Jachut
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Everything posted by Jachut
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GAINED 15.5 pounds of fluid!?!?
Jachut replied to heatherh's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Its horrible isnt it? But it IS entirely possible, I mean be logical, you've just had surgery, you've been barely fed, its impossible that it's anything else BUT Fluid. I know both times i've had surgery int he past year, they've pushed the fluids so ridiculously I've gotten to the point where my face as unrecognizeable, and I couldnt even see my knuckles, or the tendons in my hands and feet, let alone my ankle bones, and I've gotten skinny enough that I've got those old lady claw hands normally, lol. I actually get really irritable about it, I mean its darn ridiculous. You just dont need anything like the amount of fluid they fill you with. Its bad enough after lapband surgery and its only overnight, I was connected to that stupid IV for five days for my bowel resection! I couldnt even bend at the elbows and knees. -
I'm not sure, I think the real issue is whether you're using dieting behaviour to control some sort of issue in your life. I think I've only been anywhere near this realm once in my life and I found it different to simply enjoying the lack of appetite that I had with the band and eating very little just because I could. That's not necessarily healthy behaviour but then again, you probably wont keep it up. However, its not anorexia. I found during the last year with my cancer treatment, I slid into what I consider almost anorexic behaviour without realising it, and it was a control issue. I got my band totally unfilled and I started being VERY careful so that I wouldnt gain. No problem there. But over time, as I got really skinny and people begain to comment, I actually enjoyed the attention and the fact that I was so very thin. I began to look forward to seeing my surgeon or oncologist and seeing them express concern at how thin I was. I felt very very anxious that should hang onto this low weight, to the point where I began to get upset at things that happened beyond my control - dinners out, changes in meal plans, having a wine or a cookie or something thrust at me in a social situation. I was thinking about what I wasnt going to eat 24/7. I happened by pure chance to come upon Portia De Rossi's book Unbearable Lightness and I read that and got really scared - so much of the behaviour she describes, I was doing. I was also running 8kms a day, going to body pump, all stuff my body was used to and my regular routine, but my reasons for doing it became to stay incredibly thin and keep that concern and horror from those around me going, and also it was my way of controlling what cancer did to my body. I was also very depressed and anxious at this time about everything, because I really couldnt control my medical progress, my career, our family's finances, etc. When i finished chemo, it was like a light went on in my mind, suddenly I was rational again, my body was healthy again and I couldnt control the slight weight gain back up to a healthier weight. I fought it for a while, but that sick way of looking at food and eating was just suddenly gone, as was the anxiety, depression and negativity. I really believe for me, it was a side effect of chemo - and much as I am my normal self - never thin enough, always could do more, eat less etc, that behaviour has settled back into the realm of relatively normal for a female who has had weight issues. So..... for me, it was definitely a control thing, a way of manipulating those around me, an inability to stop punishing my body. Definitely disordered, and I knew it, but I liked being too skinny too much to seek help. I'm very lucky it just kind of all went away and it seems completely nuts to me now. But just eating barely anything because you can - not necessarily disordered or abnormal but beware that if you start to like the result or fall into the habit of eliciting responses in others by your eating behaviours, it might be time to seek some help. The way you say you feel superior to food, its a little bit left of centre and perhaps a warning sign.
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Oh, it gets so hard down at the pointy end, doesnt it? Those last pounds are a nightmare to take off. It is the one time in your dieting journey where I think every single one of us must be a slave to the rules - calories, carbs, exercise etc. You cant just say near enough is good enough like you can for most of the time. I"m sure you can do itb though!
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Lol, since I am of the opinion that you can never be too rich or too thin, I guess I've been at a plateau(rather than maintaining) for 3 years! Seriously though, I was unfilled prior to my bowel resection last November and the ability to eat things like fruit and salads in larger quantities actually resulted in significant weight loss while unfilled. Gradually over time I satisfied my taste for those foods which I'd only been able to eat in small amounts for a few years, and the desire for less nutritions things that I could also eat - bread - crept in. Weight loss stopped, luckily this process took about six months at which time I was able to fill again. So the end result of being unfilled for six months was for me a 10lb weight loss. So maybe there IS something to the theory IF you're currently living on high calorie sliders and when you're unfilled you replace those with low calorie fillers. But having your normal appetite and capacity back again is pretty unnerving, although I'd been been banded for five years when I was unfilled so I'd really gotten used to being a small eater.
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Anyone on here banding for 8 to 10 years?
Jachut replied to perrysmom's topic in LAP-BAND Surgery Forums
Six so far, no problems, lost 120% excess weight and kept it off. I have even been through radiation, chemotherapy and two major surgeries with my band in place and it is still OK. -
No, its not definite! But if you're going to have it, you cant prevent it. The thing is, loose skin is damaged skin, the collagen bonds within it are broken. And if you have it, that has ALREADY happened, whilst you were gaining weight and getting bigger. You cant prevent something that has already happened. It depends on lots of things - young skin is much more elastic, but it also depends where you carried your weight. The people who seem to be worst afflicted with the skin thing are often the apple shaped peoples, the ones that carry a lot of weight on their bellies and chests and retain relatively skinny arms and legs. Whereas I was a lot more of the body type to carry it evenly all over, I didnt have any particularly huge areas. But a lot of us have had babies and pregnancies and that stretches your skin out, but it can be hidden by the fat we're carrying. Honestly, you'll be so thrilled with the weight you're losing and I bet at your age you dont have much of a problem. Try not to worry about it yet.
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You're young and that is your best bet! You cannot prevent loose skin with exercise, sad to say. I exercised hard all the way through and still do and you can still tell I've had 3 babies and lost a lot of weight - although I dont have a real loose skin problem that requires surgery. I have put on a bikini and gone out in public, but I was trying on bathing suits today just for fun (lol, who ever though we'd say THAT?) and a one piece definitely looks better and makes me feel a bit less like I might flap in the breeze!
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When I told the surgeon I was concerned about implants because I didnt want to go bigger again, he did sort of seem to treat me like I was a bit nuts - I decided he wasnt the surgeon for me, becuase he didnt appear to understand that I wasnt there to have big melons up to my chin. But he did tell me (in a kind of 'well, if youre sure you're happy to be so small" tone) that when you have a breast lift, you lose size from your bust and the smaller sized implants simply restore you to normal size, but lifted. So you could indeed get a lift and an implant and achieve a nice moderate C cup. But he sort of was indicating to me that the only way to fill in the loose, floppy skin on the top of my breasts was BIG implants - like back up to a D cup. The only thing that bugs me about not getting anything done, is that I have to wear a full coverage bra and not show cleavage. Not sure what yours are like but for me, I'm completely flat and empty on the top of my breasts - any sort of push up bra does the job - pushes them up and together but the skin is like a puddle of Water, it ripples and flops and looks extremely unattractive, not the plump rounded look that a pushup bra is supposed to create. For that sort of problem a decent size round implant is what is required.
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Hungry every two hours or so? VERY frustrating...
Jachut replied to 14isabella's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Well, I would starve on a few tablespoons of food at a time! I've never eaten that little, no wonder you're hungry. I dont eat big meals compared to the average person, but I can eat most of a small sandwich, a decent sized bowl of Cereal, an egg and a piece of toast and most of the time, my dinner would fill a bread and butter plate. So perhaps you really are eating too little, although I'm sure many people here eat about the same. I just never needed to cut it down that low. But ify ou're coming up for fill time, then yes, you will feel hungrier sooner. -
I didnt get as far as having to choose but I was told a lift alone wouldnt be enough - like you you can actually count the rib bones on my chest and my breasts are empty - there's too much skin for a simple lift so I would need implants. I'm a 12 C (32 C). I dont consider I have itty bitty titties!!! They are quite a decent size thank you! I did nothing because I dont want big norgs, I dont want to go back to a Dcup or bigger, I think it looks matronly and I was glad to lose my big breasts!! Men might love big plastic breasts but its not my scene, so I live with the sag. They look fine when I"m dressed. A good bra is all you need.
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Its such a personal decision. Lately I've been thinking about it. anyone that saw me dressed would say WHAT, are you nuts. You have no belly at all. Its true, my belly is perfectly flat. My muscle tone is very good (although I'm sure after 3 pregnancies there's some repairs they could do in there) and my skin doesnt hang. But I also dont have a lovely pefect tummy. My belly button looks sad, I have a bit of loose skin on the upper belly and when I lean over or am on hands and knees, then there is a lovely line of horrid hanging loose skin. My boobs are saggy as heck too. I look like an 80 year old naked, yet I do not "need" any cosmetic surgery, But what is need to one person might not be to another. You simply cant know till you get there. Overall I'm happy to be what I am but if 30 grand landed in my lap and I'd already had my house extended and my new kitchen and my kids were all finished their education then I'd have one in a heartbeat. I might definitely think I "need" it in that circumstance. But right now, with all those other financial needs its just a vague want. But it cant hurt to be putting money aside and planning for it if you're able.
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Weird, but entering One-derland was anti-climatic
Jachut replied to oldiebutgoodie2's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Thank you - yeah, this weight thing is a work in progress, always. Losing weight is fantastic - it does such great things for your body, your health, your esteem. But it doesnt solve every problem you ever had in life which is why it can be unexpectedly anticlimactic to hit a goal - I mean, you're just the same person arent you? Life is still the same. But look at it this way - this is part of your weight taking a more balanced position in your life. Which is a great achievement! -
It never ceases to amaze me how people who have been obese just simply cannot accept that a normal BMI is not horribly skinny. Its absolutely epidemic on this forum. I mean, people should weigh what ever the hell they want, nobody can tell you that you MUST get to a normal BMI and if you fancy a bit of padding and like a plumper look then you should go for that and bugger what anyone says about it not being healthy or it still being overweight. But to say that you'd have so little padding on your hips at a BMI of 25 that you'd risk fractures, sorry but that IS malarky. Its healthier for older women to weight a little more, you need the fat on your body to maintain strong bones, that's entirely true. But a BMI of 25 is still quite a bit of body fat, its not that skinny look that people seem so afraid of - I didnt hit truly skinny until my BMI dropped under 20 whilst I was sick. Different body types and all that, but at a BMI of 25m, I personally have tummy rolls and a muffin top - its FAR from skinny. Unfortunately on real life non airbrushed bodies - voluptuous breasts and rounded hips go along with fat bottoms, cellulite and flabby tummies. Flat tummies and hips that rock low rise jeans go along with no boobs and gaunter faces. Do you have the hips and breasts that are so attractive and rock your muffin top in those low rise jeans or would you rather be a fashion plate, more so than the kind of look most men probably find attractive? The guy thing too - I mean I know no guy wants to be skinny. But you cant get that fantasy body by simply remaining overweight, that weight has to be muscle! You almost have to get skinny - lose all the fat and then put on another 20lb in muscle again. If you care about that stuff. Personally, I like a man with a little padding on him and I reckon save all the agony at the gym, stay a bit heavier and be nice and cuddly! And I know we're not dissing each other and our weights but I personally take offence when people continually refer to normal BMI as skinny, stick like, anorexic. I'm 135 at 5ft 10 and I dont like beign called a stick! We all have different ideas of what the ideal body is, and I personally like long, lean and elegant. But I dont go around calling people that like to be curvier fat. I think we need to be realistic about our mental attitudes too - I mean I know I wanted to get to a low BMI not only because I like that body type, but also because I'm a control freak and a perfectionist. But I also think a lot of people are just plain afraid of failing so they say they are happy to remain heavier, when in actual fact they're afraid of really putting themselves out there and placing that expectation and then not meeting it. I totally agree with the above poster though that you can modify the guidelines to suit YOU. I reckon like the protein first, low carb thing, if it suits you, fine but only an idiot blindly follows rules like that! How can any doctor tell you how you must eat without knowing you, your lifestyle, your circumstances? Its a ridiculous concept, And so is telling people that to be healthy they must weight between this weight and that. But it goes both ways! Its just as valid to choose to be leaner. This was only a question over how to pick a goal weight, lol. But its an extremely complex issues as you can see. It has to take into account, your body type, but also your mental attitude and issues and what you can live with to maintain it. Its your goal and yours alone!
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Robot doing lap band surgery
Jachut replied to JanPuppyLover's topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
I'm just indignant that if they can have a robot perform SURGERY for crying out loud, why cant I have a housework robot? You'd think that'd be simple! -
Does everyone really eat proteins first
Jachut replied to NJGirl32's topic in LAP-BAND Surgery Forums
I dont - I eat my meal all together, and like you say, a lot of meals are something like soup or yogurt that you cant separate anyway. I will go to my grave believing that vegetables and fibre are the more important things to get in. If I ate my chicken and then couldnt fit my vegies in, I would consider that a pretty unbalanced meal that was providing my body with the protein fuel to keep it alive but wasnt providing me all the things that make you look and feel good - the vitamins, antioxidents, phytochemicals etc. so whilst I treat protein as important and consider meals that provide good sources, I dont value it above other nutrients. You need BALANCE, all nutrients in your diet so I eat from my plate evenly. I dont know about you, but I dont fancy being thin with no teeth and no hair! We dont generally get the protein first advice in Australia anyway. Shock, horror! Yesterday I ate zucchini and leek soup for lunch. It had some skimmed evaporated condensed milk in it, but no hard protein source! And wonder of wonders, I got through till dinner! For me, it has a lot more to do with being busy than with what I actually eat. If I have something constructive to do, making the stretch between lunch and dinner is easy. Hey Nayttap, do you think I will ever be successful with this band huh? I mean, I'm maybe not as edumacated as you and all, but do you think I will ever really figure it out? -
Well, I havent suffered band problems, but I too can attest to the fact that very minor symptoms can be a sign of a fairly catastrophic problem in your body! Its a good point to make - ignore nothing. Nothing is too silly or embarrassing to ask your doctor.
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Is My Potential Surgeon Right
Jachut replied to APRPro4U's topic in Weight Loss Surgeons & Hospitals
I dont really understand - if you were successful for six years until an injury occurred, and you have had a bypass, why do you need another surgery? If, like many, you've learned to outeat a bypass, then I have indeed heard about many people being banded AFTER they've had a bypass and not enjoyed long term success with it. That can definitely be done. But I've never heard about bypasses being redone. -
We all want to get started NOW once we've decided and its very human to be so disappointed at the news that you're going to have to wait. I would feel exactly the same. And you're right, its beyond stupid to require people who have patently failed the unassisted diet and exercise thing before to do it yet again, just to prove some stupid non existent point. I mean, your very physical condition proves that over your lifetime, you've been unable to control your weight and health, doesnt it? What does some stupid 6 month supervised diet prove? But, nonetheless, them's the rules obviously. Look at the bright side. At a BMI of 47, if you DO lose weight on this diet, you're not going to quickly become too light for a lapband. It'd be a great start for you, and if you truly choose to look at it this way - it IS the start of the new you. The band just comes further on down the track. My advice would be to put your heart and soul into it and do the best you can to start changing and getting heatlhier right away. You've probably done so for short periods of time before, like most of us. Only this time, with a band to help you later on, you're not goign to pile it all on again and then some.
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Question about self image after weight loss
Jachut replied to Damander's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
I chop and change with this one - I see myself dressed and try things on and I'm really thrilled with how I look. I go to the gym to do Body Pump and facing the mirrors, I'm really happy - I'm tall and lean and happy with my body. At the gym in particular, I can see that I'm often the thinnest person in the room. But generally, I dont see myself as thin. I still think I have fat bits, I still have fat days. And looking in the mirror at home I can see I've swapped beefy and fat for scrawny and saggy, I seem to have bypassed that fantasy model figure somewhere by the wayside! I'm just as unhappy with my body as I ever was yet I cant quite get my head around breast and tummy work, if you asked me about it for anyone else, i'd say great, go for it, do what makes you happy, its your right. I have no objection to it. But for myself it feels shallow, vain, something I'd be hideously embarrassed to admit I'd been tacky enough to do, I dont like to admit that I care that much about how I look. So I sort of have all this angst tied up in my body, its been through so much with cancer in the last year too and lately I look at it and all I see is old, its really depressing. But at the same time, I'm fit, strong, my body can do so much, it has healed itself, and I'm proud of it. Its weird that I can feel so good and bad about it. But one thing I dont see is the old fat me! -
Has lapband weight loss helped your health problems?
Jachut replied to Chalant's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
I've never had high blood pressure but my blood pressure has reduced significantly with increased fitness and weight loss, dh on the other hand is banded, lost 60lb and his blood pressure has remained high (not very high, borderline for medication but he's remained on his medication). However he no longer snores. for myself, I managed to clear up a long running sciatic issue. I was diagnosed with bowel cancer a few years after banding though, strong family history, but my colorectal surgeon (who used to do lapbands) said that it was because of the shape that I'm in that I was able to have laparascopic surgery rather than an open incision and that its because of the shape of in that I could have my ileostomy reversed - many obese people cant have that done because it is simply impossible to get that deep into the pelvis to create a false rectum, its very delicte surgery. It also happens often that their remaining intestine cant be stretched far enough to reach because of bulk in the abdomen. So my weight has greatly improved the cosmetic and lifestyle aspects of my surgical outcome - no big midline scar and I can now eliminate like a normal person again and dont ahve to wear a bag for life. Cancer wise, well, I have a horrible family history and am still at much higher risk than the general population, but my lifestyle is at least not the factor it once was. I am correct weight and I excercise regularly. On the downside he says CT scans of thin people are impossible to read because there's not nice cushions of fat separating all the organs! -
I'm 5ft 10 and by 245lb had appeared to have shrunk to 5ft 9, then a year or two later after banding, I was 5ft 10 again. The nurse at the lapband clinic told me that its simnply the fact that your bum gets so big that when you go to get measured, it forces you to lean backwards slightly to get your head against the wall for the tape, which appears to reduce your height! To pick my goal, I did exactly what you've done, I know what being about 170 was like, I held that weight throughout my teens and 20's. It was OK, healthy enough but I felt "big" and unfeminine all the time, I was so much bigger than most other women. I knew I wanted to be much thinner, so I whacked off 20lb as well. I actually got down to 130ish for a whikel there while I was sick and I was skeletal up top, I am struggling with having gotten back to 140 but everyone says I look no different, just overall healthier. I know all my clothes still fit apart from one pair of jeans. I also always would have said I was "big boned" but funnily enough, I"m really not, althought I too have size 10 feet and relatively large hands. I lost SO much weight off my fingers, I got a new diamond ring - my wedding and engagement ring could not be adjusted enough without resetting the entire thing, and I fanced I much bigger diamond :-). I "only" had a BMI of 35 and yet my hands became unrecognizeable to me, and I would never have said they were "fat". Most of us think we're big boned, meant to be bigger etc, and if we give ourselves a chance, its amazing to find out wer'e totally normal sized people underneath. I feel great at 140! I'm sure you will too. But sadly, Cindy Crawford I"m not, lol. I always dreamed of being petite. Being so tall, you're always going to be bigger than a lot of women. But you know what, if I go with it, actually put on some heels and a short skirt (which I dont often do because heels make me like 6ft 2 and rather self conscious), DH reckons every head in the room turns. He says I'm Amazonian and that my legs go all the way to my armpits and that its very striking. So if you cant blend in with all the cute little things, outshine them! Now, I have 3 new hot pairs of sky high heels that DH bought me and I just have to get up the courage to wear them. I find it easier to wear a bikini than to go out in high heels! Oh - and find some more jeans that are long enough to wear with heels! Sadly, True Religions at $400 a pair are the only jeans available here long enough for me.
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I'm a perfectionist and a chronic high achiever so I picked a fairly ambitious goal weight - I wanted to be THIN. I got there and passed it, with no real drama. But being the perfectionist I am, I'm still not 100% happy - I could be thinner, I could look better, I should do more this, that, etc etc.
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Weird, but entering One-derland was anti-climatic
Jachut replied to oldiebutgoodie2's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Yeah, it was a lot like that for me too. I remember the day I saw 69kg, I never thought I'd get under 70, I weigh less than I did at 15 years old. But it was just "oh, great" A quiet satisfaction rather than at ticker tape parade. Then I saw 59kg one day during chemo, actually rather underweight for me. I looked awful, but I wanted to hang onto that weight, its been quite hard getting healthy again and getting to a better weight, in a weird way. I"m now 65kg, much much better for me but I feel like a fat pig. I feel out of control. Its strange how stuffed up we are about weight isnt it? What we think should be joyous really is just a good day and what should be healthy recovery doesnt feel good like it should. -
I wish. Quite the opposite for me for a variety of reasons, but even before that, weight loss didnt increase my libido at all.
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Anyone have face treatment for wrinkles/ sun damage?
Jachut replied to Humming Bird's topic in The Lounge
I'm 44 next week and am not bothered by wrinkles yet, but having grown up in Australia and being loving having a tan, I'm showing signs of sun damage - I'm getting those brown age spots and a red nose, lol. My solution is to tan even darker to hide it, but I know that's not going to cut it for much longer. Interested to read what others say.