Fear of losing the Weight Loss Battle

You won't lose the battle if you are willing to work with the band and do

Your part:) But I can almost guarantee:

·You will have plateaus when you first switch to solids until your body gets used to being fed instead of starved (most likely 1-2 weeks but could be 3 like mine was)

·During many plateaus you will lose inches not lbs and finally a larger loss.

·Your loss in the first 30-40 days is a never to be repeated experience so enjoy it Then you begin the long slow journey downward (not upward)

·You will learn the fine art of PB's and what causes them for you is it swallowing air when you eat. Eating too fast.. Not chewing well or too big a bite.. Eating the wrong food for you...and not recognizing the no longer hungry after 1/2 cup (satiation) versus I want to eat more cause I can or it tastes good or I crave (head hunger).

·You will watch your body shrink and will walk a bit taller literally and figuratively... Start slipping into booths in restaurants. Sit in chairs with arms .. Stop worrying about how strong the chairs are...Not having to ask for an extender belt on airlines.. Finding it is easier to and you have more energy to walk / go up stairs/ Clean house and do a million other day to day activities ... Slip in and out of bath tubs where the Water goes all the way around you instead of damming up and it doesn’t kill you to stand up from sitting on the floor ...Wipe yourself easily in the bathroom.. Watch the years fall off your face and drivers license picture .. Go to a restaurant and order an appetizer and still end up with leftovers to take home..

·Go through doubts and several fills/defills until you hit the sweet spot fill level for you.

·Will have to stop several times along the way to reassess your eating habits (I could eat certain foods and get away with some cheating a bit quantity wise at 359 and still lose .. That had to go at 250)

·I have also found that I have to keep reminding myself 1/2 cup of solids 3 times a day only and drink my water (1 hour after meals until the next meal but not with meals)

·Eat Protein first ..Fruit and veggies second and non-complex carbs last. (Keep the fats, sugars and non-complex carbs low ..Still have them but keep em low).

And believe it or not a plateau that indicates that you need a fill is

1.No weight loss for 4 weeks.

2.You are following all the band rules (8 times out of 10 we want to be able to break the rules and still lose.figuring if we get a fill it will miraculously start us losing without us having to do our part).

3.You are eating foods that are hard and stick in your band for the 3-4 hours not drinking your calories- You are hungry an hour after eating (really hungry not cravings) and the 1/2 cup doesn't stay in the band for 2 1/2 to 4 hours.

4.You are drinking your 60+ Fl oz water a day and not drinking with your meal or for at least an hour after.

5.Once you move from mushies to solids.. As much as possible get your nourishment from food that is solid. If you have problems with it sticking in your stoma.try it again chewing it well..Cutting it up finer or chewing it with other foods to keep it from recombining in your pouch and forming a plug (e.g. potatoes)..

6.Try to avoid Soups and or Protein drinks if possible (if you are able to eat your protein you will be full longer - some people have tight bands in the morning and cant eat so have a protein drink)

7.Whenever you hit a plateau.. Keep a food diary and log everything, including water, which goes in and measure the 1/2-cup of solids. Mine grew twice from 1/2 to almost a cup without my noticing lol.

8.Try weighing in once a week to begin with not daily. Later move to once every 2 weeks or once a month. When you are losing slowly weight fluctuates daily with hydration levels etc. At least this way you normally will see a loss and not a fluctuate on or gain. Yes the loses are smaller but they are down not up.

9.Measure yourself monthly ..Often you lose inches before you lose lbs.

10.Don’t compare yourself to others.. We all lose at different rates based on age/metabolism/food choices/ activity level.. But we can all lose

Hope that helps

Wow Leo! Thanks for that post. As someone who's doing lots of research and hoping to be banded soon, you touched on lots of the things I worry about. I think most people here probably have fears about losing weight because we've all done it, only to gain it all back. What if I do this and still can't get the weight off? That would make me feel like the ultimate loser. Your post helped me cement in my mind that it isn't a magic solution, but will work if I work it.

Thanks!

Becky

Actually I wasn't the author of this piece, but I thought he really hit the nail on the head when writing this.

I have other documents like this under the links section of my site, feel free to visit.

·I have also found that I have to keep reminding myself 1/2 cup of solids 3 times a day only and drink my Water (1 hour after meals until the next meal but not with meals)

·Eat Protein first ..Fruit and veggies second and non-complex carbs last. (Keep the fats, sugars and non-complex carbs low ..Still have them but keep em low).

How do you get all the above in a half of cup? I can see 1/2 cup protein, but to fit protien, friut , vegies and and carb into a single half cup serving does not seem believable.

southfldeb

1/7/03 Dr Rod

249/215/ trying not to focus on a number but just to like me no matter what.

Okay I have had TWO plateaus that lasted six MONTHS.

But you know what--the weight loss always picked up again as long as I tried as best as I could (meaning imperfectly but with effort) to stay with the program.

I never thought I'd see under 200. I went up and down from 201-209 for months. Then suddenly...it started dropping again.

This is a LONG PROCESS and looking back I see how valuable all of the time was. For my body and my mental adjustments.

There is nothing wrong with stalling. Maintaining weight is the biggest battle any of us face with losses. As long as we're moving in the right direction, we're fine .

Leo,

Loved your post. It was great with lots of good information and encourgement.

That negative thought "I'll be be first one not to be successful having the band" has been coming and going periodically. Thank you it was almost like your post was meant just for me.

Carolyn

Banded 4-2-04

Okay everyone so I was really feeling sorry for myself because I have been at a plateau for a month now from the initial weight loss. Saying stupid things like this doesnt work anymore...why did I do this? After reading this post I feel so much better and encouraged that this is a temporary thing. Thanks everyone for lifting my spirits!

YOUR POST REALLY GAVE ME ALOT OF INFORMATION. I AM GOING TO HAVE MY SURGERY ON OCT 6 AND YOU EXPLAINED ALOT OF INFORMATION TO ME.

THANKS AGAIN:banana :cheeky :laugh

thanks, for you knowlegde and insight. and info. to the problem.of being stuck. and not seeing results. you guys are really so helpful . thinking i was along in my thinking and felt along with my lapband op.

lap band operation on april 5, 2004

new york.

thanks

Great post...

Please note that this is a post by Robin/Coffeewench taken from another forum. It's very useful for new people in that Bandster Purgatory of Pre-fill/No Loss and something that should be required reading for those in that first 6 weeks of being un-filled.

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This is a recurrent theme on all lists, so let's just address it.

The Lapband was designed with a purpose. To be emptied if we ever needed to be able to eat fairly normally again.

I say "fairly" normally because even with no Fluid it usually cuts our portions at least some. But mostly this is because we haven't been forced to superchew our food yet.

Now, we understand this purpose when we go into it. But it doesn't really SINK IN until we're actually healed from our liquid phase (or even before that) and we decide to TEST THE BAND. And we can STILL eat!!! And we PANIC! And we convince ourselves we're doomed to fail! And we stress out and eat more. And maybe gain back some of the weight we lost during the liquid phase. We're convinced the band that seems to have worked for thousands of others isn't going to work for us. That we're some freak of nature that is going to be fat for all eternity.

It's normal to feel this way. Really. You're coming down from the drama and high of the surgery into the day to day boring liquids and you expect to start really losing some weight. I mean, you had surgery didn't you????

Well don't expect much until you're restricted. Use this time to HEAL. See ANY weight loss before your first really good fill as a BONUS and NOT a given, okay???? If you're lost weight, consider yourself that far ahead.

There are some lucky ones who experience great restriction out the door. Most are in between and some experience none (like me).

You're NOT GOING TO FAIL. Your tummy is healing. It's anchoring that band in place so that it won't slip. If you've had one fill and you need another, make it your priority to get one. Otherwise you're just spinning your wheels.

I've had my band so tight that a couple of sips of coffee and ONE bite of a strawberry make me so full I'm on the verge of barfing for hours. I've had it so tight that chewing gum was too much for me because swallowing all that saliva was causing it to back up. Right now I'm kind of at a happy medium.

When you get your band to that "just right" spot a switch goes off in your brain about food. You stop caring about it. I'm serious. Suddenly you have to come to grips with the fact that you just CANNOT eat like you once did. And that has a lot of issues unto itself but it comes with the reward of weight loss so it doesn't leave you feeling as vulnerable and schitzy as the prefill stage does.

If you're still healing and haven't lost much weight--please try to just get through this time and preoccupy yourself with other things.

Did you know that Dr. Fox in Seattle prescribes his band patients diet pills to take during the prefill stage? Why? He understands the difficulty. He feels it's better to kill the appetite chemically while the band heals that subject his patients to all that stress. And he happens to have one of the highest band success rates in the country.

And as always, it's better to ADD to your habits then to try to take away. Add more Water, more Vitamins, more exercise. But don't try to take away food because it throws you into dieting mentality. Adding will naturally balance out the other problem.

Robin

Lapband 8/24/00

310/175

Leo,

Wowie, thanks for sharing that information. I hope to be banded in Feb. and I have printed this list to reference.

Thanks again,

Very helpful post. Thanks for putting it out there, Leo.

I just had my 2nd fill (1cc) 6 weeks after surgury cause after the 1st fill (1cc), 18 days ago, I didn't feel any different. Meaning I felt like the old me again (scary) HA! I had an appetite & was wasn't feeling full/satiated, and ate pretty much what I wanted to eat except no steak or calamai, but I've had garlic knots, shrimp etc. (Some of the things I was told I can never eat again)

I even started to think "Did I make a mistake? Should I of had the bypass surgery?

I lost 14 pounds prior to surgery & lost 17 pounds since. (Feb 18, 2005) total of 31

I keep hearing " You need an adjustment" I want to feel like I felt 1-2 weeks after surgery where I just wasn't hungry & wasn't thinking about wanting to eat.

What are your thoughts about what I said & what I'm thinking & feeling.

Hi Cutz,

(You might want to start a new thread, since your post won't get much attention here.) My thoughts about what you're thinking and feeling are that you're perfectly normal! If you've lost 17 lbs since 2/18 you're well ahead of the curve already. Another fill might help you eat less, but you probably ought to give your current fill some time and see if it "kicks in." That happens to a lot of people.

You're clearly doing something right.

Cutz, don't forget, some of that disinclination to eat, just after being banded is more likely to do with post-anaesthetic reaction than normal band restriction. After any surgery, people often feel nauseous and do not have any appetite. It may take a few fills, either in or out (!) to give you the restriction you need. The band is a marvellous tool but does require that you work with it, and try to eat healthily, sticking to the Band rules....

You have lost a lot of weight already and are right on track!! Best of luck!