Jachut

I dont think its unreasonable to think of a lapband as a preventative - I've lost weight before too, but never ever before have I managed to get to goal weight and stay there. And I was banded precisely because I knew that if I'd reached a bMI of 36, then 40 was only round the corner, and then more and more.

I'd get the fill. How much do you have? I dont know about you, I've stayed pretty loose by comparison to a lot of bandsters but at no point since I've been banded could I eat or drink with complete abandon, I've always had to eat slowly and carefully. So I'd figure I may as well be filled and eat less too.

Oh, just above the knee for sure. When I said mutton dressed as lamb before I was thinking crotch length, could pass as a belt type mini.

Take a break! That's just fatigue, pure and simple. Even though I'm fit, I can really only run three days in a row before I need a break. I just find the run feels like I"m trying to run through Water. And I start to get a very sore back too. It's minimised when I eat properly - and for me that's plenty of wholegrain carbs. If I try to carbo load all the time, I lose weight and I have heaps of energy, high Protein just doesnt do it for me. Plenty of water helps too. But overall, its just your body saying you need a rest! Take a day off every few days, as long as you're doing five sessions a week you're doing more than enough, and any more is probably not really productive anyway.

OMG I so agree with this. I havent been "hated" or treated like crap but women are so jealous - not in younger circles like at uni where everyone is thin and gorgeous but in older circles, sure. Everyone watches what you're eating (in the staffroom at a school I'm currently doing teaching rounds), makes snide remarks about why are YOU dieting and gets defensive and shitty becuase they're eating a huge plateful of something fatty! I always get into this argument here, but fat prejudice against thin is just as alive and well out there as thin against fat!

Yes, I would still go ahead with the surgery. You've been spectacularly successful, well done! But a liquid high Protein low carb diet is no way to eat for the long term, and sooner or later you will be so sick of it that you will have to stop. Then you'll most probably pile a ton of weight back on again. And even though its kind of lost in the general number thing when you've been morbidly obese, 100lb, even 70lb is a huge amount of weight to have to lose and its not going to come off as easily as it does at first.

Do you really feel that way? I guess I dont read every thread here, but I always felt that people who were struggling were treated compassionately even if it was tough love. Personally, I'll always argue with what I perceive as a warped attitude - I'll always have something to say if someone posts that their band just isnt working and then goes on to display some spectactularly self defeating way of thinking. I always start gently but you can guarantee when you point out that someone might *just* be sabotaging themselves they'll come back aggressively and defensively and then it can become heated. Its just that you can so often read something so clearly in what someone says that they just cant see themselves and if they COULD see it, you know it would be really helpful, but of course, they have to want to see it. I just figure if they're here asking about it then they are ready to accept constructive criticism, but its not always the case. From my own point of view it would never be my intention to belittle someone who was struggling with weight loss. But having had a few A-HA moments along the way myself, I really do feel I've got some information to share that will be helpful to some people - and that simply offering sympathy and commiseration is not really a positive contribution. I do think too that if the band was (like for ALL of us, lets face it) your last ditch effort, then if its not working, to go through a stage of being very anti band is probably natural, and getting it out of your system on a forum is probably helpful to some. Is that what you mean? That if you come out and have a good ol whinge about it, like everyone needs to do at times, that you'll get a lot of argument, negative remarks etc? I've seen many threads that begin with "I dont want a lecture.... I just want to complain" and those nearly always are met with sympathy and compassion, by me too, outspoken as I am. Make clear that you just want to know that others are feelign the same way and you'll get the support you want, I'm sure.

Wow, I hope you get to the bottom of it. I must admit, it didnt sound like anything particularly nutrition related, it sounded as if you were sick. I hope its not too nasty or serious and that you get better soon.

I second gift cards and the like. We always put together in a small group and buy the kids' teachers a pair of gold class movie vouchers. I'm not qualified yet, but I'm dreading the thought of 300 cakes of soap and little notebooks, lol.

Its frustrating isnt it, to do all this work and not not be 150% satisfied with what remains. I mean, you can see from my avatar that I got out of this pretty lightly, but I have the side boob thing going on too and I was never morbidly obese to begin with. The right bra can make a big difference - I cannot wear little fanciful bras with one hook backs, I can buy nice ones, sure, but they're sturdy garments, if I dont I get the roll over the side. Yes, mine is tiny but it ruins the line of anything I"m wearing if I'm not wearing the right bra. That bikini top I have on is brilliant because it covers the sides. The right bra size is also important, if the back is too big, it will ride up and you get the back roll, a smaller back, that is sturdy enough fixes this problem for me. The inner thighs - I have that poochy fat bit right up the top too, my view on it is if the choice is that or a thigh lift, I'll live with it. I mean, it only matters when you're half naked in a bathing suit anyway, doesnt it? So why would you swap it for a huge scar? If your thighs are ruining what you're trying to wear, that's different, but really, I think we have to be realistic - after a large weight loss we are probably not going to look fantastic in bathing suits or naked. We just arent, and even PS wont fix that. Most people walking around dont look that naked either, but then again, nobody else looks at you as critically as you look at yourself. I think boobs are important, those ARE visible, you DO show large areas of your decolletage, they do affect the way your clothes look, and they do give you maximum pleasure and satisfaction for your hard earned money, same with a tummy tuck if you're left with a pannus. If you cant even wear shorts happily then perhaps a thigh lift is on the agenda - you really have to way it up according to what you wear and like to do.

They may not appear to be taking you particularly seriously because they're probably assuming its nothing that cant be rectified by eating and drinking more. Nobody in the western world becomes deficient in Protein, even if you're not eating enough, our bodies are well able to withstand longer periods of poor eating - and with the focus on protein in America, there's no way this is going to happen to you. What you describe is actually how I've felt when I've tried high protein low carb diets! I had major episodes of fainting after surgery and my doctor told me off - told me to get off the Optifast and juice routine and get some real food in, just in liquid form. I felt so much better when I was eating protein, fat and carbs, and not living on shakes. Have a look at what you're eating and try to work out how balanced it is, make sure you're eating enough and we'll cross fingers for you that you're not coming down with a bad dose of the flu or similar. Hopefully you feel better very soon.

I just take kids chewables, there's virtually no adult liquid or chewable Vitamins on the mainstream market here, perhaps you could find them online somewhere but at a pharmacy or health food store, forget it. We have a couple of effervescent liquid ones but they're not terribly complete. YOu probably will be able to take them, but even before banding I found taking big pills traumatic, I just gag and vomit them back up, I'm a real baby about it. But if I can swallow them they go through my stomach with no drama. I take big fish oil pills, they're easier as they're capsules but I loathe doing it and many many days I dont.

I'd usually include a couple of vegetables, not just one. Broccoli, carrots and cauliflower for example. And a scoop of mashed sweet potato and potato. I dont avoid carbs though. My kids eat most vegetables because if they didnt, they'd be hungry. So they're used to it. If I've got a bit of leftover risotto or similar I might use that as a side dish with a few different veges also but I dont usually go to so much trouble as to cook risotto just as a side!

Where are you? You're talking in kilograms so I'm guessing not the USA? Relax and dont panic, the USA seems to have very stringent rules about what to eat and not eat that are not followed so closely in other countries. My doctor has NEVER mentioned protein to me, and when I mentioned it to him, he says that its really not done that way here, that protein isnt such a big thing and they dont think along the same lines. Given that gastric bypass and the DS is not really done here often either, I'd hazard a guess that US doctors follow a standard weight loss surgery line of thinking that isnt necessarily inappropriate but could be considered a bit stringent for lapbanders. Some people love high protein low carb diets and lose really well, others dont, and us Aussies around here that dont do it that way have all lost weight just as well as anyone else. You should be eating healthy, whatever that means to you personally. In any language and on any diet it means cut out the crap - the white sugar, white flour products (white bread, cakes, muffins, etc) the overloading on carbs (do you really need cereal for breakfast, muesli bars for snacks, sandwiches for lunch, cakes for afternoon tea and pasta for dinner?), too much alcohol, liquid calories and you'll probably be right, whether you get 40 grams of protein a day or 80, whether you eat carbs or not. And get plenty of exercise. But bring it up with your doctor for sure if you're unsure what to eat. The thing is that most obese people have been on diets their entire lives and could actually teach their doctors a thing or two!

As long as you can control those urges to a reasonable degree it doesnt hurt to indulge occasionally. I just ate some leftover cheesecake that was in the fridge. I dont know why. I wasnt hungry. It was just there. Had been since Sunday. Sigh. It wont hurt, everything else I've done today has been spot on. But really, why? I dont know. Normal weight people do that too. As long as you are in CONTROL of it and it doesnt happen 100 times a day I think you just have to put it behind you.

Wow, wonders will never cease, lol!

Yeah, check it out. Although it can just be transient, one of those things. Its funny you should mention it though, I've had an episode this morning (its 7.15 am here now). I got up and got straight in the shower, and had to sit down as I was about to faint. Its an hour later and I'm only just now feeling OK to walk around and start getting ready for my day. I had a fill last week and have been on teaching rounds, which means that I've barely eaten all week - probably 1000 calories a day or so. My body just does NOT cope with that, I lose all my weight on 1500 to 1800 calories and I couldnt do the preop diet (didnt have to anyway but tried it) because I kept passing out. So... how have you been eating? Are you eating and drinking enough? Could that be the reason?

I agree with you entirely on that Juli. Something was broken in my head, the lapband controls it, but as I can tell when restriction wanes, it doesnt fix it. I have just accepted that I do not have normal appetite control and/or stop signals. I need this band. It is my choice to work it or not, but I dont stress over it. I would have surgery to fix any other part of my body that was broken, so I see this as no different. And its not so hard to live with really, I mean I dont have a chronic painful disease like fibromyalgia, I dont have cancer, I dont have a deformity. Its not giving up, its being realistic and practical, looking at what you have to do to manage a problem and getting on with it.

I find at 5ft 10, what I can lift or hold appears amazingly heavy for smaller people! It probably wont bulk you up - the people who bulk up fast are usually ones that have large bodies in the first place due to a lot of muscle tissue - like you can be fat but have LOTS of muscle. For most women, it just wont happen, you'll get nice definition. But really, if you notice you're bulking up more than you'd like, its simple, stop doing it (so much). I've found though that lots and lots of running has given me the type of body I wanted, tall, slender, with definition/shape but not big muscles. I dont really do any more than pushups and tricep dips for my upper body - good compound body weight exercises for strenght and tone, and running takes care of my lower half.

I've been through this more than once and I've never managed to rekindle quite the mojo I had at the start. For me, it can be a sign of needing a fill, I may not feel "hungrier" or be eating "more" but the appetite comes back and whilst I'm not consciously aware of it, it undermines every decision. I had a fill last Monday even though I'm at goal - it was tiny 0.1ml, but its really worked. Suddenly I'm not sneakign food between meals and eating to really full again. But a lifestyle change by its very nature cannot be as huge as going on a diet is. You do have to level out and find something you can live with, and losing the last bit of weight is very hard for that reason. Can you find something to train for, some external goal that's not weight related to spur you on for a bit?

I had a BMI of 35 and have lost 120% of my excess weight.

I can guarantee if I have to eat with people I dont know well, I'll get tighter, must be stress. Cold makes me tight too - as in ice cream or cold yogurt etc. If I dont want to eat but have the munchies, drinking iced Water means I cant eat for about half an hour, enough time for that head hunger to go away.

That's why I think protein first is a croc. I just eat everything on my plate in equal proporitions - I usually include fruit for breakfast, and maybe a snack. I only eat a snack if I'm hungry though.

Mischievous, if you lay on your back and put your legs in the air, I dont think anyone's going to be looking at your thighs! Isnt that called dressing to make the most of your assets?

Lol, I was thinking groin, along the thigh line, ouch! Mbanja, I dont mind answering those questions, it really does help to know individual experiences doesnt it? It wasnt me that said my port looked like a defined muscle, I just happen to have a tiny bit of residual fatleft in the centre of my upper abdomen (weird, its quite a defined little pocket, small but there) which hides my port. Nonetheless if I raise my arms there is a definite lump where my port is, same if I am lying on my back on the beach, I like to wear my bikini (whether I should or not, lol) and you can definitely see my port. But its one of those things you really need to be looking for you know? I also have a huge dark brown birthmark on the top of my right thigh, and one boob bigger than the other (which you also need to be looking hard to spot) so why would I worry about a bit of a bump where my port is? Not to mention my hair looks such a fright when I've been in salt Water that people are usually falling about laughing at my afro, not looking at my stomach. My stomach was pudgy but not pregnant looking. It had some nice flabby old rolls going on, but I'm pear shaped, not apple shaped, so I didnt carry most of my weight there, and it flattened out nicely with no real loose skin. But I can promise all you apple shaped people out there who have aprons left over, your butt and thighs will be looking WAY better than mine do! Heavy I was your typical narrow shouldered, wide hipped person. I had resonably normal arms and lower legs, big pendulous boobies, but it wasnt all packed round my mid section.