Jachut

Its not really an issue in Australia, with other races, yes, but we dont have a large black Afro-American population. To see someone with that jet black skin is rather unusual, although locally we have quite a Sudanese population. Australia has always been pretty multicultural within my lifetime, its something I've grown up with so to me, I dont have embedded racism issues. I honestly dont. Muslims have faced a pretty tough time here too and that upsets me, in the wake of 9/11, its like every muslim you see is a terrorist? That's stupid, its as stupid as if a fundamentalist group of Christians bombed Baghdhad then that means I'm personally responsibe? I do believe thought that assimilation takes effort from BOTH sides and that it is perfectly possible to retain the values of one's culture and also to take on new ones too. But it rarely happens sadly. Still, race means nothing to me, I can see obvious physical differences but I make no assumptions based on them.

I really LOVE zucchini in place of pasta. I often eat that purely because I really like it and its a great way to eat your veges. I dont low carb or anything, so I'm not afraid of pasta but zucchini makes a wonderful substitute.

At this point in time, I wouldnt mind being just a bit lighter, like 8, 10lb. I need to really work for that to happen and lately, I havent been really working, lol. But I cant see needing to unfill my band, honestly, I live such a normal lifestyle and never needed to be very restricted to lose, I think I've changed my lifestyle a LOT but I'm perfectly comfortable living like I am and see no reason to unfill at all. If I make effort to eat only 3 meals a day and watch the calories I lose weight, when I dont think about it, these days I eat quite well but I dont lose any, I maintain. So for me, I dont see an unfill happening. I wasnt told anything by the way, but the general gist of things has been that you stay filled.

I always hated it. I like my height but to be heavy as well, I always felt so masculine and ungainly even though I'm not at all masculine to look at. But although I was only 245 (Bmi 35) when banded, I felt absolutely ENORMOUS. Many people can be fat but still feminine and cute, because they're little and petite. It may not feel that way to them of course, but I always envied people like that, I just felt like a big huge slob. Now of course, I feel so willowy, I love being tall! And I've only got size 10 feet (40) which isnt so bad, there's tons of shoes available.

I dont have problems with any particular food - I can even eat bread, although of course some foods are go slow ones and others I can eat easily. Whenever I've had a PB, its always been not chewing enough. Its always the first bite or two of any meal that has caused it too, sometimes things just go down wrong. Some things though, I just dont even want to bother with anymore, because discomfort is inevitable. pizza is one of those, I just dont desire it ever any more.

salad is a super duper easy, totally safe, eat it in public with no fear kind of food to me. Any kind of salad except Pasta salad. I love love love a caesar salad, I make a great low fat one at home, we often have that for an easy night's dinner, although it takes more time to make than a lot of other meals, lol.

I'd just put small portions on your plate - go by the half cup to cup guideline for sure, but above all you need to listen to what your body tells you, not strive to eat a certain amount or restrain it to a certain amount if you're still hungry. Early on you may well be able to eat more than a cup and if you're hungry and you still lose when you do so, there is no reason really not to. If you stop losing, you obviously need to eat less and you would probably get a fill to help you do so. But by far the most important skill is to learn to eat until you're satisfied and then stop.

I'm 5ft 10, 160lb and a US size 8 to 10 - which is 12 to 14 in Australia. That is, always a 10 on the bottom, sometimes an 8 on the top. I was 245 when banded, and a US size 16 to 18 - Australian 20ish. On the pregnancy score I found being tall meant I didnt pop out a lot - I had average 7 to 8lb babies, so even after 3 pregnancies my stomach is not wrecked. I also didnt gain a lot of weight when pregnant.

WW is the only true "diet" I've ever done, that and home delivered meals. I never really fell for all the fad diets going, I knew what I should be doing, I just couldnt do it!

We had wholemeal spirals with pesto and roast vegetables last night for dinner. Funnily enough, I can eat spaghetti easily but any other shaped Pasta is pretty difficult. I would have stuck to a half cup serving last night, it took me aaaages to eat it. But wholemeal is always a better choice than white.

Hmm, not sure. Most of the people attending WW dont stick with it long term, lol. Any diet works if you can stay on it. And WW would have most people on the equivalent of 1200 a day or so - its not a huge amount of food. And of course, if you dont lose on that, you can cut it down more. If I were to try to stick to 1000 a day, I'd need to track and count carefully, its just another way of doing that and a lapband helps you do it without starving to death. Its down to luck how much you can eat and still lose, I guess. I can eat a lot because a) I'm tall and I run an hour five days a week. So you have to work out the math for yourself basically, its different for everyone.

My doc doesnt tell you to do this. Of course, many people find they have to, that they're very sensitive after a fill and need to take time to work things out again. I dont find it necessary for me, I can eat normally, if cautiously.

Sorry, I dont mean to create a debate nor make you feel I've taken particular issue with what you've said or that it's wrong (who am I to say that). Its just that I think its VERY important the new people or people considering banding get the message that there are no hard and fast rules that apply to everyone. Its extremely intimidating when you're researching to think that you're going to be vomiting, you're going to be eating tiny 1/2 cup portions, you're not going to be able to eat any of your previously staple foods and that you have to live on Protein Shakes. Some people DO live like that, some by choice, and some by necessity, but many people dont have to. I lost all I had to lose on 1500 to 1800 calories a day, I hardly ever PB, I dont do Protein first, I eat bread, and I drink wine and enjoy a completely normal lifestyle. I just think its really really important that people know this is possible and that they have some control in the methods they use to lose weight. When I do WW I eat 20 points of tim tams and nothing else in a day. It doesnt suit me. I attend Prof. O'brien's practice by the way and the surgeons give the basic guidelines to newbies, 1/2 to 1 cup of food at a time, etc etc like the publications outline. But that's only general information. Each patient is dealt with on a case by case basis, and its encouraged that you work this tool to fit your lifestyle. My doc himself said to me that you'd be mad to go tight enough to eat only 1/2 cup at a time if you can eat more and still lose because obviously you'll be better nourished if you eat a wider variety and quanity of foods. Publications give generalised info only, not hard and fast rules.

WW gives you so much flexibility though - with the LitenEasy it was 3 meals per day that were too big for me. With counting points on WW, you dont have to eat anything that doesnt work with your band, you can eat 5 times a day in smaller amounts etc. Many people like to "diet" in the true sense of the word, many, like me, hate it. WW I can cope with because I choose what to eat, when to eat it, their old style back in the 80's of so many breads, so many dairy, so many Proteins per day, that drove me freaking nuts, I couldnt do that at ALL. But 3 x 1/2 cup a day is not what everyone has to eat to lose weight. I eat waaaaaaay more than that. And it depends what you eat - a cup and a half of salad for example crunches down to hardly anything where a half a cup of meat really is 1/2 a cup of meat - so you're not so limited portionwise on WW depending on what you choose to eat.

If you're not exercising you may have your answer right there. If you're got reflux and no complications such as a slip, could be you're just too tight. You may need to remove a substantial amount of Fluid and see what effect that has. But I'd say its VERY hard to get to goal weight without lots of good, hard cardio and preferably strength training too. There's all sorts of valid reasons why people dont exercise, but it remains cold hard fact - you need to do it to get your weight off and keep it off. If you dont do it, you may not get to your goal weight. So if you can sort out the tiredness by taking care of the reflux, then perhaps you can re-focus on what you need to be doing to lose more weight

I dont, lol. I have a very anti diet mentality. I just know roundabout where I fall because like most of us, I know the calorie count of just about anything. I go by my body, if I'm losing, I"m dong well, if I'm maintaining I'm doing OK but could do better if I want to lose more, and well, I've never gained so that's good.

I'd rather get cash than a bad gift, for sure. Ewan (my 10 year old LOVES getting money). SIL and BIL recently moved to Canada. We discussed pressies for the kids, what we'd do and I was all for them buying their own gifts and us buying ours and just presenting it as having been from Auntie Jacqui and Uncle Doug or Auntie Ali and Uncle Jon, kind of thing. But Ali wanted to send actual gifts. So this piece gift arrives for Ewan in September, after being returned to sender because we were away and not able to sight for it, out it comes again, its some cheap crappy helicopter thing that broke within 5 minutes, and was ordered off wishlist.com. WTF? No thought, no shopping, no wrapping it and sending it herself, just a quick, oh, this'll do, its appropriate for a 5 year old not a ten year old but who cares, its easy and it arrives without any effort on my part. I was a bit affronted actually. She normally gives thoughtful gifts, but if this is what's going to happen each occasion while they're over there, I'd much rather she sent money or we bought gifts for our own kids.

Yes, they werent talking about obesity, they were talking about a few extra pounds. Obesity is a different matter entirely.

Yes, its hard to imagine how band size could go UP? But if its fitting you differently, perhaps you wore it wrong before, or its sitting in the wrong place now. The band should not be up around your shoulderblades, it should actually sit very low. I always used to hate how the back rode up on me, I assumed it was because of the big bazoongas but I was wearing a way too big band size. I got that fixed when I was still fat, and the backflaps disappeared instantly. what I find I need now though is a wide band, so despite being a 12DD now, lots of the cute bras are still no good. I have these side flaps of skin that you'd never notice in a bikini top etc but the minute you put on a bra with a very narrow back that hugs your ribcage and constricts, they spill over the sides, yuck. If I could have lipo on only one area of my body that's where I'd choose. Then I could wear any bra I fancy. I can buy nice ones now, but they're still of the larger breasted woman variety. Nobody would actually call me large breasted, that's what's frustrating, because I'm so tall, DD looks on me what a B or C would look on someone else.

I really LOVE getting money as a gift - because then not only do I enjoy what I buy but I also enjoy thinking about it, anticipating it and shopping for it. With 3 kids, 4 years into my degree, 12 years out of the workforce etc its not often that I get guilt free indulgent shopping these days. But I dont think I'd like to give money to the kids at Christmas. Although we do give MIL or FIL $50 in a card sometimes, when they say its what they want.

They did say too that it was better to be in the overweight category and fit than to be leaner and very unfit. Fitness is a very important factor, I believe. But again, what people call fit...... well, I have quite stubborn views on that too, lol. Perhaps we wont even go there?

I did 3 weeks of fluids, two of mushies. I found it easy, honestly, I was one of the lucky ones that didnt have bandster hell, I lost tons and tons of weight in that time and didnt miss solid food one bit. Dont ask me about a pre op diet though, lol. I didnt have to do one but thought I'd try anyway, and I lasted 2 days.

Truly, I think the measurement was wrong. It was an idiot girl at the gym, using scales just liek I have at home, which can vary by 10% per day! But I do still have plenty of fat, too much! And my waist measurement is 78cm, so I only just scrape in there - obviously for ME, its not possible to be 20lb over my healthy weight range and not be at risk, heck, at the top of my healthy weight range my waist measurement is over 80cm!

Everyone's different - if you're 5ft 10 with a large frame, then, like me you may never have a need to eat that little. I'm the same height. Truly, I lost all my weight on 1500 to 1800 calories a day. I'm very active, I run a lot. I'm 160lb now and I'd like to lose about 10 more. To do that, I realy WOULD have to go that low and stick strictly to it now, at this lighter weight. But I've had absolutely no need to do so during most of my weight loss. But you dont starve, you really dont need as much food as you think you do.

OK, this has died and lets not start arguing again, but I just thought I'd share some information that I saw on telly this morning about healthy weight/BMI etc. Its interesting for everyone and supports BOTH sides of the argument! Recent studies have shown you can be plumper (as in BMI 26-30) and that it could be good for your health. BUT - and this is a big BUT - the expert that was talking says there's general consensus that BMI is a pretty useless indicator of correct weight as health depends on how much fat you have and where you carry it. As an example, I have a BMI of 23 but still have a body fat level of about 30, so I still do technically have too much fat! BMI doesnt take into account high muscularity either. What she said was that a much better indication is waist measurement and that surprisingly waist measurement does not increase with height - so it is possible to set an ideal range and it will be relevent for ALL people, tall or short. For women, your waist measurement should be below 80cm which is 30 inches. Any more than that and you've got too much fat round your middle and you're at increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. That means those short, curvaceous types of women who tend to look good rounder as they're cute and curvy (and never look flabby you know?) have to be quite careful as they tend to carry more in their middles, whereas pear shapes (like me, ugh) who have bigger bums and thighs and tend to need to be skinnier to look good or they just look flabby can actually carry more weight without affecting health because they dont carry it round their waists. food for thought. It's no more reliable than any other studies out there, although its pretty much a given that abdominal fat = bad, they've known that for a long time. So really, correct weight for you is the point at which you get your waist measurement below 80cm and after that, its a matter of fine tuning to look how you want to look.