Jachut

It could easily be gas - it can produce weird feelings. I swear sometimes it feels EXACTLY like a baby kicking.

I'm not sure actually - because it comes down to percentage body weight lost. Men will always have more muscle than women and they will gain muscle much more easily. With the way they work out on that show, the men must pack on kilos of muscle in the 12 weeks or so and that could actually work to their disadvantage. Women on the other had wont gain as much in muscle weight and may lose more of a percentage of their body weight even if its not as healthy loss iykwim. And women are more prone to Water retention which means they may not have a big loss one week but they could have a HUGE one the next. They shouldnt go by scales - they should measure actual FAT loss.

General consensus in Australia is that anything over BMI 30 can be considered for banding. Why wait till you get fatter! So, yes, it can help you. Weight loss might be slower and less dramatic, but it still works the same way no matter how overweight you are. Good for you for doing something preventative before you hit morbid obesity.

Sorry, I'm not normally argumentative for the sake of it but that isnt correct - and I can feel fills too - I can feel little bubbles move around the band. It takes a second for them to go up the tubing and then I feel the fill settle around the band. Most definitely. And what about the pain if you get something stuck? There's certainly nerve endings in the stomach that allow you to feel satiety, fullness, pain etc. So technically while you may not feel the band sitting on the outside of the stomach, you may feel it in a referred way if you know what I mean. The left vagus nerve hugs the anterior wall of the stomach whilst the right sits a little behind it and the vagus nerves are mainly sensory, they only slightly contribute to motility of the stomach. I've dissected a vagus nerve myself from a cadaver and actually seen it.

Well, whilst I dont espouse the no pain no gain theory, there does have to be some discomfort lol, you just have to push yourself through your limitations. I notice my husband (who wants to run) just doesnt have the constitution for it because he just stops the minute he gets tired, and walks. Whereas what I did was build up gradually for sure, but I'd say I was going to add another half kilometre that week and I just bloody DID it - pain or no pain. I wouldnt ignore true pain, but burning lungs, legs feeling like lead, you have to push through that in small increments. Doug just makes some excuse like "mustnt push myself too hard, I wouldnt want to get injured". There's hard and there's hard. Never ignore injury or bodily pain, but the "pain" of pushing beyond your limitations, to be a runner, you have to be able to like that, or at least tolerate it. My long run is now 10km and of course I get tired, I feel like stopping, I'm staggering by the end of it. But I just do it, and I recover fairly quickly afterwards. If I could barely walk the next day I'd know that it was too much but I do get up feeling perfectly normal, so I know I'm not pushing too hard. But if you stay in the comfort zone, you wont improve. And its only the first few months that are really hard, now I find I can add the distance and it doesnt hurt so much. Learning to pace yourself is really important too - you do need to aim for a comfort zone there, so many people either walk or run and have no idea of in between.

Of course the stomach has nerve endings - that's how you feel full! What about the vagus nerve? I agree though that we may not be feeling the band per se - like what I might be feeling when I've exercised is increased restriction due to swelling.

Well, I did my 10kms, quite easily too, in an hour and 13. I'm a slow runner but I get there. I paced myself off a woman who must have been 70 who was WALKING!!! She was amazing barely broke a sweat and was moving very economically, small steps, no wild swinging of the arms, but I couldnt catch her without getting upto a pace I couldnt maintain. I've now got my sights set on 15.2kms for the Run For the Kids in Melbourne in April. But I need new shoes too, sigh, there goes $200!

I was about 113kg at surgery - that's about 245 lb I think, december 9, 2005 was my banding date and I"m in the low 180's now, 83kg. So its taken a year, but I've been 83kg for about six weeks now! I weigh what I did at 16 now (I'm 39) but I'd love to get down to 72kg, which is what I weighed when I got married. 160lb or so? I'm five foot ten though, so tall.

I dont think I've ever gone five hours without eating, lol, but sometimes I think I can feel the band, especially if I have tensed up my abdomen, like when I'm doing planks, I can feel it in there after about 30 seconds, it doesnt hurt or anything but I'm aware of it. I can feel my port the same way in the same circumstances.

Just remember - being sedentary is as bad for your body as smoking a pack a day, so enjoy it or not, it must be done.

Welcome, this is a great place for knowledge and support. However dont pay any attention to all the insurance discussions - it just doesnt apply to us in Australia. If you're fat, you can get banded, end of story. You dont have to jump through hoops, prove comorbidities and the like. Also you probably wont be told to do any particular very strict diet, its much more relaxed and about eating healthy food in moderation than it is about worrying about Protein etc. Good luck!

I started with a BMI of 35 and I've lost 65lb in a year, I have about 16 to go but its not moving. I eat whatever I want in moderation, and yes, a stricter "diet" would probably do the trick for me now, but I cant be arsed to do it. I hate diets. I eat well, I like healthy food but I hate obsessing over calories and measuring and weighing and it will be a cold day in hell before I touch a Protein shake. I exercise a LOT - I run regularly and do weights and am pretty active incidentally too, I'm 5ft 10 and looking pretty OK at the weight I am so I'm not going to stress about it, I'd say I'll slowly lose the rest over a much longer period of time.

Another addict here, two hours a day five days a week or so. Honstly, to feel this physical control over my body, this athletic prowess is simply an incredible feeling. Its so empowering and elating, the only thing I can liken it to for me is the sheer joy I felt during childbirth, such a primal and powerful experience. I sound like a nutter, but exercise is just like that for me, just the joy of functioning on a totally physical level. I've always loved exercise but life got in the way, however you have to go through some pain to get to the point where you love it like that. But I couldnt imagine stopping now. I run outside mainly now, its sent my fitness to a whole new level but I do own a treadmill which I use once or twice a week - its invaluable for when Doug gets home too late for me to safely go out for a run and I also use it for a kind of weights circuit hour long thing that I do.

Huge plateau for me now, only 16lb to go and its just not moving, but I did have some clothes NSV's so I am still shrinking ever so slowly. prior to that I averaged 1-2lb per week.

I wouldnt call me a "fast food" junkie since I'd really very very rarely choose to eat McDonalds but the eat on the go thing - disorganisation and not having appropriate food to hand is my biggest downfall, and it affects what I feed the kids too. So many mornings there's nothing for them to take for their playlunch at school and we have to stop at the Quix for junkfood, costs a fortune, is terrible for them. I have to be REALLY strict with myself and MAKE myself go to the supermarket, even its midnight so that I am not doing that last minute thing. Can you keep a cooler in your car so you can take fruit, yogurt or a sandwich, a Protein bar, cans of tuna, whatever it takes. And just put the freezer blocks in your freezer to keep it cold. I have some great containers that have an ice ring that you freeze and a separate part to hold the salad dressing till you need it, one that's compartmentalised for dip, vege sticks and crackers that also has an ice ring, even a shake container that holds Water and powder separately till you're ready to mix. There really is no need to be eating crap if you can just force yourself to make the effort to be organised. Its not that I give in willpower wise and eat crap, in fact these days I'd simply not eat instead, what I find way way harder is actually being organised.

I do know I've found it really hard to acheive restriction, in fact by the way other people talk about being restricted, I havent gotten it yeat and I'm at 3ml in a 4ml band. The band is in there doing something, but I can certainly eat more easily than most bandsters, with fewer problems

Also, keep measuring yourself in terms of how your clothes fit. The scale has barely moved for me in months, but this afternoon I bought a dress thinking I'd have to wear my supersucker body stocking thing under it, and when I put it on at home, it was fine without. No lumpy bits ruining the effect. So after that I tried on an outfit that I last wore a month ago to a 40th. I put on the pants and thought, hmmm, no real change there, then I put on the top (a short wrap dress) I wore with them and realised again that I didnt need the supersucker body stocking I had last worn underneath - there was no muffin top with the pants! And the arms of the dress werent binding (they had been ever so slightly) and the braroll was gone. Miraculous! With no weight change at all!

Yes, there's a very big distinction between leisure walking and fitness walking. Fitness walking is every bit as hard as jogging - in fact I started jogging because I couldnt hack the walking. It was too hard on my body - the exaggerated gait etc, I'd do my back every time. But in terms of getting the heart rate up and burning fat walking very briskly is fantastic. In my recent 10km race, I paced myself jogging against a lady who must have been 70 walking - I couldnt catch her unless I put on a pace I couldnt maintain. She was moving every bit as fast as I was. THAT kind of walking is all you'd ever need to do. But like jogging it takes building up to it and I find the problem with it is I dont maintain the pace, I keep finding I've slowed down.

I know how you feel, I feel that way with regard to my DH. He has a smaller weight problem than I had, his BMI is probably 32 or so, but that's enough to get banded in Australia, particularly since he has high blood pressure. He's got a weight problem not because he overeats, but because he spends an hour and half in the car to get to work, sits at a desk all day and then spends an hour and a half in the car to get home. He has to do all those stupid business lunches and drinks and Australian culture is so "blokey" - men do not refuse to drink and eat salads at a business lunch. He never overdoes it but they're still high calorie meals. Not to mention the fact that being the accountant he is, we spent the $3,000 to get me banded becuase he knew how much it meant to me but he would never in a million years spend that kind of money on himself when it could be paid off the mortgage. And since he doesnt eat that much anyway, and basically sticks to healthy food, I suspect he'd be a slow slow loser as a bandster. His problem is more that he needs to get not only more exercise but more incidental activity and he seriously probably needs to do some huge weights work to pack some muscle on to try to lift his metabolism. But he doesnt have the time. I seriously feel guilty for spending the money and the time I've spent on myself. The hours I spend exercising are indulgent - the house goes uncleaned and errands go undone because I place more value on myself. Which is fine, but my husband doesnt get the same opportunity.

My sister is doing the honours this year, yay, her back yard is enormous, full of swings and trampolines and her kids have more toys than anybody I have ever known, so mine will be happy happy happy. AND - I just bought a gorgeous stretchy black and white wrap dress to wear.

So similar to me, similar starting weight, similar goal weight, I have 16lb to go, am in the same position. I'm already running and doing weights, I couldnt do more exercise than I do, but you have plenty of scope to increase what you're doing. Walking 3 x per week is not enough, you need much more, five or six days, long sessions and probably harder work than walking. I've just added the weights in, in the interests of really concentrating on body fat now, rather than actual weight.

I'm 5ft 10 and an E cup and people go goggled eyed if I tell them that, not that I go round talking about how big my boobs are, lol. But they go goggle eyed because they cant believe they're that big - on me they just look like regular breasts, a nice size, although I'd love to be a bit smaller, a D cup just so I can buy any bra I want would be PERFECT. Very best of luck to you, you've done soooo well and you're looking fantastic already.

I always reserve judgement on these things - kids can really push your buttons and if that baby had been whinging and crying all day long she may have been at the end of her tether. Its so satisfying yelling out swear words when you're really frustrated. Like when your one year old headbuts you full force (and breaks your nose) while you're getting him into the car. I can tell you I yelled a few choice words then in public, with blood streaming out my nose and it was all I could do not to smack him. Then once you let that emotion out, you regret yelling at your child.

I think exercise is the key. And just being more active generally. Today I did a 4km run on my treadmill and an hour of weights but will probably also go out for an hour's walk tonight, just because. I tend to put exercise into two categories - the stuff I must do - run and do weights, luckily I'm totally addicted to running and am constantly challenging myself with bigger and bigger races, and weighs, meh, necessary evil. An hour's walk I dont consider exercise any more, its just active leisure and I try to do as much of that sort of stuff as I can. I've found throughout my life when I've been very active (and we're not talking an insane 3 hours per day or anything) I can maintain very easily. I am quite confident too that if I were to lose my band, if I just keep up my activity schedule I'll be right. I just had to break the cycle and my band did that - due to laying off the exercise over the time of life when I had young babies, I got too fat to do it comfortably and that was a neverending cycle.

It was my bandiversary yesterday! These days I eat a totally normal diet in smaller quantities than I once did. Today I had: a dry fried egg and half a tomato and a very thin slice of ham for breakfast. A cheese and salad roll for lunch A very small bowl of meusli at 4.30 because I was starving a sausage (cooked on the BBQ) and salad for dinner with a glass of wine That's an average day for me. These days I'm maintaining more than losing though - I am losing but its like 2lb per month now. Which is fine by me. I probably exercise more than average - run about 30km per week, do weight training 3 x per week.