Jachut

I guess we're all individuals becuase I find carb foods like bread and Pasta are what make my band work like it should, meaning they stay in my pouch inducing a sense of satisfaction on fewer calories than lots of Protein - not that I dont eat protein too, I just focus equally on all food groups. If I eat salad vegies and tuna for lunch, I'll be hungry in an hour. If I eat that between 2 slice of bread I wont get quite all of it in, so I eat slightly less tuna and slightly less vegies but with the addition of (wholegrain) bread, it all stays with me for hours and hours and hours. The thing is the carbs you eat must be low GI ones, ones that dont give you a massive rise in blood sugar. Also, if you eat such carbs with slow digesting foods that are high in protein, that also slows down the absorbtion of the entire meal. Eating a potato by itself is an entirely different matter than eating a bit of potato, some vegies and some steak. The key to not stretching your pouch is not overeating, period. And not drinking when you're eating. Perhaps what your boyfriend means is that certain foods, like rice and pasta - particularly the white versions - can swell even more with the liquid in your stomach and that's why they can be such hard foods to eat.

No, those sorts of things dont fill me at ALL. I can still eat five or six of them like I always could which is why i said I avoid them. They're slider foods for me.

Oh, I'm very unrestricted in bandster terms and I just cant do big Vitamin pills - I take chewable ones. And these things called Iron melts that are similar (coz I tend to be chronically low on iron). I add ground flaxseed into things that are appropriate or take a tablespoon full of flaxseed oil every day. That way I can avoid the horrid experience of having the pill stick in my throat, making me gag and vomit it back up - I swear its not a pb, its just my ultra babyish reaction to swallowing - anything :-) - but its not fun when your coffee follows it via your nose. I've not needed anitbiotics at all in the 4 years since banding, not sure how I'll cope when I do. Smaller capsules like painkillers are fine for me though. Wasa - you're on! I just saw a divine recipe for duck in a port and orange sauce surrounded by pitted cherries on the Tour de France - any chance? But a bowl of lentils would be fine....

You know, I've found the transition to maintenance the hardest thing about the whole weightloss journey by a LONG shot. I cannot seem to give myself permission to not be trying to lose weight. Its not that I find the middle ground hard to find, its more that I consider that normal eating (and thus not having the feeling of deprivation that you get when trying to cut back, however mild) "naughty". I cant seem to feel comfortable with being satified, eating what I want and trusting my body to not lie to me about what it needs, I have been just doing what I'd call 'maintenance exercise' meaning a 7km run most days and I feel guilty for being "slack". Where does this need to punish myself come from? I'm at the stage with my body image where overall, I have come to terms with the new me, I have a realistic vision of myself, I know that I'm not fat, in fact I'm pretty slim and I can see my problem areas, as always are my buttocks, hips and upper thighs. I know that I'm a PERFECT candidate for some lipo there, I just need an artistic touch to smooth me out a bit and I would have a really nice figure as I'm lucky to be well proportioned, tall and slim. We've earmarked some money in about september for that because realistically, I cant control where the weight comes off and a) I find my current 150lb VERY easy to maintain and :biggrin0: I know I'll lose my boobs, get gaunt in the fact and STILL have saddlebags if I lost more weight anyway. So why not just relax, enjoy not having to diet, run my easy runs that I enjoy so much and not push myself to run myself into the ground? I dont know. I feel like I'll lose control or something, its so weird. Maintenance is really really hard. Keeping the weight off isnt, but adjusting to not needing to lose weight is!

I've had my band almost 4 years now. Life now is pretty good, I feel better both physically and mentally not having a BMI of 35 anymore, in fact I feel downright attractive most days :-). I have plenty of confidence in my appearance which has translated into a lot more confidence to tackle other areas of life where I gave the impression of confidence but in fact felt out of my depth, work, job interviews, that sort of thing. I feel better than I did at 20, because I'm way fitter than even when I was a healthy 20 year old! I took up running and I would never give up this level of super-fitness that I have achieved, I will be running when I'm 70! Managing my weight by eating and exercise is a day to day thing, I still think about it every day, I still have to make good decisions and am not always successful at it and of course, I have the day to day reminders that I have a lapband - nearly ever meal will include a "discomfort" or two meaning one or two bites may go down too fast, not be chewed enough or be too big and you have to stop and let it just pass through a bit and every time you eat out with others you have the pressure to eat carefully so that no embarrassing incidents occur. Every now and then I will vomit up something, in fact I've done it twice this week from taking a Vitamin pill with a swallow of coffee, I'm just tight this week for some reason and cant swallow the big pill. That's annoying, not painful, awful or scary and its not nauseous acidy vomiting like when you're sick, its simply regurgitation. It comes with unmistakeable stomach feelings which again, i wouldnt classify as pain, more a warning. Bands are fickle, your retriction varies from day to day and especially for women over the month, so really you can never ever be completely confident that you know your band, your body and how it will react in any given situation. I say that not to scare you but to be honest, you dont get a lapband and then forget forever more that its there, with the only change that you eat less. You are aware of it every single time you eat, but its not a bad thing. Every day, I try to eat well, and like normal thin people. some days I dont! I eat more on holidays, I can enjoy special occasions but most days I also run about 8kms. that's my life in a nutshell, I would never regret or change the fact that I had this done, for me it was the absolute best decision for my health - and to be honest, my satisfication with my appearance - that i could ever have made. but I strongly think you need to be the right candidate for a band, you MUST be prepared to work hard at it or the weight loss will be disappointing, good eating choices and exercise are key.

Well, in Australia, really they cant refuse to refer you, I dont know what its like wherever you are. I would do one of two things a) do your block completely and insist that she refer you because its YOUR body and YOUR decision and you're perfectly capable at 23 years old of making those sorts of decisions, just as you are capable of deciding to get married, buy a house etc. or :confused: doctor shop until you find one that WILL refer you.

The thing about poverty and eating poorly is so NOT true. Its lack of education and lack of energy to bother that is the problem, not lack of money or access to food. You can go to Prahran market or South Melbourne Market or Queen victorian Market here in Melbourne - any of the big markets and I"m sure every major city in the world has them and if you go at close to closing time you can buy an enormous bag - like 20lb worth of mixed vegetables for $20. Beans and pulses are cheap as dirt. Our local supermarket which I rarely shop at becuase I am a fresh market shopper in general does market saturday every week at 5pm where the meat and poultry is absolutely rock bottom prices. The trouble is people dont know how to cook! Buying food this way is FAR cheaper than buying rubbish but people just have no idea what to do with it. It is not hard to learn to be a good basic cook but people are plain lazy and sometimes intimidated. Being poor has nothing to do with not knowing how to cook lentils and vegies into a healthy satisifying meal, the information on what is a healthy diet is everywhere for people to know, cooking oatmeal for Breakfast - from scratch not that packaged rubbish everyone seems to love - is as cheap as it gets and very healthy. Poverty is no impediment to eating well if people were educated about it - probably the responsibility of each individual themselves but also as a policy thing. I have the modern day version of the mega pot over the fire - a slow cooker and I regularly DO fill it with every vegetable and pulse I can find in the house and simmer it all day! I think the thing with the Protein first and why we seem to argue about it and why it is not pushed so much here is that in general our "band culture" in Australia is not to be so tight that getting 60 to 80 grams a day would be any issue whatsoever so there's no need to make it the focus. My doctor would say that if you need Protein shakes, then you're too tight and that you should be able to eat a balanced meal of protein, wholegrain carb and vegetables. I dont know where this 1/2 serving ideal came from but it is to my mind the most problematic misconception of the band ever. It makes it so that you have to be overtight to remain satisfied, and leads to you not being able to eat enough of what you need, and of course, being that tight leads to all the problems that the band seems to bring on. Gram for gram, protein and carbs are the same calorie value - 9 cal (I think). The thing is protein comes as solid, and dense, so small. Wholegrain bread comes with loads of fibre and air and fruit and veg come with fibre and Water, so it is much more filling for a smaller amount. So you can eat way more BULK for not a lot of extra calories. Loosen off your band, eat a cup worth instead and fill it out with healthy fibre giving wholegrain foods and suddenly you could be just as satisfied, on only a few more calories with, I'm betting, MUCH less discomfort associated with an overtight band. Make up the difference by moving more if you need to. But having your band tight enough to limit you to half a cup of protein and very little vegetables and then adding back in Vitamin pills, protein shakes and fibre is to my mind absolutely insane. That simply CANT be the route to a healthy long life.

We call it soft drink down under. My doctor - who was a band pioneer - thinks the no carbonated drinks thing is rubbish. Where it started I dont know, but he likens it to the theory that suddenly becuase you're banded your body needs ten times more Protein than it did before. So carbonated drinks are not forbidden BUT no doctor would advocate a regular intake of soft drinks - they're HORRIBLE for you diet or regular. They do terrible things to your body and are well and truly "sometimes" drinks, not everyday things. I thankfully dont like soft drinks much but I do like soda Water (club soda I think? just plain carbonated water) and mineral water but those are things I might drink out if I'm not having a glass of wine. Occasionally I like a beer too, but not often. But what you'll find is the bubbles really fill you up and you just cant down four diet cokes in a sitting. i would also never say no to champagne, but those bubbles dont seem to have any effect on me.

Real hunger to me since being banded 4 years ago has always been painful. I mean, i can get a little peckish and have a rumble or two and that just feels like hunger always has done to me. But if I go say from lunch at midday till dinner at 7.30 I will get a painful hunger. For me, the pangs turn into something more crampy and I will get acidy too. Then when I do eat and hit my stomach, it burns, like wine or coffee does when you've got a bit of heartburn. The answer to me is easy, I eat regularly and small rather than go long times without eating. I do basically follow a 3 meals a day plan as I just dont seem to handle five small meals well, I need it to be 3 main meals and a definite 'snack' rather than a small meal, meaning just a nibble of something.

I've had my wedding and engagement rings resized twice and they're too big again - not wearing them at the moment. I actually dont wear them that often anyway, as my tastes have changed a LOT since I got married 20 years ago and I tend to wear very different style of jewellery now, not really big on traditional feminine pretty jewellery and much more likely to go for something much more modern/funkier. So at the moment I've got a sterling silver dome ring on my wedding finger. DH isnt fussed, he'd rather I do that than shell out AGAIN for resizing, and I think I'll wait and remodel the rings entirely. They're yellow gold which I no longer wear at all.

Kim, if you're looking at the band as portion control and portion control only, then its done a GREAT job - 40lb in 9 months without 'diet' or 'exercise' is fabulous! however, you absolutely cannot keep getting tighter and tighter waiting for the band to kick in and automatically make you lose weight. It wont happen, you're already experiencing problems and if you go on like this you risk losing your band through problems you've caused yourself. Isnt it easier to put in a little effort on the diet front and do some exercise? You'd get to eat MORE than you can now, and not be tight and pbing after every meal. I simply cannot understand what people choose to go through rather than go out their front door and move a little. Honestly, exercise is not that bad, and its certainly a better option than strangling your stomach and becoming malnourished!

Yeah, I think we're basically arguing the same thing here, but coming at it from different directions. I get frustrated because people simplify it to carbs and nothing else - when you look back to the 50's and 60's people ate carbs in their diets then and people werent fat like they are now - it's all snowballed with the combination of carbs and fat into processed foods that just used to not exist. I think you just have to define it so that people include in their mental picture of junk foods white bread, flour and sugar along with McDonalds, KFC and pizza. I can remember back in the 80's being on a low fat diet and being hungry an hour after a lunch that consisted of a banana in a white bread roll so I ate jelly babies because they had no fat. Argh. Not exactly a constructive way to tackle a weight problem! I certainly dont advocate that or do it now! But I also dont believe fat people all lack the ability to be moderate and I personally dont really believe in "trigger foods" either - but maybe that's because I dont have any particular ones. I guess really why I'm so pedantic on this is that I very strongly dont believe in rules and diets and I dont think there's success down the road if you just ban whole good groups forever. I think realistically everyone IS going to eat McDonalds or cake or Pasta once in a while and that its more sensible to find ways to fit that into an overall healthy diet rather than just ban them. But that's personality I guess.

Lol, I think we can safely assume that the OP's tummy has settled down by now. It either went down or came up :-)

I agree, it's unlikely to be calorie related as you're doing great there. Exercise does make you more tired, and I sometimes feel like its counterproductive, but its more just my busy life that makes me weary in the late arvo. but you could be low on Iron or B Vitamins or something.

Group strength classes like PUMP are fantastic general exercise, but if you really want to build triceps, low weight high rep isnt the way to do it. YOu need to lift a weight so heavy that you can literally only do a few reps. A great triceps exercise is dips. Pull up a dining chair or find a waist high fence to lean on, anything will do (I use the side of our trampoline). Put your feet straight out in front of you and lean back, hands on the bar or chair, and taking ALL your weight through your arms (no cheating and using your legs) bend your elbows and drop your body, then raise again by straightening your arms. You will progressively take more and more weight through your arms and less and less through your legs but you should exhaust the muscle completely, so that 8 or 10 reps is it. Then do some full body pushups to attack from a different angle. Even then, as a woman, you'll struggle to truly build a bigger muscle, but that will be a lot more effective than body pump, which really is only a toning, aerobic activity - definitely NOT a waste of time but it generally wont build big muscles either.

But Wasa, the whole obesity thing is not as simple as white carbs - although of course, cutting those is a great place to start. People eat a LOAD of other poison - trans fats, saturated fat, additives, colours and flavours, loads of salt, pesticides and other chemicals. I know that basically you and I do agree about what a healthy diet is too. Personally I believe if people actually learned to shop, cook and plan and stopped living out of boxes and cans, there'd be a lot less fat people around. And even the thin ones would live longer and have less disease. People also dont move - I mean read here about how people drive to work, spend their day at a desk, and drive home, then go for half an hour on the elliptical and call THAT a good exercise day. Its not their pwn personal fault, I'm not saying anyone is slack, but that is just SO far removed from what the human body is designed for that its ridiculous. Half an hour on a cardio machine will never ever make up for the fact that we're supposed to be moving all day. Put all those factors together and THEN you've got a nation in obesity crisis, and that's a crisis that wont be fixed simply from giving up flour and sugar. Its way way more complex than that. that's where I agree with you - thinking you're doing fine just by eating smaller amounts of crap food is dangerous. Cutting out starchy, white carbs is a great first step, but that's all it is - a step in the right direction, not the whole answer.

Exactly. How did this thread got onto a carb versus non carb discussion, lol? There are a lot of us who eat rice and have lost weight too. I have no problem with what dietary plan people choose to eat or what they choose to believe is healthy from the plethora of theories out there. However, i have a problem when people present their approach as right or correct to the exclusion of others. We have a whole country of people here in Australia who are not encouraged to do Protein first and who are not encouraged to give up rice, bread and Pasta (although we are warned they can be problem foods). And we have good results with the band here in Australia. So it is patently obvious to me that the protein first, carbs only from fruit and vegies approach is just not the only "right" way to do it. It is absolutely obvious to me that you can lose weight on a diet that includes reasonable quantities of bread, rice and pasta. Although I agree, nobody "needs" white low GI carbs and that these are unhealthy junk foods, I'd also argue that you can eat some of them and not be fat. There's evidence of that everywhere. I'd also argue that nobody "needs" deli meat, protein or not. Nor do they need cheesed or Protein shakes - particularly soy isolate ones(hmmm, I'd like an overdose of gm soy product packed full of toxins and phyotestrogens for my breakfast thanks). I think the health side of this is an entirely separate one that most of us arent qualified to argue on - especially when it appears different bodies need different things. Some people will find their blood chemistry is diabolical after a few months on Atkins, others find it improves. Some people's bodies react way worse to carb foods than others. My own personal view is that I believe nothing that's out there completely and that its still safer to go moderation in all things. I try not to eat white flour and sugar, and to eat the wholegrain version of things, I occasionally eat white rice or potatoes, becuase once in a while is pretty irrelevant, as is a bit of chocolate now and then. And entire countries subsist on rice without having 1/3 of the health problems of the USA. Sumo's get fat becuase of CALORIE intake (which is made up of a lot of rice) not becuase of rice itself - you could get fat on apples if you wanted to.

Well, I have the same band and have had for almost four years, my fills in the past year or two have been 0.1 cc After my weight loss stopped, I was a BMI of 22 (I wont say I hit "goal' because honestly, it was my body's decision, not mine), and I went 12 months without seeing my doc. Over time, I thought I'd like to lose just a few pounds more, and I felt I'd loosened off a little, so in I went. I had a few appointments all about 3 months apart, just getting to a new comfortable fill (3 cc for me) and now I havent been for six months. My instructions are to check in once a year. I've been to my doctor several times over the years just to check in, without wanting a fill. What do you do for exercise now? I know for me, to lose those last couple of pounds I wanted to, exercise had to be completely ridiculous. I was doing really hard, intense interval training and circuit training with heavy sandbags. That's what it took to shift weight at that stage and it still works for me now - had a super sexy tight pair of jeans I wanted to wear to a function in 2 weeks time, and had to get into them, lol. But for normal day to day stuff, I just head out and run for 40 minutes - 7kms or so. That is maintenance exercise for me, I put some effort in but its quite easy for me, I dont tire myself doing it, etc, but even a regular 7kms a day run isnt enough to shift weight from my body anymore - to do that, I have to do vomit inducing HARD exercise.

The scars worried me more than anything. Why I cared that my skin remain pristine when my gut was too fat to show anyway, I'll never know, but I did. And I was really upset when I saw them too. But four years later, they're barely there. Well, you can see the port one, because my stomach is skinny enough that my port sticks out, sigh. But that's what you get - remain fat or decide you want some scars and a visible port. The scars WILL fade with time, I have five and the only one you can even see is the larger port scar. Having five is quite normal. Even if they were badly done, they will lose their colour and fade lots with time.

Well, firstly I see 50 lb in 9 months as realistic, sensible achievable weight loss. 100lb in a year is pretty spectacular weight loss and not something everyone can achieve. I also think plateaus just happen and can be a reminder to rededicate to your program and stop missing the details of what you eat, how you exercise etc, just get strict again. But they also just happen and there's zilch you can do sometimes except wait it out. Some people lose weight fast, some dont. I took 2 and a bit years to lose 100lb but I'm there in my avatar in a bikini! I've maintained for 2 years give or take and I dont even THINK about how long it took to lose the weight. I also enjoyed every new low on the way down. I felt freaking GREAT to have lost 50lb, I didnt spoil it by being down on myself becuase it took a few weeks more to get there. You are doing great. However, I can recommend interval training to get weight moving again. Its not for the faint hearted and it really isnt hard enough if you dont think you're going to puke or die by the end of it, but it really works!

No, you cant make the pain go away. That's your penance for having overeaten. You have to wait until your stomach empties a bit. Overeating is FAR more painful than being stuck in my view. And often all it takes is that last bite on your plate that is sooooo tempting (we all like to clear our plates!). Its so easy to do and so painful when you do it. I hate it and am lots lots better at not doing it because to me, the pain is just not worth it.

I think viewing this as a lifestyle, not a diet. I never expected perfection from myself, I never got stressed over how much I lost when, I didnt expect routine 2lb losses every week or to not hit plateaus of weeks at a time, I was ambitious but at the same time, where i got to was where i got to, I instigated other healthy behaviours such as regular exercise and found something that I actually ENJOY, I gave up all dieting behaviours, never journalled, did any particular "diet", never counted calories. When I got to a healthy weight and it was apparent I'd lose no more, i didnt change anything. Over time I guess I eat a bit more and have modified my running to a schedule more like something I can do for life - 40 mintues a day - but I still run almost daily, I still eat well. yet I'm realistic that some days/times I wont eat so well. I do what normal people do - go on vacation and eat a bit more, eat chocolate before my period, eat more on Christmas day. I never ever tried to be some dieting robot or thought that healthy weight management involves perfect, faultless behaviour. I also dont really seek to "fix" any food issues I have. I believe everyone has them and managing them is a day to day process, sometimes I will choose to eat just because I'm bored, sometimes I wont. It really only took a small shift in the balance of when i do and dont to get rid of my excess weight. its really just a variation of the fake it till you make it approach. I started acting like a naturally thin person and lo and behold, i became one. In my experience, naturally thin people dont obsess over Protein or calories, they decide sometimes they have room for chocolate cake but usually not if they had pie for Breakfast and they have goals other than weight loss for their exercising.

Not sleeved, banded, but have gone from a bra size of about 40DD, straight to an 38E (was wearing too big a back, too small a cup) with a fitting, lol, and then over the course of my 100lb weight loss have gone down to a 32C - and that's only coz I roll up the skin to fit it in! My breasts are having some work done on them later this year, they're tragic, just empty bags of skin and very little actual breast tissue. In would ideally like only a lift, I'm really not into big bouncy plastic tits, prefer a much more natural look, but I may have to have an implant to get some fullness into the top of them - at the moment, i have incredibly sharp collarbones, you can see my ribs in my chest and my whole ribcage bulges out further than my bustline does - I'm pear shaped and barely have a gram of fat around my chest, neck, shoulders and upper arms. I actually look a little deformed and although I have reasonable sized breasts that look OK in a lycra type Tshirt that's very fitted, in your ordinary man style T, I can look ironing board flat. So breasts, not a happy story. Stomach etc all fine, no real skin problems there, no bat wings etc. My shoe size didnt change, but I started with a BMI of 35, I did lose some "fatness" on my feet so that I can wear strappy sandals and things now without my feet bulging but I have size 10, extremely wide flippers and always will have.

Truly, I dont think I really changed shape from blobby and rotund and VERY pear shaped to a "normal" until AFTER I'd reached a normal BMI. I know that sounds sooooo discouraging, but the truth is we all have different body types and mine is tall, willowy and meant to be thin. So even at a BMI of 25 I had way too much body fat and I looked like it. Whilst you still have extra fat you will still have your problem areas - for me it was the muffin top and big or little, it ruined stuff I wanted to wear, broke up the line of my body etc. It didnt go until very last and it didnt go until I got well down to a BMI *under* the top of the healthy range. Only THEN did I start seeing a "normal" figure and even then, that depends on the day! I still think I'm big compared to other people and them am stunned when i see a reflection in a shop window or a photograph.

You know, whilst on a level I absolutely agree with you on how offensive and wrong this sort of thing is, it really amazes me how people cant see and underswtand why this happens. Its called abjectification - as human's we tend to abjectify things like bodily products - we react in dusgust to blood, vomit, etc - disease, the other (other races, disabled or retarded peple, homosexuality, femininity) and we most certainly do it with obesity. Its a deep part of our psyche to react this way. If we didnt have it OURSELVES as obese people, we wouldnt have motivation to loose weight. None of us truly look at our obese bodies and feel no disgust, even if its not on a conscious level. None of us dont feel in some space deep inside as if we're not the abject, the thing that induces disgust. Looking at yourself in despair thinking "I've got to do something about this" is absolutely accepting the fact that you know how others will view you, you know exactly what the obesity signals to other people and that's why you want to change. Health reasons are there, yes, and not everyone wants to get to be model thin either but ALL of us want to change enough to not be "abject" anymore. People get a lot more flowery about this, I've got some seriously weird essays on this stuff from doing a literature major as part of a teachign degree. However, these theories were supported by people such as Freud and Lacan, they're well known and accepted. Its an entirely human and deep seated reaction to abjectify obesity in this manner, same as we would all do if we were presented with a rotting corpse. That's no excuse, people have to learn to deal with corpses in some jobs, disease in others, bodily fluids too. And we can CERTAINLY learn to deal with obesity in an considerate and empathetic manner. But that deep rooted response is quite deeply entrenched on our psychological make up. Its not only ignorant people that feel it and its not only thin people that feel it. Obesity isnt a simple case of fatness as we would like it to be - it IS a disease that deforms our bodies and challenges our mental construction of humanity and we respond to it as such. Thankfully human beings are *usually* evolved enough to be aware of the way our own minds work and retrain them to work in a more morally and socially acceptable way, unlike your colleagues!