Is there any truckers on here with a gastric band fitted to there stomach
On 22 of dec 2011 i went into a private hospital and had a gastric band fitted so i could lose weight
and i just wanted to here from other drivers to asked how they cope with eating out at truckstop etc
At the moment im on fluid only for 2 weeks then mushy food for 2 weeks then i have my first adjustment of the band
This has been the 1st xmas i have not eat a xmas dinner
regards cv
If you’ve had a gastric band fitted then i’d avoid truckstops & MSA’s if i was you. Either do yourself a packed lunch with fruit & yoghurt, or, if you’re doing tramping work, invest in a fridge & load it up with healthier options. 
My Buddy at 27 stone decided to have a gastric band fitted,he did lose weight but his head wasn’t around being slimmer and the outcome was that it has been a waste of time as he is now back up to 27stone.Seems you have to make a great effort to gain the full benefit of the band,eating correctly and taking a bit more excercise,probably best to give up the truckers fry.Wish you luck you’re obviously concerned about health issues and have made a major effort to do something about it,stick with it,don’t waste it.Good luck.
Betty Swallox:
If you’ve had a gastric band fitted then i’d avoid truckstops & MSA’s if i was you. Either do yourself a packed lunch with fruit & yoghurt, or, if you’re doing tramping work, invest in a fridge & load it up with healthier options.
Thanks betty
yes i am going to take all my own fluids, yogurts, smoothie, and slimfast shakes,
CV,
Good onya mate!
It takes balls to do something like this!
Hoping that you are successful with it. Remember, it’s only you that can lose the weight, no one else!
All the best mate.
My wife has gone one further and had the sleeve. Its had an amazing change on her life. She can now exercise a lot better and do more things in general.She doesnt regret it one bit.
DO NOT GO NEAR TRUCKSTOPS OR MSAS. The hardest thing to get over is temptation also it will cost you a bloody fortune for how little you will be able to eat. My mrs still eats enough but it is little and often not 3 great big meals a day, for example even a small variety box of cereal is too much at one go. Read and digest the info given to you by the hospital and you wont go far wrong. Also search the web and facebook, there are excellent support groups on there that are full of people who have had the same op and are full of good advice and ideas.
Good luck and well done for having the bottle to do it.
Yep, I would say only take food with you that needs to be prepared, such as making a sandwich rather than taking pies and pasties, it’s all too easy to reach into the fridge and take one out, out of boredom rather than hunger.
Hi all.Two of the guys i work with,both truck drivers,had the operation last year.Both of them were about 130kgs.One was 44,the other was 28.Since the op they have both lost about 50kgs .I really admire anyone who has the courage to make such a life changing decision,and belive me,after speaking to both of them it really is life changing.They both said it is as much mental as physical and is really a long term thing.
They are really happy now,fit,full of life.Good luck.Mike
First off, well done CV for having the courage to commit to such an action. I suspect there are a huge amount of drivers who privately recognise they have a problem, and very few with the balls to do anything about it. I would think the biggest fear is that of friends/colleagues taking the ■■■■, which they will do.
As others have stated, this will be a huge mental challenge from now on.
You’ll need to stick to your new diet and exersize plan religiously!
My biggest problem was with exersize. When I was in the forces I competed at triathalon, climbed, canoed, ran marathons and competed at fell running. I was extremely fit with a resting heartbeat of around 45 bpm.
In my current job I work long hours, average 18 hours a day, and don’t have a set meal time so rely on grabbing a pasty, tin of coke and a twix for dinner. Although long hours, the work isn’t labour intensive and I soon found myself overweight, high resting heartrate and getting out of breath walking upstairs. Because I’m not doing hard graft, I never feel physically tired on a night and sleep very lightly, if at all. Not at all uncommon to be awake all night, and end up very mentally tired as a result.
Although I know that in order to feel better, I need to have a more healty diet and exersize more to get fit again, my biggest challenge is finding the motivation to exersize. I can’t go to the gym/our for a run whilst at work because I work on call and have to be available at all times. On my days off, I feel knackered, though this is mental tiredness rather than physical.
If I get enough motivation, I go to the gym and have a right good sesh, but it’s getting to the gym that’s the challenge!
I really wish you the best of luck with this, its a brave step and something you must see through, and I hope you keep us up to date with your progress.
To be brutally honest, nobody who is overweight needs to have a gastric band fitted, they just need to eat less.
Nowt like stating the bleeding obvious Harry
I suspect the OP has tried the diet route, probably countless ‘miracle’ weight loss products, then medication from the docs and this is a last resort. Not everyone has the will power to just stop, and the food available on the road isn’t always the best for you.
As above, this is probably more a mental challenge than a physical one.
cieranc:
Nowt like stating the bleeding obvious Harry
Well, it’s true.
I knew somebody who was seriously obese, and he used to say that he had some type of genetic problem.
He didn’t, he just used to eat the most enormous belly-buster breakfast in the morning, have two chocolate bars and two bags of crisps mid-morning, eat a huge three course lunch with all the trimmings, have another couple of chocolate bars and bags of crisps mid-afternoon and then have an enormous evening meal followed by six or seven pints of beer.
As I said, he used to say that the problem was in his genes, he was in complete denial about the answer to his problem, which was “Stop shovelling so much grub into your mouth, you fat ■■■■■
no many fat folks in the concentration camps 
Aye well, you’re right Harry, just sometimes the solution isn’t as easy as it sounds!
The guy you’re describing sounds like he’s using the ‘genes’ argument as a way of accepting his state / justifying not doing nowt about it.
There was a rigid driver at John Dickinsons where I used to work, Deano, right canny lad. He was a big lad, something like 20 stone but fairly fit, always active (the job he did meant loads of handballing and walking, delivering bespoke timber conservatories to posh houses). He was in the bait room one day, and we were talking about smoking (cos Dave the fitter chain smoked rollies in the bait room and ■■■■■■ everyone off). He was saying he used to be slim until he stopped smoking, then he just piled the weight on and couldn’t get rid of it.
To which Harry Craig answered “Well I’ve known you since you was 8 and you’ve always been a fat ■■■■■ 
Luckily Deano laughed about it
Harry Monk:
To be brutally honest, nobody who is overweight needs to have a gastric band fitted, they just need to eat less.
The biggest thing to remember is that your pie hole is ten times the size of your ■■■■■■■■, if you put in enough to fill the pie hole then the ■■■■■■■■ cannot cope and a big belly is the result 
newmercman:
Harry Monk:
To be brutally honest, nobody who is overweight needs to have a gastric band fitted, they just need to eat less.The biggest thing to remember is that your pie hole is ten times the size of your [zb], if you put in enough to fill the pie hole then the [zb] cannot cope and a big belly is the result
You cannot name the orifice, but you can say arse!
Being a large bloater myself, I have considered every option, gastric banding and gastric bypass was dismissed out of hand because of the dangers. I have opted for drugs which stop you retaining fat, woe betide you if you eat a burger or a bag of chips down the road, unless the vendor has a public toilet, it makes it easier to avoid the meal.
I know I can lose weight because after my first hip replacement I used to walk 8 miles a day and lost over 7 stone without changing my diet. I am hoping the orlistat will allow me to start walking again
I Used orlistat. Not cause I’m overweight cause I had issues with my liver. God help you if you consume anything with more than a couple of grams of fat. It’s like someone leaving a sump plug out of an engine lol.
And to the OP. I wish you the very best of luck!
Wheel Nut:
newmercman:
Harry Monk:
To be brutally honest, nobody who is overweight needs to have a gastric band fitted, they just need to eat less.The biggest thing to remember is that your pie hole is ten times the size of your [zb], if you put in enough to fill the pie hole then the [zb] cannot cope and a big belly is the result
You cannot name the orifice, but you can say arse!
Being a large bloater myself, I have considered every option, gastric banding and gastric bypass was dismissed out of hand because of the dangers. I have opted for drugs which stop you retaining fat, woe betide you if you eat a burger or a bag of chips down the road, unless the vendor has a public toilet, it makes it easier to avoid the meal.
I know I can lose weight because after my first hip replacement I used to walk 8 miles a day and lost over 7 stone without changing my diet. I am hoping the orlistat will allow me to start walking again
I’m no lightweight myself, lack of exercise and junk food are my biggest problem, I cut out the junk food and my weight has stayed the same (too heavy) for some time, so it seems to have done some good, now I just need to burn some of the fat off.
It’s very easy to pile on the pounds, especially once you get into middle age, you wake up one day and all of a sudden you can’t even fit into your elasticated tracky bottoms anymore 
I used to think that fat people were lazy and it was all self inflicted…until I became one myself… now I know for sure
I’m a fat prick, but only round the gut. Most fat blokes I see are sort of in proportion, but I’m only fat in the gut… pain in the arse. I’m one of those that gave up smoking and went bus driving. So from smoking and handballing trailer loads of stuff on and off, I went to no smoking and doing sweet f a.
I know a bloke that’s had the operation where they take a bit of your intestine away, and hey presto, he’s lost tons of fat, is no longer diabetic and doesn’t have sleep apnoea anymore. I’ve got all these, as I expect a lot of you have. I can’t do decent exercise anymore either, because of a head injury, so that’s buggered. Sorry. didn’t mean to turn it into a self pity forum but I’m looking at some ways to lose it because I haven’t got the bloody will power to do it on my own.
Someone said earlier that his wife had a sleeve, what’s one of them ?
Good luck to cv68. Hope it all goes well mate.
To be brutally honest, nobody who is overweight needs to have a gastric band fitted, they just need to eat less.
Or exercise more. There is a choice. Not a very appealing one granted.
There is no need to deprive yourself of the good enjoyable stuff, as long as you are prepared to put the time in burning it off. 1hr+ per day exerting yourself. You don’t do this driving a truck.
The big deal breaker for me with tramping is the lack of ability to have a shower after exercising unless you plan it very well, which is why night trunking suits me so well at the moment.
Moaning about the lack of facilities might be good for the soul, but it isn’t going to change anything in your lifetime, you have to change it yourself.
Drop the pies, pick up the trainers.
Oh and before I go all self righteous on everyone, being young and single helps a lot in the motivation. If you have a wife and family who doesn’t care about how fat you are, then where does the motivation come from? It’s a shallow concept I know but my hat is off to those who still find the motivation then.
No one makes it out alive after all.