Jachut

sigh. yes. I read all these posts about plastic surgery success, and I so admire and am so happy for these people. Trouble is, I dont have enough of a problem to justify plastic surgery and even if I did, there's no way on earth that I'd ever divert so much of our family budget to it. Its just not right for our personal situation. My kids education and where we live and what we live in mean more to me than the superficialities of my naked body. I look find dressed so I'm pretty happy with what I've achieved. I dont look that bad naked either, lol. But I've got a pair of boobs I could probably tie around my neck (they're pretty impressive all trussed up though!) and my tummy looks like the tummy of a 40 year old who's had 3 babies. Which is what I am. My backside and thighs look 40 too. I look but dont look. Its life. I'm going to get old. That's the simple truth. I could spend a fortune now fixing what really is natural as I havent suffered too much due to weight loss, I've been very lucky on that score. But I just kind of think, why spend $25,000 making my body look 30 when in 15 years time I'll be nearing my 60's. I'm still going to get old, its still all going to drop. I just think my best bet is to comfort myself that I look a darnsite better than a lot of my peers now, I'm in the BEST shape fitness wise that I can be in, I appreciate my body for what it can do, and I've pushed it to the limits on that score and achieved things I never thought I'd achieve and that makes me proud and happy. A bit of flabiness is not going to rain on my parade. I have absolutely nothing against PS, I think its a fantastic way to end this weight loss journey, its just not for me for those reasons. My solution to the minor flaws I now have is what I've just said - positive thinking and an appreciation for your body for what its done for you. I have 3 beautiful healthy children as a trade off for that soft belly!

Yes, I'm more of a grazer by nature. I like a meal at night, but I dont really want Breakfast and I dont really want lunch, I just want bits and pieces all day long. It doesnt work for me, I MUST override this natural urge. If I get my 3 squares in, I'm much much much better, and I lose weight. Snacking is something I try to avoid. My biggest problem though is not eating lunch and wanting to snack - its making myself eat lunch in the first place! I just tend to think "later" and dont do it and end up eating all afternoon. I dont think I'll ever override this but I can control it most of the time and my band has worked well and I'm almost at goal weight. I dont look at my band as a solution, I see my eating habits as something I am going to have to control for the rest of my life, not something that will ever be "fixed". Its tiresome but I've accepted that its just the way it is. I dont demand perfection of myself, good enough most of the time works just fine.

I know this question isnt directed at me, and I dont wish to cause debate on this particular topic, but it does disturb me so much that I spoke pretty strongly on it. I wouldnt teach a 10 year old ANYTHING about that. But then I dont see admiring a woman's body as somethng that they need to be taught not to do. Slavering, drooling, being rude or obvious, yes, but simply looking and admiring?. Nothing wrong with that. Although I'd have a fit if my 11 year old had thoughts like that in his head yet. There's no way they'd get there unless I put them there. I guess I felt so strongly about it because I dont see that as teaching a boy to respect women, I see it as entirely inappropriate and a little "off". Respecting women isnt about not looking at their boobs and its not even about holding doors open and stuff like that. I think respecting women is about getting up in the middle of the night for moral support because the baby is screaming and she's the one who has the boobs that the baby wants. Its about mopping the floor and helping with the housework and truly putting in half the work with the kids. Not about never noticing another pair of boobs ever in your life once you're committed to someone.

Now that puts my mind at rest, NOT, lol. Seriously though, who cares. I was allowed to leave my undies on though, as long as I wore cotton and they told me to wear an old pair becuase they'd probably get betadine all over them, which they didnt. But I was surprised I was allowed to. They drape you all over and just have the bit they're working on exposed, not your whole naked glory.

Yeah, I guess I spoke strongly. I dont think that those who dont want sex before marriage think its dirty, it was more that I tend to think that teaching a 10 year old not to look at women would lead him to that conclusion. But I understand that that's just my take on it and not necessarily how it was.

Sorry to offend gadgetlady, I dont think I was ridiculing your sentiment, I just happen to vehemently disagree with it. Its your right to admire your'e friend's outlook, just as its mine to think its rather unhealthy.

It IS all a mater of perspective and values so I'd hate to be disrespectful but it disturbs me deeply when people make sex and natural interest in the opposite sex dirty in that way. That to me is entirely dysfunctional. I'd be more likely to assume not that that boy would make someone an awesome husband one day but that he'll be in therapy one day for treatment for his addiction to pornography or his deep seated shame over masturbating his teens and 20's away as most boys typically do. Its a natural thing, whether or not you do it outside of a marriage is entirely a personal decision and nobody has the right to say you're right or wrong in that. But to imbue it all with a sense of shame and grubbiness is a shame. And I believe she's making a 10 year old aware of things he really shouldnt even be aware of yet, probably doing more harm than good. She's effectively teaching him that the female body is shameful and that females are wanton creatures there to tempt him. What on earth does that do that's postive?

I would think that you know if you feel basically sound and you're right, what will be will be. Rushing into casualty now wont change anything. If you're going to the doc tomorrow, I'd be more inclined to try to rush a trip to your surgeon than actually go to the hospital. I do occasionally get days where my stomach can really hurt with the type of pain you're describing, not as intensely as what you're saying, and not for as long but everynow and then I wake up with a feeling in my stomach, kind of like the pain you get when you're going to vomit but with no associated nausea. It can only be my band and its happened probably 3 or 4 times in the last year. But it goes away within a day or two and I'm none the worse afterwards. Here's hoping like heck that its something temporary for you.

I didnt have to do one but I had happened to have a liver ultrasound before I saw my surgeon so going by that he said it would be not necessary for me. My liver was not enlarged.

I can understand how you feel, I was a model pregnant woman, in my 3rd pregnancy I only gained about 4lb, in my first two it was under 20. But I absolutely piled on the weight in the period after the birth. For me, it was related to breastfeeding. Whilst I was nursing, without an increase in appetite or noticeable increase in food, I just gained at least two or three pounds a month until my babies started eating solid foods at around 6 months each. I continued to feed them all for a good 18 months after that but didnt gain any more from that point on. Most women find the opposite, full time nursing strips weight, but it didnt work that way for me. There are appreciable lifestyle changes after a baby though - notably the amount of activity you do, the lack of sleep etc.

I think you're not eating enough to be honest. Try eating 1200 but exercising five or six times a week. Three is fantastic for your general health and wellbeing but to really see weight loss results you need a good hour of cardio five or six times a week. Try it, it will really make a difference. And 20lb since the end of August is nothing to be sneezed at. Truly, weight lost slowly like that tends to remain lost, 40lb in a month is simply not true fat loss. I've been a slow loser too but a year down the track, I'm an entirely different person, just keep plodding away!

Naked, after a wee first thing in the morning. The surgeons' scales are about the same as mine, well the same as mine when I weight msyelf clothed during the day. So I figure what I weight on mine naked in the mornign is what I really weigh.

Hehe, I have a friend on another board who every time she wants to say clothes, types cloths. It drives me INSANE. This thread is so much fun, lol.

It is, but you know, she was lying to herself. She kept saying "I will do this at home, I'm not running away from it" But she IS. I found it so absolutely terrifying to think this might actually work! There was comfort in saying "I dont need the surgery, I can do this myself" telling yourself you WOULD do it but knowing you really wouldnt was kind of safe in a strange way. Like you've made the decision but dont have to face the consequences. Deciding to have surgery and let go of my fat was a huge step - and I could never attribute my fatness to anything. I had a perfect childhood, perfect parents, perfectly functional relationships, I've never been abused or gone through any trauma or anything. Yet it was serving some purpose to me and I still dont know what that was. So I feel for Sarah, but I agree with what Jillian did, just cut her loose and did not even try to talk her out of it. YOu have to want it badly before you can help yourself or anyone else can help you. And sadly I think there's a lot of people who do get banded who still havent managed to reach that frame of mind. Its blunt but its the truth. I wonder what will happen when Cat speaks to her. By the way, I nearly died when I saw Cat, by golly she's a gorgeous girl!

Oh, dont get me started on Angelina...

Megan Gale is 6ft tall, she'd be more than 45kg - my SIL is 45kg, skinny as a rake and only 5ft 1, she's a teeny tiny size 6. Carrying Megal Gale around wouldnt be as heavy as carrying her wallet though!

Actually a lot of people say on here off of instead of just of or on - as in "I was living off of apples" or "get that off of me". Its just "living on apples" or "get that off me". I think that's more of a colloquialism though isnt it? Just a version of American English, which after all is different from Australian English, which is different from English English!

Oh, dont worry. As long as you dont have any blue paint, patchwork or mismatched crockery in your house and you dont try to imitate an Aussie accent, you're my friend!

Ah, yeah. He didnt do himself any favours did he? Actually on celebrities - am I the only person who just seems to take a huge dislike to someone based on absolutely nothing? I cannont STAND Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman nor that troll Mischa Barton. She's never done anything to me, but I hate her. My gut clenches everytime I see a picture of her. I hate every little thing about her. Ok, gotta stop now, someone might have me committed.

Have you ever heard that episode of the Simpsons where Bart rings Australia to see if the toilet swirls the other way here? That Australian accent, oh gosh. Sounds like a demented Cockney! Nobody can do the Australian accent, it always sounds part New Zealander, part South African, part Cockney! There's a lot of old Bugs Bunny cartoons around like that too! Does Mel still sound Australian to you guys? He certainly doesnt to us, lol. He sounds completely and utterly American.

What doctors call a "problem with excess skin" and what you call a problem can be two different things too. Looked at it from a medical point of view, I have absolutely no problem with excess skin. Looked at from an aesthetic point of view I could probably do with an inch or two less of it! But people can be lucky, I think I have been and I"m not as young as you. It depends on so many things - your skin, how fast you lose the weight, but it also depends on where you carried it. I sit on most of mine, I didnt wear it out the front, so I didnt have a big apron before I lost the weight. All those things come into play. It really is a "face that problem when you come to it" sort of situation.

I really felt anyway that whilst vanity was a large reason why I had the surgery at a BMI of 35, I was on a slippery slope to real obesity as I got older. I could feel that a lot of my energy and ability to do something about my situation had already gone by the wayside. So you get the bonus of looking and feeling great, but you've also saved yourself and taxpayers a fortune to look after you in your older years. All those possible health problems thwarted, it is NEVER a good idea to let a problem get really bad before you fix it. Good on you for doing something about it before you got into really bad health. And I agree on the anaesthetic, without fail I've spent day 3 bawling my eyes out after every surgery I've ever had. Its almost exactly like the weepy day you get when you're milk comes in, not that you'd know what that's like, lol.

Yes. dinner time is so stressful in our house. I'm lucky to have PB'd only one time in over a year but blockages at dinner time are very common for me, because the kids act up as soon as we sit down. With an eleven year old, a nine year old and a four year old, dinner time is never peaceful. Everyone suddently wants to go to the toilet as soon as dinner is served. Someone always spills a drink. Nobody ever likes what I cook. Even typing about it is making my band close up, lol. And I really hope your mum is OK!

Its very hard isnt it? I never became obese enough to be totally kept out of the world of fashion, but I have to stop and remind myself every now and again that close fitting things look GOOD on me. Actually, bloody good, my boobs havent shrunk and they're rather attention grabbing now, if I do say so myself, lol. I always remember the situation of a girlfriend I have who is a little plump and insisted on wearing everything four sizes too small, we'd all bitch about it behind her back as women do, but one day she came to dinner in a kaftan sort of thing and she looked about 70 kilos heavier. The difference was so extreme I didnt recognise her. Since that day, I ditched all the big baggy tops. I was too fat to go fitted, but I've been brave since losing weight and it always brings complements and amazed comments about how much weight I've lost. But I find its a fine line between that and dressing like Britney Spears, lol. I'm finding it hard to find a 40 year old niche. Part of me wants to wear everything I missed out on in my 20's, I'm not ready to dress middle aged and cut my hair off and that sort of stuff yet either. Take a deep breath, and just WEAR some of that stuff. You'll get used to it and you'll love the results!

The hard lump will be your port. As to whether you have done any damage, its impossible for anyone here to say, but if you're not in pain, then probably not. You havent started to suddenly vomit everything back or have pain on eating or anything? If it were me and I'd eaten solids that early, I'd be honest with my surgeon, who should, after all, have made sure you understood the point of the liquid diet. Being so new to it all and so soon post op, its hard for you to keep a watch for strange "symptoms" since everything must seem strange. I'd really speak to your doc. Copping a serve for breaking the rules beats having problems that's for sure. But chances are you're just fine.