Jachut

I dont - I eat my meal all together, and like you say, a lot of meals are something like soup or yogurt that you cant separate anyway. I will go to my grave believing that vegetables and fibre are the more important things to get in. If I ate my chicken and then couldnt fit my vegies in, I would consider that a pretty unbalanced meal that was providing my body with the protein fuel to keep it alive but wasnt providing me all the things that make you look and feel good - the vitamins, antioxidents, phytochemicals etc. so whilst I treat protein as important and consider meals that provide good sources, I dont value it above other nutrients. You need BALANCE, all nutrients in your diet so I eat from my plate evenly. I dont know about you, but I dont fancy being thin with no teeth and no hair! We dont generally get the protein first advice in Australia anyway. Shock, horror! Yesterday I ate zucchini and leek soup for lunch. It had some skimmed evaporated condensed milk in it, but no hard protein source! And wonder of wonders, I got through till dinner! For me, it has a lot more to do with being busy than with what I actually eat. If I have something constructive to do, making the stretch between lunch and dinner is easy. Hey Nayttap, do you think I will ever be successful with this band huh? I mean, I'm maybe not as edumacated as you and all, but do you think I will ever really figure it out?

Well, I havent suffered band problems, but I too can attest to the fact that very minor symptoms can be a sign of a fairly catastrophic problem in your body! Its a good point to make - ignore nothing. Nothing is too silly or embarrassing to ask your doctor.

I dont really understand - if you were successful for six years until an injury occurred, and you have had a bypass, why do you need another surgery? If, like many, you've learned to outeat a bypass, then I have indeed heard about many people being banded AFTER they've had a bypass and not enjoyed long term success with it. That can definitely be done. But I've never heard about bypasses being redone.

We all want to get started NOW once we've decided and its very human to be so disappointed at the news that you're going to have to wait. I would feel exactly the same. And you're right, its beyond stupid to require people who have patently failed the unassisted diet and exercise thing before to do it yet again, just to prove some stupid non existent point. I mean, your very physical condition proves that over your lifetime, you've been unable to control your weight and health, doesnt it? What does some stupid 6 month supervised diet prove? But, nonetheless, them's the rules obviously. Look at the bright side. At a BMI of 47, if you DO lose weight on this diet, you're not going to quickly become too light for a lapband. It'd be a great start for you, and if you truly choose to look at it this way - it IS the start of the new you. The band just comes further on down the track. My advice would be to put your heart and soul into it and do the best you can to start changing and getting heatlhier right away. You've probably done so for short periods of time before, like most of us. Only this time, with a band to help you later on, you're not goign to pile it all on again and then some.

I chop and change with this one - I see myself dressed and try things on and I'm really thrilled with how I look. I go to the gym to do Body Pump and facing the mirrors, I'm really happy - I'm tall and lean and happy with my body. At the gym in particular, I can see that I'm often the thinnest person in the room. But generally, I dont see myself as thin. I still think I have fat bits, I still have fat days. And looking in the mirror at home I can see I've swapped beefy and fat for scrawny and saggy, I seem to have bypassed that fantasy model figure somewhere by the wayside! I'm just as unhappy with my body as I ever was yet I cant quite get my head around breast and tummy work, if you asked me about it for anyone else, i'd say great, go for it, do what makes you happy, its your right. I have no objection to it. But for myself it feels shallow, vain, something I'd be hideously embarrassed to admit I'd been tacky enough to do, I dont like to admit that I care that much about how I look. So I sort of have all this angst tied up in my body, its been through so much with cancer in the last year too and lately I look at it and all I see is old, its really depressing. But at the same time, I'm fit, strong, my body can do so much, it has healed itself, and I'm proud of it. Its weird that I can feel so good and bad about it. But one thing I dont see is the old fat me!

I've never had high blood pressure but my blood pressure has reduced significantly with increased fitness and weight loss, dh on the other hand is banded, lost 60lb and his blood pressure has remained high (not very high, borderline for medication but he's remained on his medication). However he no longer snores. for myself, I managed to clear up a long running sciatic issue. I was diagnosed with bowel cancer a few years after banding though, strong family history, but my colorectal surgeon (who used to do lapbands) said that it was because of the shape that I'm in that I was able to have laparascopic surgery rather than an open incision and that its because of the shape of in that I could have my ileostomy reversed - many obese people cant have that done because it is simply impossible to get that deep into the pelvis to create a false rectum, its very delicte surgery. It also happens often that their remaining intestine cant be stretched far enough to reach because of bulk in the abdomen. So my weight has greatly improved the cosmetic and lifestyle aspects of my surgical outcome - no big midline scar and I can now eliminate like a normal person again and dont ahve to wear a bag for life. Cancer wise, well, I have a horrible family history and am still at much higher risk than the general population, but my lifestyle is at least not the factor it once was. I am correct weight and I excercise regularly. On the downside he says CT scans of thin people are impossible to read because there's not nice cushions of fat separating all the organs!

I'm 5ft 10 and by 245lb had appeared to have shrunk to 5ft 9, then a year or two later after banding, I was 5ft 10 again. The nurse at the lapband clinic told me that its simnply the fact that your bum gets so big that when you go to get measured, it forces you to lean backwards slightly to get your head against the wall for the tape, which appears to reduce your height! To pick my goal, I did exactly what you've done, I know what being about 170 was like, I held that weight throughout my teens and 20's. It was OK, healthy enough but I felt "big" and unfeminine all the time, I was so much bigger than most other women. I knew I wanted to be much thinner, so I whacked off 20lb as well. I actually got down to 130ish for a whikel there while I was sick and I was skeletal up top, I am struggling with having gotten back to 140 but everyone says I look no different, just overall healthier. I know all my clothes still fit apart from one pair of jeans. I also always would have said I was "big boned" but funnily enough, I"m really not, althought I too have size 10 feet and relatively large hands. I lost SO much weight off my fingers, I got a new diamond ring - my wedding and engagement ring could not be adjusted enough without resetting the entire thing, and I fanced I much bigger diamond :-). I "only" had a BMI of 35 and yet my hands became unrecognizeable to me, and I would never have said they were "fat". Most of us think we're big boned, meant to be bigger etc, and if we give ourselves a chance, its amazing to find out wer'e totally normal sized people underneath. I feel great at 140! I'm sure you will too. But sadly, Cindy Crawford I"m not, lol. I always dreamed of being petite. Being so tall, you're always going to be bigger than a lot of women. But you know what, if I go with it, actually put on some heels and a short skirt (which I dont often do because heels make me like 6ft 2 and rather self conscious), DH reckons every head in the room turns. He says I'm Amazonian and that my legs go all the way to my armpits and that its very striking. So if you cant blend in with all the cute little things, outshine them! Now, I have 3 new hot pairs of sky high heels that DH bought me and I just have to get up the courage to wear them. I find it easier to wear a bikini than to go out in high heels! Oh - and find some more jeans that are long enough to wear with heels! Sadly, True Religions at $400 a pair are the only jeans available here long enough for me.

I'm a perfectionist and a chronic high achiever so I picked a fairly ambitious goal weight - I wanted to be THIN. I got there and passed it, with no real drama. But being the perfectionist I am, I'm still not 100% happy - I could be thinner, I could look better, I should do more this, that, etc etc.

Yeah, it was a lot like that for me too. I remember the day I saw 69kg, I never thought I'd get under 70, I weigh less than I did at 15 years old. But it was just "oh, great" A quiet satisfaction rather than at ticker tape parade. Then I saw 59kg one day during chemo, actually rather underweight for me. I looked awful, but I wanted to hang onto that weight, its been quite hard getting healthy again and getting to a better weight, in a weird way. I"m now 65kg, much much better for me but I feel like a fat pig. I feel out of control. Its strange how stuffed up we are about weight isnt it? What we think should be joyous really is just a good day and what should be healthy recovery doesnt feel good like it should.

I wish. Quite the opposite for me for a variety of reasons, but even before that, weight loss didnt increase my libido at all.

I'm 44 next week and am not bothered by wrinkles yet, but having grown up in Australia and being loving having a tan, I'm showing signs of sun damage - I'm getting those brown age spots and a red nose, lol. My solution is to tan even darker to hide it, but I know that's not going to cut it for much longer. Interested to read what others say.

I think you probably shoudl stop wearing the spanx. Tight undergarments like that dont let your skin breathe and its obviously a problem for you. It may or may not work, but you wont know unless you try it. If you're waxing reasonably regularly, it might indeed be ingrown hairs, you can buy various cosmetic solutions that supposedly prevent ingrowns, along with some pretty vigorous exfoliation every day. I think everyone's had the odd ingrown hair from bikini line waxing/shaving. But it might just be that you're more prone to them, like you've been told. I know its not really something you'd want to do but perhaps going completely au naturale might help too.

hahaha, gosh, no not totally upside down, lol (although I can do a handstand :-) Its walking on your hands in a pushup position. And yes, I've always been reasonably athletic, I could run short distances even at my heaviest. I used to do a lot of running when I was younger and I guess i"m just lucky that I really do like to work hard.

Try not to eat the same thing every day either - lots of variety is the key.

To be honest, that's a pretty horrible diet, its all processed! I agree, ditch that easy mac rubbish at lunchtime, that sort of stuff should never be on anyone's diet, there's absolutely nothing nutritious about it. Go for a good homemade soup, something with vegies and chickpeas in it for example. Do you only eat meat for dinner? If so, eat a bit less meat and supplement with some vegies. Make a smoothie in the morning instead of a processed protein shake - add some oatmeal or wheatgerm to it, some yogurt, some frozen berries and a bit of protein powder to boost it. Other things you could eat for lunch would include tuna or chicken salad or homemade dips like hummus and crackers with something easy like sliced cucumber. A small salad with a boiled egg might be an option too. Take a supplement as well.

My daughter was two, I was easily able to lift her in five days, but obvioiusly, you're not supposed to lift for a while. I changed her on the floor, and when she wanted some laptime, she climbed onto me rather than me lifting her. But obviously I couldnt have her on one hip constantly as she was used to. We had a few tantrums but we survived.

I agree with this, the heart rate advice but also the diminishing returns thing. I simply dont understand how people can believe that they burn mega calories on an elliptical when you're not actually lifting and moving your body weight, its pretty much exactly the same as an exercise bike. It gets very easy very quickly and you have to push it on the highest levels to raise your heartrate. I'd never buy one for home, you can get way way more out of a good treadmill. I even do walking lunges and side squats and mountain climbers and handwalking on my treadmill - complete body workout!

I hate strength training too and I dont want it to take away from running time. God its boring! What I do love to do is Body Pump, OK, its muscle endurance, it aint never going to build me big muscles, but I'm not afraid to say I'm a bit of an old fashioned girl who thinks women look better when they look like women - tone and shape yep, but big biceps arent my cup of tea. So Body Pump suits me AND my scale has reported a slight increase in lean body mass - really important when you're regaining weight lost from being sick, which is the situation I was in. And I do like strength circuits - google steve's treadmill bootcamp for some idea, crazy stuff but fun, or I do circuit training with a 15kg sandbag - it all builds muscle and strength but is not that mind numbing standing around looking in a mirror while you pump one bicep at a time sort of stuff. And I dont believe in machines - they dont build functional strength.

Do you know, I think the secret to this is accepting that you will stray somewhat overtime and be ready, willing and able to REALLY milk that post op period before you've discovered all the tricks of the trade. Get that first month, two months, however long it lasts and make it work for you. I found my early banding experience was like that, I was incredibly lucky, but I had no bandster hell, I just had absolutely superb restriction, the likes of which I have never been able to achieve since, and incredible motivation. Weight just literally poured off me in that first eight weeks or so, way past what I'd ever managed to lose before and that was enough to engage me, think "this really works" and keep me going through the long hard slog of the rest of the weight loss. I've had the same thing several times in the last year after my various surgeries and such. Three weeks or so with a reduced appetite, and because my issues have been bowel and obstruction problems, I've been put on a low residue diet each time. I notice my weight drops markedly in that period, I do my 3 meals no Snacks, and 3 tiny meals at that with ease and then gradually normality returns, sigh. So I think prepare for it, anticipate it and work it work it work it while you have it. And dont beat yourself up because it doesnt last, its the same for everyone.

No no no! Pregnancy is such a special time, of course keep some bigger clothes for round the house and exercising or what not, but you need some well cut maternity clothes that make you look like a glowing pregnant woman not a barrel with legs. Lare sized clothes dont flatter pregnant woman they're not cut right. You get that awful short at the front look from your bump! And the shoulders and chest and such will be too big for you and just look like a sack. Treat yourself, its totally worth it.

I had bouts of extreme diziness and faiting during the pre op diet (which I didnt actually have to do but I wanted to try to get a kick start). Lapband doc told me to stop doing it, as he never told me to go on it anyway, and that fixed that problem. Recently I've fainted several times, incuding once in the bathroom where I almost knocked my teeth out on the towel rail. DH put the blood pressure cuff on me, yeah, 88/52 and a pulse rate of 45, lol. For me, I've got low blood pressure anyway and at that stage, I still had the ileostomy and had had diarrhoea for a while and was still pushing myself to run and do body pump, so low pb and dehydration were to blame. Havent had a problem since I had the ileo reversed. When you're dieting and exercising hard, its usually going to be low bp and/or dehydration. If you're having troubles, drink gatorade instead of Water when you work out.

A scale that tells you your body composition can be helpful - I know they can be a tad inaccurate, but my scale is telling me that despite my 10lb gain - my body fat level has not increased - my hydration level and my lean muscle mass has. So all that Body Pump is probably paying off and I've gained healthy weight from being so skinny during chemo. It still stings to gain weight, warped as it is, I loved seeing 60kg (actually underweight for me) on the scales, sigh. But at least I can know that its good healthy weight that I needed and not allow that to send me off in a comfort eating frenzy. Same with when you're not losing. You can still see that you're achieving, numbers can help where fitting into smaller clothes might not convince you.

Definitely taking up running. I know what the experts say about strength training building muscle thereby increasing weight (or fat) lost. And it may be that it depends very much on your particular body.But to lose a lot of weight, I dont think you can beat hard core cardio and lots of it. You can burn calories in classes, you can have fun in classes, you can keep yourself fit in classes. But go out and run for an hour a day and you'll get results far above what you can achieve zumba'ing around a room. I just think the no crap, no gimmick hardcore cardio routine works. If you can psych yourself into it and get yourself through it until you're fit enough that it doesnt feel like torture, you wont be sorry. And I agree totally - get your head in the game BEFORE surgery. Once you've made that decision, the new you is in action. Dont do that last supper routine. Be committed right NOW.

A lot of exercise equipment uses averages - the calories burned for an average height/weight person at average intensity. If you're, for example, twice as heavy as the average person and twice as unfit, therefore working twice as hard at the same level, you'll burn a LOT more calories - and any program where you put in your actual age, height and weight will be more accurate. Then again, things like elliptical trainers are notoriously inadequate. You can tell by feel what you're burning, not accurately in number, but if your heart is beating very fast, you cant really talk and you're sweating a lot, you're getting a great workout. So when you amble along on the elliptical for 20 mninutes and it tells you you've burned 600 calories - its WRONG. If you burn 600 calories in 20 minutes, or even 40 for that matter, you're going to be in no doubt that you're doing it, you'll be exhausted. I like how all the experts say spinning burns 600 + calories in an hour - I'm very fit, and average weight for a woman and my bike computer usually says I've done about 25kms in a session and burned about 300 to 350 calories. I'd believe that more than I'd believe I've burned 600 - 600 is more like I'd burn running for an hour and that's harder to me than a spin class. Short answer, there's no real way of knowing. You can only know that you've worked as hard as possible. If its easy, then you havent done that. Of course, you need some easy days but if you want to consistently lose fat - work hard, fast and make yourself breathless and sweating.

Good for you. Its a big thing learning to put yourself out there.