Jachut

I exercised a lot pre band. It never made me thin but I'm pretty healthy. I plan to continue it. All I'm doing at the moment is walking till I see my surgeon and get the go ahead to get back to the gym.

It just concerns me with Protein shakes to see people forgeo other good foods thinking the only thing they have to consider is protein. And I agree totally with Donali, I think lots of surgeons tend to think of bandsters a bit like bypass patients. Do you guys have the 2 fruit, 5 veg a day campaign over there? Fresh fruit and veges are so vital for your health, they prevent all types of cancers etc etc, it worries me that I cant get that much in now, I'm way more paranoid about that than protein. And Calcium - man, no way can I get in all the milk and yogurt I need either. Not that I ever did, I dont like dairy products very much, apart from cheese. Not that I'm right, I'm no medical professional but I think once your banded its vitally important to eat a wide variety of foods - I'm finding a tendency to eat the same thing for 3 days becuase of the small serving I now take, and that's not good - you need a little bit of everything!

Yeah Pink Lady is a variety of apple - sweet and crisp.

Oh, check your private messages (top right hand of screen), I've sent you the address of an Australian forum.

Most surgeons do a 2 week Optifast diet beforehand - which is a liquid Meal Replacement that pretty much tastes like powdered lips and a..eholes! Im sure that's what they make it from. The purpose is to shrink your liver, makes the surgery easier (especially since they do it laparascopically). I think a lot depends on your state of health beforehand though, loads of people are on medication for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, all the problems bought on by obesity. I was lucky to have this opportunity before I got to that stage, and I didnt have to do the preop liquid diet as my BMI was 35 and I didnt have a fatty liver. I did have pre op blood tests to check levels of all sorts of stuff and saw a respiratory physician although I cant figure out why that is. Whether or not it works for you easily I guess comes down to your issues around eating. Again I'm very lucky - I was a big eater but not a disordered one, hence take away the hunger and I dont think about food at all these days, I mean that literally. It's like a miracle. If you have more serious food issues, terrible trouble controlling binging, evening snacking, you eat for emotional reasons (who doesnt?) then I suspect you'll come across situations where your head says you want to eat despite what your body says. Many people here suffer that and many of them have, if not beaten it, beaten it back into submission. It can be done. It's way easier to fight your demons if you're not truly starving at the time. I think you also need to assess lifestyle factors that have caused you to become overweight. For me it's disorganisation - lack of time, and a big part due to the fact that with a 2 year old in tow, I just cant be bothered going to the supermarket even though I need to and then I'm faced with no food in the house, buying quick and easy junk etc. That's not going to magically disappear, I'm really going to have work on that. Dont let all the insurance approval issues you may read about here frighten you either - it's not like that in Australia. You will need private health insurance, which I'm assuming you have - or if you're very lucky your surgeon will do it under the public system, but there's very few that do. And self pay is often not an option here in Australia either, in case revision surgery is necessary, the surgeon's get nervous about people being unable to pay them. Its also way easier to get approved - in Australia they will consider people with a BMI of 30+ because they realise that most people only hit that weight on the way through to even higher weights, and that really statsitically anyone who has gotten that fat is very very unlikely to lose the weight and keep it off any other way.

Neater house, spend less money. We want a new house and we want to make a huge step up in terms of where we live and what we live in so we need to save save save. We're stuck on one income for the next four years while I finish my degree, sigh, I havent worked in 10 years as it is. The diet and exercise are going to take care of themselves, I truly feel I am not the same person any more.

You're a bloody marvel Vines, to still be hanging in there after all this time. I really really hope you get your answers.

Honestly, it was easy and I havent felt hungry since. I've lost about 6kg since my surgery, effortlessly. I'm enjoying my food immensely on mushies, everything seems to taste fabulous. Just taking it slow and steady, ready for a bit more vigorous exercise now. It was only a bit painful right after surgery, but they take care of that with morphine. I was right as rain to come home the next morning. The road's been smooth but I'm sure there'll be bumps along the way. But right now I'd say it was absolutely the right move and the best thing I've done for myself. I'm not sure that most of the benefit for me isnt psychological but I dont really care. I think Fee here was done by Peter Nottle too. The thing to remember here is it's a great place of support but you need to follow what your own surgeon and dietician instruct you too. There seems to be a huge difference in attitude to the diet after banding between Australia and the States and I found several anxieties I had that arose from information i found here were easily quelled by my surgeon. In fact the post op diet sounded so scary to me (with a heavy emphasis on protein) that I initially decided not to get a band. But after researching it more in Australia I felt more comforted that I would be able to continue what for me was really a pretty good diet just a bit heavy on volume. So far so good. But there is a cultural difference that's a bit scary if you're not aware of it. Not that I'm knocking in any way the way anyone does things, just that it seemed very foreign to me.

Hi, I'm in Melbourne too - actually there's a couple of us here. Which surgeon are you considering? Where do you live? I went through Mr Crosthwaite at The Avenue in Windsor. I was banded 9th December, all's well so far, it was a breeze really.

Hi, I'm in Melbourne too - actually there's a couple of us here. Which surgeon are you considering? Where do you live? I went through Mr Crosthwaite at The Avenue in Windsor. I was banded 9th December, all's well so far, it was a breeze really.

Oh - well Clear Liquids for a month is a different matter entirely. I was on clear liquids for a day. Why for a whole month? There honestly is no rhyme nor reason to what different doctors recommend. Of course on a long term bandster diet you're going to be running low on nearly everything, which is why supplementing is important but honestly, today I've had some yogurt, some cottage cheese and am about to eat some tuna for dinner, I'd think Protein was probably the least of my worries. I'm more concerned about the reduced amount of fruit and vegetables. Not intended to be a debate though - you go with what your doctor and your body decides is best.

You'd have a heart attack here then, lol. In Australia, they're barely even mentioned. Protein is not the big thing at all, other than the fact that liquid calories need to be abandoned after the liquid phase of the diet. It's honestly not a big deal. You get enough protein if you eat well.

I had to do the following - blood work (which makes sense, cholesterol, Iron levels etc), blood pressure, height, weight, verbal medical history. No psychological assessment, the website for my surgical team pretty much dismisses psychological assessment as useless since many obese people are depressed, in the long run they dont believe it offers any indication of success or lack of success with a lap band and why discriminate since many people have suffered mental ill health at some point. I did have to see a respiratory doctor. I cant figure that one out. Why? I've had several small ops under general anaesthetic and never had to have this done before. Why is it important in terms of the lap band? It was bulk billed so no skin off my nose but a big waste of public health money if you ask me. That was it. It was all done on one day at the clinic and then I was in the hospital being operated on a fortnight later. So I guess every doctor's different.

I had the barium swallow the same day as my surgery and was discharged the next morning. It was only about five or six hours out of surgery too - princess that I am I lay back on the bed and waited for the nurse to assist me, I was most affronted when it because obvious that she expected me to get up myself, lol. To my surprise I could, quite easily. Standing up while it was done was a little harder and swallowing that swill and not chucking was even harder, but all was fine.

If she's not on Clear Liquids just ordinary liquids she can have virtually anything that can be blended to liquid consistency. Make her some decent soups with meat and Pasta in them, it made all the difference to me. Didnt affect my weight loss but gave me much more satisfication, not to mention energy, I was seriously wilting. Boy, she's got her work cut out for her. At 16 she's going to face all peer pressure that goes along with things like fast food and alcohol. I bet you wish you could put an old head on her young shoulders. She's a very brave girl.

First consult was September 23rd I think, surgery was December 9th. I had to wait a month to get that first consult though.

I'm in the same boat - 3 weeks post op, started mushies last week. Lost 13lb the first two weeks on liquids and have lost nothing since. I am eating a pretty varied mushy diet and I am getting in around 1000 calories a day versus a bit less on liquids and it was just Christmas (which involved a couple of glasses of wine and 2 serves of Christmas pudding) so I guess it's understandable, if frustrating. This morning, I was 105.1 which is the lowest I've been so maybe it's going to start moving again. And I havent gained which is a bonus. But I guess just keep on keeping on, doing the right things. You lose a lot of Water in the liquid phase and I think your body kind of recoups that when you start more solid foods. I certainly can feel a difference in my clothes now. I'm eating things like yogurt and tinned fruit, legumes like lentils and chick peas (made some wonderful dahl), soft salad items, eggs, mashed vegetables with gravy and my Christmas dinner was a mushed up serve of the turkey, vegetables and gravy - so you can certainly blend ordinary family meals to a mushy consistency.

Yesterday: first thing - a coffee and my soluble vitamin Breakfast: - a serving of oatmeal Lunch - a small salad made of a can of sundried tomato and basil tuna, chick peas and chopped skinned tomatoes and avocado (about 1 cup) Afternoon - a pink lady apple (a tinned one, so soft) Dinner - mashed potato, pumpkin, carrot and broccoli with gravy I had 2 more cups of coffee and lots of water during the day

I dont know. The Protein thing isnt pushed here and I dont eat a high protein diet - I think its' more to do with lack of food and the body going into ketosis - which is of course what happens not only on a high protein diet but any really low calorie diet. And detoxing like Jack said. I've noticed, several days later that as I've gotten into mushies and am getting a dependable 1000 calories in a day, perhaps 1200 even, the problem is going away for me.

I guess what perfect adjustment means to everyone is different too - personally I'd prefer to have to exercise a little head control when it comes to food in order to still be able to eat meat and enjoy a dinner out. I may very well be speaking way too soon but at the moment, the biggest effect the band has had on me is psychological - its given me licence to absolutely go for it with losing weight without considering past failures etc. I think it will work therefore it will kind of thing. If I never had a fill at all I wouldnt particularly care. I worry a lot about quality of diet when a whole host of healthy foods give you problems. I'd also take slower weight loss as a trade off for that.

Beans are great - I'm living on them - kidney beans, chick peas, lentils - during the mushy phase.

Would following a program (like Weight Watchers) for a while help get you back on track?

Calories in vs calories out is really the only equation you have to worry about. How much value Protein shakes are in the diet battle is debatable, to date there's no irrefutable scientific evidence on the whole protein thing. Protein is not at all a focus for bandsters here, its more a focus on getting back to an ordinary diet. I think go with what your body tells you it prefers, if you lose more weight with a large protein intake then go for it. I dont, I tend to just faint and feel horrible all the time, I need my carbs (although not white refined ones). Play around a bit, everybody's different. If you cant eat in the morning, i think a Protein shake makes a pretty decent Breakfast.

I'm struggling a bit too - well if you call a week's plateau struggling! I think the liquid diet is a bit too extreme - it must send lots of people's bodies into shock and they dont lose like they expect to at first. I'm not going to complain yet, I'll probably start losing again and figure it was just the change to mushies, but I was having measurable losses every single day. Im just keeping up with following the rules and exercising every day. It will work in the long run.

What intrigues me is why doesnt your body exhibit the other signs of hunger - weakness, shakiness, feeling sick? Like your stomach can not feel hungry but if you're taking in only 700 calories a day your body should be! It's amazing the way it works.