Jachut

My first thought is how much are you exercising? There's only so much weight you will lose without decent exercise - a good hour of cardio most days kind of exercise. Also with the carbs - well I eat carbs, always have and always will. When you virtually eliminate a food group, then yes, your body will react if you reintroduce it at first. And yes, if you eat something like that you'll probably start to crave it even more becuase you are not used to having it. I bet if you ate wholegrain low GI carbs in small quantities, you could eat a bad carb every now and then and not gain weight.

I told everyone. I understand why people like to keep it private but for me personally if anyone asks how I lost so much weight I tell them. I would HATE for anyone to do what I used to do, go away feeling stupid and useless because I wasnt able to lose weight. I needed help to do it and I'm not going to pretend I didnt. I want people to know about the option and how effective it can be, not wonder how I have so much willpower and they dont. But I tell them truthfully too that I had to work hard at it, the first thing I usually say is "I took up running" because I honestly feel that's at least 50% of the equation.

Pasta is quite an easy food for me - apart from bolognaise - the chunky meat with pasta combo is a bit difficult, but anything thinner, no problems at all. Rice is also a really easy food - although I notice its more short grain rices like arborio that I eat easily and not the long grains like basmati.

no, ours has gone up, I struggle to shop for less than $300 Australian dollars a week now. But since I was banded, my kids have grown 3 years older, we've been in drought 3 years longer (which has affected the price of fresh fruit and veg, meat and dairy considerably) and now with the outrageous cost of petrol, groceries are tipped to rise significantly again. So its impossible to tell. We eat way less luxury foods, and never ever ever shop in major supermarkets, we range far and wide for fruit and veg wholesalers, meat wholesalers, farmers markets etc.

I always made an effort, I dont particularly make more. But I can look WAY better in dressed down clothes. Like before, I was either dressed up or slobbing around. Now I can wear really cool gym wear (like form fitting lycra bootlegs) and snug tops, with a cute little middie hoodie kind of thing, if I'm just wanting to be comfy and I can look really put together and nice, before it had to be a big tshirt and fleece pants, not exactly something I would be seen dead in public in. I get around in things like this or jeans most of the time. I have just done another lot of teaching rounds (so working full time) and have just scored a part time job as an integration aide and being able to buy stylish workwear, I've NEVER experienced that before. I've got some really nice clothes and I do make more effort in that regard. I wear make up more often now, not a big fan of a face full of make up, but bare faced now for me is not a great look either, I'm getting just a little old for it. Which is a shame. I've worn a lot of necklaces and stuff lately too, I never felt "right" with neck jewellery before, now I've got some funky ones that I like to wear. In some ways though, I do less becuase I'm not trying to overcompensate. Like I dont feel the need to fake tan regularly now, I can embrace the porcelain look, lol, whereas before I felt brown fat looked better than white fat. Well, weird orange toned fat looked better than white fat!

I have never tried one that I could drink. I left my lunch at home the other day when I went on an excursion with my daughter's class, and had to buy something quickly in a milk bar (convenience store). I bought a Protein shake for lack of any suitable alternative, took one sip and threw it out. They ALL have that horrid grainy soy taste to me. I can actually drink Optifast and find it OK, it doesnt have that funny taste/texture

I never counted calories specifically, but after a lifetime of dieting, its impossible for me NOT to add calories in my head. I dont weigh, measure and use a little book to add it up, but I know roughly (and if nobody sees you eat it, you dont count the calories, right?) Overall, this is probably a healthy tool for weight management,I mean I do use it to say "no, I really shouldnt have that, cant afford the calories because I've already had x, y and z". But being pedantic down to the gram and single calorie doesnt interest me, and I was never told to do it by my doc.

Kidney stones *can* be a complication of a high Protein diet, but you may be just prone to them too. Too much protein can cause both the calcium and uric acid kinds (I think?) If you are advised to change your diet, be assured that Australians arent advised to do the protein first thing at allo, we're advised to follow the traditional healthy diet - based on the food pyramid - ie. a carb/fruit/vegetable based diet with moderate protein - and we lose weight down here just as well as people anywhere else in the world. So its not necessarily problematic if the traditional lap band diet prescribed in North America doesnt suit you. Hopefully you'll have no more episodes, I believe its excruciating.

I agree, I think its important to define low carb. A low GI diet, in Australia anyway, is not a low carb diet, its a low refined carb diet and there's a lot of credible research to suggest that sticking with low GI foods - including low GI carbs - has all the health benefits that are believed to be associated with a low carb/high Protein diet (in terms of insulin reactions etc) without any of the possible bad side effects - kidney stones, high blood cholesterol etc etc. Interesting instructions - I believe our Optifast here is higher carb than yours - my box says 17 g protein, 15 g carbs. I think as long as we're happy to follow (and believe in) the medical opinion in our own particular country, there's really no right or wrong in this. Australians lose weight, Americans lose weight, so obviously both ways work.

I have had some strange symptoms including horrific cramping (like labour contractions) with passing a BM, so much so that I see stars. Horrendous pain, but for me, its turned out to be endometriosis - which is probably unrelated to my banding and weight loss as both my sisters have suffered since their teens. Have you had a gynae check up?

I started at a BMI of 35 and have lost 120% of my excess weight, about 90lb. I think I was down somewhere between 30 and 40 lb easily in the first four months, I lost weight fast at first and then lost a few lb a month thereafter.

Oooh, I'm quite tempted although I absolutely LOATHE that Hollywood frozen face look. But somehow when its your own face that's aging its easy to be a bit hypocritical about it, lol. I can safely say I will never have surgery on my face, but deadly toxins, for sure! I'm glad you're happy with the results, I'm really thinking what I can do about my hollow, deep set eyes. There's no fat on my face and I look like I've been punched most of the time!

Generally, if I want something sweet its already manufactured - like a cookie or something, so I just eat the sugar. I also cant stand the taste of artificial sweeteners, I dont like soft drinks like Coke anyway and its never entered my head to actually sweeten yogurt - I love the tart taste of it. I drink plain Water, I dont drink coffee or tea sweetened and am not into those confectionary type coffees so for me, having a bit of real sugar every now and then isnt a problem.

yes, I had that, and I also had quite a sore/strained mid back. Both these things are symptoms I had after each of my children were born too (both natural and caesar deliveries), I think its possible, for me anyway, that it has to do with the fact that you carry yourself a bit differently after an abdominal trauma and your core muscles take a bit of a beating, which leads to fatigue in other muscles.

youll really struggle to get enough fibre on a Protein based diet - which is one of the reasons I dont eat that way. You can still lose weight without a protein based diet. Personally, I dont want to die thin, but of bowel cancer. I eat grain foods in moderation, I eat protein foods in moderation and I eat fruit and veges as the basis of my diet. I havent lost my hair, I have good skin, strong nails and plenty of energy. Protein is not the only nutrient we need, but focussing on it when you have a tiny stomach is, in my humble, uninformed and totally non medical opinion, asking for trouble in other areas of your health. I still tend to supplement fibre with benefibre, becuase I like to know I'm getting enough. And plenty of Water and exercise will keep your bowels moving (and therfore healthy) too. I wouldnt advocate going against what YOUR doc tells you but I always put my 2c in on this topic for other Australians or people elsewhere in the world reading - this very issue put me off banding for a good six months. The diets I was reading about - especialloy the what did you eat today threads - absolutely horrified me. I felt that I was nowhere near fat enough to risk my long term health in such a way. Of course six months down the track I was FATTER, lol, so I saw a doctor and learned that in Australia anyway, this is not the recommended way of eating.

yes, that's true - the best we can do is make a (hopefully) informed decision. I find that most of the information I've found debunking low carb has been from more credible sources than the information supporting low carb. And until I can see something that convinces me of something otherwise I think I'll err on the side of moderation. The other thing that puts me off is that everyone I've ever known personally who's done Atkins and lost a lot of weight developed a characteristic scrawny look with lots of loose skin - which I cant explain, its just a certain "look" And then promptly stacked it all back on again I'm not an adovocate of high carb either, by the way. I just think moderation is the safest route until there IS proof one way or another. I guess its lucky that I'm over here, and our medical profession tends to take the same view. Either way, Australians by and large perform statistically well with lap bands so it cant be the be all and end all of weight loss for everyone, can it?

Its not a failure at all - that pre op diet is absolute torture, pure and simple. Nobody could do that easily.

That's what banding is all about - reminding yourself to eat the "right" foods, the ones that are more difficult, so you dont have room for easier ones. My band works exactly the same way - my capacity for chocolate is not diminished in the slightest from preband days, not at all. Same with biscuits, I can easily eat a whole packet. You just have to not do it.

I had no problem with a BMI of 35 and my DH is getting banded in 2 weeks with a similar BMI, in fact the surgeon fudged his height a little just to get him over the line. He wont do it if he doesnt believe the surgery will help, but he thought DH was a good candidate.

we havent noticed that we're spending less, if anything its gone up - for the same reasons, we buy better food.

I've not done anything like chewing and spitting but 3 years on down the track I have an absolutely terrible habit of not eating any meals at all during the day, just picking ALL day. I cant be bothered to sit down and eat so I just eat crap (that goes down easily) all day long. Now, I dont do this too often or I'd gain but I really have to fight it.

It diminishes hunger. I get physically hungry but I could never have survived on what I eat now and that's generous - I still eat about 1500 to 1800 calories most days.

It does do both, but for me, the main effect is quick fullness. Early on it caused me to be not hungry at all, for quite a long time but over time that effect did wane somewhat, but its hard to know becuase I cant take the band off for a day to check. Perhaps I just got used to it and perhaps I've forgotten what my appetite was like? I dont know. But I do get hungry quite normally now, like it gets near lunch time and I feel physically hungry. If I dont eat a lot during the day when I'm busy, by 4pm I am starving. I dont consider that problematic, I'm hungry so I eat. That's what normal people do. What I dont do any more is think I'm hungry and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and then think Oh well, I've blown it today I'll start again tomorrow and then eat some more. I have a cup of coffee and an apple for a snack and then I'm fine till several hours later when its dinner time type of thing. It helps is all I know, but i have a normal appetite and a normal interest in food 3 years down the track, meaning sometimes i do have to fight head hunger. I do know though that when I have an 1800 calorie day I feel like I've pigged out whereas once I would have felt like my throat had been cut!

I *think* once you're approved at 35, then you're fine to go on and lose weight. I'd check that carefully though. I agree, the band is a better solution long term. So what if you lose tons on the prediet - how many times have you lost weight before only to regain it? I would be worried about the exact issue you are - to the point where I'd make SURE I didnt lose weight.

Anything over 100 grams and your body will double the rate at which it excretes calcium, which can affect your bones and your kidneys. Between 50 and 70 grams should be fine for most women.