Jachut

I think you probably shoudl stop wearing the spanx. Tight undergarments like that dont let your skin breathe and its obviously a problem for you. It may or may not work, but you wont know unless you try it. If you're waxing reasonably regularly, it might indeed be ingrown hairs, you can buy various cosmetic solutions that supposedly prevent ingrowns, along with some pretty vigorous exfoliation every day. I think everyone's had the odd ingrown hair from bikini line waxing/shaving. But it might just be that you're more prone to them, like you've been told. I know its not really something you'd want to do but perhaps going completely au naturale might help too.

hahaha, gosh, no not totally upside down, lol (although I can do a handstand :-) Its walking on your hands in a pushup position. And yes, I've always been reasonably athletic, I could run short distances even at my heaviest. I used to do a lot of running when I was younger and I guess i"m just lucky that I really do like to work hard.

Try not to eat the same thing every day either - lots of variety is the key.

To be honest, that's a pretty horrible diet, its all processed! I agree, ditch that easy mac rubbish at lunchtime, that sort of stuff should never be on anyone's diet, there's absolutely nothing nutritious about it. Go for a good homemade soup, something with vegies and chickpeas in it for example. Do you only eat meat for dinner? If so, eat a bit less meat and supplement with some vegies. Make a smoothie in the morning instead of a processed protein shake - add some oatmeal or wheatgerm to it, some yogurt, some frozen berries and a bit of protein powder to boost it. Other things you could eat for lunch would include tuna or chicken salad or homemade dips like hummus and crackers with something easy like sliced cucumber. A small salad with a boiled egg might be an option too. Take a supplement as well.

My daughter was two, I was easily able to lift her in five days, but obvioiusly, you're not supposed to lift for a while. I changed her on the floor, and when she wanted some laptime, she climbed onto me rather than me lifting her. But obviously I couldnt have her on one hip constantly as she was used to. We had a few tantrums but we survived.

I agree with this, the heart rate advice but also the diminishing returns thing. I simply dont understand how people can believe that they burn mega calories on an elliptical when you're not actually lifting and moving your body weight, its pretty much exactly the same as an exercise bike. It gets very easy very quickly and you have to push it on the highest levels to raise your heartrate. I'd never buy one for home, you can get way way more out of a good treadmill. I even do walking lunges and side squats and mountain climbers and handwalking on my treadmill - complete body workout!

I hate strength training too and I dont want it to take away from running time. God its boring! What I do love to do is Body Pump, OK, its muscle endurance, it aint never going to build me big muscles, but I'm not afraid to say I'm a bit of an old fashioned girl who thinks women look better when they look like women - tone and shape yep, but big biceps arent my cup of tea. So Body Pump suits me AND my scale has reported a slight increase in lean body mass - really important when you're regaining weight lost from being sick, which is the situation I was in. And I do like strength circuits - google steve's treadmill bootcamp for some idea, crazy stuff but fun, or I do circuit training with a 15kg sandbag - it all builds muscle and strength but is not that mind numbing standing around looking in a mirror while you pump one bicep at a time sort of stuff. And I dont believe in machines - they dont build functional strength.

Do you know, I think the secret to this is accepting that you will stray somewhat overtime and be ready, willing and able to REALLY milk that post op period before you've discovered all the tricks of the trade. Get that first month, two months, however long it lasts and make it work for you. I found my early banding experience was like that, I was incredibly lucky, but I had no bandster hell, I just had absolutely superb restriction, the likes of which I have never been able to achieve since, and incredible motivation. Weight just literally poured off me in that first eight weeks or so, way past what I'd ever managed to lose before and that was enough to engage me, think "this really works" and keep me going through the long hard slog of the rest of the weight loss. I've had the same thing several times in the last year after my various surgeries and such. Three weeks or so with a reduced appetite, and because my issues have been bowel and obstruction problems, I've been put on a low residue diet each time. I notice my weight drops markedly in that period, I do my 3 meals no Snacks, and 3 tiny meals at that with ease and then gradually normality returns, sigh. So I think prepare for it, anticipate it and work it work it work it while you have it. And dont beat yourself up because it doesnt last, its the same for everyone.

No no no! Pregnancy is such a special time, of course keep some bigger clothes for round the house and exercising or what not, but you need some well cut maternity clothes that make you look like a glowing pregnant woman not a barrel with legs. Lare sized clothes dont flatter pregnant woman they're not cut right. You get that awful short at the front look from your bump! And the shoulders and chest and such will be too big for you and just look like a sack. Treat yourself, its totally worth it.

I had bouts of extreme diziness and faiting during the pre op diet (which I didnt actually have to do but I wanted to try to get a kick start). Lapband doc told me to stop doing it, as he never told me to go on it anyway, and that fixed that problem. Recently I've fainted several times, incuding once in the bathroom where I almost knocked my teeth out on the towel rail. DH put the blood pressure cuff on me, yeah, 88/52 and a pulse rate of 45, lol. For me, I've got low blood pressure anyway and at that stage, I still had the ileostomy and had had diarrhoea for a while and was still pushing myself to run and do body pump, so low pb and dehydration were to blame. Havent had a problem since I had the ileo reversed. When you're dieting and exercising hard, its usually going to be low bp and/or dehydration. If you're having troubles, drink gatorade instead of Water when you work out.

A scale that tells you your body composition can be helpful - I know they can be a tad inaccurate, but my scale is telling me that despite my 10lb gain - my body fat level has not increased - my hydration level and my lean muscle mass has. So all that Body Pump is probably paying off and I've gained healthy weight from being so skinny during chemo. It still stings to gain weight, warped as it is, I loved seeing 60kg (actually underweight for me) on the scales, sigh. But at least I can know that its good healthy weight that I needed and not allow that to send me off in a comfort eating frenzy. Same with when you're not losing. You can still see that you're achieving, numbers can help where fitting into smaller clothes might not convince you.

Definitely taking up running. I know what the experts say about strength training building muscle thereby increasing weight (or fat) lost. And it may be that it depends very much on your particular body.But to lose a lot of weight, I dont think you can beat hard core cardio and lots of it. You can burn calories in classes, you can have fun in classes, you can keep yourself fit in classes. But go out and run for an hour a day and you'll get results far above what you can achieve zumba'ing around a room. I just think the no crap, no gimmick hardcore cardio routine works. If you can psych yourself into it and get yourself through it until you're fit enough that it doesnt feel like torture, you wont be sorry. And I agree totally - get your head in the game BEFORE surgery. Once you've made that decision, the new you is in action. Dont do that last supper routine. Be committed right NOW.

A lot of exercise equipment uses averages - the calories burned for an average height/weight person at average intensity. If you're, for example, twice as heavy as the average person and twice as unfit, therefore working twice as hard at the same level, you'll burn a LOT more calories - and any program where you put in your actual age, height and weight will be more accurate. Then again, things like elliptical trainers are notoriously inadequate. You can tell by feel what you're burning, not accurately in number, but if your heart is beating very fast, you cant really talk and you're sweating a lot, you're getting a great workout. So when you amble along on the elliptical for 20 mninutes and it tells you you've burned 600 calories - its WRONG. If you burn 600 calories in 20 minutes, or even 40 for that matter, you're going to be in no doubt that you're doing it, you'll be exhausted. I like how all the experts say spinning burns 600 + calories in an hour - I'm very fit, and average weight for a woman and my bike computer usually says I've done about 25kms in a session and burned about 300 to 350 calories. I'd believe that more than I'd believe I've burned 600 - 600 is more like I'd burn running for an hour and that's harder to me than a spin class. Short answer, there's no real way of knowing. You can only know that you've worked as hard as possible. If its easy, then you havent done that. Of course, you need some easy days but if you want to consistently lose fat - work hard, fast and make yourself breathless and sweating.

Good for you. Its a big thing learning to put yourself out there.

On the other hand, since I had my ileostomy reversed, i've gained 10lb and not gained an inch in size! It must be all rehydration, dehydration is a constant problem with an ileostomy. But it goes to show that what the scales say dont tell you much about body composition and things can change for the better without a change in weight. Likewise all weight loss or gain doesnt necessarily mean you've lost or gained fat!

I must be one of the minority who doesnt like zumba, lol. Its too "dancy" for me, I'm much more into the all out athletic stuff. I absolutely cant dance and dont want to try. I'd rather run on the treadmill grooving to my own music. BUT - what I do notice at the gym is that there's always all sizes and shapes in the classes and nobody bats an eye. Even the really glammo ones in all the latest gym wear who prance around are way way more interested in looking at themselves in the mirrors than watching what you're doing. Its always really nervewracking going to a class when you think you wont know what routine to follow, what equipment to use etc and will draw attention to yourself but you've only got to get through that first time and after that its a breeze. Have a go!

It takes time to recognise your body's signals and you probably overate. But I agree, those are solid foods, more than mushies - more the sort of stuff you might be graduating too at the end of your mushies regime. Obviously if your doctor has told you different then you do what your doc says, but you've obviously had trouble with that meal, so I'd stick with more liquidy mushies like yogurt, watery oatmeal, loose scrambled eggs, soup with bits in it, for a week or so and then move on to more and more solid food. Lucky you if you can pb into a napkin! For me, its about as violent, loud and non discreet as a true vomit.

Yeah, its like a little blister pack. I can feel my tubing too, until it disappears under the muscle.

You should be getting huffy and puffy and sweaty when you exercise - and if walking does that for you, then it IS enough - for now. It wont remain enough. Anyone with reasonable fitness is going to need more than walking to keep getting fitter and losing weight. But face that bit when you come to it, you'll be ready then. Dont try to go from 0 to 100 in one move. If you're weak and feeling ill even with light exercise, something isnt right. You may be dehydrated, you may need to eat before hand, try those things. Check your blood pressure too perhaps?

The thing is with your bra, it sits round your rib cage, so technically, it cant press on your stomach, which is protected behind there! It makes no sense therefore that a bra would make any difference, but over the years I've heard lots of people say that for them it does, so I guess you can only experiment with underwire/non underwire and fit to see if you can resolve it - afterall I can hardly imagine taking my bra off in the staffroom at school to eat lunch, lol! control top or compression garments like spanx - ugh. I'm glad I'm not overly lumpy becuase ALL of those garments make me feel ill and I cant eat.

Wow, what a brave man you are! Makes my journey sound positively trivial, although I guess to each of us, our own battles are what's important. You have invested so much in this already, and you obviously enjoy the support of a loving family. Best of luck to you.

I never really "got" why people were hung up on the rerouting thing. But having had cancer and lost my rectum and part of my colon in the last 12 months, and having to now live with altered bowel function - manageable, sociable, workable but altered - I can now say without a doubt I would not reroute my insides unless I had exhaused every last possibility with a band. I'd do it for sure if my band had to come out and I was gaining weight again and could see obesity down the track. But as a first choice, never. My life depended on it, but I still found it a very hard and terribly emotional thing, to front up for a surgery to remove a part of my body that to all intents and purposes was functional. Sounds crazy, but I really have mourned it since. I feel somewhat mutilated. I just dont know that I could do that voluntarity, without it being a life saving issue. However, lets face it, morbid obesity probably IS as dangerous as cancer, but gosh, I'd certainly give the band a really good hard try first. I also remember discussions on here about the bowel issues rny'ers have - the diarrhoea, and terrible gas. I know how much those things affect your quality of life. I found it more easy to feel attractive with an ileostomy bag than I do now with bouts of horrible stinky gas, explosive bowel motions and high frequency. Difference is, I'm getting better every day, with rny, it may be your lot in life. It also may not be of course, plenty dont have much trouble with that sort of stuff. Point is, you have a band, give it a chance. I'm 6 years out with no problems whatsoever, I lost weight easily and have kept it off. Bands can be fantastic tools!

I dont focus on Protein. I eat small portions of normal, balanced foods, so great variety and within reason whatever I feel like eating. Of course, I nixed fast food, huge creamy Pasta meals, too many carbs and I do include a protein source with most meals - the exception being that I am on a pretty strict low residue diet for other issues at the moment and have to avoid much insoluble fibre (all the scratchy stuff, fruit and vegie skins,nuts, seeds, wholegrains) and eat a lot of soluble fibre, so Breakfast every day for me at the moment is oatmeal and tinned peaches. You can get a lot of the benefits of high protein low carb simply by going low glycaemic index carbs - good slow digesting wholegrains etc. Dont be afraid to eat small amounts of those foods. What matters is how the meal as a whole is digested, even if you eat a white bread sandwich, if its got a good protein in it - say chicken breast and salad - its not goign to give you that insulin spike, because the protein and vegies slow down that reaction. Eat white bread on its own or with jam on it and its a different story.

Wow, congrats. I guess it could have come up negative when you tested before surgery because, well two weeks into a pregnancy is pretty early and a lot of peoples Hcg levels are still too low to show on a test at that stage. If you'd been testing at home, you might have done what I did, lol, look at it outside in the bright light about ten million times and convince yourself you can see the faintest of faint lines if you hold it just so...... but if you just glanced indoors in artificial light, you'd never have seen it.

You're doing SO well! Stop being so hard on yourself and let go of the fantasy that weight will just fall off you. YOu may need to tweak things, but you're doing it all right, and you said yourself, its probably only a matter of another fill or two. I agree, bump up your workouts. Walking keeps you out of the cardio ward, but for those who are fitter, lighter or more muscular, it simply is not intense enough to qualify as weight loss cardio. The fat burning zone thing is a complete myth, you need your heart pounding quite hard and a decent sweat going, you should be feeling that you want to stop and that it takes willpower to keep going. That is the kind of cardio that will rip weight off you, especially if you also add some all out sprints. You probably arent a fast weight loss person, some of us arent and you will need to learn to appreciate the slow and steady approach. You dont need a kick in the arse, you just need some faith and some patience. Hang in there, you'll get there eventually.