Jachut

Lol, I dont really bite, but some issues really get my goat, this happens to be one of them.

The opinion I've formed over the years based on stuff like this is that there's an awful lot of doctors out there who obviously got onto banding as a money spinner and a) know NOTHING about nutrition know NOTHING about how to actually manage a lapband and c) know NOTHING about the challenges and issues of overcoming obesity. They are surgeons, pure and simple, they place the band and then they try to give aftercare that they are simply not qualified to give. Doctors have no business letting a patient exist on a liquid diet, they really have little business insisting a patient stick to some predetermined fill schedule, when its a totally individual thing and they really have little business arguing that the patient does or doesnt need a fill. They have no business chiding patients if they dont fit some statistical weight loss pattern and its pretty darn stupid to make people believe that there's no chance of losing any more than 60% of excess weight. And (take a breath Jacqui) they also have absolutely no business setting people's goal weights for them. They know very little about a person's determination to succeed, or conversely about a patients lack of real desire to be thin when they just want to be healthier. They cannot possibly tell you that this weight or that is not realistic or that you wont get to it. I would run a mile from a doctor who did any of that. I simply wouldnt believe he gave a crap about me as a a person rather than viewing me as a weight loss statistic (or risk) to bolster his practice.

I marvel at how people who have been banded can forget that they werent born 100lb overweight and can express the view that someone doesnt need surgery because they only have a small weight problem. I dont mean those people are being mean or derisive because you're not fat enough to 'deserve' surgery, but they're simply not remembering the process that it took to get to surgery stage. How many times in years past they have lost 20, gained 25, lost 30, then gained 35, etc. How excited they were to lose weight but how quickly it went back on. How impossible it is to live hungry, day in day out. Each of US was once 50lb overweight and that went on to become 60, 70, 80, 100 and even more than that. None of US could lose the weight when it was only 50 or we'd not be here. I think there's 2 things to consider - 1) your motivation to lose weight - health OR appearance doesnt matter, but it needs to be for you and nobody else because it IS a big commitment that you have to be prepared for and 2) you know deep down whether you're a 'fat' person or not. 50lb is right on the statistical brink of being able to lose that weight and keep it off on your own, but I could never even lose 10lb on my own, let alone 50. Some people for whatever reason may carry an extra 50 at some stage of their lives, post pregnancy, middle age, whatever but they can lose it. My mother is like that. Others are truly people suffering from obesity. If you're truly suffering from ovesity then I would consider the surgery worthwhile even if you were only 10lb overweight at a given point in time. If you're truly suffering from obesity it is going to overcome you at some stage and you'll be fighting a much bigger weight problem. How many of us could have avoided painful, expensive and dangerous cosmetic surgery to fix streteched out disfigured skin if we had simply taken positive, decisive action at an earlier stage? And how much damage may years of obesity have done to our bodies that we wont know about yet?

Most days of the week I'd have a green smoothie for Breakfast - one or two fruits (just chunks, not entire fruits) and a handful of spinach - a small glass - like a glass of juice only healthier. I have a vitamix blender which pulverises those things to completely smooth and creamy but you can do it in a regular blender, just tastes a bit more like lawnmower pulp is all. Its just one of those things, not very yummy but I just get it over with. A bit later, often when I get to work, I'll have whatever else I fancy for breakie. Morning tea at work every single day is cut up raw vegies - cucumber, carrot, red capscicum, snow peas, mushrooms, whatever I have on hand. Just a small serve. Most days at work, I have Soup (home made, vegetable based) or a salad with a Protein source added. dinner very often has vegetables with it, we have kids, lots of plain meat and 3 veg style meals. I fit all the vegies in no problem, but I dont worry so much about protein, so I'm not trying to fit them in around that many protein foods.

No, you'd burn a lot less because you're smaller, have less muscle and a slower metabolism (or more accurately, lower calorie needs) as a result. It takes less energy to move your smallr body. Most of the machines are for about "average" - a 76kg male is pretty standards. Which means that most "normal weight" women (by which again "average means under about 65kg, or 140lb) will burn substantially less than the machine says. I dont know about anyone else, but I can guage a 700 calorie burning workout by how much it takes out of my body (of course, I dont known precisely what I burned but I can tell it was a big burn kind of thing) and how long it takes me to recover. For me, a 10kms run would achieve that and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, no matter what the stupid thing says, that 40 minutes on an elliptical machine is absolutely no comparison, it is NOT a 700 calorie workout. Its just not hard enough or taxing enough. I can also tell that I burn less calories during a run these days than I used to - I'm definitely adapted and more efficient at it now.

Paracetamol should do the trick for pain(I think Tylenol is paracetamol, we have diff. brands here). but I would definitely not let a possible allergic reaction go. I'd consider this worth bothering the doctor for.

I lost tons of weight immediately following surgery, I think I'd lost about 40lb within 3 months, which I consider pretty darn fast. But I did no pre op diet so I hadnt exhuasted that easy fast initial weight loss you get when you go on a diet. And I have a 4cc band (which is what they used routinely back then). I believe those bands are far better for getting immediate restriction than the newer bands, I had really really good restriction right from the get go.

Didnt end up wearing my own pj's, I did put a robe on over the gown to walk, I walked around from a couple of hours after the actual surgery, not far, lots of sleeping etc. I went home in the clothes I arrived in - jeans (and ordinary jeans at that, no elastic waist) and a long sleeve tshirt and regular bra. I simply wasnt that sore.

You really dont need to do anything much, they are not major scars. Five years down the track I have a pink line over my port adn I cant even find the other scars.

That's very true - I think its really important to avoid notions of a "right" or 'wrong" way to eat. There's pros and cons of everything. The risks of a higher carb fruit and vegie heavy diet include things like diabetes and even heart disease as a result of the work it creates for your body to digest and store all that instant energy to put it in layman's terms. However, if you're like me, with problems in that area, its very very necessary to prevent nasties like bowel cancer. The great things about a hgih Protein diet include great blood sugar control and less fat storage as a result of the lack of huge amounts of sugar hitting your bloodstream quickly and this too can result in less heart disease. However, this sort of diet can be incredibly heavy in saturated fat, which again, might work for some cultures that dont have exposure to all the other elements of our western lifestyle but may not be so safe for those of us living in different circumstances - for example the inuit would have lived on seal blubber and fresh caught oily fish, not grain fed beef full of hormones and unaturally large chickens and dairy products. by the same token other "healthy" cultures live on much more carb based diets - the Japanese traditionally lived on rice and vegetables as well as fish, whislt mediterranean cultures ate more olive oil, fruits and vegetables and there's also been plenty of publicity on how healthy those diets are too, despite how different they all are. Its a matter of working out what works best for you and makes you feel best. There's another huge factor too of course - we live so long now. The anti cancer effects of lots of fruit and veg for example, become important when you live to 80 or more, didnt matter much when you got eaten by a wooly mammoth at 30. Nor did keeping your teeth, or your eyesight. Personally, I think one of the most important things of all is actually exercise. I think we're evolved to MOVE and that's a root cause of all our problems - we dont move enough.

That's the best thing about having a band, you can avoid all that snake oil rubbish from now on. These things are nothing more than false claims to separate you from your money and lighten your wallet. Weight loss is about eating less and moving more, its that simple. There's no magic pill, food or potion and anyone that claims otherwise is lying to you. You have a band, and that's all you need.

I think its VERY important and I place getting a wide variety of vegetables particularly and some fruit way way above Protein. I think most people that are eating 1200 to 1500 are going to get enough protein with normal eating patterns, I simply dont hold with the theory that you need like a gram per pound. I lost all my weight on a normal protein intake of around 50 to 60 grams a day, I did not lose muscle, I'm not flabby and "skinny fat", I have a good healthy body composition with 23% body fat. I did not need to do shakes or eat protein first to do that (its not what we're advised to do in Australia). I focus more on fruit and vegetables and whole grains. For a while I've not eaten a lot of grain food, barely ever eat bread, and I've had quite severe bowel problems as a result, despite my high intake of fruit and veg. I added some bread and good cereals back in and the bulk it provided has fixed my problems - fibre on its own isnt enough, you need bulk. I truly do not believe a diet focussed on protein is a healthy one. With limited stomach capacity, you simply will not get enough fruit and vegies and you do need some grainy foods too. I wouldnt buy a juicer but rather a super duper powerful blender that will crush the pulp so that its drinkable, that way you're not removing half the good stuff from your fruit or vegies. I have a vitamix blender, I start most days with a "juice" of one or two fruits (not entire pieces, just a chunk), Water and a green such as spinach to make a green smoothie - its not delicious by a long shot but drinkable in a small glass. I usually follow that a bit later on with a serve of a good Cereal. At morning tea time I usually ahve cut up raw vegies - carrot, cucumber, red capsicum, snow peas, whatever I have on hand, about a cups worth (it crunches down to very little in your stomach). lunch is VERY often soup, always home made and vegetable based, I snack on things like pumpkin seeds (10 grams protein per half cup, lots of fibre and good fats) and dinner is usually a meat based meal. I dont eat a lot in volume, but I've done really well on this sort of diet and it suits my body/metabolism. I know it goes against popular opinion, and I know there's compelling reasons to eat lots of protein but in reality diets like Atkins or other high protein low carb plans are meant to be eaten with huge quantities of vegetables, particularly green non starchy ones. You cant do that with a sleeve or band, and you end up eating a very unbalanced diet that includes lots of protein (and often from rather questionable sources such as too many shakes) and nowhere near enough of other nutrients.

This was a surprise NSV for me after banding. I was a "healthy" fat person meaning that I had a bmi of *only* 35 (isnt it scary how we accept fat as normal, to me that doesnt seem very big, as everyone is fat these days, but it was), I had no comorbidities, no sleep apnoea. I simply woke uncomfortable many times a night - same as when you're very pregnant and your hips ache from lying on your side, but you cant lie on your back. After about 30lb that went away and I started sleeping just so well, I felt fantastic.

I think even longer term, I'd pay for home delivered meals. We have a company called Lite n Easy here in Australia and of course, you guys probably have a zillion of them. Lite n Easy's foods are fresh, I mean, you get pieces of fruit with the delivery, cant get fresher than that. The dinners, hmmmm, you get a bit sick of frozen dinners, but they're really very good. I'm not a dieter, dont believe in "dieting" for the main part, but Lite n Easy is the ONLY program I've ever had success with. I eat so well on that. I really would like to lose another 10lb or so and just cant seem to do it. My problem is its TOO MUCH food now! I just cant pay $125 a week for meals when I will throw half of it away, unable to eat it. And I can eat bread and cereals and such but i can imagine many bandsters just couldnt tolerate most of the food. so if there were a bandster specific program I'd definitely be considering it! Immediately post op, well my thoughts are that you eat hardly anything then and its really pretty easy to feed yourself liquids and mushies, I cooked a pot of dahl for example and got about 10 meals out of it! I personally wouldnt really have needed someone to cook for me during that period of time.

Its one of the few Protein shakes I will happily drink - vanilla Protein powder, frozen banana, Peanut Butter, mmmmmm. On rice cakes (with butter though, sigh) mmmmmmmm. Off the spoon. good satay sauce -I make gado gado - steamed veg, hardboiled eggs, and a homemade satay sauce, bliss. spread on an apple, that's delicious. It drives me NUTS (haha, pun intended) that school is a nut free zone, no nuts of any kids. Where are all today's kids at with their peanut allergies? I cant ever take it for Snacks, lunch, nothing.

I have a 9.75cm 4cc band, I got banded in 2005 when this was a current model. My surgeon told me after the surgery that that's what he had chosen. I was/am quite pear shaped and carried the weight on hips and thighs and lower belly. I didnt have a lot of fat actually inside my abdomen (yet) and I apparently dont have very large organs either, not surprising as I've turned out to much less "big boned" than I thought. So he chose this smaller band for me becuase he anticipated problems with restriction with too big a band. I must say, I've had restriction from day dot, and never struggled to find it.

Realistically, I can think of VERY few women for whom 174lb would even be small, let alone too small. I mean, I'm 5ft 10 and 174 lb is definitely on the plump side for me. Allowing for differnet body types, its just not logical that it could be too small unless you're like 6ft 5. People just get used to seeing you fat and the (relatively) sudden change unsettles them. I dont even think its jealousy or mean spirits, it just unsettles people. I think we're biologically and pscyhologically conditioned to see extreme weight loss as a sign of illness, even when our rational mind knows its not. Everyone seems to need input dont they? My mother's beside herself because I dont really eat bread and apparently, nobody can live without bread. My MIL worries because apparently, Soup does not a lunch make. Yet the people I work with, who never knew me fat, have never thought to comment that my lunch makes me anorexic or that I am too skinny. And furthermore, lol, they dont think there's anything nuts about me wanting to shed a few pounds to wear my new red bikini in Thailand!

Its not easy and even after you accept it, and realise you're a normal size person, you still agonise over your perceived flaws, i dont think that bit ever goes away. I used not not undrstand how skinny people could complain about their bodies but now I do. I can logically see I am tall, slim and fairly fit seeing but I can ALSO see I have this flab here, this lump there etc etc. its funny though because you do develop new eyes to view food. I look at how much and what I eat as "normal" and when people, say in the staffroom at school whinge about their weight as they eat their lunch, I look at their lunch and cant believe they see nothign wrong with it. I mean a stinking big baked potato, covered with cheese, sour cream, bacon, coleslaw and pinapple? That's a freaking enormous meal, brimming with unhealthy fat - yes its vegies, fruit etc but not in the right way. Its about four times more than they need to eat and way removed from just the base ingredients! I think "how can you not see why you're fat for crying out loud". But I too used to eat things like that and think it was healthy and better than McDonalds. I dont say anything but in my head, my own dialogue with myself, I'm as bad as any reformed smoker!

I think you're right, everyone's different. We all feel rather passionate about what has worked for us, in our minds, its the "right" way, but it pays to remember it may not work for someone else. Its not "healthier" or "better" to eat carbs or eat high protein or whatever. What all these doctors tell each of us regarding diet is nothing more than opinion, well supported opinion, but their opinion nonetheless. There is no real proof that one way of eating is better than another, there's valid reasons to question EVERY regime, we all just have to find what works for us. Exercise wise, I find my body just goes against what is currently popular opinion.for me lots of steady state cardio is what really works to keep me thin. I just go with it. I'm not going to worry about what I "should" be doing and I try (not that successfully, lol) not to tell people what THEY should be doing. But its hard becuase when you find something that works, you want others to know that.

Well, I did a half marathon, but I have my band fairly loose so and I can eat small amounts of bread, Pasta and rice. In the ordinary course of events, I dont really eat bread on a daily basis, I just dont have the room and prefer to eat other things. But during the couple of weeks lead up I made sure I had a salad sandwich most days for lunch and ate plenty of fresh fruit and veg. I've always eaten a higher carb/less Protein focussed diet but I only eat good carbs for the most part, I wouldnt have eaten a slice of white bread for several years now, and I eat more vegies and fruit than I do grain foods. I also never needed to drop below 1500 calories a day to lose becuase I've always run regularly, not huge distances. The half was my first and last, it just took too long for my 42 year old body to recover, lol, and I know if I pushed to do that sort of thing regularly, I'd probably end up not running at all due to injury and arthritic old bones.

I have a band, not a sleeve, my intructions were: no heavy lifting for a few weeks (but not specifying what "heavy" was) Longer term, choose solid foods. However, I think you have to go with your gut on this one (yes, pun intended). Soups fill me incredibly and I make them in a Vitamix which means whole vegies, skin included, with the cell walls broken down by the machine to release nutrition, from fresh ingredients. They are SUCH a healthful food and a way to get Vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre into me in amounts that I couldnt actually eat in solid form AND they fill and satisfy me well. I will not give up foods that perform such an impressive range of functions. I dont get hungry after Soup. I also drink a lot of green smoothies (fruit/veg smoothie combos) for the same reason. I know my doctor would say if it works, do it and seriously no decent doctor would discourage you from eating this way if it wasnt affecting your weight loss. My doc wasnt worried about Protein either - well, he's not in general, the focus is just different here, but during those first few weeks it only matters that you are hydrated and get some nutrition, it's never going to be complete and you're never going to get deficient in anythig in a few short weeks, protein included. You'll never find a diet plan that includes ice cream and custard in any other circumstance afterall!

If they say the sleeved stomach wont stretch, why is it that you can eat more some way out?

The very fact that you say "messing with a good thing" makes me think you probably have adequate restriction. I can eat white bread if I want to and I'm all the way to goal and then some and I've been here 2 and a half years. Eating bread is not a measure you should use - how your weight loss is going when you do the right thing is the important measure.

And if you believe that, I've got a car to sell you...

Its a worry most people have, but unfortunately, once you've gotten fat, the loose skin has already happened. If you've got stretch marks and such, your skin is already damaged and it wont snap back perfectly, no matter what you do. Its the weight GAIN that causes the loose skin, not the weight loss, which is the reason why you cant do a darn thing about it. Just take one step at a time. Lose the weight then assess the damage. It is possible for skin to snap back if its not that damaged in the first place, mine is pretty OK after 3 pregnancies and a large weight loss, which is miraculous to me. Its not perfect, but it will do.