Jachut

Well, I'm not going to stone you, I didnt even claim half of those things anyway. I am merely making the point that a diet full of salami and cheese is an unhealthy diet even if it is high Protein and low carb. A diet full of salmon, spinach and avocadoes on the other hand IS healthy. Like the low fat high carb diet, the way you interpret it is what matters. Both diets can be horribly unhealthy and both diets can be very healthy. It just depends which foods you choose. Fat is not the enemy, I totally agree, but I think its best to get your fats from olive oil, fish, nuts, avocadoes and not ALL of it from animal sources. Overeating saturated fat is implicated in heart disease, that much is pretty irrefutable - but so is sugar and a diet high in refined carbs.

The advice I've had and I've heard it corroborated by a lot of other people is that lift AND augmentation will give the best results for a weight loss patient. Reason being, there's virtually no fat left in my breasts, they're just skin. A lift will put the nipples back where they should be (and have never actually been!) but it wont give any projection at all - I'll still have the flatness I have on top - seriously I lie on my back and you can see my sternum and ribs in minute detail, its disgusting. What bothers me about it is that I still have a good C cup, and I like the size of my bust - it looks absolutely fine with a good bra on and even in a bikini top. I dont WANT huge boobs, I dont want to go up in size and I'm not really that into the look of fake breasts. So I've kind of dithered and done nothing and probably never will. But either way, an augmentation will not give you what you've looking for if your breasts do need lifting. You'll hve to do both. The only procedure you'd do alone is the lift, so you're looking at that scarring either way. You really have to weigh up the pros and cons - my stomach for example, pretty good, but not perfect. A tummy tuck would give spectacular results but it will also leave a horrid scar, which in my case would be just as bad as the minor flab. So its a case of how bad are your breasts, is it important that they look stunning naked or is looking good dressed enough for you?

Oh, gosh, I so know what you mean. My BMI is under 22, my weight is in the healthy range but I would like to be a little lighter. I do still ahve fat I'd like to lose - saddlebags and a bit of flab on the thighs still. Just 10lb more would take care of it, but I've tried for 2 and a half years - correction, I've thought about trying for 2 and half years. I cant exercise more than I do, I'm doing a great variety of strenght and cardio, its calories plain and simple. But like you, I know my band so well now. i dont slime or pb in public, I can eat any food. I know a tiny fill would get me there but I just havent gotten to the point where I want to pay that price. There's also a part of me that believes that if this band is going to be forever, I cant abuse it be being overtight when i dont need to be. Its meant to make you healthy, not make you into a supermodel. But I've made one appointment and cancelled it so far....

Good luck with it all - actually your tummy looks a LOT like mine, maybe its a little more severe but not by much. I also have a big lump where my port is. How did you find the port replacement- easy to get over?

No, a pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat! A pound is a pound. A pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat though. If you have more muscle and less fat than another person of the same height, you will be smaller but heavier. You also do not gain anything appreciable muscle wise from a couple of exercise sessions. For a woman, its a long hard slog to gain muscle, and gaining a couple of pounds of muscle over a period of months is really good going. When you suddenly increase exercise you damage your muscles and they retain water, you gain a pound or two.

I know that current exercise theory says that long slow cardio like running isnt the most efficient way to burn fat and many "experts" say it makes your body burn muscle too. BUT - I think you're doing a great thing. At this stage of the game, running ISNT long, slow cardio in the low fat burning zone of 65% of your max heart rate (a theory that's pretty much debunked anyway). Its HARD work. What you're doing now is interval training, which is a great way to TORCH your body fat. I really really love running. I eventually worked to the point where I could easily run 10K and it wasnt super hard or super intense and I lost all my weight mainly running. I have to say, I could have more muscle but I really really dont believe I burned my lean muscle and got 'skinny fat' as a result. I think running shaped me the exact physique I was after, long, lean and feminine. I rejoiced my shrinking boobs too! And I dont know what it is, but there is NOTHING like the achivement you feel when you can run a long distance. Its like moving meditation, you get into that trance like state, the rhythm is hypnotic, you can let your mind drift away, I come up with all my best ideas out running, lol. Perhaps the thing I value most about my own weight loss journey is the fact that I became a runner. It really is a defining part of me now. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Personally, for the pre op diet I would only consider a proper Meal Replacement programme like Optifast. Protein shakes are a dietary supplement, not a meal replacement 3 times a day for weeks on end. If you read the labels on a box of Optifast, you will see that all your Vitamin and mineral requirements are being accounted for. Protein shakes often contain nothing but protein, and a lot of thickeners and sweeteners (although some are full on meal replacement products, which is different). You're going to be much better off reducing calories but not pretty much cutting out ANY nutrition for this two week period. Protein isnt the only thing you need. Same with after the surgery. I dont know why doctors recommend protein shakes and not Optifast because they're not really going to provide complete nutrition.

I'm no low carb advocate, I eat carbs and I lost weight. That said, my diet is MUCH lower in carbs than it was pre band and it really does not generally include much sugar or white carbs. I think we do need to lower carbs and rebalance our diets towards Protein and fruit and vegies to lose. My beef (haha!) with things like Atkins is that I think really restricting fruit and certain vegetables is not only stupid but actually dangerous long term and that the average person's interpretation of it includes horrendous amounts of unhealthy saturated fat. Foods like bacon and ham are just not good for you, no matter which way you cut it, you cant say that because they're a protein source they're great when they're full of bad fats, chemicals like nitrates etc. I think the amounts of these sorts of foods people eat when low carbing is alarming. Then there's the Protein shake. Consider it. Man made, with ingredients like (quoting from a GNC packet here) Emulsifier, artificial flavour, sweetener: acelsulfame Potassium, thickeners: cellulose gum, xanthan gum. Anyone who considers those a healthy daily food to base your diet on is kidding themselves, that's garbage same as white bread is garbage. Any food with a list of more than a couple of ingredients and any food with ingredients that you cant pronounce and dont know what they are is NOT an everyday food! If by low carbing you mean more moderate carbing - increasing your intake of good fats in fish, avocadoes, olive oil, nuts and seeds in their natural state, maybe a piece of fruit a day (lots of sugar in fruit), unlimited vegetables, small amounts of red meat, more legumes, Beans and free range chicken, free range eggs in moderation, and limited amounts of low fat dairy and processed foods such as condiments, cheese, deli meats etc then that's a GREAT way to eat but it will still require calorie deficit to lose weigh, however your health will be boosted and your risk of disease much reduced. High protein/low carb/high processed might get you thin but thin is not the only factor in long term health. And I think any "diet" is not the answer, you have to simply make the changes you can make, work with what you are able to do at the time and make more changes as you are ready until you've got a diet that is pretty low carb and very unprocessed. It takes time. I could never have dropped the carby foods like bread, Cereal and Pasta all in one hit to the point where I am now, which is actually moderately low carb on a day to day basis (although I am not afraid to treat myself with the odd piece of cake). I just would have hung on for grim death, white knuckled it for a while and then given in and binged big time right back to where all weight I'd lost was regained. LIFESTYLE changes take time, diets are temporary. If you really low carb it like Atkins, you will always be poised to regain the weight lightening fast becuase these diets rely on keeping your body in a semi starvation state - ketonic, with your liver depleted totally of glycogen and slightly dehydrated (because carbs bind to water). You can manage your insulin and hormonal response to foods and keep your body in a fat burning state without keeping yourself half starved in the process.

Honestly, I started with a BMI of 35 and ended up losing 100lb. I swear I had lost at least 40 before people could really tell! The truth is, when you have 100lb to lose or more and you've lost 40, you're smaller, yes, you've done great things for your health, yes, you've reason to be proud of yourself YES. But to the casual observer, lets face it, you're still fat, just not as fat as you were. Most people will be looking just like a slightly smaller version of themselves, the rolls and bulges havent disappeared yet, people might sorta notice something around your face and neck, but you most likely havent changed your body shape substantially yet. It is a bit discouraging but you've got to get through those 40 or 50 that nobody notices to get to the next 40 or 50 which will make a MUCH bigger difference. And when you get to normal size, well I went down two clothes sizes with a 12lb loss, when I didnt drop a size at the very start until I'd lost 25lb. You'll get there, dont let this throw you. You've already made huge changes to your health, your appearance will follow.

I'm having real trouble at the moment, all this year, only for me, its tied up with some other symptoms such as low grade diarhhoea and some bleeding, I'm off to see a GI guy next Friday. What helps when I'm really gassy and bloated is peppermint tablets and a cup of peppermint tea, and if I can, I go out for a run and literally fart my way around my usual 6 or 7 kms. Just get out, away from people and try to get rid of a bit of it. A bit of vigourous exercise really seems to normalise everything for me. I'm finding at the moment my digestive system allows me NO slack, I'm really having to make sure to eat super duper healthy.

No, not at all. I lost about 70lb first year, 20 the following six months and then it took me a YEAR for that final 10lb to drop off. Do you think I care at all now, two and a half years after hitting goal weight - and a LOW goal weight at that, with a BMI of under 22 - how long it took to lose? I exercised (and still do) like a fiend, I ran miles, I do bootcamp and boxing. However, I dont really eat similarly to a lot of bandsters here, we have different dietary approaches here in Australia but also, my primary focus was and still is, learning to eat normally. I refuse point blank to count calories, fat or Protein, I eat healthily but basically waht I want, my main "rule" is that I have cut sugar and white carbs waaaay down. The outcome of this was that I lost my food obsession, I dont spend my days thinking about food, journaling and planning, I trust my body to want what it needs, which for the most part it does. This was every bit as much my goal as actually losing weight - I wanted to leave behind the dieting insanity forever and I will never ever diet again. I also began this with a BMI of 35 which no doubt meant slower weight loss - although I lost the first bit of weight extremely quickly - pounds and pounds fell off over surgery. I think there's a lot more to this than simply droppign weight fast. Actually recovering from obesity to as much a degree as you can manage was a lot more important to me than just covering up the symptoms - the headwork part was vital too.

I'd wait if you really strongly want to continue until he is 2. Its a very short and precious part of your life and your relationship with your son. But, you've dont a fantastic job so far and if you were to get things moving right now its probably going to take till he's over 12 months anyhow - at the very least you see a surgeon, get the insurance organised, do the pre op testing and then maybe even postpone the actual date for a month or two just to get over that line. Like Betsy said, he's eating other foods and you can pump and discard the milk for a couple of days and you may not have any trouble at all re-establishing OR he may decide that's enough. Its nice to feed for a long time, but it really is child led and it really is VERY nice to have your freedom and your body back to yourself again too.

Oh, gosh, that is SO me too. I have spent about 2 years moaning about the 10 extra lb left on my butt and thighs yet have I dont anything about it? Nope, absolutely nothing. I honestly believe that when you're very heavy, any small change will result in large weight loss over time if you keep it up. There's no NEED to get scientifc about exercise and paranoid about carbs, eat less, move more, the weight will go IF you maintain the calorie deficient. This is the pointy end though. I know I need hard core strength training and a high Protein low carb diet from hereon in. I'm exactly like one of those before pictures on the turbulence training stuff all over the internet - kind of soft, squidgy, but a good shape there under a bit of fat. But I can only muster up the enthusiasm for it for about three days running. Truth is, I like eating what I feel like eating and I like my comfortable exercise routine, particularly running. I work out moderately these days because I'm very fit so what I do in my running and bootcamp doesnt feel hard. I need to get back to those days of vomit induciing seeing stars workouts. YOur post inspired me this morning, I've eaten brilliantly all day and just did a circuit with a 20kg sandbag and sprints on the treadmill! We're going to Thailand in September and I have a very small red bikini!

Moderation in everything is the key I think! You dont have to give up sugar cold turkey either, any positive changes you make for your health are worthwhile, even if its to cut back on sugar rather than cut out. When I was first banded I ate nowhere near as clean as I did now, I've made changes as I felt ready./ For example, I'm not a low carb advocate as in I dont think extreme diets like Atkins are at all sensible, maintainable or even supported by totally unquestionable irrefutable science. But over time, being banded, my diet has gotten a LOT lower in carbs, we bought a really nice loaf of bread about a month ago and put it in the freezer and i have eaten exactly 1 slice of bread in an entire month. I never have more than one serve of grains in a day and some days none. So I've naturally morphed into a much higher Protein lower carb diet. I could NEVER have done that cold turkey before. With a band and over time, I never even felt it. And it really doesnt matter to me now whether I did it all in one hit, quickly and lost spectacular weight in 2 months or whether I did what I did, slowly and steadily. Either way, the weight is gone. so it is with sugar and sweeteners. Start with what you're ready to cut out and that will benefit you and over time you can gradually get rid of your sweet tooth, so that sugar and sweetened foods are only a small part of your diet. If your main sugar intake is incidental - in canned tomatoes or ketchup, the odd glass of wine etc then you really dont have to worry that you're having too much. I'm about to do the same with caffeine - again. I keep weaning myself onto decaf and then over time drifting back. I'm having WAY too much coffee at the moment.

I told everyone and wasnt too worried about doing so, when I was banded. But I did fear the judgement of some people. I personally could never have hidden the post op liquids to mushies diet, there's no way my parents and inlaws wouldnt have noticed. But its an awful feeling thinking that people are going to judge you. In truth everyone has been very supportive, whether they agree with my opinion or not, and that's the truth - not everyone WILL agree with your decision, but anyone with any manners and decency is going to accept that its your body and get on with the business of supporting you. I have anxiety over PS, I dont have any scheduled and truth is, I could never do it becuase everyone is going to say "oh, you dont need it" and think I'm mad. I dont wish to show my parents or my inlaws my saggy old boobs to prove it, and I dont want to be vain enough to fix what isnt any worse than what everyone else who gets older lives with anyway. You cant have big round bouncy melons till you're 90, afterall. But even though I sort of really would like to do it, I just couldnt face the judgements and opinions. If I were to do it, I'd do exactly what you're doing - keep it to myself and my husband, I'm not sure I'd even tell my kids, they dont need to know stuff like that and I'd never have an obvious boob job with huge norgs anyway.

I think sugar is probably the biggest cause of heart disease and obesity in the western world and I'd still rather have real sugar than an artificial sweetener. We simply have to face facts - sweet foods are not meant to be part of our everyday diet. I very rarely eat products that contain artificial sweeteners and I avoid a lot of sugar, although cutting it out entirely is not really practical. Its quite doable. You just have to wean yourself off the products that contain them. The ONLY foods you'll find artificial sweeteners in are unhealthy processed foods that you really shouldnt be eating much of. I drink plain coffee with a dash of skim milk. I never have diet softdrinks OR regular ones, I just drink Water. I dont eat packaged cakes, biscuits or slices and I dont make them either. I dont eat a lot of processed foods, I generally get by on eggs and wholegrain bread, oatmeal or yogurt for Breakfast (and I only buy whole natural yogurt, never flavoured. Generally, I like it plain with nuts and seeds in it, I might mix a few natural prunes in for some flavour so a bit of *natural* sugar, but I dont overdo fruit either). Dinners are foods I cook from scratch by and large and usually revolve around meat and vegetables, brown rice or potato on the side. Lunches are salads (usually spinach based, lots of fresch vegies and a Protein like tuna, olive oil as a dressing). I eat a lot of good fats like avocado and tuna. I get plenty of calories in there becuase a lot of what I eat is calorie dense. I just try to make everything from scratch, I really believe living out of packets and cans is probably the worst thing you can do overall for your health, but of course I do use canned products like Beans and tuna. I dont really eat foods like lean cuisines, canned Soup or bought salads. And lest I sound like a fanatic, based on my observations, I eat quite "normally". This is the way I was raised to eat, its how my family functioned, its just not hard. But I have a healthy outlook to sugar in that if I want a stinking big piece of cheesecake once in a while as a treat, I just have it. I have a wicked coffee habit that I really should curb and a good deal of my sugar intake comes from wine. But my everyday diet is not sweet and full of processed stuff. Its just a matter of retraining your taste buds.

I find this thing about looking "anorexic" or skinny at healthy weights really really hard to understand. Its all over both this board and lapband talk. What is so scary about being a healthy weight? I am 5ft 10 and have settled at 148lb, yet people all over LBT say OMG, I would look SICK at that weight. No, you wouldnt. Its smack bang in the MIDDLE of the healthy weight range for my height, its not even close to approaching underweight and I call what I have curves, I dont call rolls of fat and boobs that are big only because of extra body fat curves. I think that we're so used to seeing ourselves fat and so used to seeing other people fat that for many of us, our view of "normal" is way off base. I defy anyone to say I am "too skinny". I may not be someones type as they may like heavier women with more coverage but I get really angry when people imply that I'm obsessed, skinny or underweight or even that its unattractive. To me, it isnt. I think its quite normal to see elbows, knees, hips and collarbones and that if you cant see those things, you probably have too much body fat! I get that being older (and I fall into this category somewhat too) is an issue and that we do look better face wise with a bit of padding as we get older. And its absolutely true that my face would look better with a bit miore fat, but my butt sure wouldnt. And that's where any weight I gained would go. to the OP, you sound like you're adjusting a bit too - sometimes VERY quick weight loss is really really hard to get your head around. I lost weight quite slowly and I still had a period where if I'd had the money I would have been nipped and tucked to within an inch of my life, now I'm really really glad I didnt. I'm used to how I look now.

OMG, I have this aversion too! Not to my own or female armpits, i'll wear tank tops and spaghetti straps happily because although my butt is a sad and sorry sight, I have fantastic arms, if I do say so myself. But nothing nauseates me more than males wearing tank tops. That quiff of armpit hair, its absolutely disgusting. No matter how muscly, young and tanned the male is, its a look that I really find repulsive. ALL men should wear sleeves! Sorry to hijack!

I eat a lot of soup. I make thick, chunky soups with protein in them too and dont eat canned soup very often at all. Soup is a GREAT way to get in vegies in a form I can eat them quite easily, its very filling (the liquid/solid combo actually works to my advantage) and if I'm peckish 2 or 3 hours later, I have a small (healthy) snack.

Sliders! This applies equally to a sleeve as to a band, easy foods that liquefy when you chew them. With a band, there is no difference to the amount of Cookies I can consume now than I could before I was banded. I can still down a packet of Tim Tams (google that little Australian delicacy) in minutes and I can still eat an ENTIRE family block of chocolate. They just slip right on through. But if i eat the right foods, portions remain very small. Its choices, pure and simple. And along with those slider foods generally come a large dose of salt and sugar that make you bloated and put on weight very quickly. It is physically impossible to gain 2lb of FAT from eating a piece of pie though and if you get back with the program this weight will disappear. The trouble is too that to date, science has not come up with any sure fire way to lose weight other than calorie restriction. But it is very true that on a diet of 800 to 1000 calories a day you DO lose muscle and you DO slow your metabolism very significantly. There is no way you could continue to eat that way without the help of a sleeve or band, but the truth is, after a year or two or more of eating so low, there is no way you can go back to normal eating without massive weight regain. Its why we need these tools FOREVER. There's no learning better habits and that's enough, our bodies are damaged by the weight gain and weight loss process in ways that mean we have to be small and careful eaters forever.

I think any WLS is always going to be just a tool - you will always have periods in your life where your eating slips and you have to get back on track - after 2 and a half years of maintenance I know I sure do. My natural tendency is to gradually slide into living on caffeine and sugar. It doesnt make you weak or destined to fail, its what you do to get back on track that counts. And bands and sleeves do tend to counteract the lightening fast 20lb gains that happen when you're on your own. You gain, but its manageable.

Any liquid is liquid! Even coffee, most people that are used to caffeine are not significantly dehydrated by moderate amounts of it. There's water in foods, any drinks, it all counts. It is an absolute myth that it needs to be just plain water to count.

Even for die hard carbaholics like me, I found my carb intake dropped by probably 2/3 effortlessly and I've never missed it. I used to the an advocate of the four serves of wholegrains a day, plenty of starchy fibrous veg and three serves of fruit a day. I was FAT. That would probably have more to do with the amount of sugar and fat I consumed on top of those healthy foods, but the overall balance was wrong. Now I do eat wholegrains, cant function without a little, but its ONE serve of wholegrain Cereal or maybe a slice of bread in a day, usually only one piece of fruit too. The rest is lean Protein, vegetables and a few little treats (like a glass of wine) on top. I cant eat any more than that and I dont miss the foods I used to eat in abundance. I didnt even set out to go lower carb, it just happens naturally. But what you're doing now, cold turkey and so extreme, that's really hard. I agree with your cardiologist, the South Beach approach is much gentler and probably healthier as well. I guess you've got to find out whether this is how your doctor wants you to eat forever, personally, although we've just had such a huge thread on breaking rules, I would do precisely what I'm told post op for the transition onto solids but after that, I wouldnt follow a way of eating so extreme, I'd not really limit fruit and things like tomatoes, I'd eat some wholegrains and I wouldnt freak over things like croutons in Soup. And I just dont get the point in cutting out so called "unhealthy" foods and then loading up on Protein shakes full of artificial sweetener. That's just plain nuts, its swapping one poison for another. I think you'll probably find your groove, but post surgery if you dont have restriction it will likely be one of the hardest things you've ever done, you just have to grit your teeth and get on with it and if you do slip, get right back on that wagon.

Lol, I wouldnt have said it so nicely! I think you have to be extremely careful of nutritionists and personal trainers. Over here, its back of the cornflake packet qualifications - to be a personal trainer requires no more than 12 weeks of study, and anybody can call themselves a nutritionist, it is not the same thing as a dietician. what you tend to get is a cookie cutter approach - same as you get most of the time when you join the gym and want a program. Very few people have enough knowledge to work with an individual and to tweak things for an individual, they know the basic formula, which is as much as any of us can find in books and on the internet anyway. I personally elect to do without a nutritionist, I know plenty, its just DOING it that's hard, lol and although i do group bootcamp with a trainer, I definitely think for myself and work out my own program overall, I use the trianer coz he's a nice guy, the group's great and social and its lots of FUN. that's not to say there's not great professionals out there, but its definitely buyer beware. And many of us got fat not because we're too slack and undisciplined to follow the standard formula but because it doesnt always work for us. There's plenty of people here who were obese enough for surgery who have spent their life trying ot figure out why they're so fat when they appear to eat the same as everyone else.

Well, the new scale said 23% which is a lot more acceptable, lol. Probably not all that accurate, but much more likely true than 30%. I can remember being measured as 32% (by caliper test) at my very fattest!