Jachut

Sorry to burst your bubble, but your skin is already attached to your stomach muscles, or you'd be in a fair bit of trouble. And unfortunately, when you're fat, the loose skin (if you've got it) has ALREADY happened. Nothing you do now can change that, you've broken collagen bonds in your skin and stretched it out as you gained and you cant undo that now. The reason that you wear a girdle type garment after plastic surgery is to support the area, minimise swelling through compression and help healing, not to work any magic on your actual skin. Ditto to anything you rub inot it. The 2 year thing, I'd say that's more for emotional reasons. I finished losing weight and felt sort of weird about myself. I looked different, my face looked different (and a bit older), I felt a little "loose" although I got out of the loose skin thing very lightly. If I'd had enough cash at the time,I would have done everythign to my body and face I could have afforded. Now, 2 years later, I'm glad I didnt. I dont need it and I think I would regret it and I can think of about a zillion better things to spend my family's money on, like our upcoming holiday to Thailand.

Alcohol calories are always the first burned, even when the body is in deficit, they are such a ready source of energy. So if you drink, and drinking, even white wine can certainly add up calorie wise, the rest of what you eat will only be burned after the alcohol, its really just sugar. Everyone here knows I'm no fan of high Protein diets but it is certainly true that if you take in sugar and readily burned refined carbs, then you are giving your body such an easy source of energy that it will always burn in preference to fat. Your body only turns to fat if your glycogen stores are fairly depleted, and that will never happen if you keep filling up on sugar. I like my wine too though, not sure whether giving it up is worth it to be 10lb lighter, lol.

I didnt have to do one, but I thought the same as you, that I'd do it anyway to "prepare" and to lose some weight. I personally never wanted to go off on a last minute bender, once I made that surgery date, I considered my life changed. I ate sensibly for months before surgery - not little enough to lose weight, but I didnt gain any either. So I thought I'd do this pre op diet...... Well, like most people, days 1 to 3 were torture. I was hungry, felt sick, moody, shaky, it was awful. Then on day 4 I stood up and fainted. Fair enough, I'd not eaten for a few days. But I fainted EVERY time i stood up. I felt like death warmed up. I called my doctor, he said to me "what on EARTH are you doing that to yourself for?". I had by pure chance had a liver ultrasound weeks before I saw him (my gp sent me off for all sorts of tests, he'd never referred anyone for a lapband before, until I came and asked). So I knew that I didnt have a very fatty liver than needed to be shrunk. My doctor explained that the ONLY true reason for the preop diet is to shrink the liver, and (as I well knew anyway) weight lost that way is not healthy weight loss, its Water, muscle and a bit of fat. It's just not good for you unless its a case of the end justifying the means. So I didnt need a lot of convincing, I took his advice and started eating again. let me tell you, I have NOWHERE near enough willpower to do a diet like that and i"ve been very successful with the band. Its something you do if you absolutely HAVE to, if your surgery depends on it, and even then its probably one of the hardest things any of us will ever do. In the end, I was quite pleased that I didnt do it because I lost TONS of weight after surgery, I hadnt exhausted the easy 10kgs that most of us have at the start of a diet. I have read SO many stories here of people being disappointed by post op weight loss and that's becuase they've already lost like 40lb from starving themselves for 4 weeks. It must be such a demoralising way to start, whereas I got that fast, gratifying drop since I hadnt dieted before. If you dont have to do it and you CAN, then you're deserving of a medal! But you probably will use up all that fast easy weight loss, so be prepared for that fact and dont freak if you dont drop 50lb the week after your surgery.

Well, I have a caesar scar, does that count? I think you mean just a crease in the skin where it has habitually folded over? I have a pretty flat stomach but even I have that, but the creases I had across my stomcah where it folded when I sat, those have gone away as there's only some small wrinkles when I sit down now.

Unfortunately you cant help where your body stores fat. But the best way to get rid of tummy fat is cardio. NO amount of strengthening the muscles will make any difference at all if there's too much fat. Running, spinning, elliptical, all those high intensity workouts are what you need. And there's some credible evidence that using interval training methods (ie. sprinting all out for 1 min, thens lowing down for 5 kinda thing) burn even MORE fat than steady state. Personally, I find, contrary to popular exercise gospel, that nothing keeps me as thin as long, steady state cardio - long runs daily of 8kms or more. We're all different, but that works for me better than anything.

I dont bother personally. I havent counted a calorie in years and I dont plan to ever again. It really isnt relevant. If you dont eat too much, you wont be too fat, that's pretty much the equation. If you eat a lot less you will lose weight. I know some people like to do it, so maybe someone else can tell you their methods, but I personally found it very liberating to give up all that stuff.

Personally, I would stick with what you know and/or enjoy. things have changed, but our bodies havent. If it worked for you before, it will work for you now. Its ridiculous how fads come and go in diet and fitness as if our bodies somehow work differently but if you use your head and think logically the following things hold true: Atkins didnt work in the 60's and 70's to solve obesity and it isnt working now, people are getting fatter. Low fat high carb didnt work etiher, people got fatter. Why are people getting fatter? Coz they dont get enough activity and eat waaaaay too much of the wrong things and dont do what they know they should, not because they havent caught onto the latest magic formula. Running used to the THE thing back in the 70's. Many people got very fit doing it. So just because its not so fashionable now, will it suddenly not work? I think not. Arnie got huge by using the weight lifting methods that were the latest and greatest in his day. Would that somehow not work because we think we know more now? All you have to do is SOMETHING and if you work out the way you know how, it will work. What happens to be currently fashionable is irrelevant. Dont let the the feeling that there's some "secret" to be discovered, that only a personal trainer can unlock hold you back. All it takes is some good honest effort. And of course, today being what it is anyway, you can find everything any average personal trainer is likely to know on the internet anyway. I work out in a group with a trainer (only because I enjoy it) and believe me, he has never taught me anythign I didnt already know, and much of what he says is only current fashion that I dont particularly believe anyhow. If you've got a history and experience of being fit, you do have what you need to do this for yourself.

there's no reason not to eat fruit and salads. For dressing, I really like just plain olive oil and salt and pepper on a salad. I'm not big on fancy dressings, especially vinegar-y ones. Olive oil is a good fat, and some fat with a salad means you absorb the nutrients much more than if you have no fat with it.

Five years, no complications.

To be honest, there's nothing about banded life that has been unexpected or surprising. Its what I was led to believe based on both what my doctor said and what I found mainly on this forum.

I have always recovered well from anaesthesia, once I wake up, I'm awake. what I tend to notice is that one or two days later, I get very very weepy. I'll have a period of a few hours whee I just cry. Its exactly like when your milk comes in after you've had a baby, hits you out of nowhere and then leaves just as suddenly.

You're extremely unlikely to build enough muscle mass on your stomach, no matter what you do, that you would make surgery harder. A fit body is always going to recover much better than an unfit one and surgery will be safer to boot. Not to mention, if you get yourself fit before you're banded, you will be able to hit the ground running, so to speak, which will be a big advantage.

I absolutely do not believe that. I am an educated, well resourced person who can make my own decisions about which educational philosophy I subscribe to. Because that's ALL these are, philosophies. There are plenty of studies you can read to way you want to but there is little real true evidence that one way of eating is better than another, and that goes for both sides of this debate. High Protein has certain advantages, high carb has others (although I agree, nobody needs sugar!). Some things work better for weight loss whilst others are better for various areas of your general health. But *I* am most definitely the one person most qualified to decide what I should eat. I know what makes me feel best, what works best for me for weight loss, what a general good healthy diet is and I am also adult enough to decide whether or not I am going to risk my health by including certain things in my diet. I do not need to be patronised by surgeons who are good at placing bands, but really are NOT experts on human nutrition. Bariatric vitamins are a good way to convince you you're getting something extra. But Vitamin supplements are vitamin supplements, the word "bariatric" doesnt mean they're going to be absorbed any better. And depending what you choose to eat, you DONT need a whole ton of supplements ever day. You can have a band and never have a Protein shake and not be deficient in protein. You can have a band and eat 2 fruit, five veg and a wholegrain serving every single day for a wide range of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that all work together the way nature intended, unlike pills. You can get enough fibre without taking supplements. It is all dependent on how tight you choose to be, what you choose to eat and how fast you want your weight loss to be. if you want to be tight, focus on protein foods and lose weight fast, then you'll probably need supplements. No crime in that. But if you want to be looser, have to exercise more but eat a more varied diet with slower weight loss, then you DO have that choice and you dont need a doctor to tell you whether or not you're "allowed" to do that. I guess what made me react to this post is the way I read it, as if you're handing over responsibility to your doctor "here, YOU fix me". Yes, our choices made us fat, but it also must be our own choices that make us thin. A lapband is a tool, not a whole program that someone manages FOR you. You have to do it yourself. I dont know about anyone else here but I became obese by eating too much in general and including too many sugary carbs and junk foods in my diet. It was as uncomplicated as decreasing portion sizes, cutting out certain junk foods and exercising a LOT more. You can achieve that in any number of ways, what's the point of fighting over who's right or wrong? But stating it like its black or what just isnt a true picture.

Lol, I dont really bite, but some issues really get my goat, this happens to be one of them.

The opinion I've formed over the years based on stuff like this is that there's an awful lot of doctors out there who obviously got onto banding as a money spinner and a) know NOTHING about nutrition know NOTHING about how to actually manage a lapband and c) know NOTHING about the challenges and issues of overcoming obesity. They are surgeons, pure and simple, they place the band and then they try to give aftercare that they are simply not qualified to give. Doctors have no business letting a patient exist on a liquid diet, they really have little business insisting a patient stick to some predetermined fill schedule, when its a totally individual thing and they really have little business arguing that the patient does or doesnt need a fill. They have no business chiding patients if they dont fit some statistical weight loss pattern and its pretty darn stupid to make people believe that there's no chance of losing any more than 60% of excess weight. And (take a breath Jacqui) they also have absolutely no business setting people's goal weights for them. They know very little about a person's determination to succeed, or conversely about a patients lack of real desire to be thin when they just want to be healthier. They cannot possibly tell you that this weight or that is not realistic or that you wont get to it. I would run a mile from a doctor who did any of that. I simply wouldnt believe he gave a crap about me as a a person rather than viewing me as a weight loss statistic (or risk) to bolster his practice.

I marvel at how people who have been banded can forget that they werent born 100lb overweight and can express the view that someone doesnt need surgery because they only have a small weight problem. I dont mean those people are being mean or derisive because you're not fat enough to 'deserve' surgery, but they're simply not remembering the process that it took to get to surgery stage. How many times in years past they have lost 20, gained 25, lost 30, then gained 35, etc. How excited they were to lose weight but how quickly it went back on. How impossible it is to live hungry, day in day out. Each of US was once 50lb overweight and that went on to become 60, 70, 80, 100 and even more than that. None of US could lose the weight when it was only 50 or we'd not be here. I think there's 2 things to consider - 1) your motivation to lose weight - health OR appearance doesnt matter, but it needs to be for you and nobody else because it IS a big commitment that you have to be prepared for and 2) you know deep down whether you're a 'fat' person or not. 50lb is right on the statistical brink of being able to lose that weight and keep it off on your own, but I could never even lose 10lb on my own, let alone 50. Some people for whatever reason may carry an extra 50 at some stage of their lives, post pregnancy, middle age, whatever but they can lose it. My mother is like that. Others are truly people suffering from obesity. If you're truly suffering from ovesity then I would consider the surgery worthwhile even if you were only 10lb overweight at a given point in time. If you're truly suffering from obesity it is going to overcome you at some stage and you'll be fighting a much bigger weight problem. How many of us could have avoided painful, expensive and dangerous cosmetic surgery to fix streteched out disfigured skin if we had simply taken positive, decisive action at an earlier stage? And how much damage may years of obesity have done to our bodies that we wont know about yet?

Most days of the week I'd have a green smoothie for Breakfast - one or two fruits (just chunks, not entire fruits) and a handful of spinach - a small glass - like a glass of juice only healthier. I have a vitamix blender which pulverises those things to completely smooth and creamy but you can do it in a regular blender, just tastes a bit more like lawnmower pulp is all. Its just one of those things, not very yummy but I just get it over with. A bit later, often when I get to work, I'll have whatever else I fancy for breakie. Morning tea at work every single day is cut up raw vegies - cucumber, carrot, red capscicum, snow peas, mushrooms, whatever I have on hand. Just a small serve. Most days at work, I have Soup (home made, vegetable based) or a salad with a Protein source added. dinner very often has vegetables with it, we have kids, lots of plain meat and 3 veg style meals. I fit all the vegies in no problem, but I dont worry so much about protein, so I'm not trying to fit them in around that many protein foods.

No, you'd burn a lot less because you're smaller, have less muscle and a slower metabolism (or more accurately, lower calorie needs) as a result. It takes less energy to move your smallr body. Most of the machines are for about "average" - a 76kg male is pretty standards. Which means that most "normal weight" women (by which again "average means under about 65kg, or 140lb) will burn substantially less than the machine says. I dont know about anyone else, but I can guage a 700 calorie burning workout by how much it takes out of my body (of course, I dont known precisely what I burned but I can tell it was a big burn kind of thing) and how long it takes me to recover. For me, a 10kms run would achieve that and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, no matter what the stupid thing says, that 40 minutes on an elliptical machine is absolutely no comparison, it is NOT a 700 calorie workout. Its just not hard enough or taxing enough. I can also tell that I burn less calories during a run these days than I used to - I'm definitely adapted and more efficient at it now.

Paracetamol should do the trick for pain(I think Tylenol is paracetamol, we have diff. brands here). but I would definitely not let a possible allergic reaction go. I'd consider this worth bothering the doctor for.

I lost tons of weight immediately following surgery, I think I'd lost about 40lb within 3 months, which I consider pretty darn fast. But I did no pre op diet so I hadnt exhuasted that easy fast initial weight loss you get when you go on a diet. And I have a 4cc band (which is what they used routinely back then). I believe those bands are far better for getting immediate restriction than the newer bands, I had really really good restriction right from the get go.

Didnt end up wearing my own pj's, I did put a robe on over the gown to walk, I walked around from a couple of hours after the actual surgery, not far, lots of sleeping etc. I went home in the clothes I arrived in - jeans (and ordinary jeans at that, no elastic waist) and a long sleeve tshirt and regular bra. I simply wasnt that sore.

You really dont need to do anything much, they are not major scars. Five years down the track I have a pink line over my port adn I cant even find the other scars.

That's very true - I think its really important to avoid notions of a "right" or 'wrong" way to eat. There's pros and cons of everything. The risks of a higher carb fruit and vegie heavy diet include things like diabetes and even heart disease as a result of the work it creates for your body to digest and store all that instant energy to put it in layman's terms. However, if you're like me, with problems in that area, its very very necessary to prevent nasties like bowel cancer. The great things about a hgih Protein diet include great blood sugar control and less fat storage as a result of the lack of huge amounts of sugar hitting your bloodstream quickly and this too can result in less heart disease. However, this sort of diet can be incredibly heavy in saturated fat, which again, might work for some cultures that dont have exposure to all the other elements of our western lifestyle but may not be so safe for those of us living in different circumstances - for example the inuit would have lived on seal blubber and fresh caught oily fish, not grain fed beef full of hormones and unaturally large chickens and dairy products. by the same token other "healthy" cultures live on much more carb based diets - the Japanese traditionally lived on rice and vegetables as well as fish, whislt mediterranean cultures ate more olive oil, fruits and vegetables and there's also been plenty of publicity on how healthy those diets are too, despite how different they all are. Its a matter of working out what works best for you and makes you feel best. There's another huge factor too of course - we live so long now. The anti cancer effects of lots of fruit and veg for example, become important when you live to 80 or more, didnt matter much when you got eaten by a wooly mammoth at 30. Nor did keeping your teeth, or your eyesight. Personally, I think one of the most important things of all is actually exercise. I think we're evolved to MOVE and that's a root cause of all our problems - we dont move enough.