Jachut

omg, it bought tears to my eyes. I did cop a little bit of holier than thou judgement from several people, not least my usually lovely lapband surgeon, because i didnt have a big flappy tummy. The before pics i took were on my phone and dont really show clearly what a mess my belly was, but oh, my, has it been cleaned up!!! I feel like the evidence of my brush with cancer has been erased, gone are the hernias, the ileostomy scar, the misshapen almost hernia behind the ileostomy, the ruined bellybutton, the adsortment of at least a dozen scars and punctures, the weird curtain of skin on my upper belly. The flatness of my new tummy is a bonus, at present with swelling, im about the same measurement as i was before, so my midsection is going to be very slender, unfortunately my ass is still the same size, lol. But without going into detail why did nobody tell ne how much better my, ah, bits would look? DH's eyes nearly popped out of his head! And my inner thighs are so smooth! Wowzers.
So...... Gone are all signs of one of the darkest periods of my life and in their place, one lovely smile on my tummy to remind me how lucky I am to be here and to be healthy. I didnt quite realise I would feel tjis way about it, and Ive been off the drugs for days, lol

Banded 2005, lost 120 lb and have maintained. However was diagnosed with rectal cancer 2010, u filled for treatment and never got back quite the same restriction. Whilst i remain about 5lb lighter than when cancer was diagnosed, i did hit an all time low of 130 ( im five feet ten inches) and am now about 145, so ive had a significant gain which i would say is partly simply me returning to health, closure of my ileostomy ( i swear i barely absorbed ANY food whilst i had it) but also partly due to slacking off.
The thing is after seven years banded so many of those dayto day sensations that help you listen to the band become so normal you no longer notice them. Thus i have developed a very slight pouch dilation. So its back on the straightand narrow for me and now im listening, i find i relly only need about half what i ws eating - in fact i may need an unfill because at this rate ill be skeletal again before long. And NO more drinking and eating together!!!

omg, it bought tears to my eyes. I did cop a little bit of holier than thou judgement from several people, not least my usually lovely lapband surgeon, because i didnt have a big flappy tummy. The before pics i took were on my phone and dont really show clearly what a mess my belly was, but oh, my, has it been cleaned up!!! I feel like the evidence of my brush with cancer has been erased, gone are the hernias, the ileostomy scar, the misshapen almost hernia behind the ileostomy, the ruined bellybutton, the adsortment of at least a dozen scars and punctures, the weird curtain of skin on my upper belly. The flatness of my new tummy is a bonus, at present with swelling, im about the same measurement as i was before, so my midsection is going to be very slender, unfortunately my ass is still the same size, lol. But without going into detail why did nobody tell ne how much better my, ah, bits would look? DH's eyes nearly popped out of his head! And my inner thighs are so smooth! Wowzers.
So...... Gone are all signs of one of the darkest periods of my life and in their place, one lovely smile on my tummy to remind me how lucky I am to be here and to be healthy. I didnt quite realise I would feel tjis way about it, and Ive been off the drugs for days, lol

You are sooooo right. Theres a couple of posts up today and have been manyover my six year involvement with this board about what you do when you ge to the point of maintenance. The answer is nothing. Because wht you do to lose, you need to do FOREVER. Simple as that.

Not too fat or too old. I could walk a bit, jog a bit when I started, what I did was slow it waaaaay diwn to a weird shuffle and just not stop no matter what. It was a distance of only 3kms, so about 2 miles, and I did a lot of ut with DH walking beside me. I could easily have walked faster, but the key to kearning to run is to slow it down and develop your body's strength for running. Its not just about heart/lung capacity, I always found that if I went slow enough to get a good breathing rhythym going, my legs would give out first. So..... You need to go slow enough that you dont begin to pant uncontrollably. Certainly breathing will increase, probably to th point of discomfort, you will get hot and sweat but as long as you have some sort of joggibg motion going (for me it was a shuffle) youll eventually be able to run.
Sure, you might get more out of power walking at this point and you could probably technically go further in the same time period, but the shuffling not only conditions you to eventually run, and i always slow when i walk anyway. If ypu need to get the feel of it, set the treadmill for a speed at which you would normally jog, slow it by a mile an hour or whatever and teach yourself to jog that sliwly. It was psychological for me too, the fact tha i was jogging, no matter how slowly, spurred me on.

The thing is, youre not really correct in expecting weight loss you couldnt achieve reasonably on your own. It wont usually be any faster or more spe tacular. Youre averaging the expected 2lb per week. Where the band really helps is keeping that loss going ALL the way down to goal and keeping it off, rather than losing that 24lb, running out of steam and putting on 30! Tha band does not alter your body, cause malabsorption or make weight loss miraculous, it simply makes ordinary weight loss easier to achieve.

Running, theres nothing like it. Yes, in the long run you need some strength training, but to shift fat fast, run for forty minutes to an hour every day and you wont regret it.

The thing is, youre not really correct in expecting weight loss you couldnt achieve reasonably on your own. It wont usually be any faster or more spe tacular. Youre averaging the expected 2lb per week. Where the band really helps is keeping that loss going ALL the way down to goal and keeping it off, rather than losing that 24lb, running out of steam and putting on 30! Tha band does not alter your body, cause malabsorption or make weight loss miraculous, it simply makes ordinary weight loss easier to achieve.

Nearly seven years for me with no major problems - my pouch has stretched out a very little bit which my doctor says is a fairly natural adaptation over time, but that if i respect my band it will serve me gor a long time to come. The scars do fade well but my port has always been visible.
I had my band unfilled for most of last year and it was hrd work maintaining my weight. I dont think i would become obese again (with work) but maintaining a bmi of 20 wouldnt be easy. I have no plans to unfill -but i dont need to be tight to maintain either. I run about an hour a day and thats key.
Personally, i wouldnt swap a bmi of 20 to settle for 32 or even 25, i love having gotten truly "thin"

Nearly seven years for me with no major problems - my pouch has stretched out a very little bit which my doctor says is a fairly natural adaptation over time, but that if i respect my band it will serve me gor a long time to come. The scars do fade well but my port has always been visible.
I had my band unfilled for most of last year and it was hrd work maintaining my weight. I dont think i would become obese again (with work) but maintaining a bmi of 20 wouldnt be easy. I have no plans to unfill -but i dont need to be tight to maintain either. I run about an hour a day and thats key.
Personally, i wouldnt swap a bmi of 20 to settle for 32 or even 25, i love having gotten truly "thin"

Ok, im literally terrified of the pain, sigh.
On a more practical note, what the hell do you wear after a TT? Having been below goal weight for four years now, i have a wardrobe full of nice clothes. Am i going to have to wear sweats to work in three weeks time? Can i take my nice nighties to hospital or should I take the grungy pj's?
im completely waxed, nails are done, hair cut and coloured and tan topped up, lol. Gotta get your priorities right! Just doing all the housework i havent done in the last six months as its suddenly incredibly important that it be done right now, have to go and buy easter eggs for the kids, book for hospital, cook inner for the kids tonight, get thedog and three cats vaccinated and do a grocery shop and then itll be time to go to the hospital Phew.
See you on the other sude!

Ok, im literally terrified of the pain, sigh.
On a more practical note, what the hell do you wear after a TT? Having been below goal weight for four years now, i have a wardrobe full of nice clothes. Am i going to have to wear sweats to work in three weeks time? Can i take my nice nighties to hospital or should I take the grungy pj's?
im completely waxed, nails are done, hair cut and coloured and tan topped up, lol. Gotta get your priorities right! Just doing all the housework i havent done in the last six months as its suddenly incredibly important that it be done right now, have to go and buy easter eggs for the kids, book for hospital, cook inner for the kids tonight, get thedog and three cats vaccinated and do a grocery shop and then itll be time to go to the hospital Phew.
See you on the other sude!

Well...... every day I guess. I mean, I've worked hard on not seeing foods as "good" or "bad" and if I want a hotdog for lunch, I have it and I dont consider it cheating or a treat. However, that's not as easy as it sounds, becuase I did have to work long and hard to get to the point where I didnt want a hotdog every day. This happened somewhat naturally with the band - hamburgers, fries, hotdogs, cake, muffins, anything too bready, they're all really difficult to eat with the band for a lot of people - I can eat them, but even for me, they are tough to chew and swallow, lead to multiple moments of discomfort during the eating, fill me up to the point of discomfort and if not eaten carefully make me vomit. Appetising, huh? Over time, you just dont really fancy those things anymore. Just the very occasional "wow, I feel like a hotdog, think I'll have one". My taste has changed to much easier, and luckily healthier foods.
Cookies, wow, wish I couldnt eat those easily. Those for me are a specific "treat" which I will only have once in a while, certainly not every time I think of it. They're something I overeat every time, there's no such thing as one for me, if I'm going to eat them, its going to be major calorie damage, which is fine, but just not very often.
I dont schedule a day or meal for treating/cheating. That's dieting behaviour, I left that behind forever. I'm of the firm belief and my body seems to believe it as well - that all that matters really is calories - weight wise that is. I want to be healthy and fit too so I eat well for that reason.

Or better yet, use real oatmeal. Just buy the rolled oats, measure out, pour on milk and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, just microwave for a minute thirty, two minutes depending on your microwave, and then add your flavorings - I like it with just brown sugar and a bit of extra milk or Peanut Butter and maple Syrup.< /p>

Same as yours but I'm in Australia. My surgeon said balanced diet including all food groups, the nutritionist said the same and I've managed to get the doc who does my fills (who's a great guy) to actually admit he thinks high Protein diets and the theory behind them is a load of bollocks.
I was saying in another thread today that I personally have a self devised theory that a lot of the people who are really struggling with head hunger and inability to lose weight are really struggling with the awful limitations a low carb diet imposed and that unfilling a bit and eating carbs (yes CARBS!!!!!) like bread and Pasta would actually diminish their cravings, increase their satiety and start them losing weight.
All just personal opinion though. You can back up either opinion (for or against carbs) with the kind of so called scientific proof you find on the internet.

I'm 43, I teach grade six and my kids thought I was twenty-something!

I dont really worry that something will happen to my band, more that i still think about food, not eating food, restriction and losing weight all daybevery day. Im thin, but dont think i will ever lose the fat mind.

Fickle, yep. I had to unfil mine for a surgery and its totally different refilled - not like the same band at all.
My bank is pretty fickle too.....

Same as yours but I'm in Australia. My surgeon said balanced diet including all food groups, the nutritionist said the same and I've managed to get the doc who does my fills (who's a great guy) to actually admit he thinks high Protein diets and the theory behind them is a load of bollocks.
I was saying in another thread today that I personally have a self devised theory that a lot of the people who are really struggling with head hunger and inability to lose weight are really struggling with the awful limitations a low carb diet imposed and that unfilling a bit and eating carbs (yes CARBS!!!!!) like bread and Pasta would actually diminish their cravings, increase their satiety and start them losing weight.
All just personal opinion though. You can back up either opinion (for or against carbs) with the kind of so called scientific proof you find on the internet.

Or better yet, use real oatmeal. Just buy the rolled oats, measure out, pour on milk and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, just microwave for a minute thirty, two minutes depending on your microwave, and then add your flavorings - I like it with just brown sugar and a bit of extra milk or Peanut Butter and maple Syrup.< /p>

Ditch the idiot nutritionist for starters!
That is such irresponsible advice. One thing any bandster knows is that once you have good restriction you do not mess around with it. It is so easy to lose that perfect place and unfilling your band is one very common way for that to happen. It can also cause slight shifting as has happened to me (mine was unfilled for a major surgery), and whilst that's not a problem, I've never gotten the same sort of restriction back, even when my band has been FULL. Luckily I've changed my lifestyle, kept my weight off for so long my body is now used to it and having less restriction really hasnt been a huge problem. And the second thing is, if you've really changed the mindset and lifestyle of a fat person, then holidays arent all about scoffing food anyway. You dont need an empty band to taste new things, enjoy small portions of them, etc.
But certainly, if you're wide open with an as yet filled band, starving hungry and are prepared to wear the consequences of eating more, then you can safely do so. But it might be an idea to eat things that will fill you without too many calories - a wholegrain sandwich full of salad vergies and Protein is very filling but also very healthy, and less likely to cause weight gain than stodgy, heavy bistro food for example. That's what I did when I had to be unfilled and the only weight I ever gained was weight I'd lost due to being sick and just took me back to a BMI of 21.

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.

Hang in there mate, its only a matter of days now.

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?)