WrenBird

Is the sleeve and or GB more expensive than the lap band?

Mmm...That is weird. I probably would've just laughed and taken it as a joke, if it it wasn't. I'm a bit of a push over in situations directed at me...Don't mess with my fiancee though because I would slap someone over that. My new aqua aerobics teacher is a bit of a bitch. I've been doing aqua aerobics for ages but because I hadn't attended her class before (they're all pretty much the same) she thought it be a good idea to pick on me because I was the heaviest. I had to explain to her that I'd been doing it for a while now and that I'd lost 13 kilos (this was a couple of weeks ago) doing it. Everyone congratulated me and she didn't mess with me again. With the small amount of information you've given me, I'm just going to assume that she's a bit of an awkward weirdo...Because normal people just don't do weird stuff like that

I think I'll use tofu. I've liked tofu in the past couple of years and have been searching for yummy recipes with it in it.

aaaaaaaaand this is why I adore you <3 I've never had chili before so I'm going to try this one tomorrow. Thanks

Please understand that I mean my responses in the NICEST possible way. You still need a lot of willpower for the band to be successful. The band does 1/4 of the work, you have to have the willpower to do the rest. Some people get the band because they're hungry all the time...I'm sure if you told a thin person who's hungry to stop eating, they wouldn't. Where I'm from a doctor will only approve a patient for LAP-BAND if they've tried everything else and failed. I'm assuming this is going to be different in other places, but I think it's a pretty important factor...I think that surgery should be the last resort. Lucky. For some reason appetite suppressants didn't work as well for me as the band did...I don't think you should regret the band until you get your first fill. I felt the same way :-) You need to do what's best for you. No judgement here on that one! Uhhh...I don't quite know how to answer your question then lol. I felt the same way as you did (except I may have been a bit more pissed off than you). I was in depression for a few weeks after the band because it wasn't supressing my appetite. After I'd had a fill I felt great and everything went fine. I know how agonisingly annoying it is to hold back from food, but it gets easier. So far I've lost 15 kilos in under 2 months. That's 33 lbs. I didn't really start losing my weight until I got a fill. I exercise for 10 hours a week and don't eat refined sugar or carbs. For me that's been as tough as hell to overcome. I remember sitting in my bed thinking about the full fat yogurt downstairs in the fridge and crying to myself. Yes, crying. I then remembered eating a giant pizza right before my surgery and crying AFTER that...I think knowing how bad I'll feel after eating it is my greatest motivation to keep away from food. I really hope this works out for you. I know this isn't something you wanna here but...It gets easier :-P

When I was in hospital there were 2 ladies who had also had been banded that day and both of them had to have hernia repairs.

Usually a can of chicken with some mustard. lol.

The shoulder pain was the worst for me...It lasted a while too. If you've been given meds, don't be afraid to take them...In the mean time... CONGRATS AND WELCOME TO BAND LAND! :rolleyes2:

I wonder if watermelon is a body type.

A few days ago I was having problems with motivation, so I didn't go for a walk that day...I felt incredibly guilty and sick over it and made up for it the next day...Having to make up for it sucks. I don't like doing that so it's just easier to get off my butt and go and exercise. I came out of aqua aerobics today and saw a bounty bar behind the glass at the counter. They were my favourite. My mouth was watering thinking about them. I haven't had chocolate with sugar in it for months... I got my wallet out...I stood behind these kids who were buying something...Then I realised that if I have chocolate now, it will just start a addiction to refined sugar again and I won't be able to stop. I look at how much I've achieved in this short amount of time. I also think of how awesome it's going to be when the family sees me at Christmas and notices I've lost weight.

I completely agree :rolleyes2:

Wohoo! I went for a fill yesterday and my surgeon told me that my BMI is now 39! I have a longggg way to go, but it's the small things that keep me going! My next goal is to get my BMI down to 35, which means I've got to lose about another 15 kilos. This is all so exciting and it's happened in under 2 months! My BMI started at 45. What did your BMI start as, and what are you up to now?

I just use the word skinny as a 'gotten to goal weight' type of thing :rolleyes2: Someday I'll be skinny, but not 'skinny', if that makes sense. On the boobies issue: I dunno how I'm going to feel in a year but at the moment it doesn't really bother me. I went into a changeroom after aqua aerobics about a week ago and there was an old lady in there that had nicer knockers than me...I felt really happy for her and it kind of made me giggle...I'm not sure why it doesn't bother me...Maybe because I know that no one will be looking at them besides me and my partner. My best friend is getting a boob job next year...This is after two rounds of liposuction. I just don't get why she can't wear a padded push up bra? It's not like she's going topless or that she goes swimming. I support her regardless and think it might have something to do with her confidence and her partner finding her as attractive as when they first met...It's not much of an issue for me, but having firm tatas will be a bonus in the future if they ever do harden up a bit. Cheers

Congrats! Welcome to the world of LAP-BAND :rolleyes2:

Rice 7 days after surgery is probably not the best idea. I've had my band for almost 2 months and I still can't eat rice. The feeling you've got sounds like the rice has stuck in your stomach. Rice can be very sticky and often takes longer for it to leave the top half of the stomach than other foods, so it may have stuck to the wall in the process. People say that in that situation to drink Water...It can be very painful, but it often gets the job done quicker. Another idea is to eat some meat tenderizer. It's a horrible feeling, I know, but from the sounds of it, and it's what i think it is, it's the kibnd of thing that happens to all of us at some stage. Just be careful with what you eat...If you're going to eat rice again try something like 4 grains at a time :rolleyes2: It sounds like you'll be ok.

Depression is quite common with newly banded people. I went through it BAD and now I've lost 15 kilos in less than 2 months! It took a while for me to come to terms that maybe I was self medicating myself with food to make me happier...You can do it sometimes without realising it. The band is just a tool and you really do need to work at it to get results. Now I self medicate with exercise...I usually go for a walk if I'm bored, stressed, annoyed, excessively happy or just wanna get away from the people I live with.

For 10 weeks, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate one of these sugary cakelets every three hours, instead of meals. To add variety in his steady stream of Hostess and Little Debbie snacks, Haub munched on Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos, too. His premise: That in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most -- not the nutritional value of the food. The premise held up: On his "convenience store diet," he shed 27 pounds in two months. For a class project, Haub limited himself to less than 1,800 calories a day. A man of Haub's pre-dieting size usually consumes about 2,600 calories daily.So he followed a basic principle of weight loss: He consumed significantly fewer calories than he burned. His body mass index went from 28.8, considered overweight, to 24.9, which is normal. He now weighs 174 pounds. But you might expect other indicators of health would have suffered. Not so. Haub's "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his "good" cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent. "That's where the head scratching comes," Haub said. "What does that mean? Does that mean I'm healthier? Or does it mean how we define health from a biology standpoint, that we're missing something?" Despite his temporary success, Haub does not recommend replicating his snack-centric diet. "I'm not geared to say this is a good thing to do," he said. "I'm stuck in the middle. I guess that's the frustrating part. I can't give a concrete answer. There's not enough information to do that." Two-thirds of his total intake came from junk food. He also took a multivitamin pill and drank a protein shake daily. And he ate vegetables, typically a can of green beans or three to four celery stalks. Families who live in food deserts have limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables, so they often rely on the kind of food Haub was eating. "These foods are consumed by lots of people," he said. "It may be an issue of portion size and moderation rather than total removal. I just think it's unrealistic to expect people to totally drop these foods for vegetables and fruits. It may be healthy, but not realistic." Haub's body fat dropped from 33.4 to 24.9 percent. This posed the question: What matters more for weight loss, the quantity or quality of calories? His success is probably a result of caloric reduction, said Dawn Jackson Blatner, a dietitian based in Atlanta, Georgia. "It's a great reminder for weight loss that calories count," she said. "Is that the bottom line to being healthy? That's another story." Blatner, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, said she's not surprised to hear Haub's health markers improved even when he loaded up on processed snack cakes. Being overweight is the central problem that leads to complications like high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol, she said. How well are you managing your diabetes? "When you lose weight, regardless of how you're doing it -- even if it's with packaged foods, generally you will see these markers improve when weight loss has improved," she said. Before jumping on the Ding Dong bandwagon, Blatner warned of health concerns. "There are things we can't measure," said Blatner, questioning how the lack of fruits and vegetables could affect long-term health. "How much does that affect the risk for cancer? We can't measure how diet changes affect our health." On August 25, Haub, 41, started his cake diet focusing on portion control. "I'm eating to the point of need and pushing the plate or wrapper away," he said. He intended the trial to last a month as a teaching tool for his class. As he lost weight, Haub continued the diet until he reached a normal body mass index. Before his Twinkie diet, he tried to eat a healthy diet that included whole grains, dietary fiber, berries and bananas, vegetables and occasional treats like pizza. "There seems to be a disconnect between eating healthy and being healthy," Haub said. "It may not be the same. I was eating healthier, but I wasn't healthy. I was eating too much." He maintained the same level of moderate physical activity as before going on the diet. (Haub does not have any ties to the snack cake companies.) To avoid setting a bad example for his kids, Haub ate vegetables in front of his family. Away from the dinner table, he usually unwrapped his meals. Study: U.S. obesity rate will hit 42 percent Haub monitored his body composition, blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose, and updated his progress on his Facebook page, Professor Haub's diet experiment. To curb calories, he avoided meat, whole grains and fruits. Once he started adding meat into the diet four weeks ago, his cholesterol level increased. Haub plans to add about 300 calories to his daily intake now that he's done with the diet. But he's not ditching snack cakes altogether. Despite his weight loss, Haub feels ambivalence. "I wish I could say the outcomes are unhealthy. I wish I could say it's healthy. I'm not confident enough in doing that. That frustrates a lot of people. One side says it's irresponsible. It is unhealthy, but the data doesn't say that." Reference: Twinkie diet helps nutrition professor lose 27 pounds - CNN.com I thought this was really interesting. I hope people don't use this as an excuse to eat twinkies all the time, but he does make a good point. What do you guys think of Haub and the article?

I went to see my doctor about 3 months ago and they said I was perfectly healthy...My cholesterol levels were perfect, my blood pressure etc etc...My only problem was my back problem (which I've had since birth), being overweight and having a Vitamin D deficiency. I'm incredibly lucky that I can actually fix those problems too. Since exercising my back has strengthened, my Vitamin D deficiency is no longer a problem and I'm currently losing weight. I'm very lucky :-) I think it's because I've chosen to change my life before it gets worse for me.

Wow..Like clockwork...Unbelievable.

I've noticed that people have tighter bands in the morning. The last time I had a fill I was tight for a couple of days and then BAM, overnight it felt like I'd lost it all.

Thanks :-D I feel great! My boobies are getting saggy, but it doesn't bother me...No one's really going to be looking at those besides my fiancee and he doesn't mind. Speaking of which, my ring is getting a little loose! Woohoo!

I had a full-on verbal fight with a nurse about this the other day. I said I'd never get one and she said, "but what if you get in a car accident and get an abdominal wound"?...After she said that, I really couldn't help myself. I think it's up to you entirely and if it makes you feel less anxious, then go for it. But I wouldn't wear a bracelett for boob implants and I'm not about to wear one for the LAP-BAND.