Jachut

Yes, most definitely. Previous setpoints are the only places at which I plateau, its quite bizarre.

Hi Don, I love your nickname, lol! I was banded by Mr Crosthwaite too back in December. Come along, everyone's in the same boat of not knowing everyone else, I think only a few of us have actually met before, once. isDon isGood! Tee hee.

Does anyone love the soundtrack from Jesus Christ Superstar?. I have major childhood nostalgia going on with that. I love it.

As long as its cooked properly - just rare and juicy on the barbecue and is a decent cut, I can eat it. Wanting dinner to be super quick one night I grilled it in the griller attached the oven and OUCH. Dry and very stuck! But I never did like meat cooked on an indoor griller. We dont use the griller for anything much except cheese on toast.

Its a willy in this house. Willies and girlie bits. My girlfriend had to explain to her son who saw her getting out the shower and said "what's that?" She explained that she had a vagina. A week or so later, he was staying at his nan's house and she was in the shower too. He said to her "nan, mummy has a jar, but you have an old jar" :heh:

Happens to me too, no matter what I do. I prefer to run on a treadmill for this reason, but that takes a bit of working up to. Running to me is a natural motion whereas on the elliptical I find I have to be conscious of it all the time, same with a stepper, so I just dont enjoy those activities as much. The elliptical is a godsend when your body cant take the pounding though. I built up a lot of fitness on the elliptical before I switched to running.

I suspect there does come a point for many where you stick. I seem to have hit that myself at the 200lb level, it just doesnt want to budge from here. Ok, so I'm not obese any longer, merely overweight, but I still want to lose another 40lb! But I'm coming to terms with the fact that its going to take dieting. I have a very comfortable relationship with my band at the moment, and can maintain absolutely effortlessly so I dont really want to go tighter. So it looks like I have to go the traditional route. The first 40+lb have melted off though, its taken no effort really. I'm also resigned to the fact that it might be 1-2lb a month from now on, no matter what I do.

I dont have a problem with chicken, but tuna is a little hard to eat.

I like a mix myself and enjoy most things. I loathe stadium rock though and heavy metal *shudder* Men in tight pants with long hair, no thank you. At the moment I'm loving Greenday and The Offspring, listening to Bernard Fanning a lot. But I really love anything folky - Deborah Conway and Paul Kelly are my two favourite artists, although they're both Australian so no doubt nobody's ever heard of them, although I think Paul Kelly has had some success in America. I'm also a child of the 80's lol, I'm stuck on Cold Chisel, another aussie band, never get tired of listening to them. Aussie pub rock, you cant beat it.

Sunday 16th's fine for me. I'm happy to come over to Willie, its actually easier to stay on the freeway than get into the city anyhow! Believe it or not it only takes about 30 mintues from Berwick to Williamstown on a Sunday. Anyone heard from Parvathi?

Hey Colleen, I think I"ve met you back in the summer, one very hot Sunday at the meetup Nic organised in Frankston/Karingal.

I had chronic ankle pain and I too had a cortisone shot around the time I was banded just to get me to the point where I could do a bit more. It worked. Its never to late to get back on board with your band, see your surgeon. Try not to feel guilty or ashamed, this is a disease, and sometimes it can take more than just one go to get a handle on it.

I'm at 1.7ml in a 4ml band and I'd say far from what you'd call a "sweet spot" but I'm really not wanting any more right now. I enjoy the amount of restriction it gives me in that I can still eat anything. But I'm not losing fast or regularly, I have to decide if I can "diet" and keep it up or whether I have to face more restriction. Not sure.

Eeeeew *gag* *vomit* There is virtually nothing I wouldnt do if semen wasnt involved. Man, its disgusting, no matter what orifice it ends up in. I wish when they went for a vesectomy it'd be the end of semen for ever. Nasty nasty nasty.

I'm 5ft 10 (178cm) and my goal is 70kg or so which is about 154 lb. I think that's realistic based on the fact that I held that weight a long time as an adult and i know I look and feel good there.

And I'd imagine room temp pineapple juice would have a similar effect. I've heard flat Coke. Who knows, I've never PB'd but when you really get stuck it would be handy to be able to clear it.

That's honestly what I'd do too if it happened to me. I feel I'm losing "more" hair than I was but I've always been a terrible shedder. The amount I lose is more than average but in no way could I say my hair is actually thinning. I always lost lots, now I just lose a lot more. I think it might be because my hair's to about midway between my brastrap and shoulders which is the absolute longest my hair grows - so presumably much of it is at the end of its growing cycle and falling out naturally. I also had bio ionic straightening done back in March and I do wonder if as with any chemical treatment, I simply lose more now becuase its weaker and breaks. It feels in reasonably good condition though. I wouldnt tolerate having to go short, I'd die first. It really doesnt look good on me. I'd have hair extensions for sure, regardless of the cost. I'm only 38, I'm not ready for short hair yet.

Judging by the state of America's health system, I would totally support anyone moving things along in this way. The system doesnt appear to be fair in any way. People can be just as desperate at a BMI of 35 as they are at 40 and a system which will not help people until their problems have multiplied many times (comorbidities) is a stupid one. It costs more in the long run to not help people until they're sicker. I would argue long and hard against the statement that a person with a BMI of 36 but no comorbidities does not need surgery. Its only a matter of time before they do and it will cost the country and the taxpayers a lot less in the long run to just provide that help before it becomes critical. Most people that get that fat have a problem and will get fatter. Here, the definition of medically necessary is whether you're fat or not, end of story. If you're obese, you qualify. It prevents lots of people who decide on a band from ever getting as sick as they otherwise would have. I had no comorbidities and BMI of 35 and this surgery has been enormously beneficial to me. Why should I have to wait until I have a BMI if 45 and diabetes, that will have cost our health system a lot more!

Pain/disability for me too. There was something wrong with my ankle which nobody could diagnose. I also was diagnosed with a genetic eye condition which causes awful corneal erosions/ulcers mid last year too. I just started thinking, my llife is misery right now, I can barely walk and now I keep getting struck with eye problems, what on earth is my old age going to be like? Just the glimpse of it I had was enough to get me moving on the thing I could control, my weight. Not so sure about the eyes unfortunately, I had surgery on my left eye two weeks ago and had another major erosion in it in Friday night, so it doesnt appear to have worked, sigh. My ankle is entirely better though, to the point where I now run five times a week, with no treatment, so it was just the weight I was carrying. And what scares me is I was about 80lb overweight, what would have happened if I'd gotten even fatter?

I feel exactly the same way about fills. I have my own personal little theory here and I'm not at all offended that not everybody will agree with it but it goes like this: Most of us need fills at some stage to lose the weight. I really believe for me the best way to use the band is to fill to the point where I"m losing but can eat everything. I've reached that point. So far I've lost 20 easy kilograms, really without much effort at all. Now I'm losing only 1kg or so a month at my current fill level - 1/4 lb per week. I have two choices here: I could go back and get another fill but I just know I'm on the brink of one more fill and there goes bread, hello PB's (I've never PB'd), hello never knowing whether what you eat is going to stay down, etc etc. I have no desire to live like that even though I did choose to have a band. But I could jack the weight loss back up to 1/2 to 1 kg a week. I'd be at goal by the end of the year. Or I can have no more fill until I feel this one has significantly loosened, I can continue running five times a week, build up distances and chew up even more calories. And I could pull my finger out and actually do weight watchers or, actually, we're thinking of a month or two of Lite n Easy (home delivered meals) as DH needs to get moving again too. I vote the second option for now. Option 1 has no guarantee that if I fill more and sacrifice my comfortable relationship with my band, that I will actually lose weight at the rate I imagine anyway. I also worry that being "tight" will lead to more complications such as erosion - just my feeling, not fact. And lastly, I feel that in 20 years, NONE of us here may have our bands. There just are no long long term stats for whether or not this thing can stay in our bodies. So I'm still extremely mindful of trying to teach myself to overcome my bad food habits, and those are habits I"m still fighting now whilst banded although to a much lesser degree. Whether that's wishful thinking or not, I dont know. But the moral of the story is there's as many reasons not to fill as there are to fill, its all how you choose to view it.

I think it pays to remember doctors have their own biases, misinformation or beliefs on what constitutes a healthy diet - what consitutes perfect human nutrition is not something anybody has the answer to. I think its up to all of us to consider what our doctors tell us, but fit it in with our own personal needs and believes. But that's the first time I've ever heard that said about milk, other than of course drinking milk shakes all day, too many calories of anything will halt your weight loss. If you ate 25 apples a day you probably wouldnt lose weight. Do you think that if it were actually true that ingesting milk at all caused no weight loss, then just perhaps it might be public knowledge? I'm just taking a stab in the dark here but gee perhaps dairy/milk wouldnt be part of the food pyramid (whether or not that's correct is a whole nother debeate).

I know someone who had a tummy tuck prior to becoming pregnant, as she had a huge apron of skin and it was terribly uncomfortable for her. So she had it removed, and it improved life a lot for her. When she became pregnant a few years later, she watched her weight very carefully, got a few stretchmarks but only gained the recommended 10kg or so and really did no harm to her new tummy. She was/is pretty overweight all over though, so her stomach is not model material, but the surgery held up just fine.

I dont have any trouble with it. Its a go slow food for sure and very filling because of the rice.

My doc has never even mentioned it to me. Healthy weight range or just above i guess is what he'd be thinking, but specifics are my business. I doubt he'd give me more fill once I was near the healthy weight range though.

I still struggle, i just plain dont like lunch unless someone makes it for me and puts it in front of me. Not fond of sandwiches at all. I've been making more of an effort lately - Soup and a bread roll, or a lean cuisine (which actually arent bad, I have a phobia of these things, I feel like I"m going to die of salt and MSG poisoning). They're not fresh and healthy like a salad but they're better than grazing on crap all day which is generally the alternative. I like toasted sandwiches, but I like them full of salami and cheese, so probably not a good idea.