Jachut

Not sure as you only ahve two incisions, but its almost certain your port will be near the big incision - mine is slightly above - but I have the oldstyle five incisions. Cant you feel it at all?

Depends what your diabetic way of eating is - here in Australia I know they often recommend low GI rather than actual low carb but I would imagine if this new medication fixes your esophageal problems, you may find you can eat solid Proteins the way you are supposed to.

I know for me, and its soooo hard to do - I need to eat MORE. My idea of healthy eating adds up to about 1000 calories a day and at 5ft 10, 140lb, running about 10kms most days, working as a teacher, busy with 3 kids etc, I cant survive on that. I can hold out with willpower and my band makes me not hungry, but my body knows a) that its not being fed and that it doesnt need to lose any more weight. So after a few days of that, it sends me urgent EAT signals and I cave and binge. If I eat more, like 1500 or so a day, this never happens. But I think I'm fat and that I have to starve. Its probably the biggest longer term problem that's come out of cancer treatment - I'm pretty sure my surgeon and oncologist suspect I'm anorexic and it does spring from anorexic sort of thinking - I had lots of thoughts about being forced into all these nasty treatments like radiation, surgery and chemo and when my doctors started commenting that I should try to gain a bit of weight, I thought "this is one thing nobody can make me do" - I got secretive and sly about it. Scary stuff - I'm much better now and have actually gained a healthy amount but its hard to accept ANY gain, needed or not. But eating a bit more healthy food does seem to help me, I just have to make myself do it. And I just pretty much accept that my relationship with food will never be "normal" but I suspect that's true for most women. I eat from all food groups and pretty much what I want to eat, but I restrict quantity and I'm pretty darn obsessive about getting my exercise.

I'm almost six years out and there's nothing I cant eat. Some people are just like that. I can eat bread, rice, Pasta. But I will say, some things are harder and I've naturally gone off them over time - bread for example. I cant even really put it into words, i can eat it, it doesnt get stuck but it doesnt feel good to eat. So I rarely eat bread - just the occasional piece of toast. Yet when I was unfilled last year for 9 months, I suddenly loved bread again, and ate it regularly - though in moderation. The minute my fill went back in, I stopped enjoying it, almost instantly. I've lost weight easily and kept it off for years simply by eating all foods, just less.

I havent actually indulged in any of these behaviours, nor thought about it, but I certainly have been underweight and been obsessed with staying there. I was sick and having chemo at the time and I was thrilled with my ultra low weight - I couldnt see that it looked bad although others were expressing concern. Now I'm back to a normal weight - with a BMI of about 20 to 21 and it's driving me crazy, I feel compelled to diet hard to get back to that low weight and I'm getting myself into that binge/starve cycle again where I'm ultra "good" for days and then my body rebels and I pig out on bad foods. Which only leads to more weight gain. I can usually get myself on track again though. I know its disordered thinking/behaviour and I can recognise it when I do it and with concerted effort get back to healthier ways. I really need to accept my current 65kg which is still less than I was at this time last year - thinking of 140ish pounds at 5ft 10 as fat is really ridiculous. It was cancer that sent me on that spiral too, but in me, not a relative. I'm so sorry for what your mother is going to have to go through - and you too. Stay strong and healthy.

Gosh, I enjoyed treating myself to smaller - and ever sexier - bras as I went down sizes. They're not that expensive, compared to all the new clothes you have to buy, anyway. A well fitting bra makes everything you wear look better, just buy two and handwash, to keep the cost down.

Fran, I'm sorry, I obviously made that sound disrespectful or dismissive, which was not my intention. I havent been but my hubby has - for him it was very beneficial, he responded well to being assisted in readjusting his view of things happening in his life. It was a saviour for him, and allowed him to get on top of anxiety and panic attacks without medication and obviously, this has had a beneficial effect for our whole family. For myself, my coolrectal surgeon wanted me to go, but I felt that well, if you had cancer, felt like death warmed up as a result of chemo, were going through menopause, had been months without a nights sleep due to an overactive ileostomy and a side effect of chemo, had had your career cut short just 9 months after you qualified and began it, wouldnt you be a bit down and negative?. I knew what was bothering me, and I knew that being positive was the best, hard as it was and that the only real healer would be time. I'd had my back end poked, prodded and looked up, to make matters worse by a very attractive male surgeon which made it even more embarrassing, I'd talked about my bowel habits to half of melbourne, heck, I felt invaded enough without revealing my innermost emotions to a stranger. I just felt I could handle it myself. In the mood I was in, I would have gone and sulked and refused to say anything. The only reason I said anything was that I think people think they have to do it, and its really alright not to, its a process that takes place between you and a therapist and if you dont want to be there, its not going to be beneficial. My DH is a little prone to anxiety and can be very pessimistic, he also lets stress get to him. I work really hard to empathise, I'm sure it surprises nobody that I'm a pull yourself together kind of person and i have very little patience with things like that. I'd be the first to deliver a slap to a hysterical woman, lol. So forgive my blunt reply, I do understand that others dont have quite the same outlook or ability to just get on with it that I force myself to have.

Les Mills classes at time that I can make are the deciding factor for me. I wouldnt even consider a gym that didnt have heaps of RPM and Body Pump sessions on each week. As well as about 75 state of the art treadmills, heaps of ellipticals and other cardio equipment. I like that with my gym, its YMCA run, so I have reciprocal rights at the other local large gym, and their timetables are complementary so it doubles the number of classes I can make and both are about the same distance from me. I have been a member at several small local family run gyms and I find them no good - not enough equipment and poor timetables, with none of the commercial classes. My gym and the other one I can use are both huge aquatic complexes too but the pool doesnt interest me very much. I also like that mine is right next to a large shopping centre as well, so on a weekday I can go to the gym in the morning and straight into the shops to do all my stuff or for a coffee. Not such an issue when I'm working.

Therapy is only going to be of any use to you if you are into it, and not uncomfortable with it. If you hate the very idea of it, dont go. Its not magic, it takes the therapist AND the patient working together and if the patient is resistant or doesnt want to talk, its a waste of time. Its really really not my scene. I know myself pretty well I think, and know the reasons for what I do, and I just choose to not face them at times, simple. I dont have any deep dark secrets that need to be unlocked - I just make bad food decisions at time. I'm not trying to damp down uncomfortable feelings - I just like eating! And if I get something out of it that I stil havent realised (likely), it doesnt matter that I havent realised what that is, I just need ot recognise when I want to eat inappropriately and choose not to do it. I personally hate the idea of therapy and woudlnt consider it. And I also think a lot of people go as a way of handing over responsibility to someone else - if their therapist cant "cure" them, then its not their fault if they dont lose weight kind of thing. therapy is really only about helping you to change your thought patterns and responses and it is possible to do that by yourself.

Is it just me or does anyone else think weighing and measuring is just one more dysfunctional food obsession that keeps us in that diet mentality? i serve small portions to myself - a cup or under - and eat till I feel satisfied. I eat a lot of vegies though - I'd probably eat two cups of raw vegies spread throughout the day (mainly before meals) and then less than a cup worth of food for the meal. But I dont know exactly coz I dont measure. But its small enough that everyone that knows me but doesnt know I have a band (liek work colleagues) roll their eyes at what they consider the ridiculously small amount I eat.

Great news that you've lost some weight - becuase if you're really stuck, you have no choice but to make the best of a pretty revolting menu. I would handle it with tiny portions and I'd take up running! Cheap and a great calorie burner.

I cut up and peel raw vegies - carrots, cucumber, mushrooms, capsicum, raw cauliflower mainly (cant do celery, ugh) and take it in a ziploc bag to school with me. When the kids have fruit snack I might dip into it, but mainly when the eating bell goes at lunchtime (the kids eat in the classroom), I'll eat my raw vegies with my students, and then when its time to go over to the staffroom, I only have a tiny lunch, like a yogurt, or a couple of cold hardboiled eggs or cheese and crackers or a small bowl of homemade Soup. I get my fibre, get my vegies (otherwise, I struggle to eat enough) and it fills me up so that I only eat a little of the more calorie dense foods. I like it too because I can feel free to have anything for dinner without worrying about getting a whole lot of vegies in.

I think size matters a lot - but the reason the old 4cc band is not in use anymore, is that the newer designs are better in terms of less likelihood of a slip or erosion. However, the journey to the "sweet spot" seems to be so different. With my 4cc band, i had superb restriction with no fill for about 10 weeks after surgery and following that, every single fill took me to a "sweet spot" that was sufficient for steady weight loss, until it waned a bit and then it was time for another fill and I was back to the green zone. The only difference fills really made was that that sweet spot lasted longer and longer until eventuallty all needed was a once a year 0.1cc to top me up back to where I was. I have never had this frustrating bandster hell or this waiting months to get to a good spot, it was instant with the 4cc band. With the newer, larger capacity bands it seems to take SO much longer to start losing weight, whereas it literally fell off me after surgery.

Too much of anything is bad, but coffee has health benefits! Caffeine doesnt dehydrate you in the context of a balanced diet with plenty of other fluids, and in fact when your body is used to caffeine, it isnt even that strong a diuretic, you adapte to it. Cutting it out is not necessary at all. But the confectionary coffees, with the syrups and cream and stuff like that - well, those arent healthy, but again, if you plan for it, allow for the calories and the rest of yoru diet is fine, that's yoru choice.

You're losing tons of water at the moment, and all that's happened is that you've retained a little water - at the end of the diet you're going to be lighter than when you started, how is your doctor even going to know that you've fluctuated? Fluctuation on a daily basis is normal, diet or not.

Ack, some of those sites look good, but it is a GIGANTIC pain in the ass that its all American foods and every single thing I eat has to be entered as custom and in metric sizing, so I occasionally use the Australian Calorie King. It is an eye opener sometimes to see what I'm really eating, how many calories are going in, becuase although I know the calorie content of every food known to modern man, I do get calorie amnesia, lol. But its not a regular thing for me, to me it encourages food obsession and dieting behaviour - also when I know I've been "good" I tend to be really "bad" coz I know I can. When when I seem to ahve been good by pure estimation I'm aware of the fact that its likely understimation and I keep on the straight and narrow just in case!

The thing I always think, but rarely say when someone posts this - the help me, I've gone off track threads - is that the very act is indicating the fact that you're still not facing the responsibility and consequences of your choices. The very decision of how to frame it - not "what are some motivational tips" but "someone please help me" is telling - its more than just a coincidental choice of words, its pleading for someone to come and make it all right so that you dont have to do it yourself. And that inability to accept responsibility is a prime trait in every single overweight person. The ones who succeed are the ones who suddenly understand that weight loss really IS simple, if you simply accept the fact that you make choices and you wear the consequence. But read through this board and you'll see its endemic - I'm fat for this reason, for that reason, I cant lose weight because I'm stressed, or I have a bad hip and cant exercise (so somehow that means I'm excused for my diet as well), yada yada yada. That victim mentality is alive and well, whether it causes obesity or is a result of obesity I cant figure out, but one thing is true - ditching it is the single most important step towards a thin life. You do sound like a fill might be a good idea though - this tool doesnt work that well if you dont keep it tuned up. Honestly, everyone here has sympathy for the situation you're in, everyone here has been there, and everyone here knows what its like. But only YOU can fix it. Think about it, on a deep level. We can all give you support, which you deserve like everyone deserves. We can all tell you what works for us in this situation or that, which can sometimes give you food for thought or even lead to a lightbulb moment where you suddently get it. But we cant truly help you, you have to do that yourself. What do you want more - ice cream or a healthy thin body? Its that simple. You just have to choose.

Wow! congratulations. Sporting achievements were huuuuuge for me, I bawled my eyes out as I crossed the finish line of my first 7.5km run - now I wouldnt even bother entering such a piddly distance, lol.

Well, here's one "benefit" I never expected (nor wanted, I might add). At work I'm always the one who has to get into tight spaces in the back of the sports store room to get sporting equipment, in the resoure room to get a particular book, into a nasty old spidery shipping container we have on the school grounds in search of a forgotten resource, or slide my arm into dodgy spaces behind furniture and shelves to retrieve dropped things! I drew the line at shimmying under the 12 inch high outdoor stage to get one of my student's $1 coin though!

See if you can turn it around the opposite train of thought - throughout my cancer diagnosis, treatment and recovery over the past year, I have stuck faithfully to a heatlhy eating plan (whilst totally unfilled) and continued to run and go to the gym through radiation, chemotherapy and several hospitalisations for bowel obstructions. Am I some superhuman, morally superior being? Nope. It was the one thing in that horrible time that I felt I could control. I would NOT let stupid cancer take away all I had worked for and if I was going to die, I was going to do it looking freaking great. So there, cancer! Taking control over your body like that really does get you through tough times. Giving in, backsliding, gaining, it makes you feel even more sad and hopeless and does nothing to help you get through the stress and come out the other side. Harness that strength and you will find it spreads to whatever it is you're battling too.

For me, a fill always results in a moderate increase in restriction noticeably immediately, and lasting for about two or three days, then it tapers off and I'll find its only made a teeny tiny difference (I have an older 4cc band and my fills are as small as 0.1cc). I also had a low BMI and I've needed to be nearly full to feel moderate restriction, but the closer you get to full, the easier it is to get too tight and feel the results of smaller fills. Because I had the 4cc band back in 2005, I didnt have to wait for months to feel restriction. These bands have been superceded by better design that minimises slippage and erosion but in ever so humble opinion, the older bands had it all over the newer ones when it comes to getting to that sweet spot. I had superb restriciton after every single fill, enough for me to lose easily, the difference each successive fill made was in how long that restriction lasted, not getting closer to a spot where you'd lose. Eventually, I needed only 0.1cc once a year or so just to top up what naturally evaporates. Howevever, I did need to keep filling throughout my journey to well over 3cc, and I have always been able to eat bread, rice, Pasta and relatively large amounts for a bandster - though a normal person would consider that I am a small eater. My doc reckons it WAS because of my low BMI, I just didnt ever have and dont have the fat round my stomach that heavier people do, and I'm the tall skinny type, dont have large organs either, so it takes more to give me moderate restriction. However, on a bright note, bands have been shown statistically to work better for lower BMI patients. Probably because this corresponds in general with better eating habits (not good, just not as disordered as what it might take to reach a BMI of 60!) and better mobility/fitness.

Mine's terrible too - but I've learned to live with it and having a less tight band this time around has made a huge difference - none of those sink draining noises in the throat. I guess I appreciate it because I've had worse - I've had an ileostomy for the past nine mnonths and so for the time I had it, I would also fart uncontrollably through the stoma. No passing gas through the rear end like normal people - I had no warning, no feeling of it coming, it would just happen, loudly but of course a stoma has no muscles to hold it in. God I hate that, it was SO embarrassing. I had my band unfilled the whole time, so at least I didnt have the stomach symphony as well. But DH is banded too and when we lie down in bed at night its hilarious - we both find lying down makes all the bubbles rise to the top, so to speak. I actually cant fall alseep lying on my back anymore because it makes my guts so active, I have to quieten it by lying on my side.

Normal people dont eat 1200 a day but we're not normal people. I am tall, 140lb, very active - I run an hour about five days a week, go to a couple of body pump classes a week and usually throw a spin class or two in there as well. I'm a teacher so I work on my feet, I run around all day, our school doesnt have a phys ed teacher, so I even teach my kids sport. I'm also a mother of three with the busy lifestyle that entails. I cant afford to eat more than about 1800 a day to maintain my 140lb. All the charts say I should be eating about 2500 or more! There is absolutely no way, that's the sort of calories I was eating to become obese enough for weight loss surgery! I lost well on about 1500, although it was very slow at the end. I find I cant drop below that, I do the odd 1200 calorie day, but my body just drives me to eat around the band if I try to sustain it. 1500 to 1800 is comfortable for me and allows "normal" eating. I've maintained my 120lb loss for about four years now, and I'm sorry to tell you this, but you WILL always have to live like this. Your body simply isnt "normal" in that you can get away with what naturally thin people do and for some reason, our bodies will always want to return to the weight we let them get to, which is why diets on their own just dont work long term. You will be fighting it forever, you must always exercise and you always have to watch what you eat. However, you'll no doubt be able to eat a *little* more than what you can to lose and that can be the difference between the drudgery of a diet and being able to enjoy eating socially and treating yourself occasionally. Dont get me wrong, i went out for dinner last night with friends and had two glasses of wine, some gnocchi (only a few pieces) and then a huge piece of flourless hazelnut chocolate cake WITH cream! I enjoyed it thoroughly. But I moved heaven and earth to fit an hour's run in between getting home from work, getting the kids fed, organising the house and going out for dinner. I will do a spin class and a body pump class today. And today and tomorrow will be at the 1200 calorie end of things. You have to choose your indulgences - yes, I could do last night, but if someone offers me chocolate today I'll have to say no thanks. You get used to it, believe me. Its not as depressing as it sounds. I really love exercising, its something I do for fun, its not a chore. It also has a lot to do with what you want to weigh - I'm 5ft 10 and 140lb so I'm at the very low end of my healthy weight range, and it takes a lot of work to stay there. I could eat 2000 a day which is pretty much normal intake, and I'd maintain a bit higher - I wouldnt balloon to over 200lb but I'd probably weigh 160 or so. I'd absolutely hate to be that plump and chunky again, even though its a healthy weight. To me, thin is beautiful, I'd rather go for elegant clothes horse than curvy (I dont get curvy, I just get flabby, just my body type). So I choose to work hard to stay at a BMI of 20. Higher, but still healthy weights are a bit easier to maintain. Especially if you're one of the lucky ladies that does have curves at a slightly higher BMI - if your breasts are nice and full your hips round and you look good and sexy, enjoy it and dont bust your butt trying to weigh nothing. For me, sadly, my ass just drops when my weight goes up, nature designed me to be bony.

Its water weight, wont hurt you, wont continue and you're right, some of it will probably come back.

Weeeellll..... based on my understanding, cavemen were opportunists right? They saw something, killed it and ate it, or picked it and ate it, right? Soooooo..... just thinking out loud here..... if a caveman had walked into the staffroom at lunchtime and saw, like I did today, the peppermint chocolate bar in a charity box, he would have eaten it too right? I mean, a caveman would never miss such easy prey! Only he probably wouldnt have had $2.60 to pay for it. So does that mean am I on the paleo diet? Seriously though, I agree with you. I think whole foods in their natural state should be the main part of our diet. I think artificial sweeteners, fake fat, coffee creamers and Protein shakes are poison. White flour has no place in a healthy diet, really. It offers nothing vital nutritionally. But I cant go the whole hog, so to speak. I cant give up oats and muesli, I do like the odd rice cake or cracker and everybody must have chocolate sometimes. But I find that what I do 90% of the time is sufficient to keep me thin, healthy and feeling good (lets just ignore the fact that I had bowel cancer shall we? That was probably from my OLD diet).