Jachut

I had a massive fight with the old biddy at Weight Watchers a few years back who measured me at 5 ft 9. I'm 5ft 10. that of course made me even more overweight. She remeasured me about five times but I kept getting 5ft 9. When I decided on lapband surgery, I also measured in at 5ft 9. I decided I must have shrunk but at a BMI of barely 36, I think that shrinkage saved me, made me eligible for the surgery! I happened to mention it to the nurse about two years later, and she remeasured me, sure enough 5ft 10 AND a half. She laughed and told me my bum was much smaller and now I could stand close to the wall.

Many people are not confident with fake tans, and they ARE hard to get right. I find I can get them on right, but it frustrates the heck out of me that i get literally one DAY of perfect skin before they start to fade. But I am addicted to gradual tanning lotions - just drugstore ones like Olay and Dove. They take a few days to tan you but becuase you're topping up every day (and I give myself a good rubdown with exfoliating gloves in the shower every day) and taking off the excess, the tan stays perfect and even. Once every couple of weeks I find it starts to build up too much, I go for a swim in the chlorine and buff it all off. I like to be tanned all the time becuase I have a pale caucasion skin that is also slightly olive - so no gorgeous peaches and cream perfection for me, untanned I am just sallow and a bit yellow. So I deepen it - I find this way more effective than make up - an all over tan gives me a healthy look that no faceful of heavy make up ever could. I hate make up so will do anything I can not to have to wear it.

My gut reaction is to agree with you Gloucester. Its sad he died, personally I have no emotional attachment to it. I'm gutted about Farrah though, that one really touched me. I think its a matter of whether you see MJ as doing anythign great - I dont. I tend to believe the stories abut him and i also didnt really see his music as anythign special at all. But the evidence that other people did is there, that's for sure, so I can see that people feel he made a great contribution. I think the thing is, people saw Princess Di as having had a hard life through none of her own doing, Charles was the bad guy - so her death was tragic. It was huge here because of course, we're part of the commonwealth. Its sad about Farrah coz she got sick - also tragic. But its not sad about Michael because he was a weirdo? He was definitely sick. I think he probably lived a very sad and lonely decade before he died. Even though I have no respect or admiration for either the man or his music, that IS sad. I'm sure fame isnt all its cracked up to be.

I'm not going to rip into you either, your post really worries me in fact. I really think its VITAL that you shore yourself up some support now. You probably will find that you get appetite control with your band as you get filled, but I seriously suspsect its not going to be enough. I think you've probably established a relationship with food that's not based solely on physical appetite and the anxiety that you describe about the possibility of being hungry - personally I think you're going to have a really tough time looking at the few morsels on your plate and accepting that that's going to be all you are going to fit in. You can tell when someone just really doesnt want to bother getting with the program (and those people do cop a lot of criticism, not entirely fairly) but you sound a bit more worried about it than that. For now, you're recovering, you wont have a lot of restriction, this isnt how its always going to be. So you ate a cheeseburger and fries, put it behind you and move on as best you can.

I think people just worry too much about plateaus to be honest. Yes, we all love seeing lower numbers of the scale seemingly every day but the body just does not lose weight a day. If you are eating 1300 calories or less and exercising regularly, over time, the weight WILL come off. Mixing things around a bit really does seem to help people, perhaps eat more or less for a few days, change your exercise. To lose 100% of your excess weight, walking doesnt seem to be enough really, for most people. Eventually it needs to be stepped up and you need to work more intensely. Most of the really successful bandsters are pretty exercise mad and do intense things like spinning, running, and plenty of strength training. You know how much effort you're putting in now and you'll know yourself when you're fit enough and ready for more. I would highly encourage anyone to work ever harder with exercise if they want to see ALL their weight gone. That's a lot of Protein supplements for a reasonable protein goal. Really, you should ideally be able to eat at least 50 grams of it a day and that would mean you'd really only need either the bar or one shake with perhaps 2 scoops? Although its calories that count and if you're not going over, then you couldnt really say anything is the "enemy". Your body is probably just taking a breather.

A naturopath told DH he was Vit D deficient about 2 years ago, and that he needed to supplement for a while. He has very fair caucasian skin that burns, and he avoids the sun like the plague. Of course in Australia, we're ALL very sun smart, its just so strong here and the skin cancer message has gotten in for most people. But DH wont even mow the lawn without being slathered in 30+. Well, it caught up with him, everyone needs SOME sun exposure. That legend of the bronzed Aussie - well on any beach it'll be the Australians that are wearing rash vests, big hats, 30+ sun screen and only the crazy English tourists are out there broiling. Once he supplemented, the depression and anxiety attacks he'd been suffering went away, and the nervy, neuralgia type shoulder pain he'd had for years disappeared. Now he no longer needs to supplement but he lets himself get some sun. And of course, now that he does that, he's not so lily white that he burns in 2 minutes either.

I dont kid myself either - I know that in the future something could go wrong. I absolutely do not expect to have this band in me when I'm 70. They just dont last that long. But I knew that going in. You know, I think the markedly different culture with regard to managing bands is a big factor. Here, its just simply not viewed the same way as what you guys are used to. Half a cup isnt the goal. A low carb diet isnt the goal. The view is that you have it loose enough to eat all foods and that you have to do most of the work in terms of avoiding foods that you shouldnt eat. Its a really really fine balance between restriction that allows you to eat well but not overeat and too little restriction that means you just arent getting the help from your band that you need. Because of this, I think much fewer people are good band candidates than the number of people who are actually banded. My band is loose enough that I do have to constantly work to not eat poorly. Although habit has taken over now after four years and that job is much easier, I can eat all sorts of bad foods and I can do things like eat dinner and then dessert if I have a small wait in between. I make it up by exercising, I have to do what I do to fuel the amount that I still eat. I'm happy with that. I found something I love in running and I have no reliance on willpower to do it, its a self motivating and rewarding activity for me, so I have no doubt that I will keep it up and can keep my own personal calorie balance in control. But I really think that many of the problems with the band - not everyone of course - but many are simply cases of people being too tight. Our standard definition of too tight is not really accurate, I think "too tight" comes way before people realise it. But if you view it that way, you're left with a tool that is of really very limited use for all but a small proportion of people. Most people truly NEED the restriction to lose weight.

Like Restless, I was fat but healthy and I just wouldnt have ever considered something as drastic as a bypass. But - at the time, I totally believed the band was worry and risk free and that the only real thing to be wary of was the 1 to 2% chance of slippage and erosion. I still would have done it. There's also the fact that a lot of the early pioneers of the band are Australian and my surgeon is a partner in Prof. O'Brien's practice. I felt I was in good hands, and really, its all that's easily available in Australia at present time, bypass is very very uncommon and sleeves havent taken off quite yet. We also have quite a markedly different approach to it in Australia, its much more a tool to gently reduce portion sizes, the aim in terms of diet, restriction etc is all a lot more moderate and it just didnt seem so extreme a surgery to me as its proven to be for a lot of people here.

Oh, I agree. Once or twice since being banded, I've let the kids get CocoPops. I normally dont let my kids eat junk like that - its the sort of cereal I'll buy for a treat for school holidays. And I've looked at the box and thought, hmmmm. Naaaah. Hmmmmm. Naaaah. Hmmmm - oh, what the heck and had a bowl. Gee I enjoyed it! Everything in moderation and more moderation for some things than others.

I'd hazard a guess that you actually need Fluid OUT. Its the biggest disadvantage of the band I think - it needs to be loose enough to allow you to eat properly but that means it will let a lot more through if you choose bad foods. You just have to not choose them. Really, if a band is used properly, the most that can be said for it is that you can stick to a diet without being starving hungry. Unfortunately the hard work of fighting what your head wants to eat is down to YOU. No matter which way you cut it, you have to do the work. When used like that, you shouldnt have the problems with pain upon eating healthy foods. You also have to take bites about a thousand times smaller than you imagine and chew about a thousand times more. Do all that and if all is well, you will enjoy a nice steady 1 to 2 lb loss per week. And Misty, yes biscuits is "cookies" but packet ones, small and hard, not huge soft Mrs Fields type things.

I lost about 30lb before my first fill and by the time I had the first fill at 12 weeks or so, I was down to a reliable 1 to 2 lb loss per week, which continued pretty much for 18 months. After that, I lost very very slowly but dropped another 20lb or so over a year. I found I had no elusive 'sweet spot' to get to, each fill was just right for me to continue losing steadily. And I didnt eat less and less and less with each fill, they pretty much just made up for the increased restriction I needed becuase I'd lost fat around my stomach.

There is a "right" way to exercise to really rev your metabolism too. That old fat burning zone is a crock. It just does very little for you - you will always burn MORE fat by working harder, even if the proportion of fat to carbohydrate in your fuel mix changes. For exercise to be a real help in weight loss it needs to be INTENSE. You really do have to work at more than 65% of your maximum heart rate. Workouts that light should be recovery workouts. BUT - its also very true that a good daily brisk walk at about that intensity will keep you out of the cardiac ward and protect your health and your heart and mobilise your joints, so its definitely not useless activity - its just that if you want to see pounds fall away you need to be thinking breathing really hard, red faced and working at more like 75 to 80% with bursts of even harder. Everyone has to start somewhere too. We cant all just go out and swim 50 laps of an Olympic pool in 30 minutes. You need to work up to it. So anything that gets you to that end goal is valuable. But i can promise, if you do get to workouts like spinning, running for an hour or swimming hard for similar lengths of time, you wont struggle with your weight if you're also eating reasonably.

My son has a friend who, every time he comes over, heads for our ensuite (as for the longest time, the door on the toilet wouldnt close properly) and weighs himself, has a dump and weighs himself again. He loses 2lb every time! I've been tempted to try it, but since I've been banded, less goes in and so inevitably, less comes out..... I dont think the loss would be that impressive, lol.

Well, I'm in the minority but I dont think so. In Australia, we're encouraged to eat a healthy diet from ALL food groups and carbs are not seen as the bad guy. Nobody needs white sugary carbs but wholegrains are an important source of many nutrients and there's just no darn proof that you have to give them up to lose weight. I dont know Life cereal, we dont have it here. I tend to like cereals that are completely unprocessed - rolled oats (not packet oatmeal) and good quality organic granola, that contains unprocessed oats, nuts, fruit etc. I do occasionally eat cereals like All Bran but cereals like that still have a fairly high GI rating which means they still do give you that insulin reaction that really bad carbs do. But at the end of the day, I totally believe its calories in calories out and we can all fight over the health benefits of various diets, but if you eat less than you burn, it doesnt really matter what you eat from a weight loss perspective.

I dont agree with the comment though that if you exercise but then replace the calories you burn then you're no better off than if you didnt. Exercise does all sorts of wonderful things for your body apart from its role in weight management. But i did laugh at how hard it is to gain muscle. So true. It cracks me up when people wail that they've gained 2 lb this week and everyone posts back to say "oh, you've started walking, its muscle". Sorry, but no. Most women would struggle to gain a couple of pounds of muscle in an entire YEAR with a dedicated strenght training program on the kind of diet we have after WLS no matter how many Protein shakes they drink. Body growth requires big calories.

Lol, it sounds disgusting but I've thought the same thing - I thought I CHEWED that!!! Still, at least what comes back out of MY stomach beats the entire hotdog my son threw up last week. Seriously, it had some bite marks in it and that was it!:bored:

I agree, touching base with your doc again is a good start. And... really.... just get back with the program, whatever routine it is that your doctor has you follow. If you measured and weighed and that helps you, go back to it, restart an exercise program if you're not doing that, all the normal stuff you would ordinarily do to lose weight. Unfortunately, after you've had the band for some years I dont think its AS easy but i still find that the lost weight remains lost for me. I may have to battle for a pound or two these days but I dont regain it. When you're doing all that you should be, then you can really decide if a fill is necessary or not.

I chose a band because that's all they really do here. Sleeves are *starting* to be done, but many bariatric centres dont do them. For what its worth, my band has been entirely problem free, I've lost 100lb, I've never ever had to be unfilled due to issues, I've not had so much as a whisker of heartburn and I was out walking 3kms the day after surgery. I love my band and when it works, it works well. The adjustability of it has also been an advantage to me, I like mine loose as I am tall, active and dont really ahve a slow metabolism. I suspect with a sleeve, I would have an awful lot of trouble avoiding getting TOO thin (is there such a thing, lol) becuase I need about 2000 calories a day to maintain my weight. Which means I must have eaten an helluva lot before. However, it IS a problematic procedure and can cause an awful lot of everyday annoyances and discomforts - or worse and those problems are conveniently ignored as if slips and erosions are all that ever go wrong. I suspect, adjustability aside, if both options were equally available here and something happens to my band in the future - which seems a lLOT more likely than the 1 to 2% figure you find everywhere, I would consider going for a sleeve. I have to be completely honest, with all the issues that have become apparent over the past couple of years, although the official message is all positive, I do feel like I have a ticking time bomb in me. I never ever have issues but every single day I am aware that I might. I would love to have a sleeve that I never thought about in that way again. However, all weight loss surgeries will cause you discomforts and even health issues if you dont work WITH them. I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure that with a sleeve, just like a band, if you dont follow the post op diet, if you persist in trying to eat large volumes etc then you're in for trouble.

Oh gosh, I dont know how you'd explain a PB. You'd have to say you were sick. I find pbing for me is loud and violent, I couldnt go into a bathroom and the person in the stall next to me not know that I'd just vomited. That's what's so bad about it happening in public, you cant find anywhere private to do it! But you could explain it away as you're feeling sick and take the opportunity to go home and put your feet up. I'm about to finish up a teaching degree and have had to eat in staffrooms with people I dont know. I've had jibes about "oh, eat something, you're skinny, you dont have to diet" because I am SO SO careful to only take really easy foods. I eat a big breakfast over about 2 hours before I leave for the day (hard work but I get it in, fruit, cereal, toast) and then just take a yogurt and some soup. That's enough food to get me through till dinner if I've had the big breakie, but people think I'm dieting when I dont need to. I can actually eat sandwiches and such but I dont take ANYTHING that could possibly get stuck because I just dont know how I'd explain suddenly having to bolt and not being able to come back to the classroom (it generally takes me a long time to get rid of anything stuck). My plan if it ever happens (I only have ONE lot of teachign rounds to go!), is to say I feel sick and go home. Once I'm actually teaching and working with a staff I know I wouldnt make an announcement or anything but I wont hide the information. However it would be very inconvenient to be struck with the need to pb just before lunchtime ended, so I figure I'll always be very careful at work.

That's such fantastic news!!!!

The thing is everyone is fat these days. Taking my own lifestyle into account, I'll use an example. I usually go into my daughter's classroom in the mornings, to help with reading, I enjoy a morning chat with the other mums etc. Out of 24 children in Eliza's class, there are three of us who are 'normal weight'. There's actually nobody who is really obese but everyone else would have BMI's between about 28 and 35. They're just plump, curvy, well rounded, whatever you like to call it. Not unattractive or gross, just "normal" You can call it what you will, its overweight/obese. It is a threat to your health. Just becuase its become "normal" to us so that a true healthy weight actually looks very "skinny" does not change that fact. Good on you for doing something to protect your health before it goes too far and if you're doing this for cosmetic reasons, then GREAT. I did. I hated how I looked, I had no real health problems. It just infuriates me how silicone bags in your chest and fillers in your face is just fine, but my oh my how COULD you do something so drastic as having a lapband *just* to lose 60lb????

Even the post exercise burn they've recorded in other studies following high intensity interval training is hardly hundreds and hundreds of calories. I do not care one jot what studies say about exercise. I know the evidence my body has given me. The studies say I shouldnt do lots of cardio, that I'm wasting my time. Bullsh*t. It works the BEST for my particular body, plus there's also the fact that I enjoy it so I will do it consistently. I know the studies say if you dont kill yourself weight training that you will lose all your muscle. I've also found that to be bullsh*t. I do the very bare minimum, some pushups and dips, and I have really nice tone on my upper body, and running has strengthened my core to the point where I can do stomach tricks that amaze people. I'm also 42, have had 3 enormous babies and can jump on a trampoline whilst simultaneously having a coughing fit and NOT leave a puddle. Core strength anyone? I also know that not only this time but once or twice at other times in my life when I've done exercise consistently (running all times) I can get away with the most heinous eating behaviours and not gain an ounce. Exercise for me DOES make the difference between having to diet to stay at a particular weight and being able to eat whatever the heck I want to. As a female WLS patient, it is not usual to be able to eat 2000 calories a day. I can. I also have not needed to cut out carbs or even cut DOWN on them significantly even if I've eliminated crappy ones. Why is that? I tend to attribute it to the running but perhaps I'm just a freak. But the way my body functions now that its fit, compared to how it was before - entirely different. I am so much more active all around. It depends what exercise you're talking about too - a half hour brisk walk for 250 calories isnt going to make that much difference, but i consider a 10km run in under an hour for an 850 calorie burn not hard at all. I do it almost every day. There's no way THAT doesnt make a difference. However, if you try to lose weight just by exercising, it is not likely to be successful. Diet is the crucial factor, you can never outexercise a bad diet. Exercise isnt the magic pill if you look at it like that.

I've just been running on..... mixed distances, mixed times, just what I felt like doing.

Breakfast for me is quite varied - often about a half cup serve of oatmeal (I dont use packet stuff), good granola, or a high fibre cereal like Allbran (but I prefer the lower GI cereals like granola with nuts and stuff in them). I *sometimes* have a piece of toast with Peanut Butter. This morning I had half an avocado and some macadamia nuts. I get full quickly at breakfast but usually half an hour after my cereal I'll slice up an apple and try to get that down while I do stuff like dry my hair - just to get the fruit in. lunch is often a sandwich - I can eat a sandwich if I use thin sliced wholegrain bread and cut the crusts off - which makes it quite small. I will use fillings like tuna, lettuce, tomato, sprouts and cucumber, or ham and salad vegies. I also like Soup for lunch - usually homemade Soups of lentil/veg varieties. On the weekends we might break out a few gourmet cheeses, some chilli jam and crackers. Very very occasionally I have something naughty like a meat pie (aussie thing). dinner again is way varied - last night we had roast pork - here pork is a lean cut of meat if you buy the right one - baked in the oven with mashed sweet potato, steamed corn and broccoli, tonight I'm using up the leftovers in a casserole, we eat stirfries and a lot of asian style food, I always cook dinner from scratch from fresh ingredients, never rely on packet, convenience foods for dinner and I always try to serve 3 veg with it. I love my slow cooker and am a bit of a gourmet so I go to quite a lot of effort. I like a glass of wine at night, just one and in between meals I might eat some fruit and usually once a day I'll have a cookie or a small bit of chocolate or somethink like that. I drink Water and instant coffee or tea with a dash of milk. I think its usually about 1500 to 1800 calories a day which maintains my weight nicely and I lost well on 1500. I run for 40 minutes to an hour a day.

Interesting - it seems no surgery is all that "successful" for super morbidly obese individuals meaning that you are highly unlikely to get to and maintain a "normal" weight. doesnt mean you cant have a whole lot better life! And similarly, nearly everything works better for lower BMI patients. Puts paid to those who like to bitch and moan about how lower BMI patients shouldnt have surgery. With regard to the death, how sad, but in all fairness, that could happen after you had your tonsils out. Dying as a complication of surgery and dying as a complication of weight loss surgery specifically are two different things. Anyone can get clots, aspirate Fluid into their lungs etc. However, here is where adjustability is a bit of a crock - if your weight loss peters out with a sleeve before you're happy with the result, well you're ever so slightly f...d. If that happens with a band, then theoretically you can tighten it. But that's where I think the problems start to occur. I dont think you CAN just get tighter and tighter. I think way too many people try to get more out of the band than it can actually delivery. Its a surgery for people who are able to make good food choices, werent too disordered and ill to begin with and are able to exercise with dedication (at high levels). For them, it works brilliantly. Its a valid, sensible decision if you can honestly say you're one of those people. I also dont think I had any sort of ghrelin disorder personally, I wasnt inappopriately hungry, I just ate lots coz it felt good and I got into bad habits. It is NOT a good surgery for people who need more help than that and are going to need to be tighter and tighter to control appetites and head hunger.