Jachut

Ooh, well done TQ! Havent checked in for a while, but have been keeping up my usual routine. Except this morning, I went and did a Body Step class :-) Last time I did step it was called Step Reebok and you wore a g string leotard and leg warmers, lol. But it was good fun - not tooooo easy, but not to challenging either, of course you can add jumps and a lot of arms to beef a step class up but I was struggling with the disadvantage of being rather spaz at it, lol. Nonetheless I can feel sore legs coming on - tons of torturous low squat and lunge moves. I promised Doug a circuit tonight, so I'll keep that to treadmill and upper body. tomorrow I promised Eliza she could ride her bike to school again so that's a 9km round trip run for me.

That's true too, its so much better as you get older and learn how your body works. For DH and I, we just kind of "gave up" on him getting me off, unless we wanted to spend 3 hours until his hand fell off. For me, its got to be exactly WHAT I want (changes every time), at the right time, at the right speed, at the right pressure etc, its just stupid, but that's how it is. I will never ever orgasm through intercourse alone. So I participate in our sessions and over time, DH has learned just what he can do to make the process explosive, lol. It makes sex a lot more satisfying and less frustrating that you're just not getting into it. But that takes confidence and trust in your partner, most guys would probably love it if you started touching yourself in front of them, but it'd be a difficult thing to do with a new partner. And I think its bothered DH at various times that he cant do it for me, its a bit of an ego thing.

Yeah, doncha hate it when you do that and then hubby makes a move :-o? Once its over its over for me, no second comings so to speak. I find for me, its nothing to do with weight. Its more to do with physical changes after 3 pregnancies, being 41 and on the downward slide hormonally (big time lubrication issues here) and just being so freaking busy that its another job to do. I have to MAKE myself do it 3 or 4 times a week. Its always always great, I always enjoy it, but would I ever say I want to do it. No. Although I will feel in the mood at relatively odd times during the day so there's something still connecting my brain and my bits. But use it or lose it I say, so I just make myself relax, resign myself to the fact that I will have to get up again and have a shower and go with it.

Personally, I'd buy a spin bike. You can get great DVD's such as spinervals to use with them, or you can use something like Cardio Coach. The racing position that the bike puts you in engages your core and gives it a good workout too. You can do a lot more with a spin bike than you can an ordinary upright bike. Recumbent bikes just dont grab me, to me, they're something to consider if you have a back injury or similar issue, but you get a better workout on a spin bike because it recruits your upper body too, it will suit you for far longer.

Thanks - yes I was meaning a PS.

Redken All Soft is divine. I dont have a lot of curl, but a lot of fuzz, and it is super duper moisturising but doesnt weigh the hair down, it makes my hair behave. If you have a more wiry drier curl, it would be good for that.

Its not the surgery itself that would worry me, its a simply and fairly uncomplicated procedure. Of course, practice and good technique will greatly reduce your risk of complications. What I woudl be wanting though is a surgeon who is well and truly experienced with the everyday queries and problems that arise for a bandster. I dont want a doctor who is just going to prescribe some stupid Atkins style diet for me becuase he really has no idea about how the band (or my body) works. I want someone who really KNOWS, not someone who quotes a textbook. I also want someone with a staff who is good at fills and wont do stupid things like rush them, make them too big, or have some set idea of what a fill schedule could be without the experience to know when to change it, what is OK to tweak a bit, what is not. I want to see someone highly qualified for my fills, not some idiot who's going to puncture my tubing or suck all the Fluid out to check and then miss the port. The surgery is the easy bit, the aftercare is where so many seem to be inadequate.

I think its shortened somewhat, due to more surgeons participating. I dont know how long it is though. So that means, you could be done publically for free and if not, then your health insurance will kick in anyway by october and you'll get done then? Nothign to lose really, is there? what a bonus.

Hi Dr Schulman, I was wondering what your views on mini tummy tucks combined with hernia repair were. I have 2 incisional hernias at either end of my caesar scar which my GP says are nothing to worry about. However, hernia's dont get better, and these look a bit weird, they are visible looking down my body and they can ache a bit by the end of the day (they also make a really revolting squelchy noise when pressed, lol). So I was thinking........ I couldnt really justify a full tummy tuck. I ahve a bit of loose skin and probably ne4ed a bit of lipo on the residual upper ab fat pocket, but my muscles are rock hard, absolutely flat and are not separated. If I were to be opened up to repair these hernias rather than have them done laparascopically, would it be an unusual thing to ask to just remove a crescent of skin from the lower belly and tighten it up without moving the navel etc? I'm thinking there's a very very tiny possiblity that in Australia, this the anaesthetics cost of the op might then be covered partly by medicare due to the hernia repair comopent. Private insurance covers the hospital stay either way.

On that note too - the point about sleep is a good one. I noticed that once i had lost some weight, the quality of my sleep improved enormously. I hadnt realised how badly I was sleeping when I was heavy, I'd half wake many times a night with discomfort through the hips and shoulders (I'm a side sleeper) reminiscent of trying to sleep when you're 9 months pregnant. As that went away, i found my energy levels climbing becuase I was actually getting a good nights' sleep.

Eight homes lost in Narre North - not in Oatlands, but a bit further north, in of Crawley Rd, where all the larger blocks are. there was a pretty huge fire, the first one I noticed, in the market garden behind my friend's house, we were there swimming. They have an acre on Centre Rd. We're in Narre South and the fires up our end came in through the Cranbourne Golf Course, and flying sparks caused several grass fires, which eventually ignited homes. More fires today in Cranbourne North and Lynbrook, but you cant see any evidence of it in the sky, its not smoky or anything,

Hmm, you'd have to suspect some sort of anatomical anomoly although you'd think the surgeon would have noticed that when he was in there. Perhaps its just monumental bad luck. I *think* I'd at least consider a sleeve after that many slips. But the thing is, band problems are a pain, expensive and possibly dangerous yes, but you've recovered each time. The thought of what could go wrong if you busted a staple line, once half your stomach is gone, is not a good one. But I dont know a lot about the sleeve, so perhaps that's not even a reasonable fear?

SpringerLink - Journal Article With regard to the well rounded balanced diet, I found this interesting link - its only a study summary, not the whole report but its an Australian study showing that lap banding tends to result in mainly fat loss (and not lean tissue mass) at a 4:1 ratio. That's VERY good news. Now bear in mind this is an Australian study - and I note Prof. Paul O'Brien is involved - and here in Australia the general recommendation is to eat from the five food groups, we dont really do a Protein focus (and Protein shakes are not seen as a "normal everyday food"), although protein is of course acknowledged as one of the important macronutrients. So its is VERY interesting that we still seem to enjoy FAT loss and not a lot of fat free mass loss! Balanced diets are a good thing!

Yes, donation, lovely idea. We live in Narre Warren, the six homes that were lost were only streets away, it was sooo scary - we were hosing the house down as we were close enough to come under ember attack, and adoona cover on the washing line got burned. Luckily, Doug only cleaned the guttering out a week or two ago, but neighbours on both sides dont maintain their properties at all, one of them mows his lawn only when it gets waist high and then throws all the clipping against the fences, so right round the perimeter of his property is fench high piles of dead grass. And given they build houses so close together in new suburbs, if they go up, we do, nothing surer. We had the cars packed and ready to take off, but the wind changed right at the right minute. But there were fires everywhere, mainly grass fires, and I was only remarking a week or two back that I was glad to live in a built up urban area where fire was not a worry! But I guess there still is plenty of open land out here.

My doc stressed that I had to be prepared that I may never be able to eat certain foods - commonly bread and red meat but that it was by no means a given, it was luck of the draw, and that there could be ANY food that did not agree with me. As it is, I can eat anything, but some things are harder than others. I still eat fruit and leafy salads, but they're "duty food" meaning I eat them slowly and carefully because I should for the sake of a balanced diet, but they dont go down easily and I dont enjoy them much. But I can eat bread, rice, Pasta in small serves without a problem.

It breaks my heart to hear people doing this. Surgery is not a step anyone is really *happy* to have to take and I just think there's no way to feel more upset and disgusted in yourself than to let your control go in this way right after you've made the decision to change your life for the better. If there was EVER a time to grasp that willpower, now is it. BUT - we're all ill to varying degrees and this is a totally normal response. However, do realise, NOTHING will be forbidden forever, you will be able to eat a fairly normal diet. And it has really no bearing on your ability to stick to your post surgery instructions, you might have GREAT restriction for weeks. Plus there is nothing like the fear of ending up back in hospital to keep you on the straight and narrow. I think its highly sensible to plan some treats and not to plan to diet or deny yourself ridiculously during this time - until you start your pre op diet. But keep to a basically normal eating routine, dont go scoffing everything in sight, you'll only feel guilty and awful about it.

Fascinating! It looks though as it it would feel and function like a lapband - but without slippage or erosion, which would be a bonus. But I guess instead of that there's stretching and staple problems? Unfortunately for those with bands that were converting - youd still need your incisions openened again to remove the band, lol. That is what would piss me off the most, my tummy finally looks good and normal and I'd have new cuts. I really need a low profile port, you can now see my port through clothes but I dont want a new cut!

Oh, good luck, I hope you are thrilled with your new bod. I have the same dilemma, if I want any work done, it really needs to be at the end of this year. I finish my degree and this is my last chance where I could afford the recovery time. But at the moment just no money, PS is WAY more expensive in Australia and we have to pay private school fees for three kids, woe is me, lol.

Well, eating that little and virtually no fat, I dont find it suprising that you dont have any energy! You need to eat to fuel exercise, and personally, I need to eat carbs. I cant function without a serve of something wholegrain once or twice a day. High Protein low carb makes me feel like a wrung out dishrag. I ate about 1500 calories a day while losing and that was enough to fuel me to run for an hour most days. I ate from all food groups. Even so, exercise at first drains you, but as you get fitter and the weigh shifts, you find your energy increased, at first you have to force yoruself a bit. But I always find no matter how tired I am, I feel better after exercise unless its real my body needs a day off kind of tired, which I get as I work very hard with running ahd circuit training. Tired after work though, its hard, but if you do it, you'll feel better and eventually you wont be so tired in the first place.

there was a show on here Medical Miracles or some such and a guy was on who'd lost over 180lb. The state of his body, eeek. There is NO way its not more sensible to enable people to lose weight before they need $50,000 worth of plastic surgery to not look like the elephant man. It was extremely sad and although the final result was good, he was scarred terribly.

Being obese is exactly like being pregnant - the pressure of all that fat inside your abdomen pushes out against the rectus muscles and separates them.

I usually get an itch that needs scratching first.....

Well, you know your body and how it responds to pregnancy. Personally, I would do it becuase I know that I dont get hugely pregnant, I dont get stretch marks, etc - well I didnt in the three pregnancies I had. They didnt do a lot of damage to my stomach at all. My boobs though - ugh, pregnancy and breastfeeding wrecked them, and weight loss DESTROYED them. And I know that they say you can nurse after certain breast surgeries, but none of the people I know IRL have been able to. You have to be prepared NOT to if you're going to go ahead with breast surgery. But you say you had hanging skin after your first pregnancy? That to me would be a sign that you might need your surgery revised after another pregnancy. Did you get a zillion stretch marks? If so, you're likely to again. There's a lot to be said for waiting and gettign rid of them all in one go. It would be heartbreaking to see your nice stomach destroyed again. I think there's no reason not to go ahead if its what you really want now, but you need to be realistic that you might want further surgery down the track. Could you for example have that pannus removed now, and do the real deal tummy tuck with new navel etc later? That way you can look better clothed etc right now and you can do the airbrushing afterwards.

Ugh, losing weight can cause a lot of hormonal upheaval. I went through about eight or nine months of horrendous periods, about a year into my journey - including agonising bowel cramps (without diarrhoea, weird) that kept me housebound and sweating for hours. It felt like labour but worse. I had all sorts of check ups, yes, a bit of endometriosis (not surprising, strong family history) and we were considering maybe a laperotomy but I put it off to the end of the year when I'd finished uni. And it kind of passed and every month has been like normal for me since then. So take heart, it might pass as your body settles down a bit. I cant advise on meds, since my doc cleared me to take an anti inflammatory if I needed and that worked, but of course, with a band, its not a safe practice to carry on with regularly. But its the only thing that worked for me.

Of course its a lie, lol. You'd be lucky as a woman to gain a few pounds of muscle over an entire year of dedicated working out. There is no way you start exercising and put on 3lb of muscle, its just not possible. In the same way as if you lost 8lb in one week, its not 8lb of fat. when you first begin working out, the damage you cause to your muscles causes you to retain a bit of Water in them, that's all. But remember also, exercise in and of itself does not cause much weight loss, its diet that does that. The effect of exercise is more cumulative, over months and years of dedicated working out, you coax your body into its highest metabolic potential - good body composition, high energy expenditure, body cells that are adapted to the most efficient ways of using fat for fuel. None of that happens after a week or two of exercise. And nor do your muscles grow by 3lb.