Jachut

Yeah, I know what you mean. It makes me sad - not that I lost all this weight and am not perfect, but that I'm actually getting old! I dont have that lush young body anymore. I've been through hell and back in the last year with cancer too, I've lost my rectum - weird thing to be attached to but I will never ever be normal again in that sense, its made me menopausal, my knees, hips and shoulders hurt still (probably a side effect of chemo) so that when I set out for a run or get up int he morning, I creak and limp like an old person. Add to that the (pretty minor really) sagging and excess skin from weight loss and many days, I just feel overwhelmingly sad when I see myself naked. Sadly, we cant remain perfect forever. I've got nothing against plastic surgery, but I know that the way I feel, I coudl give myself perfect boobs or whatever and I'd still feel kinda weird, like time and gravity is going to win in the end anyway, so my personal approach is to work hard to come to terms with that and accept it.

If my metric waist size was half my height, I would fall into the category of being high risk for heart disease, as it would be over 80cm! And if I had a waist size as large as 80cm, I would also have a double chin, a fat arse and cellulite. Healthy shmealth!!!y. I wanted to look good. And I dont look good at 180lb! I'm 5ft 10 and 140lb at the moment and I like that MUCH better. The stupid nutritionist I saw told me I'd never get to 154, I was being totally unrealistic. My doctor never mentioned a goal. I guess your goal depends whether you're a "I just want to be healthy" type or a "I want to be hot" type. I was/am way more the second type and I dont believe age has anything to do it, as I'm 44. The only thing I noticed, I got a bit thinner after chemo, and was down to a BMI of 19/20. This is not actually underweight, its the very bottom of my healthy range though. My fill doctor (not my surgeon) was really funny about it, she wouldnt give me my fill back after being totally empty for the surgery, she really wanted me to gain weight. WTF is with everyone being so afraid of not having meat on your bones? If I'd dropped even lower, sure, once you're underweight you do need to gain. But what was wrong with wanting to stay at a BMI of 20? I couldnt by the way, once chemo finished and I regained some health, I gained 10lb pretty quick even WITH Fluid in my band. Let your doctor set you a goal if you like, then if you're anythign like me, just ignore it and do whatever the hell you want. I know the difference between medical advice I need to listen to and medical "opinion" that I can ignore if I choose. You can weigh whatever you want. Dont be afraid to shoot for a low weight if you really want to, you dont know till you get there whether its maintainable, or whether it will look good. I feel a bit yuck because I've gone back to 140lb from 130 - but heck, I'm 5ft 10, it was pretty darn skinny. But I'd rather feel a bit fat and flabby from having gained so much weight, lol, than to have never experienced it. I know now its not maintainable for me, its too hard and takes sacrifices I'm not willing to make. And that $300 pair of jeans in my cupboard that fit me for 5 minutes can go on ebay where they wont mock me! Likewise if you want to remain a bit heavier in the technically overweight cateogory, then remember there's a lot more to health than your actual weight. You've added years and years onto your life and improved your quality of life by losing the bulk of that weight. You may not feel the need to wear a bikini or designer jeans. You may think you look better a bit heavier and believe me, I look older at this low weight than I did when I had more padding on my face. To make my bum the size I want it, I have such a scrawny chest and shoulders that those shoestring tops I always wanted to wear dont look that great on me, I tend to cover and disguise THAT part of me now. So getting thin is not the be all and end all of anything either and trying to stay at a BMI of 20 for me was getting scarily into eating disorder category. It was all I thought about, obsessed about, I was pushing my body to run for hours whilst undergoing chemo, it was truly stupid. Your mental healt and ease with your lifestyle is every bit as important as what you actually weigh.

there's a couple of things that bug me about this. Firstly, this sort of card would depend entirely upon the discretion of the restaurant, there is no way it could be legally enforced, so you might find even with a card, you're refused child's price. I agree though, my eight year old can eat more than me at a buffet. Secondly, in a lot of places, you'll find you then have to order off the child's menu. Which is such crap food that I dont even let my children order it. They order from the adult menu and just dont eat it all. Thirdly, going out to eat is about more than getting your money's worth out of food. I think this is a "fat" way of thinking. Going out to eat is also about spending time with friends or loved ones, and if it costs $25 versus $12, then so what? If you could afford to eat off the adult menu before, then you can now, go and enjoy a small amount of food and focus instead on socialising. Forget getting dollar value for what you eat.

When I started, I could easily walk as fast as I could run, but the actual act of running, no matter how slow, over walking is important. It builds up your stamina, and develops the muscles and connective tissue in your legs way better than walking does, so that you can cope with running more/faster later on. I'm still as slow as anything though, its a real achievement for me to run 10kms in an hour, an hour and five minutes. I just dont have any speed, wont ever be talented as a runner, but I love it anyway. But I disagree about not needing to get sweaty. Even if its just walking, it should be somewhat hard. If you can walk along, talk easily and not sweat, you're not getting great fat burning exercise. You might, just starting out, at a very heavy weight, burn enough calories to help with weight loss, but that wont last, and you would get better results if you worked hard enough to sweat. And at first, of course, its important not to make exercise unpleasant to the point where you give up. But you cant just amble along right through this journey, eventually you'll need to be taking the dogs for a walk in the park and STILL feeling the need to get an exercise session in as well - active leisure wont cut it for very long. That's not to be negative or put down anyone's routines and what they enjoy doing, and its not to say people cant lose without exercise. But its simple fact that effective fat burning exercise involves real effort.

Sad to say yes, they lost perkiness. Not that I was ever blessed with perky breasts anyway, I've always had downward facing nipples. But now I dont, they face upwards, but the actual breast, I lost all the volume on the top of the breast, they are long and floppy. I have that pear shaped sort of body type, so I've gotten extremely skinny up top and retained more shape below, but my breasts need help. They look fine when I'm dressed, and they are also fine in the right bathing suite - ie. an expensive, well sewn and supportive one - so I'm not too bothered by it. The advice given to me by a plastic surgeon was that I'd need not only a lift but fair sized inmplants as well, so I'm not going to do anything. I dont want bigger breasts again, I'm happy with smaller ones. So, yes, they do suffer but you can fix them with good results if you want to.

Please get yourself to a doctor and get it checked out again - it could be so many things other than appendicits and blood in your stool is NEVER ok. I ignored blood in my stool for months (not in any pain) and had cancer, I was extremely lucky that I didnt ignore it any longer as it was rather advanced, and its a miracle that it was not into my lymph nodes yet. It had almost completely blocked my rectum, and I was also ignoring symptoms like frequency and very skinny stools, thinking I was constipated. Now, that's frightening and its of course my story, not yours but you really have to follow this up until you have an answer, dont leave it. Remember they would certainly have seen a large tumour on the CT scan, so dont panic, but blood in your stool means there's something wrong and it needs to be treated. The last thing you want is some sort of intestinal injury which will result much more serious problems and surgery. It could be any number of serious but not cancer kind of problems - they may indeed not have diagnosed appendicits, you could have diverticulitis, crohns disease, colitis, all problems that can be treated satisfactorily but if you dont know they're there, they can do a lot of damage, and you certainly dont want to end up needing an ileostomy. One thing to tell the doctor - is it red blood or not? If its red and only when you wipe, its coming from relatively near the opening - like from haemorrhoids or something, but what I had was a funny smelling stool - kind of metallic, and it was very dark in colour, sometimes maroon when I finally realised it. I dont know about you but I dont spend a lot of time looking at my poo, and I noticed it didnt smell right, but attributed that to eating something or whatever. That smell and dark colour means you're bleeing significantly deeper into your digestive tract. I wont apologise for being dramatic and frightening you if it gets you to a doctor!

I dont low carb at all, I lost 120lb which was about 130% of my excess weight - so i got right down to a BMI of 20 and I've kept it off for over three years now. I do do a lot of exercise, but I've never counted carbs. I've always watched the type of carbs - I'm more into the no white type of diet. I've been a wholegrain carb eater, good stoneground bread, rolled oats, fruit and vegies. However at the moment, becuase I've just had an ileostomy reversal, I'm living on simple white carbs. I am having huge digestive issues, I cant handle much fat or Protein at the moment and I'd certainly not risk baked Beans or wholegrain bread, I've got a really irritable gut, and I suffer majorly if I eat anything other than cardboard. So my daily intake is things like rice bubbles, crackers, plain sweet biscuits, yogurt and not much else. Its a low carbers nightmare and the unhealthiness of it does bother me a lot, but unless I want to be isolated in a smell proof room and never go to work or socialise, its how it is at the moment. I may have scurvey and ricketts by Christmas Time, but I havent gained any weight. I really believe for most people its simply calories in, calories out and low carbing is an unecessary strain - not necessarily unhealthy, depending on what you eat, but not entirely necessary.

Its much harder years out - your body has already given up its easy weight loss, your metabolism and system settles to having the band in place, your mental attitude adjusts, its no longer new and exciting so the easy motivation isnt there, your body is used to and efficient at the exercise you've been doing, I could go on and on. If I gain a pound or two now, it takes an enormous amount of work to get it off. I just cant lose weight quickly and easily anymore - mainly because I've got so little on me anyway, but also probably because I'm 6 years older and am now menopausal. After chemo, I also cant handle quite the same amount of exercise either - knees and hips hurt, even my elbows hurt from Body Pump, lol. Its hard slog at this stage, no doubt about it. I also find that my band works, but not in the same way it used to. I think because the foods I choose have changed so much, I've figured out what I can eat easily and my tastes tend towards those things - when I was continuously still trying to eat things like sandwiches, toast, steaks etc I ate much much less because the more solid foods filled me up. Now I'll always choose a yogurt and a granola bar for lunch instead and I actually ingest more calories that way - its kind of a natural process that you need to be aware of to stay on top of. I try to make a point to eat what I actually DONT feel like eating - because usually what I dont feel like eating is a more difficult food that will fill me up faster with less calories than the slider type foods I'd naturally choose. This is a constant battle for me - if I didnt work at it, I'd graze on slider foods all day long and never eat a proper meal. I've also learned at this stage for me, it does no good really to get another fill, tighter isnt the answer for me, its mental.

I was like that for a good 12 weeks after surgery and in that time, the weight literally fell off me. It wasnt only lack of hunger, but absolutel lack of appetite or interest in food - that forgetting to eat feeling. It did subside and I've never been able to get it back sad to say, but I still went on to be very successful.

I also absolutely must eat soup on its own - add even a half a cracker and I'll see it all again.

Often i'm the same, not for a whole hour but i always like to finish lunch with a cuppa ( i have never found drinking right after I eat tp wash food quicker, if anything it adds to satiety for me amd lets me eat less) but there's been many cups of coffee gone cold coz i just cant drink it or it will all come back up

Not to mention the pure physiology of the weight loss on this sort of pre op diet. Nobody but nobody can live on shakes forever. And that sort of low carb weight loss is SO much about Water and lean body tissue loss and very much less so about real fat loss. Carbohydrate molecules bind to water in the body so cut carbs and you shed a trolley load of water weight, sniff a slice of bread and you put 10lb back on overnight. Even if you could survive on this sort of diet long enough to get to a normal weight, even if you were happy to look like a bag of skin held up with sticks, the minute you begin to eat normally, even low calorie normally, you would gain weight like crazy. Enjoy this fast weight loss, you get banded, you go onto the post op routine and for once in your life, all your hard work pre op wont be lost in the space of a week. The weight will continue to come off - but it will be slower and more steady, much healthier and with your band it will STAY lost. Dont worry, your willpower wont be wasted - you will still need it with a band.

It just happens over time, everyone is a bit different, but good restriction is really about fills that last, at least as much as being at a certain point where you cant eat more than a cup or whatever measure your doctor advises. I found that every fill spurred weight loss, but my first fill have me restriction that petered out after four weeks, the second and third were the same and then I started going back to the doctor more like three monthly. I had fairly regular (but teeny tiny, I have a 4cc band) fills and contact with my doctor for the first year, and then I probably only had two fills the second year, just to top me back up. After that I went about 18 months with no contact with my doctor at all, then called in just for a check up but not fill, and about a year after that, I had another teeny tiny fill again, just a top up to bring me back to the restriction I had. Then a year or so later I was diagnosed with bowel cancer, had to be completely unfilled for a surgery, and then back to the routine of three weekly visits to get me back to my normal restriction. We went quicker this time because we knew what I could handle. Now I'm back to normal, I probably wont check in for a year or so. When you dont have a fill for a long time, a tiny amount does evaporate. Over time you gradually may find you're eating a bit faster, eating a bit more, not paying as much attention, and you realise restriction has lessened a little - its a very subtle thing. That's when you go back for a tiny top up fill IF you want to - if you're eating more, but not gaining weight there's no problem. I always find my weight starts to swing around by a pound or two, and I'd rather act before I have 5 or more pounds to lose.

Good restriction means you dont even realise you're eating less because you still feel like you're eating the same - same satiation or fullness, same foods (if you're a believer in the eat everything in moderation and never diet again train of thought, which I am). I spent so many days lamenting that I was wasting my opportunity because I felt like I hadnt done well that day - I didnt feel deprived, I wasnt hungry, I wasnt doing without anything. Yet the weight just continued to fall off. I still feel the same. Every day I think I could have done better, I've overeaten a bit, I shouldnt have eaten this, or that snack or whatever. And my weight just never budges. Truly, on the one hand I worked hard at losing weight - I exercise like a fiend and am supremely fit. But its also like the weight loss just happened automatically once I was banded. I got realistic and sensible about my eating, but I didnt have to work terribly hard or make supreme sacrifices. I've never given up one single food. So, I never felt like I'd made that huge a change. It was relatively easy to lose about 65% of my excess weight, after that it took a bit more work and a bit more saying no, but that change came when I was already a very changed person, I was ready for it.

Mmmm, sounds a lot like menopausal symptoms. When I get a hot flush, it is often heralded by a wave of nausea first, then a hot and then very cold feeling, a lot of sweat and then maybe even tears! But why did you have your band removed? What issues caused that? What you're experiencing may have somethign to do with why your band was removed. And also...... DH spend years going to various doctors to work out why he'd get the sweats and chills, shaking, chest pain, dizziness and difficulty breathing. Had so many tests and scans. It was anxiety. He didnt have anything in particular at the time to be anxious about but it was put down to post traumatic stress, he'd had some really dreadful times at work a couple of years previously, and he was having panic attacks. Once we realised this and he was sure he was not going to have a heart attack, he learned to deal with them, he learned the triggers, how to stay calm when one hit and over time they just went away.

I think the American way of eating is quite problematic in that regard - the cut and stab method. You guys cut up your food and then swap your fork into your other hand and eat that way - its easy to just put fork after fork into your mouth quickly. Table manners here dictate that you keep your fork in your left hand, cut a piece of food, and transfer it on your fork to your mouth in your left hand. Therefore there is that natural break in proceedings as you cut off your next piece of food. You dont cut off many pieces in preparation at a time, just one. It really does help to slow you down. A simple cultural difference, but it can really help. Of course I've sat for hours with a salad in front of me waiting for the meat to arrive, lol. Which it was never going to do until I ate the darn salad. D'oh.

So so worth it. And for what its worth, I never had gas pains or shoulder pains and I never lost any hair either. The operation is a piece of cake, its a very small, safe procedure, without a lot of pain afterwards. I got home from the hospital the next morning and went for a walk.

I blended up things like roast dinners too - seriously the foods that are often on your liquids list are complete crap. So you've had weight loss surgery and you want to eat things like canned cream soups, custard, milk shakes and jello? A home cooked dinner blended up and thinned down is much better for you and much more nutritious. And you can make your own soups that have a lot less salt. My instructions were that anything you could get up a straw was fair game.

And yet I'm 5ft 10, 135 and a size 8. But its true that sizes have changed. They were definitely smaller years ago.

You cagn get much better exercise at home with stuff like circuit and sandbag training than you will ever get in a gym class if you can motivate yourself. But on busy days i even do aerobic housework, lol. Its how i motivate myself to mop floors, scrub showers and clean windows, five minute blocks interspersed with five minute runs on the treadmill or squat, pushup and crunch sessions. It sounds nuts, heck it is nuts but its actually very strenuous, you need a shower afterwards!

Its against health regulations. I always find anyway that restaurant food is best enjoyed in a small quantity occasionally, its not the sort of healthy food i would prepare at home, and nothing ever tastes that great reheated a day late, so i personally look at the cost of dining out as a whole experience, and not focus on the " value" of a meal i eat a third of.

I generally wear a size bigger than my measurements would indicate - I cant bear jeans that give me a muffin top, or that are tight after they've been washed! Nor can I stand tops that become too small after washing so although my measurements would indicate I'm size 10 (US 6), I rarely buy a size 6 in anything, its always an 8 for a bit of extra room. Size 6 would fit like a glove, which generally I'm uncomfortable with.

Personally i think if youre worrying about the sugar content of carrots or eliminating foods because they grew under the ground, you've simply swapped one eating disorder for another. This is one of the more stupid rules I've heard about on here and anyone that has time to be that pedantic about food rules needs a hobby to occupy their time. For pete's sake!!! Dont people realise that our society's weight problems are due to McDonalds and Subway and beer and chocolate chip Cookies, and muffins and coke and stuff like that? Perhaps we could try cutting out Starbucks before we cut out potatoes? Rules like that just confuse people and make their lives more complicated and miserable and do NOTHING to help people along the path of developing a healthy relationship with food, where they eat what they like and dont worry about it and what they like is healthy. I mean I know I dont agree with teh whole low carb thing and that that's a personal opinion only but human beings are oninivorous and opportunistic. I'm sure if cavemen had found potatoes growing, they would've eaten em. But yes, raw carrots get stuck! And I'm not allowed to eat them at all for the time being because I just had a surgery on my intestines and I've already been hospitalised once due to eating raw carrots - caused a bowel obstruction. But cooked carrots, no problem.

I find the same as Elcee, Pasta and risotto are always safe options for me when eating out, and I do it seldom enough that I just dont worry about the calories - fish can be a dangerous food for me, plus generally I loathe it anyway, apart from salmon or if its dipped in batter and deep fried :-). We went out for our 20th anniversary to the Lakehouse in Daylesford which is a very very well regarded restaurant here and they have those types of menus where you get about six courses, and its five star food. I just about burst, those types of special meals are really difficult, people cant believe you would actually leave food of that quality on your plate, especially when its the tiny serve in the middle of the huge white plate kind of affair. But I simply had to. And you absolutely would not be crass enough to ask for a doggy bag in a restaurant of that calibre, not that any restaurant here will allow you to take food home. I absolutely wont join in a chinese banquet anymore! I pay for my own meal and eat a tiny bit of that. Enjoy your dinner, have what you want and Celebrate your anniversary!

I was a "healty eater" too before surgery and it certainly helped me. But you need to be honest with yourself. If your eating habits were completely healthy, you wouldnt be in the position of needing weight loss surgery. You can indeed get fat on healthy foods, if you overeat and a lot of healthy food is also high in fat and calories - weight loss surgery will help you to eat a lot less AND you will also have to really look honestly at your diet and trim the fat, carbs etc. You will also need to look at your exercise habits. I notice now too that the difference between what I eat and what some of my more "normal" but overweight friends eat, its only very slight. Very small bad habits can lead to big weight problems, but unfortunately, just elininating a few small bad habits, doesnt really lead to appreciable weight loss in reasonable time, you have to go oin with guns blazing. Unfair but there it is. So........ I think though many of us never spent our time binging all day, sitting on the couch, wallowing in ice cream, if we really want to lose weight, we do need to work honestly on ourselves and not just say "but I already eat healthy". That may be so, but there must be room for improvement or you would already be normal weight - and that means that weight loss surgery CAN indeed help you!