Jachut

Before I joined this forum a few years back, I had faith in the medical profession. Since then, I'm not so sure. Although to be fair, none of the horror stories are About Australian doctors, roflmao!! Seriously though, it seems you need to be the one to tell THEM a) what is wrong with you what treatment you need for it c) whether you need surgery d) how to perform said surgery and e) how to manage the condition long term! Our main problem here is language - these days when you visit a GP its in a huge bulk billing clinic with 75 doctors so you never see the same one twice, they are always idonesian, malaysian, chinese or indian, they dont speak anything resembling intelligible English and they spend more time staring at your computer screen rather than at you yet they still dont appear to have read your file or have ANY idea of your history whatsoever. It drives me crazy. The very doctor that gave me my referral to the lapband surgeon asked me, when I returned for a renewed referral, if I was now going back to have it removed now that I'd lost weight. And my MIL has is now facing chemo after having her bladder removed a few weeks ago, having been managed by her GP for an entire YEAR without the idiot ever wondering why her "urinary tract infection" didnt respond to any form of antibiotic.

I havent dont anything for the past few days as I've had some sort of fluey virus chewing on me. Havent been really sick but just kind of wiped out and headachey. I finished my health unit at uni last week and started phys ed today (am doing a teaching degree) and we had a 2 hour prac and BOY did we do some running. It was another of those moments when I felt so so thankful for being lucky enough to have had this journey and lost weight. We had to be the kids, so we played games like doing suicides and relay races and etc. As easily the oldest student there today at 41, I was really proud to not only be able to keep up but actually be one of the fastest and to not let my team down! Nonetheless I will drag myself out for an easy run in an hour or so, I just popped a couple of panadol to dampen the headache. An easy run wont hurt.

At 5ft 10 with 80 to 100lb to lose, I had to lose a good 30 before I could say I'd gone down a size. In that time, I did squeeze into a few tighter items in my wardrobe, but I didnt need new clothes until I'd lost 30 or so. At this end of the journey, if I lost 10lb all my clothes would be way too big. It depends entirely on how much you have to lose and where you carry it. I went down sizes much more quickly in tops than I did in jeans and pants too. Also, post surgery with the liquid diet and all, you lose a lot of Water weight. You probably havent lose 24lb of fat in 36 days. Fat loss takes a lot longer but fat loss is what makes the size difference.

My doc never set goals but the nutritionist (I had one compulsory visit) scoffed at me when I said at 5ft 10, I wanted to be 70kg. I pretty much told her to f..k off, yes, in those words! Rude biatch. She was really scornful and said I'd never do it. The averages lost with the lapband are due to a number of factors, nearly ALL of them within your personal control. Averages are a conglomerate of things, including people who are ill, people who are much older than you, people who dont exercise, people who got banded coz their neighbours knew a friend of a friend and it sounded like a good idea at the time, and people who are non compliant for a whole number of reasons, not to mention the growing number of people who appear to have complete idiots for doctors, who insist on doing insane things like trying to put 5mls in one single fills into a 10ml band to ah, reach good restriction quicker, and the have to unfill and start again whilst the patient recovers! You are in control of what you put in your mouth, how much you exercise and especially of how much you know about the band so that if your doctor is one of these ones that just jumped on the bandwagon so to speak and saw it as a good way to make a bit of money, YOU can tell HIM that huge fills are not a good idea or that you actually can have fills closer together than four years or whatever it is they're trying to pass off as knowledge and experience. You just have to empower yourself and then set yourself to the task. 100% of weight lost with a band is not unusual and its not a really big ask either, it just takes consistency and common sense.

5ft 10. I think height has been an advantage, definitely. Not in losing weight, but for me 100lb overweight was not enough to result in a huge stomach or any disproportionate areas. I was simply "beefy" or "hefty". I hated that. In lots of ways I'd far rather have been petite and round. But I dont have to deal with lose skin now and for that I'm very glad.

I'd take some professional advice on it. Havent had PS, dont really plan to but I can tell you the last 20lb changed my entire body WAY more than the first 80. The only think I'd do is my boobs, and believe me, 20lb ago, they still looked like they had, only a little smaller. Since then they've completely and utterly deflated. I now need to be looking at a lift and implant rather than just a lift. I dont particularly want to restore the size, as I find a C perfect, but I need the implant to fill out the stretched out skin on the tops of them. So for me personally, I'd say wait but I know loads of people have found tummy tucks a different thing and it of course depends on your problem in the first place.

Oh, dresses and skirts are great to buy for this reason! I have skirts that are a size 10 - a US 6 - and that gives me a real thrill. I could never in a million years squeeze my ass into a size 10 pair of jeans!

I would say 4 sizes too, here in Austalia. We dont have junior, misses etc. There's kids clothes and adult clothes. Some jeans chains do 12, 13, 14, 15 etc. But our sizes generally start at an 8, occasionally a six, which is about the equivalent to a 2 or so. So when I say I'm a size 12, in your terms its really about an 8. I really really want to come to the states just to go shopping for clothes with an 8 on the label, since that size is TINY here. Not something a big 5ft 10 clod like me would ever get into,, and if I did, I'd probably need to be hospitalised.

Easily my biggest challenge throughout this journey has been to stay on regular, healthy but hard to eat foods and not live on Cookies and chocolate. But staying on regular food is what makes the band work. Its just so great not worrying about gaining though! Yes you have to work to lose but I find can go on holidays or it can be Christmas or whatever and I just no longer have that fear that 10lb will come to visit and not leave.

Lol, the point though isnt to make someone feel bad coz they dont workout quite at that level. I've been at this a few years now. Its more that you can get in quality workouts that involve your kids.

I agree with you. I dont have issues, I dont have voids that I eat to fill. I just like eating and I do it if I'm bored. I definitely do it to cope with stress. I guess that qualifies as "emotional eating" to some, but I agree that I dont have some huge personality defect or gap in my life or terrible feelings that I'm trying to quiet with food. I mean, if you've got nothing better to do, you're not busy and you can manage a nice half hour on the computer with a cuppa, why NOT have a few Cookies as well? The way I see it, its just not that freaking complicated for me. I dont need a therapist! I dont even believe this is a problem only the overweight have. I know PLENTY of thin people who eat when they're not hungry for all kinds of reasons too. To Celebrate, to fill in some time, because its lunchtime now and they wont be able to eat if they dont eat now and suddenly get hungry at 3pm. I dont need to be regressed to a past life to find out I lived through the Irish Potato Famine and have been emotionally scarred through several lifetimes since. I dont like cookies just a bit too much coz my cat got run over when I was four either. No disresepct meant to those who DO have real issues they're working on. It's just some of us just plain dont. We just like food.

On the other hand, I personally find good carbs like wholegrain bread have the air and bulk in them to really FILL my stomach and provide that satiety which lasts. To get full on Protein can take me 300 calories, to get full on a combo of wholegrain bread, vegetables and protein about 150 calories. Protein is energy and fat dense generally, so when you dont have the restriction to get full on a small amount, focussing on it can REALLY hamper your weight loss - I mean 2 eggs for Breakfast is one thing but if you're needing 3 or 4, you're starting to have to worry about the saturated fat and calories, when one piece of dry wholegrain toast with one poached egg would do the trick far easier. I guess it comes down to if you havent got that really good restriction yet, resort to the old dieter's trick of volume foods - high Water and air content - bread, fruit and vegetables because you will have to eat way too much chicken, meat, eggs or cheese to fill yourself. I always have and always will include high quality wholegrain carbs as a part of my meal and I lost weight whilst not exactly super fast, very steadily and easily. I'm not talking about making your entire meal carbs mind you becuase that will hit your bloodstream fast and not last, I mean making the overall digestibility of the meal steadier with protein. And def. no white crap bread, donuts etc. But that's easy for me to say because we dont do protein first here in australia and we dont in general believe in cutting out carbs entirely. So I'm not breaking any "rules" from my point of view, but I know your docs tell you different.

I've got that band, I got all my weight off under or at 2.8 cc and I've had 2 top ups whilst maintaining, have got 3cc in mine now. Its pretty tight and I'll probably actually lose a few pounds over a few months, which is OK by me!

That would be my suggestion too - get a treadmill or something so you dont have to leave home. Increase family activity. I take my kids to the park - our local one has a 400 metre boundary path. They play on the equipment - well the boys at 13 and 11 like to come, but I do it sometimes just with Eliza who's 6 - and I run 2 laps round the path to warm up, then I do a circuit - do pullups on the play equipment and tricep dips, run a circuit, put Eliza on my back and do step ups onto a bench, and squats (holding a live child for squat work is very hard!!!), run another lap, put my feet on the swing and do ab exercises, hamstring work by using the swing like a fitball, etc, run another lap, do planks etc on a towell on the ground, piggyback eliza while doing a staggering run round the perimeter again, then a bit of fun, push her on the swing, run round to the other side and push from the other direction, back and forth with each swing. This is a REALLY hard workout, it gets my heart rate up to like 180, me red faced and sweating, its definitely personal trainer quality stuff, not some lame thing I made up round the kids. Its entirely possible to get this sort of workout in with your kids present, you jsut have to be creative and have the desire to do it. That's OK in summer, bit harder if its wet or freezing as you dont want to be lying on the ground outside then. So I just adapt!

Ugh, I cant think of anything more difficult with a band than chugging your way through loads of raw food. I find raw vegetables VERY difficult to eat and the same goes for fruit, apples and bananas are quite diffult, absolutely FORGET about any stone fruit. I honestly dont think this lifestyle would be that easy with a band - but then everyone's bands behave differently. I like my veges steamed - much easier to eat.

I just feel sorry for everyone who has surgery scheduled in Mexico. I posted a few days ago about media frenzy and how I'd keep an open mind for the moment. Well several days later I can say there's NO WAY I would be going to mexico for surgery at the moment. Because its not just about you, its about bringing it back into a healthy population. There's cases in Australia too now, its very scary.

You know I reckon really fast weight loss is overrated, although it would be nice! 26kg in that time is great going. Its steady and likely to be fat rather than muscle, Water and fat. Its better for your health, you give your skin a better chance of keeping up and by eating so well you are helping to ensure you lose fat and keep your muscle. I think your diet looks really healthy and not too much at all as long as you're not eating to discomfort - you've got plenty of Protein in a few different forms, some fruit, a few different vegies and no processed carbs - GREAT going!. By eating so sensibly, you cut cravings, you're getting what you need etc. If you want to speed things up from here, exercise is the way to do it. A bit of high intensity cardio interval training, for example, really helps with fat loss.

I found the surgery very easy, I think I had some sort of strong morphine based pain killer on the day of surgery, the nurse came in and gave me whatever once or twice. By that evening I required no more pain relief but did need a sleeping pill as i had my surgery at 8.30 am, had been lying on my back ALL day,had slept off the anaesthetic and was prowling my room in boredom as I simply could not sleep and being the wee hours, there was NOTHING to watch on telly. I came home the next morning and never even took paracetamol. When we got home, I got changed and we went for a walk!

Well, I think we create heaven and hell right here on earth, we're living it NOW. If you're a good person, good things come to you. If you do wrong by others, well, what goes around comes around. You dont need to believe in God to think of it this way. Patty seems to have gone. She's probably down at the mall glaring daggers at breastfeeding mothers for being so evil and immodest.

Doesnt this just make you want to bash your head against a brick wall? Its completely f..k...g stupid and no wonder our society has such an obesity problem. I had a similar problem at the movies a few weeks ago. Its always cheaper to buy a BUCKET of popcorn and a HUGE softdrink (and we dont have those mega gulp cup things you guys have, that's even more horrendous). They try to talk you out of the small every single time. I stand my ground here, I pay MORE for four small popcorns than I do for the large combos. However, I really did have to throw a tantrum when I took my two boys to the movies during the holidays. Three small popcorns and three small drinks didnt come as a combo but were $10 each. Yet I could buy a family combo of four small popcorns and drinks for $20. The bitch at the counter insisted I would have to pay $30 for only three. So I asked for the manager, bought the family combo for four, and threw the fourth in the damn rubbish bin right in front of her. Then I wrote to Village cinemas and told them what I thought. Know what they sent me? A free voucher for the candy bar next time we were at the movies! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH You're probably better off without your smoothie, annoying as it is. I'm positive those smoothie bars are responsible for the wobbly muffin tops hanging over all the ultra low rise jeans as the young girlies slurp they way around the shopping centre, paper cups always in hand. That and frothy confectionary coffees, lol.

I think Curves is a great place to start out as it is the perfect environment for women who find mainstream gyms intimidating - and many overweight or older women fall into that category. its a good solid circuit style workout that will have great results for most peple if followed consistently. However, I have a couple of real concerns with their system, enough that I did decline a job I was offered there as I just dont agree with it. First is their heart rate/fat burning zone theories that they base everything on - this is completely outdated and pretty much disproven information. Now its absolutely FINE to keep your workout to your fat burning zone but it is complete bollocks that if you work harder you wont be burning fat and losing weight. Yet they are sticklers for it, if they notice you red faced and sweating you get a telling off. I learned to just lie about what my heart rate was. The wrist tag system however makes it difficult to do this. As you get fit (and I had 3 years of running behind me when I started) you WANT to work harder. A work out that lasts 31 minutes with a heart rate of 130 or so feels like NOTHING. It's very unsatisfying and not the least bit difficult and it was definitely doing nothing for my already considerable fitness. Yet I was not allowed to work harder. I also dont find 31 minutes a satisfying time, Ilike to do about 50 to an hour. But I was not allowed to do more rounds of the stations. For this reason, if you put consistent effort in at Curves, you WILL outgrow it pretty quickly, despite their claims that you wont. For that reason, my advice would be dont sign up for long term memberships. If only they would be more flexible on intensity and length of workout they would be better. And I really think that treadmills, ellipticals and bikes so you could get half an hour's cardio in before or after your circuit would be brilliant. We actually have another women's gym chain here called Contours that works more on this pricniple and their machines are pin loaded so you adjust the weight, not hydraulic, and I feel this is a MUCH better set up. Again, despite Curves' claims, there is only so fast you can work those hydraulic machines to intensify your workout before you lose form. Its much more effective to be able to simply increase the weight. I sound a bit negative, but honestly, I think its BRILLIANT for those less fit starting out, I just do not believe it will meet many people's fitness needs for an extended period of time, unless they just enjoy the activity and arent looking to keep improving, which again, is just fine but probably not the goals of a 20 or 30 something year old woman. My mum loves it and has gone for years but she's 67.

What are your goals? Simply to help the weight come off and maintain your lean muscle or do you want to be the next Ms Universe? It makes a difference. Personally, I run for 40 mins to an hour four days - and I mix that up, some runs are steady pace, some are interval style runs and MUCH harder and every now and then I'll take it easy and do an incline walking program on my treadmill. On top of that I try to do 3 x per week, but often its only 2 of circuit training on the other two days where I do short runs on the treadmill broken up by weighted squats, lunges, pushups, dips, ab work and fitball work. I like to do really heavy QUALITY reps with these exercises, I've never found high rep/light weight routines to do a thing for me. I have my heart rate through the roof too, I do it really intensely. But that's me and what I like and feel works for my body. Its impossible to prescribe for someone else, could you perhaps see a trainer, or failing that, there's SO much information out there on the net, you just need to google stuff like HIIT (high intensity interval training), circuit training, strength training etc. But "current" exercise wisdom says that HIIT combined with reasonably heavy strength training is the best way to burn fat and build muscle. Who knows though, these things come and go and tend to be in fashion at any given time. And at any rate, you have to start with what you can do, so dont let all the info find intimidate you. For starters, walking is good as long as its causing your heart rate to rise at least over 120 and for you to sweat a bit. Then you should try to hit each major muscle group - so thighs and butt, abs, chest, back and arms. You can do body weight exercises for all of this - squats and lunges, ab work, push ups, tricep dips and back extensions would cover it.

Ah, I think this is something that your doctor should have explained but you probably wont "get it under control". As you get more restriction in your band there will be foods you cant eat. Its differnet for everyone but certain foods are common - bread, Pasta, rice, fries, cakes, donuts, stodgy stuff like that. You've probably eaten your last burger too. Honestly, you come not to miss those foods becuase you begin to associate them with pain. I can eat small amounts of them. If I really want a slice of bread, I can have it, if I really want any of those things, I can have small amounts, but I'm very lucky. They do cause me discomfort to a degree, but not actual blockage or vomiting - many bandsters cant eat them at all. Unfortunately other foods I struggle with a bit are fresh fruit and raw vegetables. You'll come to know what causes issues for you and either find a way to eat them safely - I can eat salad as long as it doesnt have too much lettuce and I avoid raw carrot for example - or you will find alternatives.

I agree, and by the same token, my advice would be to try tiny tiny fills, like .2cc. It seems in the States because fills cost you guys so much money and insurance and the like is so tedious that the usual practice is for much bigger fills - and I think fluoro is a bit of an issue too. Filling your band to the point where it *just* empties right on the screen shows one thing - that it's not blocked at that particular moment in time. It does not prevent post fill swelling and trouble and I think it actually encourages over aggressive fills. Restriction is best approached very cautiously - with teeny tiny fills and you will probably find if you have a smidge, settle, get used to it and then go back for another smidge more, you'll tolerate it a lot better than if it were all put in at once.

I'd guess Heather's right, that's what she's talking about - a small fill at the time of surgery. Dont worry about the incisions. Its mainly the big one that's sore anyway, and you'll still have that, as for the others, well I cant even find mine 3 and a half years down the track. The scars from the small ones disappear entirely.