Jachut

Whilst I never had the actual hair loss, I had a period of time with my hair that I was in tears every day over it. It was simply awful, dry, horribly frizzy, breaking off and sticking up all over the place. It passes! It lasted about six months for me. I spent fortunes on Protein treatments and moisturising treatments (a combination of Redken CAT every single bloody shampoo, followed by intense conditioning treatment, you need the protein in the CAT for strenght, then the moisturising for smoothness). I took myself off to a good hairdresser and had a good haircut, cut lots off it, went from below shoulders, to a funky inverted bob, but didnt stop using my blowdryer and straightener as my hair is really frizzy naturally. Nowadays, my hair is really very healthy, and I can actually get away with letting it dry naturally, which is really something. I have a style that needs to be straightened but at least on the beach or on holidays I can take a break and dont look like I've stuck my finger in an electricity socket! You'll get there. Grin and bear it, it will improve.

Drinking honestly does NOT wash food through my band and make me able to eat more. I used to drink with meals, since my last fill 9 months ago, I really cant any more. I have to wait about half an hour or I'll burst. It just sits on top and would case a PB. It doesnt wash it through and mean I can eat more, that's for sure. I can take sips though, like from a glass of wine. But I still fill up quickly.

If it aint broke, dont fix it. The more you can eat and still lose the better nourished you'll be. I lost ALL my excess weight without going anywhere near that perfect half cup, no bread restriction everyone seems so desperate to achieve. It just is not always necessary, particularly if you're active. The fact that you're losing means you DO have adequate restriction, but you're not aware of how much it is dampening your appetite and intake. Adequate restriction is simply where you're losing weight as fast as you want to, it cannot be defined by eating a certain amount or not being able to eat certain foods. That's fabulous weight loss, you're doing something right, so keep doing it!

I've got boobs too, I will only buy separates and ONLY buy cup sized tops. I've got 2 swimsuits atm and they give as good support as a bra does.

It was easier for me, not having been obese all my adult life. I always maintained a BMI of around 26, just enough to feel pudgy and overweight, always the big girl. I'd dropped to this present weight, a BMI of 23 quite a few times. Felt much better at this weight but knew that I would want to be just a bit lighter. I've never ever managed it and am struggling with it now, interesting how your body appears to have set points. So I set an inital goal of 75kg, a BMI of 24. I didnt want to be on the upper limit, lol. I reached that about 9 months ago, and slowly, slowly, slowly I'm still dropping, but I really mean slowly. I'm happy here forever if that's how it works out but I really knew that to hit 70kg would really be SOMETHING, an achievement I'd never quite made before and I'm only a kilo away now.

A big muffin break Mixed berry Muffin (no butter, lol) is a whopping 549 calories with 21 calories of fat. With a huge cappucino (skinny milk of course) in a mug, 93 calories and 0.3 grams of fat. Plus even though I dont generally have sugar in coffee and tea, I always added a packet of raw sugar because I liked eating it with the foam off the top. Sheesh. I cant eat the muffins now, they're just way too soft and cakey to get down. These days I just get a skinny cappucino. Meals and day to day eating I was good with, large portions but healthy, home cooked fresh food. Never been one for gutloads of Macdonalds and I would have to be starving and it be the last food on earth before I'd touch something like KFC. It's just those sweet things, the white carbs and extras that did me in, which is perhaps why I got to a BMI of 35, but not 45. It doesnt take all that many extra calories per day to make you fat. By the way, that muffin and coffee was a SNACK, not a meal. Sheesh.

You can have my butt fat too if you want.....

Do it do it DO IT!!!! Its the best thing you'll ever do for yourself. I was in exactly that situation, fat is fat is fat no matter how much it is, BMI 35 or 45. You've still passed that statistical point of no return beyond which you're highly highly unlikely to lose the weight and keep it off. But at a low BMI you're healthier and safer for surgery and you're much lighter and fitter and able to really throw yourself into some exercise. Contrary to popular belief about losing weight slowly when you dont have as much to lose, BMI 34 is plenty overweight but low BMIers often get great results becuase they havent descended so far into the mire of health problems and woes that obesity can cause and are able to pull themselves away from that brink pretty quickly. Its common here, but I wish for the rest of the world it was seen as a sane, sensible, effective preventative measure for people who are obese, but not morbidly so.

I'm going to have a lift also. I had DD's, which have remained DD's - went up to an E at one point as back size went down. Its only in the last few kgs that they've shrunk at all, now I'm a D on one side, DD on the other, lol! I was told by one surgeon that to fill out the sad, stretchmarked skin on the tops of them I'd need implants. Well implants are not my scene, no way would I put them in my chest. But I was very disappointed becuase what I hate is not the sagginess, they look fine in a bra, but the fact that when they're supported, pushed together, there's all this disgusting, flabby, flaccid skin on the top, its all wobbly and horrid so that any push up type or balconnette type bra that creates cleavage with any low cut top is a no no for me, but I can flash an expanse of skin in a normal bra. But since then two surgeons have told me that's rubbish, most likely the first was trying to con me out of money, grrrr. They reckon they'll look absolutely great lifted. I think I'll prolly do it at the end of the year.

Probably about 6 to 9 months of consistent effort before I really felt my body had truly changed. It's a slow process. It takes a lot of consistency. I also felt it was well over 12 months before I'd really changed as a person, my eating habits and thought processes. You know that line they feed you about how it takes 6 weeks to change a habit, pffft. Takes a lot longer than that. To set the record straight, I dont exercise for hours every day either. Forty minutes to an hour four or five days a week, that's it. I dont spend hours in the gym. I put on my shoes, head out the front door, and do it. And I dont run (or really jog) any faster than my DH can powerwalk! Its not some impossible task that only those with superhuman willpower can achieve. Just do something reasonably intense five times a week or so. A good fast walk is easily as good for most overweight people as a slow jog is for me. Just as hard, just as effective.

This happened to me probably 3 times on my journey. At one stage I lost no weight for 8 weeks but went down an entire dress size.

Banish those old lady fat thoughts. Sorry for the tough talk back there, but the BIGGEST hurdle in this weight loss thing is putting an end to all the excuses and self justifications that make us fat in the first place. I dont know if its a chicken and egg thing but its a peculiar mentality that we all seem to share. Its the hardest thing of all to do. Shortgal, you're not allowing for how much easier a lapband makes that task. Perhaps you havent gotten your head around it yet? But it really, truly makes it quite realistic and easy to have a BMI in the low 20's. Nobody's putting a figure on what you personally should weigh either, your goals as a menopausal woman are indeed different to mine at 40 and mine at 25 would have been different again. Nothing makes me more frustrated than to hear people give up before they've even started. They read the statistics and think "hey, well I can only expect to lose 60% of my weight and then I'll rebound some" so they just accept that. Truth is, those stats are what they are because of the high rate of non compliance, medical problems such as slippage and erosion, lack of exercise and failure to change the lifestyle. For a normal person, even those of us older than 25, it is not at all unrealistic, if we want to do a few basic things such as eat well and exercise, to expect to be a NORMAL weight. There is no need to set a high goal weight unless you seriously want to weigh that bit more - for example when you are older you may find you look better with a tad more weight on you. And I think many doctors ought to be shot. Where do they get off telling you those statistics and then not going on to say that if you do the right thing you'll blow them out of the Water? If people want a magic pill that means they can eat what they want and not gain, well it DOES exist. Its called exercise. Within reason (if I ate an entire cheesecake a day, I would gain weight) I truly do not even have to THINK about what I eat on a daily basis, I eat what what I want and I dont gain. I've never ever been like that in my life before, exercise has totally changed how my body works and my trusty lapband has totally changed my appetite.

Is the $189 one REALLY gym quality? Because I'd be very very wary of buying exercise equipment that cheap. There is NOTHING worse than a dodgy, rickety shaky elliptical like the crappy ones you get when you hire. YOu wont use it. I'd vote treadmill simply because they're more versatile, I run on mine, I do interval type tough workouts, I do long slow training, I can walk slowly on it whilst I do reading for uni (not really exercise but better than sitting inactive) and I use it for circuit training interspersed with weighted squats, lunges, pushups. When I do intervals I can vary them between speed and incline ones. But ellipticals are good too - and especially if you need a non impact workout.

I'd do a trial run too with something like that. Its easy enough to make a pancake. I can eat them SLOWLY and I can only eat maybe 3/4 of one. And I avoid them becuase they're so darn good with LOADS of butter and maple syrup. I'd be unlikely to actually PB on a pancake, they're just one of those ouch that hurts going through foods for me.

Good advice there. It just wont feel that way to such a degree once you're banded. You can and will enjoy some of your favourites again in moderation, you wont be starving the whole time. Just hang in there, its a very scary transition but its not as bad as you imagine on the other side.

I do believe it makes a huge difference but in the end its just calories in v calories out and if you restrict calories enough you'll lose weight. Where I think exercise makes a difference is maintenance. Without exercise, I can put on 14lb in a 2 week vacation. With exercise my weight stays absolutely steady. It really makes maintenance easier.

God Paula, you look freaking amazing! Hugest, warmest, squishiest hugs for you, congratulations and ENJOY your success!

In general no. But I am treated differently and with a lot more respect than I was when I was heavier, which is disappointing. But to be honest, I understand it, I make assumptions about people too based on all sorts of things, weight included and I might be treated differently if I were blonde versus brunette or if I dressed differently. So I dont let that sort of thing worry me. Where it really disappoints is here. Yet again, I have been insulted for having been so presumptuous as to lose all my weight, maintain my loss and actually venture an opinion as to how one should go about achieving that. Nuff said. Like I somehow do not have admission to the fraternity becuase I'm no longer fat therefore how could I possibly understand what its like?

With experience, you do come to know when and if that first stuck thing has passed and that it is safe to eat or drink again. It can take 20 minutes. If you're not totally, unmistakeably SURE you feel fine to eat or drink the next bite, then you're not! I love PB stories though. I've got a beauty from Sunday, SOOOOO embarrassing. I had weetbix bits for Breakfast, little bits of wheat Cereal with dried fruit in them. Almost like those little fruit filled pillow type cereal. I usually have them with milk and do fine on them. Anyway we were short on milk, so I ate 7 or 8 of them dry and 20 minutes later, just as we were leaving for my daughter's swmming lesson, I had a cup of coffee. Well...........they SWELLED up in my stomach, lol. I thought I was going to freaking explode. When I eat them with milk, they're already swelled! I spent the entire swimming lesson barfing very loudly and violently in one of the only two toilets, whilst everyone queued up, little kids whining "mummy, what is that lady doing?". I heard morning sickness mentioned and I went with that, after all, give me another five years and I wont be able to convince anyone I'm young enough to be pregnant! At least for the time being, at 9 am on a Sunday morning, what I got was sympathy and not suspicious whispers of a big night's drinking!

I would just treat myself well in this period. You're going to lose plenty of weight in the future, I would be concentrating on feeding myself well, healthy foods, getting strong and relaxed for the surgery. The one thing I didnt want to do was go off on a Last Supper binge. I could not imagine anyway to feel worse about myself, more miserable than doing that. My new self respect started the minute I made the decision to have surgery. What I did do in preparation was begin an exercise program and wean myself off caffeine. My doc has never been a believer in giving up coffee, but I knew that I had a few days post op and a fair time on liquids where my stomach capacity would be small and I couldnt afford to waste it on 6 coffees a day so I weaned myself down to smaller caffeine levels to avoid the withdrawals. I just ate well, kept my weight steady and looked forward to my new life!

Truly, I think the biggest myth, and one which this board is really bad at perpetuating is that there is a perfect, set amount of food that is right for everyone, and that everyone's bodies and bands will behave the same. It SHOULD be like this, it SHOULD be like that, argh, drives me nuts. Firstly, you've just had your first fill, it can take a few fills to get to the point where you cant eat certain foods and small amounts really fill you. You may never NEED to get there you know. I never have. I can eat everything, and only get problems if I eat too fast, dont chew or do something stupid. Take Sunday morning. I ate Weetbix bites - little wheat Cereal pieces with fruit in them. I didnt add milk, we were low and I left it for my kids to have on their cereal. 20 minutes later I had my cup of coffee. Picture dry cereal in your stomach and pouring a liquid on top. Lol, within five minutes I thought I was going to explode, and spent my daughters swimming lesson barfing in the toilets with loads of little kids all around saying "mummy, what is that lady doing?". I heard morning sickness mentioned and didnt dispel anyone of that notion, lol. If you're losing weight, you cannot be eating too much, its a simple as that. Just be sure never to eat to the point of being really full. Other than that, just dispel all the SHOULD notions you have about this. It will work for you in a totally individual way and if you choose healthy options and fill when you find you've stopped losing weight or are beginning to feel excessive appetite, you will be fine. Eating what you have at this stage is not unusual and it will probably not stop you losing weight.

I use cardio coach on the elliptical (Cardio Power Fitness Music | Download Workout | Cardio Music Workouts | Cardio MP3 Downloads for iPods). It really pushes you to get the most out of it and that was how I got fit enough to begin running despite my sore heel. These days I'd go from resistance of 8 or so for the easy low heartrate stuff up to 19 for the intervals, but I barely ever go to a gym. Ellipticals are great exercise, and a great cardio choice if you want non impact. I'm beginning to wish I'd bought one instead of a treadmill so that I can have a no impact option at home. But they never burn as many calories as they say they have, so dont rely on that. Dont think you've burned 1200 calories in a half our workout becuase its really not likely that you have.

That's not a weight loss solution that works for me, its basic fact. To maintain whatever weight you want to be is going to take some work and more as you get older. As to it being easier to maintain 150lb than 120lb do some research on sites like nutritiondata.com. I think you'll find that there's a measly 95 calories a day difference for a 5ft tall 40 year old female between those two weights. Add in some exercise and see what a difference THAT makes. As to your normal weight friends who do nothing to maintain their weight, I have those too. It doesnt mean you or I dont have to work at it though. The differences between them and us is probably why we got fat and they didnt. But hey, if you want to wait for an answer that resonates, be my guest.

That person who's 20 lb overweight might have as many or more issues than someone who's 100 lb overweight. They may just be better at keeping the weight off by whatever (often unhealthy) means but want desperately to be off the treadmill of food obsession and body image obsession forever. Just like most people here did and do. When we had the huge debate a few months back on setting high goal weights, I realised I felt disgusting, miserable and unhealthy enough at a BMI that many people would be thrilled to achieve and maintain. It was always doomed to become a fight like it did because how can you say that you felt awful at x weight without offending someone who's worked hard to get to x weight and feels fabulous? Yet I was simply desperate about my weight and losing it has changed my life. Yet my BMI was never more than 35. If someone had said to me that they were offended by my desire to have lapband surgery becuase they thought they I had no right to it at my "low" weight I would have been pretty defensive about it. You can never get inside someone's head, although I do agree 20lb is hardly a problem requiring surgery - yet. I wouldnt say they should start banding people that are 20lb overweight by a long shot, I think that banding in Australia from a BMI of 30 is sensible policy - why wait for health problems to occur? If you've a BMI of 30, chances are one day it will be 40. Statistics tend to bear that out. With regard to younger people, well statistically, fat kids become fat adults. Why discriminate against them for their age and not having had all those fruitless, pointless, doomed attempts at one diet after another? Why on earth not just nip the problem in the bud right now before they ever become morbidly obese. I wasnt that young, I was 38, I hadnt developed health problems at that point but for me banding was not only cosmetic (and I see absolutely NOTHING wrong with that, its little different to, say, inserting silicone bags in your chest for the look of them) but also about PREVENTING future health problems, and staving off feeling, acting and looking old well before my time. I was beginning to feel decidedly middle aged and that scared the sh%t out of me. The greatest joy every day since banding is actually not what I see when I look in the mirror but how I feel inside, going out for a run and being able to do it is such a pure joy, I'm so sorry I wasted 8 years of my life being obese. So yeah, I really dont make any judgement at all on how overweight someone else is when they choose the surgical option. I really dont believe those who are fatter have more right to it or deserve it more, I just think we should be grateful its an option and I'm very grateful it was available and that I could afford to choose it. And I'm thrilled for anyone who embarks on the journey and really hope it works for them as well as it has for me.

I can eat a fair bit - most of a ham sandwich for example. Its only a problem if a) you're stuffing it in way past full, not a good habit with a lapband or you're not losing weight. If you're losing weight and you're not eating past satisifed then no matter how much it is (within reason (4 cups worth might be excessive, lol) then logically, its not too much is it? When you stop losing on that amount you need to think about eating less. But I agree totally, try to avoid softer, easier to eat foods or you may find yourself overeating. Even us old seasoned bandsters have to watch that. I can eat a lot less of the right foods than I can the wrong ones!