Jachut

Its generally a morning thing for me, I drop the boys off at school, Eliza to daycare and then I go to the gym. Get home, showered and dressed and my day starts around 11.30 am. I cant exercise in the afternoon because there's no creche at the gym, and I couldnt leave Eliza home with the boy as she's not quite 3. Doug doesnt get home from work till 7.30, 8pm and if I went then, I wouldnt be able to get to sleep. Exercising at night keeps me wide awake for hours. It's my goal to eventually invest in a home set up, when we have a house that will accommodate it, say a treadmill, a bike and a home gym weight station. I know when I go full time with my study and when I'm working, there is going to be no time for the gym. I'm going to have to get up at 5.30 in the morning to do it. At present I cant do that because Doug leaves for work at about 6.45, and the gym only opens at 6.

Gosh, I woudnt wish my hair on anyone, its truly dreadful. If I dontated it the unlucky recipient would be after me with a machete! I was going to get a cut and colour when I got to 90kg but I figure I do it regularly anway and had one last week. I had some layers cut into my hair, got sick of the long and straight. It looked fantastic then of course after I washed and blow dried it myself a day or two later it looked more like a giant ball of fluffy cotton wool on my head. I've got the technique down now to straighten it out so it's smooth and silky but it takes me about half an hour to do it and requires a hot blow dryer and a straightening Iron too. So now, 90kg, my goals is to get the new bio-ionic hair straightening. A new hairstyle really gives you a lift, I hope you were thrilled with it.

I've often wondered though, whether being banded, it's more realistic to use this type of diet to get a bit of weight off quickly, or when you've stalled. Because unlike an unbanded person who does this sort of thing, you're not likely to stack it all back on with interest are you? I mean, you cant live on 2 bowls of cereal a day forever but if it blasts away a few lbs why not?

I like classes but can never make them at the scheduled time, so I tend to do about 40 minutes on the elliptical, bike or rower (I use my Cardio Coach Volumes on my Mp3 to make it fun and the time flies) and then I do about half an hour of weight work. Anyone could do that, no matter how overweight, just by adjusting the time you spend and speed at which you do your cardio etc. It doesnt take coordination or special knowledge. Ideally, during the year I do this 3-4 times a week, at the moment, its our long school holidays here, the kids are off school till February so I'm having a lot of trouble getting to the gym. I cant do much at home becuase I dont have any equipment, and I cant do anythign weight bearing like walking or exercise DVD's because of my ankle.

I can feel it slackening off almost five weeks after banding, but not to the point that I'm not losing anymore or that I feel I'm overeating. I would say now I can eat absolutely anything, and I now get a little hungry late in the afternoon, but not to the point that I cant just wait for dinner. I'm satisfied on a small meal, but it's not a tiny meal - we eat off entree plates and I have a full plate. I can eat an ordinary size bowl of Cereal with some chopped fruit in the morning and a fairly big bowl of salad for lunch. I'm due for my first fill next week. I guess I'll go with an open mind - I've definitely lost much slower over the past week or two, only lost 1.1kg since New Years Day, but I am losing and I have no desire to eat less than what I can get away with to continue losing. I dont want to try to lose 5kg a week! If you're happy where you are, I'd leave it. Save the fills for when you really need them, you might be one of the lucky ones who needs far fewer.

If anything, I think its impossible to determine without extensive medical assistance, how many calories you require. Some people have fast metabolisms, some have slow ones. I can eat a reasonable amount before gaining weight, my husband lives on air and is overweight. But I think that they've determined with relative certainty that a low calorie diet lifelong is advantageous. As bandsters I think we'll all probably fit safely within the term low calorie diet. But the body is so adapatable that you wont keep getting skinnier and skinnier, you will learn to live on 1000 and maintain your weight if you do it long enough.

My surgeon felt that about 80-85kg is what I should aim for, so what's that, about 170-180lb I think. I'm 5ft 10 so tall. Well phooey to that, no way am I going to be happy at that weight - being that heavy is what started me on the diet merrygoround in the first place. I know that at that weight I cant run without injuring myself, I have a fat tummy, dont look good in much that I want to wear and still have to shop a lot in plus size shops. I want to weigh about 70kg, my longest held adult weight, and one that was comfortable, easy to maintain and had me looking and feeling fantastic. I think after getting from 110 down to 80, I'll be able to go the last 10kg on my own, surgeon's blessing or not. I told him so, he told me that sometimes it's unrealistic to get back to that sort of weight purely because I'll have much denser bones and probably more muscle (courtesy of exercising to lost weight and just because fat people need more muscle to carry their bulk and tend to retain some of it as they lose) so that 75kg may indeed be even leaner than I was at 70kg years ago. 70kg for me was an easy Australian size 14 (about a US12), so lovely and willowy, I could shop anywhere and all but the most youngest fashions looked nice enough on. But I still had boobs and wasnt gaunt.

You've done amazingly well. Its good to hear from people who are long term bandsters.

You're on reasonable track though - I mean I know I said you dont have to gain and that's true, but a normal pregnancy gain is about 16kg and you'll lose that pretty effortlessly. You've got the right plan, just exercise and keep it under control. And of course, you werent 104kg at the start whereas I didnt need to gain, you probably do. Oops, you've already got three little blessings. Can I correct myself - three's enough for me!! Hope that didnt offend, it was made in jest, lol.

12th January Breakfast: 1 slice of wholegrain toast with jam (had bee craving it, but it was pretty ho hum), i snack pack of canned peaches. Prelunch: about 5 hot chips with the kids Lunch: 1/2 an avocado with flavoured tuna Dinner: 1 spinach and fetta sausage, salad

This is difficult because it's also not really great nutrition to eat the same meal four nights in a row, but I had the same trouble when Doug was away for 2 weeks on a fishing trip. I'd make things and freeze the leftovers in single portions where possible so that you dont have to have it all in the same week. But even stuff like tubs of cottage cheese are difficult to get through on your own arent they?

Was that me who was mouthing off not a week ago about how she didnt need a fill, and wasnt going to have one, how she never thought about food and was still losing well? Hehehe, I'm eating my words now, not to mention wanting to eat everything else. Suddenly I'm hungry. I've only got to wait till the 19th, but we can hang out! Eat enough to satisfy yourself reasonable, the weight will come off faster again after the fill, just try not to go crazy.

Two I've tried that are so good I'll never miss the real thing: Cauliflower rice - process the edible parts of a cauliflower in the food processor till it's just crumbs (like grains of rice). Pop into a sieve, a fine metal one, prop over a saucepan of boiling Water and steam till it's tender. It tends to fall though an ordinary saucepan steamer. Use it in place of rice - with your dahl or curry/casserole or as a side dish or whatever. It tastes pretty mild and doesnt disrupt the taste of the meal, just provides the texture of rice. Zucchini Pasta - take a zucchini (courgette, whatever you guys call them), cut into long matchsticks (the lenght of the zucchini), its pretty easy to eat one per person. Stir fry in a very small amount of olive oil, a splash of lemon juice and some salt and pepper. I've only eaten it with bolognaise sauce and a bit of parmesan - its truly delish, but it would probably go with almost any pasta sauce. Now if someone could post an alternative to a big hunk of fresh white bread toasted so its browned outside, still soft in the middle, with loads of butter and beautiful jam I'd be most grateful. It's my first craving and its coming into my head more and more often.

Congratulations!! Fraid I cant be any more support than that despite being an Aussie, if I got pregnant again, I'd kill myself, lol. Three's enough for anybody. I will say thought that I was 104kg when I got pregnant unintentionally with my third and was very concerned about getting ENORMOUS specially since I'd had pre-eclampsia in my first two pregnancies. I followed the Weight Watchers point system, didnt exercise because I had such foul reflux and heartburn and just plain couldnt, and I gained no weight that pregnancy - I ate very healthily though and gave birth to a bouncing 3.7 kg baby girl. No return of my previous problems, however Eliza was breech and very oddly positioned high breech at that, so I experienced something I've never experienced in previous pregnancies - restricted stomach capacity. And it felt EXACTLY like being banded. So, moral of the story is if you're heavy there is no need to gain weight during pregnancy to have a healthy baby if you eat very well and take your Vitamins. In fact when I got home from hospital I was about 94kg. That lasted about 2 weeks before I started gaining - breastfeeding makes me fat fat fat, in fact most of my excess weight was put on whilst breastfeeding, not during pregnancies, I had modest gains of 10kg in my first two pregnancies. I was always about 15kg overweight before I started having babies, and that blossomed into 30-40kg overweight after 3 children. You'll be fine.

I was banded December 9th, I havent suffered from hunger at all but I also havent lost much more than you. I've lost 19lb which I'm thrilled to bits with and as a lower BMI patient, that much is quite visible on me. I'v gone down at least a clothes size. You've done brilliantly to lose 15 if you're hungry all the time. Hang in there, but boy youv'e got a long wait for that fill. I'm scheduled for next week. You can do it, just keep doing what you're doing.

Why would they make a port that small if it were impossible to find? Sounds more like he cant be bothered/doesnt want to. There is a low profile port and I know several people who have it and they have fills without any problem, no xray either. I'd insist if I were you. Its your choice, not his.

I would think it would make a difference - well especially if measured by skin fold test, lol. Whichever way you look at it it's loads of extra non lean body mass. Those infra red scale things can be put off by Water weight and skin and all the rest of it. It is possible to lose weight though and get fatter - ie. lose mostly lean tissue. You are exercising right? If you really want to affect your body fat levels you need to do strength training. Cardio burns lots of calories and makes you fitter and you need to do that too, but it's only strenght training that preserves and builds muscle.

11th Jan Breakfast: small can of baked Beans Lunch: the insides of a McDonalds Thai chicken Deli Choice (chicken, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, lime and chilli mayonnaise). This was very little food so when I got home I had a yogurt Afternoon: a small snack pack of canned fruit Dinner: flathead tails pan friend, mashed potato & sweet potato, steamed carrots and broccoli

I gave up sugar in tea and coffee when I was about 18 (geez, that's 20 years ago), and I've NEVER drunk calories - everybody knows that makes you fat, roflmao!! So yep, I'd eat McDonalds but always with a diet coke. For some reason, I havent drunk diet soft drinks for about 10 years now, we used to go through a lot of diet coke. Now I cant bear the taste of it, like a bottle of chemicals, ugh. I have a bit of a hang up about artificial sweeteners, and chemicals on foods and the like so I dont touch anything artificially sweetened. I just drink Water - oh and the occasional glass of wine - and nothing else. We dont even have juice in the house because the kids guzzle it. You get used to it. With regard to yogurt and the like, I prefer to eat smaller amounts of the real thing - full fat yogurt (not usually sweetened though), and I"m like that with all things really, dont like low fat foods either and dont believe they really achieve much. I was a real paradox before surgery - family diet totally healthy and usually organic and shoving down a load of crap on top of that, lol.

That's good advice. There is always going to be a fair bit of "you" and not the band doing the work. Like most people who have a weight problem, you probably have lost weight before only to gain it back. This time you can be relatively sure you wont regain. And I dont see why it's not possible that you may indeed be able to be filled a bit more when you've lost a bit more weight. That's afterall partly why we need a schedule of fills and not just one at the start!

Oh my goodness though, it would be a doozy to recover from! Talk about pain!

I'm sorry you've had so much trouble with your band. As to dieting - well you have to remember, part of the disease of obesity is that what you call a diet, normal weight people call normal eating. Yes, you have to change your eating habits forever, there's no way round that. Heck I usually eat more than my SIL when I'm dieting. She's tiny. So if you want to look at it that way, yes you're on a diet forever. After the first part of your weight has come off it usually slows down. The body pretty much adapts to anything. So many people will find it necessarily to mentally keep an eye on their calorie intake, and formal diet plans are one way to do this. Sadly, there is just no way you can eat what you like, when you like, in te quantity you like and stay at a normal weight. Not even thin people can get away with that.

Im a bee's dick away from fitting into a regular store size 18, it'll take 5 or 6 more kg's. So even though I will still fit into probably a 14 in our plus size majors - My Size and 1626 - at that point I will NEVER set foot in either again. Well done Margo!

January 9th: Breakfast: 2 Ryvitas with low fat cream cheese and chive spread, bowl of strawberries, blueberries and blackberries Lunch: Yogurt and a banana Dinner: piece of grilled flake, tossed salad January 10th: Breakfast: I tried a recipe from the Southbeach diet for pancakes - oatmeal, cottage cheese, cinnamon, nutmeg and eggs. Had them with a bit of maple syrup. Totally revolting, and anyway, its what you put on pancakes that makes them evil, not the pancake itself. Lunch: mixed salad: iceberg lettuce, hardboiled egg, tomato, cucumber, asparagus, 3 bean mix, a bit of low fat mayonnaise Dinner: Thai chicken cake, steamed broccoli and carrots

And just because Kirsty's the spokesperson for Jenny Craig, who says she even eats the stuff? The ad was just on TV and she certainly put none of it actually in her mouth, lol. I dont think the company would even care, its all about marketing and money. As long as they have a celebrity spokesperson who's dropped a ton of weight, they're not going to care how she did it. I'm a cynic though. I wouldnt trust Oprah either. They're all about getting and staying rich, not being virtuous and honest.