Jachut

That's the definition of insanity isnt it? Continuosly and repeatedly doing the same thing yet expecting a different result. There is a part of you that just has to accept that something is broken and needs to be fixed. Obesity is a disease. I think we are so strongly conditioned to feel that its our fault, that we shoudl be able to control it but its just plain truth that so many people cant. I have a lot of trouble getting my head around this concept, I admit that I STILL tend to think I could now keep my weight off without the band. I still find myself wanting to say to people that are struggling, "you just have to DO it". Dont eat the crap, dont eat so much" but it is not a helpful answer. Its not the way obesity works.

I'm like that too. Food food food all morning and then little after lunch. I'm "interested" till about five pm (but ignore it) and then its like someone just turns off a switch. Couldnt care about dinner and certainly cant understand night time snacking. It would never enter my head at that time of day.

Actually on that topic, I know I've said this before but I've found it amazing how different the body that's emerged at 39 is so different to the one I had at 28 which is when I last weighed this much. Then I was post 1 baby, now I'm post 3 and nearing middle age. Of course there's some flabbier bits but what's amazed me is that I ever thought I was fat at this weight. I tried on my wedding dress which I wore at 72kg. It fits me now at 78kg. I think it must be all the running but I am most definitely thinner now at 78 than I was at 28. And my face is entirely different. I've actually stopped losing because I fear getting gaunt in the face. Back then I had chipmunk cheeks. But I also have new skills! Lol, I can tie my boobs in a knot around the back of my neck!

I've never followed that rule. I dont eat and drink together, maybe a sip of wine here and there if I'm out but I often do have a coffee within half an hour of eating a meal. I just listen to my body's signals. I dont see that you can dilate your pouch or any of it if you obey the signals. And I just never found that eating and drinking close together affected my hunger levels. I dont eat till I'm bursting and then pour in coffee on top of that, I would PB, but I have a coffee when I feel like it, which is not usually until the food has started passing through.

She's jsut living proof that you CAN be too skinny. When you get older you just cant wear it so well. It makes me feel quite justified in reaching my goal near the top of my healthy weight range and not killing myself to lose more. She looks quite severely underweight, and her poor stomach in other pictures is empty and flabby. There does come an age where you jsut look better if you cover up a bit more. I saw another pic of her yesterday wearing a one piece costume and she looked so much better. I doubt she has a band, I think she's had most of it sucked out.

This is extremely timely information, given that I've just hit my goal weight and whilst I'd still like to see a few more kg's come off, I'm really not going to be actively trying to lose anymore. I have been thinking about this very thing. I feel SO blessed that I've gotten to my goal without having to have a tight band, and only ever having PB'd once. My fills have been teeny tiny and very gradual. I've never been sick with a stomach bug and vomited. All these things I think go in my favour to keeping my band healthy. But - as I was telling Mum on the phone when she asked what the plan of action was from here - this is not the time to forget I have a band. I have to keep on eating the same way, in small quantities as I have been doing for the past 16 months, nothing changes. I dont need to get any tighter, but I still have to respect my band. I want it there for life. Not overpacking your pouch is NOT about not gaining weight, its about respecting your band. We were talking about this in another thread when I said I can eat 3/4 of a sandwich, which quite naturally rings alarm bells for people. But its really only due to the fact that I am not tight at all, not that my pouch is stretched. But I must remain vigilant so that this does not happen. I'd hate to have esophageal problems or similar down the track.

I really would suspect gall bladder, if its not getting better. Especially when its after you eat. I find I'm very prone to tummy aches since being banded. Any cold or flu - anything that brings on a temp and aches and pains brings on a bad tummy ache as well. But it generally passes within a day or two, as anything viral should.

Several foods block me up, cause a golf ball, but I've only ever PB'd once. They are fish (except salmon), crappy sugary cereals and doughy foods like donuts, muffin and cake. I can eat a bite of donuts, muffin and cake, but I cannot tolerate fish. Its just awful to eat, instant pain. Bread is a difficult go slow food but I can eat it quite easily without discomfort. Anything eaten too fast or in too large a bite can cause problems, but its second nature to me now to eat slowly and chew well.

I've found that its taken an hour of running five or six times a week to keep the weight moving, three times just wasnt enough for me. If you can possibly up the exercise I think it will help.

No. I've had really no luck in finding a sweet spot, so I do feel like I've had to dig deep and find a lot of strength in myself. I got a great boost at first because I got 8 or 9 weeks of superb restriction before my first fill and lost probably half my weight in that time. Then it waned a bit and I got my first fill at 12 weeks and although each fill has brought me up by small increments (my first fill was 1 ml and then I've had five tiny ones), its never ever given me the kind of restriction others talk about. I dont have a dilated pouch or any other problem, I just seem to have a smallish stomach and I never had a lot of internal fat, my doc remarked on that after surgery. I'm sure another fill would mean I could no longer eat bread and such, and be restricted to less than a cup of food, but well, I've gotten to goal so why bother? I've run my ass off quite literally. I've exercised long and hard throughout this journey, very consistenly six times a week or so. I've ignored hunger, I've ignored cravings and I've eaten what I know I should (even though I believe in carbs), I've avoided fatty, calorie dense foods and I've had enough restriction from my band to prevent over eating and to make fast foods and very heavy stodgy foods too much trouble to bother with. My diet's changed markedly through a COMBINATION of my band and my efforts. I needed this tool, desperately, I could never have gotten here without it, but I dont for a minute believe its solely responsible for my weight loss.

I have to watch this too. Late morning is a quiet time for me after the morning rush and I tend to eat then, when I really dont need to. For that reason, it works best for me to work on 3 meals a day and NO Snacks. That means no reason to eat ever between meals. I can eat enough in one sitting to keep me going till almost meal time, like about 4pm and between then and dinner I just ignore hunger pangs.

Well you will to some degree. Up until my last fill I could have gotten a McDonalds cheeseburger down, although I think I only did it once. I still probably could but it gets to the point where it takes so much effort that you cant be bothered. And miraculously you do just lose your taste for it. Mcdonalds has no appeal whatsoever for me anymore, and I did used to love it. Now its just nothing to me. KFC I havent eaten in probably 20 years anyway, ick any chicken where the bones are soft CANNOT be good, lol. I can eat the top of a slice of pizza if the family has it, I can eat the base too but really, I dont want it so why. I cannot eat fish and chips anymore, just no way. I keep Lean Cuisines etc in the freezer for takeaway night now, I often dont participate.

Pouch dilation has worried me before due to the amounts I can eat, but I dont have it. I just dont have a lot of restriction - I've had a barium swallow under xray to check that, and my band simply isnt very tight. I've got 2.6 in a 4ml band, courtesy of my last fill. I dont need a fill though because I'm at goal weight and have lost quite well all the way through on 1500 to 1800 calories a day. I think I'm just lucky. I never PB (its happened to me only once) and I rarely get stuck. And I do have to follow bandster rules - chew slowly, stop at the first full signal etc, or I will run into trouble. I've just never seen the need to not eat bread or to get a fill just because I could if I was still losing. If you're losing, you're not eating too much. That's not to say that bread isnt hard to eat and doesnt cause me a few golfballs now and then - but I find its any food that's difficult and has to be eaten VERY carefully, that fills me up the most. Obviously it doesnt move on through as quickly as other foods. I dont always choose a sandwich becuase I cant always be bothered - it sounds like pigging out or overeating, but in reality its 3/4 of an hour of teeny tiny bites and crazy chewing. I think the time it takes is what satisfied me as much as the actual item. There *are* some things I cant eat though, lol. When I say I can eat 3/4 of a sandwich, I mean a bit of Peanut Butter between 2 slices of think wholegrain bread. I couldnt eat a Big Mac! I think you have to do what's best for your body, and accept its idiosyncracies, know what I mean? Its just one of the oddities of mine that to get good restriction, I'd probably have to go to capacity in my band, but oddly, despite having been fat, I seem to have a very fast metabolism, perhaps its all the running I do and the fact that I am five ft 10 tall, so I have really never needed to drop to 1200 a day or even less, therefore the restriction just hasnt been a problem.

Yes I can eat bread, and yes, I can eat a whole sandwich. Well, 3/4 of one anyway.

So glad to be of service

Yes, exercise has made the difference between losing and not losing. In fact I'd actually go so far as to say that my changed exercise habits are more responsible for me reaching my goal weight than the lapband has been. I've never ever had good restriction with my band. Its helped me to eat like a normal person but I've never been able to eat 1000 calories a day or even 1200, I'd get too hungry and binge. I've stuck on around 1500 to 1800. I could have gone tighter but I'm phobic about being tight, I want this thing in me for ever! I'd say its been 40% what I eat (habits much improved) 60% what I do.

I find that I need to exercise about five times a week - well I'm exercising for maintenance now more so than actual weight loss. It depends what you're doing but I cant do a vigorous 10k run five days a week. I try to do two really intense days, and 3 lighter days and the other two days I might go for a walk or something - that's the difference now, my off days still invovle excercise!

I dont need PS. Well no more than I needed it last time I weighed 78kg. But that's down to a number of things. I was less than 100lb overweight, and that was spread over 5ft 10 of me. I also think I have good skin given I escaped 3 pregnancies with nary a stretch mark. If I lived in Hollywood and was a star, I'd be at the Plastic surgeon's office begging for removal of my saddlebags, belly roll, tiny batwings and lots of work on my boobs. I'd probably also want a chin implant, and something done about my dark undereye circles. As it is I happen to be a 39 year old mum, part time uni student, soon to be primary school teacher. For that role I reckon I look pretty bloody fantastic. No need to cut up bits of me in the Quest for perfection. I got out of WLS very lightly, otherwise I wouldnt hesitate to be considering surgery now. But over this journey, I have also gotten rid of the idea that I would finish it looking perfect, when I was never perfect in the first place. I think I sometimes come across as anti surgery and I'm not but I do feel VERY strongly that you havent beaten your weight problem until you've learned to love yourself and can identify the difference between a physical problem requiring surgery (such as many WLS are left with) and looking like a normal healthy person. Why dont you get the weight off first, assess during and after your journey. You may be lucky!

I think when it comes to batwings too, every woman has them to some degree apart from the supertoned freaks that work out 9 hours a day and work as personal trainers etc. They are a natural part of aging, that's for sure. Sometimes when you've lost a lot of weight there is no answer but PS. But I just think its SO important to l earn to accept yourself too. Look around you, hardly anyone is perfect. Do you really need to be the only woman in the street with the perfect arms? Of course, its great to work to tone them up and we all want to look our best. But you can only achieve so much and I think a bit of self love makes up the rest of the equation.

I think you have your head screwed on, and you CAN do this. The very best think about the band is that you dont have a window of opportunity, you can choose to begin working with it whenever you are ready. My heart goes out to you, I never know what to say to those who really struggle with making the changes despite having a band because the bald truth is that you MUST do it or it wont work. Its as simple as that. But you know, I think what many people have to work on is not the craving for the cheeseburger. What they have to work on is their actions after they have eaten the cheeseburger. You really somehow need to come to view it as just a cheeseburger, nothing more. If you eat one, so what? Nobody ever gained 20lb from eating one cheeseburger. But deep in so many people's psyche's seems to be some sort of reasoning that means that eating one cheeseburger means eating everythign in sight for the next six months. We are only human. We are going to crave things that are not good for us and during our banded journeys we are going to eat them. I'm FAR from a perfect eater, I do eat the odd cheeseburger, I still love muffins and donuts, I do eat them occasionally. I drink far too much coffee and I like a glass of wine at night too. I also love many healthy foods. It all fits in there, everything in moderation. Stop expecting perfection from yourself, and try to learn how to just climb back up on the horse and get going again and you will get there, honestly.

I'm 5ft 10 too and I lost really well at about 1500 to 1800 calories per day - but I do run a lot. Towards the end as I neared goal it was definitely more like 1500 per day.

This goes against the grain but bread is the biggest filler for me. If I eat a sandwich at lunchtime I can guarantee I will not go picking before dinner. The sheer bulk of it keeps me full for hours. I do combine it with some sort of Protein but its the best lunch for me by far. And I do way better with muesli or oatmeal for Breakfast too than I do with eggs or similar. Probably becuase you can eat more in volume for similar calories.

I'm putting my hand up. I've just decided that I'm not going to try to lose anymore. I'm 79kg (175lb give or take) which is a BMI of just under 25 for my height. I've remained this weight give or take a kilogram or two for five months now. I'm just not losing anymore. I dont wish to diet now. I feel like my entire relationship with food has improved and is normal, I exercise because I want to in the way I want to (running) and dont wish to force myself into doing more or different exercise. I dont want to obsess over it. I can maintain this weight absolutely effortlessly without even thinking about it. Why would I want to live on a permanent diet just because initially I pluched 75kg out of the air, not 79 as a goal. I actually think I'll probably shed another kilo or two, and I know I look freaking fantastic at 72kg which is what I weighed when I got married, but I dont want to work as hard as I'd have to to get there and stay there. I'm an Australian size 14, I can shop anywhere, I can wear anything, I'm fit and healthy, yeah, I'm DONE!!!

Bacon and eggs for breakfast, we often do that on Sunday morning. And 3 brewed coffees.

I'm one that has lost all of my excess weight down to a normal BMI by eating whatever I want just in smaller quantities. It does work - but it wouldnt if I made poor choices all the time. You're not an idiot. You know that pizza and breadsticsk dont make that healthy a meal but I'm guessing you also dont eat them for Breakfast lunch and dinner day in day out. The occasional fast food meal is perfectly OK. There is NOTHING worse than dieting and having others judge what you choose to eat. I dont believe you need to improve your snack choices necessarily, that was today, tomorrow you might choose something completely different. In that situation if someone said that to me it would piss me off, people ought to try not to do that to you - and especially when they're hoeing in themselves. I dont quite know what you'd do about that, I'd tell em to shut up, lol. You arent ruining anything. I'm guessing one small slice of pizza and a couple of small breadsticks is WAY less than what you would once have eaten. I think its a victory, not a failure.