Jachut

Could it just be that they pump you full of fluids becuase you're not eating/drinking and you havent quite gotten rid of it all yet?

If you're really lacking energy then Protein isnt the answer, you need some carbs. Your body needs a balance of nutrients, not going crazy on one nutrient, and replacing a balanced meal containing protein, carbs and good fats with a protein shake is not the way to feel more energetic. shakes are really great for a snack, and if you cant otherwise eat breakfast, but you're far far better off eating real food for the most part and also getting your protein from a variety of natural sources. But you need carbs to fill your muscles with glycogen and provide fast fuel. I know that to run, I must keep up the wholegrain bread and cereals or I'm flat and listless.

If you're really lacking energy then Protein isnt the answer, you need some carbs. Your body needs a balance of nutrients, not going crazy on one nutrient, and replacing a balanced meal containing protein, carbs and good fats with a protein shake is not the way to feel more energetic. shakes are really great for a snack, and if you cant otherwise eat breakfast, but you're far far better off eating real food for the most part and also getting your protein from a variety of natural sources. But you need carbs to fill your muscles with glycogen and provide fast fuel. I know that to run, I must keep up the wholegrain bread and cereals or I'm flat and listless.

Since my last fill a year ago, I've been less able to do it, oftentimes I just really dont "feel" like drinking, I know it wont go down. But I will go out on a limb and say I do not believe drinking with your meals sabotages your weight loss, I did it all along and often still do and have now lost 115% of my excess weight. I mean sipping something, not downing huge glasses of Water. That would make me PB probably. But I can sip wine or I can finish dinner with coffee perhaps 10 minutes after the meal and it does not make one iota of difference to how soon I get hungry again. I can certainly gulp down large amounts of water on an empty stomach though - after a run I can drink a litre in a few minutes.

When I go back to work Foofy, I bet I'll really have to watch it, as my movement will no doubt decrease too once I"m paying someone to clean my house etc. My poor DH spends 9/10 hours at a desk per day and at least 2 hours in the car. He really struggles with his weight although he's not a big eater.

My routine is several shorter runs (about 6.5kms, 40 minutes) and a really long one on the weekend - 14kms at present which takes me almost two hours. And three times a week I do circuit training for half an hour, pretty intensely. But more importantly, I hardly ever sit down, I'm cleaning, shopping, running round after kids, walking etc. There's no point exercising intensely for an hour if you then lie on the couch the rest of the day. I've measured before with a pedometer and I do between 18,000 and 26,000 steps a day. I agree, exercise has to be maintainable, so dont bite off too much before you're ready to chew it. Nowadays my running feels like no effort at all so I was ready to head back into the gym and add some circuit classes, running is so routine to me now. And I'm only doing that long run at the weekend becuase I"m training for a half marathon, I wont be putting myself through that long term. But its taken me 2 years to get to that point - I have all this fitness and energy and I have to find ways to use it up.

It depends on your build too, and the size of your baby and how you carry your pregnancies too. I'm 5ft 10, had nice normal 7 to 8lb babies, and my belly button remained a deep innie the whole way through, I got absolutely no stretch marks and didnt need maternity clothes till about 30 weeks. People thought I was 6 months pregnant when I was almost full term. Lucky, very lucky, lol. But I bet my port wouldnt have stuck out all that much. If on the other hand you're 5ft nothing, have a 10lb baby and carry out front its pretty much a given your belly button will pop out, you will get stretch marks and have a bump pretty early on, and probably your port would show as well. You just dont know how your body will do pregnancy till you're there. But really, the port will be the least of your worries, you'll be fascinated by your simply enormous boobs, lol, and worried by the size of your bum more likely.

I was banded December 2005, so I'm 2 and a bit years out. I have lost 115% of my excess weight, 40kg (or 85-90lb) and feel better than I did in my 20's - and I wasnt even fat then! I was nowhere near as fit as I am now though.

The ability to buy really cool clothes Increased energy Increased self confidence Fast deflation of the wallet New hairstyles New lifestyles A strange obsession with running - whodathunkit? An inability to take your bikini off and put some darn clothes on. Just as an aside, there is no need to go into ketosis to lose weight, no need at all. So you can avoid all those nasty effects like bad breath etc. I've eaten carbs all along.

I can eat all types of bread but some types can be hard. But yes, I can eat it. And do most days. Mostly wholegrain or toast and not soft white buns or McDonalds or Subway or anything like that. It sounds awful to never eat something again but for something like McDonalds, its so much work to eat it that its just not even enjoyable in the slightest and you naturally just go off those food and dont want them.

I also think that recovering from obesity is an emotional/mental process as well as a physical one and the biggest part of the transformation for many people is from victim/complainer/excuse maker into an empowered person who takes responsibility for their own health. If they have to do a bit of whinging to get there, well that's a healthy process. I do sometimes thrown my hands in the air in exasperation with people too but its part of the journey - mostly with the I dont have time to exercise/I dont have time to cook/I cant do this because ..... And most of it is good information for a would be bandster because its about things that really might happen to you.

I manage my heel problems with orthotics. There's only a bit of running in place at Curves, and you might be able to tolerate it, otherwise, you could do fast squats and lots of arm movement to keep your heart rate up during those sections of the circuit.

Its a long time ago now. I definitely did what you mentioned though, I'd diet all day, do really well and then jsut couldnt contain dinner to be a small enough meal to finish off well, so I'd feel I'd overeaten because althought it was healthy it wasnt diet sized and then think stuff it I'll start again tomorrow. I also spend a lot of time doing the last supper thing, I was always going on a diet tomorrow or next week. I had a hard time handling any eating out, I just didnt do it moderately, it was always 3 or 4 wines and a HUGE meal, and then a reason to eat poorly for the rest of the day/weekend/week until I started my diet again. I couldnt isolate any overeating event as just that, one event and get right back on the wagon, it sent me off on a spiral of binging until some predetermined point at which I was to recommence dieting. Typical for a day might have been either somethign like 2 pieces of toast for breakfast (with butter or peanut butter) or often no breakfast, drop the kids off at school, straight to the shops for something carb laden like a huge muffin and a cappucino, then I'd eat junk for lunch, usually out of the freezer - a meat pie, chicken nuggets, or a couple of toasted cheese sandwiches, then I'd eat biscuits or other crap int he afternoon when the kids came home from school and a pretty big dinner - although dinner was always a fairly healthy affair. I was not and never have been a nightime eater, my appetite does seem to shut off right after dinner. I guess my diet wasnt HORRENDOUS by other people's standards in this day and age, I mean, I didnt stand out as eating that differently to many other people, and I couldnt really understand why I was so fat when others could do it and get away with it. But by contrast to now, it was huge amounts, very stodgy and I was totally and completely sedentary. I thought a 5km stroll was good exercise for the day.

Gosh Denise, my back kills me for days too, lol. It really throws me about, running and after a long long run it takes me days to be able to go again. Its very hard on the body. I'm seriously thinking now that I need to cut back and do lots of power walking and circuit training. The running has done a great job for me, but I have a few too many back and heel problems and am on the wrong side of 40 to be running five or more times a week. I most definitely AM doing a half marathon in July and then I will be limiting my outside running to twice a week. The trouble is I'm really addicted to that fast exercise, the high you get from it, you jsut dont get it from walking, but I do note that I actually tend to lose weight again when I do a lot of walking (because I can do greater distances more often without the need for recovery). I can get that high from intense circuit training though and its not quite so hard on the body. I just find I need a day or two in between runs to recover now. Sigh, old age is a curse.

What I've thought about doing is days on, days off sort of thing. I just like my food too much, I'm a hopeless dieter and I do always eat to feel satisfied, even with a band. But I can do it for short stretches. I thought about trying 3 really low calorie days a week, broken up by normal but good days of eating. And I'm about to REALLY change about my exercise routine. What I have always noticed is that I always lose weight on holidays - what I do that's different is 3 meals NO Snacks (too busy having fun) and as well as continuing my running, we usually walk a lot more, probably up to 8 kms a day. I always come home to find a big drop in weight. So my plan for the next month: normal running schedule - a couple of half hour runs and a really long run each week - I normally do this early evening up early week days for a 45 minute walk (5kms or so) Make use of the free 3 week Curves membership to introduce some more regular circuit training 3 x a week (its only half an hour during the day afterall). For ONE month, I think I can make this commitment. Hopefully, this might take me under 70kg which was my ultimate goal and have me fitting into an Australian size 12 reliably. Of course I wont just throw it all to the wind completely after a month but that's an intense schedule, no need to do that much forever.

The advice given to me, as I have not a lot of excess skin or fat on my tummy, but am a bit saggy on the behind, was that liposuction often creates more problems than it solves. If its fat pockets (small ones) then fine, but for my bum, that's gone south, it will only make the loose skin far worse. You cannot solve droopy body parts that are due to weight loss and loosish skin with lipo unfortunately. You can only remove stubbourn fat pockets. Now me, I'd call my bum fat. But apparently not, its just saggy!

You could perhaps supplement with some healthy fat containing Snacks that are easy to eat. Like add an avocado a day - healthy, good for your heart but an easy, mushy way to add calories. Protein shakes if you like them etc. All the normal principles for people who find it hard to gain due to small appetites. If that doesnt work, then obviously an unfill is the answer. Do you need to examine your reasons for why you find less than size 6 attractive? Because I actually bought an Australian size 10 skirt the other day, which is about a US six and it fits (huge sizing, lol) but I'm FAR from skinny, emaciated or skeletal - and I'm 5ft 10!! You can see from my avatar that I still have normal levels of body fat. What is it that disturbs you so much about being what is a very normal, and not exceedingly tiny size, for a five foot 4 woman? Of course, you should be whatever size you darn well like, but I just find it odd that so many previously heavy people seem to have this intense fear of actually being normal weight and size, or of simply accepting where their bodies decide their natural size lies. I'm musing here and not applying this to you by any means, but the amateur psychologist in me makes me think about such themes as people becoming overweight to give themselves "substance" and fearing shrinking away to nothing, lol, *ducks for cover*.

To be honest, and I dont mean to be blunt or make assumptions (since it may just be the way you worded it), but you dont sound as if you're really researched/thought about the life changes a lap band will mean to you. Its definitely not exchangeable for cosmetic surgery. I dont think there's anything wrong with part of your reasoning for a lapband being cosmetic, it was certainly a big deal to me, I did it at least as much to look better as I did to feel better. But I had thought long and hard about the kind of behavioural changes I was willing to make in order to look better and the health implications of feeling better were a HUGE part of that decision. How overweight are you? Because if are heavily overweight (as opposed to a thin person with a protruding stomach as a result of pregnancy and genetics) you can bet your bottom dollar you have a large amount of fat in and around your organs, as well as subcutaneously. No cosmetic procedure can address that. You will ALWAYS get a better result losing the weight first. Lipo is for fine tuning on small pockets of fat, not major fat reduction. My advice would be address the lapband first, lose your weight and THEN assess what cosmetic surgery can do for you. Do some research and thinking about it. There's no point having any fine tuning type cosmetic surgery on a very overweight body, you'll get way better results to get to a healthy weight first.

Even I've considered it and that's saying something. Heck, I"ve even thought about shakes! I have a BMI of 23 now, but I keep thinking sheesh, I could look GREAT at about 21. But its just so hard to lose that last bit. But I think what will happen to me is that I'll just put the weight right back on again. I dont believe deep down that low carb is healthy and I know that I cant eat that way forever, so I think doing it the slow way is probably best for me. Truthfully, I am maintenance eating now and maintenance exercising. I just need to step it back up a bit and the rest will come off. Would you say the same or are you really doing everything you possibly can and have nowhere to go but low carb? Its worth a shot if so, but I do really believe diets have to be maintainable otherwise its just a fad. I need my carbs. My running performance drops markedly without good wholegrains for Breakfast and something like a sandwich for lunch. I wilt within an hour of a carbless lunch - I dont get hungry because of my band but low carb makes me feel sick and lethargic.

Do you know, the longer I've been normal weight, I"d have to say I've felt FAR more discrimination as a thin person than as a fat person. Sad to say, in an outer suburban group of stay at home mothers, I fit in more at a BMI of 35. Now, although women are friendly and I have friends at school, I"m the "skinny" one. There is a certain amount of envy, lots of those "oh, but YOU dont have to worry" comments, assumptions that I wouldnt know what its like to have to fight my weight, assumptions that I do it without having to work at it etc. Its not nasty discrimination, nor problematic and it doesnt upset me, but its definitely there. I've never been morbidly obese, but in this neighbourhood, being quite fat is the norm. I dare say it will be different again when I return to work and join a different socioeconomic circle. Its definitely not the same at uni, amongst the 20 year olds, lol.

Huge congratulations Julie, you've worked very hard for this!

Yeah, it depends what you mean by goal. You can set any goal you like, and some goals are, if not actually " easier", well, more likely to be met than others. If you mean truly "normal" weight, like a BMI of under 25, then I'd say not a huge percentage, which doesnt by any means indicate the lapband doesnt work. I'll guarantee you than 99.9% of people who exercise vigorously with dedication can do it, and will be more successful at staying there too. Probably more younger people than older manage it, and I think it has a lot to do with actually changing your body composition positively, not just losing "weight".

Pandagirl, I'm 5ft 10 and 160lb right now and I promise, I'm not scrawny. I'm thinnish would be fair to say - shoulders, chest, back quite thin, bones showing in a good way - nice collarbones etc. Bum, thighs, still quite um, well upholstered, DEFINITELY more weight to lose there should I so desire. The lower end of the healthy weight range at this height is 138lb and 200lb is well and truly overweight! Its actually bordering on obese. Much much healthier than weighing say 300lb and a great achievement of course! On a general note, I just find it fascinating that people's perceptions will not allow them to contemplate what is truly average for a particular height. I dont mean that they MUST aim there, just that everyone seems to think that "normal" weight is horribly thin, something impossible to attain or maintain.

Not all the time but very often it does. Mostly when I try to drink wine and eat at the same time. I'm generally fine if I have a glass of wine and THEN dinner or dinner and THEN a glass of wine a bit later. Dinner and wine together = burning. Its rather uncomfortable. But I shouldnt eat and drink together anyway so I try to avoid that and I'm fine with it.

Jena, one day a lean cuisine will not look tiny to you, lol. Its a great place to be when that happens, but it does take a long time. Learning to chew comes slowly but quite naturally. The best way to practice is what lots of you are doing, vow that it will take you half an hour to eat whatever it is and eat accordingly - tiny bites and lots of chewing, even if it means counting say 30 chews in your head per bite. Over time, it does start to come naturally, although I often eat too fast at the start of a meal and have to pause to let discomfort past. But its enforced with discomfort, NOT with major pain, throwing up etc. You just sort of subconsciously learn to avoid that slightly uncomfortable feeling and take it slower. Not that I dont believe for a second that without my band I wouldnt revert in an instant to big bites and less chewing. I think that must be some sort of a human instinct, rather than a mere habit.