Diet and exercise

[karenfp 0]

OK, I'm very new to this - just starting to gather information even though I'm pretty sure I will follow through with it.

I keep reading, "The band doesn't do it by itself. You need to manage your diet and exercise". So this confuses me. The reason why I'm here in the first place is because diet and exercise have failed me on numerous occasions. I'm sure I've lost and gained back half a ton in my lifetime. I assume that everyone else is here for the same reasons.

Yet, I know many people who have had successful bariatric surgery and no one's regretted it. So what's the difference? Why can you diet and exercise and stick to it after, but not before?

[sweetpea61956 6]

with the band you are changing what you eat, how fast you eat and portion size. The band helps with the portion size if you eat healthy and eat slow. It doesn't mean you can never have ice cream, etc again..just not very often and smaller portions. You need to exercise too

[readytolosemomof5 0]

Having a lap band allows you eat less, without feeling like you are starving yourself. It helps you, but you still need to do the work. Yes you still need to exercise, but as you lose weight, this will become easier. I don't know about you, but when I exercise now- I feel like I'm having a heart attack after about 5 mins. Even if you are successful with losing weight with diet and excercise alone, returning to old habits, even just a little bit- Your body remembers being obese and goes back to that form. When an overweight person loses weight, they can't eat the way they used to. Having a lapband assists with not going back to those old habits.

[CarynW 3]

My appt is the 11th, so i'm still pre-band, but the way I understand it is this: Before lap band-my portions are out of control. I'm amazed at how much food I can eat and still be hungry, or hungry again an hour later. I started running about a year ago, starting wtih the couch to 5k program. I completed it and can "run" about 2 miles without walking. However, I can only run about 18 minute miles (10-12 is average!), and I have plantar fasciitis in both feet, which basically means my damn feet hurt all.the.time, if I don't wear "good" shoes and even if I do, if I walk a lot, like shopping or anything else pretty much. I quit running about 2 months ago and haven't had as many issues with my feet, which has been nice because I was running, it was awful, every day pain and I could never even THINK about wearing flip flops.

What i'm hoping for AFTER: First off, I think the 2 week partial liquid, high Protein diet i'm on to shrink my liver is fabulous because I feel like it's breaking my food addiction. I know I wouldn't be able to maintain this forever, so I still need the band, but i'm surprised at how much I think about food and want it even when i'm not hungry! So i'm feeling great on what's now the 4th day of my Protein diet and have not cheated at all. So after this inital "Breaking the habit" diet, when I DO go back to eating regular foods, which won't be until 4 weeks AFTER the band, i'll only be able to eat a half cup of food at a time, at most. I already eat healthy and do not eat a lot of sweets. After band, as my butt gets smaller I am hoping it will be more comfortable to bike and I fully intend on starting riding bikes with my kids. If my feet get any better then I want to start running again, but only for stamina and as a supplement, so that I don't hurt my knees or feet again over time.

[Jachut 487]

You dont become a new person after surgery, one who can suddenly stick to a diet and exercise regime and have "willpower". Unfortunately, you'll wake up the same person you were the day before.

However, there's a few points to consider. The first is that if you're putting yourself through weight loss surgery, one would assume that you're committed like you've been committed no other time. I think its important to have the attitude "right, lets have a crack at this one more time and this time lets do it RIGHT". I think going under the knife in desperation hoping that THIS will work is not guaranteed to fail but that you're going to have to face up to a few realisations and a steep learning curve when at first you dont get the results you expected. If you're not committed like you've never been before, then think carefully about how you can become that way.

Secondly, it really IS easier to stick to a plan when you're not hungry. Which can be immediately or can take several months of fills (until you get restriction). And some people would disagree, but I find that the band DOES stop true diet breaking for me. I'm not an icecream, milkshake or chocolate eater - my vices are Cookies, muffins, cakes and the band does restrict those quite significantly for me. Especially since I always loved to eat those foods with a good cup of coffee - drinking coffee and eating cake together is hard to do in anything other than the most ladylike nibbles. And if I actually DO pig out in the afternoon, with a band, I just cant eat dinner. Not particularly healthy or functional eatibng but it keeps the calories in check. There's lots of automatic checks and balanaces with the band - for example, I just cant get down two big pieces of buttery toast and jam in the morning (my previous Breakfast of choice, with big cup of coffee!). I can do half a cup of Cereal with a few peaches on top and a dash of skim milk though. The calorie difference in those two choices is quite large. There's all sortsof things like that - I'm no low carber, but the band DOES tend to restrict those carby foods like lots of bread, rice and Pasta and not eating a lot of those foods DOES make a difference to your weight.

Exercise wise, well no band will make you exercise. You have to grow up, suck it up and do what you need to do there. But even there, its SO much easier and more rewarding when you are actually seeing weight loss for your efforts.

And that's the biggest factor, for me personally. I couldnt stick to diets and exercise plans before. But now I'm a runner, a dedicated one. Because for the first time in my life, I managed to do both together for a couple of weeks, saw a phenomenal result and was hooked! Once you realise it does work, its much easier to do.

[karenfp 0]

And you look fabulous!

That's what I'm hoping, is that it will be easier if I'm not hungry. But I still have to do sojmething about the emotional eating...

You dont become a new person after surgery, one who can suddenly stick to a diet and exercise regime and have "willpower". Unfortunately, you'll wake up the same person you were the day before.

However, there's a few points to consider. The first is that if you're putting yourself through weight loss surgery, one would assume that you're committed like you've been committed no other time. I think its important to have the attitude "right, lets have a crack at this one more time and this time lets do it RIGHT". I think going under the knife in desperation hoping that THIS will work is not guaranteed to fail but that you're going to have to face up to a few realisations and a steep learning curve when at first you dont get the results you expected. If you're not committed like you've never been before, then think carefully about how you can become that way.

Secondly, it really IS easier to stick to a plan when you're not hungry. Which can be immediately or can take several months of fills (until you get restriction). And some people would disagree, but I find that the band DOES stop true diet breaking for me. I'm not an icecream, milkshake or chocolate eater - my vices are Cookies, muffins, cakes and the band does restrict those quite significantly for me. Especially since I always loved to eat those foods with a good cup of coffee - drinking coffee and eating cake together is hard to do in anything other than the most ladylike nibbles. And if I actually DO pig out in the afternoon, with a band, I just cant eat dinner. Not particularly healthy or functional eatibng but it keeps the calories in check. There's lots of automatic checks and balanaces with the band - for example, I just cant get down two big pieces of buttery toast and jam in the morning (my previous Breakfast of choice, with big cup of coffee!). I can do half a cup of Cereal with a few peaches on top and a dash of skim milk though. The calorie difference in those two choices is quite large. There's all sortsof things like that - I'm no low carber, but the band DOES tend to restrict those carby foods like lots of bread, rice and Pasta and not eating a lot of those foods DOES make a difference to your weight.

Exercise wise, well no band will make you exercise. You have to grow up, suck it up and do what you need to do there. But even there, its SO much easier and more rewarding when you are actually seeing weight loss for your efforts.

And that's the biggest factor, for me personally. I couldnt stick to diets and exercise plans before. But now I'm a runner, a dedicated one. Because for the first time in my life, I managed to do both together for a couple of weeks, saw a phenomenal result and was hooked! Once you realise it does work, its much easier to do.