Jachut

I had healthy pregnancies but I really couldnt exercise much. Oh, I went out and walked regularly, and I swam during my second but broke my hand at 7 months so that was the end of that. I found that any vigorous movement would set off strng braxton hicks, If I got hot, I'd get faint, and I'd have to stop and pee every 2 seconds anyway. It just didnt feel good, I couldnt have done anythign running or jumping! I'm no wimp, I like pushing myself and I know the value of exercise but it just didnt feel "right". It didnt feel like it was doing me good. so I just walked. But even that hurt my back. Pregnancy really did some damage to my back.

I eat breakfast at home, and I would get up earlier to do so if I was at work at the moment too. I love my breakie! DH eats at work and keeps a couple of different cold cereals (decent ones like Weetbix and organic muesli), instant oatmeal (but its so much less satisfying than proper rolled oats) bread and basic spreads there. He also occasionally takes yogurt - but not horrid thin artificially sweetened ones - the good gourmet greek yogurt that's really really thick and has fruit on the top that you stir in - those do fill you and you can always stire some muesli in. But he gets very bored. You could also eat good muesli bars (not crappy kid ones) or take some nice cheese, like brie or a fruit and nut cheese and have that with crackers.

Well "supposedly" I need 100 grams a day at 5ft 10, 154lb, and my activity levels. I dont get that ever, because I also consider fruit and vegies and wholegrains important and I dont fill up my stomach space with only Protein - and doctors in Australia by and large dont advise that you do, so I'm well within my guidelines. I probably average 60 grams. I like to get just enough of everything rather than an oversupply of one nutrient and undersupply of another, if that makes sense. Its so confusing, because basically if you can only eat a small amount, you really are going to run short of things. But 60 or so grams must be enough for me becuase I have managed to lose all my weight without getting that stringy muscle wasted appearance, and in fact I've built muscle over time. In fact, over time I've managed to achieve that athletic look that I always wanted, I dont just look thin, I look fit. So who knows? My doc is not only a lapband doctor, but a sports medicine specialist - he's also one of Australia's Olympic team doctors and official club doctor for Hawthorn Football Club - so I trust what he says and he says 100 grams is overstating what I need. He was hinting I think that people think they're athletes when in reality the exercising they're doing is what is necessary for good health and really doesnt require any nutrition above and beyond the ordinary. Anyway, I feel fine on that level and my metabolism is like a furnace these days. But I"ll get caned anyway coz nobody here agrees with me, lol.

300? Overkill, lol I do about 30 pushups 3 times a week and 30 tricep dips the same, and my arms are great. And I find generalised upper body strength exercises using body weight (exactly like dips and pushups) are enough to tone biceps and deltoids too - I dont do any specific exercises for those muscles and mine are quite defined. I also do a circuit hoiking a sandbag around and you will feel that in EVERY muscle in your arms.

Well, yeah, but there's a lot of judgement about anyone based on how they look - I've actually had more blatant judgement and hositility directed towards me since I lost weight since now I'm quite thin compared to most of my peers - 40ish, mothers of several, coming off the back of a few years of hard work in the home with young children - are not really that nice to people who they feel have come through it without dropping their bundle, looks and weight wise. They dont know how hard I've worked, so it doesnt bother me, but I tell you what, I really truly wouldnt want to be stunningly beautiful, it would be a hell of a life to lead. Open hostility for what they perceive you have and they dont. Alternatively jsuts be really glad you're only fat and can do something about it and not hideously ugly! Because there's plenty of groups of people treated really badly who can do absolutely nothing about it. But you know, I think you change as a person with weight loss - and what you perceive as people suddenly being nicer to you coz you're not so fat, is probably really because you're happier, more positive and more open. There's so many people on here that have just the worst, most defeatist attitudes but you see that over time, they DO change. I think I started out looking pretty "normal" fat. Not unusual, looking like mostly everyone else, so I've never encountered being a public spectacle. But really, if people dont stare or treat you badly, its just as bad to know that really they're thinking "arent I good, I'm not staring at the fat person or treating them like a moron" becuase they're being PC isnt it? How awful, like being severely disabled or disfigured and noticing all those carefully averted eyes. Best solution is to just lose the weight and realise that it'll never change. Maybe you'll get your own back when someone suddenly treats you nicely once you fit into their version of acceptable, you can snub them!

I'm going to revolt you all - a spoonful of Vegemite in hot water, lol! there's another Aussie classic called bonox that is beef broth. But I only had to do 1 day clears, although I think I had strained chicken noodle soup a few times. Who woulda thought that the noodles out of chicken noodle soup could be soooooo tempting?

Mother of three, full time student finishing a Bachelor of Primary Education and part time integration aid in a small private school locally, oh and I tutor a grade 3 student too. other than that, I can usually be found torturing myself - aka running or doing circuit training, spending money I dont have at the shops or spreading my opinions round on here.

Oh, are you in southern Australia, lol. This kind of heat makes it really hard, I mean most of the day, its actually dangerous to be out there in that exerting yourself in any way. There's a few regular runners round here that I see out at midday and often think "you're crazy" coz itsl like 30 degrees celcius, and to me, that's too hot to be running in. I wait till evening. This past week, I've done all my exercise indoors using my treadmill, positioned under an airconditioning vent, and I've gotten up early to do it and get it out of the way before 9 am. Its the only way. I've managed every day and its not been too bad. I dont know what to say to those who are unmotivated to do it. You just have to. Its way easier to do 45 minutes of exercise than it is to stay on a diet, that's the way I think of it. I dont want to clean the bathroom or do the dishes either, but I have to you know? Well, I dont, lol, I'll actually exercise in preference to doing those chores. When you start to see the result, it gets easier and I found that it did take six months to a year but eventually it became something I wanted to do. Running, and having races to train for an aim for really helped me with motivation though, I dont know that I would have stuck it out without that external motivation until the habit stuck.

hmmm, its thicker and chewier than 1 minute or intant oats, much more robust, for want of a better word.

When i started running I had a heel problem, so I had to take it very slowly and I've been extremely slow to build to the kinds of distances and the intensity of workouts I now do. But have you thought about circuit training? I sound like a broken record about this lately, Iknow, but it really works for me and I sort of made up my own program precisely to find something low impact but still intense that would give my body a break from running. I have a treadmill at home, but you could do this at the gym - I warm upon the treadmill, now I run, but you can walk. If you need to keep it low impact, then ramp up the incline! You can walk quite slowly but up a steep incline and it's as challenging as running. Then I might get off and do sets of squats, lunges, lunge walking up and down my hallway, etc. Then get on the treadmill and walk some more, then get off and do some pushups and tricep dips and so on till I've worked my whole body - I've got a killer hamstring exercise where you put your feet on a gym ball whilst lying on your back and roll it in towards you using your hamstrings, then bridge up onto the ball and hold, then roll back out - you'll feel the burn, I can promise you. I also do lots of planks - normal plans, side planks etc for my core. You dont even need weights but you can lift ANYTHING - I tried a sandbag workout the other day, crazy sounding but VERY effective. Lifting of that sort, keeping the reps fast and hard but without such heavy weight can be very aerobic, your heart rate can really peak. And you dont even have to necessarily walk or move anywhere - I like my treadmill intervals in there but you can do very effective circuits with just strenght training exercises - try googling stuff like tabata intervals, sandbag workout, circuit training for fat burning and you'll get heaps of ideas. Truly, ANYONE can work out like this by tailoring it to their own needs. Cant do pushups - then start by doing them leaning against a wall whilst you're on your feet. Not strong enough for a tricep dip - then hold a full water bottle over you head and bend and straighten your elbows. Cant do planks - then find some other abdominal exercises to do till you can The main thing is to do it fast and hard and really get sweating. But you dont have to jump and jiggle and you can avoid exercises that aggravate any of your complaints. But if you do it right, this is no lightweight pretend exercise routine for designed for the unfit, if you put in major effort, you will get major reward. Nobody likes sweating buckets at first, but the rewards of exercising that hard are worth it and you can do it without hurting your body. there's also swimming. And seriously, I do aerobic housework. I dress for exercise and truly GO FOR IT while cleaning. My windows never looked better. Where there's a will there's a way, truly. There is ALWAYS something you can do if you're willing to think outside the square. And a bit of weight off makes more difference than you could imagine.

Honestly, theres TONS of people here who just do not understand their bands. They simply dont know how to use them. The lack of knowledge and complete misconceptions you sometimes read is astounding. Follow up care is so important with the band, its the one downfall which is problematic in your part of the world. In Australia, our medical system makes good post op care really easy but its not as easy for you guys and I think its shows with the success levels of the band. You MUST be able to go to your doctor whenever you like, you MUST be able to have a fill and unfill whenever you need it (and if you can see that multiple fills and unfills is going to be a financial strain, then truly, i wouldnt get a band because if you need them, you need them). I think its really important that your doctor is local, having to fly in and out to see a doctor for an unfill is very problematic. Your doctor MUST give you some credit for knowing your own body, refusing to give people fills because they havent stuck to the diet is just plain stupidity, or not giving a fill because youv'e lost well when you insist you've worked ultra hard to do so. People need to be helped to find a lifestyle that works for them, not some DIET which they are either on or off, which is what a lot of these "band centres" seem to be promoting, the band seems to work better for people who create a whole new lifestyle, with tolerance for good weeks, bad weeks, plateaus - not always so well for people who are going to follow THIS diet plan and THAT exercise regime, as prescribed for every single patient by their single minded doctor. All these factors affect people's weight loss or lack of it. How you look at it is improtant too - yes, it'd be nice to lose 100lb in a year, but does that mean 100lb in three years is a failure? People come on here wailing about how to break their plateau when its only been 3 weeks? I mean do they REALLY think they're going to lose 2lb each and every week? Is that a plateau, or is it a natural part of weight loss? I'd highly recommend mellowing out expectations and standards of weight loss and thinking of it in terms of this little tool will help you to reach a normal weight. There is no time schedule, no time limit, no weekly amount you must lose, if you have a band, eat well, eat less and exercise then over time you will weigh less. the better you use it, the more successful you will be. Its really quite simple, dont stress over it.

Whilst I was offered a fill I didnt have my first one till 12 weeks after surgery - I was losing steadily and I had great motivation, plus I just plain didnt think I really needed it, I got a good run of post surgery restriction.

Of course you can! You know I think we all doubt that a bit, but you wait till you see just how motivating it is for the first time to actually see results for your effort. I dont know about you, but about 20lb was my sort of easy weight loss that I'd get to and could never get past, I'd always begin to gain again. When I passed that, I was SO excited. It really gave me faith that I could do it. And exercising doesnt seem so pointless when you are rewarded for it with weight loss. I was an exerciser too but I never managed to get exercise and nutrition going right at the same time.

Honestly a lot of the reasons why the lapband fails are entirely within your control. I sat in the waiting room a few months ago listening to two very overweight middle aged ladies complaining. "this band is too loose, I'm getting a fill" "I can eat way too much at the moment, I'm going to give that doctor a piece of my mind" "you would think they'd get it right, wouldnt you, with so many patients going through". I just thought "oh boy". You cant judge a book by its cover of course, but you can bet your bottom dollar that because they could eat too much they DID, that they did not exercise etc. If you work your band, and avoid the much lower incidence of actual problems, its likely to work very well for you. But it takes hard work and to lose ALL your weight takes a bit of dedication to exercise. Its not automatic. YOu can have a band in there and not lose any weight at all, its pretty easy to eat around it and still get the calories in. Failure rates ARE quite high, but its mainly due to people failing, not the band. Actual complication stats are way more acceptable. And lets not forget taht band bad behaviour resulting in constant vomiting episodes can CAUSE those complications, they dont always happen spontaneously.

I have less, not that I was a champion farter before. But overeating rich foods and having small binges would always upset my stomach, now I never do that. The only thing that gives me HORRID gas, like clear the room stuff, is Protein products like bars and shakes. I can tolerate a shake but if I had say a bar and a shake on the same day, look out. I need plenty of fibre - fruit, veges and good carbs to keep my system pleasant, too much of the protein and I feel nauseous and smell terrible.

Didnt exercise yesterday - had done 4 days in a row and was VERY sore from my sandbag workout (oh, how I love muscle soreness, lol). Today we allowed ourselves the luxury of a sleep in. Its still boiling here, so indoors again, I'm going to do Cardio Coach 6 on my treadmill. Tomorrow, my plan is a circuit. The kids go back to school monday (none too soon either), and this coming week is going to be hot, so on top of my normal routine, I thought I'd go to the outdoor pool and do some lap swimming (followed by lazing in the sun getting a tan and reading a book or two) a couple of days. Cant stand swimming in indoor pools - I always get sick, always and all the hair and bandaids is revolting.

True - they look just like someone who's done 12 weeks of Optifast. Scary.

That's more what I'm meaning. I probably make it sound so at times, but I am in no way advocating that people need lots of carbs - Cereal for Breakfast, bread for lunch and Pasta for dinner. I just dont think its necessary to eat mainly Protein foods. Mac, I'm afraid well just have to disagree on the vegetable issue, lol - my thoughts are that its NOT temporary, you CANT go without them for even six months (it took me 2 years to lose my weight) and that you're risking other areas of health, such as your digestive health. But we're all adults and make our own decisions as to what's right. I'm really an advocate of more balance, not an extreme one way or another. But there's me and thousands of successful Australian bandsters that are living proof that you do NOT need a hundred grams of protein a day to maintain your lean muscle. I've lost my weight and improved my body composition on more like 50 to 60 grams a day, muscle wasting happens on ANY very low calorie diet, protein based or not. Its important to keep your muscle mass so that you keep your weight off, yet there's not a lot of evidence around that a high protein diet works any better LONG term than anything else. I also think, people are quick to jump on the "its high carbs that cause heart disease" bandwagon and forget entirely that many of the people dying of heart disease now are people of my parents generation - who grew up on full fat milk, cream, cheese, butter, eggs, drippings out of the roasting pan etc. So, yes, they changed to the high carb/low fat way of life when they 'saw the light' in the 80's but how do we really know how much that contributed as opposed to their early lives up to middle age? I just think its too complicated to entirely believe any way is right. And very naive to think we wont be all be advocating something ELSE as healthy in another 20 years when there's a whole swag of new evidence supposedly "proving" what we're doing now is unhealthy.

That makes so much sense. There's an AWFUL lot of skinny fat pepople around - people who's BMI's are acceptable but they're obviously not in good shape and not well muscled, have very little fitness. We've had some huge arguments here about not losing all your weight right down to a healthy BMI - but there are people who naturally carry much more muscle and are curvier - I'm someone who needs to be a low BMI - like 20 or below would suit me because my frame is quite narrow, my musculature is small and tight, not curvier and any fat on me simply hangs under the skin and gives that flabby appearance, not curviness. Other people carry the weight much better, becuase its not fat, its muscle.

Nothing is risk free. "Most" people dont end up having their bands out within the first few years at all, though there's not a lot of idea whether anyone will last 20, 30 years with one band. I was told to be aware that although the band is designed to last a lifetime, the likelihood of mechanical failure at some point should be considered. I dont see one as better than the other. I got a band, and I may have to have revision surgery (and is likely to be something I could recover from, and even get rebanded), had I had a sleeve half my stomach would be gone. The *likelihood* of something going wrong may be much less with a sleeve but it could be pretty bloody awful if it did. Imagine splitting a suture line early on or leakage or something like that. both surgeries have some risks that have to be weighed up against the improvement to your health that they offer. If I lived in the US and had to deal with your medical system, the sleeve would have one major thing in its favour - the reduced need for follow up care. Bands can be tricky, here in Australia its no big deal. Fills cost nothing, doctors are nearby, in every suburb, every city. You can be operated on by one doctor, move interestate and simply get referred onto another without a doctor arguing about taking patients that he didnt operate on, or charging you feels to enter his program, we dont rely on our insurance companies to allow us to have fills or unfills, none of that stuff. So having a band is pretty easy in Australia. All those things are factors to consider, and the way they fall for you is what makes either surgery the right choice.

I dont schedule my meals at all really. Breakfast will usually be at about 8 am, I'm up a while before I eat. lunch usually falls somewhere between 12 and 2 depending where I am and what I'm doing and we normally eat dinner at about 7pm. Exercise I plan more for but it can be any time, I slot it in where I know I can. Its still our long summer holiday here, and its been over 110 degrees for the last four days so I've gotten up early at 6 am and worked out then UNDER the airconditioning vent, lol as it's barely cooled down below 90 over night either. I like hot weather but this is ridiculous! Normally I'm more of an evening person for my exercise, most of the year I'd nip out for a run jsut before dinner. Although I do a fair bit of dropping the kids at school and doing my exercise in the morning too.

Not such a great day for me today, no time to eat properly. its 115 degrees here, we went to the beach: Breakfast: oatmeal with organic peanut butter/maple syrup during the day: handful of cheezels, an icrecream, 2 diet cokes Dinner: (will be) salmon done in foil on the BBQ with coconut milk/sweet chilli/lemongrass and coriander, and a salad. I'll serve rice, probably skip it though. I am hanging out for a nice very cold glass of wine (its SO HOT, 4th day in a row over 110).

Dr JLo, is lipo actually likely to WORSEN loose skin? I really was extremely lucky, not *much* loose skin at all. I know lipo wont get rid of it, but I'd still like the fat underneath it gone. But I'm afraid then my teeny tiny skin issue will look more noticeable.

When I had a lot of weight to lose cardio was my main focus - it stripped the fat and did build moderate muscle for me. So I would have done that first -because my gut would tell me taht to get your heart rate up and your metabolism firing would mean your weights would ALSO be fat burning. But you read everywhere to do your strength training first so you can put more into it. But the thing is, when you google this sort of stuff, what you get is bodybuilding information. And applying all those bodybuilding rules to women trying to reduce fat and maintain their lean muscle is kind of overkill. It really just doesnt necessarily apply - you dont need 500 grams of Protein post workout and a carbohydrate formula pre workout and special electrolyte drink during workout, you dont need to space out your brown rice and tuna meals and Protein shakes at specific intervals, you dont need to wait 75.482 seconds exactly between sets, you dont need to necessarily superset, or do pyramids or do different body parts on different days and keep cardio low to avoid burning muscle etc etc. I mean you *can* if you want to of course, but dont let it confuse you or make you think you're doing the wrong thing. Its just such a confusing glut of information out there that really isnt even that appropriate for people like us who want to look fit and toned but dont want bulging biceps and upper arm measurements the size of our waists! . Truth is, I think ANY exercise, HOWEVER you do it is fantastic. I woudl choose to do cardio first becuase I'm always on a high afterward which would get me through the boring strength training. As it is, I mix them up (because I'm a bit pro cardio and dont want to waste a workout day on something that doesnt include it) and do both AT THE SAME TIME. I switch from lifting to running intervals on my treadmill, I make my sets fast, hard and lots of reps (like 20 or 30) and I do lots of body weight exercises, I barely touch a dumbell in order to minimise the amount of time I have to spend strength training. I even hoiked a sandbag around the other day - 3 different exercises was all it took to work almost my entire body INCLUDING my abs. For the first time in ages, I'm actually stiff and sort, which I love, lol. Do it any way you want to, the fact that you're doing it is what's important.

I really feel a large part of it is that you feel more attractive and project that therefore you are. People respond to your confidence and you're more open to other people. Because plenty of overweight women are very attractive!