Jachut

I kept my goal weight to myself as I find people are negative about it - Oh, that's not realistic, or you wont get that low or you wont be able to maintain that, yada yada yada. Its individual though but I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I'm also not a small goal setter, I had the end point in sight and wasnt focusing on 20lb or whatever along the way. At 5ft 10, I held 160 to 180lb quite often throughout my teens and 20s and I thought that was still pretty fat, I always felt big and never was happy with my body. So I wanted to be 140. Did it easily, in fact I'm 130lb. It depends on so many things - what you think looks attractive, what feels best, what you're prepared to do to maintain it.

Just having a band hasnt made me not hungry or not want to eat the wrong things but it gave me the psychological push - or shove rather- that I needed to get with the program and start gettign serious about weight loss. I took up running, cleaned up my eating and the weight came off fairly effortlessly. Now maintaining, I find that I still have to make an effort to exercise and eat right, but due to the band, I dont have to be perfect. My body can take the odd indulgence, the odd bad day, a vacation and my weight just never changes. It makes maintenance SO easy. Which means my mind isnt constantly on the topic of food, eating, dieting and weight loss, I'm just living life. Disadvantages - I hate the random tightness that might mean you go out for an anticipated meal and find you cant eat much. Or the occasional stuck/vomiting episode. I hate that I cant eat on the run if I"m in a hurry, I have to go without. I hate walking round the foodcourt and fancying absolutely nothing because its all too darn hard. But the pros WAY outweight the cons to my mind.

Swimsuits are a whole different animal. If buying a bikini I wont buy a "suit", I buy separates because I need a fairly small top - but I like a roomier bottom so that it doesnt grab at the hips - I dont have a whole lot of loose skin but my flesh is soft for want of a better word and anything that grabs will give me a muffin top. One pieces, ugh. I'm 5ft 10. Now, I'm mentally converting to American sizes, but I'd be a 6 to 8 in clothing sizes and would definitely have to buy a 12 to 14 for a one piece - length is an issue for me, not only that but I find that my breasts sit ower than the suit is cut for - not beacause they're sagging to my knees, lol, but because my shoulder to breast distance is ALSO longer thabn average - obviously I"m taller so I have a longer ribcage. I dont even worry about what the size says, if a swimsuit looked good, I'd buy it if it were size 200! Its a matter of buying the right suit, and it can be completely different to the size/colour/style you had in mind. I've bought suits I loved but dont wear becuase they just plain dont look that great on me and I have a pale blue and white striped one piece that looks like nothing on a hanger but looks amazing on.

On the other hand, my DH is banded too, lost about 60lb and now has a BMI of around 28, so still a bit tubby but not really obese. His blood pressure has not improved at all - long travel to and from work in the car in horrible traffic, a stressful high powered exec job that is long hours, gets home late, hates exercise anyway so uses his job and lack of time as an excuse, so there's obvious concerns with his lifestyle. However he eats healthy and doesnt smoke or drink more than a beer or two once or twice a week so he's hardly abusing his body. Some people just have high blood preessure, pure and simple, and will always need to be medicated for it.

You will probably be less bulky when you lose fat, but what about more ballet and pilates style training rather than heavy weight lifting? It gives you tone and strength and maintains your muscle, but not bulk. Personally, I really didnt want a muscular look, would much more prefer to be long and lean, and I stuck with running. I can out-squat and out-lunge anybody, I can do man style pushups and lift my own body weight so I am not weak and flabby and non muscled, but I have tone because I dont have a lot of fat covering my muscles (so you can see nice feminine shape) but I dont have any bulk. Suits me, especially since if I were a man, I suspect I'd be what they call a "hard gainer" anyhow, I just dont build muscle. People bang on and on about how you must build muscle to have a healthy metabolism and yes, that's true, but I can eat whatever I want without gaining, I lost weight on a good 1500 calories per day and I now maintain a BMI of 20 with mainly just running and eating what I want so how much better can it really get? I dont think I need to feel guilty for not huffing and puffing over 40kg barbells.

Well, I got cancer! However, my doc believes the tumour was already there, over five years before it was diagnosed, and in hindsight, I certainly had symptoms very very soon after being banded, which I put down to change in diet and which my general doctor also agreed with - so in a way the band prevented me seeking medical attention at a stage where a small tumour could have been removed during a colonoscopy instead of much bigger surgery. However, that said, my colorectal surgeon remarks over and over again how much easier it is to opeate on a thinner patient, the radiation therapy was more accurately targeted meaning I suffered none of the truly awful side effects that can occur due to collateral damage to surrounding tissue. My bowel resection was laparascopic because I was thin enough for this to possible and there was a lot of room for my surgeon to work to create a pouch once he removed my rectum, meaning that I can have my ileostomy reversed in a few weeks aand not have to have a bag forever. When it IS reversed, the lesser pressure of a load of fat in the abdomen, coupled wity my fit physical condition *may* mean that regaining bowel function iis easier for me. Whilst I've had the ileostomy and a bag, I havent had skin issues or leaking issues like others do because I have a hard, flat stomach which is a good surface for the bag to stick to, it doesnt pull free due to getting bent and wrinkled when my stomach folds over on itself like it would if it were fatter. I got over the big surgery very very quickly too and ran ten days later. So the moral of the story is that if you have to get something awful like cancer, it can be a lot easier if you're not weighed down by a heap of extra weight and health problems. And you know, this may sound very shallow but its meant a lot to me that whilst i've had to go through some very invasive and personal exams and treatments (every man and his dog has been up my rear end in the last 12 months), I feel comfortable with my body. I am not cringing with embarrassment at having to disrobe, wondering if everyone is gagging at the sight of my huge flabby ass. I had to have radiation treatment daily where I lay on a table with my bare butt up in the air, whilst two young guys (very hot young guys I might add) drew on me with textas andn positioned me for the radiation. That was pretty embarrassing but it would have been exruciating in my fat days when I would have died of shame. Going through cancer treatment and feeling good about yourself is very hard, when you feel sick, tired and depressed and it really helps to keep you positive when you feel you can go out every day not looking like a sick or dying person. On a day to day basis, I'm 43 years old and I can teach gymnastics to little kids whilst I'm waiting to return to work because I'm physically capable of doing stuff like handstands and cartwheels and forward rolls. Couldnt do that when I was fat. My blood pressure sits at about 100 on 50, my pulse rate is 48 or so, and I live a lifestyle that I'm sure can do the maximum possible to help prevent this cancer recurring (given I most likely have a strong genetic tendency due to family history).

I know exactly what you're going through, and I pray they've caught it early enough for you that treatment is not too aggressive. I wonder all the time whether my rectal cancer at 42 years old had anything to do with being banded. I guess an ECG is another test to add to the ever growing list of yearly check ups. I know that there's lots of colonoscopies in my foreseeable future! With support and a focus on looking after yourself, its amazing how resilient we are. It is easier to be happy and positive even in such a scary situation than it is to get down about it all. Look to the future and be strong and you will get through this.

I know Elcee, occasionally people say things that make my jaw hit the floor - I never drank diet coke in that sort of quantity - its always been an occasional thing for me. I couldnt believe in the movie Supersize Me how American cars have larger cup holders to accommodate what is literally a bucket of soft drink - OMG!!!!! But I think it pays to remember people in glass houses shouldnt throw stones, I"m sure i could disgust people with my stories of custard tarts from the local bakery, lol. We're all suffering from the same disease to one degree or another. Now coffee on the other hand.....hmmmm, I think I'm lucky I'm happy with instant coffee or plunger coffee made at home rather than tons of espresso, but I get through six or seven mugs a day.

There's many reasons why I very very rarely drink soda, but stretching my pouch or causing my band to slip are not ones that I worry about. I worry more about what is in them, how bad they are for you, what all those chemicals do to your bones, etc etc. I wont let my kids have soda regularly either - full strength OR diet. My carbonation comes more in the form of champagne, lol! Truth be told, i find sodas rather uncomfortable to drink anyhow.

Oh god yeah, eating and driving, dont even try it. Not only is it disgusting anyway - I mean self esteem wise, I know that stuffing my face whilst driving never made me feel good (its fat behaviour in my mind) - but it makes such a darn mess. But you'll get stuck if you do it, I promise. and if you, like me, think eating in the car is a disgusting habit, try sliming and pbing into a left over coffee cup in peak hour traffic. Once was enough for me, and overall, I never eat in those situations where its mindless and i have to concentrate on something else. But drinking, have never been told that one. I also ate bread as soon as I could tolerate it. I dont tend to drink in the car either because I also think that slurping out of paper cups all day is disgusting - I'd much rather sit down with a proper cup and saucer, all those pics of celebs with coffee cup in hand drive me nuts. I know, I know, I'm ridiculously picky!

Protein will not work magic on hairloss! Hairloss is more a result of general nutritional deprivation and/or trauma and/or hormonal. You can stuff yourself silly with protein and your hair will still fall if its going to. If you really want to supplement a specific nutrient, a hair/nails/skin formula is going to be a better bet, its things like Biotin and Iron that are important as well as protein. This surgery is a big shock to a lot of people's bodies, often people go from many thousand calories a day down to 800 or even less overnight! Add in surgery and the hormonal disturbances that come as your body lets go of its fat stores and its not suprising that hairloss is quite common - but it does grow back. I didnt lose hair, but the condition of it six months after banding was absolutely horrid, I had to cut it all off. It came good eventually. And i agree - its possible its breakage, not loss, that's more what happened to my hair. It can be hard to tell the difference, but I noticed my ends got really thin and straggly but it was normal near the scalp, and then a month or two later, I had heaps of little spiky bits everywhere - and I have frizzy, wooly sort of hair that I have to straighten, so it looked like an affro, lol. Mine coincided with horrid periods, painful, bloating, moodiness etc, my hormones went completely awry, but it all came good after a couple of months.

This was yesterday: breakfast: a small tub activa yogurt with a few spoons of muesli and a pear lunch: a tuna and salad (spinach, tomato, cucumber, sprouts) sandwich on wholegrain bread dinner: beef and vegetable stirfry with brown rice and a small glass of red wine Snacks were a skim cappucino at the shops.

Well, I went out and walked the day I got home from hospital and within 2 weeks I'd done 40 minutes on an elliptical. I started running about three months later. Just suck it and see - your body will let you know. You might have some minor discomfort from surgical sites, or whatever, that's OK but dont do anything that actually hurts. But everyone is different and it depends. that was me, obese with a BMI of 35 after lapband surgery, six months ago, I had a huge bowel resection, lost my rectum, had a stoma created and I was running within 10 days. I wasnt full speed, but it felt relatively good and my surgeon was happy as long as I wasnt silly about it (we all know how stubborn runners can be, lol,, and i'm no exception). So you can see, it depends a lot on the physical condition in which you go into the surgery. I was extremely fit and had a BMI of 20 the second time, so I was very quick to get back to vigorous stuff, not so fit and not so lean the first time and it took longer.

I really only drink white wine. I like red but only at home because it makes my teeth grey. I jsut stick with one or two glasses, the number of times that I go out into such a situation where I'd want four or five drinks is so rare that I just enjoy it when I do and have them - its sad being in your 40's, lol. Usually my "going out" is only ever dinner with friends, I dont do night clubs and such so a glass or two of wine is about it.

Banded december 05 so getting on for six years. Never had a single issue - I'm unfilled at the moment purely because i had to have an unrelated surgery, and that caused me to lose quite a bit of weight and the doc wont refill me when my BMI is only 19, she wants me to regain weight. I dont want to regain weight but I want my fill back - so I have a dilemma, lol. My band works text book perfectly, and I learned new habits and a new lifestlyle so much so that I really only want the fill for lazy reasons, I dont really need it because I know what to do and how to keep my weight stable. My secret? i would say that running is my secret. I never ever needed a tight band because I took up a form of exercise that for me is magic and shedding fat and keeping weight away. Therefore I've never had the reflux/vomiting/unable to eat certain foods issues that are so common. I attend Prof. O'Brien's clinic and his view is that the band is not meant to be that tight. I think a lot of the band problems that occur are due to overtightness and that its a tool that suits people that can work with it - which is not everybody, we all have different issues. I was relatively young, still very healthy despite my obesity and was able to take up the slack with very vigorous exercise therefore it worked well for me.

Gee, it would have to be pretty big - like as big as a baby! Conceivably then it could cause such issues because most of us know how little stomach space we have with a full term baby inside us. I do have one, its about the size of an orange but causes me no problems - I only know I have it because I developed a rectal tumour which was stage 3 (so pretty darn bad, I'm lucky to be here) it was about as big as an egg, but they thought it was huge because they could also feel the fibroid. Ironically, CT scans arent that great on thin people because now I'm so thin, I have no fat separating my organs and even on the scan the first surgeon I saw couldnt tell and thought I had a very advanced cancer - it took a much more experienced surgeon to work it out.

I dont quite get what you mean. You cant feel the band becuase its around the top of your stomach which is almost under your ribcage. You must be talking about the port which is on top of your abdominal muscles under the skin - that can appear to move depending on your position and in a lot of people it does come unstitched a bit and is a bit moveable. Unless it flips or causes you pain it isnt really a problem.

If you have your urine tested and you're passi.g protein, you're in s fair degree of trouble! Its not a simple case of if you eat too much you pee it out!

Sashimi is raw but its just fish or fish on pieces of rice - rather than rolls. I tend to buy sashimi packs if I'm out and about and need to buy lunch and I just pull the fish off the rice and leave probably 2/3 of the rice behind becuase its just too filling. Otherwise, because of the rice, I think sushi's like anything - fine in moderation but dont have it on a day you also have bread AND Pasta kinda thing. I'm not a low carber but its pretty stodgy and gets stuck for me anyway.

Well..,. I'm 5ft 10, started at 245 and got down to 130 very easily (took almost three years). I dont low carb, dont count calories, eat bread, Pasta and rice, I do NOTHING eating wise apart from portion control. My "secret" is running daily - I swear running is magic in some way that other exercise isnt. I find it absolutely no trouble to keep that weight off and stay thin even without fill in my band. I dont get these high goals - at 175 as a teen I was beefy and got heaps of teasing for being fat - and I was desperate about my weight when I hit the 200 mark - its still obese for pete's sake, you're selling yourself way way short if you think its the best you can achieve with a band. You're having surgery, why not have faith in yourself that you can take it ALL the way? However, that's just MY personal opinion. Like someone's mentioned above, so many of us cant believe that a healthy weight will be right for us but it will. Its only averages and statistics of course but keep it in perspective - a normal BMI of 24.9 is not exactly skin and bones, its a pretty healthy, well covered curvy weight for most and for some - like me who has a fairly fine boned, and lightly muscled tall built - its still actually too fat! For someone else who has bigger muscles it might be just right but you can bet your bottom dollar, there's no real reason to have a BMI of 30 apart from either being Mr Universe with mega muscle or simply still being overweight! But take it as mini goals becuase you CAN stop where you like how you look and feel the best and BMI really is a load of hooey compared to factors like how you want to look, how easy it is to maintain a give weight etc.

Mine usually sits at around the 95 to 100 over about 50 or 60 without medication. Its not a problem if you dont feel faint or unwell from it. I'd say your meds need adjusting but I'd wait till you see your doctor, its not anything to panic about.

Yes, you may not feel any bad effects from eating but causing your stomach to churn and digest and break up food will mean that it doesnt get the chance for form scar tissue around the band and the stitches, which is ultimately what holds your band in place. If you're eating solid food, the churning will break up that scar tissue as it forms. You may feel fine, but suffer a slipped band further on down the track. The more thoroughy its healed into place, the more likely you wont have any complications.

I've done my first few classes just recently and really liked it, although I could stand to improve my flexibility a tad! Having just been through cancer treatment, and being exercise wise, a real "no pain no gain" kinda person, I like to literally kill myself exercising - the harder the better and I love stuff like sandbag training and bootcamp. But recently, I've sort of felt that I need to nurture my body not run it into the ground and to be honest, although I've lost a ton of fat, I've never had the results from that sort of training that I would like to see in terms of strenght. Until I'm ready to teach full time again I've had a job teaching gymnastics to young kids abnd I've really noticed how much my core strength and flexibility is lacking. So I decided to try yoga. To be honest, its a bit slow and not strenuous enough for mebut I've continued with two classes of week for pure flexibility and relaxation and through that I've also moved into more gymanstics and ballet style training and I'm getting absolutely phenomenal results from it! Its unbelievable - i think I've found what suits my body type, I've shrunk inches without losing weight!

Its just so true that the control comes in spurts - I've just come off the tail end of months of admirable self control, it was easy, I was in the zone like you say. I had to be completely unfilled for a surgery, I lost weight with the surgery and I've managed to hold my BMI at 19 for seven months, purely with diet and exercise and that all elusive willpower. I just looked at it sanely, logically and sensibly and had myself convinced that if I behaved a certain way, a certain result would follow - which is the truth. I thought I had this licked and I would never need to fill my band again. But yeah, like you say, gradually over time, being able to eat wonderful things like toast with jam (mmmmmm), being able to enjoy that restaurante meal in its entirety - it creeps back in on you, doesnt it? The one thing that saves me is I worked to get really fit so that to go out and run 10kms and burn 800 calories in an hour is not hard for me and I do that nearly every day. So I havent regained weight - yet. But my eating is definitely on the slide now. I just have to hold out about six weeks for a second minor surgery and then I can refill and I've changed from thinking I wont need to refill to being very impatient to get back to my doc! I would so love to have this monkey off my back for the rest of my life - to be a naturally thin person without these issues, but such is life. To anyone else, I look like I"m one of the lucky ones - thin, fit, I dont overeat. Nobody could guess how hard I work for that and i guess I dont really say it that often on here because people seem to have thisw impression of me as one of the effortlessly successful bandsters. Yet it is true that I lost all my weight without dieting - simple portion control was all I needed - I ate about 1500 calories a day from ALL food groups and still do - no logging, no low carbing for me. It was easy as anything in that sense - but that's because of the exercise I do. I swear running is magic and everyone oughta try it!

Like anything, you get out of it what you put into it. If you're fit, then you're going to struggle to get a really good workout, but if you're in more average shape and you push yourself, you will find it "exercise" even if not very strenuous. I have a gym membership and sometimes I used to l do it ;particularly when pregnant, just for the heck of it, and follow it up with half hour of lap swimming afterwards - since the hardest part of swimming is actually the hassle of getting to the pool and then wrecking your hair and fake tan and nailpolish in the chlorine (lol) and you're already there so you may as well make the most of it. I swim intervals and really push hard. The main thing that annoys me about Water aerobics is the poor quality music - lol - usually from a portable CD player and usually hits the 80's - and not the good ones! I personally think there's an opening for a really revved up style of water aerobics for the under 50's - like Spinning or Body Pump - we need to get Les Mills onto this! My gym does ahve one deep water aerobics per week and THAT really is a pretty good workout. The "little old ladies" can be surprisingly fit and they're generally great fun and just as normal as you or I - intent on getting a workout. Like any class everyone can work at their own pace. Actually, I'm about to have another surgery to finish off my cancer treatment and you've put the idea in my mind that this might be a good way to ease back into it for a couple of weeks since I did really tire myself out running ten days after a massive bowel resection, lol.