Jachut

You may find either hard and then again you may not. I've had both experiences - I had my band unfilled for a big surgery 8 months ago - before the unfill, I'd gotten tighter than i realised. I had absolutely completely gone off pizza, even the thought of it turned my stomach, because it was a very uncomfortable food for me to eat - unfilled, I ate it again and it didnt nauseate me. Now I tend to make my own, I bake the base first so that its really crispy (like you might blind bake pastry), then I top it and bake it again. That way I really enjoy it - I like thin topping too and usually something a bit gourmet, dont really like a huge gutfull of processed meat and cheese like you get on a bought pizza. Its also not a particularly fattening food when you make it yourself, I might top it with rocket, pesto, just a sprinkle of low fat cheese, tomatoes, olives and onions on the thinnest base I can buy. Pasta has never been a real problem for me, I dont generally eat creamy pasta sauces unless I make a carbonara with skim evaporated milk. We normally ea bolognaise - and I use turkey mince because you really cannot tell the difference from beef, and I generally use quite a lot of grated zucchini, carrot, broccoli onions and mushrooms and only half as much meat as the jar or recipe calls for. I'd only eat half a cup of spaghetti with that, so really, its an Iron rich, vegetable rich healthy high Protein meal, nothing to feel guilty about at all. I often make the sauce into lasagne using low fat ricotta as the cheese layer too. Strangely, i struggle a bit with short pasta such as penne, rigatoni or shells, but spaghetti is absolutely fine.

I agree, I'd be walking, using a treadmill or elliptical or bike, not jumping around. I even find, as a runner, that running is gentler on my body than even something like step aerobics. If I do a step class or a body combat, I'm in agony the next day - sore knees, sore back, its just so twisty/turny and all directions, so whilst running is high impact, the same motion over and over again can be easier and gentler. I know that at 43, my days of high impact aerobics classes are over, sigh. Body Pump or spinning are the only classes I'll do. I was able to run 10 days after a bowel resection by keeping it slow and low impact - sort of a shuffle - without injury. So I'd be thinking more along those lines.

I make big pots of Soup (zucchini and leek is a fave) and portion into individual containers and freeze. Those are easy to take to work with perhaps a ziploc bag of cut up raw vegies for a snack. I also take things like: crispbreads with cottage cheese or cheese, or a small can of tuna or salmon (which you dont like, so maybe a can chicken instead?) and some sliced tomato and cucumber dinner leftovers if its something like curry and rice or Pasta dish four or five slices of cheese (usually a mix of whatever I have like brie, camembert, tasty, edam etc) and crackers and maybe a little pot of chilli jam to go with it small tossed salads (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, avocado, grated carrot) with a tun of chicken or tuna and a little olive oil and salt and pepper in a small container I can eat bread so sometimes I'll take some bread and a slice of cheese to make a toasted sandwich

I was complaining to my oncologist during my recent chemo about pain that was building in my knees, hips and shoulders, felt like I had aged 20 years overnight. he said it sometimes is a side effect and can take a year or two to clear up, but to take some Nuerofen (ibuprofen) for it every day. Not only is ibuprofen dangerous every day for ordinary folk but obviously its a NSAID and I shouldnt take it with a lapband. I said as much to him, so he presecribed me Nexium to take with it so that it wouldnt irritate the stomach. For me personally, I'm medication phobic, I will not take anything I dont absolutely need and I wasnt about to take another medication to counter the effects of the first when I thought I would get by without the first anyway. So I ignored him, as he tends to just write a script for any possible complaint you could have! But if you really need something for strong pain, and endo is rather horrible, then perhaps you could ask about taking something like Nexium at the same time to protect your pouch?

I truly dont think I coudl have gotten away with hiding it from family. but I've started refilling my band slowly since having it emptied for a big surgery 8 months ago. I'm not telling anyone in my family about that. Reason being, I got very thin after the surgery. I've regained a little to be a bit heatlhier but I want to stay at this low weight (which is a BMI of 20) and people cant seem to process that. They think that if you're that thin, why on earth would you fill your band. Nobody gets that you need some restriction to maintain easily too - maybe not as much as to lose but over time, without restriction, I know I would gain. Not hugely fast, not a big rebound 50lb but over time, it will go back, so I'm geting back to a comfortable point. But my mother and my mother in law will panic that I'm anorexic and obsessed. They're used to my eating habits and are very unlikely to notice I have filled again because I've eaten just as small portions just as slowly through pure willpower for the 8 months I've been unfilled. But honestly, I dont see why I have to keep that up forever when I have this tool I can use. So I'm staying quiet this time. Even my fill doctor was reluctant - she was saying but you're thin, why do you need it. This is the same woman that told me that virtually everyone gains when they are unfilled or remove their bands! I had to really do my block - this is MY body, MY tool, I have it, and its my right to use it kinda thing. And I was right. Maintaining is now pretty easy, no more hanging on by a thread willpower required, weight remaining stable and no loss occurring. I can eat bread, sandwiches etc but the appetite that I was having to constantly resist has gone.

I think that's different. I know I've certainly been chewing on a piece of steak and not been able to break it down enough to swallow it - i'd certainly spit that out. I also think its different to occasionally chew and spit something when you're on the liquid phase - those cravings can get overwhelming, but as a general rule, if you're chewing and spitting regularly on regular food then you have an eating disorder! I agree, if you crave something that badly, EAT it for pete's sake. This is a lifestyle forever, and there's room for the occasional treat.

Overnight for me - in at 8 am, operated on first on list, so back in my room by 10.30 am, stayed the rest of that day and overnight, went home in the morning. Being operated first on the list, I could have EASILY gone home late that afternoon. I would have slept better in my own bed, or more correctly, given I slept off the anaesthetic all day and then was awake all night, at least at home I could have put a DVD on or and sat up - in the hospital I was stuck in a hard bed with the pathetic four free to air TV channels we have here in melbourne - and NOTHING on overnight.

My story exactly. I have never had an especially high libido - I've got the mental desire, but not a physical urge and "getting there" doesnt happen without my own input or a few toys. Since my surgery for bowel cancer and all that chemo, I"m now also menopausal at 43 and have all the dryness associated with that, I have an ileostomy (only for two more weeks though) and frankly, much as I love DH and do make the effort 3 or so times a week, I really couldnt care if I never had sex again. I just dont seem to have any physical need for it at all. On a brighter note, pelvic radiation has shrunk all my bits, and it does actually feel a fair bit better.

Understandable - but long term its wrong on so many levels. But I think most of us dont need to do that when we're actually eating food, sometimes the craving for something of substance is enough to drive you insane. So, probably an entirely normal thing to do right now.

Just been to see my oncologist, on the tail end of the cancer treatment. Chemo finished, all looks good, I'm clear of cancer and now looking down the path of the once or twice yearly checks for the next seven years. So great news. My oncologist has given me some guidance - I'm at increased risk of bowel cancer now anyway having had it once, but I'm also having some genetic testing as its looking increasingly likely that we have Lynch syndrome in the family which gives me an 80% chance of another tumour in the future. so - important nutrients are selenium, Vitamin D and Calcium - need to be supplemented because I cant ingest enough dairy and selenium is very lacking in our fresh produce because our soil is crap and our farming methods stink. Brazil nuts probably the best food source. Have to take aspirin daily despite it being a stomach irritant and not good for banded peoples, but oh well. Recommended fish oil/omega 3 also although that's easier to take without supplementing just by using flax oil, eating fish a few times a week and using flaxseed on cereals. Lots of fruit and vegies - much less red meat, NO processed meat (ham bacon, salami) at all ever is the current recommendation which is not a biggie for me as I'm not overly fond of such things. Lots of onions and tumeric (lucky I'm a good curry cook). its soooo much to remember. By the time I lay out the pills and the daily foods I need to ingest, there wont be room for anythng else, that's for sure! but it makes you really think about how problematic it is to have allowed yourself to become so obese that you need surgery. On the one hand, my healthy weight and regular exercise habits greatly reduce my risk of cancer but on the other, the restrictions of the band make a healthy cancer reducing diet virtually impossible to manage. If I was anti a high Protein high diet containing red meat, processed meats and such before, I certainly wont be venturing there now! But ironically Protein shakes (my pet hate) if you choose the soy ones, contain lots of isovflavones which are a good cancer preventer! Unfortunately if you're a man, you might also grow breasts but hey. Just food for thought - it really is very inmportant not to waste stomach space on crap food very often when our needs are so varied.

Twice, I've had abdo and chest xrays and CT scans in the past 12 months and of course, my lapband shows up. Both times, people have commented "oh, you dont need that surgery". It makes me laugh, dont the stupid idiots realise the reason I look like I dont need weight loss surgery is BECAUSE I had weight loss surgery? D'oh. And today i was at the pharmacy picking up a blood pressure script for DH and he's also doing Meal Replacement shakes at the moment (sigh, will he never learn these things just dont work?). So I picked him up some supplies and the lady at the counter commented "why on earth are YOU doing this?". I thought, how would she know if I'd just lost like 100lb and was working on the last few?". What a silly remark. I hate when surgeons cross the line and get personal though. MY colorectal surgeon is a bit like that, he's a real blokey bloke (to coin an Aussie term), very down to earth and rather blunt. He's not been deliberately rude and was only concerned becuase my weight dipped alarmingly low after my bowel resection, but to say that I looked better a bit heavier wasnt really his place, I dont think. Nor did he need to point out that he could see all my ribs in my chest and that I'd lost my boobs. And nor did he need to seem so leeringly appreciative when I went to see him a week ago 10lb heavier! Its really hard when you have to trust someone with what is a pretty intimate body part and function and you think that they're looking at you as a man/woman thing rather than purely as a surgical/medical case. Yet at other times I guess we complain about being treated like a number and not a human being, lol.

Its also true that as you reach a healthier weight, exercise becomes much more enjoyable. But at first there's nothing for it but to dig deep and tough it out - its one of those situations where you have to just grow up and realise its part of the deal and you have to do it. If you pick something you at least like, and that's convenient, sooner or later habit takes over to some degree. I picked running for that reason - you're not reliant on the gym (although I go), you can do it when it suits you and all you need is a pair of shoes. It gets really hot in Melbourne too, early morning or the evening are the times to exercise outdoors, I do have a treadmill and I will run indoors with a fan on me if I have to or I will go and do a class at the gym on very hot days - before I had a membership I would just pay casual rates as it was only occasional. But better to spend $11 on a spin class because its too hot to run than not exercise at all!

I didnt actually lose hair but the condition of it a year after surgery was sooooo bad! I had a long, layered sort of cut and the ends got really really thin and ratty and my hair got really frizzy (it is kinda half curly and course anyway, so frizz is always a problem). What was happening was that the hair wasnt falling out, it was breaking off so the ends got thin but I had as much as ever at the scalp. I had to give in and cut it off because it looked awful. I've never gone back to longer hair either, I actually prefer it shorter, but would never have been brave enough to do it. Protein yes, but also Iron and B Vitamins - hair loss is rarely due to just protein lacking in the diet. Its more often a general lack of nutrition, hormonal, the shock to the system etc.

I dont drink protein shakes at all. Also, I've had bowel cancer so regardless of what my lapband doc says, I follow the orders of my colorectal surgeon and oncologist, by pure lucky chance my lapband surgeon worked with my colorectal surgeon for years and is on the same page. So my diet is rather lower in protein and higher in fruit, vegies and wholegrains. By lower in protein I mean maybe 60 grams a day, rather than more like 100. And I dont need protein shakes to reach that level.

Hmmm, I dont drink a lot, certainly dont have a drinking problems, but I find it really hard to say no to a glass of wine by about 6pm. food wise, I can still eat an entire packet of Cookies in a sitting. I have a lot of trouble staying away if they're in the house. Very luckily, the kids are more savoury - prefer chips and stuff like 2 minute noodles so I really dont need to have them in the house at all which keeps me on the straight and narrow. I can ignore the chips for months on end. However, if DH brings a block of chocolate home I do tend to overeat that also. And one final thing I tend to overdo is certain things like rice cakes or cruskits (do you have those puffed crispbreads there?) slathered with real butter. I can eat seven or eight of those coz they're light as air, but its an awful lot of butter!

I prefer natural foods and eat organic where possible. Most of what I eat is still in its natural form - personally, I consider Protein shakes junk food. They're artificially sweetened, chemical laden, they taste completely unlike anything natural, to me its just nuts to be saying you've done great things for your health when this is what you're ingesting. Organic granola, good greek yogurt, a few chopped brazil nuts and a dash of skim milk for Breakfast compared to a Protein shake? No competition - my breakfast sounds big, but its only about 2/3 cup total, I have a small portion. I dont go against my doctors orders because we're not given such strict diet guidelines here, its more a matter of eat less,move more and lose weight. I dont have a nutritionist, that's also not the norm here. I've lost all my weight and THEN some and kept it off for years so this way of eating works. Any way of eating works as long as you eat less than your body requires! You absolutely dont need a nutritionists help to get you to your goal weight, you just need to eat less. Its not rocket science, you can do this your way without being told what plan to follow. Of course I'm talking long term, all bets are off during the liquid post op phase, Protein Shakes can be helpful then and a lot of the foods that they recommend - Jello, custard, milk shakes - well those are all junky too but you're eating hardly anything. Mushies are much easier to make healthy - think lentil dahl, mashed vegies etc.

A plank is where you get in a pushup position on your toes and elbows (rather than hands if you were actually doing a push up) and just hold it - its also called a hover. You need to keep your body in line, no bum up in the air or sagging back. You can modify it by going on your knees rather than your toes if you cant hold it yet (its pretty difficult). Though saying that, proper pushups are a darn good ab exercise too if you do them right. Body Pump is a Les Mills class at the gym - its with a barbell and you get a squat track, back track, chest track, triceps track, biceps track, lunges track and shoulders track where you do various strength training with the barbell to music. It takes about an hour - good for muscle endurance and lean muscle rather than building huge muscles.

Your story is so similar to mine, banded over five years, had done wonderfully and then out of the blue, diagnosed with rectal cancer. I had chemo, radiation and a huge surgery in which my rectum and a fair bit of colon was removed, i was given a temporary ileostomy and sent home with a bag on my lovely flat stomach. I got through to the actual surgery without unfilling my band and I looked at it like this - cancer is a nasty shock and its life threatening, but that's not the worse. I hate how it took over my life, I couldnt work, I wasnt free to do any of the stuff I normally did, I was tied to the hospital routine of daily radiation, I was limited by my need for treatment. I'd just gone back to university at 36, gotten a teaching degree and was in my first job, i was so devastated. But I was DETERMINED that it was not going to undo my triumph over my weight - I ran and did bootcamp right through the initial six week chemo and radiation, right up until my surgery and I went for a run ten days after my bowel resection. I went back to bootcamp. I had another 20 weeks of chemo which was MUCH tougher than the initial lot, and my band was now totally unfilled, but I kept to my normal excercise routine. I lost a fair bit of weight through the surgery and I've managed to hold it off. I. just. will. not. let. the. cancer. win. I wont. I have hung on with grim determination to my diet and exercise routines and its paid off. I dont know how to say that without it coming across as I'm stronger, smarter, better, whatever. I'm not. Its just I looked at it and I thought I can beat anything, but if I get fat again, its won. And I wont let that happen. i was greatly helped by the fact that my treatment has had effects on my digestive system, even the chemo regime is not the same as for breast cancer, with breast cancer, weight gain during chemo is very common. I didnt tolerate my second chemo that well and had to be hospitalised three times for bowel obstructions, so every time I gained a little weight, I found I was nil by mouth for four or five days and it would come off again. I've gradually started filling my band again now. I'm about to have my ileostomy reversed and will now have the challenge of regaining bowel control, which might mean that I have to moderate my exercise - I might be running on my treadmill near my toilet for a while to come, but truly, where there is a will there is a way. I have to have genetic testing too, I'm the fifth person in both the current and previous generation to have had bowel cancer in my immediate family under the age of 45 and the only one not to have died from it. Sometimes I felt so damn sick but I went out running anyway - it never failed to make me feel better and just the emotional benefit of it was enormous. I dont have a secret or anything to tell you, I can only encourage you that maintaining your routines, keeping on top of your weight, not allowing the cancer to take away what you have achieved - it makes you stronger, and more emotionally stable and that has positive benefits on your health. It is SO worth getting yourself back on track, and I will definitely pray for you.

40lb in 7 months is over 5lb a month - well within the 1-2lb per week weight loss expected with the band, and from what you describe, its doing its job! OK, so you may not be enjoying the experience of having a band, and that's a shame, but its doing what its meant to do. YOu're always going to have to work to make good food choices, not eat too many calories and a good amount of vigorous exercise helps enormously - its work, that's for sure. Nothing is really automatic with the band,

Planks are the BEST ab exercise. i found that running really strengthened my core up too. As does stuff like Body Pump because if you do it right, you need to brace from your core. Its really not necessary to do a lot of crunches and sit ups.

Well, first, I agree, make sure there's nothing wrong if you're in so much pain. but on the whole, I'm like you. I'd die before taking pain medication or any medications really and i'm not sure why. I walk around all day with a shocking headache for want of some simple paracetamol. I'm in knots over my coming ileostomy reversal - the thought of needing regular medication would be devastating to me, and many people take immodeum daily to make life manageable for them, but it would really upset me to have to do this. I should be doing it now, I get very dehydrated from the all the Water I lose from my stoma, my blood pressure plummets as a result, i get dizzy and nauseated, I even put up with embarrassing leaks and accidents and STILL I dont take any immodeumm to slow things down. its very silly. There's no need to be in pain from surgery and there's no need for me to have constant diarrhoea either, neither medication will hurt you in reasonable doses, but I hate hate hate the thought of taking anything regularly.

I agree with this. Within reason, I'm not really conscious of DH's weight or about how he looks, he's just him! I know for a fact that I'm not his "type". We didnt meet because we saw each other across the room and the sparks flew, we got to know each other through mutual friends and a friendship grew - if he'd been looking for a woman who caught his eye, she wouldnt have looked anyting like me. He likes petite, curvy, very dark haired and ivory skinned kinda women, I'm mousy brown, 5ft 10, willowy and not the least bit curvy with olive/freckly skin. He's a breast man through and through, I'm lucky to fill out a B cup. I dont worry in the LEAST that his eye will wander becuase we've built a life together which eniether of us would jeaopardise. I know he'll look occcasionally, but so do I! Fat/thin can be a little different because I agree there's that control issue over the fat chick thing going on, and its about health also. I mean if DH hit 300lb I'd be pretty concerned.

Gosh, dont worry about it. What's a little pee. I had a major bowel resection in November and an ileostomy and I can tell you, I made a MUCH more disgusting mess when the bag leaked overnight. And I gather than when I go in for reversal of the ileostomy in 3 weeks, its more than normal for you to have several bowel actions before you get the hang of feeling when you have to go. I'm not looking forward to it, but I guess in that ward, they've seen it all before.

I agree with Xavier, I dont count any of those things. I prefer to listen to my body. I eat till I'm satisfied/no longer hungry - not very often until i'm really full - and because of my band, that point comes before I've ingested too many calories. My rules are: 3 meals no Snacks, healthy food most of the time, exercise every day possible. I favour a simple approach. I dont count a thing, for me personally, that's obsessive dieting behaviour that prevents a healthy relationship with food, it makes me think about and obsess over food all day. I eat what I feel like eating at each meal - and when I really think about it, normally that's reasonably healthy food. Even exercise can be simple. I just go out the front door and run, sometimes I chuck a heavy sandbag around and I like body pump classes. I dont worry about all that crap about working individual muscles, supersetting this, pyramiding that, special shake before exercise, Protein shake after, this supplement or that. I really believe eat less (that's where the band helps), move more. Its all you need to worry about. The rest you can do if you enjoy it, but its not strictly necessary.

I had been thin at times in the past, but I think I lived in denial of how fat I was. i mean, on some level I must have known it because I did act on it, but I didnt really "see" it. Truthfully, now I just really do look like how I thought I looked. So Ididnt spare a second or shed a tear mourning my body as it was. I dont think its an unreasonable or unhealthy way to feel though. changing yourself to such a degree is a big step, and it may also be tied in on a less conscious level with how much you're really going to have to change INSIDE to make this work.