Jachut

I'm no low carb advocate, I eat carbs and I lost weight. That said, my diet is MUCH lower in carbs than it was pre band and it really does not generally include much sugar or white carbs. I think we do need to lower carbs and rebalance our diets towards Protein and fruit and vegies to lose. My beef (haha!) with things like Atkins is that I think really restricting fruit and certain vegetables is not only stupid but actually dangerous long term and that the average person's interpretation of it includes horrendous amounts of unhealthy saturated fat. Foods like bacon and ham are just not good for you, no matter which way you cut it, you cant say that because they're a protein source they're great when they're full of bad fats, chemicals like nitrates etc. I think the amounts of these sorts of foods people eat when low carbing is alarming. Then there's the Protein shake. Consider it. Man made, with ingredients like (quoting from a GNC packet here) Emulsifier, artificial flavour, sweetener: acelsulfame Potassium, thickeners: cellulose gum, xanthan gum. Anyone who considers those a healthy daily food to base your diet on is kidding themselves, that's garbage same as white bread is garbage. Any food with a list of more than a couple of ingredients and any food with ingredients that you cant pronounce and dont know what they are is NOT an everyday food! If by low carbing you mean more moderate carbing - increasing your intake of good fats in fish, avocadoes, olive oil, nuts and seeds in their natural state, maybe a piece of fruit a day (lots of sugar in fruit), unlimited vegetables, small amounts of red meat, more legumes, Beans and free range chicken, free range eggs in moderation, and limited amounts of low fat dairy and processed foods such as condiments, cheese, deli meats etc then that's a GREAT way to eat but it will still require calorie deficit to lose weigh, however your health will be boosted and your risk of disease much reduced. High protein/low carb/high processed might get you thin but thin is not the only factor in long term health. And I think any "diet" is not the answer, you have to simply make the changes you can make, work with what you are able to do at the time and make more changes as you are ready until you've got a diet that is pretty low carb and very unprocessed. It takes time. I could never have dropped the carby foods like bread, Cereal and Pasta all in one hit to the point where I am now, which is actually moderately low carb on a day to day basis (although I am not afraid to treat myself with the odd piece of cake). I just would have hung on for grim death, white knuckled it for a while and then given in and binged big time right back to where all weight I'd lost was regained. LIFESTYLE changes take time, diets are temporary. If you really low carb it like Atkins, you will always be poised to regain the weight lightening fast becuase these diets rely on keeping your body in a semi starvation state - ketonic, with your liver depleted totally of glycogen and slightly dehydrated (because carbs bind to water). You can manage your insulin and hormonal response to foods and keep your body in a fat burning state without keeping yourself half starved in the process.

Honestly, I started with a BMI of 35 and ended up losing 100lb. I swear I had lost at least 40 before people could really tell! The truth is, when you have 100lb to lose or more and you've lost 40, you're smaller, yes, you've done great things for your health, yes, you've reason to be proud of yourself YES. But to the casual observer, lets face it, you're still fat, just not as fat as you were. Most people will be looking just like a slightly smaller version of themselves, the rolls and bulges havent disappeared yet, people might sorta notice something around your face and neck, but you most likely havent changed your body shape substantially yet. It is a bit discouraging but you've got to get through those 40 or 50 that nobody notices to get to the next 40 or 50 which will make a MUCH bigger difference. And when you get to normal size, well I went down two clothes sizes with a 12lb loss, when I didnt drop a size at the very start until I'd lost 25lb. You'll get there, dont let this throw you. You've already made huge changes to your health, your appearance will follow.

I'm having real trouble at the moment, all this year, only for me, its tied up with some other symptoms such as low grade diarhhoea and some bleeding, I'm off to see a GI guy next Friday. What helps when I'm really gassy and bloated is peppermint tablets and a cup of peppermint tea, and if I can, I go out for a run and literally fart my way around my usual 6 or 7 kms. Just get out, away from people and try to get rid of a bit of it. A bit of vigourous exercise really seems to normalise everything for me. I'm finding at the moment my digestive system allows me NO slack, I'm really having to make sure to eat super duper healthy.

No, not at all. I lost about 70lb first year, 20 the following six months and then it took me a YEAR for that final 10lb to drop off. Do you think I care at all now, two and a half years after hitting goal weight - and a LOW goal weight at that, with a BMI of under 22 - how long it took to lose? I exercised (and still do) like a fiend, I ran miles, I do bootcamp and boxing. However, I dont really eat similarly to a lot of bandsters here, we have different dietary approaches here in Australia but also, my primary focus was and still is, learning to eat normally. I refuse point blank to count calories, fat or Protein, I eat healthily but basically waht I want, my main "rule" is that I have cut sugar and white carbs waaaay down. The outcome of this was that I lost my food obsession, I dont spend my days thinking about food, journaling and planning, I trust my body to want what it needs, which for the most part it does. This was every bit as much my goal as actually losing weight - I wanted to leave behind the dieting insanity forever and I will never ever diet again. I also began this with a BMI of 35 which no doubt meant slower weight loss - although I lost the first bit of weight extremely quickly - pounds and pounds fell off over surgery. I think there's a lot more to this than simply droppign weight fast. Actually recovering from obesity to as much a degree as you can manage was a lot more important to me than just covering up the symptoms - the headwork part was vital too.

I'd wait if you really strongly want to continue until he is 2. Its a very short and precious part of your life and your relationship with your son. But, you've dont a fantastic job so far and if you were to get things moving right now its probably going to take till he's over 12 months anyhow - at the very least you see a surgeon, get the insurance organised, do the pre op testing and then maybe even postpone the actual date for a month or two just to get over that line. Like Betsy said, he's eating other foods and you can pump and discard the milk for a couple of days and you may not have any trouble at all re-establishing OR he may decide that's enough. Its nice to feed for a long time, but it really is child led and it really is VERY nice to have your freedom and your body back to yourself again too.

Oh, gosh, that is SO me too. I have spent about 2 years moaning about the 10 extra lb left on my butt and thighs yet have I dont anything about it? Nope, absolutely nothing. I honestly believe that when you're very heavy, any small change will result in large weight loss over time if you keep it up. There's no NEED to get scientifc about exercise and paranoid about carbs, eat less, move more, the weight will go IF you maintain the calorie deficient. This is the pointy end though. I know I need hard core strength training and a high Protein low carb diet from hereon in. I'm exactly like one of those before pictures on the turbulence training stuff all over the internet - kind of soft, squidgy, but a good shape there under a bit of fat. But I can only muster up the enthusiasm for it for about three days running. Truth is, I like eating what I feel like eating and I like my comfortable exercise routine, particularly running. I work out moderately these days because I'm very fit so what I do in my running and bootcamp doesnt feel hard. I need to get back to those days of vomit induciing seeing stars workouts. YOur post inspired me this morning, I've eaten brilliantly all day and just did a circuit with a 20kg sandbag and sprints on the treadmill! We're going to Thailand in September and I have a very small red bikini!

Moderation in everything is the key I think! You dont have to give up sugar cold turkey either, any positive changes you make for your health are worthwhile, even if its to cut back on sugar rather than cut out. When I was first banded I ate nowhere near as clean as I did now, I've made changes as I felt ready./ For example, I'm not a low carb advocate as in I dont think extreme diets like Atkins are at all sensible, maintainable or even supported by totally unquestionable irrefutable science. But over time, being banded, my diet has gotten a LOT lower in carbs, we bought a really nice loaf of bread about a month ago and put it in the freezer and i have eaten exactly 1 slice of bread in an entire month. I never have more than one serve of grains in a day and some days none. So I've naturally morphed into a much higher Protein lower carb diet. I could NEVER have done that cold turkey before. With a band and over time, I never even felt it. And it really doesnt matter to me now whether I did it all in one hit, quickly and lost spectacular weight in 2 months or whether I did what I did, slowly and steadily. Either way, the weight is gone. so it is with sugar and sweeteners. Start with what you're ready to cut out and that will benefit you and over time you can gradually get rid of your sweet tooth, so that sugar and sweetened foods are only a small part of your diet. If your main sugar intake is incidental - in canned tomatoes or ketchup, the odd glass of wine etc then you really dont have to worry that you're having too much. I'm about to do the same with caffeine - again. I keep weaning myself onto decaf and then over time drifting back. I'm having WAY too much coffee at the moment.

I told everyone and wasnt too worried about doing so, when I was banded. But I did fear the judgement of some people. I personally could never have hidden the post op liquids to mushies diet, there's no way my parents and inlaws wouldnt have noticed. But its an awful feeling thinking that people are going to judge you. In truth everyone has been very supportive, whether they agree with my opinion or not, and that's the truth - not everyone WILL agree with your decision, but anyone with any manners and decency is going to accept that its your body and get on with the business of supporting you. I have anxiety over PS, I dont have any scheduled and truth is, I could never do it becuase everyone is going to say "oh, you dont need it" and think I'm mad. I dont wish to show my parents or my inlaws my saggy old boobs to prove it, and I dont want to be vain enough to fix what isnt any worse than what everyone else who gets older lives with anyway. You cant have big round bouncy melons till you're 90, afterall. But even though I sort of really would like to do it, I just couldnt face the judgements and opinions. If I were to do it, I'd do exactly what you're doing - keep it to myself and my husband, I'm not sure I'd even tell my kids, they dont need to know stuff like that and I'd never have an obvious boob job with huge norgs anyway.

I think sugar is probably the biggest cause of heart disease and obesity in the western world and I'd still rather have real sugar than an artificial sweetener. We simply have to face facts - sweet foods are not meant to be part of our everyday diet. I very rarely eat products that contain artificial sweeteners and I avoid a lot of sugar, although cutting it out entirely is not really practical. Its quite doable. You just have to wean yourself off the products that contain them. The ONLY foods you'll find artificial sweeteners in are unhealthy processed foods that you really shouldnt be eating much of. I drink plain coffee with a dash of skim milk. I never have diet softdrinks OR regular ones, I just drink Water. I dont eat packaged cakes, biscuits or slices and I dont make them either. I dont eat a lot of processed foods, I generally get by on eggs and wholegrain bread, oatmeal or yogurt for Breakfast (and I only buy whole natural yogurt, never flavoured. Generally, I like it plain with nuts and seeds in it, I might mix a few natural prunes in for some flavour so a bit of *natural* sugar, but I dont overdo fruit either). Dinners are foods I cook from scratch by and large and usually revolve around meat and vegetables, brown rice or potato on the side. Lunches are salads (usually spinach based, lots of fresch vegies and a Protein like tuna, olive oil as a dressing). I eat a lot of good fats like avocado and tuna. I get plenty of calories in there becuase a lot of what I eat is calorie dense. I just try to make everything from scratch, I really believe living out of packets and cans is probably the worst thing you can do overall for your health, but of course I do use canned products like Beans and tuna. I dont really eat foods like lean cuisines, canned Soup or bought salads. And lest I sound like a fanatic, based on my observations, I eat quite "normally". This is the way I was raised to eat, its how my family functioned, its just not hard. But I have a healthy outlook to sugar in that if I want a stinking big piece of cheesecake once in a while as a treat, I just have it. I have a wicked coffee habit that I really should curb and a good deal of my sugar intake comes from wine. But my everyday diet is not sweet and full of processed stuff. Its just a matter of retraining your taste buds.

I find this thing about looking "anorexic" or skinny at healthy weights really really hard to understand. Its all over both this board and lapband talk. What is so scary about being a healthy weight? I am 5ft 10 and have settled at 148lb, yet people all over LBT say OMG, I would look SICK at that weight. No, you wouldnt. Its smack bang in the MIDDLE of the healthy weight range for my height, its not even close to approaching underweight and I call what I have curves, I dont call rolls of fat and boobs that are big only because of extra body fat curves. I think that we're so used to seeing ourselves fat and so used to seeing other people fat that for many of us, our view of "normal" is way off base. I defy anyone to say I am "too skinny". I may not be someones type as they may like heavier women with more coverage but I get really angry when people imply that I'm obsessed, skinny or underweight or even that its unattractive. To me, it isnt. I think its quite normal to see elbows, knees, hips and collarbones and that if you cant see those things, you probably have too much body fat! I get that being older (and I fall into this category somewhat too) is an issue and that we do look better face wise with a bit of padding as we get older. And its absolutely true that my face would look better with a bit miore fat, but my butt sure wouldnt. And that's where any weight I gained would go. to the OP, you sound like you're adjusting a bit too - sometimes VERY quick weight loss is really really hard to get your head around. I lost weight quite slowly and I still had a period where if I'd had the money I would have been nipped and tucked to within an inch of my life, now I'm really really glad I didnt. I'm used to how I look now.

OMG, I have this aversion too! Not to my own or female armpits, i'll wear tank tops and spaghetti straps happily because although my butt is a sad and sorry sight, I have fantastic arms, if I do say so myself. But nothing nauseates me more than males wearing tank tops. That quiff of armpit hair, its absolutely disgusting. No matter how muscly, young and tanned the male is, its a look that I really find repulsive. ALL men should wear sleeves! Sorry to hijack!

I eat a lot of soup. I make thick, chunky soups with protein in them too and dont eat canned soup very often at all. Soup is a GREAT way to get in vegies in a form I can eat them quite easily, its very filling (the liquid/solid combo actually works to my advantage) and if I'm peckish 2 or 3 hours later, I have a small (healthy) snack.

Sliders! This applies equally to a sleeve as to a band, easy foods that liquefy when you chew them. With a band, there is no difference to the amount of Cookies I can consume now than I could before I was banded. I can still down a packet of Tim Tams (google that little Australian delicacy) in minutes and I can still eat an ENTIRE family block of chocolate. They just slip right on through. But if i eat the right foods, portions remain very small. Its choices, pure and simple. And along with those slider foods generally come a large dose of salt and sugar that make you bloated and put on weight very quickly. It is physically impossible to gain 2lb of FAT from eating a piece of pie though and if you get back with the program this weight will disappear. The trouble is too that to date, science has not come up with any sure fire way to lose weight other than calorie restriction. But it is very true that on a diet of 800 to 1000 calories a day you DO lose muscle and you DO slow your metabolism very significantly. There is no way you could continue to eat that way without the help of a sleeve or band, but the truth is, after a year or two or more of eating so low, there is no way you can go back to normal eating without massive weight regain. Its why we need these tools FOREVER. There's no learning better habits and that's enough, our bodies are damaged by the weight gain and weight loss process in ways that mean we have to be small and careful eaters forever.

I think any WLS is always going to be just a tool - you will always have periods in your life where your eating slips and you have to get back on track - after 2 and a half years of maintenance I know I sure do. My natural tendency is to gradually slide into living on caffeine and sugar. It doesnt make you weak or destined to fail, its what you do to get back on track that counts. And bands and sleeves do tend to counteract the lightening fast 20lb gains that happen when you're on your own. You gain, but its manageable.

Any liquid is liquid! Even coffee, most people that are used to caffeine are not significantly dehydrated by moderate amounts of it. There's water in foods, any drinks, it all counts. It is an absolute myth that it needs to be just plain water to count.

Even for die hard carbaholics like me, I found my carb intake dropped by probably 2/3 effortlessly and I've never missed it. I used to the an advocate of the four serves of wholegrains a day, plenty of starchy fibrous veg and three serves of fruit a day. I was FAT. That would probably have more to do with the amount of sugar and fat I consumed on top of those healthy foods, but the overall balance was wrong. Now I do eat wholegrains, cant function without a little, but its ONE serve of wholegrain Cereal or maybe a slice of bread in a day, usually only one piece of fruit too. The rest is lean Protein, vegetables and a few little treats (like a glass of wine) on top. I cant eat any more than that and I dont miss the foods I used to eat in abundance. I didnt even set out to go lower carb, it just happens naturally. But what you're doing now, cold turkey and so extreme, that's really hard. I agree with your cardiologist, the South Beach approach is much gentler and probably healthier as well. I guess you've got to find out whether this is how your doctor wants you to eat forever, personally, although we've just had such a huge thread on breaking rules, I would do precisely what I'm told post op for the transition onto solids but after that, I wouldnt follow a way of eating so extreme, I'd not really limit fruit and things like tomatoes, I'd eat some wholegrains and I wouldnt freak over things like croutons in Soup. And I just dont get the point in cutting out so called "unhealthy" foods and then loading up on Protein shakes full of artificial sweetener. That's just plain nuts, its swapping one poison for another. I think you'll probably find your groove, but post surgery if you dont have restriction it will likely be one of the hardest things you've ever done, you just have to grit your teeth and get on with it and if you do slip, get right back on that wagon.

Lol, I wouldnt have said it so nicely! I think you have to be extremely careful of nutritionists and personal trainers. Over here, its back of the cornflake packet qualifications - to be a personal trainer requires no more than 12 weeks of study, and anybody can call themselves a nutritionist, it is not the same thing as a dietician. what you tend to get is a cookie cutter approach - same as you get most of the time when you join the gym and want a program. Very few people have enough knowledge to work with an individual and to tweak things for an individual, they know the basic formula, which is as much as any of us can find in books and on the internet anyway. I personally elect to do without a nutritionist, I know plenty, its just DOING it that's hard, lol and although i do group bootcamp with a trainer, I definitely think for myself and work out my own program overall, I use the trianer coz he's a nice guy, the group's great and social and its lots of FUN. that's not to say there's not great professionals out there, but its definitely buyer beware. And many of us got fat not because we're too slack and undisciplined to follow the standard formula but because it doesnt always work for us. There's plenty of people here who were obese enough for surgery who have spent their life trying ot figure out why they're so fat when they appear to eat the same as everyone else.

Well, the new scale said 23% which is a lot more acceptable, lol. Probably not all that accurate, but much more likely true than 30%. I can remember being measured as 32% (by caliper test) at my very fattest!

Good luck, lol. I bought a new scale today, just have to get a 9V battery for it. I'm dreading stepping on it - my old scale said I had 30% body fat, which is just really not likely to be true, but I'm terrified the new one will weight me heavier and still tell me I have 30% body fat!

I'm maybe weird, but I enjoy a meal in a restaurant, I dont want it congealed in a plastic container to be heated up several times the following couple of days. Yuck. I think being "attached" to your food in this way and unable to waste it by leaving it on your plate is a throwback to obese attitudes to eating. The cost of a restaurant meal to me is to pay for seeing my friends, having a good night out, I dont need to get "value" out of it by bringing food home. Truly, I do not care a bit if I eat 2 mouthfulls of what I ordered. Also, most restaurant eating is "special" occasion eating and not as healthy as a plain meat and 3 veg home cooked meal. I dont need to be eating say fettucine carbonara more than once in a blue moon, and generally I find that when we eat out, its sooooo often Asian - Thai, Malaysian or Indian which is smaller servings anyway. Most bistro, chain restaurant or pub food is not worth the effort of bringing home anyway. Its against food regs here anyway. I also dont journal, wont journal and never journalled. I knew when I hit a stall in weight loss that I had to put less treats in my mouth and move more.

I think that's a healthy attitude - its certainly how I approached it. It took me a year to lose the last 10lb, which I wasnt really focussing on anyway. You have a choice, you can obsess over it or allow it to fall off in its own sweet time (assuming you're dong the right things of course). Several years later, it doesnt matter to me at all how long that weight took to go.

I would love nothing more than to see my 5ft 8, 250lb 14 year old slim down. I cant help thinking if he's this big at 15, what's he going to be like in 10 years, although I slimmed down appreciably in my 20's from my teens. There is something in the "puppy fat" theory, and he hasnt hit puberty yet (late bloomer I guess). H'es going to be TALL and he might have a huge growth spurt soon. So - no way would I consider surgery till puberty's over and done with and adult height reached, so you're pushing 18 to 20 years old there. Then there's this: he's not ready to take responisibility for his weight. He may be fed by me, true and he's not much into fast food and such, its a once or twice a month thing for him, he just eats a LOT of healthy food and we have too many Snacks like chips in the house. He's COMPLETELY inactive though, his passion in life is his Playstation 3, he cares not one bit about his appearance, has to be nagged to clean his teeth, have a shower, clean up, and he couldnt give a rats arse what girls thought of him, although he seems quite popular at school. He's just not ready! It has to be his decision and he has to want it, its not up to me. I really, truly dont think many teens are mature enough to decide this, unless they've gotten so obese that it really is life damaging, which for my son, its had no effect on his self esteem yet. These are the things you have to consider. i dont want my son to be fat, I also dont want him to do a job that doesnt pay well, I want him to invest well in property as soon as he has a job, I'd like some grandchildren before I'm 70 etc etc but NONE of those are my decision, just as WLS for him really shouldnt be my decision.

Truth is, I think GERD is a problem for any WLS - the band is *supposed* to fix it, but I dont think many people would say that was the case. Good luck with your decision, it is a very personal one in the end and only you know what you're comfortable with doing.

This is a hard one. I've always been of the opinion you eat less, you move more, you lose weight. BUT - losing fat vs losing fat and muscle is quite a different issue. I've got to the stage where I'm a stable, healthy weight but I'm a little disappointed with the flabbiness - and that sounds a little vain given I dont even need any PS but there you go, its how I feel. i can tell by looking at my body that there is still a little too much fat vs muscle there even though weight is right so..... obvious answer is to gain some muscle. To do that you HAVE to eat, its very very very difficult if not impossible to gain muscle and lose weight at the same time, maybe men can manage it, women sure cant. Muscle does need calories and Protein to grow. For me, to achieve that would entail what you're going through, eating more than I feel comfortable about eating, being sure I will gain weight and get bigger etc. But its how you gain muscle and lose fat. So I guess it depends what your goal is. I think you have two options - you can lose the weight first and then worry about the fine details of your body composition when your weight is where you want it, or you can lose the weight a LOT more slowly but probably have lots of muscle and have lost only fat at the end. Either way, you can get to the same outcome, personally I'm happy to have gotten to a goal weight and size and now I might worry about body composition. I'm not so afraid to add calories if I'm not looking for a loss on the scale, in fact I'll probably put the scale away.

For body smoothing, if you can stand wearing things like that, they do that job brilliantly. Personally, I can only stand them for the most formal outfit, for everyday wear, I'd rather let it all hang out, lol. It gets so hot and uncomfortable being bound up. If you mean to help PREVENT loose skin, then no, they wont do that. Although some garments are advertised to do just that, dont be fooled. Loose skin occurs when the collagen bonds in your skin are broken and that happens as you GAIN weight more so than as you lose it, your fat merely disguises loose stretched out skin that is ALREADY there. Nothing you wear and no cream you apply is going to change that. Its down to genetics and nothing more.