Jachut

I am six years out. I reckon it took me a good year to get used to the portion sizes that were appropriate - I would constantly overserve myself and have to throw food out, but when I served up a bandster portion, it looked ridiculously small. Now, I dont even consider a meal necessary at all if I"m not hungry. I often miss dinner becuase I may have had a snack at 4pm and I just dont want it. It also took me a year before I threw up, and that was user error. It always is for me, I've never been overtight and had vomiting because of that. I've never vomited even as often as once a week. Three or four times a year is more like it. Regular vomiting is not OK - it means you're too tight or you're not eating right (chewing too little, eating too fast, overeating). Its bad for your band. And I'd also have to say if you're reverting to sliders and cant get soup down because you're at your sweet spot - then you're not at your sweet spot! You're too tight. You may like it that way and that's fine if you can manage it without undue vomiting but that is NOT the point where people should in general be aiming.

I lost the 80lb in about 18 months and then it took me at least another 2 years to lose the other 40lb - I maintained for long periods but every now and then would drop a few pounds.

I have a tendency towards them too, not really bad ones, but I've always had that double bump and still do slightly even though I"m extremely thin now.

I had to unfill my band for my bowel resection and given that I went on to have three bowel obstructions (which could easily have necessitated a nasogastric tube) whilst having cheme, this wasnt a bad thing. But I then refilled and my surgeon was absolutely fine with me leaving it filled for the closure of my ileostomy. Like others mention, I was tight for a day or two post op and then back to normal. But if you cant even swallow a pill, hmmmm, that's pretty darn tight. I've never been that tight, so I knew I had room for some swelling without running into trouble.

Its incredible isnt it. I have two issues with running the really long ones - I find the training so booooooooring and my body tends to break down. So 10K is my distance! I just cant face running longer than an hour. I am happy that I've done one half but it took me about four weeks to recover from physically and since chemo and all that stuff, probably wont do one again. Best of luck Bill, you're an inspiration.

I had about 80lb to lose, a BMI of 36. I was banded six years ago. I have the old 4cc band. I have never struggled to find restriction, it was pretty immediate and whilst I wasnt a very fast .loser I lost steadily and almost automatically - with the band I didnt find the changes to a healthy lifestyle at all difficult.. I run regularly and did so right through my entire journey. I lost 120lb to lose, so yes, I got really thin, not just not fat anymore, and I am marathon running fit. It ws the best thing I ever did, entirely successful, very easy and I have never (touch wood) had any trouble at all with my band. I did not diet, I just ate healthier but have cut out nothing and continued to eat bread, rice and pasta in much smaller quantities. I still consider wine and chocolate essential food groups.

Bands work GREAT for low BMIers! I firmly belleve that obese is obese is obese and that if you've gotten to 33, you will probably get fatter - so why wait? Prevention is better than cure, you're more mobile and probably fitter, and you say you want to lose 50ish pounds but the thing is, I ended up losing WAY past the top of my heatlhy weight range - I had a BMI of 36 and about 80lb to lose - but I lost 120 - I went past what I consider 'meh, not fat anymore' to really nice and slender.

I guess if I had to say I counted anythign it would be calories. I'm a firm believer that calories are what matter at the end of the day, and that low carb diets simply restrict a food group that is quite calorie dense. That said, i dont log, I am simply aware in general of about how much I am eating. I dont believe in dieting.

Well..... I guess you asked for it! I know that bands techncially can hold a little more than their stated capacity but I would think its a little risky for both you AND your band to be overfull. Although I hear your frustration - I have a 4cc band too - it had 3cc in it for years and years whilst I maintained. I had to unfill it almost a year ago now for a big surgery and I'm now back to 3.4cc and can barely feel a thing restriction wise.

I think we kid ourselves about what light eating really is! I was (am, really) a boredom snacker/sweet carb addict rather than a really huge volume eater but I had great success, getting down to a bmi of 20. I wasnt a very fast loser though.

That's what I was going to say - pick your table (or room) better! Its hard to believe in these times of huge obesity epidemics that someone only moderately obese could still be the heaviest person in the room, but I guess it happens. What can yo do really but keep going? Eventually you wont be anymore. I have just as much trouble seeing myself as I really am at goal weight - I imagine I'm much bigger than what I am still - and I look around a room and compare too. I'm always the freaking tallest, I know that, sigh. What I woudl give to be able to wear heels and not have EVERYONE comment on my height - and I"m only 5ft 10, hardly a giant. Now it wouldnt be the case if I sat in a roomful of 25 year olds, but I'm very often the thinnest person in the room or at the table now. By mid 40's most women have pushed out a few babies and softened up a lot in preparation for middle age - certainly all my friends are carrying around a fair bit more of themselves than 20 years ago. I went back to uni at age 36 to do a teachign degree and there I was often the heaviest in the room - with a BMI in the low 20's!

Why is it that all men see is tits? The bigger the better - no matter if you are so disporportionateand top heavy that you fall over if you dont brace yourself? No matter that huge boobies often go along with a big gut too because a lot of people with very large breasts are apple shaped. No matter that huge natural boobs are usually FAR from pert, distort your clothing, have all sorts of attractive features like sweat rashes and saucer sized nipples and cant fit into a bra that could remotely be called delicate or sexy! As long as they're tits and they're big, men are gonna like em. I loathed my DD/E breasts. They were ugly and matronly and saggy. Despite the fact that I now by sexy lingerie and I now have a flat stomach, and long legs, DH bemoans my C sized breasts and makes remarks about cosmetic surgery all the time. It makes me frigging mad. I mean, he could use a bit of enhancement too if you know what I mean, but I dont value him just for the size of his appendage!

You're hovering around the 1lb average, you're dong OK.. Its disappointing to not lose a bit faster at first - but it takes time to get restriction. If you've finally got it right, you probalby will start to lose a bit more easily. You've said you only started working out 3 weeks ago - that's not long. Once you can get some good cardio and strength training going, pushing yourself most days of the week and with your band (and your good choices) controlling your intake, the weight will keep coming off. Even so, its often not as fast or as much as you expect - true fat loss is a very slow process. There's really nothing so very important about losing 40lb in the first 2 months - its more a matter of luck or strict low carbing lol - nobody can lose just fat that fast - there's a lot of Water, muscle tissue in there as well as fat. So dont compare yourself to others. If theres' one thing I've learned, it doesnt matter what your diet or exercise philosophy is, consistency is the key - consistency and time.

If I'm busy I can go all day without eating and not feel hungry - which tells me my band is working. But at home, I'm "hungry" all the time. I would never forget to eat! I had the not hungry never think about food thing for about 4 months after my surgery, over which time I was gradually filling - but the head hunger and general appetite returned for me - its hard to tell when you have a band, you get used to a new normal but I am not as bad as I used to be. But to go from lunch to dinner not eating on a home day is a major achievement for me - generally about 4pm I want to raid the biscuit tin.

Protein shakes and artificial sweeteners are big culprits - they create very foul smelly gas in some people, me included. You can google "protein farts" and you'll see its a common phenomenon. but surgery to your digestive system can really wreak havoc too. I'm the same lately, having lost my rectum and some colon 10 months ago, had an ileostomy for seven months and had the ileostomy reversed about 10 weeks ago - boy oh boy, I can and DO ( unfortunately I have no control yet) clear not only a room, but the house! What has helped me - Probiotics. Your intestinal flaura and fauna can really get mucked up from surgeries and abrupt dietary changes. You might not be digesting things thoroughly or well and have overactive bad guys in there without enough of the good to keep them under control. I have a probiotic yogurt every day and I feel much better when I keep that up. And lunch is my trigger - I take a couple of peppermint tablets and a cup of peppermint tea with my lunch - helps enormously. I also take a couple of immodium to quiet any bowel activity if I want to go somewhere like the movies - but my problems are probably on a whole different scale, so you probably wont find that necessary. Gas is funny to other people but I've been near to tears with frustration when I've gone to a spin class and felt it start up - I've had to leave, the fear of humiliation is too strong. You cant hold in a fart during a spin class and mine are so foul that there's no way it'd go unnoticed or be one of those vague "someone farted somehwere in this room" ones.

I'd second the notion of finding another team - if it means moving practices - or seeing different poeple within that same practice. Its so frustrating when you feel you're being judged by your medical team - this woman seems to imply that you're not following the rules and looking for ever tighter restriction so that the band can work its magic and you'll lose weight without doing a thing. She's also displaying the assumption that you should just zip your lip and eat less and suck it up, dieting is hard work etc, - they forget that a) we need help to do that and its so darn frustrating to have this tool that isnt working right. I've had a similar experience and in the end got jack of it and switched doctors (within the same practice). I liked the doc I was seeing as a person but heaven knows what she's doing working with obese people - she's skinny as a rake, obviously always has been and just doesnt get it. My story is that I had to unfill my band for a bowel resection, radiation and chemotherapy about 12 months ago now. She reassured me saying that I coudl refill 3 weeks after the surgery, but then, because I'd lost weight, she wouldnt do it. I believe I could have regained what I needed to slowly and steadily WITH moderate fill in place, but she held me off for six months, it was SUCH hard work not piling on the weight and in a way I'm sort of glad becuase I'm so proud that I went six months completely unfilled and through sheer hard work did not gain any weight - well I regained the weight Iost whilst sick but still weigh under what I did unfilled. Eventually I had to do my block with her, I really threw a tantrum and insisted it was my body, my decision. So we began filling - but she argued every step of the way. For pete's sake, I'd had 3cc in my 4cc band when unfilled, did she really think it was going to achieve anything sticking at 0.5cc? I argued and cajoled my way up to 2.8cc - nowhere near enough for effortless maintenance - before she refused to give me one more fill. So I booked with another doctor. I'm now up to 3.4cc - more than was removed and this woman is awesome - she said she's seen it a hundred times before, unfill and then refill and you'll get an entirely different journey to your first. She said the band can move when unfilled (particularly as I lost significant weight with surgery and chemo) - even in a well healed one like mine (five years at the time it was unfilled), that is different to slipping, the Fluid when put back in just settles differently and the band wont feel quite the same. She had no problem with the fact that I've gone past my previous level, hopefully today's 0.2cc will do it though. I've been checked for leaks every time, my band has been sighted on CT scans and Xrays I had for other reasons and its fine, not slipped, so we'll just see. But at least I know that I've got support - not resistance and judgement - from my doctor. Its amazing just how differently two doctors will see the same issue - both mine were lovely people but one just obviously should be working in another field - she doesnt have the empathy and understanding about obesity. I'd really see if I could find someone else if I were you. And just keep on truckin. You might find it hard to really lose much without proper restriction, but you're strong and you can maintain and hang in there - I approached it with strict rules - 3 meals NO Snacks, not ever, not for any reason, hungry or not and I ran daily (bleurgh, it made me feel better, but getting motivated to go out for a run in the summer heat the day after chemo infusions isnt that much fun), and I used it as a time to reinforce my lifestyle skills, show myself that I had learned and was different. Positive thinking and you'll be back on track in no time.

Surely though you can just go to your doctor and have a swab taken?. That will diagnose staph or any other infection quickly and simply. Forgive me but it seems nuts to be trying to figure this out online when you sound like you've never had these looked at by a doctor? I know that we all do this, try to manage these things - I remember my son having things that looked like cigarette burns on his legs, and he had horrible eczema as a younger child, I assumed it was scratched lesions and left it for aaaaages. He actually had impetigo (school sores). It was an instant visual diagnosis, and responded immediately to treatment, the worst thing was he spread it to my other two and I had to tell the school too - its wonderful telling a school that your mangy child has pox. But it might be something so quickly diagnosed and easily treatment. If embarrassment is holding you back, that's understandable but it shouldnt. I put off going to the doctor over bowel troubles for months and months, it was just too icky but in the end, I had cancer. Had I left it much longer, I wouldnt be here. So go to the doctor, if you havent already.

I agree - plan for it. This is life, in the real world, not perfect nutrition. I try to eat whole foods, things that are as they were in nature, and avoid additives and such, but in the whole scheme of things - people smoke - take drugs - abuse alcohol - if you have a couple of cookies or a chocolate bar at 3pm every day, what does it really matter?

I have that problem too - I always seem to make sure I"m out at lunchtime and have something yummy rather than stock standard fare from my fridge. This problem goes away when I work - as a teacher (Australian schools dont have school lunch programs, just basic canteens where kids can buy a drink, a packet of chips and some hot foods like dim sims, pies and sausage rolls or a sandwich) - there is little opportunity to buy crap food - we dont have vending machines in our schools at all and leaving the school for lunch just isnt really done - and depending where your school is there just isnt time, what with yard duty and preparing for the afternoon and such - its pretty much a bring your own lunch arrangement. I was the thinnest I've ever been whilst working full time last year and since I had to spend a year at home for cancer treatment, I'm back at that shops for coffee and cake routine for lunch. I cant WAIT to start my new job with the new school year in February!

I eat different things every day but I'm basically a 3 meals a day eater, but I eat a cup or so at a time. Breakfast yesterday was a half cup of vanilla yogurt with a few tablespoons of granola on top. lunch was two sushi rolls (about 4 inches long each), I had a fair bit of trouble with that much rice. In the afernoon, I did eat a couple of Cookies that I'd baked for the kids. dinner last night was vegetable lasagne, I had a piece about four inches square. I had a glass of wine too. I'm maintaining now, I'm no low carber but I wouldnt really have eaten rice and Pasta on the same day whilst I was losing. I virtually never eat bread, just dont like it much anymore. I dont count Protein though - I guess all I got yesterday was whatever was in the yogurt and a bit from the tuna in the sushi and the low fat ricotta cheese in the lasagne - but other days I might have a piece of chicken or steak, it evens out over time.

I'm a terrible sugar addict, anything cakey - cakes, muffins, Cookies, I just cant resist and I cant eat them in moderation. Sweets and lollies and Desserts I can say no to, but a full cookie tin and an empty afternoon at home spells disaster. So I dont keep the foods in my house. Since costco opened in Melbourne, we've done a massive shop there once every four weeks or so. So far, in 18 months, I have never bought anything in the bakery section. The bread is certainly not like fresh bakery bread here so I dont need to go in there. But the cookies (huuuuuuuuge) and they have these massive muffins, in trays of 24, I know that if I bought them just to try one - I would (and I can despite having a band) eat about six in a day long binge. So I just dont go there. I do enjoy baking, but I just dont do it, I cant even get the cake mix into the pan without already feeling sick from eating it. the other thing that opened here a few years back is Krispy Kremes and thank GOODNESS those are just foul. They are not donuts - they are weird tasteless greasy pastry sort of things. I'm so glad theyre inedible! I dont even try to substitute, it just doesnt cut it for me. I want what I want. So most of the time, I dig in, grit my teeth and resist. And accept that when I do decide to indulge, its going be a blow out. So I will skip lunch and dinner and eat cookies instead. Its terrible for me, I do it maybe once in every three months but I figure, it gets it out of my system, its VERY enjoyable (lol) and I'm not going to load up on the extra calories of a lunch and dinner that just for that day, I really dont need. I've never found avoiding sugar reduces cravings, nor have I found that eating it makes me want more - I want it the same, all the time. I also run on coffee - I guess I've trained my body to need and want that instant energy and stimulation. Most of the time, its just down to willpower. I have a cup of coffee instead - and thankfully, I'm not into sweet coffee - I just like it black with a dash of cold skim milk.

Whilst I was figuring out how to zoom on my camera phone yesterday - out in the bright sunlight - I accidentally snapped a picture of my face, taken upwards from waist level. Sheeeeeeeit. I take back EVERYTHING I have ever said against cosmetic surgery. I'm going to start a fund - who's the first to donate?

If you are really positive that you DO eat less than 1200 a day - really being honest with yourself - and you are exercising - and not just moving around but really work up a sweat exercising - and you've lost 8lb in a year then truthully, I would be investigating that thoroughly before i got banded. Banding wont change anything physiologically about your body, you wont suddenly lose doing the same things as you are doing now just because the band is there. Banding works becuase it makes us change our food and eating behaviours. If yours are already pretty faultless and you're not losing weight, then banding isnt goign to be a miracle. I hate that people are so sceptical when others post that they're already dieting and not losing but the questions you need to ask is are you sure its 1200 or less, do you do this week in week out, month in month out or sporadically, do you have off track days etc. Because I was able to lose all my weight on 1500 calories a day, However its entirely true that our bodies just dont behave like the charts say they would. I'm 5ft 10, 140lb so in the scheme of things, I'm a fairly large woman and should have a larger calorie need than a more average sized 5ft 3 woman. I either run 8kms go to spin classes or do sandbag training and I throw in a couple of body pump classes a week most often. I've got 3 kids, I'm a teacher so I'm on my feet, movign around all day. And now I maintain my weight on 1500 calories a day. According to the charts, I shoud be losing 2lb a week at that level, but patently Im not. However my 1500 is mental estimation, I do have days where I blow out, go out, have a few wines etc. So its probably on average more like 1800 a day.

That's right - a D cup is not a Dcup is not a Dcup - a 42D is a much larger actual breast than a 32D - the A B C D etc measures the proportion or ratio of the size of your actual breast to your back size, so if you shrink from a 40D to a 36D, not only has your backsize changed, your breast has reduced considerably in size and volume too. So a 42D and a 32D are not just the same sized breasts on a smaller body frame. And its also true that some women will retain huge bosoms even as their bodies shrink - some of us are genetically "blessed" (depends how you see it I guess, lol).

I was a lower BMI patient. When I went to my GP to ask for a referall to a lapband surgeon, he sent me off for a barrage of testing as well as giving me the referral, so when I saw my surgeon, I'd already done a lot of the pre op testing he would have ordered. One of those was a liver ulstrasound - which they wouldnt ordinarily do, so it was just a lucky chance, and my liver was absolutely fine, not unduly fatty and not enlarged (everyone's organs may be basically the same size give or take, but fatty liver is a real condition and it does result in enlargement of the liver which can get in the way of surgery). Given my liver was not enlarged and he knew that surgery would not be hampered, there was no need for the liquid diet. Truthfully there's no need for it for probably 80% of people, but its way more expensive on the health system to do liver ultrasounds on everyone, much more sensible to just put everyone on the diet just in case. They dont put you on the diet to "test" you out before surgery and test your commitment - that's brutal. We're sick people who need assistance and to impose some moral contest on people is pretty cruel - I wouldnt use any surgeon with such a misguided view on obesity. Being able to stick to a liquid diet is NO indication of how you'll go once your banded - thats a lifestyle commitment not a 2 week torture. I cant stick to a liquid diet now, 6 years banded and with 120% of my excess weight gone. I find the day of clears prior to a colonosocpy torture!