Jachut

Flaxseed oil is SO good for you too. My son takes it and it keeps his eczema under control beautifully. Full of Omega 3's for heart health and skin and hair health. 30g is usually the recommended daily fibre intake for adults but there's no way you'd gett through that with a band. I have no idea how you'd do it, this is the main issue that has scared me away for now. I have no problem with the concept of changing my diet to cut kilojoules but at a relative modest 38kg or so overweight I'm going to try to do that but cutting out the bad stuff and not my intake of fruit and veg and wholegrains - of course its a way different trade off if you're facing much more weight loss than that. You do better to take a fibre supplement than to actually use a stool softener or laxative. To use those regularly makes your bowel less efficient and only compounds the problem. Water Water and Water too. Surely though 30g of fibre is recommended to move the amount of food an adult generally eats and that if you've been banded, obviously the volume of food moving through your system is less so the volume of what comes out the other end is less and therefore your fibre needs would be slightly less?

Now THAT would feel great. Numbers on the scale dont mean that much to me, I find I can be at the heavy end of my normal range and still have my clothes feel lose or vice versa. I have a bad habit of buying clothes that dont fit me :-(

Ooh yucky, that sounds awful. I've come to realise though that the point of the band is that you still have to do things like exercise and diet and that you wont lose much weight or keep it off if you dont do those things.

Cant imagine why it would be a problem, other than perhaps issues of restrictions to what you could possibly lose and false hopes? Then again my sis has hypothyroidism and has always been a stick insect, 50kg on a fat day.

I'm going to see the surgeon Tuesday, I'm really unsure whether this is what I need and at the moment am leaning towards not doing it. But I think I really need to at least discuss it with the surgeon. At present I have a BMI of 35, so I'm really only JUST squeaking in and not sure if my weight related problems would actually be considered comorbidities anyway so this may all be academic. BUT - I dont want to have that "last supper" mentality. This process will take a while, I doubt I'd be having surgery in a week or two although our health system is WAY less complicated, our health fund will cover it or it wont, there wont be any substantiations, appeals etc. I want to make changes now, not eat myself stupid until the surgery date. What would happen if I fronted up to surgery 6kg lighter, and my BMI had slipped down to a shapely 33? I feel personally all the issues that have led me to consider this huge step will still be there, I've gotten a hold of them temporarily any number of times in my life. If you're a candidate when you first walk into that surgeon's office is that all that matters?

Well without even trying I lost 1kg over the weekend and AF has arrived and I have lost 2kg since this morning, lol. I was due to see the surgeon yesterday but I rang because I also got all my bloodwork results back and am fit as a fiddle, there is absolutely nothing wrong with my cholesterol levels, blood pressure, blood sugar etc. No reason to think at this point in time that my weight is affecting my health negatively. It would be a purely cosmetic procedure and still justifiable given my dieting history but the surgeon said he wouldnt do it at this point in time. I have decided not to go this route for now. I really want to give it one last ditch effort and am feeling really motivated to do so. I'm doing it under dietician supervision so that if I come back to this point in 12 months I can say I really did try.

Kare those are the exact reasons I've decided against a band for now. I just truly dont think it will solve those issues for me and I can imagine getting to 90kg or so and thinking this will be just fine. It certainly will feel fine compared to now, but if I recall on the way up and through 90kg I was desperate, absolutely desperate about my weight. If the band gave me a 100% guarantee I was going to get right down to 70kg (when I was gorgeous, even if I do say so myself, lol), I would do it. But it doesnt. We all need to be accepting of ourselves and love ourselves no matter what our weight. But to be honest, I have that now (even though I said I'm not prepared to accept my current weight). I dont need to lose any weight for that. I'm so glad DeLarla that you're feeling that because its a healthy way to be.

I'm another one that loves the gym. I have absolutely no problems motivating myself to do it and I'm addicted to the treadmill. Unfortunately I've completey wrecked my achilles tendons due to a combination of them just being a weak spot for me and me expecting them to do too much. 100kg + people are asking a lot of their bodies by trying to jog. Sooo I've done nothing for 9 months, and I'm still hobbling and limping and visiting the physio 3 x per week. Its why I've gotten this heavy as I've really stopped any incidental stuff too - no more walking to the milkbar to get milk or to walk the kids to school or any of that and I"ve piled on weight. I am going to have to FORCE myself to swim a couple of times a week, its so inconvenient and time consuming but its my only option at the moment and hopefully if I can get some weight off that way I will be able to resume what I enjoy.

Yes, the screw this part of the diet is where I come unstuck too. I know I can lose 10kg, I've done it a million times. But honestly, I feel like I've had somewhat of an ephiphany these last few days - and I've suddenly reached the point where I feel ready to let go of what's been holding me back. What I've realised from all my reserch too is that people still get to that point, they have a physical restriction that prevents them regaining so much weight, but they still struggle with these issues. Its my head I feel I need to fix, not my body. I rang my health fund, they cover it when its medically necessary according to the surgeon. No messing around substantiating it. I've been to the GP for my blood results, my cholesterol is a healthy 4.5, my blood pressure a perfect 120/70 this morning, no sign of diabetes, thyroid problems or any of that stuff. I'm in better shape than I was a year ago and 10kg lighter, thanks to an overall improvement in diet, if not calorie intake. My only problem is my foot which the physio has just discovered now that they've got the swelling down enough to do an ultrasound exam, is adhesions caused by previous heel surgery 20 years ago. Not due to my weight at all, but certainly aggravated by it. On top of that AF has arrived (no doubt why I was so desperate about this last week) and on top of the kilo or so I've lost this morning, I know that means I'll also be another 2kg lighter tomorrow morning. That puts me fair and square at a BMI of 34. So I rang the surgeon's office and explained the situation, his secretary let me actually speak to him, his verbal advice was that no matter what my dieting and weight history, his policy is BMI 40+ unless there's sigificant comorbidities, which I thankfully do not have. So peoples Im going to have to go it alone. I feel very relieved and I feel like I've really considered this from angles I've never viewed before. I've had a glimpse of what old age might be like too and I think I've had that mentality of being invincible shaken out of me. I've also got solid evidence that a change for the better in diet does affect your health positively. I've also sat my husband down and given him a stern talking to (which was really directed at myself, he's never been anything but supportive). I've told him what I need to do and that I'm going to do it regardless of anyone else. I need the time to dedicate to myself, I"ve spent the last 10 years in baby and child mode and I need some time out and he's going to have to pick up the slack. I really need to find permission within myself to do this for me, that's the hardest part. Some honest soul searching has told me that I've never really had a problem with hunger, its disorganisation, lack of time, lack of care for myself, stress, boredom and lack of direction and paying absolutely no attention to what I'm eating that's led me to this position. A band wont solve any of those things for me. I dont want to be thin and still have those problems. I feel like I want to work on those things and the weight will follow, not the other way round, kwim? Good luck everybody and thanks so much to listening to the ins and outs of my personal decision over the last week. I may be back in six months of course, but hopefully I wont be. Most likely I'll get a bit of weight off, feel better and slack off a bit, but I'm actually having trouble staying this fat at the moment, lol.

That's what concerns me I guess. My diet now is pretty A1 nutritionally, it just has lots of "extras", lol. I guess when you've got a really big weight problem, the risk to your health and quality of life is such that this is a fair trade off. I"m not sure that it is with me and my weight problem. I'm beginning to think I'd be losing more in terms of nutrition than I'd be gaining in terms of health from weight loss.

Thanks guys, its kind of hard to get my head around the concept that some of my most enjoyable rituals may not be that enjoyable anymore. I cant help panicking. What will I replace them with? But it sounds like they may not need replacing anyway. I really like the idea of eating before you go out, lol. I had a friend who used to do that. She couldnt drink AND eat so she chose to drink. I'd prefer good wine over food any day myself. Not that I have a problem with drinking but it is an enjoyable thing for me. It's funny but eating out isnt one of my problems. I usually get so wrapped up in the conversation and the company that I barely eat anyway. And I find if I eat lots while I"m talking lots I get lots and lots of tummy pain, it can be crippling. So I hate getting full when I"m out.

Does everyone suffer from this? I think my chances are good - I'm 38, I've had 3 babies and dont have a single stretchmark. I dont have any wrinkles yet and I only have a "relatively" small weight problem of 30-40kg. I'm more than happy to take my time about losing it? Am I kidding myself? Of course my boobs are going to look like footy socks with tennis balls in the end after feeding three babies :-)

D'OH! I've been "practicing" the way I would have to eat for the past week, eating very slowly, chewing very well and have been amazed by how much less I am satisfied with. I got on the scales this morning and have lost weight, my BMI this morning is in the 34's! LOL, I may not have a choice in this anyway unless i can pack a bit on before tomorrow. Hmm, maybe I'll put the weights off Doug's dumbells in my pockets. That's what's surprised me and made me a bit unsure. It seems to me not gulping and bolting your food and barely tasting it going down is half the problem. I've read a thousand times of course to really enjoy your food but never actually done it. And of course, if you dont overeat as a general rule, you can enjoy anything in moderation. This has been such an educational experience. If I dont get the band I still have learned some really valuable things about myself to the point where I am actually feeling I can do this. Looking at weight as a health issue too rather than an aesthetic one (and until the last two years I've only really had an aesthetic weight problem) makes me able to break it down into smaller goals in a way I've never done before. I only have to lose 20kg to be "overweight" instead of obese. 20 doesnt sound like much compared to the 40 I've been thinking of. I'll let you all know how I go tomorrow and whether the health fund will cover me now I"m a skinny 34'er.

I will go and see the surgeon, its $105 for the visit and our Medicare system here will rebate half of that so there's not much to lose. I think I'm afraid of never having the joy of a major pig out again. I thought I was just hopeless with willpower but now I've realised after considering this process that food does fulfill some sort of a need in me. The thought of not having my old friend to comfort me, soothe me is quite frightening. But feeling that way does tend to indicate if I dont do something now, I may well be pushing 300lb in a couple of years doesnt it? On a practical level I'm REALLY concerned by the typical sort of diet everyone seems to be following (read the food journals). They dont come close to the health recommendations in this country. I do NOT want a band so that I can forever live on Protein drinks and other processed crap. Fresh fruit, fresh vegies, good wholegrain products are vital for your health! I dont want to die skinny with my arteries completely clogged and I dont want cancer either!

Wow, this is scaring me. Not one of those daily intakes sounds appealing - maybe its the difference between the typical diet in the US and the typical diet in Australia but I eat WAY more fruit and veg than anybody has mentioned. This will be the first thing I ask my surgeon on Tuesday. I eat lots of junk too and McDonalds is a fairly regular part of my life, that can go. But I have 3 kids to feed so I make a huge effort to keep our family diet a healthy one. In any given day, say today for example, I would eat: Breakfast Bowl of wholewheat mixed type cereal - wheat flakes, dried fruit etc. Medium sized bowl, a bit of tinned fruit on top of that and some skim milk Mid morning - three of my MIL's home made biscuits (cookies to you I guess) Lunch - Minestrone (home made), fresh bread roll with butter, an orange Just now I ate a banana Dinner is going to be leftover vegetable lasagna - a rather rich concoction that had a bottle of cream poured over it and is topped with pine nuts. I'll probably eat a pretty large hunk of that. I've had 2 beers and a handful of potato chips at the football presentation day and will probably have a wine with dinner. During the day I've had about 6 cups of coffee with skim milk and we always finish the night with a hot Milo (which is like activite, Ovaltine, that kind of thing). That's a pretty "good" day for me - otherdays have far more fatty treats slipped in and lunch during the week is nearly ALWAYS rubbish out on the run, like McDonalds. But the Australian recommendation is for 2 fruit, 5 veg every day. It doesnt look like anyone is eating that (a serve of veg is 1/2 cup). If I do go ahead and get the band I really dont want the quality of fresh food in my diet to get dumped in favour of processed protein drinks and other rubbish like that. What's the point of that? Someone please tell me you're fitting in loads of fresh salads and fruits?

Cats, cant bear dogs *shudder* Red wine or White?

Sorry Porclndoll, I'm in Melbourne, Australia. Its easy to get beautiful fresh organic produce home delivered here, relatively pricey though!

Its not always a blast being tall - my ideal weight is really about 75kg and its a weight I managed to maintain for a few years in my early 20's but even then I couldnt shop in normal stores. I was just too large framed. People's body shapes are different too - I have a girlfriend about the same height/size as me, she wears 2 whole sizes smaller than I do! I am more pear shaped, she has really really thick legs with no ankles :-)

I also dont see my fat in the mirror. Because I'm very tall, my slip from overweight into obesity hasnt actually added much inches to my frame. Gone up one clothes size but am 20kg heavier. There just hasnt been that in your face STOP signal for me, until I started to feel crap. I was surprised when the physio said to me that my feet hurt because of my weight, I've had vulnerable ankles all my life. I dont see that if I go out and jog I may hurt myself (which is why one ankle now is really giving me trouble). I know I'm bigger than others, I know I cant buy clothes in normal shops but I really dont think I realise how fat I am.

That's fantastic. I used to feel smug about only being "overweight" a few years back and thinking Oh well, I dont really need to worry. Wrong! It must be great getting back to that after being labelled "obese". What a horrid word that is.

What worries me about this process and the food selection afterwards is it sounds very heavy on the Protein very light on the fruit and veg. How on earth do you get your recommended 2 fruit, 5 veg in? I can honestly say that if it involves minimal fruit and vegetables and being unable to eat many grain products like bread, that would probably make me lean towards not doing it personally. I feel like I may be of normal weight then, but not necessarily healthy. There's not a lot of long term studies of the effect of years and years of a diet like that. I really dont believe in the virtue of high protein diets and whether or not you're at your proper weight, you cant eat eggs every day of the week and maintain normal cholesterol levels surely? What about cereals, fruit, lean red meat? I think I've changed my mind again. Sigh.

Wow, that's struck a chord with me. I do eat too much, of course I do but I'm not sure that hunger is my main problem, its more emotional eating and choosing the wrong things to go along with that. Nobody relieves stress by eating celery do they? This is such a big scary decision and like you say, I'm actually not sure I would go through surgery to lose only 40lb. I'm positive I could do that on my own, what I dont know I can do is lose the 80lb I'd like to. But surgery doesnt guarantee that either does it? I'm still going to go and see the surgeon on Tuesday, I really want to discuss the option. However, I'm not positive its for me and I'm not sure my health fund will cover it either. For lots of low BMI candidates perhaps there is good consideration to be given to whether that much money would be well spent on a personal trainer and a dietician rather than just go it alone? For the last few days I've "practiced" the way I would have to eat, measured out half a cup or so of food and chewed it really really well and really concentrated on it. It's really made a difference - we had a Pasta bake type of thing last night for dinner with parmesan on top and I found when I really stopped to actually taste it, it was very rich and I couldnt eat very much, the flavour became too intense for me. Ordinarily I would just bolt it down and not even taste it. Sigh. It's SO hard isnt it? The good thing about this process is that it's actually really made me think about my eating habits and what I would have to change in a way I've NEVER done before. I've realised that that is going to be very hard but that all the band would offer me is a physical restriction on how far I could go off track. This morning I'm really thinking that I might go along to the dietician my doc recommended and give that a really really good go first. LilAngel I guess all you can really do is go for the initial consult, really get a good idea of what kind of weight loss statistically you could be expecting and weigh up whether its worth it. I know that thinking of going through surgery to lose 30lb has really stopped me in my tracks.

Trouble with flylady is by the time you've shined your sink, your 2 year old has spread talcum powder round the bedroom. By the time you've vacuumed all that up, the 10 year old has fed the cat and left a trail of cat food from the plate all the way to the bin. Go and mop that up only to find your 2 year old needs a nappy change, deal with that to go and feed the whining 8 year old who is demanding food. You're shined sink is now covered in dishes, which you have to do and then put on the load of laundry, oh and then go and mop the floor AGAIN because the kids have been in and out the back door and its raining outside. Get sidetracked by the revolting smell coming from the boys room only to discover they've been hiding most of their school lunches in the bottom drawer, eeew, clean that up and wonder just when you will get to the ring around the bath, the toilet which they boys cant actually pee into for love nor money, do the banking, the grocery shopping, fit some study in, get to football training, cook something for dinner and do the ironing and put all the clean washing away. By this stage of course, the house needs vacuuming again, I think i dusted about 2 months ago though so that should be right for another 6. Flylady? When? LOL!

Its a bit anxiety provoking isnt it?. I keep thinking I'll never ever be able to enjoy food again if I do this.

Study here today and all day yesterday too. I have a busy week ahead of doctors appointments (see the surgeon on Tuesday!!) so I have to get it done, have a big assignment due for Narrative And Genre on August 18 and next w/end will be busy coz its my birthday. Doug is taking the boys and Eliza to a football round robin today for the last day of the Aussie Rules season - my 8 year old played this year. Its a grey cold rainy Melbourne winter day.