Jachut

I found it pretty darn easy for the first year, I must say. The weight literally fell off. Yes, i worked it. I took up running, I ate healthy, but it wasnt hard. It still isnt really, but it takes more work than it did. My appetite returned towards the end of the second year, I have way more head hunger, I have to work not to eat between meals, a lot of the old urges and habits are back with me. I can control them now though, not so much because of the band but because when you actually GET results, you're motivated to continue a behaviour, however hard. I've passed the point of exercising for weight loss (which is a tenuous thing you have to really try to continue) to becoming a "runner". I have no fear whatsoever that I will fall off that wagon, stop exercising, stop running. It is simply part of me, its what I do. So in that respect, its "easy". But boy did I work hard to get to this point. It takes work, but that's the point of the band, to make what is hard a kind of hard the average person can DO. In a way, it is the "easy way out". There's no denying that to lose 100lb and keep it off without a band would be quite a bit harder. But its SENSIBLE to take the path or least resistance. The only reason I take offense when people suggest it was the easy way out is becuase they're intimating they're somehow morally superior for not stooping that low. Whereas I think I've got more brains in my little finger than some fool who thinks THIS time will be different to the other gazillion times she's dieted. Its not the easy way out - for many people, not all, but many, its the LOGICAL way out.

I went through this and I did adjust after about a year. But my thermostat is definitely set lower than it was - I have to wear something to bed in winter where I never did, I wear a jacket or long sleeves in temperatures where I wouldnt have needed to and in winter, I am known to pull the throw rug off the back of the couch and over me. I'm not driving anyone crazy by wanting the heater on in the middle of summer or anything, but fat definitely keeps you warm.

Yay for you. Those are awesome NSV's. Those huge sudden realisations of how much better I look, or how I can suddenly fit into something are well behind me now. But like a relationship, as fun as the initial excitement is, the long term stuff gets even better. I enjoy the simple satisfication of having a body I treat right. I love what it can do. i love not feeling desperate self loathing every time I look at myself. I absolutely love that without realising it, my new years resolutions focussed on athletic achievement - 2009 is my year to complete several half marathons - and had NOTHING to do with changing myself in any way. I love simply being able to buy what I need to wear, buy it where I want to buy it and not pay stupid prices becuase its plus sized. I love that becuase i hit goal a while ago now, I'm used to it, people are used to it, my body and my problems are no longer anyone's focus. I'm "normal". Wow, whodathunkit?

Knowing how this surgery has helped me as a lower BMI patient (it has been HUGELY successful), as contradictory and irresponsible as this advice sounds, personally, I would be tempted to gain a bit, go in in extremely heavy clothes, have weights in my back pockets (I was thinking about the little weight disks from our dumbell set), drinking loads of Water and eating salty foods for a few days before and scheduling the appointment for right before my period. None of this is healthy, it all sounds really dsyfunctional by sheesh, with all due respect, your entire medical system sounds unhealthy and dysfunctional, lol. The way people are excluded over tiny details is stupid. I mean chances are if they send you away, you'll be 10lb heavier in a year anyway. Good luck.

To me, this is absolutely no surprise. If you read the Share Ideas what did you eat today thread, some people's diets are absolutely awful. Processed meat, cheese, sour cream (as main intake rather than condiments) but little in the way of lean meat, fresh fish, free range eggs and hardly ANY fresh produce. I'm not arguing that high protein/low carb doesnt work or is unhealthy, but the way the average person applies it definitely IS. In many cases, apart from quantity, there is no improvement over pre op eating habits at all. Lower carb is all very well but fresh produce - a variety of fruits and veg and I think wholegrains but I know that's debateable is necessary for our health. A diet of a few pieces of deli meat and cheese in a day, or believing that refried Beans can constitute your entire vegetable intake is ridiculous. I didnt get banded to eat like that! I'm quite happy that although I apparently risk Protein deficiency by getting only 50 grams or so a day from my food, I have in fact improved my blood chemistry which is absolutely perfect. I eat a much more varied diet that is based on wholegrains and fruit and vegetables more so than protein and I've done just fine. Maybe its not for everyone but maybe high protein isnt either? Its just about balace - focus on higher protein/low carb if that's your instructions but try to find healthy sources of it - fish and nuts are healthy fats that wont send your cholesterol levels skyrocketing but remember that fish comes from the ocean in a natural state, not crumbed from a box int he freezer. Nuts grow on trees, not in salt. Eat lots of fresh vegies and fruit. A daily glass of red wine helps. Hard aerobic exercise helps. Low fat everything if you have blood chemistry problems. Think about including carbs such as traditional rolled oats - the insoluble fibre and certain chemicsals in oats lower cholesterol levels.

For the first time ever its actually caused problems between DH and I. We've just been away with friends, last year the kids and I went without Doug as he was on a fishing trip. A friend of a friend, a single guy of about 38 was there, the buggers had told him I was single as he's a bit desperate. Anyway, he quite obviously liked what he saw and with DH not being there, I was quite OK - I could handle him without having to cut him dead. This year DH came and he'd been ribbed about this situation during the year and having a good sense of humour and being secure in our relationship, he took it all good naturedly. However, the reality of the situation was a bit different and I think it pissed him off a bit. He got a bit cool with me, not that I'd done anything to encourage it. What I find hard now though is that its gone right through the extra male attention bit which we all find flattering to people assuming I'm a bimbo. Simply because I look after myself and take care of my appearance (and I'm not even talking make up and stuff here, I'm pretty much an au naturale sort of person) and didnt want to eat McDonalds for dinner but opted to heat some Soup instead, my friend's husband was quite boorish about what a pain in the arse vain bimbo I was. My friend is a complete pig mind you, she's a great girl but looks terrrible, is obese, is messy, dirty and lazy. Her husband lives on coke and junk food. I'm sorry, but I care about how I look, I care about my health, I was raised in a good family and I know how to behave like a lady and I do not need the kind of male attention that assumes I'm high maintenance and difficult. And when her husband said "I couldnt stand being married to YOU", I felt like saying "perhaps it hasnt occurred to you that I might prefer men with some education, some class, some care for their health and the ability to hold a conversation about something other than engines". But I didnt becuase they have a boat and a jet ski and a great house on the Water and I want to be invited back I dont care for being wolf whistled from cars when I go running either and i would like to be able to wear a bikini on the beach without it appearing to signal that I am open to sexual advances from all and sundry. However, it only happens with certain kinds of people and the men whom I generally consider friends, and the men in my family would never behave in this way.

I think that's a healthy attitude. The goal of this for me anyway was always just to be normal. Normal people enjoy Christmas or Easter and partake moderately of what's on offer. They eat a bit more than they normally do and they even maybe gain a pound or two. The key is getting back on the wagon. That's the skill we really all need/needed to develop. I'm back to my regular routine and love that I didnt gain any weight. But yeah, I had fun and certainly drank a bit more than normal.

You know, that is so true. Getting really fit is like discovering a new religion. The joy I get out of my running, the achievement and satisfaction I get out of being fit, how good I feel every single day (and none of it has ANYTHING to do with my band or my weight) is such a great feeling, I want everyone to know what it is like. But you have to work hard to get there, and people tend to just tell you to shut up, that everyone doesnt have to love running and you should stop pushing your opinions down other's throats However, if I wasnt nearly a fully fledged teacher, if I hadnt invested so much time and money into a teaching career, I would DEFINTELY love to get into personal training. I am fascinated by exercise science and I would love to help people to feel as good as I do. The main concern I have with trainers is that in Australia anyway, its back of the cornflake packet stuff. People with real qualifications are working in the professional sporting industry, some of them do PT on the side, for sure, but many trainers dont know a lot, arent terribly qualified, its the career of the moment. I'd definitely try to find one based on personal recommendation and friends' experiences. I want a running coach, but they're darned EXPENSIVE - because they tend to be properly qualified.

Oh, I was just trotting along at a low heart rate, didnt break any speed records, that's for sure.

We just dont really have the anti starch/pro Protein regime here in Australia, its much more an eat normally but in smaller quantities thing. I eat bread, Pasta and rice, but I avoid white varieties, I would never buy prepackaged supermarket bread anymore, I only buy health food shop stuff. I would only eat proper rolled oats, never minute oats or those prepackaged single sachet serves. Um, lets see, yesterday for me: Breakfast - bircher muesli made by soaking 1/4 cup rolled oats in apple juice overnight and in the morning adding some stewed plums and greek yogurt - it was about half a cup. Mid morning I had a skim latte - but a latte here is 1/3 espresso, 2/3 steamed milk, not frothy sweet stuff. lunch was two thin basil and tomato rice cakes with avocado on them and a banana Mid afternoon I had some unsalted cashews, probably about 15 dinner last night was roast pork - a lean pork shoulder baked in the oven, mashed potato/sweet potao and steamed broccoli and cauli. I made dessert too which is not usual - plum crumble (basically baked cut up plumbs with a topping of rolled oats, sugar and butter). I had about 1/2 cup of the roast - tiny bit of meat, spoonful of mash, a piece each of broccoli and cauli and then about 1/4 of a cup of crumble with a bit of low fat custard, half an hour later. I also had a small glass of white wine. this morning I did something a bit naughty and had about 1/4 cup of the plum crumble for breakfast - well really, its fruit, oats and a bit of sugar, but I had some yogurt with it, not custard. Mid morning I had a skim latte again. Lunch was about 1/4 cup total of left over pork and mash with some gravy and about 1/4 cup of mixed berries with a dash of cream. dinner tonight we're having a chicken curry with brown rice. So you can see, I eat completely normal food, I indulge a little bit in a few things that are nice, I drink alcohol moderately, but I do it all in pretty small quantities. I absolutely love banded life, it was the best thing I ever did.

Last night went for a relaxed 8km run. Tonight, I think I'll do a circuit. Its holidays here, its really hot today and I didnt get up till 9.00 am by which time it was already about 28 degrees C, way too hot to go outside and run. Will wait for the cool after dinner. Tomorrow my plan is an interval run, probably cardio coach. Need to charge my ipod!

I think its really worthwhile building a healthy perspective on it too. I think of it in terms of getting older. I quite often look at my 5 year old daughter's gorgeous, dewy skin, or hold my arm against my 13 year old son's and say this is why we plaster you in 30+ every time you go outside. I am an Aussie and I grew up in the 80's - my skin tells that story. No peaches and cream English complexion, that's for sure! By the time I'm 70, I will have a turkey neck, the elasticity on arms and thighs will have gone etc. My excess skin problem really is small enough, that it will be pretty much swallowed up by normal aging anyway. So why would I have major surgery to fix something that will reappear? (and I know this is different to having major hanging skin problems). Like Mac, I have NO objection to cosmetic and plastic surgery - the lapband was very much a cosmetic procedure to me, I was very much motivated by how I wanted to look. But I think many strike a danger period post weight loss where they become obsessed with every physical detail of themselves, I know someone in real life who is a joke - she's had the boobs, the tummy tuck, the face lift, the perma solarium tan, the heavy make up the fake nails, the hair extensions, and soooooo many designer clothes. She's 50 and she looks like a freaking drag queen. Much much healthier to relax into it, think about these procedures, get used to your new face and your new body. I dont really believe that 2 years waiting post weight loss is necessary to let your weight settle, but I do believe for many people it is a GREAT idea to let them calm down a bit before they do things they might regret. We do need to learn to appreciate just being healthy and normal to some degree.

Ack! I have the thinnnest arms, the shape of my upper body, arms and shoulders in particular, I couldnt be happier with. Definitely my best feature and if I'm being horribly vain but objective, they're really nicely shaped. But catch them in the right light and yep, there's arm cellulite there. You've got to see it from the right angle, but its there. I. Freaking. Hate. Cellulite. I have tons of it on my backside. Its disgusting.

I'm totally open and honest about my surgery. I'm not the least bit embarrassed or ashamed about it, even though people assume that because I had it, I must have weighed 300 or 400 lb (I didnt). The way I see it, I am proud of the fact that I said "enough" to the stupid and pointless exercise of trying to lose the weight without surgical help. It. doesnt. Work. People just do not lose 100lb and keep it off. Statistics bear that out. What made me think that I would be the 1% that could do it even though I'd failed a million times before. I also would never ever want to imply to others that somehow I am in that special 1%. I'd feel gutted every time someone I knew lost a lot of weight (not that they've ever kept it off) because it would make me feel I was lacking something. Whilst I dont like people thinking I took the "easy way " out and I'm quick to point out how much work it is, I also dont want them to think that I could do this without help.

I think you have to remember there are people with varying degrees of illness getting banded. You have people with truly disordered eating. You have people with real issues they dont know how to cope with other than eating. You have people that cant take any responsibility for their own actions and decisions and expect the band to "do" something for them. The biggest thing I've learned on here is how many obese people are victims. Everything happens TO them. None of it is their fault. They blame their obesity on everything but their own actions. They think the whole world exists just to descriminate against fat people. This is the group I tend to really lose my temper with. Its such a waste of time to be such a wimp. You also have people who have NO idea what a healthy diet is and genuinely think they're doing the right thing. You have people with metabolic disorders such as PCOS, problems like diabetes, physical disabilities that render exercise difficult etc. If you wiped all of these factors then perhaps you would have 100% compliance. But I agree, I tend to think that getting banded is the hugest, most positive step any of us would have taken towards attaining a healthy weight. If you cant even muster up enough willpower and enthusiasm to make it through the first weeks, then what hope is there? You know though, I've been on here long enough to see that that's not the case all the time. Plenty of people go into this misguided and get a shock at how hard it is. But plenty of them also then get their asses in gear and learn to work it. But the ones that say "but I"m hungry" or "but my friend's doc says this is OK", I just think "oh boy".

Many doctors will say that because they're liquid, they wont fill you and are therefore a poor choice. When you're banded, you realise that this isnt always true, many *liquid* foods like Soup fill me remarkably and are actually quite difficult to eat, more so than many solid foods are. Personally, I think no food should become a staple. Protein shakes are a high dose of protein and thus useful, particularly for people with small appetites. My opinion (and its just my opinion) is that I'm suspcious about any processed, packaged food and I wouldnt have them every day, especially soy based ones. I'd prefer to eat the food, but we cant always do that. If you like them, they're not going to do any damage to your band, that's for sure. But they might not do you as a meal. I find if I do have one, I eat a banana with it, and that is a really filling breakfast for me.

I swing wildly between 2 extremes. I'm a size 8 now at 5ft 10, so I'm tall and thin, but I still feel flabby and fat a lot of days. All this talk though of "normal weight" and my normal weight really isnt. I stand next to just about anyone, and I'm very much thinner and fitter looking. All my friends have had babies, they've all got the middle age spread happening, many of them are actually obese. I cant help but feel fantastic when I compare myself. But it doesnt change the fact that its still excruciatingly embarrassing those first moments when you bare yourself on the beach, that I feel desperate in the change rooms when i see the state of my backside, that some days I feel like I need my own post code. It doesnt change the fact that I'm older than I was 10 years ago and look it. But I'd have to say after 18 months at goal, it IS getting better. I'm becoming more used to myself and how I look and I've really forgotten what it was like to be 250lb.

I can down a bread roll one day and pb yogurt the next. In general I'm very very lucky, I can eat anything. But sometimes, for short periods of time my band gets very moody and doesnt like things. At the moment, for the past couple of weeks, I cant eat salad. Ugh. Instant pain, guaranteed pb if I perservere. Given its summer here its a pain in the neck, but to be honest, I've never liked basic garden salad before anyway, the kids dont eat it so i may as well just cook the darn vegies. Pasta salad, potato salad, anything like that is fine, although of course there's minimal green vegetable and maximum fatty mayonnaise so those arent healthy foods. But if we go to a barbecue at the moment, I eat the potato salad and leave the lettuce!

I had a similar thing, not quite so tight as you describe but I was pretty much at maintenance anyway and I thought I'd just get a tad more and try to take off an extra 10lb. Well, in reality, I just ended up eating tons of crappy slider foods instead of anything decent and its taken me a LOT of hard work to get back onto a good diet, as bad habits crept in again. It just never works the way you think it will, if you cant eat solids, you really are quite likely NOT to lose weight. If you find you're losing then I dont think its that unsafe to let it loosen on your own, as long as you're not having reflux and night coughing and tons of pbing. But dont be surprised if you dont lose well.

Well, that's hard to say, because although I've run regularly throughout my whole journey, who's to say what I would have looked like had I not done so? i can say I dont *need* plastic surgery. I have no hanging apron or terrible bat wing arms. But I also do not have the body I'd expect to have for the amount of exercise I do. Its not fair, but I'm STILL flabby and loose. And that's just because all over my body, my skin is about 1/2 a size too big for the body its covering. I look somewhat toned because you can see muscle definition on me, but its all just a bit sad and droopy. I could look FANTASTIC with a tummy tuck, buttock lift, etc but to be honest, the problem I have does not justify the awful scarring from those procedures. The state of my poor boobs does. I've also heard on more than one occasion that jogging destroys your face, lol. Sadly, I think that anyone who loses a lot of weight will have the signs on their body to show for it. Unless they're VERY luck and VERY young, I just dont think there's a lot you can do about it. I'd never ever ever trade my old body for the one I have now though. I may not look perfect but all around me, people of my age are fat and out of shape, so in comparison, I do OK, lol.

See this is where I think Protein first is a crock. That looks absolutely horrible to me. Where is the fresh fruit and vegies? If you were to chuck say an apple, a banana, a cup of steamed vegies into that mix, it would make a huge improvement, its not so much the amount as WHAT you're eating. That's all dense food calorie wise, and a lot of fat. You need to balance it out with low calorie, low fat foods that are mostly Water - you need the fibre, you definitely need the Vitamins, antioxidants and minerals and you just simply dont need that much energy dense food in a day. I think trying to get tight enough to eat tiny quantities of dense food is the wrong approach, I think the amount can remain more reasonable if people would only eat some decent produce. Fudgsicles would be better replaced by some fresh fruit. 3/4 of a CUP of tuna is an enormous amount of tuna, I'd be more inclined to eat 1/4 of a cup of it on wholegrain crackers with some sliced tomato. Sorry, I know that many here would disagree with me as the protein is the the main focus for many of you. Just my 2c though. I read that intake and think too many calories for very little nutritional variety.

Yesterday went for a 7km run along the beach, we were at a friends holiday house. This morning we're home (beach is only 45 mins away, we tend to come and go all summer). Will probably walk if Doug ever gets up, if not I'll do a circuit. We're going back down this afternoon, so I'll probaby do the beach run Saturday and Sunday. Dont think I'll get a chance to do any weights till after then.

That's a very astute point on banding for the higher BMI patient, Wasa. There's loads of evidence coming to light in Australia that banding is much more successful for those with a lower BMI. I wonder why? Behaviour? Or are or bodies working differently? But that's not to say that there's not many people here on this very forum who have lost to normal from a pretty high BMI. Its not unheard of either. Give yourself a chance Michellah08, that's hardly a positive way to be thinking from the get go. Many of the poor statistics are due to elements entirely in your control, you CAN do this if you want to. Even if the band DID take you to 55% of your excess weight lost, you can think about a sleeve to take you the rest of the way, if your loss was getting ridiculously slow and difficult. But give the band a chance, afterall, its already there inside you. It does take a while to get with the program though, you need a bit of restriction first.

Actually anything cold - yogurt, cottage cheese, orange juice, is likely to block me up. And I'm afraid to eat anything like ice cream or a thick shake becuase it gives me a REALLY painful belly ache that aches all the way up my throat and into the roof of my mouth. Its excruciating. And I really struggle with Soup. It is definitely not a slider food for me, its a guaranteed eat only half a cup before I'm done food and therefore is a GREAT lunch for me.

Having never been super big myself, I still used to feel uncomfortable in the gym, even though people just like me always outnumbered the super fit ones. Really, there's all shapes and sizes in a gym! Truly, if I saw someone very obese come into the gym, I would have nothing but admiration for their bravery. I wouldnt think a single mean thought about it. Yes, people notice you're big. But to be brave enough to do something about it is admirable. Dont be ashamed! It does help if you can find a gym with the right atmosphere though.