My experience with a gastric balloon

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enjoy

enjoy

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Hi all, just thought that I could say hello and tell you about my experience with the gastric ballon. It was inserted on 12th June 2009 and removed on 20th November 2010 (2 months before the due date).

I weighed 213.8 lb (97kg) when it was inserted and I only managed to lose 24lb (11kg), and I could only notice its effect for the first 2,5-3 months. after then, I could eat as normal but I continued doing diet and exercise. I guess I was not that lucky with the balloon, seeing as people lose more than 50lb when having it inside.

I had a few bad drawbacks in the meantime: smelly burps (sorry!), stomach pain, heartburn, problems to go to the loo, and many more. So from my point of view, I would not recommend it to anybody, based on my bad experience.

After the removal, I tried another thing as I needed to lose almost 42lb (19kg) more, so I started a proteic diet (called pronokal in Spain, I dont know whether that's known out of here) with a doctor. In 2 months I've lost 30lb (14kg) so I just need to lose 11lb (5kg) more and I'm done. If I had known this other diet from the beginning, I wouldnt have spent 5,000 euros on the gastric balloon to be honest.

Well, that's my experiencie, any question please ask.

Rgds,
Enjoy
 
so all you really lost was 5ooo euro fair play to you for trying,now tell me more about this new diet it sounds great.
 
It's your basic high protein diet which does take calorie counting into account. It's usually for people looking to put on muscle. It should be avoided if you have any kidney problems.
 
hi Jericho and bankhouse. Just to make it clear, I am not doing it for growing muscle, as this diet is burning fat and protecting the muscle.

This diet is one of the so-called proteic diets. First of all you need to have some blood tests done to check that your liver and kidneys work properly. After checking that's ok, the doctor prescribes the diet, you cannot do it without prescription. I have to eat 5 packets of protein per day plus 2 portions of vegetables (lunch and dinner). The packets are varied, for example, you have milkshakes, pancakes (for breakfast for example), omelettes, moka, capuccino, hot chocolate, chocolate cake, cookies, cold drinks, and so on, there's a big array in which you can choose what you like the most.

The "secret" of this diet is that you enter into a metabolic state called ketosis, which implies that, as you are not eating any fat nor sugar, your system needs to take the energy from the fat of your body, losing an average of 3 kilos per week (depending on the person). This should be made under the supervision of a doctor, as proteic diets make that liver and kidneys work harder than before. After 10 days they also test the balance of ions in blood (calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, chlorine) and then adjust the initial dose if necessary. I hope I have explained it more or less ok, there are many things I cannot say in English!

There are 8 different phases in the diet:

Phase 1: 5 packets per day (1 breakfast, 1 midday, 1 lunch+vegetables, 1 snack, 1 dinner+vegetables)
Phase 2a: 4 packets per day (1 breakfast, 1 midday, meat/fish/eggs+vegetables for lunch, 1 snack, 1 dinner+vegetables)
Phase 2b: 3 packets per day (1 breakfast, 1 midday, meat/fish/eggs+vegetables for lunch, 1 snack, meat/fish/eggs+vegetables for dinner)
Phase 3: 2 packets per day (breakfast includes 1 glass of milk with coffee for example, 1 yogourth and 2 pieces of fruit, 1 packet midday, meat/fish/eggs+vegetables for lunch, 1 packet snack, meat/fish/eggs+vegetables for dinner)
Phase 4: 2 packets per day (breakfast includes 1 glass of milk with coffee for example, 1 yogourth and 2 pieces of fruit, 1 packet midday+2 pieces of fruit, meat/fish/eggs+vegetables for lunch, 1 packet snack+2 pieces of fruit, meat/fish/eggs+vegetables for dinner)
Phase 5: same as phase 4 but you can eat 30gr bread for lunch and for dinner
Phase 6: same as phase 4 but for lunch and dinner fat is introduced (cheese, butter)
Phase 7: same as phase 4 but for lunch and dinner cereals, rice, legumes)
Phase 8: no more packets any more, this phase is for maintaining the weight loss and internalize the changes in your food intake and way of cooking, change of uses and awareness of quantities.

I have joined a forum created by users of this diet, and you should see the changes, there are people who has lost 50 kilos en 9 months!!!
 
aw fantastic, are you talking about PronoKal, two of the guys and I have started doing it. We know a GP who prescribes it in Canary Wharf so we pop into him at lunch every two weeks. Aiming for 3 stone in total and to get muscle with the personal trainer. Has anyone seen those PronoKal dietitians... hot! no need for a call centre when you have a room of young ladies waiting ;)
 
glad to hear that it also exists in the UK, i lost all the weight I needed but recovered part of it... but for a good cause hehe I'm 37 weeks pregnant, just about to have my babygirl. I will probably have to lose some weight after breastfeeding so depending the number of kilos I will use pronokal again or do a hipocaloric diet.

good luck with pronokal, it's a bit hard at the beginning but it's worth every penny and effort you pay.

XX
 
the weight loss sounds great on this PronoKal diet however the website shows a lots of foods, are they delivered at meal times or how do they come? Do they not taste supper artificial?
 
PronoKal vs Gastric Banding

Enjoy - I just read your first post! I find that shocking to hear about gastric banding, all you ever hear is the good stories. My Doctor was really adamant that it is a bad idea and was really pushing for me to do PronoKal instead and now I no why! Congratulations on your good news also.
 
tochy, the food is not food itself :) it's sachets with protein powder, you have to prepare them with water, put it into a shaker (provided by them). some of the sachets need cooking (for example, omelette, bread, cookies, pizza) and some others can be drunk directly (coconut shake, capuccino, etc.). i prefered the sweet ones rather than the salty ones, they tasted less artificial, but obviously they are not like real food.

georgedman, i did not have a gastric band but a gastric balloon, which I think are different things, arent they? in any case, my experience was not that good, that's why i wanted to leave my comments, as all i could find here was good experiences. i know people who have lost 60 kilos with pronokal, re-educating the way the eat and keeping the muscle thanks to the proteine powder, so when i do diet again after having my baby and breastfeeding her, i will no doubt go back to pronokal.

any doubts, here I am!!
 
Hi there, I had a gastric bypass in March 2010 (I weighed 137.7kg). I lost a lot of weight, especially in the first 2 months as I had an abcess on my liver due to the surgery (blood collected). The lowest that I went was 86 kg, and I must say I was very healthy and happy after the initial shock to my body. I fell pregnant and gained around 8 kg during the pregnany, when she was born I got very ill and doctors discovered that I have chronic iron shortage and vit b 12 shortage, (I get injections for this every two weeks). I have not been able to lose the weight, in fact I have gained more weight. I currently wheigh 98 kg (which is a lot since I am only 1.68 m tall)

My question is, do you think that I would be able to do the pronokal diet? Would it work for me? I have no kidney or liver issues. I would simply like to lose between 15 and 20 kg and KEEP IT OFF...

Thank you in advance
 
Planning to go for gastric balloon

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience on gastric balloon procedures. I am in a plan to do the same as soon as possible. I heard a lot of good reviews about it and it was the reason I am opting it. I would like to know about the success percentage of this procedure if I do it in Canada. I heard about this Credit valley clinic. Is that a good one? if anyone has experience with them, please share it here.
Thanks
 
For some people its very beneficial and for some its total waist.some people have to go through a weight loss surgery because they have almost tried every thing and surgery is the last option for them .anyways you have almost reached your goal that because of your proteic diet.
 
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