Jachut

They dont really do gastric bypass here, its all band. But at a BMI of 36 I wouldnt have ever considered a gastric bypass. Way way way too drastic and risky for a moderate obesity problem with no comorbidities. I havent found hunger to be too much of an issue, I get hungry, sure, but then I eat something. Like normal people do. I dont get inappropriately hungry anymore.

Its what I just did, ugh. On Soup no less. I can eat bread, I can eat rice, I can eat red meat. But I cannot eat vegetable soup. Why do I persist in trying? I'm late for an appointment now. PBing is not pleasant, but not too dreadful either. Its more inconvenient (and embarrassing if the need occurs in public). Its not uncontrollable, you're not likely to puke at the dinner table, but it is annoying to be locked in the bathroom with everyone waiting for you. Thank god, it doesnt happen often for me, only a couple of times in three years.

Slimmy many people still have overly large breasts after weight loss, if nature dictates that is what their shape is. I have that empty top bit too, I was large breasted but am not now, I'm still a D but on my five foot ten frame, that's not really big. I've had some initial consults about my boobs, which are very saggy and completely flat on top. I've had two main pieces of advice. First is that yes, a breast lift is what you need, we can fix all that but the other guy said no, you have too much loose empty skin on the tops of your breasts and will get a better result with an implant as well as a lift. Not sure. I like not having big boobs. I dont want big boobs. But if I can get an implant that will fill out that top portion but not make me noticeably bigger I will. To the OP, I'd say now is a great time to start looking for a surgeon.

A little bit. Being able to dress the way I want to and present myself how I want to, and for me, that's in quite a young way. I often wonder whether I draw the line and become mutton dressed as lamb, lol. Like should one wear skinny leg jeans with boots at 40? Should I still wear a bikini? But I'm still a mum of young kids and a university student as well. I dont want some blowsy, big hair, big makeup look either, I want to be casual, make up free and natural. I dunno. I dont FEEL old. But I'm starting to get the first signs of aging. Is having breast work silly at 40? Like will I be some pathetic sixty year old with everything gone to gravity except for a big pair of plastic boobs? Lol, its difficult. I dont want to start having PS and then find I look like Jocelyn Wildenstein in 10 years time either. I have no desire to go clubbing though. Or behave as anything other than a 40 year old mother.

Oh, if only he knew he was more intimately acquainted with you than he could possibly imagine!

I do. I eat bread, Pasta and rice, but not the white version, good wholeground ones. It hasnt stopped me losing weight at all, and I was happy with the pace of my weight loss but compared to a lot of others, it was slow. Then again, I've had a 100lb weight loss and dont need any plastic surgery, so maybe that has something to do with it? I feel truly awful if I dont eat carbs, I cant run well, that's for sure. White refined carbs though - sugary ones, evil! Nobody needs them. And my diet is less carb based than it once was, the ratio between Protein, carbs and fat, and the type of fat I eat has changed a lot. I did used to eat carbs carbs carbs and nothing but. Still, I do eat about 150g of carbs a day, in good, low GI form. I still eat a diet based on the traditional food pyramid, but obviously, I burn it off. I guess i follow the low GI theory, not the low carb theory. Moderate wholegrain breads, cereals, lots of Beans, lentils, fruit and vegetables, very minimal biscuits, cakes, etc.

A tiny little silver bullet (about 3 inches long and slender). It does the job, it fits between us and its metal, so the vibrations are powerful. I have absolutely no interest in enormous phallic shaped implements with flashing lights! And anything silicone damps the vibrations and doesnt work as well in my experience. Pretty much I'm not into toys so a little bullet shaped implement is about the most I can cope with and even then, that doesnt get much action.

No, it feels kind of gratuitous to me, and I dont believe in holding off on things (like living your life!) till your weight is this or that exact amount. I know it helps others but to me its no motivation at all, probably because I"m incredibly self indulgent and buy whatever I want, whenever I want it, lol.

You dont make it clear about whether you are having trouble eating regular foods or whether you mean you just cant eat large portions. If you are having trouble eating any meat for example, and are relying on ice cream instead, you're too tight. Weirdly, it can be much easier to lose weight with a looser band that allows you to eat filling foods. I had some fill removed recently and just ate a salad roll for lunch (bread roll, lettuce, tomato, carrot, cheese, beetroot, sprouts and cucumber). I couldnt quite finish it but boy was it filling. But the kind of filling that sticks with you for hours and coz I measured it and counted the calories I know it was 370. By contrast a few weeks back I was eating Soup for lunch because I was too tight to get anything much down. Rich, pumpkin soup with Peanut Butter and sour cream in it. Easily 370 calories. And then nibbling on a few Cookies an hour or two later coz I was hungry. And then eating only half my dinner, giving up becuase it hurt and having another glass of wine instead. And then feeling hungry an hour or two later and having some ice cream. I'm sure you get the picture. I'm doing much better on three really decent meals a day and being able to eat healthy foods like an apple, or a small piece of grilled steak etc. I didnt mean to get so tight, it was a combo of PMT and a plane flight, it jsut kind of happened suddenly and then I didnt recover from it. But it definitely didnt result in weight loss or in feeling good.

Noooooo.....but I get your point. I need my band but I have not needed the high levels of restriction others talk about. I havent needed to low carb it or eat 800 calories a day etc. But I did get to 70kg which was 120% of my excess weight lost and wanted to go just a bit lower and got a fill I didnt really need. I wasnt enjoying how tight I was and i wasnt enjoying the quality of my diet so I just had a bit removed, so I'm .2 cc less than what I was when I had that unneeded fill. I'm really hungry! I can eat so much more! My weight did rebound up a little, jsut by 3lb and I have that under control now. I'm tempted to go back and top up just a little more, but really, I feel I ought to be able to control this now, and I really WANT to control it myself. For the first time in my banded journey, Ive begun calorie counting. I really believe if we dont learn the skills to manage this weight thing that we're never going to keep it off. But I really did need my band to get it off in the first place and I'm sure that though I'm hungrier and eating a bit more, my band is still working for me, that it would be MUCH harder without it there. You've done incredibly well. But personally, I wouldnt remove the band. What a bonus to have it in there, remain unrestricted but have it for the future if you ever need it. Why have another surgery? You're really unlikely to have problems with a completely empty band.

I've got sciatic issues but I find that running, although it is hard on your body, really helps manage it. Regular running and diligent stretching keeps me flexible, mobile and in less pain overall than if I sit on the couch. That's when I stiffen up and get sore. Like you say Greythorpe, exercise is also at least as effective with milder cases of depression as medication is, and it helps your meds to work a lot better.

Ah, no. My head is fine.

Post anaesthetic nausea is different to throwing up as a result of being too tight or eating wrong though. Plenty of people puke right after surgery becuase anaesthetics make them nauseous. They'll probably have something in your IV for that, particularly if you know you're prone to it. Thankfully I have cast Iron guts and never puke after anaesthetics, lol.

I was never told no caffeine, in fact when I asked my doc based on what I'd read on here, he laughed at me. They just dont do "rules" like that here. Same on soda. Its not some evil thing no bandster can ever have, just not an "everyday food". But my main vice is too much coffee. I've managed to wean myself off the caffeine, easily too becuase the caffeine was never what I drank coffee for. I have about 3 caffeinated cups a day and those are only instant coffee, I usually buy one skim latte a day and I'd have another three or four decaf instant coffees. Its my main Fluid intake. I just plain dont like cold drinks. Everything I drink is hot. I do drink three or four large glasses of Water a day before and after my run and during my run, if its longer than 5k I always take a 500ml bottle of Endura with me. But I have to be really post exercise thirsty to enjoy cold drinks. If I am thirsty though, the only thing I ever have is water. I dont drink juice, sodas or anything like that. A glass of wine at night is nice though I suspect that doesnt count for your fluid intake. Despite all that supposedly diuretic coffee, I dont pee anymore than the next person and its always clear, I'm not dehydrated. And the diuretic effect of caffeine is markedly reduced when you're used to it anyway. I know caffeine can be a stomach irritant, but it also has some health benefits, protection against diabetes being one of them. So although my coffee habits are a bit out there (but again, its not that much actual caffeine, falls within safe levels at 50mg or so for a cup of instant), I wouldnt hesitate to encourage someone to enjoy a cup now and again!

I really believe that you have to find your own level of calories, nobody can do that for you. Not the doctor, not the nutritionist and not the little calcs you find online. Based on my body size, weight, level of activity etc, I technically need 2,600 calories a day to maintin my 154lbs. Right. That's why I became obese on that sort of an intake. I ate plenty of crap, for sure, but I was never a MdDonalds for breakfast, KFC for lunch, Italian pasta pig out for dinner, 4000 per day kind of eater. I am now 154lb after being banded, I run for an hour five times a week, I have 3 kids and am active at home, lots and lots of shopping, housework, on my feet all day kind of stuff. And I need about 1800 calories to maintain. Any more than that and I start to gain. Which means I can eat 3 solid meals a day but really need to watch the extras like in between meal snacks, wine, chocolate etc. So I listen to my own body, not what someone else calculates for me. Its the only way. If you're not lising on a reasonably healthy intake of 1300 or so then perhaps you need to tweak it a little, I'd suggest slightly less food (for which you may need a fill) combined with slightly more exercise if that's doable, purely so you can continue taking in reasonable nutrition.

I think it happens to everyone eventually, you will slip up and eat something too fast or something just wont go down. But it should not be a regular occurrence. For me, its been like five or six times in three years and I made it the entire first year before it happened.

Personally, I wouldnt eat less than what you are. I'm 5t 10 and female and I couldnt survivie on 1000 calories a day or less. I think you're probably undereating. Protein, I dont know. I eat about 50 grams a day and dont focus on it like you guys are told to do, I eat carbs and I lost 120% of my "excess weight" but I've certainly been able to lose the last 5kg I'd like to. I think you just get to a point where weight loss is soooooo slow and virtually impossible. I would try eating a bit more, and see what happens. But it did take me a year to lose the last 10lb that I lost. It just got really really slow and then petered out into maintenance.

OK Mekadig, the bikini's off. I'm sitting here in my jammies actually. Reflecting on how I know absolutely nothing about losing weight and have no right to assume I have any mettle, you know, I've never overcome any adversity at all. From a yes, you're 26, a 26 year old. Oh boy. Will you cringe in about 10 years. Funny how when you think like a victim, everything seems judgemental and patronising. My 70 year old dad has sleep apnoea. Funny how he walks for an hour and a half every morning and isnt overweight. Things that make you go hmmmmmm........ By the way have you ever HAD a baby? Or did all of your wisdom about how easy pregnancy is come straight out of your back passage?

I didnt count to lose, I counted nothing, I ate by satisfiaction and I didnt cut out any foods. I dont really believe that swapping a Protein focus for a calorie one is gong to help anyone to recover from obesity. I felt it was very very important to learn to eat all foods in moderation and if I had days when I really really felt like a donut, or whatever, then I had it. I ate bread and Pasta all the way through too becuase I dont believe that in moderation those are unhealthy. In short, I totally quit dieting and just went with portion control. But that doenst mean I ate whatever I wanted whenever I felt a random urge either, I did a lot of thinking about whether I really wanted it etc. But in reality, you know that if your diet is based on large portions of unhealthy foods, you will be fat, so the band controlled the portions and I made good choices 9/10 of the time. This calorie counting exercise for me now is just to guide my portion size again, since my band has been unfilled a teeny bit and I'm actually quite hungry. I am trying to work out what my body will burn off now that I want to maintain and whether my appetite now is appropriate to my energy needs. I just figure that at maintenance, if you're hungry and you eat and you dont gain weight then that hunger is not inappropriate you know? So there's no need to quell it with a tighter band. But if I begin to gain, then I know I need to be less hungry and should be refilled some.

I dont know that a fill will help, honestly, in fact you might need just the opposite. I got to exactly the same place as you only I was lucky enough to get there well below my original goal weight. But I was eating tons of chocolate, eating muffins, slices etc, and not eating anywhere near enough solid Protein, fruit or vegetables. I didnt eat Breakfast or lunch, I was just grazing all day. I stopped losing well and truly, but the quantities were small and there was no gaining, thank goodness. But nonetheless i realised I'd fallen off the wagon and had to get back on. The minute you put that pressure on yourself, it gets even harder, doesnt it? Thank god I love running the way I do. Its not connected to my weight or what I eat anymore, its just something that I do. So my exercise schedule was never disrupted. I went through about three months of this, off and on. I'd pull myself together for a few weeks and then be off again. I decided I needed a fill, so I went and got a tiny one. For a few weeks it was awesome, I lost weight, got to 68kg, unheard of, I was beyond thrilled. Then gradually my eating habits slid again until it really got terrible and I was barely eating anything much at all other than crap since every single healthy food was just too hard. No reflux or pbing, just terrible eating habits. And my running was suffering. It took a weekend away with other people commenting on was I anorexic, eat something for crying out loud for me to move, but I went and got an unfill. For the first time in my weight loss journey, I've begun logging in and calorie counting to try to reteach myself what a healthy portion of healthy food is, to regain my confidence in listening to my body and eating properly. I'm much hungrier since the unfill but I'm able to fill myself with healthy food, so the overall quality of my diet has improved tenfold, I'm back to eating meals, not grazing, with Snacks. I've gained maybe 2lb, nothign more than a resettling of fluids, my clothes all fit the same, but I am finding it easy once again to eat properly and not crave all the junk. The cravings happen because you're body is starving and not being adequately nourished. When you're like that and think you're being a pig, a fill will NOT help you, it will probably worsen the situation. If you struggle with eating enough healthy foods, then you really should try an unfill, if you can be brave enough, I found it VERY confronting to try it, I was so afraid of gaining. And at the very least, start exercising again, it really does help to prevent weight regain.

Hey Deanna, you're doing GREAT. Where have you been for so long? Out riding,lol?

This is an issue that I dont believe if talked about or focussed on enough, but at least you recognise it in yourself. Learning not to diet is very very difficult and very very scary. I honestly dont believe dieting works. Oh, I mean, if you eat perfect calories and perfect ratios of protein/carbs/fats you will lose weight. If you methodically balance it out with exercise you will lose weight. But it is not sustainable for most people long term. Logging everything you eat, fussing over every decision, most people live lives that demand they just eat when its time to (as in a lunchbreak) or when they're hungry, they eat what's available at the time and they shop at the supermarket, not at a zillion speciality stores. Logging calories can also lead to bad decisions - you start eating processed foods like Lean Cuisines because that's so darn easy to count, no measuring etc or you start allowing yourself that 600 calories for a Big Mac and then eat carrots for the rest of the day to make up for it. Big dysfunctional tick over that one. How does THAT help anyone to develop a normal relationship with food? Yet calorie counting can be worthwhile. I'm doing it now, not to lose weight but to gradually transition myself onto a normal diet to maintain this weight loss for life. I've maintained for about a year now without doing that, but I did continue to lose and I've got to the point where I really dont want or need to lose more. But I find it very very confronting to be "free" to eat what I want. I'm just logging onto calorie king for a while to really remind myself what 1500 calories of healthy food, little daily treats (like a skinny latte) and the odd indulgence of chocolate really truly looks like. If you eat healthy, you can eat a LOT of food. I want to eat healthy. Which is why I had a small unfill recently since its healthier to eat a sandwich, an apple, some Breakfast Cereal and a coffee over the course of breakfast and lunch than it is to have a piece of lemon coconut slice (becuase it goes down and fits in) and a coffee at the shop. For the same calories. But whilst mentally I can cope with the lemon slice becuase its a small portion of food, I find I break into a cold sweat at the thought of cereal AND sandwich AND fruit! Over the course of 3 year banded,my mind had definitely come to see a tiny amount of food as normal and a normal amount of food as a huge amount. So I'm counting calories to teach myself a new lifetime habit of moderate amounts (larger than losing weight bandster portions) of healthy foods. Its not that easy, its as much of an education as suddenly finding yourself banded is. It requires breaking ingrained patterns and thought processes that developed while I was banded - because those arent ALL good. I definitely came to prefer a carb snack and coffee to a real lunch! But to lose weight I didnt diet. I didnt refuse myself any foods or cut out any food groups. I now have an almostd"normal" relationship with all foods I've got the mix down pat, its just that now I need to reassure my anxious mind that its OK for portions to increase a bit. My unfill has made me hungrier and I want to eat between meals again, that's OK if I have a healthy snack, but I'm finding I need the evidence on paper, much more than I did for losing. Because I want a long and healthy life and I want to keep running and to do that you need to be well nourished, not living on 600 calories a day made up of Protein and little else. Not that I ever did that either, but you get my drift. Does any of that makes sense or help at all? I think that you need to try to go easier on it, allow some treats in there, PLAN for them and really make the effort to include them so you're not so afraid of food in general. The odd burger or fries never hurt anyone but as they're so hard to eat when you're banded and well filled, you probably wont want them anyway, so the habit does die. Now I can probably afford to have them again, I dont want them anyway. I'm trying to teach myself proper portions of GOOD foods.

It was more the original poster that peeved me Greythorpe, no need to apologise.

Good for you greythorpe. Start small. Do what you can and just commit to a routine of it, even if its just 15 minutes a day. One thing about being exhuasted and exercising, as has been pointed out to me, I dont even know what REAL exhaustion is, but I've certainly been feet dragging, sit on the couch and I will be asleep, I havent had time to eat or pee all damn day and my feet are pounding from being on themand I cant even remember driving home weary when I've gotten in at 7pm at night. I've known the feeling of knowing I have to at least do half an hour on the treadmill and feeling simply unable to face it. I just start. I promise myself I can stop after 15 minutes. You know what, I never ever do. The endorphins kick in as the heart rate rises and I always, without fail, feel better when I've finished. The fog of exhustion lifts, I always feel more energised. I've also been pregnant 3 times and that first trimester tiredness would rival anything sleep apnoea can cause, I'll guarantee it. Insane tiredness, fall asleep in public places, in danger of falling asleep at the traffic lights tired, and I walked through that for an hour three or four times a week in my third pregnancy because I was 104kg and the thought of gettign to like 130 frightened the living daylights out of me. I was very very very motivated to not gain weight in that pregnancy. It didnt quite have the same effect then, but it was doable. And it probably wasnt quite so energising because you only get that endorphin rush when you do crazy stuff like get your heart rate up into the 160's, which obviously is not a good idea when you're up the duff. Plus everytime I bent over I threw up. But for sure, absolutely, for many people, that level of exercise cannot possibly come until some weight has gone. And initially it will fall off without exercise if that's how it has to be. But surely, people could at least start putting the routines in place, setting aside the time etc. Paving the way for real fitness further down the track? This topic always gets tetchy, but honestly you have no idea how annoying it is when people intimate that yes, that's OK for you but you dont face the challenges I do. Its very insulting.

I'm going to have a breast lift but probably not implants unless it is the lift by itself wont be enough to fill out the loose skin. But its only down at a BMI of 22 that I can consider this, my boobs were the last things to shrink. I'm finding that last bit of weight loss, even 4lb made WAY more difference than the first 96lb. Everything is getting a bit saggy now. I really am better off not to lose anymore weight whilst its only my boobs I have to fix! So I'd say yes, you need to wait till you're at your goal weight. It might make all the difference - you'll either be decided that you want implants or it may seem like not such a good idea. I've got that kind of chest now - thin, ribs showing and very defined collarbones, where an implant would likely have that very stark contrast of the melons on the chest look, I dont have enough fat and softness on my chest to blend them in, given that I would need the round implants to fill out the loose skin.