Jachut

You can roll around on a tennis ball too. I need to roll my left leg, did a ten k today and ave itb issues, ouch

None of my friends or family, no, but even several years later I can find it hard to break into a group of other mothers at things that involve my kids. So many women in that 30 to 45 age group are fat, out of shape, overworked, stressed and have given up on themselves - precisely where I was six years ago when I decided to get banded. They can be really pissy towards someone who looks like they take care of themselves (which I make time to do). Not for me sweat pants and haircuts at the barber, lol. So I often find I get snide remarks like "well, YOU wouldnt have to worry about that" when talking about diet, the gym, etc or the worse one was when my daughter was younger at a different school, she'd ride her bike and I'd run with her the 4kms to school and then run the 4kms home so I'd be in running gear at school and I'd get remarks like "why would YOU need to run" or people acting as if I was doing it only to show them up. People really dont like concrete examples that their excuses are just that, excuses for not making the effort. Lack of time, lack of money, fatigue - they're all nothing but excuses but people do NOT like proof of that.

The posts that truly scared me were the anti carb high Protein all the way ones, and the "what did you eat today" thread. I truly consider the diet of many bandsters absolutely horrible a) from a nutritional standpoint and from a taste standpoint. I thought I would be advised to live on shakes, Protein Bars, meat and cottage cheese. Yuck. And nobody will ever convince me that the average person without metabolic/diabetes issues needs to avoid healthy carbs or that all the processed shakes, meats and such that many bandsters live on wont cause them health problems in the future. It scared me so much thinking I'd never be able to eat a salad again or never be allowed to have a piece of toast again that I cancelled my appointment with my surgeon an gave up on the idea of banding. Until I got in contact with some other Aussies and realised that I wouldnt be told to eat this way here. And I havent been.

Find one you like, obviously. Although they all taste like drinking melted candle wax in my opinion. But if you're not hungry/full after half a shake, then STOP. Normal weight people dont shove down food they dont want and that's the first thing you've got to learn. People who have been obese and reliant on food do seem to have this panic response thinking they're going to starve. You wont. If your body says you dont want food, then you dont need it. Forget about "starvation mode" and all that rubbish. You're well and truly full of spare fuel at this stage of the game (aka fat) and if you dont feel like eating, its not going to hurt you.

Well, i agree with that totally, but it doesnt change the fact that those imperfections really do get to us. The fact is, liposuction is serious surgery with significant risk, so it is not safer than a tt. If youre going to do anything, you may as wellick the option that will give you really good results, lipo is designed to augment and enhance a tummy tuck, not be a substitute.

Well i think you have to get a handle on whether there is any physiological basis for it or not, I know i certainly like a bit of alcohol and comfort food after a busy day at work. Thats a matter of willpower and sometimes counselling depending on your issues. We have all used food inappropriately in our lives. Lately though, ive had sugar and carb cravings that are insatiable and have many days where my entire food intake is caffeine and sugar. Ive been fighting it for months. But i guess ive had a traumatic year with cancer and its treatment and Im feeling horribly depressed despite getting the all clear, routine bloods have shown severe Iron depletion, zero ovary function (so im completely menopausal at the age of 44, thanks chemoradiation), thyroid insufficiency, and low serotonin levels. I feel lie crap, look like crap and am eating crap, sigh. But all i want is sugar sugar sugar, story of my life but never like this. So for me, i have a lot of willpower but i have to address these underlying issues. Likewise, you have to eat well, not be lacking things and identify the factors that set you off and kearn to reprogram yourself. I believe some can do this on their own, others need professional help.

Since we're talking poo, I'm an expert on the topic, lol. Mucous to some extent is normal - your intestines produce a lot more of it than you realise - whilst I had my ileostomy for nine months (so of course, I passed no poo out of my rear end), I still go the urge to go once in a while and would pass quite a lot of mucous. But you dont normally see it in your stool. A one time occurrence, or even a few times whilst you're on this liquid diet is nothing to worry about, but I wouldnt be passed off by the doctor. I would follow it up if it continues or you're worried. I got passed off by the gp because I was too young and too healthy and lived too good a lifestyle to be a likely candidate for bowel cancer. It could have cost me my life as when the tumour WAS discovered after I jumped up and down and insisted on being referred to a GI, it was a bees d**k away from having spread to my lymph nodes. Its scary, and not at all likely for you, but its always worth checking it out. Look out for a change in colour and smell that could indicate bleeding too. I googled and googled my symptoms because I was beginning to have continence issues and I was rather worried about it, but I scoffed at cancer as a cause. Of course, the easiest thing you can do today to put your mind at rest is go and buy a bowel screen kit from the pharmacy. They are very accurate. If its negative, it likely really IS negative. I hate saying this stuff, it sounds dramatic and it doesnt put you at ease, but it is so important not to ignore anything like that. I'm the worst in the world at saying "oh, she'll be right mate" to the point where I've even not taken my kids to hospital or rung an ambulance when I really should have. But if the worst that happens is that you piss someone off or waste their time on nothing, and feel a bit embarrassed, that's a good outcome! Do keep in mind that these liquid diets really can cause havoc with our guts.

Donna, you dont have a band yet. You've done amazingly, but you havent done this for two or three years at a stretch and you have no idea yet what eating with real restriction feels like. And you WILL need real restriction one day becuase like everyone here, unless you are the one in a million statistic, you will regain weight eventually because that's just how it is. Getting the right restriction is really hard because people want the band to do it all - hey, we're only human. We dont want to be ABLE to eat the wrong foods, we dont want to feel hungry EVER and we'd all really just like to be able to abdicate the responsibility for our health and rely on the band to do it. But if you cant eat meat or healthy foods, you're too tight. You need Fluid out, but that will allow more food in, or maybe some foods that yu now cant eat and dont want to be able to. Many people find that they get too tight and start to live on slider foods and the weight loss stops or slows or gains even occur. I'm agreement that we shouldnt eat the junk in the first place, of course, but we're all human.

Well, I would agree with you. I dont think I quite have the metabolism of a snail, but something sure doesnt add up and I'm glad I have my band. I weigh 140lb at 5ft 10, quite slim, yeah, but a healthy weight, near the bottom of my range. I eat about 1800 calories a day to maintain that weight - so I'm not complaining,that's an OK deal. But I need a lapband to stay within that calorie range. I also run an hour some days or do a spin class and a body pump class the other days. I'm very active. All the charts say I shoudl be eating 2,500 to 2800 calories a day! At the very least, you'd think I coudl eat the 2000 to 2200 recommended for the average woman. But there's no way I can eat that much and not gain. I'm not sure where the weight gain would stop, whether I'd be heavier but still in the healthy range or whether I'd become overweight again, but I dont care to find out either. I certainly know I got obese on somethign like 2,500 a day - I wasnt a binge eater, didnt eat amounts that seemed huge compared to other peple by any stretch of the imagination. What I wonder though is which came first? Did I get fat because my metabolism was slower than it shoudl be or am do I now need to stick to a fairly limited, low calorie diet to maintain my weight precisely BECAUSE I have lost a lot of weight through long standing calorie deprivation? I suspect it is the latter. Once you've cut calories as low as we tend to do for a long time, you cant eat like a normal person ever again. Your body is just conditioned to run on much less. I certainly eat less and do more than my 120lb sister.

I drink water during and after, thats it. I truly find it senseless to eat before and after a workout unless it was mealtime anyway. The whole point is to create calorie deficit for weight loss! Ive never run out of energy - again the whole point is to force your body to burn stored fat so why provide more fuel? Unless your reasons for exercise are not wight loss of course. I have taken on energy during very long runs and made sure to eat well that day, but 45 minutes on a gym machine is not a level of work that requires sports supplements.

The thing is, you do change over time, or you should if you put in the work. Everyone is different, and it may not be the same for each of us. I didnt say it was doing nothing or that it was like i was never banded because it still controls portion size very well and it decreases hunger and appetite but you lose awareness of that. If it didnt do that im sure i would have gained. But i also had to be unfilled for nine months and managed to not gain because i ave a new perception of what appropriate portions are, im used to analysing urges to eat and weighing up whether i really need to or not and ive mostly overcome my addiction to sugary white carbs AND im capable of running 10k a day which helps an awful lot. But for me, it was a definite honeymoon of an easy first year after which it settled to a tool that required more effort. Id do it a hundred times over anyway, its doing something because im fairly sure i didnt turn into a person that could lose 120 lb for good overnight. And no decent doctor would ever tell a patient tjis was anything other than a tool. Unfortunately, whether you go bavk to a life of disease and obesity is down to YOU as much as it is the band. Many people are tight but live on chocolate and icecream and stay fat, but you havent chosen to do that so why be so negative about ypur own abilities?

I take the gel caps, I've taken ibuprofen tablets before and suffered horrible pain and burning in my pouch. But the gel caps are basically like taking a liquid. Sometimes you need an anti-inflammatory and paracetamol just doesnt cut it. But be aware, not only is ibuprofen bad for banded people because of the issue of it sitting in your pouch, its bad for ALL people because it can cause ulcers and GI bleeding in anybody, at all. When I needed to take it for some knee pain whilst I has having chemo, my oncologist was suprirsed that I'd been told not to take it (but he's no band expert) but he gave me a script for nexium and said if I took that at the same time, it shouldnt be an issue. Personally, I had medication and there was no way I'd take one medicine just so that I could take another (unless it was somenthing lifesaving). I'd rather put up with mild pain!

At first, like B-52 has said, I didnt find the band a "tool" either. For probably the first year, I found it surgically induced weight loss that I helped along by doing the right things, but I would have lost weight, anyway. I couldnt have helped it. I had very little real hunger, I had an appetite,but a very small one, I wasnt interested in eating between meals. Over time, despite getting more fills, I'm not sure whether that really waned, or whether my perception of it changed, I became less aware that the band was doing something and found it more work to continue losing. But that has a lot to do with the fact that I was 80lb lighter and already well under a BMI of 30, so that to lose more, I really had to 'diet'. Early on, it was very simply eat less, move more and the weight will pour off. I've now been banded six years. Head hunger, inappropriate appetite returned for me, despite fill levels. I'm the same old person, put cake before me, I'll want to eat it. Ive been forced over the years to really work on some habits like that - and the band doesnt help it - but at the same time, the band gives you a safety net. You dont have to be perfect, like if I do eat that cake, I cant eat dinner due to the band. I'm too full. That's not necessarily healthy, but it controls calories which at the end of the day, is what losing weight is all about. You finish the weight loss phase (and I never unfilled, my weight loss just got slower and slower till it stopped, and I maintained on that fill level), you dont go back to regular eating like you would have done. You keep your band, so you keep the banded lifestyle and amazingly, the weight doesnt go back on. Christmas, birthdays etc are big days, you eat more, you drink a bit of alcohol but its not enough to cause a 5lb weight gain, its incredible. I spoke about perception and mine is that now, I'd call myself a normal person with normal appetites who just eats a bit less than normal. But in reality, the band is still doing more for me than that. I notice that people all eat Snacks between meals, their meals are what I consider huge, they dont worry about adding dessert when they eat out, they drink calories, I do none of that becuase the band doesnt let me and has taught me not to see it as normal. Its a tool - it really is - after the honeymoon of a year or so, it does take a lot more work and a lot of your old self creeps back in, but its a totally workable tool that is easy to use if you have the right mindset - and that mindset develops over time.

This is entirely normal - the thing is as you approach perfect restriction, your fills will last longer and longer, and wont seem to "stop working". But if you're like me, I've ALWAYS had that experience - great restriction for a few days and then it lessens - but what it lessens to does increase over time. Eventually you get to the point where you wont need fills for a year or more.

Sorry for the spelling, phon typing!

Well, i guess if youre going to take teo adults a day just check the fat soluble vitamns in them ( thats a , d, e and k), those are th ones you can od on and hve toxic effects. An d foe those taking childrens vitamins be aware that they often won cntain a full spectrum of minerals, things like selenium are really important in fighting cancer and are often absent in childrens formulas because they are toxic in excess. Also if you need iron, ake it separately, its pointless havin it in a multi since an calcium n the formula ill block its absorption, you should tak iron and your multi hours apart.

Oh, yes, that mindless popping something in your mouth can be VERY disastrous. Its easy to be mindful when you sit down to eat a meal, but much easier to not think about popping something in your mouth and just swallowing it. I got into major trouble with a Calcium pill yesterday, dont normally have trouble, but it just went down a bit wrong and all day I had a very sharp pain at my band with every swallow of even liquid. thankfully its gone today.

I get so much pride and joy out of the smallest things that exercise gives me - for instance, I have unfortunately beein in and out of hospitals SO much this year, exercise sure didnt stop me getting cancer (but statisticaly, it WILL minimise the chances of recurrence) but I love getting my blood pressure and pulse taken - everyone always is amazed at ninety someting on fifty something and a pulse of 44, and comments that I'm either already dead or very fit. I like knowing that at least if my digestive system is genetically doomed, I can fight it with my good health and I am sure not going to risk my cardiovascular health knowingly through laziness and inertia. I never would have recovered as quickly as I did and coped with the treatment as well as I did without being so fit - and it was pretty hard, I've got to say, but could have been SO much worse. It was my coping mechanism all through those bleak months of treatment, it really helped to keep me sane. Not that that's all good - I mean I've managed to absolutely deplete my body's Iron stores, given that I'm menopausal and dont lose blood that way, its most likely that my insane 15kms runs whilst having chemo has used up everything my body had. I'm a bit obsessive like that and its important to learn when to take it a bit easy - yes, I'm taking it a little easier now. With regard to the weight gain from exercise, I feel like you do. I just like to see an ultra low weight on the scales and I am not interested in being muscular/curvy and a bit heavier BUT I got skeletal earlier in the year and I knew how important it was to put back muscle, not fat, so I pulled my finger out, ran less and did a lot of Body Pump and got the weight to go on over a period of six months. I've gained back about 10lb but I have not gone up even an inch around my waist, all my skinny jeans fit, and I look much better but still thin, so muscle weight is good weight, it is not something to worry about. Exercise is about a lot more than just weight loss, but the person who can lose 150lb and get down to a BMI of under 25 without some pretty hard and dedicated exercise is one in a million. More often, people lose but only a bit of their excess weight and they have a lot more trouble keeping it off.

Hey helen, have seen you on colonclub! I had a colonoscopy and ct scan last week, it took five days for the diarrhoea to stop, ergh

Lol, at five ten, i think 140 is perfect for me and i wear a size eight too! Isnt it funny how two people can be such different shapes yet wear the same size? I like counting ribs, but different body types need to carry different amounts of padding. You should aim for what weight you like best, and in the book my surgeon wrote, he makes the point that you don really get any health benefits for that last 20 pounds or so, its purely cosmtic - and obviously thats debateable too.

What kind of work do you do? I could easily, and I mean easily, been back at a desk job inside of a week. I'd have been tired, but that's it. Good luck, like you say, better late than never. Its a real wake up call to have health problems at a young age isnt it? Always a shock when we find out we're not immortal.

I cant do it, no matter how I try. Its just not enough to eat anything other than rabbit food. Luckily, I've never really had to drop that low. I'd rather exercise a lot and be able to eat.

You will be able to change some. But you dont have to be perfect! I've been banded six years and every day is still down to making good decisions - and some days I dont do that well at all. I would much much rather live on coffee and Cookies than eat anything nourishing, its a real problem for me. I'm coming to realise this may have a phsyiolgical basis that is correctable, but that's another story. The point is, I make a deal with myself to eat something healthy, much as I dont fancy it, FIRST and then I can have x, y or z, and with the band, once I've done that, I cant eat much of whatever it is I really wanted. Look, we all have our issues and they dont go away overnight. We all think about weight loss in terms of failure, or we wouldnt have gotten to the point of banding. But dont discredit what the effect of actually having sustained success will do for you. Your habits and perceptions gradually change over time, until you wont recognise yourself a year or two down the track. Its important to start the journey and realise that it will be a bit winding and have a few wrong turns, but if you dont take the plunge, you'll never get there, will you? And losing weight and being healthy does NOT depend on being perfect, exercising like a robot, never eating carbs again and never enjoying thanksgiving, christmas or whatever. Its just about consistently eating less and moving more over a sustained period of time and even a small change in the balance yields huge results over a year or more.

ONLY 20lb in a month? Sheesh, that is phenomenal weight loss, how much did you expect to lose? 1. (Women only question) What do you do for cravings and appetite when it's that time of the month? Does your weight fluctuate during this time as well? Since chemo, I no longer have the joy of a monthly cycle (I'm just psycho all the time now, lol) when I did, I just went with it. Seriously, it was one or two days out of a month for me, the cravings were BAD and I just indulged. I'd rather work harder on other days than sit there white knuckling it through cravings that just wont quit. 2. Because there are carbs in almost everything we eat, how do you determine what is a good amount of carbs per day? My fitnesspal says 249g is a go number. I dont count carbs, never did. Hasnt stopped me losing weight. 3. What kind of exercise do you all do and how much and for how long? I run a couple of times a week for about an hour (10kms or so) and other days I got to the gym and do a spin class and a body pump class. I take a day or maybe two days off every week. 4. Any ideas on things I can do as a truck-driver that works nights? I will be going back to work in a couple weeks and snacking is how I use to make it on the road. I need ideas or even some healthy snack choices to get me through my nights at work driving down that lonely highway. Willpower. That's all I can think of. 5. Are sunflower seeds bad? They're great for you! Full of Iron in particular. 6. So far I have been eating 1200 calories of less per day, along with 80g of Protein and trying to keep my carbs under 100g. Is this ok??? I'm really unsure… Just still so confused and need some words of wisdom on certain things. Sounds great to me. Bandsters please share any advise or tips to help me through my journey. I appreciate all comments and I accept all the supportand encouragement I can get. Thanks a lot lbt… Consistency. Dont get all frantic about plateaus or that the next person exercises nore than you. Just keep at it. Measure your results over a month, not a week. Keep pushing yourself with your exercise, dont just do easy slow cardio.

I'll go out on a limb and give a different opinion - I'd take the money. But that's heavily dependent on life circumstances.At my stage, DH is 45, I'm 44, we have teenage children, still paying school fees, need a bigger house and have yet to start really investing heavily for our retirement, apart from superannuation. Its looking like we'll have to live on baked Beans for the next 20 years to get as wealthy as we thought we'd be. I've also given up a lot to raise kids and am really ready for a bit of selfish, personally motivated career glory :-) i dont want the time at home, I feel bored, listless and non productive. I like being busy. I have too many worries to occupy my mind if I'm not busy. It depends entirely as to what stage of life you're at. which end of the spectrum you fall at.