Jachut

I'm a runner and I've never found the remotest need to take extra Protein on top of what I eat. As long as your diet is adequate, you're not going to need to. Carbs are important too, this board is very protein focusses but I've never got that strong protein message from my doc, I mean they dont expect you to be eating white bread and donuts but they dont have you downing shakes every day either. A good balanced diet from all the food groups will see you right. And if you're running regularly, you'll probably find you never have any need to have your band so tight that you're not taking in enough nourishment. That's the beauty of exercise.

It is isnt it? I think its just hit me that that fine tuning I thought I needed to do, that last little bit of pudge on the belly and the love handles - that is loose skin. Its a bit confronting to know that that wont go away. Nor was I blessed by nature with great thighs. Those dimples are there to stay. This is an issue that you dont expect as you get to goal. In your head you're going to be perfect, what you always wanted to be. I'm never having PS, those imperfections are me, they're nowhere NEAR severe enough to risk another surgery for. I'm coming to accept them. But when you can run five times a week, anwhere from 8 to 15kms, AND you do plenty of weighted squats etc, you dont expect a dimply bum. I'm 40 in six weeks time, and I couldnt have wished to have looked or felt better than I do. That was what really got me moving on this surgery 2 years ago, the thought of being 40, fat, miserable, unwell. As to goals, well I'm shooting for 23 hour long workouts this month. I did 20 in June.

Do you drink soy milk or rice milk? I would rather die than drink a glass of milk, yuck, foul, barf. But I can drink a shake if it doesnt taste like milk. Nonetheless I didnt really drink shakes during liquids. I made stuff like vege and lenti soup and blended it all up. I blended up spaghetti bolognaise with canned tomatoes, roast lamb, potato and vegetables with chicken stock, that kind of thing. Real food. I couldnt live on shakes for 3 weeks, yuck. I do like yogurt though. I didnt eat any jelly or anything like that. Its not really very worthwhile nutritionally. We dont have a lot of those puddings and things that they talk about on here. And to be honest, I'd avoid processed food like that anyway.

I find anything with peanut butter satisfying, lol - celery, apple, a cracker or two, or I might have one or two crackers with a very small amount of cheese, maybe some hommus and rice crackers, most often I try to eat fruit since I cant fit it in at mealtimes.

I never ever assumed I would be one of the ones that only lost 60%. It didnt occur to me. I honestly believed I WOULD lose 100% and I have. Perhaps I was unrealistic, I dont know. I can be lazy and not start something but when I do it, I tend to be a superachiever. I do not do things by halves. I would either not exercise or I run, there's no inbetween walking for me, lol. I'm like that with everything. How did I do it? Exercise mainly. Really hard exercise and lots of it.

I'm really exciting becuase there's a new franchise opening nearby of a boxing gym. We dont have anything like a true boxing gym anywhere near here and I love boxing. It'll be all snazzy like a gym is, not a sweaty hall full of men, but with proper boxing, not Les Mills classes etc. I'll certainly be getting into that as well as the above, lol. I love it all so much, I find I just want to do EVERYTHING. I want to take up basketball now too after playing a game last night (I was filling in for a missing team member). First time I've ever done more than watch basketball and a bit funny because I'm a netballer so I kept stopping everytime I got the ball and I'd stop, stand and shoot for the basket too, lol. I kept getting cross because the ball would be grabbed out of my hands - in netball you're not allowed to touch anyone. But it was awesome fun and a VERY intense workout.

I'm the opposite. I barely ever saw myself as fat. I felt thin, I felt like I looked good, I guess I wasnt really looking when I looked in the mirror. I just continued to see the old me, the me of about the same size I am now. So I really havent had any trouble coming to terms with it. I get a huge shock when I slip things on in change rooms and they fit. But I do feel thin! Not thin enough, lol. I want to be skinny. But I"m not sure at 40 after 3 babies that's a realistic goal for me.

I picked running and other because apart from my 3 runs a week Doug and I do the following circuit I made up at home - usually 3 x per week as well: walk 1km on incline of 6 at moderate pace (about 4mph). With 2 3kg handweights, do 32 warm up biceps curls, then transfer both dumbells to one hand and with 6kg, do 16 slow curls, 16 curls in top half of range, 16 curls in bottom half of range, 16 slow curls. Repeat with other arm. Then 3 sets of 12 reps of upright row, lateral raise, shoulder press. If the kilometre is not up, put the incline down to 1 or 2 and run the rest at a higher speed. At this point we swap. On the floor take 20kg barbell - do 30 squats, 20 lunges each leg, 30 deadlifts, 30 barbell rows, repeat entire sequence. Its usually time to swap again then and from now, the periods are shorter. Run 250 metres at a good clip, about 5-6 mph 30 push ups, 30 tricep dips run 250 metres 30 more pushups, 30 more tricep dips run 250 metres abdominal routine - 30 full situps with 10kg medicine ball, 10 half sit up and tap ball from side to side by twisting 5x situps, then various others, maybe curls with the ab roller, planks, leg raises, whatever I feel like run 250 metres repeat abdominal sequence walk at about 4mph to finish off a complete hour - usually about 10 mins. This circuit is very aerobic, heart rate up the whole time.

Yes, I wonder too. Thankfully, its not my tendon, that's fine, its the bursa behind it, chronically inflamed. Its caused so they say by the fact that I overpronate, on both feet but particularly on that one, it pulls the tendon out of alignment, which rubs the bursa and causes it to inflame and fill with Fluid, When I get up of course, its all full of fluid, which is why it hurts, then as you move around it squeezes the fluid out of it. I had heelspurs in exactly that spot on both my feet that were surgically removed 22 years ago, so yes, I agree, its probably a hereditary structural problem, and my 11 year old son often gets severe pain in the same area after a basketball game. I think the doctors dont do anything about it because its a devil of a problem to fix basically. I do stretch, loads, because it makes the calf knotted and tight, which in turn starts to affect my back. But I've never really done it first thing in the morning, - it would make a lot of sense to!

I hate that you cant edit easily on here now, ARGH. Anyway, I said *battle* because head hunger is a problem to me becuase obviously my body wants food whether my stomach is telling me so or not, I have to be careful to plan a sensible snack is what I meant, otherwise I do just snack snack snack and pick pick pick on crap.

Yes, I have to battle this constantly. The band works for me in that I eat and then dont "feel" hungry for several hours in that my stomach wont tell me its hungry by rumbling and feeling empty. Instead I just get headaches, the shakes, nausea and dizziness. My band may restrict me to however many calories per day, doesnt mean my body can run on it. Since a fill to 2.6 where I could stil eat substantial amounts for a bandster, it still obviously wasnt enough for my body and from being a 3 meals a day eater, I really did begin to snack, now at 2.9 I HAVE to or I'm nauseous and ill by evening. Without my stomach rumbling once. I do run a lot and an EXTREMELY active, I can lose weight on up to 1800 calories a day, when I let my band have its way I probably get in 1000 to 1200 these days so I have to make the effort to slip just a little more in or I suffer.

Darn the editing on this site. Also if you're in an accident you could run into insurance issues for driving so soon after an operation, and also on the money side of it, wont you have to pay for accommodation too? You'd be nuts to do this, seriously. Take it easy and fly home.

Not much point saving money on the surgery if you wind up in an accident on the way home. Unless you're waiting 2 weeks or so to do it. I was well enough to go home and go for a gentle walk the next morning, but not to drive for a few days. You still have the anaesthetic in your system for starters so your reaction time will be poor and you'll be sleepy on and off. And then if you have to react quickly, you could tear open stitches or otherwise damage yourself. Driving doesnt generally save a lot of money. Fuel is expensive these days.

My doc said to me when he came in after the surgery that they'd gone with the smaller band becuase I had quite a small stomach, and not a huge amount of internal fat (well of course I had too much, I was obese but I carried most of it around my lower body), and he said I might find I needed more fill to get good restriction. Small stomach? News to me, lol. I could certainly fit a lot in it. But I'm tall and fairly fine framed so maybe I do have smallish organs, I dont know. But anyway, what he said has proven to be the case. Even at 2.9 I can feel restriction but can still eat bread and am far from tight. It doesnt matter to me, because I'm at a healthy weight now, but it certainly has caused me to wonder what on earth is wrong more than a few times because my experience is so different to the majority here. I never PB, I rarely get stuck, I havent had to give up ANY foods.

Hmmm, I just got filled to 2.9 from 2.6 and I can feel it now. But at 2.6 I could still eat quite a LOT, a whole sandwich in fact, which is quite unusual. It really is possible to have that much in your band and still not be properly restricted. But I have gotten a handle on stopping at satisfied, I dont eat till I"m sick ever. So yes, you really do need to control that behaviour or you will be at risk of stretching your pouch.

I would suspect that he doesnt want to lose weight the regular way at all, he just doesnt want to think about it. Perhaps just for now. He has the band in there, when he does become motivated it will be waiting for him. But it does have to be filled to work. In short, I dont think you CAN motivate anyone else. Its up to him alone. Its a hard thing to live with someone who's doing something to themselves that worries you. I dont think nagging, pleading or worrying is the answer, he has to do it becuase he wants to.

I dont see why in the world having a lap band would mean you cant eat out with your family, I get frustrated when people say this because I think its the wrong attitude. What I've gotten out of my band and what I feel I want to share so much with everyone is that I am no longer afraid of food. I dont HAVE to worry about where we're going to eat, what am I going to eat because I dont really care about food that much. Eat anywhere, there's ALWAYS something you can eat if you're one that cant tolerate certain foods. Dont worry about the portion sizes. If they're too large, leave most of it. Who the heck cares? Trying to get your money's worth out of food is an old dysfunctional idea that you had when you were fat. Obsessing about what you're going to eat is an old dysfunctional behaviour you had when you were fat. Just dont stress over it. Eat wherever you happen to end up, whatever you happen to see on the menu that fits in with what you can eat and what suits whatever particular style of eating you happen to follow, and if there's nothing low carb or whatever, well ONE meal is not going to make or break you. Just enjoy it! Focus on the holiday, not the food.

Oh, and I promise to do some before and after pics, I'm truly hopeless. I didnt do any before pics, but I've got some old prints from the previous few years before the surgery that I can scan in. And I'll get Doug to take a few afters now.

Kookaburra its been an entirely positive experience for me, I've had only two vomiting episodes in 18 entire months, I find my band easy to manage, easy to fit round my lifestyle, I've taken up running which is a joy to me, its the best best thing I ever did for myself. And I had a BMI of 35 and no real comorbidities, its much easier in Australia. And personally, I expect my GP to give me any referral I ask for, its your right. Its not up to your GP to decide whether you need the surgery or not, its up to you and the surgeon. And your GP should provide you that referral if you ask for it. And if she wont, I'd go to another doctor.

Its because for starters, I'm a seasoned runner and my body has become efficient at it so I probably DONT burn 1100 calories even though the *charts* or my HRM which I plug my height, weight, age, gender into says I should. I probably burn significantly less. Secondly just because *charts* say I should burn X calories a day doesnt mean my body actually does it - I mean, I've forced 80lb off my body over the last 18 months, its smarter than I am, perhaps its figured out a way to react so that I dont starve to death? Who knows?

I havent actually done a fun run yet this year, boohoo. Couldnt do the Run 4 the Kids as DH was playing golf that day. Couldnt do the Run to the G as we had a special screening of Shrek 3 to go to that day. Didnt do the Mothers day run as Doug set the alarm for 5PM not 5AM and I woke up at 7.20, grrrrr. Next one is the Melbourne Marathon in October, if I dont get lucky and get a plane flight to Sydney to do the City to Surf for my 40th birthday in August (fingers crossed). I'm tentatively thinking of going for the half marathon, eeek. I can run 12kms so it should be doable for me but I'm afraid of injury if I try to run so far, just not sure.

yes, you'd probably be able to get banded in Australia. I mean not that they'll band absolutely anyone who asks but you are technically obese and really, they've realised that many people pass through obese on their way to seriously obese and morbidly obese, an ounce of prevention etc. Most people dont become obese without eating problems in the first place. So yes, there's many medical professionals who believe you can be a band success story. Its obviously a little slower to come off than for a more obese person, but then you're probably more mobile and fitter and can exercise more to make up for that. If you go into it with the right attitude, you'll succeed.

ELoo, you sound like you just havent reached optimum restriction yet - how many fills have you had? Some people get terrific after surgery restriction due to swelling/healing and lose tons in that initial period, others dont but it takes most people a good few fills to reach optimum restriction. Dont lose heart, you'll get there.

I got banded on 9 December 2005, so in the Christmas season. I did wait until Christmas Eve to have a drink, and I took it very easy, since it was champagne! I had one or two on Christmas day and perhaps another one or two on New Years Eve. I'm not a heavy drinker, but I do drink moderate amounts of white wine, sometimes red, three or four times a week - just a glass with dinner usually. Its actually good for you. For the most part I'm waaaaay past needing alcohol to loosen up or actually wanting to get drunk at the ripe old age of 39, but I do love good wine. I dont get tipsy any quicker, but I dont really drink a lot either, I do notice though that my intake is curbed by my band because anymore than a glass or two and it starts to really burn my stomach, gives me heartburn. And for ages I drank a sip or two of wine whilst eating but now it really burns to do that too, although I'm fine to drink the wine slowly after my dinner - yes, I know you shouldnt drink so soon but I've never taken any notice of that rule, it doesnt seem to make a difference to me.

Argh, the edit on this site drives me nuts. Anyway, for Melbourne people I can highly recommend Gary Crossthwaite and the whole team at the the Bariatric Centre (The Avenue, Windsor), I see Peter Bacquie for fills, he's terrific. You can see Gary at Cotham Private, The Avenue or in Carlton I think, so whatever's easier, although follow up is done at The Avenue.