Jachut

Having my kids tell me I look 30 (when I'm really 40) Always being able to wear the "right" thing in the right circumstance - I never feel out of place or badly dressed anymore. Cheap clothes. Normal size clothes cost so much less!

The band really does require that you moderate your lifestyle for it to work. Some people simply cant manage to do this, and probably are just not good candidates for a lapband. I've had great success with mine, but yes, it has taken work, willpower and dedication to exercise - all habits which after almost 3 years are pleasurable to me now because they make me feel good. So the willpower element has dropped away, I just dont want to eat like I used to.

There's not really any proof that low carb diets (like Atkins) are good either though, is there? There's plenty of stuff around, but not a lot of proof. I agree though that the key is understanding what low carb is. Absence of processed carb foods will never harm anyone - although the roughage found in foods like bran can be useful. What people miss though is that sure, eating a slice on bread on its own will send your blood sugar sky high, as its a low GI food. But combining it with good fats and Proteins moderates the GI of the meal and controls blood sugar. They've had so much success with a low GI (rather than low carb diet). You simply get the carbs more from certain fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds rather than white flour.

Lol, I'd say 99% of this board drinks skim milk (I mean, what dieter doesnt) and there's plenty around who've had to deal with baggy skin!

What drives me nuts is people who dont understand they're in rants n raves! If you dont like it, dont read it, its simple. Go to another forum. Ah, why not even "skip what you dont like and move onto things that are useful"?

I totally agree Michee, you are so right. I could never wear size 12 jeans (your size 8) as a teenager, but I can now, because sizes have definitely increased. No way would Marilyn Monroe have been a current size 12! I dont like seeing skin and bone role models like Nicole Richie either, but then some celebs who do gain a bit have done so from really unhealthy habits - look at Micha Barton for example - she looks awful lately - not nicely rounded but bloated, unhealthy and flabby. Living well with a larger figure is one thing, stacking it on by pigging out quite another. Hmmm, so some of us think its healthier to try to emulate role models by bleaching our hair and stuffing our bras? It may not be as damaging physically as trying to weigh 80lb as an adult, but if you can argue that our current role models are psychologically damaging, then I dont think you can say its OK to try to live up to ANY role model that you're not naturally like, whether they're a size 2 or a size 12. We really need a RANGE of role models dont we? Skinny, fat and in the middle, but I think the real secret is teaching kids to want to emulate people who actually are not a waste of space like most Hollywood celebs but who have really achieved admirable things. Giving a bit to charity because you've got gajillions doesnt really count in my mind. By the way I really agree that plus size clothing should be modelled by true plus size women - it used to drive me insane to know that all the clothing in my catalogue was pinned and tucked behind the model to show of her lovely figure. Either that or she was 7 foot tall. I'd put the thing on and it would look like a sack on me.

Well, yeah, that's true.

:leaving::sneaky: what a great giggle to start the day.

I think women with other women are every bit as powerful though. Even if there were NO television or magazines I dont think it would be possible to get through high school without feeling inadequate. Our society values a certain kind of beauty, that's not really going to change. We have to develop the inner strength to deal with it. Most girls will go through bad times with this, but hopefully will turn into adults with good self esteem.

Well, PS here I come was a bit of a joke....

Great difference, you must be feeling wonderful. I'm the opposite, I just about disappear in a pick taken from the side, stomach as flat as a pancake, but I'm wide across, good childbearing hips, lol.

I know I've always been an advocate for trying to get to your healthy BMI range and I get really peed off when people refer to a size 8 or 10 as skinny, anorexic or scrawny. Its a perfectly normal, healthy, attractive weight. But plus size at size 10 is pushing the envelope a bit. Yet its true, it just refers to plus size in the model world, not in the real world. I saw a magazine pic the other day of a plus sized model here in Australia she was a size 12 - which is an 8 to 10 in your sizes. At 5ft 8, she is 2 inches shorter than me and the same size, so technically, I should be slimmer right? Well that biatch had NO lumps, bumps, beautiful tone, no dimples (probably airbrushed, lol). I am so much flabbier - and 20 years older, sigh. Just goes to show that even plus sized models are genetically blessed freaks that us mere mortals cant live up to! PS here I come! On a side note though, does the real world really try to emulate these ideals? I really dont buy that. Its too easy an answer for our obesity epidemic, hey lets just make fat and unhealthy the new "normal" and then we dont have to worry. Personally, I always knew that magazine pictures are retouched, stylised, lit just right, etc and I never ever thought that the models would look that way in real life or that anyone expected me to look like that. I think its sad if someone is silly enough to believe that. I think our eating issues are our own responsibility, not the fault of the media.

What always annoyed me is that being tall and plus sized means you may be bigger but you're not rounder, if you know what I mean. I may have had a high enough BMI at 35 for surgery, but I wasnt a barrel, I was still basically woman shaped with a bit of padding on the rear! I most definitely did NOT need elastic waists and really wide shoulders, I could have worn ordinary cut clothes just in a bigger size, if I could have found them. As it was I had to dress like someone's nanna.

Mine has always been high in the normal range- and it still is. It runs in my family. Luckily, with all the exercise I do my HDL/LDL ratio is really excellent so at the moment, its not a worry. My mum who was more sedentary (plays a lot of golf, but really you need strenuous exercise, not just walking a golf course two times a week) had the high cholesterol AND the LDL/HDL ratio was bad too, she had a heart attack last November, a very mild one, but still. And since then she's taken up power walking and Curves (because her diet was already faultless) and its right back in the normal range.

Weight loss hasnt changed my life in a lot of ways - the same problems I always had have remained, not that I'm not a very fortunate person. Surprisingly weight loss hasnt magically meant i have the money to spend on tons of clothes, hair care, make up, jewellery that I always imagined it would, lol. But boy it is FANTASTIC to not have to feel ugly every day. I know I always look presentable, I know if I make some effort I can look very impressive, I'm thinner and fitter and look younger than most of my peers, I can carry off a cool haircut and dont have to hide behind drab boring long hair, I can buy great clothes that are cheaper, I'm really really really enjoying it. And you know, that makes every other problem I have seem less significant and easier to deal with. I dont care as much about stuff as I did, becuase I feel so much more in control.

Its fairly simple maths - calories in v calories out. We've all dieted before, and lost weight. We're only talking a period of weeks. So set yourself a calorie limit, continue to exercise and ignore the increasing hunger (we've all done that before for periods of time). Do that and you'll probably continue to lose. Yeah, easier said than done, but possible. I think its a mistake to view the fill itself as the saviour, when you're the one in control of your behaviour. Its better to think "I have to do this and in a few weeks I'll have that fill to help me" rather than "I have four weeks to wait until the fill, until then I'm totally out of control". People do find their loss changes/plateaus/bounces around a bit as they progress from solids to mushies, and week to week doesnt really matter as long as the overall trend is down.

I have feet as wide as flippers, lol, so any sexy shoe must also be closed or have a wide band across the foot. Strappy sandals look pretty ornery on my feet, my toes all squish out the gaps. Peek, I've had heelspurs too - on the backs of my heels rather than the bottom. Miserable. .

Just over time.

Unfortunately they wont ever go away, no matter what you put on them. Stretch marks are permanent, and they do stay white when you tan. Eventually they go away to a silvery colour, but thin women have plenty of them too. They do remove a lot of them if you have a tummy tuck or lower body lift, but not all of them.

Favourite - definitely upper body - shoulders, collar bones, neck and decolletage. They're very slender, and I think well defined collarbones look sexy. Least Favourite - my backside. Saggy with cellulite, ugh. And I'm getting low in my healthy weight range so it will never go away.

Oh, I know I drink too much coffee. But not ridiculous - like 5 cups a day and its only instant, not strong brewed stuff. I might buy a cappucino every second day or so. I also know its a bit of a diuretic. But I drink other fluids too, I was only joking a bit back there. I drink wine as well, hehehehe. But I must be OK coz I only pee once every three days, right?

I feel satisfied after I eat. If you realise you cant eat more, believe me, you wont feel "hungry" still. Sometimes though if it was something I was looking forward to or really enjoying, I feel satisfied physically but my head says to keep going, lol. Which is ALWAYS a mistake with a band!

I find sometimes its every day but often its only every second day. That's not a problem as long as you're not in discomfort (bloated, windy) and its not hard and difficult to pass. You eat less so less comes out.

So does coffee! Doesnt it? Please?

Cutting back to 3 meals and NO snacks always gets weight moving for me. I eat more just grazing than I do at mealtimes I think.