Jachut

Fine if you're just out of surgery, not good at all for long term health. You absolutely cannot nourish yourself adequately on such a small intake and if you're also exercising at reasonable intensity (ie. more than just walking) its not enough. You will also probably find that you dont really lose weight much quicker than people who eat far more. And you'll lose a lot of muscle and less fat.

This half cup thing is a ridiculous myth. If you were truly eating 1/2 a cup and eating nutritious, low fat food, including vegetables, then you'd be eating about 300 calories a day. If all you can eat is 1/2 cup, you'll need to eat more than 3 times a day or you'll be rather malnourished in a few months time.

Sort of, yes. I do drink milk, mainly on Cereal and in coffee - but cappucinos and lattes can really turn my stomach and make me feel ill - cold milk or a dash in ordinary coffee is fine though. So not lactose intolerant, but a bit dairy sensitive. However, since I had a bowel resection and got a temporary ileostomy, you do have very liquid output at first, but for me, the diarrhoea has persisted for over 8 months, its got both my surgeon, the stoma nurse and I quite puzzled as it does not respond to the common thickening foods nor does it respond to immodium. I'm hoping that when my stoma is closed in a few weeks time and my colon is recalled to action, it does its job of absorbing Fluid and the diarrhoea goes away. So I tolerate milk in small quantities - I wouldnt dream of drinking a milk shake or Protein shake though, I've never liked milk that much anyhow and I know that Protein shakes really give me horrid bloating and gas - and made with Water, they're hideous. The other thing that happened to me - I now get car sick, horribly sea sick, cant go on rides. No idea why but its since banding.

Three meals with no snacks and lots of running.

Finally, they know how the band works! We've had this discussion many times, how can you get stuck immediately you swallow a bite if food is sitting in the pouch for hours, not going through the stoma immediately and causing you to be stuck! DH went to the doc yesterday and was given a video. We both attend Prof. Paul O'Brien's practice so its always at the forefront of any research into the band, Prof. O'Brien being one of the band's pioneers. Anyway, their latest discovery is that food does not sit in the pouch for hours and slowly plass through as previously thought but as all those of us actually WITH a band know is probably not the case. What the band actually does is exactly like a blocked sink - you know how the plug hole chugs and glugs and spits it back up and then sucks it down, spits it up, sucks it down and gradually clears? Well, that's what the band does too. Food passes through, some goes right through, most is spat back up by the muscular contractions of the stomach, then its sucked back, some goes through, more comes up etc. In that way, each bite takes about a minute to pass through the stoma. What the band does is slow down your eating (or should) to such an extent that there is time for the food you eat to stimulate the nerves at the top of the stomach to indicate fullness - merely a exention of that old, eat slowly becuase it takes your stomach 20 minutes to tell your brain its full theory. Its the slowness of eating with a band that allows such a small portion of food to satisfy. that being the case, the doctor advised DH that its quite important not only to chew, but to WAIT between bites to allow this process to take place, even to the point of a minute between each bite of food. The DVD also went on to reinforce this clinic's believe in 3 meals a day, no Snacks based on the fact that hunger hormones are way better controlled with a long period between meals, that the body is not designed to constantly be coping with new input, but rather is designed to have long periods of fasting. I know for a fact this works for me, but I think differnet people cope better with different ways of eating. Interesting, hey?

I couldnt pinpoint one - there are several that let me know I went a bit too far with weight loss, sigh. Like a top I have a photo of me wearing and all I notice is ribs in my chest. But the thing that looks the best on me and makes me feel really hot is a pair of true religion skinny jeans. They really really are worth the money!

Personally, I'd work on liking plain brewed coffee - you really need to give up the need for constant sweetness, there's lots of experts that believe artificial sweeteners have the same effects on your body as the real thing anyway, but even so, its just plain easier if you're able to just drink plain things - plain coffee, plain water. It takes a few weeks to get the taste but it's a relatively easy transition.

Well, spare a thought for me with an ileostomy too! Not only do I have large, loud lapband rumbles, but also my stoma works noisily too. Naturally, I dont fart - not becuase I'm a lady but because the air exits my stoma and doesnt make it to the rear end. The disadvantage of this is a stoma has no muscles, so when it comes out, it just comes out - sometimes VERY loudly and people think I've farted. Naturally too, since what I eat exits my digestive system only half way though, its very liquid - so sometimes it sounds like someone's turned the garden hose on! Sometimes i can pass off the noises as tummy rumbles and other times, I have to try to explain what it is. Its hideously embarrassing and happens anywhere quiet - getting an eyebrow wax, having a massage, in the cinema, in the bank queue, sigh. A little over three weeks to go now before its closed though, lol.

I know what you mean about that "pressure change". that's what I wait for as well. Might get 4 bites in then have to wait a bit, then another, sometimes, I need a 5 minute rest, you just have to wait till you feel that subtle shift. Now we know what that actually is - well I knew but it confused me because I alwasy thought food wasnt supposed to be goign through yet!

Same here, once I start, i want to eat a "meal", I cant quite at just a snack. And I have never mastered the art of heatlhy snacks that support my nutrition - snacks always tend to be processed foods for me, even if healthy like a nut bar or something. But I eat it and I'm not full, so I want to eat more and before I know it, I have eaten as much as a meal anyway, but just not as healthy food as I would normally eat at a meal. So my rule is 3 meals no snacks. If I'm truly hungry, my trick is to eat a raw carrot - a difficult food for me - and a cup of coffee. This blocks me up and creates that I couldnt possibly eat feeling even if my lower stomach is still telling me it needs food. but generally for me, its breakfast, lunch dinner and that's that. No snacks.

I'd actually disagree with that recommendation - cardio is usually the easiest and most effective for people to be starting off, it will kick start weight loss, and what's the point of starting any strength training now, for 3 measly weeks when you're going to have to take a few weeks off that after the surgery? You may as well wait - whereas you can walk a day after the surgery! Also, with neck, shoulder and back pain, no matter what, starting exercising is going to make you hurt, and I wouldnt go aggravating that just now. If you're really out of shape, I'd make a commitment to walk as many days as possible between now and your surgery. In even as little as 3 weeks, you might bring your blood pressure down a little, might improve your blood chemistry and get your heart a bit stronger - all important things that will minimise the risk of an anaesthetic. What's more, you can build a little fitness and if you can get out a day or two after your surgery, and build up over the following week or two, you might even retain that extra fitness you've built!

I'd do the landscaping. last time before my huge bowel resection, I got ny hair done, my toenails done, a new set of acrylic nails - french tips because they had to be clear, lol, legs, underarms waxed and a brazillian as well. Ok, so I knew my bits were going to be seen - they were going to be up my rear end and also used my caesar scar again and I didnt want to deal with the hatchet razor job they usually do - a good wax means the hair wont be growing back a day later when that dressing is on - I'll never ever make that mistake again after having to rip off a huge dressing after a caesaren with grown back pubes - OUCH. Plus mine have gone white, lol, and very patchy since I had the pelvic radiation last year - it all fell out and that's how it grew back. I'm more embarrassed about having the nether regions of an 80 year old than I am about being as bare as a 10 year old. Anyhow, I think going in to have an op, being in hospital for a few days, being a bit insecure about being looked at when you're anaesthetised and on the table, if it makes you feel better then get the works done. I like to go in feeling good - people are goning to be touching me, looking at my incisions, checking things out, and you have visitors too - I dont think its silly to have a day of grooming so that you're feeling tip top. I know nobody's looking and judging but its not really about that, its just about feeling good about yourself.

Its not a good idea to eat before bed anyway even without a band - obviously when you're laying down, there's more potential for acid to enter the esophagus. With a band, its even more likely. I dont have too much trouble with this, but then, I'm not a nightime eater. However the other day after a cup of coffee and a piece of fruit at morning tea time, i went back to teaching gymnastics - yep, handstands and cartwheels - I had absolutely awful heartburn.

Also, dont be surprised if those figures just dont work. Like, eating 1000 calories less than you need *should* result in a loss of 2lb per week right? So if you ate 1247.1 a day you should lose 2lb more than you would on 2247.1 per week - well that would almost NEVER happen. YOu might lose a little faster but the math is never that exact. I think the only thing you can be sure of is that if you eat less than you need you will lose some weight. I dont know how the heck I lost down to a BMI of 19 - never planned it that way, never counted a calorie but also never lost a predictable amount each week - it was way more like 3lb one week, nothing for two weeks, 5lb the next week, nothiing for six weeks, 1lb the week after that, 4lb the next week, nothing for a month then suddenly 6lb gone - all over the shop basically. But its gone and who cares now years down the track? Trying to be so precise about it and trying to plan what to expect is going to do your head in when it doesnt happen that way - best just to accept what comes along.

Losing weight is simple math, eat less burn more than what your body requires and you lose weight. Your metabolism slows with weight loss in that your smaller body requires fewer calories to be maintained. So you lose slower and slower. That's unavoidable but you can minimse it by eating and exercising in a way that leads to retaining as much muscle as possible, losing mainly fat, but you WILL lose muscle with weight loss, everyone does. In truth, most obese people are used to enormous quantities of food and also used to making excuses for their eating behaviour "I dont eat that much", or "I eat less than her and she's not fat" etc. The amount of food you actually need to remain healthy is small, but if youi're used to eating like 3000 calories a day its going to seem alarming, but you WONT starve. Likewise, not many people hinder their weight loss or make themselves ill by actually exerting themselves a little - sweat and a high heart rate wont harm you either, but people "dont want to push too hard in case I burn out" or "need to start out slowly" and they way overestimate the quality of their workouts as well. Eat less, move more and you'll lose over time, plateaus and all.

About 20 minutes per meal for me. I dont have time for that for Breakfast, so I dont sit down to eat it. I carry my Cereal bowl or piece of toast and fruit or whatever with me around the house whilst I have a shower, get dressed, do my hair, make kids lunches etc. I just have a bite every so often! the only time I feel rushed is eating with others who want to bolt something and then get moving again.

I didnt find it so much with band research but I've had to make a decision to NOT google or visit any dicussion boards about ileostomy reversals. It scares the sh*t out of me, no pun intended. I struggle to find any positive stories, as even the supposedly positive ones describe a lifestyle to me that I dont find at all enticing, I was really at the point of deciding to keep a bag for the rest of my life. My surgeon went nuts at me, he said four to six weeks, I'll be back to a manageable bowel habit. Now I remain unconvinced because of all the stuff I've read and he's a very very experienced surgeon, I should believe him. But you dont, do you? You believe the "real" stories. So I have just made myself stop looking and having not read a thing for eight weeks or so, I'm feeling a lot better about giving the reversal a go in a month's time. I suggest you do the same, if its really freaking you out, if you've made a decision to do it, then stop reading now and just focus on preparing yourself and thinking about how you're goign to make it a success.

OMG, that would put me at 200lb at 5ft 10!!! That's obese! I think that formula may be more than slightly flawed.

The band has worked absolutely brilliiantly for me, but without blowing my own trumput, its becuase I've learned how to work it and how to control my urges. I believe it DOES curb my appetite, but not to the extent that I'm conscious of that. I'm not one of those people who forget to eat because they're not hungry, I get hungry regularly. And I'm not one who only eats due to hunger either, I'm as prone to emotional boredom eating and eating just because as I ever was, the band has not changed that at all. What it did for me - I got fast, automatic weight loss at the start - I had superb restriction due to swelling, I had a 12 week period of feelign like I did on duromine (phentermine). No hunger, no thoughts of food, no interest in food, full on teeny portions - without the fast heart beat, dilated pupils and urge to vaccuum the house at 2 am. I lost about 40lb in that 12 weeks, more than I'd EVER lost before and that got me going. The first year, that feeling gradually wained, I"d say by the second year, fills were working for me but that normal appetite and interest in food had returned, but this time, I was almost at a normal BMI. Now, I never had fast weight loss - 3 to 5lb a month after that first 12 weeks, but it did continue on during the second year and into the third where it might have been 5lb every now and then, over three or four month periods. During this time (years 2 to 6), my life and eating were much more normal - periods of being "good" followed by periods of falling off the wagon. Falling off the wagon was not like before because I physically couldnt eat as much, so I wouldnt decide to go and have McDonalds for lunch followed by pizza for dinner like I previously would have, instead, I would ditch meals and eat nothing but sugar all darn day, Cookies, muffins, washed down by coffees. I could/can do this for days on end before I get my ass in gear again. The day to day eating, the band helps me do that better than I did and in better quantity, but the food choices, the discipline of 3 meals, the saying "no" to band foods, that's all down to me. Its willpower pure and simple. There is only so much the band can do and there is NO amount of fill that will stop you choosing poorly and overeating the wrong foods. A large number of people expressing their frustration and grief at this fact, that their band isnt woring, they cant tolerate enough fill to help them, a good percentage of those people are simply not facing that truth. That isnt meant to be harsh, but its a big realisation and its a hard one to reach, it really is a kind of epiphany that you have to have, and some people are banded before they're ready for that. Others of course really do have real problems with their bands. Its a tool, it gets so annoying to hear that over and over again, but six years out, at a very successful BMI of 20, I still have to wake up and affirm this every single day. i still have to drag myself back on track, I still have lots of bad days. I've really had this reinforced to me because I had my band unfilled for a big surgery and have remained so for 8 months. You know what? I've maintained my weight without fill, and I really dont think I could have the discipline and willpower to eat little enough to lose without fill, but I have maintained and its by doing the exact same things I did WITH a working band, its really not that much harder or any different. And a big factor for me is an hour's run five days or more a week. I've experimented with exercise, I'f fallen for fashion and fads and believed it when I've been told I must do more strength training and less cardio for the body I want but I've really come to the conclusion after years of experience at this - a sh*tload of cardo keeps the fat off you, pure and simple. Five or six hard sessions of sweat inducing high heart rate cardio is AS important as a band or dieting. It will be much harder without it. Sad to say, its simply a no bullsh*t approach. Its the basics, done day in day out. The band helps, nothing more.;

I agree - its all about fantasy. I think men like a woman who can be bad for them and them alone but be a lady in public. And the kind of guy that really wants to be seen with someone who looksand behaves like a playboy bunny or a prostitute would appear to me to be insecure - kinda like a fast red car compensates for a small appendage, the kind of trophy woman that's all plastic and make up and overtly sexual behaviour compensates for a man who needs to create the masculinity he secretly feels he lacks. Probably a gross generalisation but certainly based on observation!

Seriously, how could you get your thighs lifted without your partner knowing? But personally - hmmm, not sure, I dont *think* I'd take my husband to a ps consult. I mean I've been to one alone on a mission simply to find out what they'd do and what's possible, without really being serious about having surgery. I'd want breast work done and to be honest, my dh wants huge enormous plastic tits, the bigger and rounder the better and I cant think of anything I'd less rather do to my body. He'd be supportive of what I choose to do, but I know that's what he'd like me to do. I would simply want a lift and small teardrop implant, to replace the size that the lift would take away, so that I remain a C cup. So I'd go on my own. But I probably wont go because i'd feel bad spending so much of the family's money when I wasnt even getting done what DH would like me too, lol.

Being careful becomes second nature, you become a slow eater. If I eat slowly and chew well, I can eat anything, but some things take a lot of work, have a greater risk of getting stuck and you just kind of naturally dont want them after a while. One example for me is a toasted or grilled sandwich. Even the smell of cheese grilling has made me want to vomit for the last couple of years, because I associate the smell with the experience of eating a toasted cheese sandwich - laborious, lots of chewing, lots of uncomfortable feelings and pausing to let it pass without getting actually stuck. Fast forward to having my band unfilled for another surgery, I cautiously try one, OMG it was DELICIOUS! But I never ever ever missed not eating one, I just didnt want it. I feel the same way about a lot of previously favourite foods - cakes, muffins etc one notable example. There's just one food I truly absolutely could not eat and that's a burger, just no way, no how, I'd as soon try to eat a house brick. Its honestly like contemplating that. You're not looking at the brick thinking mmmmm I really want that! You're thinking OMG how could anyone WANT to eat that let along actually DO it? yes, I get hungry normally. I never struggled with inappropriate hunger, being starving all the time, I ate becuase I liked it, I liked sugary foods and I just pigged out on them, not becuase I was actually physically hungry. I wake up hungry for my Breakfast, but a smaller breakfast satisfies - say one piece of toast and one egg, not two! Half a cup of Cereal not two bowls. I stay satisfied till mid morning, when a cup of coffee and some fruit will fill me up and get me through till 2.00 for lunch with no drama. Lunch I fill up on very quickly, maybe a small bowl of Soup and that gets me through till dinner, I will get peckishthere again and really look forward to dinner, but a bread and butter plate sized meal is more than enough. So my hunger levels escalate at meal time, which is when you're supposed to eat anyway, and are easily satiated. Previously if I'd eaten the amount I do now, I'd be freaking starving all day long, as I ate much much bigger meals and in between meals too. So hunger is not something you're never supposed to feel again! The trouble with a band is, that if you just feel like eating, just because, its very easy to do. True of any surgery really, and certain foods, Cookies for example, chew to nothing and you can easily eat a whole packet. The calorie level doesnt bottom out ridiculously low either for many of us, its not hard for me to eat 2000 or more in a day depending on what I choose, and how I go about eating it. For me, I like to eat still, and I choose to be very active to counteract that, I still run for an hour most days to allow myself to exist and maintain on 1800 a day or so. I lost weight though with no trouble at all, slowly but steadily and I've maintained for years now.

I agree with the comments above - we're all different. If it works for you then I dont see the problem. I mean, you can debate every aspect of eating until the cows come home, but like someone said above, protein, carbs, whatever, its all way better than the Mcdonalds and crap we ate before.

A handroll does have rice - well it does here anyway, also known as California Rolls or Nori Rollsbut just long ones rather than slices.

What a jerk, nobody with any sense of personal boundaries would say that. On the other hand, my husband LOVES that other men look at me. He is proud that he has a hot wife that is all his! He has his insecurities and issues like all men do, but on this issue, I think it really appeals to his masculine vanity to be seen as a stud who's pulled a hot woman, lol. Not sure I like that sort of thinking as it doesnt cast me as being anything other than decorative, but I guess men are from mars, arent they?