Bandsters Rules

My philosophy on this - its a lifestyle, not another diet.

Calories IN has to be less than Calories OUT, however you personally like to eat. For me, that means a basically healthy diet from all five foodgroups, occasional treats, moderate alcohol intake. I dont personally low carb it, and for me, calorie counting, protein counting, food group avoiding all equals rules of the type of dieting behaviour that helped me get fat so I dont do em. I personally am also a believer in fresh, healthy food and learning to cook, I dont buy much processed foods and would barely ever eat lean cuisines or stuff like that. One exception for me is tinned soup, that can be gooooood. But fish comes from a fish shop, meat from the butcher, fruit and veg from the greengrocers. That's just me though and the way I like to do it.

I think exercise is of prime importance. I also happen to think it needs to be quite hard - you need to sweat a bit and get out of breath. Walking is a fantastic place to start but as you get fitter, I think the results die away a bit unless you work harder, which means real powerwalking, jogging or something else entirely. I've been an hour a day walker for periods of years before I got banded and I can tell you, the results from running an hour a day are a thousand times more!

But - nothing should be a chore, a drama, an unreasonable strain. I can do that as it suits me, but the main thing is it must be doable enough to just become daily routine or you're fighting a losing battle.

I dont drink with meals coz I cant, but I could for ages and it never made any difference to me. There's not a lot of "rules" for bandsters in Australia other than a healthy balanced diet and regular moderate exercise.

Everyone's posts are right on the money. I really liked what Coach Cher had to say. These are great.

I also wanted to add, though, just for the curious: There IS a scientific reason that the band is tighter in the mornings. When you sleep at night, you are flat on your back instead of upright. The esophagus constricts slightly and the tissue swells a bit. This is normal, and it prevents us from aspirating our stomach contents when we sleep. This happens to everyone, but most people don't have a band on their stomachs so they never notice it.

When your restriction loosens up in the evening, it's because you've been upright for most of the day and the swelling in your stomach and esophagus has gone down. These are normal responses of your tissue--not a sign that anything is wrong. This also goes for when you suddenly notice that the band seems tighter one day than before--in all likelihood your stomach has gotten swollen for one of a hundred different reasons, and has gotten tighter--NOT the band itself.

Great thread!

My band is weird. I can eat in the mornings and am way tighter at night. I barely eat a half a cup at dinner time, but can easily get a cup in at breakfast.

WOW I have never heard it explained in such a manner. What you said really makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing!!

Hmm, maybe its a reason why some people are just not breakfast eaters and not hungry in the morning?

Jacqui,

Maybe you're the opposite because you're in the southern hemisphere. (LAME JOKE ALERT!!) Sorry for that, couldn't help it. I used to ask my friend in Sydney if her toilet flushed counterclockwise. I was told that as a child. She thought I was nuts!!! LOL!

I am compelled to say that I really appreciate this thread. Thank you all for sharing your experience with those of us who haven't been banded yet and others who need a bit of guidance.

Reading all your posts has been soooo helpful and has really helped to ease some of my anxiety over this whole experience. Intellectually, I've accepted that being banded will change my entire relationship with food. Emotionally, I've been a bit of wreck over it. Food has helped me through some of the best and worst times of my life. I expect the change will be difficult and I will mourn the loss of my old fat friend.

Hearing from successful bandsters is as useful a tool as the band itself. There is nothing like the real-life experience of veteran bandsters to give (or not give) credibilty to all the tips, rules and guidelines that are thrown at us.

You may underestimate the power of your keystrokes, but I will not. Thank you!

I am going to paste all your ideas to a list that I might just have laminated and put it up on my refrigerator door.

You know veg,

I don't know if this will help, but as strange as this sounds, I like food more now than ever. The difference is I now look for quality food and savor the flavor rather than just shovelling whatever is convenient in my mouth, as fast as I can and as much as I can. I never tasted the food I ate the way I do now.

I too was terrified of "givng up" the comfort that food gave me. I now realize I haven't lost anything (other than a ton of weight ), but rather I have gained self esteem and confidence and skills to deal with the new me.

Head hunger is a real issue, but the band will help you stay stomach full for a lot longer so you can (if you are willing and you listen to your stomach rather than your head) battle the head hunger more effectively.

I don't deny myself - if I really want pizza or chocolatea, I eat them. What I do do is try to plan for it, so that I don't eat them all the time (and of course I eat less ). When I have a day where I eat everything in sight (I still have them occasionally), I accept it and the next day I get back to basics. That is the other huge difference. In the past, when I had a difficult eating day, I would get discouraged and just said "screw it" and kept eating everything in sight. I have kept to my eating plan for a year now. I never thought I could do it.

This last year has been one of the most challenging and rewarding years of my life!!!!

You can do it!!!

jjsmiles, thanks for the encouragement.

I know this is going to be a struggle for me. Thankfully, the bariatric team in my area mandates an entire "program" before WLS, including attendance at 5 behavior modification sessions and at at least 1 support group meeting, a dietician consult and meeting with a number of other professionals for evaluation and testing.

I'm really trying to see all of these "obstacles" as learning experiences and resources that will help to get me to goal. I've go a lot of work ahead of me. I didn't get to be overweight by following the "rules." I have some horrible habits that will take vigorous effort and lots of muscle to overcome.

I am hoping that I can just set my mind to losing the weight the same way I quit smoking over 6 years ago....I just did it. I decided I was no longer a smoker and I stopped smoking. I'd say "it was simple", but quitting smoking was one of the best things I ever did for myself and it was brutal. It takes effort, even today, to remain a "non-smoker."

I can't say I lack self-esteem. I think I'm pretty great. I lack confidence. Succeeding at this - something that I've been attempting my entire (and I mean entire) life - will be the ulitmate confidence booster. I will be invincible! I'll have to change my name to "superveg"!

I drink with my meals and it has never affected me in a bad way. I still stay full. I know I'm breaking the "cardinal band rule", but I don't drink like I use to, because in the past I could easily drink 3-4 glasses of tea with my meal and now I might drink half a glass, but when I'm eating hot food I simply have to have water to cool my mouth off. Since it's not slowing my weightloss down too much, I don't give a crap. I'm doing it.

Remember, plateaus aren't a bad thing. Most people flip out if they stop losing for 3 weeks. Usually you just need to stir things up. Eat something bad even.. that might trigger the weight loss.. or just eat different things if you are in the same routine everyday, but most importantly, plateaus tell your body "yes, I have accepted this new weight". So, don't freak out.

You will gain a few pounds when you go back to normal food after surgery.. don't panic.. this happens to most of us.

Don't get your band so tight that you can't eat chicken and fish and veggies and the good stuff. You WILL be miserable and it will cause you to have problems. People come on here and gripe "I can only get 2 tablespoons of food down" like they deserve an award or something! It's NOT healthy people! I hate it when people allow themselves to get that tight..

I have never PB'ed and I can eat a small healthy meal and I love my band. I've never regretted it for a second.

And people have already mentioned this, but don't compare yourself to others and their losses because we all have different metabolisms and our bodies all handle weightloss differently. Some lose fast.. some lose slow.. some are right in the middle. Basically if you are losing a pound a week, that's awesome. But even if you plateau that's fine too.

Finally, like Jachut, I don't count calories. I got this done to live a normal life, not a life of counting my dang food everyday and being a slave to numbers and figuring out - oh how many calories is 3 bites of salmon? how many calories is a bite of yogurt? who cares! if you eat right and stop when you are full, you'll lose.

Good luck.

Veg, it's actually easier to quit smoking because you don't have cigs sitting around in your kitchen cabinets. For me it wasn't easy the first week but now I don't even think about it (ok, maybe a little).
Food on the other hand has always been around for me, I eat mindlessly. Before I know it the food is in my mouth, I don't think twice about it. I have been heavy my entire life. I’m actually very surprised I haven’t gone over 300 lbs.
I was banded on May 21^st and today is my first fill. I know that everyone says it’s a way of life and that I have to work with the band but I guess I just don’t get it. I hope today will be the day I GET IT.
Keep up the good work the rest of you that GET IT.