Cazzy

i keep on track by following my own advice that i would give someone else asking me the same question
Do's
Make losing this weight the priority in your life.
Make the scales your friend not your enemy.
Be determined that you will not get sidetracked from getting to your goal.
Try to get as much Protein from fresh food as you can, fish, chicken and turkey are good, some vegetables are too like frozen peas, then milk products like 0 fat yoghurt, 0 fat cottage cheese and skimmed milk.
Become your own expert.
Learn from mistakes, like what food sticks and what food you can eat.
Do as much exercise as you can, find what works for you then stick to it, every day without fail, push yourself a little further each week.
Burn more calories than you eat.
Follow your nutritionist’s/dietician’s and surgeon's advice.
Use your own common sense, everything in moderation works well.
Make a sharp knife and a teaspoon your essential items.
Eat what your body needs not what your mind tells you
Dont's.
Eat as little processed food as possible.
Dont eat anything that is white ( bread, Pasta, rice etc) too high carbs and calories.
Dont test the band to see the limits of what you can and cant eat.
Dont buy food that will tempt you, if its not in the home u cant eat it .
Dont try to cheat, the only person who will pay for it is you.
Dont let yourself down.
Dont eat junk food as a treat, find another treat !
Dont get stressed or impatient, things may take longer than u want.
Dont make life difficult for yourself, have food in the freezer that you can eat, plan meals ahead of time.
Dont eat with your mind or eyes, eat what your body needs.
Good luck

Wow Violet a 'rant in red'
I have to say that although your words may seem harsh to some they are in essence the way forward for a lot of people who are banded. Having the determination that you have expressed goes a long way to making this band work.
I know there are days i really dont feel like exercising myself, and in the beginning weighing so much it was awful but the only person i was letting down was myself, yesterday i cycled 25 miles on the exercise bike , even tho i had a bad hungry day i did extra miles to cover me for the few extra calories i consumed ...
I, like you was not prepared to have all this done and go through what we have not to change our whole life ..
Good luck to you and i wish you every success, for those who are struggling read Violets words as a motivation and not a criticism ...

Wow Violet a 'rant in red'
I have to say that although your words may seem harsh to some they are in essence the way forward for a lot of people who are banded. Having the determination that you have expressed goes a long way to making this band work.
I know there are days i really dont feel like exercising myself, and in the beginning weighing so much it was awful but the only person i was letting down was myself, yesterday i cycled 25 miles on the exercise bike , even tho i had a bad hungry day i did extra miles to cover me for the few extra calories i consumed ...
I, like you was not prepared to have all this done and go through what we have not to change our whole life ..
Good luck to you and i wish you every success, for those who are struggling read Violets words as a motivation and not a criticism ...

To those of you who say you don't have time for exercise or you don't like to...I'm sorry but to me all I hear is excuses excuses. Yeah you may have a busy lifestyle but after getting the lapband put into your body to make a "lifestyle change" how can you do that without getting some exercise in? What is an hour out of your entire day? You have 23 hours to do everything else you need to do..and if you know you will tone your body and loose even more weight from it why wouldn't you take advantage of that? I think you guys need to step it up and quit making so many excuses...I have a life too...a job, family, boyfriend, pets, house to take care of, appts to go to in between everything else..and every single night I come home and get my exercise in. I have lymophdema in my legs and as much as it hurts to be on my feet and my ankles are so big it looks unhuman but I do not miss it...because I didn't get this lap band put in me to just sit back and watch the weight fall off...I'm working my ass off and don't understand why you can't either!!!
Do you want to end up like the people on here who are making a post in 1 or 2 years saying they only lost 30 pounds? If not, you need to make the change now...and if you don't want to..then I really don't understand why you got the band in the first place.

I keep making that same mistake all the time, i also still buy clothes that are too big for me .. body is thinner than my mind still !

My port is placed on my breast bone i dont even know its there .. doesnt interfere with exercise at all !

I think i went about 5 days post op the surgery and meds alone do cause some digestive movement problems. You are only consuming liquids so u wont get much movement either till u start on more substantial food. Walking and Water seem to clear the problems for most , but u may very well need to phone the docs and ask before it goes on any longer

Top of my list should have been a bucket load of determination but ty

Some of the foods i eat are :
Total 0% greek yoghurt + teaspoon maple Syrup
Smoked salmon
Black pepper ryvita
Fruity ryvita
Weight watchers Tomato Soup ( other flavours are ugh )
chicken with green veg
Sea bass or any other white fish.
Hartleys sugar free jelly _+ a few berries ( i make up 2 pints at a time so u can snack on it too )
I make my own green veg Soup which i have every lunchtime ( broccoli cauliflour and peas )
I make my own oat rolls (adapted a Nigela recipe )
dont do any food which is white like bread, rice, potatoes..
I add oat bran to yoghurt sometimes if i am hungry and need a snack to last a bit longer ..
I have roast beef sundays with green veg.. very thin sliced tho
Tea or coffee when i want with skimmed milk ..
I eat around a 1000 calories a day but its pretty normal type food really ..
Hope this helps radpad

i keep on track by following my own advice that i would give someone else asking me the same question
Do's
Make losing this weight the priority in your life.
Make the scales your friend not your enemy.
Be determined that you will not get sidetracked from getting to your goal.
Try to get as much Protein from fresh food as you can, fish, chicken and turkey are good, some vegetables are too like frozen peas, then milk products like 0 fat yoghurt, 0 fat cottage cheese and skimmed milk.
Become your own expert.
Learn from mistakes, like what food sticks and what food you can eat.
Do as much exercise as you can, find what works for you then stick to it, every day without fail, push yourself a little further each week.
Burn more calories than you eat.
Follow your nutritionist’s/dietician’s and surgeon's advice.
Use your own common sense, everything in moderation works well.
Make a sharp knife and a teaspoon your essential items.
Eat what your body needs not what your mind tells you
Dont's.
Eat as little processed food as possible.
Dont eat anything that is white ( bread, Pasta, rice etc) too high carbs and calories.
Dont test the band to see the limits of what you can and cant eat.
Dont buy food that will tempt you, if its not in the home u cant eat it .
Dont try to cheat, the only person who will pay for it is you.
Dont let yourself down.
Dont eat junk food as a treat, find another treat !
Dont get stressed or impatient, things may take longer than u want.
Dont make life difficult for yourself, have food in the freezer that you can eat, plan meals ahead of time.
Dont eat with your mind or eyes, eat what your body needs.
Good luck

i keep on track by following my own advice that i would give someone else asking me the same question
Do's
Make losing this weight the priority in your life.
Make the scales your friend not your enemy.
Be determined that you will not get sidetracked from getting to your goal.
Try to get as much Protein from fresh food as you can, fish, chicken and turkey are good, some vegetables are too like frozen peas, then milk products like 0 fat yoghurt, 0 fat cottage cheese and skimmed milk.
Become your own expert.
Learn from mistakes, like what food sticks and what food you can eat.
Do as much exercise as you can, find what works for you then stick to it, every day without fail, push yourself a little further each week.
Burn more calories than you eat.
Follow your nutritionist’s/dietician’s and surgeon's advice.
Use your own common sense, everything in moderation works well.
Make a sharp knife and a teaspoon your essential items.
Eat what your body needs not what your mind tells you
Dont's.
Eat as little processed food as possible.
Dont eat anything that is white ( bread, Pasta, rice etc) too high carbs and calories.
Dont test the band to see the limits of what you can and cant eat.
Dont buy food that will tempt you, if its not in the home u cant eat it .
Dont try to cheat, the only person who will pay for it is you.
Dont let yourself down.
Dont eat junk food as a treat, find another treat !
Dont get stressed or impatient, things may take longer than u want.
Dont make life difficult for yourself, have food in the freezer that you can eat, plan meals ahead of time.
Dont eat with your mind or eyes, eat what your body needs.
Good luck

i keep on track by following my own advice that i would give someone else asking me the same question
Do's
Make losing this weight the priority in your life.
Make the scales your friend not your enemy.
Be determined that you will not get sidetracked from getting to your goal.
Try to get as much Protein from fresh food as you can, fish, chicken and turkey are good, some vegetables are too like frozen peas, then milk products like 0 fat yoghurt, 0 fat cottage cheese and skimmed milk.
Become your own expert.
Learn from mistakes, like what food sticks and what food you can eat.
Do as much exercise as you can, find what works for you then stick to it, every day without fail, push yourself a little further each week.
Burn more calories than you eat.
Follow your nutritionist’s/dietician’s and surgeon's advice.
Use your own common sense, everything in moderation works well.
Make a sharp knife and a teaspoon your essential items.
Eat what your body needs not what your mind tells you
Dont's.
Eat as little processed food as possible.
Dont eat anything that is white ( bread, Pasta, rice etc) too high carbs and calories.
Dont test the band to see the limits of what you can and cant eat.
Dont buy food that will tempt you, if its not in the home u cant eat it .
Dont try to cheat, the only person who will pay for it is you.
Dont let yourself down.
Dont eat junk food as a treat, find another treat !
Dont get stressed or impatient, things may take longer than u want.
Dont make life difficult for yourself, have food in the freezer that you can eat, plan meals ahead of time.
Dont eat with your mind or eyes, eat what your body needs.
Good luck

When we need to lose over 200lbs the weight generally does come off quicker but that is only initially after that its all hard work from there but worth every bit of work.
Its only recently that i actually started to feel like i am not 'fat' any more.
I need to lose a few lbs more but now its slow, but to lose only just a lb at this weight notices much more than it did when i first started, when it was just a 'drop in the ocean'
I used to wear 6XL t shirts to hide myself under, now i wear L and share t-shirts with my other half lol his wardrobe is mine now ...
Good luck to all the 'bigger' banders !

Unfortunately when u lose the fat and just have skin left theres only 1 solution and thats surgery ! are your arms the only place u have spare skin ? i have it all over due to the amount of weight i have lost, not sure what bit of me to attack first

Add variety to what you do, this is very important. For exercise to be effective at improving your fitness or helping you to lose weight, it must be progressive... get slightly more challenging or different each time you do it.
Strength training is very important. The more muscle you have the faster your metabolic rate will be.
Finally, if the rest of your life is quite sedentary, you will struggle to lose weight. You need to get more active ALL the time. I've found that regular walking combined with resistance training is one of the fastest ways to lose large amounts of body fat.
But walking in chunks throughout the day and not simply sauntering, be in a rush to get somewhere.

I would get in some strength training. Some of us if we do the same exercise daily just end up on a plateau. U said yourseld u havent changed a thing.. theres the clue... small changes can make all the difference.I do exercise bike and road bike, weights and dumbells and a 1000 calories a day, my body seems to think its maintenance time lol couple of weeks ago i had flu, didnt feel like exercising so i didnt. I did rigorous housework, cleaning floors paintowrk etc, boom that week 4lbs gone ... make some changes but make them small. Try higher Protein, or lower the carbs u eat, anything small to shock your body into doing something !

Happy Mardi Gras to you and keep up the good work

I bought myself a road bike to reward my 200lbs lost

This is the best thing I ever did for myself...good luck!

Good luck and I hope all goes well for you. Feel free to ask for support if and when u need it

it does sound like u arent eating enough calories but i wouldnt increase them by 300 or so over night, try a week at an extra 100 calories a day made up of Protein and dont add any more carbs or fat or sugar for now.. A weight loss plateau is part of losing weight over a long period of time just stick with it and keep trying different things to kick start you again , i was on a plateau for a few weeks but got flu, so i wasnt exercising and did loads of housework like cleaning paintwork etc, lost 4lbs that week which kick started me again. I am a great believer in making changes as sometimes your body get very used to things if u do them over and over again. Just make sure any changes u make are small and u should see something happen.

I met a guy yesterday that was probably in his early 50s. He was telling me how he had about 3/4 of his stomach removed when he was in his teens due to ulcers and other problems. So in effect what he had is very similar to having a sleeve.
Whilst this guy was by no means obese he looked like your average guy of around that age. Overweight with what looked like a beer belly.
So this tells me that even with drastic reduction of stomach size unless you continue to aim to keep your weight under control it won't happen. That it is still easy to gain weight.
He also mentioned that he has a lot of problems with excess acid. Something that I believe is a common problem with surgeries that reduce the size of the stomach.

I think some of the weight is from the crackers/sweets/fried food and brownies; and the some is from the high salt content that is fast/fried food. If you MUST have a snack at night I would make it chicken breast, or veggies. Because crunchy carbs are my down fall I don't keep them in my house at all.
Full disclosure I had chips and salsa, and cheesecake at a Super Bowl party and it took me a week to loose those 4 pounds that were there Monday morning. Stupid Patriots!!!

I'm assuming this news came from your primary care doctor?... I personally would find a bariatric center with a reputable lap band surgeon, go to a seminar, talk with the staff at the seminar to find out if you have to have a referral from your regular doctor. If you haven't been a patient of this doctor and there aren't any documented records of weight issues, diets, health problems, it's their duty to tell you to try it on your own with diet and exercise. Many people jump to WLS as a quick fix when it may not be the best choice at that moment. Now, if you've been with this doc a while and your diet history is well documented or if you have any health issues like blood pressure, pre-diabetes, I'd go right to the bariatric team and look at all your options. Your health ins co may require a pre-op diet before approving surgery so the quicker you act, the quicker you'll be on your way. WLS isn't for everyone, it's not a quick fix, it's still hard work to wrap your head around your relationship with food and how you're going to live long term with the band. Everyone refers to this process as a journey and once you're on the path, you'll understand why. It IS a journey. You learn more about yourself, both good and bad, than you've ever known. I was amazed on just how little food I actually need to lose weight, have energy and be happy. In 13 months, I've developed a completely different relationship with food but I still struggle, just not as much. At the beginning of this process, it's 24/7 focus on getting surgery, what to eat, what not to eat, liquid diet, mushies, exercise, food journals. It's all consuming. AFter you get into the process and your body and mind start to catch up with each other and you get into the swing of living with the band, the rest of your life starts to take focus again. It's a great journey and totally worth it!

salmon, tuna, eggs, turkey breast, greek yogurt. be sure to try to get your Protein by eating not drinking most of the time. we are changing our habits and planning good food choices is part of that.