Jachut

Gosh, they can scare you. I had a BMI of 35 and no related problems. I had a bad heel and bad back but weight loss hasnt fixed that and didnt cause it. But I'm in Australia where insurance is a lot friendlier.

I can handle it, I cant gulp it like I once did. I'm not fond of fizzy drinks anyway so I hardly ever have it.

My DH is currently thinking about surgery, and the surgeon told him, exactly as he told me a few years back that you're approved on the day you first go to see him, as long as he thinks its suitable surgery for you. WHat you do in between that first consultation and the actual surgery is irrelevant. Reason he asked being that we're about to do Lite n Easy for a few weeks, I want these last 4kg GONE and am ready to really dig in and lose that last bit. Doug wants to get moving on a new lifestyle now but doesnt know yet when he'll have time for surgery. He always loses on Lite n Easy and only JUST has a BMI of 35. He was scared that if he lost 10kg he wouldnt qualify for sugery. The doc said no, if you lose then that's fantastic, so much the better and you've got a great headstart but you've qualified now, the likelihood is that like every single otehr time, without the band, you will regain that weight and then some. Its easier here, no waiting for insurance companies. If the doc will do it, then insurance pays, end of story and the doc can make up his mind on the spot. Of course, he also requires attendance at an information session, a good hard think about the surgery, some presurgery medical exams etc, but basically you're approved pending all that.

Oh boy, we've had so many heated debates on this. I think its wrong. But I realise that that's just my opinion and I cant argue with what your body wants to do. If you dont lose on more than that, then that's what you have to do. If it were me I'd worry about becoming malnourished and suffering osteoporosis because unless you're a perfect eater you're going to suffer nutritionally on that few calories, and there's very little credible scientific evidence proving irrefutably that high Protein = perfect nutrition. Easy for me to say though, I lost well on nearly double that.

I exceeded my first goal of about 180lb, I'm five ft 10, I want to be in the 140's, that's about right for my body type. Currently I'm 158lb and still have a few inches to pinch hanging around. I'll be an Australian 12, which is a US 8-10 at that size. My bra size is currently a 34D and I think that probably wont change now. That's still within the healthy weight range for me but right at the very bottom of it. I was still quite beefy at 180, definitely not bikini worthy, more kind of lumpy and just "not fat". I've always wanted to be slender, not simply "not fat". It totally depends on your body type, 180 is great for a five ft 10 woman who is more muscular than I am. I'm very fine boned and am still definitely overweight at that weight.

Running - feeling light and athletic and not like a fat cow plodding along embarrassed on another desperate, pathetic, destined to fail diet and exercise routine. I am REALLY a runner! Wow. Its what I wanted most of all, dont know why. Wearing a bikini and tiny running shorts, that's a great feeling and one I wanted. Just being able to shop anywhere, buy anything. YOu dont realise how little freedom you have clothing wise when you're bigger.

Although its totally not true that every person who's overweight has an enlarged fatty liver! But stick with it, its your best insurance for easy trouble free surgery.

It depends on your size, your activity level and your own metabolism. A good rule of thumb for most women is 1200 a day as a way to get all the nutrients you need and still lose weight. But look around here and you'll find a lot of women that eat much less, more like 800 a day. They cant lose otherwise. Personally, I've had no trouble losing on more like 1500 to 1800 calories a day, carbs included. I'm tall, five foot 10 and I'm VERY active. Its only now that I'm a healthy weight and wish to go just a touch lower that calorie counting has been important for me. Play around with it and see how you go, because I really think that if you can lose on 1500 youre nuts to try to do it on 1000 kind of thing. Its satisfying to deny yourself or be strong and exist on less or however you feel about it, a lot of us do get some kind of subconscious pleasure from being strict on ourselves, but in reality the more you can eat, the more variety you can eat and still lose weight the better and healthier you'll feel. Its why I've never chased that elusive perfect restriction or half cup portion or the milestone of not being able to eat bread, why bother when I lost weight anyway? Take your doctors guidelines and advice into account and then fine tune it to meet your own needs.

You know, from my photo there you can tell that my stomach held up OK, but yeah, I have the puffy mons syndrome too. I figure I've had a caesarean and I remember being HORRIFIED about how it looked after that, changed it utterly. I dont look like a porn star either. But I can wear a bikini so I dont particularly care. My boobs I'm fussier about, they've ALWAYS looked at the floor, and they're getting fixed, I"m going to have better tits than I did at 16 years old. And both will be the same size which will be a nice change.

Dont say it to her Laurend, lol. I said that to my mum once and she nearly hit me. She was banging on about how great WW is and I said "if it worked that well how come you've had to go on it 50 times?". Boy, I'll never do that again, lol.

I just buy the yogurt I like, which is full fat. I have found calories take care of themselves for me with a lapband and lots of running.

Running five times a week for an hour works for me. I still find it incredible how much I can eat and still lose weight. And its built lots of muscle for me, which I guess is the key.

I tend to agree with you. I suck at counting calories or points and it makes me rebellious. I've done far better with a band learning to eat what I want when I want to if I"m hungry - I've learned to eat in a much healthier pattern this way and I havent needed to know how many calories I"m eating to lose weight. I certainly dont need to know how many I'm eating to maintain. I just keep exercising and eating when I'm hungry and not eating for other reasons and it works. When I do need to restrict calories - as I need to now to lose just a little bit more, the only way I"m ever successful with that longer term (like more than a week) is a home delivered diet where its all done for me. I find that very easy and it always always works to take off weight, and since I've been banded I've done it for short periods 2 or 3 times and the weight STAYS off too!

Im 5ft 10, was 245lb, now 160lb give or take. I dont have any "hanging" skin left over, but my skin is maybe oh, half a size too big all over? Its the best way I can describe it, its not loose, it doesnt hang, it doesnt need to be removed, its just not as "firm" as it otherwise may have been, but that is probably equally due to aging as anything else - I'm 40 and was a sunworshipper in my youth. I'm probably the same as any other 40 year old not blessed with absolutely gorgeous skin. Of all places, the tops of my breasts is the only real problem and I'm going to have a breast lift. I went to bed at 14 flat chested and woke up with a pair of DD's so I already had awful stretch marks there.

I'm really very thankful and pleased with how I ended up. I've spent a few months thinking that I almost wish my stomach was worse so that I could have a tummy tuck, I"m now one of those super annoying bitches that has a stomach most women would be happy with but that I mope over. But I realise that all I need to do is just lose some more weight, my natural build really means I need to be quite low in my healthy weight range, not mid way. I'm fine boned and not heavily muscled so in truth, that last bit of tummy is just extra fat, not skin. The skin itself is not crepey or loose. I have quite a nice figure, I'm stoked. I'm a little pear shaped, which is not a bad way to be but at 40, I do carry cellulite on my bottom and thighs that probably will never go away. I've had 3 babies but am 5ft 10 and was one of those people who didnt need maternity clothes till 30 weeks so I never got huge and stretched out my stomach. Very lucky. My boobs are the worst, they always were very droopy and are now very empty and sad, but I'm going to get a breast lift at the end of this year. Its really truly just luck of the draw and depends on genetics and where you carry your weight. I never did have big arms or a really big stomach, so I dont have a problem there. I've always worked my abdominals and I run regularly which makes them very strong, so yes, my stomach is perfectly flat, it just has some moosh on top of it, if you know what I mean.

I had a full check up at 12 months and was slightly deficient in iron too, that was the only problem. Of course I've done nothing about it at all, I feel OK. I probably should get bloodwork done again now though, at 2 years and a bit.

Now that's Freudian!

I wore heels at 245lb too - I never had a problem other than they hurt your feet, wreck your back and I'm already 5ft 10. I dont get the shoe thing, I'll wear appropriate shoes for appropriate occasions and enjoy a nice pair but I dont get excited till you're talking running shoes or until I get into the Birkenstock shop in the city. I have a birkenstock fetish - which is good since my alternative would be nanna shoes with orthotics. I love funky birkenstocks!

Oh gosh, maybe 7lb? I've done that in the first week of a diet a few times, but that was back in my 20's. I lost 25lb in six weeks following surgery and I was absolutely thrilled with that.

Well, likely you WILL be restricted to a small amount of food forever or suffer painful consequences, or one would hope so, the other side of that coin in rebound weight gain. Two and a bit years on, I find this tiresome sometimes, not at home, but out, like sometimes I think "I wish I could take this darn thing out and just eat easily this once". Not that I have many problems, I can eat anything, but I tire of being "aware" of it all the time to avoid blockages and PB, particularly in social situations where I am talking (dangerous for me!). Other than that, I dont count Protein, dont count calories, dont obsess over drinking Water and never did. I find maintenance eating IS easier than losing weight eating, I'm much less stringent these days and enjoy a very normal lifestyle, but you do have to think about long term health. You can maintain your weight on crap food if you eat small amounts, and that's not ideal. As to exercise, well, where there's a will there's a way. I run regularly but do suffer from sciatica, a heavy and aching right leg and chronic heel bursitis on the right side, it really makes life misery sometimes, but I can run strangely enough where I cant walk fast. Its more the day to day drudgery of this condition and not actual pain or discomfort while I am exercising that bothers me and I'm still doing the rounds of various therapies to try to find something that will a) identify what the problem actually is after more than five years and :biggrin: relieve the problem. I've had GREAT success with acupuncture lately. But I keep on running because I'd rather run, stay thin and fit and have discomfort (not bad pain usually) than stop running, mimise my symptoms, get fat again and get the symptoms back due to obesity anyway. And every single professional I've seen has advised me to remain active. But its a matter of finding an activity you can tolerate - swimming for example?

My doc doesnt really give a guideline and in Australia this is quite common, well the guideline is a basic healthy diet including the five food groups, keep the fat content down, dont eat too much white refined carbs or sugar, watch the alcohol and liquid calories - all the basic tenets of a healthy diet. None of this Protein first business. So I pretty much eat as I did before only in smaller quantities and with a LOT less refined carbs. However I usually start my day with a good quality fairly unprocessed breakfast Cereal such as organic muesli, oats or weetbix, and I do eat bread most days at lunchtime. I still eat rice and Pasta and I probably would scare most American bandsters with the fact that I never think about protein. I dont do Protein shakes and would probably make about 50 grams in the average day. Whereas you all scare me with the lack large quantities of fresh fruit and vegies, lol. Different strokes and all that, but it works for me and yes, I've been successful eating carbs, and not counting protein. Nor do I count calories, I eat when I'm hungry and what I feel like eating, till I'm not hungry (as opposed to stuffed) anymore. I also like my occasional treats which usually DO involve a refined carb of some sort or other!

I dont think it ever stops. I am WAY smaller than I think I am, in fact I'd probably be described as tall and thin, which just hasnt hit me yet, I still dont think of myself that way. Yet conversely, the times I really get a look at myself, I realise that "accepting" that I have a slight amount of loose stomach skin but really got off VERY luckily is misguided, in fact, I just need to lose 6 or 7kg more and I'll have washboard abs. There's little crepey or loose skin there, it is in fact fat, pure and simple. I always thought of myself as a "big girl" so I find it hard to realise that my natural body type is actually very thin and not very heavily muscled, fine boned and to look toned, I really do need to be at the bottom end of my healthy weight range. So I see myself as bigger (as opposed to more overweight) than I am and also as less well cushioned than I reall am both at the same time. Its like my head says yes, well 72kg is a healthy weight for 5ft 10, and I just take that as a given, whereas really, its still a bit too fat for ME, even if not for the next person.

About 1500 to 1800 - I lost well albeit slightly slowly at this level and now maintain effortlessly. I dont really count them, but when I do, that's about where it falls.

I really havent given up anything, its more about learning to do everything in moderation. You can still go out and enjoy a drink! It would have been harder when I was younger and did want to drink to the point of being drunk, nowadays I rarely do that but the occasional splurge doesnt hurt you. TO be fair though, I'm more into maintenance these days, to actively lose yes, I would cut down on alcohol. But you dont have to give it up forever, just choose wisely and abstain more often than you indulge. Maintenance is a lot easier and you get to enjoy a few more of those things within reason.

Yes, a good bra is a must. Dont really have much advice on where to buy plus size clothes as I'm in another country, but a word of encouragement - keep going, because when you can finally waltz into any store and buy a pair of tiny running shorts and actually WEAR them in public, that is one great feeling!