Jachut

Dont get too excited, lol, it wasnt a weight loss story, it was about the clothing exchange service. No mention of WLS at all.

Mine's a Nordic Track C2050 - you're sounds exactly the same as mine RedTulip.

I find it creeps back in periodically for me too, and a fill is not always the answer. I always manage to get on top of it again, before weight gain gets out of control and exercise helps a LOT to avoid putting on weight when you eat a bit more than normal. This is what maintenance is for me. Keeping on top of my bad habits, not anything as negative as a constant struggle but to think that I'm cured and never have to think about my diet or exercise is complete fantasy. In reality I have to work on it every single day and will have to do so for the rest of my life. If I let myself just go, I will eat when I'm not hungry, I will choose poor foods much more often etc. I will never be "fixed" but with my band I can manage my situation. Recommitting is necessary periodically, definitely.

Christmas day we did an 6km walk, nothing boxing day and then today DH and I walked 12kms. I need him to go back to work so I can stop walking and get back to running.

Lol, probably best not to copy yesterday's menu! Mainly champagne and wine, with a bit of Christmas dinner in the middle somewhere. But I did go for a run in the morning. Today we had breakfast outside (its summer here) - fresh apricots, cherries and mango, some yogurt. Lunch was salmon sashimi. I think I'm going to make another barbecued peach and ham salad for dinner.

That's the clinic I attend, but even so a lot of information I've found for myself, not been told. And I had 3 weeks liquids, 2 mushies, then solids!

I can see it around the hips. Take heart too that the first weight loss, whilst its very exciting, really doesnt change you as much as your last 20lb will. Sad but true. I can lose 5lb now and I'd be down an entire dress size, it took me 35lb at first! Also, your body just doesnt change the way you imagine it will and the way before after articles lead you to believe it will. I've gotten to goal and I'm still basically the same shape as I was fat. I have fat in the same areas, its just smaller and smoother all over. But definitely the same body.

Kossde, I love your attitude. That's exactly what I was like, I"d go bull at a gate at something and burn out. I really really held myself back when I started running and took it SLOWLY. It took me a year to run a 10K, when technically you could start as a newbie and train for that in 3 months. I have NEVER had a serious running injury, anything that's stopped me exercising. And now I am rewarded for patience by being ble to go out and burn 7 or 800 calories in a session without having to drive anywhere, meet any timetable, get wet, spend money etc. Its fantastic.

Oh yes - definitely. I dont have weather issues to deal with. In fact heat is more of a problem than cold in Melbourne. I use the treadmill more in summer than I do in winter.

My DH did not stick to the pre op diet. He was honest about it, but the surgeon said he'd go in and take a look and that in his experience, less than 1% of people had livers so large as to prevent surgery. Its better to shrink it of course, but if you dont, the likelihood of not being able to have surgery is not high - UNLESS your surgeon cancels it just on principle. DH got his band, no problem, his liver was fine anyway.

It does get better - I never even think about buying that sort of food anymore. But it was hard at first.

Well, the band takes care of the eating issues for me, but I've never really found Christmas a tough time, maybe I'm sad, lol, but we just dont go to that many functions. Its basically one or two gatherings and Christmas day for us. So given that I cant overeat with a band, there's no real issue. Nonetheless I've planned my exercise out very carefully. I've had a real blitz during December, i've been working really HARD with high intensity stuff six days a week. So when we head down to a friend's beach house after Christmas for a week and I dont have my weights and treadmill and stuff, i can head out for a nice gentle jog along the beach every morning and have a relaxing recovery week. I am so glad I'm a self motivated exerciser not reliant on the gym. It is just so easy to go out the front door and have a run that I can keep my exercise routine on tradck very easily. Exercising that way means the time issues etc dont get to you so much.

I get real comfort in the idea that not only have I greatly increased my odds of living until a ripe old age, but those will be QUALITY years.

I like it but always felt that I needed a cardio session afterwards. So I do something similar myself at home, with sprints on the treadmill between muscle groups. It *is* basically light weight, high rep strength training so you will need to also do some cardio. But if you hate strength training like I do, lol, the music, the group atmosphere and circuit style format of it makes it fun. I cant stand standing round resting between sets etc in the gym. My advice would be once you've done a few and gotten used to it, use the most weight you possibly can and still make it through.

I think 12lb is great too. I started exercising the day after my surgery - just walking, but I never missed a day. I did about half an hour - 3kms or so of brisk but not really strenuous walking. By about 3 weeks i was back to normal and was able to powerwalk and by 3 months I started running.

I can see both points of view here. Firstly, I thought ick, why? Because I agree with Jodie, that's not what the band is for. But then, if you're that tight (which is really too tight) and you'd rather do Medifast for a period of a few weeks and lose a bit and loosen up, rather than have an unfill, why on earth not? Why muck around with your band filling and unfilling. At least you will have some reasonable nourishment and a bit of fast weight loss. Believe me, I've thought of going REALLY tight and doing this just to get that last 10lb off but I suspect that when I finished, unfilled and began to eat again, I'd regain EVEN with a band. Because the trouble with Medifast and Optifast is that it's not healthy weight loss. Those super low carb diets cause a LOT of Water weight loss as your body depletes itself of glycogen and you DO lose muscle as well on them. When you eat again and rehydrate you're quite likely to see rebound weight gain on the scale. Its arguable that you'd lose just as much fat by doing a more moderate diet of solid food, but avoiding the huge water loss factor. Heck, this is even why people fail to lose in the first few weeks after surgery - they come off this diet. The fact that they're on a liquid post op diet is enough to prevent great regain, but for many people they think why arent I losing? Reason being, you've already depleted your body entirely by the pre op diet and once you start putting carbs back in - as you do with the varied liquids you can have post op, bang, weight loss stops or goes in the opposite direction. Fat loss is probably continuing but the fake readings the scale was giving you are evening out. And I think this ooh good I'm tight I'll starve myself and loose tons of weight attitude is best left in our old pre band lives. This is a lifestyle, for keeps now. But really, nothing is going to hurt you for a short period of time. And Im not bashing because I can understand exactly why you would think of it. I did to, what I've just said is more the reasons why I talked myself out of it, not that I dont think you should do it.

Its a horrible feeling isnt it? I ran a lot in my teens/early 20's but I was so embarrassed to be seen, I used to go very very early in the morning or late at night. As an older adult, I've shaken that fear off now. I just MADE myself go out in public and run and eventually, I became less self conscious doing it. Nobody cares. You're not half as important to other people as you think you are and if they think something nasty, its jsut that, a thought and gone. If you make yourself do it, you will get more comfortable with it. And many people will be thinking positive thoughts for you if they even take enough time from watching/thinking about themselves to notice you at all.

Breakfast: a yogurt and a banana mid morning: 2 shortbreads Lunch: 3 crackers, 3 small pieces of fruit/nut cheese, some walnuts Afternoon: an apple Dinner: glass white wine, grilled chicken breast, rice salad (I double the veges, halve the rice and use brown rice when I make this). Oh, and a cappucino at the shops. Exercise: cardio coach Vol. 6 - 50 minutes of interval running.

Same here, it was just where I sort of landed with the right restriction for me. Mind you, I was a relatively "slow" loser, it was always about a pound a week. I didnt have spectacularly fast weight loss, but from this point of view, 3 years down the track, I dont really care, lol. Its gone for good now, however fast it came off.

For me it was probably 75% a cosmetic decision, I'd wasted years and was sick to death of being fat, frumpy and ugly. But it wasnt until I felt my health start to suffer that I considered something as serious as surgery. I was 38 and although I had no real comorbidities that were serious (I had a chronic ankle injury that was pretty darn bad though) I was starting to feel so old. I was tired, I needed afternoon naps, I just plain didnt feel good and approaching 40, it scared the wits out of me that I was going to become one of those hugely obese in middle age. So I decided to nip it in the bud there and then, before I got to that stage. Now I am one of those incredibly fit people everyone hates at the gym, roflmao! I cannot believe what my 41 year old bod can do. And how great and young you can look in your 40's!

I've given this lots of thought over the last few years and you're 100% right. It wasnt my band that got me up at 6 am this morning. It wasnt my band that tackled the kitchen and family room that needed thorough cleaning at 6.45 am. It wasnt my band that got me on the treadmill and pushed me through a 45 minute circuit workout and it CERTAINLY wasnt my band that made me work at 150% effort instead of just going through the motions. It wasnt my band that directed me to eat yogurt and a banana when the ginger nut biscuits were calling me from the cupboard. Yep, I wanted them for breakfast! And I agree with the amount thing. I eat about as much, many times less (calorie wise) than my five year old daughter. I dont know why but my body, despite how hard I work it, requires much less than many people's to stay at a healthy weight. It takes more than willpower to basically starve yourself for the rest of your life. But I'm quite comfortable with the fact that *I* know what I've achieved. I get a bit shitty when my mum says stuff like "this isnt teaching you any real lessons though". But overall, I'm happy with what I've achieved and that's what counts. People really are quite stupid though, arent they?

I find my band doesnt prevent hunger, in fact I get hungrier than before. That sounds alarming but its really only because before a meal may have been 750 calories and that woudl stick for quite a while, and I also wasnt doing anything much but pottering round the house, a bit of shopping, etc. Nowadays I might fit in 200 or 300 calories for a meal and I've normally run 10kms and been very active during my day. So I need fuel and its not surprising that my body tells me so. So even though early on I was like others and had to remind myself to eat, as I've gotten more restriction and eat less at a time, I tend to get physically hungry every 3 or 4 hours or so during the day, so I eat breakfast, lunch and 2 Snacks. At about 5 pm my appetite switches OFF. I could care less about eating dinner most nights, and I dont feel the urge to snack at night - but I was NEVER a night time eater, my pattern has always been to eat a lot in the earlier part of the day and then stop. I dont see a problem - I eat when I'm hungry, just a little, until I'm not hungry anymore and then I dont think about food again until I am hungry again. Its way better than stuffing food down my gob all day anyway, hungry or not. the band is a huge help in that once i eat, I'm satisfied, I dont have that feeling that I'd like just a little bit of this or that etc. I stop, I dont do all the mindless eating.

I have quite deep ones, and my undereye dark circles are also worse since losing weight. But I'm 41. I just dont worry about it, we're all going to get old sometime and I dont like the look of faces too "done". I really cant see the point in things like fillers, as they dont last. I dont have the budget for it either, I'm far more interested in educating my children, and the money goes to school fees. I'm not much of a make up wearer either, but I do wear foundation every day now, it definitely helps. Overall, I definitely look better and younger than I did so I'm sticking with that. I think there's a bit of a danger time with losing a lot of weight when you become absolutely obsessed with every physical detail of yourself, and I think its also easy to transfer a bit of your weight angst to other parts of your body. But I think its best to allow yourself time to get over it and THEN decide if there's things you want to do. I know I'll definitely get a boob job but I've definitely gotten over the face issues, and am used to my new face. That's not to say I dont think there's things that will need a bit of attentin by the time I"m 50 but there was a time there where I might have turned myself into Donatella Versace!

I saw it! Well done.

Sunday 6km walk Monday: 45 minute full body circuit today: Cardio Coach vol 6 outside - 50 minutes, 8kms total This afternoon - big snooze on the couch!