Jachut

I'd be up all night with reflux eating that late. Something's gotta give. How long are you working out for?

For me, the reason I initially took up running (other than having over it in my teens) was because its so time efficient - 40 minutes is enough to burn 600 calories. I can o that before work, after work or after dinner. And for bad weather or really late nights, I have my treadmill. I can do it on holidays too. If you run, you never need to miss your workouts.

I do strength train but I confess to being time poor with a full time job and 3 kids so although I do get to the gym after work twice a week and once on the weekend or so it's a 30 minute program only and having run before work I never need to muck around with cardio. And when I feel like it, have time (particularly on the weekend) I use my gym membership to doa spin class or body pump.

So for me, time constraints have led me to focus on what brings me the best results - cardio (I get fat quickly without it) and not spend any more than the bare minimum if time on strength, just enough to fend off the muscle atrophy of old age.

How's your Iron?

I never ate more to compensate for the calories I burned. I lost weight well and have kept it off. But over the last year my energy has tanked. I've struggled to even run 6kms at times from running 15 with ease.

Turns out my ferritin level was 8. I was severely anemic. I had to have an iv Iron infusion.

Apparently very very common in female exercises. Maybe not as severe as mine, I have other issues. But your nutrient profile and macronutrient Vance is more important than actual calories. I can't do the low carb thing and be a good runner! I need bread and grains.

My guess would be that when you've had an episode like that, unfilling s the right thing to o but it's not going to provide immediate relief because your stomach is swollen and inflamed. You need a few days of luquids to let it settle. YOu might need to remove all the Fluid or a while if it's really not settling.

You've seen it on x ray and you know it hasn't slipped so I'd bet money it's just inflammation.

For te first day or so stick with really thin fluids.

I've just done five days liquids for the first time in seven years, I've always considered this five day pouch test a fad and nothing more. I just did liquids, not the actual program.

I plan on keeping on going for a few more days ( goal is ten) as I'm finding it easy and I'm sure it's helping me immensely. I'm satisfied on half a cup of thick Soup for maybe three hours.

I ave had such trouble with my band since I unfilled for cancer treatment two years ago. I remained unfilled for six months and when I refilled I just never got comfortable restriction. A barium swallow showed my band was tight with ever so slight dilation of the pouch. Doc was happy to leave it.

But my tummy has gotten more and more unhappy and my eating habits slacker and slacker, and it was time to do something, so I did. And it really feels like my band of old and has been a huge wake up call. I too plan to make this a monthly tune up.

Well, it does to me but I ave a 4cc band.

In the past the two unfills ive had have allowed any inflammation in my stomach to calm down and I've been able to have the entire fill back.

I would definitely be inclined to try 0.1 cc

Sadly, I remember my days of diet pills (tenuate, duromine) as a 16 year old with a huuuuuge 15 lb weight problem (I kid you not, prescribed to me by a now somewhat celebrity dietician here in Australia) quite fondly.

Oh, my they were marvelous! Simply turned off that craving switch. Only time in my life I have eaten simply to stay alive. No interest in food whatsoever.

The band has NEVER done that for me other than th first eight weeks or so while I healed. The drugs were way easier than managing a band is. But they're not forever. I was psychotic after three months on speed. But I'm thin and still working it hard daily after seven years with a band. How I wish it wasn't so much hard work.

So I can well understand your elation at having found something that works, seemingly so easily. But what are you going to o long term? Surely you can't take it forever? Or do you gt enough from your bypass to make maintenance possible? It wold be nice if it was doing something for you after all your struggles.

My BMi was 35 so I didnt have to do a pre op diet.

However, I did eat better.i had made a choice to change my life and I was not going to begin by going on a weeks long last supper binge!

For what its worth, my BMi is 21 and I've never low carbed - but the point pre op is to shrink your liver and a low carb diet does this by depleting your liver (and your whole body) of glycogen so it has a specific purpose that just eating better wont achieve.

I got to a bmi of 21 - but my diet looks normal, I eat bread, rice, Pasta, sugar, everything in moderation. It's portion size that matters. I don't count,weigh or measure, just tried to restore food to its rightful place. I eat three meals no Snacks apart from an occasional glass of wine after dinner.

I do run 10km several times a week, do spin classes and strength training three times a week.

It took a bit over 2 years to lose about 100lb.

Sorry, it's not sexy, there's no magic trick nd it wasn't fast. But very doable and easy to maintain.

Is this a slip? The band sits naturally on the stomach at an angle, if it slips to a more horizontal position you get a big pouch of stomach slip up over the band that could be described asvu shaped.

It's more probable that you need a fill. This is normal over time.

Totally, and I hate to sa it but I've never gotten it back.

My 4cc band has 3.8cc in it, should be sooooo tight and I can eat a sandwich.

Don't get me wrong, a Peanut Butter sandwich would fill me and tide me over for dinner, my band is there and I've maintained, but I can now do real damage on special occasions if I let myself.

I gave been considering another complete unfill, liquid diet and the refill but I'm do afraid I'll cave and gain heaps of weight

I'm a little over seven. No real complications here, a few unfills for other surgeries which have changed how the band "feels" and the restriction it gives me, but it's ther, it's working and I continue to maintain.

Evening for me, but not always practical. Dring term time I run at 6 am - leaves me time to go to the gym in the evening without having to worry about cardio and even if I blow off the gym at least I an.

Even now, I'm suffering from anemia to the point where I'm having an iv infusion on Tuesday. I'm beyond exhausted, luckily it's school holidays here for the summer so I can nap and take it easy - I still tend to recover and regain energy in the evening nd can go out for a run (only to feel like death the next morning, lol).

Yes, it wasn't causing a problem as at a low BMI the port is super easy to access. But it looked very obvious. When I had a Tummy Tuck, my PS moved it to right by my belly button, there's a natural pad of fat there which hides it and he took the back off it to reduce its profile. Now you can only see it if you're really looking for it.

I had the same thing years go after my Caesar. Freaked me out, I felt nothing but was suddenly soaked to the knees with pink Fluid. It happened seven or eight times and it was copious but it stopped on its own and no infection ensued.

Thankfully (or maybe not) a have a little mor insight a few years later and can add to this. I exhibit an awful lot of anorexic behaviors - all the obsessive, control issues and rituals, but I'm a complete all or nothing eater. Ive never truly binged I. The sense of eating to the point of illness, eating out of the bin etc, but it's like after a few days of deprivation my body goes on a mission to replenish and I eat and eat and eat for a few days. This behaviors causes me a lot of distress.

It's all magnified incredibly since the stress of cancer, the last two years have been the first time I realized how disordered my relationship ith food really is and how easy I would be to really develop a fully blown disorder.

But it also makes me realize just what a triumph my consistent attitude to exercise has been for me. I'm a high achiever there but haven't gone overboard and haven't succumbed to that all or nothing approach. Likewise I've had long periods of not dieting - that's much harder for me but avoiding any attention to nutrient balances, calories etc is what I need to do otherwise I fall into the starve/binge cycle if I blw my calories by even 50 in a day.

I also suffer badly from body dysmorphia - I gained back up to a BMi of 22 after cancer and I'm honestly disgusted with my "obese" self, I have really struggled with feeling enormous.

I have too!

I got a lapband and took up running. I now also do spinning and strength training. I lost over 100 lbs and have stayed at a bmi of 21, I did not just lose wight, I am truly thin and fit. People marvel that I was ever big.

My hubby got a band and did not exercise. He lost 50 lb and has put 25 back on. He is still "obese". Five years later.

You don't have to be as hard core as I am. Just walk. But it really helps and it's even more important for maintenance.

Where's your weight at? You look nice and thin in that tiny photo.

Seven years on at a BMi of 22, with seven years of calorie restricted eating behind me, weight loss is nigh on impossible. I have just crept up a few lbs over wher I want to be and it literally takes me a month of what you are describing - hard core running, gym and restricted calories and I might lose ONE lb. You're of fairly norml weight, have a big loss behind you, your body just does not give it up easily anymore.

In fact, I lost 100 lb all up - 80 in the first year and it took TWO years yo lose the other 20!

It really does suck, but it just takes a looooong time

How much did you lose over how long?

I go from 1100 to 1500 a day + walk 4 days a week. I'm 3 weeks out (in bandster hell, so very Hungry) so far so good though. I hope I can stay this way and lose?

100lb give or take over about three years (most of it in the first 18months)

Sorry but that's ridiculous. You are going to be malnourished with no metabolism on those sort of rations.

IF I were to be restricted enough to only be able to eat half a cup slowly nd be satisfied, I wouldn't be able to swallow water!

They eat what I eat, or I eat what they eat. I don't "deprive" them if anything - spaghetti for instance. Bolognaise made with hugh quality minced beef, lots of tomatoes, veggies, a low salt base, wholewheat Pasta,what is wrong with that? We eat lots if lean meats off the BBQ, with salads, curries with brown rice, homemade Soups, same a what we always ate.

I may or may not partake in a takeaway meal though, I loathe pizza for example and really wouldn't waste the calories on Chinese food either although we never get that. But the occasional Thai meal or fish and chips mmmmm. Very tiny helpings, very occasionally!

I agree - I have been maintaining for years now, and I pretty much eat the same asi did to lose, with less reluctance to indulge in a glass of wine or whatever.

I exercise, if not as much, even more than I did early on.

So to maintain weight, you basically never go off your diet and exercise plan. Your body adjusts to the lower calorie intake which is hy weight is do hard to keep of.

I made paleo chocolate the other day - does that count? Virgin coconut oil, cacao powder, yumm. I sad up all night with reflux from the oily richness of it do pakeo does not always mean you can eat all you like.

I worry about two things with it - dairy being the first. Paleo does not include dairy and my bones are already stuffed. As a bands tear I am unlike to eat the pure quantity of food to get enough Calcium from other sources.

I also rely heavily on nuts and seeds and one oats for my digestion and those strictly speaking are not allowed either.

But we can all take what we want from a philosophy can't we? And I agree strongly getting banded to eat Protein shakes flavored with instant pudding is doing zilch for anyone's health.