Jachut

Me too - as long as sugar free doesnt mean artificially sweetened! I think avoiding sugar is more important than avoiding fat, as long as you eat the right types of fat - not too many saturated fat (usually animal) products such as cheese, meat, butter and full cream milk. Personally, I think you need to learn appropriate amounts from all food groups and to learn that sweet foods are not everyday foods. There is no point simply swapping sugar for splenda and continuing on with sweet coffees, flavoured yogurts, sweetening foods etc. You need to just retrain your taste buds to like wholesome foods in their natural state. if you eat mostly unprocessed foods you probably wont be fat or unhealthy. So if you want yogurt, go for full fat greek or natural yogurt and learn to appreciate the taste of it, once its flavoured, coloured and sweetened, it really is a pretty rubbishy food. Learn to drink plain Water rather than flavoured, just give up soft drinks alltogether, they're soooooooo bad for you anyway. Giving up sugar in tea and coffee is one of the easier dietary challenges, you quickly get used to it plain. Avoid the confectionary coffees etc. Post op is hard because of the types of thing's you're restricted to, and Protein shakes are always going to be full of artificial sweetener and other unhealthy additives. Just go with what it takes to get you through that period. But you really dont a lot of foods like popsicles and pudding or jellow once you're past clears (I only had one day of clears) during this time either, you can drink milk, V8, Protein Shakes, savoury Soups. That way, you dont need to be deciding whether to go sugar free or fat free, just eat real food.

This is EXACTLY what I am talking about. How can you seriously start a post about fat people being discriminated against and then say something as biased as that? How can you know, why do you assume, why do presume to have any insight into the personality of someone you dont know based purely upon their size and who you think they're friends are? I know, I know, you said "may". But you have just displayed perfectly an inbuilt assumption that most of us have. That doesnt make you a bad person, I would assume the same thing - that if someone is wealthy, attractive and with the right people then that says something about the type of people they are. But you get my point, its exactly the same as how people assume someone who is morbidly obese is lazy and slovenly. Assumption and discrimination absolutely does NOT exist only in the realm of the obese. People will make assumptions about you all your life for many reasons.

It does sound like that, and if I lie still I can see my chest move when my heart beats and I can see the pulse mid abdomen as the blood obviously rushes into the aorta. I can also see the femoral pulse and the pulse in my wrist and neck (looking in a mirror obviously). Do you think this could be it. Otherwise, it really MIGHT be a muscle spasm if that's what it looks like. the other thing that feels like a baby's kicks to me is gas! this is an embarrassing admission, lol, but I actually love when i do get a little gassy after a big meal or something and lie in bed at night and remember what it was like to feel my babies kicking. it did feel exactly the same.

I also dont get how a person on a 600 to 800 calorie diet can only lose 1lb a week - that just doesnt compute. It is such an insanely low calorie level, I am all for knowing all about sleeve surgery in case I ever need to replace my band, but I just dont get the logic in this. YOu cannot be nourished long term on that low an intake and all that is likely to happen weight loss wise is a huge loss of Water and muscle as well as fat - not to mention the dreaded starvation mode (whatever it really is) and a permanently lowered metabolism. What is the problem with losing slowly on 1200 or more a day? As to two years to lose 104lb well, that's how long it took me because I did eat 1500 a day or so whilst losing. I was perfectly and absolutely happy with that. The changes were still gratifying and quite fast, I'd never lost weight so steadily before, but I didnt have any trouble adjusting to the new me. I also have no real loose skin and dont need any plastic surgery, so it may be a factor. I exercised a lot, took my loss slow and steady, learned new habits and all in all, I call a 1lb loss a week healthy, sensible and sustainable and I was absolutely THRILLED with it. But I would be frustrated and worried if I was losing so slowly whilst barely eating. You really do expect faster loss for that low a food intake.

Its all over the TV this morning, apparently the latest medical breakthrough is that suddenly the BEST way to lose weight is fast via a crash diet. Studies have shown that people who lose weight fast are more likely to get to their goal weight than those who take the slow and steady approach. Well, get this. They did a 12 week study and by some freaking miracle, the people who were on the lower calorie diet lost more weight in 12 weeks than those on the more moderate diet? Wow, whodathunk it? So that obviously (???) extrapolates to the crash diet being the way to go becuase if you go slow and steady you wont get to your goal weight. Boy oh boy. But, then the bimbo they interviewed qualified that it must be a maintainable lifestyle change, that liquid and Soup diets werent a good idea. So, ah, what sort of crash diet IS maintainable over a long term. Where's the study showing how much weight people regained? And if the statistic that somethng like only 1% of people ever lose weight and actually keep it off, then how the heck can they even measure these things anyway? It just proves to me (in my warped mind anyway) that the ONLY way to go is figure your own way, with something you think you can keep up long term. that might be low carb for some, might not be for others, it might be my personal approach of slow and steady by eating what you want just in lower quantities or someone else might be much more into rules and living by them. It doesnt matter, its what works for YOU. Scientific studies are just not proof of anything, they always seem to be manipulated or biased in some way and people definitely read what they want to into them too. pah!

Protein shakes are so horribly sweet. If I had to do those for weeks on end (and luckily I didnt) I would start craving something like Mcdonalds, which I also dont really like. think about it, what do you really want? its probably the salt and savoury taste as an antidote to all those shakes. Whenever I get a tummy bug, I crave potato chips really really strongly, it will always be the first food I feel well enough to eat. I'm not a chip eater most of the time, I can leave a bowl sitting there and not touch it. But what I really crave after having such a disturbance in my body is the SALT. It just takes the form of chips in my mind!

Post op you can go back to sugar - although you obviously know that a sugary diet is not ideal for weight loss! Personally, I think that we have to get our heads around the fact that sweet foods are NOT for everyday, therefore just moving to artificial sweeteners is not the answer. You have to learn that everything doesnt have to be sweet, I mean coffee straight and black is fantastic if you've not polluted your taste buds with cream, syrup, sugar sugar sugar. You can overcome a sweet tooth over time by just gradually learning how to eat less sweet food. Greek yogurt is tart and wonderful, yogurt doesnt have to be flavoured with sugar and flavourings to be palatable. You just have to get used to the taste. As well, you probably need to cut right back on things like cereals (which are nearly always very high in sugar). If you do those things your sugar intake will be pretty low and if you DO fancy a piece of cheesecake on a speical occasion, there is no reason in the world not to have it and enjoy it. if you need large amounts of artificial sweeteners on a daily basis, then you are definitely choosing the wrong foods and drinks. You need to move your diet in a more natural direction.

Honestly? I think its a horrible choice to eat for days on end. This is more from a nutritional standpoint than actual weight loss though. its canned soup, which means it contains a lot of salt and additives that soup just doent need unless you want it to last in a can for a year. Potato Flakes? What are those? Obviously not something we have here, as far as I'm aware, if you want a potato, you have to buy a potato in Australia, lol. Why would you eat flakes when you can have the real thing with all its nourishment intact? If you're going to eat soup for a week, and I do, certainly soup is a GREAT way to get in a lot of vegies for a bandster, why not make it yourself so that it is at least nourishing and not full of salt and additives? Try this one: zucchini and leek soup - grate 3 large zucchini and slice two washed leeks (mainly the white part, not all of the green). In a big pot, heat some olive oil, and fry off a little bit of bacon, then add the zucchini and leeks and about half a cup of Water, turn the heat down and put the lid on and sweat it down for 15-20 minutes or so, it will kind of steam. Then add about a litre of water and some stock powder, or use a fresh stock (broth), simmer until all the vegies are very soft. Then puree it all up and stir in either some cream, or evaporated skim milk if you really want to keep the fat down. This is absolutely delish and it works for ANY vegie combination, last week I had left over pumpkin and potatoes from a roast dinner, so I used those, a whole lot of broccoli and cauliflower, peas and carrots. It was great, and there's still small containers in the freezer for lunches. This is a much better choice - fresh vegies will give you a lot more nutrition than canned soup. You could probably add Protein powder if you've got some unflavoured, I've never tried it personally.

I have 3 children. The oldest HAS become obese, he's almost 15, 5ft 9 and about 230lb. For an adult male that wouldnt be startlingly fat, but for a teenager, it is concerning. His main problem is that he has a large appetite (he actually eats mostly healthy because he's still under my control) and he is so lazy! He is asthmatic and although we never let it prevent him playing sport, he does obviously lack lung capacity and fitness to be as fit as other kids. Poor kid, he has absolutely no sporting ability whatsoever either, he's played basketball all his life, but it did finally get to the point last year where which his inability to keep up aerobically and his lack of talent, it just got embarrassing for him, he got dropped from a team, it was really just time to stop beating a dead horse so we finally let him quit. Since then, as I knew would happen, he's done very very little. He exercises his thumbs a lot on the Ps3 and that's it. We've banned that during the week, I try to encourage him to come to a circuit class with me but he just wont. There's only so much you can do. I look at him and I truly think its just a big combination of genetics and bad luck as much as anything. I do think though that once vanity kicks in (he hasnt really hit puberty yet) and the growth spurt happens, his weight will probably come a little more under control. Do you know, its actually not the fatness that worries me, its the complete lack of any fitness. I cant imagine going through life puffing going up some stairs, I was never ever ever like that even at my fattest, I could still run and do active things. Lack of fitness really does lead to a poor quality of life. Middle child, whippet thin, sporty, popular, outgoing. Youngest child, a daughter, she's 7, she's getting porky too. She's showing a very similar trend to my oldest. I'm cracking RIGHT down on her, she's on a 'diet' without me telling her so or raising the subject. The junk is just not coming into the house, nobody needs it. Like her brother, you can just see the body type, although she's never and he was never, been one of the "fat" kids at the school. You'd say she was normal weight. But I can see the pattern. Its exactly like me as a child. the difference is, as a child, I didnt have access to the kinds and amounts of junk that kids do now. McDonalds was a twice a year treat for me, my middle son (the thin one) considers it a daily event!

You could always swim if you have access to a pool. Also, you can do things like take a heavy weight (like a bag of sand) and do full body exercises like squats and lunges, its incredibly taxing and will get your heart rate right up there. I really try not to run *too* much but to do other things that build up other areas of my body so that I avoid injury and so far, touch wood, I have. Doing the same thing every day really does make you more injury prone.

Mine is like half a golf ball pasted on my abdominal wall. It is visible and very very easy to feel, you would only have to bump into me accidentally to notice I had a big hard lump there. My kids can feel it when they give me a hug, they dont even have to put their hands on it. It may sound awful, but honestly, it doesnt bother me at all. I'd change it for a low profile one but the scars have all healed and I dont want a fresh scar there. I want o wear my bikini in Thailand in 9 weeks time!

Perfectly said. Were I to really feel the need for any organised religion in my life, this is exactly how I would view it. I treat the PG's of the world just like I treat annoying telephone salesmen becuase I hate being told how and what to think!

I'm getting on for five years now. I've been at goal for about two and a half. I eat a very normal diet, people that dont know I'm banded do notice that I'm not a big eater and sometimes I get ribbed about that a little by people saying "oh, come on have some more". But overall, I eat every food there is and never feel that I am restricted in where when or what I can eat. I eat so normally, that I also eat all the naughty things that normal people do, in the quantities that normal people eat them and I dont gain weight. I guess the most abnormal thing about me is that I actually like exercise and do it five or times a week. Its probably not "normal" for a 43 year old women to be able to do full body pushups or run 10kms but it's healthy and it SHOULD be normal. Touch wood, but I've never had a single problem with my band.

Ah, yeah. For being THIN. Fat women can be real bitches when they think they're being outshone by someone more attractive than they are (note, that's not to say that I actually think I'm more attractive, or that being thin is the only criteria for being attractive, as I said in your other post about men). That's the honest truth. I got to a BMI of 35, so I guess I always looked "normal" fat, not "look at that lady mummy" fat. I was never a threat to anyone. But since I lost weight I have to endure nasty comments about eating disorders, anorexia and exercise obsession and people assume I'm vain and self absorbed. Oh, I get more male attention that I didnt get before. But that doesnt offend me becuase before I was FAT. I looked awful. I didnt look my best, I was bloated, puffy and probably had a negative vibe. I think its entirely natural to be more attractive when you're healthier and thinner. Its not meant to be discriminatory, its just how it is.

Yeah, looks matte - for about ten minutes. What appeals to me though is not male model looks. I find quirky things attractive, so never assume you're not attractive to anyone at all. The men I find most attractive are usually a little overweight, actually, I like a man who looks like he could give me a big bear hug. I'm tall and not really petite and I like big men. So weight is not generally a factor, although I'd have to say 400lb might not attract me. Even height, I usually like tall men, but I can think of several men I know that I think are masculine and attractive that are shorter than me. Strangly what I find the most UNattractive is men that look like they spend hours in the gym honing their bodies. I'm not into muscular physiques really. Brad Pitt is a sissy looking girlie boy, too pretty, too vain, too manufactured cheesy looking. Vince Vaughan is SEXY, yet he's not conventionally good looking and he's actually a little pudgy most of the time! Also, that attraction thing is only what makes you look twice at someone. I would always be polite and open to anyone who spoke to me (barring obvious leering creepy types). Although I met DH at 16 and have never actually been on the market, I know that to me, its what's inside that counts, truly. I might not see fireworks at first, but I could get to find anyone attractive who genuinely had a nice personality that was compatible with mine. Looks really do not matter to me once I know someone. Perhaps I'm weird, but the point is that everyone will have a different opinion. Its just a matter of meeting the right person for you.

Perhaps change your cereal. Anything that is in flake form is basically rubbish - no matter how many health claimes it makes, its an overly processed grain product. Proper oatmeal - rolled oats (or steel cut I think you call them) is a good choice or any good organic muesli/granola with nuts and seeds and some fruit in it. Not toasted, processed stuff. Those are cereals that contain a fair bit of Protein and a LOT of fibre that will stick with you for the morning. I dont like bacon at all, disgusting fatty meat, ugh. And I dont fancy eggs every day. I wont eat cooked breakfasts like that, dont have time and dont have the appetite for them. I do fine on oatmeal or muesli, or the occasional fruit smoothie - banana, skim milk and Peanut Butter is a good one, and I guess you can add Protein Powder if you're into it.

I was very much the same. I didnt need food education or to be taught how to eat, I knew that, I just had to stop shoving junk down my throat. Previously, what I'd do is be "good" most of the day and make it to 3 pm and then pig out. Then I'd ruined it for the day so I'd have junk for dinner, not exercise and go off on a bad eating bender for days. Binging for me was not stupendous quantities of food (and I didnt get o a BMI of more than 35), so I'd maybe not call it a "disorder". I've never eaten till I was sick but it was definitely inappropriate behaviour. Have I beaten it? Well, ....... no, not exactly. I just ate half a bag of M&M's. I've been so good all day and I'm going out to dinner and they were there and I just wanted the sugar after a long and stressful day at work. I ate past what I really wanted too. But that's that. I ate them, its done. I wont now follow up with a packet of biscuits, pizza and ice cream for dinner like I would previously have done becuase of course I was "starting a diet tomorrow". Its just M&M's. My attitude has totally changed. I'm not even trying to lose weight anymore so it doesnt even matter, but I still would love to be a person that just didnt do that. I have accepted that I do have this problem and probably always will but I feel in control of it now. I worked very very very hard not to diet with my band. I believe dieting is what sets me off. If I'm not on a diet then half a bag of M&M's is not breaking my diet, is it? Its not a great choice, but I havent 'failed' at anything. I know I can have them whenever I want, so the frequency of these episodes is much much much less as I really am able to say "do I really want this?" and most of the time decide I dont, much as I would like the instant gratification. I also now no longer link exercise to eating and being good. Just because I ate the M&M's doesnt mean its a waste of time to exercise today. I'm still going for a run before I go out. These changes - working not to diet and not to see food as "good" and "bad" and exercising daily regardless becuase how you exercise has little to do with what you eat, have meant I lost weight and lost a lot of weight and have kept it off for well over 2 years. Restriction is a big factor. I cant put my finger on why it helps, but I've noticed that with 18 months since my last fill, this need to eat crap is escalating in me, its time for a top up, which I'm having on Friday. At times of being REALLY well restricted, this behviour is really nonexistant, I'll still have that Homer Simpson "mmmmm, donuts" mindless reaction to stuff, but a small handful of M&M's would do it, not half the bag. You cant eat as much rich food, you're fuller and much more satisfied from regular food, so the urge doesnt arise so often. I have to say though that I dont think my eating issues are at all emotional. I never eat to fill a void, I eat sugary foods becuase sugar really DOES settle and calm you when you're stressed and I also think that when I eat healthy, I actually undereat for my calorie needs and I really need food. the signal gets mixed. I should have had a proper healthy snack but I didnt want to do that becuase that would be 'eating between meals' where apparently M&M's snuck in dont count! Go figure. That's why restriction works for me though, if you're eating is not hunger based at ALL, then it may not be the same.

Actually, carbs dont strictly HAVE to be low to lose weight, in the end, its calories that count. I think a carb modified diet is probably healthier, we overload our bodies with easy sources of energy that provide little true nourishment, but you dont have to do an atkins style diet either if its not your thing. I disagree totally with keeping your body in ketosis by lowering carbs that much and I also disagree totally with eating a lot of animal products for Protein. That's just my personal opinion. I think you'll find though in any successful weight loss diet there's a notable absence of junk food which is - you guessed it - processed carbs and saturated fat. Good healthy diets are usually higher in lean Proteins too. And the reason you gain weight so easily when you go back to carbs is that you are keeping your body in a semi starved state that is not really natural - your liver is totally deprived of glycogen and the FIRST thing it is going to do is replenish itself, becuase the function of this is to have a ready store of energy if you cant eat for a while. The only fuel our body runs on is sugar, everything we eat is converted in the end to simple carbs and glycogen is one of these. When your liver fills itself up again because you ate some bread and potato, back comes a whole lot of Water - because carbs bind to water in the body. So bang! Up goes your weight, mainly becuase you've rehydrated. High protein weight loss consists of a lot of water loss. But for a WLS surgery to actually get protein poisoning - whatever the BALANCE of our diets, we cant eat that much! I think the greatest danger is ingesting so much artificial sweetener in protein shakes!

Eat more, hungry more often and for me, I get blocked a lot - because I can eat faster and am hungrier, I start to forget to chew well and get a lot of stuck episodes. I dont get them when well restricted! I'm actually having a teeny tiny fill on Friday despite being at goal and not having gained because I am starting to have to work much harder to stay at this weight and am getting blocked all the time due to eating way too fast.

Everyone's experience is different - like someone said above, the main problem with juice is calories/sugar, most of us know its usually better to eat the whole fruit, but like anything, if you dont overdo it and its a part of your calculated daily intake, AND you're not low carbing, then its a healthy source of a lot of Vitamins and minerals. Personally, I like the "taste" of fruit but have never really been big on actually eating it, there's just something about the texture and coldness about it that I dont like, I never fancy fruit. Since being banded, if anything is going to block me up and give me discomfort its fruit. Interestingly, I cant get a glass of juice down to save my life, it blocks me up horribly. I've no idea why, it makes no logical sense. I compensate by eating a lot of vegies - I love raw cucumber and red capsicum, raw carrots (why those dont bother me but fruit does beats me) and I do enjoy a crisp peeled apple too. You've no way of knowing how eating fruit and drinking juice will be for you after banding, its one of those leaps of faith you take.

Everyone's experience is different but I got a good 8 weeks post op where I just wasnt that interested in food. I really had no trouble sticking to the routine and lost huge amounts of weight.

No, the only time we've ever fought about online stuff is when I've gotten a bit obsessed with it, lol. Like spending 4 hours a day chatting to other mums and THEN going and meet for coffee that very afternoon, wasting the entire day on socialising, forgetting to pick up the drycleaning or do any housework at all. And even then its not a case of him telling me I cant do something, I wouldnt tolerate that and I wouldnt be with a man who thought he could tell me what to do. Rather the deal being that we work together to bring money into the home, maintain the household and raise our children and we both do our share. Socialising ALL day isnt really part of that if its happening nearly every day. I dont do Facebook becuase I just dont have time anymore. I'm working full time now. The internet is dangerous and I do have concerns about sites like Facebook, the forums I was involved in were only ever private and you had to be vouched for to get in - it was people I already knew for the most part which is why I was happy to meet with people as well. It would never enter DH's head that I would get into a "relationship" online, that's pretty stupid and paranoid unless there's reason for him to believe that it will happen. I dont think even a husband has ANY right to ban you from visiting whatever sites you want to.

Foods that are not breakfast foods work well I think. Over time, I find that even with a band, my tastes have changed and i've really gone off carby things like toast. I jut dont fancy it anymore. I've never been huge on bacon and eggs types of breakfasts either, so I do often eat things like soup. I mean, why not? The one thing I'm pedantic about is eating enough vegies, so if you can get it in at breakfast time, then you should. I like sardines and tomatoes on Ryvita crackers too! Vegies AND oily fish, and not a single calorie wasted on crappy Cereal or bread.

I've been eating 1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds a day for the past couple of weeks, they are MARVELLOUS for your bowels, high in protein, low in carbs and a great source of quite a few important nutrients for about 200 calories. I've been having bowel issues for reasons other than my band - a lot of low grade diarrhoea, constantly needing to pass tiny quantities, bleeding etc. I was taking lots of benefibre etc, but not to much effect, the pumpkin seeds have not only provided a lot of fibre (which I was already getting) but have added a lot of bulk to the stool, sorry, I know that's TMI, which I really really needed. I cant tell you how good it feels to pass something that is actually satisfying, lol. Sunflower seeds are brilliant too. Just plain, not salted, flavoured or anything, they're really really good for you.

If its already hanging, then it probably always will. Most loose skin is already there before weight loss, just disguised by fat. There isnt a lot you can do now. Its so disheartening, but you're going to be loads healthier, you ARE going to look a lot better, tummy or not and there's plenty you can do about a hanging belly at ANY stage of your life - it doesnt have to be done the instant you get to goal.