Jachut

Lunch and dinner are about the same size for me too.

Personally I dont, I dont ever think about it. I wouldnt get the 70 to 80 grams some people shoot for. But its not Protein focussed in Australia - we dont get given that advice at all. I'm fine, have all my hair, have lost all my weight, have plenty of muscle.

Bloodwork and a respiratory function test was all I had. I saw a dietician very briefly after surgery, about a week into the liquid diet who just went through how to progress with me.

The unfill, rest, refill idea occurred to me too as did the possibility that after 8 years it is highly likely some fill has evaporated and you dont have as much as you think. For those thinking this should work for life - over the years, we do get older and 8 years is almost a decade after all. You do loose your lean body mass over time, and gradually your energy needs decline, normal unbanded people have to work harder and harder to stay the same weight and most people spread with age. Exercise is the best defence against this kind of weight gain, maintaining bone density and muscle mass is vital. Thankfully with a band you have one more weapon in your arsenal against weight gain over time.

No, that's not what feeling "full" should feel like, that's overfull. Feeling full should be more like feeling satisfied. Maybe a pleasant sense of a full tummy, or if possible you stop even just before that. But every meal should definitely not feel as if you just at Christmas dinner (with seconds!). Sometimes your head is still saying "but I've only had five bites" but you soon learn to just stop. Or if you're me you learn to stop for five minutes, then eat it, lol. But definitely stop before you feel uncomfortably full or you run the risk of stretching out your pouch. And you will only eat so much that you almost PB once or twice before you learn.

Oh, gosh, I guess I should sort of point out that I got to a BMI of about 35 (thankfully in Australia you dont have to fight the insurance companies for this surgery), I was always a little hefty but never seriously overweight for most of my life and I kind of packed it on after having a couple of babies and being a housewife for a few years. I honestly just never suffered from all the self esteem and failure issues that so many seem to have to bear. I just got a bit fat during a particularly busy/stressful period of life in which my major focus was not on myself. I really got serious though when I just found I didnt have the energy to cope with everday life. I'd already taken steps to "reclaim me" by returning to universisty to retrain for a career I'd always wanted, but I was really struggling with the study, the house, the kids, I was just disorganised and living in chaos and fed up with it, it was so stressful. I had a bad ankle which developed suddenly when I began yet another exercise program and within a week had done myself an injury that never went away, I put up with it for 2 years and also had to go through an awful period where a genetic corneal disease showed up and began giving me problems and I just got to the point where I yelled "F..K IT - I have to DO something about all of this" and that was it really. And honestly, I never looked back. The energy, feeling of wellbeing and ability to cope with my life came back VERY quickly, within 30lb I was feeling like my old self. Of course I had the same thoughts - I should be able to do this without surgery but really, as I explained to my Mum, I would not hesitate to have surgery to fix my ankle, so I was not going to hesitate to have surgery to fix my obesity, permanently, that was all there was too it. I did waver a lot before I made that decision but once it was made I went with it and I've never ever regretted it. Its honestly like something in my head that regulated my appetite was just plain broken and this fixed it. Like any normal person I love naughty foods, I eat more when I'm celebrating - at Christmas, birthdays etc, I like a drink, I like an ice cream on a hot day but I just simply dont eat 3000 calories a day anymore. Honestly - you WOULD have surgery for any other physical affliction that was seriously affecting your life and your health, obesity is NO different, its just the judgements and morals we attach to it that make it seem that way.

I'd say that by 12 months I had lost all I was going to lose without major effort - luckily for me this was 100% of my "excess" weight, bringing me to the high end of my healthy weight range. I'd like to lose a bit more. But its going to take major effort, more than perhaps I'm willing to put in. I've achieved a normal relationship with food and I excercise regularly and absolutely love it. I dont want to mess with that by purposely eating much less or forcing myself to exercise in ways I just dont want to (like a lot of strength work, ugh) which is what I know it would take. I know how to fine tune my body, I understand the science behind it but brown rice and tuna for meals and hours of strength training a day? Forget it, lol. I'll just keep eating healthy foods and enjoying my hour long runs. And that'll take me where it takes me. Its been easy and natural to this point. It depends how strongly you feel about it. Its entirely reasonable to not give up on your ultimate goal for ANYTHING, afterall you were passionate enough about it to have WLS. You sound determined and positive, I bet you'll get there, just stick with it.

Its why I stay loose enough to eat virtually anything, and I avoid a high protein/low carb diet. Nobody will ever convince me its healthy in the long run, although it makes you lose weight in the short term. What CAN you eat? Do you eat plenty of fresh fruit and veg and some sort of minimally processed grain foods - like oatmeal for example? Could you tweak your diet and perhaps include some of the suggestions above? Or even reduce your fill slightly so that you can eat more?

Well I'm glad to help. I think the first step is just letting go of the old negativity. You need to know what you're in for too and just relax and go with it. That means probably initial quick loss, then a return of hunger as post op swelling goes down, maybe even a bit of a small regain, a few months toing and froing to get good restriction, many plateaus and frustrations but at the end of this, in a year you will weigh less. It doesnt matter how much "they" say you should lose every week. You will lose what you lose. If its less than average that doesnt mean its not working. I cant stress enough though how much running has helped me. Exercise is absolutely key. Good hard aerobic exercise, up to an hour, five or six days a week. At first that may be just walking, but its worth building up and keeping it intense. Weights too if you have the time, its fantastic for building muscle and increasing metabolism. Make exercise your friend. When you exercise like that, eating perfectly is not so important, and exercise does so much for weight maintenance. You CAN do this, it DOES work but it does rely on your input. But you're not hopeless, you're just discouraged. And that's normal because nothing has worked. Of course the band does not work for absolutely everyone, but there's many reasons for that and relatively few who simply do not lose due to other problems.

Yes, that's right, your excess weight is the difference between now and 130lb - and I think its entirely realistic to expect to get there. Its just down to how you want to approach it. people dont get there for all sorts of reasons, but often those are reasons within your personal control. There's not a reason in the world why you have to settle for only 50% of the weight off. Although when I used to hit 79kg when I was younger, it was trigger point for me to diet. I'd lose weight easily, get back down to 75kg or so. Now it wont move for love nor money, lol. It does get harder to get as low when you've been very overweight I think.

Yes it does. But a lot of our eating problems have little to do with physical appetite, head hunger is still a problem. But its what you do 90% of the time that matters. You dont have to be perfect. I eat bad foods sometimes, I give into head hunger a lot of time, but I virtually NEVER eat till I'm stuffed, the discomfort is just not worth it, its really really horrible to overeat when you're banded. So I may give in to the head hunger and buy a muffin and a coffee down at the shops but I can guarantee you I wont eat more than half the muffin. And probably only half the coffee as well. Those little things add up to calorie deficit. I dont have a lot of willpower when it comes to not eating chocolate or a cookie or whatever just because I feel like it. But I have good willpower for not eating McDonalds for lunch, or making something cheesy and fattening or whatever, I find it quite easy to eat a good Soup or a salad instead and what the band helps with is once I've become satisfied on that, the desire to eat what I may have been tempted to eat just evaporates. And I guess the other reason why I've been successful is I've done what no band can make you do, I've started, built up to and committed for life to a good exercise program - I run about 40kms a week these days. If you can do that and eat well most of the time, not beat yourself up over slips and indiscretions and learn to fit those "somtimes" foods into your life without having them takeover, you'll be very successful. Just personally, I do not believe being banded is about dieting, I believe its about working on your relationship with food, learning not to be afraid of it, learning that you are in control and that just because you go to dinner somewhere and its Pasta put in front of you not freaking and refusing to eat it and not eating it and thinking that's licence to gorge for 3 days - learning that its just pasta, its just one meal and its no big deal - is what you're aiming for.

You've got it a bit confused - statistics arent really saying that you tend to lose 50% of the amount of weight YOU choose to lose, you tend to lose 50% of your excess body weight, so even though you think you'd be a skeleton at that low a weight, your excess weight is still the difference between that weight and your current weight. Just because you only choose to lose 50lb instead of 100 (for example) doesnt mean you can say you only have 50lb of excess weight! You have 100lb of excess weight, you just choose not to lose it all. But that statistic also takes into account people who have erosion, slippage, lose their bands, have their bands removed, are non compliant etc. If you choose to do this right, follow the rules, eat well, exercise well you can probably be quite confident that you will lose more than 50% - that is entirely in your control. The real right weight for you is the weight at which your body fat percentage and muscle ratio is healthy, no matter what it says on the scales. If you are a very muscular person you will always weigh more. You also have the right to look the way you want to. If you dont like the thin look that being at the bottom of the healthy weight range tends to give, then dont aim there, its up to you. But you wont be "unhealthy" or a "skeleton" if you're within your healthy range, or not likely anyway. Its more a matter of most people who have been obese for a long time cannot see themselves as normal I've lost 100% of my excess weight - I'm now at the top end of my healthy weight range, I'm very happy but would like to lose more. I like skinny, lol. Not that I ever have been. I'm not skinny now, I'm "normal" looking and I have bits I still would like to see a lot less flesh on. </p> <p> </p> <p>But if I can state a personal opinion, I cannot see why in the world people would have weight loss surgery to still finish up overweight by their own choosing. Yes you've improved your health to a large degree but the bottom line is if you're still overweight then you're STILL at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, various cancers etc. Less risk than before but still a greater risk that what you would have at a normal weight. </p> <p> </p> <p>But that's just my opinion. There's also a lot to be said for picking an achievable goal and stopping at a weight you can maintain without obsessive effort.</p>

I'll preface this by saying that I have no real basis for this, its just my gut instinct, pardon the pun. I do feel "safer" being looser. I just think that to be loose enough that you can eat most foods may require more in the way of willpower and just plain holding out on foods that you shouldnt overeat etc is to be less likely to overstretch your pouch or get blocked and PB. I know, I know, if it were that easy none of us would need a band. But I was as bad a case as anyone, and I've managed after almost 18 months of banding to pretty much break a lot of those bad habits. You CAN do it over time, it takes a long time, but you can do it. I can still "overeat" to the point where at times I stopped losing, and I"m sure I could gain if I wasnt careful. But I cant pig out, grossly overeat or eat a lot of things like bread, pizza etc. Its enough to keep me on the straight and narrow, but the weight loss, that for me takes the same work it ever did. Maintenance is what my band helps me with more than anything. That's because its relatively loose, loose enough that I can eat a sandwich. I create a good part of the calorie deficit by exercise, rather than eating tiny amounts. Its worked for me, it may not work for everyone, and I may suffer slippage or erosion down the track. But I do feel I'm doing what I reasonably can to avoid those complications.

Sounds like crap to me too. Then again, lots of people believe in Atkins... Its pretty simple really, eat less, move more and you'll lose weight. However you want to dress it up. I wasnt really vulnerable to buying books/products/miracle pills even before I was banded, I'm by nature a cynic, I think everyone is trying to dupe me. I believe what I have reason to believe and not much else.

There can very often be a delay. It might be your fourth bite that causes a problem (perhaps you swallowed it without chewing enough) so it may sit a while before it gets to move through and you may have put two or three bites more on top of that and suddenly you realise you've gotten stuck. However, it does become second nature to eat very carefully, but its quite important to not take one bit after another but to put down your fork and wait a bit to make sure all is going fine. I find I particularly have to do this with the first few bites.

You do need fat in your diet - I try to stay away from saturated fat but overall I dont really eat a particularly low fat diet, not huge fats either but I definitely dont shy away from avocado, olive oil (things like pesto and dips), olive oil based spreads, and I do eat quite a lot of salmon, which is a good oily fish. I also take fish oil because its just a good supplement for almost everybody to take. You really need to good fats to balance out the saturated fats you eat as well if you eat meat and cheese and the like. And it does make a difference to your skin and hair. I notice it REALLY helps my son to have plenty of Omega fats in his diet, his asthma is way more controlled when the inflammation in his body is kept under control. He takes spoonfulls of flax seed oil a day and I often do too.

Ooh, what are my cant live withouts? I get my eybrows waxed regularly, I agree this is important. I have had my hair permanently straightened before and will do it again when I can afford to, as its all grown out now, but for now I do straighten it when I style it, its fluffy, fine and frizzy, sort of curly in spots, but not all over, its really basically very ugly unless its professionally blow dried or unless I straighten it. My hair requires effort. Acrylic nails are a must for me, I have shocking nails that break painfully below right down at the cuticles, peel, split and always ragged and stumpy. I've given up, nothing has ever worked on them, and I have nice hands, nice and slender and long nails make them look really lovely, they're one of my best features. I'd prefer natural nails but I can hardly function without acrylic or gel as the breaking, peeling and discomfort really gets to me. I keep them medium length and usually french, I'm not into long red talons. Other than that I'm a simple girl. I like a natural look, a face full of make up and obviously coloured hair is not my thing. I think make up looks pretty gross unless its for evening under low lighting, full make up out in the daylight is awful. I love to have a tan too but I fake it as its so dangerous and so aging. I dont really use any expensive products, I just look after myself and exercise regularly and at 39 I think I look OK.

Me! I'm at goal - into my healthy weight range so I lost 100% of my excess weight and am still losing very slowly. I'm in maintenance now, and have maintained below 80kg for about 5 months, its easy, I dont think about it, I dont diet, I wear what I want and I'm not even thinking about PS, I accept my body with its faults and its good points (I have a rather flabby bum, lol but I have great shoulders and collarbones) and I feel healthy, fit and well. I never PB, I dont overeat or think about food much at all these days, I couldnt give a toss about Protein and calories and eating to a formula or plan, I just eat what I feel like when I feel like it and its healthy most of the time. I love running and go five or six times a week. Best thing I ever did.

Well of COURSE its our quasi national anthem - Khe Sanh. Best song ever written. About what it was like for Australians coming home from Vietnam. Its the most requested song ever on Australian radio. Its a get totally smashed and stand around in a circle belting it out at a party kind of song. Very evocative of my youth, lol. Guaranteeed to get me up at a karaoke.

I can identify EXACTLY with what you're saying and although I'm now in a health weight range, I'd really like to lose about 18lb more too. I still struggle daily with the bad habits I used to have, snacking in particular and its been harder these past few months than it was at the beginning. I just figure I do OK 80% of the time and that's really good enough since I'm maintaining without much effort. And I keep running, running running. Exercise is the best weapon for weight maintenance.

You could be describing me, lol. Its bitten me in the bum before too, like when I was a physiotherapy student, you just have to plain LEARN all the parts of the human body and I was literally useless at performing practical tasks whilst being watched and assessed - I was at 18 years old anyway. I'm currently doing teaching rounds and am in exactly the same position, having to perform whilst being watched, and I'm coping but I hate it! But give me a paper to write on something interesting and I can do it in a few hours and get a high distinction for it. Actually I tend to just spew it all forth and then I have to go and find the references they expect to support my views, I most definitely do not research to establish my stance and then write my paper round that. I just make it up :rolleyes and find the facts to fit it. I even shock myself with my brilliance, lol. I often finish things and think "Hot DAMN that's good!". It really IS a gift to be able to write well. We had an interesting thing lately where we produced multimodal artifacts that are housed on line so for the frist time, I actually got to see other students' work. And realised why I've been getting HD's all along when I havent put in that much effort. Eeek, people just have no idea how to write! Makes me wonder why I made it so hard on myself choosing something so scientific and factual first go round at tertiary education.

There are a couple of Australian ones too and I went there in the early days for more guidance on what a diet after being banded would be like. The whole protein thing is specifically American. I just take what I want from the experience of others here, I enjoy the chit chat, but I dont really take much notice of the nutritional advice (except to argue, lol, which is pretty pointless because its nothing more than a cultural difference but sometimes I feel moved to point out that its entirely possible to lose to goal never drinking protein shakes at all).

My body does not like to throw up. I'll suffer nausea that drives me insane (like during pregnancy), I'll get food poisoning, I'll catch a tummy bug and the whole family can be barfing up a lung and I'll be sitting there feeling terrible but not vomiting. Likewise with PBing. I dont do it generally - only twice in 18 months - and I dont do it with ease. Both times took 45 minutes before the offending item made a reappearance. I get stuck sometimes, I get discomfort and sliming but I always have to wait for it to go through. If I *could* just instantly PB and it would be over with I think banded life would be easier and I would in fact probably have my band tighter, but all that will happen if I go tighter is that I will get stuck more often but not PB. But I would never ever ever make myself sick by sticking my fingers down my throat. I doubt it would work for me either, but eating too much, too fast or the wrong thing and making yourself sick to relieve it is not exactly what I'd call healthy eating behaviour. I dont care to go there.

Great article. Am I allowed to say, without being deliberately offensive or rude, that I am very very very glad when it comes to health systems that I do not live in the United States? I think this procedure is needlessly withheld from so many people because of the way your health system operates. Prevention is 100 times better than a cure. Denying people of BMI 30 to 39 the procedure is really stupid and lacks a lot of foresight. They are tomorrows bariatric patients anyway so why not prevent them ever becoming so obese? Saves the health system lots of dollars and improves the results one hundredfold. For starters I had the procedure at a BMI of 35 and I have no loose skin as a result (of course, luck plays a big part in that too). No PS for the health system to cough up for!

I keep thinking I've learned this lesson but the simple truth is I work better under pressure. Every semester I vow to start my essays and assignments right away so that I can borrow the resources I want from the library, etc. And every semester I end up doing them in the 2-3 days before they're due.