Jachut

Everyone who's travelled has the classic story of an Australian sitting in the restaurant with a plate of lettuce in front of them, waiting, waiting, waiting for the meat to arrive, lol. Marmar, that taco salad sound delicious NOT. Its like gg salad or chicken salad - that's not salad, its egg or chicken with tons of mayonnaise. A few bits of celery doesnt make it a vegetable dish. I find the cultural differences fascinating foodwise. There's always something to amaze me, lol. We probably appear just as strange.

Its a peculiar notion to me this idea of a salad being just lettuce and dressing. To me, its lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, avocado, cucumber, sprouts and such with a dressing like french or italian. That's healthy. And definitely not a slider for me, in fact very difficult to eat. hmarko, I do running, boot camp and circuit training, a lot of interval type stuff, makes me very hot, sweaty, very high heart rates, I am tight tight tight after that. If I just go for a nice slow run, I'm not.

Wow, nice. I guess political opinions differ, but I sure hope neither of you are ever in a position where you need help. Karma can be a bitch.

Not only does she not sound sympathetic or caring, she sounds like a bloody idiot. I'd run far away.

That doesnt answer the question. Moral issues of whether medicare should cover this or not, lets pretend it will. So how is it ANY different to treat a patient now, at a BMI of 34, than later at a BMI of 45, when the patient ALSO has a raft of comorbidities chewing up even more tax dollars for ongoing treatment? Would we be arguing about whether she ought to be treated for her diabetes or not, or would you be happy for your tax dollars to pay for that? I find so many people in this community have this inbuilt attitude towards weight loss surgery, that its somehow OK as long as the patient is massively obese but if there's even a HINT of cosmetic benefit, look out! For someone to suggest that SHE looked ok at 184 and 5ft 2 so therefore there's no need for surgery is just plain stupid. Its a BMI of 34. Its obese. So tell me, how does waiting for another 120 lb to creep on benefit anyone?

So..... perhaps you shouldnt have gotten pregnant? if everyone else's problems are their own fault becuase of their own poor choices, perhaps yours are too. Perhaps you shouldnt have qualified for surgery and overburdened the insurance company becuase, you know, you could always have chosen NOT to get pregnant and then you wouldnt have gained any weight. Because if people like you who made choices that led to them being fat werent having lapband surgery then the insurance companies could afford to approve the people that REALLY need it? See how insane you sound? Your arguments have absolutely no logic and you sound like someone who doesnt take responsibility for their own actions - do I detect a hint of "it wasnt me, it was my hormones"?. We pay taxes for a reason, and one of those reasons is to ensure that in a civilised countrie, people in need dont go uncared for. I actually agree with you that need and what led to it is debatable. You dont have dibs on it simply becuase in your own mind you're on moral high ground. And by the way - how do you know about ANY of the original posters financial circumstances. You're making a lot of assumptions there. Lets just hope that nothing bad ever happens to you to make you reliant on financial assistance. If I had to make assumptions about you - I'd guess you're fairly young and full of your own self righteous and as yet unfounded political opinions, that you grew up easy, had everything on a platter and had the opportunity to make of your life what you pleased. You hate people that have very large families because they're sponging off your tax dollars by having kids they cant afford. But you'll be happy to take the benefit of THEIR tax dollars when you're old and infirm and all those kids are out there working. Of course, you DO have a point. Our baby bonus scheme here certainly results in a suspiciously large number of new plasma televisions. Sometimes it is more profitable to push out another kid than go back to work with our welfare system the way it is. Now that could be wrong (and in fact I know it is because you said you've had kids, which does tend to bring maturity), and you'll be bristling with indignation that I dare to make such assumptions about you. Not nice is it? But if you're older, have had a bit of life experience, and still shoot off your mouth in this way without thinking about what you're really saying, shame on you.

Yep, spray tans were invented for a reason!

I'm 5ft 10 and at 184, I was fat. Not obese yet, but well and truly chunky and not looking my best. Rolls round the belly, big boobs and not able to shop in a lot of normal stores - we're not quite so supersized clothing wise yet in Australia, but its coming. A BMI of 34 is obese! If you think that looks good, then that's YOUR choice. I've lost down from a BMI of 36 (they band from a BMI of 30 in Australia). The improvement in my physical health is remarkable, I needed to lose that weight. You're only comparing it and finding it an improvement from being much much heavier. That's not reality. Its still heavy enough to bring the beginnings of comorbidities. This is two issues and I dont really want to weigh into the illegal/cheating the taxpayer thing. Your medical system is just way too complicated. But I ask you this - How is gaining a few pounds to get the surgery any different from someone who gains right up to 300 lb and THEN gets the surgery? Costs the same either way only the 300 pounder has also probably racked up a bunch of costs for treatment of comorbidities of obesity as well. It actually SAVES the taxpayer money to treat obesity before it becomes serious. Everyone has a right to weigh in on how this affects them as taxpayers, of course they do, but saying you wouldnt have had surgery at 184 so therefore she shouldnt, well, that's pretty arrogant. Think about it. If it were somehow magically easier to lose the weight becuase you're 184lb and not 284, why didnt YOU do that when you were 184lb instead of having surgery? Why have YOU taken up someone else's opportunity for surgery (because of course, there's not enough for everyone is there?) when you could have just so easily lost the weight before you got heavier? Why do YOU deserve the surgery more because you've allowed yourself to get more out of control? How often did YOU lose 4lb and regain it? And how different might your life have been if you HAD actually acknowledged 184 as obese at your height and had the surgery back then before you got bigger? Its so hypocritical, it just drives me crazy.

I've found a great way to keep panythose comfortable. Never wear any! I have not worn a pair for over 20 years myself. Hate the things.

I cant eat for HOURS after exercise. It makes me very very tight.

Ooooh, those not big enough comments make me so mad. I hate that attitude. Sorry ladies to take issue, but YOU were that size once and you just kept right on going, getting bigger until you did "deserve" surgery, didnt you? Every single one of us has at one time, even for five minutes been not big enough to qualify for the surgery. What right does you have to say that a surgery is unnecessary based simply on someone's weight?. How on earth do YOU know what she goes through to be that weight? . My BMI is only 21 now but could I maintain that without a lapband? Probably not! I just think its amazingly arrogant to pass judgement on someone else's circumstances simply because in YOUR opininion, they are a low weight and ought to be happy with it. When you've never been fatter, having a BMI of 34 is the fattest you can imagine, and it IS obese and it DOES have health risks. People with a BMI of 30 can struggle just as much with their weight, be just as desperate about it and sorry, but fat is fat is fat. Really serious obesity down the track is very highly likely. Having surgery now saves the taxpayer much more money later. But I agree, trying to gain hardly seems sensible or functional, which perhaps is simply a measure of the need for surgery. Knowing what this surgery has done for my quality of life and happiness starting from a BMI of 36, I'm not sure I wouldnt be doing the same.

I have a little nothing really bad. But from years on yere, its my belief that virtually nobody escapes it. Having only a little can be just as annoying as having lots, its the only thing holding me back from really having my dream body. The body under there is in great shape, but its like my skin is about 1/4 of a size too big all over. I just want to pinch an inch of it off all round. Still, I can cope with that. It doesnt worry me unduly.

during most of my weight loss I exercised at home. I have a treadmill. Early on, I just jogged on it and listened to music. I'd do 4 miles per hour for 40 minutes or so. As I got fitter, I did more. I did stuff like cardiocoach, which is an MP3 interval training program, I have a treadmoves DVD (treadmill sprints and weight work combined) and I began running outside. I gradually came to run mainly outside, using the treadmill only if it was late, raining or really really hot. I also used to do my own made up circuit combining heavy weight work or sandbag work with running intervals on the treadmill. Nowadays I'm running outside, and doiing 2 bootcamp sessions a week plus a circuit training class at the gym, which I take my son and his friend too. The bootcamp has got me working harder than I ever thought possible. The biggest advantage to developing the discipline to working out at home and having a treadmill is that I never have an excuse not to do decent exercise.

I find my band extremely touchy if I go a long time without eating. It gets very tight. It might be as simple as that. Try to get some nutritious liquids down a bit more often during the day perhaps. You do get random tightness too, you'll learn your band is not usually the same from one day or week to the next.

I hate the aftertaste of diet coke, am not really a soft drink drinker at all. But on the odd occasion I have, its too bubbly, I cant drink very much of it at all, maybe 1/4 of a can. Other carbonated drinks such as champagne or the odd gin and tonic are fine for me, they're nowhere near as bubbly.

I've got a 4cc band too and I have to say over the years here, I've observed that it definitely seems harder to get noticeable restriction in the larger capacity bands. I've never not had restriction - I just needed more as time went on and I lost, but I had it right from the very start.

Restriction will give you control of your hunger, but you are always going to have to make a conscious effort to eat well and to exercise.

Lol, I want to be that 80 year old!

That's so true. I could have the body of a model if I wanted to give up carbs, I'm sure. With the amount and type of exercise I do, if I ate the high protein/low carb low calorie diet, I'd get there. I just cant really be arsed to do it, lol. Its too much like hard work. I really LIKE the exercise, so that's not an effort to me, but I like eating like a normal person too much - healthy and sensible most of the time, with enough treats in there to not feel deprived. I dont want to think about food and count this and that every day.

I think body shape is important. Apples and pears makes a difference - I'm most definitely a pear and at a BMI of 36, I had a pretty large bum and thighs, and my arms were getting fat, boobs were big and droopy, yes, I had a tummy too. But I didnt have the large stomach that apple shaped people get and I didnt have the fat inside my abdomen either because my body was just not genetically and hormonally predisposed to carry it there. Hence my smaller band, and my ability to take more fill - less fat around my stomach. personal theory only - but make sense to me.

I think the whole population could do with a bit less carbs. When I say I eat them, I certainly dont need the 2 or 3 slices of bread, serve of cereal, Pasta and Cookies that I used to eat all in one day! I might have ONE of those things now. I've definitely changed the protein/carb balance in my diet, without really counting, and it IS for the better. Does anyone else find though - if I have a Protein shake for breakfast, I eat far less all day. People say protein provides good satiety - but I find I eat less because they make me slightly nauseous and VERY gassy and bloated. I just cant seem to tolerate them, its been the case everytime I've tried this protein thing - and boy oh boy after a day you wouldnt want to be downwind of me! But the weight drops every time.

There's many experts who would disagree that you can replace anything with a supplement - there's a lot of complexity in the balance and combinations in which nutrients appear in foods that cant be replicated. How often, for example, do women take Iron they need desperately and simply fail to absorb it, showing no improvement when retested? Happens all the time, becuase the the various nutrients people take need other things to help them be absorbed or can even fight one another and prevent utilisation. And a lot of us DO do heavy exercise, which increases our needs for both Protein AND for some carbohydrate to fuel it. Its difficult isnt it? You simply cant get it all in as a bandster, but choosing one of the other isnt necessarily sound practice. I've gotten to the point with my exercise that I'm seriously considering an unfill to fuel myself because I tend to get really bad carb cravings lately simply because I cant eat enough to fuel myself - I'm doing bootcamp sessions that easily burn over 800 calories in an hour. I think you have to go a bit by things like what makes you feel good, and what you can maintain too.

Its four years for me tomorrow. over time, the bands effect on your appetite and cravings does, I have found, diminish. I dont eat as faultlessly as I did and some habits have returned. I also find lately I can eat more again - I have found the need for teeny top up fills once a year or so - like 0.1 cc (have a 4cc band). However, my perspective has changed too so whem I think I eat "a lot" its nothign compared to normal people. this is good, my view on serving sizes etc is much much healthier than it was. However, I have not regained so much as a single gram. I continue to work hard at making good decisions and if I have a few bad days, I make up for it. I do not allow my weight to fluctuate by more than a pound - even whem I know its hormonal weight gain I get super strict for a few days. I also continue to challenge myself with my fitness, I continue to run, do boot camp and circuit training, keeping up a pretty gruelling fitness schedule, but I love it. I am under NO illusions that I can give this up, even where I to fall back to simply walking every day, I would gain weight. I exercise on holidays, I dont have a day off just coz its Christmas etc. Probably sounds depressing to some, but I love it and I crave it. It makes me feel good and you learn to enjoy the sensations of pushing your body. could I keep the weight off without the band? Not sure. Probably not all of it. But I do not believe I'd become obese again either, I think I'd probably return to the BMI of 27, 28 which used to frustrate me so much all through my teens and 20's, because my habits are so diffent now, particularly exercise wise.

Its symptoms such as nausea, chills and shakes that occur when a whole ton of sugar and fat hit your circulation too quickly. it happens to bypass people becuase of their missing intestines, the stuff doesnt get broken down/absorbed gradually, it suddenly hits the intestines and boom, straight into the blood stream. not something a bandster needs to worry about although people with blood sugar issues and diabetes can also get this occurring. Easily avoided by not eating sugary/fatty foods.

I am a global warming sceptic. I dont swallow everything the experts tell us, hook line and sinker. I think they're panic merchants and over more than just global warming. I could name about ten issues in Australia that were going to have dire consequences over the past decade that have fizzled to nothing. Look at swine flu. Nothing like the worldwide epidemic they predicted. I particularly hate the way people say our current 12 years and counting drought in Australia is global warming. Drought is a natural, normal part of our climate here, and the way to cope with it is to plan for it within our infrastructure and economic planning, not try to live a lifestyle that relies on European levels of rainfall! Do people seriously think that there'll never be another ice age for example, or any other climactic conditions that could wipe out humanity? Its a part of the cycle. We have probably hastened warming, but not caused it, and it will occur no matter what we do, just as the world will freeze again at some time in the future. So in short, I do believe we're warming, yes, but I dont believe we've caused it or can necessarily control it with any significant success. We're current occupants on the planet and not necessarily going to be here forever. I try to make environmentally responsible decisions but I hate this personal responsibilty foisted onto each and every one of us, its bullshit.