You know, with the back problems I've been having lately, it makes me wonder exactly how big of a challenge its going to be to lose this weight. I'm not throwing in the towel or anything, it just kind of makes me wonder about other options. I have known people that have done the lap band with great success, and I would really like to consider getting it done. I know its very controversial, and it sounds like I would be taking the easy way out. I really wonder if its possible to reach a point with your body weight if lap band really is the best option.
I do have a couple of concerns though, mostly monetary in nature. I am newly unemployed, but I will have insurance for 2 more months. Even then, the insurance won't cover the entire cost of the surgery, so I would be responsible for the difference. Im curious how much out of pocket it would be and if the hospital would allow a payment plan.
When I think about how much it could change my life it really makes me want it. Don't tell yourself that Im trying to be lazy about it. Lap band is no cake walk. It is miserable. Believe, I have friends that have had it done. I really think I would have alot of support from my family as well.
Im curious, what do you guys think? Depending on how much it costs, I may add a donation button to my blog. Im not typically one to ask for handouts, but I wonder if its worth it at this point. I could still blog daily about the lap band, so I can keep my blog.
**This blog is Deprecated and is no longer updated** Not just a weight loss blog!! The Times and Trials (and ramblings) of a fat, divorced Daddy of two, trying to keep it together, lose weight and make a living. P.S. This is an outpouring of my thoughts, so grammar and punctuation take a back seat to that. You have been warned!!!
I had Lapband surgery in August 2010. It is not a magic bullet and is hardly the lazy route. If you cannot make healthy food choices and exercise regularly it will be very hard to be successful. It is not the same a gastric bypass where it does all the work for you. That being said if you truly believe you can commit yourself to exercise and eating right then the Lapband is a good tool to help you on your weight loss journey.
ReplyDelete@TheRedQueen Thank you so much for your response! I can commit myself to regular exercise and diet. I have been weighing this option for a while now, and I figured this blog would give me the perfect forum to make it happen. I have really been surprised by the amount of support I have rec'd since starting the blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for reading!
Keep in mind that people can learn to eat around the lap-band eventually. It is successful only to some extent.
ReplyDeleteLike RedQueen said, it's all about making healthy food choices and exercising regularly.
If you can commit yourself to making healthy food choices, balancing your food groups appropriately (for yourself), controlling your portions/calories, and keeping yourself active, there really is no need for the lap-band in my opinion.
You'll already be doing everything that the lap-band will require you to do in order for it to successfully work anyway, and you'll achieve the same results and greater without putting down the money for the surgery.
Regardless of whether or not you get it, you have to get into healthy habits anyway. If those healthy habits alone can achieve the results you are looking for - then why take the surgery? By the way, those healthy habits DO achieve the results you are looking for, without the assistance of dietary control devices (pills/surgery). I know several people who are living proof of that, with 50+ pounds lost with their new healthy/healthier lifestyles.
Btw, as you continue on your weight-loss journey, understand that the results you achieve will be the results born of a new lifestyle ... not a temporary diet change. You have to commit to a new lifestyle. If you don't, you'll find yourself slipping back into old habits - and eventually you'll be right back to where you started. So commit to a new, permanent lifestyle. You'll be happier and healthier in the long-run if you do.
In my experience the where the Lapband has helped is with calorie restriction and plateaus.
ReplyDeleteI have been able to restrict myself to the currently calorie level on my own in the past. However at a certain point your body adjusts to that and it makes it harder and harder to lose weight with our further and further restriction, which means your weight loss slows down or even stops. That to me is very discouraging and makes it easier to slip into old habbits.
One particular Lapband doctor explained it best on his website I think:
" The band is placed around the top part of the stomach. What happens is it amplifies a signal to the brain. As food passes by the band, it passes by very quickly. It just goes right past it. This signal goes to the b rain is amplified so the brain thinks you've eaten more than you have. This doesn't mean you're going to feel full in your stomach but you will full in your head. If you eat a Lean Cuisine size meal with the lap band, you would find you be satisfied and not hungry for hours but that part of the brain also regulates fat storage. Even though you're eating less, the brain still thinks you're eating more. It thinks you're in a time of plenty. It thinks you're eating a lot so it makes it very easy for your body to utilize its excess weight or its fat. That's how the lap band works where diet and exercise don't work."
I have had very few plateaus with the band and the ones that I have had have been short lived, which has done wonders for keeping me on track. That's not to say I never screw up, I do, but now instead of giving up I get back on track.
What scares me at this point is the mention of "lean cuisine" type references, (o.k. I know it's to suggest a meal size), point is if it's easy to simply heat & eat, are you really thinking about the food or merely shovelling it down?
ReplyDeleteAs a result (i'm a fast eater, force of habit from 15 min lunch breaks for a hot meal) ..have a heck of a problem slowing down, try & involve myself with the food ingredients that will enhance every mouthful in an effort to make my brain register contentment & slow me, whether it's crudites & lots of chewing, with a little dip, or simply talking my daughter through the build up at point of presenting a meal, by means of telling her abou the ingredients, sourcing etc, eg free-range eggs, taste, why they are happier chickens etc, same with meat, seasonal veg etc, makes me more choosey & prepared to forgo certain foodstuffs for ethical reasons, be they seasonal aspects, food miles etc, but ultimately TASTE, I can enjoy smaller portions if the taste is there!
Read a decent healthy recipe book & experiment in the kitchen, be it home cooked bread, making a proper pizza (simple) ..get involved again with your food more than simply chewing on it.
Are you in a position to grow your own small & sweet tomatoes? ..we eat them like candies by the handful from june- october, proper vine grown, again getting the right stuff in you & filling a space with another bunch of super-foods that taste too damn good!
Gus's rule: less of it, & better quality seasonal veg & good animal welfare meat.
One thing my family and some other people I know focus on are usable calories vs. empty calories. We've reduced, by far, a lot of the empty calories that were making their way into our daily intake "budget", and have substituted said empty calories with usable calories.
ReplyDeleteFor example - if we want something sweet, instead of grabbing a candy bar, cake, or ice-cream we'll grab a piece of fruit. Or, if we're craving chocolate, we'll grab an Atkin's chocolate bar (which has virtually 0 sugar in it, but still pulls off sweet and flavorful). Instead of milk chocolate, we'll have dark chocolate that is 80% to 90% cocoa. At first it tastes a little bit dry and bitter, but after a relatively short period of time with very little sugar, it ends up tasting sweet. If we want something like ice-cream then we'll turn to some of the weight-watchers desserts. They have ice-creams and pies that taste good, but are low on calories.
If we're craving something with crunch, instead of chips and a bean or cheese dip, we'll have rice-cakes or rice-crackers with some flavored humus (flavors ranger from original humus to garlic or jalapeno flavored humus). There are all sorts of flavors and varieties to choose from. Sometimes we even mix our own flavors in. (We'll take an original flavored batch of humus and throw in some of our favorite spices to make it interesting.)
Meat - our portions are small (just a couple of ounces) but we make sure to pack in a ton of flavor with our spices.
Vegetables aren't just steamed with us. We'll take our favorite vegetables and throw them into a stir-fry, or we'll make a pastaless lasagna with them. We'll turn them into a vegetable soup or stew (which we'll cook down for a couple of hours so that everything is rich tasting).
In fact, on Wednesday we're going to have an eggplant lasagna. We're going to take an egg and some bread-crumbs (as well as some assorted spices) and lightly coat the eggplant, we're going to take fresh tomatoes and tomato sauce, onions, mushrooms, and perhaps a tiny bit of lean bacon and mix it all together and lay it on top of the eggplant. We'll bake it all together for 30 to 45 minutes (until the eggplant is soft) and then enjoy.
Desserts we generally try to stay away from, but if we're really craving something sweet, then we'll have what I mentioned above.
Our carbohydrate intake is nearly non-existent compared to what we used to have. Breads and Pastas are a rarer thing in our house now. When we have rice, it is brown rice (which means less processing, but still carbohydrate rich). When we have bread (which is rare), we keep it to whole-grain as much as we can. We continue to enjoy things like oatmeal, cream of rice, and grits here and there (usually once a week - over the weekends).
Dairy we satisfy with low-fat cheese. Sometimes we have milk or yogurt. Generally we'll incorporate the yogurt into a fresh-fruit salad.
Fruit salads around here do not come out of cans (though they used to). Barely out of green bananas, oranges, apples, plums, kiwis, etc.. all in their whole fruit forms and promptly peeled and cut down to size are how we prepare fruit salads. This way, we can avoid the artificial sweeteners, heavy syrups, and preservatives that canned fruit comes in.
Same thing with vegetables. We stay away from canned vegetables. Fresh vegetables are far more tasty anyway - minus that odd metallic taste that comes with canned veggies.
...tbc (hit the character limit mark)...
...cont'd
ReplyDeleteLike Mr. Gus said, taste is where it's at. None of these food choices would be as appealing without a little bit of spice doctoring here and there. We know what tastes we like and we know how to incorporate them into our meals (something we learned through experimentation). This makes our meal journeys more enjoyable and gives us healthy meals that we wish to revisit.
As far as empty calories vs. usable calories are concerned, what we try to do is put in our bodies foods that can be used for fuel/energy (not the kind of hyper energy that things like caffeine can provide). We're looking at proteins, fats, carbohydrates, natural vitamins, and natural sugars, all taken in moderation, for our energy.
Throw as much processed food out the window that you can. Don't be afraid to experiment with raw foods and spices. You'll start noticing a change in how you feel physically, from the moment you wake up to when it's time to sleep. (I have noticed some big things in my life, in this regard.) You'll see how these lifestyle changes help you start shedding excess fat (and help you keep the fat off).
It's a difficult, challenging, but ultimately rewarding journey.
I really appreciate all the effort and responses you guys are giving me! Thanks!
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