Jachut

I dont have issues with flying. The most I could say is that I am "unhungry" for a day or two after, which is, to me, not a problem at all!

I got banded at 38, am now 42, I lost 100lb and only have tiny amounts of excess skin and residual flabby bits where I always was flabby anyway (saddlebags anyone?) I was never very fat in my 20's, always maintained a BMI of about 27, but its 21 now and I can tell you after four years of running and circuit training, there's no part of me I really have to hide and I'd have been WAY happier in my 20's with the body I have now, versus the body I had then. The only thing I'd consider is a bit of boob work, but that's as much due to 3 pregnancies and 6 years of breastfeeding and they're not that bad anyway.

Not exactly the same, but i had shocking PMS, cramps, bowel symptoms and really really sore boobs that started up each month about four months after banding and lasted about 9 months before things settled and became more normal again. Hormonal disturbances like this are common when you're losing a lot of weight, but of course, it should still be checked out by a doctor. Dont assume it's just due to weight loss.

Sag sag sag! Lot 100lb, went from a 20 DD to a 12C. They were saggy when I was 16 years old though, I have never had perky breasts, always had downward facing nipples. I went to bed flat chested one night as a 14 year old and woke up with a pair of DD's so I have lots of stretch markes too, very faded now and barely visible, but obviously the skin was shot. I found they really upset me for ages because, yes, you can buy miracle working bras and even those chicken fillets you can wear to give you some oomph, but my breasts just "puddle" in any sort of bra so I have to be careful about how much cleavage I show. yet, the last 20 lb I think all came off my breasts and they shrunk down to a C and are now much more easily contained, they stay in my bikini top etc and actually look WAY better again. But they're little more than empty skin. Bear in mind I've got six years of breastfeeding 3 children behind me too. I've looked into a lift, the advice I've had is that I need implants too to restore volume otherwise they'll look a bit like ski jumps and flat on top. Not sure about it, dont want bigger breasts than I have, I like my C's and dont really like the whole fake boob look either. Have to buy a new house first anyway. But long story short, they were terrible for a while there but are now small enough that its not noticeable to anyone but me and I look completely fine dressed.

I know intellectually we all understand the band is a tool but i cant believe how quickly people give up on it and how they expect fast steady loss every single week. Your body is not going to behave so predictably. You've changed your food intake all around, going from virtually nothing during your liquid phase to re-introducing food. You lose a stack of Water when you're virtually fasting and you tend to rehydrate when you start eating again, yet people think their bodies wont show that on the scales? A big attitude adjustement and setting into this for the LONG HAUL would be beneficial to a lot of people. They can save themselves a lot of heartache that way and their bodies will do what they will do regardless. Same with plateaus. They happen. Your body breaks them eventually. See where you are in a year the THEN decide the band's useless. Truly, calm down. You're worrying about absolutely nothing and if you cant take the fluctuations you're better off not getting on the scale. There will also be many times when you need to go by how you feel rather than what the scales say.

You can get either cacium based stones or uric acid based kidney stones, but its not the calcium in the drinks that cause it. High Protein diets CAN affect your kidneys, but it generally takes a lot more than what most people can ingest, unless you already have underlying problems. High protein intakes are dangerous from some people. High protein diets can do things like increase the uric acid levels in your body which can lead to kidney stones - AND also high protein low carb always causes that amazing weight loss becuase your body stores carbs with Water, and as you burn all that glycogen up in the first few days/weeks, you lose lots and lots of water, hence the weight loss. That can actually lead to dehydration to a lot of people, which again, can lead to kidney stones in the susceptible. Its about balance - we need protein, yes and higher levels can have weight loss/lean body tissue advantages, so good for WLS patients, but if you're at all susceptible to kidney problems, you need to know about it. Despite the fact that shakes come packaged with a lot of crap such as artificial sweeteners, its probably healthier to supplement protein intake with them than to eat loads of cheese, eggs and red meat.

Four years out here and never had a problem. My weight loss averaged about 1.5 lb a week for the first year, although I tended to not lose for weeks and then suddenly lose 5lb. I started out with a BMI of 36 so I didnt expect the fast weight loss some had and I also refuse to EVER diet again, so no protein or calorie counting for me either. The second year I lost the other 25lb or so very gradually. I exercised very vigorously all the way through and still do so I never needed to be very tight or dip down below 1500 calories a day or so. Consequently, I have pb'd probably 10 times in 4 years and have never been overfilled or had any issues at all. My band simply makes it easy to eat proper portions and i can eat any food. I didnt get fast loss and I worked darn hard for it exercise wise, but I found the eating side of the equation quite simple - I ate less and lost weight.

I was about 210 lb when i started, down from 240 or so when I got banded. I'm 5ft 10 though, so maybe a bit leaner than such a high weight sounds. However, that was just the stage at which I decided to try, I probably could have done it earlier. I started out to do the couch to 5k, and I jogged the first jaunt and just really felt I didnt need to stop just then, so I kept going and i ran 3kms. So I had a very easy start. I was banded at a BMI of 36 and even at that weight, when my daughter was little, I did go out for very vigorous walks (when I was being *good*) with her in the pram, and would do little jogs in there. So I had *some* fitness. I restricted myself to 3 non consecutive days a week and took it really slow and easy, did a shuffle rather tham a run which was as slow as I could reasonably go without walking and was a slow impact as I could make it. I did that for a few months before I allowed myself to run more and start training for distances, and I managed to avoid injury, in fact in four years now i have never ever had a running injury. My advice would be to learn to run slow. Most of us have a natural pace but you need to learn to override it and go even slower - so that you dont tire within a hundred metres. You'll actually find your cardiovascular fitness builds very very fast - thats the easy bit - if you can go slow enough to build the endurance. That might be only 3 miles an hour, but its the jogging motion rather than walking at that speed that's important. Because its building the strength in your body - your bones, muscles and connective tissue that takes longer and that's what's important to allow you to really run. And even if you're only going at 3 miles an hour, if you're jogging that and not walking, you're forcing your body to adapt to the running motion and you will get there. You can combine that concept with the Couch to 5K program - I'd google that, becuase I believe there's now MP3 downloads that you can do it with - and walk/jog, but the imporant thing is to not run flat out so that you can barely run any distance. Good luck, take it slow and give your body lots of rest in between, do something totally different on other days. There's no satisfaction like becoming a "runner". I reckon it was better than losing the weight!

Its a big realisation isnt it? that's what I found most scary about the whole process, how on earth was I going to cope without being able to pig out? But in the end I didnt find it hard. I think I thought my food problems were worse than they actually are. I got the same satisfaction from much less food and never found that I felt deprived or like I couldnt cope at all. Hopefully, it will be as easy over time for you.

You really have no comprehension of just how hard your body has to work to move itself when you're heavy and just how much oxygen that takes. Exercise becomes so much easier when you've lost weight. I was always "fit" and could do 40 minutes on the elliptical right from the start, but I could never ever move like I do now. Running a couple of kilometres is easier than walking them used to be.

Well, that's just grossly incompetent. To not only miss the port - twice - but to put so much in without stopping to wonder why you werent feeling it. A fill is not a complex procedure and there's no reason why nurses shouldnt and couldnt do them, but that one needs a bit of a refresher course!

I've had reason to reflect on this recently, being a teaching graduate. In Australia anyway, we're desperate for males in the teaching profession. Graduate positions are very competitive, the males have a huge advantage. Also, when a school advertises for graduates, its always partly becuase they want to add younger people to their mix of staff, although of course, in something as beaurocratic as the public education system, they could never admit that. So being a 42 year old female graduate could be a bit of a problem, but i have a position for 2010. I'm absolutely sure it doesnt hurt to look young, fit and have a young persona! I'm quite positive that as an older looking, less energetic person I wouldnt have appeared quite so employable.

That looks yummy! I"m going to try that. The other thing that works well is a pita bread and put it in the oven, its SO crisp. I hate thick or chewy pizza crusts, very very fussy with pizza and will generally only touch gourmet woodfired ones. But pita breads in the oven work well.

Yes, its the only part of my body affected to the degree that I would consider surgery. But they were worse at about the 3/4 point, the last 20lb saw them shrink markedly and now they're only a c cup the sags dont worry me so much as they tuck neatly even into a bikini top. Its an easily hidden flaw too. We have 3 kids to pay private school fees for and a big house extension to do before I think about my boobs, but the advice I've had is that a lift alone wouldnt be sufficient to restore volume to the top and give cleavage, I'd need implants too - which I dont necessarily want since I like being a C cup and dont want big boobs again.

You probably wont find any restrictions at all.

For me, I can eat any amoumt of chips, biscuits, ice cream or even Cereal that I want to. I can go out and eat fattening meals too - not much of them, but I can eat Pasta and stuff. But I know I have good restriction when I eat well. When I eat healthy, Protein packed, vegie packed meals, I really struggle to get through 1500 calories in a day. I get my three meals in and that's it. when I eat that way, I lose even now, four years down the track. Good restriction to me does not mean not being able to eat bread or getting full on half a cup. Today I had a huge Protein shake with a banana blended in (took me a while), a chicken schnitzel sandwich (bread, small schnitzel oven baked, baby spinach, tomato) and a bread and butter plate sized dinner - meatloaf, a spoon of mashed potato and some creamed spinach. other days I can get through twice the calories with poor food choices - which doesnt mean I dont have restriction, it means I'm not using my band well.

I find managing hunger and fullness a bit counterintuitive, in exactly the same way as dieting always was for me. For me, it works the best to eat three solid meals a day - and even though I'm no low carber, those meals need to contain adequate Protein and fat. If I eat rabbit food - a bit of tuna and a tossed salad for example, I will have cravings and I will tend to eat very badly for the rest of the day. Likewise, a small bowl of Cereal for Breakfast makes me full at the time, but it just doesnt set me up for the day. So I try to make my meals of the sort that I really feel guilty for eating, lol. I dont often have Protein Shakes, but I did this morning, with 2 scoops, skim milk and 1/4 of a cup of all bran blended in. That was about 400 calories. That makes me FREAK. 400 calories for breakfast???????? But, I got through to lunch, absolutely no problem, without even thinking about food. At which time I bought a chicken schnitzel sandwich and ate half, threw the rest away. Probably another 400 calories easy. AAARGH. I freak again. But I guarantee I wont eat till dinner, and i'm tight at night and will eat probably 200, 300 calories max. Correction, I wont want to eat till dinner, but I was planning a couple of prunes and a small serve of nuts before boot camp. so that's well umder 1500 calories, which is losing territory for me. I've gained a bit recently because I've been trying to lose - yep, rabbit food, cravings and ending up eating tons of chips, chocolate biscuits, iced coffees - it never fails. so I keep my band a bit looser to allow for bigger meals like that, as it seems to suit me. I dont like eating mini meals every 3 hours, drives me crazy. When I do this, hunger and cravings are NEVER a proble,. I dont understand why its hard to stick to this routine, but it is. I think because the band makes you a bit lazy and its easier to eat ice cream than a sandwich.

Gosh, I couldnt cope at that level of restriction! An hour to eat anything would do my head in. I can eat pretty much anything, but some foods are harder than others - unfortunately things like a tossed salad are quite hard and I often find I put salad on my plate and then end up leaving it there. But I need to eat those foods. I can handle bread, Pasta and potatoes just fine. Steak is hard, but I'm not much for a slab of red meat anyway. My restriction is such that people would think I had a small appetite but I eat a very small but still normal meal.

There's never been a "trend" to place the band high and leave no pouch, if its been placed like that, them its been misplaced. The band is designed to work with a pouch and to be placed at a point on the stomach where restriction will be possible. If yours is high, when you get it very tight, your esophagus is going to be become your pouch. This must be very distressing for you, but it has to be looked at. You're never going to get it working if its not placed right. But personally, I'd be seeking a second opinion from another surgeon.

Exercise, exercise and Portion Control. I dont count calories or Protein or avoid carbs (or ANY food for that matter). But I work out darn hard most days - running, circuit, bootcamp.

I dont find coffee makes me hungrier. And if it does, I'd honestly rather be fat than give up coffee. It will never happen. I love everything about it - the ritual, the way it punctuates the day, I love good coffee. Luckily I was never told to.

The band tends to work the best, statistically, for lower BMI patients. They have more chance of getting right down to a lower BMI, they are more mobile, there's a high chance that eating is less disordered (making the band easier to work with) and the loose skin isnt as big an issue. A very sensible choice to nip this problem in the bud now before your BMI is 45! I've had fantastic experience with my band, my weight loss was slower than a lot of people, steady, but averaging only 1lb a week or so. But I lost a lot of weight quickly at first, 2 or 3 lb a week, so I was out of obese territory within six months.

I have the very beginnings of a turkey neck now. Looking at my Dad, its a genetic trait. My Dad is 72 and his is not very bad, overall he looks great. Women's skin of course tends to do worse, but if that's as bad as its going to get, I can cope. I really truly think agonizing over every little sign of aging will drive you crazy. I really try to not worry about it and dont entertain the thought of cutting up my face because once you start, you just never stop. Its a bit like home renovations, lol.

I dont think there's any need to call someone else's opinion bull. With all due respect, you're at the start of your journey. Losing 3 to 4 lb a week at your stage and BMI is not going to take strenuous exercise or a large reducation in food. Revisit this thread when you've got 30 lb to go to a normal BMI and THEN tell us that its a waste of time to do any more than walk. It also is entirely dependent upon what you call "in shape". There's no absolute regarding this, it means different things to different people. What is true is that the amount of effort you exert usually influences the result you get. Show me a bandster who's lost 100% (or more) of their excess weight, and no doubt, you're also showing me someone who considers walking a great active past-time but spends time on a lot more strenuous activity. I think being in shape means being at the very least, able to go and enjoy a spin class, doing a boxing class, or heading out for a nice 4km gentle run. If you cant do that sort of thing then cardiovascularly speaking, I would say you're not very fit. To me, someone who's in shape has low body fat, visible musculature and flat, toned abs. You may think being in shape means getting through your day without getting tired, getting to a size 14 and being able to shop in normal stores. You can be perfectly healthy at that stage there's no rule saying you have to do more. But not everyone wants to settle just there. And if you dont, then some extra effort is going to be required. Those are two entirely different goals which will affect your exercise choices. So one is not right or wrong and calling my opinion on walking bull is unnecessarily rude. Not to mention anywhere you'll look, you'll find the experts saying the best way to lose fat and maintain muscle is to do things like interval training, circuit training and strength training and that hours of long slow cardio are not the best use of your time becuase a) your body adapts to it very quickly and :ohmy: it tends to may you skinny-fat without a lot of muscle. but I really think the best exercise is one you will DO and one you enjoy. Walking fits the bill for many many people. So do it. All I'm saying is dont expect a BMI of 18 and a hollywood body as a result.

You'll get there, it just takes some headwork. It is REALLY hard to learn to be a thin person - losing weight is the easy part. I am still afraid of food as something that could control me and I havent quite mastered the art and belief in myself that i can eat normally. That I dont need to be constantly avoiding food, resticting it etc. I eat a big Breakfast and them I feel guilty - and like you I am force feeding myself food that I dont really want. juices sound like a good idea and of course, Protein shakes. Much as I hate the things, they do offer good nutrition when you have limited stomach space. Remembering to eat something like a yogurt between meals. I set out certain foods I know I need each day - two pieces of fruit, a yogurt and a small serve of nuts. I set them out in the morning and they MUST be eaten on top of what I choose for meals. I have to regiment it like this or I just graze all day as I dont like eating a full meal at any one time. I'm actually looking forward to returning to full time work next year, teaching gives me a routine that must be followed and i eat a lot better than when I'm at home. This just takes time, you can get your health back up there.