Jachut

Perfect except stove pipes are skinny leg jeans!

I thought Tasmanians were proof that New Zealanders can swim? Lol. Only kidding. Nah, bogans wear flannies and stovepipe jeans and have a packet of Winnie Blue's up the Tshirt sleeve. The only place they travel is to the bottle shop for another slab of VB's.

Rape or sexual abuse is something that has never touched my life, nor that of anyone close to me. Very lucky I guess. So I dont look at slutty clothes so much as sexually inviting or anything like that. For me, its just that they're well, trashy and tasteless. I'd be embarrassed to dress my daughter that way because people would then make assumptions about my socioeconomic status and my background. And for the same reason I dont go all out on expensive designer gear either, I dont dress her in head to toe in label clothes (here' they're Fred Bare, Seed, there's some gorgeous stuff out there) because I dont want to be seen as some kind of fashion victim. People love to get into huge nasty debates about how stupid it is to spend big money on children's clothes - ooh, I've seen some nasty fights online on that topic. Nor am I a girlie person into dresses and bows, lol. I just like plain, funky and fashionable, yet appropriate children's clothing. Here we have a GREAT store called Cotton on Kids. So basic, cute and cheap!

This ties in very strongly with the thread Laurend started in rants and raves (which I quickly took over, lol). I have a BMI of 23 now. Yes, I'm thin enough. But I have a bit of a muffin top going on and still a bit of bum blubber I could shed. So if I want a BMI of 20 (which is STILL healthy!) then that's what I want and its nobody's decision but mine. A BMI of 20 to 25 is healthy. But if I consider 25 too fat, then there IS scope at that BMI to lose more weight without getting "too thin". And its not silly, unhealthy or obsessive to do so. I think though, on a kinder (and less strident note, I've been whinging for 2 days now, lol) that people are used to seeing you big and to them you really DO look "skinny" whereas to people who've never seen you before, you probably just look normal.

Congrats! That's a good feeling.

I've had good restriction after every fill, even the very first, but it doesnt last. But when I was heavier, I could eat more and still lose, so good restriction didnt need to be very tight. Then I'd lose weight, my band would loosen and I'd need a tweak PLUS I'd need a little more becuase my calorie needs had dropped and I needed to eat less. Now, I've got 3 ml in a 4ml band which was VERY tight for a little while there, nowadays its much less so and I"m not sure whether that's why I've been eating quite a bit more over the past few weeks or whether I've just been slipping into a few lazy habits.

Yes, I've received PM's too about it. About how only obsessive people lose 100% of their weight and how I should just shut up and stop bragging.

Couldnt agree more. I truly believe most surgeons that advocate a low carb diet are doing so based on personal opinion and statistical evidence of their own small group of patients, nothing more. I think we need good carbs but I can see that many people lose better when they cut out carbs. However, there is no scientific PROOF that this is so, that it works for the reasons that you read about, I really think its more to do with simple calorie reducation and reduction of the BAD carbs, the sugary fatty ones, not the good ones. If you cut out Protein you'll lose weight, if you cut out dairy, you'll lose weight. Its not rocket science, cut out a food group, lose weight. Just because you lose doesnt mean its good for you either. So personally, regardless of what a doctor said, I'd find my own balance. I'm not knocking low carb diets though - but they dont prescribe them here and Australians lose just as well as Americans do, so what does that say?

Yeah, we havent really solved much in this thread have we? I still dont understand setting a high goal weight but I've been reminded that its not my job to understand it. You're right of course Josette. I *thought* I was complaining only about people who insist that a higher goal is BETTER and that people that get down to a lower weight are either obsessive, vain or are bragging about it. But yeah, I can see the attitude that's coming through is judgemental. I can agree to just not really get it I guess. I wouldnt like someone telling me what I *should* weigh and in fact its really been that 50 - 60% excess weight lost statistic that made me think "oh, really, well I'll prove THAT wrong!".

Mandy with all due respect you've just said you've stayed the same weight for 2 weeks and it doesnt make any difference whether you stick with what you should eat or eat what you want, it doesnt make a difference. How can you TELL in the space of 2 weeks whether it makes a difference?. YOu need to do the right thing week in week out for weeks, months, years to get to your healthy weight. Of course you can relax at times and allow yourself treats but you really cannot say that following what you are meant to eat doesnt work after such a short period of time. Give yourself a break, its normal to plateau out a bit soon after surgery, after the liquid diet and all and moving back onto solids and your body, no matter how much you would like it to, wont lose 2lb per week perfectly steadily until you're at goal weight. Its going to be up, down, sideways with big long plateaus. You're in this for the long haul, its a lifestyle now, and it will work, you just need to relax and be a bit patient about it.

Yes, running back and forth to the toilets is very embarrassing, as is spitting, burping and moaning in pain when there's people in there at the same time. Speaking of meal size, children's menus here are crap - they're always chicken nuggets and chips, fish and chips, hot dog and chips. I dont even make my kids eat off them, I'd rather pay adult price and have them eat decent food. So eating out costs us a fair bit. But I've never yet run across a restaurant that hasnt let me simply have an entree instead of a main course. That's so easy!

Oh, I once laughed whilst eating a (VERY) hot jam donut and steaming hot jam went up inside and out my nose. Man, that hurt. I actually got quite bad burns, was in agony for a week. I hope there's really no lettuce in there, or you're going to sneeze out one very embarrassing booger probably at the most inopportune time, or worse, you'll get a sinus infection. perhaps you'd better PB some saline?

I voted never, becuase I have little trouble eating in the morning. But I really see it as a good Breakfast if you'd otherwise not eat or eat something really bad like pop tarts. If you can eat in the am. then personally I'd take the chance to get in some good quality carbs, a dose of high fibre in the morning, although I know lots of people like a Protein breakfast. I sometimes make a fruit smoothie with some bran in it.

I'm terrible, I've got an exam next Wednesday and I've done absolutely nothing towards it. So you'd love me in your class! Except that I tend to get straight high distinctions without doing any work, lord knows how.

I'm talking in statistical generalities of course. It probably doesnt hold true for a lot of lap banders who are tight in the morning becuase they have no appetite all day. But it does for me, I pig out on donuts at 11 am if I dont eat the breakfast I dont really want, lol.

I do have a giggle over people paying lots of money for mutts, lol. I'm no dog lover, more a cat person myself and the two cats we've had we've rescued from an animal shelter. Trouble is both of them have been psycho, sick and not good pets. Both have loooooooved me, and me alone and not given a toss about the rest of the family, which is what you get with cats. But our first cat Rocky was seriously mentally scarred, who knows what had happened to him before we got him and he had a tendency to attack visciously without provocation, he spent his life in the back of a wardrobe and he ended up dying of kidney failure at only 5 years old. Our second cat Lady is more even in temparament but still a bit strange, but she has had chlamydia and has problems becuase of that - weepy eyes and she can get literally hundreds of mouth ulcers at a time, she gets very stressed and is really timid. She also has feline aids. So she's 7 now but not in for a really long life probably. That's the trouble - you rescue them and I feel good to have done it but they come with a lot of problems when you dont know their history and chances are shelter animals have been sick or mistreated and will bear the scars. What better to rescue an animal in need but the trouble is they're not necessarily going to make a good pet and it can hit the hip pocket very hard too.

When I'm like that (doing teaching rounds) I cook on the weekends and freeze. Much better than takeaway and much less expensive.

Mine doesnt - so is one of them wrong? I dont think so, I think it just shows that there's more than one way to skin a cat. I dont think my before and afters lie either by the way - and I ate bread and Pasta the whole way through. And more than 1/4 of a cup too. Its not "wrong" to eat 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup, its just not necessary for everyone. And lap band surgeons are surgeons - they are not necessarily that in the know when it comes to what to eat for weight loss - they have opinions is all.

Nope. I can eat in the mornings and I try to. I'm not too tight then, I actually quite often get tight at night to the point of not really eating dinner. But I've definitely become a Breakfast skipper, which is not a good thing. I just dont want or need it these days whereas I really used to. I eat it anyway becuase you should. Breakfast eaters have far less trouble managing their weight than non breakfast eaters. If I dont eat it I tend to eat something wildly high carb and inappropriate mid morning, and that throws me out for the entire day - because then I dont want lunch because I just ate a muffin, so I dont eat lunch and then I pig out in the afternoon and then dont want my dinner etc etc.

Brilliant! Bet you get no response, lol.

Truly, how much marinade or sauce do you eat with a meal? It really does not make a lot of difference, there's no need to ditch a normal recipe to save like 40 calories. Just enjoy, you dont overeat anymore so there's no need to worry about it. I'm just banned from marinades becuase anal DH gets all shirty over the mess they make of the barbecue!

Maybe a VERY tiny one? If you're not happy with how you're losing that is, if you are then I wouldnt touch it. I have to disagree vehemently that with good restriction you should only be able to eat 1/4 cup of food. That's such a blanket generalisation and just not true. You should only have to eat 1/4 cup of food if you're not losing anything eating more than that. If you can lose eating more then you should, because you'll be better nourished that way. And if you have the option of moving more and thus being able to eat more, its a healthier option to take. Good restriction is where you are losing well eating a healthy diet, nothing more. Its as individual as every other thing about you and it is NOT about only eating 1/4 cup of food as if we're all programmed exactly the same.

Personally, I think beans and lentils are PERFECT bandster foods - they kill 3 birds with one stone. Protein, fibre and they're a vegetable. I eat loads of beans.

What I'm trying to get away from is the moral connotation of normal and focus on the purely medical. I agree, you dont want to be insinuating that another weight is "abnormal" becuase that's equally as offensive as what I've been complaining about. It does just come back to not understanding one another's choices I guess. I cant see why in the world you'd want to weigh say 190lb when you could weigh 160 becuase I feel significantly, markedly, undeniably fitter and healther at 160 than I did at 190 where I still felt heavy, in pain and plain fat. The choices and actions I have to undertake to be 160 v 190 are well and truly worth it to me. But I can understand that they're not to other people, even if I cant really understand exactly how or why. But because I feel so much better for that extra 30lb gone, I kind of feel that other people would too only they dont know it and cant see it. There's a lot of benefits to getting off 70% of your excess weight, thats undeniable! But there's even more benefits to getting off 100%! So of course its my job to enlighten the world, roflmao! Seriously though, I know it just doesnt work that way for everyone and I'm fine with that. Its really only a very small gripe I have with a very small number of people who seem to have a case of sour grapes over it.

I dont know, I doubt a bandster would ever really take in problematic amounts. But protein is an important nutrient, yet the focus on protein first means that when you read threads where people are listing what they've eaten that day, I'm horrified by how few vegetables, fruit and wholegrains people eat. They eat a piece of chicken with 3 green beans and that's dinner. You may not be eating "too much" protein like that but you're missing out on a lot of things you need because of the focus on protein, if that makes sense.