Jachut

I've thought and thought about a band and decided no and then decided yes, and at the moment I'm thinking about it seriously again. I've lost some weight on my own but its getting harder and harder like it always does. I like the Weight Watchers program, not sure if the Australian version differs significantly, but I like counting points rather than calories and of course I can do it in my sleep. Two things I'm determined to stick by are: if I decide to go through with this, no last supper mentality, I will stick with my weight watchers program. I'm a low BMI patient and one surgeon told me if I lost significant weight between now and surgery he wouldnt do me but another surgeon has told me that's garbage, so I know who's opinion I'd take on that one. I want weight off by Christmas even if I dont have the surgery till November! And secondly during that healing phase if I have the surgery, before the first fill, I will continue to count points not push it to see how much I can eat. I know that time is for healing but I absolutely cannot see why you have to eat to capacity in that time, its a brief time in the process where the focus is on getting better, but I'm still going to count points. I find it relatively easy early on to be disciplined in my eating and losing weight, its keeping going after five or six weeks that I find hard. So short answer - weight watchers. Sensible and easy.

I've read some good accounts - its been done in Australia since the early 90's. Its a sticking point for me too - I simply cant imagine myself as a 70 or 80 year old with a band. I'm nervous about putting something in my body that's going to be there for that long. And I dont like the thought of the band outlasting my organs, lol

Yeah I actually think half the pleasure in some of those naughty foods is cramming them in fast. I find if I tell myself to slow down, I often cant even be bothered eating them. Chips are meant to be eaten by the handful, lol.

No particular foods really - although I love plain, sweet biscuits (cookies), I can eat those dunked in my coffee by the packet full. I love anything sweet and cakey, although its not a regular part of my diet. My problem is more, I'll be eating really well, then I'll have something I shouldnt, like a muffin and a cappucino. I think "oh, well, blown it today" and really go all out on whatever happens to be available. Or I go out for dinner and think "might as well really enjoy this and start again tomorrow". Of course, our lifestyle is such that this happens several times a week, whether it be dinner out or mum's lamb roast or a takeaway one night. We had pizza Thursday night because I'd done no grocery shopping, we went to a function Friday night so ate and drank a lot, takeaway Indian last night as I'd studied all day and today we're going to have fish and chips on the beach down at Sorrento in melbourne with some friends. It just all adds up. And Ewan has his friend Sam staying and no doubt they'll want pancakes for Breakfast so my thought process will be "may as well since today will be a write off anyway".

I can see that its normal not to lose with an unfilled band. What I really dont get is the calorie levels people are on. Now, if I care to use my willpower and stick at it (which sometimes I do), I can easily lose 3lb a week for quite a while on 1500 calories a day. I guess I'm pretty active though. Is it truly necessary to go so low as 1000? Long term doesnt that just shut down your metabolism and put you at risk of undernourishment?

Well I have had 3 babies, I guess you dont get embarrassed by much after that. But honestly I'm not ashamed of my body. I dont think its all that bad but I think I'm kidding myself. I think I'm OK looking and I'm generally a happy and confident person. But we've got a black tie dinner tonight and I hate those with a passion. I have to go dressed like someone's grandma - its not my body so much as that I cannot dress in a way that I think represents the real me, kwim?

Does anyone lose significant weight with NO fills?

Its definitely the muscle Jess. How do your clothes fit?

I'm a stay at home mum/student. I'm doing a Bachelor of Primary Education - which is grade school teaching to you guys - at the ripe old age of 38! I'll be 41 when I finished, my youngest will be starting school and I'll be starting a whole new career!

I once had a pin put in my hand without any sedation and just local anaesthetic becuase I was 7 months pregnant. The way the surgeon and theatre staff were talking about their weekend plans really pissed me off to be honest. It was like I wasnt even there. They had obviously forgotten I was entirely conscious!

I can really understand what that would mean to you. For me that would come well before any weight loss. Its my dream to run again. I watch my kids run around and I'm so envious of their lightness and grace and the pure joy they take in physical movement. For me its all about thud thud thud, my ankle and leg hurting, my back crippling me for days and my boobs hitting me in the face. And that's just from fast walking! Good on you!

Ah, sorry you had to have more surgery but thankful that's diagnosed and cured!

I'm still thinking about this - have lost about 12lb on my own now, but I'm struggling. I just want to go back to old comfortable habits. I "think" I would miss drinking with meals terribly. Not in the normal course of events but when eating out, having a glass of wine with dinner. I'm also ready to change my habits forever but I think I'd miss the safety net of just really being able to let my hair down once in a blue moon. So - can you honestly not tell anyone you've got a band and fake eating normally at social events? Dont people try to get you to eat more? Dont they notice?

A resounding no! If I had to choose between food and coffee, I'd choose coffee.

I wouldnt share the details, its not like you have a close relationship or anything. And if he asks, I'd fib, say gall bladder or something. I dont think having a lap band is anything to be ashamed of, but at the same time, you dont want all and sundry knowing either, because some people will make those kind of judgements. Unless you suffer from being obese, you simply cannot know what the problems involved are. If you really want to put him off asking any more questions, just say its girls stuff, lol.

I really love to exercise, and I like really hard, fast paced stuff. I used to run lots, I'm too heavy and too injured now. But my main goal in losing weight is so that I can run again - that endorphin rush is fantastic and puts me on a high for the rest of the day. At the moment, I walk my boys to school 3 days per week, which is a 7km round trip, and I"ve been going to the gym 3 days per week - half an hour of cardio, about 40 mins of weights. We also swim one night a week as a family, I usually do about 25 laps of the 50m pool. Trouble is all that activity just makes me hungry. My appetite just shifts up a notch so that I stay fat and if I resist and dont eat, I lose the energy to be able to exercise. I'm one of those people that's fat but also fit and healthy.

Definitely definitely negative? I spent days in the backyard holding tests up to the sunlight, trying to convince myself I couldnt see a second line, but it was there, just very faint. Otherwise, I dont know, I wonder if you're blood sugars are all messed up from eating less or something? Just a guess. Its the only thing I could think of that would make you shaky and sick like that - perhaps a small Protein snack two or three hours after your meal and see if that helps? I'd see the doctor about it otherwise.

To be totally honest, at first I was thinking about a band like the weight would just literally fall off me. Then I realised it would be months before I would even have it done, and I was in the mood right NOW to lose some weight. And that I could do an awful lot of work on my head in two whole years. I found myself thinking I'd have to eat more over the next while to make sure I was fat enough to qualify - it struck me how insane that was. By the time I got the band I could be 15kg down and the surgeon advised me that if I was like 90kg (which is not even "obese" for my height) at the day of surgery, regardless of whether I'd qualified when I first saw him, then no, he wouldnt do it. So for me, not worth it - for now. If I continue the rollercoaster of gaining/losing gaining/losing I will revisit it later on. But also when you weigh up statistically people tend to lose about 1/2 to 2/3 of their excess weight, I also decided I wasnt prepared to spend that much money to lose only 20kg or so.

Australia is fast on your heels unfortunately. Over the past few decades our culture has become increasingly Americanised and that includes the fast food and processed food and people are getting fatter and fatter. We're still blessed to have an abundance of wonderful fresh food in this country, but with people's increasingly busy lifestyles they're turning away from it. A good deal of my weight problem has come from not so much binge eating but just relying on too much processed food - meal starters, packaged sauces, gravies etc. Lord knows what else is in all that stuff! I find what helps me is I buy my fruit and vegies from an organic producer, get them home delivered. It costs an arm and a leg, they are SO expensive but I get that huge big box and it's all absolutely delicious and because it's cost a fortune, I dont want to waste it. I find therefore that I'm planning our meals around the fruit and veg rather than plonking a hunk of meat on the plate and decorating it with a bit of broccoli. I've lost a bit of weight, not a lot but I feel so much better getting in a couple of pieces of fruit and at least 4 different vegetables every day. We had a Thai Beef salad last night that was to die for, the coriander in the lettuce mix was delish. Much much better than take away any day - and a huge plate full of vegetables and only a garnish of meat.

I think I came to pretty much the same realisation just researching the band. In so doing, I realised my interest in the band was piqued because I thought it would take away all that other stuff. I had a few initial questions about things like eating out for special occasions etc and I had a few moments of real fear at the thought of losing my friend food. But reading everyone's experiences made me realise I had to do the hard work myself anyway and I opted not to go for a band for the time being (I'm also not quite fat enough, lol, my health fund wont pay). I cant say how different i feel on realising what I have to do and that it will be a lifelong work in progress, I've told myself time and time again of course, but never really believed it. So this time round, I've lost 5kg, slacked off and for once (and this is truly a miracle) I've climbed back on the horse, and gotten going again. Another revelation - you can have a bad day and it doesnt have to be the undoing of everything. I think once you get these principles firmly in your head and truly believe them, then you will get there eventually.

I suspect part of the reason lots of people become obese is because there is something about their metabolisms - much as popular wisdom says that you're fat because of eating and exercise habits, I swear there's some hidden mystery they just havent discovered yet. And I think fat people's bodies are way better at adapting to reduced calorie intake too - they adapt faster and they adapt more adroitly. That's the secret of weightloss 101 according to Jacqui, lol. I dont know if that's true, but I suspect there's something to it. Its the same principle as why some people just eat and eat and never gain weight. I also think exercise for weight loss is different to exercise for general health. You need to be scientific about it, not just toddle out for a wander round the block every now and then. You need muscle building exercise probably more than cardio. Cardio will burn fat but you need to increase your metabolism by packing some muscle onto your body and resistance exercise is the only way to do that. There's also quite an exact science to that as well.

Well first of all, we dont really eat shrimps anyway - we eat prawns. And yes, you can put em on the barbie (barbeque) but more often its chops and snags (sausages) or steak with a bit of dead horse (tomato sauce, ketchup). Paul Hogan is a big tosser and no way representative of the typical Aussie bloke. Think Julian McMahon... oh, maybe that's a bit wishful, but we're not all ocker "dags" (that's a d...khead) - but a dag is really the crud that gets stuck on a sheeps bum if they havent been crutched! Teehee, that Aussie enough?

I'm really looking forward to getting my heel/ankle better, although my weight isnt the cause of the injury. I just want to be able to go out and exercise like I used to be able to (even 12 months ago at the same weight!). Buying clothes in normal shops. Having a black tie function to go to and not feeling physically sick at the thought of finding something to wear.

He told me to come back when I was fatter, lol! He would do it and said it would be of benefit given my dieting history but there's no way he could say it was medically necessary which is what the health fund would require - so unless i want to pay for it myself (which I dont), that's that. I'm not too fussed, I felt I ought to explore it as far as I could but I'm not sure it's really for me anyway. As I said, the GP had somebody else's blood report in my file and gave me incorrect results but also this dreadful trouble I'm having with my heel may be harder to treat because of the extra weight on it but it isnt caused by my weight. Plus I've just found out I need more surgery on my eye so I guess I better concentrate on that first. I'm glad your DH is supportive now, it's not something you really want to do alone!

I wouldnt be surprised if lots of them would go that far to maintain super skinny status. There's always going to be surgeons around that will do it on a normal weight person for the right price. Pilates will help your bad back and tone your midsection but it wont rip weight off you. Its not aerobic and it doesnt burn lots of calories. That peeves me when stars say things like that and dont mention that they also run 100km a week AND work with a personal trainer!