Jachut

Exactly. How did this thread got onto a carb versus non carb discussion, lol? There are a lot of us who eat rice and have lost weight too. I have no problem with what dietary plan people choose to eat or what they choose to believe is healthy from the plethora of theories out there. However, i have a problem when people present their approach as right or correct to the exclusion of others. We have a whole country of people here in Australia who are not encouraged to do Protein first and who are not encouraged to give up rice, bread and Pasta (although we are warned they can be problem foods). And we have good results with the band here in Australia. So it is patently obvious to me that the protein first, carbs only from fruit and vegies approach is just not the only "right" way to do it. It is absolutely obvious to me that you can lose weight on a diet that includes reasonable quantities of bread, rice and pasta. Although I agree, nobody "needs" white low GI carbs and that these are unhealthy junk foods, I'd also argue that you can eat some of them and not be fat. There's evidence of that everywhere. I'd also argue that nobody "needs" deli meat, protein or not. Nor do they need cheesed or Protein shakes - particularly soy isolate ones(hmmm, I'd like an overdose of gm soy product packed full of toxins and phyotestrogens for my breakfast thanks). I think the health side of this is an entirely separate one that most of us arent qualified to argue on - especially when it appears different bodies need different things. Some people will find their blood chemistry is diabolical after a few months on Atkins, others find it improves. Some people's bodies react way worse to carb foods than others. My own personal view is that I believe nothing that's out there completely and that its still safer to go moderation in all things. I try not to eat white flour and sugar, and to eat the wholegrain version of things, I occasionally eat white rice or potatoes, becuase once in a while is pretty irrelevant, as is a bit of chocolate now and then. And entire countries subsist on rice without having 1/3 of the health problems of the USA. Sumo's get fat becuase of CALORIE intake (which is made up of a lot of rice) not becuase of rice itself - you could get fat on apples if you wanted to.

Well, I have the same band and have had for almost four years, my fills in the past year or two have been 0.1 cc After my weight loss stopped, I was a BMI of 22 (I wont say I hit "goal' because honestly, it was my body's decision, not mine), and I went 12 months without seeing my doc. Over time, I thought I'd like to lose just a few pounds more, and I felt I'd loosened off a little, so in I went. I had a few appointments all about 3 months apart, just getting to a new comfortable fill (3 cc for me) and now I havent been for six months. My instructions are to check in once a year. I've been to my doctor several times over the years just to check in, without wanting a fill. What do you do for exercise now? I know for me, to lose those last couple of pounds I wanted to, exercise had to be completely ridiculous. I was doing really hard, intense interval training and circuit training with heavy sandbags. That's what it took to shift weight at that stage and it still works for me now - had a super sexy tight pair of jeans I wanted to wear to a function in 2 weeks time, and had to get into them, lol. But for normal day to day stuff, I just head out and run for 40 minutes - 7kms or so. That is maintenance exercise for me, I put some effort in but its quite easy for me, I dont tire myself doing it, etc, but even a regular 7kms a day run isnt enough to shift weight from my body anymore - to do that, I have to do vomit inducing HARD exercise.

The scars worried me more than anything. Why I cared that my skin remain pristine when my gut was too fat to show anyway, I'll never know, but I did. And I was really upset when I saw them too. But four years later, they're barely there. Well, you can see the port one, because my stomach is skinny enough that my port sticks out, sigh. But that's what you get - remain fat or decide you want some scars and a visible port. The scars WILL fade with time, I have five and the only one you can even see is the larger port scar. Having five is quite normal. Even if they were badly done, they will lose their colour and fade lots with time.

Well, firstly I see 50 lb in 9 months as realistic, sensible achievable weight loss. 100lb in a year is pretty spectacular weight loss and not something everyone can achieve. I also think plateaus just happen and can be a reminder to rededicate to your program and stop missing the details of what you eat, how you exercise etc, just get strict again. But they also just happen and there's zilch you can do sometimes except wait it out. Some people lose weight fast, some dont. I took 2 and a bit years to lose 100lb but I'm there in my avatar in a bikini! I've maintained for 2 years give or take and I dont even THINK about how long it took to lose the weight. I also enjoyed every new low on the way down. I felt freaking GREAT to have lost 50lb, I didnt spoil it by being down on myself becuase it took a few weeks more to get there. You are doing great. However, I can recommend interval training to get weight moving again. Its not for the faint hearted and it really isnt hard enough if you dont think you're going to puke or die by the end of it, but it really works!

No, you cant make the pain go away. That's your penance for having overeaten. You have to wait until your stomach empties a bit. Overeating is FAR more painful than being stuck in my view. And often all it takes is that last bite on your plate that is sooooo tempting (we all like to clear our plates!). Its so easy to do and so painful when you do it. I hate it and am lots lots better at not doing it because to me, the pain is just not worth it.

I think viewing this as a lifestyle, not a diet. I never expected perfection from myself, I never got stressed over how much I lost when, I didnt expect routine 2lb losses every week or to not hit plateaus of weeks at a time, I was ambitious but at the same time, where i got to was where i got to, I instigated other healthy behaviours such as regular exercise and found something that I actually ENJOY, I gave up all dieting behaviours, never journalled, did any particular "diet", never counted calories. When I got to a healthy weight and it was apparent I'd lose no more, i didnt change anything. Over time I guess I eat a bit more and have modified my running to a schedule more like something I can do for life - 40 mintues a day - but I still run almost daily, I still eat well. yet I'm realistic that some days/times I wont eat so well. I do what normal people do - go on vacation and eat a bit more, eat chocolate before my period, eat more on Christmas day. I never ever tried to be some dieting robot or thought that healthy weight management involves perfect, faultless behaviour. I also dont really seek to "fix" any food issues I have. I believe everyone has them and managing them is a day to day process, sometimes I will choose to eat just because I'm bored, sometimes I wont. It really only took a small shift in the balance of when i do and dont to get rid of my excess weight. its really just a variation of the fake it till you make it approach. I started acting like a naturally thin person and lo and behold, i became one. In my experience, naturally thin people dont obsess over Protein or calories, they decide sometimes they have room for chocolate cake but usually not if they had pie for Breakfast and they have goals other than weight loss for their exercising.

Not sleeved, banded, but have gone from a bra size of about 40DD, straight to an 38E (was wearing too big a back, too small a cup) with a fitting, lol, and then over the course of my 100lb weight loss have gone down to a 32C - and that's only coz I roll up the skin to fit it in! My breasts are having some work done on them later this year, they're tragic, just empty bags of skin and very little actual breast tissue. In would ideally like only a lift, I'm really not into big bouncy plastic tits, prefer a much more natural look, but I may have to have an implant to get some fullness into the top of them - at the moment, i have incredibly sharp collarbones, you can see my ribs in my chest and my whole ribcage bulges out further than my bustline does - I'm pear shaped and barely have a gram of fat around my chest, neck, shoulders and upper arms. I actually look a little deformed and although I have reasonable sized breasts that look OK in a lycra type Tshirt that's very fitted, in your ordinary man style T, I can look ironing board flat. So breasts, not a happy story. Stomach etc all fine, no real skin problems there, no bat wings etc. My shoe size didnt change, but I started with a BMI of 35, I did lose some "fatness" on my feet so that I can wear strappy sandals and things now without my feet bulging but I have size 10, extremely wide flippers and always will have.

Truly, I dont think I really changed shape from blobby and rotund and VERY pear shaped to a "normal" until AFTER I'd reached a normal BMI. I know that sounds sooooo discouraging, but the truth is we all have different body types and mine is tall, willowy and meant to be thin. So even at a BMI of 25 I had way too much body fat and I looked like it. Whilst you still have extra fat you will still have your problem areas - for me it was the muffin top and big or little, it ruined stuff I wanted to wear, broke up the line of my body etc. It didnt go until very last and it didnt go until I got well down to a BMI *under* the top of the healthy range. Only THEN did I start seeing a "normal" figure and even then, that depends on the day! I still think I'm big compared to other people and them am stunned when i see a reflection in a shop window or a photograph.

You know, whilst on a level I absolutely agree with you on how offensive and wrong this sort of thing is, it really amazes me how people cant see and underswtand why this happens. Its called abjectification - as human's we tend to abjectify things like bodily products - we react in dusgust to blood, vomit, etc - disease, the other (other races, disabled or retarded peple, homosexuality, femininity) and we most certainly do it with obesity. Its a deep part of our psyche to react this way. If we didnt have it OURSELVES as obese people, we wouldnt have motivation to loose weight. None of us truly look at our obese bodies and feel no disgust, even if its not on a conscious level. None of us dont feel in some space deep inside as if we're not the abject, the thing that induces disgust. Looking at yourself in despair thinking "I've got to do something about this" is absolutely accepting the fact that you know how others will view you, you know exactly what the obesity signals to other people and that's why you want to change. Health reasons are there, yes, and not everyone wants to get to be model thin either but ALL of us want to change enough to not be "abject" anymore. People get a lot more flowery about this, I've got some seriously weird essays on this stuff from doing a literature major as part of a teachign degree. However, these theories were supported by people such as Freud and Lacan, they're well known and accepted. Its an entirely human and deep seated reaction to abjectify obesity in this manner, same as we would all do if we were presented with a rotting corpse. That's no excuse, people have to learn to deal with corpses in some jobs, disease in others, bodily fluids too. And we can CERTAINLY learn to deal with obesity in an considerate and empathetic manner. But that deep rooted response is quite deeply entrenched on our psychological make up. Its not only ignorant people that feel it and its not only thin people that feel it. Obesity isnt a simple case of fatness as we would like it to be - it IS a disease that deforms our bodies and challenges our mental construction of humanity and we respond to it as such. Thankfully human beings are *usually* evolved enough to be aware of the way our own minds work and retrain them to work in a more morally and socially acceptable way, unlike your colleagues!

thankfully here our medical system is such that if that happens, the band will be replaced and insurance will cover the cost. My surgeon made clear to me the fact that although you wouldnt expect this to happen for a long time, in the region of 20 years or so bands ARE going to fail and have to be replaced.

I'd be very cautious. My mushies stage was broken up - I could only have well cooked fish towards the end of it - tuna too. To be honest, I found tuna quite hard - it had to be tuna in oil, something about the "sticky" texture of tuna and salmon really got to me. But those flavoured tuna packs, I had those with chickpeas, avocado and skinned cucumber and tomato - that went down well. I wasnt allowed any chicken or meat until full solids.

I'm sure its like a band and that once you're entirely healed and back to normal, you can push it a *tiny* bit more than normal on special occasions but you'll have a point which you just cant go past. Over time, the desire to push that point does evaporate a lot becuase you just dont want to feel the way it makes you feel - it may not be that you are actually sick, but nobody really wants to go around all the time feeling like they just at a huge Christmas dinner! And over time, then you connect that its actually about the social occasion, not the food. I mean, I am always baffled when people post about "how do I handle going out to eat" or "its such a waste of money". Well, its simple. You go out, you order something you fancy, you eat till you're satisfied. Going out with family or friends is NOT about getting your money's worth with a stomachful or rich food! If you look at it like it costs you $20 to go out, have a drink, a bite and catch up with friends, who the heck CARES if there's food left over. Here, we dont get to take doggybags, its against health regulations and I honestly couldnt give a fat rats a** about leaving food behind that I paid for. You do get there, truly. And its very liberating when you do.

Stacey, it will cheer you to know that I asked that same question - whether being banded would be like being pregnant and for me, it IS. My first two pregnancies, I could eat fine, I'm tall and have lots of room for an 8lb baby in there. I never got breathless, full on small amounts of food etc. My pregnancies never encroached on my lung and stomach space. But the third one, phew. Little monster was completely breech the entire time, and I had no bump at all until about 30 weeks - she was so far inside me and up into my abdomen for some reason - I barely even showed at full term. That pregnancy, I would only get hungry when I really needed to eat for energy, I'd get the hunger pangs, eat about a cup of food and be stuffed and it would sit with me for ages. I went home from hospital after having her almost 30lb lighter than when I'd conceived and she was a good 8lb baby. I'd thought at the time, if only I could be like this all the time, and now I am! However, head hunger, cravings and the desire to eat just because still come into it! But I can never eat very much at one sitting, although what is really not very much to someone else is now entirely normal to me and I'd say I eat a lot! But people say how can you not be starving on such a small lunch!

I too am not sure what you mean by ruptured. the way you say you could feel something different but do not say you were sick, in pain or any sort of emergency makes me think the balloon has ruptured or similar? My surgeon who is one of the band's pioneers warns his patients to expect that this will occur some time in the future, that the band WONT last forever in our bodies, but 2 years isnt very long, he's meaning more like 20 years. During my time on here, I've heard of various leaks and similar, and a couple of cases of the band coming undone. Nobody wants extra surgery, what a nuisance for you but I guess you can be thankful its not erosion or actual damage to your body.

Firstly, 65lb in a year is not failing! Where do people get this idea that WLS magically makes your body lose 200lb in 3 months? 65lb a year is MORE than a pound a week which is well within the average figures that you read absolutely everywhere. You've done great. Secondly, if you're unable to eat till 1 or 2 pm, you most probably do NOT need a fill - I'd be unfilling if I couldnt eat at all till that time of day. All that achieves is to set you up to be entirely depleted and unable to stop eating or make good choices when you finally open up enough to let solid food in. Breakfast is THE most important meal of the day!!! Skimp on it, choose poor foods and you are a thousand times more likely to eat badly later on. Food choices are down to us, its hard, it really sucks that there's no magic pill to end all our weight woes, but we simply absolutely have to make good choices and exercise. And thirdly, if you have a doctor who's silly enough to overfill you THAT much and flip your port in the process then I'd be finding another one. Anyone can end up overfilled, it happens, our bodies take time to feel the restriction, you can be fine in the surgery and then in trouble by that night etc. But to get back in your car unable to even swallow saliva that quickly, thats way too big and aggressive a fill, and your surgeon should have more care, EVEN if you demanded it. That's quite a misjudgement!

Well, as you've probably noticed, your doctor hasnt told you this, because its not generally the way they encourage you to do it in Australia, so dont worry too much about it. Here, I have to stress that its not the complete opposite, not a "low Protein diet" its just that all food groups are considered important and there's justs not the belief that loads of protein offers any real advantage, and that there's more benefit in eating a larger portion of your diet as fresh fruit and vegies. However, a bit more protein and a bit less carbs is a good thing when you're trying to lose and I dont think you'll find any surgeon arguing if you replace your white carbs (white bread, Cookies, cakes, white rice and pasta) with protein foods! Just as long as you're not sacrificing your fruit and veg for protein. There's protein in almost anything, but animal foods are a major source - meat, eggs and dairy. However, protein comes nicely packaged with a LOT of saturated fat, so a high protein diet can be extremely artery clogging too - you have to choose lean meats and low fat dairy. Stay far away from lunch/deli meats - salami, ham, processed foods like hot dogs and sausage are just plain no good for you, there's really nothing good about them. cheese, well, its so delicious, sigh, especially good cheeses, but its not good in large amounts, unless you're eating cottage cheese, and well, I'd rather the package it comes in, lol. If you have a couple of cups worth of skim milk per day - on Cereal, in tea and coffee and you include a dedicated protein source with each meal - like tuna with your lunchtime salad and some sort of meat, fish, poultry for dinner, you'll get enough protein. Beans and legumes like chick peas, lentils and such are a great source too and its a really great idea to include a couple of vegetarian meals like this a week to up your vegetable intake and keep your meat intake down. Most people unless they eat really tiny amounts will get enough protein without even trying. Read all the labels in your pantry and fridge and you'll see there's protein everywhere. You really dont need to worry about Protein shakes, but you can of course, if you like them.

There isnt anything I really "cant" eat but certain things got more difficult after about a year - which I think was four or five fills for me. However, I'd lost well over half my excess wieght by then.

I find it helpful to differentiate cravings and urges. I get the urge to eat something bad, oh, about 400 times a day. Those I ignore. A real craving or desire to eat something, I usually indulge that. I dont see why not. I dont get a real craving all that often, and when I have one, there is no substituting. I just have whatever it is that I really fancy. I view this is a lifestyle, not a diet, and that worked for me. Although i would say I had a sweet tooth, I find that I get many urges for sweet foods but rarely cravings. However, every now and then I will REALLY want something salty, like hot chips. .

I was told 4 weeks, but I'd be less cautious about the ocean than a pool. Public pools, ick. I get sick every time I go in one anyway. But salt water is great for healing, but I'd want my incisions to be at least a couple of weeks old at least.

On weekends, I make and freeze small meals - things like pea and ham or zucchini and leek Soup in single serve containers. Those are simple to take, I add an apple for a snack (I keep a peeler in my bag as i have to peel and cut up apples to eat them). I also freeze dinner leftovers in single containers. Early on I invested in a whole lot of small pyrex lidded containers. Um, what else.... I make small salads and take a single serve tin of tuna. I also buy a lot of precut vegies - in Safeway here, they sell great little kids packs containing celery and carrot sticks and cherry tomatoes - with a good gourmet hummus dip those are a great lunch, I can leave the dip in the fridge at work but you can always spoon some into a small container to take. Yogurts - i love the gourmet yogurts with a layer of fruit in them - the thick greek stuff, its really filling. And occasionally I take the makings for a salad sandwich - lettuce, tomato, cheese, grated carrot, cucumber and some wholegrain bread.

Sigh, nothing's easy is it? So even with a sleeve, there's margin for user error? If you overeat by any more than what's already happened would you vomit? Would it be a like a pb, where its not acidy, nauseous vomiting, just regurgitation? When is someone going to create a weight loss surgery that requires patients to do absolutely nothing, lol? Forgive all the questions - my oldest son, I'm sure we'll be looking into WLS for him within a couple of years time. I'm sure the sleeve will be a lot more common here in that sort of time frame, and I suspect for a teenager, it'd be an easier surgery to manage than a band, which requires a lot of responsibility and eating modifcation. I'm also pretty sure that if you choose a band for a teenager, you're pretty much guaranteeing one or two MORE band surgeries in his lifetime.

Cheri, good for you for recognizing so early on the role you have to play in this process. I can promise you further on down the track you will not be able to do these things. To a large extent, it will take care of itself. The ONLY reason you can drink while you're eating now and get ot eat more, or why you can eat for longer and get to eat more is that you dont have optimum restriction. Try the drinking thing a year or two down the track when you've had a few fills and you'll vomit - NOTHING guarantees meeting your dinner again like shoving liquid on top of it, liquid that has nowhere to go. And you wont be able to eat for a solid half hour either. The food will stay in your pouch and not start to empty out like it does now. the good thing about the band and fills is that its incremental and you get used to your restrictions bit by bit. the bad thing about the band and fills is that its incremental, lol, and you panic at first that it hasnt worked.

I think its a wonderful environment for people who dont like the gym and I think its a great start for unfit people, and certainly a good exercise program to keep you healthy, help you lose weight and stay out of the cardiac ward. If you want some serious results from your exercise in terms of really excellent strength and fitness, you're better off in a mainstream gym. Its perfect for women like my mum, who's 67, is pretty darn fit and active, likes to keep in shape and keep her figure but doesnt want to run marathons, build huge biceps or get to 10% body fat. For someone like me, who runs regularly, wants to stay really fit and in GREAT shape, well, I do a Curves workout and its merely what I'd call a warm up. They say you cant get too fit for it, you jsut go faster and harder. Well, that's not true. Those hydraulic machines have a return phase that you must wait for, there is only so fast you can push them before you start to lose form and not do the exercise properly and many people get too fit for that. My main beef with them is that claim (that you cant get too fit) and their outdated exercise information. I got a job with them which in all conscience I couldnt take because their information is SO out of date (like the fat burning heart rate rubbish) and their training for their instructors really so poor (they know the machines, but know zilch about human anatomy and what you're really doing) that I just couldnt shut my mouth about how wrong they were, lol. Being a franchise, you have to present it how they want you to and I wouldnt have been able to do it. But that said - those are negative things - but basically, its good circuit exercise for the more moderately fit/overweight/older people that will challenge them and not everyone wants to be a super athelete so its all many people will ever need. Its fantastic for that - and if you supplement it with some cardio, even better. In and of itself, 3 times a week for 30 minutes really wouldnt be optimal for weight loss, but add a couple of hour long power walks and you'd be on a great thing! I'd just say that if you're comfortable pushing harder, and you find your heart rate is above their ridiculous range, then lie. Dont let them tell you you're not burning fat by working that hard. the harder you work the better your results will be and anyone that tells you any different is misinformed.

They say that about the lapband too and I really dont get it. YOu could just as easily sabotage weight loss with salami and cheeses or chips and nuts as you could with sweet things! We all had WLS because we werent succesful fighting our eating issues without help! I think the only thing that would really worry me with surgery and it being effective is truly disordered eating - like true binge eating and bulimia etc. Things that even physical discomfort wont fix because they're not really physical problems. Excessive appetite for foods that arent the most healthy - that's part body, part head. Any surgery will help the body part of that equation. And with any surgery, you have to do the head part yourself.

2000 is a bit much, honestly, if you're around 1200 to 1500 that's a safe sensible level for most women to lose weight and many women have to go more like 1000 or below. I *should* be able to eat about 2800 calories to maintain at my height and activity level. There's no damn way I could get away with that - eating that much made me obese! Protein Snacks - well, I often hard boil a few eggs at a time and leave those in the fridge. You can just eat a cold hard boiled egg or spread it on some crackers. A piece of low fat cheese. A small handful of nuts Peanut Butter spread on apple slices - suprisingly yummy a yogurt You've probably noticed we're not encouraged to focus on the protein quite so much in Australia and wholegrain carbs arent banned, but you're right, you will be hungry if you're not eating enough protein.