Jachut

Yes, you might know in 12 months whether you messed up or not. If you disrupt the healing process, and your band doesnt heal in place correctly, you can set yourself up for slips further down the track.

The thing that worries me is that I've now spent as long on maintenance as I did losing. And maintaining by far has been the biggest change, the real part of the "journey". Learing to live with a normal weight body, learning how to eat normally rather than 'diet', learning how to approach exercise as lifestyle tool rather than as a punishment for being fat, its all involved a huge mental adjustment. People can and do lose 100+ lb in a year and I'm not saying that they're going to fail, not by a long shot. But I'd say that they've completed maybe 1/3 of the journey at that stage. It worries me people rushing off immediately for extensive cosmetic surgery etc becuase I think you need to adjust and mellow out a bit and come to terms with it all. But we're all individuals and maybe that's just me.

I personally havent been filled more than .1 cc in my 4cc band at a time since I hit 1.5cc. My doctor, who is one of the Australian pioneers of the band is very firm that small is better with this band, a little amount makes a big difference and big fills lead to big problems. It isnt widely used now becuase of the improvements in the newer bands which make slips just that little bit less likely - not a lot, but these things are always developing. I know when I was banded back in December 05, this was a common band but there was also a 14cc one being used in australia and I had a much easier time finding restriction than people I knew with the 14. But you have to be patient becuase its so easy to overfill it, as little as .1cc can tip you over. I find that 2.8cc is perfect for me. I can eat "normal" amounts of food in that people dont notice the amount, I'm just a "small eater". I can eat bread, I can eat meat, I can eat everything - but like Mely above, I'm less likely to eat some things in public than others. I get stuck and pb only occasionally, but it does happen.

I tend to think along similar lines. I mean, I did and DO need fill to have lost weight at around 1-2lb per week and to maintain that loss. But I am not interested in living on tiny portions, I am not interested in cutting out food groups, I am not interested in what I consider dysfunctional behaviours like logging food and Water and counting Protein. I dont want to offend anyone by saying that, but its not how I want to live my life and i've never ever found that sort of thing effective for me with weight loss. So i was more than happy with a pound or two a week - I still got an incredible result, I mean I have a BMI of 21!!!!I lost all my weight and then some AND I feel I've created maintainable habits and a pleasant lifestyle

Lol lol lol. Dont we ALL know someone... I like the "from the makers of the velcro mullet" bit too. Some concepts just transcend continents and cultures, dont they?

Oh, if you mean last meal of the day, we eat dinner between 7 and 7.30 in our house.

Laziness? Lol. Honestly, I approach eating like this: Think What I want to eat Discount that (it will ALWAYS be a slider) Eat the hardest thing I can think of. In real terms I think what do I want for lunch, and my response is a cup of coffee and a couple of Cookies. Not really hungry. So my response is make a sandwich and eat that - tuna, salad vegies, wholegrain bread. Yep, takes effort, yep, can be "dangerous" to eat, but it MAKES MY BAND WORK LIKE IT SHOULD. I do this with everything. I very rarely eat what my first impulse tells me to because I think most people with a band gradually come to prefer the unhealthy slider foods. I think this is the major drawback of the band, but it only takes awareness to beat it. It doesnt even take willpower - I always tell myself I can have the cookies after the sandwich, I never ever want more than one.

Soups and my favourite meal was mashed pumpkin, potato, broccoli, corn and carrot with gravy mmmmmm soft and nutritious.

I eat a quite high carb diet - but I only eat good ones. I sometimes think we're talking apples and oranges here though and that the food we have in Australia is a bit different. For example, i eat a sandwich for lunch most days. but you can buy bread in every supermarket that is definitely not a "waste of space". Its completely wholegrain, stoneground, full of seeds. I wouldnt eat a slice of white bread or "fake" wholemeal - the stuff that's just been coloured brown. When I eat oatmeal, its rolled oats. They're in their natural state, not processed and put into little packets. I dont eat processed cereals. I eat organic muesli. So I eat extremely good quality carbs, and I feel terrible when I dont. I have no energy for running otherwise. But I often dont eat a carb at dinner, because that's when I eat the most vegies and if I've already had carb foods during the day, I consider the vegies and protein more important at that time. The reason eating a carb makes you stop losing in such a short space as a day is nothing more than water - for every molecule of carbs your body has stored (as glycogen in liver and muscles) it also stores 2 water molecules. Go on a low carb diet, shed LOADS of water, miraculous weight loss. Eat a few grams of carbs, back comes some of that water as your muscle stores are replenished - you havent lost or gained much fat in the entire process. - that takes a bit longer.

I've always put my bra on like that, lol. I've got two sports bras that have a little clip on the strap to convert them to racer back and I alwasy were them that way because they give much firmer support when I'm running. But they make me flat as an ironing board :-(. Dont worry, as you lose, bras fit. I always thought I was round shouldered too and bras used to drive me nuts creepin up my back. I was wearing too small a cup, too big a back size, and I fixed that probably after I'd lost only a small amount of weight. But now straps never all off my shoulders, the back stays nice and low and I dont need four hooks!

i think that coming to terms with what actually happens to your body when you lose weight is very difficult. You shrink, but you're still just you. You have the same problem areas, you dont get more and more perfect all of the time, you just get smaller. I'm now at the point where really, there's just no more left to lose and I STILL dont have the type of body I thought I would. It's just never going to be - and its a combination of really NOT having that body and not being able to SEE what I really look like. I've spent so many years being 'big' if not obese that I just dont have the ability to not see myself as bigger than others. BUT - here is where exercise is the kicker. Becoming a runner has taught me to not LOOK at my body so much as to feel how it feels and appreciate what it can do. I think of it more in terms of a machine and less in terms of a fashion accessory, if that makes sense. I've gained huge respect for my body from running.

That's what I tend to do Lulu - have my dinner, then a glass of wine is dessert - I drink it slowly and enjoy it! i dont have any appetite for stuff like ice cream after dinner.

I drink a lot of coffee - probably five, or six cups a day but usually I just drink instant so its not strong, brewed coffee, I'd only have one of those once a day or less. So I'm fairly impervious to caffeine, I usually have a coffee after dinner with no ill effects. I do notice if I'm out and have an espresso after dinner, that does keep me awake because its so strong. But I'm the same post surgery as before.

I know I'm full because I feel full. I dont measure or weight food, and here, 1/2 cup is not a "goal" its a "guideline". I eat more than that and always have. So I'm not mreasuring out half a cup and eating it and thining Hmmm, do I feel full. I serve my dinner, and eat until I feel full. Well, more correctly just until I feel well satisfied. Its different every time, depends on time of day, what I'm eating, whether I've just been for a run or not (makes me tight). And as for exercise, yes, I'd say for me it was at least 50% if not more, of the equation and its definitely the main factor in keeping the weight off.

My doctor actually recommends moderate wine drinking. That's wine drinking, not beer, mixed drinks or cocktail drinking. Its good for you in moderation, red particularly has health benefits and there's really nothing wrong with a small glass most days. But anymore and its not so healthy. My doctor said at one info evening that statistics show moderate wine drinkers lose weight better than complete teetotallers. I dont know what or where those stats are or how extensive.

I agree, changing what you eat can help. Personally, I'm a carb eater, NOTHING makes my band work well like wholegrain breads and cereals. A sandwich for lunch combining, say, bread, tuna and salad vegetables can easily last me till dinner (even though I cant eat the entire thing) whereas a salad, and I'll be looking for chocolate within an hour.

Lol, when the grind gets less, I find that's time to run further, faster, longer!

It is possible to lose without exercise, but you probably wont lose all your weight and you'll probably lose slowly. And exercise is key in keeping the weight OFF.

Seriously, this is not meant with any intention of offending at all, but if you're thinking that you might remove it, then you're not ready for weight loss surgery. The key to this is being willing to DO WHAT IT TAKES. There is no room for thinking you can go through the pain short term and then go 'back to normal'. To lose weight, wether you do it by diet and exercise alone or with the help of surgery, the change in your behaviours must be forever. In deciding to have a lapband you are deciding you are committed enough to the process and doing what you have to to wear the risk of things going wrong. There is absolutely nothing wrong in deciding you dont want to take that risk. But it is very flawed to think you can take it for a while and then escape it. You must be absolutely certain that you are willing to give up all those comforting habits this very day, not leave yourself an out down the track. Statistically, that works for virtually nobody.

I've got a 9.75cm 4cc band.

I do both - but mainly outside. Before banding I didnt run regularly, because I was too heavy to do it. But I did do it sometimes, to the best of my ability. But I always DID like exercise and fairly hard cardio. I've never been totally non active.

Yes, I can identify with this, I thought it was just me because to be honest, I've never been someone whos interested more than once or twice a week. Now I dont care if its months. That was OK, I had DH to keep us on the straight and narrow, lol. But now HE's suffering the same thing. I do think something about weight loss is the reason.

If you're going to do it, I suggest a couple of days before the surgery. It just makes no sense to me to stuff yourself the night before! Give it time to digest.

I did not see my "new" body emerge and start to feel really excited and NORMAL until the final 20lb or so. Honestly, its that last bit of weight that makes ALL the difference. Even so, I've had to come to terms with the fact that sheesh, my BMI is 21, there's no that much more weight I could possibly lose and yet I still have cellulite.

Oh, that's terribly sad. I enjoyed her posts a lot. Thanks for letting us know.