Jachut

Personally, I think we're actually probably meant to gorge ourselves stupid once every couple of days and then go long periods without eating! That's why our bodies are as efficient as they are at storing fat, they're made to deal with large quantities. Trouble is, we eat those large quantities on a daily basis. I dont think the human body is necessarily evolved to eat 3 meals a day. In other words calories are calories. But we dont live in the Stone Age anymore and if we CAN eat sensibly 3 times a day I think that in the presence of a glut of calories, its probably a way to store less fat and run more reliably.

I'd say its never too late to make good changes, but that said, I dont believe you need to totally give up bad foods to maintain a normal weight, even without a band. Its all about energy balance. Most people, changed eating habits or not, would gain at least some weight without their band. I personally think the amount and type of exercise you do has a lot to do with avoiding weight regain. The band should be there forever. But you never know when you might have to unfill for whatever reason (like a surgery) or if something might go wrong. So it pays to work on healthy habits to the best of your ability.

142%, meaning that I've gone well past the top of my healthy weight range, well past a BMI of 25, down to the lower end of things. At 2 years I'd lost right on 100%

I've found it hard coming to terms with the fact that normal weight doesnt equal perfect body. I still have my hang ups. I thought that I'd done well to get to about 68kg (BMI 22 or so) but that dropping 6km more would make me perfect. Well, for various reasons I have dropped that six kgs and now have a BMI of 20. I am wonderfully thin, I can wear anything and am down to a US size 6. But Ilook like an 80 year old in the nude! I dont have an apron belly, my stomach is flat but its all loose, with this hard body underneath it, my boobs are just hanging empty skin and I've even noticed wrinkling on my inner elbows. My back is great, lol, you can see every muscle, its a work of art. My bum still sags, my inner thighs are loose, sigh. I think personally that how your body actually looks and how you perceive it are not particularly related. If you cant love yourself and accept yourself fat, you're not going to be able to thin. I still feel big and fat on occasion and to be honest, at the moment, i know logically that I'm bloody skinny. Its something to work on, for sure. I've been at goal weight or under for over 3 years and its not helping my head much.

From what I can gather from my years on here, the newer, larger capacity bands make it more difficult to get to a good restriction. I have the older 9.75cm 4cc band and I had restriction from surgery, with no fill at all. When that waned after about 8 weeks, I had a fill which bought me back to restriction. That tapered off after another 8 weeks or so so I had another fill which again bought me back to restriction. As I got more in my band, the periods of restriction lasted much longer and took like 0.1cc to top it back up. there was none of this waiting to feel any restriction or to get to a sweet spot. I had it from the beginning and lost weight steadily. That would lead me to assume that with larger bands, you're going to have period post surgery for a couple of months where you dont have much restriction. That doesnt mean you cant/wont lose weight but its more reliant on willpower and behavioural changes. I made those too, right from the start but it was very easy when i wasnt hungry much and couldnt overeat.

I generally cant eat easily after running or bootcamp.

If something gets a bit stuck at the stoma, you will start to produce a lot of saliva/foamy stuff - that's your body trying to lubricate to get it down. It feels like a big lump in your chest and your mouth water's profusely and you cant swallow the saliva as you're already blocked. You have to spit. That may progress to a PB if the offending item doesnt move. That's a productive burp, or a vomit. Its different for different people, some people can literally open their mouth and let the offending item come up, even discreetly into a napkin, for me, its a huge event, not terribly painful but uncomfortable, and loud/coughing, much like vomiting but without horrid nausea, stomach acid and huge quantities. I think I could count on my hands how often that's happened to me in five years of being banded.

It doesnt feel like anything, you just get full faster than normal. There's no "feeling" unless you're overly tight or dont chew enough or take a huge bite, then you feel that feeling like when you eat too fast and it sticks in your chest. You know, in your old life when you buy a Big Mac and its so yummy that you wolf it down and then have to pound yourself on the chest? Its a bit like that for me, only more intense. I guess I can feel it hit my stomach and stay there, the feelings are really hard to describe. I can feel that I cant eat a huge amount quickly. But a bite and a swallow feels normal.

I've had a couple of colonoscopies recently and didnt have to unfill for any of them, I got the prep down (picolax) with no problems.

Oh, but that pain is soooo good! Lol, its very satisfying. As long as you can distinguish between the pain of sore muscles and a true injury, just work through it. Walking is low impact and fairly easy and not likely to do any real damage.

I really dont get these questions, it baffles me, but I know everyone has a different experience. its just that for me, I simply feel comfortable in the tummy, like I did before. I feel full in exactly the same way. Once I start approaching that, I know its time to stop eating, and like before, my enjoyment of and desire for what I'm eating is less as I get more satisfied.

I had superb restriction (the best of my entire banded experience) for about 8 weeks after surgery, it was grat. The weight dropped off, I felt good - I have to describe it as having no appetite, but it wasnt really like that. food was not unappealing, I didnt feel sick, but I could just take it or leave it (so I left it all beyond basic needs). Weight literally fell off me during that period. Over time, that waned, and I required fills to keep up the restriction but every fill gave me what I needed at the time to keep losing, there was no waiting for a sweet spot. Over time also though my normal appetite returned, meaning head hunger, a taste for sweet foods and the need for willpower despite restriction, to keep away from chocolate, Cookies and cakes. Five years on, I'd say that part of me returned completely but I've learned to control it, distance myself from it and not use those foods in times of boredom or stress - I say to myself "those foods make people fat, I dont need them" and by and large, i just dont eat them.

Its fickle but at times I have discomfort with spicy foods - they just give me heartburn. Wine burns too, I need to line my stomach with something to eat before I have a glass of wine. it must be the increased contact with the upper part of your stomach and esophagus (as the food sits there for a while) that is the cause.

I refuse point blank to eat under 1200 a day or so (so I guess it was lucky I lost weight well on 1500 a day or so). I maintain nicely on about 2000 a day - that's pretty much a normal, healthy metabolism, only a little less than what the charts say I should be eating. I have to unfill my band soon for a surgery and I'm VERY glad I dont have to try to stick to 1200 a day unbanded simply to maintain my weight. I figure if after 5 years of healthy banded eating if I cant stick to 2000 a day I've really done something wrong. I dont really believe in starvation mode - calories in less than calories out and eventually you will lose weight. But live on next to nothing for a few years and it would seem its highly likely you'll always have to. Your body definitely becomes very efficient.

It depends a lot on how you respond to pain, surgeries and such. I'd say to still be in some pain and tired inside 2 to 3 weeks of the surgery would still be normal and not cause for concern. Likewise, to feel great 3 days later is normal, lucky but normal. That strong port pain, I had that for quite a while, it could really hurt. I would twist or bend and this burning pain would result. It was somewhat tender and subject to strange pains for months.

I think you need to be more open to people and not assume that people are looking at you and judging you. People in general arent mean spirited, well not once they grow up out of adolescence, anyway. If you can shed the embarrassment, working out is so much more fun. I used to only run at night when I was a teenager, under the cover of darkness. I simply dont care now, I go any time, anywhere, and I dont worry about what people think. Classes and groups are so much fun, I have a great bootcamp group, its so friendly and yet there's me on the skinny end of the scale, another lady who is around 300lb but still plugs away at it every week and one lone guy, a really nice guy who comes with his wife. We all have our lumps and bumps, we all sweat like pigs and some even puke, lol and we are all of differeng ability. We've all bonded. If you're open to it, it can make the whole experience so enjoyable. But being self conscious and shy makes you appear stand offish and people wont talk, and you wont realise that if they ARE looking at you, its probably to admire your courage and deternmination.

Thanks guys - didnt mean to hijack the thread. But the point is, if you keep eating as you should, and dont slack off, you can keep losing. We all do tend to slacken a little with time.

Go back and get unfilled. It's not healthy to live like that, the weight loss is not good weight loss (if you even lose, many dont when they're too tight) and you'll rebound when you CAN eat. Just go and get some taken out. This is a slow and steady process, one that you've obviously done very well at so far.

I'm not a great dieter or rule follower, I knew for me to have a lifestyle I could stick with, it had to be reduced portions of ALL foods, treats included. I've eaten less due to the band's restriction, but worked really hard to get super fit. No mild workouts for me, I run and do bootcamp, an hour or so at least five days a week. I really believe the exercise has been at elast 50% of my sucess.

Yes, it does. I have maintained an even 68kg or so for about three years now, but over time, and with fill loosening somewhat, have eaten more, just enough more to maintain, not enough to gain. In a few weeks, I have to have a foot or two of my intestines removed. My band will have to be unfilled for this operation, that freaked me out a little and I decided I better start being really good, to practice for what I know I'll have to do for the period of time I'm unfilled if I'm not goign to gain weight. When I've returned STRICTLY to my band rules, 3 meals, no crap, I've suddenly lost another 3 kgs in a few weeks. I really probably dont need even the moderate restriction I have if I ate this way all the time. I now have a little leeway to gain a bit back when I'm unfilled, I'm now getting alarmingly skinny, but I dont want to eat rubbish to put it back on. I have always exercised regularly, running most days of the week too.

For me its a loud and violent coughing process and is quite like a real vomit without the stomach acid or copious quantity. I cant do it on purpose, at will or just because I feel I need to. I feel a premonition that something will get stuck, then I feel blocked - it can stop there and clear within a few minutes but if I feel a sudden sharp pain by my belly button, and start to salivate, I know its coming up. I can control it, meaning I can hold it down till I get to a toilet, but it comes up in a huge coughing gurgle. I do have to lean over and sort of tense to make it come up, but I couldnt do that if it was just blocked and not coming up anyway. But yeah, its loud, not discreet. I may be wrong but I would imagine that being able to just make it come up would mean your throat, pouch and muscles are kinda loose and stretched out .... they're supposed to hold things down and not let them up that easily.

Its not so much a matter of it irritating your band, its getting the food down that provides the fibre - fruit, vegies and wholegrains. Even with eating those foods, something like benefibre is a good idea.

Yes, it can become very noticeable. Mine is pretty out there, my only real loose skin though is my upper belly, which is from pregnancy, as I was never really that fat on my stomach. I have a pretty flat stomach and an almost six pack (sigh), so my stomach has not got a lot of fat on it. The flabby upper bit actually hides the port somewhat. I wear a bikini, I dont care. I'm 43, I dont need to the best looking woman on the beach, I'm just proud of what I've achieved and if my port showing bothers anyone, that's their problem not mine. Very few of us end up with a perfect body out of this. At some point you have to learn to love what youv'e got and just like pregnancy leaves marks on your body, so does weight loss. You're still going to look great and most of the time we do wear clothes.

Just an update - have gotten through six weeks of chemo and radiation feeling pretty darn good. Very very little nausea (just a mild bleugh feeling some days), absolutley no vomiting or diarrhoea, no need to unfill my band whatsoever. It does have to be unfilled for surgery though, eeek. But just the strain on your body, and not having a huge appetite during chemo, I have lost a couple of kilograms to hit 65, I thought it was my dream weight, right at the bottom of my healthy weight range but boy oh boy, I can finally say I'm damn skinny. Unfilling and regaining a few kg's will be a good thing. It made me realise though, how many little treats I ate around the basic healthy meals - I've been conscious of eating well during my treatment and when I eat exactly as I'm supposed to, well, I lose weight. I dont need to lose weight so I've obviously got too much restriction for maintenance. I'm healthy, feeling well and positive though and the treatment wasnt at all brutal. Surgery end of November.

The band hasnt ever taken away my hunger or the desire to eat either. I have no idea why I have been so successful with it, because things sitting in my pantry still call my name and I have every bit as much ability to eat inappropriately as I ever did. It simply stops me eating so much at one sitting, and that combined with me growing up and accepting that I simply could not eat every time the random urge struck, along with my running, has been enough to bring my weight to normal levels. However, now I'm facing having my band unfilled for 2 or 3 months, I do wonder if I'll find it is doing more for me than I think it is. Its very hard to know what's me and what's the band and perhaps you're not realising quite what its done, afterall, you did lose a lot and you havent piled it all back on. I definitely dont have the same sort of expeirence with my band that I've read about here, I havent ever really "felt" restriction, I eat way more than other bandsters do, I eat from all food groups and I only get stuck if I really break the rules - big bites, poor chewing, fast eating. But obviously weight loss can still occur under those circumstances. You havent had such a good run of it unfortunately, and I think considering a revision to a sleeve is probably a sensible option - we've had surgery and it just shouldnt be this hard. I could probably never fill my band again and keep this weight off but why the heck should I when I find it so easy with some Fluid in there? Likewise, why would you continue to struggle and impose such levels of self discipline when another surgery might release you from all of that? I wish I could help with the cost of it, but unfortunately nobody really can. I do think in your situation I'd be considering the same thing though.