Jachut

I dont know much about nutcracker esophagus either, but in my experience amongst peple I know, bands plus hiatal hernias can be a recipe for disaster. I personally would want that hernia fixed - is that not an option during the surgery? it just seems to me people with hernias are often the ones that cant take fills - they swing between being underfilled and not losing to being unable to swallow Water. I have a friend that had no end of trouble and was really unsuccessful with her band, they decided to replace the band with a newer model, went in, found a hernia. The surgeon fixed it, placed a new band and voila, text book lapband journey ever since.

I agree, one donut is a bit of a triumph and an indulgence every now and again doesnt kill you. I really think when you really want something, have it. The only problem I find with that theory is that occasionally I find I really want something mutliple times every single day and i do occasionally have to cut back and go cold turkey, lol. but I've found I never needed to completely cut out anything to lose weight, just change the balance ever so slightly.

whatever the timing, I certainly wouldnt call tuna and crackers a mushy food. Tuna can be quite dry and "sticky" in texture so unless its packed in oil or doused in mayonnaise (which kinda makes it a high fat food) thenn its going to be hard to eat. ON crackers, wow, surprised you managed to swallow it and keep it down. Mushy foods should be soft and moist. Especially so soon after surgery I'd really be focussing more on very thick soups, blended up things, pureed fruit and yogurt and staying away from stuff so solid for a week or so yet.

Dont get fills you dont need, there's no point. The more you can eat and the more variety you can eat whilst still losing weight, the better nourished you will be. And the looser your band, the less likely you are to have issues with it like reflux, things getting stuck, pb's etc. So whilst you are still losing, keep doing whatever you're doing - its working! However, the weight loss will probably come to a halt sooner or later. As you loose fat around your stomach, the band will get looser, your calorie needs will drop and you will need to eat less to have the same deficit per day and at some point, you may find you need to fill for that bit of extra help. But dont do it before you have to!

I telly you what though, it makes you realise how darn thin models and actresses must really be. I mean, I've always viewed a perfectly flat stomach and no lumps and bumps round the hips as what you get if you're at a healthy weight. Nuh uh. I'm 150 lb or so at 5ft 10 and as you can see from my close ups, yeah, I look fine, but I'm still pretty well upholstered. It hit me I would really need to be 10kg (25lb) lighter to be as thin as I thought I'd be at this sort of weight - which is underweight.

I try on clothes ALL the time! I love doing that. I'm a dedicated exerciser and I say oh, I"m addicted to running. I'm addicted enough that if the plastic surgery fairy payed a visit and granted me a full body overhaul at no cost to myself, I would probably freak about not being able to run for six weeks, lol. I dont like that thought. But I think I have that in a good place in my life, not really an obsession. What I struggle with that I want to change is wanting to lose MORE weight. I find it just so hard not to be constantly achieving new things weight wise, and to not be mentally focussed on trying to change my body. I've never been here in my life before and I am having trouble accepting that this is just my body now and I am ALLOWED to just eat for maintenance.

My kids were eating cheese on toast this morning, I thought hmm, that looks good, havent eaten that in literally years - you know, toast bread, put on cheese, put under griller. Ugh, it made me feel awful. It was so rich and fatty, I just dont like things like that anymore. Cant tolerate a lot of fat in any form.

You do look great. I got brave and posted some close ups of me too. I like the way you say it - pretty with clothes on, just not so much with them off. I've been thinking about a bit of surgery but I regularly stop and slap myself. Clothes on - hello - is that not how everyone sees us 99% of the time. I get frustrated with myself that I would actually think about depriving my kids of a family holiday so that I can spend money on lipo to look good in a bikini that at 42 years old I would wear maybe 10 days in an entire YEAR and which I could simply choose not to wear anyway and in which I do actually look decent enough anyway. Its a hard mentality to shake off though and I've lived it out publically on here many times, lol. But I really think people can be too quick to jump into the next round of surgeries following their weight loss without taking the time to just be. I'm glad you've got a healthy dose of realism and good self esteem!

The tree man! that was it. I was absolutely glued to that, it was a wart virus mutation and he honestly looked like a human mangrove or some such jungle plantlife. It was utterly incredible and hearbreaking.

I agree with Oregon, work on one thing at a time. A simple rule like no eating between meals, without any other restrictions (you can eat what and how much you feel like) can be very effective, because its not really the fact that you decide to eat KFC for lunch that does the damage, its the nibbling you do bit by bit before and after that. And the other thing I found with my weight loss is that I absolutely SUCK at dieting. I am really no good at it, the minute I decide I'm going to, I want to eat everything in sight. So I banned dieting forever more and decided that portion control was it for me and I decided to be excellent on the exercise part of the equation. Those two things are probably what helped me the most. I can choose healthy for the most part but knowing I've got no "rules" really quiets the need to choose poorly every single time. I enjoy naughty foods when i darn well want to but I dont eat between meals and I run at least 7kms every day and that kept (and keeps) me on track. I had to accept slower weight loss for that and perhaps now I'm having to accept not ever losing that last 10lb that would probably shift those last little lumps and bumps. I was never a star loser, so there's a price but to me, any loss was a loss.

I take a couple of children's chewables and a chewable iron tablet and most days I include some ground flaxseeds and/or flax oil.

I would lie definitely. She needs support and for someone to share her joy because she no doubt FEELS fantastic about it. Does it really matter that you cant see it? People are different in the way they lose weight, and with some people you really CANT tell when they've lost quite a lot. But some situations call for white lies and I think this is one of them, she wont thank you for honesty.

Oh poop. coffee reduces your risk of diabetes and just recently they've found based on initial research that it can prevent alzheimers. I was told coffee and tea are fine. As long as its coffee and not an excuse for syrup and whipped cream. THOSE types of coffee are not fine, lol.

I dont believe in eating if you're truly not hungry. Sometimes when I have a late Breakfast, I'm very much NOT hungry for lunch, so I skip it. I might have a small snack later in the afternoon. Some days are short and I just dont need 3 meals. Regardless of the fact that you shouldnt starve to lose weight i dont believe forcing food you dont want down is a healthy or rational way to treat food. But by the same token, you do need to eat enough to be nourished and healthy. I'm talking about once in a while. If you're always very unhungry, I 'd consider that you may be a bit tight.

I was really lucky as I got down to a BMI of 21 to 22 without suffering too much although the last of that weight loss was very slow, lost like 15lb in an entire year. But to be honest, those last 10lb that would probaby get rid of the final little fatty areas I'm now considering lipo for, I've never been able to lose them. I try constantly and occasionally lose a pound or 3 but I always bounce right back to 150. At 5ft 10 and a US size 8, I should just stop obsessing over it.

Such fees are the norm here but I suspect its different because of our system being different. Here, Medicare pays a schedule fee for everyone, rich or poor, but doctors charge well ABOVE that scheduled fee. So for any given expense, you'll get 85% of the scheduled fee back from medicare but there will be a gap over and above that which is out of pocket. this is the same for all doctors, specialists and surgeon's - you'd never find one anywhere who charges only the scheduled fee, its unheard of. Private health insurance pays hospital costs, not doctors. When a doctor "bulk bills" it means he bills Medicare direct, not the patient, and he bills only the scheduled fee. When we pay this program fee, we are then bulk billed for all aftercare which means no out of pocket cost ever again, for fills, follow ups or revision surgery. We can go for fills and consultations whenever, as often as we like. So in one regard, its the same, it covers the doctor's outrageous fee over and above the base that he should be charging, but the fact is, if we went to another doctor we'd pay a couple of hundred for each consultation/fill so we'd be paying that money out any way. But here, no pay, no surgery.

I'm talking about it more in terms of the type of support and education that needs to be out there tackling this problem, not about what people SHOULD do. I am only this resourceful with food and nutrition after years of not poverty but wanting to be able to stay at home with my kids - which was very hard on one income in the earlier days, and to have money for fun things, not groceries. I didnt know these types of things, I've had to learn them. I've learned to do big cookups once or twice a month in preparation for busy times - I have 3 weeks teaching round starting next week, and yep, there's 3 weeks of healthy dinners in the freezer. Preparation, effort, that's mainly what it is but its sometimes hard to make the choice to expend it in the face of tiredness, stress and pressure. My point is not "you should have done better" at all, that would be unforgiveably rude and judgemental, its more how can we as a society gain this type of knowledge and provide people with the support to be able to change their choices in this way?

I didnt see the show as it wasnt on here but he's on A Current Affair tonight so I've seen the advertising. I've seen a show on this guy before, on Medical Miracles or some such crap all about siamese twins and some guy with the most amazing wart problem, lol. Anyway, this show was documenting this fellow's enormous cosmetic surgeries - he had enough skin removed to house about 4 people. So he may well have lost the weight without surgery but he sure as eggs didnt get to where he is today without surgery. yet credit where credit is due - can you IMAGINE losing that much weight without surgical help? He's amazing.

It sucks, doesnt it. I've just finished sending off pics of myself for an online quote for some lipo and was lookign at my tummy. Its so good for a woman who's lost 100lb and had 3 babies, but it could look absolutely superb with a tummy tuck, I'd have a model stomach because I have the underlying shape. I dont have anything hanging, just "looseness" but I absolutely cant face the thought of the expense, scarring and recovery of a tummy tuck. Seems easier just to not wear a bikini! and then I think, what's the point? My bum looks like a garbage bag full of cottage cheese.

I've read here a lot of people find wearing a compression garment helps. Also, one or two people on here have gone for the panniculectomy with a view to a revision to a nicer finish later on. Losing Jusme doesnt post anymore, but lopped the tummy off earlier on in the peace, which gave her the freedom to exercise and achieve her goals. She's had a baby recently, but she was always planning on going back and having it revised at a later date. If its causing you these sorts of problems, it may be something that's covered. It must be awful, my ordinary sized breasts gave me hell when I ran early on, its soooo good since they shrunk to C cups.

I never had really large breasts, they were an E cup (which is about a DD in US terms I believe, our cup sizes are a bit different) but becuase I'm 5ft 10, nobody would have said my boobs were a stand out feature. They were just kind of right for the height and weight I was. Since then they've shrunk to a C. The only reason I'm upset is that they're a mess, very droppy with a lot of stretch marks on top of them (from puberty). I was desperate for a time there, they were just awful and I couldnt show any cleavage or chest in anythign I wore becuase they just puddled there, the skin was all ripply and had no body or oomph to it, it was would move like Water, ick. But as they shrunk even more, that didnt go away but now they fit INSIDE everything, meaning I can show my chest again, but my boobs dont fall out of everything. I like smaller boobs, I want a lift but DH is (I think) angling for implants too but I wont do it, I have no desire to have big norgs, C is nice, there's a breast there, but it doesnt ruin clothes, grab attention etc. So shrinkage is a bonus from my point of view.

Ok Linda, I definitely agree there IS a link between poverty and poor nutrition but I think its for a combination of both what I said and what you said. I didnt mean to imply my simplistic comments were the entire answer. but let me ask you this. How difficult would it have been to have bought a load of split peas - any supermarket, not a strange item at all - and a ham hock and made a pot of pea and ham soup instead of noodles? Takes very little time, freezes well. I dont have a chest freezer, just the freezer at the top of my fridge, surely you had that? How difficult is it to save the ends and peelings of your fresh vegies and boil them up to make stock for your Soups? How expensive is plain, unprocessed oatmeal compared to mac and cheese? How difficult is it to prepare compared to mac and cheese? Dont mix up lack of time from being a single parent with 2 children and poverty - that's a problem women of all socioeconomic levels face and many deal with it in the same ways - convenience foods. Poverty compounds that by restricting choices. If you absolutely didnt have access to those foods, then that's really sad - that's why its not an entirely individual responsibility but also a policy one. Yet, if you could afford to pay the exorbitant prices of a 7-11, surely it would have been possible to travel by public transport to a supermarket where you had better choices. Nobody is suggesting the poor should all be pulling their fingers out and eating mangoes and pineapple and fresh berries instead of crap food. But good food can be extremely cheap if you know how to buy it and what to do with it. I also dont mean to sound superior or moralistic about it, my main experience with not being exactly flush is being a student in share accommodation - after paying my rent, petrol, student fees etc, I used to have about $30 a week for food and I coped exactly the same way you did and by buying exactly the same sorts of foods. I wouldnt have known what to do with a haricot bean if it bit me on the bum. I didnt really care, I wasnt interested in spending my time cooking. The main difference for me is that was choice - i could have been living at home in comfort with my parents, I wanted the "experience". As it was I turned up on their doorstep a couple of times a week for a good meal. My point is not to call anyone stupid, but more to make the observation that good cheap food is out there - but its not the same thing as having the money to buy loads of fresh food which is undeniably more expensive. Knowing how to access and use those sorts of foods is what takes education - needing access to information is not the same thing as stupid. Stupid is when you know better, could do better and make bad choices anyway.