Jachut

dinner is usually the meal I struggle the most with too - and that's unusual, its much more usual to be tight in the mornign and wider open at night. But dinner is important, well it is for me, becuase its often my most nutritious meal, when I eat a lot of my veges and a good solid piece of Protein. I found when I really wasnt eating dinner many nights at all, I was better off having a small unfill. I had a few months at the lower level, got more used to it and had the fill put back in and its nowhere near as tight this time as it was the first. Although I didnt do too well tonight, we went fishing at a trout farm today and caught the most gorgeous 5.5kg atlantic salmon. They filleted it for us and I asked for a small bit for sashimi. I was looking forward to it so much and made a special soy/walnut oil/ginger dressing for it, with julienned carrots and cucumber, one bite and I got blocked up, had to put it in the fridge and try again an hour later, and really sort of had to grit my teeth to get through it, didnt finish it. ARGH. I hate it when you're really really looking forward to something and then it just doesnt agree, normally salmon sashimi is fine for me. And of course, the rest of the fish was filleted and is already frozen! Personally I wouldnt switch to eating crappy white carbs for dinner, what does that really achieve?

I went through the Centre for Bariatric Surgery too and highly recommend them. My surgeon was Gary Crosthwaite. The Avenue was a good hospital too, very nice. I find it fairly convenient to get to the centre for fills etc, although DH got a parking ticket. Where are you based? I know there are surgeons operating out of Peninsula Private and The Valley Private too which may or may not be more convenient. My out of pocket expense was $3,000 back in 2005, DH was done mid 2008 and paid $3,500. Everything after that is bulk billed so nothing out of pocket at all.

Yes, swapping like that is what I do. mac is right, you burn more of a proportion of fat at a lower heart rate but you burn less fat and calories overall and your body pretty much goes back to its normal resting metabolic rate the minute you stop. There's lots of evidence that working harder - at about 75% or 80% of your max heart rate not only burns more calories and fat overall but also cause an afterburn where your body is burning at a much higher rate for hours afterwards - and strength training also has this effect. Of course there's credible evidence disputing this too and you have to be able to cope with the workload. All I know for sure is it really WORKS. For me anyway, the extra effort pays off, but I've done more than my share of long, slow cardio with all the running I do - I can run at about 8km an hour and keep my heart rate under 130 for two hours at a time, or I can do faster, harder, shorter runs. I try to do both for balance, but when I first started running, all my runs were "anaerobic" in that my heart rate was HIGH, and I was SWEATING. Walking on the treadmill didnt cut it for me, that was already too easy to qualify when I was banded. But for the next person, it may be all it takes. The key is YOUR worklevel. Add in the weights and WOW, over the last six weeks, I've peeled off a dress size without actually losing more than a pound or two. I dont know why I quit the circuits and fell into just running - probably because my goals are all running related and to be a good runner, you have to RUN, lol, but the higher intensity work (sprints) and the weights have worked miracles on me over a very short period of time and at the moment I seem to be able to eat and eat and eat and not gain an ounce. In fact the more I am able to sneak in past my band, the more weight I seem to lose.

I think you're too tight too. Still, it is hard work staying on a well varied diet. I dont do protein first becuase I dont think protein is the only nutrient I need. I make sure I mix forkfulls and eat equal amounts of everything on my plate (I leave out starchy carbs from dinner though. I find I have to cook fruit to eat much of it, so I make fruit based "healthy" desserts like plain stewed fruit or apple crumble (reduce the sugar and fat etc) and have a bit later after dinner (and I will halve the size of the dinner I eat to fit it in. I truly dont think there's much advantage to getting in 60 grams of protein in your day when you've eaten no fruit or very few vegetables - you may not be protein deficient but you're STILL not eating healthily! Dont waste your stomach space on anything not worth eating. Be looser so you can eat more and more variety and exercise more to make up the difference if there's scope for that.

I find HARD cardio - interval training - sessions combined with HARD circuit sessions - where I use weights combined with running on the treadmill absolutely BLITZ my body. Seriously, inches just disappear. Doing your weights as a fast hard circuit, makes it cardio also so you get the benefits of both forms of exercise. Fat burning zone cardio is a myth, its pretty much been debunked by now. You need some of it as a runner to develop a good aerobic base (training your body to use fat as fuel) but if you really want to burn mega calories, raise your metabolism for hours afterwards and build muscle, you need to be working a lot harder than 65% of max heart rate. Trust me, if you want fast results, this is the way to get them.

Probably bit lazy, yeah. But nothing we're not ALL guilty of. But commitment to an exercise program means that you go whether you feel like it or not. Over time, the activity builds energy, i cant believe it but I NEED it to feel normal now. Just Do It is a pretty good motto to live by in the early days.

I dont know that it should be painful all the time - if it is always painful you're probably a bit too tight if you're sure you're eating small bites and chewing. But realistically, I think a lot of things will feel uncomfortable to eat and eating will never feel the same as pre band. I dont have a lot of pain but the only things that cause no sensation and feel like pre band are things like Cookies and chocolate. Most meals I will get a few signals to stop for a minute or two to avoid a bigger blockage. Sometimes I really feel wistful for the old days, I just want to read a menu, actually fancy something and eat it freely. But the price to me is well worth it.

Technically, restriction doesnt *feel* like anything. But you know you have it if you feel things get stuck a lot. But good restriction is different for different people. You can have good restriction even if you NEVER get things stuck if its restriction you can work with. You dont feel it, you just get full quicker and stay full for longer.

I just think, just in case, you know, research ever proved it dangerous, that it is probably better to never ever do it again. That's what I told DH anyway. And I told him, that after so long it may also be dangerous to HIS band - I mean he might pop something, lol.

I think you'll probably look a million times better than buying pants to fit your midsection and having enormous amounts of excess fabric in the backside and legs. It must be humiliating but its better to look your best no matter what stage of you're journey you're at. One day (soon hopefully) this wont be a huge problem for you anymore.

I'd probably eat a lot compared to many bandsters, and now I'm maintaining I'm definitely up there towards 1800 calories a day. I really believe you have to eat to lose weight and that dropping calories so low will only result in you never being able to eat much ever again as your body will adapt to it. Breakfast for me is usually a half cup serving of some sort of Cereal (muesli, oatmeal) with fresh fruit and yogurt. Snacks are things like fruit, a few crackers, a small handful of nuts, a muesli bar - and I usually have one mid morning but not always mid afternoon. lunch might be dinner leftovers, a half a sandwich and some fruit, it might be sushi if I'm out, and sometimes it MIGHT even be something really naughty like a muffin and a cappucino. And yes, I did this whilst losing too. I often dont want an afternoon snack becuase when I've eaten solidly and healthily during the morning, I just dont need any more food. Dinner tends to be my smallest least calorific meal - a small piece of lean Protein about 2/3 the size of my palm and some vegies. Usually with a glass of wine. Sizewise, my meals usually end up at more than half a cup, that never would have satisifed me, but a cup would be a lot, its somewhere in the middle. When I really LISTEN to my band, I eat small serves often.

I was asked to speak at one of the information nights and I felt awkward because really, I *did* defy average statistics in weight loss, and I wasnt sure I would be motivation, instead I felt I might come across as some kind of pratt. I also didnt feel good about having been banded at a BMI of 35 and "preaching" to people with BMI's of 50 and above about how fantastic running is. I just thought I'd be like the skinny chick fishing for complements when she says "I'm faaaaaaat". I dont feel I can understand morbid obesity, I share a lot of the general publics biases and misguided beliefs because I have never BEEN morbidly obese. So I declined. It wasnt convenient for me anyway really with how late Doug gets home from work and how far I had to go. But that doesnt mean you should. It just depends if you really want to do it or not. Do you feel you have a lot to share that will help? I felt I did but my sharing is more of the tough love variety and I know how badly that sometimes goes down here, I didnt feel like facing it in real life, roflmao!

If the veges are allowed foods and the broth is allowed then there's absolutely no reason not to blend them together into a soup. It doesnt make any difference really whether the food is eaten in liquid or solid form unless your'e adding things like cream or cheese! Most diets allow green vegies in pretty much unlimited quantities. The trouble is its the pumpkin or potato that makes it taste good, sigh. But canned tomatoes can make a great base!

I was also pretty athletic in my younger days but the most I did through my 20's and 30's was sporadic gym memberships in which i did the same kind of half arsed "fat burning zone" useless workouts that half the people in the gym do or walking. Since being banded, i work out probably four times as hard as I did and I do it consistently and regularly - mostly running and circuit training. I consider "fun" doing thingsl iek we did the other day - walkign the thousand steps, a 2.5km climb up the side of Melbourne's Mt Dandenong. But I'd argue that the choice ISNT lapbanding and exercise or gastric bypass and no exercise. Who wants to be a skinny bag of skin, a muscleless blob?. If you have GBP you STILL should exercise. No exercise = a pretty average weight loss result for most people, either it doesnt come off or it does and you look like a skeleton lost in a huge bag of skin.

Well, I know that I was lucky as I could lose on 1500 calories a day. But I truly think there's a HUGE percentage of bandsters that chronically starve themselves. And I think a lot of them are being directed to do it by their doctors, which baffles me. 800 calories a day is just plain not necessary and people say oh, but if I eat more I dont lose. No, if you eat more CRAP you dont lose, if you eat the right thing (which I differ from most here on what that is) and you exercise right, you will lose. You just dont lose 3 or 4lb every week. But there's not many women in the world that have a totally healthy and balanced view of food and nutrition in relation to their bodies. Your mum is no different to a lot of people and unfortunately, what and when she eats is her decision.

Blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and boysenberries. We went berry picking :-) it was so much fun. And on the way home we bought a bottle of Cointroeau to douse them all in. Other than that, um - vitawheats and vegemite for Breakfast, a bite of a vegetable pastie that just didnt agree and a 300 ml low fat chocolate milk for lunch on the road, and we just had zucchini and leek soup for dinner. Havent had a cup of coffee ALL day and am getting slightly feral. Its 7.52 pm.

I'm going to have a breast lift later this year (towards the end), not sure by I may really need implants too to get a good result. Dont know how I feel about that or whether I'll do it, firstly I dont really want big boobs or fake looking ones, a C cup is perfect but I may lose size as a result of removing the oodles of loose skin and I also am not sure that its safe. My sister who is a breast care specialist will kill me if I do it, that's for sure. The rest, well I could use some slight tightening but not enough to justify the cost or scarring. I may get a teeny bit of lipo to the outer thighs - I have small saddlebags.

Not really, I was highly motivated by cosmetic factors to have lap band surgery, really, I wanted to lose weight to look better, feel better and make the most of ME. I think what I did, since it also has fantastic health benefits (says me who RAN a 4km hill course right up the side of a mountain including 1000 steps and back down again today) is WAY less barbaric than cutting open your chest and inserting possibly dangerous silicone filled bags just so you can have boobies that dont even look real! that's an exaggeration by the way, have seen lots of very lovely boob jobs and would consider one myself! But you bet my point. Making your face look like you got caught in a wind tunnel and filling your lips with substances made of the crap they wont even put in hotdogs is pretty barbaric too! My DH woudl agree with you though, he has an Iron fist relationship with his band whereas my band and I are on much more congenial terms since I treat mine nicely. Poor old DH went 6 months without getting any restriction because he just put off going for fills. When he finally did it (OK, I made him, lol) he got restriction but without creeping up on it. He has not learned yet to eat slowly, to eat VERY cautiously with the first few bites and to not eat foods that upset him. What that results in - no pbing yet but some pretty bad pain - is rather barbaric for sure. It does make you think how in the hell did I let myself get here?

I'd have maybe expected an emotional outburst at the "judgement" as you tend to get with people who have messed up and want their actions validated, so maybe you're right. Perhaps its someone who's been peed off by a previous similar topic. I hope if Tripi is real though, he/she is getting some help. I couldnt have eaten a burger 2 days out of surgery, that's for sure, and I find it so difficult to imagine that real hunger would have set in by then, hunger that couldnt be satisfied by a Protein shake!

Then go ahead and do it. Do you really think God made you ten times uglier than everyone else? You will be fine. Its really scary the first time you put yourself out there. I couldnt have felt more naked the first time I went on the beach in a bikini if I really WAS naked. It was excruciating to be honest. But once you get used to the feeling and once you realise nobody is going to fall over vomiting and that you dont stand out for your hideous deformities, you start to get a little confidence. This step is a BIG one in your journey. And a little fake tan goes a LOOOOOOOOONG way.

Ah, this isnt the same as the "I ate a burger 2 days after surgery" thread that got so much tough love. This is more common garden variety breaking out. I do it too on occasion and yes, when you do it, it snowballs and you do it more and more. I could eat what you just described in an hour, and I have what I consider good fill. I'm WAY less likely to do it with good fill. Its not a matter of "deserving" your fill, its a matter of using your band. Not to stop you being able to eat that much but to stop the desire to do so. 5lb is only 5lb, its not a lot, thank goodness it wasnt worse. You do need to deliver yourself a good hard face slap though and yell STOP. There's no other way than to just STOP. No more bingeing. Fill up on good food if you need to, get the fill, keep up the exercise and put it behind you.

The more fill you have, the harder this gets. I was in a similar postion - had a small 0.1 ml fill to take me to 2.8 in my band and it made me so tight. I was pbing more (but still not a lot) but I just couldnt eat anything without discomfort. I did lose a bit (which was my intention) but it was at the expense of a good diet, I couldnt eat Breakfast etc. I also had ever so slight refluxy sort of mucous after eating, I realised one day that I was clearing my throat an awful lot (no pain, just this little cough after eating). that was enough for me, I want my band in and the difference between 68kg and 70kg is not worth risking it over. So I had .2 taken out. it was when I did that that I realised just how far my good eating habits had slipped with being so tight. I was just grazing all day and crap food too - which is what I'd unconsciously been doing whilst I was tighter. I promtly went back to 72kg, which had me feeling a bit desperate. The difference between 68 and 72 IS noticeable to me, lol. I've since had two .1ml fills to take me back to 2.8 (8 weeks apart) and the fill is really comfortable now, nowhere near as tight as it was the first time. However, its taken months to get back to a good healthy 3 meals a day (maybe with SMALL snacks) routine. But this morning I was 69kg, YAY. Get a bit out. If you're uncomfortable, jsut do it. We're not hamstrung by stupid medical systems and insurance companies here, you can just go and darn well do it and go back next week if you like for another fill, without it costing you thousands. Even .1ml out may make a difference. But keep up your exercise :-) I'm sure its the only thing that saved me from a bigger gain.

I think I feel as I do because I tend to make a moral judgement about wanting to be a celebrity in the first place - if you get what I mean? Like you have to have a big ego and you have to want to hog the spotlight and you have to want obscene wealth. That moral judgement may well be unfair in many cases. But whilst I would like the obscene wealth bit, I understand that I have to sell myself to get it and that makes it not realistic or acceptable to me. If its acceptable to someone else, I tend to think then that they're not made of high moral stuff. Maybe that's unfair. I guess its why i think most of Hollywood is completely stupid. But I still pay to see the movies so go figure. We've had some massive arguments on here about plus sized celebrities being role models for healthy living and I've been, quite literally, incredulous that people could view it like that. I think it was over Queen Latifah. I'm like give me a break, the woman's loaded, she's a Hollywood actress, she has everything at her disposal - stylists, trainers, dieticians, hairstylists, designers wanting to dress her, she doesnt set foot on a red carpet without weeks of preparation and to top that off, she's no doubt and mental as any of them in Hollywood and simply because she's fat she's some sort of role model? Apparently that meant I think that only thin is beautiful and its not OK to have larger women as role models, lol.

My cellulite got a lot worse for a while there, as I lost. But dont panic, as you get to the pointy end of your weight loss, it does begin to disappear. As the fat goes, so does the cellulite, eventually. But you'll be left with some, all women have it. I think its important to try to remain realistic about your body. Look around you, how many people are perfect? Do you hate your best friend because she has cellulite? Do you spend a lot of time thinking about how disgusting your mother's backside is? Do you find your husband unattractive becuase he has a wart on his hand? probably not. We're so darn hard on ourselves, we want physical perfection and it just doesnt exist. Other people do not care about, or even notice our flaws and if you had none, people would probably hate you and think you were a stuck up bitch.

Stop and take a deep breath. Firstly, you're far from being a failure, you've had a massive weight loss and you dont lose almost 100lb easily, you've worked to get that off. Now, what can you change to get you over this plateau? I know how you feel to some degree, but I wont pretend that its not different for me because this happened to me at a healthy weight. But I wanted (and still do) to be about 10 to 15lb lighter again than I am now, however, I've stuck at 70kg for the past 18 months. Can you use this time to go on a commercial diet program? Would something like that help you? We all know diets dont work, but they are effective for smaller weight loss and the calorie control and regimented approach may shake something loose. What exercise do you do? Is it time to add some really HARD stuff like interval training (like when you're running with sprints or hill repeats etc) and some weight training. Is it time to try something like hard circuit training (guaranteed to burn tons of fat). Would a trainer help you at this stage? At this end of things though, I'd recommend not going ridiculously low on calories but it may be time to get really scientific about what you eat and the way you exercise. It really is a matter of what you're prepared to do to get what you want. I know that for me, stepping up to vomit inducing levels of HARD exercise really does work. It even becomes fun in a kind of psychotic insane way. And guaranteed, I can lose when I eat 3 PROPER meals a day, and think about fuelling myself for the exercise I'm doing, eating what my body needs (I was 68kg this mornign, yippeee) - which for me means wholegrain carbs and low fat as well as adequate Protein.