Jachut

And you cant really say something so judgemental and offensive and then act offensive when a similar assumption is made of you!
Personally I think you're very lucky to have this opportunity as young as you are. When I was 23 and a huge 180, the only things available were Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers and Limits (remember those?)

Well, I find the attitude that lower BMI bandsters are less worthy of being banded downright offensive.
What if I said to you that you it makes me mad that people are so lazy, self indulgent and stupid to let themselves get to BMI's of 38+ and should have the brains to get themselves banded before they get so fat? What if I said to you that my tax dollars should not pay for your healthcare because you have caused your own health problems (actually they dont because I live in Australia but you know what I mean)?
Sheesh.
But I do know that sometimes you just feel some way in particular and you know its not logical or right. For example, I'm sorry to offend any 5ft 10ers (my height) that have goal weights of 180 to 200 believing they would look "sick" at my measly 140, but I would be HORRIFIED to be that heavy again. I was desperate about my weight when I was in my 20's and weighed that much and I dieted myself right up to 240. In truth 180 at 5ft 10 is quite healthy, very attainable and maintainable and worlds better than 300 or more.

Sheesh, we women are never good enough are we? What's wrong with you, only got one pair of hands or something?
Seriously though, you look fantastic. Actually your pic was the only one I've ever seen where your skin is actually very nice before, I gather it was more muscle repair you needed?

Thats what im like. I have only 0.2cc left to go in my 4cc band. Today, by necessity rather than choice i was at mcdonalds for lunch. I can eat a big mac. I was full but not overly. I certainly couldn even think about fries, let alone a drink. Akes me feel like a pig here, but when ypu look around, everyone els upsizes, has fries, a bucket of coke. I think some of us think we eat a lot, but in truth we lose perspective after a while banded

In the end, its how much you eat.
You can be thin and eat a diet of only rubbish. But you wont be healthy. You know that.
I have lost weight eating pretty much what I ate before being banded, including some bread. But I didnt eat entirely rubbish - I ate a good healthy base diet and then shoved in a lot of sugary carb foods on top of that. I've personally never had much of a problem with junk foods like Mcdonalds and KFC, I've never overeaten them or craved them unduly. But muffins, cakes, biscuits, that's another story.
So yes, I cut out those foods for the most part, but I do still eat them on occasion. If I go out for dinner, I'm not going to piss fart around ordering sauces to the side and quizzing the staff about whether there's butter in something. I just have what I fancy, and I dont eat a lot of it.
But my basic, everyday diet, what I eat 90% of the time is healthy. Its healthy, but I really dont believe in low carb Atkins style diets. I do eat bread and cereals and I eat good amounts of Protein but not HIGH Protein. So again, the next person here will tell me diet contravenes all their rules and I'll never lose weight. But I did and kept it off - so it comes down to calories in/calories out, I think.
Post op, I did exactly what I was told to do and ate really healthy foods too. I actually find it really hard to understand how just after surgery you can not be so bouyed up by enthusiasm, hope and determination that you find this period difficult. I found it really very easy. The hard part of wanting bad foods again came a lot later on. But everyone's different I guess. After the post op period, my doc actually HAS no real rules, the m.o. here in Australia tends to be eating a very normal everyday diet but only a lot less of it. Its about integrating the band into normal life, not about a bunch of rules that really swaps overeating for a life of imposed rules.

Smaller portions of normal food, lots of running and a lot of headwork centred around lettng go of food rules and the idea of guilt around good and bad foods ( the hardest part for me). Plain, simpke, logical.
I dont know how much Protein i eat, no idea how many grams of carbs or even really calories in a day. When i exercise i go all out.

My ipod ran out of charge half way through my run this morning, grrrrrr.
I would DIE if anyone every found my ipod dropped in the street and listened to it, lol. I actually like to listen to the Best of Wham when I run, its like an 80's revivial party!. Old 80's aerobics dance mixes are good too. Ipods are so wonderful, you can listen to the most embarrassing, daggiest music that you wouldnt be caught dead with playing audibly in your house or car.
I dont know why they never took off in the US, too Aussie pub rock I think, but you guys just dont know the joys of some loud Cold Chisel!

Personally, I think being a food addict is extremely rare, if it even exists. Having bad habits, overeating, not listening to your body and having a preference for fatty, sugary or salty foods are all a LOT more common. Our bodies are designed to respond to food - we have an insulin rush, it has effects on serotonin and dopamine (and thus our mood and mental state), our blood sugar levels. We feel bad when we're truly physically hungry and better when we eat. So we're ALL food addicts, to say your addicted to food and the next person isnt makes no sense. We all exhibit addictive behaviours in many areas of our lives because of the pay off for carrying out a certain behaviour. We can. ALL change our behaviour and I dont believe a food addict is powerless to do so. Not that that means its easy, but nor does it need to be perfect. I may very well be addicted to sugar but to balance that off, i am a dedicated runner. I can AFFORD to be addicted to sugar, I burn off the calories. So lapbands and lifestyle changes do work in the face of addiction, I believe.

Not drinking while you eat is not downing a glass of Water, you can pour yourself a glass of wine, enjoy it before the meal, and sip it during. that's not going to have much effect on anything. I never drank soda very much so didnt/dont miss that. And I can eat almost anything, just in much smaller quantities. My life hasnt changed in that regard, I entertain, go out etc - BUT (and this is a big but) you need to let go of the importance of food in your life. There's a fundamental difference between fat people and effortlessly thin people and that's that thin people enjoy their food, but it has nowhere near as much importance as it does for someone who's gotten fat. They dont sit there worrying about what others will think about what they eat, they dont rush in so that they get their share, they dont worry if they're out of the room while the donuts are brought out, because hey, its only a donut and you can get one anytime you reall want one, right?
Make no mistake, to lose weight and keep it off, you MUST change. Your eating habits and approaches have made you fat. Whether you get a band or not, you cant continue to be the same or your weight will only continue to increase. I worried exactly like you are doing before I realised that one fact and then decided that I would go with the band to make sure I really DID change. But it took me several false starts to feel ready to do that.
Now, my life is a new normal. There's some things I cant do or eat or whatever, and over the years, that's just become normal to me, no mourning for old times. And now I'm doing it again as I've had major bowel surgery a year ago (lost quite a lot of my plumbing) and now have to relearn how to eat and manage a much shorter digestive system. I would be desperate if I hadnt been through such a change before when I got my band and know that eventually, it will just become normal to me.

This is a good post, spot on. The band doesnt work for everyone because everyone's issues are different and everyone is prepared to different things to lose weight and keep it off.
Most people, if they fill beyond a certain point will start to get food stuck and throw up a lot. Then they unfill and feel like they have "no" restriction. This is very common. But the truth is, there really is no perfect point of restriction with the band where weight loss is automatic but you dont get the side effects of getting stuck. This is not how the band is designed to work. I've never ever in six years found that "sweet spot" and have always had the capacity to eat things like sandwiches - my band has NEVER enabled me to live on 800 calories a day, I would be absolutely freaking starving and if I filled it that tight, I'd be stuck and throwing up all the time.
But many people dont do very well at learning to eat slowly and carefully in the manner that they need to with a band. Its a big change, a difficult one but crucial for success. Throwing up is nearly always user error, and occasionally due to eating a food that just isnt going to work (those are different for everyone).
As for living on baked chicken, well, that's right. YOu need to change what you eat no matter what. If you put some effort in, you can learn how to have variety and satisfaction in your diet without high calorie, fatty foods, and you can have those treat foods once in a while in small quantities. I say I eat whatever I want because I dont follow any particular diet plan but make no mistake, you cant truly eat "what you want" whenever you want it and lose weight successfully. There is denial and hard work involved and until you're ready to face that, a lapband is not going to help.
Bypass as a surgery tends to be better for people who cant make these changes, but the problem is regain later on. Its not a moral failing for the band not to work and its not an attack when people post that it doesnt work and these people dont deserve to be told they're just not doing it right, but the truth is, the band isnt right for everyone.

I take a different approach - I eat whatever i want. However, the band does its work in that I cant truly eat so much of everything on a consistent basis that I gain weight. But I can eat a "normal" size plate of food at times, my band is almost full and doesnt provide anything LIKE the restriction others talk about. It used to be better, but since I had to have it unfilled for cancer surgery, I've never got it back. I lost a bit of weight during the time it was unfilled. My surgeon thinks - as its been checked out and is all fine - that I've simply lost SO much weight that the band doesnt really fit me anymore. I've gotten down to a BMI of 20, and I"m a tall, but fine boned sort of body type, I didnt have a big, muscular stomach to begin with, and unfortunately, unlike a belt, we cant knock another few holes in it with a nail and hammer.
That said, I'm extremely glad I put in the work that I did, because I dont really need more restriction than what I have.
I decided I was never ever going to diet again, I was going to ditch the good food/bad food mentality. Its taken me years, but I have done it to a large extent. I do relapse, under the stress of cancer I was back to really restrictive eating and weighing 50 times a day, getting stressed because I'd vary by 100 grams!
Basically, once banded and through the post op diet phase, I gave myself permission to eat whatever I wanted. But my question was "I can have it if I want it, but do I really want it". Over time, I came to recognise how often eating was a split second reaction and somethign was down the gob before you even realise it! the band helped me to eat slowly and savour what I was eating and be satisfied with much less. It took a while, but sooner or later, you recognise when you really truly want something. Other times, you want it anyway and override your body and eat it anyway, but basicaly, I've tipped the balance from stuffing whatever I want down my face and eatintg a bit more mindfully, and the band has taken care of the quantity.
Of course you have to eat with some idea of nutrition (or whichever theory you're into) and if you're really listening, you dont truly want cake for every meal, but I absolutely do NOT believe that counting points, calories, Protein etc is right for me. It makes me obsessed and confuses me about when I am truly hungry, what I truly want.
But my real secret? Running. I dont go and pissfart around walking on the treadmill and pushing weights machines around. I bust a gut running or spinning. Nearly every single day for an hour. No zumba, no wii fit for me. When I get my arse into gear to do strength training, I like doing stuff like hoiking a sandbag, or bootcamp, not lifting girlie dumbells. I've got a really hardnosed attitude to exercise and its stood me in very good stead. I think whatever you choose (and its what you enjoy, not what I say of course) you put 150% into it, hold nothing back and absolutely wreck yourself. Exercise is all about intensity.

I take a different approach - I eat whatever i want. However, the band does its work in that I cant truly eat so much of everything on a consistent basis that I gain weight. But I can eat a "normal" size plate of food at times, my band is almost full and doesnt provide anything LIKE the restriction others talk about. It used to be better, but since I had to have it unfilled for cancer surgery, I've never got it back. I lost a bit of weight during the time it was unfilled. My surgeon thinks - as its been checked out and is all fine - that I've simply lost SO much weight that the band doesnt really fit me anymore. I've gotten down to a BMI of 20, and I"m a tall, but fine boned sort of body type, I didnt have a big, muscular stomach to begin with, and unfortunately, unlike a belt, we cant knock another few holes in it with a nail and hammer.
That said, I'm extremely glad I put in the work that I did, because I dont really need more restriction than what I have.
I decided I was never ever going to diet again, I was going to ditch the good food/bad food mentality. Its taken me years, but I have done it to a large extent. I do relapse, under the stress of cancer I was back to really restrictive eating and weighing 50 times a day, getting stressed because I'd vary by 100 grams!
Basically, once banded and through the post op diet phase, I gave myself permission to eat whatever I wanted. But my question was "I can have it if I want it, but do I really want it". Over time, I came to recognise how often eating was a split second reaction and somethign was down the gob before you even realise it! the band helped me to eat slowly and savour what I was eating and be satisfied with much less. It took a while, but sooner or later, you recognise when you really truly want something. Other times, you want it anyway and override your body and eat it anyway, but basicaly, I've tipped the balance from stuffing whatever I want down my face and eatintg a bit more mindfully, and the band has taken care of the quantity.
Of course you have to eat with some idea of nutrition (or whichever theory you're into) and if you're really listening, you dont truly want cake for every meal, but I absolutely do NOT believe that counting points, calories, Protein etc is right for me. It makes me obsessed and confuses me about when I am truly hungry, what I truly want.
But my real secret? Running. I dont go and pissfart around walking on the treadmill and pushing weights machines around. I bust a gut running or spinning. Nearly every single day for an hour. No zumba, no wii fit for me. When I get my arse into gear to do strength training, I like doing stuff like hoiking a sandbag, or bootcamp, not lifting girlie dumbells. I've got a really hardnosed attitude to exercise and its stood me in very good stead. I think whatever you choose (and its what you enjoy, not what I say of course) you put 150% into it, hold nothing back and absolutely wreck yourself. Exercise is all about intensity.

You should do a search on the site. This subject has been raised and discussed at depth(no pun intended) a number of times before.

That stuff that Spivak used was called Omnipac and I've over the years seen many of his patients discuss it.
Now, the harsh bit. I think you need to pull on your big girl boots and get real about this. First and foremost if you can find another doc, then do so. But if you have to stick with this guy, I would personally look at it this way :No relationship with the doc? So what? You dont need to piss in his pocket, you have the resources to do this, you need a service from him - that being a fill, or as many as it takes. Who cares if you cant stand him? If he's what's available, then put your feelings aside and use him.
Secondly $150 a visit? Does this deter you because its expensive (and thus tiresome) or because you genuinely cannot afford it? If you truly cant afford it, then my heart goes out to you but I really wouldnt know what you can do about that. Its really rough that your doc retired, and it really does suck, but this is what's available and you can either pay for it or you cant. If you cant, end of story, if you can but just find it annoying, well, thats a choice you're making isnt it? If it were me, I'd perhaps be going back, saying I cant afford to visit every week for these tiny fills and trying to maybe compromise on a slightly larger one, whilst still being cautious that to be unfilled will cost you money too.
You havent failed, honestly, we all need these bands filled for them to work, aftercare is vitally important. Support and compassion from our medical practitioners is invaluable, but at the end of the day, you're a pro at this, you know what to do and all you need from this guy is a medical service, not a soul mate. You also dont need to beat yourself up for not being happy with what you'd achieved,50lb is wonderful, its not small achievement, but I'm a chronic high achiever too and I personally would have been pissed off majorly to only get halfway to my goal, but I dont thnk it helps to look at what you secretely feel is a half arsed result and say perhaps I should have just settled - you're worth more than that and you got that far, you CAN go the whole way. But you need to suck up the rough situation and make it work for you.
Getting back on track is always hard and its always about blunt truths like this. They're not that great to face, but if you want the outcome, you'll put yourself through the pain. If you can possibly find a more compassionate and cheaper doctor, then obviously that's what you'd do, but if not, then I'd just be hard nosed about it, take what I need from the situation and seek moral support elsewhere.

What kind of work do you do? I could easily, and I mean easily, been back at a desk job inside of a week. I'd have been tired, but that's it.
Good luck, like you say, better late than never. Its a real wake up call to have health problems at a young age isnt it? Always a shock when we find out we're not immortal.

Like Jack, I really enjoy my collection of small side plates that I eat off! I have an everyday dinner setting of plain white plates that the family uses and everythign to match - a variety of tiny bowls and such - just the kind of thing you can buy the pieces separately for. I use them for Cereal and yogurt and such, I know their capacity and my whole family eats off smaller plates (but not as small as me) - but I have a collection of various ones that I've seen and liked, some meals look great on a red plate, and a stir fry on a black plate is quite special, all the bright vegies lol. So yeah, just a bread and butter plate does the trick for me.
Its just for me, I couldnt afford to indulge my crockery obsession for the whole family! And I get bored, I wouldnt want to buy a whole set and just have to use that anyway. It might sound a bit unhinged, but it really adds a bit of zing to ordinary everyday meals for me.

You really cant know if it orks for you unless you try it, anyone else's experience is irrelevant.

Why do people put stock in these television grandstanders? They're there to make shows and take ratings! I cant stand freaking Dr Phil or Dr Oz. I wouldnt put any stock in what they said - they're selling a product, themselves and their show and like ALL media, you cant place much faith in it.
Make your own decisions based on your own research.

Why do people put stock in these television grandstanders? They're there to make shows and take ratings! I cant stand freaking Dr Phil or Dr Oz. I wouldnt put any stock in what they said - they're selling a product, themselves and their show and like ALL media, you cant place much faith in it.
Make your own decisions based on your own research.

Its entirely reconstructive, but a side effect will be a supermodel tummy.
After my ultra low bowel resection i was left with an ugly, twisted scar where my caesar scar used to be and a stoma of course. When the stoma was closed i had a new scar ( about as big as a port incision) and an upper abdominal bulge. Despite this huge op being laparoscopic, my abdominal wall has been severely weakened, and the fullness on my previously flat tummy Id thought was middle aged spread ( early menopause due to rafiation) is not my pear shaped bod beginning to store intraabdominal fat but rather muscle laxity brought on by wearing my intestine as an accessory for nine months.
I also had incisional hernias which were getting worse so my colorectal surgeon encouraged me to go and see a reconstructive plastic surgeon, who said a full abdominoplasty is the way to go. Because its reconstructive im looking at $5000 rather that $15000 which is more the norm here.
I never could have used my familys money for pure vanity as my tummy isnt that baf, but this is ncessary, henc guilt free. And Ive never really considered getting my boobs done because i couldnt see the point without the tummy work. Now as hu by has said, i may as well do it, so will save up and do that later this year. At present, the Tummy Tuck will be in the last week of march.
Im a tad scared. Ive had some truly traumatic surgeries in the last 12 months and have suffered a fair bit of depression at the damage my treatments have done to my body. This is going to be a big and painful one, but i think i will finally feel lime ive kicked cancer's ass!

Glad to hear you're ok and hope the band helps you towards success. I'd been banded for five years when I was diagnosed with rectal cancer in August 2010. I had chemo and radiation, followed buy a bowel resection and an ileostomy for nine months. I had six months of chemo earlier this year and then had my ileostomy reversed in July. I had my band unfilled the entire time and really feared gaining so I continued to run daily and go to the gym during treatment and eat as if I ad a band. I had 5FU with no steroids, my problem was getting too thin.
I will warn you, I really didnt give enough thought to the demands treatment would make on my body. I felt relatively Ok so i pushed myself hard with exercise, blieving it ould help me to recover, radiation of course was to my pelvis putting me into instant menopause, and a brutal on at that. On year on I was suffering terrible depression and anxiety despite having been cured, my onc and gp ran a whole lot of bloods and tests - I am completely Iron depleted and anaemic, definitely post menopausal and have ostopaenia, ironically I broke a rib a few weeks ago doing not much at ll. So take your supplements And make sure to eat super duper well, its SO important. You ve needs above and byond the ordinary person. I had to start HRT (instant depression cure), Calcium, Iron, super multi etc.
Very best of luck to you!

I like a good carb serve for breakie but I do know tht when I eat a good Protein containing breakfast, I eat much better for the rest of the day. But I need that energy so I often have something like an egg on toast (and I could seriously not eat till 3pm after that), or cheese and Tomato on toast, even tuna and avocado on toast. I like Cereal and oatmeal (real rolled oats) are fabulous for me because of the soluble fibre and my bowel issues, what I do with that is the night before cover it with milk and refrigerate and then you just have to zap it for a minute and a half like the quick cook stuff. I mix through some chopped nuts and seeds and top with a dollop of yogurt, mmmmm. And for quick mornings, I keep a good high Protein box Cereal around.
I do like a fruit smoothie, but it just doesnt get me through the morning. So sometimes if I fancy one, I make it a very small one and top it up with a couple of wholegrain crispbreads with Peanut Butter.

I agree, and our goals are individual as well
B-man's cooment about not feeding him that "I dont want to bulk, only tone" line as been bothering me for days. Its not an unreasonable comment and its certainly correct and it was not said with any intent to offend, so I am not refuting it or taking offense. But here's the rub. . Personally, I would rather look loke Miranda Kerr than Jillian Michaels a million times over, and my routine gives me that kind of body (well, the closest a non genetically blessed 44 year old can come to it anyway). I know women dont generally bulk anyway but I like the result my routine has given me, So I will stick with my high cardio and Body Pump routine and not loading up on Protein. I just wont buy into the supplements and heavy weight training scene because first it bores me sh*tless and secondly, I have no desire for that sort of body. And if it turns me into a calorie burning furnace, well I can already pretty much eat what I want coz I burn it off running ( which I love so it is not a chore) so really, I couldnt give a crap whether someone. Thinks thats right or wrong.
It ist fashionable to want to look thin rather than like an Olympic athlete these days and I think all the supplements and advice are a part of that fad, great if its what youre aiming for and theres nothing wrong with having that goal, i just dont.

I'd eat more, and not because I believe in starvation mode, but for nutrition sake.
I've always been a bit gung ho about nutrition, I figured if you eat well and eat 1200 or so a day you should be fairly OK. I've never really taken supplements, and dont drink Protein shakes. But I've had a wake up call recently, yes, I was having cancer treatment, so that puts a unique strain on my body - but my set of nutritional issues include Iron depletion, osteopaenia (that's a precursor to osteoporosis), B12 deficiency, all of which have lead to some unpleasant symptoms including depression, anxiety and real brain fog to the point where I wondered if I was suffering dementia.
That's as a result of six years of calorie restriction, coupled with a lot of very hard exercise. I'm thin, yes, but I was well on my way to being a frail little old lady! I broke a rib three weeks agoand all I was doing was trying to adjust the knob on a spin bike that was done up a bit tight! That is what led to the bone density test, which showed my bones are not what they shoudl be. Needless to say by the time I lay out what I know I need to eat in a day, there's over 1500 calories there. I can eat that, I'm maintaining now, not losing, but it just really proves to me that you absolutely CANT survivive on 500 a day and you really really need to be supplementing carefully. You need a good multi, you need your Calcium and if you're menstruating, you need your Iron.< /p>
You can feel fine for years undereating, but it kind of hits you all of a sudden.

I'd eat more, and not because I believe in starvation mode, but for nutrition sake.
I've always been a bit gung ho about nutrition, I figured if you eat well and eat 1200 or so a day you should be fairly OK. I've never really taken supplements, and dont drink Protein shakes. But I've had a wake up call recently, yes, I was having cancer treatment, so that puts a unique strain on my body - but my set of nutritional issues include Iron depletion, osteopaenia (that's a precursor to osteoporosis), B12 deficiency, all of which have lead to some unpleasant symptoms including depression, anxiety and real brain fog to the point where I wondered if I was suffering dementia.
That's as a result of six years of calorie restriction, coupled with a lot of very hard exercise. I'm thin, yes, but I was well on my way to being a frail little old lady! I broke a rib three weeks agoand all I was doing was trying to adjust the knob on a spin bike that was done up a bit tight! That is what led to the bone density test, which showed my bones are not what they shoudl be. Needless to say by the time I lay out what I know I need to eat in a day, there's over 1500 calories there. I can eat that, I'm maintaining now, not losing, but it just really proves to me that you absolutely CANT survivive on 500 a day and you really really need to be supplementing carefully. You need a good multi, you need your Calcium and if you're menstruating, you need your Iron.< /p>
You can feel fine for years undereating, but it kind of hits you all of a sudden.