Jachut

Caffeine is not banned for me, I have as much as I like. You're 5 weeks out. Its not unusual to not be feeling on top of the world. You've had probably what, 7 weeks, of very restricted diet (including pre op) and your reserves are all depleted and youv'e not yet lost the kind of weight that really makes your body FEEL different. You're also had surgery. Give it time, you will be feeling great in a couple of months, I promise.

OMG - try googling "are solariums healthy?" and see what you get. Its proven beyond doubt, that is why our government is shutting them down. Every tanning salon here carries visible warnings about how sunbeds cause skin cancer and premature aging - its the LAW. You also have to sing a pretty explicit release form to be allowed to use one. You would not find a doctor in this entire country who would condone the use of sunbeds. Light therapy is ONLY used where the benefit outweighs the risk and even then it is only applied to body parts as required, not placing the entire skin at risk (I mean chemotherapy and radiation therapy are not "healthy" either but we use them when the end justifies the means). Babies who have jaundice are NOT put into light the strength of a sunbed - my god can you IMAGINE how a newborn would burn? That light is very very gentle. Sunbeds also damage your eyes. Same as the sun does. This is not a case of making a wacky claim and finding something on the internet to back it up, stuff like this: Causes of skin cancer - SunSmart (Victoria)http://www.cancerinstitute.org.au/cancer_inst/publications/pdfs/2008-01-18_solariums.pdf from credible sources is all over the place. This isnt anything new or unusual, its been known for a very long time. Its as irrefutable as the sky being blue. And light from UV beds doesnt mirror that from the sun, its up to 60 yes SIXTY time stronger. Honestly, I dont have any motivation or desire to score points or argue about this and I dont have any problem with any adult deciding they'd rather look tanned and good and are prepared to take the risk of using a sunbed to achieve that but seriously, you absolutely cannot call sunbeds healthy. Nor is tanning in the sun. Yes, we all do it and I'm not attacking anyone for their choices. But you should know the risk of what you're doing. I really urge you to ask your doctor about this.

I used to get incredibly frustrated when I tried to diet that there'd be so many darn social occasions in my life. Every week, there was some event or another that made me feel either as if I couldnt start my diet yet, or that this week would be a waste of time becuase I had to go to someone's birthday etc. Now, these events are not even blips on the radar. I dont feel compelled to overeat at them, they dont affect my weight one way or another and I've realised that your "diet" is your lifestyle and that you must be able to handle all contingencies. I love that my band has helped me to learn that. I also love eating like a lady and being the last one finished instead of shoving it all down my face like a pig.

The band isnt magic, its what you eat and how you exercise that truly determines what you weigh. I know, we all NEED our bands. But you do have some control over what happens here. All of us have dieted in the past, most of us have had success at one time or another. This is just another of those times where you need to diet. You may not do it perfectly, you may indeed gain a bit of weight. But you CAN contain it. Especially if you keep up your exercise. Good luck.

No, you get skin cancer from tanning. AND from burning. Solariums are SO bad for you (even worse than the sun) tht they will soon be banned in Australia, already people under 18 have been banned from using them and the lamps are having to be made 40% weaker. Your beliefs about tannning are quite dangerously incorrect. And tanning is not only deadly, it will ruin your skin (and your eyes) over time. Moderate sunlight exposure - necessary for our health -and problems are arising from people being TOO sun smart here. But sun beds are not a good substitute, even though they do stimulate vit. d synthesis. By all means, use a sunbed, as an adult its your decision. I've even done it myself for colour for a special occasion. But know how dangerous it really is. It is absolutely not a safe practice. I guess our culture is different here, with such strong sun, but here we have ads that are designed to shock, like the cigarette advertising and drink driving advertising, with horrid pictures of people with scarred skin from having melanomas removed - just from regular sunlight.

I think the 2 year wait is a good idea for other reasons than to see what the skin does though. I know for me, I went through a period where I was obsessing about everything. Take weight out of the equation and my dissatisfication with other things came to the fore, I obsessed over my boobs, over my nasolabial lines, over the dark circles under my eyes, over getting my teeth whitened, heck even over permanent eyeliner? You know what? 18 months down the track, I dont really want ANY of it. It has taken me a long time to come to terms with being normal weight, with not needing to change. I might get a breast lift, I might not. I could certainly use some liposuction on the last residual pockets of fat. But I'm much more interested in paying school fees and buying a new house at the moment. Its not that I wont do these things or that I'm against them, not at all. But I needed a fair while to settle, to really decide on what truly bothers me, what I think NEEDS to be fixed, and to accept that I'm 41 and cant look 25 again. but even the one thing I swore I'd do - a breast lift, I dont feel the need to do now. My boobs have shrunk even more to a nice C cup, and even though they're wrecked, yes, they can now be fitted into even a small bikini top, they're saggy unbound, but dont sag in such clothes, becuase they dont weigh much now, require little support to look OK, etc. I need one to look good naked, but who besides DH and I are going to see me naked anyway? I had to run in an ordinary bra yesterday, both my sports bras were in the wash and WOW, I dont even need a super duper feat of engineering bra to run in now. An ordinary one was fine! All that has changed with NO change in weight. For me, PS wasnt a financial option at this particular point in time. But if it had been I think I would have done a few things I'd now be maybe not regretting but certainly didnt need to waste money on. Waiting has been a good thing for me.

sorry for the rant by the way - it makes me mad when so called professionals give such crap advice.

Lol, I modified the outdoor circuit today - I did my squats, lunges and 300 metre runs with Eliza on my back - she's about 50lb give or take and six so old enough to hang on. I did less, naturally, it was quite intense to say the least. Whew. I cant afford a personal trainer, but where there's a will there's a way hey? its going to be above 40 degrees celcius here for the next four days - I was lucky to get in this morning before it started heating up but it wont be so cool tomorrow morning. I think I'll be running on my treadmill and/or maybe do a step or spin class or two at the gym for the next few days as its not even supposed to cool down below 25 degrees overnight.

Your body can actually only lose about a pound or two of FAT per week anyway. When you lose more, as a heavier person, your body is full of water, that's what's showing on the scales. Its not fat unfortunately. If you continue to lose 4 - 5 lb a week for like 12 months, you'll be losing a lot of your lean body tissue. True fat loss is a slow process.

Lots has changed since this thread was started. I've gotten even fitter and now I do INSANELY hard workouts, interval training, circuit training with the kind of batty exercises you see on Biggest Loser - this morning I had my 50lb daughter on my back while I ran a 300 metre track, and did squats etc. Yes, I'm freaking mad. But it feels so darn GOOD to be able to do it, to push my body to its limits, the achievement is awesome and I not only have lost all my weight, I actually have an atheletic, muscular body. I love it, I would never stop exercising now. Its just such a shame that feeling doesnt come for everybody. But the more effort you put in, the better the results and defined arms and ab muscles you can actually see are a great motivator.

As long as you're losing weight then the more food and the more variety of food you can eat, the better - it means you're better nourished, less likely to be losing muscle tissue as opposed to fat, will find the whole process much less difficult. I cannot for the life of me understand why people WANT to be only able to eat 1/2 cup, have to eat very very carefully and give up certain foods unless they have reached a point where unless they are that tight, they dont lose weight. The definition of a sweet spot to me would be I can eat what I want to, I can eat reasonable quanity so that people dont think I'm anorexic, I have reasonable appetite control but do get hungry for my means AND I'm losing at least 1-2 lb per week. In the early days, you can do that. You can eat quite a lot and still lose well - so ENJOY it. Dont fret about levels of restriction you dont even NEED yet. Being hungry between meals is not a problem, just eat something. Until you stop losing weight, there's no problem with that. When between meal snacks stops you losing weight, then its time to go tighter and nip that hunger in the bud.

Most probably you will at first. Your calorie needs are going to be much higher than mine now that I've lost my weight for example. I'd be thrilled to lose a pound in three weeks now. To maintain my weight now, I eat about 1800 calories a day, run for about 6 miles five times a week and do three intense circuit training sessions. That sucks doesnt it? Most probably, you will get to enjoy rather fast weight loss for a while. Enjoy it!

Honestly, these "organisations" are turning a good, sensible way to lose weight into more fad dieting. Oatmeal magically turns into "bad carbs"?. What a load of bullshit, to be frank. ALL food is broken down, eventually into sugars - whether its Proteins, carbs or fats, because THAT's what your body runs on. Your brain needs glucose, but you dont die if you eat no carbs, do you? No, because your body is able to manufacture it from the foods you eat. Oatmeal is a good, healthy food, packed with Vitamins and particularly important fibres that lower your blood cholesterol. Its a very valuable food to eat regularly. And it contains virtually no fat. Yogurt and fruit would actually be a higher sugar meal than oatmeal - depending what you add of course. cheese and scrambled eggs gives you a nice hit of saturated fat to line your arteries - definitely not an every day food. No fibre either! The point is, all your options that you've mentioned are all good meals but not perfect in and of themselves, same for oats. The idea is to eat a VARIETY of foods, different meals every day and where oats might be carb based one day, your eggs and cheese can be fat and Protein based the next. Mix it all up, eat everything in moderation and its completely untrue and VERY stupid to suggest that you need to cut out a healthy food as if that and only that food is what determines your weight. Of course you should eat your oatmeal in its natural form - rolled oats (or steel cut, I believe you call them). But there is no reason to cut it out.

If you're short and rotund through the middle, then yes, I'd start researching. Its likely you will need a tummy tuck. Need is defined differently by different people. I'm tall - 5ft 10 and was pear shaped, I always had a flattish stomach. I lost 100lb. I've had 3 babies. I would "like" some way to make my stomach perfect, but I'm not sure I would trade the scars for the minor problem I have. But the next person might say I "need" a tummy tuck. I've had a bit of fun wearing a bikini for the first time since I was 12, but I can always NOT wear one if I dont want to show a few rolls and wrinkles. So do I "need" it? One thing's for sure, though. Virtually NOBODY escapes a 100lb weight loss without some signs of it on their body. Its just some more than others.

I have 3 kids, work part time, study full time and although I have a husband, he's gone by 6.30 am and not home till 7 pm. If your child is young enough for a stroller, then there's your first point of attack. Walking and running with the added resistance of a child is fabulous exercise, particularly if you find yourself some decent hills. And the bonus is as you get fitter, your baby is growing, so you've got automatic progression. I have a treadmill, so I have an at home option. My oldest is 13, so I can leave my kids while I go for a 40 minute run. I do circuit training using stuff at home - I have a barbell, dumbells, a gym ball, etc. - heck I even turn the trampoline upside down and use the legs as a chin up and dip bar. There is always a way. This morning, Eliza got on her bike, she rode while I ran 4kms, then we stopped at the playground and she played while I did chin ups, dips, push ups, step ups on the picnic bench, and in between, I put her on my back and piggybacked her while I ran a 300 metre path. We were out for an hour and a half and I'm exhausted - it was bloody good exercise! You've jsut got to get creative. Fit it in where you can, do what you can, get yourself home equipment. Because you have to do it, it doesnt matter a bit how valid your excuses for NOT doing it are (and they're valid!), your body doesnt care. If you dont do it, you wont lose all your weight, its a simple as that. And what weight you do lose will consist of more muscle and less fat than if you were exercising. Time wise? Well, being fit makes me more efficient. And I'd rather sleep an hour less and be fit if that's what it takes some days. Exercise is way more important to me than clean windows or having the washing done.

Well its going to be over 40 degrees celcius here for the next four days, starting today. Its quite cool right now (7.30 am) so I'm heading out for what will probably be my only outside session this week! Other than that, I'll be on the treadmill in the airconditioning this week! I might go and do a spin class or something for variety. Treadmills are great when the weather isnt conducive to outdoor exercise, and I think they're great anyway. True, it isnt the same as outdoor running, which is almost always harder. But its a pretty close substitute and it wouldnt take you long to get your "land legs" outside if you want to do a race or something. Always put the incline on 1-2% to simulate a more natural terrain and concentrate on not pulling the treadmill (or the road for that matter) towards YOU, but on propelling yourself forward with your legs. The key to being successful with exercise is being resourceful - so that weather and stuff doesnt get in your way and if that means a treadmill, then there's nothing second rate about that.

From memory, it was 3 months in, so probably 92, 93 kgs (still a bit over 200lb) at 5ft 10. I planned to do the couch to 5K program, but I went out and just tried and did a very very slow shuffle and went 3kms, so I took it from there. I did it every second day, 3kms,. and then I registered for a 4km race, so I added a bit of distance. After I did the 4k, I registered for a 7.5k so progressively added a kilometre to my route every 3 weeks, then it was a 10k etc. For ages and ages (2.5 years) my body and my fitness continued to improve from just running. However eventually I have needed to add strenght training to fine tune my body and really reshape the end product of the weight loss. I was aiming for another half marathon, but truly, I can see that running for 2 + hours at a time will not only stuff my knees and back (its hard on the body) but it really does not do the most for muscle building either. So now, I'm on a 3 run, 3 circuit training schedule per week. At the moment, my goals from running focus more on the coming race season, improving my 10K time to under 50 minutes, rather than run every longer distances. I enjoy an hour's run, but more than that gets boring, so really why do it?

I was happy to tell about lap band surgery and deal with the opinions, but IF I decide to have any cosmetic surgery, I dont want to. I just dont want to deal with the judgement about how vain I am or how I'm going to die from silicone leaking or from an anaesthetic (which strangely they believe is not dangerous if the surgery is "needed"). I dont want them to know if when I get a breast lift, i decide to get implants etc. But I have such close contact with my family, there's very little chance I could hide it. And god forbid they should EVER discover I'd been through a procedure liek that, where I could have DIED and not told my parents. My mother would kill me there and then! Its not malicious, or nasty, its pure concern, but its also misinformation and opinion mixed in about what I shoudl do with my body etc etc. I'd just like to not have to deal with it.

OK, 10lb since December is great. This is no magic fix. It takes a long time to lose fat. What do you want to do - lose fat slowly and surely or lose a whole lot of your lean body tissue and a ton of Water just so the figures sound more impressive? I'm sure you know the right answer, so stop being so hard on yourself. the scale is moving in the right direction. Secondly, you are making a great start at your fitness regime. Good for you! But over time, you will build up to more, becuase when it comes to weight loss and building muscle, 30 minutes a couple of times a week is NOT a lot of exercise. Its not OMG I lost 10lb in one week stuff. But that's OK!!!!! That's more than OK! You need to build up slowy to the point where you can do more, where an hour of cardio and strenght trainign in a day does not exhaust you to the point where you cant move for the rest of the week and where you can do that nearly every day and it just feels normal to you. That takes time. So again, dont be so hard on yourself. You will get there, you've made a fabulous start, just keep plugging away. Unfortunately true weight loss is not a fast and spectacular business, its slow and steady wins the race. I agree too, you need to eat well to lose weight, it seems to make no logical sense but eating hardly anything doesnt usually pay dividends.

I agree entirely. There is no amount of fill that will fix what's causing you to want to eat this way. You will simply keep eating around the band, or more precisely, sooner or later you will reach a fill level that will have you not even being able to swallow saliva and then you'll have to unfilled. Fill up on the right foods first. That helps a lot. Say yes, I'll eat those Cookies, but eat a cup of salad first. Or ean an apple before your meal, eat lots of veges WITH you meal. All those stupid tactics that never worked pre band actually work well for me now with a band.

I had great restriction after every single fill! The only difference subsequent fills made was how long that good restriction would last - ie. first fill it lasted four weeks, second fill six, by the fourth fill, it lasted 8 months.

Great post. No bullshit, makes sense, perfectly logical. Love it! it amazes me how many people panic over the most illogical ideas. And how many doctors spread them.

Me too. That's why I never called goal! At 154lb and 5ft 10, I'm a perfectly healthy weight for my height and fit into a US size 8-10. But I wanted to be in the 140's - yet I'm really not sure if residual flab is loose skin or whether I still ahve fat to lose. I've seen pics of that true loose skin and I suspect what I have is fat with a bit of loose skin. I'm naturally quite a thin body type and I suspect my body fat percentage is still a bit high, despite lots of running and strength training. But I'm 41. I dont want to look gaunt and old either, so I've just been happy to stay where I am.

I eat what I feel like eating, when I'm hungry, which is usually 3 meals a day. Yesterday we went to the Water park with the kids: Breakfast: bowl of 9 grain high Protein Cereal Mid morning: cup of coffee and a small choc chip cookie, a few potato chips Lunch: about a cup in total of asian cabbage and noodle salad and a broccoli slaw that I'd made the day before. Late afternoon: an ice cream dinner: zucchini and leek soup. It was a high vegetable but lower protein day yesterday! I dont count anything, and I dont do high protein but usually I'll have a piece of meat, chicken or fish for dinner.

I agree with this entirely. I would definite a pleateau as not losing any weight for like six weeks or two months. I never lost weight every single week apart from the first three months or so. I'd go two or three weeks, drop 2 or 3 lb, go for anothern couple of weeks, suddenly drop 4lb, go another two, lose 1lb kind of thing. Steady 2lb per week just didnt happen for me. I just dont consider not losing for a few weeks a plateau. Its not a sign that you need to change everything or panic, its just if you expect to lose weight every single week you're probably going to be disappointed.