Jachut

I agree with a couple of things above, first and foremost I think you need to be realistic about what a healthy rate of weight loss is and you also need to be realistic about just what a band can achieve - if you need a fill due to hunger then you do, but you have to do a lot of the work yourself as well. Also, you cant keep having big fills. The more you have in your band, the smaller the fills get, in the end very very tiny fills can make a big difference. As to pulling out the Fluid to check how much is in there, the doctors in my clinic are trained NOT to do that. Prof O'Brien believes that doing that routinely is what causes the irritation that leads to so many overfill issues and the need to baby the band with liquids to mushies after a fill. I get filled on top of what I have and ONLY if I had a reason to suspect a leak would the fluid be withdrawn. Not doing it is definitely not negligent practice. If they withdraw all your fluid before filling you its entirely possible there's less in there than you think. Also, maybe they missed with the .5cc fill. And coming off your depo shots could have made a HUGE difference, hormone levels affect the band markedly. Hope you figure it out.

I agree with Wasa, you've already proven you have the determination and drive to do brilliantly with a purely restrictive procedure. On that strength, I wouldnt even look at a bypass, I'd go the sleeve. Personally, my band has been trouble free and if I had a slip, I'd consider banding again first and foremost if that were possible, but I think I'd give the sleeve a good hard look and if rebanding isnt possible,then I'd definitely go the sleeve.

No, its nothing to do with your port, its just to do with your build and where you carry your weight. And the older you get, the harder belly fat is to shift, younger women often struggle with their lower halves especially if you're pear shaped like me and have never had a real belly. But once we hit menopause and middle age, the belly fat arrives! It will go eventually. But I guess like how I feel about my backside, to get your belly the size you want, you may have to have REALLY skinny arms and legs. I'm deciding whether I want a small bum or a skeleton face.

Its a date! Broccoli and apples at a fancy restaurant!

Personally, i consider getting enough vegetables more important than getting 60 grams of Protein in every day! When i eat a meal, I mix everything on my fork, so I get a bit of a vegetable and a bit of protein. I dont do protein first. I dont think eating a chicken breast and then being unable to fit in veges is a healthy meal. So I eat them together and if I'm getting full, I focus on the vegetables. As it is, even though I'd eat probably a cup in total of maybe 4 veges a day I still dont think that's enough. In australia we're recommended to eat 2 fruit and 5 veg every day and I dont get through that. But I do prioritise fruit and vegetables over protein. I often have a salad for lunch too and that ups the vegetables to over a cup. I am not much on Protein shakes, but I do often (maybe 4 times a week) make smoothies for Breakfast because I find fruit hard to eat and blending it in with milk and yogurt is a good chance to get some berries, banana, pineapple, mango or whatever I have in the fruit bowl in to me as well. When I'm happy that I've had enough fresh food, then I'll comfortably eat protein foods and carbs. The what have you eaten today threads horrify me to be honest.

Sure, today is a pretty typical day for me For Breakfast I had a bowl of muesli, that's organic untoasted stuff, not sugary supermarket muesli. I had about half a cup with about 1/4 of a cup of skim milk. Mid morning, I had a cup of coffee and a banana For lunch I had three Ryvita crackers with avocado, cheese and tomato on them - I can eat a lot at the moment, I would prefer to be happy with two of these! I had a skim latte this afternoon at the shops dinner - MIL and FIL are coming, MIL has made a chicken casserole - generally her cookings is pretty healthy, it will probably have a Soup base, some veges and chicken in it. I'm providing the rice (brown naturally!) and steamed veges. I dont think I'll do dessert, I'll put out a cheese and fruit platter, which I would plan only the barest nibble at. I'm sure I'll have a glass of wine or two. I worry less about wine, and cheese and stuff like that these days as I've reached goal - when I was losing and a bit tighter than I am now, I would eat the same but simply smaller portions. Whilst I *do* eat rice, I do agree that its probably the least valuable food on my plate, oftentimes its there for decoration only so my plate looks nice! I usually fill up on the veges first, then the Protein food and only then would I eat a starch like a potato - barely ever do I really want it. That's a fairly typical day for me, you can see that its not low carb but its more complex carb based than it is protein based. You could beef it up by having eggs for breakfast instead but I've tried shooting for 60 grams + of protein a day and it makes me feel really sick - bloated and gassy,its just too rich for me. My digestive system just likes fibre and carbs, so I stick with them. I've still got all my hair and I have plenty of muscle. Maybe I could of lost faster, but I dont really care from this end of things. I will occasionally have a piece of cake or a muffin or something as a treat but not more than about once a week, even less.

Whilst *technically* the band has no window as do other surgeries, I'd agree that it has. That first 12 months was phenomenal, I've never lost weight as steadily as that before. It wasnt amazingly fast or anything but steady and dependable. I'd encourage anyone to really make the most of their fist year. I'd say the window is as much a result of our own motivations as anything physical. I'd like to lose another 5kg (12lb give or take) and it seems ridiculous that I've been trying for a year to do it. But the reality is, I'm already thin and I just dont have the motivation to care enough to really put some effort in like I did when I felt fat, disgusting and out of shape.

Ugh, I wouldnt even have fed my babies that stuff, let alone at it myself. Even the smell of baby food makes me gag. Seriously though, it's not going to hurt you, but its awfully bland and tasteless! And really, part of losing weight and keeping it off for life is learning to cook for yourself - healthy meals, not packaged stuff. Mushies really isnt hard - for example, once youre on mushie food, skinned tomato, skinned cucumber, avocado and chickpeas with a can of flavoured tuna is a great mushy meal -and how hard is that to do? Much more tasty too. Make up a good Soup with meat and vegetables in it, puree and freeze in smaller portions. You'll enjoy it a lot more and be able to get through it a lot easier without trying to live off tasteless foods.

Hmmmm, like I said, it depends on the intensity. I found interval training GREAT for weight loss and the value of running over walking made a huge difference for me too - I honestly dont believe that old work in your fat burning heart rate range for maximum fat loss. Baloney. Work harder and smarter, it works. But that said, you only need a relatively short session of hard work - 45 minutes is plenty. If you're just turning over the pedals whilst watching TV then you're not wasting your time, incidental exercise is a big part of our own personal metabolisms, most really thin people dont spend a lot of time sitting still. But by the same token, easy slow exercise isnt going to make the weight literally fall off you either. If you're tiny, 3/4 of a pound a week might be realistic. Honestly, I didnt lose any faster than that. I took 2 years to get my almost 100lb off. But everyone is different - you can only try it. Dont do it for a week or two and see what happens. You also have to think - is it realistic long term. I know I decided to run because I thought 8 kms a day would be great, but I dont have an hour and a half to walk that. I'm too time poor. I can run it in 50 minutes. Can you really continue with 150 minutes of exercise a day long term? But yes, I credit a lot of my success to running. It's definitely the make or break factor between losing ALL your weight or just the 60% average.

For me, I got home from the hosptial and we went out for a half hour stroll, and did that again that evening. In between I was resting. within a day or two after that I was doing two half hour gentle walks (about 3kms, not powerwalking by any stretch of the imagination) and my normal house work and day to day stuff, shopping etc. So on my feet a LOT of the day. I did stop and sit down and rest coz I got more tired than usual, but I basically tried to avoid beign a couch potato for a week and to be more "normal". But you must listen to your body, you've had surgery and eveyrone is different. I might add, I was a BMI of 35 and already of OK fitness when I had surgery so what I was doing was right for ME. Just avoid sitting for long periods. That gives me gas pains even when I havent had surgery!

I think as a general rule, you'd find a lot of trainers say that any more than an hour of cardio is really a waste of time. I know I've never really seen great returns for running for an hour and a quarter as opposed to fifty minutes and now that maintenance is the goal, not weight loss, I tend to do about 40-45 minute long runs. But if its something you ENJOY, theh its not a waste of time, other than things like my concern with running is that to run for an hour and a half every day would be enjoyable to me becuase I love it. But the levels of pain and injury I suffer increase a lot with that kind of workload. I'd be better to keep up my running and add weights. If you're mixing it up and doing cardio and strength training, then you could easily spend two hours or so a day working out, with a good run and some attention on chest/back one day/ legs and arms another kind of thing. And if you chose to walk for an hour on top of that, well how can that hurt? As long as you dont start to feel that you're overtraining - not sleeping, not performing well, getting sick etc. It depends on intensity too of course, yes, interval training, boy, I'm whacked after 45 minutes of that, no way could i do 3 hours. Or run a half marathon every day.

Well it depends how you define "whatever you want". If you want to eat Mcdonalds for every meal, then there really isnt much point in band surgery, I agree. But if you want a healthy non diet lifestyle there is. America and Australia do the post band lifestyle VERY differently. In Australia we dont generally do the Protein first thing, and low carbing is not the craze here that it is there. Australian bandsters are encouraged to eat from all food groups and we're still sort of more towards the low fat high carb diet although the importance of a bit less carbs and a bit more protein is well accepted. But bread, Pasta and rice (good quality wholegrain ones, not supermarket rubbish) are staples of my diet - to many here, that would qualify as "eating whatever I want" and many would say "if you're gong to eat carbs like that why even get banded?". But truth is, a diet that contains a variety of healthy foods and lowish calories will allow most people to lose weight, carbs included. A good healthy diet, low in calories backed up by exercise certainly leaves room for the occasional treat. Occasional being the operate word. I look at my band as a tool to help me live my life better, and I choose to exercise a lot to help that along. I do NOT look at it like an enforced diet for the rest of my life. How miserable. Balance and moderation are the key, not swapping one dysfunctional eating style for another.

I dont low carb it. I eat bread, Pasta and rice regularly, and LOADS of fruit and veg and I go easier on high fat and high Protein foods. I've been very successful, at the end of the day for the majority of people its simply calories in/calories out. I know low carb can be healthy, low fat and high in fruit and veg but truly, when I read the "what have you eaten today threads" I shudder. I am truly concerned at the awful diets people have in the name of protein first. Some people eat barely nothing but processed meat, shakes and frozen meals and call a few Beans a serve of vegetables. Forget about any fruit. That's not healthy, whether carbs are the enemy or not.

When I first got it I used it heaps as I was unfit, heavy and embarrassed to run in public. As I got fitter, I ran outside more and more. Now the treadmill gets a better workout in winter, when its raining. In summer, it doesnt get used alot except for those 40 degrees celcius days when its just too hot to exercise outside. I run further distances now, like 10kms and I'd fall asleep and shoot off the back of the treadmill trying to run for an hour on it. But I make up circuits, run a bit, jump off, do squats, run a bit more, jump off for push ups etc. It got me out and running and it is a backup for bad weather or inability to get outside while its still light. I'd definitely call it money well spent!

Obviously your port doesnt show now? Mine shows anyway, not that I plan on being pregnant again. It would definitely pop right out with the pressure of a pregnant tummy behind it. But everyone is different. I find it hard to imagine that you're so tiny and light and yet it doesnt show at all. Hasnt your DH ever felt it, mine feels like a small rock!

Exercise is no magic cure all for obesity but it IS for everyone! We all NEED exercise for our health and wellbeing. When there's other reasons why we've become obese, we cant cure it with exercise alone, but exercise is never a waste of time. And like you say Kylie, you're toning up, that's everybit as important as numbers on a scale. Plus my dear, you are well and truly below obese now. It can get very very hard to lose past that point and it may take more than many people are willing to live with to attain and maintain a lower BMI than that. You've been a resounding success really. I know for me, it took me like an entire year to lose 5kg last year. Truly. And since then, I've been trying to lose more weight this entire year and not lost an ounce. I guess I'm lucky in that that happened to me at a BMI of 22 or so, but I think at least in my case, I have to accept that unless I want to really get into strict diet, weight training and all that awful boring diet stuff, then this is what I weigh. I run an hour a couple of times a week and I'm not losing, but that doesnt mean running isnt working for me, not by a long shot! But to lose anymore, after 3 years of running, I'd have to shock my body, do something different, take up weights, do the high protein thing. Y-A-W-N. I couldnt be stuffed personally. But that *may* help your plateau.

I think for me this has been the hardest part of the entire journey. I am a normal weight, I am even THIN but I still want to lose more. I lost all my weight so easily, it baffles me why I cant lose 6 kgs more. But you know, I think I sabotage it on purpose so that I never actaully "arrive" at that destination because I wont know what to do when I get there! Weight has been my focus for me entire life, I dont know how to not be dieting. Or at least trying to improve my body - I think that's why I enjoy running so much, it gives me the same focus, there's always things to achieve.

I can still eat bread, and rice, and Pasta. Its harder than some foods, easier than others. I can eat ANYTHING, its just a matter of how much work I want to do to get it down. You come to just not want certain foods (like pizza, the thought of it is revolting now).

You're eating too much. You need to stop before you get to that stage, which may take some practice. It can be hard to recognise "satisfied" but basically, if you feel more than a teeny bit full, you've overeaten.

Pretty much like banding, lol. Ask anyone who's had an unfill. We were chatting about this the other day. Doug was surprised that I really dont consider my band "permanent". I fully expect that something will wear out or break down in the future, and my recent tiny unfill and the return of my appetite is quite scary. I thought I'd learned portion control and healthy choice, but when you get that old appetite back, you get a wake up call.

Its really hard how fickle the band is for women isnt it? I dont find consistency with this but just about every pb I've ever had has happened in the week before my period started. Back earlier this year I had a few months of horrid periods - bad PMT, bloating, bad skin, awful pain. And then my band suddenly tightened a lot, not to the point of not being able to eat but it lasted about two months and I felt I didnt need to be that tight to maintain so I had a slight unfill. The unfill made very minimal difference, then like you say, about a month later, it suddenly loosened up and I can now eat entire sandwiches, have had to really FIGHT not to gain weight. And coincidentally havent had an awful period since, just normal, pain free ones. I'm getting another fill next week too as I'm sick of having to work so hard to maintain, my appetite is quite high. But I too am worried about what happens if I have no room to get a bit of pre period bloat. But I guess I could still eat, it was just half cup portions etc.

Well, I found every spot a sweet spot in that it was right for me at the time. But longer term, the fills that have lasted for me have been around 2.9, 3cc in my band. I had a small unfill back in June down to 2.7cc because I suddenly got very tight - more to do with my hormones than the band I suspect - and was just a bit uncomfortable with how little I was eating. Nowadays I can eat entire sandwiches on thick bread, wide wide open and having to work VERY hard to maintain. I'm going back next week to go back to 2.9, as I think overall, that is my perfect level. It took me about 8 fills to get to that level, fills dont cost me anything, nor do they cost most people anything in Australia, so we tend to go slowly but surely in very small increments. I wouldnt ahve been been able to handle two big fills, as I was nice and tight at each stage until I lost weight and the band loosened.

Minute amounts can make a difference, I went from being really tight at 2.9 to so wide open I can eat an entire sandwich on THICK bread at 2.7. Its amazing. I'm going back to 2.8 next week, lol. Sometimes you just tighten up, which is what happened to me, 2.9 had been fine for me for absolutely ages. You wont necessarily be too tight again at the same fill level.

I agree with Jack. I just dont worry about it, even devoting this much time and energy to thinking about what you DONT want to eat is not a normal way to think about food. Yes, we eat a little more on the holidays due to all the celebration meals. So what? I just go along, have a little of what's on offer, try not to drink more than a glass or two of wine and make sure I continue to get a good run in most days. At worst I may gain a pound or two, very unlikely for me with a lapband. Most likely I will simply stay the same. When I was losing, I continued to lose. Its basically fresh healthy food - its not like a 10 layer three cheese lasagne - its meat, vegetables and some trimmings. Dont eat a lot of it, have just a taste of Christmas pudding, avoid all the nibbles before and after and dont drink too much and there's no real problem, it turns into just an ordinary meal. And dont eat leftovers for days, just get right back on your program.

I seem to be in the minority but every fill worked for me. At each stage it gave me enough restriction to keep losing. It would slightly decrease what I was eating and slightly decrease my appetite enough to keep on losing (albeit slowly). I just dont understand why you need max restriction right off the bat, when you can lose on much less restriction early on.... but I guess everyone is different. I guess early in the journey, I probably lost well on like 1800 calories a day, later on it needed to be 1400 so I needed more restriction, but there was no need to drop to 1400 right away when I could lose on more. So yeah, every fill was fine for me, I had another when it waned and I stopped losing but every spot was a sweet spot.