Jachut

You'll be full of fluid from the IV too which weighs a fair bit and your weight will drop as your body gets rid of it.

Of course it would be OK once in a while. The only thing I would say is to make sure you're eating enough healthy food, 400 calories is pretty minimal intake, and you probably should eat a whole entire meal rather than the ice cream, lol. You dont say whether you're just recently banded, if so, then all the more OK, its hard enough to get in calories and nutrients - and ice cream does contain calcium! I hate ice cream thank goodness, lol, but I would say it would be OK to have a small bit if you'd eaten 1000 calories!

I've got news for you ... it wasnt the DS that did that to her. Stark raving lunacy was a pre-existing condition in this particular case.

Give him time. My DH has always been interested, he needs to lose weight himself. I wouldnt say my weight loss has caused trouble between us but occasionally he gets stroppy at my commitment to running. He's a good dieter but basically, he doesnt like exercise, and he struggles to commit to it, which translates into some petty jelousy at my success. Only every now and then, its not too much of a problem. Anyway, I think he must occasionally feel left behind to a degree, he wants what I'm having! He's getting banded in 2 months. His journey will be different to mine, no doubt but I knew sooner or later he'd decide to take his health into his own hands just like I did. But its taken him this long to be ready. You cant push, they have to get there themselves.

It depends a lot on your body shape too. Us pear shapes, yes, the upper body shrinks fast, and for the apples, they can lose TONS and not lose any round the middle or off their chests.

Been banded 2 years 5 months, reached my ultimate goal (adjusted it down once or twice) about nine months ago now, am maintaining absolutely effortlessly, in fact still losing at about 1 or 2 lb per month. I worked very hard to change my eating habits, I dont eat crap for the most part (although I enjoy a treat like anyone else) and I exercise long and hard about five times a week. I am so happy I did this. Not only did I get thinner, but I actually have that "fit" look, without being too skinny or overly muscular. Its a tool, you hear that all the time, but if you work it properly and actually change your lifestyle (because you can get away with not doing that and still lose a fair bit of weight) then the rewards come with your ability to maintain your weight for life. Without feeling like you're always depriving yourself. I have no trouble with my band because I dont need to be tight to control myself. So I can eat anything, bread included, and can enjoy special occasions. I eat like a normal person, nobody would ever know I was banded. Apart from the fact that I hate McDonalds!

Some people just dont give a toss do they? We had an online tutorial in our teaching primary maths unit this week, rather than attending an on campus one. There are probably 200 students enrolled in this course. Its 5.41 pm Friday and there are 35 posts in the tutorial. Six of which are mine. Its 10% of our mark, and 90% of the students have not bothered to do it!

Lol, I have to do my maths one this weekend. What are you studying? I'm doing primary teaching.

Dont panic though - generally within a few months your appetite returns and you will be able to eat more. Maybe too much, lol.

If I really truly crave something I have it. If I'm suffering head hunger (which makes me think I must have chocolate biscuits) I eat something like an apple first. I must be the only person in this entire forum but Protein foods do not fill me. Fibrous foods like fruit do. Once I've eaten an apple I can guarantee I wont want whatever it was I thought I wanted. If I'm truly hungry then generally I'll want something healthy so I have it. And Annie - I should be finishing a lit. assignment right NOW! Argh.

It takes absolutely aaaaages at first when you have lots to lose. I started with a BMI of 35 and I had to lose 30lb before I changed size. Now I lose like 2lb and my clothes are too big! With weight loss, when you're very overweight, the changes are really hard to see and measure at first but it gets faster and faster as you have less to lose.

same here. There's nowhere in your jaw for air to get trapped, it must just be referred pain. The roof of my mouth can ache too.

I learned to love something. It helped that I grew up playing sports, I'm fairly coordinated and athletic and my body had a good memory for exercise, I never really gave it up entirely. But I never thought I'd be a runner! Getting involved in fun runs was the best thing I ever did, that external motivator really helps. I've always got someting to aim for to keep me going. But these days, my motivation is internal because I am now fit and my body craves the exercise. It really makes me feel good, I feel terrible without it and I am addicted to the endorphin rush. I would rather go to the gym than go to a movie. I'd rather get up early and get my long run in on Saturday than sleep in. But nonetheless I do lack motivation at times, for those times I have an easy option - the treadmill. Its much less intense than a circuit class or a run outside, I still push it but I dont have to miss a TV show or go out in the dark, etc. It really got me through the early days of exercising too. I also found that when I was losing weight at the same time, I really could appreciate what the exercise was doing and that made it easy to do. I never stuck to it before because I didnt see results, to me that's not a lack of willpower, most people wont continue to do something they find unpleasant if they dont perceive its benefitting them. And when its all said and done, its MUCH easier to FORCE yourself to do something for 40 minutes than it is to constantly day in day out be in control of your eating. Exercise is the easy part!

Personally I think its ridiculous! It wont hurt you for a little while and its all most people would probably manage in the first weeks after surgery. But long term, there is no way its necessary to eat that little and there's no way you'll remain healthy on that little. You WILL become deficient in things over time. My sureon's words to me though for the first weeks was "do try to get in 1200 calories a day, although it will be difficult, because the weight loss you get from starving isnt healthy, you'll just lose lots of water". I can burn off more than that in one exercise session! I lost perfectly well on 1500 to 1800 calories a day. I realise that's more than average so perhaps I was lucky. But 1200 ought to be about right for most women of average activity levels to lose well. Some have to eat less, some dont. As to whether our surgeons would tell us to do anything harmful or not, well, they're surgeons, not nutritionists. The whole protein thing for example, its not an issue in Australia at all, that's not the line of thought. And Australians lose statistically average amounts as well. So its not black and white RIGHT is it? Its just one way of looking at it that can work. And nor is eating a carb based diet wrong, and by no means do people that dont eat a lot of protein fail to lose or lose their hair. You have to take the nutritional advice on board but find what suits you and your lifestyle. But why you'd eat 500 calories a day when you can lose on more is kind of beyond me. You'll find you'll suffer more but wont necessarily lose more or faster and you could be damaging your health in the process. Always remember, you have to do what your body needs to lose weight but when you're tempted to go too low or too tight, its important to realise that the more you can eat and still lose weight, the healthier and better nourished you will be. There's no prizes for being ultra tight and eating hardly anythign when you dont need to. I think some of us do get a little guilty pleasure over the self denial like we're punishing ourselves, and its really not the way to think of it.

I find I know when I've had enough but my head tells me to keep going. Yet if you put the fork down for just five minutes, the food loses ALL appeal. Its my most important technique. Stop, wait, THEN decide if I want more.

Grace, I'm right with you on losing weight on an "ordinary" diet - including ALL foods in moderation. I believe junk foods form a part of a healthy diet when they're treated as "sometimes" foods. Its OK to go out to dinner and enjoy it, its OK to sometimes enjoy a cooked Breakfast on Sundays with your family, its even OK to have a small bit of chocolate every day. But when you take the path of including too many of those foods on too regular a basis (which by your descriptions you appear to have done) and you rely on a tight band to get you through you can still lose weight with a band. Doesnt mean its the best way to go. The trouble is then if you ever lose your fill you've not learned a darn thing about choosing foods wisely. If you ever begin to eat in the quantities that unbanded people do again (like if you have an unfill) you're going to be very prone to weight gain because your choices arent great. Its right to fear an unfill in those circumstances. So the sensible path is not to allow yourself to become malnourished, its to start to eat PROPERLY. Have a bit of an unfill and eat some real food and cut the sodas etc. out. Grace, if you really are suffering issues like lack of potassium, you've got more to worry about than whether your collarbones are showing and you probably do need to halt your weight loss. In ordinary circumstances, there's plenty of people around who just have to accept that they're not curvy, they're thin just the same way that some of us have to accept that we will NEVER have the very thin figure we desire. All of a sudden, I"m devastated by the fact that I appear to have misplaced my boobs. I have none. I've always had a great pair! I dont know where they went, but THIS is where my body took me, I did not starve to get here, this is just me, its how I'm meant to be - and I can fix it with PS if I wanted to. Let your body tell you where it wants to be. It is going to be very difficult to maintain a weight that's too high for YOU just as it is difficult to maintain a weight that's too low for you. Truly, without going back into the whole skinny is ugly thing, I really think you've got some head issues that need sorting. What on earth are you so afraid of?. You might stop losing in 5 more pounds anyway, there's nothing to say you're going to fade away. You're not underweight, you're a healthy weight. Enjoy it! And eat something decent. Seriously, the band does NOTHING for our heads. We still have to work on those ourselves. Its very uncomplicated. If you're losing and you dont want to, have an unfill and eat more.

There is absolutely NO need to eat boring things and give up your cooking. I love to cook, spent all Saturday cooking up an Indian feast for guests. I tend to choose recipes that arent too fatty though, and despite my love of muffins, cakes etc I dont actually like cooking those things (and I suck at it. Rock cakes are my speciality, tee hee). But oh, that aromatic lamb curry. Yuuuuuuummm. With some cucumber raita, lentil dahl, and saffron rice, all cooked by moi. Nice and lean, no added fat, all lovely fresh ingredients, it was delish. There is no way you have to give that up after banding. You just eat smaller portions but you dont have to not enjoy eating any more. The main difference here is there's 2 dinners worth still in the freezer! Now, if you're up to mushies - I really LOVED Mushies. So good after liquids. I ate loads of salads of avocado, chickpeas, cucumber and tomato (skinned) with a tin of flavoured tuna, lentil dahl with a dollop of greek yogurt and lemon juice, a divine basil and lentil Soup that I made, mashed mixed vegetables with gravy, yummy gourmet yogurts, etc etc.

If you can possibly add to easier days to that it will probably make a large difference. If you're really working HARD with your trainer, then you can afford an easier day or two and that might make it easier to make the time. Just an hour's walk - brisk but not almost jogging - twice a week in addition would be good.

It sounds like you really may have to consider an unfill Grace. It doesnt sound likely that you'll suddenly start gaining. And that's the beauty of it, you can always get a bit more put back in if you find yourself going in the opposite direction.

I had similar worries to everyone, but what I realised that what all those worries were were my mind trying to tell me "but I like food, I like comfort eating, I dont want to give it up". I kept thinking "just one more try on my own" but what I really meant was "I need to leave myself that escape clause becuase I dont really want to change". Its the first time in my life that I realised that I got *something* out of overeating. I still dont know what it was. I have a good relationship with my mother, my parents are together, my childhood was great, I have been with my husband since I was 16, I just dont have those stresses in my life on which it is so easy to blame your weight problems. Then it hit me. Eureka. To lose weight ON MY OWN, I had to give up comfort eating forever anyway. It was the same deal band or no band. Why not do it with a band and make it a bit easier? I *should* have worried about my boobs. Lol. My goodness, where did they go?

You're completely right, there's no point exercising if its ALL you do. Incidental stuff is really important too. I have no trouble at the moment, I have a house to look after, 3 kids, I exercise etc, and I'm on my feet 24/7 and have no problem hiting 20,000 steps a day and more. I worry that when I go back to work my incidental activity will decrease a lot, its certainly going to be a time I have to make sure I keep maintaining, I can see gaining weight!

My first fun run of any distance was 7.5km in the Melbourne marathon in October 2006. I crossed the finish line staggering, but bawling my eyes out, it was really embarrassing. I bawled the whole last kilometre down St Kilda Rd, lol. People kept asking me who I was runnign for (since fun runs are usually for charity), lol. That was probably my most significant moment. But I wanted to cry yesterday trying on bras. Where on earth did my boobs go?

I do, much more in fact. I usually get about an hour five days a week but twice a week I run for longer than an hour.

I agree with Grace - you need to eat to manage cravings. The way I manage mine (I'm a carbaholic, biscuits, donuts, cakes etc) is to eat PLENTY of good wholegrain carbs. Those are the foods that make my band work like it should - fill me up and sit for a long time in the pouch. For Breakfast for example, I sometimes eat Cereal AND toast. Unheard of with a band. I get up and have a small bowl of cereal, and an hour later, as I'm nearly ready to leave the house, while I'm drying my hair or something, I'll have a piece of wholegrain toast. Mid morning I have a banana or similar, maybe a granola bar. I lay off the carbs a bit after that, although I do often eat a sandwich for lunch, but dinner is not usually carb heavy. When I eat like that my energy is even, my stomach stays full and the headhunger and cravings dont hit. If I try to eat just salad and Protein for lunch, I'm picking and nibbling all afternoon.

I gained a lot of weight whilst breastfeeding too - in fact probably 2/3 of my excess weight was directly as a result of breastfeeding - which I did for six years in total - plenty of time to get fat!