Jachut

Well I just assumed that you threw up the lasagne. Pbing is productive burping, which is the food exiting the system. Some people can do it nicely, like a baby regurgitating. But my head spins round and I make a lot of noise. But even major pain and sliming (where you get a lot of saliva) is very dangerous for your band, particularly this early in. Its good that you're back to all liquids.

Myth. Eat little enough for long enough and you will lose weight. The less you eat the more weight you lose. Plateaus are not a reason to eat more. You just have to keep on keeping on and eventually they break. Otherwise people would never starve to death! Have you ever noticed that people who dont eat a lot arent fat?

Not generally. I get appropriately hungry - at mealtimes when I havent eaten for hours.

This is one of those times you're just going to have to see how you go. I'm sure your friend will understand. You just cant predict how good (or bad) you're going to feel. However, I did go for a walk of a couple of miles the day after my lapband surgery. And I had major abdominal surgery (eight hours worth) last november and made it to my grade six class's graduation ceremony four days later. Only for an hour or two and not for the dinner, but I got up and spoke and I was there. It was fine.

Absolutely nothing. I gave up dieting and ate what I wanted in moderation, three meals a day with portion control provided by my band. I ignored all the current "wisdom" (fads more like it) about calorie counting, carb counting, high Protein, calorie cycling, five meals a day insanity. I gave up nothing, but I rebalanced my diet. I still eat junk, just less of it. I began running. I did loads of cardio and a little body weight type strength training at bootcamp, I do body pump when I feel like it, a spin class if I fancy, whatever I feel like doing. I ignored all the current "wisdom" about strength training versus cardio, that running wastes your muscles and makes you skinny fat (pigs arse!), that you should only do interval training, that the elliptical will burn seventeen gajillion calories in only a minute, that you should only train in the fat burning heart rate zone. I'm just more active. Sometimes its more intense than others - occasionally I truly feel like sprinting! I particularly ignored all the hype and, pardon the french, bullshit to do with Protein shakes, bars, supplements, having this bar before a workout and that shake exactly seventeen minutes and forty seconds after, not one second more or less or it wont work. Wow - when I type it like that, I just eat and exercise like a normal person. Whodathunk it?

Do I detect some sarcasm? I've tested the limits of my band, for sure. I can say hand on heart I've never done the "I wonder what will happen if I eat this" kind of testing, but unintentionally I've overeaten and thrown up on quite a few occasions. None of us ever said we were perfect or indicated that you should be but come on - six days? Its worthy of comment because of the danger of what you're doing, not because some of us want to sound morally superior. It took me a whole year to have my first pb, you've done it after less than a week - sorry, but you're placing the success of your band AND your health at quite a risk. However, I think the newer bands are much more problematic. They may have less risk of slippage long term, but they seem to make the post op periods WAY harder than the older bands. I had superb restriction for about 12 weeks after surgery with my 4cc band - wasnt ever hungry, didnt think about food. It was easy for me. And I was full of new motivation. I find it so strange that gettign to the point of needing and having weight loss surgery isnt enough to get people even through a couple of weeks of hard core dieting. But perhaps that's just me.

Ooh, thanks for the recipe link, I'm going to make the kids chicken enchiladas for dinner tonight! To the OP, I think you might just need to SLOW DOWN. You need to control how fast you eat, perhaps reduce the size of what you consider a "meal" (It took me at least 12 months to believe I'd be satisfied by what was on my plate, before that I overserved myself every single time). Put what you think you'll eat on the plate and then take some away! Really really work on getting that meal down without scarfing it quickly. Its only if you can do that that you can really judge just how tight your band is. But personally, I find that unless I can get a proper meal in - and keep my band loose enough to do so - it doesnt matter how tight I am, I will go back to the chips, dips, Cookies and ice cream within an hour or two of the meal. Eating proper meals is SO important. If you've slowed down and you still cant eat a proper meal, you need some fill out. There is no level of tightness that will prvent eating bad foods like chips, it just wont work to get tighter and tighter thinking it will stop you doing this. Its why I dont snack. If I plan to snack, I eat less at mealtime to allow the calories and then I go all day without a single satisfying meal, they're all too small and after a day or two the cravings set in big time.

Its quite normal after a surgery on your digestive system, to a more or lesser degree, I mean with banding, your GI tract hasnt actually been opened up. I've had two major intestinal surgeries in the past year and the gas was terrible, I looked nine months pregnant I was so swollen and uncomfortable with it, but I didnt have it after banding. What's helped me - first off you've just got to let it out when it wants to come out, hard as that is but my surgeries have left me with much less colon so I've had continuing gas problems once past the surgical gas stuff - I take peppermint capsules and drink a cup of peppermint tea before every meal - works fantastically. I have to keep to tiny meals, which you will also be doing I guess. It really helps me to digest what I eat without the gurgles.

If you cant bend down, its probably surgical pain. I'm surprised too at what your eating and very surprised that you actually can eat it! Just to be contrart, i feel full the same way i always did, with chest discomfort if i really overdo it.

Well...... every day I guess. I mean, I've worked hard on not seeing foods as "good" or "bad" and if I want a hotdog for lunch, I have it and I dont consider it cheating or a treat. However, that's not as easy as it sounds, becuase I did have to work long and hard to get to the point where I didnt want a hotdog every day. This happened somewhat naturally with the band - hamburgers, fries, hotdogs, cake, muffins, anything too bready, they're all really difficult to eat with the band for a lot of people - I can eat them, but even for me, they are tough to chew and swallow, lead to multiple moments of discomfort during the eating, fill me up to the point of discomfort and if not eaten carefully make me vomit. Appetising, huh? Over time, you just dont really fancy those things anymore. Just the very occasional "wow, I feel like a hotdog, think I'll have one". My taste has changed to much easier, and luckily healthier foods. Cookies, wow, wish I couldnt eat those easily. Those for me are a specific "treat" which I will only have once in a while, certainly not every time I think of it. They're something I overeat every time, there's no such thing as one for me, if I'm going to eat them, its going to be major calorie damage, which is fine, but just not very often. I dont schedule a day or meal for treating/cheating. That's dieting behaviour, I left that behind forever. I'm of the firm belief and my body seems to believe it as well - that all that matters really is calories - weight wise that is. I want to be healthy and fit too so I eat well for that reason.

I tend to get majorly off track when I try to diet. This year has been hard, I was sick, having chemo and I got right down to 130lb (I'm 5ft 10). Being as dysfunctional as I am, sigh, I loved being officially "underweight". I was so happy the day I saw 59kg on my scales. OK, so I'd lost half my colon, had an ileostomy and was majorly dehydrated with severe diarrhoea, but dammit, I was officially SKINNY. I was unfilled at the time too, I worked SO hard to keep that weight. But as nature tends to dictate, I got better. Chemo finished, my body returned to health and a little (healthy) weight crept back, I got back to 140lb. I panicked. I began to diet very strictly. Dieting never ever ever works for me. I even gained a pound or two more and my old cycle of binging/starving has returned. Eat too little and only "good" foods, restrict fat, exercise a bit too much and sooner or later your body cries out in protest and you begin to lose the willpower, cave in to chocolate cravings and such. Through this time I've been completely refilled and it still hasnt helped. The answer to me, and I've done it this past week is to STOP dieting. Accept the weight gain, stop trying to lose it in a week, just take a moment, a deep breath and start eating normally. Enough at one meal to get you through to the next. Eat raw vegies, sure, but not as your sole source of nutrition. Say no to anything between meals, but anything goes for a meal - if I want a hotdog, I have it. That squashes the annoying nibble cravings - the Cookies, chocolate chips. It works for me. I am staying off the scales for a couple of weeks because when I dont see instant results I tend to go off the rails again. I'm back to just running rather than gym for a couple of weeks - long distance running for my body cuts fat incredibly well, weights and gym dont work nearly as well for me.

Lol, I agree, I hate the feeling of wearing them, likening it to punishment for being fat makes me giggle. I figure if something I want to wear shows rolls and jiggles, then I'm probably too old to wear it, sigh. To me shapewear is for that once in a blue moon really special dress and not for everyday. I have this annoying roll of back fat, a muffin top, its bizarre. Perfectly flat stomach, never hangs over my jeans but the back fat does. Solution - jeans that fit and dont squeeze the fat, not shapewear to squeeze into a pair of jeans a size too small. Although I do have a couple of tanks and I can wear those comfortably - under a really fitted Tshirt, they smooth EVERY body, not just cuddlier people - seeing your navel through a tshirt is never a really good look. Sadly though, they are never going to actually improve loose skin, they just camouflage.

I'd take your doctors advice as to the timing of it, but if you've got a huge liver and have had gallbladder problems, its a pretty good bet that your obesity is behind it. These are clear signs of the effect obesity is having on your health and you can bet your bottom dollar that there's other problems brewing away. Your heart disease risk, your cancer risk, it'll all be well elevated. So I'd still definitely plan on doing the surgery, its just a matter of when. And you know that since your liver is already enlarged, that pre op diet is very very important to shrink it. Its depressing but take it as a sign of how much good you are going to do for yourself and use it for motivation.

Not sure as you only ahve two incisions, but its almost certain your port will be near the big incision - mine is slightly above - but I have the oldstyle five incisions. Cant you feel it at all?

Depends what your diabetic way of eating is - here in Australia I know they often recommend low GI rather than actual low carb but I would imagine if this new medication fixes your esophageal problems, you may find you can eat solid Proteins the way you are supposed to.

I know for me, and its soooo hard to do - I need to eat MORE. My idea of healthy eating adds up to about 1000 calories a day and at 5ft 10, 140lb, running about 10kms most days, working as a teacher, busy with 3 kids etc, I cant survive on that. I can hold out with willpower and my band makes me not hungry, but my body knows a) that its not being fed and that it doesnt need to lose any more weight. So after a few days of that, it sends me urgent EAT signals and I cave and binge. If I eat more, like 1500 or so a day, this never happens. But I think I'm fat and that I have to starve. Its probably the biggest longer term problem that's come out of cancer treatment - I'm pretty sure my surgeon and oncologist suspect I'm anorexic and it does spring from anorexic sort of thinking - I had lots of thoughts about being forced into all these nasty treatments like radiation, surgery and chemo and when my doctors started commenting that I should try to gain a bit of weight, I thought "this is one thing nobody can make me do" - I got secretive and sly about it. Scary stuff - I'm much better now and have actually gained a healthy amount but its hard to accept ANY gain, needed or not. But eating a bit more healthy food does seem to help me, I just have to make myself do it. And I just pretty much accept that my relationship with food will never be "normal" but I suspect that's true for most women. I eat from all food groups and pretty much what I want to eat, but I restrict quantity and I'm pretty darn obsessive about getting my exercise.

I'm almost six years out and there's nothing I cant eat. Some people are just like that. I can eat bread, rice, Pasta. But I will say, some things are harder and I've naturally gone off them over time - bread for example. I cant even really put it into words, i can eat it, it doesnt get stuck but it doesnt feel good to eat. So I rarely eat bread - just the occasional piece of toast. Yet when I was unfilled last year for 9 months, I suddenly loved bread again, and ate it regularly - though in moderation. The minute my fill went back in, I stopped enjoying it, almost instantly. I've lost weight easily and kept it off for years simply by eating all foods, just less.

I havent actually indulged in any of these behaviours, nor thought about it, but I certainly have been underweight and been obsessed with staying there. I was sick and having chemo at the time and I was thrilled with my ultra low weight - I couldnt see that it looked bad although others were expressing concern. Now I'm back to a normal weight - with a BMI of about 20 to 21 and it's driving me crazy, I feel compelled to diet hard to get back to that low weight and I'm getting myself into that binge/starve cycle again where I'm ultra "good" for days and then my body rebels and I pig out on bad foods. Which only leads to more weight gain. I can usually get myself on track again though. I know its disordered thinking/behaviour and I can recognise it when I do it and with concerted effort get back to healthier ways. I really need to accept my current 65kg which is still less than I was at this time last year - thinking of 140ish pounds at 5ft 10 as fat is really ridiculous. It was cancer that sent me on that spiral too, but in me, not a relative. I'm so sorry for what your mother is going to have to go through - and you too. Stay strong and healthy.

Gosh, I enjoyed treating myself to smaller - and ever sexier - bras as I went down sizes. They're not that expensive, compared to all the new clothes you have to buy, anyway. A well fitting bra makes everything you wear look better, just buy two and handwash, to keep the cost down.

Fran, I'm sorry, I obviously made that sound disrespectful or dismissive, which was not my intention. I havent been but my hubby has - for him it was very beneficial, he responded well to being assisted in readjusting his view of things happening in his life. It was a saviour for him, and allowed him to get on top of anxiety and panic attacks without medication and obviously, this has had a beneficial effect for our whole family. For myself, my coolrectal surgeon wanted me to go, but I felt that well, if you had cancer, felt like death warmed up as a result of chemo, were going through menopause, had been months without a nights sleep due to an overactive ileostomy and a side effect of chemo, had had your career cut short just 9 months after you qualified and began it, wouldnt you be a bit down and negative?. I knew what was bothering me, and I knew that being positive was the best, hard as it was and that the only real healer would be time. I'd had my back end poked, prodded and looked up, to make matters worse by a very attractive male surgeon which made it even more embarrassing, I'd talked about my bowel habits to half of melbourne, heck, I felt invaded enough without revealing my innermost emotions to a stranger. I just felt I could handle it myself. In the mood I was in, I would have gone and sulked and refused to say anything. The only reason I said anything was that I think people think they have to do it, and its really alright not to, its a process that takes place between you and a therapist and if you dont want to be there, its not going to be beneficial. My DH is a little prone to anxiety and can be very pessimistic, he also lets stress get to him. I work really hard to empathise, I'm sure it surprises nobody that I'm a pull yourself together kind of person and i have very little patience with things like that. I'd be the first to deliver a slap to a hysterical woman, lol. So forgive my blunt reply, I do understand that others dont have quite the same outlook or ability to just get on with it that I force myself to have.

Les Mills classes at time that I can make are the deciding factor for me. I wouldnt even consider a gym that didnt have heaps of RPM and Body Pump sessions on each week. As well as about 75 state of the art treadmills, heaps of ellipticals and other cardio equipment. I like that with my gym, its YMCA run, so I have reciprocal rights at the other local large gym, and their timetables are complementary so it doubles the number of classes I can make and both are about the same distance from me. I have been a member at several small local family run gyms and I find them no good - not enough equipment and poor timetables, with none of the commercial classes. My gym and the other one I can use are both huge aquatic complexes too but the pool doesnt interest me very much. I also like that mine is right next to a large shopping centre as well, so on a weekday I can go to the gym in the morning and straight into the shops to do all my stuff or for a coffee. Not such an issue when I'm working.

Therapy is only going to be of any use to you if you are into it, and not uncomfortable with it. If you hate the very idea of it, dont go. Its not magic, it takes the therapist AND the patient working together and if the patient is resistant or doesnt want to talk, its a waste of time. Its really really not my scene. I know myself pretty well I think, and know the reasons for what I do, and I just choose to not face them at times, simple. I dont have any deep dark secrets that need to be unlocked - I just make bad food decisions at time. I'm not trying to damp down uncomfortable feelings - I just like eating! And if I get something out of it that I stil havent realised (likely), it doesnt matter that I havent realised what that is, I just need ot recognise when I want to eat inappropriately and choose not to do it. I personally hate the idea of therapy and woudlnt consider it. And I also think a lot of people go as a way of handing over responsibility to someone else - if their therapist cant "cure" them, then its not their fault if they dont lose weight kind of thing. therapy is really only about helping you to change your thought patterns and responses and it is possible to do that by yourself.

Is it just me or does anyone else think weighing and measuring is just one more dysfunctional food obsession that keeps us in that diet mentality? i serve small portions to myself - a cup or under - and eat till I feel satisfied. I eat a lot of vegies though - I'd probably eat two cups of raw vegies spread throughout the day (mainly before meals) and then less than a cup worth of food for the meal. But I dont know exactly coz I dont measure. But its small enough that everyone that knows me but doesnt know I have a band (liek work colleagues) roll their eyes at what they consider the ridiculously small amount I eat.

Great news that you've lost some weight - becuase if you're really stuck, you have no choice but to make the best of a pretty revolting menu. I would handle it with tiny portions and I'd take up running! Cheap and a great calorie burner.

I cut up and peel raw vegies - carrots, cucumber, mushrooms, capsicum, raw cauliflower mainly (cant do celery, ugh) and take it in a ziploc bag to school with me. When the kids have fruit snack I might dip into it, but mainly when the eating bell goes at lunchtime (the kids eat in the classroom), I'll eat my raw vegies with my students, and then when its time to go over to the staffroom, I only have a tiny lunch, like a yogurt, or a couple of cold hardboiled eggs or cheese and crackers or a small bowl of homemade Soup. I get my fibre, get my vegies (otherwise, I struggle to eat enough) and it fills me up so that I only eat a little of the more calorie dense foods. I like it too because I can feel free to have anything for dinner without worrying about getting a whole lot of vegies in.