Jachut

I just look at it like I go out to eat to catch up with friends or family. I'm more than happy to pay the price of a main course meal for that. I dont really care how little I eat of it. I look at it like the cost is for the enjoyment of the evening, not the actual food. Although I did balk at $60 for a Chinsese Banquet! I sat that one out and just chose something myself. But really, I just leave what I cant eat and dont fuss over "wasted" money becuase its not wasted if you've had a nice evening out.

You are really incredible! You've beaten all the odds and the depressing statistics about keeping weight off and having done so for so long, that's really amazing.

Its not available here, but we have one called Lite n Easy. This sort of program works REALLY well for me and I'd be doing it now too except that its hellishly expensive. I find I can go a good 12-16 weeks on this type of program and lose a lot of weight, but I always regained it when I went off it. And by the end of the 12 weeks or so I would kill somebody if I had to eat another one of their frozen dinners. Just a fresh meal, like some lamb cutlets on the barbecue, is sooooooo good after all of those frozen dinners. But if its delivered daily, then maybe the dinners are fresh too? Lite n Easy comes weekly and I do fine on it, but Doug finds he's eaten the whole week's food in 4 days, lol. He is just so hungry that he delves into the next day's lunch etc.

Ah, yes I remember him telling me to pay ASAP becuase he was putting his prices up

I'd say the same thing, time to change things round. At a year out I've had the same issues, although I was able to just go and get another fill as I still have quite a bit of room in my band and dont tend to have tightness issues at all. But perhaps its time to really up the exercise, long sessions of cardio and are you doing strength work? I know really that my actual goal weight is irrelevant, its fat I still have to lose now, not weight. I think its easy to think another 10lb, another 20lb whatever will kill that belly roll or slightly jiggly behind when really, you need to pack on some muscle and that will effect the visual change more than actual weight loss. I do think the band itself can only do so much and this is different in different people, there's fill levels you cant get past etc. So you have to take the bull by the horns as Mousecrazy has said and put in the rest, afterall our bodies still work the same way, band or no band, so if you were to do something like Body for Life just by way of example, you'd get the results, but its much much harder after a big weight loss. I suspect long term success with the band comes from being proactive with it. I used to be this weight as a teen, could cut down a bit and lose a kilo a week easily, I have to really fight for that kilogram now as my body has just dropped 30 and is not letting go so easily, lol. I really am prepared to let near enough be good enough on that score, I have no interest in living my life on a strict diet to maintain a certain weight just because its a figure I had in my head. Have a good think about where you are and what you still want to achieve, you've done BRILLIANTLY and perhaps your body is either saying that's enough, or you need to be realistic about how easily and quickly the rest is going to happen

We call stomach flu gastro but I'm confused. A flu shot here means immunity against respiratory influenza - the hacking cough, temperatures, aches and pains kind of real flu that doesnt often involve nausea and vomiting. There's no immunisation against gastro - is there one over there? Anyhow, that's off topic, I keep on hand an anti emetic medication that my doctor described when my charming grotty kids brought home gastro 3 days after I got home from band surgery, I was cleaning up chundered hot dogs from a kiddie party, urg. I was utterly terrified of catching it because it is SO contagious, but the pills fixed me up, I did get sick but didnt get the vomiting part.

I was sort of the same, I'd get good restriction at night but could eat too much during the day. I had a fill on Friday, and its not made me too tight but its cut my escalating appetite. I still get hungry pretty quickly, last night my stomach was growling within 2 hours of dinner becuase I'm tight and dinner time and only ate a small amount. But at lunchtime when I eat more, the fullness lasts longer. I still get a bit of head hunger in the afternoon, but nothing I cant handle.

I think flax seed oil is a miracle product. The experts say you get better Omega balance with fish oil but when I take flax seed oil regularly, like you say, my hair, skin and nails glow. I just take it by the spoonful, I like the taste of it. I know hair is dead but I think its the improvement in the oils your scalp produces that gives you hair so much shine when you're taking it. Normally I'd a dried up old prune - I even have an eye disorder that's related to severely dry corneas, and that's why I take it but it improves everything for me

Ooooh, you poor thing! That's my worst nightmare, my family had gastro 3 days after I got home from being banded. I took an anti emetic medication for 3 days. I did get sick, but I had no nausea or vomiting, just temperatures and feeling awful. It pays to keep some on hand.

Still in progress. My doc told me on Friday when I went for a fill that I have exceeded his expectations and he'd be more than happy if I never lost another gram, he'd call it a very successful outcome, but that he was also more than happy to help me get to where I want to be. It doesnt involve a lot more weight loss though, my main changes now need to come in the form of body composition, I've run regularly throughout the last year but its time now to hit the weights and really put some lean muscle on my body and shed some fat. What my actual weight does on the scales is pretty irrelevant to me from hereon in.

From a previous post a long time ago here, I suspect pork in Australia and pork in the USA are two different things. I mean a big leg of roast pork with crackling is fatty but do you have all the cuts like butterfly stakes and loin steaks etc? Pork is advertised as "the other white meat" here, and its a very lean, very nice meat, a great choice for healthy meals. Australian meat is quite lean alltogether though, I wouldnt hesitate to eat red meat and call it part of a healthy low fat meal, its just not a food you should eat heaps and heaps of.

Not one single regret, never for a second. This has been perfect for me and has worked, and I've been really really lucky to have a really tolerant band and stomach so I've never had problems with getting stuck, vomiting etc, its never happened to me. I've also not had to give up one single food. The minor compliants related to weight that I was starting to experience have disappeared, I'm completely hooked on running and I'm nearly at goal weight.

Do you mean run part of the marathon - ie. each team member runs a leg of part of the distance? If so, that's a fabulous goal, very doable and so satisfying, you'll be hooked. Starting with shorter races is the way to go, its very motivating to have a race to train for. If you're talking running a whole 42km marathon, then I'd have to say I guess its possible, but extremely unlikely in 10 short months. There's a book doing the rounds called The Non Runner's Guide to Running a Marathon or some such and it advocated preparing for a marathon in 6 months, and its quite rightly received a caning by those in the know on Cool Running. They say at least 12 months for your first half marathon and 3 years of training to do your first marathon. I've been really cautious because I just so didnt want to injure myself and have to stop running, so I've built up very very slowly, but its basically taken me 9 months to go from being able to run a really slow 3km to 10km - 2 miles to 6 miles give or take - and I'm finding now, its really easy to just keep adding the distance now that I have the base fitness. That base fitness consists a LOT of leg strenght, its one thing to build up your cardiovascular system to the point where you could run a marathon, that you can do quickly, but the skeletal and muscular strength to cope with it comes a lot more slowly, even if youve been walking long distance. Running is such a wonderful sport, I could go on all day about it. I really love it and the achievement you get from conquering the distances is unlike anything else. All it takes is to go out there day after day and just be consistent at it. To be part of a team in a marathon will be an awesome experience - I started with smaller fun runs and they were great, but to run in the Melbourne Marathon - I did the Marafun 7.5km event - where the streets were all cordoned off and you had people clapping and cheering and we were running down some of Melbourne's grandest Boulevardes, it was simply amazing, I crossed the finish line with more than a few tears. Good luck with it!

We dont have it here, but I know what it is and I wouldnt eat something like that. I'd rather do the damage with the real thing, or better yet, eat some fruit or something nutritious. I have the horrors over that sort of artificial food.

I have a 4ml band with 3ml in it as of Friday (had .3 put in). Restriction is OKish. I'm certainly better off than where I was over the last six weeks, restriction had really waned, my appetite was soaring and I really didnt even have to be careful of what I ate at all - not even needing to eat particularly slowly. That's been fixed, but I can still eat bread and meat and have done so, quantity is fine though, weight has dropped slightly and the ravenous appetite has disappeared, so its very much a help but I very much could still go off the rails if I wanted to. Sigh, I think I'm going to be one that could go right up to 4ml, but I'm only 8kg from my goal weight. Still, I wont be surprised if I need more fill to get me there, particularly since that's only my initial goal weight, I'd really really really really love to be 70kg, so that's 13kg more.

I just feel full, same as I always did. Perhaps its "higher up" but I cant really discern that, I just feel full.

You dont ask for "special" cover. Policies differ in what they offer and I believe at one stage when we were young and newlywed we did have a health insurance policy that excluded certain things like cardiac surgery, stuff we felt really positive we wouldnt need at that age. But your stock standard health insurance policy will cover almost everything apart from cosmetic surgery and other really unceccessary (from a medical viewpoint) surgery. Where they differ is in the extras. You can elect to have (or not have) optical, dental, physio, chiro, naturopathy, stuff like that and the amount of hospital cover they provide - blue ribbon cover will mean you get your total hospital costs paid without any excess paid by you for instance. What happens is that our public health system, Medicare, pays for most things for everybody. Medicare will pay 85% of the scheduled fee for all conceivable services (but doesnt cover optical, dental or physio and the like). Most physicians will charge more than the scheduled fee for their services, so you have a "gap" by which you are out of pocket. Some health insurance policies have gap cover and will refund a portion of this gap, but you will almost always be out of pocket slightly, but not by an awful lot. In this way, anyone with or without insurance can seek out a surgeon, you dont have to wait months on a public list to get in to see him for "free" unless you cant even afford the gap. If you dont have private insurance though and you need an operation through the public system, you dont have the freedom to choose your specialists, you get who you're given. So Medicare will pick up much of the cost of surgery, anaesthetist etc and your health insurance will pay for your hospital bed basically. Then what most lap band surgeons seem to do is charge you a once off fee that is not covered by your health insurance or medicare (since its above and beyond the scheduled fee), mine was $3000, and all your aftercare is covered after that since the surgeon only bills the scheduled fee direct to Medicare so you dont pay for fills or anything. If you went self pay, it would cost you around $20,000 or more probably and of course, Medicare would cover a fair bit (85%) of that, so you wouldnt be out of pocket by that much. But you'd have to pay it and then go to Medicare for the refund. The trouble is, many surgeons wont accept self pay becuase of the difficulty with aftercare - people tend to be slack on their review and fills because they cant continue to find the money, a fill may cost you $250 or so each time, and if they need revision surgery they're stuffed - again Medicare will pick up a lot of the cost but not for the hospital and you could be paying $1500 per night for a bed etc. You can go self pay on most things though if you so desire, such as having a baby or getting your child's adenoids removed etc. You really do feel thankful for your private health insurance though when you're 32 weeks pregnant with a broken hand that has been unsuccessfully set in plaster, and hasnt healed and you go back to your surgeon and demand that he fix it surgically becuase you're about to have a baby and you need your hands dammit and he looks at his watch and says "can you meet me at the hospital in half an hour?". I'd still be on public waiting list for that one, and my hand would be ruined. There are a few anomolies in our system though, to have a baby through the public system cost you pretty much nothing, but having the "priviledge" of private health insurance means it cost me about $3,000 per baby, lol. Still private hospital, five day stay for a normal birth, decent food, Doug staying the night, private obstetrician who attended me for all 3 births, it's worth it to me rather than going into a public hospital, giving birth assisted by whomever happens to be on duty that night and having to go home the next day.

I made some really hearty soups - a lentil and vegetable one, pea and ham like Jess suggests - real soup, not canned. Another thing I ate a lot of was a soft salad - peeled cucumber, skinned tomato, a can of flavoured tuna, some chick peas and chopped avocado. Because the veges were peeled they were very soft and easy to eat, this was really yummy and something I still eat a lot for lunch now, but in larger quantity. I used the flavoured tuna and therefore didnt need dressing. Mashed vegetables, including a binding one like potato or pumpkin (I loooove pumpkin) mashed with just a bit of butter (afterall you're not having a protein in or any fat in there) and some gravy on top was delicious too. I'm not big on protein shakes, I dont like them and by that stage I was soooo over fruit smoothies, I've barely drunk one since, that couple of weeks on liquids has put me off them for life, lol.

Shelly we call cilantro coriander here, but its awfully good in a salad, mix in a good bunch with the lettuce - if you can find a Thai/Asian style dressing, its yummy - with slices of barbecued beef, bean shoots, red onion you can call it a Thai Beef Salad. I'm in Australia but I'm not big on sugar free or diet products, I dont like the taste and the thought of the chemicals in them gives me the heebies. Lately I've been eating a lot of reaaaaaaaalllllly goooooood gourmet yogurt, full fat greek style stuff with fruit, its heavenly. Really expensive too. And of course more calories than lite stuff but for a meal, with maybe a small piece of fruit its still reasonable. And tonight we had chicken burgers for dinner because for some insane reason I have had a huge craving for mango chutney lately - which we had on the burgers.

Hey Susannah, I had the same surgeon! He's put his prices up though, lol.

I think you can only listen to your body. I've never been given a guideline about how much to eat at one time. Honestly, if you were eating so much that food was backing up your esophagus, dont you think you'd feel some discomfort? That's the whole point - you cant overeat to that extent or you'll PB. About a cup at a time seems to be what I can handle easily.

I dont measure, but I guess I'd have about a cup of say Pasta and sauce at a time, or about that much of Cereal in the morning. Last night for dinner I had a beef skewer (probably about five 2cm cubes of beef) and about a cup of salad. This morning I went out for brunch and got through a glassfull of this marvellous yogurt, honey, almond and poached pear concoction (it was served in a drinking glass) and a thin piece of fruit toast. I was pretty full after that. I had a fill yesterday, have 2.9ml in a 4ml band.

You have to listen to your body, and rest your knee or it'll take much much longer to get better or you'll do serious injury. What about swimming? Its a pain because its a pretty inconvenient form of exercise (well it is for me) but it will serve the purpose for the short term.

Well I think low carb is bollocks and I"m nearly to my goal weight. It really depends, low carb does work well for some people but is totally unecessary for others. A meat heavy diet with no grain products (when you're also limited in the amount of vegies you can get through) is a good way to give yourself bowel cancer and heart disease, but it seems to be a popular thing in may parts of the world. I reckon stick with low GI wholegrain carbs and cut out the processed white stuff and that's all you really need to worry about.

You dont have to "get approval" in Australia, if your surgeon will do it your health insurance will pay. Obviously you couldnt get a lap band at a BMI of 20, but generally 30+ is grounds enough, if you've dieted, if you're just getting heavier by the year, you dont have to prove co-morbidities to the insurance co. Its basically whether or not your surgeon will do it and you can probably surgeon shop anyway till you find someone you like, who is on your wavelength since Medicare will pick up a good deal of the cost of the consultation. It was a quick process for me, less than 3 months, and I was another who payed upfront so that I'm bulkbilled for everything - all fills and consultations - forever after - which basically means that Medicare is charged direct by the surgeon and he charges on the scheduled fee for those visits. Our health system is really great, as is our education system. You can also be done under the public health system if you dont have private health insurance but that differs enormously - with the group of surgeons I went with it wasnt an option since a lot of surgeons want you to have insurance in case of revision surgery, they strongly advise that you do NOT take out insurance, have the surgery and then drop it, and in many areas you could wait five years or more for a spot on a public list, then again, there's areas in Melbourne and I know in Perth also where you can be done within months. Just depends.