KartMan

You not only "can" do it, you "are" doing it. Bravo!

That is fantastic Buckcreek! It sounds as if we not only had similar starting weights but a similar trajectory as well. The only thing I would caution on is watch out that the weight loss is fat and not muscle. For me, weight training and protein were the key to keeping the lean and losing the fat.

I would suggest you get dunked sooner. I had my test at about 80lbs down and was shocked at what my percentage was (it was way better than I thought). I would like to know where I started from though. A good reason to get tested sooner and often is to monitor your fat vs lean loss. I found out that I was losing a lot more muscle than I should. After the first test, I started exercising more and getting more protien. As of my test last week, I have actually started gaining muscle while still losing fat.

I went in today for a range of tests at FitnessWave I took all three (Hydrostatic Body Fat, Resting Metabolic, and VO2 Sub-Max) tests, but I have to say the Hydrostatic Body Fat (dunk test) was the coolest (and cheapest). I don’t know if you’ve seen this done. Basically, you lie on an underwater scale and expel your lungs of air. By doing this they can tell exactly how much of your weight is fat versus everything else (fat versus lean). I found out that while I have a BMI of 27.3, my actual Body Fat percentage is 22.3% which puts me in the “average” range for men my age. “Good” would be 14-17%, and “excellent” would be <13%. I set my goal at 15%, which for me means I need to lose another 17.3 lbs of fat (if I lose any more muscle I will need to lose more total weight in order to reduce the actual fat %). I am about 201 lbs right now, so that means I need to get down to about 180-184. According to them, BMI or just weight alone are very crude measurements and not an accurate indicator of how much fat you have on you. I paid for the bundle of tests which was $229, the dunk test by itself is only $60 and takes less than an hour (you do have to wear Speedos though). Oh, one piece of bad news – I found out I am actually closer to 6’0” rather than 6’1” which means according to BMI I am even fatter than I thought.

Ok, scratch what I said earlier about not losing just fat in our weight loss. I went in for another dunk test today, and guess what? I actually gained lean mass and lost only fat:thumbup: I lost 4.1 lbs of fat mass and gained 0.9 lbs of lean mass. This took my Body Fat from 19.3% (which is considered Average) to 17.3% (which is considered good). If I can continue to at least maintain my lean mass and lose another 5 lbs of fat, I will be at my goal of 15% (Ideal Body Fat). The trick has been working out at least 5 days a week, some cardio and a fair amount of weight training. I am not killing myself with massive weights, just pushing myself to a light burn. I have gotten a little obsessed with the gym, I just feel so good about going – it has become a treat for me. Also, I have been making a concerted effort to consume 1g of protein per pound of my lean mass. This means I need about 150g of protein a day (no easy task).

Seriously? What brilliant advice did your PCP have considering that you had a BMI of 54? Medifast or some other worthless program?

I thought the drinking during meals would be a problem too, but it was a fairly easy habit to break. Sometimes it actually hurts to drink if the food is still in the pouch, pain is a good incentive. The worst part about not drinking during meals has been that I have to tone down the spice. I like spicy Mexican and Thai food, but without a drink (or rice) the spice has to come down a notch. Be careful with very liquidly Soups on this point as well. If you are going to have them, do it before the main meal. My rule on liquids is that it’s ok to have them right up to food time, none during, and wait 1 hour after. What caught me off guard? - The gas pains the first week were very rough. This pain is different for everyone, and can’t really be described. It passed quickly though. - Just how much you miss chewing while on the liquid diet - The feeling of restriction. This is another thing that can’t really be described. It’s not really a “good” feeling, but you will enjoy the results of it. - My first PB, OMG – its not fun, but you won’t die (only feel like it) - People’s reaction to WLS - How quickly I burned thru my clothes (by 6 months, even my old “skinny” clothes were too big) - You can’t turn it off. You know how with other diets, you can cheat? With this you can’t, restriction is always there and if you push it, it will push back – with a vengeance (see the PB comment) - How much certain things can hurt to eat (like bread and rice) As for working out, I didn’t do it the first 5 months (was too lazy to start). I started because I found out I was losing muscle along with fat and I didn’t want that. I have been working out the past 2 months now, and I absolutely love it – can’t get enough. If they say 3 months for weight lifting, then go ahead and wait – it will pass quickly. But do other exercise if you can. No reason you can’t walk, run, dance, etc. A word of caution and support for your hubby. First the caution, a lot of band-spouses gain weight because they get a lot of leftovers we can't eat (not a good thing for someone that is already overweight). The support for him may be a downer for you, guys often do better than women when they embark on diets or WLS. We are lucky in that we don’t have all those hormones, TOM, menopause, other women making snide remarks, our muscles burn more calories, etc. He might want to consider banding as well, just think of the money you guys could save on food. I was 6’ 285lbs, 42 years old when I got it and the weight flew off, not saying he needs it...

Unless your Doc is about 6’6” (which I doubt) she is fat. She may not consider herself fat, but she is fat. You are doing this for you. This is one medical opinion I would not take too seriously. It’s been my experience that some people that don’t want to see fault in themselves try to convince us from doing the right thing, it somehow validates their own poor choices.

From my experience the extra steps and time are purely a function of what your insurance wants. I was self pay, so the Doc would have been willing to go as fast as I wanted. I would HIGHLY recommend the seminar though, and do as much fact finding as you can. If you haven’t figured it out already, you are going to be making a major change to your body and lifestyle with this, you should go into it with as much knowledge as you can. This tool is great, and can work wonders – but you must understand the caveats of it or you could be setting yourself up for failure. I did a fair amount of research, but some things still caught me off guard – learn as much as you can. The biggest thing you need to know is it that it doesn’t just work like magic, you have to follow the rules and have self discipline. You said that you have been able to lose weight in the past but couldn’t keep it off… That is a fairly common pattern around here, the good news is it also seems to be one of the things the band helps with. See, portion control diets are great. They make you lose weight because it is all about calories in vs. calories out. The problem is that normally it is very hard to maintain portion control over time because you can’t control the hunger. The band can solve that problem for you. If you have good restriction (which may take a few months BTW) you will find that you can only consume small portions and you feel satisfied on that small meal for several hours, presto - portion control without the hunger. That part sounds kinda magical, but it’s not really. It’s just the band doing what it does, restricting what you can put into your pouch. The magic is not with the band at all, it is still with you. You have to take advantage of the hunger control the band gives you and leverage that to follow a new healthy lifestyle. If you don’t stop eating when you are full, if you graze between meals, if you make high calorie food choices (even with small portions), if you drink calories, you absolutely will fail – no magic there. I have been pretty successful in a relatively short period (normal weight within about 7 months). What worked for me (in no particular order): Follow the doctors orders Drink plenty of Water Don’t drink during meals Try to consume 1g Protein for every pound of lean body mass Regular Exercise Vitamins 3 meals a day (no grazing) No sugary drinks No Snacks Portion Control Count calories Get good restriction

You do realize that reliable sources have determined those pictures to be fake and the crowd estimates to be overblown don’t you? The rally organizers and your pal Glen Beck would have you believe the numbers were between 1.5 million and 2 million. Nonpartisan Politifact and DC Fire estimate the numbers to be around 60 and 75k. Quote form Catherine Richert at Politifact: “It was an impressive crowd,” Piringer said. But after marching down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol the crowd “only filled the Capitol grounds, maybe up to Third Street,” he said. Yet the photo showed the crowd sprawling far beyond that to the Washington Monument, which is bordered by 15th and and 17th Streets. There’s another big problem with the photograph: it doesn’t include the National Museum of the American Indian, a building located at the corner of Fourth St. and Independence Ave. that opened on Sept. 14, 2004… That means the picture was taken before the museum opened exactly five years ago. So clearly the photo doesn’t show the “tea party” crowd from the Sept. 12 protest. Who is lying here:confused:

Wasn’t sure I would be able to join this club but here I am. Next goal is to hit 24.9 BMI, which is only a pound away (184lbs) and should happen in the next day or so. My real goal is to get to 15% Body Fat. I started checking that about 2 months ago (I was 22.3% then). I am under 19% now and figure I need to get down to about 170-175lbs to reach 15%. I expect to be there in 1-2 months:cool:

About 30lbs total, 10 of that was pre-op. I noticed, but I'm not sure others did. Other people really started to notice at about 40-50lbs. At 100lbs down, people that know me now but not back then can not believe i was even fat before. They say I look totally "normal", as If I never could have been fat.

I carried the majority of my excess weight in my belly and chest, and some in my face and arms. I have no loose skin in my arms, legs or face. My belly is a work in progress (clothes are great for that). While there is some flab on my belly, it is really doing far better than I expected considering I dropped 100lbs. From a clothes perspective, my waist has gone from a size 44 down to a 32-34. In raw inches, it has gone from 48.5 inches to 33 inches. My biggest worry wasn’t in the belly, but my chest. I had an embarrassing case of “man boobs”. I am very happy to report that my chest looks pretty good right now. Not the pecs of a body builder – but pretty good if I say so myself. I expect that some of that remaining belly flab is fat, I am about 18% Body Fat right now and trying to get down to 15%. Once I get to 15%, and have about 6 months to a year of working out behind me – I’m sure it will look even better than now.

I have pretty good restriction (possibly a little too good), and have from the start. I don’t feel full like I did pre-band, but I definitely feel something that tells me when to stop. Sometimes it is pain in my chest (about ½ way between my Adams apple and my sternum), sometimes it is hiccups, sometimes it is like I can’t physically swallow another bite (so I spit it out), usually it is an urge to have a deep sigh (kinda odd, but I don’t know how else to describe it), occasionally I go one bite too far and I PB. About 20% of the time I feel like I could eat more, but I choose to stop because I am satisfied (not full, but satisfied). The trick that I haven’t yet mastered is to put the right amount of food on my plate rather than letting my hunger load the plate up. I know I can only eat just so much, yet when I am really hungry I overload the plate and that is when I push it too far. I find I do better when I take a small portion, then if I want a bit more, I can go back for another tiny portion.

Patty, you’ve tried to inject this thought into a couple of other threads recently and now created this one to stand on its own. This is what you get for your I think you are in a tiny minority on this one. The Supreme Court and nearly every elected official (especially ones that want to get reelected) have deemed that we have a Secular Democracy in this country. When your opponents on LBT remind you of the atrocities of the Bush administration, you always say that was then and this is now. I suggest you do the same with this issue. I don’t for a second agree with you that we were ever a “Christian Nation” as you say, but even if we were – we are not now and never will be in the future. We are a nation of many faiths (and non believers), but none of those faiths can or should have any significance in our laws or government.

$15,300 in San Diego $7,500 with Dr. Ortiz in TJ Mexico

I would disagree with the way your nutritionist said it. The weight doesn’t come off after a certain number of fills, it comes off only after you get restriction. Restriction comes at different times for different people. I was lucky, I had restriction from the beginning. Others on here don’t get it till 3,4, even 5 fills. That is what it is really about though, the band is a restrictive device, without restriction you are just basically on a diet (if diets worked we wouldn’t need the band). Once you get restriction, it is just a matter of calories in versus calories out, sounds simple right? Many people don’t want to believe this though. They don’t want to take the time to look at what they are eating. When you do get to restriction, and you are eating less (I mean way less, like a cup of food per meal) and you are still not losing, then you need to look at your calorie counts. For me, I find that I need to eat 1200-1500 calories a day to lose (1500-1800 on days that I work out). I have gotten so used to tracking calories that it is second nature to me and not any trouble at all. I was using the “LoseIT” app for the Iphone and am now using SparkPeople on the iPhone – both have pretty robust databases and make tracking calories pretty easy. Aside from calories, I would strongly suggest exercising. Building muscle is a great way to burn calories. Muscles consume something like twice the calories throughout the day than fat, so those babies work for you even when you are not exercising.

Talk to your doctor and see if you can move to mushies (mashed potatoes, refried beans, oatmeal, etc.). STICK WITH THIS, DON’T GIVE UP:cursing:. You probably paid a lot of money and have certainly suffered pain and inconvenience, this part won’t last forever – believe me. Once you get past recovery and bandster hell, it starts getting easier. You can eat regular foods (just a lot less) and you will start to see the rewards of your hard work. Come on, nobody said this would be easy – just hang in there. I can tell you from personal experience that being thin is certainly worth the short term discomfort and inconvenience you are experiencing now.

I try to wait at least a few hours. I don’t like the food to be sitting in my stomach while I’m sleeping because I know it’s not going to be good for my weight loss. Also, lots of cases on here about reflux being compounded by lying down after eating. Anyway, why eat if you're going to bed soon? This is another lifestyle issue that we should all work on.

Padanelle- I used to feel that way about gyms too mainly because it was so hard to work out and diet at the same time. You know, because working out caused hunger – eating would offset the exercise, then there would be little or no improvement on the scale. Now with restriction, I don’t feel so hungry all the time (even after working out) so I am finally getting the double whammy of caloric control and exercise combined. I like the WII Fit, definitely a good start on the road to fitness. Some of the routines in there really get your heart pumping. If you are interested in Zumba you might try one of the group classes at your gym. I find the classes easier to follow than the videos, I guess it motivates me to see that other people are as uncoordinated as I am:blush:

Nope, not at all. You can feel the port and hopefully you feel restriction, but you don’t feel the band itself.

I am 100lbs down and at my weight goal, but it’s still kinda hard to believe. I felt the effects of the band right away as it seemed I had restriction right from the beginning, so that part was immediate. But “feeling” thin has taken a little more time to get used to.

Joan, While it is true that I was able to lose a lot of weight without working out in the first 5 months, if I had it to do over again I would have started excising sooner. Why? Well, it turns out that all weight loss is not good weight loss:cursing:. I am convinced that some of the weight I lost was muscle rather than fat. Muscle weight is a good thing for us and something that we should strive to retain. Muscles burn more calories than fat, even when our bodies are at rest, so keeping them and making them work is a good thing. I found this out by taking a hydrostatic dunk test. On my second test, I found out that 55% of my weight loss was fat and 45% was lean mass (muscle). After working out for a month, my next test showed that my numbers improved to 76% fat loss to 24% lean. I am going in for another test soon and hope to have improved those numbers even more. So exercise is good, but you must get the motivation to do it. That is the hardest part, getting in there the first few times. Believe me, I didn’t want to at first either – especially since I was losing so well without it. But now, about a month or two into it I am addicted:tt1:. I get such a high from it and my energy levels have gone thru the roof. So my advice to you is to find some way to get started with it and just do it. I recommend finding a routine that you enjoy so that you can keep your motivation up. A lot of people just follow the pack and do what other people do, and find that they don’t like it. For me, that demotivator is running – I hate running. But I love moderate weight lifting and group aerobic classes. I also love the motivation that moving my Body Fat % in the right direction gives me. As of now, I am comfortable with my weight but I am driven by my new goal of achieving an Ideal Male Body Fat number of 15%:smile2:.

Kate, I think the secret is restriction and controlling head hunger. Restriction is the easy part. After you start getting fills, get to your sweet spot and it gets a lot easier. I was lucky and had good restriction from the beginning. After I started getting fills, my restriction only got better. With good restriction I was able to dramatically reduce my food quantities and the weight just flew off. I didn’t work out much the first five months, the weight loss was good, but it was all due to reduced calories. My exercise started as a way to continue the initial weight loss and to improve body fat (and it’s working). The harder part of this journey is not to succumb to head hunger and bad food choices. With good restriction, I am only able to eat small portions – but I have to make the decision to make those portions good food choices. I also have to be careful not to “graze” on slider foods between meals. Once you learn what goes down easy, it would be easy to cheat the band – you have fight those urges when they come up. Hope to see you at the next SD meet.