Jachut

Look, honestly its fun to do those types of diets and lose a bit of weight really fast but they are CRASH diets, they're not nutritionally balanced or sound and you dont lose fat, you lose Water. Just becuase you cant stick to a stupid diet that in no way resembles the way a healthy person eats, does not mean you will not be a long term success with your band, when you get to choose a varied diet from all food groups in moderate portions over the longer haul. I couldnt do the stupid Optifast either. I mean if we were meant to live on 3 shakes a day then wouldnt we all do so? Its in no way an indication of your ability to succeed.

I've done a lot more of this sort of stuff lately, I do need another fill. I also think I need to put myself on a "program" to refocus a bit. In fact I had pancakes myself this morning, and I had two reasonably big ones. I suddenly feel almost entirely unrestricted. But I've not been able to eat enough to actually gain, and I manage to hold it together and continue losing but very very slowly.

General rule in Australia is that private health insurance doesnt cover cosmetic surgery unless there's real medical need for it.

You probably wont need it anyway though.

I can eat bread quite easily. But I would struggle with Subway bread, we call that kind of bread (Subway, McDonalds buns) bowel cancer bread in this family, lol. Its so white and soft and doughy, that'd be sticky and hard to eat. Lucky I dont like those things anyway. But ordinary wholemeal and wholegrain bread I can do, good fresh muffins I can eat but things like scones, donuts, I can eat them but they HURT going through the stoma, not worth the effort, and not nutritionally worth eating anyway. I can also do rice and Pasta with no problem. If I wanted a sub I would go out and buy some fresh long rolls and toast them first before I put the toppings on and toast them again to heat and melt the toppings. I could eat that if it were decent quality bread.

I eat what I feel like eating. I take more pleasure in cooking because I know I'm not going to "waste" it by scarfing down 4 persons portions. I enjoy eating like a lady now and not a pig at a feeding trough. If I eat something naughty, I really enjoy it, I dont shove it down hidden in my car and hide the evidence. I just eat it and enjoy it. We always use small plates for dinner anyway, now I just put a bit less on it than I did. I use regular cutlery, I just eat more slowly and carefully than I did before.

I think its a great goal and personlly I think those that have achievable goals like this, something where weight loss becomes the byproduct and not the sole focus, tend to be more successful. If you were training for that sort of thing, and working out regularly at that level, chances are you could have your band unfilled completely and maintain your weight - as long as you stuck with good foods and didnt go back to old habits. That's the rub, would you be able to manage your appetite with an unfilled band. I started running a little while back and though I plan to continue becuase i love it it hasnt helped my weight loss a lot. Its reshaped my body most definitely but it also caused my appetite to jump markedly so that kind of cancels out the calories burned. But you could eat a normal banded diet and add high calorie liquids like Protein shakes to provide the extra energy. Things like Optifast too are very nutritious and would provide a lot of the extra stuff your body would be looking for.

Um, either straight up Springvale Rd and get on at the Ferntree Gully road entry, or you could whizz up that Westall Rd bit (only the vaguest idea of that new way through) and get to the end of Blackburn Rd. You could either get on at the blackburn Rd entry or go up Dandenong road from there, either's probably as quick, but if you're on the freeway its so easy, just go through the Domain tunnel and you come out onto the Westgate freeway. You'll need an etag or a daypass to use the freeway though.

Treadmill indoors in the aircon or wait till after dinner and head out for a run.

OK, I'm in Australia so my experience re cost is not relevant - I paid a once off fee to my surgeon of $3,000 and this represents my entire out of pocket expense including all aftercare and fills forever. But with regard to frequence, I have a 4ml band. I had 1 ml put in six weeks after surgery, .1 ml put in four weeks after that, then I went 3 months (by which time I"d lost close to 20kg but was really noticing restriction had dropped markedly), had .3 mil about 4 weeks ago which I felt for a day or two but again, I've got virtually nothing now. I cant eat the wrong foods fast or I back up but if I eat slowly I can eat almost normal preband portions. So on Friday when I'm due to go back I think I'll have more. So in short, my visits are monthly and I can have a fill if I think I need one at any of those visits. My docs are supportive but not fill happy so its really my decision.

Sigh. Beautiful Jodie!

Fascia is only a thin transparent-ish layer that contains your muscles, a bit like cling wrap. So your port wouldnt be very much deeper than anyone else's. I would imagine, whilst you may have a detectable bulge there when you're at goal, it wont stick out like a lump.

If you go to the doctor and ask for a prescription theres quite a few anti -emetics that they can prescribe to have on hand. I'd been home from hospital after surgery for a week when my oldest son started vomiting, and next thing both Ewan and Eliza were chucking too. I freaked - I'm afraid of stomach bugs at the best of times, but my stomach wasnt even healed. I went straight to the doctor and got a script for something to stop me vomiting and started taking it the minute I began to feel unwell. I had the whole "unwell" part of the bug, fevers, feeling lethargic and sick but I only got the mildest nausea and never came close to vomiting. It does work. I've got 35 pills in the cupboard for just in case.

I think you ahve to remember though that in a forum like this, people who have suffered slippage and erosion will seek it out to find help and talk about it. Perhaps it is only a small percentage, but a lot of that percentage will be found online seeking help and information. Its the same with the hairloss thing. I get totally freaked by that, I'm actually almost afraid to have another fill and lose any more weight because it really isnt worth my hair to me. But then I remind myself that on my Aussie forum, NOBODY at all has suffered from this. Again its the sheer number of people here and the ones talking about it that make it sound like it happens to every second person.

It used to be just the norm though, most boys were circumcised. I dont have any particular feelings on it one way or another but didnt get my boys done because I just couldnt see any reason why. Its actually difficult these days (in Australia anyway) to find someone who'll do it - unless there's a specific reason for it.

Jog. Whatever way you look at it, although to cover the same distance walking and jogging use the same calorie, if you've got 40 minutes and you run you're going to go twice as far and burn twice as many calories. Most overweight people will ahve to start out walking but if you can get your technique right so that you truly learn how to jog rather than going from a walk to a pace you cant maintain, you'll be able to jog very soon. Walking is better than nothing and its a great exercise for those who are just starting to build fitness and lose weight. But running will always bring you far superior aerobic benefits. Its entirely possible to walk a few miles a day but not be at all aerobically fit. Running is exhilarating, it feels like such an achievement and if you pace yourself and build up to it, you wont get injured. Can you tell I"m a running freak? But obviously its not suitable for everyone, and you have to do what your body will allow you to. But I wholeheartedly believe in hard aerobic exercise for real weight loss benefits.

What I find best about a treadmill too is the speed is set for you - you have to keep up with it. So you cant slack off the way you do on other equipment when you're not concentrating. I want to listen to music and think, not keep my eye on my RPM.

I've got a treadmill, its the only stationary cardio equipment that I really enjoy and studies suggest its the best for fat and calorie burning. I quite like elliptical machines, but I've read a few articles about how the calorie usage information on ellipticals is skewed, not sure how true that is, but I can tell by using other equipment that I havent put in enough work on the elliptical to burn the say, 700 calories it says I have. I figure you burn 700 calories you're going to be tired, I can do that on the elliptical and not feel a thing, but on a bike or treadmill, I'm completely stuffed. And the effect on my weight of using the elliptical versus treadmill is quite noticeable, i was regularly burning 500-700 calories on the elliptical for period of months prior to and just after surgery, while my ankle was bad. I built tons of fitness but my body didnt change and I didnt lose much weight (until I had the surgery). When I switched over the treadmill I purchased for home, and started doing 4km runs burning about 400 calories, suddenly the weight started moving again, but more importantly I almost instantly dropped sizes. So I vote for my treadmill, and its the one I enjoy most too. I can get on and run and its a natural motion, whereas other machines arent and I find I cant switch off the way I do running.

Hmmm, well if you're talking takeway family dinners we'd have a pizza or fish and chips. We'd never go near KFC or McDonalds or anything like that for dinner, but occasionally it will be lunch, more likely just for the kids. The only thing I'd really eat is McDonalds - a cheeseburger and small fries or just a medium fries and coffee. More often than not though, lunch out would be in a food court and I'd choose something healthier - sushi or a lamb kebab. I dont really like Maccas and KFC and subway would have to be the two most disgusting things I've ever eaten in my life (even though Subway is relatively healthier).

It never fails to amaze me the totally stupid things so called health professional say. That really is a dumb comment. For starters, when you're starting out on a weight loss journey, you lose large amounts of weight anyway. There is no way in a short space of time you could put enough muscle on your body to cancel that out, you dont gain kilos of muscle in a few weeks. YOu might put a few kilos of muscle on your body over a couple of years. That muscle weighs more than fat as an excuse for not losing weight is completely untrue, unless you're a professional body builder preparing for competition. And secondly, your nutritionist should know that it isnt what the scale says that's important anyway, its your body composition that matters. The goal is not to lose "weight" its to redefine your body composition. Its always a good idea to do strength training if you're basically healthy, not nursing an injury or something. Now if only I took my own advice!

I think if you want to be a 2lb per week loser month in month out then that type of exercise schedule is a must. You almost have to make a full time job out of it. For us mere mortals, thankfully its not necessary to do that much to get the health benefits of exercise, but the more you do the better from a weight loss perspective. personally, I run five times a week - 5kms per session, takes me 40 minutes or so, I mix it up, sometimes slow and steady, othertimes interval type runs. I know I should be doing weights/toning as well but I just dont have the flipping time. And I had to buy a treadmill for home to get the runs in, the gym just wasnt happening consistently enough.

In my honest opinion, it think its easiest to have babies close together or far apart. That's based on my experience only of course, but I had 20 months between my first wo and that was easy as easy - two babies. Two in prams, two having sleeps during the day, I was up to the armpits in nappies anyway, etc etc. And its still great because they're at the same stage, like the same things etc. Then I had a little girl six years later and that was great too. No other toddler to worry about, two independent children who understood that I could not come NOW because I was breastfeeding or whatever. I enjoyed my third child in a way I never enjoyed the first two as well because we were older (I was 35 when I had her) and more financially stable. So to cut a long story short, its going to be hard having a 3 year old and a new baby. I have a 3 year old myself and boy, am I glad this is the last time I"ll be doing it. I'd wait another year and work on myself a bit if I were you. It takes you so long to get back on your feet after a baby and have the mental time and energy to devote to yourself. Put yourself first for a little while!

Well, this is a kind of had to be there moment, but anyway, we were standing at the deli counter in the supermarket one day with the boys, it was before Eliza came along. It was all quiet as everyone waited for their number to be served. Suddenly the cutest little voice (Ewan) pipes up "I'm a REALLY big eater of sausages". It was so funny, everyone folded.

Its a hard decision, I'm in a similar situation. I think just really take your time to think about it. I'm scared of being tight at all let alone too tight but the real fact is I"m failing to control my appetite at the moment. Even so I keep thinking I just need to work harder but I've been out for dinner three times this week and I find I can eat an entire restaurant serve of risotto - I think its time for a fill. I figure, if I can eat that much in a sitting, then chances are I can have a substantial fill and still wont be tight and start PBing and having trouble. Plus I paid for it, its there, its kind of stupid not to use it. But I am not a fillaholic, I'm very very cautious about them. I really only know the band's there due to the odd sticking, it certainly doesnt limit me in terms of amount very much at the moment. If you feel at all like that, then perhaps think about a fill, but you dont have to have it until you're ready, there's no harm in not losing for a while and just catching your breath a bit.

Wow - not something I'd want to own at home though, I like the traditional type you can run on. But great for introducing a bit of a shake up to your routine - probably great for developing core muscles and proprioception too!