Hi, All.

I was just banded on June 19th and already find myself asking questions like "how do I get my head around not eating another huge plate of food," which I know sounds silly. But, it feels like a sort of grief (and at the same time a really great relief, as odd as that sounds). So, I guess I'm wondering if those of you who have been banded for awhile can share your tricks of the trade, the things you've done and still do to help move you past old behaviors.

Thanks and Happy 4th!

Coco

This thread is awesome!

Hearing all of your thoughts and ideas is helping me move forward as I will be banded in just a few days (July11).

I’ve been looking at things in my house & asking “how can I get ride of this, I bought it w/my hard earned money” or “Oh the kids really need this even if I don’t”.

Giving me permission to “TOSS IT” is a great one.

“I’m not a garbage container” is an awesome moto.

But the one I like the most is “either it’ll be in the toilet or a landfill. Either way it won’t be yours for long”. It is soooooo true!!

Reading all of your rules, guidelines, daily agendas…Is helping me understand better that it isn’t about the food. It’s about YOU and what you do with YOU to succeed after banding.

<O:p</O:p

Thank you all so much for responding to this thread and I hope this information continues. I want to learn and improve with my new tool in life.<O:p</O:p

The «I'm not a garbage bin!» theory works pretty well for me, particularly when I was at table with my kid, I always ended up eating the stuff he left on his plate (I grew up with the syndrom of the «poor children somewhere else in the world»...). What I do now, if we go eating out, is that me and my kid we both share the same, and I order an extra salad as a side dish.

niki

I agree, I'm not the garbage bin either......so if there is something I really like and don't want to toss it, I'll wrap it up and save it for my next meal. No sense in stuffing it down b/c its just to painful.

Ahh, a good steak. When I can eat which hasn't been lately, I simply had my husband order a good steak or bbq one here at home and give me a small cut of it. Saves money too. Or, the other answer is use left over steak for treat training with your dog. Especially useful when training harder behaviors. Right now I'm still waiting for whatever is going on to settle down so I'm "enjoying" my soy based protien shakes and dreaming (literally) of food.

wow. great thread. lots of ideas. this is going to help me alot.

thanks again.

I watched "Top Chef" for a few weeks post op :scared:

Ok, what I do is not for everyone, I know ..I know!

I exercise daily, taking off 1 day every other week. I DO NOT DIET! I don't consider carving out food dieting. I consider it a lifestyle change and my mind has been set to that mode.

I have been closely watching food portions. I have overeaten a salad or two in my recent days where I would put in an entire can of albacore tuna and quarter of a bag of salad and have eaten the entire thing. (No I am not filled yet).

I exercise 1.5 - 3 hours per day just b/c I want to. I will sometimes set the 3 hours to 3 separate times per day, such as an hour in the morning, hour at lunch and an hour right before bedtime. I alternate upper body, lower body, work on muscle groups and/or cardio, (lots and lots of cardio).

I take in approximately 1,500 - 2,000 calories per day b/c of my workout regimine. My personal trainer said I should take in 3,200 - 3,500 calories per day :omg: . He said this b/c of what I'm doing. Says if I'm working out like a marathon runner then I need to eat like one. Marathon, body builders, etc take in 3,500 - 5,000 calories per day to keep up with their metabolism.

I drink 64fl oz to 128fl oz of Water per day. Keeps me hydrated.

I have a flexible schedule so I am able to do this.. yes I am employed, self-employed, thank the lord!

Hey Tellymelly, How much weight are you losing doing that. This is my exact plan! When I was under 150 I used to love exercise. I loved it so much I actually got into personal training for awhile since I was in the gym all day anyway.:rolleyes It made sense at the time. Luckily, I am a stay at home Mom but my son is 14 so pretty self sufficient and a good kid in general considering he's a teen. At any rate, I could hit the gym for 3-4 hours in Sept. once he's back in school. I am just hoping to get under that 150 mark quick so I can actually enjoy it again.

tellymelly,

i see your posts on the before and after thread. everything you are doing is surely working.

you are looking fabulous.

please keep posting what you are doing. you seem to be exercising alot. how soon after your surgery did you feel 100%?

I've just started going for small walks and they do make me feel real good.

Re the guilt and the wasting food thing - You are not a garbage bin!! It is just as wasted if you shove it in your mouth when you dont want or need it as it is if you throw it in the bin.

You cant put it in an envelope and feed the starving children in Africa either. Its wasted whatever way you look at it.

How have I missed this thread? I love that quote Jacqui! I have no problem/guilt putting half a steak in a doggy bag, or half of a meal in the fride as leftovers. For me, the times that I have only 3-4 bites left is when I am tempted to just go ahead and eat it...there is too little left to save and I hate to throw it away. This "garbage bin" analogy will stay in my head now!!!! I think it is great how this continues to be a learning process.

I also love the garbage bin statement.

I have to tell this to everyone I know.

This is a very inspiring thread.

Tellymelly, you go girl! Excercise is such a good way to lose weight, you're strenghtening your whole body and spirit, very good!!

I've chosen to eat my food from smaller plates. If, for some reason, the smaller plates are unavailable I do my best to maintain my smaller portions. I have left my "clean my plate" syndrome behind. If I force myself to eat those last few bites, I become very uncomfortable and since I don't like that feeling.....I have no problem leaving those bites.

As for food I shouldn't eat, I have learned to live WITH the chips, ice cream, Cookies, etc. in the home. Hubby brought them in pre-band and refuses not to buy them now. I've tried to reason with him, to tell him that basically you're giving alcohol to an alcoholic-type arguments. He doesn't care. He wants it and refuses to budge. So, I put it in the pantry/freezer and don't look at it. I make sure I have healthy Snacks in my home and do my best. If I happen to have some, I make sure I've accounted for it by cutting back somewhere else or exercising. But I really do my best to avoid. I also have some pretty hard-fast rules. I don't eat breaded, deep fried ANYTHING. Once in a GREAT while, I'll splurge and have some KFC popcorn chicken-but that's rare and I consider it a treat. I've been doing these rules and lifestyle for over a year and other than the recent plateau I've been stuck on, I've been doing pretty well.

I've discovered in this process that I have more mental strength than I gave myself credit for pre-band. Determination and perserverance.........onward.

I also love "I am not a garbage bin." My mother was a young woman during the great depression of the 1930's. Food was scarce. You had to clean your plate. Her training during that period was passed on to me. I had to clean my plate - starving children in China, etc. It's hard to break that mindset. That "Garbage Bin" mantra is good. I'm going to use it.

Hey Maryland,

Although I have always known about the 'garbage bin' analogy, I have to agree with you that there is a HUGE psycological factor which a lot of us have to deal with before we can benefit from the analogy. My parents didn't make me 'clean my plate' so it's not a childhood knee-jerk behavior. Logically, I know I can throw away food and the world will not fly off its axis and life as we know it will continue - but - I also know I have a hard time throwing the food away. It's not so much a guilty feeling that I'm struggling with, it's more about wasting money. But there's still more to it than that, I think I may be slightly OCD. I can't eat chips out of a bag or I have to FINISH them. I can't eat food off of the big plate or I have to FINISH it. I'm learning to portion my food before it becomes MY food - or I have to eat ALL of it. I'm not expressing myself very well here. It's more like a compulsion - one that I have to fight against every day. The more I recognize it, the better I do, but it's still a pitched battle which I don't always win.

Knowing something is good for you doesn't mean you can do it - if it were so, we'd all be exercising every day. Knowing something is bad for you doesn't mean you can stop doing it - if it were so, none of us would have needed a band to begin with. It's a struggle, it's a compulsion, it's an addiction. The best we can do is take one day at a time, one meal at a time, and keep fighting.

I have faith that once I'm a few steps ahead of my addiction I can continue to outrun it until it's so far behind me that the struggle will become easier. Notice I don't say I'll beat it or that it will become easy. Like all addicts, I will always be addicted and I will always have to be vigilant or I will fall right back into my destructive behavior.

Hey Tellymelly, How much weight are you losing doing that. This is my exact plan!:peep: When I was under 150 I used to love exercise. I loved it so much I actually got into personal training for awhile since I was in the gym all day anyway.:rolleyes It made sense at the time. Luckily, I am a stay at home Mom but my son is 14 so pretty self sufficient and a good kid in general considering he's a teen. At any rate, I could hit the gym for 3-4 hours in Sept. once he's back in school. I am just hoping to get under that 150 mark quick so I can actually enjoy it again.

Hey Housecatgirl. Cool that you are able to workout and that you used to be a personal trainer or had personal training. Getting certified is my ultimate goal. I have quite a ways to go yet.

Hmm, how much have I lost... well.. I was 240lbs and lost 5lbs right before pre-ops. I can't really say b/c right after my surgery I lost 9lbs in the first week there in Mexico. I believe I lost 9lbs solely due to the post-op liquid diet. I started to ride my bike the day after my return home. My doctor stated that I could begin to do low intensity exercise as soon as I felt ok to do so..and I did. I started with 6.5 miles per trip. It was all I could do b/c I was so heavy still and my rear hurt from prolonged sitting on a small little seat cushion . I bought a gel seat cover that cushions your booty more. It's wonderful!!!:clap2: Wal-Mart, $11.00USD

I'd say I lost 52lbs biking, jogging/running/walking on home treadmill, weight training, arc trainer - elliptical (cardio machines at the gym)watching food portions and carving out greasy, fattening, high sodium, high carbs foods. NOT DIETING.

I recently realized that if I don't get in a really good cardio workout or break a good sweat, I feel like I didn't do anything at all. I do have quite a ways to go yet. But I am impatient. I wanted the weight off the day after surgery already:mad:

Housecatgirl, I hope I answered your question. If not, PM me and we can chat about it anytime:). If I don't hear from you, I wish you much success and I guarantee the gym hours you put in will definately be noticed. September is just around the corner. Oh also, they have childcare at most gyms so maybe you won't have to wait.

A friend who is a personal trainer quotes...

"Suit up and show up and good things will happen!":clap2:

tellymelly,

i see your posts on the before and after thread. everything you are doing is surely working.

you are looking fabulous.

please keep posting what you are doing. you seem to be exercising alot. how soon after your surgery did you feel 100%?

I've just started going for small walks and they do make me feel real good.

Thank you kindly July5forMe:) for the compliments. I had surgery on a Tuesday and returned home on Friday night. I began biking that Saturday, the day after my return. 4 or 5 days later. I wasn't running, doing pushups or crunches mind you... rofl! I was just biking. It doesn't bother my port site. I don't feel that it effected me at all as far as pain goes. I did, however try to do a crunch about 2 weeks post op and it hurt like hell. Only 1 crunch and I was done.

I felt 100% about 3 weeks post op. There was no stopping me. No port or incision pain and no gas pains.

Walking is so wonderful and if you are just post op, that's really great that you are up and walking. You go girl! I can't wait to hear great things from you in the weeks and months to come. Check out the "Exercise Today" thread and post what you do for exercise daily. You can share what you are doing with other newbies as well as keep track of what you are doing and aren't doing.

Was July 5th your banding day? If so congratulations! How are you feeling and wow you lost 10lbs already? That's pretty awesome!