Jachut

Occasional use perhaps if its really bad and nothing else works. But I'd put up with the pain wherever possible. Occasionally (VERY occasionally) I will take it if I have a bad back. I had a very sore knee the other day and took one - we only had Nurofen to hand, the back pain one, which is very strong. Within 10 minutes my stomach was on fire, thank goodness I took it on an empty stomach and could guzzle Water to wash it through. The heartburn I had for the rest of the day scared the bejeezus out of me to be honest, it really rammed home just how bad those things are for your stomach. I really wont risk that again unless I'm in absolute agony.

I like to say only positive things about exercise because ALL exercise is good exercise, but I think Curves is fabulous but has a few drawbacks you need to be aware of. They are not an issue if you're just starting out, in this case I think its a fantastic environment for women and a great workout. I love the idea of it, I hate hate hate their machines. I think it would work better with proper weights machines with adjustable weights, hydraulic machines just dont cut it. If your'e just starting out with fitness it will be fantastic, strength training circuits are fabulous for fat burning. But as you get fit, you need to move the machines faster and faster and despite Curves insisting you never get too fit for them, there is only so fast you can move those machines (their return slows you down) before you completely lose your form, which makes it very easy to get injured. I think there's a massive problem with instructor education, its woefully out of date and inadequate. Educate yourself a bit and ignore the instructors (apart from them instructing you on proper form). They will tell you off for getting above your targeted heart range if this happens to occur. I tried to explain that I was a regular runner and very fit and my "fat burning zone" was WAY higher than the average - working out at a heart rate of 120 bpm is ridiculously easy for me. No no no they insisted, you wont be burning any fat. A statement which is entirely incorrect, and the whole fat burning target heart range has been debunked anyway, the harder you work the more fat you burn, end of story. It really annoyed me. I think the whole set up is great, but it could be so much better to cater for a wide ability group. But if you fit their average - older, overweight or just starting out fitness wise, you will get loads of benefit from it. Being a sprightly 25 year old, be prepared to move on at some stage. Which is not a problem at all really because until then it will be great for you. Its not a great calorie burner either at the rate most clients can do it, you will probably need to do some extra cardio elsewhere - like walking or swimming or running.

Interestingly, my major plateaus on the way down were all the weights I'd held for long times on the way up. I stuck at 101kg, 97kg, 92kg, 84 kg and 78 kg for long periods of time. There were all weights I'd weighed for a year or so over a period of a decade. I got past them in the end not by changing anything but just by being consistent (and patient, lol). My current weight I consider more a plateau than goal, lol, I wanted to be about 6kg lighter than this. But I've been here 18 months, so I have to consider it maxed out weight loss, thankfully it happened at a BMI of 22 for me, and not 37. I seriously doubt you're maxed out at 37 though. Just hang in there, it will move eventually.

You cant influence where it comes off from, your body has spots that are unique to you (and generally hormonally influenced) that it likes to store from and other areas it will let the weight go from. I'm the opposite, flat stomach but its murder trying to lose it off the hips and thighs. And I run and run and run and run, up to 10kms per day. This will TONE my hips and thighs but it does not send my body the hormonal signal to cut the estrogen that causes hip and thigh fat storage. Likewise your stomach, you are a man, your hormone levels determine that you will store belly fat. It WILL come off but it will come off in its own good time and probably the last fat you will be left with as you get towards goal weight will be belly fat. There is absolutely no exercise you can do to target it, losing fat overall is your only weapon. Unless you choose some liposuction, which can remove it directly.

I did pass out repeatedly. My doc took me off it, as I didnt really need to do it (had had a liver ultrasound by chance and knew for sure my liver wasnt enlarged). I'm not sure what he would have done if I HAD needed to do it though. I felt awful, exactly like you describe and everytime I stood up, the floor would tilt and I'd see spots. I fainted a couple of times. I also felt like I was trying to walk through water, just NO energy. I'm not sure what to tell you though becuase if you have to do it you have to do it. Its not going to cause any real harm and it will probably pass within another day or two. Hang in there.

OK, so you know its temporary and stuff, but how does shedding a few lb in Water really achieve anything? Its not as if you really LOOK better when you do it unless you have a bloating problem to begin with. Lose 4lb of water and nobody's going to be able to tell - especially since you will still have the same amount of fat - you're not really shedding pudge at all. You'd be better off just going onto a very strict diet and exercise regime for a week or two - you'll lose lots of water and probably a bit of fat as well, which is better. Its probably not dangerous (but you know it can be), but just something not really worth bothering with.

what does swimming with tennis balls in your hands do Mac? 1.5 hours, phew, bet you were waterlogged. Actually I have a spray tan booked for Wednesday (formal work function for Doug to go to) - I might go for a swim tomorrow to get the old stuff completely soaked off. Am running Eliza to school tomorrow, did a circuit today.

Lol, I guestimate my calories and I can guarantee I understate it. I *think* I maintain on 1800 or so a day but I'd be willing to bet money its really more like 2000 or even a bit more. But near enough was good enough for me to lose the weight and it's been good enough to maintain 18 months. So what does it matter really? Have you lost? Do you really need to eat less or is 1400 -1500 doing the job - its a perfectly reasonable amount to be eating.

Not to say that I dont drink Water of course, because I do, but I dont really believe we need to guzzle it down. If I drink lots and lots, I pee more, simple as that.I normally drink a litre or more around my exercise session and then three or four glasses a day as well as the ordinary tea/instant or decaf coffee and maybe an orange juice. Seems to be enough for me, I pee clear and frequently but I dont notice weight loss benefits by drinking more.

I agree. Now that you know you CAN do this, its going to be something else that you have to use willpower to resist. I'd be thinking about another surgery if I were you.

Nice quick run Saturday morning, really enjoyable, it was cool, good music on the ipod. Day off Sunday - I seem to have boundless energy and then about once a week I hit a wall, where I am absolutely physically EXHAUSTED. I went through all of yesterday feeling like I was trying to walk through Water. Feeling spry again today though. Will do a circuit this afternoon. Might up the 10kg sandbag to 15 I think. watch this space for report of injury/buggered back....

Generally if I'm feeling unwell enough to vomit, I wouldnt be eating ANYTHING. I dont know how you could when you're feeling that sick. It just isnt an option to me - not that I've been unlucky enough to catch a gastro bug since being banded (touch wood, touch wood touch wood). Most of the time if I pick up something my symptoms will be diarrhoea anyway, I've got a cast Iron gut. I dont know if the band keeps them lower or not, but to me, there's 2 varieties of tummy bug -diarrhoea ones and vomiting AND diarrhoea ones. However I appear to be able to catch them from people who are chucking up a lung and I only get the runs. I've been to 2 or 3 info nights and usually the surgeon will say that vomiting is not usually a problem, you just do it, its awful (like it always was) and you get better. However real life stories from places like this board are more realistic I think - some people can chunder away like they always could, some dry heave for hours in misery with nothing coming up. I have an anti emetic to hand just in case because whilst I'm not THAT afraid of my band slipping, I am THAT afraid of vomiting, lol. However the anticipation, the oh, no, I'm going to be sick, do I feel sick, what's that, am I going to throw up self talk that I do is horrid. However the medication I had, which I've taken twice since banding (becuase the kids were sick and I was having conniptions that I would GET sick) makes me feel so awful that I get even more anxious - it gives me the jitters, makes me have hot flushes and buzz all over, and its like a panic attack. I dont know why I'm so worried about vomiting, the event is never as bad as I think its going to be and I dont mind pbing at all. Truth is, you cant know until it happens. Just hope you dont catch anything. I've never had food poisoning in my entire life and I went close to 20 years without catching any stomach bugs till I had kids that started at daycare and kinder (little grots!). And it seems to be passed now that they have grown up a bit.

I'm a daily weigher (and always have been, I just used ot watch it go up, lol). I dont let my weight go up by more than a pound or two before I take action (apart from right before period time when I may gain 2 or 3, I am really not prone to Water retention so I know a gain is usually going to stay unless I do something about it and my fluctuations are usually very small). I can see after a big night out, oops, better get back on the wagon TODAY. If I weighed once a week and didnt know I was up a pound or two, then I can guarantee, I wouldnt get working on it. If I'm up a bit, I know to be careful. If I'm down a bit it motivates me to keep up the good work (hey, you can always afford to be a pound or two lighter right?). If I stay the same then I know I'm on the right track. It doesnt affect me in a negative way at all. Other people are driven nuts by the up down nature of female weight. Whatever suits, I say.

Hmmmmm, well I pissed someone off in another thread when I said I didnt think it was the actual surgery that was the difficult bit, it was the aftercare. But like anything, you'd get better with practice! Someone has to be the guinea pig but I dont think I'd want to be. I think someone in that position could do the surgery competently, I mean every surgeon had to do his/her first lapband didnt they? I would be a bit hesitant at 25 though, but its more the years and years of experience in dealing with the everyday problems and major problems. Every time I read this forum I usually end up amazed at least once at a surgeon's lack of empathy and understanding of what living with a band is like. They need to KNOW the sorts of things that bandsters live with - they need to know when to unfill, when to lecture, when to investigate. After 25, just how much experience with the trials and tribulations of obesity and losing weight would this guy have. I love that I go to my doctor and i say 'things have been great but ....." and he can nod his head and laugh with me over having calamari coming out of my nose in the main street of Byron Bay, I love that he will unfill me WITHOUT question becuase I request it even though my discomforts are barely there, but I'm concerned about them. I love that he realises that I can be trusted to manage my band in the way that I see fit becuase its MY body but that the next patient that comes in might need a lot of hand holding and the one after that might need a good stern lecture because that's what SHE responds best to. That's what I'd be looking at - not only how qualifiied he is to operate on you but how much support he is going to be afterwards.

Ugh, I'd definitely be up a size if I put on 5lb. I dont let my weight vary by more than 2. I'm very lucky, my weight stays VERY stable, it never goes down, but it doesnt usually go up by more than 1lb unless its period time. I take action at 1lb, I cut back for a few days. And I absolutely NEVER miss my exercise. I really believe that the true benefit of exercise in relation to weight is in preventing regain, I am amazed at how far I can push things without gaining weight, and I've had the same experience at times in my life before when I've been a regular exerciser for long periods. It'd be PANIC stations here if I gained 5lb. I dont even want to think about it happening. I must not be prone to Water weight gain becuase you're right, you're not gaining and losing fat really.

My crockpot is out on the kitchen bench cooking away at least 3 x per week. It is so easy to make huge quantities of healthy meals in it and freeze them. I never waste vegetables, I make so much soup, its a GREAT way to get your vegies in every day. Meat cooks beautifully moist, I make curries all the time, I love it. Melbourne has a temperate climate and we have a big 6 burner BBQ right outside our sliding door from the family room, its all under cover. So most nights that we eat meat, I BBQ it, no fat added. I love the barbie and here I can use it all year round. I have a very simple mandolin slicer too - great for many many salads. I make things like coleslaw and broccoli slaw with low fat dressings once or twice a week, Doug and I can just grab a portion for lunch.

Yes, you'd be able to be banded in Australia from a BMI of 30 depending on your circumstances. Every single one of us here had a BMI of 30 at some point in time, that's what's so ridiculous about the feelings towards lower BMI bandsters - both from the medical profession and from some heavier people too. When I had that sort of BMI, I already had fifteen years of dieting and failing, feeling desperate about my weight and how I looked behind me and I hadnt even hit the stage of life of having babies and middle age spread. I was ALWAYS going to get heavier, and I'm bloody glad I stopped it at a BMI of 35 because I've been able to regain my health very quickly and easily with a band. Not to mention I havent ruined my skin too much by having it fit around a BMI of 45 for 10 years. You're right, Restless, it should be available to anyone in whom its safe - many people are normal weight but live very dysfunctional, difficult lives to stay that way. The band, when it works well, puts an end to the food obesession and habits that make people fat. If you want to call obesity a disease, then our actual weight is merely a symptom of the disease - you have it whether you weigh 100lb or 500. You are not CURED when you lose weight and you may still be sick if you manage never to gain too much weight. BMI and weight is almost irrelevant, its the condition that's important. Anyone who has it has the right to an effective treatment when it exists!

Particularly with apple shapes, but I found it a bit too, you tend to develop that parcel rack on your lower back when you gain. The lower back can carry a lot of weight, without it being in rolls like your stomach and it disguises any shape your butt might have. I found as I lost, that fat went and these two dimples that I never thought I'd have appeared at the bottom of my back and my butt gradually took on a bit of shape, side to side, I have a nice hourglass shape now. But looking from the side, its still a bit flat becuase its dropped, lol. That's where my sag is, I've got a flat tummy but a droopy butt. I've done literally THOUSANDS of weighted squats, lunges, I run and run and run, and I have built up a bit of muscle under there to give it a bit more shape. But will you develop a beautiful, tight, peach like derriere from under a flat droopy one?. Probably not. But it WILL improve markedly and have a much more pleasing shape when the back and love handle fat is gone.

Oh, I can promise you I am saddle sore today, roflmao! I cant sit down on anything hard. There will be no action around this house till the bruising subsides. No stiff muscles. Those seats are brutal.

I think Choice did a survery on this recently and most of the cheaper ones are complete rubbish - they are low calorie junk, full of artificial sweetener. You only have to taste them - have you ever had a Celebrity Slim or Tony Ferguson shake? Ick, they are sooooooo sweet. Optifast is medically designed for the type of circumstance in which it is being prescribed, fast weight loss in the short term without going short nutritionally. I think Optislim is not too bad a substitute but the rest are commercial knock offs for the more general market. You really are better to stick with it. But if one of the others is all you can bear, then that's what you'd do I guess, but I'd check with my doctor.

People with problems tend to congregate for support and advice, even though this forum has several thousand members, they are but a drop in the ocean of the banded population worldwide. You'll read about all sorts of problems here, and its good to be aware of what they are and think about how you will deal with them. For most people who DO have a complication or problem, it is usually that I wont describe as minor, but as solveable. Overfill or inability to find a good comfortable level of restriction is probably the most common - well, to me, you can then settle for slightly LESS than perfect restriction and work a bit harder (like, exercise more) or you can whinge a lot about it and claim the band doesnt work - only you can know which type you'll be. I also think the Protein first diet can have its downfall, for example, I find bread, Pasta and rice as part of my meals WAY more filling and makes me eat much less overall, makes my body feel full for longer. If I eat cottage cheese and fruit for Breakfast, I will be starving in an hour, oatmeal sits with me for much much longer. So I choose to have my band a bit looser to allow more bulky foods to be eaten. That solves a LOT of the problems with excess appetite and overtightness, vomiting and sliming that people experience because I just dont need to be so tight. Some people's bodies just dont seem to want to work with the band, its not "rejected" exactly but it sure causes some problems and some are just not bearable or able to be lived with and bands have to come out. There's been some pretty wild claims made on here lately about how the majority of the time the band causes problems and how the band will not be in anyone's body for the long term, well, those are just claims, not really substantiable and in reality the majority of people do NOT have real complications although I dont think the band is overall the massively successful tool it was supposed to be. Personally, I've had no complications at all in 3 and a bit years and I dont know anyone IRL who's had anyting more than minor overfill issues and reflux (some people do tend to suffer reflux with the band) which can be often be remedied by a simple unfill.

I certainly lost all my weight on 1500 calories a day. Probably more some days.

Breakfast - piece of cape seed bread toasted - with peanut butter Lunch: pea and ham soup snacks: small skinny latte, a 100 calorie muesli bar, 5 lollies at basketball dinner: chicken curry & brown rice

Dont panic too much but DO unfill in small increments. I've only had one unfill when I was a bit concerned that 1000 calories a day or so (which was all I could eat) really wasnt sufficient nutrition for me personally. .2 ml made SO much difference, I actually gained about 4 or 5 lb and ended up having the fill put back in over time. Now I maintain on about 1800 to 2000 a day and THAT's my rough mental calculations - so its probably more. If you're tall, healthy and active, you CAN eat rather a lot. 1200 calories a day - its more for little women of average activity to lose, not for us glamazons to maintain, lol.

Well plain, they're usually VERY sexy. Nothing slutty like lace or nipple show involved, much more classy. Think 4 hook back, inch thick straps, big fat seams over the cups, all in a fetching shade of beige. I know you're drooling...