Fill #3 done!

I've now got 8.5mL in my 10mL band, and I can definitely feel the difference. It wasn't as tight as I thought it was going to be, but I'm gurgling again when I drink and it's taking me aaages to drink anything so something must of happened! On my doctors scales I was 105.2kg (and that's with clothes on during the middle of the day). I weighed myself yesterday morning and I was 106.2kg (without clothes), and today I'm down to 105.4kg - WooHoo! 800g down from yesterday! Yay! Also makes me think that my scales are weighing a bit heavier than the doctors scales, so technically I could be as low as 104kg (on the dr's scales). Also, I'm coming up to TTOM, where I always carry a bit of extra fluid so take another kg off that and I could be as low as 103.something... Still, I'm going by my scales at home (which I visit way too often!), and so if I'm 105.4kg, then that's what I am. :)

My doctor wasn't very happy that I'd only dropped a measily 200g since my last visit with him. He wanted to know EVERYTHING that I ate... so I told him... he said that he wants me to be able to eat only HALF a LC meal and be full... at the moment I'm eating a full one with room to spare. He also said that I was to come back in a week or so if I wasn't getting much restriction for yet another fill *eek*.

So all is well for the moment, my restriction is good again and hopefully it will stay there rather than disappearing like it did last week.

Much love,

LBG xx

P.S Thanks Libby and Kylie for your words of encouragement. Good luck with your fill Libby! Let me know how you get on with "learning to eat" again :)

Expecting too much?

Here is hoping that this fill is "third time lucky" for me as I am definitely eating more than I did last week. Just to give you an idea, last night for dinner I had:

1 chicken crumbed thing (about a cup size worth) - had chicken mournay surrounded by mashed potato and crumbed - quite tasty!
2 baby potatos
3 tbsp greens
2 scoops of ice cream (eaten about an hour later)

Was quite full after the meal, but I noticed that the feeling of fullness didn't stay around for very long. I also didn't get any feelings of food being "stuck" even though I was taking quite big bites and I can take tablets whole again - a sure sign that I am due for a fill!

On the one hand I'm looking forward to my fill, but on the other, I'm dreading going as I have to be weighed and I know my doctor is going to be soooooooo disappointed in me for not losing any more weight ... :\ I've only lost 3kg since the operation... which is pretty pathetic really. I was expecting more from myself, expecting more from the band. Perhaps I was expecting too much??

LBG xx

Not much to report today!

Had a fairly non-eventful weekend. Went to see a fellow banster for dinner on Friday night. We shared a couple of indian take away dishes, it was funny listening to her Gurgle... because now I know what I sound like to other people when I gurgle! Saturday and Sunday were relaxing, no problems with PB'ing except for a small episode with a ham and salad wrap where I ate too fast and burped up some lettuce... Yumm Yumm!

Looking forward to my next fill on Wednesday. Will report back when it's been done and let you know how I'm going. I put on 800g this week, not happy!

Big Hooray for Cate who is getting banded on Wednesday as well! Thanks for reading my blog and GOOD LUCK for the big day - let me know how you do! :)

LBG xx

Thank God it's Friday!

WooHoo! I always love Fridays. End of the week, beginning of the weekend with no work. Yay! Not much to report with the band. My portion sizes have gone up. I had a piece of fish, cup of pasta and 2 tbsp veges last night for dinner, which is too much... so looking forward to next Wednesday - Fill #3 day! My weight is also stabilized now, which I'm a bit peeved about... especially cos I've been exercising my butt off too. Oh well.

Catching up with a fellow bandit tonight. We're going to share a take away *lol*

Have a great weekend everyone!

LBG xx

Need Another Fill

Over the past couple of days I've been getting hungry on the portions I've been eating. Yesterday for dinner I had a rissole, 2 tbsp steamed veges and 1/2 cup pasta and I probably could have eaten more afterwards (which I did - 2 scoops ice cream). I was also extremely hungry during the day - I even had 2 slices of toast for afternoon tea that didn't even touch the sides! Which brings me to the conclusion that after my 2nd fill last week, my stomach became a bit irritated from the band inflating and became a little swollen. Over the past week, the swelling has gone down and the fill that is in the band isn't quite enough to provide the restriction that I need - so bring on Fill Number 3!!! I've also noticed that I am able to drink bigger gulps of liquids and don't feel the same gurgling effect that I felt last week. I don't think that my band is leaking because I still feel *some* restriction - but it's definitely less than last week!

Have a good day!

LBG xx

Getting hungry again?

I'm thinking that I possibly need another fill. I have been having my weet bix and bran every day for BF and today, only 1 hour after my breakfast, I am hungry again. I have had some water since breakfast, possibly it has "washed" away the food that was in the pouch? Last night I was able to eat 1 tablespoon steamed veges, half a rissole and half a bread roll and I was full and I didn't overeat yesterday. Will see how I go for the rest of the day.

Good luck to Heidi who is going in for her operation today!!!!!! How exciting. Fingers are firmly crossed for a speedy recovery!

Cheers,

LBG xx

How to describe a PB?

Bunny asked me to describe a PB (productive burp) which I can also describe as something getting stuck in the small opening at the bottom of my stomach pouch which my lap band has created. I'm not sure how big my opening is, but at the moment, I'm having to cut tablets up into 1/4 size to take, approx 5mm, so if that is any indication??? I am definitely relearning how to eat. I eat on a bread and butter plate with a teaspoon, if I eat anything bigger than my thumb nail, then I sometimes get a little uncomfortableness as it goes down. It's all a big learning curve... but I am loving the amount that I'm no eating, I still amaze myself every day!! But I digress...

For me, when something gets stuck and isn't moving through the band it's like a really deep pain just to the left of the middle of my boobs, but the feeling radiates throughout my oesophagus and into my throat. When the food passes through, I get instant relief, just like it never happened. But, when my band decides that the piece of food isn't going to go through, the pain will get more intense and radiate up my throat. It's not pain exactly, mostly uncomfortable. I can't talk, my eyes start to water and I produce more saliva which I can't physically swallow. The only solution for me is to try and get out whatever is stuck. Sometimes I'll just reject it automatically... through a quick PB, and a couple of times I've had to stick my fingers down my throat to help it along. Not nice I know, but the relief you get afterwards is fantastic!

I'm not sure if I've explained myself well. I must admit that I have read what a PB is supposed to feel like, and no-one did it justice... but let me tell you, you'll know when it happens!!!

As for my PB incident on Saturday, Cate asked me if it was possibly the McMuffin that could of started it off. I actually felt fine eating the McMuffin. I don't think I've got a problem with bread... I think it's the pasta that I had for lunch - it was really gluggy cos it was the tortellini with the filling and that's when the fun and games started. I think I'm good with bread, but I think that pasta isn't so good for me. With the cheeseburger in the afternoon, I think that because I'd had such a time with the pasta at lunch, my stomach had swollen a bit and wasn't letting anything through!

Thanks for reading everyone!

LBG xx

My day of PB'ing

Good morning fellow or soon-to-be bandsters. On Saturday, I had a terrible time with what seemed to be everything that I ate. It was pretty awful. I was in alot of pain and ended up giving up on eating by the end of the day. I started my day with a cup of tea and a berocca performance tablet. Then, as I was attending some lectures I stopped off at Macca's on the way to get some breakfast. Instead of my usualy 2 hashbrowns, 2 sausage McMuffins and large vanilla thickshake, I had 1 hashbrown and 1 mcmuffin. After finishing my hashbrown, I was full, so put my muffin away for later. I had my mcmuffin around 10:30am, which I ate slowly (took around 20 mins to eat). Felt fine.

Lunch was provided consisting of pasta, salad and pizza. I had 1 small spoonful of pasta, 1 slice of pizza and 1 small amount of salad. I only ate probably two pieces of pasta when I got the "pain" again, and so had to excuse myself to burp the contents of my stomach up. I then developed the hickups... which didn't stop for 2 hours!!!

Finally the hickups stopped and I was hungry ... because I'd hardly had any lunch. So I picked up a cheese burger on the way home. One bite and I was back to hickupping and PB'ing. Thank god I had a maccas bag in the car, because I PB'd into that while driving!!! NASTY! (imagine having to explain that to the cops!!!)

That was the end of food for me for the day. I think from all the PB'ing and hickupping my stomach was swollen and nothing was getting through, so I decided to just drink liquids for the rest of the day. Strange thing was, the next day I was back to normal with my food. I have no idea why my band was playing up so much on Saturday.

On the upside, I lost 500g this week! *lol*

Ok, that's it from me for today.

LBG xx

Gurgling and portion sizes

Ever since I had my second fill, everytime I drink something I gurgle. It's not a quite a burp, but it's loud enough for people to hear.. and if my mouth is open, it sounds quite strange. Perhaps one of the drawbacks of the band?? *lol*

Just to give you an idea of what foods and the amounts of foods I am eating at the moment, here is what I ate yesterday:

BF: 1 weet bix, 2 tsp bran, skim milk (eaten over 1 hour)
MT: nothing
L: Chicken Pasta Lean Cuisine (eaten over 1 hour)
AT: 1 tub fruit (eaten over 20 mins)
D: 1/4 schnitzel, 1/2 slice bread, 1/3 cup pesto pasta (soooooooooo full afterwards - even that was probably too much for me!)

I'm actually really happy with eating that amount, actually I think excited is more the word. I remember, pre-band that a LC meal would not even touch the sides and I'd be hungry an hour afterwards and dinner would consist of the whole schnitzel, 2 slices of bread and 2 cups of pasta with dessert on top of that. It's quite liberating for me that I'm not eating those size portions anymore. I LOVE my band! :)

Have a great weekend!

LBG xx

P.S. Hello to LIBBY who visited my blog. Thanks for leaving a comment, and I hope that your weight loss picks up again!!! :)
P.P.S. Thanks to anonymous who also left a message! Come back soon! :)

2nd Fill - what a difference!!

So I had my second fill yesterday. I had 2.5mL put in, so now I've got 7.5mL in a 10mL band = 3/4 restriction. My goodness, I can definitely feel the difference now.. it's GREAT! Even liquids, even though they are still going down, they're taking alot longer to go down. I'm also gurgling a bit more which my fiancee thinks is absolutely hilarious! I'm sitting here at the moment trying to finish 1 weet bix. I'm on my second mouthful, and I don't think I will be able to get much more down - FANTASTIC! *lol*

Also doing alot more chew chew chewing, and thank goodness I haven't had another PB episode! I am so stoked at my level of restriction now.. now the weight loss will well and truely begin (fingers are firmly crossed).

Good news also, between my first fill (last thursday 8/3) and my second fill (yesterday 14/3) I lost 1 kg, which I am really happy with because I'm (only) losing 500g a week at the moment. My Dr said that he's going to aim for a restriction that provides 1-1.5kg/week weight loss. 1.5kg a week loss every week would be like my dream come true!!!

Next fill is on 28/3... Yay!

Ok, that's it from me. Will update soon!

LBG xx

P.S Hello to Lauren who's left me a lovely comment on my blog! Good luck with setting that date for your surgery!!!

My first PB!

PB = Productive Burp, according to the Lap Band Yahoo Message Boards, and I had my first on last night. NOT PLEASANT! I ate some chinese food a little too quickly and before I knew it I had that chest pain again. Then I could feel the food come up, so I swallowed and it went back down.. then I felt the pain again, then the food came up so I swallowed again.. this game went on for about 5 minutes until finally my band had had enough and decided that this food was not going to stay down, so I regurgitated it into the sink! YUMMY! How much better did I feel afterwards though... soooooo much better.

It got me thinking though, what if that happens to me while I'm out and about... I had heard tales of PB'ing in public and I always though, that will never happen to me... but after last night's episode... it just might! *eek*

Moral of this story: Chew your Food, it really is important!

LBG xx

Restriction! Glorious Restriction!

The fill yesterday was nothing less than Fanshmabulous! I'll start from the beginning so you get an idea of what goes on.

I got to the hospital and went straight to the "band clinic" where I had some paperwork filled out. I had my wristband given to me and I was taken into a "waiting room" where there were 3 other lovely ladies all getting a fill too. We sat and chatted as each one of us was "called up". While we were waiting we all had our BPs measured. Mine was unusually high and even though I wasn't nervous, I must have been a little anxious. I got weighed - down 600g from my previous recorded weight, put some theatre "shoes" on and waited until my name was called. I was brought into a room that had an x-ray machine. I was greeted by my fantastic doctor and a nurse. My doctor asked me questions about how much I was currently eating. I think he was asking to assess how much fill I needed. After that, I was told to lie on the bed while they took an x-ray to find the port. Coolest thing was, that the x-ray showed my actual BAND too! So I could see that it was perfectly positioned and hadn't slipped like I'd been stressing over previously *lol*. So while my doctor was distracting me, he slipped a local anaesthetic in and it all went numb. Then he poked a massive needle in me with some saline. Really really weird feeling, and I actually felt the *pop* of the needle going into the port. He filled the band, and then took some out to make sure that the line hadn't kinked. He said that everything was fine and that the fill went perfectly. He took the needle out, bandaided me up and sent me back to the waiting room. I was made to drink 2 small cups of water - probably around 400mL before I was allowed to leave. It felt different when I drunk the water. I could feel the water "sitting" in my throat and oesophagus before "draining" through. No other way to describe it.

Now the restriction has begun. I was on fluids for the rest of the day, it took me 1.5 hours to drink a mug of strawberry milk!!! I've been conscious of my water intake as well so I've bought a bottle of water to work today.

I've had an up and go and a coffee today and I am feeling pleasantly full! It's great!

Next fill is only a week away, I'm sure that will be different still! I've got dinner plans tonight, so that will be interesting to see how I'll cope!

Enough from me, enjoy your weekend everyone! Thanks for reading!

LBG xx

First Fill Today!

Ok, so it really is officially my first fill today. *yay* I am looking forward to it HEAPS. Not too worried about the needles and stuff. One of my bandster friends (Kat) had a fill on Tuesday and she said she is having a few problems with dehydration and not being able to drink enough. So I've really got to be aware of my water intake and start taking a bottle of water with me wherever I go.

I had a bit of a revalation last night. My fiance took me out for dinner and we just happened to go to the same please he took me the night before my surgery. The night before my surgery I ate 2 spring rolls and a Laksa. I ate the whole thing, cleaned up the bowl! I was definitely full, but not too uncomfortable. Last night however, I ordered 1 spring roll and the laksa. I ate the spring roll and ate only 1/3 of my laksa. I was so impressed that even before a fill I still had some restriction. There was still a part of me that was disappointed that I physically couldn't eat. I know this is something I'm going to have to deal with again and again, so I'd better start getting used to it!

I weighed in this morning at 106.9kg. That was before I'd done a number 2 - so I'm probably a couple of hundred grams less now!!! *lol*! I thought I'd better weigh myself now so I get a good idea of my weight loss once I have some restriction. The scales have gone up a little since beginning of Feb, but I'm still down 1.7kg from my weight the day of the surgery. On the doctors scales I'm down 2.6kg but I'm going by my scales, cos I'm weighing at the same time and with no clothes on, so it's probably a little more accurate. But I digress..

Will post back later today with how my first fill went!

Love to all..

LBG xx

First Fill Tomorrow!!!

Got my fill date rebooked for tomorrow at 12:15pm. Thank god! I don't think I could have gone a whole other week without going for a fill. I was majorly disappointed on Monday, that combined with baring my soul at the psychologist session and coming up to TTOM I was very emotional and not a happy chappy. But now that I've managed to re-book and know that it's definite *touch wood* I am happier again! :)

My exercise is also getting alot better. I'm completely back to normal now. This week I've done:

Monday 5/3: Aqua Aerobics Class (45 mins)
Tuesday 6/3: Spin Class (45 mins) Upper body Weights (30 mins)
Wednesday 7/3: Spin Class (45 mins) Pilates Class (1 hour)
Thursday 8/3: Rest Day
Friday 9/3: Cardio (30 mins) Upper body weights (30 mins)
Saturday 10/3: Spin Class
Sunday 11/3: Cardio (30 mins) Upper body weights (30 mins)

*phew*

Ok, will post tomorrow when I've had my first fill! Wish me luck! :)

LBG xx

First Fill - Cancelled... :(

Yep, my doctor has the flu, so my fill today has been cancelled. I have to say I am really disappointed cos I was so looking forward to having my first fill today. *sigh*. My next appointment isn't until NEXT monday... so I've got to wait until then before I start getting any restriction. Dammit! I was so excited..

I had my psychologist appointment today, and I must admit, it was a bit of an eye-opening experience for me!

Ok, one very disappointed bandster... signing off..

LBG xx

First Fill Today!

Good Morning Everyone! I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I am so excited today cos I'm having my first fill. *yay* This is the day I have been waiting for. I have been banded for 4 weeks and 3 days and I'm pretty much eating normally again (which is great... but not so great). I can definitely feel a little restriction but not exactly what I was expecting and so I have been a little disappointed that I haven't had much weight loss since the first two weeks after the op. I know that the first 4 weeks is about healing and that weight loss is secondary to that... but I'm still a little disappointed with myself.

So I think that is why today is so important and exciting. Today I will be getting 5mL put into my band. My first fill. I'm not worried at all about the pain of the needle or anything like that. I just want to have a fill so I can get on with losing weight!! *lol* Impatient buggar aren't I!! I'm looking forward to experiencing REAL restriction, to be able to leave food on my plate and not feel like I'm missing out on the eating experience!! I'm looking forward to watching the kg's drop off week after week!

I also have a psychologists appointment today! I'm looking forward to that as well, maybe she/he will uncover some deep dark secret as to why I'm fat. *lol* I think it's just because I love food, I love the physical act of eating, love feeling full, feeling contented, love flavours, love trying new things, love cooking... love EVERYTHING food! I think mentally I'm going to feel like I'm missing out when I physically can't eat food that I want to eat... that's going to be hard to me.. to look at the left over food on my plate, or the buffet table knowing I haven't tried everything at least once...

So, I'm sure some of you might be interested in what foods I'm eating now that I'm banded, 4 weeks in and with no fill:

BF: 1 wb, 1 tbs unprocessed bran, skim milk (fairly mushy/milky) and large coffee
MT: cup-a-soup or small packet of chips (25g) or fruit cup
L: 1 sandwich and fruit or 2 cups left overs from the night before
AT: This varies... depends on how much I eat for lunch
D: 1 cup rice/pasta, 3 tbs sauce and veges, 100g meat (before I would of had at leat 2 cups of rice/pasta) - or 2 slices of pizza (vegetarian is my fave), 2 pieces garlic bread (before I could eat 4-5 peices before the band plus half a long garlic bread!!!)
S: strawberry milk or icecream 1-2 scoops (depends, normally I'm not that hungry after dinner)

It will be very interesting to see how much I will be able to eat after I have my first fill. Can't wait!! Will post tomorrow and let you know how it all goes!!! :) On fluids for 24 hours after the fill too, so will get out my optifast again :)

Much Love ...

LBG xx

P.S. Good luck Shelley for your surgery at the end of the month! Keep in touch and let me know how you do! :)