Jachut

Well i was happy with a rate of only 2 or 3 lbs a month and i coasted all the way yo. Bmi of 21, it just took me a year to lose the last 10 lbs. I did/do exercise though, regular running and spinning. Sure, if you want faster youll have to work harder. I know for me, eatimg what i want in smaller amounts is the only thing that works. I like and eat plenty of healthy foods and i do mot follow every single whim, but sometimes, i do eat cake for lunch!

Ugh, i hate fish, cooked on a plate in front of me. When Dh brings his hardwon fish home i give it to the cats. Skin and bones *shudder* However, i lov sashimi and gave it regularly, i slso like canned tuna and eat plenty of that. I do also eat salmon, often put it in a laksa or red curry

Because it on the outside of your abdominal wll, just under the skin, it needs to be easily accessed with a needle. If they put it inside your abdomen they wouldnt be able to get to it.

Having never carried an awful lot of my weight on my stomach mine was visible from very early on. I started at a bmi of 36. By the time Id hit 30 it was a very obvious lump and at 20 it looked like a walnut under my skin. I had it moved and as there is no low profile port for my seven year old band, the doc yook the bavk of it to lower its profile. Now its right by my bellybutton in that natural pad of fat instead of in the hollow below my ribs. Its still visible as a slight mound that just throws my bellybutton a little off centre but it waaaay better than the big knobbly lump it was, i could even see and feel tubing. You will probably see and feel it permanently to some degree, you cant have something tht size and shape on your abdomen just under the skin if you are of normal weight and not see/ feel it! But placement and profile make a difference.

I cant stick to 1000 as a female with a band! I need more. Im 5 ft 10 and run for an hour or more almost daily and about 1500 saw me lose right down to a bmi of 20 and i now maintain an the same intake. I dont think really low calories necessarily hurts in the short tem but even when i ferl like ive barely had more than a nibble that day, by the time i add in milk for coffee and the odd extra mouthful of this and that I always find it hard to stick to 1000. And truth is, i dont need to. I find it hard to believe that many adult men ould truly need to drop tht low.

You probably need a little more of everything if youre working out really hard

I had a tummy tuck to Fix scarring and hernias from cncer surgery and the tightening and removal of a couple of inches of skin were welcome but i didnt need it for loose skin and nobody has noticed i had anything done. I lost 120 lb, but Im five foot ten and evenly proportioned

I've been in the same boat - I had cancer in 2010 and got down to 130 and was really skinny, but I confess, I loved it. Had treatment, got better, and managed to keep the weight down. But I kind of let it go - I'm sure some of it just has to do with being healthy and completely better again, but truth is, I did stop being so strict. And hello 12 lb. I'm still only a BMI of 21. But I feel absolutely horrible and it has thrown me into obsession with food. Which leads to overeating for me. The stricter I try to be, the worse I get. I'm sooooo tempted to do something like this, but I fear the backlash if I don't stick to it! In truth, I know for me, if I say to mysql "ok, I'm a healthy weight, I'm not going to try to lose" then I will probably stop eating crap and lose weight. I just need to accept that the super hot jeans that fit me at 130 just aren't my regular size and trying to stay in them sans muffin top is unrealistic! Perhaps I'll go jeans shopping tonight after work. Or perhaps I'll buy the 17 day diet book, lol. Hmmmm....

Sometimes you realky need an anti inflammatory - my surgeon said just take it with a nexium or zantac to protect your tummy and short term should be fine. He said the same about aspirin which is a known bowel cancer preventative, my oncologist wants me on ut. He said I could take aspirin if I Also went onto nexium.

A cold always gives me heartburn and it does my hubby too. Id assess when the cold is gone.

If they compare it yo what the average american eats (high fat high salt high carb high Protein high calorie) it'll look pretty good! If they compare it to a high wholegrain low saturated fat diet itll look pretty bad.!

For me, it was being able to call myself a runner!

I dont substitute! Ill just end up eating whatever it was anyway. I either give in or ignore the craving depending on a number of factors like whether i can cut back elsewhere in my day to allow calories

Ive been moaning and worn my coat all day in the classroom as it was 12 celcius here in Melbourne, freezing, lol! I dont know how Id go in a Vermont winter!

I struggle too. I mke up for it with vegies

I do try to include green smoothies! I always cut up fresh fruit and freeze it for smoothies. I believe 2 fruit five veg is good for us. Fruit is high in sugar, so I dont eat TOO much of it, and whole fruit is best (which includes pureed, rather than juiced). The trouble is, I dont like it very much, sigh. I pretty much dislike the thought of eating anything cold, I dont know why. Fruit, salad, cold drinks. Now I love my cooked vegies and I drink coffee all day long, but I cant stand the sensation of cold things - and its not that I have sensitive teeth. So it takes consistent effort for me to get enough fruit in, salads you can always replace with hot vegies. And I eat an awful lot of homemade healthy soup. Smoothies always block me up and get stuck too - I have no idea why. But I struggle on because I certainly believe an all Protein diet is absolutely horrible for us.

I agree too. I love running and spinning, truly enjoy them. Over the years here, people have marvelled that I'm so dedicated to exercise - I mean I ran right through chemo, radiation, surgery. But I truly love and enjoy it. I'm as lazy as the next person when it comes to say, weight lifting. Hate it. Its boring. Dont get a buzz from it. Start it occasionally coz I feel guilty and get sucked into the whole theory. But theory means jack sh*t if you dont want to do it! Consistency has paid off for me, it may have taken longer than it strictly had to but I got the body I wantfd by cardio - much as people love to say it wont work. Likewise diets. I dont give a fig for your high Protein low carb theories. I know I cant eat that way. I know I need some fun food in my life. I know I want to eat what I want and not track, weigh and measure. Most of the time I eat well, some days, I have Cookies for lunch! I let my band do its thing, it controls portions all of the time and I am in charge of quality control for most of the time. So Judy and Bigenuff, I reckon keep doing what you're doing, its working for you and dont get sucked into what others believe you should or should not do. At the end of the day, and I've really learned this after maintaining for so long - you need to be able to do wat you're doing FOREVER. End of story. You cannot go back to your old ways so if your new ways require amazing discipline, sacrfice and vigilance, you'd etter be sure you can keep it up or some regain is inevitable - even WITH a lapband.

Isnt it funny how many of us think "oh the boobs look OK with a good bra"? I feel the same. Mine are dreadful, lol, but it doesnt bother me - yet I think my hubby is baffled by my focus on my thighs. He'd see nothing else, and probably nor would any man - if I just had huge fake boobs. He'd jump to pay for that one, and is baffled as to why I dont want them. I actually like my small boobs, and have never in my life wanted big ones. When i had them, I loathed them.

Donuts feel like eating ground glass to me, they STING! Weird. Fresh soft hot cinnmon donuts mmmmmmm. But Im not tempted by cold ones, the ft all congeals in them, eeew.

Well, I was lucky in that I had a full tummy tuck recently that was reconstructive (and therefore covered) due to problems caused by cancer surgery Unfortunately, its not the one I would have picked. What I really NEED is outer and inner thigh liposuction and perhaps a bit around the flanks. I am quite hippy, that is what would make the most difference to my body - no more saddlebags and no more love handles. I still might do it. But I'm a little concerned at 45, and having lost a lot of weight that my skin might not shrink back well.

Mine was relocated as part of a tummy tuck and its barely visible now, even at a bmi of 20/21, id say do it!

I'm not by nature a tracker or counter but I have been lately because I have to keep records for a dietician I have to see for bowel problems. What I've noticed, years into maintenance, I tend to eat about 1400 calories a day across three meals and a snack, plus milk for coffee. My diet pretty much ALWAYS falls somewhere around 25-30% fat, 25-30% Protein and 40-50% carbs. For me, I run a lot so I burn those carbs, but I have no trouble maintaining my weight. I have a BMI of 21 and feel great. The program I've been using doesnt give you grams of each of those macronutrients just percerntages. I try to stay away from fried foods, takeaway foods, really processed foods like Lean Cuisines and canned Soups (I make all my own soups, I absolutely LIVE on thick, homemade soups) and sugar. Sugar and I do not have a good relationship, I tend to binge on it, so even though I really believe in anything in moderation, when i am going to eat sugar, I know I'm in for a pig out. Sometimes, I simply plan for it, enjoy it and move on.

Actually wine can really BURN my stomach, horribly. I do need something in my stomach before I have a drink.

I have a variety of approaches depending on how I'm feeling with my weight, where I'm at with training for running events, what's gone on that week, and such. Sometimes, very occasionally, it truly is OK to just let your hair down and indulge. But I woudlnt choose to do that on a week where I'd already had a few indulgences or a few events on. I wouldnt choose to do it when I"m at the top end of my swing room weight wise and I did it a lot less whilst I was recovering from my tummy tuck and not running regularly! Sometimes, particularly with family, I just have a drink or two and push food round my plate and then have a small bit of dessert. I hide the fact that I dont eat a lot because when you're thin that alarms people. Apparently all thin people who dont stuff their faces at a party are anorexic. Most times I stick to ONE glass of wine, avoid all the chips and nibbles before the meal, eat a small meal, have just a bite of dessert and dont touch the cheese platter or after dinner chocolates. I basically stay away from anything not portion controlled on a plate. That just one chip, or one cheese and cracker, that's a spiral to disaster for me! I also try to do a really big run, like 12, 15kms and burn a good 1000 calories that day.

OK you may have read my reply but I just decided I was being overly sensitive and need to rephrase anyway. what I said in a nutshell was it seems a bit strange to me to ask for the advice, but then quote me, refute me and claim to not be making it up. You asked a question and you can either disagree or agree with my opinion. But if you still have a calorie deficit at the end of the day then you ARENT eating back the calories - and you may indeed be undereating if you're sure you burn 800 calories wiht an hour's swimming, that's one helluva workout. I sure couldnt do it, even in a spin class and I'm very fit, but I guess I'm also only 145lb these days. At the end of the day though, trying to make your weight loss fit the math is a path to madness, plateaus and uneven loss is what happens to most of us. I used to go weeks without losing and then suddenly drop 10lb in two weeks. I dont know whether what you mean is do you need to eat more or do you need a specific type of snack immediately post workout. I dont really know. I lost all my weight running, with minimal strength training, never drinking Protein shakes and eating carbs, so apparently I had no hope of success. Yet I lost 120lb, have kept it off for four years, am fit, toned and have the body I want. So to my way of thinking that means there's any number of paths that will lead you to a fit, health body and weight loss - as long as at the end of the day all those paths lead to eating less calories than you burn.