week and half ago I went back in for surgery to replace my broken band.
It was pretty much the same deal as last time the day before I went in and had some blood test etc and met with my surgeon.
Next morning it was off to hospital unlike last time, this time I had a lot of waiting around. I moved from room to room waiting. I met the sleep doctor and his nurse before surgery and had a chat to them. The sleep doctor was different to my last doctor. I was the wheeled into surgery where there were what seemed to be about 5 people waiting including my surgeon.
The surgery room was freezing cold, I slid across to the chopping block and really don't remember much from there, I remember he put the IV in but that is about it. I woke up in recovery in a bit of pain, probably a bit less than last time. This time however I felt a bit crook but the lovely nurse asked me about pain and sickness then injected some drugs into me and I was sweet again.
It is so frustrating being in recovery because you really want to know what happened and check yourself over to make sure you are ok but you just can't because you are so drowsey, you keep drifting in and out of sleep.
I was then wheeled to my room where my wife was waiting and then proceeded to nod on and off for the rest of the afternoon. The pain to this surgery compared to last time was a lot less, I think this is because the surgeon left my port in place and just replaced the band and the cord running from the port to the band.
I was able to walk around all afternoon and go to the toilet, couldn't sleep much but that is because I sleep on my belly.
I went home the next day and had about a week off work. I returned to work last week. I am now off the liquids (10 days) and on to the mushies. All of my swelling has certainly gone as my restriction is almost non-existent at the moment. I am taking it very easy with eating ensuring that I eat slowley and only have small meals.
I have entitled this post second chance. The reason for that is that whilst technically this isn't a second chance as I am still a bandit who merely had his band replace, I am taking the approach that this second band is a time to re-evaluate goals and learn from the mistakes of my first time around.
By the time my second band went in I was at least 20kgs lighter than last time, therefore this allows you to revisit inital weightloss goals. For example I have a goal of losing 20kgs before 2011. I am also trying to tweak lifestyle changes from the first band.
I have opened up my communication of my goals more with family and friends this time, as I find them to be a constant source of inspiration and support. I wonder why it is we sometimes feel ashamed or embarassed about the band, we should be proud that we had the "balls" to go out there and get it done.
I know one mistake I constantly made with my first band was drinking whilst eating, it is just a habit thing and I am absolutley determined to break that habit this time around.
One more goal is to actually come on to this site a bit more often, if for nothing else but to just update my weightloss, there is something motivating about actually typing the numbers into the ticker as opposed to just seeing them on a scale. I love looking at the graph.
So I am now looking forward to this next chapter of my journey. I have lost about 7kgs in the last week and half since being out of hospital. I am looking forward to my first fill in about 2 weeks time.
Anyway that is enough for now.
It was pretty much the same deal as last time the day before I went in and had some blood test etc and met with my surgeon.
Next morning it was off to hospital unlike last time, this time I had a lot of waiting around. I moved from room to room waiting. I met the sleep doctor and his nurse before surgery and had a chat to them. The sleep doctor was different to my last doctor. I was the wheeled into surgery where there were what seemed to be about 5 people waiting including my surgeon.
The surgery room was freezing cold, I slid across to the chopping block and really don't remember much from there, I remember he put the IV in but that is about it. I woke up in recovery in a bit of pain, probably a bit less than last time. This time however I felt a bit crook but the lovely nurse asked me about pain and sickness then injected some drugs into me and I was sweet again.
It is so frustrating being in recovery because you really want to know what happened and check yourself over to make sure you are ok but you just can't because you are so drowsey, you keep drifting in and out of sleep.
I was then wheeled to my room where my wife was waiting and then proceeded to nod on and off for the rest of the afternoon. The pain to this surgery compared to last time was a lot less, I think this is because the surgeon left my port in place and just replaced the band and the cord running from the port to the band.
I was able to walk around all afternoon and go to the toilet, couldn't sleep much but that is because I sleep on my belly.
I went home the next day and had about a week off work. I returned to work last week. I am now off the liquids (10 days) and on to the mushies. All of my swelling has certainly gone as my restriction is almost non-existent at the moment. I am taking it very easy with eating ensuring that I eat slowley and only have small meals.
I have entitled this post second chance. The reason for that is that whilst technically this isn't a second chance as I am still a bandit who merely had his band replace, I am taking the approach that this second band is a time to re-evaluate goals and learn from the mistakes of my first time around.
By the time my second band went in I was at least 20kgs lighter than last time, therefore this allows you to revisit inital weightloss goals. For example I have a goal of losing 20kgs before 2011. I am also trying to tweak lifestyle changes from the first band.
I have opened up my communication of my goals more with family and friends this time, as I find them to be a constant source of inspiration and support. I wonder why it is we sometimes feel ashamed or embarassed about the band, we should be proud that we had the "balls" to go out there and get it done.
I know one mistake I constantly made with my first band was drinking whilst eating, it is just a habit thing and I am absolutley determined to break that habit this time around.
One more goal is to actually come on to this site a bit more often, if for nothing else but to just update my weightloss, there is something motivating about actually typing the numbers into the ticker as opposed to just seeing them on a scale. I love looking at the graph.
So I am now looking forward to this next chapter of my journey. I have lost about 7kgs in the last week and half since being out of hospital. I am looking forward to my first fill in about 2 weeks time.
Anyway that is enough for now.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
Well it has been a while since I posted. Seems to be a reoccurring theme!
So all was tracking well back in January when I last posted, I was down just over 40kgs and the band was working a treat.
Then for some unknown reason in late February or very early March I lost a lot of restriction. This was weird as it felt like it was almost overnight. All of a sudden I was able to eat again and eat again was what I did. My portion sizes increased and before long it was back to the (not so) "good old days".
As my weight steadily began increasing I went back to the doc for some fill. I had fill put in and still no restriction, back again to the doc, more fill, still no restriction, this kept happening until we hit 14ml (my band only holds 15ml). It was at this meeting that I said to the doc that something is wrong, how can I have some much fill and no restriction. He agreed that something was wrong.
His suspicion was that I had stretched the "pouch", I wasn't so sure, however I know that as I didn't have restriction my meal sizes had significantly increased so maybe he was correct. I was so angry at myself for doing this.
He said the only way to check was to do the Barium swallow, so off to x-ray I went for that. The nurse who did the x-ray was lovely and made me feel comfortable. Essentially you stand in front of the x-ray machine and drink the fluid, the only way to describe the fluid is that is has the consistency of say, custard but it is white. I had read a lot of stories about how bad this stuff is and I must say that whilst it isn't the nicest drink in the world it is not as bad a what some people made it out to be, and you only take very little sips. It was a cool experience as they set the tv up for me whilst I did it so I could watch it go down.
I was watching it on tv and I couldn't see anything wrong, but then again what the hell would I know???
After x-ray it was back to the doc who showed me as soon as I got there that I had a problem, the bloody band had unlatched!!!! Essentially the clip that holds the band together to make it a tight a circle has come undone therefore leaving me with zero restriction. It had obviously happened in late Feb or early March.
Apparently this is extremely rare and it is only the second time that they have had it happen in 5,000 patients. The real kicker is of course that the only way to fix it is to operate, so I am booked in to go back under the knife this week where the surgeon will remove the old band and completley replace it to be safe.
I guess I am happy now that I know what the problem is and this whole experience has showed me how much I need the band, during the period when it was unlatched I managed to put on about 20kgs.
I have had two weeks of optifast and have now managed to drop down about 10kgs which I am happy with, but still I have lost almost 6 months trying to figure all of this out!!!
Anyway the operation should be a lot safer this time as I am significantly smaller than I was the first time around.
I would drop another message in the next week or so once the operation has happened, although I assume it will be the same type of pain etc.
So all was tracking well back in January when I last posted, I was down just over 40kgs and the band was working a treat.
Then for some unknown reason in late February or very early March I lost a lot of restriction. This was weird as it felt like it was almost overnight. All of a sudden I was able to eat again and eat again was what I did. My portion sizes increased and before long it was back to the (not so) "good old days".
As my weight steadily began increasing I went back to the doc for some fill. I had fill put in and still no restriction, back again to the doc, more fill, still no restriction, this kept happening until we hit 14ml (my band only holds 15ml). It was at this meeting that I said to the doc that something is wrong, how can I have some much fill and no restriction. He agreed that something was wrong.
His suspicion was that I had stretched the "pouch", I wasn't so sure, however I know that as I didn't have restriction my meal sizes had significantly increased so maybe he was correct. I was so angry at myself for doing this.
He said the only way to check was to do the Barium swallow, so off to x-ray I went for that. The nurse who did the x-ray was lovely and made me feel comfortable. Essentially you stand in front of the x-ray machine and drink the fluid, the only way to describe the fluid is that is has the consistency of say, custard but it is white. I had read a lot of stories about how bad this stuff is and I must say that whilst it isn't the nicest drink in the world it is not as bad a what some people made it out to be, and you only take very little sips. It was a cool experience as they set the tv up for me whilst I did it so I could watch it go down.
I was watching it on tv and I couldn't see anything wrong, but then again what the hell would I know???
After x-ray it was back to the doc who showed me as soon as I got there that I had a problem, the bloody band had unlatched!!!! Essentially the clip that holds the band together to make it a tight a circle has come undone therefore leaving me with zero restriction. It had obviously happened in late Feb or early March.
Apparently this is extremely rare and it is only the second time that they have had it happen in 5,000 patients. The real kicker is of course that the only way to fix it is to operate, so I am booked in to go back under the knife this week where the surgeon will remove the old band and completley replace it to be safe.
I guess I am happy now that I know what the problem is and this whole experience has showed me how much I need the band, during the period when it was unlatched I managed to put on about 20kgs.
I have had two weeks of optifast and have now managed to drop down about 10kgs which I am happy with, but still I have lost almost 6 months trying to figure all of this out!!!
Anyway the operation should be a lot safer this time as I am significantly smaller than I was the first time around.
I would drop another message in the next week or so once the operation has happened, although I assume it will be the same type of pain etc.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Sorry been living life
Well I thought I would drop by my old blog today and have a look around.
It has been so long since i have been on here, I had no idea how annoying these things were to keep updated, well that is my problem I guess.
Life with the band is good, I continue to get regular fills, although I was getting them monthly this has now dropped back to once about every 2 months.
The fill is not much fun for me, as each time it occurs I need to be x-rayed because of my size, they keep telling me this will be easier as i lose weight.
Weight loss.........well xmas was hard going as i am sure it was for everyone, whilst i can't hoe into a big xmas lunch, i sure did manage to put a dent in the grog esky and i gave the sweets a good nudge as well. I was not too stressed about it all as i was very conscious (spelling??) of my decisions at the time. I managed to whack on a couple of kgs over the break but i really dont give a stuff as i was with family and friends and enjoying myself. I will do the same thing this year at xmas time. No regrets.
I have been going along well with my weight loss, i have been a fairly consistent 1kg a week persson. I have now lost almost 44kgs since this whole journey started. I am very happy with that.
Oh well I had better continue on with my holiday. i am currently on the Gold Coast this week living it up.
Hope all is well with everyone out there.
I will post again soon (ie before 2012).
Cheers.
It has been so long since i have been on here, I had no idea how annoying these things were to keep updated, well that is my problem I guess.
Life with the band is good, I continue to get regular fills, although I was getting them monthly this has now dropped back to once about every 2 months.
The fill is not much fun for me, as each time it occurs I need to be x-rayed because of my size, they keep telling me this will be easier as i lose weight.
Weight loss.........well xmas was hard going as i am sure it was for everyone, whilst i can't hoe into a big xmas lunch, i sure did manage to put a dent in the grog esky and i gave the sweets a good nudge as well. I was not too stressed about it all as i was very conscious (spelling??) of my decisions at the time. I managed to whack on a couple of kgs over the break but i really dont give a stuff as i was with family and friends and enjoying myself. I will do the same thing this year at xmas time. No regrets.
I have been going along well with my weight loss, i have been a fairly consistent 1kg a week persson. I have now lost almost 44kgs since this whole journey started. I am very happy with that.
Oh well I had better continue on with my holiday. i am currently on the Gold Coast this week living it up.
Hope all is well with everyone out there.
I will post again soon (ie before 2012).
Cheers.
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