Hi Everyone

I am from Melbourne and am starting a support group.

Sometimes you can feel alone not knowing many or any other people that have had weight loss surgery, and there are always so many questions that we have and support that we need.

Sometimes it helps just to talk to someone that can relate to you

I would love to hear from others in Melbourne, Victoria that are interested in this support group.

Hope to hear from you soon

Leanne

Hi Kiwijet have you weighed yourself to know you haven't lost a lot? Maybe you are losing inches at the moment have you been drinking enough Water?

I guess it's that 3 week stall maybe

I've been eating more over the weekend it's easy to get more water and meals in

I had my first takeout we ordered in Indian I had butter chicken was yum but only ate two bits of chicken it was rich and I didnt want to be sick but by god did I want to eat the narn bread. I have been eating to much cheese also not good. Tonight for tea I had Thai green curry it was quite spicy I felt a bit uncomfortable for a bit then A few hours later I ate two yogurts not good I felt so guilty I know for sure I'm not getting all my Protein in daily how has your diet been since you've been travelling are you doing ok ?

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Edited April 24, 201610 yr by Shell ????

Im learning as I go Shell. Its funny I walk past restaurants and can remember all the smells but I not hungry - I hope I havent lost interest in food. Being on holiday my food intake is down but my beer is up lol. Think I need to switch to red wine maybe. I am learning to manage my intake though so im not restricted or sick. My taste for certain foods is changing too but its too early to say if thats permanent or not. I did have a sad day walking past some street sellers realising that I could never order a suvalaki again without someone else in fact theres not alot of little food for people like us. Yes i managed to weight myself and have only lost one and a bit kilos in two weeks so the missus wont be happy when i get home.

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Kiwijet

It will just be the 3 week dreaded stall I went about 12 days and the scale didn't budge it will get better slow and steady wins the race. Sometimes I get sad when I think about certain foods I love and won't be eating again I think it's normal are you looking forward to going back to work?

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No lol

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Yeah that was a dumb question who the f*** looks forward to that haha.

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Hey can I ask how much you guys paid for your surgery? My surgeon was 5k and I got back 800 in Medicare & insurance. My anesthetist was $1400 and I got back $900 of that. I paid a $450 excess for hospital. Was completely worth it all IMO

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Wow cheap omg were you self pay?

I could of flown to Mexico had it done had a holiday and had some decent change

My surgery cost me as I was a self pay $19,700 but with all the consultations etc over 20k in NZ private insurance doesn't generally cover things like that I have private health insurance

and to go on the public waiting list takes years and I would of had to have been bigger to qualify.

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No I had private health top hospital cover. My surgeon won't allow self pay.

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The think the lot including private hospital came to $16000 but private insurance covered two thirds and the rest i was able to have paid by my super.

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Wow so different in every country.

My surgeon does private and public surgery you still have to fit within guidelines to get the surgery bmi has to be a certain level and have other health concerns related to obesity affecting your daily life some people in NZ get the surgery free but as I said it's a long waitlist. I decided that I'd pay for it as it was the one thing in my life I was unhappy about and I could change it it's only money rite can't put a price on health and happiness.

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Government here pays for some people too but it is a long wait and you don't get to pick your surgeon or hospital. I have MS so I wanted to choose my surgeon, the hospital part didn't worry me though. I think health fund forked out 12k for my surgery? I'm happy to fork out what I did, the long term benefits will outweigh the short term cost

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Yes very true demonchick

The long term benefits of surgery will mean it will cost less for your ongoing medical expenses in the future I get why you would want to choose your surgeon and hospital I did too

I have rheumatoid and I didn't want to see myself obese with diabetes and other serious health issues in my old age

I have difficulty being active especially with winter coming it gets worse part of the reason I ended up here was through steroids to treat my arthritis I put on so much weight with them and couldn't get it off I was never a big person it's like steroids changed my metabolism.

I'd say that if they paid out about 12k for your surgery and you 5k then the operation etc is around the same price there as it is here.

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Hows everyone going. Good i hope. My last day of freedom and back to work tomorrow. It will probably do me good to get some structure back in my life lol. I cant wait to get on some proper scales because dependant on how accurate the ones I have been on means Im close to having lost around 20-22kgs so far which is great. Also almost 8cms down in pants size. The good thing is I actually kept alot of old clothes when I was putting on weight so i still have them to wear, but also I kept some really nice shirts etc that were brought for me as presents etc that didnt fit that still have the tags on them so I am keen to get to wear them as well.

I still occasionally either eat too fast or overeat which causes some discomfort, but for the most part I am learning to eat little and slow. I have found I also need to guard against eating junk food which seems to digest quicker than most food and allow you to eat more.

But all in all it could be worse. I know as my weight loss slows down it will test my patience but now that I am going back to work and looking to push things along by starting to introduce regimented exercise into my routines.

Hi kiwi jet happy first day back at work today. Wow that's an amazing weight loss so far things have been pretty slow for me in that department.

Eating slow is so hard I was in a rush the other morning and ate my omelette to fast I felt sick and sore had the worst burps and my sleeve played up all day.

I ate last night almost a full chicken leg so drum and thigh I was surprised I was darn full.

I've started eating Protein bars too I go back to normal food tomorrow but my diet has pretty much been normal since I went onto soft foods. I find the eating and waiting to drink vice versa the most frustrating thing about this process so far. I have not eaten any slider foods yet I've looked at the crackers a few times I did eat a couple of cashews the other day also went to a 1st bday party and managed to avoid the cake and brownie luckily they cooked a hot ham it was so yummy so I had a couple of pieces of that and some cheese.

I hope you have a wonderful day back at work today let us know how it goes

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Wow was I tired and sore today. Its amazing how much conditioning you lose when you are largely inactive for 5 weeks. Was abit disappointing too as the infinitely more accurate scales at work show that I have lost 18 kgs so far. But I got alot of supporting comments as well which is nice. What is a slider that you talk about.

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