Jachut

Its not going to do any harm, but the hard truth is that the damage is ALREADY done to your skin. Its done when your weight is on the way up, not now when its on the way down. There is nothing you can do to prevent what has already happened, its just that you have to lose the weight to see the damage. compression garments after surgery reduce bleeding and swelling and help healing that way, but they can do nothing to make overstretched skin contract.

This issue has been known to make me go off on huge rants on lapband talk, lol, so I'll keep my temper. I find this message comes from several motivations. 1) You really have lost enough weight but cant see it yourself and keep wanting to lose more and more. This one applies to me, big time. I still think I'm huge at 150 lb. But I do know also I'm within a healthy weight range and dont really desire to be underweight either. 2) People are just so plain fat these days that they've forgotten that yes, its normal to see bones. You should have visible cheekbones, jaw bones, collar bones, elbows, knees and ankles and your hip bones should at least be palpable. If these bones arent visible at all, its a sure sign you have too much fat. Normal faces have come to be gaunt because almost everyone these days is overweight. Even people you woulndt describe as fat. 3) People are mean and jealous of your success and need to cut you down. You can usually judge which it is of the three, but for what its worth, I think mothers just worry too much and I personally dont listen to my own mum when she worries over how little I eat. Last I checked, it actually wasnt physically necessary to eat at least 2 cups worth of muesli at Breakfast time or a 400 gram steak for dinner.

What she is saying to you is ridiculous, given your body is obviously responding to what you are doing. I lost ALL of my weight and then some, way way past the top of my healthy weight range and I did it never eating less than 1500 calories a day and never cutting carbs. what happened naturally is that the carb/protein balance in my diet changed, there simply is not the stomach room to waste it all with white bread. I dont eat nearly as many sugary white carbs, and I usually only have a serve of something like a Cereal or slice of wholegrain bread in a day and maybe a spoonful of rice or something. Usually each day I'll have a small treat like a cookie or two with a cuppa. There's no way round that fact that eating the recommended 4 slices of bread, AND a serve of cereal AND a serve of pasta/rice in a day like the food pyramid recommends will probably make it hard to lose weight. Its just all about balance, the right mix of protein/fat/carbs and most processed food diets are carb heavy. You wont crash and burn, in the end its all calories in calories out and nutritionists are like personal trainers, they are not medical professions and they tend to just trot out whatever is currently fashinionable in nutrition and exercise science. It generally works too but that's really because ANYthing you do consistently and with dedication will work. But you'll find they're telling you something differerent in ten years time, so there's plenty of room for your personal preference and doing what works for YOU. There's no medal for getting by on 800 - 1009 calories a day. If you're doing that and you COULD be losing weight on more, then you're achieving nothing more than robbing yourself of valuable nutrition. The only people that should eat that little are the ones who really genuinely cant lose weight on more, to tell people to aim for that without proof that it is necessary is very irresponsible.

Why is it that I look at your photo at 156 and think you look amazing and very petite, and I'm 5ft 10 and 150lb and I think I'm still huge? Do our heads EVER catch up? You look incredible!

Well, in a way I never have reached goal. I *said* my goal was 70kg but really, secretly I wanted to be really thin - more like 64kg (140lb) at five foot 10. I have the type of build where I do look better lighter - fine bones, and no bulky muscle. I'm not really curvy and any weight just goes on as flab, not curves. So, I just kind of kept going until by some strange coincidence, I did stabilise at 68kg. But I never had a OH MY GOD I"M AT GOAL moment. And I still would like to lose more weight, but in truth, it just petered out and no matter what I do now, I cant lose any more. So Im fully accepting that this is what I weigh, but it doesnt feel amazingly triumphant or anything. I should stop and think about how much I've achieved rather than obsessing over how my ass wobbles.

Never been a fan of big boobs - got up to an E cup and hated it, I thought it made me look matronly and fat. I couldnt be happier that I've shrunk to a C. When I went to see a PS about a lift, he thought I'd need implants to fill out the top skin, but when I try the inserts to increase a cup size and push them up, I dont like the look - I think it makes me look like I've gained weight. I'll stick with my small chest, I fit into all sorts of clothes etc and I like it that way.

Hahahaha. I thought "Queen" was a multi-gender term anyhow.

Everyone who's travelled has the classic story of an Australian sitting in the restaurant with a plate of lettuce in front of them, waiting, waiting, waiting for the meat to arrive, lol. Marmar, that taco salad sound delicious NOT. Its like gg salad or chicken salad - that's not salad, its egg or chicken with tons of mayonnaise. A few bits of celery doesnt make it a vegetable dish. I find the cultural differences fascinating foodwise. There's always something to amaze me, lol. We probably appear just as strange.

Its a peculiar notion to me this idea of a salad being just lettuce and dressing. To me, its lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, avocado, cucumber, sprouts and such with a dressing like french or italian. That's healthy. And definitely not a slider for me, in fact very difficult to eat. hmarko, I do running, boot camp and circuit training, a lot of interval type stuff, makes me very hot, sweaty, very high heart rates, I am tight tight tight after that. If I just go for a nice slow run, I'm not.

Wow, nice. I guess political opinions differ, but I sure hope neither of you are ever in a position where you need help. Karma can be a bitch.

Not only does she not sound sympathetic or caring, she sounds like a bloody idiot. I'd run far away.

That doesnt answer the question. Moral issues of whether medicare should cover this or not, lets pretend it will. So how is it ANY different to treat a patient now, at a BMI of 34, than later at a BMI of 45, when the patient ALSO has a raft of comorbidities chewing up even more tax dollars for ongoing treatment? Would we be arguing about whether she ought to be treated for her diabetes or not, or would you be happy for your tax dollars to pay for that? I find so many people in this community have this inbuilt attitude towards weight loss surgery, that its somehow OK as long as the patient is massively obese but if there's even a HINT of cosmetic benefit, look out! For someone to suggest that SHE looked ok at 184 and 5ft 2 so therefore there's no need for surgery is just plain stupid. Its a BMI of 34. Its obese. So tell me, how does waiting for another 120 lb to creep on benefit anyone?

So..... perhaps you shouldnt have gotten pregnant? if everyone else's problems are their own fault becuase of their own poor choices, perhaps yours are too. Perhaps you shouldnt have qualified for surgery and overburdened the insurance company becuase, you know, you could always have chosen NOT to get pregnant and then you wouldnt have gained any weight. Because if people like you who made choices that led to them being fat werent having lapband surgery then the insurance companies could afford to approve the people that REALLY need it? See how insane you sound? Your arguments have absolutely no logic and you sound like someone who doesnt take responsibility for their own actions - do I detect a hint of "it wasnt me, it was my hormones"?. We pay taxes for a reason, and one of those reasons is to ensure that in a civilised countrie, people in need dont go uncared for. I actually agree with you that need and what led to it is debatable. You dont have dibs on it simply becuase in your own mind you're on moral high ground. And by the way - how do you know about ANY of the original posters financial circumstances. You're making a lot of assumptions there. Lets just hope that nothing bad ever happens to you to make you reliant on financial assistance. If I had to make assumptions about you - I'd guess you're fairly young and full of your own self righteous and as yet unfounded political opinions, that you grew up easy, had everything on a platter and had the opportunity to make of your life what you pleased. You hate people that have very large families because they're sponging off your tax dollars by having kids they cant afford. But you'll be happy to take the benefit of THEIR tax dollars when you're old and infirm and all those kids are out there working. Of course, you DO have a point. Our baby bonus scheme here certainly results in a suspiciously large number of new plasma televisions. Sometimes it is more profitable to push out another kid than go back to work with our welfare system the way it is. Now that could be wrong (and in fact I know it is because you said you've had kids, which does tend to bring maturity), and you'll be bristling with indignation that I dare to make such assumptions about you. Not nice is it? But if you're older, have had a bit of life experience, and still shoot off your mouth in this way without thinking about what you're really saying, shame on you.

Yep, spray tans were invented for a reason!

I'm 5ft 10 and at 184, I was fat. Not obese yet, but well and truly chunky and not looking my best. Rolls round the belly, big boobs and not able to shop in a lot of normal stores - we're not quite so supersized clothing wise yet in Australia, but its coming. A BMI of 34 is obese! If you think that looks good, then that's YOUR choice. I've lost down from a BMI of 36 (they band from a BMI of 30 in Australia). The improvement in my physical health is remarkable, I needed to lose that weight. You're only comparing it and finding it an improvement from being much much heavier. That's not reality. Its still heavy enough to bring the beginnings of comorbidities. This is two issues and I dont really want to weigh into the illegal/cheating the taxpayer thing. Your medical system is just way too complicated. But I ask you this - How is gaining a few pounds to get the surgery any different from someone who gains right up to 300 lb and THEN gets the surgery? Costs the same either way only the 300 pounder has also probably racked up a bunch of costs for treatment of comorbidities of obesity as well. It actually SAVES the taxpayer money to treat obesity before it becomes serious. Everyone has a right to weigh in on how this affects them as taxpayers, of course they do, but saying you wouldnt have had surgery at 184 so therefore she shouldnt, well, that's pretty arrogant. Think about it. If it were somehow magically easier to lose the weight becuase you're 184lb and not 284, why didnt YOU do that when you were 184lb instead of having surgery? Why have YOU taken up someone else's opportunity for surgery (because of course, there's not enough for everyone is there?) when you could have just so easily lost the weight before you got heavier? Why do YOU deserve the surgery more because you've allowed yourself to get more out of control? How often did YOU lose 4lb and regain it? And how different might your life have been if you HAD actually acknowledged 184 as obese at your height and had the surgery back then before you got bigger? Its so hypocritical, it just drives me crazy.

I've found a great way to keep panythose comfortable. Never wear any! I have not worn a pair for over 20 years myself. Hate the things.

I cant eat for HOURS after exercise. It makes me very very tight.

Ooooh, those not big enough comments make me so mad. I hate that attitude. Sorry ladies to take issue, but YOU were that size once and you just kept right on going, getting bigger until you did "deserve" surgery, didnt you? Every single one of us has at one time, even for five minutes been not big enough to qualify for the surgery. What right does you have to say that a surgery is unnecessary based simply on someone's weight?. How on earth do YOU know what she goes through to be that weight? . My BMI is only 21 now but could I maintain that without a lapband? Probably not! I just think its amazingly arrogant to pass judgement on someone else's circumstances simply because in YOUR opininion, they are a low weight and ought to be happy with it. When you've never been fatter, having a BMI of 34 is the fattest you can imagine, and it IS obese and it DOES have health risks. People with a BMI of 30 can struggle just as much with their weight, be just as desperate about it and sorry, but fat is fat is fat. Really serious obesity down the track is very highly likely. Having surgery now saves the taxpayer much more money later. But I agree, trying to gain hardly seems sensible or functional, which perhaps is simply a measure of the need for surgery. Knowing what this surgery has done for my quality of life and happiness starting from a BMI of 36, I'm not sure I wouldnt be doing the same.

I have a little nothing really bad. But from years on yere, its my belief that virtually nobody escapes it. Having only a little can be just as annoying as having lots, its the only thing holding me back from really having my dream body. The body under there is in great shape, but its like my skin is about 1/4 of a size too big all over. I just want to pinch an inch of it off all round. Still, I can cope with that. It doesnt worry me unduly.

during most of my weight loss I exercised at home. I have a treadmill. Early on, I just jogged on it and listened to music. I'd do 4 miles per hour for 40 minutes or so. As I got fitter, I did more. I did stuff like cardiocoach, which is an MP3 interval training program, I have a treadmoves DVD (treadmill sprints and weight work combined) and I began running outside. I gradually came to run mainly outside, using the treadmill only if it was late, raining or really really hot. I also used to do my own made up circuit combining heavy weight work or sandbag work with running intervals on the treadmill. Nowadays I'm running outside, and doiing 2 bootcamp sessions a week plus a circuit training class at the gym, which I take my son and his friend too. The bootcamp has got me working harder than I ever thought possible. The biggest advantage to developing the discipline to working out at home and having a treadmill is that I never have an excuse not to do decent exercise.

I find my band extremely touchy if I go a long time without eating. It gets very tight. It might be as simple as that. Try to get some nutritious liquids down a bit more often during the day perhaps. You do get random tightness too, you'll learn your band is not usually the same from one day or week to the next.

I hate the aftertaste of diet coke, am not really a soft drink drinker at all. But on the odd occasion I have, its too bubbly, I cant drink very much of it at all, maybe 1/4 of a can. Other carbonated drinks such as champagne or the odd gin and tonic are fine for me, they're nowhere near as bubbly.

I've got a 4cc band too and I have to say over the years here, I've observed that it definitely seems harder to get noticeable restriction in the larger capacity bands. I've never not had restriction - I just needed more as time went on and I lost, but I had it right from the very start.

Restriction will give you control of your hunger, but you are always going to have to make a conscious effort to eat well and to exercise.

Lol, I want to be that 80 year old!