Jachut

I tolerate oatmeal well and love it, but that sounds yummy - Peanut Butter and maple syrup! I only eat proper rolled oats though, i simply dont understand why you would take one of nature's superfoods and process it to remove most of its nutrients, THEN eat it. I soak my oats in milk overnight, then just heat in a saucepan the next morning for a few minutes. If I dont soak, I just cook them in milk/water and boil for a few minutes longer. Delicious. I like brown sugar and a bit of milk with mine. I also make bircher muesli - soak oats overnight in apple or orange juice, maybe add some sultanas and in the morning add something like half a grated apple, or some stewed fruit and natural yogurt, sprinkle with some raw almonds or cashews. No cooking for that one. I do the crumble thing too - oatmeal, brown sugar and butter mixed to a crumbly texture, spread on top of some fruit and bake - we use green apples, and this week someone gave us a bag of plums, so I used those, top and bake. Its technically a dessert (well in Australia apple crumble is a pretty traditional dessert( but I have been known to eat it for Breakfast - with cream too (shamefaced). Only a bit of cream, like a tablespoon. I figure there's sugar, salt etc in all processed cereals to such a degree that this is probably healthier and it gets my fruit in (I have a lot of trouble with uncooked fruit).

Oh, I'm afraid I just dont buy that theory with celebs. They put themselves where they are through their own choice and to my way of thinking have no right to complain about the consequences. These things probably DO make it difficult for Oprah, but think about it. Say she really does want to have lapband surgery. Say she's decided finally that its a logical next step. If she hadnt blabbed her big mouth all over the world going on about how she thinks its wrong, she'd be free to do it now, wouldnt she? How many celebs "accidentally" become celebs?. As in they were riding their bike down the street one day and entered a time warp and next thing they knew they were famous. What's the differnence between them and us? Normal people like us understand that with the good comes the bad and normal people like us dont feel the compulsion for everyone in the world to know who they are or what they think. I'm not saying no celebs have great personality features but I think with very few exceptions none of then would be celebs if they werent egotistical, self absorbed and wanting the limelight, thus they make decisions to get that for themselves. Oprah is no different. Given her background, she could easily have lived a life in obscurity and luxurious anonymity but she didnt choose that, she chose to draw the world's attention to herself. They're all like that, that's why their relationships dont last, why they have drug problems, and alcohol problems and behave appalingly - they're overly self indulgent egotistical creaters with not much idea of reality. So can I understand the difficulties in Oprah's life? Yep. Do I feel sympathy? Nope. She has consequences for her actions same as I do.

There's plenty of old studies that show this as well. In essence, I think its completely true. Its pretty simple, any time you eat less calories than you burn, you'll lose weight. You CAN do this with exercise alone but the truth is, doing as much exercise as this requires tends to make you starving and you eat to compensate. Heck, for many people, dont ANY exercise tends to make them think that they can therefore eat more, as the study says. I love exercise and always have, have had many times in my life where I've done it consistently without getting the diet right and I always remained fat. I never lost weight. However, when the exercise stopped and my diet remained the same, I got REALLY fat. These studies never show either just what exercise does for your body, they always view it in terms of how many calories it burns. They dont consider stuff like how long steady aerobic exercise develops your body's aerobic systems enabling it to become much more adept at burning fat for energy. They dont consider how it reduces insulin resistance in the body, or how if you do it properly, that runners high can really help to decrease the need for that seratonin hit that carbs tend to give you. They dont consider how a good bout of interval training not only increases your calorie burn for hours after exercise but decreases your appetite markedly too. They dont consider how, when someone like me is training for a half marathon, they adjust their diet to fuel their body properly for it, adjustments and improvements they might not have made without that exercise goal. Of course, there's also maintaining lean body mass and even increasing muscle to consider. And what these studies dont tend to consider either is how much activity in total people get. You cant call a half hour jog exercise if you sit on your behind the rest of the day and are basically an inactive person who only moves for half an hour four times a week. Exercise needs to be ON TOP of a very active lifestyle. If you go from nothing to mild cardio four times a week, well big deal. If you go from nothing to cardio six times a week, weight training, cleaning your windows yourself, doing heavy housework for an hour every day, having an evening walk after dinner every day, and walking to and from work, well that will tell a different story. There's no doubt about it, you can lose weight without exercise, but combine diet AND exercise and the results will be exponentially better. Its like anything, science tells one story, but people's experiences (and there'll be tons here who will confirm) tell a more accurate story. With all these factors taken into consideration and keeping in special focus the way people tend to take up exercise and then eat more and decrease incidental activity, saying that exercise does not help one lose weight is exactly like saying the high carb/low fat diet of the 80's and 90's doesnt work without admitting the fact that in reality people didnt follow it, they ate a high PROCESSED carb and high SATURATED fat diet instead. However, I do agree, try to lose weight through exercise alone and you'll be rather disappointed with the results you get for your efforts. Diet is what results in weight loss, exercise is what acheives above average results.

My sister is hypothyroid, ironically she was always the skinny one in our family - I mean tiny skinny, 100lb as an adult skinny. She simply never had any appetite at all. Her undiagnosed hypothyroidism caused a raft of fertility problems for her, she had horrid endometriosis, she was always given to having nana naps int he afternoon, suffered puffy eyes, we all have dry skin/hair/nails in our family, but nothing obvious. Everyone said to her, how come you're not fat when it was diagnosed. Her specialist said to her that hypothyroidism is never the explanation for a really LARGE weight problem, it might cause a bit of weight over and above the individual's genetic predisposition but its still lifestyle habits that are the culprit. Most people cant say they're fat because of their thyroid. However, it can be very difficult to LOSE any weight with untreated hypothyroidism. My sister began treatment, discovered an appetite for the first time in her whole life and promptly gained about 30 lb - which she needed to, she's now a gorgeous, curvy hipped flat stomached 130lb with boobs (something she'd never ever had, and I mean she was flat as an ironing board).

I want to tell you to be nice and tell you not to worry. And the truth is, if you felt no pain and it went down fine and its the only time you do it, the odds are in your favour. But you know that you're not supposed to eat solid food so that you can heal right? Now the not so nice part. If you're eating a burger a mere two days after surgery, just how mentally committed are you to this? I'd suggest you find some committment pretty darn soon as you've got a steep learning curve ahead if you havent already prepared yourself for this. We cant know another's experience though, so forgive the incredulity and the seeming judgement - I couldnt even drink normally yet after 2 days so the burger thing made me yell WTF? I find it hard to imagine that you could have been motivated by physical hunger at this stage, and I know that's applying my own experience to yours and not necessarily right. This isnt sneaking a mouthful of yogurt or chewing a piece of steak and spitting it out though, this was a whole burger. Do that consistently and you're likely to end up right back in surgery having your slipped band removed. This is a HARD journey. You're not the only one that has broken down at this point. It doesnt mean you'll fail at this long term. But its imperative that you get back on the wagon and keep going as youv'e been instructed to.

shoulders, arms, boobs, waist and back - the areas where i dont carry much weight anyway. My fat old bum and thighs took a lot longer to disappear - well to shrink!

Depends on lots of things such as: the difference between your body's energy needs and the calories you're taking in (everyones' different, some burn more energy than others, some get great restriction after surgery and some dont). How much weight you lost on your pre op diet - have you already exhaused the easy run before being banded? how much you exercise - it didnt make me lose fast but it kept me losing steadily, I never plateaued all the way to goal. Weight loss is not necessarily fat loss. If you're very bloated and hold lots of Water - that comes away fast. Cutting back super hard on calories, like to 600 a day will result in fast weight loss but you can guarantee its lots of water and muscle as well as fat at first. Metabolic disorders such as PCOS or thyroid problems can make it really hard to lose. its pointless comparing yourself to others, its your journey and nobody else's.

It is and it isnt expensive in australia. We shop at a meat wholesaler, a fruit and veg wholesaler, Aldi and then Coles as a last resot (I despise paying my money to big supermarket chains who are exploiting us all). We spend about $300 per week on groceries for a family of five, but that's good quality wholesome food and very little junk (just a bit of snack food for the kids). its definitely cheaper to fill your trolley full of crumbed fish, frozen chips, party pies and sausage rolls, and cheap mass produced artificially sweetened yogurt, plastic cheese and deli meat than it is to buy fresh produce, good meat, free range eggs, organic milk and cheese. But when we have a takeaway night for instance - if I need a quick dinner, I will call into Coles, buy a rotisserie chicken, a prepapared garden salad and pop some potatoes in the microwave - about $15 for five of us. A full meal of Indian or chinese is always over $40, fish and chips always about $25, McDonalds always over $30. Its much more expensive to buy rubbish for lunch than make it. High protein diets though - to do that healthily costs a BOMB. So much meat, fish, etc. We eat lots of really cheap stuff like rolled oats (not minute oats, not packaged single serve but good traditional rolled oats) 79c for a kilo bag, beans and legumes, and fill it out with vegies etc. Oprah - bah. I dont watch her generally as she annoys me but just by pure coincidence she's on here right now, with that freaky alien looking Dr Oz, who's currently bagging the typical amercian diet, and giving a very informed opinion on the ratio of good fats in our diets, telling people NOT to eat so much animal produce - which definitely gives the protein first thing a shove - to eat FIVE different fruit and veg and some nuts every, to get 25g of fibre a day etc, a tbspn olive oil etc. If she's going to spread GOOD information like that, she's got a bit more of my respect. I certainly beats the focus on protein and who cares if its deli meat, cheese or processed shakes message.

It depends if you're up front about whether you have a band or not I guess. I cope with these things by taking what I know I can eat if that's an option, eating TINY portions and eating TWICE as slowly and HALF as much as normal, so that mistakes and pb's dont happen. All my friends know I have a band - if its a group I dont know so well, I just dont worry about what they might think. I never ever EVER push it to fit in more so taht I look more normal. that ends in disaster every time.

I buy good bread - good organic stoneground wholegrain bread. I dont buy white flour dyed brown bread and i dont buy sliced white bread or full up with sawdust so you can call it high fibre bread, I've NEVER let my kids eat that stuff, so we're all used to good grainy bread. You can get good bread in the supermarket here, and I also buy fresh from the bakery and sometimes I make it (not often). I can eat a piece of toast or maybe half a sandwich VERY slowly. I tend to get more grains from Cereal and brown rice than from bread, I maybe eat a slice or two a week.

Well, in a way it makes evolutionary sense that we would prefer foods that are going to sustain us - sugar and fat together - its not poisonous, it packs mega calories, it will sustain you over a long period. When food only came along once every two days and you had to chase it down, fat intake wasnt a problem. In these days of plentiful food and low energy expenditure, it would make evolutionary sense to prefer foods providing less energy. It may well be the case in another couple of hundred million years.

I found it pretty darn easy for the first year, I must say. The weight literally fell off. Yes, i worked it. I took up running, I ate healthy, but it wasnt hard. It still isnt really, but it takes more work than it did. My appetite returned towards the end of the second year, I have way more head hunger, I have to work not to eat between meals, a lot of the old urges and habits are back with me. I can control them now though, not so much because of the band but because when you actually GET results, you're motivated to continue a behaviour, however hard. I've passed the point of exercising for weight loss (which is a tenuous thing you have to really try to continue) to becoming a "runner". I have no fear whatsoever that I will fall off that wagon, stop exercising, stop running. It is simply part of me, its what I do. So in that respect, its "easy". But boy did I work hard to get to this point. It takes work, but that's the point of the band, to make what is hard a kind of hard the average person can DO. In a way, it is the "easy way out". There's no denying that to lose 100lb and keep it off without a band would be quite a bit harder. But its SENSIBLE to take the path or least resistance. The only reason I take offense when people suggest it was the easy way out is becuase they're intimating they're somehow morally superior for not stooping that low. Whereas I think I've got more brains in my little finger than some fool who thinks THIS time will be different to the other gazillion times she's dieted. Its not the easy way out - for many people, not all, but many, its the LOGICAL way out.

I went through this and I did adjust after about a year. But my thermostat is definitely set lower than it was - I have to wear something to bed in winter where I never did, I wear a jacket or long sleeves in temperatures where I wouldnt have needed to and in winter, I am known to pull the throw rug off the back of the couch and over me. I'm not driving anyone crazy by wanting the heater on in the middle of summer or anything, but fat definitely keeps you warm.

Yay for you. Those are awesome NSV's. Those huge sudden realisations of how much better I look, or how I can suddenly fit into something are well behind me now. But like a relationship, as fun as the initial excitement is, the long term stuff gets even better. I enjoy the simple satisfication of having a body I treat right. I love what it can do. i love not feeling desperate self loathing every time I look at myself. I absolutely love that without realising it, my new years resolutions focussed on athletic achievement - 2009 is my year to complete several half marathons - and had NOTHING to do with changing myself in any way. I love simply being able to buy what I need to wear, buy it where I want to buy it and not pay stupid prices becuase its plus sized. I love that becuase i hit goal a while ago now, I'm used to it, people are used to it, my body and my problems are no longer anyone's focus. I'm "normal". Wow, whodathunkit?

Knowing how this surgery has helped me as a lower BMI patient (it has been HUGELY successful), as contradictory and irresponsible as this advice sounds, personally, I would be tempted to gain a bit, go in in extremely heavy clothes, have weights in my back pockets (I was thinking about the little weight disks from our dumbell set), drinking loads of Water and eating salty foods for a few days before and scheduling the appointment for right before my period. None of this is healthy, it all sounds really dsyfunctional by sheesh, with all due respect, your entire medical system sounds unhealthy and dysfunctional, lol. The way people are excluded over tiny details is stupid. I mean chances are if they send you away, you'll be 10lb heavier in a year anyway. Good luck.

To me, this is absolutely no surprise. If you read the Share Ideas what did you eat today thread, some people's diets are absolutely awful. Processed meat, cheese, sour cream (as main intake rather than condiments) but little in the way of lean meat, fresh fish, free range eggs and hardly ANY fresh produce. I'm not arguing that high protein/low carb doesnt work or is unhealthy, but the way the average person applies it definitely IS. In many cases, apart from quantity, there is no improvement over pre op eating habits at all. Lower carb is all very well but fresh produce - a variety of fruits and veg and I think wholegrains but I know that's debateable is necessary for our health. A diet of a few pieces of deli meat and cheese in a day, or believing that refried Beans can constitute your entire vegetable intake is ridiculous. I didnt get banded to eat like that! I'm quite happy that although I apparently risk Protein deficiency by getting only 50 grams or so a day from my food, I have in fact improved my blood chemistry which is absolutely perfect. I eat a much more varied diet that is based on wholegrains and fruit and vegetables more so than protein and I've done just fine. Maybe its not for everyone but maybe high protein isnt either? Its just about balace - focus on higher protein/low carb if that's your instructions but try to find healthy sources of it - fish and nuts are healthy fats that wont send your cholesterol levels skyrocketing but remember that fish comes from the ocean in a natural state, not crumbed from a box int he freezer. Nuts grow on trees, not in salt. Eat lots of fresh vegies and fruit. A daily glass of red wine helps. Hard aerobic exercise helps. Low fat everything if you have blood chemistry problems. Think about including carbs such as traditional rolled oats - the insoluble fibre and certain chemicsals in oats lower cholesterol levels.

For the first time ever its actually caused problems between DH and I. We've just been away with friends, last year the kids and I went without Doug as he was on a fishing trip. A friend of a friend, a single guy of about 38 was there, the buggers had told him I was single as he's a bit desperate. Anyway, he quite obviously liked what he saw and with DH not being there, I was quite OK - I could handle him without having to cut him dead. This year DH came and he'd been ribbed about this situation during the year and having a good sense of humour and being secure in our relationship, he took it all good naturedly. However, the reality of the situation was a bit different and I think it pissed him off a bit. He got a bit cool with me, not that I'd done anything to encourage it. What I find hard now though is that its gone right through the extra male attention bit which we all find flattering to people assuming I'm a bimbo. Simply because I look after myself and take care of my appearance (and I'm not even talking make up and stuff here, I'm pretty much an au naturale sort of person) and didnt want to eat McDonalds for dinner but opted to heat some Soup instead, my friend's husband was quite boorish about what a pain in the arse vain bimbo I was. My friend is a complete pig mind you, she's a great girl but looks terrrible, is obese, is messy, dirty and lazy. Her husband lives on coke and junk food. I'm sorry, but I care about how I look, I care about my health, I was raised in a good family and I know how to behave like a lady and I do not need the kind of male attention that assumes I'm high maintenance and difficult. And when her husband said "I couldnt stand being married to YOU", I felt like saying "perhaps it hasnt occurred to you that I might prefer men with some education, some class, some care for their health and the ability to hold a conversation about something other than engines". But I didnt becuase they have a boat and a jet ski and a great house on the Water and I want to be invited back I dont care for being wolf whistled from cars when I go running either and i would like to be able to wear a bikini on the beach without it appearing to signal that I am open to sexual advances from all and sundry. However, it only happens with certain kinds of people and the men whom I generally consider friends, and the men in my family would never behave in this way.

I think that's a healthy attitude. The goal of this for me anyway was always just to be normal. Normal people enjoy Christmas or Easter and partake moderately of what's on offer. They eat a bit more than they normally do and they even maybe gain a pound or two. The key is getting back on the wagon. That's the skill we really all need/needed to develop. I'm back to my regular routine and love that I didnt gain any weight. But yeah, I had fun and certainly drank a bit more than normal.

You know, that is so true. Getting really fit is like discovering a new religion. The joy I get out of my running, the achievement and satisfaction I get out of being fit, how good I feel every single day (and none of it has ANYTHING to do with my band or my weight) is such a great feeling, I want everyone to know what it is like. But you have to work hard to get there, and people tend to just tell you to shut up, that everyone doesnt have to love running and you should stop pushing your opinions down other's throats However, if I wasnt nearly a fully fledged teacher, if I hadnt invested so much time and money into a teaching career, I would DEFINTELY love to get into personal training. I am fascinated by exercise science and I would love to help people to feel as good as I do. The main concern I have with trainers is that in Australia anyway, its back of the cornflake packet stuff. People with real qualifications are working in the professional sporting industry, some of them do PT on the side, for sure, but many trainers dont know a lot, arent terribly qualified, its the career of the moment. I'd definitely try to find one based on personal recommendation and friends' experiences. I want a running coach, but they're darned EXPENSIVE - because they tend to be properly qualified.

Oh, I was just trotting along at a low heart rate, didnt break any speed records, that's for sure.

Um, lets see, yesterday for me: Breakfast - bircher muesli made by soaking 1/4 cup rolled oats in apple juice overnight and in the morning adding some stewed plums and greek yogurt - it was about half a cup. Mid morning I had a skim latte - 1/3 espresso, 2/3 steamed skim milk Lunch was two thin basil and tomato rice cakes with avocado on them and a banana Mid afternoon I had some unsalted cashews, probably about 15 Dinner last night was roast pork - a lean pork shoulder baked in the oven, mashed potato/sweet potao and steamed broccoli and cauli. I made dessert too which is not usual - plum crumble (basically baked cut up plumbs with a topping of rolled oats, sugar and butter). I had about 1/2 cup of the roast - tiny bit of meat, spoonful of mash, a piece each of broccoli and cauli and then about 1/4 of a cup of crumble with a bit of low fat custard, half an hour later. I also had a small glass of white wine. this morning I did something a bit naughty and had about 1/4 cup of the plum crumble for breakfast - well really, its fruit, oats and a bit of sugar, but I had some yogurt with it, not custard. Mid morning I had a skim latte again. Lunch was about 1/4 cup total of left over pork and mash with some gravy and about 1/4 cup of mixed berries with a dash of cream. dinner tonight we're having a chicken curry with brown rice

We just dont really have the anti starch/pro Protein regime here in Australia, its much more an eat normally but in smaller quantities thing. I eat bread, Pasta and rice, but I avoid white varieties, I would never buy prepackaged supermarket bread anymore, I only buy health food shop stuff. I would only eat proper rolled oats, never minute oats or those prepackaged single sachet serves. Um, lets see, yesterday for me: Breakfast - bircher muesli made by soaking 1/4 cup rolled oats in apple juice overnight and in the morning adding some stewed plums and greek yogurt - it was about half a cup. Mid morning I had a skim latte - but a latte here is 1/3 espresso, 2/3 steamed milk, not frothy sweet stuff. lunch was two thin basil and tomato rice cakes with avocado on them and a banana Mid afternoon I had some unsalted cashews, probably about 15 dinner last night was roast pork - a lean pork shoulder baked in the oven, mashed potato/sweet potao and steamed broccoli and cauli. I made dessert too which is not usual - plum crumble (basically baked cut up plumbs with a topping of rolled oats, sugar and butter). I had about 1/2 cup of the roast - tiny bit of meat, spoonful of mash, a piece each of broccoli and cauli and then about 1/4 of a cup of crumble with a bit of low fat custard, half an hour later. I also had a small glass of white wine. this morning I did something a bit naughty and had about 1/4 cup of the plum crumble for breakfast - well really, its fruit, oats and a bit of sugar, but I had some yogurt with it, not custard. Mid morning I had a skim latte again. Lunch was about 1/4 cup total of left over pork and mash with some gravy and about 1/4 cup of mixed berries with a dash of cream. dinner tonight we're having a chicken curry with brown rice. So you can see, I eat completely normal food, I indulge a little bit in a few things that are nice, I drink alcohol moderately, but I do it all in pretty small quantities. I absolutely love banded life, it was the best thing I ever did.

Last night went for a relaxed 8km run. Tonight, I think I'll do a circuit. Its holidays here, its really hot today and I didnt get up till 9.00 am by which time it was already about 28 degrees C, way too hot to go outside and run. Will wait for the cool after dinner. Tomorrow my plan is an interval run, probably cardio coach. Need to charge my ipod!

I think its really worthwhile building a healthy perspective on it too. I think of it in terms of getting older. I quite often look at my 5 year old daughter's gorgeous, dewy skin, or hold my arm against my 13 year old son's and say this is why we plaster you in 30+ every time you go outside. I am an Aussie and I grew up in the 80's - my skin tells that story. No peaches and cream English complexion, that's for sure! By the time I'm 70, I will have a turkey neck, the elasticity on arms and thighs will have gone etc. My excess skin problem really is small enough, that it will be pretty much swallowed up by normal aging anyway. So why would I have major surgery to fix something that will reappear? (and I know this is different to having major hanging skin problems). Like Mac, I have NO objection to cosmetic and plastic surgery - the lapband was very much a cosmetic procedure to me, I was very much motivated by how I wanted to look. But I think many strike a danger period post weight loss where they become obsessed with every physical detail of themselves, I know someone in real life who is a joke - she's had the boobs, the tummy tuck, the face lift, the perma solarium tan, the heavy make up the fake nails, the hair extensions, and soooooo many designer clothes. She's 50 and she looks like a freaking drag queen. Much much healthier to relax into it, think about these procedures, get used to your new face and your new body. I dont really believe that 2 years waiting post weight loss is necessary to let your weight settle, but I do believe for many people it is a GREAT idea to let them calm down a bit before they do things they might regret. We do need to learn to appreciate just being healthy and normal to some degree.