Jachut

Uh, lets see Yesterday I ate: Breakfast 1/4 cup low fat muesli with berries and banana and yogurt lunch - 2 ryvitas with avocado, cheese and tuna, 1/4 cup mixed sultanas and walnuts afternoon snack: rest of the banana I'd used at breakfast dinner: pan fried fish, mashed potato and sweet potato and broccoli. That's an average day for me. I dont count Protein and I dont supplement it. I didnt lose my hair or my muscle and lost weight just fine.

Anything I want, some things more difficult than others. I would eat a piece of pizza extremely carefully but dont even have to think about salad. Strangely, yogurt is one of the hardest foods for me, must be the cold factor. A yogurt for a snack is brilliant because it takes me half an hour to eat it.

I'd try a slight unfill too. I think the worst that can happen is that you gain a bit, but if you're careful you wont. I've found that I've loosened up considerably lately, can eat a WHOLE sandwich again, but that if I just stick to healthy, low fat foods my weight is staying constant despite the fact that I'm eating more. I'm active, I burn it off and I'm not really wanting to lose any more. If just a slight unfill fixes it then I'd leave the rest of what you have in there.

Well said Kat.

I found the same thing when I was out on teaching rounds this year - not qualified yet. But eating in the staff room in front of other people I dont know and being under pressure to eat fast and get out and do yard duty some days, eeek. I stuck with Soup or yogurt! I didnt even attempt to eat what I would anywhere else. Also, I'd gone all morning without eating since Breakfast and for some unknown reason that makes me tighter. This year when I go out on rounds I will be sure to take a mid morning snack as well.

Funny that. Since I lost weight, my boobs look longer....

I dont think its harder personally, I've just gotten back from my first checkup with my doc in 9 months and I've lost 115% of my excess weight! I lost slowly in comparison to some, sure, but I lost steadily for the first year and then it took me a year to lose another 10kg. But those 10kg made MORE difference than the first 30 did, so it didnt feel slow. I found it a big advantage because, although I dont in any way mean this in a judgemental or disapproving or insulting way, I really feel lucky that I wasnt so far gone. I remembered what being normal felt like, my eating hadnt fallen so far off track that I had no idea what was reasonable and I was still fit and could start really effective exercise virtually straight away. I had the mobility and agility to do it. And I've ended up with very very little loose skin, in fact what I do have could simply be a result of my age (40).

I had a few free passes. I found the atmosphere to be one that was supportive, friendly and would be great if you're just starting out at a heavy weight. For me, even back at the start of my journey 2 years ago (which is when I had the passes) it was not challenging enough for me. I was already reasonably fit even though I was fat. I could see that the benefits would be very limited to me. I think it would be a fantastic first year option for you but that eventually you're going to need the heavier equipment and services of a bigger gym. But not till you're ready, till then Curves is a fantastic option.

I was told only if I cant do breakfast. And even then, to maybe make a smoothie with fruit and an egg in it, rather than powdered stuff.

I try to eat 2 different fruits (and five vegetables) per day. Usually I will have some fruit for Breakfast - mixed berries on my Cereal or in yogurt, or a banana chopped up etc. And then another piece of fruit for an afternoon snack, perhaps with a few walnuts or something.

The band really plays its part with maintenance. Sooner or later, you do have slip ups and periods of eating not so well, or busy times when you eat out five days out of seven, Christmas will come, Easter etc. You may have to do 98% of the work to LOSE weight (it can be quite hard to figure what the band is actually doing sometimes, as I sit here with my tummy grumbling with hunger), the band will do a LOT of the work in maintenance.

I've got a small band at 5ft 10, although my BMI was 36 when I was banded, I considered myself a big build - built like a brick shithouse as the saying goes. As it turns out, I'm rather fine boned and naturally meant to be slender, and I have never had tight restriction even with the small band. I have had good enough restriction to lose all my weight and I have really enjoyed my lapband journey, it hasnt hindered me but I can eat bread - well an entire sandwich - with 3cc in my 4cc band - just about unheard of - becuase it simply isnt tight on me. It hasnt mattered, I've had good enough restriction to lose weight but likely I'll always be looser than the next person at a given Fluid level. The doc said after my surgery he'd put on the small band because my organs werent that big. Its suprised me somewhat just how small my build really is, I've never been this size as an adult and at a BMI of 23, I could still lose quite a bit of weight without becoming scrawny or skinny. So you may weigh in big now, but you may find you're not as "big boned" as you think you are. Your organs may not be that large at all either.

Lindata, it can be extremely anxiety provoking to read that type of thing, and you're right to worry about it, any sensible parent would. The thing I think you have to be careful about, is that in these types of accounts, there's a large proportion of parents who have suffered the agony of this type of disability for their child and they want to blame. Its human nature. It helps them to latch onto something, convince themselves that its true and to help others to see it, so that they dont suffer the same fate. You really have to take the accoutns of emotionally distraught, stressed out people bleeding for their children with a grain of salt. And I totally agree, there is NOTHING to gain by mass vaccinating a population only to create a glut of special needs children. There is just no sense in it and if there were any indication of this being true, it would be seriously investigated. The human body comes across toxins and poisons from all sorts of sources in modern life, vaccination is just one possible one. I know how you feel though, there has NEVER been a disposable diaper on one of my children's bums because of dioxins and bleaches and overheating and pollution. They were breastfed for 2 years each, they never ate canned baby food, we never used baby wipes, I didnt coat their little bodies in smelly petroleum byproducts when I bathed them. I did indeed feel qualms about vaccination, but I just couldnt take the risk of losing them to one of those diseases either. We had an asthmatic for starters, whooping cough would have carried him off, and my daughter nearly died of croup. YOu're not just vaccinating against chicken pox (which I didnt give my kids because I felt the disease didnt warrant the risk).

Gee, its good to see your face again Jess!. I've often wondered how you were doing. I'm sorry to hear you've had some problems, gee, life wasnt meant to be easy was it? Hope everything else is going fine in your life, and hope this settles down for you. I get rogue tightness around period time only sometimes, completely without warning, and every PB I've ever had, which I could count on one hand luckily, has been before my period unexpectedly started. Being an old bag with no babies on my mind, I pay absolutely and utterly no attention to my cycle, lol, I wouldnt have a bloody clue when I'm due or when I last had one. A month goes past like THAT these days and I think "what, already?". And I'm sending a message to your band to BEHAVE!

I wont avoid it, I'll eat a small amount of chocolate! We've never gone overboard on Easter anyway, I've always hated really stuffing my face with things like that. Sounds funny from a fat person but I have. I enjoy it much more if I dont overdo it.

I would highly recommend starting walking (good, brisk walking) now, before surgery. You've made the decision to improve your life and your health, why wait? And if you're committed to an exercise program, I really do believe it will help with that last supper syndrome. How could it be anything other than beneficial to exercise and eat well? I really do think it will lift your mood, your outlook, your commitment and that cannot fail to make post op easier, there's a certain amount of discomfort after surgery, of course, but your state of health influences that and lying around being miserable never did anyone any good. It will motivate you to be up and around sooner. The other main benefit is that many many people have to start out with very small amounts of exercise due to their level of obesity and lack of fitness. Kudos to them, its a huge challenge and to embark upon it takes guts. But it doesnt change the fact that if all you can manage at first is a 1/2 a mile walk before you're exhausted, it is NOT enough exercise to really help weight loss. It is going to take months of diligent work before you can get in that 45 minutes of moderate cardio four or five times a week, the sort of level of exercise which will really bring you results. You will of course most likely lose tons of weight anyway, but this will really help you keep it going. I truly felt that one of the main reasons for the success I've had with the band is that I was lucky enough to be banded at a BMI of 35 before I had any health problems. That meant that I still had enough residual fitness and "memory" in my body to begin running six weeks after surgery and I"ve never looked back.

I DID research it and decided in favour. I knew the risks and possible side effects of what I was doing but still decided to go with it. personally I think the risk of the diseases to my very young children outweighed the possible risk of vaccination. There is no proof about vaccinations and autism or other problems to date. Hopefully there never will be.

26.5 cm which is 10.5 inches. I have no idea what they were at the start though, but not huge as I didnt really carry most of my weight on my upper body.

You werent wrong for PRECISELY the reason you state - two adults to a couple of kids. Quicker, easier, and its what family change rooms are for. We still use them and my kids are 12, 10 and 5. I refuse to send my 12 year old boy and 10 year old boy into a men's changing room alone. There's just no way that they're doing that in a huge public place like a swimming pool! They will not let me see them change, lol (they seem to have no problem walking in on ME in the shower!) so I stand outside the door. If that pisses people off so be it, they're not going in the change rooms alone.

Late late late. I am a chronically messy and disorganised person - and this is the one area of my personality I have found really necessary to work on in order to lose weight. It is precisely that - laziness, disorganisation, lack of forethought which caused me to gain wait. No time to exercise becuase I'm chasing my tail, no food to eat becuase I couldnt be bothered shopping, so dial for a pizza again type of thing. NO food for kids lunches, so call in to the convenience store on the wayt o school to pay heinous prices for absolute rubbish. I have really managed to mend my ways and nobody has been late for school yet this year, lol, but they've only been back at school a few weeks (our long holiday is over December/January). I'd always manage to get places on time, so I lie when I say late, but the trouble is, I'd leave a bomb site behind me. To get somewhere on time and leave a clean house behind, now that would be a dream.

It is difficult, but you know, kids dont need crap anyway - so I have definitely cut down on the amount of that sort of food I will buy. I make a lot of it for their lunchboxes instead of buying processed things - for example, I will make healthy muffins and freeze them, and take out one a day for each of them. But they do have snack foods too of course, I just dont buy things that I will eat. I can generally resist chips and ice cream without a problem, but I refuse to bring Cookies into the house. I buy that stuff only when they're going to eat it - 3 kids, 1 packet of cookies - 5 minutes and its gone. If its sitting in the pantry, I will want to eat it. Yes, I can resist, but I dont want to HAVE to resist all day. Muesli bars and the like are danger foods for me too, I love them. So we dont have cookies or muesli bars but we have occasional chips and ice cream! Both the schools the kids go to - two in primary, one in secondary have healthy lunch box policies anyway, so generally its just a sandwich, a couple of pieces of fruit and a muffin or something. And after school, I've gotten them into the habit of things like Soup, vegemite toast or toasted cheese sandwiches It really IS possible to cut down on the crap, even with kids, older teenagers perhaps a little more difficult. But he's old enough to buy that sort of thing when he's not at home too.

Just a word of warnign on that - I was at a seminar Wednesday night and the surgeon speaking made the point that one of the reasons its so difficult to get to a normal BMI is that for some reason not really understood, someone formerly obese will very likely need way LESS calories than someone who's always been a healthy weight to maintain. So you need to find your own happy medium there. But the goal thing, yes, exactly where I"m at too at the moment. I dont know. I'm afraid to stop trying to lose. I've never been happy with my weight, even when I wasnt fat, I've been on a diet since I was 10 years old. I just wanted to crack 70kg so I am keeping on keeping on, but its literally 800 grams away. What do I do then? I'm also unsure of maintenance of the band over the long haul. Lately, I've been starving hungry at 2 hourly intervals, I still get full quickly but I can eat a bit more than I could, and its not staying with me, I'm really really hungry between meals. I have taken a deep breath and thought, well, I run regularly, I do strenght training, I have a very busy life, its OK to be freaking hungry and its OK to eat when you're hungry. Hard concept, huh? So that's what I've been doing, eating when I'm hungry. And actually my weight's dropped very very slightly. But I probably *could* justify another fill. I'm going to see my doc, probably not to get a fill but because I want to know what to expect from here on in, I mean we will probably all require top ups at some point to maintain. But learning to eat for maintenance as a normal weight person is going to be a big new challenge for me. I find it hard to give myself permission to eat. Not that I"m talking about "going off a diet" of course, but I just dont have to be constantly thinking deprivation, dont eat or you wont lose kind of thing. And I make sure to keep up my exercise.

What you need to do is eat till you're satisfied (not stuffed full!) and however much that is is however much that is. Nobody can tell you exactly how much YOU should be able to eat at each stage of restriction. If you're eating 2 cups and its not backing up and making you feel stuffed or making you vomit then there's 2 ways to look at it. If you're losing weight, then its not too much food. If you're not losing weight then its still too much food for you and you need to think about another fill - it can take time to get to the right restriction. The half cup thing is nothing more than a guideline, probably based on averages but it is absolutely not a golden rule for everyone. If you dont feel overly full and/or sick, then you are not going to stretch out your pouch, it simply means that food is moving through a bit more quickly than it might if you were tighter. Also, after about 20 minutes, if you're still eating, you really dont need that food. 20 minutes to maybe half an hour is what it probably should take. I find if I nibble and take ages, I can get through a LOT of food, because my pouch starts emptying before I've finished. So you do need to call a halt at some point. And dont forget your perspective changes. I always tend to think I've eaten heaps and I argue that half cup point, but I really eat MUCH less than I used to and MUCH less than most other people, its not as much food as it seems to me simply because I have to chew so much and it takes so long.

Nearly everyone who is obese has a fatty liver. Weight loss with a lapband is not really meant to be super duper fast, 1 to 2lb a week is considered good. Although it can be pretty fast at first. And with regard to the fast weight loss pre surgery on the Optifast diet, well that's the lesser of two evils - lose weight and quickly or have open surgery or non at all kind of thing. Because if they cant get past your liver to do the surgery those are your two options.

Its also SO motivating to finally see results for your efforts for the first time in your life. Why was I successful in becoming a regular long distance runner? Because I SAW the effect it had on my body. And the same with healthy eating. I am motivated to eat well becuase I have now SEEN the effect it has on my body. I have FELT it too now. Before, I could start another diet, lose 5kg and my motivation would wane. I didnt feel different, I didnt look different, what was the freaking point? My post op weight loss took me well past that point and really had me excited about what I could achieve.