Subject:
[Bandsters] Food portions - long
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 12:48:15 +0100
From:
"Sian Mayer" < address removed >
Reply-To: mailto:Bandsters@egroups.com
The following was posted
on the Bandster Forum on August 14, 2000
This is one person's reply
to a question about fills.
This is reproduced without
edit - The words are that of the author.
I have loads of other posts I should be responding to before this, but I
feel so strongly that I need to get this off my (ample) chest.
We have a lot of newly banded people here at the moment, and I am worried at
the lack of knowledge some of them have about what to expect after surgery.
I don't know if this is due to poor doctor-patient communication, forgetfulness due to excitement, whatever, it doesn't matter. What
frightens me is that this lack of knowledge is leading to some people
getting worked up unnecessarily about what are normal stages of banding.
1. Do not expect to only be eating a tiny quantity of food by a couple of
weeks post op. The band, in most instances, is placed empty, so after the
swelling has gone down, there is little or no change in your capacity. It
is only after you start to have fills that you feel restriction. Which
brings me on to....
2. Be realistic about what your fills will achieve. Some people get great
restriction with one fill. Some take 2, some might take 5 tiny ones. Do
not compare with others and decide you're a failure based on their
experiences. Our insides are different, therefore different amounts are
needed to get restriction. (See also my comments below about HOW MUCH
restriction).
3. Food portions - ok, I'm setting myself up for grief here, but I am
getting frustrated with all the talk of "I can only eat 1/2 cup, I can't
finish this or that amount". The effect this is having on newly banded
people is obvious. They are looking to eat the same or less, then get
distressed (as in a very recent post to the list) when they don't match up
to this. I know I've whipped this expired equine before but the amounts
(IMO) are irrelevant. Call it a diet, don't call it a diet, whatever, but
the end result is the same. We lose weight by taking in less calories than
we need to maintain our weight. The quantities therefore should correlate
to the type of food you are eating. For people like myself with a bent
towards high cal, high fat foods, yes the tiny portion bit is what we need,
for those who say they were healthy eaters pre-band just out of control with
their portions, then it seems obvious to me that they can lose weight with
less restriction because the very nature of the foods they eat will contain
less calories. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, I bore you with my 3 bites
of lasagna versus 10 bites of salad analogy!
Sometimes, rightly or wrongly, I sense an element of competition between a
few of the established bandsters as to who can eat the smallest quantity, or
have the tightest band. You need to do whatever is best for you, but bear
in mind that other people are desperate for advice and examples to follow
which may not be appropriate for their circumstances. I'm not implying here
that newbies are like sheep, not capable of making their own decisions - I'm
just going by the nature of some of the posts and also remembering that
feeling of excitement/terror/doubt I had as a newly banded person.
4. As a follow on from food portions - there still seems to be a lot of
confusion as to timing of fills. Fills shouldn't (again IMO) be timed
according to how much you can eat. I accept that the first fill is probably
viewed as something you have because of hunger and also eagerness to get
this process going. After that, it should be determined by the scales. I
know that it can be hard to relax about what you perceive you are eating,
but if the scales are going down then you don't need a fill. Simple isn't
it?! If you stay the same for 3 weeks or more (a plateau) then usually you
need a fill. However, if like me you are a high cal, high fat freak, then a
fill might not necessarily be the best thing, you need to look at your food
items and adjust them accordingly - like I need to. I am quite restricted
at the moment and get reflux, therefore a fill would be a mistake, so I need
to get my act together. I say this, knowing that I leave myself open to
accusations of sour grapes and jealousy at others success, but truly that
isn't the case. I celebrate others success, and as I have lost around 75lbs
myself, I feel I've done ok. What I am going through at the moment is down
to me, it isn't the band not working. I'll sort myself out eventually.
5. Does anyone actually have scientific facts on how long it takes for the
calories we ingest to turn into fat? I ask this because again, there seem
to have been several posts lately of people fretting/breathing sighs of
relief because what they ate yesterday has/hasn't showed up on the scales
today. Surely you can't measure what the scales say today against what you
ate yesterday? All of us who leap (or waddle) on and off the scales each
day (yes, naughty I know) are aware of the sometimes quite dramatic
fluctuations there can be due to fluid intake/retention, time of the month
(for the ladies) etc. It's not an accurate measure. Perhaps we should add
a new line to the Bandsters mantra of chew chew chew - weigh once a week,
weigh once a week.
OK, enough, I'm off to put my asbestos suit on (XXXL size - made by
stripping the cladding from a building). I hope that this post is taken in
the spirit that it was written - i.e. not malice but concern.
Sian
Reproduced with permission of the original author
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