Jachut

I think it is important to keep track of reality in this sort of situation. I am so guilty of beating myself up over a 1700 calorie day - um, I am at goal, have been for years, run for an hour or more a day and am 5ft 10, 145lb. I kind of NEED that sort of calorie level to survive. Look at what other people eat - 1700 is below maintenance for most women. But it feels like so much food/sheer gluttony. I get it in one way or another - I mean, I can keep my meals teeny tiny so that I feel virtuous but I will then simply pick, graze and nibble my way to that and more! In truth, you would lose weight - more slowly - on that sort of calorie intake. So simply put it behind you and move on.

Olives are good fat and the sodium is not that high if the rest of your day is fairly unprocessed.

I dont think we entirely understand it yet, I'd shoot for moderation. Look at it this way Saturated animal fat is positively associated with heart disease and cancer - in a statistical sense. We may or may not be on the wrong track, since all the proponents of the caveman/paleo style diets have some convincing evolutionary arguments. So....... dont be completely afraid of it, but dont overindulge. Choose low fat dairy products, and dont eat too much red meat. We know the good fats help to prevent cancer and heart disease and may do good things hormonally for our bodies in terms of where we carry weight, how we burn fat etc. So eat oily fish and incude good olive oil in your diet. The worst kinds of fats are trans fats - the crap that's in processed foods - baked goods, fast foods etc. Dont eat it if you can avoid it. If you have high fat, you're going to have high calories. So regardless of whether or not we have our facts on fat right, if you eat a lot of it, you might struggle to keep your calories in check. So keep your fat to the current guidelines of 30% or so of your calories per day and try to make a good portion of that the good fats, and less saturated fat. All it really means is avoid full fat dairy, dont have too much red meat, and choose lean cuts, maybe dont eat five eggs a day, include oily fish, avocado, nuts instead of quite so much meat and dairy.

If you look at it logically, you're trying to lose weight, so you're trying to create a calorie deficit. So why on earth would you purposely eat back those calories? Makes no sense. You might TIME your eating to include a snack right after exercise - many people believe we need a small Protein snack. But overall, you need a calorie deficit - which you achieve by eating less and exercising more.

Wow, how exciting! I dont think it hurt that much - other than coughing, sneezing and laughing (OMG, you will do ANYthing to avoid that for a few weeks!). I had a five day hospital stay - we dont get kicked out here. That really helped. I didnt need major pain meds after the first two days and by the time I was home, I was taking nothing at all. What does bug you is not pain but swelling, immobility, bowel difficulties, impatience to see your new shape, wearing the compression garment, that type of thing. Its a very long recovery to the point where you can say, go out and run and do a full gym program again and the changed pressure in my abdomen has actually caused me some pelvic floor issues that I now have to have treatment for (dont worry, I'm a special case, lots of pelvic radiation, bowel surgery etc). He sewed my muscles up super duper tight, I felt like I couldnt take a deep breath for about two months.

Yes, I have slight pouch dilation and I do really notice that I can eat things - like a sandwich - that I would never have DREAMED of eating a year or two ago! I have not gained weight though, as in reality I've been at goal for years now and eating a sandwich for lunch - just one sandwich - is hardly a fast track to obesity. I still have the headhunger demons, the urge to reach for a biscuit just coz its on a plate in front of me, or share the chips because they're there. I thing mmmmm a glass of wine might be good at 5pm. I have to still manage all those behaviours, like anyone does, so to be honest, a little extra capacity is not that big of a deal to me. I stress, I still cant eat anything like what a normal person eats! My doctor is happy to just watch as long as its not symptomatic - but I have had heartburn. I had a small unfill which has improved that. But I am thinking about a complete empty and soft diet to fix this. I would like to have my band working like it used to.

I wish! its not that simple for me. I can be stuffed full and still "want" sugar. I have regularly gone without it for long periods of time and it does not reduce the craving. Every day, 3, 4pm it sets in, soooooo strong. It does not matter what I eat for Breakfast and lunch, more Protein, less protein, carbs, no carbs, it is so firmly entrenched in my psyche - relaxation in that tired part of the aftrnoon = coffee, sugar and putting my feet up. Nothing cuts the craving for me. I also find that when I undereat now - like the 1200, 1300 it takes to satisfy physical hunger with the band, the cravings kick in till I'm up to 1700 - 1800 calories which seems to be what my body likes to maintain itself on. Then they cut out, like that! The trouble is a 1700 or 1800 calorie a day level tends to equal about 154lb for me, and I like to be closer to 140, sigh.

Well, i still dont want the lights on!

Sorry, phone typing

Similar experience. My band got through a few surgeries and chemoradiation for rectal cancer empty and the worst that occurred was i struggled to find good restriction again - although a big factor here is that at over six years banded, when you think youre eating a lot youre really not! Anyway, i filled back up and then found out i needed abdominal repair for ventral and inguinal hernias after having had n ileostomy for nine months. My band surgon said dont unfill so i didnt. Since the tummy tuck the pressure in my abdomen from the newly repaired and tightened muscles has caused increased band tightness but not to the point Id call "tight" and constant heartburn. Ive had a smll unfill which hlped somewhat. But my poor pelvic floor also! It got though major pelvic surgery, radiation and three *** babies but the added pressure fro my tight stomach - thank god no prolpses but i now hav obstructed defecation. I have no rectum, its a created "pouch" and badiclly, without jose push muscles i am totally laxative dependent right now, i also find urinating difficult. So..... Yes. Surgeties can have very unexpected side effects!

Running and spinning

Hang in there. I had a bit of a rough time last year with depression after cancer, got on top of it partly due to hormone treatment and backslid a ling way after my tummy tuck which was over three months ago. Its been awful and has taken a long time. Its pretty normal to one degree or another. My drains were only in three days so yes, four weeks is a long time. But youre only human and dont need something else to stress about!!

unfortunately I still CAN eat all day - if I graze I can put away over 2000 calories quite easily. So obviously, I have to avoid doing that. At one sitting - a small sandwich would really fill me (I hardly ever would eat one), whereas before i'd eat that, a piece of fruit and a piece of cake or something at one sitting. I could easily go out and eat a three course dinner, now I'd stick with an appetiser and a coffee. I eat my dinner off a bread and butter plate and dont load that overly. Before I ate off a full size plate. I eat Cereal often in the morning, but I have a small bowl for that - I'd only eat the 1/2 cup serve listed on the pack. Before I had a massive bowl full.

Hmmmm, well if i ran the same 3km circuit at the speed i started at six years ago, it ould be laughably easy. So yes. But you keep challenging yourself. So now i run twice as fast and four or five times the distance. Aking a spin cass and not staying for body pump feel ack. So i still work really hard and m exhausted when i finish. But its rarely nauseating or o hard i cant front up again the next day.

It would be a HUGE emergency! First of all, your stomach cant flip unless you happen to posess a few extra feet of esophagus. It can twist, and that must be what they mean. This is an emergency. You have a partial blockage, which is dangerous enough, it could progress vey quickly to a full blockage, which presents the possibility of rupture. Ive had several obstructions in the smll intestine and have always been hospitalised immediately, NIL by mouth and under obsrvation till it clears. This is unlikely to just clear! Id be seeking nother opinion.

I eat"whatever i want" which doesnt mean I dont eat healthy! Eating whatever you want desnt necessatily mean you eat lots of junk. I think the whole nutritionist thing is personality dependent and that its GREAT if you find having a supportive tool. Keep it up! Me and nutritionists ...... meh. Its not my scene. I am very negative towards the whole idea of paying for information I already know, both in terms of my behaviour and what i should eat. I get really pissed off at being given photocopied information too. I had to see a dietician just after surgery for the full liquid, mushies to solids routine and that was necessary and helpful, she was good but very rude and disparaging about my goals, warning me id never achieve it. Dumb woman, i smahed my original goal out of the park. Ive since had to go during pelvic radiation for cancer, not articularly helpful nd now ive got an appointment in a few weeks to see if i can improve my bowel function, im going purely coz my surgeon wants me too. I already know what she'll tell me - metamucil. I lready know that neither my guts nor my lapband tolerate it. I know she'll want me o eat more, not understanding my band. I already know I wont follow that advice. I hav a TERRIBLE attitde, im on the defence and i havent even been yet. Im stubborn and hate being told what to do. It cant work with my negative attitude.

Well, you could ....... but your reputation might suffer a bit. Elcee, you'll probably get this - and rooting reminded me, lol. We watched Puberty Blues the other night, lordy what a laugh. EXACTLY what growing up in the 70's and 80's was like.

I have a 15 year old son too - and a 17 year old - and I am friends with them on Facebook and YES! A million stupid identical looking girls pulling duck faces and taking photos from above with their mobile phone. And for variety - two girls, two duckfaces in the one photo! Its stooopid. Anyone that needs to take that many photos of themselves AND publish them is vain, self absorbed and vapid. That's forgiveable for teenage girls, but not for 20 and 30 somethings.

That leaves you with a 1000 cal deficit which is about what you need to lose 2lb a week, that doesnt sound extreme to mee. Lapband patients dont have differnt "needs". Our bodies work the same as evetyone else's - we're just better at sticking to diets

I never needed to drop below 1500 - im 5 ft 10 and a runner, i just didnt need to go as low as many others

Karen, its winter and bloody freezing here! We still call the thongs, a rubber is something you erase pencil mistakes with and durex is sticky tape!

Id forgotten so many of my dreams until reading this, have lived them long enough to take them for granted! Lordy my feet used to hurt the first few steps in the morning or when getting up from sitting.

1000 a DAY might do something. I had to try it, I did 100, it took about two minutes. Nuff said.

You'll have a large degree of swelling and bloating from surgery still. Stomachs are weird. Having had a flat stomach anyway, or so I thought, after my tummy tuck its virtually concave. It looks *almost* six pack-ish. Very impressive. Yet after all those surgeries, and having had a stoma for 9 months, its weaker than its ever been, my core strength is really poor at the moment. Much less endurance and strength than I had when it was fatter and rounder.

Well...... hmmm, a "fluffy fanny" would be something quite different here, wouldnt it? Something more along the lines of someone who hadnt kept up with the landscaping? Looking at the time, should you have been working when you came up with this little gem, lol? I'm on LBT whilst my grade is doing a boring comprehension worksheet! Its one of those afternoons, I'm too ratty (reports were due today), they're too ratty, its nearly the end of term, snoooooooore.