Jachut

Everytime I've gone on holidays since being banded, I've lost weight despite eating out and enjoying food, and drinking alcohol most days. I think its becuase we're on the go and busy - so there goes the snacking and nibbling between meals. And with a band, well it doesnt make much difference whether you eat out or eat at home, you still cant eat much! Plus I always run daily even when I'm away and there's usually TONS of walking and swimming/body surfing etc, just a heap more incidental activity. So yeah, I always lose weight.

I guess its just the lesser of 2 evils. My DH had a Vit D deficiency, serious tingling and backpain were the symptoms - and major depression. Its not fun. Its probably why tanning makes you feel so relaxed and good too.

Well, um, I just have to ask. When did you last partake of fresh cow dung, lol.

Cut yourself some slack. You're hear which means you're going to do something about it. And look on the bright side - you have gorgeous colouring. Lovely dark hair and your skin is perfect, like porcelain. I'd kill for skin like that.

OK, no moral judgement here, I love having a tan as much as the next person. But seriously - a doctor advocating tanning? I'm gobsmacked. Or is it just in Australia that we're terrified of skin cancer? Seriously sunscreen and sunhats is the law in Australian schools. Kids are not allowed outside to play without a hat. The legendary Bronzed Aussie of old has probably lost 2/3 of his ears and half his nose to skin cancer now.

Vegemite is AWESOME, lol!

NSV's do mean so much more because they're usually when your head suddenly catches up. I mean I could weigh 30kg and still think I was fat. The number doesnt computer. Its when you catch a sight of yourself from behind in a dressing room mirror and realise you're not 2 metres wide but actually have a nice shape, or see the odd photo of yourself that surprises you etc, THAT's when you truly see how far you've come. Those are awesome moments.

Truly, I'd focus on lots of cardio between now and then, there's not a lot of point getting into a strength training program only to have to lay off it for six or eight weeks. But get out there and walk daily! It will improve your outlook, increase your weightloss and have you in better shape on the day - which means better recovery!

I dont know and I wouldnt be so bold as to say I wouldnt gain weight if I lost my band. But what I do know is that almost 2 years down that has been long enough for me to TRULY change some of the bad habits that made me fat. And I've developed a confidence in my ability to hold in check some of my bad habits MOST of the time. Which appears to be enough. So I'm truly just not thinking about it. We all took a leap of faith on this, there ARE no very long term statistics.

Nope, I didnt take any. And I did feel that posting befores and moaning about how disgusting I was at a BMI of 35 was not really very respectful of people who were in way worse trouble than I was. I felt disgusting but I didnt feel the need to share that with everyone, lol.

Gawd, does EVERYTHING come in a can there? Pizza dough? Lol. We're not quite that advanced here, sorry guys. And biscuits are cookies, we dont have the other kind of biscuits either. Kel, pizza dough is so easy, just make proper pizza dough. I only do it in the breadmaker, so the recipe wouldnt be right, but google one, its pretty much like a scone dough with yeast, which is not at all scary and very easy. Or buy a few frozen pizza bases (but I dont like them, they're too thick for me) and use a cookie cutter to cut smaller bases from them.

I havent lost that fast. I did at first, then it slowed down. But I've still lost it. I believe your body will do what it will do and you may as well accept that and jump on for the ride. Mine is more prone to losing nothing for six weeks and then losing 6lb overnight.

Piffle is what I say to that. I'm a bit of a sweet tooth and a carb queen and I'm past my goal weight now. OK, so I wasnt a chocoholic or a lolly eater. But give me Cookies, muffins, cake, mmmmmmm those are my problem food. And the band makes it quite difficult to eat those in any quantity, they're the hardest food for me to eat. But it wasnt that that would ruin my dieting efforts anyway, it was hunger and too much food in general, becuase most people that are obese and have a sweet tooth also eat way too much in general. The band takes work. I wanted to curb my sweet tooth. I knew I needed a diet lower in carbs (although I have NOT given up carbs, I eat bread and cereals on a daily basis, but its no longer 90% of my diet) so I just did it. Its up to you. I still indulge my sweet tooth. Why not? There's everyday foods and sometimes foods as I explain to the kids and there's nothing wrong with having a treat now and then. But I no longer do it five times a day. I find I have way less cravings. I'm so full from a decent meal that I dont get that niggly hmm what can I eat now feeling as often. And I truly believe running has evened out my appetite too.

Not with banding, although its been close, lol. Drinking while eating doesnt in general bother me and I do it, but if I"m the least bit blocked I cant. But I lived with that daily for the last 5 months of my third pregnancy. I threw up in the clean washing once when I bent over the pick up the basket. My first 2 pregnancies were fine, I'm nice and tall so no huge cumbersome stomach, no stretchmarks, push out a baby in 40 minutes! Easy. But the third, ugh. She was breech and lodged in my chest more so than my abdominal cavity. I didnt need any maternity clothes till after 30 weeks, my stomach stayed flat (well as flat as a stomach is for a 100kg person!). But the reflux, heartburn and inabilty to breath was simply awful, I had to sleep sitting up and if I bent over I threw up. And eating wise it was EXACTLY what being banded was like, get hungry, eat half a cup of food and be stuffed. I lost 10kg over that pregnancy.

Oh yes, for sure you need cardio probably MORE than any toning work! YOu have to burn the fat off. And surprisingly, running worked absolute wonders on my stomach. My mid section is so strong and its not from doing 50 thousand crunches. Running really works your abdominal muscles Even my arms and shoulders toned incredibly from just running (the arm motion). I only brought in strength training later on for fine tuning

I think we mean the same thing, lol. Those lycra SPF 50+ shirts. You virtually wouldnt see a child on the beach without one here, in the Australian sun they're absolutely necessary.

I think its a wonderful non judgemental environment in which to begin a weight loss journey and fitness program. Within a year you will probably have to move on to somethign more challenging to keep ensuring progress and good results, so I wouldnt go signing any 2 year contracts. But for starting out for a sedentary person, its awesome. And circuit training appears to have gone out of fashion somewhat, but when done with intensity its a VERY fast way to shape your body, get aerobically fit and develop some muscle. I was just running for about a year, (running a LOT) but when I added circuits to my routine, I really toned up very noticeably and it accelerated my weight loss again. Its very much interval type intensity with circuits, doing 50 squats with a heavy barbell gets my heart rate over 170 and I'm very fit! But Curves, yes, an awesome place to start. A very gentle introduction that will do you a lot of good in the early stages of becoming fit.

OK, I did it in my Christmas break, lol, but Christmas is our long holiday here and I get five MONTHS off uni over that time. Because its summer here December January February. But yes, if you have a week off school - I definitely could have been back to school after a week.

I agree, if you're otherwise not going to eat breakfast, which I am VERY prone to doing due to time issues, then a Protein shake is a really good breakfast time meal. I like my dose of high fibre grains in the morning, but I'd rather have a Protein Shake than something worthless like white toast or Cornflakes.

I'm allergic to that clear dressing they put over the steri strips - like the big sheet of clingwrap on your tummy. Within about 4 days I was itching and I put up with it for a few days before ripping it off (I was afraid of ripping open the incision as it was adhered down all over). I was really red and rashy underneath it and the rash lasted for weeks, it drove me mad, it was so itchy. I'm slightly allergic to bandaids too - anything adhesive. But the steri strips were too small to cause me much grief.

I tighten up at night. I cannot eat a lot in the morning but I can eat a healthy breakfast. At night I"m tight and if I've eaten late afternoon, there's no way dinner's happening. And I have never ever had an after dinner snacking habit, never been a night time eater so I've not had to fight that. I'm wide open from about 11 am to about 5.30 pm. I can even still eat a sandwich for lunch!

Oh, gosh, I dont know that I could say I absolutely have. I still eat inappropriately at times and have periods where my diet is truly awful - no meals, constant grazing, chocolate, Cookies etc. But I can manage to hold together a healthy eating programe MORE of the time and that's what counts. What you do MOST of the time. Truly with all the running I do as well, it is enough. And the less I actually think about food and put pressure on myself to be "perfect" the better I do. When I accept that I will have times when I pig out (likely times of extreme busyness and stress) then they happen and I get over them and put them behind me. When I try to be perfect i just spend day after day failing at it and "starting again tomorrow" which is pretty much how I got fat. I dont think any of us will ever totally defeat our food demons. I just accept something was broken, I had surgery to fix it and a bit of hard work achieves the rest. I can truly say I cannot identify with that "hungry all the time" that so many people here mention. I was never hungry. I ate too often to ever get hungry. Not being hungry, was no reason not to eat. Nor was being full a reason to stop. I had the right signals, I just ignored them. What I have learned is to recognise them and obey them. Even though I dont generally have terribly dire results from overeating a little, ensuring the future health of my band and fear of pouch dilation is enough to keep me on the straight and narrow. If you can overcome your addiction for most of the time you will be fine, honestly. Even thin people pig out, eat badly and have some bad habits.

That's good news. I've never been overfilled but it sounds absolutely miserable. Yes that's me in my avatar, lol.

Lots and lots (probably most) bandsters cant eat bread, I'm just lucky I guess. Its not a no no here in Australia - we just simply dont get told that Protein first thing, here we're just encouraged to eat a normal diet based around what we like and would normally eat (that's healthy!, lol). There's no focus on protein, no shakes etc etc. Of course people still choose to approach it that way and some people's bodies work much better on less carbs. But it is entirely possible to eat a normal amount of carbs and not be fat. Yes, I've pretty much lost all my weight, I'd perhaps like to just lose a teeny bit more, a couple of kilograms. Its taken me nearly 2 years.

Absolutely the best decision and the best most worthwhile debt you will take on in your life. I have a friend here in Australia who is very obese and wanting to conceive at 39. Weight loss is imperative for her to increase her chances. She looked into the lap band but has no private health insurance and docs often wont touch self pay patients here in Australia. Because although you can get banded from a BMI of 30, apparently only rich people need lap bands, so those in the public health system or without years of paying health insurance have to stay fat. So she's gone on the Optifast program, supervised by the newest weight loss expert that appears to have sprung up here - the local pharmacist. Oh for sure, your local pharmacist would be an EXPERT on weight loss right? I just sighed for her. Another useless time wasting expenditure of effort for fast and spectacular weight loss that will go back on even faster. I advised her to doctor shop until she found a doc that would take self pay. She's not poor, she just chooses not to have insurance as you can here. So should she have a complication she can pay for it. Dont waste another year of your life staying fat - that is a great chance to borrow that money and do something effective.