Jachut

I dont have bumper stickers. I particularly hate cutesy girlie ones, Ripcurl and Billabong ones (surfgear) that all the silly little 18 year old girls get around with. FIGJAM, etc for all the hoons. Puhlease. I dont feel the need to broadcast my feelings, my status or my political ideology on my car. But the irony of a complete and utter slob with a No Fat Chicks sticker doesnt escape me. What a loser.

If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or ability - what would it be? I've gone oh, YES to every single answer. I want all those things, lol. I want to be compassionate and have good hair and be able to sing and be more organised and and and and ..... lol.

I never fails to surprise me how much power there is in eating slowly. When I dont do it, I overeat everytime, I suddenly get stopped by feeling that I'm going to EXPLODE. Its horrendously painful and uncomfortable. When I eat slowly it never happens, not only do I recongise the softer stop signal but I've gotten more satisfaction from what I've eaten and therefore dont feel a mental desire to keep stuffing it in.

What, if anything, is too serious to joke about?Child abuse If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be?This is SO shallow but I wish I had good hair. I wish I could just wash it and let it dry and it would look good and that it was long, straight and thick. Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them?My friend Michelle. They have an acre and a huge house and a pool and she doesnt have to work becuase they're loaded and their three boys just have the most fantastic lifestyle, they're into every sport, they have a holiday house, yet these people are not all hung up on their money, they're just really down to earth, happy people. I on the other hand AM hung up on money and if I ever had their kind I'd turn into real wanker with all the trappings of new found wealth. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what woud it be?I sort of resent that I was pushed out of home too early. I got married at 23, pretty much because I'd known Doug since I was 16 and my parents made it really hard for us to carry on any sort of adult relationship. They started hinting that it was time I moved out the minute I finished uni and got a job, like their job in supporting me was over. So that's what we did. All my friends and both my sisters on the other hand lived at home till 26 and had loads of money for their first homes. They're all living in million dollar homes now and we're stuck in this brick veneer in godawful bogan Narre Warren - although we have a big income we cannot afford to move because our house is worth peanuts becuase of where it is. I blame my parents solely for that, we had no deposit because I was pretty much kicked out and told it was time to become independent whereas they cut my sisters way more slack. That's the problem with being the oldest. If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it?No way. Would you rather arrive at a party underdressed or overdressed?Overdressed. What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences?The experience. Nothing mystifies me more than seeing people miss the experience because they're too busy videoing it. In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more?If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf?Talk, but I'd rather be deaf than blind.

It was pretty trippy!

I dont know, its a frustrating problem. I've had more breakage and loss of condition than shedding, but I"m really active and I still eat up to 2000 calories a day WITH a band plus I take supplements, so I'm pretty sure Im not terribly deficient in anything. And yet it still happens. I dont think anyone really knows why.

Its scary isnt it? I've got no part widening or hairline issues so for ages I noticed nothing, but one layered haircut and there's no volume at the ends of my hair anymore. And its dry dry dry. Really damaged, I'm spending a fortune to get it back in shape.

Dont worry about it from a weight point of view since eventually you have to go back to real food. If over time calories in are less than calories out you'll lose weight. Any minor stalls are not important. Just keep to liquidy things for now, personally I wouldnt eat cheese, but I do remember dipping a spoon in the hummus a few times!

If you get a huge fill you run the risk of ending up too tight and it really seems that can start off a chain of problems in finding a good level for you. Be patient, sneak up on your good restriction again. What was that doctor thinking? You werent having problems were you, like constant PBing and difficulty eating? If not, you should be able to get there again, but take it slow. And ditch that negative therapist, its ENTIRELY possible to lose weight with the band! Good luck!

I kid you not, I once sat in my bedroom for hours as a 16 year old with red cellophane taped over my eyes because I read that it curbed your appetite.

I agree completely with the litres and litres of Water thing. Its crapola. You drink when you're thirsty till you're not thirsty same as with eating. How on earth can shoving litres of water that you dont want down your gullet help? It does not flush anything from your system and it doesnt help your skin either. All the Fluid in your cells is derived from the metabolism of fat, not from water you drink. You dont drink water and it plumps out your skin, just doesnt happen that way. Water is good for you and not drinking enough is not good for you. But you dont have to force it down your throat every second of the day. Other fluids count too, even when they contain undesirables like caffeine. And if I'm hungry I'm hungry, drinking water doesnt solve the problem. And I dont know about anyone else, but my body is evolved enough to tell me that its thirsty. It doesnt mix its signals and tell me its hungry when really its thirsty!

Its never too late for a career change! I went back to uni at 36 to to a Bachelor of Primary Education, I'm half way through now. I'll be 42 when I finish, and the way I see it, I probably have 15 to 20 years of work ahead of me at that point, so I may as well do something I want to be doing. Also, life is rather annoying in that when your kids go back to school, its just not as easy as people think to return to work. You still have to worry about before and after school, and holidays. Teaching is so family friendly! I'm loving uni life. It aint hard that's for sure! I've been on holidays since November, lol, not going back till the end of Feb. I wanted to do teaching when I finished school but there was no teaching work in Victoria in the mid 80's.

This is a bit of a bone of contention for me. First and foremost I think the right weight for you is the one YOU choose, and if that's 20 lb above your ideal weight then so be it. But it does disturb me that so many people say "I should weigh 115 but that would be too skinny, its ridiculous, so I'm shooting for 135". That makes no sense to me. If its your ideal healthy weight range, it wont be too skinny (but you personally might not like how you look at that weight, especially if you end up looking older!). There's nothing that says that because you've been obese, that you're not allowed to reach a healthy weight. Personally, I think in many cases, its a reflection of how obese people simply cannot see themselves as they are, and the fear that many have of truly being of normal weight. They feel they must stop short of that for some reason. On the other hand if you have to exist on 900 calories a day and exercise for two hours a day to maintain your "ideal" weight you may not want to do that and I cant say I'd blame you. I would choose to be heavier too. It depends what your goals are and how difficult you find your weight to maintain. It also depends a lot on what you're doing it for. At 39 and with no health problems, my motivation was to prevent future problems but was also a lot to do with vanity and how I look. So there's no way I'm stopping here at 180lb and 5ft 10. I didnt have surgery not to reach a weight low in my healthy weight range (based on my build of course). But if I were 55 and had beaten diabetes and back pain, reduced my sky high blood pressure and cholesterol through weight loss, I dont think I'd be disappointed with a weight that was a big higher! Its entirely your choice. I knew I wanted to get to 75kg at most when I started this journey, but I may adjust it when I get there, as will probably nearly everyone who's initially picked a 70% weight lost number or a no longer obese number. You stop where you're happy and all that matters is that YOU'RE happy.

I'm no high Protein advocate as you all know. I say it often enough. But I do wholeheartedly believe that the whole high carb/low fat food pyramid that we were fed all through the 80's and 90's is a crock. Its a big reason why the population has just got fatter and fatter. Drinking a glass of Water with lemon juice in the morning will kickstart your metabolism- ah, bulldust. I also think Atkins philosophy is ridiculous - all you want of steak, cheese, eggs? May as well just shove it all down your aorta, that's where its going to end up anyway. Eat anything you want in moderation DOES work for me, but my idea of moderation when I was fat was slightly dysfunctional, lol.

Oh, counting calories WORKS in that sense, there's no argument to that. But whether or not you want to do it is up to you. I'd rather stay the weight I am than log what I eat, count calories "officially" etc. For me, to think that much about food, and what I cant have makes me want it all the more. I eat less when I dont think about it.

What's obsessive for one person is not for another too of course. But I think if you're having panic attacks becuase you know you have to miss a gym session, that's probably obsessive. If your husband and all your friends leave you because you keep telling them how many calories are in each thing you eat, that's probably obsessive. Of course logging onto LBT all day long instead of doing any housework is NOT obsessive.

I dont have any loose skin, I had a BMI of 35 when I started this. I've lost about 75lb (roughly converted from metric). Now dont get me wrong, I have flab, cellulite and a podgy tummy, but I'm 40 and have had 3 big babies. I dont have a stomach that I can flash around in a bikini but its perfectly flat, just a little loose the way post pregnancy tummies are. I didnt have any stretchmarks whatsoever so I think I'm just lucky that I've got good skin.

Try not to listen to them :-) . Really. Its very natural to have second thoughts but its really misplaced self judgement that causes them, not anything real. If you were having your gall bladder removed or an angioplasty or repair to a broken bone, you wouldnt be having second thoughts becuase it wouldnt be your fault right? Well its not you're fault you're having this surgery either. As far as surgical procedures go, this is a very safe, short and uncomplicated one in 99.9% of cases. It really really helped me to think of my weight problem as something broken, and that I would not hestiate to have surgery to fix my stupid troublesome ankle, nor did I even think about a planned caesarean for my third baby (and there were two lives at stake there!). Its really no different. Something is broken and you're fixing it. Its time to stop the self recrimination and just get on with the job of what you need to do to get better. And your surgery is the very first step in that process. Dont worry, there's plenty of hard work to follow, you'll feel like youve done it yourself, that's for sure. In six months time you'll be feeling pride in your achievements. This is a beginning, not some terrible ending that you've come to.

I'm afraid of the camera too! I have a real problem with seeing myself how I am, I imagine I look better than I do, lol. No truly, and when I was fat I didnt see it when I looked in the mirror but to get a real glimpse in a photo was horrifying. So I became afraid of photos. And I still am. Now I get a more pleasant shock, but I cant shake the fear. And I'm not photogenic. I look OK I guess, about the same as most people, not gorgeous, not ugly. But I often come out looking TERRIBLE in photos, I always manage to do something that makes me look like I have 4 chins and I have very deep set, kind of small almond shaped eyes, that disappear in photos, I always come out with my eyes shut or if I'm smiling, they disappear altogether.

Its not just about Protein, its about nutrition in general. B Vitamins, zinc and Iron are all important for hair too. That's where some good carbs in your diet are useful. I havent shed from the scalp but have had tons and tons of hair breakage, due to probably not getting enough of everything, it seems to have improved now, but of course when you've got long hair, it will take several years for the thickness and smoothness I had to return. Now I have a gazillion little corkscrew curls (broken hairs and new hairs coming through) sticking out through my basically straight hair.

That definitely sounds like you have a tummy bug, not a band related blockage. Vomiting isnt good for your band and there's always the possibility of causing some damage, but chances are you're fine, take it easy when you do eat, and if you have pain, loss of restriction, increased restriction beyond maybe some swelling, any strange things like that, then follow up with your doc. But really, its repeated PBing and vomiting that is problematic, a once off is probably nothing to get too worked up about. I'm sorry you're sick though, hope you feel better very soon.

I hate it when you buy Tshirts the look lovely but dont wash well. One of our bigger dept stores, Myer, does this Innovare brand, and they always have the Tshirts stacked in lovely colours, makes me want to buy them. They're nice T's, fine and not to thick with nice trim, no chunky neck or arm bands etc. One wash though, the shrink UP terribly and the bottom hem loses its shape and expands outwards, so you end up with this short swing top kind of thing.

Oh, you're a sweetie! I'm just ME now. I dont feel that way anymore, getting older is great in terms of how you come to accept yourself. But boy it made for painful teenage years.

That is my story too Kyethra. I grew up thinking of myself as fat and being shamed for my size, when I look at photos, I wasnt fat in the least, ever. I was taller than average and not being tall and very slender, that translated into just plain fat. I'm an Australian size 16 at the moment, which is about a US 12 and I'd now be described as thin-ish - definitely not fat, but not model slender. Yet I can still shop in the plus stores if I choose to. Which brings me onto my peeve - what adult in their right mind would speak to a child's mother in her presence, saying things like "she's not fat, she's just solid" or my most hated "she's just a big girl". It was like a tacit agreement that I may not have been obese but people still felt sorry for me for not having been born little and delicate. Even when I was fat, I'd often envy my much more obese girlfriend because she's still petite. She's not nearly 6 ft tall, she doesnt have big feet, she's round but still feminine in a way I can never be. I'm not as big or built like a man, so what on earth is wrong with being 5ft 10 and a size 12?

Fills do more than help - they are what makes the band work. If you've been unfilled, its highly doubtful you'll have damaged the band. And the beauty of it is now you're ready to work with it, its there and waiting!