Jachut

I dont find that at all. If I dont include some complex carbs in my day (not necessarily every meal) I am looking for something, nibbling, feeling peckish and eventually have a big sugary carb binge. A half a slice of wholegrain toast with a morning egg, some crackers with lunchtime Soup or some potato or brown rice with dinner and that sugar drive is controlled for me. Cut it out and go low carb and even though the cravings go after a few days I feel shite, have no energy to run etc. I can make it up with a lot of dairy or whatever, it doesnt have to be grains, but grain foods like really good quality stoneground bread doesnt contain the fat that dairy does, so i think a balance of both is better. For me, its about low GI really, not low carb. chips, Cookies and a lot of fruit are high GI foods that give you the spike in blood sugar than the crash. But have low GI carbs with Protein and you still have a slowly digesting meal that keeps you full and keeps the blood sugar stable and favours a fat burning environment in yoiur body.

I take kids Vitamins, not because I cant swallow big pills but I absolutely HATE doing it. I take chewable kids (I just have 3), three adult fish oil burstlets and 2 Iron melts, nothing to swallow! I cant eat a lot of fruit and truth be told, I've never ever like fruit much, I can be somehwere lovely like Bali and not even fancy the tropical fruit on offer. But I can eat things like raw cucumber and really enjoy it, so every day for morning tea at work, I have my baggie of raw cucumber, snow peas, sugar snap peas, raw mushrooms, red capsicum - well not all of those at once, but combinations thereof. I cant get raw carrot down unless its grated. If you can find vegies you can tolerate like this, its a good idea to have some every day. Do you have problems with vegies cooked into things like casseroles? My bolognaise sauce is always at least as much grated vegies as it is meat. All the tricks I use to get vegies into my kids work on me too, lol.

I just had a fill on Friday after 16 months. when she tested I'd lost 0.1cc (4cc band) and she just topped me back up to where I was. I have not noticed any increased restriction in that I get stuck or anything, just I'm satisfied easier, and not getting as hungry.

I wasnt hungry at your stage either, I had a good 12 weeks where I just didnt care about food and it was GREAT, I lost heaps of weight. I didnt worry about Protein at all, we're not really told to here, but if you're worried, then I guess shakes are the go, hungry or not. As to eating when not hungry long term, in principle I agree with this BUT - big but - I find I dont feel physical hunger as in stomach rumbling and empty but I've learned to recognise by body sending strong signals that it is hungry and needs nourishment. For example, yesterday I called in a the supermarket after work. I'd had an egg and some prunes for Breakfast, some cut up raw vegies at morning tea time, tuna on four crackers for lunch. It was maybe 400, 500 calories. I was buying Snacks for the kids and something for dinner and I actually grabbed a packet of chocolate biscuits, knowing I'd rip into them in the car before I even got home. I just had that insatiable I want sugar feeling. I stopped, took a deep breath, told myself to recognize that it was time for something nourishing to eat, and gave myself permission to eat when I got home (I have trouble stopping eating in between meals, 3 meals works for me but I cant take in enough at each meal to get me through). I'm glad to say I put the biscuits back and had some Peanut Butter on wholegrain crackers at home, with a cup of coffee and that insane sugar craving did go away. So once banded, you might not get the empty stomach hunger signal but you have to learn that your body still needs healthy fuel and it will tell you so, but maybe not in the way you expect. and I really do believe that much as 3 meals and no snacks is really a very good and easy way to keep calories down, with good restriciton, you're very unlikely to be able to eat enough to get you though five, six or seven hours which is how far apart lunch and dinner can be for me.

You know, much as I'm not a dieter, there's a really good point in this. I remember back when I used to start a diet every Monday, the only thing that ever really worked for me over the short to medium term was Lite n Easy, which is a home delivered meal program here. I loved getting up in the morning, seeing a weight that made me feel in control on the scale and KNOWING that if I ate what was provided to me and nothing else, then the next week another pound or two would be gone. It was formulaic, dependable and to be truthful, although I've lost my weight through eating less of what I want and not dieting, I would really love if Lite n Easy bought out a lower calorie/smaller quantity program because I definitely WOULD be on it to lose that fantasy 10lb that I just cant be arsed getting working on (although I'd lose well on the 1200 calories I just cant pay $125 a week for food that its just too much for me, too much bread and too much fruit that I end up throwing away, along with a good half of each dinner) But could you do somehting like that? That assurance that calories, everything is in control and that all you have to do is follow the instruction, like Betsy says, that can be extremely motivating. It might be what it takes to get you on track again. I know how you feel, even at goal and maintaining for a good couple of years, I do feel at times like I need a shake up and to just get focussed again and I could REALLY lose some more weight. Oh and yes, another fill when you can get it will only help.

It can sort of happen randomly, you can get tight for sooooo many reasons, like humidity. Are you sure you're getting regularly tighter and tighter with weight loss or does it just appear its the weightloss and you've just tightened up a bit for some unknown reason?

That's the way to look at it - just include a Protein source at every meal and snack and dont sweat the small stuff. You need enough protein but really, if you get 40 grams one day and 80 the next, it does even out. We can argue till the cows come home about whether high protein low carb diets are better for weight loss too, but I think most people who have WLS really WILL find their diet much lower carb. Even with a band and more capacity than a sleever, I simply cant fit in a lot of bread, Cereal etc or I wont be eating enough protein and vegies.

Good luck! The trouble with the 4cc band (which I have, working perfectly) is that there IS a lot of slippage with it. But its fantastic for finding quick restriction and not needing constant fills. The newer larger capacity bands dont slip as often but they're often really really difficult to adjust well. I wouldnt remove my band just because, it has and IS serving me very very well. But I sure want to be ready to move and know exactly what I'm doing if and when that day comes. I've often wondered about the weight loss thing though with a revision surgery, I'd look like a walking skeleton if I dropped much weight in a revision surgery!

For a zillion reasons. Doctors are just people, they have their own beliefs, beliefs which you may or may not agree with. Things like starvation mode, low carb theories etc, just like the general public some doctors believe some things, some others. Our lapband docs are primarily surgeons dont fortet, their speciality is doing what they do inside you, not in the science of human nutrition. Doctors will have a track record of how they've gotten good results and might like to stick with that. Some doctors are in this for altruistic reasons, some are in it becuase bariatric surgery is a money spinner. Some of them are useless at understanding what an obese person goes through and think weight loss is as simple as "I tell you what to eat, you eat it, you lose weight" and others know its a complex mental and emotional process. I would probably believe a doctor who told me I needed a surgery, but on a lot of issues I take what my doctor says into account (not just my lapband doctor) and weigh it against my own beliefs and opinions before I take it on board. Many many times for example I've elected NOT to take the medication my doctor recommens, becuase I prefer to let my body fight an infection if its just a flu, bronchitis, ear infection etc. I never used the amounts of cortisone cream the doctor recommended for both my baby boys who suffered eczema because it is MY personal belief that you shouldnt use that stuff just because a patch of eczema is unsightly, I would only use it when its painful and risking becoming infected. My doctor never agreed with me on that! I found my own way with calorie levels and diet and that sort of stuff becuase its my life, I have to live it and lets face it, you know if what you're doing is working or not based on your weight loss.

I think that's true you know - processed food is the real evil. If you eat a natural diet you wont be eating a very high carb one, and it wont include a lot of sugar.

I apologise edub, it wasnt meant to be personal or insulting, merely making the oberservation that based only on this thread, I *could* form enough of an opinion to make all sorts of assumptions about who you are. That has nothing to do with your weight because I cant see you! No doubt, you *could* do the same about me. For the record, I really do attempt to suspend assumption here, becuase you can easily misread what people or meaning or the tone in which they're saying it. Surely you can see that in real life also what you say and do matters as much as how you look?.

I began to lose weight quickly and dramatically immediately following surgery and this went on for months. However, I didnt have to do a preop diet soI hadnt already exhausted the "easy 10" kgs that most people can lose in the first few months of a diet. And I have a 4cc band. In my experience based on observations here, these bands may have higher incidences of slippage hence the arrival of newer designs, but they are WAY superior in terms of finding good restriction immediately. I never crept up on a sweet spot, I had it from the word go in that every level of restriction was perfect for me at the time and I lost weight very very steadily.

Wow, you really do want an argument, dont you? I think quite a few people have said weight is not a huge issue. I have to admit, that's rubbed me the wrong way too. I have to be honest, I've formed an opinion over the last few days based on several posts, and I'm starting to assume that you've had some sort of negative experiences in the past that you attribute to your weight. That might be absolutely wrong. But can you see that, since I've never laid eyes on you, that my reaction to you is based on behaviour not appearance? Its the same in real life. An excellent point was made above, that you're really talking about "scoring". Having met me DH at 16 and having been happily with him for 27 or so years now, I can honestly say I have never been out and tried to score. And I dont think a lot of women really have that mentality to be honest. Yes, we go out and hope to meet someone but I think you're imposing what really is a standard male viewpoint (and not all males, not at all) onto women. I dont view men in that way, as a prospective sexual conquest and nothing more. I'm not wired that way. Were I out looking ot meet someone, I would be looking for at least a relationship, if not a long term one. So for me, and I believe for a majority of females, personality and other traits come into it way more than looks. If I can let my shallow side show for a moment, I'd have to say that apparent wealth attracts me more than a body type. I grew up in a household with a professional white collar father, my DH works in the same field, most of the males in my family come from that genre. So I tend to find men attractive that appear to fit that mould. I'd not to be immediately attracted to a forklift driver dressed in overalls. But could I overcome that once I met him? You bet!

I lost well on about 1500 a day and now maintain pretty effortlessly on 1800 to 2000.

I wouldnt really call myself an emotional eater. There's no "void" that I'm trying to fill, for example. So I'm not an emotional eater in that sense. But - I was (and still am really) addicted to sugar as a means of soothing stress. It doesnt have to be bad stress, my worst habit, the one that escalated my weight problem from overweight to obesity was dealing with the insane busy-ness of being a mother of young toddlers by half an hour on the couch with a coffee and a packet of biscuits whilst they were asleep. I could FEEL that sugar hit my bloodstream and I would calm down. I wasnt upset, angry or tense, just needed to relax and have a bit of time out. I dont overeat ANY other food other than sugary sweet ones, although as I got fatter and more disgusted with myself, I began to do that "what the hell" thing and started shoving in Mcdonalds and things like that just because I could. It was starting to escalate. Before that stage, with everything else, I never did eat past feeling satisfied (although what it took to feel satisfied was a fairly large amount of food). I was always a bit plump, with a BMI in the high 20's and forever trying to lose weight. But the drop in exercise and increase in sugar that occurred once I started having babies tipped me into obesity and not having been obese for my entire life, my tolerance for it was low. I thought I was the fattest person who ever lived, found my body and my lifestyle rather disgusting and was being banded once my BMI hit an all time high of 35. But consequently I havent found it hard to lose weight with a band. I was sporty and easily rekindled that and as long as I keep away from sugar, the rest of my eating is fairly stable and healthy.

zucchini and leek soup take 2 large washed leeks, slice them up finely, and grate the zucchinis (about 3 is right). In a heavy based pan, heat a little olive oil, and fry up some chopped bacon, add the leeks and fry until soft, then add the zucchinis, stir it all around a little. Then add about half a cup to a cup of Water and pop on the lid and turn down the heat. You want to sweat the mix for about 15, 20 minutes, till it sort of all steams and softens up. Then you add stock (broth), just to cover the ingredients - I usually make it with boiling water and Vegeta vegetable stock - its usually a bit under a litre (sorry, I think litres, sorry). Simmer for half an hour or so, blend it all smooth and stir in about a cup of cream (or evaporated milk if you want to keep fat/calories down). Season to taste too. This is a really really yummy soup.

zucchini and leek Soup take 2 large washed leeks, slice them up finely, and grate the zucchinis (about 3 is right). In a heavy based pan, heat a little olive oil, and fry up some chopped bacon, add the leeks and fry until soft, then add the zucchinis, stir it all around a little. Then add about half a cup to a cup of Water and pop on the lid and turn down the heat. You want to sweat the mix for about 15, 20 minutes, till it sort of all steams and softens up. Then you add stock (broth), just to cover the ingredients - I usually make it with boiling water and Vegeta vegetable stock - its usually a bit under a litre (sorry, I think litres, sorry). Simmer for half an hour or so, blend it all smooth and stir in about a cup of cream (or evaporated milk if you want to keep fat/calories down). Season to taste too. This is a really really yummy soup.

Me too - as long as sugar free doesnt mean artificially sweetened! I think avoiding sugar is more important than avoiding fat, as long as you eat the right types of fat - not too many saturated fat (usually animal) products such as cheese, meat, butter and full cream milk. Personally, I think you need to learn appropriate amounts from all food groups and to learn that sweet foods are not everyday foods. There is no point simply swapping sugar for splenda and continuing on with sweet coffees, flavoured yogurts, sweetening foods etc. You need to just retrain your taste buds to like wholesome foods in their natural state. if you eat mostly unprocessed foods you probably wont be fat or unhealthy. So if you want yogurt, go for full fat greek or natural yogurt and learn to appreciate the taste of it, once its flavoured, coloured and sweetened, it really is a pretty rubbishy food. Learn to drink plain Water rather than flavoured, just give up soft drinks alltogether, they're soooooooo bad for you anyway. Giving up sugar in tea and coffee is one of the easier dietary challenges, you quickly get used to it plain. Avoid the confectionary coffees etc. Post op is hard because of the types of thing's you're restricted to, and Protein shakes are always going to be full of artificial sweetener and other unhealthy additives. Just go with what it takes to get you through that period. But you really dont a lot of foods like popsicles and pudding or jellow once you're past clears (I only had one day of clears) during this time either, you can drink milk, V8, Protein Shakes, savoury Soups. That way, you dont need to be deciding whether to go sugar free or fat free, just eat real food.

This is EXACTLY what I am talking about. How can you seriously start a post about fat people being discriminated against and then say something as biased as that? How can you know, why do you assume, why do presume to have any insight into the personality of someone you dont know based purely upon their size and who you think they're friends are? I know, I know, you said "may". But you have just displayed perfectly an inbuilt assumption that most of us have. That doesnt make you a bad person, I would assume the same thing - that if someone is wealthy, attractive and with the right people then that says something about the type of people they are. But you get my point, its exactly the same as how people assume someone who is morbidly obese is lazy and slovenly. Assumption and discrimination absolutely does NOT exist only in the realm of the obese. People will make assumptions about you all your life for many reasons.

It does sound like that, and if I lie still I can see my chest move when my heart beats and I can see the pulse mid abdomen as the blood obviously rushes into the aorta. I can also see the femoral pulse and the pulse in my wrist and neck (looking in a mirror obviously). Do you think this could be it. Otherwise, it really MIGHT be a muscle spasm if that's what it looks like. the other thing that feels like a baby's kicks to me is gas! this is an embarrassing admission, lol, but I actually love when i do get a little gassy after a big meal or something and lie in bed at night and remember what it was like to feel my babies kicking. it did feel exactly the same.

Its all over the TV this morning, apparently the latest medical breakthrough is that suddenly the BEST way to lose weight is fast via a crash diet. Studies have shown that people who lose weight fast are more likely to get to their goal weight than those who take the slow and steady approach. Well, get this. They did a 12 week study and by some freaking miracle, the people who were on the lower calorie diet lost more weight in 12 weeks than those on the more moderate diet? Wow, whodathunk it? So that obviously (???) extrapolates to the crash diet being the way to go becuase if you go slow and steady you wont get to your goal weight. Boy oh boy. But, then the bimbo they interviewed qualified that it must be a maintainable lifestyle change, that liquid and Soup diets werent a good idea. So, ah, what sort of crash diet IS maintainable over a long term. Where's the study showing how much weight people regained? And if the statistic that somethng like only 1% of people ever lose weight and actually keep it off, then how the heck can they even measure these things anyway? It just proves to me (in my warped mind anyway) that the ONLY way to go is figure your own way, with something you think you can keep up long term. that might be low carb for some, might not be for others, it might be my personal approach of slow and steady by eating what you want just in lower quantities or someone else might be much more into rules and living by them. It doesnt matter, its what works for YOU. Scientific studies are just not proof of anything, they always seem to be manipulated or biased in some way and people definitely read what they want to into them too. pah!

I also dont get how a person on a 600 to 800 calorie diet can only lose 1lb a week - that just doesnt compute. It is such an insanely low calorie level, I am all for knowing all about sleeve surgery in case I ever need to replace my band, but I just dont get the logic in this. YOu cannot be nourished long term on that low an intake and all that is likely to happen weight loss wise is a huge loss of Water and muscle as well as fat - not to mention the dreaded starvation mode (whatever it really is) and a permanently lowered metabolism. What is the problem with losing slowly on 1200 or more a day? As to two years to lose 104lb well, that's how long it took me because I did eat 1500 a day or so whilst losing. I was perfectly and absolutely happy with that. The changes were still gratifying and quite fast, I'd never lost weight so steadily before, but I didnt have any trouble adjusting to the new me. I also have no real loose skin and dont need any plastic surgery, so it may be a factor. I exercised a lot, took my loss slow and steady, learned new habits and all in all, I call a 1lb loss a week healthy, sensible and sustainable and I was absolutely THRILLED with it. But I would be frustrated and worried if I was losing so slowly whilst barely eating. You really do expect faster loss for that low a food intake.

Protein shakes are so horribly sweet. If I had to do those for weeks on end (and luckily I didnt) I would start craving something like Mcdonalds, which I also dont really like. think about it, what do you really want? its probably the salt and savoury taste as an antidote to all those shakes. Whenever I get a tummy bug, I crave potato chips really really strongly, it will always be the first food I feel well enough to eat. I'm not a chip eater most of the time, I can leave a bowl sitting there and not touch it. But what I really crave after having such a disturbance in my body is the SALT. It just takes the form of chips in my mind!

Post op you can go back to sugar - although you obviously know that a sugary diet is not ideal for weight loss! Personally, I think that we have to get our heads around the fact that sweet foods are NOT for everyday, therefore just moving to artificial sweeteners is not the answer. You have to learn that everything doesnt have to be sweet, I mean coffee straight and black is fantastic if you've not polluted your taste buds with cream, syrup, sugar sugar sugar. You can overcome a sweet tooth over time by just gradually learning how to eat less sweet food. Greek yogurt is tart and wonderful, yogurt doesnt have to be flavoured with sugar and flavourings to be palatable. You just have to get used to the taste. As well, you probably need to cut right back on things like cereals (which are nearly always very high in sugar). If you do those things your sugar intake will be pretty low and if you DO fancy a piece of cheesecake on a speical occasion, there is no reason in the world not to have it and enjoy it. if you need large amounts of artificial sweeteners on a daily basis, then you are definitely choosing the wrong foods and drinks. You need to move your diet in a more natural direction.

Honestly? I think its a horrible choice to eat for days on end. This is more from a nutritional standpoint than actual weight loss though. its canned soup, which means it contains a lot of salt and additives that soup just doent need unless you want it to last in a can for a year. Potato Flakes? What are those? Obviously not something we have here, as far as I'm aware, if you want a potato, you have to buy a potato in Australia, lol. Why would you eat flakes when you can have the real thing with all its nourishment intact? If you're going to eat soup for a week, and I do, certainly soup is a GREAT way to get in a lot of vegies for a bandster, why not make it yourself so that it is at least nourishing and not full of salt and additives? Try this one: zucchini and leek soup - grate 3 large zucchini and slice two washed leeks (mainly the white part, not all of the green). In a big pot, heat some olive oil, and fry off a little bit of bacon, then add the zucchini and leeks and about half a cup of Water, turn the heat down and put the lid on and sweat it down for 15-20 minutes or so, it will kind of steam. Then add about a litre of water and some stock powder, or use a fresh stock (broth), simmer until all the vegies are very soft. Then puree it all up and stir in either some cream, or evaporated skim milk if you really want to keep the fat down. This is absolutely delish and it works for ANY vegie combination, last week I had left over pumpkin and potatoes from a roast dinner, so I used those, a whole lot of broccoli and cauliflower, peas and carrots. It was great, and there's still small containers in the freezer for lunches. This is a much better choice - fresh vegies will give you a lot more nutrition than canned soup. You could probably add Protein powder if you've got some unflavoured, I've never tried it personally.