Jachut

Oh, so its just replacing the natural sweetness? I was thinking that if the western world needs sweet milk now, then we're REALLY in trouble!

I vastly prefer 0% fat skim milk. For me, its not a matter of calories or fat to me, as the only milk I really drink is a dash in tea or coffee. I've grown up drinking skim and any fat in the milk gives it a taste and body that makes me want to puke. I hate it. I remember when we switched over, I was a teen and it was like giving up sugar in tea and coffee - 2 weeks of it tasting odd and then you're used to it and never looked back. I can never understand why people struggle with this, needing artificial sweetener, your tastes change very very quickly in this regard. I also only get skim lattes and cappucinos - but that's less of an issue here as they are straight coffee - 1/3 strong espresso topped with steamed milk, more or less milk foam depending if its latte or cappucino. Flavoured syrups, cream, flavoured sugars and toppings, those arent standard with coffee here unless its an American store like Starbucks or Gloria Jeans. So even for those Italian style coffees, its just a bit of milk, less than half a cup. So again, its just a flavour thing for me, not really a calorie thing. I am a bit gobsmacked that there would be splenda in milk????? Why on earth would milk be sweetened? Unless, of course, you're buying a milkshake or something, but surely supermarket milk, that you buy for your Cereal and to drink isnt sweetened?

It must be so hard when you've wanted something so badly and its not working out, but something IS wrong and you know that it is. You shouldnt be in pain every day, and you wouldnt be the first person who has symptoms but apparently nothing wrong with their band. You're only 29, you know that sooner or later anyway, the likelihood is that you'd need a new band. Why not look into a surgery such as the sleeve? I've never heard anyone who was having pain and difficulty with their band saying they're sorry to have done it. You can check out www.verticalsleevetalk.com, there's plenty of good advice to be had, but be warned, most on that forum are avid band haters and will not encourage you to sort out the band issues if possible, lol. Pain should never be ignored. It might be something simple like the tubing pushing on something like your diaphragm or it could be more serious but you cant just let it go. You need to know and if they cant explain the pain then surely you have to consider that the band might need to be removed.

Whatever, depends when I work out. Usually after though - I often run at about 5, 5.30 pm, and I go to bootcamp at 7. We tend to eat at about 7.30 in our house, so I usually go without eating. I'm not a big believer in Protein Shakes and bars as a requirement before and after exercise, I figure its a lot of calories exactly when you're trying to burn them off, makes no sense to me. I think an overall balanced diet will be fine and give your muscles what they need and the average exerciser (as opposed to the champion body builder) simply doesnt need to be so scientific - you can burn 600 calories without needing to replace everything within the hour. I certainly have built plenty of muscle anyway, but who knows, perhaps I would have looked like Ms Unviverse! So unless I happen to eat a meal after, I dont supplement anything either. I also only drink plain Water, dont find the need for sports drinks at all. I just figure if burning calories is my goal, I'm not going to go eating them again straight away.

All the time. Usually by people that are either sicker than they realise and so f8ked up about eating that they cant work with a band. They need hard stops, need to be forceably restricted from certain foods, need their bands so tight that they suffer a raft of other problems such as constant pbing, and reflux etc. then they usually start banging on about what a failure the band is, how it should be off the market. They get revision surgery and get strident about how superior their surgery is. They dont realise that bands only work for some people, people that can work with them in the way they were intended. Not people who are morally superior, just people who's set of issues and symptoms make them good band candidates. I just let them go. I'm four years out, no problems, healthy weight, couldnt be happier. If someone wants to feel they made a better decision for me then let them. Then there's people who have never had a band that think they're experts. I dont bother much with them either.

Well, it might be like tht for some. but it isnt for me. PB means productive burp. But for me, a pb is definitely a vomit. It is a forceable ejection and it involves stomach spasms, and forceful contraction. It hurts. Its not so unpleasant as vomiting though becuase there's not a load of hot, acidy vomit coming up, through your nose, there's no nausea, and strangely I dont panic about it like I do vomiting. But it can cause slippage. Its not as simple as a burp or cough.

Just one thing to note. For me pbing is rather violent. It involves the same stomach pain and spasms as actual vomiting, just without the acid and copious contents and without nausea. Pbing is not simple regurgitation with no risk to your band. Pbing on a regular basis means you're too tight or something else is wrong and it is a risk to your band. Dont think pbing is non consequential. Many many people have slipped after being too tight and doing a lot of pbing.

I've been banded 4, he's been banded 18 months or so, we were quite a long way apart. I was well and truly at goal by the time DH got his. that's the trouble, I was also 3 years fitter than him. So for me to exercise with him, I'd be taking a huge backward step. I'm selfish with my exercise, its my time, my headspace, and I dont want to share it with anyone, unless they're going to have the same approach to it as I do. For this reason, it doesnt really cause any problems. He doesnt truly want to do it anyway, and I'n not going to wait around while he pretends he does, so basically, we dont exercise together. We dont fight over it because really, we both like it that way.

Well, the obvious answer is an unfill. If you get to the point where you dont want to lose more and you are still having occasional eating problems, why keep all the fill there? personally, I didnt need to. My weight loss slowed and slowed over time, and eventually just petered out, at the same time as my fill level over a year or so kind of lessened a bit naturally. the result was weight loss stopping, right at my goal weight, by some strange coincidence.

Well, I've got to say, my husband has done exactly this. He saw it work for me, I know on a conscious level he knew I worked hard at it, but I do think at some level he thought it was magic and would be for him too. The preop period was exactly like you're fearing. He had this surgery and then took NO responsibility and made NO decisions about what he'd eat. He expected me to be in charge of it all. I did but I couldnt believe that anyone could have surgery and then leave it up to someone else to feed them. Only a man could do that, I'm sorry to insult any male readers but its true. Its so fricken' typical. He can go to work and manage a multimillion dollar corporation but he cant read a list of diet instructions and make any decisions about what to eat. It would make me mad if it wasnt so pathetic. Nowadays though its not so much that I have to tell him what to eat, but its the exercise thing. He expects me to do everything bar the actual exercise for him, and consequently he's lost a good 60lb and is fairly healthy now (he only had a BMI of about 34, same as me at 36) but he hasnt had the result I've had withou the exercise. The trouble is, he came to it a good 3 years after me. He seems to think its not possible to exercise on your own. He needs me with him if he's going to do a thing. Trouble is, I dont consider walking exercise anymore, its something I do on a day I"m not exercising, if I feel a bit under the weather etc. But he's not prepared to put in the effort to run or do circuit training or anything (he always was terribly terribly wimpy about stuff like this). So what? I give up my exercise time to do somethign that doesnt challenge me in the slightest, knowing that even if I do, four nights out of seven he'll wimp out, make an excuse etc. I'm not going to do that! I'm having a bit of a vent, it doesnt really cause tension between us because deep down, he's not interested in exercise anyway. I just figure i'm not his mother and his journey is his journey. I find the more pressing issue is that its exactly like when you try to diet together. One of you breaks out the chocolate just when the other has decided to be "good". But its also good. I tend to chronically underfeed those around me, my poor kids are always half starved because I serve such tiny meals! At least it suits DH as well!

Thank you Fanny, i was going to bring up the same thing. This thread is alarming. Not in a judgemental way, some people need more help than others. But this poster is, I believe, in pretty dire trouble. Night reflux? Gastric complications? Strictly limited diet of unhealthy foods? One day she is gonna lose that band and she has not taught herself one single thing about healthy living. Being fixated on being thin by doing this to yourself would, I believe, be easily seen to be an eating disorder. Tight bands are one thing, but the posters other thread indicates hers is causing her serious issues.

It cant. If you are getting stuck and pbing, then there is restriction. its just that people expect retriction to magically feel like something. Some incredible control over food. It doesnt. It just means you feel more satisfied after a smaller amount of food than you otherwise would have done. But often you dont recognise that becuase of your head saying that was yum, keep eating. Restriction doesnt "feel like" anything at all. But if pbing and stuck is happening, then its there. Good restriction is more restriction that doesnt disappear 2 days after the fill but lasts months or even a year or more before another fill is required.

What rot. I suppose pregnancy doesnt cause loose skin either?

Really, without lectures, the answer is staring you in the face. For your own bowel health and every day comfort, you have to eat right and you have to exercise. There's no way round it. You cant overcome a basically bad diet without fibre supplements and such and you cannot live the rest of your life having it ruined by consitipation caused by having yoru band so tight. Sooner or later, you are going to have to learn to eat right, get in enough Water and enough exercise to cause your bowels to work like they should. Dont you see how insane what you're saying sounds? How on earth could you say you've been liberated from obesity when in reality, you've only swapped one set of miserable circumstances for another? This is not "health" and its not "normal life". This is an eating disorder in every sense of the word. I read your other post and truly, I think you've lost perspective and need some help to get it back. Being thin is not worth living with painful constipation and avoiding any normal sort of food intake forever. Your band cant do it all, you simply have to take some of the responsiblity for self control. Let some Fluid out of your band and include some healthy foods. Your bowel is only the one issue you can see and feel. What on earth do you think is going on in your body as a result of semi-starvation that might come back to bite you in the future? I really am not lecturing you. We are all sick with this disease to varying degrees and your take on controlling it is completely and utterly understandable. But you are truly risking your long term wellbeing and you are certainly greatly increasing the chances of having band problems by remaining so tight.

think its probably one of the best things you could do! I only wish I could do something similar nearby. The only classes on my side of Melbourne are in near the city at mad times like 6 am, I simply cannot get to them. I do similar style workouts though, at bootcamp. Very effective and great fun.

You dont FEEL restriction in the sense you're meaning and if you do, you're probably too tight. I find this is the biggest misconception with the band, people are pusing it to get that I cant eat a bite more at half a cup feeling and they're just way too tight. No wonder there's such a high incidence of band problems. I find that doctors dont seem to recognise and explain this, my doctor was very clear in that I should not feel the band in place, that I would have to work hard to learn to use my band. You have to stop looking to feel FULL and learning to recognise satisfied. Waiting for your band to give you a hard stop is not the way its supposed to work. If stuff is getting stuck, you already have restriction. You just need to learn how to work with it. Eat half a cup. See how it feels. If you're now not hungry, dont eat anymore. If you really are still hungry, have another 1/4 of a cup or so. Work out your satiation level - it doesnt matter if it takes a cup or a cup and a half of food, if you're losing weight, then that's the right amount of food for you, and you dont need another fill till you stop losing on that amount of food. You have to learn to recognise the difference between your head saying it wants you to eat more (because we're used to big plates full of food) and your body actually needing more. But waiting for your band to say an unmistakeable STOP at half a cup, you'll probably be getting things stuck and pbing long before then, and you could even have things like heartburn and reflux.

Here's a link to some pretty candid photos of my body Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy Surgery (VSG) Forum These were an eye opener to me - is it a perfect body? No. But you dont really see how I look when they're taken so close up (and without a head, lol). I'm actually five foot ten and a size 8 so I'm pretty long and lean. I"m just a bit "soft" in some places, mainly the behind and inner thighs. I have a bit of skin on the tummy too. But really, I look like anyone else, and in fact, I'm the only person in my circle of friends and acquaintances that I know that would dare to wear a bikin in public. That's thanks to a LOT of hard exercise. I'm banded, not sleeved and it was much slower weight loss for me - 2 and a half years to lose 100lb.

They're about $350 Australian dollars, as are all similar products like MBT's. Everything is so expensive here! I have a pair of MBT's which I bought to help my ankle recover a bit over four years ago when I chose to have lapband surgery. I had had chronic bursitis/plantar fasciitis in my right foot and ankle, and there was quite marked weakness in the ankle, foot and calf as a result of carrying this injury for a year or two. This problem was the final straw for me and why i chose to have lapband surgery. Anyway, I wore orthotics and I regularly wore these MBT's as recommended by the podiatrist, and I did some regular barefoot walking in the sand as well. I also took up running about 3 months after being banded. I regained all the strength and full function in my ankle. I still wear the shoes to recover from particularly long runs. They slightly shift your balance, in a manner similar to what high heels do, but in a good way, they realign posture. This did help to strengthen intrinsic muscles in the foot and calf because it does alter your walking motion. But will they really tone your butt and legs? Nope. There is no way something like this will take the place of a lot of blood sweat and tears - running, squatting, lunging. They will not BUILD muscle to any visible degree, and particularly not your large, powerful muscles. You have to really tax your muscles, tear them down to build them up stronger and this is just never going to be as easy as putting on a pair of shoes. I find they provide relief from tight lower back, sore hamstrings, fatigued legs from a long long run. If that's what your'e after, they're a good buy. But you need to hit the gym for anything else, lol.

I'm the opposite - I can eat well in the morning - but I'm not hungry at all then and dont fancy eating much. I usualy do have something, but I can, for example, go out for breakfast and eat a fair amount. lunch and daytime poses no problem. At night, I only need literally a half cup serve to fill me, which is problematic, since dinner is when I tend to get my best Protein and vegie sources. And if I'm going to pb, its going to happen with dinner. I wonder if it has to do with previous night eating habits?. I have never ever been an evening snacker, never had that problem where I eat all my calories at night. Its always been during the day for me, late mornign in particular.

Interestingly, I had a heated discussion on this with my mum on Sunday. She's a "dieter" like I mentioned. She got SO defensive when I said I hated the whole Weight Watches routine. She was saying that it worked and you cant just eat what you want. Why do people assume that "eating what you want" means eating rubbish all the time. I'm personally a huge fan of all those never diet again type books. I find eating what I want, yes, I occasionally want a muffin for breakfast. So? I just have it. When I truly gave myself permission to eat what I wanted, I found I ate poorly at first, but those "bad foods" lost their hold on me. I truly dont see the good food/bad food distinction now. The reason why i feel so strongly on this is that losing weight is only one part of recovering from obesity. Learning to let go of food so that it no longer has power over you is the bigger part. And I just dont see how you can do that constantly weighing, measuring and counting. I dont see how you can do it when you're relying not on your body and its feelings but on what someone else tells you to do. I really feel cured because I truly dont CARE what I eat at my next meal or how much Protein I get in a day. Over time, everything evens out, you take in what you need in the course of a week, if not in a day. I guess it depends on what led to your weight problem in the first place. I think I'm someone who wasnt really destined to become as fat as I did - I feel I dieted myself fat, truly. You know, lost 10lb, gain back 15. So to me, dieting is the enemy. But I really am not fussed by how other people do it, or what they choose to eat. However, I do feel a bit like I've "discovered a secret" and its hard to remember that what has set me free, and that's how I choose to word it, might not be what everyone needs.

If yours hurt that much, something was wrong. Fills dont hurt when they're done properly. Nothing more than a needle prick in the skin.

If they're anything like Boost juice here, smoothies, fresh juices, wheat grass shots and such, then they're diabolical! Great way to get in some fruit, and your Vitamins and antioxidants but great way to ingest a shedload of sugar and carbs too. And the reason why all the young girls walking round the shops sucking on big cups (does this look revolt anyone else?) have nice muffin tops to match their smoothies. Mega calories! Like anything, moderation is probably the key. It is a meal, not a snack, count the calories (and the carbs if that's your bag), allow for it and therefore enjoy. But dont suck one down every day of the week under the mistaken belief that its "health food".

I think you have to be realistic that issues can and probably will occur. If you pay a visit to www.verticalsleevetalk.com, you can talk about those things with other sleevers. the things that appear to be issues are heartburn and acid reflux and lactose intolerance for some people, and also what sounds like a dream but in reality wouldnt be - complete loss of appetite and enjoyment of foods. There also IS vomiting and regurgitation of food due to overeating or eating too fast. Most band to VSGers are so thrilled to be rid of their bands and so impressed by a surgery that requires no fills, no aftercare that they wont say a negative thing. You have to kind of read between the lines. No WLS is perfect. I'd say those problems are probably way less traumatic than the problems caused by a band gone wrong. The perfect thing would to never be cursed with obesity in the first place, but we all have been and have to manage it somehow, its just a matter of which method suits you and your issues the best.

I dont really see any alternative - you need to provide for them and just stay away from it yourself. It wont really be that tempting will it? I mean at that stage I was stilll full of the enthusiasm of starting this amazing journey, I didnt really want to jeaopardise it. Just think of it in those terms. You know you cant eat solids yet, so, well, just dont.

I've never heard anyone who has been sleeved after having band problems say they're sorry to have done it. Its been a huge relief for them. when the band works, it works well, but when it doesnt,it can be very traumatic.