Jachut

You're the winner allrigth! 5K is a huge achievement! Once you can do that, you really CAN do any distance. However, I find, I do the longer distances for races but for my general fitness schedule, day to day stuff, fit it in between getting home from work and dinner or getting up in the mornign to run, 5 or 6 K is absolutely fine, enough to keep you fit and thin. Great work! For me, that was a much bigger thrill than getting into any size or pair of jeans.

I hear you on the boobs. End of the year, I'm moving on that. As soon as I know I have a job (about to finish my teaching degree) I will be finishing summer 2010 with a great rack. Have you looked into the botox neck lift? I have the teeniest turkey gobbler and the PS I say a year back about my boobs suggested it. No surgery, just botox. And of course, you dont tend to look like a stunned mullet a la Nicole Kidman when its your neck, not your forehead (and you can still raise your eyebrows when you realise Plain is breathing down your neck). Good luck!

I was 5ft 10, 245 lb when I got banded and Kirstie Alley at her heaviest was twice the size I was. I was nowhere near as fat as she got. Then again - it can be deceptive. You'd have to see her in real life. And she also has one of those faces, where she just completely loses any chin or neck when she gains which makes her look absolutely enormous, when in fact her body may not have been as big as her face led you to expect, if you know what I mean. On the other hand, I have a very heavy girlfriend who has maintained a fairly thin neck (and also has tiny, slender hands and feet) and that is also deceptive, you cant believe she weighs 300lb. If she hadnt been the JC spokesperson, i would have suspected she never said what her weight was and that it was just made up rubbish to fill tabloids. But in the position she had, I feel she did have a responsibility to be honest about her weight (and size).

Even with a band I've had to learn to graze a bit - if I stick to 3 meals a day I do lose weight. But I also get very hungry coz I do need more food than I can eat in 3 meals. I really NEED 1800 to 2000 calories to maintain.

I've never found the various gu's and gel's I've tried to do all that much for my performance to be honest, but what DOES make a difference is eating a wholegrain based diet. If I keep my body carb fuelled, I can run long distances with maybe ONE gel (at 100 calories) to get me through if its 15kms or so. I dont find I need sports drinks, Water is fine for me. I simply dont do a Protein based diet. It makes me feel crap, I have no energy and I run out of oomph very fast if I try to put in long running sessions. It does not suit my body and that's all the evidence I need that its not the be all and end all of weight loss eating. I eat carbs and they make me feel healthy and energetic. Overall, I eat stuff like oatmeal or wholegrain bread for Breakfast, I eat bown rice and brown Pasta, I eat lots of fruit and vegetables and I try to eat a slice of bread or so a day if I'm preparing for a longer run. I can eat bread though, I'm lucky. And if I couldnt I would unfill a bit so I could - because there's less calories in good quality carbs than there is in a zillion shots of a sports product during your ride. Carbs are fibrous and airy and take up room in your tummy for much less calories than protein even though gram for gram the calorie count is the same. And I find because I burn it off, I can afford to eat it without it affecting weight or weight loss. In short, carbo load. The standard bandster diet is not a great diet when it comes to talking about sports nutrition for endurance events. It is not what athletes would eat. And no amount of expensive products is going to make up for it.

Satisfied full feels the same to me as it always did. Overfull though - MUCH more uncomfortable, i even find it hard to breath and have an asthma like urge to cough - in that its not productive or mucousy but tight and irritated.

I never thought I'd pass up on a low cut dress for an occasion - becuase it showed that I have no cleavage and my chest bones stick out, lol.

But would you really eat 2 entire tbspns in one go? I find one more than enough for a sandwich or a piece of toast. Or just to eat :-) I think its worthwhile in moderation - incredibly healthy fats in nuts and the Vitamin E it contains is very beneficial for you too. But choose good quality organic Peanut Butter, not supermarket crap full of additives. I have found, with the portion control of the band, I simply do not have to worry about fat or even calories (must be the running). I make sure the fat I eat is not saturated fat, but I dont limit it. And my bloods etc are all perfect. Life's too short to not eat peanut butter!

My DH didnt lose. He kept trying, but the thing is, our family diet WAS very healthy to begin with and DH is a very healthy eater - he honestly has the slowest metabolism you could imagine and he sits in the car for about 2 hours per day and a desk for at least 9. He gets no exercise. I got fat on what I ate in ADDITION to what I fed my family, lol. So to be 250lb at 6ft 3, he really did OK, not to be much fatter. So his eating habits really did not change and he didnt lose. Eventually he got banded to and has enjoyed a very slow but dependable weight loss, however he needs to eat less than I do to lose weight. But he does no exercise still.

I agree, couch to 5K if you like structure. You *might* find it happens for you like it did for me. I went out to start C25K, and when I reached the end of the first jogging section, I didnt need to stop! So I kept going. And going. It was a very slow, strange shuffle and I was breathing like a steam engine, but I could keep going. I ran 3kms (what's that 2 and a bit miles) that night. That as my benchmark, I did that 4 times per week from then on. Then I bought a treadmill and I began to get on that daily, I trained for a 4K race, then a 5K, then a 7.5. After the first 4K, I took it back outside and alternated with the treadmill (the softer treadmill surface helped a lot) and nowadays I use the treadmill once or twice a week and run outside the rest of the time. Intervals is a good way too - I do interval training now, and I run so hard that I must walk in the recovery sections. But early on, I was stubborn as stubborn. It wasnt a run if I walked even 2 step! (that's a bit stupid, but just me). Good luck! Running was always my BIGGEST goal in losing weight. It was what I wanted to achieve.

My MIL is dealing with chemo at the moment - the anti nausea meds are incredibly effective, she's had not one single bit of nausea and has in fact gained a bit of weight. She still has all her hair too. I'd unfill my band I think. Getting well now is what's important. Best of luck.

To lose 100% of one's excess weight would mean that that person lost enough weight to take them to the top of their healthy weight range, or a BMI of 24.9. I am about in the middle of my healthy weight range at 150lb, with a BMI of 22, and its about 120% of excess weight lost, given my particular healthy range. But I could say at the same time, for example, that I've only lost 95% of what I wanted to lose, if I wanted a BMI of 21!

See I would argue these arent "rules" they're practices particular to the United States. We are told to do none of those things in Australia! So like you say, rules can be doctor specific. Well chewed, dont drink with meals, dont overfill your pouch, those are sensible rules to follow and pretty universal. But the rest of it is really personal preferences.

I know exactly what you mean!

Interesting point Penelope, not that I'm taking issue or arguing about it, I cant remember if it was me that said that or not, in this thread, but i've said it often enough I had the band so I'd never have to diet again. I didnt diet. I dont diet. All I do is get full on smaller portions, I choose healthy foods about 90% of the time - but I have my treats, I drink moderately, I love some chocolate after dinner and sweet carb foods like muffins and cake will ALWAYS be my main 'problem food'. I indulge in them every now and again. The band simply gives me portion control. In return for such dietary freedom, I run for an hour most days. Do I consider my life a "diet". No. I eat what I want to when I want to and I dont force myself out the door to exercise. I love running. I lost 120% of my excess weight to have a BMI of 22, I am in perfect health, my cholesterol levels etc are fine (because basically I do eat a healthy diet). So its in your definition of diet and what you considered "normal" eating pre band. If you previously ate most of your meals from a drive thru, or out of boxes and packets, you'd find my regime like a "diet". I didnt and I dont. I dont really care how many calories I eat in a day. Its different day to day. I find if I eat a lot one day, I will be less hungry the next. My band has helped me to listen to my body. See how there's no SHOULD's in this? You can use a lapband any way that suits you personally.

Oh, I dont know. Say you develop alzheimer's or dementia in your 50's? How would you handle a band or a sleeve if you forget how to eat like a WLS patient? What if you're one of those people that naturally get REALLY skinny in old age - tends to happen in my family - like frightening thin, 110lb at 5ft 10 thin like my dad's mum. Her entire 70's and 80's were all about everyone worrying about her eating as her extreme thinness did lead to stuff like osteoporosis - she broke a fair few bones - and she was always sick with colds and stuff. If that happens to me, as it seems to be a family thing, I'd suspect my family and myself would want my band out. Say something better comes along that requires NO surgery to your innards to control obesity? Wouldnt it be nice to be able eat normally again if by some miracle they worked out a way to control our heads rather than cinching our stomachs? Say you develop an illness and really require normal amounts of food and nourishment to sustain yourself? What about various afflictions of the stomach such as ulcers, motility issues or even cancer which you can develop that are not necessarily CAUSED by the band? You might not *have* to remove the band but you might want to. I'm sure if you have a bypass, switch of sleeve that you could work with issues liek these with medical help but it'd be a helluva lot easier to simply unfill or remove a band wouldnt it? (that's of course if the band lasted that long!)

I made a deal with myself not to do this - I felt i had decided to embark on a new life and it started the minute I made the decision to do it. I didnt try to "diet", I didnt try to lose weight and I didnt ban foods. But I did vow to myself I would not eat everything in sight whilst I still had the chance. There is honestly nothing you HAVE to give up after surgery, you can have all things in moderation. But there's a lot of things you wont want! But its really common to feel this way and eat like this and there's MANY bandsters here who have done so and gone on to be successful.

I suspect my gall bladder is sending out a few brief warnings too. Either that or its gas, as it came on once after drinking diet coke. The other thing that appears to set it off is cold things like ice cream. I get a pain I would describe as colicky, like it feels like the muscles in my stomach are in spasm and locked tight and it does radiate to my back and makes me scared to take a deep breath. Its a real ache, very painful and it aches up my esophagus and into my cheeks and the roof of my mouth. There is NOTHING that relieves it - like with labour or period pain, you curl into foetal position around it, there is no position to get into which relieves the pain. For me, I've had four or five attacks of this since banding, where it lasted half an hour or so and occasionally I'll get just a shadow of it, but it doesnt turn into anything. It feels as if its my stomach but no nausa. It could easily be gall bladder. I've got my head in the sand at the moment. I figure if its going to get worse, I'll know about it soon enough. Or, it might just be a spasm in my my stomach muscles set off by the cold food. But it doesnt feel like the pain before you're going to vomit.

That's what I mean Restless - adjust your points. Its too much food for most bandsters. Just dont tell THEM you're doing it coz you'll get a lecture about how you wont lose any weight! They seem to think the formula is some sort of magic that must not be messed with, but really people only lose on WW coz they're eating less, so it works for bandsters too, if they care to adjust it to their capacity.

Gallbladder problems are extremely common with EITHER surgery, and indeed any weight loss without surgery. and it doesnt happen due to lack of Protein, it happens becuase weight loss can cause a shift in the levels of bile salts and cholesterol in the body which causes stones to develop or causes silent stones to become symptomatic. You're at risk of that with ANY large weight loss, dont let that put you off either surgery.

Oh, I dont know, at the heart of WW, as with the lapband, its really just portion control. There's no magic in where WW recommends you get your calories from, in the end, its calorie restriction. They go by the guidelines for the general public, but you can certainly do WW in a more lapband recommended way - protein first, you can do low carb, but what you're really doing is counting points to keep calories down. You can do WW eating nothing but Cookies and you will still lose weight. So I wouldnt say its not compatible, I'd just not be very vocal about what you're actually eating at a meeting, since in my experience WW tend to be VERY stubborn about what you must eat. Like when I did the Lactation program and was told to eat 8 slices of bread a day. I struggled with that PRE band sheesh! And of course, I lost no weight, so then I was accused of not eating ALL my points. If I did WW with the band, I'd just keep quiet about my band and my diet regime.

For the longet time I could eat it without problem, then i began to leave most of the rice and now, it just plain doesnt appeal to me anymore because I just KNOW it would get stuck. its amazing how your taste changes, and the foods you think you'll miss just lose their appeal.

Its thought to be any or all of those things - not following post op instructions (which all are so different, so which surgeon is right?), having your band too tight (and I suspect this applies to an awful lot of people who dont think they are too tight), constantly overeating or pbing, possibly irritating the stomach by taking things such as NSAID's on a regular basis, poor band placement, overagressive, fast filling. Basically, if you put your band in, fill it gradually, dont overfill it and leave it the heck alone (avoid the constant fill/unfill cycle) and use your head -work WITH your band and exercise rather than rely on extreme tightness to control you, your chances of being OK are better, but even then, it still happens. But its a very small percentage.

thanks, that makes sense. Well, that's my major concern taken care of. I really do think, much as I love my band, that the sleeve will be the surgery that's done the most over the next decade and more. I notice they're doing lots of them in Western Australia - its a HUGE state, simply enormous - probably 1/3 of the entire continent of Australia but much of it is desert and outback, its very sparsely populated apart from the south west corner. Many many people are coming in from very remote areas when they have WLS. Fills and constant maintenance are not easy when you may live as much as 2000kms (or more) from your doctor - it'd be like trying to traverse from the top of Canada to Mexico. Sleeves seem to be on the rise there and I'm sure it'll take off in the rest of the country.

Actually for me its the opposite. If I'm going to have a drink - more than a glass of wine - I need to be VERY careful because I tend to forget to chew enough.