Jachut

With the fills spaced that far apart it is hard on you, but you should still EVENTUALLY get to a good place with your band. Why did you remove what fill you had if it wasnt causing you problems? That has only set you back several more months. Keep going this time, you WILL get there assuming all is well. Fatigue makes exercise hard, but exercise does eventually give you more energy, not less. I would urge you to try to do some gentle exercise every day. Now is probably not the time to really push it though, until such time as you are feeling a bit better. If you cant get your doctor to schedule fills closer, I guess you're going to have to be patient, but I wish you luck in getting this sorted.

Its the same as cholesterol - we measure that differently here too.

Yep, that changes things a bit. I've got a great life and whilst I wouldnt call us "rich" we are certainly very comfortable. When I was fat, all the good times were marred by the fact that i felt miserable and self conscious. I would rather have less money than I do and stay thin. It is true, having money is great, but it doesnt make you happy, most of the OTHER things in your life do that. Not that i would want to have to stress over having to pay the mortgage and the school fees.... I dont know. Obesity is also a disease that affects lower socioeconomic groups far more than it does richer people, statistically speaking. Skinny AND rich would be my choice.

OK, I almost never post photos of myself on here. This is my post partum belly - I am almost 42, I have had three babies and lost 100lb. After I had a caesarean 6 years ago, I had just the beginning of an overhang. I was 100 lb overweight and I had just had all my stomach muscles cut through. I felt sick when I saw the state of my stomach. Its worth saying I'm pear shaped, never did carry most of my weight in my stomach. This is my stomach now, no tummy tuck, just weight loss and 3 and a half years of running (and a fair bit of core work). I personally think a tummy tuck would give me a truly GREAT result but I dont think the scar is worth the problem. My stomach did look really awful about half way through my weight loss and has tightened up a bit but after my recovery from the c-section post about 6 months, I have never really had "overhang". I have super strong abs, but being 5ft 10 tall and having normal sized 8lb and 9lb babies, I didnt get "huge" during pregnancy and didnt get a lot of stretch marks. The marks I do have on my hips are from puberty. I had a lot of room to hide babies in there and I didnt get muscle separation. If you'e got muscle separation, then surgery is the ONLY way to fix it. I will wear a bikini, but to be honest, i am self conscious about my stomach, its a little more blobby than photos tend to show too. I feel awkward sitting down, when it all bunches up! But I guess its a lot cheaper and less traumatic simply to wear a tankini instead.

Definitely the medication acts as an appetite suppressant and you are probably going to have to force yourself to eat to some degree. If you're exercising hard, you do NEED carbs. I dont think the amount of Protein would be a problem, so much as you might be low on Iron. Or blood pressure. But you definitely sound run down and as if you're not fuelling the amount of energy you burn. The only way to be sure is to go to your doc, have some bloodwork, and you may need to be supplementing more heavily. Like Josephine, I would bet money its the Adderall.

Oh gosh, I wish I knew. My 13 year old son is getting fatter by the day. It is killing me. I just dont know how to deal with it. I wouldnt worry too much because neither Doug nor I ever got morbidly obese. I could comfort myself if I knew he was going to be a tubby teen and slim down a bit in adulthood like we both did and never have a really SERIOUS weight problem. But he's bigger than either of us were at his age. The thing with him is he does like healthy food and with him, I can just not buy the junk. He will eat a LOT but he doesnt sneak it or have any real disordered eating, in fact when I see what his friends eat, he eats no more and actually eats a lot better. But, like his father, he just doesnt have the "physical" gene. He's inherently lazy, he just doesnt burn any energy, unlike most boys his age who never stop moving. He will play sport, at school and he plays basketball too, but when he's not doing that, he's absolutely inert. Whereas my skinny 11 year old is out on his bike, climbing on the roof, kicking a football or playing cricket in the street, plus his basketball, plus playing rugby at lunchtime at school etc. ..... Now Fraser wants to give up basketball - he isnt sporty, he's the worst player in his team and they carry him, he never contributes to the game, but runs around the perimeter. I dont blame him for wanting to quit, but he cant afford to lose the activity!!! But its a miserable life trying to force an unwilling adolecent boy into an hour of physical activity every day! Its not sustainable or realistic. I dont know, is the answer.

I feel the same, its a shame, Farrah fought so long and hard and has been overshadowed instantly. But what I dont get is how anyone can be so attached to a celebrity as to get upset when others make remarks about him that are quite arguably deserved. This man did not know one single one of us even existed! Wouldnt have cared if he did. I just cannot understand how it matters so much to anyone.

I am like that about vomiting and still am. I really got to the state though where I was ready enough to do something about my weight to even face THAT. The thing is, pbing is not like vomiting. Its nothing like it. There's no nausea, no temperatures and sickness accompanying it, it comes up more easily and is WAY less copious, theres no acid and terrible taste, it doesnt generally come out all your nose and leave you absolutely wrecked. Its nowhere near as bad.

I played for years and years, from the age of 7 until I was about 25. I only ever injured myself badly once playing softball - I tore all the quadriceps tendons off my pelvis when batting (the twisting). I had to have surgery for that one, to pin them back. I really cant imagine how you'd hurt your port, you'd be very unlucky. I played A grade softball and it just isnt a contact sport, even sliding, you're not likely to hurt your port. Knees and ankles, maybe, but not your port.

I had a massive fight with the old biddy at Weight Watchers a few years back who measured me at 5 ft 9. I'm 5ft 10. that of course made me even more overweight. She remeasured me about five times but I kept getting 5ft 9. When I decided on lapband surgery, I also measured in at 5ft 9. I decided I must have shrunk but at a BMI of barely 36, I think that shrinkage saved me, made me eligible for the surgery! I happened to mention it to the nurse about two years later, and she remeasured me, sure enough 5ft 10 AND a half. She laughed and told me my bum was much smaller and now I could stand close to the wall.

Many people are not confident with fake tans, and they ARE hard to get right. I find I can get them on right, but it frustrates the heck out of me that i get literally one DAY of perfect skin before they start to fade. But I am addicted to gradual tanning lotions - just drugstore ones like Olay and Dove. They take a few days to tan you but becuase you're topping up every day (and I give myself a good rubdown with exfoliating gloves in the shower every day) and taking off the excess, the tan stays perfect and even. Once every couple of weeks I find it starts to build up too much, I go for a swim in the chlorine and buff it all off. I like to be tanned all the time becuase I have a pale caucasion skin that is also slightly olive - so no gorgeous peaches and cream perfection for me, untanned I am just sallow and a bit yellow. So I deepen it - I find this way more effective than make up - an all over tan gives me a healthy look that no faceful of heavy make up ever could. I hate make up so will do anything I can not to have to wear it.

My gut reaction is to agree with you Gloucester. Its sad he died, personally I have no emotional attachment to it. I'm gutted about Farrah though, that one really touched me. I think its a matter of whether you see MJ as doing anythign great - I dont. I tend to believe the stories abut him and i also didnt really see his music as anythign special at all. But the evidence that other people did is there, that's for sure, so I can see that people feel he made a great contribution. I think the thing is, people saw Princess Di as having had a hard life through none of her own doing, Charles was the bad guy - so her death was tragic. It was huge here because of course, we're part of the commonwealth. Its sad about Farrah coz she got sick - also tragic. But its not sad about Michael because he was a weirdo? He was definitely sick. I think he probably lived a very sad and lonely decade before he died. Even though I have no respect or admiration for either the man or his music, that IS sad. I'm sure fame isnt all its cracked up to be.

I'm not going to rip into you either, your post really worries me in fact. I really think its VITAL that you shore yourself up some support now. You probably will find that you get appetite control with your band as you get filled, but I seriously suspsect its not going to be enough. I think you've probably established a relationship with food that's not based solely on physical appetite and the anxiety that you describe about the possibility of being hungry - personally I think you're going to have a really tough time looking at the few morsels on your plate and accepting that that's going to be all you are going to fit in. You can tell when someone just really doesnt want to bother getting with the program (and those people do cop a lot of criticism, not entirely fairly) but you sound a bit more worried about it than that. For now, you're recovering, you wont have a lot of restriction, this isnt how its always going to be. So you ate a cheeseburger and fries, put it behind you and move on as best you can.

I think people just worry too much about plateaus to be honest. Yes, we all love seeing lower numbers of the scale seemingly every day but the body just does not lose weight a day. If you are eating 1300 calories or less and exercising regularly, over time, the weight WILL come off. Mixing things around a bit really does seem to help people, perhaps eat more or less for a few days, change your exercise. To lose 100% of your excess weight, walking doesnt seem to be enough really, for most people. Eventually it needs to be stepped up and you need to work more intensely. Most of the really successful bandsters are pretty exercise mad and do intense things like spinning, running, and plenty of strength training. You know how much effort you're putting in now and you'll know yourself when you're fit enough and ready for more. I would highly encourage anyone to work ever harder with exercise if they want to see ALL their weight gone. That's a lot of Protein supplements for a reasonable protein goal. Really, you should ideally be able to eat at least 50 grams of it a day and that would mean you'd really only need either the bar or one shake with perhaps 2 scoops? Although its calories that count and if you're not going over, then you couldnt really say anything is the "enemy". Your body is probably just taking a breather.

A naturopath told DH he was Vit D deficient about 2 years ago, and that he needed to supplement for a while. He has very fair caucasian skin that burns, and he avoids the sun like the plague. Of course in Australia, we're ALL very sun smart, its just so strong here and the skin cancer message has gotten in for most people. But DH wont even mow the lawn without being slathered in 30+. Well, it caught up with him, everyone needs SOME sun exposure. That legend of the bronzed Aussie - well on any beach it'll be the Australians that are wearing rash vests, big hats, 30+ sun screen and only the crazy English tourists are out there broiling. Once he supplemented, the depression and anxiety attacks he'd been suffering went away, and the nervy, neuralgia type shoulder pain he'd had for years disappeared. Now he no longer needs to supplement but he lets himself get some sun. And of course, now that he does that, he's not so lily white that he burns in 2 minutes either.

I dont kid myself either - I know that in the future something could go wrong. I absolutely do not expect to have this band in me when I'm 70. They just dont last that long. But I knew that going in. You know, I think the markedly different culture with regard to managing bands is a big factor. Here, its just simply not viewed the same way as what you guys are used to. Half a cup isnt the goal. A low carb diet isnt the goal. The view is that you have it loose enough to eat all foods and that you have to do most of the work in terms of avoiding foods that you shouldnt eat. Its a really really fine balance between restriction that allows you to eat well but not overeat and too little restriction that means you just arent getting the help from your band that you need. Because of this, I think much fewer people are good band candidates than the number of people who are actually banded. My band is loose enough that I do have to constantly work to not eat poorly. Although habit has taken over now after four years and that job is much easier, I can eat all sorts of bad foods and I can do things like eat dinner and then dessert if I have a small wait in between. I make it up by exercising, I have to do what I do to fuel the amount that I still eat. I'm happy with that. I found something I love in running and I have no reliance on willpower to do it, its a self motivating and rewarding activity for me, so I have no doubt that I will keep it up and can keep my own personal calorie balance in control. But I really think that many of the problems with the band - not everyone of course - but many are simply cases of people being too tight. Our standard definition of too tight is not really accurate, I think "too tight" comes way before people realise it. But if you view it that way, you're left with a tool that is of really very limited use for all but a small proportion of people. Most people truly NEED the restriction to lose weight.

Like Restless, I was fat but healthy and I just wouldnt have ever considered something as drastic as a bypass. But - at the time, I totally believed the band was worry and risk free and that the only real thing to be wary of was the 1 to 2% chance of slippage and erosion. I still would have done it. There's also the fact that a lot of the early pioneers of the band are Australian and my surgeon is a partner in Prof. O'Brien's practice. I felt I was in good hands, and really, its all that's easily available in Australia at present time, bypass is very very uncommon and sleeves havent taken off quite yet. We also have quite a markedly different approach to it in Australia, its much more a tool to gently reduce portion sizes, the aim in terms of diet, restriction etc is all a lot more moderate and it just didnt seem so extreme a surgery to me as its proven to be for a lot of people here.

Oh, I agree. Once or twice since being banded, I've let the kids get CocoPops. I normally dont let my kids eat junk like that - its the sort of cereal I'll buy for a treat for school holidays. And I've looked at the box and thought, hmmmm. Naaaah. Hmmmmm. Naaaah. Hmmmm - oh, what the heck and had a bowl. Gee I enjoyed it! Everything in moderation and more moderation for some things than others.

I'd hazard a guess that you actually need Fluid OUT. Its the biggest disadvantage of the band I think - it needs to be loose enough to allow you to eat properly but that means it will let a lot more through if you choose bad foods. You just have to not choose them. Really, if a band is used properly, the most that can be said for it is that you can stick to a diet without being starving hungry. Unfortunately the hard work of fighting what your head wants to eat is down to YOU. No matter which way you cut it, you have to do the work. When used like that, you shouldnt have the problems with pain upon eating healthy foods. You also have to take bites about a thousand times smaller than you imagine and chew about a thousand times more. Do all that and if all is well, you will enjoy a nice steady 1 to 2 lb loss per week. And Misty, yes biscuits is "cookies" but packet ones, small and hard, not huge soft Mrs Fields type things.

I lost about 30lb before my first fill and by the time I had the first fill at 12 weeks or so, I was down to a reliable 1 to 2 lb loss per week, which continued pretty much for 18 months. After that, I lost very very slowly but dropped another 20lb or so over a year. I found I had no elusive 'sweet spot' to get to, each fill was just right for me to continue losing steadily. And I didnt eat less and less and less with each fill, they pretty much just made up for the increased restriction I needed becuase I'd lost fat around my stomach.

There is a "right" way to exercise to really rev your metabolism too. That old fat burning zone is a crock. It just does very little for you - you will always burn MORE fat by working harder, even if the proportion of fat to carbohydrate in your fuel mix changes. For exercise to be a real help in weight loss it needs to be INTENSE. You really do have to work at more than 65% of your maximum heart rate. Workouts that light should be recovery workouts. BUT - its also very true that a good daily brisk walk at about that intensity will keep you out of the cardiac ward and protect your health and your heart and mobilise your joints, so its definitely not useless activity - its just that if you want to see pounds fall away you need to be thinking breathing really hard, red faced and working at more like 75 to 80% with bursts of even harder. Everyone has to start somewhere too. We cant all just go out and swim 50 laps of an Olympic pool in 30 minutes. You need to work up to it. So anything that gets you to that end goal is valuable. But i can promise, if you do get to workouts like spinning, running for an hour or swimming hard for similar lengths of time, you wont struggle with your weight if you're also eating reasonably.

My son has a friend who, every time he comes over, heads for our ensuite (as for the longest time, the door on the toilet wouldnt close properly) and weighs himself, has a dump and weighs himself again. He loses 2lb every time! I've been tempted to try it, but since I've been banded, less goes in and so inevitably, less comes out..... I dont think the loss would be that impressive, lol.

Well, I'm in the minority but I dont think so. In Australia, we're encouraged to eat a healthy diet from ALL food groups and carbs are not seen as the bad guy. Nobody needs white sugary carbs but wholegrains are an important source of many nutrients and there's just no darn proof that you have to give them up to lose weight. I dont know Life cereal, we dont have it here. I tend to like cereals that are completely unprocessed - rolled oats (not packet oatmeal) and good quality organic granola, that contains unprocessed oats, nuts, fruit etc. I do occasionally eat cereals like All Bran but cereals like that still have a fairly high GI rating which means they still do give you that insulin reaction that really bad carbs do. But at the end of the day, I totally believe its calories in calories out and we can all fight over the health benefits of various diets, but if you eat less than you burn, it doesnt really matter what you eat from a weight loss perspective.

I dont agree with the comment though that if you exercise but then replace the calories you burn then you're no better off than if you didnt. Exercise does all sorts of wonderful things for your body apart from its role in weight management. But i did laugh at how hard it is to gain muscle. So true. It cracks me up when people wail that they've gained 2 lb this week and everyone posts back to say "oh, you've started walking, its muscle". Sorry, but no. Most women would struggle to gain a couple of pounds of muscle in an entire YEAR with a dedicated strenght training program on the kind of diet we have after WLS no matter how many Protein shakes they drink. Body growth requires big calories.