Jachut

I think parental responsibility comes into it, yes, but I think obesity is a disorder that is not only related to the parents knowledge. This comes into it becuase there are such strong links between obesity and socioeconomic status, but to some degree, society as a whole is to blame. I have a son, who is almost 14 and is not 500 + lb but is definitely overweigh at 5ft 7 or so and about 180lb. I still hold out hopes he'll sprout - he shows all the signs of being very tall and has absolutely enormous hands and feet, and he has not hit puberty yet. So there's hope. BUT - as a parent, especially one who has battled my own weight problem, i know the ins and outs of good nutrition. As a fairly well off person and as a person who had the priviledge of an excellent education and who grew up in a fairly typical upper middle class family I also know what a good diet is and have the means to provide it. Which I do. I provide healthy foods, I cook from scratch, i do not feed my family take away food more than about once a month for meals, and for other special occasions, I do not keep Cookies, chips and chocolate in the house in the ordinary course of events and am more likely to make a cake from scratch for them after school than I am to buy commercial snack foods. My kids have NEVER had daily access to softdrinks, energy drinks or even orange juice - its Water or skim milk around here. We dont have dessert and I dont buy sugary Breakfast cereals. My kids are allowed to experiement with sports, but it is a rule that they must play one and they must STICK at one. They have played basketball for about 8 years now since they were little and they have tried out various other things on top of that. Fraser has 2 basketball games and a weekly training session per week and he has about 2 hours of phys ed per week at school, fairly reasonable fitness activities, unlike some schools. I also limit the PS3 to one hour a day. Yet he's much fatter than any of his friends and expanding. He has a simply enormous appetite He is lazy as all get out, if he's not playing his basketball, he's motionless on the couch. If he's not allowed to play PS3 or watch TV, he reads. He has zero interest in playing outside like his brother and sister. So: he has a big appetite, no real propensity for activity, a bad attitude regarding exercise (despite the example I set) and a genetic disposition to gain weight. What the F..k more can I do than provide a good diet, ensure some sport is played and limit sedenary activities? Am I supposed to crack the whip, scream at him for an hour every day to FORCE him to go for a run? I can tell you, that's what it would take. The task is not possible, I cant *make* him do anything, although of course I try to encourage him that a daily run would do him good. I believe giving children pocket money is important for a variety of reasons and I can and do lay down the law about what it is spent on. But I cant really know if he takes a few dollars and spends it on lollies at school. I've taken him to the doctor about this as he's asthmatic and quite unfit, I worry about the effect on his asthma. The doctor's advice is what you'd expect, eat less, exercise more but he cant give me any idea how to make a reluctant child do that. There's nobody that specialises in that. What more can I do? If he had hit 300lb by now, I'd be trying to get him banded. I think that's where we'll be in two or three years. But again, he has to want that. I also dont fall into the trap that I see a lot of parents do. As a teacher, I know we enforce healthy living practices in our schools in Australia and that we run fairly comprehensive educational programs on it. But it doesnt go far enough. We teach kids and parents that chips and cake are not healthy everyday foods for growing kids and that having lunch orders (our version of school lunch, usually involving chicken nuggets, pizza slices, meat pies etc )are not for everyday. There's token efforts made to make school canteens healthy - in Victoria schools are not allowed to sell soft drinks like Coke - but they sell flavoured mineral water, exactly the same thing! They're not allowed to sell energy drinks, but they sell a non caffeinated one, which is basically a soft drink - bubbles, sugar, etc. But its not called Coke, its an energy drink so its healthy right? Its just rubbish. So parents send their kids to school with a white bread sandwich full of Nutella or jam or whatever, with a couple of fruit sticks and muesli bar. Just a crap lunch but its not chips, cookies and junk food so people think that's healthy! I dont even fall into that trap and I still have a fat kid. I honestly dont think I could try anymore than I do but when a kid loves eating, hates exercising and doesnt particularly care about their weight or think they look bad coz they havent reached that age yet, there's very little to work with. THEY are the only ones that can lose weight. I think 555lb is the other end of the scale and that mother must certainly have been failing to raise her kid properly from a nutritional standpoint but there's such a huge grey area in between that I personally dont think we can hold parents entirely responsible. I feel for her becuase I can imagine its entirely possible she's worried herself sick over him, argued with him, tried to help him and now she's being judged harshly for what everyone perceives as HER failure.

I went out for a walk about half an hour after I got home from hospital (but I have a band, not a sleeve). I walked for half an hour twice a day for the first couple of weeks, then at about week 3 I went back to the gym to do a pretty vigorous elliptical workout (40 minutes or so, using Cardio Coach) and at about 3 months, I tried running, I was hooked after that. Generally I run 6 times a week, I do three 7km runs, and a 10km run and usually two fairly tough interval sessions. A couple of times a week I do some basic pushups, dips, crunches and other abdominal work after my run but I find overally my body responds really well for cardio and doesnt like to gain muscle - I tend to feel fat and bloated when I do weight training, it just doesnt really do it for me so I dont bother. I think I'm being honest with myself when I say I've given it my all on about three periods in my life (and i'm fairly knowledgeable, I've got detailed anatomical knowledge and a lot of sports knowledge too) and my body jsut plain doesnt really respond to it. I have a naturally ectomorphic body type, and I will probably never build much more muscle than I have. I work pretty hard, I run fast and get my heart rate high, I like the adrenaline rush. That's for maintenance these days, it worked to get my weight off but my weight stays steady now, hate to imagine what I'd have to do to lose!

No, I want to like fish as its so good for you but I just cant. I like atlantic salmon and I like things like canned tuna but as a family we never eat fish for dinner becuase its just plain freaking awful, lol. DH loves to fish and he brings it home and I cant even touch the stuff, the bones etc gross me out, I'm afraid of band problems from swallowing a bone, it tastes just like salt Water, its just awful. I do not get why people rave about fish. DH was so excited to catch a big snapper and stuff it and put it on the barbecue whole and everyone raved over it and to me it was just - meh. What's the fuss?

Lol, i bet the fly is like 12 inches long and they come right up to your navel! But what a great achievement, I have one or two really old items that meant a lot to me, actually that were things I wore when I got "thin" and they are WAAAAY too big for me now.

It has to be perfectly cooked, nice, rare and moist, which I cant manage, lol. I am not a good meat cook. things like lamb chops or steak on the barbie, I can eat it but its such a slow and careful process that I just dont enjoy them anymore. Roasts are OK, but not overcooked. The only steak I can eat and enjoy is if we go to Hogsbreath - those are SO tender. I use the slow cooker a lot - I tend to even cook a leg of lamb in there, or roast beef, because whilst it doesnt brown up and LOOK as appealing as from the oven, its very tender. And we make lots of stuff with mince. I made these amazing pork meatballs in a green curry sauce the other week, yum.

Brian Dennehy has one too I think. Not that he's exactly A list anymore, lol.

I have a perfectly functioning band and I'd have to say that I cope day to day with it brilliantly but it does involve multiple small discomforts and a bit of stress over eating in public. I can virtually guarantee I wont vomit in public but to achieve that I eat teeny tiny amounts and ever so carefully. The band WONT last forever inside you, sooner or later, the balloon will wear out. I think if you get banded, you must expect a further surgery down the track. Many dont agree, I know, but I think reversability is a valid advantage to some people. Some people really cant handle the deprivation and inability to eat and will try to eat around any surgery they have, at least with a band, if you decide you really cant take the lifestyle you must live to get the weight loss, then it can be taken out. I think that's very unlikely and would really only be an issue for a small percentage of people. However the adjustability is a MAJOR bonus. You can work your band just how you need to at any given stage of life. Pregnant? You can loosen it off and eat a bit more. Running your first marathon? Loosen it off to fuel your training. No worries about how to maintain, if you're keeping on losing and dont want to, have some fill removed. Feel you need more oomph to keep your weight loss going. Have a small fill. When you're old and your appetite has faded to nothing anyway unfill the band or remove it entirely. But all of that ONLY applies if your band functions well in your body, somethign that cant be guaranteed. Yes, the stats of erosions and slippages are low but as many here in this forum could tell you, sometimes people's bodies just plain dont like the band and they have all sorts of horrid everyday pain and problems that are not really reported in all the literature you'll find in your research.

It depends how tight you are and what you're eating. When you're breastfeeding, you need more energy than when you're pregnant, not unlimited amounts of food but you're body is workign pretty hard. Yet that's when I gained most of my excess weight - during breastfeeding not pregnancy and i dont remember being noticeably more hungry or eating a lot more. but you need to be loose enough to take in ALL the foodgroups during this time, you'll need some wholegrains too, not just Protein and vegetables and you need to be able to drink plenty. That said, i doubt that it'd be what you're eating making you feel emotional, that's to be expected to some degree during breastfeeding, its ridiculous how much we can cry and get angry etc. But do be realistic about how bad it is and whether you need to take action. If your doctor and your ob think you're eating enough you probably are. Oh, gosh, unsettled babies, they make us SO desperate and we convince ourselves multiple times daily that its sometihng within our control - that coffee we had, the tomatoes we ate, my baby is lactose intolerant, my baby needs chirporactic adjustment, we are just ready to jump on ANYthing that will settle them down. Most often though, there is no particular reason why a baby is unsettled, they just are and it does pass, this stage wont last forever. And its probably nothing to do with your breastmilk or what your body is putting into it becuase weaning breastfed babies and putting them on a bottle hardly EVER has the desired result. Is this your first baby? They really do grow up so fast and it is all behind you so quickly but I remember how desperate I felt in those early days with my first, its just a simply enormous life change and it does really knock you around.

I made lots of soup when I was on full liquids so that I could put in the nutrition I needed. I used lots of lentils, tons of fresh vegies, herbs like basil for flavouring, tins of tomatoes etc. I also put some meat and Pasta in there, blended it all up and thinned it with more stock to a consistency I could handle. That way I had the Protein, vegies and a little bit of carbs in there and I felt much better than living on processed liquidy crap like popsicles and pudding. I also made fresh fruit smoothies with milk and liquidy things like apricots and peaches canned in natural juice, I'd throw in a weetbix for some fibre or some natural bran. Milk has quite a bit of protein in it, you dont really need the Protein powder as well unless you particularly like it - I dont like the artificial sweet taste of them. Um, what else did I have - a glass of V8 a day for another serve or two of vegies, greek yogurt, prune juice. And lots of Water.

Well, see that's where I reckon the band or sleeve is great. This is your life, not a diet, so you go, you enjoy yourself, but the portions are small. YOu can sample different foods, and enjoy the break from everyday life and have a drink or two. You probably wont find you come back ANY heavier, and if you do, it'd only be a pound or two. Then you get back to everyday life and eating more in tune with what you should be doing most of the time. I think its a mentality peculiar to the obese, to look at things like this as something scary with an inevitable loss of control. People who have never struggled with their weight probably dont even think about it, let alone worry about it. I think that's a large part of overcoming obesity - learning to think like a thin person. Which is not "how can I continue to deprive myself in the face of temptation", but probably not giving food any real thought at all, focussing on the holiday instead. Enjoy your cruise!

that's a pretty reliable rule of thumb, but its not always ture either. I think it depends a lot on why you're overweight. I lost half my excess weight in the first 3 months (50lb or so) and I only had a BMI of 36 when I was banded. But I am healthy, active and really, despite having got fat, I have a pretty fast metabolism, I've noticed I have lost weight eating far more than many here, I lost all my weight easily on 1500 calories a day or so. I eat 2000 a day to maintain (but I did lose the second half of my excess weight very slowly). Whereas people with metabolic problems, people who are so heavy that they're very inactive etc, they often find that they dont lose as fast as they expect to. but 30lb in 3 or 4 months is excellent weight loss and nothing to worry about at all.

Oh golly, brings back memories of getting new bikes 20 years ago and going out one day with my parents, my then 50is year old parents left DH and i for dead. I will never forget how much by butt hurt. I also find being a runner, my butt isnt broken in - I occasionally do a spin class and always get sore hands and sore but. Like a treadmill, a stationery bike is not like the open road at all. It will always be harder outside, significantly so. You've got wind resistance, friction from the road, and you dont realise the gradient of the resistence you set on a stationery bike is really peanuts compared to a real hill.

I've read a few things that say that ROSE procedure isnt terribly effective, personally, I'd think a band which can be adjusted to meet your needs at any given time would be an opiton more likely to work. But I've just read stuff on this and other forums, not seen hard proof or any data. A sleeve wouldnt be an option. But I've definitely heard of bands being done after RNY.

My weight never had anything to do with that, although given that both Doug and I have lost substantial weight, a lot more is possible. However, i suffer the curse of probably the vast majority of overworked, overtired mothers the world over. My libido is zilch. DH and I manage it regularly enough, several times a week and its always good, but I can honestly say I never ever ever feel like it. Its not even on my radar. Its been the same since I had my first baby. When I go to bed at night, I'm exhausted and I want to sleep. It doesnt cause problems for us usually, but I think DH would like to think I fancied him more than I actually do, and I dont blame him for that. Our relationship is secure but I could live without sex for very long periods of time. Weight loss hasnt changed that at all.

Wait till you have adjusted to it and you think that's a HUGE amount of food, lol. I constantly feel like I'm a piggie, like I've overeaten AGAIN. Then when I think about what everyone around me ate, i realise my perception has changed totally.

I think it does for me anyway. Although I tend to be a bit of a loner and very (sometimes overly) confident in my own knowledge and opinions. But I am by nature someone who researches pretty thoroughly and informs myself about things I decide to do. I appreciate the companionship, the debates and the general connections on here, but I dont feel I need "support" in that I need to be able to ask questions or seek guidance. I'm able to do that for myself. For others there's no substitute for face to face support, its just personality dependent, whether you need it or not. But I wouldnt feel like you're missing out on something and not realising it if you dont feel you particularly need it.

I'm a muesli girl myself...

Did you follow the link to the LiftMagic one to simulate injectibles and lifts on your face. I did the works and ended up like Jocelyn Wildenstein. Lets just lip fillers are not a good idea for me. Then I tried the breastlift and augmentation one, oh boy. I ended up with J cup saggy boosies. Looked truly awful.

Long term it wont matter, but its annoying if its uncomfortable in the short term. I tend to sleep 3/4 on my stomach, sort of on my side with my top leg bent. The most uncomfortable part of the surgery for me was having slept of the anaesthetic for 8 hours lying on my back. I was so over it and I was kind of wakeful and unable to sleep that night, uncomfortable on my side (whch I could manage to get to with the aid of some pillows) for more than a few minutes but really uncomfortable on my back. I ended up asking for sleeping pills. I was able to sleep on my side once I got home, it just took a bit of manouvering to get there. But what I never realised was how badly I slept when I was heavy. I thought at a BMI of 36 with no sleep apnoea or anything, that I was mainly doing this surgery to prevent myself getting fatter and having health problems in the future. But once about 20kg had gone, i realised how GREAT I was feeling. I had been waking up multiple times in the night due to back and hip discomfort, just due to the weight, as I had done during pregnancy. I sleep like a baby now!

Ha, I love it, lol. funny how although I'm already a healthy weight with a BMI of 22, I could lose 41lb and none of my bones show, nor do my boobs shrink!! Seriously though, this is probably a good way to visualise the effect of a little liposuction around the problem areas.

In some ways it wont be any different. You will fall into those behaviours again and again, I still do it now sometimes, 4 years down the track. I'm still particularly prone to that I'm going to start a diet on Monday so I'll live it up this weekend mentality. But this isnt ABOUT becoming a perfect person, its abut managing your problems and peculiar mentalities and issues around food with the support of something that gives you good portion control, so that when you slip up, you dont do the sort of damage you once did. Its about finding that SOME of those problem foods just wont be possible for you anymore and marvelling at how when you know they cause you pain, you stop wanting them. Its about trying hard every day and succeeding more of the time than you fail. But its also about getting real with yourself, stopping the excuses and putting in the hard yards. No time for exercise? Get up earlier, do it at midnight if you have to. Dont like exercise? Tough luck, do it anyway. Want that cookie at 9pm? Do something else, use all the same tactics. You wont succeed at this every day of the journey, but you need to appreciate all the little successes and realise that each one is valid, that if you dont exercise, it doesnt mean there was no point in having eaten well all day or that if you eat badly that day then why bother exercising. If you can just get past the slip ups and continue on with what you're doing well, you will have success.

Look, you have to be realistic with the headhunger and craving thing. Nothing will absolutely make that go away and you can over time get lazy and revert back to those foods. I'm no low carb fan but I do notice that when I lurch from carb filled meal to carb filled meal with simple carbs (think donuts, Cookies, vanilla slices) and coffee in between, I just get on a roll that I find very difficult to stop. The band STILL works for me, becuase my portions are small, and I run daily, so when i do this I dont gain weight. However, if I eat small and often - 3 to 4 hourly and I eat only low GI wholegrain carbs combined with Protein then I feel better, my energy level is constant, and the urge to eat bad foods really is managed better. I still get hit with the temptation and I find it very hard to stick to a routine like this - life, work, kids etc all get in the way but I've also found that as long as I'm pretty good about 80% of the time, then my weight stays stable (or kept coming off when I was losing). I lost well over 100% of my excess weight to take me well past the top of my healthy range and I've kept it off for about 2 years now. I'm not perfect, and I never will be, but its about a change in the balance of good v bad behaviours, not in sticking to a "diet" faultlessly. I'm going to Sydney next weekend for my sister's 40th, my parents are meeting us there and my other sis is coming up too. It will be a weekend full of booze, eating and celebrating, and coz we're staying in hotels, every meal will have to be eaten out. I dont fuss and fret about how I'm goign to stick with my program for these types of things - who CARES? I will go, enjoy myself, not eat past full and not get myself hopelessly tanked, lol, just do it moderately and enjoyably. Then I get back with program first thing Monday! Its really not so hard. You can do this with some effort!

Oh, that's good news. I'd be wary of a surgeon who'd want to band you without fixing it!