Fanny Adams

Hmm... I think I might have overstated the case with the "well-done". I didn't mean cooked dry! It was more of a relative definition, compared to the way I cook beef. I like beef rare - ie bloody in the middle, whereas I prefer lamb to be only a little pink in the centre. Each to their own, I guess. And lamb is generally cheaper than beef here, typically around AUD$10-12 a kilo (US$4-5 per pound?), whereas good steak can run up as high as AUD$20-25 per kilo. I think when buying roasts, they are about the same. In the lambing season, the price can drop to AUD$7 a kilo and, if there is a bad drought making the farmers slaughter all their stock, it can go even lower.

I made goal in the swimming pool last night! I've been working my way up to do 1km, which is not easy in a little pool. It takes 50 laps of the camp site's 20m pool. The first night, I did 10, 2nd night 20, 3rd night 30 and last night I went for broke and did all 50! I was tired at the end but felt so good!

That really sucks, jc I hope you make a full recovery and find the way that is right for you to get where you want to be, weight-wise.

If you ever see Lamb Shanks on the menu at a restaurant, you have to try them - to die for!! I'd post a recipe, but it sounds like you would have a hard time finding the meat in stores, so not much point. Do you have a specialist butcher nearby, if you can't get lamb at the supermarket?

Wow, you never had a leg of lamb before?? I'm from Australia and we eat a LOT of lamb (my favourite!), but I have heard that it is not very popular in the US. A nice way to roast it is with garlic & rosemary. Slice some fresh garlic into fine slivers and break the leaves off a sprig of fresh rosemary; make a dozen or so incisions all over the leg (just stab it with a vege knife, about 1/2 inch deep) and put 1 sliver of garlic and 1-2 spikes of rosemary into each slit. Roast as usual - lamb should be reasonably well done, rather than rare in the middle like beef. Enjoy! :hungry:

Long term, I want to get down to 60-65kg (132-143lb) which would be a total loss of 60-65kg (starting weight 125kg/275lb). Yes, I want to be exactly half the person I was! Short term goal is to get below 90kg/200lb by June, as I'm going to the US on holidays then and want to meet a lot of people that I know online and DON'T want to do that at this size!

My goal at the moment is to get up to swimming 1km per night. While I'm up at work (mine site), that means 50 laps of the little 20m pool. So far, I did 14 laps the first night, 20 the second and 32 last night (640m). I'm going to go for the lot tonight!! I think it will be a little easier when I get home and can use the 50m pool at the local fitness centre.

I've had success with this recipe from people who said that they really didn't like fish, but loved this. Cheesy Fish Bake (The full version for the family) 1 thick (1/2") fillet per person 1/4 cup shredded low fat cheddar cheese per fillet 1 teaspoon butter/marg 1/2 cup white wine 1/2 cup vegetable stock (from cubes is fine) Garlic salt Seasoned flour Lightly coat fillets in seasoned flour. Grease frying pan with 1 tsp butter/marg. Fry on one side only, using low heat (too high and fish will stick or you'll need to use more butter). If fillets have skin, fry on skin side. Transfer to large shallow baking tray, fried side down. Mix wine and stock and pour over fish. Sprinkle with garlic salt and top each fillet with 1/4 cup of shredded cheese. Bake in HOT pre-heated near top of oven for approx 12 mins. Fish will be cooked by the time the cheese has gone golden brown. Serve with cheese side up, spooning pan juices over the top. Cheezy Fish Bake (Quick and easy version for one in microwave) 1 fillet fish 1/4 cup shredded or 1 individual slice low fat cheddar cheese 1/4 cup vegetable stock (or water) Garlic salt Put fillet into small microwave dish (no bigger than fillet, fold or squash fillet to fit). Add stock/water. Sprinkle with garlic salt. Cover with cheese. Microwave on HIGH for 2 mins. The second one isn't as drop dead yummy as the first but it is still tasty and is so quick to prepare!

Wow - I'm glad I found this thread! I wasn't told anything about gum and I've been chewing the sugar free kind like mad! I haven't swallowed any (which I would normally do), as I kind of had an inkling that it might not be such a good idea, but had no idea it could be that bad! No wonder people aren't dealing with their hunger pangs by chewing sf gum! Damn!! Now what am I gonna do, coz that was working so well!

I have to agree with Wheetsin. I've seen applications from both sides of the employer/employee situation and have always found that the most success comes when you can specifically address the points they have advertised for by demonstrating how you reach that criteria. That's a good application letter, but it is a little general - you will get better mileage out of focussing directly on the key features they have asked for.

I don't seem to mind that part - just as long as I get the flavour for longer As a kid when travelling long distance in the car, my parents used to play "Who can keep the lolly in their mouth the longest?" game with us (hehe - to stretch out giving out the sweets, the sneaky things!), and I just think of that game and it is kinda fun. I try to play it against myself, seeing which mouthful I can make last the longest. However, I've been wondering just what the big deal is about the "mushie" stage, when even after graduating from that, I chew everything to a fine mush anyway.

Now all we need is for the forum administrator to learn how to spell "forty" and we'll be laughing!

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Hope it goes well for the future! At the moment, I am back up on site, so unable to get near a scale and find out if I'm losing anything. Oh well - everyone was telling me that the daily weigh-ins weren't helping my state of mind, so perhaps it's a good thing that I have to wait just over a week when I'm on site, because I am obsessive about it when I'm home. I think I'm doing well up here - FitDay recordings say I'm doing all the right things - but the acid test will be the scale when I get home. I'm anxious to see the doc on the 15th and get this fill...

*sigh* Isn't it funny how I never managed to find all these stories about how people struggled to lose even when doing all the right things BEFORE I got banded. Now that I'm post-op, they are all around me. I guess we only see what we want to see, eh?

Hi Rastis and all the other Sandgropers Yes, I got banded on 10 December. The op went really well and my recovery was very easy and virtually painless. Dr Watson seems to be a great surgeon. I don't know how he does in patient care however, as I have only met him ONCE! I saw him 2 weeks before the op, when we made the booking. I spoke to him on the phone once, when he called to bring the op forward a couple of days and haven't seen him since. I didn't even get to speak with him on the day of the operation! I'm due back there on 15th Jan for my first fill. What was the problem you had, that required the fill to be removed (if you don't mind sharing)?

Hehehe - I stole a copy yesterday to use in another forum . Hope you don't mind!! (Also hope you don't mind me posting in here with you spring chickens, but wanted to tell Steph I'd pinched her gif )

No, it's quite different - although Shepherd's Pie is one of my all time favourites too! It's a really simple recipe that has become a family favourite, especially with the kids. Here you go: Savoury Sausage Casserole 12 lean beef sausages 1 large brown onion 2 medium apples (any colour - whatever's cheapest!) 250g (8oz) concentrated tomato paste 1L (1.5 pints?) beef stock (pre-made or stock cubes in water) Cut all sausages into 3 pieces (about 2" long). Brown in large saucepan or wok. Drain fat. Chop onions while sausages are browning, add to pan. Core apples and chop fairly finely, add to pan. Stir until onions go clear and apples start to soften. Add tomato paste and beef stock. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for at least half hour, stirring occasionally. Serves 4-6 people It is ready to serve when the apple has broken down into the sauce, although the longer you leave it, the better it tastes. I usually serve it with mashed potato and peas. I have served it with Pasta but it doesn't go quite as well. If you drain the fat well and make the mashed potato with 0% milk, it is quite a healthy dish. My problem was that I would load the mashed potato with butter and eat over half the dish

Hear hear, Laurend!

In the week before I was banded, I was freaking out about the same things - scared that I wouldn't be able to eat my favourite meals again. The first thing I did as soon as I was allowed solid foods again was to make my favourite savoury sausage casserole with mashed potato. It's actually quite a healthy dish, except that previously I would eat enough for 3 people because I loved it so much. When I tried it after banding, I was able to keep it to a small scoop of potato and only one sausage (previously would have eaten 6-7, normal serving would be 2-3) and was really full afterwards. I ate it really slowly and savoured every bite - YAY! Freakout over!

Just make sure that the flavourings are "diet" or sugar free. Any of the diet icecream toppings work. I also love the coffee/chocolate blend (but can't stand the plain chocoate) and using strawberry flavouring (topping or 1 tspn of cake flavouring) in the vanilla one makes it bearable. Other tips include using crushed ice - the colder the better - and making it a little thicker by using less water (going just under the cup marker instead of over). While the drink may not be as big, I found it really gross when all thinned out by too much water. Add the ice to your shaker first, then top up to just under the cup marker, then add the powder and flavouring and shake.

Becky, I have similar problems and the only solution I have found is to take smaller bites and eat more and more slowly. Try to keep the food in your mouth as long as you can to savour the taste. Wait between each bite until all the taste has gone from your mouth, before taking the next one. I have promised myself to put less food in my bowl too, because I have found that if it is in there, I will eat it, even when I KNOW I'm not hungry any more, even when I KNOW I am full and that eating those last few bites will HURT. If it is in there, I just can't stop myself because I can't resist the taste.

Looks like we're all different, as I just finished my first since surgery too, and it was much much heavier than usual. The only good thing about flooding so heavily was that it was over in a much shorter time frame (3-4 days instead of 6-7).

Sorry that you had such a hard time so far. Apart from that RNP being an utter bitch, she/he was also wrong about "the riskiest procedure of them all (the lapband)". Every study I've read (and I'd bet every one you'd find in a google search) says that the risks are MUCH higher with both the gastric bypass and the VSG surgeries. I'd ignore one person's ignorance, if I were you Hang in there - it will get better!

I've been back on solid food for a week but have been sticking to the softer types, spag bol, casseroles, etc. I got told "a cup" rather than half a cup and have been using that as my measure since the beginning (ie a cup of broth on clears, a cup of thick soup, etc). With the solids, I am still using a small soup bowl to help limit my intake. On the Soups, a cup was just perfect - filled me up and kept me satisifed for ages but didn't overfill me. On solids, I'm finding that I have to be very careful what I put in the bowl, as the cupfull most definitely fills me and anything more makes me really tight and uncomfortable for some time afterwards. Unfortunately, I have always been in the habit of eating to the point of bursting and am quite used to that pain of being overfull - it's almost like I need that pain to signal stop. I find with eating really slowly and chewing, I am actually aware that I am full several bites before I get to the bottom of the bowl, but I still can't stop myself from eating those last unnecessary bites I am just going to have to put less in the bowl because I can't seem to break the habit of finishing my plate, even when I KNOW I shouldn't, that I don't need it and that it will actually hurt if I do... *sigh* the things addiction makes us do...

Bloody good question and one I'd like the answer to