mistysj

I'm only 36 and had a total hysterectomy several years ago. I tried several different HRT including the patch, but finally settled on a cheap estrogen replacement called Progynova in Australia. I bet you have equivalent in the UK. By the way, your body is very smart. It can turn estrogen into progesterone or testosterone and vice versa, depending on what it needs. If you don't have a uterus you don't need progesterone and in fact it can cause problems like endometriosis (which you can have outside your uterus too). So if what you need is estrogen but you are taking progesterone cream, some of it will get turned into estrogen and the rest will just get flushed out of your body. Hot flashes are a symptom of low estrogen and nothing to do with progesterone. So the progesterone cream may help (but what you can get without a RX is very low dose, so don't be surprised if not), but it is likely that finding the right estrogen will be better. There are several different forms and delivery mechanisms -- Patches, pills, implants, sublingual, and maybe even injectable. When I was preparing for my hysterectomy I found this site helpful. They are not selling anything but have a great collection of info. http://surmeno.blogspot.com.au/2006/03/symptoms-of-estrogen-imbalance.html

Me too. Ask your surgeon before you spend heaps of money. I use Blackmores Sustained Release with antioxidants and Blackmores Bone Health.

The general guidelines I have heard are add about 200 calories every 3 weeks until you stop losing. You can easily add them with nuts, cheese, avocado, salmon, or other good fats without adding much bulk. You can occasionally add ice cream or chocolate too. This is how normal people eat.

Bec is right and there is not much you can do about losing hair. Take your multivitamin and eat enough protein and the hair that replaces it will be awesome though. Those special shampoos are a waste of money though. My hair loss lasted from month 2 to about 7. I'm nearly 10 months out now. I did lose heaps but I have very thick hair so you couldn't really tell. For the others just work with your hairdresser and know that this too shall pass.

Are you saying you get cramps and the runs? Or cramps and then nothing happens? How long since you had a movement? How long since you passed wind?

Hint, it's not just that it holds less food. Interesting stuff! http://gastricbypass.netfirms.com/understandingsmallgastricpouch.htm

I am in size 10 for jeans, tops, undies (from 22) Size 12D bra (from 20DD), size 6 shoes (from 7). It's pretty unreal to me. I'm pretty happy with how I look now, except that I still have some fat above and below my belly button, along with a heap of loose skin. I hope to lose at least 10 kg more though my surgeon's goal is just a few kg away. I've dropped a size with hardly any weight loss, so the running, zumba, and weights are working. I realized that Australian size 10 jeans is a US 6, so this means I am now smaller than when I was 18 and wearing tight size 8! My bra band size is also smaller (I'm a US 34D and remember being a 36D back then). I'm still around 28% body fat and 28 BMI, and I'd like to get to 25% and a healthy BMI. But I already feel so successful and I'm only 9 months in! This has been the easiest and most successful weight loss I have ever has. I am just so thankful and I'm so grateful for all the support I've had from this thread over the last nearly one year! I'm happy to see new people joining and finding success as well. As a group we have been incredibly fortunate, with a very low complication rate, high success rate, and several real-life friendships. It is pretty awesome!

For password problems please PM the username "alex" who is the founder of the site. But if you are posting here, it seems that your password is working?

The owner of this site. Just type Alex in the recipient field.

Send Alex a private message and he can help you get your profile back.

I have purposely replaced one of my runs per week with a really high resistance workout on the elliptical. I think it's good to have variety in what we are asking our bodies to do. My current schedule looks like: Monday - long run Tuesday - BodyPump Wednesday - fast run Thursday - Zumba Friday - elliptical I think I have said it before but I never thought I would be the person in the gym five days a week! As to the threads being dead, I guess it goes in phases.

Wow that is expensive. I guess you don't have private cover? Mexico is very safe and well known. There is a forum here called Mexico and Self Pay. There is also a forum for band to sleeve revisions. Between them you should find heaps of info. Best of luck for your surgery! This thread goes in fits and starts now because several of is are in maintenance or close to it. But there are new people coming all the time and we are happy to have them! We all learn so much from each other. Occasionally we even have in-person get togethers. If you have loads and loads of time on your hands (lol) you can go all the way back to the beginning like I did when I was first researching my surgery!

Raw sashimi is a soft food. Nori and rice are probably more challenge than you need at this point.

Well how was it??

Dee that sounds like such a cool experience. Isn't it amazing how much you have changed your life? I ran the end workout of couch to 5k today just to benchmark myself. It felt short! I have even increased my walking speed during the warmup and cooldown to 5.5 kph. I'm running at around 8.5 kph which is much faster than when I finished couch to 5k in nov even though it still isn't a 30-minute 5k. In the 30 minutes running with 5 minutes walk either side I JUST got to 5k. So don't worry about your speed when you are doing this program. I routinely run twice as long as that in time and my speed is increasing.

A year ago I had not seriously started considering WLS, but I was very frustrated because I was gaining weight back after finishing up a medically supervised 14-month (extended from 12 by travel) Optifast program. I lost 20 kg in that program but felt like crap, and had already put 10 back on by Feb. I was in therapy for my "binge eating disorder". That's in quotes because it mostly went away after surgery which leads me to believe it was at least partially biological / chemical. Anyway I was probably at my lowest point with no way out. I began researching in March and had the sleeve in May. Now I am 35 kg down (over 75 lbs) and I'm running at least 180 minutes a week, Body Pump once a week, Zumba once a week, and getting well over 10000 steps each day. I am in remission from diabetes. All my blood work is PERFECT. I'm the smallest I have been since I was 18 years old. I'm not quite at goal yet but I won't need to make any big changes to get there. I'd like to be under 60 kg by my one-year mark in May but I'm not stressing about it. A year from now, I'd like to be at goal with several months of maintenance under my belt. I imagine that my daily and weekly routine will be similar to now. I don't feel the need to add a lot more minutes of exercise, though I hope the intensity is higher and I'm stronger and faster and more flexible. I will almost be 37 and I expect to be healthier than at 27 or 17!

You need to go to the website itself, on your computer,to reset the password.

So I can identify with you both, Lissa and Sue. On the one hand I was always the class clown because even though I was fat, at least I could make people laugh and that must mean they liked me, right? I have always had a "smart mouth" and I think it was my way of getting the edge and of keeping people at arm's length. I think I never trusted people's motivation for being my friend because I didn't feel worthy of their friendship. After all, I couldn't even keep my promises to myself to lose weight, and I hated how I looked. Surely I wasn't worth much? At the same time I was really afraid of people not liking me. Because of that, I would always back down in am argument and always be the first one to apologize. I would get really derailed by negative feedback, for days or weeks. This kind of behavior was really obvious with my husband. I think in some way I felt like since I wasn't attractive (in my mind), that it was only a matter of time til he got tired of me. That's so weird because we have been married for 12 years and I was large the whole time. But it was more about my self esteem than reality. Now, I think I have moderated both ends of the spectrum. I'm less of a smart aleck and less silly. I'm more confident and self-assured. I'm more likely to stand my ground but be less shrill doing it. I take criticism more thoughtfully. I feel like there is more room in my head because the body-hate was taking up so much of it. And the food thoughts too. In arguments with my husband I am more likely to speak my mind I don't walk on eggshells. I'm more of an equal partner. Ironically I think our relationship is better and so much more "real". I feel more secure. It is weird but I also feel more like if something did ever happen and we went our separate ways (not that it is on the cards), that of course my world wouldn't end. I think it is a lot healthier. I've also been able to take more risks at work and put my hand up for things I would not have dreamed of. It's the self confidence yes, but I also think thinner people are seen as more confident and competent. Even thigh of course it's not really true. Sue, I love your new photo. You look so awesome and so glamorous! My big news is that I am wearing those weird-fitting size 12 jeans that I bought on sale months ago. There is some muffin top but it's not obvious if I wear the right top. And the legs are a tad bit loose. I think if I went jeans shopping I would fit into some 10s but this is gratifying because I could not even close them 3 weeks ago. My weight loss has really slowed but I'm still changing shape. I'm short so size 12 is still bigger than I want to be. I have changed my ticker to my surgeon's goal for me since it's so close, but I don't think I will be ready to stop there. I would like to get to at least size 8 and 25% body fat. I've added Zumba once a week and BodyPump (a weight training class) once a week, and running twice a week for 50 minutes and elliptical once a week for 50 minutes. I actually enjoy the exercise. Especially Zumba which I do with a friend and then we have dinner after

The fundoplication is to correct chronic GERD that doesn't go away with hernia repair. It's not the first step and it only lasts 10 years or so. Hernia surgery is easy. Most of us have a hiatal hernia when we are obese because our fat actually can push up on our abdomen and cause strain. Lots of us have it repaired at surgery. I did and it was no drama. Apparently I have a slight one either still or again, but not enough to have more surgery. My GERD is controlled with the lowest dose of nexium every day. If it gets worse I will have the hernia repaired again.

I finally tried BodyPump at my gym today. It is so good! It's basically weight lifting set to music. You don't have to be really coordinated, the movements are simple and easy to pick up, and I found everything do-able but could have sat some things out (like the planking) if I didn't feel up to it yet. You choose how much weight is on your barbell or whether you just use the bar empty at first. I will be adding one BodyPump class a week to get in some weight training. Much more fun than doing it solo. And I am sure I will be sore tomorrow!

You can put on as much weight as you want. You can change it between muscle groups. Also my instructor definitely corrected form problems. We don't need to all lift more than our body weight.

Well I am sore today! I can't imagine it won't make a difference. Especially when I add more weight.

Yes it would be fine. You can look up the maximum depth in the booklet but it is fine for underwater swimming. Tap the same way you do the double tap to see your status.

And yes for sleep, tap it about 7 times in a row and the dots will change pattern. It is now in sleep mode. Do the same to turn it back to normal mode. I use the silent alarm to wake up in the morning and you have to tap it 5 times quickly to turn off the alarm. You can clap instead of tapping it too.

You can swim with the flex but not the force. Let it dry out after getting it really wet or it can get a bit funky. Wear it a notch looser than you think so air can circulate.