Jachut

I think size matters a lot - but the reason the old 4cc band is not in use anymore, is that the newer designs are better in terms of less likelihood of a slip or erosion. However, the journey to the "sweet spot" seems to be so different. With my 4cc band, i had superb restriction with no fill for about 10 weeks after surgery and following that, every single fill took me to a "sweet spot" that was sufficient for steady weight loss, until it waned a bit and then it was time for another fill and I was back to the green zone. The only difference fills really made was that that sweet spot lasted longer and longer until eventuallty all needed was a once a year 0.1cc to top me up back to where I was. I have never had this frustrating bandster hell or this waiting months to get to a good spot, it was instant with the 4cc band. With the newer, larger capacity bands it seems to take SO much longer to start losing weight, whereas it literally fell off me after surgery.

Too much of anything is bad, but coffee has health benefits! Caffeine doesnt dehydrate you in the context of a balanced diet with plenty of other fluids, and in fact when your body is used to caffeine, it isnt even that strong a diuretic, you adapte to it. Cutting it out is not necessary at all. But the confectionary coffees, with the syrups and cream and stuff like that - well, those arent healthy, but again, if you plan for it, allow for the calories and the rest of yoru diet is fine, that's yoru choice.

You're losing tons of water at the moment, and all that's happened is that you've retained a little water - at the end of the diet you're going to be lighter than when you started, how is your doctor even going to know that you've fluctuated? Fluctuation on a daily basis is normal, diet or not.

Ack, some of those sites look good, but it is a GIGANTIC pain in the ass that its all American foods and every single thing I eat has to be entered as custom and in metric sizing, so I occasionally use the Australian Calorie King. It is an eye opener sometimes to see what I'm really eating, how many calories are going in, becuase although I know the calorie content of every food known to modern man, I do get calorie amnesia, lol. But its not a regular thing for me, to me it encourages food obsession and dieting behaviour - also when I know I've been "good" I tend to be really "bad" coz I know I can. When when I seem to ahve been good by pure estimation I'm aware of the fact that its likely understimation and I keep on the straight and narrow just in case!

The thing I always think, but rarely say when someone posts this - the help me, I've gone off track threads - is that the very act is indicating the fact that you're still not facing the responsibility and consequences of your choices. The very decision of how to frame it - not "what are some motivational tips" but "someone please help me" is telling - its more than just a coincidental choice of words, its pleading for someone to come and make it all right so that you dont have to do it yourself. And that inability to accept responsibility is a prime trait in every single overweight person. The ones who succeed are the ones who suddenly understand that weight loss really IS simple, if you simply accept the fact that you make choices and you wear the consequence. But read through this board and you'll see its endemic - I'm fat for this reason, for that reason, I cant lose weight because I'm stressed, or I have a bad hip and cant exercise (so somehow that means I'm excused for my diet as well), yada yada yada. That victim mentality is alive and well, whether it causes obesity or is a result of obesity I cant figure out, but one thing is true - ditching it is the single most important step towards a thin life. You do sound like a fill might be a good idea though - this tool doesnt work that well if you dont keep it tuned up. Honestly, everyone here has sympathy for the situation you're in, everyone here has been there, and everyone here knows what its like. But only YOU can fix it. Think about it, on a deep level. We can all give you support, which you deserve like everyone deserves. We can all tell you what works for us in this situation or that, which can sometimes give you food for thought or even lead to a lightbulb moment where you suddently get it. But we cant truly help you, you have to do that yourself. What do you want more - ice cream or a healthy thin body? Its that simple. You just have to choose.

Wow! congratulations. Sporting achievements were huuuuuge for me, I bawled my eyes out as I crossed the finish line of my first 7.5km run - now I wouldnt even bother entering such a piddly distance, lol.

Well, here's one "benefit" I never expected (nor wanted, I might add). At work I'm always the one who has to get into tight spaces in the back of the sports store room to get sporting equipment, in the resoure room to get a particular book, into a nasty old spidery shipping container we have on the school grounds in search of a forgotten resource, or slide my arm into dodgy spaces behind furniture and shelves to retrieve dropped things! I drew the line at shimmying under the 12 inch high outdoor stage to get one of my student's $1 coin though!

See if you can turn it around the opposite train of thought - throughout my cancer diagnosis, treatment and recovery over the past year, I have stuck faithfully to a heatlhy eating plan (whilst totally unfilled) and continued to run and go to the gym through radiation, chemotherapy and several hospitalisations for bowel obstructions. Am I some superhuman, morally superior being? Nope. It was the one thing in that horrible time that I felt I could control. I would NOT let stupid cancer take away all I had worked for and if I was going to die, I was going to do it looking freaking great. So there, cancer! Taking control over your body like that really does get you through tough times. Giving in, backsliding, gaining, it makes you feel even more sad and hopeless and does nothing to help you get through the stress and come out the other side. Harness that strength and you will find it spreads to whatever it is you're battling too.

For me, a fill always results in a moderate increase in restriction noticeably immediately, and lasting for about two or three days, then it tapers off and I'll find its only made a teeny tiny difference (I have an older 4cc band and my fills are as small as 0.1cc). I also had a low BMI and I've needed to be nearly full to feel moderate restriction, but the closer you get to full, the easier it is to get too tight and feel the results of smaller fills. Because I had the 4cc band back in 2005, I didnt have to wait for months to feel restriction. These bands have been superceded by better design that minimises slippage and erosion but in ever so humble opinion, the older bands had it all over the newer ones when it comes to getting to that sweet spot. I had superb restriciton after every single fill, enough for me to lose easily, the difference each successive fill made was in how long that restriction lasted, not getting closer to a spot where you'd lose. Eventually, I needed only 0.1cc once a year or so just to top up what naturally evaporates. Howevever, I did need to keep filling throughout my journey to well over 3cc, and I have always been able to eat bread, rice, Pasta and relatively large amounts for a bandster - though a normal person would consider that I am a small eater. My doc reckons it WAS because of my low BMI, I just didnt ever have and dont have the fat round my stomach that heavier people do, and I'm the tall skinny type, dont have large organs either, so it takes more to give me moderate restriction. However, on a bright note, bands have been shown statistically to work better for lower BMI patients. Probably because this corresponds in general with better eating habits (not good, just not as disordered as what it might take to reach a BMI of 60!) and better mobility/fitness.

Mine's terrible too - but I've learned to live with it and having a less tight band this time around has made a huge difference - none of those sink draining noises in the throat. I guess I appreciate it because I've had worse - I've had an ileostomy for the past nine mnonths and so for the time I had it, I would also fart uncontrollably through the stoma. No passing gas through the rear end like normal people - I had no warning, no feeling of it coming, it would just happen, loudly but of course a stoma has no muscles to hold it in. God I hate that, it was SO embarrassing. I had my band unfilled the whole time, so at least I didnt have the stomach symphony as well. But DH is banded too and when we lie down in bed at night its hilarious - we both find lying down makes all the bubbles rise to the top, so to speak. I actually cant fall alseep lying on my back anymore because it makes my guts so active, I have to quieten it by lying on my side.

Normal people dont eat 1200 a day but we're not normal people. I am tall, 140lb, very active - I run an hour about five days a week, go to a couple of body pump classes a week and usually throw a spin class or two in there as well. I'm a teacher so I work on my feet, I run around all day, our school doesnt have a phys ed teacher, so I even teach my kids sport. I'm also a mother of three with the busy lifestyle that entails. I cant afford to eat more than about 1800 a day to maintain my 140lb. All the charts say I should be eating about 2500 or more! There is absolutely no way, that's the sort of calories I was eating to become obese enough for weight loss surgery! I lost well on about 1500, although it was very slow at the end. I find I cant drop below that, I do the odd 1200 calorie day, but my body just drives me to eat around the band if I try to sustain it. 1500 to 1800 is comfortable for me and allows "normal" eating. I've maintained my 120lb loss for about four years now, and I'm sorry to tell you this, but you WILL always have to live like this. Your body simply isnt "normal" in that you can get away with what naturally thin people do and for some reason, our bodies will always want to return to the weight we let them get to, which is why diets on their own just dont work long term. You will be fighting it forever, you must always exercise and you always have to watch what you eat. However, you'll no doubt be able to eat a *little* more than what you can to lose and that can be the difference between the drudgery of a diet and being able to enjoy eating socially and treating yourself occasionally. Dont get me wrong, i went out for dinner last night with friends and had two glasses of wine, some gnocchi (only a few pieces) and then a huge piece of flourless hazelnut chocolate cake WITH cream! I enjoyed it thoroughly. But I moved heaven and earth to fit an hour's run in between getting home from work, getting the kids fed, organising the house and going out for dinner. I will do a spin class and a body pump class today. And today and tomorrow will be at the 1200 calorie end of things. You have to choose your indulgences - yes, I could do last night, but if someone offers me chocolate today I'll have to say no thanks. You get used to it, believe me. Its not as depressing as it sounds. I really love exercising, its something I do for fun, its not a chore. It also has a lot to do with what you want to weigh - I'm 5ft 10 and 140lb so I'm at the very low end of my healthy weight range, and it takes a lot of work to stay there. I could eat 2000 a day which is pretty much normal intake, and I'd maintain a bit higher - I wouldnt balloon to over 200lb but I'd probably weigh 160 or so. I'd absolutely hate to be that plump and chunky again, even though its a healthy weight. To me, thin is beautiful, I'd rather go for elegant clothes horse than curvy (I dont get curvy, I just get flabby, just my body type). So I choose to work hard to stay at a BMI of 20. Higher, but still healthy weights are a bit easier to maintain. Especially if you're one of the lucky ladies that does have curves at a slightly higher BMI - if your breasts are nice and full your hips round and you look good and sexy, enjoy it and dont bust your butt trying to weigh nothing. For me, sadly, my ass just drops when my weight goes up, nature designed me to be bony.

Its water weight, wont hurt you, wont continue and you're right, some of it will probably come back.

Weeeellll..... based on my understanding, cavemen were opportunists right? They saw something, killed it and ate it, or picked it and ate it, right? Soooooo..... just thinking out loud here..... if a caveman had walked into the staffroom at lunchtime and saw, like I did today, the peppermint chocolate bar in a charity box, he would have eaten it too right? I mean, a caveman would never miss such easy prey! Only he probably wouldnt have had $2.60 to pay for it. So does that mean am I on the paleo diet? Seriously though, I agree with you. I think whole foods in their natural state should be the main part of our diet. I think artificial sweeteners, fake fat, coffee creamers and Protein shakes are poison. White flour has no place in a healthy diet, really. It offers nothing vital nutritionally. But I cant go the whole hog, so to speak. I cant give up oats and muesli, I do like the odd rice cake or cracker and everybody must have chocolate sometimes. But I find that what I do 90% of the time is sufficient to keep me thin, healthy and feeling good (lets just ignore the fact that I had bowel cancer shall we? That was probably from my OLD diet).

You're right, I think the word "meals" is a misnomer. I mean I just said I dont snack if I can help it but I just did because all I ate at lunchtime today was sliced cucumber and red capsicum - no Protein, nothing of any substance so when school finished, I was genuinely hungry. So I had an apple, and two little babybell cheeses with a cup of coffee. That's as much as I would eat at a meal anyhow. Its protein and carbs/fruit, so its quite balanced. Now that I'm not starving, and wont devour the packet, I'll have that cookie I was thinking of to dunk in my coffee. I thought of it as a "meal" because I'm going out tonight and dinner wont be till 8.30 and its only 3.30, now had I thought of it as a snack, I would have gone straight for the Cookies (because that's snack food, right) and eaten ten becuase I was starving. Always listen to your stomach. You know when you REALLY need food and when its just head hunger. And when I have a snack craving like the cookies, I make a deal with myself. I eat properly first, if I'm really hungry I do what I did - if I'm not really hungry but know I'm still going to cave in, I make myself eat a raw carrot (or two) first, with some Water. That blocks me up, it sometimes backfires but usually makes me so full and a tad uncomfortable that then I can have a small piece of something or the cookie or whatever without going wild on it.

I eat about 1500 per day now, if I'm being good. I am maintaining, and a pretty low BMI at that, but I can easily eat over 2000 calories a day. I hve never ever ever been able to do the 1000 calorie a day thing, my body just goes nuts and drives me to eat around my band if I try to do it. But I lost weight well on 1500 so I guess that's why - my size, activity and energy needs are such that I dont NEED to eat 1000 calories a day to lose weight. I dont really understand how on the one hand, my band worked well enough that I lost 120lb and have kept it off for four years, but on the other, I can eat sandwiches, Pasta, rice and if I add in a normal person amount of Cookies, chocolate and little treats, I'm up at that 2000 level, which I cant do for very long or I begin to gain. I stick to 1500 a day fairly easily with my band almost full - my doc reckons because I'm so slim - and he said I didnt have a "big" stomach to start with - an almost full 4cc band doesnt provide as much restriction on me as it might on someone else. I also dont understand how on earth I can be 5ft 10, 140lb, run an hour a day and go to a couple of body pump or circuit classes a week and do the whole running around mum/wife/worker routine and have to eat 1500 to maintain. All the charts say I shoud be eating 2,500 a day - yet there's patently no way I can get away with that. I no longer try to understand the math, I just do what I know works for me.

I now have surgically induced IBS and a band and I find my band helps me enormously to manage my triggers. I had rectal cancer, diagnosed last year, a bowel resection in which my rectum was removed and a new pouch created from my colon to function as a rectum. For nine months I had an ileostomy and the most irritible gut you can image, I literally poured my lifeblood into that damn bag day after day, so much so that at the reversal surgey, I gained about 5lb overnight simply from rehydration. Since my reversal eight weeks ago, my colon has had to learn to work again and it is not liking it. To start off with, I had to live off a low residue diet meaning I ate white bread, white rice, white Pasta, cheese, apple sauce and little else. No fruit and veg, little Protein and fat. If I didnt have my band to keep portion size down, I would ahve ballooned on that horrible diet. I have been gradually introducing regular foods and I will be OK in the long run but for now, I have an ongoing battle with foul, eyewatering gas and accompanying pain and bloating. Every single freaking day after lunch. It is revolting, I am so stinky. I have the urge to have a bowel motion about twenty times most days and only pass skinny little nuggets that give no satisfaction at all. What makes all of this worse is eating big quantities. On days I work, I cannnot afford to eat lunch - I'm a teacher and once int he classoom, I cant go to the bathroom, so eating is really problematic for me during working days. With my band, I can eat a bite and a cup of coffee at lunchtime and make it thorugh the day without passing out from hunger. I thank the powers that be for my band every day. It got me through the stodge diet without major gain and it makes working possible for me at this very early stage. Eventually my bowel will settle, but that's what I find - eating very small helps and avoiding eating all togehter in situations where you wont be able to handle the result is vital - and a band makes that much easier.

Left to my own devices, I eat meals AND graze all day. My weight loss is best and I am most in control when I eat 3 meals, no Snacks. I truly do not need to eat between Breakfast and lunch, and dont have a lot of desire to either. The stretch between lunch and dinner is much harder, but I find, add a snack and it just breaks my resolve and I keep on eating, its easier to just ban eating all together. And as long as I"m busy, I dont really get hungry. However, its a good point above about not eating just because its snack time at 3 oclock. That's what I tend to do when I plan snacks and becuase I wasnt really hungry anyway, they dont satisfy. Snacks to me are much more about "hmmmm, I fancy a bit of that....." Which is not good, diet wise! If I"m truly hungry between meals then I will eat something and I find that when I was really hungry, for some reason I can stop eating more easily. Probably because if I eat despite not being hungry, I was eating out of boredom or something, and eating doesnt satisfy boredom and never will but I keep going looking for a stop signal that just never comes. There's no real evidence to suggest that eating sixn times a day increases weight loss either, its a negligable effect on your metabolism. But there's plenty of evidence that our hunger hormones are much better controlled with long breaks between meals. Humans are opportunistic, meaning they traditionally at anything, anytime, anywhere, sometimes the gorged and then didnt eat for days and other times they might have eaten much more often as they came across something edible. What really matters is that you do what fits with your lifestyle, your eating personality and seems to have a positive effect on your weight loss.

It is scary no matter what your age - I was 36 and whilst I'd always insisted I wasnt an emotional eater, when push came to shove, and I was on the verge of the surgery, I realised I was about to let go of a very old and very dear friend and coping mechanism. What pushed me forward was that I thought, sure I could not have the surgery, but if things were goign to change, I had to say goodbye for that friend, regardless. You're not as young as you might be. By 23, I was able to resist peer pressure and not feel like I had to drink heaps and eat junk food just coz others were. I mean, i did it, lol, but because *I* wanted to, not because I had to fit in. You will be able to lead a normal social life only now you will eat and drink like the thin girls we always admired and hated at the same time. This is the best thing you could possibly do for yourself, you're heading off a raft of health problems before they happen, whereas most of us have to experience the beginnings of them (and of old age) before we act. Deep breath and have faith, this will be wonderful for you!

Its insane, isnt it. I feel enormous at the moment, like a big fat cow because I've regained 4lb. My bmi is now, wait for it, hold onto your hats - 20. Yep. Just 20. I feel like my gut is bursting out of my jeans and I have rolls on my back. I see a photo of myself and assume its not even me becuase in my minds eye I'm seeing double chins and fat arms. I put on one outfit today that this time last year was one of my skinny outfits, a huge thrill, black skinny jeans and a slinky top. The jeans are way too big for me, they kept falling down. So I felt skinnier last year 8 or 9lb heavier, than I do today because my BMI has gone from 19 to 20. I had cancer for crying out loud, that weight loss was unhealthy weight loss, it made me underweight and it was never ever going to stay lost. I looked terrible. And I still feel fat and disgusted because my now healthy body is regaining its equilibrium. I have accepted that I am disordered - I'm obsessed and illogical about my size, and I'm way too obsessed with what and how much I eat. It is never going to change. Its within the realms of healthy, I mean I dont do things that could physically harm me like severely undereating or purging or any of that stuff, but I know its just a fact of life. I will never have a completely easy relationship with food and my body. I will always be working hard so that I feel like I'm the boss of it.

I dont find it worth the taste sacrifice - I mean if you look at labels comparing a low fat and a normal yogurt serve for serve, for example, you'll often find you only save 40 calories or so and are getting a lot more sugar and carbs and less Protein in the low fat one. Its the same with so many foods. I buy skim milk only, always have done, becuase I really dislike full cream milk or even the 2% stuff, cant bear any taste of cream in the milk - yet I will eat my morning muesli with skim milk and a dollop of cream on it, lol. Totally different taste sensation. Low fat Cookies and such - well those are crap foods whatever way you cut it, you shoudlnt be eating them anyway and if you do, it should be so occasionally that the full fat version is not going to make a difference. I think real, whole foods should be your focus, but I'm as guilty as anyone when it comes to eating a cookie as a snack rather than a small can of tuna, and then taking Vitamins to make up for all the real food I dont eat. I like my salads with a very small amouint of olive oil (or flaxseed oil, full of Omega 3's) and salt and pepper - its heart healthy and you actually absorb a lot more of the nutrients in a salad with a bit of fat. Just a teaspoon is enough to lubricate it and you can also use vinegar if you want that tangy flavour.I'm not fond of low fat salad dressings. One thing I do do though that makes a huge difference - Soups and curries and stuff that use cream or coconut milk - I alwasy substitute low fat evaporated milk in those - cant taste the difference, and it saves sooo much saturated fat and lots of calories and the coconut flavoured evaporated milk tastes just like real coconut milk in Asian dishes.

That is so so true. I often look at the top of the fridge, stacked with chips, Cookies, snack foods and think, how can I do so much for my own health and still let my kids eat this crap? They dont need it, it doesnt need to be in the house. But you would have to seriously be superhuman to withstand the tirades of abuse, whining and nagging you would get from teenage kids asked to eat carrot sticks. I feel like I really failed them, letting them ever get a taste for that sort of food, but really, it was always going to happen, if they dont get it at home (which they didnt prior to starting school), its only going to come from their peers later. But it seems I'm a little insane - I buy the stuff then yell at them about how bad it is when they eat it! I usually dont touch it, but occasionally I just go wild. I have to reiterate - keep busy. Had 3 days last week where I worked, barely managed 1000 calories. Four days where I didnt work, over 2000 calories each day. Its so bad for me to be at home with no pressing schedule.

Its tough, really tough. And you're in the hardest part of it. If you can get through the first week, the other two are not quite as bad, but it does take a lot of strength. It made me so ill, the doc took me off it as I didnt have a big liver anyway (had had a liver ultrasound) and was a BMI of 35. I couldnt hack it, I couldnt even stand up without passing out! I do wonder just how much liver shrinkage you'll get in the shorter time frame? I guess a few days is enough to deplete the liver of glycogen (and a lot of water) quickly but you wont get a lot of true fat loss in that time. But I guess the doc knows what he's doing. Never mind, hang in there, this is all for the best cause. If you cave in, which you must try not to do, but if you do, avoid any carbs at all costs as those will just undo your hard work as your body squirrels them away filling up your liver and muscles with lots of glycogen again. If you MUST eat, make it Protein.

To be honest - its probably you. I am in exactly the same spot myself at the moment. I have restriction because I cant eat what others eat, but I can eat enough to gain weight, easily. I can still overeat, because I was never a sit down and eat five courses kind of eater, I was always a grazer. I'm doing it again. I'm home, I'm bored, my cancer treatment has finished and I'm waiting to start my life again. I havent had a job because teaching in Australia works by contract, the jobs are all being advertised for next year now, but you cant just go and look for a job at any time of year, so I've had to do relief teaching work instead, which means i've been home on my own lots and lots and lots of days. So what have I done? Eat, of course! Go to the shops for coffee and cake. Go out for lunch with my mum. Moodle away the afternoon on the computer munching Cookies and eating coffee. I've regained weight I really really needed to put on. I've passed that point and regained a few lbs that dont matter much. Now I'm moving into danger territory! I went back and got fills. I've got more fill than I had before I was unfilled last year. And I'm still eating. I'm exercising, but there's no amount you can do to overcome mindlessly munching on cookies, cake etc all day long. I keep feeling frustrated because my band isnt working, but really, its me. I'm not hungry and I cant eat an awful lot in one sitting, well, not of healthy foods anyway. I almost picked up the phone to book another fill yesterday but I know that it will be too tight - when i'm in a work situation, cant nibble all day and have to stick to 3 meals, I find it hard to reach 1200 calories - its me me me, not lack of restriction. I"m now back to 65kg, I wont go any higher! Some of it is rehydration (was chronically dehydrated with an ileostomy), a little bit of it *might* be the result of my efforts at bodypump (I certainly havent gotten larger) but most of it is stuffing my face with the wrong foods. Its so so hard to put the brakes on and get yourself back on track, but we must do it, its the only way. I tell myself really, its only weight, it can be lost again, its simply choices, that's all there is to it. You have to quell the incipient panic that sets in and has you racing off vowing to lose it all again in four days and just take a deep breath, realise what is sensible and get back to it. This is life, I'm afraid, its what we will ALWAYS have to do. Even the most successful bandsters will relapse if they dont remain vigilant and many many people falter at that last 20 or 30lb because it takes real dedicated effort to get it off!

I think of it the same way - I've never "dieted" with the band. I also do eat more on special occasions and on holidays and stuff, but its no longer enough to really affect my weight, or not for more than a day or two anyway. Consequently, I lost well, but not particularly fast, despite running for an hour a day. I lost 80lb in my first year, about 20 in my second and another 20 over the past FOUR years!! I've gotten down to a very low BMI of 20, and I like it that way. The toothpick look is what I like, lol, I'm 5ft 10 and about 140 lb, I consider myself fat at 160! I alwasy wantedt to lose this much weight, but I did have that sense of disbelief that it was even possible. But as I got c loser, I realised it would be.

Sorry you're feelign disappointed - 12lb is a great loss, but honestly, its not a lot of weight when you have 100 or more to lose. Especially at the start of your journey, you lose a lot of Water weight too, so its probably not much of a change in your body composition at all. Also, when you've very overweight, you have to lose a LOT of weight to actually get smaller - I started off at a BMI of 35 and I had to lose about 20lb of the 90 or so I had to lose to go down a complete clothes size! I carry weight pretty evenly with a slight pear shape, other people who have a big tummy might even find that that tummy stops them going down sizes for much longer. I never had a very big face or double chins though and I saw changes very quickly there, but the thighs too much longer! You really need to appreciate the weight loss for what it is, a start, a good achievement and just keep getting on with it. Sooner or later, you'll get to the point where 10lb makes a huge difference and an entire clothes size, the less fat you have, the more a small loss shows. But you've got to go through this bit now to get to it. A mile a day's great, but its nothing like the sort of exercise you need to do to keep fat coming off your body. Like it or not, you really do need to suck it up and just do it. A mile a day is the kind fo thing you should be doing just as part of your everday life, and not even count it as "exercise".