Jachut

I'm glad you're all sorted and feeling better. I think you make some really excellent points about not abusing your band - I think many many people are overfilled. It may not be causing much in the way of symptoms but you have to be hyperaware of anything.

I wish I could convince myself these things dont matter. I know logically they dont. I dont understand how I can feel so great about myself and so awful at the same time. I feel like its all a sham, that if only people saw me UNclothed they wouldnt be anywhere near so impressed by my weight loss. I know I'm fit and strong and very athletic. But I kind of feel that would only count if I had the body to match it. Its really shame. I see a photo and I think 'who's that thin person'. Its me, for a split second I like what I see and then i start dissecting it and criticizing. I agree that the number on the scale wont mean much when you die, but unfortunately I think it will continue to mean lots till the split second before. What gets me is I dont even look at other people that way. To me, people are attractive because of the sum total of their parts, and its usually one small quirk or mannerism that makes them appeal to me. Likewise, people who are technically "beautiful" can be unattractive, cant stand pretty boys like Brad Pitt for example, I would never find a man that pretty in the slightest bit attractive. But Liam Neeson, ugly as all get out, but man he's sexy, drooooooool. So why do I impose these stupid standards on myself? We're all effed in the head I think and I suspect its going to be that way for good. Personally, I will not go down the PS path. I know that I'd get one thing fixed and move to the next and I have no wish to be some tragic looking freak like 3/4 of Hollywood.

I know I'm being pedantic Restless, lol. ATP is a "carrier" and one of the things that makes your muscles work but first it must be produced by the body - which requires the breakdown of sugars and fats in a process called glycolysis. Yep, you need glucose to provide the energy the body requires to manufacture ATP. Glycolysis is the first state of the entire human respiration cycle, the very root of your body's metabolism. This doesnt mean you have to eat lots of carbs though. Your body will make glucose from the sum total of what you eat, no matter which way your diet is swayed. And it will produce ketones as a substitute if there is not a lot of ready carbs. In the dark ages, we probably switched between having ready fuel after we caught or found something to gorge on and ketosis as we went days without anything else to eat. So I'm not suggesting that because your body runs on glucose you must eat a high carb diet. But whatever you DO eat will end up as sugars one way or another. Of course nobody needs to actually know this to decide whether a low carb diet works for them and makes them feel good. I agree, just do what works for you.

OK, well my understanding of it is this.... most of the time, people have their brains burning glucose for fuel. If an easy source of glucose is restricted by following an ultralow carb ketogenic diet - say 30 grams a day or less - the body will produce ketones, so that the brain can burn the ketones for fuel. In the absence of any carbs in the diet at all for a prolonged period, the body will run off ketones but also convert some Protein to glucose to provide the bare minimum. Being in ketosis is simply the body's response to shortness of food, to ensure that the brain and the rest of the body has fuel in a form that can be used, a healthy body can cleanse itself of these toxic byproducts of fat burning as opposed to ketoacidosis which is a far more serious complication of diabetes. The bain can function fine on well less than 130 grams a day, I'm not suggesting that it cant. Protein first in the way bandsters do it isnt a ketogenic diet either, nothing extreme.

Restless, the brian contains Proteins in the form of many of the chemicals such as enzymes and neurotransmitters that make it work. But it uses glucose for energy, as does the rest of your body. No matter what you eat, the mitochondria in your cells can only use glucose as fuel, low carb diet or not, your body makes glucose from the food you eat to fuel your cells and your body's metabolism. You will never burn Protein directly or burn it in preference to other fuels or any of those myths. You feel sluggish when you eat a high carb lunch because it triggers a big seratonin release not because you've denied your brain protein, which is why sugar and carbs are comfort foods and so addictive for some people. This isnt my opinion, its physiological fact and any article you find disputing it is highly questionable to say the least. Its just how the body works.

I just kind of lost slower and slower until it finally stopped. Now I maintain with no change in restriction. Thankfully I stopped at BMI of 22 rather than say, 29. I am perfectly happy to call this goal.

No, the brain uses glucose, not Protein, and you'll find that in any physiology text book. But that doesnt matter, even if you havent eaten much in the way of carbs, your body has made a store of glucose from your food. All foods are converted to sugars of some form by way of digestion. I think though that if you're losing, who the heck cares? Low carbing it is just another way of cutting calories for the majority of people, for others it does seem to perform some sort of magic. whether its healthy or not is another debate. Arguably, we're hunter gatherers who gorged at wide intervals, but we dont live that lifestyle now. We also live two or three times as long as our meat gorging ancestors, by the time their arteries were clogged full of saturated fat, they'd been eaten by a tiger. We have to keep ours functioning for 80 years or so. I'm fairly sure in another 30 trillion years humans will have finally caught up and will survive best on a mixture of McDonalds, coffee and ice cream. Until then, I think you do what makes you feel best and works best for you weight loss wise. Personally, I'm not giving up Pasta, potatoes OR chocolate no matter how "evil" they are. I defy anyone to tell me I wont lose weight eating them because I already have!

There's really no way to tell. I think I got off lightly, and I've had 3 babies to boot, here's my stomach: I'd honestly say in all my years here, I've been one of the luckiest ones I know of (of those that share their pics, or talk about their skin!) I despair over my tummy periodically, I'll stand in the mirror, poking, pulling, planning tummy tucks etc but in reality I figure I'm 42 and nobody's forcing me into a bikini on the beach. I can always just not show it. I lost slowly and i did a lot of exercise - primarily running. I also had the foresight and good sense to choose parents that gave me good genes, and I think I chose pretty well in deciding to be 5ft 10 tall and basically well proportioned. When I got fat, I think I was sensible in deciding to carry it evently and not all on my stomach. I'm being silly of course. None of us have control over the factors that deterimine what our skin will do and very few of us will end up with the kind of skin we'd dream of - in reality we're ALL going to harbour some signs of having been fat enough for weight loss surgery. BUT - the only think I'd swap my life now for is to have never ever have gotten fat in the first place. My stomach wasnt worth showing BEFORE I had my surgery so is it really relevant whether it is after?

I truly dont think you need to worry about it. I'm no low carb fan but I do agree that by and large, our overly processed diets are way too high carb. You dont need Cereal and toast for Breakfast, muesli bars for Snacks, sandwiches for afternoon tea and Pasta for dinner all in one day. But to put it in perspective, if I run on my treadmill for 45 mins (I usually do Cardio Coach) it says i've burned 150 grams of carbs, run about 5 miles and burned about 600 calories. So given all the other activity I do in a day, I figure if I focus on Protein foods, sensible carbs (wholegrains) and usually not eat carbs for dinner, then I dont give a fig how many grams of carbs I've had in the day, its almost a sure bet that its below 150 and I've burned it all off.

I dont think you can beat running. It burns tons of calories and really helps to get that weight off. I also find 4 years down the track, I have extremely good muscle tone, very toned legs and butt particularly and most surprising, my stomach is flat as a board and I can do strength tricks with my stomach that make people gasp, lol. I can hold a plank for up to 5 minutes quite easily and I have done little other than running. I even found I gained great upper body tone due to the arm motion. Can you tell I love running? If you google, you'll find all sorts of stuff about how cardio like running is a waste of time, it burns away your muscle, makes you skinny fat, isnt an efficient fat burner because your body adapts blah blah blah. Maybe that's true if your primary goal is to build big muscles. Running and competitive body building are not the most logical companions. But for the average person, it WORKS. I tend to shorter, harder runs these days - 40 minutes or so with intervals of sprinting rather than long and slow. Although when I feel "lazy" i do just head out and run at a slow comfortable pace.

Excercise is only a valuable addition to diet. You lose or gain weight primarily becuase of diet, and you cant outexercise a bad diet. Also, I think people go WAY over the top with their sports supplements. The average Joe just doesnt need them. All this fuss with protein shakes x long after a workout, and so much grams per day and the endurance drinks DURING the workout and whether milk makes the best post workout recover drink, I think its all bollocks. Hello! If you eat NOTHING after your workout you'll lose the most weight - and most people, even hard workers like myself do not do the type and intensity of workouts that require supplementing. Running 10km in an hour is not a superhuman feat that I have to feed myself up for, the average person SHOULD be able to do it, its what the human body is designed for. People spend a fortune on all these supplements and take them faithfully and then wonder why they're not losing more weight! But I kind of disagree with the article, in that exercising allows people the room to eat the bad diets we do today. As long as they dont eat EXTRA becuase they exercised, then they can have some room to eat and need less willpower. Also, saying that you might walk instead of taking a cab if you hadnt tired yourself out by exercising is a pretty crap argument. When you first start exercising, most people fall into the trap of tiring themselves out and then burning less energy for the rest of the day than they otherwise would have, that's true. But over time, as you get fit, your energy rises exponentially and sooner or later you become a bit of a human dynamo. I honestly barely sit down these days and i have the energy to work full time, take care of the kids, be involved in their sport, shop for and cook health food, not time saving convenience foods, fit in the general housework AND do one or two major jobs a day like a whole house floor wash, or window washing or cleaning both the showers, or mowing the lawns. I never ever could have done so much when I wasnt fit.

Cut back on the extras first and foremost - I run a lot and I've got quite a healthy metabolism, so I do have a fair bit of room in my diet to eat a few treats. I can maintain on about 1800 calories a day. So I simply remind myself to be aware of the extras. And I up the exercise just a bit. I might work harder for the same period of time - my version of lazy is just going out with my ipod on, running at a comfy pace and enjoying the music. Well, your body adapts to that. So I do more interval sessions, things that make me come home utterly exhausted. I am motivated to not put on weight becuase I know how easy it was to just say "oh, 70kg is OK", then "oh, 75kg is okay"..... on the way up and I'm not going there again. Also with my new shape, I dont hide my body. My clothes fit snugly and I simply dont have the wriggle room I used to. If I gain a kilo, I feel it round the waist! Then I feel self conscious that I've got a muffin top going on. I'm freakishly obsessed with stuff like that, you will NEVER find me with visible bra straps, VPL etc. I will never wear something that shows a roll or doesnt look great on me.

Although it can be slow till you get restriction, I think the general principle is right. This is when your motivation will be the highest, your dedication to your new lifestyle the strongest, and your determination to succeed burning the brightest. I'd say for me, the first year was the best. Four years out, I am maintaing really well. But I have nowhere near the same amount of discipline and dedication I did and I feel on many levels, my body has adapted to the band, I have learned how to eat with it and my tastes have changed as my body's way of sneaking in calories. I would really have to DIET to lose weight now, whereas in that first year, I lost it pretty effortlessly.

Slow weaning is the kindest method. The bright side is there's no need to totally cut out caffeine forever, a moderate amount of coffee has some health benefits, but cups of strong brewed stuff day in day out, not so good. I cut down slowly before coffee coz I'm a five or six cup a day gal - but I drink instant, so pretty low caffeine (my sil's observation from 2 years living in Canada is that we have excellent quality instant coffee here, who knows why?). I didnt have to do a pre op diet before my band but I knew that early after banding, my stomach space would be limited and I wouldnt be drinking that much coffee. I'm gload I did it, I certainly didnt need caffeine headaches during recovery.

Its weird. I think metric too, but it sounds like so much more if I say I lost 100lb rather than 45kg. But I'd rather say I weigh 68kg instead of 148lb!

I think eventually it happens to everyone. Because sooner or later, to get the last of your weight off, you have to move up to a level of restriction where its more likely to happen. And it IS only a matter of time before you're distracted, or whatever. Firstly, its not that bad. Its nothing like when you're ill and vomit, there's no nausea, its a physical response and that's about it. I've never ever had it happen to me where I didnt have prior warning and could excuse myself, what I find happens more often is that I'm stuck, I need to get it up but it takes it own sweet time. Suddenly barfing at the dinner table doesnt happen. I made it a little over a year before I had any significant episode and my DH has done similar. But sooner or later, it does happen. But its certainly not an everyday thing - maybe once every couple of months. I consider it a small trade off for the weight loss I've had and not somethign that's ever caused me embarrassment or that anyone else has ever known about. But it IS a part of banded life and you need to know that it will happen and accept that. Protein shakes only? No, that wont work. You'd die of boredom, your hair will fall out, you'll be woefully malnourished, lacking in fibre, get some awful hormonal disease from overconsumption of soy based Proteins, the list could be endless.

Nobody's ever managed to explain this one well. I agree, the way the band is said to work, HOW can you get stuck immediately? And how can you get stuck from a bite of food that comes after several bites, so there's already food in your pouch and THAT bite cant possibly be going through the stoma already. I know food DOES stay in my pouch becuase I go to bed and if I've eaten anything after dinner, it causes me discomfort from sitting high up in my stomach so that when I lie down i feel overfull. Someone once said on here its like an airlock. There's air in your stomach, naturally and when you swallow, sometimes the food blocks air in there that cant go down or up, so you get that pressure feeling, the golf ball. True stuck that's going to result in a pb to me doesnt feel like the golf ball, it hurts much more specifically at the stoma.

I'm not sure what I believe in this. On the one hand, it seems senseless, not to mention a bad eating habit - to eat when you're not hungry and really dont want to, just becuase the clock says to. On the other, everyone says you kill your metabolism by not eating small, regular meals. But I know one thing - the naturally thin people I know DO go long periods during the day without eating. I guess overall I think if you're not hungry, dont eat. I really dont want breakfast a lot of days.

I wish I'd taken befores: here are some afters though: My stomach didnt come out too bad: and its just so darn good to get photos back from an event and not feel sick at the sight of myself. That's me in the back in black (and my gorgeous mum and sisters!)

I think 50 grams is a moderate amount - you're unlikely to be critically low on Protein at that level unless you're an Olympic athlete. Likewise you could eat more and not do any harm either. But 50 grams leaves you enough stomach room to eat OTHER important foods. Trying for 80, 90, 100 grams means you're probably not eating a truly balanced and healthy diet becuase I simply dont see how you'd get enough of the other foods in on top of that much protein. I guess you can drink it and that helps. In average day I would eat two servings of bread/cereal/rice/pasta, about five different vegetables, 2 pieces of fruit and two serves of protein - like some sort of cheese/tuna/meat with lunch and generally meat/chicken/fish with dinner. Or we eat legumes like chick peas, lentils etc.

Mine was 05, its 4 years now. Jack's at least 5 years. Marmar, in all honesty, you probably wont have your band in 30 or 40 years time. Every bit of research I did, and my own surgeon, led me to believe that theoretically, the band COULD be in there for a lifetime, but that in reality, probably the balloon will fail over time (yet another reason to avoid stuffing round with it too much, fill/unfill/fill and unfill again) and it will need to be replaced. Also, we just dont know how over a 20 or 30 year time frame our bodies will adapt to the band. After 4 years, my band works absolutely fine, my appetite and what I can eat low enough to keep me at a pretty thin weight. However, i've definitely learned to eat around my band, I know how to get food in when I feel like a bit of a pig out, I know how to manage it to eat foods I shouldnt eat but want to eat, etc. I remain dedicated 150% to running for an hour a day. THAT makes at least as much difference to my weight as my band does. I feel more in control of that, more able to guarantee I'll keep doing it than I do making promises about my eating behaviour. but every year goes by, I figure, thats one more year my body has been used to being thin. I truly think if I can strike up 5 years of normal weight, surely that has to count for something. Surely I can eventually establish a new normal for my body that it wont want to stray from quite so easily? who knows really? But I'd rather have taken this risk, and this leap of faith than stayed the way i was. And truly, I'm not the least bit worried about the band failing/breaking. That's easily fixed with another surgery. What, I'd be considering getting my boobs done but a second lapband surgery is the worst thing that could ever happen? I just dont understand that from the lapband knockers - they bleat about how they dont want to have second surgeries whilst in the next post they're talking about their tummy tucks. Makes no sense to me at all. Then again, our health system here is such that any revision surgery I may need wont cost me a cent. What I am worried about is my resolve, my continued behaviours, and my body deciding that fat is what it is meant to be. Hopefully none of that comes to pass.

I dont suffer night time reflux as a general rule, but I have to be careful about going to bed with food and liquid on board. I'm fine if I have a cup of coffee after dinner, as that's pretty much a clear liquid and it runs through. But make it a cookie and a cup of hot milo (bit like cocoa), and I cant sleep, it all sits there and feels as if it will come up at any minute. I cant relax into deep sleep. Just once in my entire banded experience, I have suddenly woken up coughing and choking. I truly had NO sensation of having had anything come up and breathing it in, but that is what happened, because I could definitely taste that sour, vomity taste every time I coughed. I coughed for about 20 minutes before it settled. I'd been out for dinner, had a rather big meal over many hours and plenty of wine, followed by coffee. My stomach was WAY too full when I went to bed. Moral of the story - coughing without having consciously aspirated stomach conents can STILL be a reflux thing and if its going on, you MUST do something about it.