Jachut

Whilst I was figuring out how to zoom on my camera phone yesterday - out in the bright sunlight - I accidentally snapped a picture of my face, taken upwards from waist level.
Sheeeeeeeit. I take back EVERYTHING I have ever said against cosmetic surgery. I'm going to start a fund - who's the first to donate?

I havent had breast cancer, but was diagnosed with rectal cancer two years ago. My band was unfilled for surgeries ut in hindsight even that wasnt necessary. I had fill in during radiation and chemotherapy pre surgery and coped absolutely fine - at that stage I was fit and strong and coped without nausea - then I unfilled for the bowel resection (because my colorectal surgeon told me to) - and remained unfilled during the heavier duty chemo post surgery - I had nausea but easily controlled with Zofran. I began refilling about half way through my 20 rounds of chemo.
Afterwards I had awful trouble trying to get the same restriction, my band has never been quite the same but it IS functional and OK.
the main problem I've had was I had to take Iron tablets for four months and they burned a little each time I swallowed one - it turned out they caused an ulcer in my pouch. I had dreadful heartburn for months, but a few rounds of nexium has cured it - so if you have to take anything like that take it WITH nexium to protect your stomach.
The main issue is going to be if you have to have radiation therapy to he area - they are brilliant with calculating how to target only the affected tissue, but there is collateral damage - for example I can now when I need to go to the toilet (thankfully I am continent), but dont get the urge or push to empty, I have to trigger it with a small enema - nerve damage to the area from radiation. I also cannot digets fructose, wheat, lactose properly anymore and am on a restricted low fodmap diet - again damage to the gut lining from radiation and chemotherapy. My overies were fried - hot flushes and menopause begain two days after the very first radiation treatment. So it is not inconceivable that there may be damage to your band and stomach being close in behind your breast. But that's not a certainty and what can you do anyway? Just try to relax and pray that it all comes back negative anyway.

I was always under the impression that weight loss of more than 2lb per week greatly increases the risk of developing gallstones, either silent or symptomatic ones. This is because of the change in proportion between bile salts and cholesterol in the gallbladder and the fact that low fibre and low fat eating cause the gallbladder to not contract as often as it should and therefore stones can develop.
Any diet low in plant/grain foods (and therefore low in fibre) or very low in calories and fat can cause this. Its a major risk after weight loss surgery of course because of the very fast weight loss that often happens.
Again, it would seem that moderation is your best defence, moderate calorie restriction, moderate weight loss, a little bit of all foods in moderation, and not too low a fat intake.
And lose weight once and lose it for good! If only hey? Most of us are probably host to silent gallstones due to our histories of dieting and regaining constantly.

I dont think the wrist sizes mean anything. My thumb and pinky touch, my thumb and middle finger overlap considerably, but when I was at my top weight, my thumb and middle finger didnt touch at all.
You can see the bones on my chest, but my bum is still very ah "comfortable" looking, lol. I have size 10 feet too that are very wide, but I have very small hands.

Those bands can be great and will work just fine if you're consistent. Also think about using body weight exercises like tricep dips and push ups as well.
With those bands, you can loop them round things and work your upper back as well or your chest just buy turning around. I sometimes use them outside, loop them round the pergola post and I also loop one over the pergola's overhead beam and pull down for triceps. There's loads of ways to use them and I actually prefer them to free weights you have a kind of stabilising you have to do through all planes of movement, which can give you faster results.
I've even found that just running regularly has toned my arms quite considerably from the arm motion.

The only good wife is one who wants to marry you. Not one you buy or seek through an agency.
I wouldnt look twice at a mixed race marriage but really, exploiting someone who only wants you as a ticket to a better life is not really a recipe for happiness.
And what is a good wife anyway? If you want obedient, meek and mild then you probably have to do without friendship, love and equality.

I had an early menopause brought on by cancer treatment - OMG it was HORRIBLE. The hot flashes, I would get major panic attacks with them, and want to rip my clothes off. At home, I did rip my clothes off!
It upset my sleep markedly too I was absolutely bug eyed, totally depressed, having major sugar cravings, etc. I went onto HRT. I know the risks, but I'm only 44, have early osteoporosis, was miserable and not coping with the menopause symptoms. HRT has been an absolutely life saver for me, I will be on it for a long time yet. I also had to start testosterone treatment and THAT was incredible. That's the fountain of youth. It took away all the aches and pains, the belly weight gain, the declining libido, the mood issues.
The little break you had might just be a coincidence, I think a more natural menopause can sort of come and go, cant it?

Terry afterburn is where your metabolism is heightened after exercise, something that long moderate sessions of cardio (like we're told to do to burn fat) doesnt achieve.
Slower cardio causes your body to burn a greater PERCENTAGE of fat for fuel but harder cardio burns more fat overall. Of course you have to start with what you can manage, but intervals in your cardio work, where you push your heart rate through the roof help to elevate you to that next level, and cause your body to have to burn more calories to recover when you've finished. Slow cardio like walking doesnt do that, your body just returns to normal once you stop.
Weights and particularly circuit training, where you combine weights AND cardio are the best ways to raise your metabolism for hours.
But dont worry about it. I truly believe all that scientific claptrap is irrelevant to a degree for us average Joe's. Anyone with half a brain can see that if an overweight person starts to eat less and do some cardio, she loses weight.
Its only when you get to my stage, where you've lost down to a health weight (but want to lose just a few kgs more for fine tuning) and have been doing long runs for a couple of years taht you need to start thinking "right, how can I shake this up a bit". There's no point to me going out and running MORE to try to lose more weight, I already can run an hour at a time and my body has adapted well to it, can do it most efficiently for minimum calorie burn and can recover quickly. From here on it, I need to get tricky with it, AND I would also like to increase my aerobic fitness so I can do a half marathon. I need to do something different, shock my body to achieve that.
For those of us part way through our journeys, eat less and move more doing something you'll like doing. The average person doing a normal amount of exercise is not going to waste away all their muscle doing cardio or fail to get benefits. It works.

Sheesh, I'm glad I live where I do! Nobody in Australia would even think of carrying things like that around, the thought is bizarre to me, to be honest. And people just dont own guns here.
I run either at about 7 am or about 5.30 pm, safe times. I dont go out alone in the dark. I live in a built up suburban area and I stick to the main roads. I wouldnt run in deserted areas, such as parks, reserves or roads with no houses on them. If its late and dark, I run on my treadmill.
I have a little laminated card laced onto my shoe with my name, address and phone number on it, in case I get hit by a car or collapse or something. And I take my phone in a little waist pouch.
I'm usually quite vocal about just doing it, not making excuses not to run. But in a situation where you would actually consider carrying a gun (my jaw hit the floor, I must admit) then really that's a fair indication that its a bit too dangerous.

I had a BMI of 36 when I started, so I thought I'd see results quicky, but I didnt. I'd always complained that when you're fat, you can work really hard and lose 20lb and nobody notices a thing. Well, I had to lose about 40 lb to even go down a dress size, and it was a good 50 (half my weight loss) before I began to look less fat and bloated.
All the cosmetic gain came in the last 30lb or so, before that, i was smaller but still fat. Then suddenly my face and body begain to change really quickly, and now, if I lose a pound or two, people sometimes comment. I was looking pretty good by the time I got to a
BMI of 25, but getting down those last couple of points made the real difference.

I was at boot camp last night and the trainer has combined the 6pm and 7pm groups as we didnt have enough in the earlier session. So I trained with a new bunch, its at my son's school so mum's, dad's and other local people. Probably aged between 30 and 45. I'm 42
I was easily the fittest person in a group of 20. My pals from the 6pm are all pretty good, but I'm fitter, however it didnt really strike me so much in a group of six, but to do 4 sets of everything (including 4 200 metre runs) to everyone else's 3 made me realise how much I've achieved. Most of them have never been majorly overweight, most could lose between 20 and 40lb perhaps. So for me to ahve been 100lb heavier and to rum rings round them, also after 3 babies, made me feel good.
I value my fitness more than the actual weight loss, for sure. It gives you such great esteem and respect for your body. I love what I can do.

I'd just like to reassure you that you can and will enjoy food in a social sense after banding.
I'm not trying to talk you out of doing it, and you dont have to justify it to me in any way, actually it was the way that you at first said it, "eat until it hurts" that made me think, oh hang on, do you really want to do that? But going out and enjoying a sushi meal, why the hell not? There's absolutely NOTHING wrong with it, fat people do it, thin people do it, in between people do it! You just made it sound a bit like you wanted to go out and eat till you were sick. I'd still say do you really want to do that, but to go out and enjoy something you might not eat again, that's entirely normal and if you're not limited by a pre op diet then why not?
I certainly didnt spend my pre op time denying myself everything, I just wanted to eat moderately and not go nuts and gain weight becuase that would not have made me feel at all good about myself.
DH is a case in point, he had his first fill today. Got to the doctors and was rather deflated to learn he'd lost no weight, when he's lost 6kg by our scale. Reason being, they're comparing him to the last time they weighed him which was six months ago when he first began investigating. They dont record your weight on the day of surgery in your weight loss file, its more for anaesthetic purposes that they need to know. So he'd been weighed, approved etc and booked his surgery date for 6 months hence, and proceeded to throw caution to the wind and eat like a piggie for that six months. Of course he gained a lot of weight and all he's lost is what he put on. So according to his file, he's lost zip. He wasnt feeling too chipper about that, more than a little embarrassed in fact.
I'd encourage anyone not to put themselves in that situation. But you're obviously not, so dont let others disapproval get you down. You know your own mind, and you do what makes YOU feel good!

On the other hand I choose to beat myself up for a lack of self control and willpower, believing using the term "food addict" to be a major cop out and avoidance of responsibility.
I really believe that for me - my bad eating habits stem from laziness, not caring about the consequences of indulgence at a particular point in time, and not being able to say no to overindulging in the wrong foods when the opportunity presents.
I mean, do I gorge on lettuce till I feel sick or eat enormous dinners? No. But I gleefully lick the cake bowl until I feel nauseous and then regret it. That's not an addiction, its stupidity.
I would hesitate to say there's no such thing as food addiction because I cant speak for others' experiences. But I know in my case and for many others, I'm just a piggy. I dont eat from the rubbish bin or eat til I vomit or truly binge.

I'm 43, I teach grade six and my kids thought I was twenty-something!

You are sooooo right. Theres a couple of posts up today and have been manyover my six year involvement with this board about what you do when you ge to the point of maintenance. The answer is nothing. Because wht you do to lose, you need to do FOREVER. Simple as that.

Personally I think they're junk food - they're either artificially sweetened if they're truly low carb, which is dubious at best. I think any sort of sweet food - artificially sweetened or with sugar - does drive you to want more. I also think the ingredients are man made, not natural and not healthy. I am a teacher too - I take a bag of cut up raw vegies to school and when the kids have fruit break, I have a few, or I might have them when the kids have their snack right before recess time (we dont get lunch till 1.45). I think I'm modelling good eating to my class, and a lot of the kids that dont like fruit have started bringing carrots or cucumber for fruit break. Of course in Australia we dont have school lunch systems, there's usually a canteen but all in all students bring their lunch from home.
I also think they're too many calories for a snack - but that's because I'm a 3 meals a day kinda person so my meals are heavier on the calories and I couldnt afford that many for a snack - if I was a five small meals a day sort of person I guess then a Protein bar would be more reasonable.
I think they taste like eating candles anyway, but that's just me.
I would get pretty hungry between a 6.30 am breakfast and a 1.45 pm lunch but I take breakfast to school with me (or keep stuff in my pigeon hole and in the fridge in the staff room) and eat at about 8.30 instead, so that I can eliminate the need for any sort of substantial snack.

I'm not 50, just a baby of 41, lol. But of course its possible!
I think you have to really realise that band statistics are just averages. And when you consider weight loss surgery statistics, you're not considering only how people's bodies work over 50, you're considering people's BEHAVIOUR.
Sure, it was much harder (and slower) to lose weight getting banded at 37 than it was in my early 20's. My body had been through significant changes, borne 3 children, I had an entirely different lifestyle. But i have a better (stronger, fitter, and more attractive) body now than I did at this weight in my late teens/early 20's.
I would hazard a guess that more of the over 50 group struggle with the exercise part of the equation - a large percentage for example would consider walking daily as adequate exercise. Not that there is anything bad about walking, great daily exercise, it will keep you out of the cardiac ward, for the first part of your weight loss journey, it is ample and will help speed your weight loss along. It gets harder at the other end, you need more vigorous stuff, weight training etc and that can be hard to even think about when you're out of condition, obese and not 18 years old. You dont really even need to think about it at first, but see how you feel as the weight comes off.
The point is, it really is up to you, its a function of what you want to achieve and what you're prepared to do to achieve it. I'm certainly not suggesting that you must spend 2 hours a day in the gym, but the choice is there to do it if you want to. Losing 100lb is your choice also!
The reason your doc was close lipped is probably because choosing to really throw yourself in the deep end like that is less common in older AND younger patients. Many many people get banded, eat less and lose some weight, end of story. Some get banded, work the band, exercise smart and hard and lose TONS of weight. You can be in whichever group you choose.

If i dont eat breakfast (i get up at 5.30 and run 6kms), its after 1pm before i get a break to eat, so i really have to. Truth is anyway, im hungry willing and able to eat. If i eat at recess time (11), then i dont want lunch, but then im hungry after school at four and way prone to the lure of biscuits and coffee. The whole cycle just gets out of whack if i dont get the right sort of calories in for breakfast.
I think we're all different.

I'm not 50, just a baby of 41, lol. But of course its possible!
I think you have to really realise that band statistics are just averages. And when you consider weight loss surgery statistics, you're not considering only how people's bodies work over 50, you're considering people's BEHAVIOUR.
Sure, it was much harder (and slower) to lose weight getting banded at 37 than it was in my early 20's. My body had been through significant changes, borne 3 children, I had an entirely different lifestyle. But i have a better (stronger, fitter, and more attractive) body now than I did at this weight in my late teens/early 20's.
I would hazard a guess that more of the over 50 group struggle with the exercise part of the equation - a large percentage for example would consider walking daily as adequate exercise. Not that there is anything bad about walking, great daily exercise, it will keep you out of the cardiac ward, for the first part of your weight loss journey, it is ample and will help speed your weight loss along. It gets harder at the other end, you need more vigorous stuff, weight training etc and that can be hard to even think about when you're out of condition, obese and not 18 years old. You dont really even need to think about it at first, but see how you feel as the weight comes off.
The point is, it really is up to you, its a function of what you want to achieve and what you're prepared to do to achieve it. I'm certainly not suggesting that you must spend 2 hours a day in the gym, but the choice is there to do it if you want to. Losing 100lb is your choice also!
The reason your doc was close lipped is probably because choosing to really throw yourself in the deep end like that is less common in older AND younger patients. Many many people get banded, eat less and lose some weight, end of story. Some get banded, work the band, exercise smart and hard and lose TONS of weight. You can be in whichever group you choose.

In the end, its how much you eat.
You can be thin and eat a diet of only rubbish. But you wont be healthy. You know that.
I have lost weight eating pretty much what I ate before being banded, including some bread. But I didnt eat entirely rubbish - I ate a good healthy base diet and then shoved in a lot of sugary carb foods on top of that. I've personally never had much of a problem with junk foods like Mcdonalds and KFC, I've never overeaten them or craved them unduly. But muffins, cakes, biscuits, that's another story.
So yes, I cut out those foods for the most part, but I do still eat them on occasion. If I go out for dinner, I'm not going to piss fart around ordering sauces to the side and quizzing the staff about whether there's butter in something. I just have what I fancy, and I dont eat a lot of it.
But my basic, everyday diet, what I eat 90% of the time is healthy. Its healthy, but I really dont believe in low carb Atkins style diets. I do eat bread and cereals and I eat good amounts of Protein but not HIGH Protein. So again, the next person here will tell me diet contravenes all their rules and I'll never lose weight. But I did and kept it off - so it comes down to calories in/calories out, I think.
Post op, I did exactly what I was told to do and ate really healthy foods too. I actually find it really hard to understand how just after surgery you can not be so bouyed up by enthusiasm, hope and determination that you find this period difficult. I found it really very easy. The hard part of wanting bad foods again came a lot later on. But everyone's different I guess. After the post op period, my doc actually HAS no real rules, the m.o. here in Australia tends to be eating a very normal everyday diet but only a lot less of it. Its about integrating the band into normal life, not about a bunch of rules that really swaps overeating for a life of imposed rules.

In the end, its how much you eat.
You can be thin and eat a diet of only rubbish. But you wont be healthy. You know that.
I have lost weight eating pretty much what I ate before being banded, including some bread. But I didnt eat entirely rubbish - I ate a good healthy base diet and then shoved in a lot of sugary carb foods on top of that. I've personally never had much of a problem with junk foods like Mcdonalds and KFC, I've never overeaten them or craved them unduly. But muffins, cakes, biscuits, that's another story.
So yes, I cut out those foods for the most part, but I do still eat them on occasion. If I go out for dinner, I'm not going to piss fart around ordering sauces to the side and quizzing the staff about whether there's butter in something. I just have what I fancy, and I dont eat a lot of it.
But my basic, everyday diet, what I eat 90% of the time is healthy. Its healthy, but I really dont believe in low carb Atkins style diets. I do eat bread and cereals and I eat good amounts of Protein but not HIGH Protein. So again, the next person here will tell me diet contravenes all their rules and I'll never lose weight. But I did and kept it off - so it comes down to calories in/calories out, I think.
Post op, I did exactly what I was told to do and ate really healthy foods too. I actually find it really hard to understand how just after surgery you can not be so bouyed up by enthusiasm, hope and determination that you find this period difficult. I found it really very easy. The hard part of wanting bad foods again came a lot later on. But everyone's different I guess. After the post op period, my doc actually HAS no real rules, the m.o. here in Australia tends to be eating a very normal everyday diet but only a lot less of it. Its about integrating the band into normal life, not about a bunch of rules that really swaps overeating for a life of imposed rules.

I airpop popcorn, spray w ith olive oil and salt it, with a light spray of oil the salt sticks, rather than falling to the bottom of the bowl.
Its healthy - fibre, nutrients and good fat and i dont feel toooo guilty about the salt in the absence if chemical flavouring. Low calorie too.

Good for you!
Yes, its a big number, but its the same process as it is for everyone. You just start with the first pound. The only difference is the amount of time it will take.
And you know, even if you've just lost 50, and still have 150 to 200 to go, you'll be feeling great about that. Every pound gone is thinner than you were, and it feels good - you dont have to wait till you've lost the whole 200 + to feel good about yourself, feel healthier. The whole journey is enjoyable if you take the time to appreciate the process. There'll be major victories along the way too, you might be looking forward to the day when you can run a few hundred metres, or that first dress may come at 100lb down or whatever. The rewards arent all at the finish line, there's plenty along the way.

Good for you!
Yes, its a big number, but its the same process as it is for everyone. You just start with the first pound. The only difference is the amount of time it will take.
And you know, even if you've just lost 50, and still have 150 to 200 to go, you'll be feeling great about that. Every pound gone is thinner than you were, and it feels good - you dont have to wait till you've lost the whole 200 + to feel good about yourself, feel healthier. The whole journey is enjoyable if you take the time to appreciate the process. There'll be major victories along the way too, you might be looking forward to the day when you can run a few hundred metres, or that first dress may come at 100lb down or whatever. The rewards arent all at the finish line, there's plenty along the way.

Good for you!
Yes, its a big number, but its the same process as it is for everyone. You just start with the first pound. The only difference is the amount of time it will take.
And you know, even if you've just lost 50, and still have 150 to 200 to go, you'll be feeling great about that. Every pound gone is thinner than you were, and it feels good - you dont have to wait till you've lost the whole 200 + to feel good about yourself, feel healthier. The whole journey is enjoyable if you take the time to appreciate the process. There'll be major victories along the way too, you might be looking forward to the day when you can run a few hundred metres, or that first dress may come at 100lb down or whatever. The rewards arent all at the finish line, there's plenty along the way.