Fanny Adams

Well from everything my US friends have told me, "fanny" in the US means your backside... that ain't the case here

Gah!! ANOTHER new skin for the forum??? I just got used to the last change!!

What's interesting about this comment is that Alex went to some pains to make sure the the Powder Room topics didn't come up on the Home Page. That means you have to go digging to find this thread, either in New Posts, which lists the forum name, or by visiting the Powder Room directly. So, out of the dozens of forums and thousands of posts on this site, you go looking for one thread discretely tucked away, read it all the way through and then bitch about the content? If the topic offends you, why did you read it? Whatever the reason, the solution is simple - don't open the thread and you won't be offended!

Hehe - now you're getting what the word means to us!! (Forgive me, my mind is totally one-track at the moment and that sentence could REALLY do with a comma!! :thumbup:)

ROFL! Maybe you should say that to Chris! Mind you, "fanny" in Aus does NOT mean the same as "fanny" in the US, so that does make for quite the risque comment! :thumbup:

Yeah, who cares about that boring old US election anyway? There's MUCH more important things to talk about, like my new man!! *swoons*

Just posting to say... I'm so in love... *sighs* I had given up all hope of this ever happening to me. Thank you Band.

It works for me - it would drive me nuts if it didn't!! I find that there is a slight delay between landing on the page and automatically scrolling to view the last read post on the page, so I have to be patient and wait for that.

Hey Plain!! Where's my beefcake pics?!! I'm starting to think you're gonna chicken out on me!! *cries*

It can be really confronting when you lose your scapegoat for all of your worries and problems. I'm not having the problem so much with the weight loss, because I went through a similar thing with other issues a few years back. I have suffered from depression pretty much all of my life. For most of it, I was able to blame circumstances and bad situations around me - e.g. who wouldn't be depressed when they were poor, husband beat them, life sucked, etc. After leaving the ex and spending several years getting my act together, I ended up suffering the worst depression ever. I had successfully gotten rid of the abusive husband, changed my career, gotten a great job, bought a house, was raising a beautiful girl, was living a great lifestyle with very little stress and worries, and just COULD NOT for the life of me work out why I was more miserable than I had ever been. It was made so much worse by the guilt that I poured on myself for being "ungrateful" that I had managed to achieve so many successes. I would say "What's wrong with me? Everyone says I should be ecstatically happy with my life now, but here I am crying on the couch again because I don't want to go into my wonderful job." I finally faced the fact that it wasn't my circumstances that were causing my depression - it went deeper than that. I went to a really good clinical psychologist for some time, spent a couple of years on anti-depressants, really took a good long hard look at what was really making me unhappy and then worked out a plan to change those things. This weight loss surgery was the final step in achieving that and I am glad to say that I haven't suffered depression in 2 years now. If your weight was serving as your scapegoat, in the same way as me blaming my circumstances served as mine, then it would stand to reason that you will be feeling the emotions even more now. Your whipping post ("I'm miserable because I'm fat") has gone, but the feelings haven't - so now you get to add guilt to the mix. I would highly recommend finding a good psychologist and spending a little time getting to the root of the problems - I strongly suspect they go deeper than the weight issue. It doesn't have to take a long time either - I found it made a real difference to me within weeks and only saw her over a period of a couple of months. It was the kickstart I needed to get going and I have continued the changes on my own ever since. Good luck!!

Thanks Kathy! And oooooh!! Look at your ticker!! You are SO CLOSE!! Go girl, go go GO!!

"Arvo" is simply slang/short for afternoon. It's generally pronouced all as one word with "this", as in "Whatcha doin thissarvo?", i.e. "What are you doing this afternoon?" Occasionally the "thi" bit gets dropped, as in "Whatcha doin sarvo?" Melbourne Cup Day is huge here - I think the quote "The Race that Stops the Nation" came from one of our Prime Ministers, Bob Hawke (or was that when he was talking about the America's Cup, She Smiles??). Basically, just about every office in the country will have a luncheon put on, big TV screens brought in and sweepstakes betting, etc. People who would never place a bet otherwise, will have a bet on the Melbourne Cup. Our daily newspaper in Perth, Western Australia (so on the other side of the country from Melbourne) has an 8 page wraparound special feature for the Cup, as do most papers in the country. Heck, I can even remember the teachers bringing the TV's into the classroom in PRIMARY school (our elementary school) and watching it then (going back to early 70's there!) A major feature of the day is the "fashion parade" from all the socialites who go to the races on the day - that will make its own news story in the nightly news, in addition to reporting the race. Think the Ascot race scene in My Fair Lady :biggrin:. The Hat Competition is a big part of that and most offices will run their own little spinoffs as a fun game - the bigger and more outrageous the hat, the better! *edits* It might give you an idea of how seriously we take MCD, when you see this site that is written and hosted by the GOVERNMENT! LOL!! http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/melbournecup/

It has taken me several months (probably 10!) before I really feel like I am capable of doing this and of sustaining the effort on a consistant basis. I started swimming first, during the hot wet season at work, and worked my way up to swimming 1km a day. When it started to cool down, I switched to walking on the treadmill in the gym at work for 3 days a week. I found I would be enthusiastic for a couple of weeks and then get slack and just not go for 1-2 weeks (same old pattern as before *sigh*). However, each month, when I saw that the weight wasn't doing the same thing (i.e. losing for a few weeks then piling back on, in the old pattern), I would get inspired again and go back for another couple of weeks. All that time, it was a chore and I hated it but forced myself into it. Several times in the next couple of months, I tried starting the Couch to 5km program (see huge thread in this forum) but at that point even 60 seconds of jogging killed me - totally puffed out and hurting my ankles and knees. I kept plodding with the walking but over time it got easier and I started going more often. About 2 months back I had another crack at the Couch to 5km and this time managed to do the 60 second jogs without wanting to die. Since then, I have been going 6-7 days a week and I'm really seeing huge improvements in fitness as well as kicking the weightloss back into gear. That's the most motivating thing for me - finally actually feeling like I'm succeeding at this!! I don't like to miss a day now!

I'd recommend working with the band at the looser level. Yes, you do get more hungry but if you are careful to fill up on good solid healthy foods, it still controls the hunger enough that you can make good choices. Going too tight means falling back onto liquids and soft foods that don't satisfy, don't stick in the pouch and leave you feeling hungry again quickly, so you start to snack all the time - it's a vicious circle. With the looser band, if you make sure that you plan and eat your meals on time and make sure that they are things like lean meats and vegetables with fibre, you will feel less hungry overall, will get in good nutrition and should easily be able to keep under 1200 cal a day. Combine that with some exercise and most people will lose steadily. It's when you have the band loose but don't pay attention to eating the right foods at the right times, that you find yourself starving hungry in the afternoons and evenings and fall back onto our bad old habits of eating junk food and crap. The band takes work and discipline - it just makes it a LOT easier to stick to the discipline because, even when a little loose, it controls the hunger. For example, you could eat a burger now, but can you eat what some of us used to, as in 2 burgers, upsized fries and large coke, with an icecream for dessert? Hopefully that kind of gorging is still out of the question, so just concentrate on good choices for what you can eat.

Mid 40's and, like everyone else, would have done it years ago if I'd been in the position to do it. I really regret spending my 30's and early 40's hiding inside the "fat suit". But regrets don't pay the rent, so onward and upward!! (only not on the scales!)

You get a public holiday for Melbourne Cup Day? LOL! Typical politician's town!!! I just got back to site today, so was too late to join in any of the sweepstakes and I don't think they're doing much for the day, so no special lunch, no Hat Competitions, no silly horse race games . This is one thing I miss about working in the corporate world in the city - Melbourne Cup Day was always good for a free lunch and boozeup at work!

Well one thing to look forward to is that you DON'T have to give up your enthusiasm for cooking. I have found that I have become MUCH more fussy in my eating since banding. Previously, I would eat just about anything put in front of me, even crap food that didn't taste particularly good at all, as long as it had volume. Now, I am much more interested in the taste of food and getting right into gourmet styles and quality ingredients. For example, where previously I would buy the largest rump steak I could find, looking for the "biggest bang for my buck", now I look for a small tender juicy piece of filet steak. Previously, I would fill up on stodgy casseroles made cheaply and easily, which mean lots of refined white carbs and flours, etc. Now, I'm experimenting with Thai foods and getting into the flavours of fresh herbs and steamed fresh vegetables. You CAN enjoy food with the band, as long as you don't let yourself get too tight. And it is MUCH nicer concentrating on quality and flavour rather than sheer volume.

I just want to report that the Couch to 5km program has helped me have my best ever month of weight loss since the pre-op diet! I started seriously in mid-September and weighed in at 93kg (205lb) on 1 Oct, when I went into hospital for my tube fix. In the 5 days post-op, Fluid retention, swelling and constipation saw my weight go up to 96kg (211.6lb). That came off and the weight has just been falling off me since - today I was 88.1kg (194.2lb)!! That's a loss of 17lb from the highest but I'm counting it as 10.8lb. I haven't lost over 10lb in a month since the pre-op!! YAY!!! This program rocks! And I just have to say, having a new romance in one's life is the BEST motivation ever!

Yay!! I came looking for this thread because I wanted to show off my new number. This last month has been my most successful since the pre-op diet - down over 10lb! It's amazing how much motivation a new man in your life can be!

I had similar feelings in my post-op stages. I think it is part of coming to terms with our new relationship to food. Food has been our partner/lover/comfort for so many years that even when we can't eat it, we crave that "connection". It does fade over time as you get used to life as a bandster. With the hunger, how much you feel depends on how well you are healing, how quickly the swelling goes down and whether or not your doc put in a small amount of fill during the op (mine put in 2cc into a 10cc band, first fill was at 4 weeks). Do your utmost to stick to the plan that the doc has given you at this stage. It is very important not to eat solids too early, because solids will cause the stomach to churn when digesting and that can damage the stitches and embedding process where the band is sitting around your stomach. The difficult bit to this is that you almost certainly won't feel any problem, pain or damage right now if you cheat but the problems can show up later on (like about a year later) as slippage. If you are really hungry, eat more frequent meals of whatever you are allowed, i.e. have another bowl of Soup every couple of hours rather than solid food at this stage. You shouldn't worry too much about weight loss in the post-op period. Your weight will be going up and down in reaction to a number of things and the scales aren't really accurate over the next few weeks. It is highly likely that you will hit a plateau or regain a few pounds in in the weeks after the op. My theory on this is: * In the pre-op weeks, we saw big numbers as weight loss because we had switched from a solid to a liquid diet and most of the loss was not fat but simply emptying the digestive system. At any point in time on a normal eating regime, an average person will have 10-15lb of food in various stages of digestion in their alimentary canal. Us fatties probably had 20+! Real fat loss at that stage is probably only 2-5lb, the rest is fluids and undigested food. However, we believe the big numbers and get disappointed when they don't continue. * During the operation, they put you on an IV saline drip, which boosts your Fluid levels and Water weighs MUCH more than fat. This can take several days to a couple of weeks to get out of your system (see next point). * The internal swelling from the operation all contributes to fluid retention, which is boosted by the IV drip. Until the swelling goes down, you're going to hold onto that fluid. * As the swelling goes down, you start to move from liquids to mushies to solids. You will probably notice that you don't poop for quite some time post-op, which is a combination of the constipation-causing painkillers, the fact that you are eating MUCH less in volume, and that you are now re-filling your digestive system from it's previously completely empty state. This means that as you lose fluid weight, you are regaining solid food weight, and all the actual fat loss is disguised by those two. Some people will retain more fluid, especially if they're eating salty canned Soups (I know I did!), so they will see a gain. Others will lose more fluid than they are gaining in food weight, so they will see a slight loss. For others it will be equal or will go up and down day by day. In the meantime, in the background, I believe that if we stick to the diet plans, we are still losing real fat at the steady rate of 2-3lb a week - we just can't see it and judge it accurately because there are too many other influences. Once you get back to solid foods, a "normally full" digestive tract and get rid of the extra fluids, your scales will be much more accurate and should be showing a steady loss of 1-2lb per week. Sorry about the long post, but that's my theory! I think it makes a lot of sense and fits with all I know about human biology.

I'll fourth that!! The more I read about the band, people's experience and live with my own experiences, the more I am convinced that this is the right approach.

I haven't had the problem but all the advice that I've read in this forum suggests that, rather than "trying to live with it", you should have ALL the fill removed, go on liquids for 1-2 weeks and let the swelling go down. If you've been having problems and slippage, then your stomach will be quite swollen at the moment and that isn't going to get better while you're still struggling. Only worry about going for the fill again when you get really hungry and are having no problems eating large meals of solid healthy foods like lean meats and salads, etc. Maybe you are one of those who just doesn't need a fill at all - it happens! Good luck with it!!

I think it depends on the person and a lot on what time you are scheduled for surgery. I was the first cab off the rank at 8am, so I only stayed in for the day and went home by about 5pm. For many people it is an overnight stay. Recently I had some minor corrective surgery on my tube and I was in theatre at 2pm, so stayed overnight.

Question: Is good sex better exercise than walking? :smile2: (Yeah, I know I should do both, but had to ask the question anyway)

I upped my intervals today and I can FEEL this working and feel myself getting fitter. This is amazing!!