Fanny Adams

I think you'll find that 1000 cal is at the low end of the scale even for bandsters. What's more important is that you are losing on this and feeling satisfied - don't change that just because you think others are eating less! I'm usually at between 1200 and 1400, with occasional days down at 1000 and occasional days up at 1500. Don't worry about the calories so much - do what feels right for you and what helps you continue losing! If you hit a plateau, just ride it for a couple of weeks and see what happens, but if it doesn't start moving for 3-4 weeks, then worry about calories... You've done fantastically with 30lb in 2 weeks!! It took me 3 months to lose that much!

I won't miss standing in the centre of a major shopping centre with a fistful of cash, crying my eyes out in public, after having spent all day unsuccessfully trying to find SOMETHING that fits the idea of "for that special occasion".

No, my doctor is Stephen Watson at St John of Gods Murdoch.

It changes depending on where you are in the healing process and whether or not you have found your sweetspot with the fills. At the moment for me (I'm just over 5 months out and had a fill 5 days ago), the hunger is almost non-existant. The week before my fill, I was starting to get quite hungry between meals again. Most of the time, the band is keeping its promise to me and is definitely controlling the hunger - the degree of that control does change with fill levels, but it has never been the uncontrollable urge that it was before banding.

I think my doc has the right idea with no hard and fast rules on times spent at each stage. He's a big believer in listening to your body, taking it slowly and introducing new foods carefully and seeing what you tolerate. If your body is ready to move quickly, that's fine, if you need to take longer at each stage, that's good too. Everyone is different.

1. People who have only been banded for 4 months and are calling themselves a failure because they've "only" lost 50lb! HELLO, people!! We did not have the gastric bypass, what did you expect?? This surgery is not designed to have you drop 30lb a month - that's one of the main reasons, people choose it - because it is a far safer procedure and gives a safer and slower loss rate. 4 calendar months is only 17 weeks and a loss of 50lb is almost 3lb per week, which is WELL ABOVE the average and is a fantastic weight loss. If you've lost 50lb in 26 weeks (6 months), you are losing at 2lb per week and that is a GREAT loss rate. If you have lost 25lb in 6 months, you are STILL in the average of 1-2lb per week, which is a perfectly healthy and sustainable rate! Yes, some people lose faster but even if you've only lost 20lb in 6 months, I'd bet a week's wages that that's better than the six months you had BEFORE banding. Stop thinking negatively and calling yourselves failures! Those numbers are a great success and should be celebrated. 2. People who say "oh I have no restriction but I'm PB'ing and sliming every time I try to eat solid food". HELLO!! You DO have restriction! What do you think is causing you to PB/slime?? If you are feeling hungry between meals, it is probably because you are drinking your food instead of eating it! Try eating solid foods very very slowly and well chewed - you'll feel much fuller for much longer. If the first meal of the day is troublesome, try having a hot drink (tea, coffee, ff chocolate, whatever you like) 30 minutes before the meal to prepare your stomach. If you're not hungry in the mornings and are starving at night - don't eat in the mornings!! Save your daily calorie allowance for when you ARE hungry and EAT it in solid food, not soft easy foods (unless of course, you are still in the post-op healing phase). If you can't eat solid food (slowly and well-chewed), you don't need another fill - you are too tight! 3. People who obsess about getting "enough protein" and drinking Protein shakes HELLO AGAIN!! Let me repeat, we did NOT have the gastric bypass. Our bodies are still perfectly capable of absorbing all the nutrients that we eat and there is no need to increase protein intake to compensate. You should be able to get in all the protein you need by EATING, not by drinking supplements. Eat lean hard Proteins if you can, choose tuna or crab meat if you have trouble with hard protein and you will get all you need. Eat good fresh vegetables and you won't need Vitamin supplements. You will also feel much more full doing this and won't be complaining about being hungry all the time! Whew!! That feels good to get that off my chest! I know my loss rate isn't the fastest out there. It is currently running at 1.7lb per week and that is the rate I'm aiming for. I could make it go faster if I exercised more, but I do an average of 30 mins x 4 days a week (sometimes more, sometimes less) and I am losing at the speed I had planned upon and I'm thrilled with the results so far. My fitness level is noticeably improving, I'm not hungry except at meal times, I'm satisfied after my meals, I only have problems with getting stuck or PB'ing when I stop paying attention when eating and don't chew well enough or eat too quickly (still working on that), and I AM NOT A FAILURE!

You go girl, you're almost there!!

Welcome and WOW - congrats on the loss! That's a great achievement!

TerriDoodle, that is an EXCELLENT idea! I was just about to suggest it, as soon as I read the other lady's post about it showing on the Home page but you beat me to it. Rants and Raves is a great place to let off steam but it is hardly welcoming to newbies. Excluding it from that list is a great compromise, as it means people have to seek it out and will be able to clearly see the warning notices before entering.

I don't know if this feature already exists and I just haven't been able to find it, but I'd really like the ability to subscribe to a number of forums, rather than just to individual threads. I tend to only use a half dozen or so of the various forums (my month group, my location group, my age group, rants and raves and a couple of others) and it is really a pain to have to navigate between those. I use the Subscribed Threads link a LOT and because my posts are mostly in those forums that does get me there in a roundabout way, but it would be nice to have a personalised list of forums.

It doesn't seem to be interfering with anything - in fact, the doc gave me my half ml fill yesterday and doesn't think he needs to see me again until August when we get organised for the correction. Of course if anything changes in a big way, I'll contact him again, but for now it's business as usual and apparently no biggie...

Ok, had the CT scan and it's been confirmed. There is a loop of the tubing that has come back through the abdominal wall and circles off to the side before going back through the muscle where it should. It kinks forward much more when I lie on my side, but when I lie flat on my back the loop sits fairly flat on the surface of the muscle and isn't a big problem. The good news is that the port is anchored properly, the band is sitting in exactly the right spot, it's just this extra length of tubing that has worked it's way forward, as shown: It isn't serious and isn't urgent but they will keep monitoring it and if necessary, go it to fix it in a few months. The funny thing was, that I was supposed to wait until I saw my surgeon again to get the results, but I sort of badgered the nurse into giving me a clue. She told me that "everything was fine and what they'd found was a kidney stone that was causing all my pain". I tried to tell her that this couldn't possibly be a kidney stone as it was in the fat in front of my abdominal muscles and I know perfectly well where my kidneys are, as I had a major kidney operation when I was 10. I couldn't believe how hard I had to argue with the radiologist assistant to get her to accept that the kidney stone wasn't the problem and that I needed to speak with the radiologist. After arguing with her for a few minutes, she finally went and got the radiologist, who spoke to me about it. Apparently, I do have a kidney stone, right near the site of the old operation, but it is not anywhere where it is likely to dislodge and get passed and may well have been there for years. He confirmed the loop in the tubing and agreed that this was what I was feeling. So... I'll wait on what the surgeon thinks (haven't seen him yet) but I think everything will be ok for the next little while anyway... Update: Spoke with the surgeon and we're going to schedule a correction for soon after when my insurance matures. Not a big worry in the mean time but probably shouldn't be left like that forever.

Thanks again, Susan. I was clicking on the Subscribed Threads link on the right, not User CP.

One of my favourite meals in the mushy stage was home made spaghetti bolognaise with a meat sauce. I didn't have the cheese on it though, and it's the bechamel sauce in the lasagne that has most of the calories. I probably wouldn't try it as one of the first mushies but as you get to know how your tolerances, I think you're okay to try it slowly and carefully and in small quantities. Lasagne is a trigger food for me, though - it is probably my all time favourite meal, and I find it hard to limit the quantities. If you are a lasagne nut like me, you might want to think about that aspect of it...

Thanks for that, Susan! Now for one more dumb question: Having subscribed to a Forum, how do you find the list quickly? I subscribed to a couple but can't find "Subscribed Forums" listed in the Members Area, where the Subscribed Threads link is, or in the Quick Links dropdown.

The Protein shake and Vitamin supplement emphasis seems to be recommended exclusively by US doctors. I ran a poll on it recently, and found only one Australian who said they had been given that recommendation. Here, while they might suggest Meal Replacement shakes like Optifast for the pre-op diet and during the liquid phase of the post-op healing, once the healing is done, the emphasis is on getting good nutrition from a balanced diet of solid foods. The advice I get says that if you find that you can't eat solid foods and need to subsist on protein shakes, you are probably too tight. Personally, I think the US doctors recommend the protein and vitamin supplements because they are far more familiar with the bypass and lump lapband patients in with gastric bypass patients, who do need such additions. In Aus, the bypass is very rare - 98% of all WLS are lapband, only 2% bypass or other WLS types.

I just went for the plain old steak and veg tonight, but it was yum and oh so filling!! There was nothing about the meal that screamed "DIET!!" and the portion size would look normal on anyone's plate (just not on my pre-banding plate! I love that now that I am no longer focussed on buying the largest possible steak for my money, I can focus on buying the best cut! Previously I would have looked for the biggest rump steak I could find, this time I was stoked to get a beautiful piece of filet that was less than a third the size but soooo tender! I had: 150g filet steak (pan fried, no added oils) 1 tbsp tomato sauce 2 baby potatoes boiled in their skin 1/2 onion and 5 button mushrooms sliced and fried in a tbsp of light butter (50% less fat) 1/4 cup peas & corn (boiled from frozen) 1/2 carrot (boiled from fresh) All up, 470 cal for the meal, which fits in beautifully with my goal of 1200 for the day (200 Breakfast, 300 lunch, 200 Snacks, 500 dinner).

Whoohooo!!! I've been waiting for this for SO long! Ok, it might not be as big a deal as losing 100lb but I'll get to that milestone too, in time! It has felt like it's been forever that I've had to look at that number and say "I have over 100lb to lose...over 100lb!!" But NO MORE! I probably could have said it a while back if I hadn't been quite so ambitious in setting my goal weight, but if I had done so I think I would have felt I was cheating and would have known it wasn't really true. A target of 60kg (135lb) is quite ambitious but I have been there before. In fact, the first time I got UP to that weight I cried my eyes out and started this whole yoyo dieting that got me into this mess in the first place. I was 21 at the time and had a 2 year old daughter, so it wasn't even pregnancy that did it to me. At 20, with a 1 year old, I was only 54kg (120lb) but I don't want to get back there. I think, at 45, I would be too thin at that weight. I am only 5ft 3in, so 60kg is a BMI of 23, which is right smack inside the normal BMI range. OMG, I am starting to really believe that this can happen for me! :woot:

Thanks! And I just realised another thing - I AM NO LONGER MORBIDLY OBESE!!! Ok, I'm now Severely Obese, but that's an improvement from "Morbidly"!! God, but I hated that label!

Thanks! And I just realised another thing - I AM NO LONGER MORBIDLY OBESE!!! Ok, I'm now Severely Obese, but that's an improvement from "Morbidly"!! God, but I hated that label!

Aww hon, I'm sorry to hear that you're having problems - it sounds painful!! I hope they figure it out and get it sorted for you soon. You're doing pretty damn well in the loss department, yourself! Well done!

I dunno - all I would have had to have done was substitute 1 serving of low fat French Onion Dip for butter, and I would have hit that target pretty spot on and even exceeded in in some areas, still within the 1200 cal (see post immediately above yours). I didn't list the fibre but it was close... *edits* Fibre was 23g for the day.

I can log in ok and can go to every section of the site EXCEPT the food logging section, which is the main part!! I get message saying there is an error :thumbup:. If I'm the only one with the problem, I'll try clearing my cache and cookies but I hate losing all my cookies coz I have to log into all my sites again (BOO!!). If it is happening to all, then it's a site problem, so I'll just be patient and wait it out...

Wow, so did you have it done in Iraq or did you go overseas to do it? I somehow didn't think Iraq would be doing this kind of elective surgery in their hospitals. Was it hard to arrange? Do you know if there are many others in your country? *is very curious, but will try not to flood you with too many impertinent questions all at once :thumbup:* *edits* Ahh...just read your location thing - so you had it done in Syria??

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