CATH MURPHY

An Insider’s Guide to the first 12 months of living with a Gastric Band

The following notes have been developed to give you a brief introduction and one person’s insights into various aspects of life in the first year of a gastric band. As such this material is not meant to be comprehensive. At best it may give you some surprising and unique information. For the best life with a gastric band always stay well connected to the team (nurse, psychologist, office staff, dietitians and exercise co-ordinators) offered by your surgeon.

In The Beginning

The first 4 weeks with a gastric band are exciting. You will have unique opportunities to relearn and practise some of the basic skills of life. These include fuelling your body for optimum health and eating at a slower, more relaxed and careful pace.

The time on fluids and mushies can seem endless but just as night follows day, mushies will follow fluids, and normal food options will eventually follow mushies. Stick absolutely to the guidelines set for you by your dietitian. It’s perfectly normal to feel different, you are consuming nutrition differently. In the early days post operatively you may feel weak and some people report “head spins”. These will pass and it is important that you stay really well hydrated. This is especially important to people living in hot or humid climates and people who exercise. Again, take notice and strictly follow the guidelines about what you should consume, when you should consume it and how often. Those guidelines are not to test your will power or your strength of character, they are scientifically based and if followed will help you on your amazing new quest.

What are the biggest differences you may notice about eating solid foods?

Imagine waking up one day and being told you have to learn to drive backwards. Well learning to eat with a gastric band can be almost as challenging. It requires PATIENCE and COMMITMENT. Ideally you will find it easier if you plan your first few solid meals in a relaxed, quiet environment without distraction. You may need to concentrate on each bite, making sure it’s the right size and that you chew it well. Again over time you will become more competent at this – and yes, you will be able to eat normally and attend social functions and eat in restaurants – and you will be far better at it than driving backwards.

Master eating in your safe controlled environment and then enjoy testing and practising your new skills and approach in your favourite local café or restaurant. Remember that we watch what’s on our plate and what passes our lips much more closely than anyone else, seriously! Planning your meals is important.

What do you do in restaurants and business meetings?

Most restaurants in Australia and certainly on the Gold Coast will offer at least one decent option for a person with a new gastric band. If you are concerned soup is always a good standby in the early days.

As you get more comfortable and adventurous you will probably be able to return to healthy nutritious meals that are just a whole lot smaller than the size you took in before gastric banding. Some personal strategies I’ve used for restaurants include:

Arriving 10 minutes earlier than the other diners so I can scope out my choices easily and without distraction
Asking for a half or small serving of any sized meal
Emphasizing the importance of getting my morning cappuccino before my bircher muesli else the waiting staff have to give me a 30 minute break! This is similar for that well earned glass of wine before an evening meal or a decadent weekend lunch.
Sending back half of the serve uneaten if I’ve been served a full serve.

Restaurateurs and people in hospitality want to have happy diners and so generally they will accommodate these requests. I eat out regularly for work and for pleasure and I have never had to explain or defend my gastric band. It is subtle and discrete. People looking at my choices do so infrequently, even less frequently they comment and usually their comments are about the type of food I’m eating or its flavour rather than the amount.

How is it on a plane?

Flying with a gastric band can be a real adventure. Depending on the duration of the flight and sometimes how stressed I’ve been leading up to a trip it may be that I choose to stick with just fluids. Some people have anecdotally reported “band tightness” when they fly. Personally all I’ve noticed is a tiny bit of bloating and some wind, but at speeds of 1,000 km an hour at 10,000 metres that could be expected and normal. As a precaution in the early days I used to fly with some sachets of Optifast and a mini-shaker in case I couldn’t eat solids on flights longer than a few hours. I never needed them. After about 6 months of banding I swapped the Optifast for gels like those used by triathletes and endurance athletes. The gels pack a quick, high caloric fix in a small sachet but be warned, many people with bands cannot tolerate the high sugar content and can get cramping. It’s important to try these out before you need to use them and always drink plenty of water after you eat/take in a gel.

For those of you who notice no difference on a flight (and that will be most of you), sit back, buckle up and enjoy the ride and about half of the food that might be served to you.

When Should I Buy New Clothes

Buy them when you need them – only you will know. The feeling of buying smaller sizes and then smaller still, till you reach your goal, is wonderful. Enjoy all the new options you have like being fashionable, looking great and standing tall. You will have earnt this right fair and square. It’s even funnier when people start giving you hand me downs that they’ve “grown out of” which is often code talk for clothes that are now too tight for them. Accept these offers with good grace knowing that your wardrobe will change very fast and often as you reach closer towards goal.

Eventually you will know when to invest in the high price items that become a staple part of your wardrobe. Till then lap up any well intended comments from friends and colleagues who notice the bagginess of your old clothes. Don’t hold onto your old clothes, you will never fit into them again and you only need one piece to remind you of how far you’ve come. Even if you love your old clothes get rid of them so you can make room for all the size 10’s, 12’s and 14’s that you will need.

How do people react around you?

People will react to your weight loss just as they’d react to any other major change, that is they react differently and generally they are keen to understand how you’ve done it. In the beginning you may want to hold back on your secret weapon but you don’t want to lie so perhaps it’s OK to say something like “less in more out” when people ask you for your secret. And they will ask.

Suddenly friends and even acquaintances start to notice your changing shape. Some will embrace it and support and encourage you even if you don’t ask for it. Others won’t understand it or they may be jealous of your success. Be prepared for the range of responses and just hold your own head up high. You never need to apologize or prove or validate your decision to be banded. You made a choice that was your choice and you should be proud of the decision and the work you’ve done subsequently to get towards your goal. When the time is right, and it may never be right, you will know how and when to tell people about your band. In some circumstances it makes it easier and stops people from asking about your health or your small portion sizes. People I told have all been keen to know more and understand better about the band.

Do people react negatively?

Just as in other parts of life some people won’t embrace your life change, but it’s your life so they don’t necessarily have to anyway. You do have to accept it and stay with it. If it gets tough reach out for support. There are several mechanisms available for support – the Circle of Care forum is a great starting place as are meetings like this where Bandits gather together. Your practice manager should be able to give you details about support that is available to you locally and or electronically.

One of the most bizarre experiences post gastric banding occurs when people you have known either very well or casually, walk straight past you and no longer recognize you. In the beginning it’s freaky but as you learn to expect it, it becomes less clumsy and you may even decide to pre-warn people when you know they have not yet seen the “new” you. If your meeting or near miss happens by chance I guarantee that you will feel so good that you will actually reach out and say Hi, so and so, I’m blah blah, remember me? Even if this seems awkward at first it gets easier and eventually people have either heard on the grapevine that you are now a lean, mean health machine or they’ve accepted your new shape and lifestyle. Enjoy the experience while it lasts. Also try to remember when people are talking about you and you are strong enough to handle it, you are protecting other people who may be less able to handle it from hurtful or thoughtless comments.

Is exercise important?

Exercise is very important and don’t believe otherwise. It doesn’t have to be vigorous and in the beginning it’s not smart to exercise too hard or too fast. After a few weeks you can increase your activity and over time, if you continue to increase, you will notice beautiful results in your body shape and on the other markers like weight and percentage of body fat. Better still you will enjoy the good feeling that regular exercise brings and best of all you will realize that most sports and leisure activities are now available to you whereas in BGB (before gastric banding) you may have been either unable to do them or too big to do them without harm, pain or sheer exasperation.

My band is definitely a Band on the Run, it has helped me to learn to run and to keep running. I’m running towards the healthiest and happiest I’ve been and it just keeps getting better. Regular vigorous exercise has done wonders for my physical and mental health and best of all it’s helped me avoid possible problems with loose skin and untoned wobbly bits. I hope you will seriously consider a regular exercise regime – explore walking, swimming, bike riding and maybe even running. There are lots of bandits who do so as a routine part of life.

And so for now!

These few insights are not earth shattering or even interesting, but I offer them to you as an honest account of just a few of my unique experiences since being banded. I wish you good health and new happiness with your own band. If you want more information or support, feel free to contact me at cmurp62@yahoo.com.au or visit my new blog at www.cmurphy.com.au