Jachut

I dont eat that little. If I didnt tell people I had a band there's no way they'd know. I just dont overeat anymore.

I think you can be lucky. I've never had ANY of those problems, never PB'd, never had a sign of reflux or anything like that, can eat ALL foods, healthy and unhealthy and have lost well. But its taken me 10 months to get to the point where I feel my eating habits have truly changed and I firmly believe there's a point of restriction which its best not to pass. Once you cant eat healthy foods you've gone too far, and I think you just have to dig deep and learn to discipline yourself not to eat the unhealthy ones, not rely on your band to do it. I still have to stop eating before I'm completely ready, I dont wait for the band to stop me and I still have to use my willpower to avoid things I shouldnt eat most of the time, I do have the odd treat. So I think the band CAN be healthy. But everybody's body is different and unfortunately some people dont seem to physically tolerate a band well and others just cant get a handle on their bad habits and work well with it.

Well, you've got to start somewhere, and I agree, a basic cookbook is probably a good place. Learning to cook will be a major tool in losing wieght and maintaining that loss. Its not good to eat out of packets and boxes, a great goal is to eat more fresh food. It tastes better too.

Hehe, here's a few Aussie ones. She bangs like a dunny door She's built like a brick sh*thouse She has a head like a robber's dog Hmm, none particularly complimentary!

Its impossible to guess - I have a girlfriend who's the same height and weight as I am and she's 2 sizes smaller than me! She has huge legs - no ankles, no knees, just tree trunk legs. That's where all her weight is. Mine is round my hips and lower tummy and I have boobs, she doesnt. So I can fit into an Australian 16 and she's an Australian 12. It depends ENTIRELY on your body type. I have wide hips, no matter how skinny I get I'll still be a larger size than somebody who doesnt.

Dont know about what it's actually like, despite several episodes of gastro through our household since I was banded, I only caught it once (2 days after I got home from hospital) and managed to stave off actual vomiting with medication. But I think vomiting is ALWAYS a risk with the band, there's no time after which it becomes safe. Of course it happens all the time and people dont slip their bands each and every time but its always a risk.

I was lucky to be very sporty too, despite being tall and solid (not fat in my teens) it was to my advantage, I was a good softballer (played state level) and a good netballer too. Much like my oldest son whom I mentioned above, I had a "pre"weight problem, I was always just slightly overweight but I didnt get fat till after I had babies in my 30's, so thankfully I didnt grow up the butt of people's jokes.

My son is not fat - yet. I can tell he's taken the worst of genes from both Doug and I, he is inherently lazy and he tends to overeat, even though its only on good food. He's not athletic, although he plays several team sports, he's never going to be the star and that's fine by me. But I consider it to be of paramount importance to keep him fit so he's not the one lagging behind, especially since he's asthmatic too. I run regularly and I encourage him to do the same (he's almost 11). We have a treadmill, he does 20 minutes a day on it, and I always invite him out with me if I run outside, he usually comes. We're active as a family too. This way, I hope I can keep him from becoming fat and I hope I can keep him competent enough athletically to keep up and not be the odd one out. It may seem extreme to others but primarily its important he has aerobic fitness to control his asthma anyway. Because once a child has become obese and is the one bringing in the rear, it doesnt matter what you as a parent do or say at the school, it doesnt change the fact that other kids will be cruel. Policies dont mean a thing, kids will just find ways around it to hang it on the fat kids. Its too late once they're there. So I do my utmost to prevent it. If the PE teacher were to make special consideration/rules for the kids that were too unfit to keep up, that would cause just as many problems and teasing. My kids love their game boys and their play station but its rationed, not ridiculously but the bulk of their leisure time is spent running around outdoors, playing basketball or football with their teams, I just dont let them laze around and I dont bring rubbish foods into the house for them to eat. I'd rather prevent the problem than have to try to fix it.

Nil by mouth from 9pm the night before surgery - so that wasnt too hard, lol. But I made the decision that my life changed from the point I booked in the surgery, so I ate reasonably well. I didnt lose anything significant but I didnt go off on a last supper binge either.

Well so can I and its often what I have for lunch. What's wrong with eating a sandwich. I'm full afterwards and it "lasts" better for me than many other meal possibilities, probably due to the bread. Its hardly a binge! I call that good restriction - eat a salad sandwhich, feel full, stay full till dinner time. Its healthy, it provides fibre, Vitamins and minerals. I've lost plenty of weight eating what seems to be a lot compared to other bandsters. I must burn it off. I'd be worried if I could only eat 3 or 4 bites at a time personally. There's no way you can eat a balanced meal if that's all you're eating, there's no way over the long term you're not going to become deficient in vitamins and minerals and its no mystery at all to me that people's hair falls out if that's all their eating. I think you can go too far with a band personally. I dont think tighter is better in terms of general health and I wouldnt call eating a sandwich excessive. If I were eating that much and not losing, my first thought wouldnt be go tighter and eat less, it would be to examine my diet and see where I could cut out empty calories - fat, sugar, white carbs.

This is the time I have to call on willpower because I do get hungry, but if I eat a snack in the late afternoon, I will not be able to eat my dinner, guaranteed. I seem to close up at around 5pm and dinner is a very small meal for me, I eat a reasonable one, but if there's ANYTHING in my stomach, I cant fit dinner in. So I suffer it out generally. If anything, I hae a cup of coffee. And no, small meals dont get me through. I find the band doesnt do that for me, well not anymore. I get full quickly and can stop eating much sonner than I would have therefore I eat less, but I do need to eat a reasonable meal to get me through.

Ewan is the same, every afternoon I go nuts at him becuase he gets into the car after school and kicks his shoes off, eeew. His feet stink. I have to wash his runners regularly and I have to supervise him washing (not only his feet, lol) AND he puts deoderant on his feet. The trouble i have with him is that he takes his shoes off at any opportunity so I always find him running round outside in his socks, and all his socks are wrecked. So the ends of the feet are out of them and he may as well be wearing no socks with his shoes, which as we know leads to stinky shoes and feet. One day he took his shoes off at my mum's and we all folded because the only bit of his socks that were left were the ankles, his entire feet were bare. But the deodorant helps. He's such a grot, sigh. I thought all the kids came home black with dirt with just little pink bits where they'd rubbed their eyes clear. Till I picked him up early one day and actually went into the classroom and NONE of the other kids looked like that. I'd probably buy her a new pair of shoes to take too, and put odor eaters in them, although Ewan wont wear those.

It was only on here that I heard the no carbonation rule, my doc never mentioned it. But I was VERY nervous when I had my first drink, since it was almost christmas, it was champagne. I went very carefully, but funny think, the more I had, the more it agreed with me, lol! I had a few glasses of wine over the Christmas period, just one here or there. Now I'd have a glass two or three times a week. I dont really drink spirits so dont worry about mixers.

They're popping up like crazy over here, there really must be a niche in the market, I've never been afraid of or intimidated by the gym, but even I like the idea of a 30 minute workout. I love running, I do heaps of it but I am really bad with strength training - I understand the importance of it, I have the desire for it but I just cant seem to prioritise it in my life, and I really do like circuit style training.

Try a dictionary. Esteem you nitwit.

Oh, for sure its a long term goal, you have to build up to it. But if/when you do, the rewards for the lower half of your body are awesome.

running has toned mine up incredibly, but it IS an area where most women just carry fat, they're always going to be a bit blobby for most people I think. But running has done INCREDIBLE things for my legs and behind.

Oooh, good luck Kellie, I hope the day is everything you've dreamed of.

I dont measure, I serve myself MUCH smaller meals than what I used to but I still often overserve, I just leave what I cant finish. Its still incredibly hard not to clear my plate though, old habits die hard. I eat about as much as my 3 year old, lol. I also dont do the Protein first thing, I eat a bit of everything. It really alarms me that people are being told to favour one food over another, I very strongly disagree with it. Its not a healthy meal if you get your chicken in but leave your veges. So I eat about equal amounts of each. I tend to leave the potato or rice off my plate a lot of the time, because that's probably the least valuable, and I eat better carbs at other times of the day.

He's one of only THREE recorded deaths caused by a stingray, its incredibly rare that they would attack the way this one did apparently. Sigh. When you're number's up, its up isnt it? The news has been crazy, all sorts of incorrect information, last night they made it sounds like his daughter (7) was with him and witnessed the attack, I kept waking up during the night thinking about that poor child waiting for her mother to come and get her, it really disturbed me and then this morning I see footage of mother, daughter and son getting on a plane to come home. Thank goodness!

Fruit, veges and I usually eat muesli for breakfast. I've not needed to take anything else to assist.

Well it appears indeed true that most of Australia knew before his wife did. His wife has their young baby Bob with her in Tasmania, but Steve's (seven?) year old daughter was actually with him filming, he'd gone back down to film some footage for her children's television show. The news (and this was the ABC news) made it sound as though she actually witnessed it although I dont know that that's true. But what an awful experience for a young child, stuck a long way from her mother, when she'd need her most. Its just too sad.

Howdy stranger! Sorry to hear you're having troubles, I guess you just need to sit down and remember how far you have come and take a positive view of it. How are you feeling? All healed up and back to normal? I would imagine it would take a while to get back into a good exercise routine after a big round of surgery and that small gains are entirely normal and very common.

Of course they've had news helicopters all over the area he apparently died in and its TEEMING with huge rays. Dont know that I'd get in there. But danger was what he did, it was a necessary part of his job. He's educated a lot of people about animals that were feared, hated and maligned, he's done an awful lot for conservation. We were planning on visiting the Australia zoo too next week, we're going for a holiday up in Byron Bay, and planned a big overnight trip up there. I wonder if it'll still be open?

He was filming a doco near Port Douglas and he got stung by a stingray, apparently the stinger pierced his lung. That's all that's really been on the news, dont know if he actually placed himself in danger or whether it was just a freak event.