Jachut

Sheesh, after helping my SIL with a garage sale this weekend, I realise I'm not as bad as I thought. I'm not a hoarder, I throw out everything, so although we get messy, and its hard to get to the actual cleaning, its not too bad. We dont have rubbish lying around or stuff piled up etc. I realised we could pack up and move out of this house in a weekend easily. I know where everything is, its in logical places except for a few hotspots where junk gets stored. My SIL has that much crap its not funny, it has taken them 3 months to get ready to leave their house to move to Canada. She has baby clothes and toys and her kids are 9 and 7. She has old notes from when she was at university 20 years ago for pete's sake. I dont know how you clean around that much junk. I try to streamline it as much as possible and I still struggle, but I struggle with stuff like cleaning a bathroom and then the boys do their hair and there's huge gloops of dried rock hard hair gel over the taps and mirrors kind of thing. Maybe I'm not as bad as I thought I was!

I feel very negatively towards most self help books - particularly parenting and toddler taming ones, lol - I cant STAND being told what to do by a so called expert. I do things my own way so self help books are not for me.</p> I just tend to think its someone cashing in on people's vulnerabilities and making a buck because they thought up some crackpot theory that sounds plausible. I wont part with money for things like that. Positive thinking is terrific and a very important part of changing your life though. If a book helps you to get your head around that then its a worthwhile investment. But I'd take all the glowing tributes and recommendations with a grain of salt.

My doc is the complete opposite, its taken me five fills to get to 2.5ml in my band. I'm not sure that such an aggressive fill would have been for me. I've really needed to do this in stages and I see no reason to be one whisker tighter than I have to be. I didnt want to lose my 90lb in 2 months, and I didnt want to put up with the side effects of being tight. But that doesnt make it wrong, it would suit a lot of people. But personally, I want to be able to eat the most food and the widest variety possible whilst remaining a stable weight (or whilst losing during my losing phase). That's the best way to get in all you need for good health. I think your doc's way of doing it could save a lot of people a lot of frustration, but isnt there a strong belief out there that sneaking up on restriction gradually lowers risks of complications?

Me. I guess I have some. There's nothing that "hangs" at all, dressed I can look very slender and dont have to hide bits of myself because they bulge. But I am "flabby" between the waist and knees, and its hard to tell if any of that is excess skin, I'm sure it is, but I've never had a particularly firm figure. I also dont have a particularly bad figure, I'm somewhere in between. Like most people if you cut me round the middle and removed an inch or two I'd probably look better but I can categorically state that for the amount of flab I have, the risk of surgery and the scarring would be ridiculously out of proportion to my problem.

I run because its time efficient, I dont have time for a gym, but I also dont have a schedule as busy as yours. But having a treadmill at home provides a fantastic back up for me, I wouldnt get half the exercise I do because sometimes its 9.30 at night before I have the time, and I cant go out alone then. I hate getting on the treadmill at 9.30 but I make myself do it. But I also think you have to be realistic about what you can fit in and realise that it wont always be this way. Your son will get older and you'll be able to exercise around him more easily. But I do think that banding has been successful for me becuase I did it at a time when I could afford to devote some time and energy to myself, had I done this 5 years ago when I had 3 small children it would have been a helluva lot harder.

How do you do it? I try try try but I cant manage it. It really is inherent in our personalities. I got the house cleaned up yesterday and before I knew it, the kids had made hot chocolates in the kitchen, spilled the Milo everywhere, dirty spoons, cups full of mucky milk and chocolate left out, Eliza had cut up paper all over the family room floor (I was working last minute on an assignment due today) and then she came looking for money to play with and emptied my handbag out on the bedroom floor which I'd also vacuumed yesterday. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! It seems no sooner do I do something than its undone. Does anyone else get in a bad mood when they're cleaning? It takes about five minutes before I'm yelling and abusing everyone. It puts me in a foul temper to just pointlessly do the same thing again and again and again.

Oh, if you're not losing its entirely another matter! I would get a fill too in those circumstances. Its more that I've often thought along various stages of my journey "how come I can eat this and others cant" and wondered if I should have more fill, but then, I was losing so couldnt see why in the world I would. Its so individual for people that it can become very confusing. And me personally, I'd trade being able to eat bread for getting off a final 6 or 7kg in a heartbeat but I *wouldnt* trade being 6 or 7 kg lighter with difficulty eating, not being able to eat out or pbing with any regularity. I would have traded that for being 40kg lighter though!

Well that's good news isnt it? Oh, for a break! To be able to just eat without thinking about getting stuck. I rarely do, and even less often do I PB but its always there in my mind.

I personally dont have a lot of problem with my arms, they have shrunk down and I have the normal mild bat wing effect that you develop as you age. I've tired toning too and the same thing - the tops of my arms and shoulders are lovely but the underneath not so great. I can wear sleeveless things etc but just have to remember not to wave, roflmao! There has been discussions on here about a new type of arm lift where its all done through the armpit and avoids the big long scar. I paid no attention because its not something I need but a google search should find you some info.

I've had 5 fills to get to 2.5 and I can still eat bread (probably half a sandwich, I can eat a McDonalds cheeseburger) etc. I've gotten to goal weight in the time its taken me to seek good restriction so I dont really care anymore, but I can sense that it would only take one more tiny one and I'd be there. I just no longer really need to be. I'm still thinking about it though because I'm a healthy, normal weight now, but at the high end of my range and I really would like to still be 6 or 7kg lighter.

In your position, I've opted not to fill. Its not that I *cant* give up foods like bread because it would be well worth it, but that I've gotten to a normal weight anyway without giving them up and I just dont want the downsides of a bandster lifestyle, PBing and getting stuck all the time. Obviously the restriction I've had, whilst some would call it inadequate, has been enough for me. So I'd even disagree politely with DrC there, in that if you're losing weight, you dont necessarily have to get filled just because you can eat a cheeseburger. You'd need to be filled if you couldnt stop yourself eating cheeseburgers, but if you can make good food choices and eat sensible amounts with little fill then there's no need for any more fill, unless you find you're overeating all the time and stop losing. I *can* eat a cheeseburger but I dont choose to 99.9% of the time so I wouldnt say I need to be filled.

Whoa, you certainly are busy! I hate cooking, but have hungry mouths to feed so I'm in a totally different situation.

I cant stand anything that comes in a box like that, but its a good easy solution provided there's not too much salt or too many additives - read the labels. I tend to cook big portions when I cook and freeze in single sizes, even zip loc bags of rice etc so there is nearly always something in my freezer I can grab if I dont want to join in on the pizza or fish and chips. Other than that I cook every night. I think long term for your health and your weight, it really is necessary to commit to shopping for and cooking fresh food.

A lot of people need to be near full capacity before they feel restriction. But a very small fill could take you there. In the meantime, what are your routines now?. Are you actively cutting down on food intake and upping your exercise? The band really has for me required a VERY active participation in the weight loss process, I've had a surprisingly little amount of restriction from fills, to be able to still eat bread at my stage isnt common. I've found exercise for weight loss needs to be serious business (well for me anyway). Walking didnt cut it, I now run an hour five or six times a week. That kept the weight moving off for me although of course it took me a year to build up to that. But an hour of whatever exercise is similarly intense at your particular stage (could be brisk walking!) five or six times a week is a great idea.

Your taste buds dont change but you stop wanting things if they're hard to eat - like I said, I eat Pasta, rice and bread but I'd eat a slice of bread once in a blue moon - its difficult to eat, I have to chew it VERY carefully and it fills me up - to the point of discomfort if I dont watch it. Its also one of those foods for me that I think has gone down fine and OUCH, five minutes later. So its a rarity that I would choose to eat it, when I'm thinking "hmmm, what will I have to luch, I think sandwich?Nah..". Ditto donuts etc. They still taste excellent! But they're most definitely not worth the trouble.

About 1500. I eat what I ate before only less of it and without all the snacks. Today I've had muesli with greek yogurt and pureed berries for breakfast, I had a thick vegetable and lentil soup for lunch with a slice of the spelt bread I make for my wheat sensitive son, I've had a couple of coffees and we're having lamb chops, mashed potatoes and steamed veg for dinner. I'll probably have a glass of wine too.

Hi Sue, I'm in Melbourne, but there's plenty of surgeons in Sydney, however you'd probably do best to go to your GP, tell him what you want to do and ask for a referral, he'll find you someone. I was operated on by Mr Crosthwaite at The Avenue in Windsor and it cost me $3,000 out of pocket (that's with private health insurance).

That's the thing about fitness goals - they are TRULY achievable. If you set reasonable ones, over time you can get there. It doesnt rely on being just so, fitting into a certain size, looking a certain way, none of that matters. Everybody can achieve fitness goals when they're the right goals for them. Not everyone can go out and run every single day. People, myself included do have injuries and problems that make that impractical. But each and every one of you CAN get to the point where you will be able to run some distance and its not even that much related to your weight loss. That's what's so good about exercise. Set the right goals and you will achieve and feel that sense of accomplishment, completely independent of whether you've stuck to your diet, whether you've lost the weight you wanted to. In fact I think that's when exercise really became a joy for me, when I stopped thinking of it as part of my weight loss efforts and viewed it as a separate thing. So I exercise whether I've eaten well or poorly that day, whether its Christmas or Easter. I never used to do that, my exercise behaviour was always linked to my eating behaviour and I was being "good" or "bad".

We dont state our weight on our licences here anyway. It seems nuts to just keep reissuing the same photo! Regardless of weight gain or loss people change so much over the years. I think I havent aged much, no saggy skin yet etc but when I look at a photo of myself at 28 I want to cry, lol. So fresh faced!

I refuse to be offended by this type of attitude, if you dont suffer from it then you cant understand it and its as simple as that. For many people if they find they gain a bit of weight over time, they quit eating so much and they lose it, end of story. Its not that simple for others, that's the difference. But I cant understand not being able to say no to a drink for example, or why people cant just get off their lazy butts and go out and exercise (barring injury and infirmity of course). Same thing.

She didnt necessarily have a diagnosis, it may be her own "feeling" on what was going on. Its like starvation mode, there's no difinitive proof that exists and certainly if it does, we must get beyond it because people can and do starve to death and become extremely thin in the process. We know that we do store toxins in fat. I'm not sure what I believe here but I do know I went through a period where I felt like a toxic waste dump and had ALL sorts of hormonal issues which have stabilised now and I was certainly told that it could be caused by estrogen imbalances in my body due to the storage of estrogen in fat.

I agree with Julie, its a control issue. I love that no band has made me do this, that I have transformed myself from if not a couch potato, certainly sedentary into an "athlete" of sorts. I love that I have total control over this area of my life, Just Do It is a great motto and I do just do it. I dont let things get in the way, I value it and put it first. That makes it MY time. I've had troubles with my DH wanting a slice of the action. He sees the benefits and wants them too but leans on ME to make it happen for HIM. He wants me to run with him becuase he doesnt want to go on his own, he wants to enter fun runs with me but then is too wimpy to run through a bit of minor discomfort and short windedness to make that fitness happen. I got very narky about it and in the end told him this was MY thing, for ME and ME only and if he wanted to do it he had to push himself, make his own challenges. I'd love to have a fun run buddy but I am not responsible for making sure he gets fit enough to do it. I love that running is something that people are a bit in awe of, like I must have a special determinedness to have made it happen, to have gotten to this point. I am like that, when I set my mind to something I generally do it and I do it well and I'm proud of my fitness achievements. I love the headspace, thinking time and the mood lift it gives me. I've been under a lot of stress lately with some big life decisions and also doing teaching rounds so out of my normal routine and the running suffered. I had a very slack week or two. I feel SO much better, happier and more positive for having been out for a good long run the last two mornings!

I lost about 90lb and it took me 14 months to do it, I havent lost anymore since then even though I havent changed anything. I'm just inside the top of my healthy weight range, so considered normal weight. I'd like to lose a bit more I guess but dont really care enough about it to change things so much as to make it happen. I did it on a normal everyday diet. I eat carbs (good ones). I dont count Protein. I ate less and moved more - I run an hour five or six days a week. I didnt get scientific about it. I lost fast sometimes, slow others and not at all for weeks on end. I've never had my band tight, had only one or two PB's and dont get blocked up very often. I kept my hair, havent had any complications, so all in all a pretty easy, smooth journey for me.

I had to renew my licence last year too but funnily enough, the old one was 10 years old and I wasnt fat 10 years ago, so I dont look very different, just the usual change of hairstyle and a few extra wrinkles. My student card was funny however. I got a new one in the mail and they'd just reused the old pic from 4 years ago. So there's one bloated fat face staring back at me. I went to use it the other day (you can load up money on it and then use it to buy stationary, coffee etc) and since there's a big problem with people swapping cards to get the discount for being student union members, they now check the ID carefully. The guy in the coffee shop refused to believe it was me, lol. I had to give him my drivers licence so they could see that it at least had the same name on it.

There's some truth to this - I'm now at 78kg and I feel great, there is still more that I could lose as I tend to feel/look better at the lower end of my healthy weight range. But there is no doubt that I am way thinner at 39 years old and 78kg than I was when I was in my late 20's and 78kg. I'm definitely got less fat and more lean body mass now than I did back then - both as a result of having been 113kg for a while and as a result of all the running I do now. The charts give you a range to aim for, however the correct body weight for you is where your body fat percentage is in a healthy range and that may not correspond to the charts. Even that's not really right since the right weight for you to SOME degree has to be where you feel most comfortable. Its not all about physicality, there's a mental element to it as well.