Jachut

OK, let me rephrase, 42g of carb a serving may be too high for some people, so they'd prefer not to eat that. But its entirely possible to eat meals that contain 42g of carb or more and still lose weight. Does that sound better?

It doesnt come off in the wrong way, like I said I"m entirely happy to be proven wrong. What matters is that we all get healthy. But the thing is I dont believe you can be sure you're correct either. None of that, absolutely none of it has been proven without a doubt. I agree entirely with you that insulin dependence and diabetes are a different kettle of fish, as are the entire group of people that fall into that metabolic disorder category, PCOS, hypercholesterolaemia, insulin resistence etc etc and there is much research supporting the fact that a decrease in carbs (mainly high GI carbs) is the way to go for these people. None of what you say is any more supported than what I lean towards believing. Sure, get on the internet, you can find plenty of info to support both sides and you always always have to question the quality of information you find online. If you search out information on the glycaemic index there is plenty to support the fact that its not carbs per se but the type of carbs that matter and that is open to debate as well. I dont for one minute wish to say that I am 100% right, I just wish to point out that there is plenty of room for debate on both sides of the argument. There's loads of people around who will swear that low carbing works for them, good luck to them, if its the way you want to do it then that's fabulous. I personally dont wish to take the health risks inherent in a low carb diet but that doesnt make me right. But my ticker below is proof that its entirely possible to lose weight and become healthy without cutting out carbs. You can also espouse the virtue of a high Protein diet for inexplicably improving blood chemistry and cardiovascular event risk and completely ignore the effect that a basically low carb diet has on bowel healtth. Its the same with other food fads, you can find PLENTY of information supposedly irrevocably proving that dairy causes mucous build up and is diabolical for humans - but that hasnt been proven either yet. I just think we all have to do what makes us personally feel best but it alarms me that people think protein shakes are a substitute for food - a canned, processed product in place of food the way nature made it? That's maybe my own personal bias I know but I dont think 1 or 2 soy based protein shakes a day as moderation - a couple a week is moderation!

Wow, its been a while since I checked in. I've been so so busy with uni, two big assignments due. I had to do a "multimodal artifact" for language and literacy and its taken a long time. I did a big powerpoint presentation, basically a digital storybook, 100 photos, all narrated telling the story about the cultural and socioeconomic influences on children's developing literacy - basically how a child like my daughter Eliza has it all on a platter (white middle class home, educated parents etc) whereas some children really really struggle and may not even speak English at home. I'm so proud of it, I put my heart and soul into it and its a technological masterpiece, all my hyperlinks work! I even printed a label for the CD so its got a gorgeous pic of Lizey on it. Its something we're going to work on in 3rd and 4th years and add to and then will form a part of our teaching portfolio, so a very important project. And its FINISHED!!!! Next week I start teaching rounds, so will be busy for a while yet. I really really want to try not to disappear now I'm at goal weight. Although wouldnt you know it, the minute I decide I'm done I lost another kg, lol. I got so much support and help from here I want to make sure I give some back. Hope you're all well, I had my 2nd ever PB the other night on takaway Nasi Goreng. But it was worth it, lol.

I agree with you entirely Krystal and I am definitley going to try this one out. I would eat this and enjoy it too. In moderation I dont see what's wrong with it, its very dependent upon what else you've had to eat that day. I dont want to come across as arguing with the high Protein low carb message every single time (but I know I do, lol), becuase really WHATEVER way you want to do it is the perfect way for you and it does work!. But I do feel moved always to point out in these threads that you dont *have* to do low carb to lose weight, the eat everything in moderation diet works very well too. I hate the idea that people might actually believe that you absolutely cannot eat carbs or that people might be browsing this site from Australia or elsewhere in the world where we're not advised to do protein first and think that being banded means a life on Atkins. It just doesnt if you dont want it to. Potato is a good healthy food, packed with Vitamins and minerals. Lasagne overall is a pretty calorific high fat dish so best eaten in moderation, but a small piece of this and salad for dinner wouldnt phase me. I've actually made lasagne with eggplant before instead of Pasta and it was delish!

RNY is not really an option here anyway and certainly wouldnt have been for me with a BMI of 35. But I just dont get what is so attractive about losing the weight so fast. Its not healthy for you, so many people end up looking really bad when they just drop tons all of a sudden, you have more skin problems etc. And mentally, I think its important to take the time to come to terms with the changes. Also the lap band only works if you work with it to change your habits over a period of time and that's got to be better in the long run. YOu dont want to be thin becuase you've starved yourself, you want to be healthy becuase you've changed the way you live. Long term I'd worry about malnutrition, osteoporosis, all sorts of things. If I needed to seriously lose 60kg or I was likely to have a heart attack any minute, I'm not sure even then I'd choose something so drastic since dropping weight so fast can increase your chances of exactly that occurring. Slow and steady wins the race.

Nothing. I paid my doc a once only $3,000 fee which was my only out of pocket expense and now I'm bulk billed for life which means I never have to pay anything out of pocket, they bill Medicare direct. The Australian health system is great.

It doesnt really work like that here. I just go and see my doc when I feel like it. At first it was every six weeks, now I'd only go if I had a problem or wanted a fill. Fills are my choice within reason, if I wanted a huge one he might say something but basically its up to me whether I want one or not. He'd advise me and probably wouldnt fill me if it wasnt a reasonable request but then I've never wanted to be or seen the need to be tight, so I havent had to argue.

Redken hair products (particularly CAT) and my bio ionic iSmooth straightener. acrylic nails. I've tried and tried to give them up, I'd much rather have healthy looking real nails than fake ones. But I cant even function without them, I cant stand the feeling of my nails breaking or peeling all the time, they always feel like they've just been cut and I hate that feeling. My hands are just much more "comfortable" with acrylic nails on, I can put them in Water, not worry about them etc.

For me its not chewing enough - I had my second ever PB the other night and there was a HUGE piece of meat there. I'm not sure I even chewed it at all, lol. Walking helps me if I'm a bit stuck, unfortunately I find it very hard to PB. I 'm sure I would have had a more normal amount of PB's (two in 16 months is pretty few) but where other people just huck it up, I dont. I was never a vomiter either. My sis used to say "I feel nauseous, I'm just going to throw up and then I'll feel better". I could never ever do that, for me I"m REALLY sick when I throw up. So for things stuck, I have to walk, stand on my head and hold my breath to increase intra-abdominal pressure, jump up and down, raise my arms over my head and all sorts of things to relieve the feeling whereas a lot of people would just PB and be done with it.

I think this is an important point. I think a lot of people either just plain cant imagine themselves looking normal or cannot allow themselves to ever hope they would be normal. Its a matter of baby steps.

I had a little bit of one, I was MOST alarmed. I had a double chin but not a really bad one, I never carried a lot of weight on my upper body, so fat face compared to now, yeah, but I was never really heavy there. For a while after my face thinned out I noticed a bit of a turkey waddle and figured, geez, I'm not happy about this but I am almost 40, sigh. Weight loss doesnt always do great things for your face - was it Zsa Zsa Gabor who said eventually you have to choose between your face and your bum? Anyway, I digress. That was about 8 months ago and it has improved somewhat. The skin has obviously caught up. I can pinch it and it stays pinched for a microsecond though. Dont talk to me about the dark circles under my eyes though - my face is now so bony that my deep set eyes look worse than ever. We all have to age. I think the secret is to learn to live with it and do it gracefully, otherwise you'll be a) spending hard earned dollars on useless expensive products promising miracles and cutting your face to pieces and ending up looking like a stunned mullet, or worse, like Nicole Kidman. Anyone who is an Aussie and remembers Nicole when she was fresh, young and natural with curls and freckles will know what I mean.

They're starting to consider banding people as low as BMI 30 in Australia now. But personally I dont know anyone that's been that low. Its pretty much because statistically, people that become obese tend to only get fatter. So its a preventative. Cheaper to tackle a smaller weight problem by banding than for the health system to maintain a diabetic for 40 years!

In terms of the weekly supermarket shop, nothing. We never ate a lot of fast food as a family and I always bought good quality food, and still do. That's a lot more expensive than eating packaged or junk foods. I always bought organic fruit and veg as well which means our grocery bill is about $300 per week (Australian dollars). Where I do save is on the day to day expenditure. I rarely buy lunch out anymore, whereas I always used to and I was forever buying coffee and a muffin at the shops. I rarely do that now. That would probably save me $30 a week but I buy so many more clothes now that we havent noticed the saving, lol.

I've posted the same question before. I really dont get it. First and foremost though, what anyone else wants to weigh is none of my business. But there is no way I'd settle for anything less than a "normal" BMI if I'd gone to the extent of weight loss surgery. Still, I've never been 200lbs overweight either. I think its a combination of things. On a practical basis, there is the reality that many people's bodies are just not going to keep losing all the way down to a healthy BMI, the motivation, the impetus just runs out and once you've been really heavy, it gets harder to get to a normal BMI. Plus you often have denser bones and more muscle as a result of having been so heavy so a normal BMI is not possible, yet you are not necessarily "overfat" at a BMI of say 28. But I definitely think there's an element of body dysmorphia at play. So many people say "my doctor says X but I would be way too skinny at X, so I'm going for Y". I think this is self deception to a point, you dont know that till you get there. Then again, I've gotten to a normal BMI but always wanted to be low in my healthy weight range because last time I weighed this I thought I was fat. And at 27, to be at the top of your healthy weight range probably is fatter than a lot of your peers are. But having gotten there again, a) I've done so much running to lose this weight that I am most definitely leaner than I was last time I was 78kg. I'm at least a dress size smaller at the same weight and its gotten so difficult to lose anything now that I'm officially calling myself "at goal". I'd like to lose five or six more kilograms, but if it doesnt happen, so be it, I dont want to become obsessed, start dieting like crazy or overexercising when I've just spent the last 16 months of my life working darn hard to achieve a normal relationship with food. Why get obsessed over a few kgs at this stage of the game? I think a more sensible approach is that "I will aim for y and then see where I go from there". I dont see how you CAN decide where you look and feel your best until you get there.

There's two problems I have with this. Number one is I dont believe in a high Protein diet. People seem to forget that the high protein diet has had its day and it didnt work to stem the increase of obesity. Its not "new" or "recent", high protein low carb diets were the fad all through the 60's and 70's - they didnt work then long term and they're not going to now. The ONLY way to lose weight long term is to eat less calories than you expend. None of the supposed justifications for low carb dieting have been scientifically proven. You lose weight because you're cutting out an entire food group. Secondly is Protein shakes are most often soy protein based, and there's a LOT of evidence around that a constant, high intake of soy can have negative health effects such as a dampening of thyroid function. Again, moderation. I dont think protein shakes every day is moderation. I'm quite happy to be proven wrong but I'm certainly not jumping on the bandwagon until the high protein peddlers are proven right.

Hi gals, did anyone watch The Truth About Size Zero last night? Really shocking. And made me very glad I dont do low carb!

Its going to be hard because not only will things tend to be higher fat, its more likely to be saturated fat. I'd avoid too much cheese, and if you're not worried about cholesterol, eggs are a better bet and of course you can always eat the whites. Nuts are good fat, but there might be too many carbs in them for you.

Gosh, what an ordeal. I wouldnt be at all happy that it took so long to diagnose gallstones, just from what you've said there, its quite obviously likely. YOu should most definitley not have had to suffer that for so long, a simple ultrasound earlier on would have shown it. Dont worry about the weight you gained, its not a lot and now you can get your band working for you, you'll lose it again in no time. Glad you're feeling better and more positive.

I think we ALL look at people we think are attractive. That's fine, in fact its kind of nice when you become aware that you've caught someone's eye. Its the whistling and yelling out comments etc that make you feel like a piece of meat - and the assumption that if you're out in public doing something like jogging then you're somehow putting yourself out there to be treated like that.

I've never been overfilled. I did find a very brief sweet spot - in that it fit the general description, half a cup of food at a time sort of thing, but all that meant was not that I lost weight but that I'd eat and be starving an hour later. Its simply fact, I need to eat more than that to keep running. So a sweet spot for me would be more like a cup to a cup and a half of food, I lose eating that much and I dont get so hungry. Its different for everyone. Its also defined by your lifestyle, to me a sweet spot does not mean I cant eat bread for example, whereas for lots of people it does mean that.

Here's proof that numbers mean nothing - I tried on my wedding dress last night and it actually fit. I'm 6 whole kg - about 15lb heavier than I was when I wore that dress and it fit easily. That's proof that all that running has put muscle on my body, toned me and that my thought that I am leaner at 78kg than I was 12 years ago is right. Great NSV, lol. I guess it was easy to re-evaluate my goal too because I just plain havent lost any significant weight in about 5 months, no more than 3kg.

I have to be careful with anything on crackers. I try to stay away from Peanut Butter as I'm prone to eating it by big spoonfuls.

The only thing you can do at first is pick something in your healthy weight range. Me being me, I picked low in my healthy weight range - I was 72kg when I got married and I felt awesome. I've just decided I've reached my goal! At 78kg I really was beginning to look at myself and think, you know, I just dont NEED to lose anymore. I'm not 23 anymore which is how old I was when I got married. I feel my face is just on the verge of getting gaunt and you can already see the ribs on my chest, my collarbones have huge hollows, my shoulders and shoulder blades are downright skinny. I can see what will happen is that if I lose 6kg more, my upper body would jsut get scrawny and I'd still have lots of padding on my behind. My stomach is the stomach of a 39 year old woman who's had 3 babies, so looking for perfection there is stupid, its flat in clothes and I dont have even the hint of an apron, so what more would I want? My son asked me the other day "mum, why are your hands so bony" He's nine, bless his heart and still has gorgeous little childish hands with dimpled knuckles. I stil have cellulite and I'm pear shaped, I am an Australian size 14 which is still quite large compared to some other women but I"m much much taller too of course. I think I'm about 175lb in imperial measurements. I have a roll on my belly when I sit down. But darn it, I'm 39 and I've had 3 babies. What am I "supposed" to look like? I just look like everyone else walking around in the street, I can wear the latest fashions, that's all I care about. I dont need to look perfect. So I figured, I think I'm done! I may lose a few more kg's as I just had a fill and its tighter than I was but I'm not hanging out ever week to see that scale move down and I'm not planning on eating less or differently to what I do now. I run because I love it, not to lose weight. So my goal weight came UP from my original one, not down, but I'm just so happy. My dietician wanted me to shoot for 87kg way back at the start of this journey. I was scornful. No way was I going through surgery to still be overweight, I just plain dont agree with setting a goal that is still overweight - well not in a case like mine where I was less than 100lb overweight to begin with.

I agree with Marimaru's sis, you DO have to be very careful about not using plastic surgery to run away from yourself. I feel for you, this doesnt sound like its about your weight at all. I'm glad you're going to see a therapist becuase in the end, you have to face the fact that you're YOU and you cant ever be anybody else. So learning to love you is vitally important.

I avoid frozen foods for the most part, and I also avoid Protein bars and shakes as there is some credible information out there that taking in that much soy based protein on a regular basis is quite dangerous. Fresh food is the best, its as simple as that, and even better if you can source organic produce. I buy very very little that comes in boxes or packets. Of course we all need some convenience products now and again but I really truly believe a large part of concquering your weight problem is in learning to shop and cook from scratch, around your schedule. There's no point saying you're too busy as you will never be as healthy as you want to be if you continually eat convenience foods. Become an avid label reader, it really pays. Its like with carb foods too - check how many of the carbs are from sugar, if its a high percentage, perhaps dont eat it, if its not then its a good carb food. Check the fat, check the protein and check the salt are the main things.