Jachut

A tiny unfill will make a big difference, it definitely sounds like you need it.

Ugh, I have a sweet tooth and I still cant believe people can down so many of these shakes- I agree they're very sweet. I've tried a couple of the el cheapo diet shakes too - there's ones here called Celebrity Slim and Tony Ferguson, shakes and bars and stuff - disgustingly sweet. You'd go mad on a diet like that. If I feel like something shakelike, I vastly prefer to blend an egg, some skim milk and a banana, with some vanilla essence. Much much much less sweet.

Well, I eat normal food, just not huge portions so I can go into any situation and not have to tell anyone anything. I refuse to diet ever again, I dont do Protein shakes, I dont avoid food groups, nobody would ever know unless I told them. At work for example, I might take a tin of tuna and a salad, I might have an apple for a snack. Completely normal, arouses no interest from anyone. The most anyone would think is that I'm a fitness nut. I do do a lot of exercise and do crazy stuff like bootcamp just for the fun of it.

I definitely couldnt say weight loss improved my facial contours or my neck, lol. I *am* beginning to age as you do in your forties and I'm also an Aussie and have had a lot of sun exposure in my teens. But it didnt worsen anything, and overall, I have pretty good skin, just good genetics. I didnt really get a loose skin problem from weight loss apart from deflated boobs. But overall, people think I'm in my early 30's. Why? Because my overall "look" is young, I look very fit and easily have the figure of someone of that age, I can wear a bikini and all sorts of things like that without looking like mutton dressed as lamb and i dont try to hide my age with overly frosted hair and a face full of make up and loads of junk like botox either. I'm happy to schlep around in jeans and thongs (well, flip flops to you), I am very casual, I've just finished a university degree and have had great fun being a student, its all SORTS of things that make you young, not just what the skin on your face looks like. One thing I will say though, I have boobs that would make a 90 year old proud! Too bad I'm only 42. Those do need fixing.

Exercise has been the key for me, without a doubt. I got banded with the intention of NEVER dieting again, and I've not cut carbs or any foods in particular, just portion size. I do think its calories in v calories out. Perhaps if I now wanted to enter a body building competition and get to 12% body fat or something, I'd need to low carb it. But for the purposes of general weight loss, I never found it necessary. But this week for example, I've been to two bootcamp 90 minute sessions, one circuit training class at the gym, an eight km run and a 10km run, and I've let my daughter ride her bike to school twice (I run with her, its 4kms there) and I walked home both times. I've also done a fair bit of digging in the garden and cleaned our windows (not working right now, till next year) that's an average week for me. Its being this active that keeps the weight off!

And whilst its great to make changes to your lifestyle such as the walking, exercising like crazy DOES make a very very big difference. Many of us need really high intensity stuff to lose, - strength training and cardio circuits, that type of thing, for an hour, say five days a week AND the walking on top of that. That's the sorts of exercise levels I did to lose weight and to maintain my loss. It kills you at first but now I go to bootcamp and still have the energy to run on the treadmill after it, when you get fit, you recover quickly and arent so tired.

I'd imagine the 25% statistic is a bit unrealistic and way higher than reality. Some people dont need fills, but it depends an awful lot on your internal anatomy vs the band you have. I didnt need one for a good 12 weeks after surgery and have never ever needed to be very tight as I really got the exercise bug and run and do circuit training and boot camp and am very active generally so I can lose weight on a good 1500 calories a day. So I dont need a lot of fill to be satisfied on what is really an amount of food I could stick to for extended periods even before banding. Others who need to eat only 800 to 1000 a day to lose obviously need more restriction - there's two parts to that - the ball is in your court in one way in that you control what you decide to eat and how much exercise you do but also your metabolism is what it is and you may have to eat very little to lose well.

At 40lb you can feel the difference and be proud of your achievement. so what if it is not noticeable yet? it took me about 40lb before people noticed and I only started with a BMI of 36 in the first place. There is a lot of fat for most of us to lose and it comes off quite evenly (even though we may not think so). People dont see it. to be honest, the most dramatic (and satisfying ) weight loss was my last 10lb. Even 20lb ago (I lost 100 overall) I was still what I'd call quite fat. Not overweight, at the top of my healthy weight range, but unfashionably plump regardless. The more you have to lose, the less difference a single pound makes, but as it comes off, the result gets more and more dramatic. Dont let it get you down, you have to get those 40lb off anyway, and you're doing a great job.

1. They virtually never do the bypass in Australia 2. I want the adjustability of the band. I find it an advantage. I have had some fill out again recently becuase I just find I wasnt eating enough to fuel me, and I didnt need to get any thinner. I live a virtually normal life now, nobody would know I was banded by what I eat, I eat a good 1800 calories of normal healthy food from all food groups each and every day and i have enough energy to run, do boot camp and circuit training. I can eat enough food and a wide enough variety of food that nutrition is not an issue, I dont need supplements etc. 3. I was worried about getting old and not being able to eat well enough. My family do tend to get scary skinny in old age, and lots of restriction is not going to help that. 4. I wanted the option, when something better comes along to undo my band and do something else. I dont know that I would though now, my life is perfectly normal and I'm perfectly happy. 5. I had a BMI of 36. Bypass to me was just waaaaay too drastic.

Any kind of cooked or canned fruit, or fruit puree is really hard for me, I can only eat a very little. Fresh fruit is hard too, but I do still eat it daily. there's nothing I really *cant* eat but many things I have to make myself eat - like fruit and salads because they are healthy that are much harder to eat. I never get nauseous from things though, just blocked. I avoid things like reheated leftover meat too - we had a leg of pork the other night with guests, there was loads left but I threw it out becuase I knew I'd never get it down.

Water is generally unrestricted for me and i can drink enough during long runs. I can still easily down a bottle quite quickly. Its only if its very cold that it will cause me problems, but I've never liked really cold things anyway.

To my weight loss, no. And to be honest, I notice absolutely no difference between how I feel in general when I do or dont take them.

I never had the stomach flap to begin with, I got banded at a BMI of 36. I've had 3 babies, one of which was a caesar and my middle sister who's never been overweight has the flattest stomach that you'd ever see, so I suspect its good genetics. All I have is a little bit of crepiness on the lower belly, but i do have a bit of loose skin on my upper belly - that's no doubt courtesy of pregnancy (and I always carried very high). that hasnt snapped back - so although I can wear pretty fitted things and it never shows through, it does kind of ruin the effect of a bikini - and it needs to be pulled UP and not down as in a traditional tummy tuck. Under the arms, I had quite a lot of loose skin. Well, so I thought. It went away as I lost more weight. I have a minor amount there now, nothing anyone would notice.

I would take up his sort of exercise program. I find with regular cardio and strength training, the overall trend was down with my weight (now I maintain) and a bit extra on the weekends doesnt affect my weight at all.

Well, it does and it doesnt. In the beginning, running 3kms was really hard for me, now it'd be a piece of cake. But now, I dont run 3kms, I run 10, so I work just as hard! But I swear half of getting fit is just getting used to the bodily sensations of oxygen debt, when you're not an exerciser, that feeling panics you, when you are used to it, it still feels the same but you welcome it. At the moment, I'm doing a boot camp twice per week. for FUN!!! Its a weight loss competition, I know I wont lose weight and I know I wont get much fitter becuase I've got no real weight to lose and I'm already very fit. But I have to do something most days so why not do this boot camp for a new experience and to exercise with others? In that way you get to welcome activity opportunities, enjoy challenging yourself and you become unfraid of some serious pain, hehehe. Lungewalking round two basketball courts, followed by sprinting it immediately after - well, that really hurts! But I'm not a morning exerciser either, I only do it when its unavoidable.

I never had great hair to grow long, its frizzy and not thick at all, but it was shoulder blade length. The condition really suffered from weight loss, I had to cut it in the end, but I went to a short, bob, its pretty short at the back and collar bone length at the front, really funky. I love it, I'd never go back to long hair, sooooooo boring unless you have absolutely great hair and loads of time to blow dry/straighten, otherwise, I think it tends to drag your look down and make you look a bit unpolished. But that's my age - at 42 I think I'm past long hair, I dont think it flatters many older women particularly. My hair definitely needs to be coloured (too much grey) and it must be straightened or I seriously cant go out in public without stares (not curly, just stupid fluffy) and therefore I need it shorter so that I can do all that to it without it getting dry and split.

I dont follow a Protein heavy diet and would get about 60 to 70 grams a day, but I dont really focus on it. Its not what we're told to do here. As for exercise, I do something pretty much every day as well as being generally active. at the moment, I do bootcamp Mondays and Thursdays, circuit training Wednesdays, an 8km run Tuesday and Saturday and a long walk (12kms) easy on Sunday. So its pretty much an hour at high intensity five days a week, a long easy session one and a day off.

I had a BMI of 36 and GREAT results. I lost quite slowly but very steadily and now have a BMI of 21. I did/do a lot of exercise to get there though, but it was easier for me than had I been much heavier. I also didnt get a lot of loose skin. I could use some tightening up, dont get me wrong but I can also live without it not looking any worse than any other woman that's 42 and has had 3 babies.

Well, I guess it depends on how much you want it. personally, I wouldnt EVER go into debt for something like that. I have kids, we need a bigger house and we're paying private school fees. Those things are WAY more important to me than cosmetic surgery is so my saggy boobs will have to wait. Unless I could pull the cash straight out of the bank for it, which I could, but I would feel too guilty about my kids not getting a holiday, then I would consider I cant afford it. And if you cant afford it, you cant afford it, simple. It then becomes a matter of prioritising and saving. I know I'm a bit black and white on this, but I'm married to an accountant, forgive me, I've become a painful bore on the topic of non profitable debt! I would only consider debt for income producing assets.

If you're eating far less than you used to and not starving to death then you have restriction. No amount of restriction will really make your food choices FOR you though. You can still make bad choices at any level of restriction. I must confess though that even after 4 years banded I dont understand the concept of a sweet spot. To me, my band gave me restriction at every level, I just needed more fill to give the same restriction as time went on. Until I reached a point where I began to need fills less and less often and now havent a big one for well over two years. But at no point did I "arrive" at restriction. I had it from the word go. At the beginning it was easy to lose weight so I didnt need much restriction to do it - my body was used to a bigger calorie intake and dropped weight readily on a slight reduction. Now to lose weight, I'd have to fill my band right up to the point where I could barely eat 800 calories a day.

It depends what you're doing, but I found for running, the minute I could stretch brand name stuff like Adidas, Nike and New Balance on me, I found it much much more comfortable. Old tshirts and sweat pants just dont cut it when you're doing things like running or really working in the gym. Even the difference between the support a proper running tight gives you v lycra bike shorts from Target is very noticeable. But I had to swallow my embarrassment, I felt I looked hideous in tight running pants! But you get over it very quickly. I always always always buy tops with a shelf bra in them and get them to fit quite close. That PLUS a really good sports bra held my then DD cup breasts quite comfortably and now even at a C I need that support to feel comfortable.

Its frustrating because this only causes you more stress, which probably leads to higher BP. But those are really very high readings, you certainly want that under control. Try to stay positive and at least everything is all approved, you're not fighting for the right to even have the surgery in the first place. Do the right things, relax, some gentle exercise like walking and take your meds and hopefully it will be under control really quickly.

That's probably it to a degree, but to be honest, I had a BMI of 36 when I got banded and I had to lose about 40lb before anyone even noticed. You feel it straight away, you search the mirror and convince yourself you see it but to others it actually does take a pretty big loss to be really obviously visible. People might notice a little difference round the face or something, but dont be surprised that it takes 50lb before people start saying "oh, have you lost weight?"

This is a difficult one, I struggle with it too although I'm banded, not sleeved. I lost really well and have a BMI of 21, but I'm a really tall, thin build and to be honest, i still have fat that I'd like to lose. To do that at this stage, I'd definitely need a "plan", just eating well doesnt cut it for weight loss any longer. But with things like WW and the one I like - Lite n Easy (an Australian home delivered) I just cant eat all of the food! It makes me realise how WLS can actually lead you to eat less healthy than you did - becuase you just cant fit in the required amounts of fruit, vegies and wholegrains that you could. I balk at paying $125 a week for my 3 meals and having to throw out half my dinner! To be honest, for weight loss initially, you dont need to follow a plan as such, just the "rules".

I think you mean grams, not milligrams. Its always debatable what the ideal diet is, what percentage Protein v what percentage carbs v what percentage fat. I tend to be more a believer in a moderate protein, moderate carbs, moderate healthy fat diet, so I wouldnt get more than 70g protein most days. But that said, its calories in calories out and that's all it is for weight loss. If you get 125 grams protein v 70, at the same level of calories it doesnt make any difference. However, if you ADD another 50 grams of protein on TOP of your calorie amount, then it might. Extra calories are extra calories and your body doesnt care one bit whether they're fat, sugar or protein, they all end up stored on your hips.