Jachut

That's the best thing about having a band, you can avoid all that snake oil rubbish from now on. These things are nothing more than false claims to separate you from your money and lighten your wallet. Weight loss is about eating less and moving more, its that simple. There's no magic pill, food or potion and anyone that claims otherwise is lying to you. You have a band, and that's all you need.

I think its VERY important and I place getting a wide variety of vegetables particularly and some fruit way way above Protein. I think most people that are eating 1200 to 1500 are going to get enough protein with normal eating patterns, I simply dont hold with the theory that you need like a gram per pound. I lost all my weight on a normal protein intake of around 50 to 60 grams a day, I did not lose muscle, I'm not flabby and "skinny fat", I have a good healthy body composition with 23% body fat. I did not need to do shakes or eat protein first to do that (its not what we're advised to do in Australia). I focus more on fruit and vegetables and whole grains. For a while I've not eaten a lot of grain food, barely ever eat bread, and I've had quite severe bowel problems as a result, despite my high intake of fruit and veg. I added some bread and good cereals back in and the bulk it provided has fixed my problems - fibre on its own isnt enough, you need bulk. I truly do not believe a diet focussed on protein is a healthy one. With limited stomach capacity, you simply will not get enough fruit and vegies and you do need some grainy foods too. I wouldnt buy a juicer but rather a super duper powerful blender that will crush the pulp so that its drinkable, that way you're not removing half the good stuff from your fruit or vegies. I have a vitamix blender, I start most days with a "juice" of one or two fruits (not entire pieces, just a chunk), Water and a green such as spinach to make a green smoothie - its not delicious by a long shot but drinkable in a small glass. I usually follow that a bit later on with a serve of a good Cereal. At morning tea time I usually ahve cut up raw vegies - carrot, cucumber, red capsicum, snow peas, whatever I have on hand, about a cups worth (it crunches down to very little in your stomach). lunch is VERY often soup, always home made and vegetable based, I snack on things like pumpkin seeds (10 grams protein per half cup, lots of fibre and good fats) and dinner is usually a meat based meal. I dont eat a lot in volume, but I've done really well on this sort of diet and it suits my body/metabolism. I know it goes against popular opinion, and I know there's compelling reasons to eat lots of protein but in reality diets like Atkins or other high protein low carb plans are meant to be eaten with huge quantities of vegetables, particularly green non starchy ones. You cant do that with a sleeve or band, and you end up eating a very unbalanced diet that includes lots of protein (and often from rather questionable sources such as too many shakes) and nowhere near enough of other nutrients.

This was a surprise NSV for me after banding. I was a "healthy" fat person meaning that I had a bmi of *only* 35 (isnt it scary how we accept fat as normal, to me that doesnt seem very big, as everyone is fat these days, but it was), I had no comorbidities, no sleep apnoea. I simply woke uncomfortable many times a night - same as when you're very pregnant and your hips ache from lying on your side, but you cant lie on your back. After about 30lb that went away and I started sleeping just so well, I felt fantastic.

I think even longer term, I'd pay for home delivered meals. We have a company called Lite n Easy here in Australia and of course, you guys probably have a zillion of them. Lite n Easy's foods are fresh, I mean, you get pieces of fruit with the delivery, cant get fresher than that. The dinners, hmmmm, you get a bit sick of frozen dinners, but they're really very good. I'm not a dieter, dont believe in "dieting" for the main part, but Lite n Easy is the ONLY program I've ever had success with. I eat so well on that. I really would like to lose another 10lb or so and just cant seem to do it. My problem is its TOO MUCH food now! I just cant pay $125 a week for meals when I will throw half of it away, unable to eat it. And I can eat bread and cereals and such but i can imagine many bandsters just couldnt tolerate most of the food. so if there were a bandster specific program I'd definitely be considering it! Immediately post op, well my thoughts are that you eat hardly anything then and its really pretty easy to feed yourself liquids and mushies, I cooked a pot of dahl for example and got about 10 meals out of it! I personally wouldnt really have needed someone to cook for me during that period of time.

Its one of the few Protein shakes I will happily drink - vanilla Protein powder, frozen banana, Peanut Butter, mmmmmm. On rice cakes (with butter though, sigh) mmmmmmmm. Off the spoon. good satay sauce -I make gado gado - steamed veg, hardboiled eggs, and a homemade satay sauce, bliss. spread on an apple, that's delicious. It drives me NUTS (haha, pun intended) that school is a nut free zone, no nuts of any kids. Where are all today's kids at with their peanut allergies? I cant ever take it for Snacks, lunch, nothing.

I have a 9.75cm 4cc band, I got banded in 2005 when this was a current model. My surgeon told me after the surgery that that's what he had chosen. I was/am quite pear shaped and carried the weight on hips and thighs and lower belly. I didnt have a lot of fat actually inside my abdomen (yet) and I apparently dont have very large organs either, not surprising as I've turned out to much less "big boned" than I thought. So he chose this smaller band for me becuase he anticipated problems with restriction with too big a band. I must say, I've had restriction from day dot, and never struggled to find it.

Realistically, I can think of VERY few women for whom 174lb would even be small, let alone too small. I mean, I'm 5ft 10 and 174 lb is definitely on the plump side for me. Allowing for differnet body types, its just not logical that it could be too small unless you're like 6ft 5. People just get used to seeing you fat and the (relatively) sudden change unsettles them. I dont even think its jealousy or mean spirits, it just unsettles people. I think we're biologically and pscyhologically conditioned to see extreme weight loss as a sign of illness, even when our rational mind knows its not. Everyone seems to need input dont they? My mother's beside herself because I dont really eat bread and apparently, nobody can live without bread. My MIL worries because apparently, Soup does not a lunch make. Yet the people I work with, who never knew me fat, have never thought to comment that my lunch makes me anorexic or that I am too skinny. And furthermore, lol, they dont think there's anything nuts about me wanting to shed a few pounds to wear my new red bikini in Thailand!

Its not easy and even after you accept it, and realise you're a normal size person, you still agonise over your perceived flaws, i dont think that bit ever goes away. I used not not undrstand how skinny people could complain about their bodies but now I do. I can logically see I am tall, slim and fairly fit seeing but I can ALSO see I have this flab here, this lump there etc etc. its funny though because you do develop new eyes to view food. I look at how much and what I eat as "normal" and when people, say in the staffroom at school whinge about their weight as they eat their lunch, I look at their lunch and cant believe they see nothign wrong with it. I mean a stinking big baked potato, covered with cheese, sour cream, bacon, coleslaw and pinapple? That's a freaking enormous meal, brimming with unhealthy fat - yes its vegies, fruit etc but not in the right way. Its about four times more than they need to eat and way removed from just the base ingredients! I think "how can you not see why you're fat for crying out loud". But I too used to eat things like that and think it was healthy and better than McDonalds. I dont say anything but in my head, my own dialogue with myself, I'm as bad as any reformed smoker!

I think you're right, everyone's different. We all feel rather passionate about what has worked for us, in our minds, its the "right" way, but it pays to remember it may not work for someone else. Its not "healthier" or "better" to eat carbs or eat high protein or whatever. What all these doctors tell each of us regarding diet is nothing more than opinion, well supported opinion, but their opinion nonetheless. There is no real proof that one way of eating is better than another, there's valid reasons to question EVERY regime, we all just have to find what works for us. Exercise wise, I find my body just goes against what is currently popular opinion.for me lots of steady state cardio is what really works to keep me thin. I just go with it. I'm not going to worry about what I "should" be doing and I try (not that successfully, lol) not to tell people what THEY should be doing. But its hard becuase when you find something that works, you want others to know that.

Well, I did a half marathon, but I have my band fairly loose so and I can eat small amounts of bread, Pasta and rice. In the ordinary course of events, I dont really eat bread on a daily basis, I just dont have the room and prefer to eat other things. But during the couple of weeks lead up I made sure I had a salad sandwich most days for lunch and ate plenty of fresh fruit and veg. I've always eaten a higher carb/less Protein focussed diet but I only eat good carbs for the most part, I wouldnt have eaten a slice of white bread for several years now, and I eat more vegies and fruit than I do grain foods. I also never needed to drop below 1500 calories a day to lose becuase I've always run regularly, not huge distances. The half was my first and last, it just took too long for my 42 year old body to recover, lol, and I know if I pushed to do that sort of thing regularly, I'd probably end up not running at all due to injury and arthritic old bones.

I have a band, not a sleeve, my intructions were: no heavy lifting for a few weeks (but not specifying what "heavy" was) Longer term, choose solid foods. However, I think you have to go with your gut on this one (yes, pun intended). Soups fill me incredibly and I make them in a Vitamix which means whole vegies, skin included, with the cell walls broken down by the machine to release nutrition, from fresh ingredients. They are SUCH a healthful food and a way to get Vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre into me in amounts that I couldnt actually eat in solid form AND they fill and satisfy me well. I will not give up foods that perform such an impressive range of functions. I dont get hungry after Soup. I also drink a lot of green smoothies (fruit/veg smoothie combos) for the same reason. I know my doctor would say if it works, do it and seriously no decent doctor would discourage you from eating this way if it wasnt affecting your weight loss. My doc wasnt worried about Protein either - well, he's not in general, the focus is just different here, but during those first few weeks it only matters that you are hydrated and get some nutrition, it's never going to be complete and you're never going to get deficient in anythig in a few short weeks, protein included. You'll never find a diet plan that includes ice cream and custard in any other circumstance afterall!

If they say the sleeved stomach wont stretch, why is it that you can eat more some way out?

The very fact that you say "messing with a good thing" makes me think you probably have adequate restriction. I can eat white bread if I want to and I'm all the way to goal and then some and I've been here 2 and a half years. Eating bread is not a measure you should use - how your weight loss is going when you do the right thing is the important measure.

And if you believe that, I've got a car to sell you...

Its a worry most people have, but unfortunately, once you've gotten fat, the loose skin has already happened. If you've got stretch marks and such, your skin is already damaged and it wont snap back perfectly, no matter what you do. Its the weight GAIN that causes the loose skin, not the weight loss, which is the reason why you cant do a darn thing about it. Just take one step at a time. Lose the weight then assess the damage. It is possible for skin to snap back if its not that damaged in the first place, mine is pretty OK after 3 pregnancies and a large weight loss, which is miraculous to me. Its not perfect, but it will do.

I agree with several comments above. Like you say, I wasnt fat because I was constantly hungry and I cant really identify with being starving 2 hours after eating a large meal. I just plain overate. The quantities I ate werent startling, they were like what most other people put away but I would then go and eat chocolate, or biscuits an hour after a meal, just because. I ate from boredom and I know I eat to relieve stress. But like Froggie said above, its amazing how once you're very UNhungry its amazing how that sort of behaviour declines. The band makes me feel like I always just ate a large meal and am very much not hungry yet. But I do still eat for unhungry reasons and have to constantly work on that. There IS willpower involved. However, when you do break out, you dont do that much damage either.

At the moment, ummmmm white bread wholegrain bread butter (never margarine) skim milk (never buy juice or soft drinks at all) greek yogurt 2 bottles of wine various condiments and sauces (a lot of Asian ingredients, love Thai cooking) a big container of broccoli cheese Soup that I made for tomorrow night's dinner a container of bolognaise sauce I made for tonight's dinner ham, various cheeses (camembert, chedder, blue, goats) cheese sticks minced garlic and ginger prunes canned beetroot strawberries, spinach, tomatoes, parsley, coriander, avocadoes, lettuce, carrots, potatoes, onions, zucchini, leeks, mushrooms, broccoli, cauli, snow peas, baby cucumbers,eggplant, blueberries, apples, oranges. Freezer various meats - steak, sausages, a leg of lamb, 2 legs of pork, 2 chickens, chicken breasts, mince, salmon and barramundi fillets 3 lamb shank casseroles loads of zucchini and leek and thai pumpkin soup in small containers frozen vegies frozen fruit for shakes and smoothies (oranges, bananas, strawberries) pies and sausage rolls pastry frozen vegies a couple of lean cuisines that are probably 2 years old bolognaise sauce 2 home made lasagnes chicken stock In the pantry there's not a LOT of food. Baking ingredients such as flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, canned goods (baked Beans, Soups, tomatoes, coconut milk, condensed milk dry goods (pastas and noodles) All the glasses/mugs/large appliances such as slow cooker cat food - wet and dry bags, tupperware, general mess spreads - vegemite, Peanut Butter, nuttella cereals that nobody ever eats and I should throw out tuna and chicken bottled Pasta sauces recipe bases On TOP of the fridge is all the snack foods - atm there's pretzels, nuts of various types, bread sticks, plus barbecue shapes, tim tams (both aussie delicacies), chips and some almond roca (i try to never get started on that stuff), plus an opened bottle of red wine

Well, I need some advice, lol. I'm having one 11 August, similar family history of polyps, plus I've been having issues all year. I've never had a colonoscopy, this is my first. What I'd like to know is this: will one day off work be sufficient (its only light sedation isnt it) and how soon before do you need to start doing the bowel prep - I'm a teacher, I cant run off to the toilet every five minutes! I know I'll get the instructions when I pick up the bowel prep the week before but I need to put in my application for sick leave asap, and I want to know if I need to start the prep like 24 hours before, as I'd need to take that day off work too. I know my grade sixes would be highly entertained by the sight of me in intestinal distress, lol, but I'd rather avoid it!

I'm almost five years out and still going great, I've been at goal for about 2 and a half years now. My band is very stable and dependable, its never given me a moment's trouble and I've never needed to be unfilled. I dont have it very tight though. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I've not heard anyone with a troublesome band who has converted to a sleeve say they're sorry to have done it though, so best of luck with that.

I just dont eat that little. I still eat a healthy balanced diet, its just that 1500 calories a day makes me very satisfied now, whereas I would have been hungry before. But if I drop too low, my body lets me know it needs food with symptoms not as bad as shaking and sweating, more like intense cravings. Its a balance you work out yourself, your restriction level v minimum calorie needs.

I'm 43, I teach grade six and my kids thought I was twenty-something!

I doubt you've lost 50lb of muscle. But its a certainty, for ALL of us, that on a low calorie diet, our weight loss is going to consist of Water, fat AND muscle. YOu cant avoid it, your job is just to keep as much muscle on your body as possible. Weight loss and muscle building together are pretty impossible for women to manage, because for muscle growth, you need lots of Protein and CALORIES. You just cant really do it with a calorie deficit. But you can get stronger and have more endurance and tweak the ratio of fat/water/muscle so that you lose mainly fat, however, at the end of the day you just dont need as much muscle to carry a 150lb body as you do a 300lb one and your body is going to adjust to that. There's also the strong possibility that your workout DOESNT burn 800 calories a time. I've done workouts where I'm sure I have burned that much and boy, I am absolutely wrecked and require a day or two to recover. I've done 8km runs which the charts SAY burn that much and I'm ready to do something else in an hour. I know I havent really burned 800 calories. It also depends on so many factors - size, intensity, fitness (you can burn more calories if you're fitter), your metabolism, etc. You just cant ever really know.

Healthy weight ranges are just an average and there are variables. You might have much more muscle in which case you can weigh more and not be fatter than someone who weighs less with less muscle. However, most of those normal body variations are already taken into account by the fact that its a weight range, not a singular weight that you're aiming for with respect to health. But its up to you, its your body, your life, you should weigh what YOU want to and look the way YOU feel comfortable looking and it would be wrong for anyone to disagree with that. But the other side of that coin is that you do have to realise that it may still be considered overweight, and that you may have increased risk of disease as a result. Also that what you call "a bag of bones" might be to someone else a normal and attractive body shape. Its actually normal for collarbones, elbows, knees and hipbones to show and fairly normal to be able to see some ribs as well. I find it a bit baffling why that alarms some people so much, but I guess its the same as the way people associate blatantly fat toddlers with being "healthy". Its just a perception some of us have. the only person whose opinion really matters is your own.

I think it will probably work out over time, but I would be feeling uneasy about it too. As you condition your body, and gain muscle, your metabolism will probably take care of those extra calories. At the end of the day though, this is about health too and you're hardly stuffing yourself with rubbish - you're eating well and exercising. Logic would suggest that you simply wont get fatter from doing that. But you have to work out what suits your body too. I decided some months back that long hours of cardio were not what was going to get me to the really low weight I secretly wanted, I've backed off, doing way more strength training and REALLY making an effort to change my strong anti-high Protein beliefs. I've not lost any weight, in fact gained a pound or two and dont feel thinner. No, its not more muscle, I'm slightly puffier round the waist and tummy. I've given it a lot of thought and for MY body lots of cardio is what works. I do do strength training, I want to keep muscle on my body but without the long runs, I get fatter, end of story. I've readjusted my circuit style program to be a long run followed by a short sandbag session, and I feel better, fitter and thinner again. So you do need to listen to your body, and find what suits you, not necessary believe everything you google or are told by a trainer. the internet is a endless source of claims tht you can TORCH fat, burn MEGA fat in 20 minutes of interval training, my trainer says the same thing. I include intervals in my routine becuase they make me really fit, but experience has shown me that for me, long steady state cardio works the best and keeps me the trimmest. But it does take a few weeks or more to really see how something is working for you.

10 extra pound of fat is 10 extra pounds of fat! Its not going to really help a lot, just going to create wobble. Especially when you consider it took 100lb or more to fill out that excess skin. But a BMI of 24 isnt carrying 10 excess pounds of fat, its a normal weight and getting even skinnier probably wont help things past that point. I've certainly realised (finally) for me that getting right down to a BMI of 20 is not going to get rid of the small muffin top and saddlebags I have, those ARE my excess skin and the places my body is just not going to give up the fat without surgical help. I'm skeletel enough up top as it is already, so you're right, getting uber skinny is not necessarily the answer,especially when you're 43 and looking half decent in a bathing suit is enough of an achievement, let alone putting pressure on yourself to look like a 20 year old in it!.