Jachut

I dont PB immediately, but I'm in discomfort and sliming, that's how I know its likely to happen. I know right away, its not like I'm in the car on the freeway and suddenly throw up, its just I dont eat, think "oh, that's not going down" and immediately PB. I get uncomfortable, I start to salivate a lot, I need to spit, burp, walk around, try to get it to come up. But it doesnt just happen suddenly with no warning at all. For me, I have to avoid it in public at all costs, becuase it's not something I can really hide. I would definitely have to excuse myself from a meeting, and I would have to disappear for half an hour probably. So I wouldnt eat anything likely to cause me a problem in a meeting and I would eat TINY amounts. I'd rather deal with "why arent you eating" than deal with PBing! But I can eat stuff like bread etc, so I'm very lucky. What I'd do is perhaps take 1/4 of a sandwich if it was a lunchtime meeting and nibble, but no more. At home, I'd eat it without fear but in a situation like I meeting I'd be very careful. But care is all it takes, you can prevent 99% of PB's, they're nearly all user error.

Low Iron is quite "normal" for all women of childbearing age anyway. My bloods after a year were fine bar for the iron, that was right down at the bottom of normal. I take an iron/b12/folate supplement in one pill, a good Multivitamin and fish oil. I am thinking of adding Calcium too but want to find a chewable, which is hard in Australia.

Its not wrong priorities, this worried me too. I wanted to live a "normal" life, not a weird one. I've honestly never had any issues with social things, I just dont eat very much. It has been noted ONCE and that was a few weeks ago when i went away with a running group. I was inexplicably tight that weekend, and we were all meant to be carbo loading for the big race, lol, I think I managed about 4 strands of fettucine. Big BBQ was held after the race, and I normally am very tight after hard exercise so I barely ate then either (drank a fair bit though, ugh). I'm pretty sure these people who were friends of my sister thougth I must have an eating disorder. But it was simply plane flight/pmt/hard run induced! I had a small unfill a week or two back though because I dont need to be subsisting on tiny portions anymore, I'm now able to eat like a normal thin person, and not quite so prone to weird tightening at odd times, but its never been an issue anyway, just this once. People in general dont notice and dont care what you eat or dont eat. And I dont burp or PB every second mouthful, lol. My relatives and freinds all know I was banded, so I dont have that problem. But why not simply say you're dieting and dont want to eat too much. That's the truth afterall.

I didnt need any help, apart from being driven home of course. I was done on a Friday so DH didnt have to take any time off work. My then 2 year old daughter went off with DH in the mornings to stay with my mum and he picked her up on his way home at night. But I was fine with my older two, making their lunches, driving them to school and basic light housework - just the tidying, dishes, folding clean washing etc. DH did the heavy stuff for a while but he didnt need to take time off work for that.

Ack, sorta. I dont really *need* PS but some would be nice, unfortunately my problem is more my bum, backs of thighs where there's real difficulty getting a decent result from cosmetic surgery anyway. My bum is so flat now! And my boobs are saggy. But overall, I'm happy enough to put on a bikini. I'm just a bit flabby. Wish I could hop in an oven and shrink my skin 1/2 a size sort of thing. But after a 100lb loss, I'm very very happy with the result and would never swap the scars of a body lift for the problem I have. I did carry my weight more in the hips and thighs and dont have any stretchmarks on my tummy (or anywhere really) despite 3 pregnancies. But before you kill me, I've had cellulite on the backs of my thighs since I was about 14.

I buy the Nivea Firming Lotion too, I'm on about my fifth tub of it. Does it help? Not even a little bit! But its a lovely body moisturiser, really nice and rich without being greasy and it smells great. I must admit, I never expected it to do anything. I dont spend a lot on face cream either because I believe they're just a waste of money. All you need is moisturising, anything else is a gimmick.

Overall, yes. But I did have a small fill back in Feb that in hindsight I didnt really need and for the first time in my 3 banded years was truly eating that 1/2 cup at a time. Not only did I lose no weight (dont really need to anymore anyway) but it began to show energy wise. I was struggling with my running schedule. Personally, I need to eat more than 1/2 cup servings/1000 calories a day and I need to eat plenty of wholegrain carbs. A 1500 to 1800 calorie a day diet based more on wholegrains than Proteins suits me. I dont know why I deviated from it. But a small unfill has got me going again. Overall, I am a human dynamo now. I cant believe what I fit into a day and how much more efficient I am, let alone how far I can run! It was sooooooo the best thing I've ever done.

I've always kind of scoffed at the half cup thing, my plate usually has more than half a cup on it. But truly, once things are chewed down, I'd say I'm usually well under a cup. Its confusing coz I can eat things like bread and often eat a sandwich. But it's usually had the crusts cut off and not a huge amount of filling, that chews down to probably half a cup. salad, well I can eat well over a cup, but its all Water, chews down to nothing. I can eat an entire movie size popcorn, fast too, but that's all air. Solid foods, like meat and bread, I'm limited on size. I probably put about a cup of meat, vegies and potato on my dinner plate and eat 3/4 of that. I eat the standard 1/2 cup serving of Cereal with a bit of sliced fruit on top. so, yeah,probably half to one cup is what I eat at a time.

I know they run them at Peninsula Private (Dr Geoff Draper) and also at The Valley Private - dont know which surgeons operate there though, ring the hospital, they'll tell you.

Lol, my parents had a book of Pam Ayres poems when I was a child, way back in the 70's. That poem is a blast from the past, I remember it well!

Have you had a prostate check?

Well, we know who's not going to be getting any for a few weeks, dont we? I second kneecapping him. Firstly, I did a 10K fun run yesterday and finally cracked an hour for 10K. I cannot believe that it is ME doing that! If I can do it anyone can. But when you enter your race, have a good look around you. YOu see all sizes and shapes of people and ALL ages. There's always 70 year old women, who beat me by the way! There is absolutely NO reason why you cant do it with training and whatever weight you happen to be now is actually irrelevant. Running is all about consistency. That's all it takes. If you train, you will do it. I was blown away when I went to the gold coast recently for a race, with my sister's running group. I havent done a half yet, I keep chickening out, afraid of injury etc. Two ladies of 72 and 75 did the half in the group! And did really decent times too. Anyone can run if they train.

Oh, yes, I had five pairs of birks at last count! You know what really helps me heaps - Earth Shoes. They have a negative heel, so your foot is slightly uphill in the shoe, I have running shoes. They're not good running shoes, way too heavy but whenever I do my race or a long run, I wear these afterwards. They stretch out the heel and really prevent the post run soreness setting in.

I was back on the elliptical for 40 minute sessions by about 3 weeks. Its fairly low impact, that's how I got fit enough to start running.

Makes me glad I had a small unfill recently. My fill tightened considerably after about a month too. I just found I wasnt enjoying anything I ate, it was all hard work and somewhat uncomfortable, although I didnt have sliming or Pbing. But I went away with some friends and I realised just how little I was eating compared to a normal person. I lost no weight either, eating nothing doesnt tend to make you lose int he shorter term does it? Anyway, I realised I dont need that at this stage of the game as I'm already a healthy weight. So I had .2ml taken out again and I'm MUCH happier and no heavier, in fact I've lost a little. Its so hard for you guys. I paid a $3,000 out of pocket fee to my doctor and my fills and follow up care are free forever. Well, they're bulk billed to Medicare but I pay absolutely nothing. That's more standard in Australia.

Yep. It drives me absolutely crazy. I have something wrong with my heel, it *was* diagnosed as chronic bursitis, and was really the reason why I got banded. It was very inflamed and swollen and painful and I couldnt exercise. A cortisone shot and weight loss helped it. But its never gone away completely, only about six months of acupuncture has moved the discomfort from the outside back of my heel to the inside of my foot. So I suspect its more to do with the plantar fascia (we had ruled out any Achilles involvement). Everymorning when I get up, I hobble for about twenty minutes, its very tight and pulls. I run regularly and if I stop running, that doesnt fix it anyway, so I just do it because I love it and I'd rather be thin and in pain than fat and in pain. It goes away during the day. But the entire foot overpronates so I often have a sore knee and my back on that side is really bad, but that may have some gynaecological involvement (currently looking into it). I have had sciatic pain for three years now, and its usually just "there", not bad, manageable and I dont take pain relief but how I would love to go out and run without any pain at all. Some days it is hard to sleep on that side and I'm all achey and sore when I get up. Basically, my left side and right side feel entirely different. My right side is stuffed, and the leg feels really heavy whereas my left feels so normal. Recently I had a month where I had NO back pain and it was heaven, I'd really forgotten what it feels like to feel that good. So I can sympathise. I'm only 40, I actually get a bit worried thinking what this might be like in 10 years time. Every medical expert tells me to keep running because lack of activity helps nothing, but I do wonder whether I'm bringing on more problems in the future.

Why not go and get a wax the day before surgery, that will at least get you through a fortnight or three weeks? Even if its just from the knee down.

Well, you always have to account for calories in one way or another but there's a lot worse habits you can have than a glass of wine at night. Red wine particularly is very heart healthy, and white has benefits too. As long as you dont judge an enormous fish bowl wine glass as a standard drink! There has also been studies done in Australia that show that moderate wine drinkers lose weight better than non drinkers. I like a glass of wine at night myself, I have one probably five nights out of seven. It never hurt my weightloss.

Seed that small dont bother me. I also eat quite a lot of nuts. They're an "eat carefully" food for me, as if I eat them fast or several in one mouthful, I will feel a bit of discomfort, but if chewed well I can eat them.

I eat whatever protein I consume. They dont tell you to do protein first here in Australia, so I rarely think about protein. I obviously get enough as I'm healthy. Usually I'd eat one meat based meal a day - that's dinner and would include fish, chicken or red meat. Lunch will usually include something like cheese, tuna or yogurt and breakfast is normally cereal for me.

a year ago I got brave enough to cut off my hair, I have an inverted bob which is just nape length and quite short above and almost collarbone length at the front, graduting at a sharp angle, like Rhianna's hair used to be before she cut it really short. Its a really cool dark brown. I really love it, its funky and young but still feminine and probably my best feature is my neck, shoulders and collarbones and it really shows those off. Its the best of both short and long hair and its easy to do as I have really frizzy, almost curly hair that has to be straightened when its been washed. So its a matter of blowing it roughly dry and then running the straightening Iron through it for silky soft, poker straight hair. Unfortunately its absolutely disastrous at the beach or in the rain but my hair always has been. To run I wear a hat, lol. I wont change it for ages and ages and I dont think I'll go back to boring long hair.

I certainly thought about it, I had a BMI of 36 and I thought it would have to be 40, I didnt realise that all the info I was finding online was specific to the USA and you can be banded much more easily here in Australia. I wouldnt have hesitated to gain 2 or 3kg had I needed to but we were talking 10 or 12 and i really dont think I would/could have done that to myself, much as I wanted the surgery.

Yes, a thousand times so! I know I was only a BMI of 36, nowhere near as deeply in trouble weight wise as a lot of people here. But it was the fattest I had EVER been, and I dont come from a fat family. It bugged me that everyone was worried about me. I felt utterly disgusting and ugly. I loathed the way I looked and was embarrassed to leave the house some days and I dreaded running into people I'd known years ago so I even stopped leaving the suburb and venturing into areas where I might run into old school friends or work colleagues. I knew I wasnt morbidly obese yet but I felt like I was standing on the edge of an abyss, and that there was no way I could stop myself from falling in. Real morbid obesity was only round the corner and I was heading there fast. I feel like I'm 20 again now. I love clothes, I love socialising, I've kicked career goals, I've got so much more confidence etc. I never let my weight stop me doing anything before but it was so much less enjoyable.

I must have been very lucky because every fill along the way put me in that place. I had good restriction after surgery, when it started to wane, I had a small fill. That held me for another six weeks, then I had another. Over time, the fills held much longer until I had one for an entire year. I got a tiny fill and just recently had that tiny fill out as I realised I really didnt need it, that I was tighter than I'd been all the way through my journey, which is a bit unnecessary when you're maintaining, not losing. I was never looking for that cant eat bread/can only eat 1/2 a cup tightness though. I was just looking for a bit of help with keeping meal sizes reasonable and not being too hungry between meals. I was happy to rely on my own willpower to not eat chocolate, pizza, McDonalds and to run lots to burn calories.

You really need to get this investigated right away. And my guess is that you really need to be unfilled a bit, you're too tight. Being too tight doesnt always result in obvious symptoms like PBing all the time, it can be a bit more subtle. Please go and see your doctor, dont let this go. Start by taking out some fill immediately and organising the necessary tests.