destynee1

If you’re once a fatty, are you always a fatty?


THINK THIN, BE THIN
I think I’m well qualified to speak on this subject, since once upon a time my schoolmates chanted, “Fatty, Fatty, two by four, can’t fit through the kitchen door!” when I walked into the gymnasium for a physical education class with a teacher who, after weighing and measuring each kid, announced to her captive audience that Jean was the shortest and heaviest girl in the class. After which I was the last kid (once again) to be chosen for a volleyball team.
I believe that in order to become a thin person, we must learn to think like one. It’s a tall order, I know. You might as well ask my dogs to learn to think like cats (I’m pretty sure my cats can think like dogs, but it doesn’t seem to work the other way around, to the everlasting detriment of the dogs).
At the same time, I believe that we must never forget our inner fat person. If we do forget, the fat folks may burst out of us and take over again. I know mine did last year, for six months and 30 pounds of regain. She was aided and abetted by the loss of my beloved Lap-Band®, but once she was out of her cage, she took charge so fast it made my dizzy blonde head spin. That’s not a pretty sight when that head is busy gobbling all the food in the western hemisphere and the body attached to it is rejoicing, “Starvation has ended at last! It’s party time!” (which is what my gastroenterologist said my metabolism was doing, although not in those exact words).
I lost the weight I had regained, plus another 10 pounds. I know (or I hope) I don’t look like a fatty any more, but a fatty still lurks inside me somewhere. My fat demon is hidden from view, but she’s still my demon. Exactly what every girl needs, along with a good bra and a good hairdresser. Seriously, though, my fat potential lives on, mainly because obesity is an incurable, chronic disease that no surgery today can cure. As long as my inner fatty threatens to take over, it’s hard for me to think and act like a thin person. But I refuse to give up the Quest for Thin Jean, and I strive every day to emulate her. I believe that practicing thin behavior will eventually teach me thin thinking, and I believe that practicing thin thinking will keep my body thin.
FAKE IT UNTIL YOU MAKE IT
We have now arrived at the bad-tasting course in this home-cooked meal of advice. In order to practice thin thinking, we need to do things that we’ve done over and over again in the past without long lasting results, like making good food choices, practicing Portion Control, and exercising. I know that this concept frustrates many of us and infuriates some of us. Some people scorn the practicing part of the WLS journey. They say, “It’s just another diet.” A friend of mine declared a week before her band surgery, “I refuse to diet.” Perhaps it’s a matter of semantics or personal preference, but I persist in believing in the importance of practice because thin thinking and thin acting don’t come naturally to me. I wasn’t born with piano-playing skills. I had to take lessons and practice every day just to be able to play “Chopsticks”. Even famous concert pianists must practice every day. The same is true of being thin.
This reminds me of the “fake it until you make it” slogan repeated in 12-step groups. The 12-step tradition recognizes that sobriety or abstinence doesn’t come naturally to people with addictive tendencies. It doesn’t expect its members to leap from the first to the 12th step in one week, one month, or even one year. All it asks is that we practice desirable behaviors every day, day after day, while the struggle to do that gradually lessens and we gain some control over the undesirable behaviors. Eventually we discover that we don’t have to “white knuckle” it anymore because the desirable behaviors have become habits.
Assuming that you had WLS because you don’t want to be a fatty any more, I’d like to suggest that you begin by not eating like a fatty any more. You don’t have to do it perfectly, because you’re just practicing, right? As far as I’m concerned, you can leave the perfection stuff to God. All you need to do is do your best, day by day, to work with your strengths and work around your weaknesses. Even if practice doesn’t always make perfect, it’s got to help you with the fake it part until you get to the make it part. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but you can do it!

Ideas in book got high carb meals are
chicken stir fry with brown rice
Chicken with corn tortillas
Chicken with pasta in a Tomato sauces teak with yam it potato

Hey all.. I haven't been on here in awhile, and boy does this site truly help you stay on track. I have totally fallen off the band wagon and I am so disappointed in myself for that. I always said, why do people fall off when they have this amazing tool and totally defeat its purpose? Well, I am one of them and it is hard to get back on track. Don't be afraid of hurting my feelings I am not that sensitive! Ugh... and... I haven't seen my Dr. in 3 months, no longer working so no insurance but my bf says... I'll pay go see them! So I have an appt next week. I am pretty embarrassed to go see her, I haven't lost a pound since the last time I was there. Thank God I haven't gained it either, which I'm surprised. Just need some encouragement of any kind. I know I can do this, but damn why is it so damn hard!
Thanks for listening,
Kayna

Thank you all! and so true.. I stopped logging and its over. I have to log everyhthing, everyday for me to stick to it, when I don't .. its like out of sight out of mind.. and geez thats terrible thinking. Missed you all

Thank you all! and so true.. I stopped logging and its over. I have to log everyhthing, everyday for me to stick to it, when I don't .. its like out of sight out of mind.. and geez thats terrible thinking. Missed you all

Here is ur kick !! \_ I understand I just had people on this site kick me a couple of weeks ago. I'm starting to spend more time on the site, I think I'm slowly falling back in line ! Good luck !!

Thank you all! and so true.. I stopped logging and its over. I have to log everyhthing, everyday for me to stick to it, when I don't .. its like out of sight out of mind.. and geez thats terrible thinking. Missed you all

Hey all.. I haven't been on here in awhile, and boy does this site truly help you stay on track. I have totally fallen off the band wagon and I am so disappointed in myself for that. I always said, why do people fall off when they have this amazing tool and totally defeat its purpose? Well, I am one of them and it is hard to get back on track. Don't be afraid of hurting my feelings I am not that sensitive! Ugh... and... I haven't seen my Dr. in 3 months, no longer working so no insurance but my bf says... I'll pay go see them! So I have an appt next week. I am pretty embarrassed to go see her, I haven't lost a pound since the last time I was there. Thank God I haven't gained it either, which I'm surprised. Just need some encouragement of any kind. I know I can do this, but damn why is it so damn hard!
Thanks for listening,
Kayna

Log all your food. Go back to the post op diet and start from there. If you dont make yourself accountable for everything you put in your mouth then you will fall off. None of this is easy and we all struggle day to day because there are so many things out there to tempt us. You have to know that doing this is helping you so much more then the temptations. Just jump back on and go for the ride. The one good thing about the band is that its never too late to start over.

I was wondering where you were! You know what you need to do to get back in track....just do it!!! And at least you didn't gain any weight.
Sent from my iPhone using LapBandTalk

no gain is a win before you would have gained it all back and then some so the band is working....get a fill that will help a lot and that is how the band works best by being the right size for you and you head great job at holding steady for 3 mos....you are a winner...

Think that might have something to do with it? Since you lost your insurance, you need to replace her with some other sort of accountability mechanism. Revisit the basic, start measuring, start logging, start counting calories.
Just my humble opinion

Hey all.. I haven't been on here in awhile, and boy does this site truly help you stay on track. I have totally fallen off the band wagon and I am so disappointed in myself for that. I always said, why do people fall off when they have this amazing tool and totally defeat its purpose? Well, I am one of them and it is hard to get back on track. Don't be afraid of hurting my feelings I am not that sensitive! Ugh... and... I haven't seen my Dr. in 3 months, no longer working so no insurance but my bf says... I'll pay go see them! So I have an appt next week. I am pretty embarrassed to go see her, I haven't lost a pound since the last time I was there. Thank God I haven't gained it either, which I'm surprised. Just need some encouragement of any kind. I know I can do this, but damn why is it so damn hard!
Thanks for listening,
Kayna

I'm so sorry this happened to you.
Unfortunately, this is one of the many problems linked to the small 4cc bands and why both the US and UK refuse to use them.
What angers me is so many in Mexico are still using the 4cc band to cut costs- despite the dangers like this. Dr. Kuri being one of the worst offenders, even lying to people telling them the 4cc bands are better. It's truly despicable in my opinion.
Best wishes and thanks for sharing your story as a warning to others.

2 weeks isn't much of a plateau and yes, you are only in the beginning of your journey. Many more miles ahead for you.

Welcome,
This site is fill of wonderful people that will support and encourage you. We are all in this together.

Wow everyone looks great! I've lost 54 lbs so far and am back losing after an almost 2 month plateu. I update my blog reguarly: http://thefatgirlthin.blogspot.com/

Look GREAT!! wow go girl!!!

Nice! I gotta try that when I can eat food...lol
Thanks for Sharing!

This recipe was shared with me by my Nutritionist and I would like to share with you all
Enjoy!
Cheeseburger-Stuffed Mushrooms
1/2 of recipe (1 stuffed mushroom): 226 calories
4g fat, 776mg sodium
20.5g carbs
3g Fiber
11g sugars
26g Protein
Ingredients:
1 1/2 tbsp. Hellmann's/Best Foods Dijonnaise
1 1/2 tbsp. ketchup
2 large portabella mushrooms, stems chopped and reserved
6 oz. raw extra-lean ground beef (4% fat or less)
3/4 cup diced onion
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. each salt and black pepper
2 slices fat-free American cheese
1/4 cup diced Tomato
Optional topping: dill pickle chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
To make the sauce, in a small bowl, mix Dijonnaise with ketchup until uniform.
Place mushroom caps on the sheet, rounded sides down. Bake until tender, about 15 minutes. Remove sheet, but leave oven on.
Meanwhile, bring a skillet sprayed with nonstick spray to medium-high heat. Add beef, onion, and chopped mushroom stems. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cook and crumble for 5 - 7 minutes, until beef is fully cooked and onion is slightly browned.
Blot away excess moisture from mushroom caps. Divide beef mixture between the caps, and top each cap with a slice of cheese.
Bake until cheese has melted, about 1 minute.
Drizzle with sauce, sprinkle with tomato, and dig in!
MAKES 2 SERVINGS
Char doing things on her iPad ✨

That is so true.. I know I came into this not knowing how the whole process of losing/gaining weight really is. I just thought, eat a certain amount of calories a day and ya lose weight. I have to admit, I still don't know why I gain sometimes.. lol. I still have never seen a nutritionist! To costly especially now because I lost my job and no insurance.. so I rely on what I read here and researching that I really need to do more of.

That is so true.. I know I came into this not knowing how the whole process of losing/gaining weight really is. I just thought, eat a certain amount of calories a day and ya lose weight. I have to admit, I still don't know why I gain sometimes.. lol. I still have never seen a nutritionist! To costly especially now because I lost my job and no insurance.. so I rely on what I read here and researching that I really need to do more of.

Do you ever feel that you’ve eaten enough food? Do you even know how that feels?


RETRAINING MY OVEREATER’S BRAIN
Early and prolonged satiety (the sense of having eaten enough food for now) is the name of the band’s game, and restriction (the feelings that communicate satiety to a bandster) is a greatly misunderstood term. I talk a lot about what a bad idea it is to eat until your band’s alarms flash and bells clang, but let me step off my soapbox for a moment and tell you about my own satiety experiences.
When I was obese, I could never eat enough food. Aside from my love of its smell and taste, of chewing and swallowing, I wanted a full belly. The problem with that was that there isn’t enough food in the entire universe to fill the hole in my belly, never mind the hole in my soul. As a pre-op, I had the vague idea that my band would help me eat less, but I had no recent experience of eating small amounts and no idea of how that would feel. I blindly committed to weighing and measuring small portions of food despite the sense of deprivation that aroused in my overeater’s heart.
It wasn’t until perhaps six months post-op that I realized I wasn’t actually hungry after eating my measured meal. Often I wanted to eat more – because the food tasted so good, I’d looked forward to it so much, I deserved it even more, or because I was a good girl who always cleaned her plate. But none of that “head hunger” was related to an empty, hurting, grumbling tummy.
That was a shocking discovery for someone who had eaten to the point of Thanksgiving dinner Full every day, every meal, every snack, for over 20 years. I suppose that until I came to that realization, I had been doing as much (if not more) of my weight loss work as my band had been doing. It didn’t really matter, because by then, as I inched closer and closer to my goal weight, I was also realizing that my band and I would have to go on working together for the rest of my life. So whether lessons came to me early or late, they were all valuable.
Looking back now, I think my band and my conscious commitment to my dietitian’s food plan were both helping me to retrain my brain. No matter what you’re trying to do – lose weight, run a marathon, raise a child – survival and success depends a great deal on practice. Like a concert pianist playing scales, you have to practice over and over and over again in order to keep your skills sharp. To feel that I had regained some control over my eating with the help of my band, to no longer feel enslaved to food, was worth all the risk and trouble of weight loss surgery. So imagine my delight as time went on and my brain-band partnership got even stronger and better.
HOW TO RECOGNIZE SATIETY
Eventually I progressed to my next band lesson: learning to recognize satiety and stop eating as soon as I felt it, even if that meant leaving food on my plate. It was easy enough to weigh and measure my food when I was at home, but I needed more portable skills to take with me to social events and on business trips.
First, I’ll re-state a definition: when you’re satiated with food, you're no longer hungry and more food doesn't interest you. You’ve just had enough for now. Hard to imagine, isn’t it? Satiety is registered by both conscious and unconscious processes, and the two may not always be in synchronization, especially in an obese person who's been overeating consistently.
It's entirely possible to be physically satisfied but mentally unsatisfied after a meal, for reasons that are unique to everybody and shared by some of us. Each brand and model of the adjustable gastric band is clearly defined in its specifications, executed in the manufacturing process, and policed by quality assurance technicians, but human beings are very unique, so we respond to the band in different ways.
So, how do you know when to stop eating? Do you eat until you're full? No, you don't. You have to figure out a new stopping point.
The overeater's definition of "full" is the normal eater's definition of "stuffed". Most of the time, the normal eater stops eating when they've had enough, not when they're full, but the control center in an overeater's brain doesn't get the "enough" message soon enough, or it exerts a powerful override, so the overeater keeps eating long after the normal person would have stopped. That person keeps on eating until all the food is gone, then goes looking for more. Also, overeaters often use food for emotional rather than physical nourishment. While there certainly is some psychic (non-physical) value in the experience of eating, food cannot fill you up emotionally. When you eat for reasons unrelated to physical nourishment, you will never experience “enough”.
For a bandster, satiety is not quite the same as being full, nor should it be. Full means your upper stomach has reached its maximum capacity. Satiety happens on your way to being full. With a properly adjusted band, you will be comfortable if you stop eating when you're satiated, but you experience discomfort if you eat until you're full.
The band gives almost instant feedback about your eating behavior. The feedback comes in the form of the Soft Stop and Hard Stop signals. In order to learn and recognize your own stop signals, you’ll need to slow down and pay very close attention to how your body feels when you eat. If you usually eat with a crowd (family, friends, coworkers), you might need to try eating by yourself so you won't be distracted. Stop signals can be subtle and they can come from unexpected parts of your body. It's better to heed a gentle reminder than wait for a hammer to hit you on the head.
Soft stops are your early warning system, gentle reminders from your body that it's time to stop eating. Because they don't hurt much, they're easy to ignore. Your job is to recognize them (even though they may vary by the meal or the day) and heed them every time you recognize them.
Hard stops are the equivalent of running into a brick wall. They can happen without any apparent warning, but usually you have sped heedlessly past a soft stop before you hit the wall. Hard stops are the painful and sometimes embarrassing reminders that you have eaten too much, too fast, in bites that were too big, without chewing enough.
To see lists of common soft and hard stop signals, click here:
http://jean-onthebandwagon.blogspot.com/2013/03/stop-eating-signals.html

I don't know you so take what I say as not critical of you personally.
I see so many people come to the forum with absolutely no knowledge of how our bodies lose weight and I mean, knowledge about their own body. Each of us will lose differently but it seems like many have never been on a diet that requires daily or weekly weigh-ins? Many are shocked that they can gain 1-5 lbs in one day? Many believe that the weight(fat) automatically falls off as soon as the band is placed?
Our bodies contain fat, muscle, bone, organs and lots of water(LOTS). Obese people can retain 40+ lbs of Water depending on their height and weight. The early stages of any diet or WLS forces our bodies to shed many of those lbs or gallons of Water stored in our fat cells. So, the weight loss is primarily water early on.
Sure, some weight loss is losing fat, but losing fat is all part of the calories in and calories burned math equation. Losing fat is the goal and of course any weight loss be it fat or water is good.
Weight gains at this point in your journey are normal until your body sheds most of the excess fluids retained in your fat cells. IMO 6 weeks out is when you can really start burning excess fat. Until then, it's mostly water loss.
tmf