Jachut

Its happened to me once earlier this year, I had a slight unfill (.2cc) and felt better, then weeks later, whatever caused the random tightness (think it was some menstrual difficulties I was having at the time) sorted itself out and wham, I'm as wide open as can be. I'm going back to have the fill put back in, I dont need to lose anymore, but I'm having to work pretty hard not to gain weight. Lots of willpower and self denial going on here, and thank goodness for my running.

I eat the same as I ate to lose and I exercise the same. I just kept doing it till I stopped losing and called that goal :-). But I never really "dieted" so there was no need to add extra food at maintenance Today has been a good day, a good example: Breakfast - bowl of muesli with some strawberries and greek yogurt lunch: a tuna sandwich on wholegrain bread with some lettuce, tomato, cucumber and beetroot (tinned). Couldnt finish it, ate about 2/3 Afternoon: two ryvitas with vegemite Dinner: mashed potato and pumpkin, steamed broccoli, a lamb loin chop, and a glass of wine - dinner was about a cup in total, maybe a bit less). So my meals are small, but normal. That's what the rest of the family eats too. I guess the only difference is that if we happened to have a block of chocolate or something after dinner watching a movie, I wouldnt hestitate to get my share! Oh and I have also done an 8km run today.

Nope, sorry, but you're just nuts, lol. Oh, yes, I *do* dream about food sometimes. I have a recurring one, I always have it when I go to bed a little drunk. Anything past that 3 glasses of wine, when you got to bed holding on to the bedside table because the bed keeps spinning and tipping, ergh, I must be really dehydrated because I *ALWAYS* dream of gorging myself on watery iceberg lettuce. Weird, I know.

I learned something very interesting this week though. And it may be one reason why we dont do the low carb thing in general here in Australia. SIL and BIL have been living in Canada and the States for the last 18 months. Sadly they had to come home for a family funeral but it was terrific to see them. SIL got in, went straight out to the bakery bought a loaf of bread and picked up a latte too. She is absolutely starved for real coffee (not that Starbucks crap) as in a REAL latte, the way the Europeans do it, which is mostly how our coffee is here. And she said all the bread is like cake, sweet, fluffy, and doughy. We have bread like that too of course, but there's also easily available, cheap GREAT bread, heavy, grainy and healthy, full of fibre. So maybe when I bang on how bread and cereals are NOT bad food and people here think I'm crazy, we're talking about two different things? Because if I was talking supermarket bread and Corn flakes, I would agree, those foods are best avoided.

It makes me sad that you're so young. I really hope you get to experience being YOUNG very soon. All those things are how you should feel when you're getting old and slowing down. That's really what spurred me on to having surgery. I didnt have comorbidities yet but I felt so tired and old, and that was from a relatively low BMI of 35. I am absolutely BURSTING with energy these days. The clothes and stuff are all nice, but its how I feel that really amazes me. I was missing out on life before. Very best of luck!

Sorry, but the best way to reduce the size of your stomach is cardio and strength work combined - burn off the fat and do stomach work to tone and strengthen. But unless you burn off the fat, nothing is going to make much difference. Many people already HAVE the six pack, you just cant see it.

Ugh, I know what you mean - I was the same with baby formula. Thank goodness I was a good cow and made plenty of breastmilk becuase just the smell of formula was enough to make me hurl. And I know that protein powder smell, I hate it too.

Its personal choice. This site has made me realise just what a vast culture gap exists between countries - what we consider a healthy diet and healthy foods in Australia is very very different to what you believe in America - not saying either of us is more right than the other, just that its different. personally, I dont consider a Protein shake a healthy food - its manufactured and artificial and contains things like artificial sweeteners and flavourings therefore to my way of thinking, its junk. Protein or not. So I dont drink them. But I dont base my diet on protein either - I'm a carb eater. Interestingly, my SIL was home from Canada this week for a family funeral and she was complaining about the bread - first thing she did was go to the bakery when she got home and buy some multigrain bread. She complains that Canadian and American bread is way cakier and sweeter than our bread is and that is much harder to find "real" bread, like heavy, grainy, stoneground stuff. So half the time here we're not even comparing apples with apples. No wonder people believe bread is terrible for you, while I think its healthy! But to answer your question I eat things like red meat, chicken, fish and eggs for protein, usually mostly for dinner, with a small amount of cheese, or tuna or something at lunchtime. Other than that, my staple foods are wholegrains like muesli, oatmeal (and I make it from the proper rolled oats, not quick cook muck) or good bread.

And if none of the above work and you do end up cutting them off - remember they will probably need to be resized at some point anyway.

I can still deceive people that I have a great rack. When I'm clothed, and wearing a bra, they look great, especially in contrast to my nice slim waist and flat stomach. But people dont know that they're actually rolled up! I cant really show cleavage, its more like a puddle of Water in there. But how did my butt go so flat? My jeans just slide off, I have that awful empty sag and plumbers crack if I dont keep pulling them up!

You probably *could* wait it out, but I wouldnt if you're pbing regularly. Being tight is really not that good for your band and if you're constantly having things stuck and pbing, then you could do damage.

You just sound too tight, have a bit removed. You can always put it back in down the track. I had .2cc removed and went from feeling not quite as bad as you describe, but concerned about how much I was eating, to being wide wide wide open. Resisting the urge to eat and preventing regain has been very difficult, as for me, it was a temporary hormonal blip that caused the tightness. I'm getting the fill put back in a fortnight's time. Try having a teeny bit out, you will probably feel a lot better. And its quite likely you'll lose better too.

Nope, me neither. I spend too much time on here as it is. I hate mobile phones too, lol, thats how old and crusty I am. My kids arent allowed to have one yet at 11 and 13, I just dont see why a school kid needs a phone. Mine is an old brick from about 2002, I have a prepaid plan and I used the phone only for the odd occasion. I have a phone on the wall in the kitchen, I use that!

I havent discovered anything I absolutely cant eat in 3 years. But some foods are harder than others and some so tedious to eat that I just dont bother any more, my desire for those foods having totally evaporated - pizza and McDonalds mainly. By the same token though, I can pb on absolutely anything - I've pb'd Water when I gulped it once after a long run. Eat slowy and carefully and you'll find your diet shouldnt be TOO restricted, although be realistic in there are foods you may not really want to or be able to eat again.

I think Curves has lots going for it - supportive atmosphere, no men, no lycra clad glamour girls, and a good basic circuit routine for women who are not athletes and have not been in great shape. I also think there's a few pitfalls to be aware of. The instructors for one, obviously we can each talk about only the centres we've experienced but I worked as a trainer at Curves for a little while and really, the trainers know very little. They are not properly trained, they're not very knowledgeable and I wouldnt be placing my health and fitness squarely in their hands, I'd be informing myself. And secondly the equipment - its GREAT if you're unfit, but despite how much Curves denies that you'll ever get too fit for their equipment, that's simply not true. There is only so fast you can push that hydraulic equipment (which is how you increase intensity and continue to progress) before you lose form because it has limitations on how fast it will more. I was unable to get enough of a workout to even get a little bit sore from it, and everytime I went I had to try to work so darn fast, that I'd lose the correct form and it took me months for my back to recover, especially from those twistie side to side abdominal machines. If you're starting out, you need lots of friendly support then it'll be a really great experience for you. If you have base fitness and like to exercise and know a fair bit about it, you'd be better off at a regular gym.

I guess that's what I do kind of naturally, I supplement healthy carbs. I eat a typical bandster diet with the ADDITION of a fair few healthy carbs - 500 to 600 calories a day over and above that 1000 benchmark, made up of wholegrain breads, cereals and extra fruit and veges (on, and sometimes the odd mars bar!)

What a great post! It really is such an exciting journey, especially when you know its really working.

Well.....no, not specifically. My doctor has never even mentioned a calorie level to me. I just dont understand why US doctors do. I mean, everyone is different, HOW can they say you should eat this much or that much. The only time you need to adjust your calories is if you stop losing weight. But I think people are nuts to restrict themselves to 800 when they could be losing on 1400 - not everyone can of course, but many people undereat way more than they need to. Of course, if you want to lose weight really fast, then that's one thing, but I was happy to go the slow and steady route, and I ate about 1500 calories a day all the way through - purely estimation as I virtually never actually count but I'd say most of us here know the calorie count of virtually everything after a lifetime of dieting. I am 5ft 10 and 154lb, so not petite by any means, I run or powerwalk for about an hour every day - I usually cover 7 to 11 kms, and I'm a busy person. I would laugh if anyone told me to eat 900 calories a day - and ignore them totally. It is not enough for me and I've never had to drop that low to lose. Go by what you know about YOUR body, rules are really pretty riduculous when you read here how different every single person is. We all need to listen to our docs, and take rules into consideration but we still have to listen to our own bodies because that's what's going to keep the weight off for life - knowing your own body and obeying its needs. I also cant cope on low carb diets, I feel shite within a day or two, and higher levels of Protein like 70 grams a day or more make me bloated, horribly gassy and nauseous - its just way too much rich food for me, when my digestive system is used to lower fat items like wholegrain breads, fruit and vegetables, crackers as my staples. Works for me, and gives me energy to run. So I'd also ignore anyone who told me low carb is the only way to go, particularly since I've lost 120% of my excess weight eating bread (in moderation).

I feel like a piggie now, lol. I eat about 1800 to 2000 calories a day. Before when I was losing, it was about 1500 the whole way through. I never needed to drop below that. I run a lot though.

I would class my band as a resounding success (because I lost 120% of my excess weight), yet I am one of the ones who can eat bread, can eat everything and eats quite a lot. I have 2.8cc in my 4cc band at the moment and its maintenance level for me becuase I can eat about 1800 calories a day, and eat things like sandwiches. Yet others would be puking up liquids and be very retricted at that level. You absolutely cannot compare yourself to other people, the right level of fill for you is the fill at which you lose weight at a reasonable pace of 1-2lb a week. Or the fill at which yoiu maintain effortlessly if you've gotten to goal. What someone else does or does not eat is absolutely irrelevant to you. After 3 years though - I've banded about that long too and I found after about 12 months I needed a tiny top up fill, I'd lost some Fluid through evaporation over that time. There's probably never a time when you wont ever again need a fill.

Well, my band can handle bread machine bread, lol. Bread is a normal part of my diet. I also tend to recover immediately after a pb. I dont get sore, it doesnt last into the next day, etc. But from what peple report here, that's entirely normal. Hope you feel better soon.

If you make it obvious in your title - address it to long term bandsters for example - someone will answer. By and large we go thru stages. Every now and then you get a couple of people hanging around who like to bash the long term bandsters, call us know it alls, accuse us of not knowing what its like to be fat, that kind of thing. But lately its been very friendly, so you only have to ask.

This makes PERFECT sense. All my real stuck episodes which result in PB do occur some minutes after the bite. But the minor discomforts - they do feel exactly like a huge burp needing to happen and then you feel it just "shift" all of a sudden. However, I dont believe food sits in my pouch for more than a few minutes. A stuffed full feeling doesnt last long for me on the occasions that I've eaten that much. If I get stuck, the problem always happens a few minutes later, not instantly, probably for the reason above. I think the band has worked for me more by appetite restriction through contact on the outside of the stomach, food sitting in the pouch for *just* long enough for the full message to get to my brain, probably due to the much slower pace at which I eat now. But food sitting there for hours. I'd definitey say that doesnt happen for me. And that's why i just dont get this drinking/eating thing. Drinking with food does NOT make me any hungrier and never ever has. Its probably just a matter of restriction, I've never been one for having great restriction. I did after surgery, it took a long time for the swelling to go down and it was like how people describe restriction. I'd eat half a cup and stay full for HOURS. Once I'd healed, I've never ever approached anything like that again.

You need your band checked out ASAP. You are either WAY too tight, in which case it is fixable, or your band may have slipped. These stories never fail to amaze me - sometimes there is such lack of information given to the patient and such lack of knowledge by the patient. This is not normal, and you should never have been led to think that it was. A lapband is not supposed to stop you eating, you should not be puking regularly, nothing about your experience is normal. Please get checked out as soon as you can!

That's like the people who say (here in Australia where you dont *have* to have private health insurance) "oh, I dont want to pay for health insurance because you never get your money's worth out of it". Um, who WANTS their money's worth out of health insurace? or car insurance or house and contents for that matter?