I am no cheater!!!

If one more person calls me a god damn cheater because I have a lap-band I am going to cyber-slap them (if the comment comes from someone online) or punch them (if they say it to my face).

Why do people assume that having a lap-band is cheating?

What exactly is easy about major surgery and changing your lifestyle?

At 190kg I could hardly move. I was pre-diabetic, had high cholesterol, high blood pressure, irregular and heavy periods, a fatty liver, really bad knees that hubby had to massage every morning so I could get out of bed and go to work.  It really wasn't a choice, it was some form of Weight loss surgery or die.  I looked into all the different types of WLS and chose the lap-band.

I found a really good blog post about this too - someone who has experienced this

http://amandawls.blogspot.com/2010/06/so-is-having-lap-band-cheating.html

I don't think people realize that having a lap-band is hard work, often a lot more work than not having one (and prior to having mine removed for an emergency I had contemplated having it removed by choice because it was getting to be too much hard work).  I still have to eat healthy foods (if I don't, I gain weight same as any normal person).  I still have to exercise.

The lap-band only acts as a tool to restrict the amount of food that I can consume in one sitting, instead of being able to sit down to a dinner of mixed grill, mash and coleslaw folowed by half a tub of ice-cream (a regular meal 5 years ago) because I was a habitual and emotional over-eater to now having a small bread-plate sized meal (or entree size when out).  Instead of me eating 5000 calories a day, I am now eating 900-1200 calories a day and satisfied with that amount of food.  I am still exercising 6 days a week (and trying to burn about 500 calories a day)

The lap-band is a tool I have to monitor on a regular basis.  If I overeat even just a little bit I suffer for it, chest pains, sometimes regurgitating.  It's a terrible thing to not chew your food properly when you are out to dinner with friends and have to excuse yourself from the table to go relieve yourself in the bathroom and try not to cry from the pain in public.

We aren't allowed to get gastro/food poisoning.  Sometimes gastro/food poisoning can manifest itself in severe chest pains and no vomiting which requires a trip to hospital and heaps of morphine and tests to make sure it's not your heart because the symptoms are similar.  That happened to me at work a few years ago - had food poisoning but didn't realize it until later on at the hospital after numerous tests.  Work thought I was having a heart attack and called an ambulance and I was rushed to Sir Charles Gardiner hospital.

A bout of gastro/food poisoning can also cause slippage. In June 2011, I had gastro.  But this time I didn't feel as bad and no chest pains so just let it go.  Was sick for a couple of days and was actually vomiting (which is rare) but after those few days I felt fine again.  3 weeks later I started getting sick and thought I had a virus.  I was finding it difficult to eat or drink and when I could eat usually at night I was vomiting in my sleep.  This was because those 2 days of gastro had pushed my stomach over the band causing a pouch that couldn't drain any way other than out of the mouth.  A colleague at work forced me to make an appointment to see my GP who then advised me to see my lap-band doctor.  I went and saw the lap-band fill doctor with the intent of getting the fill removed to see if that would fix things.  It didn't, I ended up being admitted to hospital that afternoon and on a 250ml/hr drip.  The following day it was removed :(  So please tell me that I am still a cheater for going through that pain? huh?

So, I had it removed and had to learn how to cope without it.  I tried very hard to eat right and exercise and kept a diary of every bit of food I ate or drank.  I was doing everything by the book and yet I was gaining weight.  I did research on the internet and spoke with my doctor as to why I would be gaining the weight.  The answer was short and simple, remove the band, the stomach remembers its pre-band self and attempts to return to the previous lifestyle and tricks your brain into thinking like your pre-band self.  Whilst I was doing the right thing exercise and food wise my stomach was rebelling against me and holding onto every single calorie in fear of being starved, because to my stomach I had been under-feeding it for 4.5yrs.  The Dr said I could gain back all the weight I lost and then some.  Well who wants to add back over 70kg of weight and more?  Not me.

As my lap-band doctor saw me as a success he was willing to do the replacement surgery at no out of pocket for me.  And it was a no-brainer.  Something that originally cost me $2500 out of pocket (which is another reason why it's not cheating because who wants to fork over that much money unless there is a good reason for it?) was now being done for FREE.  I do think some people who call it cheating are secretly wishing they could have it done but can't afford it or don't have Private Health Insurance.

Similar to someone with a food allergy/intolerance, I too have to watch what type of foods I eat.  Everyone is different, but we all have certain foods that we cannot eat as a banded person.  For me that was white bread, white rice, white pasta, hot chips, doughnuts and any other stodgy foods.  It's great that I cannot eat these foods as they are not necessarily good foods.  But there are still foods that are bad for me that I can eat - chocolate, ice-cream, calorie laden drinks (milkshakes), crisps just to name a few.  So it is still hard work to make sure I don't eat them.  The band isn't a miracle that stops you from eating all bad foods, it just helps you eat less.  And before you tell me I can eat less without a band, then if that was the case I wouldn't have gotten to 190kg in the first place.

If having WLS was cheating then the weight would have dropped off me in a rate of knots instead of taking me 4.5yrs to lose.  I have to confront my demons like anyone else, the band actually forces me to confront my demons full on and find alternative ways to resolve emotional baggage.  I can't go have an emotional binge and then hit the gym the next day (and I am sure some of you have done that), instead I have to confront the issues as I can't binge.  Sometimes I wish I could binge, just to have that day of junk food but it's a good thing I can't.

If having a lap-band is cheating, then what about the following things are they cheating too?

VIAGARA
Breast Enhancements
Using a battery operated toothbrush versus a manual one
Using a vibrator instead of finding a man

I could go on but my gutter mind would overtake this post, so I refrain.

Anways.  I am NO CHEATER.

Well actually I am - I am cheating death for now.

Bec xxx