Chickie

I look forward to "seeing" you Wasa!

Hi Jode! Welcome back to LBT! I have often wondered how you are going. You asked how to get rid of the garbage without the kids suffering? Well.... My opinion on this is rarely popular, but my kid doesn't actually get cakes, chips or any lollies. We make piklets, and banana muffins for the lunch box on Sunday, but apart from that, he gets only salad or egg sandwiches, fruit, soy milk, and granola bars in his lunch box. He doesn't need the sugar and junk. He doesn't suffer at all. Well, in my opinion, anyway!

My marriage is as strong as ever. 10 years and going strong. The only real knock on effect that my weight loss has had, is he has lost weight (he eats what I eat, and we go for runs together)

Oh, and for the record, if I had NOT been able to have my TT, I would have still been happy with my body. I wasn't at all unhappy really. I was just uncomfortable. I guess the truth isn't as sensational. I think I am almost pissed off the more I think about it. I work very hard in my day to day dealings with people to correct misinformation about banding, and now, I am the FACE of some of that bullshit. Deep breath. Get over it woman. Just build a bridge. And get over it.

I totally panicked when I read the article after it came out. Half of what's in it, she dammed well made up herself! And I started running well before I hit 70kg. I actually really regret it. The funny thing is, she contacted my doctor asking to talk to me, and I was silly enough to say yes. But at least its better than another one I read a few weeks earlier, where they said they could only eat a couple of mouthfuls of food. I actually had an anxiety attack over the mistakes. I feel like I was misrepresented. Like I didn't work till I got down to 70kg. That and she mentioned lean meat. Exactly where in the vegetarian diet does meat fit in? I remember correcting that too. Ahh well. In a weeks time, everyone will have forgotten. I do have to ask, what did the doctor frown about?

Looking over the photos again, #7 is just beautiful too.

Susannah! 26, 20 & 16 are just beautiful! (they are all lovely, but they jump out at me, the lighting and poses are fantastic!) You are a very beautiful woman! The article is in this weeks Take 5. The journo got a few things wrong, even after being corrected. Like the skin removed was the size of a tea-towel, not a beach towel, a beach towel is bigger than I am. I am training for a triathlon, not a marathon, there was no dammed scrimping to get the money together, we are not rich, but we can afford the few lousy thousand that the tummy tuck cost us, I wasn't "almost 150kg", close to 145? Yeah, at my biggest, but by the time I was banded I was about 125 -130kg. DH took a month off after the TT, not the band, he was back at work the same week after the band... And just a few comments that weren't quite right. She took a lot of poetic licence. Lesson learned, don't talk to the media. I have it scanned, and up on my personal web page (don't bother buying it, lol) Optus Member Website - sndbehan

I did that for so long. I stopped it when I started getting dirty looks from the ladies who really did have to shop in the plus sizes! Even now, I take the 10, 8 and the 6 (our 6 is like a US 2 or 0, I think) in to the change room with me. And it's the 6 fits, or is too big.

It takes time to see the new you. It's only in the last couple of months that I have really started seeing me the way other people see me. It's almost like if I admitted that I was skinny, I would get fat again. It's weird. I am still getting there, but most days I have at least 1 or 2 "skinny" moments. You are not alone.

How long did you fast for before surgery? I know that it was at least 12 hours without food, then about 2 hours without Water before my TT. It just seems strange that you would aspirate if you had followed instructions and fasted.

Holy shit that is a lot of ice cream. I am not surprised you are not losing weight. You should be thankful you are not gaining weight.

My 11 year old wouldn't have a clue what a proper portion size is, nor what a calorie really is, or how it breaks down in his body. It's my job as his parent to give him what he needs to fuel his body for the day. What we *have* taught him is that to grow up strong and healthy, he has to eat his veggies, Pasta and Protein (we are vegetarian) and NOT drink fizzy crap. We have taught him that he has to move his body every day (for example, walking to school, or the shop to do the shopping, or to the library rather than driving) A great way to set kids up for obesity, and eating disorders is to put too much pressure on them to be thin. And by forcing a *child* to comprehend the workings of a calorie, how to burn excess energy off, and all that sort of thing, we are setting our kids up for paranoia and failure. Children are children for a reason. At 8, 9,10, 11, or even 12 years old they are still children, and still need their parents to guide them. Children can be incredibly mature, and still be a child. Society treats children like mini adults, and it's not right. They are children. As for the school lunch thing... Well, the simple solution to school lunches is to send along a healthy lunch. Not just give the kid money and expect that they will make the healthy choice. Because children do not have the reasoning power to understand that a packet of chips, and a can of coke are a crap choice, and will leave them feeling like garbage half way through the day, but the salad sandwich and skim milk will keep them feeling fantastic, fuel their brain and help them have a better day at school. That is why the parents should ultimately responsible for what the child eats. I am not attacking, just trying to explain my point of view.

If a parent is giving the child garbage to eat, and not encouraging exercise, yes, they are a bad parent. It is a huge part of a parents job to foster good eating and exercise habits.

Perhaps an endoscope would give you some answers? At the very least I would be talking to my surgeon.

Awww! Thanks Kel! You haven't exactly done badly yourself!

Deleted by Chickie

I highly doubt it. But anything is possible. When I had my TT last year my son brought home a nasty cold / flu thing and I ended up sneezing and coughing, and no harm was done to my stitches at all.

Hi people, just posting to say hello, and that I hope all is well with my fellow Aussies!

Thank you ladies! I love my "new" tummy, and as sad as it is, I sang Happy Birthday to it! I have trouble believing that a whole year has passed already, and that it has been 30 months since I was first banded. Where the heck does time go? Thanks again!

If MY child got to 200 plus pounds, it would have been MY fault. As the parent of an 11 year old, I know that *I* am the one who feeds him, gives him money and watches what he does and eats. It would be MY fault. There is no way in hell I would have him have lipo, a tummy tuck, then a lap band because I am a pathetic parent and cannot help my child make healthy choices, and provide him with the types of food and activities that a growing child needs. The mother in the the article is just like my mother. Given the chance my mother would have had me have lipo, a tummy tuck and a lap band, and still would have fed me crap, and expected this quick fix to work. Parents are responsible for what their children do. As children they don't have the reasoning power to understand long term effects. That's why they have parents to guide them. And cancer is cancer. Obesity is obesity. The two are in no way comparable. In no way at all.

I can't comment on the fill thing. Every doctor is different. I had several fills and unfills during my first year, and a small unfill after I got to goal, and yet another unfill this year. What I can comment on, is if you work, there is nothing stopping you from getting to your goal.

Having cancer, and being the overweight daughter of a very shallow mother are two very different things (cancer = possible death vs over weight = a tough time at school, and maybe not being able to get a boyfriend, maybe some health issues, but I honestly doubt she was that overweight that she was suffering from such problems at this stage, otherwise she would have mentioned it in the interview) This child, who has already undergone lipo, and a tummy tuck (both in a quick fix type effort to lose weight) has just made a huge life change that most adults have to dig deep to find the strength to deal with. With her "mother" by her side, I only wish the little girl luck. Because she sure is going to need it. And yes, obesity is a problem in the western world. But more people die from cancer every single day than of obesity. Its not even in the same league.

Oh! Don't get me wrong, I love my band, but if for some reason, I was unable to have another band fitted, and was regaining weight, I would look at other WLS. Given the choice, I would re band in a nano second. It is my first choice, but not my only choice. I don't have the fear of being "re routed", I guess. I am going to do what it takes to keep this weight off for life. And if I lose my band, regain, and cannot be rebanded, I would look at other options.

In my experience, a well placed "regular" port sticks out no more than a low profile port.

Thanks Alex! You are such a trooper, coming from you, it means a lot.