Jachut

Eat more often. And the thing I still struggle most with with the band is that what feels like pigging out is often still a small enough amount of food to have the weight coming off. I've lost a lot of restriction lately and really need another fill. I've avoided the scales for two weeks becuase I've been sure I'd see a gain of 2kg or more. I hopped on this morning, I've LOST another.5kg. I feel as if I'm eating to maximum capacity - ie. overeating but obviously not. I guess if I think about it it would have required more food to reach this capacity previously. Same with mushies. If you add another meal in there somewhere it will help and wont stop you losing. Long term, I find I do better with the band to eat the foods that are difficult - like bread (as well as including Protein for long term satiety). They stick with me much longer and help me eat far less overall, they take longer to eat and are more satisfying to eat. Soup may be lower calorie or yogurt may be higher protein or whatever, but carbs still perform the function of filling me up and keeping the food sitting there in the pouch, fruit, veges etc on their own I find dont fill me up, dont stop me eating too much at one meal etc.

Nothing so far. Although I made a cake the other day and had some and cake is really really really difficult - much harder than bread.

Have you had restriction over that time? Was the band checked for leaks or other problems. I've gotten to the stage now where if I dont get more fill and/or pull my finger out and get working harder again, I wont lose anymore weight. But honestly, I havent been able to help losing the weight I have so far, its not as if I've been angelic at all. Its been pretty automatic. Which would lead me to wonder if your band has been OK all that time. Or have you been uncompliant? Is it possible you have other health issues? That must be so horribly disappointing and frustrating for you.

Well back on the treadmill today, literally. I hadnt done anything for a little over a week becuase of my stupid eye, and I have my first ever fun run on Sunday so I really needed to get back to it. Did a 4km easy run, incline of 1, burned about 400 calories, so I was happy with that. I hadnt lost any fitness. I think I'll do an easy one tomorrow too, nothing too strenuous before the fun run.

I find the same thing - if I eat really slowly, I could eat forever. I find myself getting the stop signal - real fulness is quite uncomfortable for me now, so I put my dinner aside and 10 minutes later start to nibble again and before you know it, I've gotten through the whole thing which was too big for a bandster in the first place. So i too have to make myself stop at 20 minutes - or sooner if I"m full.

Ok, now I've been all disapproving about the health dangers and have also admitted that I do actually do it on occasion... I like the stand up beds but there arent many around. There's none locally to me, there's one in the salon at the shopping centre near mum's that I'd drop into if I were tanning for an event, like I said I dont do it as a regular thing. I tan in the alltogether becuase if Doug noticed I had tan lines and found out I'd been in a solarium he'd go nuts. He'd ask me how I could endanger my health when I had kids to bring up and what sort of idiot was I that I'd do such a thing in the name of fashion? Yeah, whatever. So I dont tell him and when he says "you look brown" which he rarely would even notice, I just say I used fake tan. And then he says I stink when obviously I dont because I didnt use the stuff. On the lie down beds, I get white boobs -because they fall under my arms when I lie down. I also get pressure spots on my bum, and I dont tan that well on my sides, but room's too tight to move around much. I also tend to burn on the side I'm lying on where I sweat. And never ever ever go into a tanning bed when you've been slogging it out in the gym, guaranteed bad burn, and dont use the tanning lotions with a "tingle". YOu come out scarlet and burning, its terrible, although it goes away after a few hours.

I'd say its a lot of the issue. He's right in that the more you weigh the higher the risks of surgery but you've certainly taken that into account. When it sounds like the advice is being given with a good big spoonful of judgement, I'd get my nose out of joint too. At your weight, you're going to have to do the presurgery Optifast and you'd no doubt lose close to what he wants you to lose anyway. That's what's got me stumped. Nearly everyone has to do it so why single you out and just leave you with no assistance to get that weight off? I think in the end you want a good doctor, not necessarily a nice one though so I dont really think you need to go doctor shopping, whatever weight you can lose is going to help you and make it safer. But putting specific numbers on it I think is stupid.

It does make you mad but really you didnt lose 16lb of fat in only a few weeks. Its physically impossible, it just doesnt happen that fast. Whenever you see a weight loss like that it consists of a bit of fat, a bit of lean body tissue and a lot of Water. Your body is normalising its Fluid levels. Whatever fat you've lost will stay lost because you're doing the right things. But you cant keep that water away and you dont want to, you need to be hydrated. The best thing is to stay away from the bloody scales, but that's way easier said than done.

Our medicare system works like that in Australia. Everyone gets medicare rebates on medical treatments, and then you can opt to have private health insurance as well - which covers hospital costs, extras such as physio, alternative therapies, dental, optical etc. Most of my lapband was covered by Medicare. But Medicare pays 80% of a "scheduled fee" and there's not a doctor or surgeon in the land who charges the "scheduled fee". They all charge over and above that so I was out of pocket by $3,000 - but with all aftercare free forever - because my surgeon charges the scheduled fee only for all that, and directly bills Medicare instead of me.

I would be but I'm in another country with a completely different health system. It would be at the discretion of my surgeon, our insurance companies dont argue anythign that the surgeon says is necessary, and the surgeon would most likely recommend it because I had been obese and would likely become that way again. I dont know that I think I would become obese again and I'm not sure I would opt to be rebanded, I'd kinda have to be there in that situation to take everything into consideration. But it would certainly be an option for me.

I made good soups with plenty of carbs and Protein in them and liquified them, watered them down with stock or tinned tomatoes. I had runny yogurt, fruit juice, V8 juice, fruit smoothies with yogurt added, but I never touched one single Protein shake. Yuck, they arent food they're a chemical concoction that I'd maybe consider eating if I were in space and that was all that was available. If you dont like them or they have a bad effect on you you dont have to have them. There's plenty of other things.

Tanning certainly isnt the only thing we do in the name of beauty that's bad for us either. I'm fairly sure wearing petrochemicals all over our skin and putting hair dye in and taking diet pills and a whole host of other things probably dont do much for our overall health either. And doctors (here anyway) are now having to tell people to go out into the sun sans sunscreen for a while every day due to the increase in Vitamin deficiency. Everything in moderation I guess - I feel comfortable using a tanning bed when I want to be brown for a formal occasion or just prior to a summer holiday, I know the risks and I can make an informed decision. I'm too frightened of looking like that scary old bat in There's Something About Mary to make it a regular, several times a week event though. Until they come up with a self tan lotion that doesnt stink, or rub off round your shoe and bra line I'll steer clear of those.

There is definitely a mood lift you get from that burst of light.

Maybe if you ate the bread, it would push it up? lol.

I tend to avoid stuff like this becuase of the salt and additives, fresh food is better. But some of them are quite nice and they can make a convenient lunch. The price puts me off though. They're 5 bucks a pop here.

I had that ball feeling in the early weeks but it went away. I'd call eating 1/2 a sandwich at lunch, then 1/2 at dinner and taking 30 minutes each time restricted - well and truly.

Actually the tanning beds are more dangerous than the sun due to the different wavelength used. Hehe, does anyone find in the tanning beds their boobs are always white because when you lie down they fall under your arms? So you get really brown in the centre of your chest? Definitely when I quit living off my hubby and being an old age university student I'm gonna be in that Mystic Tan place once a week.

I had a BMI of 36 I think, it depended on who was measuring my height! I'm in Australia so I had no problem getting covered, our health system works differently, if my surgeon agreed it would be a good thing for me then I was covered, no questions asked. Also in Australia they've been doing the band for longer and have a different attitude, you can generally get done from a BMI of about 30 here because as my surgeon said at the info evening, most people simply pass through 30, 35 on the way through to higher levels of obesity. For me, there was definitely a preventative element in choosing this surgery. I chose it becuase I'd just gotten to the stage I was tired of the diet merrygo round. My life was out of control becuase my body was out of control. I'd gotten fat enough that I had started to suffer with a bad ankle problem that no amount of physio, expensive orthotics etc was able to fix, I felt I looked dreadful, I was beginning to get depressed and because of my bad ankle, my activity levels were just dropping. All I could see for my future was continuing to get fatter. It was the best thing I've ever done. I was warned not to expect the fast weight loss as I only had 35-40kg to lose but I did just fine and in fact my doc is rapt with me now as I've lost almost 20 which is half my excess weight, in 5 months. I havent lost for the last month though, in fact I'm starting to struggle not to gain so its definintely time to scale up my previously cautious approach to fills. I've been able to eat everything, bread, Pasta, the lot up until now and I may still be able to as its not so much that I need to go tighter as that I've lost restriction - due to weight loss, the band has gotten looser. I've never PB'd (vomited) anything. I take it slowly and carefully, stop when my body says its having difficulty getting something through. Being banded does not ahve to be all about throwing up all the time, sure it happens to everyone occasionally but there's plenty of people here for whom its infrequent or has never ever happened. But I'm in a headspace now that if I need to go that bit tighter and some foods become impossible, so be it. YOu dont have to face that all at once. Bread to me is now only bread, pasta is only pasta. Our family meals havent changed much, I usually dont have the side potato, pasta or whatever because I cant fit it in. My social life remains unchanged, I go out for dinner without worry, I eat whatever is available, just not terribly much. Its a huge weekend here, my nieces birthday, mothers day on Sunday with two families to see, and I'm not worried like I used to be that it'll be a weekend of gorging with a big fat 2kg gain at the other side of it. That's for everyone else, I go to sample, taste, enjoy what's there in moderation. This has freed me to enjoy food, not be scared of it. Doing research on the band is daunting, there appear to be so many rules. Protein levels, drinking with meals etc. That's an American thing - its much more relaxed for me, I dont worry about any of that stuff, I just eat less and that works. I try to include more healthy foods, less unhealthy ones. I havent counted a calorie since I began. I'd never advise anyone to ignore what they've been told to do but you can approach these things as you're ready, as long as you eat less you'll lose weight. I dont think I could live with a really restricted diet though - if I had trouble with meat, fruit etc then to me I'd be too tight. That's the beauty though, you get to choose. I dont need my band to be so tight that I dont need to exercise any self control, I can eat bread yes, but I dont eat 10 slices because I know I cant do that and lose weight. A big part of my focus was a healthy diet and I refuse to be able to eat so little that I start to get malnourished. With a smaller amount to lose its been great because you get results almost immediately. 14 kg off and I could suddenly run again. My ankle is so much better, not normal, but I can run regularly and not be crippled. I can shop in normal stores. I'm now just overweight, not obese. Then next 20kg looks like a long hard road because its no longer just melting off me, and I reckon it will take me the rest of the year but I'll get there. I have kids too - two boys aged 10 and 8 and a 3 year old little girl. I'm so much a better mother to them now, my healthy actions are educational for them, our family eats better as a whole, we bought a treadmill the whole family uses, its just all good, nothing bad as far as I can see.

I agree with Kellie - restriction isnt about PBing all the time or having pain. I dont think you "feel" restriction in a physical sense. I realise I"ve lost restriction recently because I've noticed that I'm hungrier more often and the same sized meals that were satisfying me now no longer do. I have fewer golfball episodes but can still have them - did today when I had sardines and tomato on a piece of toast with Mum for lunch, that was quite hard to eat. But despite having to take it slowly and carefully I wasnt really satisfied when I'd finished it. So to me being restricted doesnt mean I PB all the time and nor does it mean I eat a thimbleful and am stuffed, but it does mean its easy to eat 3 small meals a day and not think about food much in between.

Gelati and Ice cream are totally different things. I loathe ice cream but love Gelati its more like a sorbet. But still high sugar food. We have a street in Melbourne called Lygon St which is almost entirely full of Italian restaurants, and the gelati there, there's shops with so many flavours, its unbelieveable. Awesome. Such a great thing to do, a family lunch in Lygon St on a sunny sunday and then buy a gelati and do some window shopping.

I was going to gently suggest that your mental state does not sound good. Nor do your expectations of what being banded would be like. You're so newly banded! I was still on liquids at this stage, I cant believe you're on solid foods. I would also never advise anyone to not follow what their doctor and nutritionist has told them. But holy cow you guys have some rules to follow! This Protein this, carbs that, count your calories here, watch your fat grams there, I had this band to get away from that crap and have found it totally and utterly not necessary for weight loss. There's no secret to it MelAnne, eat less over a long period of time than what your body burns and you'll lose weight. It doesnt happen in 3 weeks. Your Fluid levels are ALL OVER the place in that time, you sound as if you're way undereating anyway and will send yourself nuts and make yourself ill doing that, you need to take a deep breath and relax, and just give it time to work.

I wont eat fish with bones at the best of times. I like fish but I'm really squeamish about it - Doug has a passion for fishing but I will not touch, look at or cook anything he brings home, I cant stand handling it. Yuck. And if he cooks it I wont eat it because of the bones, nor will the kids. If he wants us to eat it he better bloody learn to fillet it properly then. I buy it from the fish shop already cleaned up and nice to eat, lol. I toss what he's caught out and go and buy the same thing properly prepared and lie about it, tell him it's his fish. So no, I"ve never had a fishbone stuck but the thought has occurred to me how bad this could be for a bnaded person.

I have done it for special occasions. I do enjoy it, its very relaxing. I love how I look a little bit brown. BUT - it is diabolically bad for your skin and your health. In Australia 2 out of 3 people end up with some form of skin cancer anyway in their lifetime as we get so much UV exposure on an everyday basis. Its a great way to end up looking 70 at 45, and it looks really ugly when its overdone, a nice light tan on nice young skin is lovely but a deep tan on wrinkly old skin is not. Tanning beds set my eyes off and I get corneal erosions after I've been in one 2 or 3 times so that light is getting into your eyes (causing cataracts and other nasties) despite the goggles. And the light used is even more damaging than regular sunlight. It isnt safe like they claim, its really dangerous. I've had spray on tans and wasnt impressed - still stinky and streaky just like that bottle stuff. But I did once have a Mystic tan where you walk into the booth and it sprays automatically so no salon assistant necessary and that was really really good. I only wish I had the budget to do it weekly but at $40 its way too expensive.

Funnily enough I just did this on another forum - I had lunch with a goat because that's how I roll.

Trouble is restaurant culture is a bit different here in Australia - for one thing doggie bags are illegal due to health regulations. Kids menus are only able to be ordered by CHILDREN, there's no way they'd let an adult order from the children's menu and yep, its always chicken nuggets and chips, hot dog and chips, fish and chips or spag bol, not the kind of stuff you go to a restaurant to eat. And you only get kids menus in downmarket restaurants anyway - pubs, bistros and the like.