B-52

This article was posted on my Surgery center's website....might work! http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/science/exercise-versus-calories-on-menu-lists.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

Same here...I rely upon the band to control how much I eat...it's up to me to make the wise food choices, which is not rocket science....and yes, food does not have that appeal to me anymore, and that I believe is all part of the band taking away my hunger 24/7.... I do pay attention to my Protein intake...no longer count that either..I have a good feel for it now, knowing what I have consumed throughout the day.... Like the Green Zone says...NO Hunger, and GOOD Portion Control, = steady weight loss and patient satisfaction....does not get any better than that! However, IMO, if you're just starting out..you have no other choice but to count calories and measure portions....

It's a great realization to know your life has changed for good...isn't it? Keep waiting for the bubble to burst as was the case with so many diets in the past , until finally realize this is different...this is surgery....this is for good! Aside from the permanent scars (ischemia) from my heart attack, with everything else I have a Do-Over...a clean slate, new beginning, 2nd chance. Only wish I did this earlier....

All I know is, thanks to the band, I eat a heck of a lot less than what I used to....and that is what it took....eating less, (lot less), exercise daily = good steady weight loss until there is no more to loose...equilibrium achieved. Only once in my journey did I not loose weight, gained actually, and that was during my 2nd month...and there was no doubt I knew I was eating too much, not having any restriction....and my Dr. reassured me, not to get very upset, and we will take care of that, and that being his / our goal.... (I have not lost any weight in well over 1-1/2 years, but that's another story)

Logical and simple as that.....I remember being told I was fat because I ate too much.....gee, you think???

I have had many people tell me how they were doing fine, then needed to get a total un-fil, not 1/2 cc here or there, for whatever reason, then found it very difficult to get back to that magical place they were before....never quite the same.... But I cannot say one way or the other....I have never needed to get any Fluid taken out..... As far as judgmental people.....this LBT...and you find that unusual??? This forum is full of self proclaimed experts.....convinced it is either Their way, or No way....

Ran into one of the PA's from my Surgeons office yesterday....she just wanted to tell me how good it is to see someone who has successfully completed the journey....she asked me what I thought was the #1 thing I can contribute to my success....I told her, and she replied she had "one of those days" at the office, and she knows at least 50 women who would want to kill me right now.... We talked some more....I don't want to share everything she said because it is the same things we hear all the time, and I don't want anyone to get offened.... Bottom line...it's all about CHANGE! You can tell people from day one the Band will "Change your Life" and they still don't get it.... Some people look forward to change, others fight it.....the majority of people who have struggles with the band are the actually struggling with change..... We don't know what to change to....our whole lives we have been trained to do things the wrong way....and now we are faced with changing all that, some expecting it to happen in a few months.... It can be very frustrating to everybody..... If they told - showed me what and how much I will be eating in a normal day, after being banded...I would have said IMPOSSIBLE! Forget it...I'm not doing this.... But now, I don't think twice about it....and I don't miss it.... And the PA sees patients who want un-fills because they can't eat pork chops! I told her I would be happy to come back and speak with these 50 women who would like to kill me at one of their support groups.....I've done it before. Last time a couple of people saw me and said "Oh great, another fitness guru who has never been fat a day in his life is going to talk tonight....probably about gym memberships......then I put up one of my "Before" pics....

Thanks, just wondering...so safely under a $1000(east coast prices)....I have a tree that will have to come down eventually in the future...

What is the approximate cost to remove a tree that size? General info for future reference. Thanks

How can you definitely say with authority that the band does not restrict, when others say it does? We get fills....makes band tighter, equals restriction by definition.....restriction means to regulate, inhibit.....Green Zone is regulation of food portions, and regulation of hunger...... I love it when people say with authority something is not true, while I'm sitting here experiencing it everyday......am I a liar? Why would I say something if it were not true? If you say the band will not restrict, perhaps the correct wording is that the band does not restrict for you, based upon your experiences and success..... Because the next person, like me, will come along and say, based upon my experiences and SUCESS, the band does restrict...... We get fills, to make the band tighter, to do what? Baffling....

When I read about people "Getting off track", my first thought is "Where is the band, and why is it not working??? We are quick to blame ourselves for not being good dieters....but we had this surgery for a reason...the band is supposed to do something...(and in my case, just about everything) Why else did we get this surgery if not expecting some results... I hear people refer to the band as only a "Tool"...I get it....I understand... I can go to Sears today, purchase a toll and put it in the toolbox and forget about it if I wanted to.... For me, this WLS was corrective surgery....altered the way I eat, how I eat, What I eat, and How Much I can eat....the only control I have over this is determining how I want my band adjusted in terms of fills, and wether or not I am going to adapt and change my old, bad eating habits........and I never doubted I wanted the Green Zone, from day #1......and I wanted everything that goes along with being in the Green..... There was a poll taken on another (private) Lap band group I belong to, and the question was..."If and when you are having problems with your weight loss, do you blame yourself? Or do you blame the Band...." The answers were quite revealing......some people acted as though they never had the surgery......

just remember people who have undergone WLS are different birds altogether....and things like MFP and some diets, theories, do not always specifically relate to us....need to speak to your Dr.

Everything I know about juicing is all good...VERY GOOD short of Miraculous....a lot of my friends are into it. I considered purchasing a juicer, but since being banded I'm still too nervous about my Protein....I have lost as much weight I possibly can...very low fat%.....if I don't keep my protein levels up I'm afraid I will strat to loose weight again, but it will come from the loss of things we do not want to loose....that would be a genuine starvation mode.... I will purchase a juice off the menu at my health club's "Juice bar"...... they have about 12 differnt choices..... So for now, I stick to my homemade smoothie concoctions..... I also don't count calories or worry about portion sizes......and I drink over 64oz's of Water per day, although 32 oz's is downed while working out and sitting in the sauna.....

Everyone is different....including the amount given with each fill.....I know a person who has g=had over 12 fills in 12 months....but only .5cc per fill....I had that much after my 2nd fill 2 months after surgery.... BTW, this person I refer to was miserable - unhappy for the whole year...hardley lost any weight...

Before being banded, remember telling my Cardiologist my plans....he turned, looked at me and said "YOU?" "WLS?" Why not a good dieting, exercising, etc, etc,......all you need is 100 lbs.....eating right should do that for you..... I did not want to spend the next 20 minutes telling him my life story how I tried and FAILED at every diet in the world, no self control, addicted to food, blah blah blah..... Now, today....he cannot stop complimenting me....the guy who had at least one heart attack, Cardiac Surgery, miserable blood work results, and one foot in the grave........he NOW refers to me as HIS best patient, HIS success story.....the guy who runs stress tests like it's just another day at the gym.........wait a minute...he's the one who did not think it was a good idea.....He's the one who said all I needed to do was (another) diet......I guess He's the one who suffers from amnesia....

Speaking for myself and from my own experiences....it has always been a band issue....even if I had a head hunger problem, and we all get them,and I still do from time to time, but the band is still there doing it's job preventing me from reverting to my old habits..... But then, that's me and everyone here has their own experiences with being successful......

Learning how to eat (and WHAT to eat) all over again is part of the learning curve and essential to be successful with the band.....these are what the "rules" are all about...not a technique to loose weight, but a life lesson to co-exist with the band..... I had to lean these lessons the hard way, with many stuck episodes, pain and discomfort....but learn I did, and adapted a new lifestyle where I do not have to think about it anymore...it all comes very natural and easy now..... Some people I know, upon their first unpleasant episode, immediately determine they are too tight....and there in lies the key...too tight? or adapting oneself to the band......it can be a very balancing act at first....

Not any more...it has become a normal part of me...day to day.... I often refer to it as someone who has undergone a total knee surgery.....pre-op, post-op pain, frustration, anxiety......then about 6 months of intense rehab learning how to walk all over again...learn the rules.... (Band adjustment phase, Bandster Hell) after rehab then another 6 months re-learning how to do all your daily activities....then eventually, after you're all healed and after you're well adjusted to the new lifestyle....it's back to everyday living....you know it's there, but you really don't think too much about it.... I know people who have had bi-lateral knee replacements and they're back running marathons..... I know the band is there, but I have gotten used to it......my eating changes, types of foods, and adhering to the rules in order to exist in the Green Zone, have all become a day to day Lifestyle...I am always in the Green Zone...it has become the "New Normal" I don't think about calories......food portions.....how to chew, bite sizes, drinking while eating, taking it slow and easy, etc. etc. I did within the first 3-4 months, but no more.... I don't need to be reminding about the rules, or pull out a MFP to drive my car everyday....I've done it so often it has become second nature.... As I was learning....I got stuck, slimed, regurgitated very often...sometime 2-3 times a day BECAUSE I needed to change and learn if I wanted to remain and live in the Green Zone....and I did. And I have NOT gotten stuck in well over 18 months, yet I remain in the Green Zone having all that goes with it.... I do everything my non-fat skinny friends do every day....which is totally different from the way I used to do it before surgery... Eventually you heal, learn the rules to live in the Green.....there is life AFTER this is all over.... People who come here and say they fell off the wagon and gained their weight back after 3 years (other than medical issues)...,,,,well, that's another topic altogether. I have my thoughts why that happens that I will keep to myself....

I'm gurgling right now, having mg first coffee of the morning....it's like Water circling the drain.... I LOVE IT....Been doing that for over 2 years now......I would be more concerned if it went away... (this is not the stomach noises, but from the throat).

When you get right down to it...we really don't have much of a choice....

Thanks for sharing....aside from what I do, my wife has been a PT for over 35 years and is the Rehab Director of a facility.

What are your Mobility Issues...if you don't mind me asking...if you do that's alright. I can understand, it's none of my business really.....It's just that happens to be the field I work in so I'm always curious.....

My only regret is that I could not loose weight and stay in shape on my own will power, and that I had to resort (last resort) to corrective surgery to do what I was unable to do..... BUT With that behind me...I couldn't be happier with the results, my new lifestyle, having my health back, looking and feeling 20 years younger, and loosing all the weight that there was possible to loose..... Who cares if it was the easy way out....any way out is fine as long as it works...and it did!

All depends upon where you are at with your weight loss..... The other day I purchased a X-large hershey bar at the cash register...it was GOOD.... I'm still here...didn't die, didn't gain weight.....and I USED to be a diabetic...that's all ok also.... Difference is, for me anyhow, one candy bar is not going to kill me....and it's not like I'm eating them, plus other garbage items, all day every day like I used to.... I'm now at a point where it is all things in moderation, nothing in excess.... But I am no longer concerned about loosing weight, and not afraid of gaining....(I tested the band...it works)

Because of the band I am very rarely hungry....like it says, one of the characteristics of the green Zone is "No Hunger" Many people say they experience that between meals.....I experience that 24/7 and it has nothing to do with eating...it has to do with the presence of my band telling my brain I am full, don't need to eat, even though I have not eaten....in other words I have no interest in eating, and there are times I will forget altogether...especially when I'm busy.... I have to remind myself , (and force myself) I have to eat even though I really don't feel like it...... And when I do eat, the band will let me eat just so much....unable to over eat even if I wanted to.....another trait of the green zone - "Portion Control" I know exactly what you mean when you say 2 bites and you're done....that is how it is for me also.... People think it's a physical thing, as though you can't eat or keep anything down...and you can only eat slider foods, etc.....it's not!! They don't get it because they have never experienced it......NOT that I'm full, I have NEVER felt full with the band. I LOVE the band, have never regretted this surgery one bit......the first 6 months were hell, with a lot of adjustment...both the band and myself, and plenty of stuck episodes until I learned......but after that, after getting in the Green Zone and experiencing what I stated above, it has been the EASIEST thing I could have ever done to loose weight.....it's a new lifestyle...the weight just naturally comes off without even trying...... I have not had a stuck episode in I don't know how long.....18 months? I am at a point now, where, as my Dr. has said, there is no more weight left for me to loose....I'm finished!!! It just can't get any better than this!! And I still don't miss food one bit.....it is a new lifestyle, a new way of thinking and living....FREEDOM!!! Of course, the band is adjustable, and people can choose which avenue they wish to achieve their success.....and getting there is the hardest work of all and I feel many have a hard time getting through that phase, and some choose not to....