Previously, my band only felt tight to the point of making me sick at my time of the month, so I had to learn to be careful with what I was eating around this time. However, for a while now, more meals have made me sick than I've managed to keep down.
Being as stubborn as I am and being scared of my good results slowing down, I have avoided getting a deflation. However, it got to the point when I had to admit that I needed one so I bit the bullet and made an appointment so I could start to enjoy food again - not to mention indulging a little bit at Christmas.
I could honestly feel that I wasn't as restricted as I was previously and I managed to drink a coffee (although still quite slowly) without throwing up, which is a very big change. But more than all of this, I got weighed on scales that aren't temperamental for the first time in ages and got a really pleasant surprise.
Not only am I 7 pounds lighter than my scales say, my surgeon told me that I have now lost 65% of my excess weight. This is the weight over the "ideal" weight for my height, so I wasn't ever planning on losing it all. However, as the average weight loss for someone with a gastric band is 55% of their excess weight in 2 years, I am absolutely thrilled.
In total, I have now lost 9 stone 4 pounds, which comes to 130 pounds or 59kg in total. My original goal was 10 stone so I cannot believe how far I've come already.
Even better, I am now so close to having a BMI of 30. While I know that BMI is a fairly crap measurement and doesn't mean a lot as it doesn't take into account muscle and other health issues, the NHS use it as a measure for fertility treatment.
I was gutted that we weren't able to start treatment this year, but I've lost weight at a steady and healthy rate so I am in a much better place to start treatment early next year. I don't have far to go to be ready for it, in fact, I'm at the stage where my husband can start getting all his tests needed so we're ready to go when I hit 30.
Most importantly, though, is the fact that I'm healthy. I haven't had to starve myself (although my too-tight band wasn't piles of fun) and I've still been able to enjoy foods I love like chocolate and cake. However, I have worked hard. I've changed eating habits, cut out some foods that I physically can't eat - I miss bread - and I've gone to the gym even when I really haven't wanted to.
I stand by what I have said time and time again, a gastric band is not the easy way to lose weight. Not only is the recovery hard, but the constant changes, readjustment and learning you need to go through when living with a band make it really hard and mean that one day can be totally different to the next. But, I would do it all again in a heartbeat because the results have been amazing and so much more than I have managed to achieve through diets.
I'm going to keep working hard, so hopefully, I'll have more great news after my next appointment.