Jachut

I'd say it has value to "reset", that's a good way of putting it. To get you back on the straight and narrow. Nutritionally, its simply a fad diet, you'll lose, but you're in danger of stacking it right back on as you'll lose a lot of Water. Still, if you do get back to basics and keep eating properly you can also keep that weight off. personally, i wouldnt put myself through it. I know when I've been off track and I know its simply a matter of recommitting, I dont find the need for such a drastic measure.

My weight loss just kind of petered out over time. I stopped losing, only to see a few pounds go every now and then and it was purely chance that I settled at about my goal weight anyway (slightly below). SO I never unfilled, never changed anything. Yes, I can handle more empty calories now, and I guess I probably eat more carbs and more in total as the band does loosen over time. But I never had to specifically unfill to stop losing weight. I kept exercising, in fact I do more now than I did during the early part of my losing phase coz I'm much fitter.

I've been teaching gymnastics in a primary scghool on Fridays, which involves unloading a trailer and setting up all the equipment (huge floor mats, parallel bars, balance beam, high low bars etc), usually all by myself as the other girl I've been working with never manages to show up until about five to nine! Then we run five grades from preps to grade twos, a forty minute session each, during which I have to demonstrate the skills (so I'm doing forward rolls, handstands and cartwheels for five or ten minutes of every session) and keeping the kids in control, then its time to take down the equipment and repack the trailer! I get home so exhausted after that day, particularly since I'm an old and crusty 43 year old who's recently had a big surgery and chemo. Whilst I often do give myself permission to not run on a Friday, if I want to (like if I know I wont get a chance Saturday), I dont even go right inside the house when I get home. I park in the carport and run straight out my driveway (since I'm usually dressed for running anyhow)! That'd be my advice, just go on the way home from work or dont get settled, head right back out the door after you're changed.

Oh gosh no, you wont have to look forward that joy! I was diagnosed with rectal cancer a year ago, they took out half my colon and my rectum and created the ileostomy whilst it all heals up. So I've worn a bag for 8 months now, and they're going in to close it up in 2 weeks time, so once again, I will be back to using my rear end to do the business. Well, hopefully it all works anyway!

Coming up for six years now. Have never had a single problem. Keeping off the weight has been easy - and I got right down to a BMI of 20. I've been unfilled for 8 months due to needing another major surgery for bowel cancer, and I've even kept the weight off during that time, although I'm slowly filling again now. Hope someone else answers as going by the current postings, you could leap to the conclusion that the band causes cancer!

Mine has done this for the entire six years I've been banded - and now I have a stoma too (only for two more weeks, yay) so I also cant stop gas escaping from that - sometimes very loudly, exactly the same as it comes out the rear end only I have no muscles to control it. I hate it, with a passion! The stomach noises due the band I could live with but the farting and squirting stoma, man, every time I have an eyebrow wax, a massage, anything where I am in a quiet room with one other person, or whenever there's a quiet spot in a movie - I fart. It is excruciatingly embarrassing and I absolutely cannnot wait to be done with this thing. But lapband tummy rumbles - fact of life I'm afraid.

I'm a wine drinkier and have had no problems with that - but its occasional, I'm not an every day drinker like my parents. they open a bottle every night. I find I get very fat very quickly if I do that. Occasionally I'll have a beer and it causes me no discomfort or problems. I dont drink sweet cocktails/mixed drinks and such, ever. I've never really liked them and they're huuuuuuuge calories.

I'm a wine drinkier and have had no problems with that - but its occasional, I'm not an every day drinker like my parents. they open a bottle every night. I find I get very fat very quickly if I do that. Occasionally I'll have a beer and it causes me no discomfort or problems. I dont drink sweet cocktails/mixed drinks and such, ever. I've never really liked them and they're huuuuuuuge calories. 've

I agree, it might sound harsh but your nutritionist is right. The way you say "when I heard that I just gave up" gives the impression that you're really not facing up to the work this takes. It might just be an (incorrect) impression but the way you say it sounds like you really do need to reset your attitude a little. For me, it has taken running an hour a day, using willpower to stay away from sugar, etc. Believe me, I can still well and truly overeat when I want to, I can down fattening drinks, eat as many cakes, pastries and Cookies as I like, yet ironically take an hour to eat an apple. That doesnt mean I do it! You do need restriction but it doesnt do the whole job, most of it comes from you. This is dieting and exercising old school style, discouraging as that may sound. The band does nothing more than give you a reasonable chance of success at it. You havent done that badly you know. 50lb or so in a year is great - steady healthy loss and you've kept it off. You're probably 3/4 of the way there already, just tighten up your habits, resolve to work at the exercise and I bet you can lose more.

You may find either hard and then again you may not. I've had both experiences - I had my band unfilled for a big surgery 8 months ago - before the unfill, I'd gotten tighter than i realised. I had absolutely completely gone off pizza, even the thought of it turned my stomach, because it was a very uncomfortable food for me to eat - unfilled, I ate it again and it didnt nauseate me. Now I tend to make my own, I bake the base first so that its really crispy (like you might blind bake pastry), then I top it and bake it again. That way I really enjoy it - I like thin topping too and usually something a bit gourmet, dont really like a huge gutfull of processed meat and cheese like you get on a bought pizza. Its also not a particularly fattening food when you make it yourself, I might top it with rocket, pesto, just a sprinkle of low fat cheese, tomatoes, olives and onions on the thinnest base I can buy. Pasta has never been a real problem for me, I dont generally eat creamy pasta sauces unless I make a carbonara with skim evaporated milk. We normally ea bolognaise - and I use turkey mince because you really cannot tell the difference from beef, and I generally use quite a lot of grated zucchini, carrot, broccoli onions and mushrooms and only half as much meat as the jar or recipe calls for. I'd only eat half a cup of spaghetti with that, so really, its an Iron rich, vegetable rich healthy high Protein meal, nothing to feel guilty about at all. I often make the sauce into lasagne using low fat ricotta as the cheese layer too. Strangely, i struggle a bit with short pasta such as penne, rigatoni or shells, but spaghetti is absolutely fine.

I agree, I'd be walking, using a treadmill or elliptical or bike, not jumping around. I even find, as a runner, that running is gentler on my body than even something like step aerobics. If I do a step class or a body combat, I'm in agony the next day - sore knees, sore back, its just so twisty/turny and all directions, so whilst running is high impact, the same motion over and over again can be easier and gentler. I know that at 43, my days of high impact aerobics classes are over, sigh. Body Pump or spinning are the only classes I'll do. I was able to run 10 days after a bowel resection by keeping it slow and low impact - sort of a shuffle - without injury. So I'd be thinking more along those lines.

I make big pots of Soup (zucchini and leek is a fave) and portion into individual containers and freeze. Those are easy to take to work with perhaps a ziploc bag of cut up raw vegies for a snack. I also take things like: crispbreads with cottage cheese or cheese, or a small can of tuna or salmon (which you dont like, so maybe a can chicken instead?) and some sliced tomato and cucumber dinner leftovers if its something like curry and rice or Pasta dish four or five slices of cheese (usually a mix of whatever I have like brie, camembert, tasty, edam etc) and crackers and maybe a little pot of chilli jam to go with it small tossed salads (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, avocado, grated carrot) with a tun of chicken or tuna and a little olive oil and salt and pepper in a small container I can eat bread so sometimes I'll take some bread and a slice of cheese to make a toasted sandwich

I was complaining to my oncologist during my recent chemo about pain that was building in my knees, hips and shoulders, felt like I had aged 20 years overnight. he said it sometimes is a side effect and can take a year or two to clear up, but to take some Nuerofen (ibuprofen) for it every day. Not only is ibuprofen dangerous every day for ordinary folk but obviously its a NSAID and I shouldnt take it with a lapband. I said as much to him, so he presecribed me Nexium to take with it so that it wouldnt irritate the stomach. For me personally, I'm medication phobic, I will not take anything I dont absolutely need and I wasnt about to take another medication to counter the effects of the first when I thought I would get by without the first anyway. So I ignored him, as he tends to just write a script for any possible complaint you could have! But if you really need something for strong pain, and endo is rather horrible, then perhaps you could ask about taking something like Nexium at the same time to protect your pouch?

I think that's different. I know I've certainly been chewing on a piece of steak and not been able to break it down enough to swallow it - i'd certainly spit that out. I also think its different to occasionally chew and spit something when you're on the liquid phase - those cravings can get overwhelming, but as a general rule, if you're chewing and spitting regularly on regular food then you have an eating disorder! I agree, if you crave something that badly, EAT it for pete's sake. This is a lifestyle forever, and there's room for the occasional treat.

Overnight for me - in at 8 am, operated on first on list, so back in my room by 10.30 am, stayed the rest of that day and overnight, went home in the morning. Being operated first on the list, I could have EASILY gone home late that afternoon. I would have slept better in my own bed, or more correctly, given I slept off the anaesthetic all day and then was awake all night, at least at home I could have put a DVD on or and sat up - in the hospital I was stuck in a hard bed with the pathetic four free to air TV channels we have here in melbourne - and NOTHING on overnight.

My story exactly. I have never had an especially high libido - I've got the mental desire, but not a physical urge and "getting there" doesnt happen without my own input or a few toys. Since my surgery for bowel cancer and all that chemo, I"m now also menopausal at 43 and have all the dryness associated with that, I have an ileostomy (only for two more weeks though) and frankly, much as I love DH and do make the effort 3 or so times a week, I really couldnt care if I never had sex again. I just dont seem to have any physical need for it at all. On a brighter note, pelvic radiation has shrunk all my bits, and it does actually feel a fair bit better.

Understandable - but long term its wrong on so many levels. But I think most of us dont need to do that when we're actually eating food, sometimes the craving for something of substance is enough to drive you insane. So, probably an entirely normal thing to do right now.

Twice, I've had abdo and chest xrays and CT scans in the past 12 months and of course, my lapband shows up. Both times, people have commented "oh, you dont need that surgery". It makes me laugh, dont the stupid idiots realise the reason I look like I dont need weight loss surgery is BECAUSE I had weight loss surgery? D'oh. And today i was at the pharmacy picking up a blood pressure script for DH and he's also doing Meal Replacement shakes at the moment (sigh, will he never learn these things just dont work?). So I picked him up some supplies and the lady at the counter commented "why on earth are YOU doing this?". I thought, how would she know if I'd just lost like 100lb and was working on the last few?". What a silly remark. I hate when surgeons cross the line and get personal though. MY colorectal surgeon is a bit like that, he's a real blokey bloke (to coin an Aussie term), very down to earth and rather blunt. He's not been deliberately rude and was only concerned becuase my weight dipped alarmingly low after my bowel resection, but to say that I looked better a bit heavier wasnt really his place, I dont think. Nor did he need to point out that he could see all my ribs in my chest and that I'd lost my boobs. And nor did he need to seem so leeringly appreciative when I went to see him a week ago 10lb heavier! Its really hard when you have to trust someone with what is a pretty intimate body part and function and you think that they're looking at you as a man/woman thing rather than purely as a surgical/medical case. Yet at other times I guess we complain about being treated like a number and not a human being, lol.

Its also true that as you reach a healthier weight, exercise becomes much more enjoyable. But at first there's nothing for it but to dig deep and tough it out - its one of those situations where you have to just grow up and realise its part of the deal and you have to do it. If you pick something you at least like, and that's convenient, sooner or later habit takes over to some degree. I picked running for that reason - you're not reliant on the gym (although I go), you can do it when it suits you and all you need is a pair of shoes. It gets really hot in Melbourne too, early morning or the evening are the times to exercise outdoors, I do have a treadmill and I will run indoors with a fan on me if I have to or I will go and do a class at the gym on very hot days - before I had a membership I would just pay casual rates as it was only occasional. But better to spend $11 on a spin class because its too hot to run than not exercise at all!

I didnt actually lose hair but the condition of it a year after surgery was sooooo bad! I had a long, layered sort of cut and the ends got really really thin and ratty and my hair got really frizzy (it is kinda half curly and course anyway, so frizz is always a problem). What was happening was that the hair wasnt falling out, it was breaking off so the ends got thin but I had as much as ever at the scalp. I had to give in and cut it off because it looked awful. I've never gone back to longer hair either, I actually prefer it shorter, but would never have been brave enough to do it. Protein yes, but also Iron and B Vitamins - hair loss is rarely due to just protein lacking in the diet. Its more often a general lack of nutrition, hormonal, the shock to the system etc.

I dont drink protein shakes at all. Also, I've had bowel cancer so regardless of what my lapband doc says, I follow the orders of my colorectal surgeon and oncologist, by pure lucky chance my lapband surgeon worked with my colorectal surgeon for years and is on the same page. So my diet is rather lower in protein and higher in fruit, vegies and wholegrains. By lower in protein I mean maybe 60 grams a day, rather than more like 100. And I dont need protein shakes to reach that level.

Just been to see my oncologist, on the tail end of the cancer treatment. Chemo finished, all looks good, I'm clear of cancer and now looking down the path of the once or twice yearly checks for the next seven years. So great news. My oncologist has given me some guidance - I'm at increased risk of bowel cancer now anyway having had it once, but I'm also having some genetic testing as its looking increasingly likely that we have Lynch syndrome in the family which gives me an 80% chance of another tumour in the future. so - important nutrients are selenium, Vitamin D and Calcium - need to be supplemented because I cant ingest enough dairy and selenium is very lacking in our fresh produce because our soil is crap and our farming methods stink. Brazil nuts probably the best food source. Have to take aspirin daily despite it being a stomach irritant and not good for banded peoples, but oh well. Recommended fish oil/omega 3 also although that's easier to take without supplementing just by using flax oil, eating fish a few times a week and using flaxseed on cereals. Lots of fruit and vegies - much less red meat, NO processed meat (ham bacon, salami) at all ever is the current recommendation which is not a biggie for me as I'm not overly fond of such things. Lots of onions and tumeric (lucky I'm a good curry cook). its soooo much to remember. By the time I lay out the pills and the daily foods I need to ingest, there wont be room for anythng else, that's for sure! but it makes you really think about how problematic it is to have allowed yourself to become so obese that you need surgery. On the one hand, my healthy weight and regular exercise habits greatly reduce my risk of cancer but on the other, the restrictions of the band make a healthy cancer reducing diet virtually impossible to manage. If I was anti a high Protein high diet containing red meat, processed meats and such before, I certainly wont be venturing there now! But ironically Protein shakes (my pet hate) if you choose the soy ones, contain lots of isovflavones which are a good cancer preventer! Unfortunately if you're a man, you might also grow breasts but hey. Just food for thought - it really is very inmportant not to waste stomach space on crap food very often when our needs are so varied.

Hmmm, I dont drink a lot, certainly dont have a drinking problems, but I find it really hard to say no to a glass of wine by about 6pm. food wise, I can still eat an entire packet of Cookies in a sitting. I have a lot of trouble staying away if they're in the house. Very luckily, the kids are more savoury - prefer chips and stuff like 2 minute noodles so I really dont need to have them in the house at all which keeps me on the straight and narrow. I can ignore the chips for months on end. However, if DH brings a block of chocolate home I do tend to overeat that also. And one final thing I tend to overdo is certain things like rice cakes or cruskits (do you have those puffed crispbreads there?) slathered with real butter. I can eat seven or eight of those coz they're light as air, but its an awful lot of butter!

I prefer natural foods and eat organic where possible. Most of what I eat is still in its natural form - personally, I consider Protein shakes junk food. They're artificially sweetened, chemical laden, they taste completely unlike anything natural, to me its just nuts to be saying you've done great things for your health when this is what you're ingesting. Organic granola, good greek yogurt, a few chopped brazil nuts and a dash of skim milk for Breakfast compared to a Protein shake? No competition - my breakfast sounds big, but its only about 2/3 cup total, I have a small portion. I dont go against my doctors orders because we're not given such strict diet guidelines here, its more a matter of eat less,move more and lose weight. I dont have a nutritionist, that's also not the norm here. I've lost all my weight and THEN some and kept it off for years so this way of eating works. Any way of eating works as long as you eat less than your body requires! You absolutely dont need a nutritionists help to get you to your goal weight, you just need to eat less. Its not rocket science, you can do this your way without being told what plan to follow. Of course I'm talking long term, all bets are off during the liquid post op phase, Protein Shakes can be helpful then and a lot of the foods that they recommend - Jello, custard, milk shakes - well those are all junky too but you're eating hardly anything. Mushies are much easier to make healthy - think lentil dahl, mashed vegies etc.

A plank is where you get in a pushup position on your toes and elbows (rather than hands if you were actually doing a push up) and just hold it - its also called a hover. You need to keep your body in line, no bum up in the air or sagging back. You can modify it by going on your knees rather than your toes if you cant hold it yet (its pretty difficult). Though saying that, proper pushups are a darn good ab exercise too if you do them right. Body Pump is a Les Mills class at the gym - its with a barbell and you get a squat track, back track, chest track, triceps track, biceps track, lunges track and shoulders track where you do various strength training with the barbell to music. It takes about an hour - good for muscle endurance and lean muscle rather than building huge muscles.