Jachut

Not in any way? You cant do it yourself or with a vibrator? Things will have moved around a bit, I mean a lot of women suffer frustration due to the loose skin or having large labia that cover the clitoris. Personally, manual stimulation is always fine for me, but I have never been able to have an orgasm with just penetration, there is just no physical contact where I need it to be, no matter the position - we're all different and our anatomies do make a difference. Hopefully with a bit of experimenting you can find some solutions, but I have always had to be an active participant in intercourse, lend a helping hand so to speak, lol, to get anything much out of it.

Oh, I wish it worked! I just dont believe it could. I was sooooo lucky with a large weight loss, I dont have any hanging stomach, but I'm just frustrated by not being perfect. Lol, dressed you'd think I have a great figure, but I am a bit saggy and baggy, and its such a shame to be so fit and in such great shape but have the skin of an older woman. But I"m nowhere near bad enough to subject myself to a body lift - most of my sag is on my butt and lower back, and not on the front although my tummy is loose. But I'd be so hesitant to spend big money on a procedure that might only have a barely visible result that only you can really notcie.

I was more afraid going into lapband surgery than I was last november heading into surgery for rectal cancer, and that's the truth. I mean, that was BIIIIIIIG surgery - complete removal of my rectum, half my colon, formation of an ileostomy, resection of mesentary and lymph node removal - it took about 8 hours and I didnt even have butterflies in my stomach, never thought about dying on the table, nothing. But before my band surgery I didnt sleep the entire night before. I was so afraid I'd die or something would go wrong - I think its something to do with it being a major change to your life, that's the real fear, and the fact that I suspect a lot of us feel at least subconscioulsy guilty for getting ourselves into a situation where we're so fat that we need to do this to ourselves. But it is very true that you're way more likely to die of a complication of obesity than you are as a result of the surgery or a complication. In fact its an almost certainty if you do nothing, it may be a long way in the future but obesity is eroding your health every day.

Yeah, on the scales it adds to my weight, lol. I can go up and down 3kgs in a day at the moment (have an ileostomy and a lot of diarrhoea, my system hasnt really settled yet). I think it does help with fat metabolism but the "flushing away fat" thing is a myth, fat isnt just sitting there to be flushed out! But there's no benefit in OVER hydration, all you need is enough, no more.

i just avoid white as much as possible - but I do choose the wholegrain varieties and I do eat moderate quantities of bread, rice and Pasta - but there's bread and there's bread. I wont buy supermarket stuff, I only buy organic, stoneground etc. That' way its a pretty low GI food and eaten as a balanced meal with Protein, it wont cause that huge insulin high followed by the low and the cravings. Well, it doesnt for me anyway, in fact these are the filling foods that keep me going. If you focus on also gettiing a good quality protien source with each meal, then as a bandster, your limited stomach space will mean that the carb content of your diet will drop quite significantly anyway - gone will be the days of several pieces of bread, rice AND pasta, a couple of Cookies all on one day! I think a high carb, high fat diet is a pretty bad one for health and weight, but you dont necessarily have to go low carb either, a simple readjustment of the balance more towards protein and vegetable sources with limited quanities of grains will be enough for a lot of people to improve their weight and health markedly. Others choose to take it further - it can help their health and it can result in very fast weight loss. You have to use your head though - just because a food is high protein doesnt make it a healthy choice! A McDonalds burger is a crappy choice of protein - poor quality beef, huge saturated fats, etc. A piece of salmon with the more heart friendly fats or similarly nuts - better choice most of the time and indulge in Mcdonalds occasionally only. Its so hard to keep track of, and it tends to all lead back to moderation because once you embrace one nutritional law, you're breaching another. Red meat, for example. Great source of many nutrients, Iron and protein, but a diet high in red meat is a huge bowel cancer risk. Similarly red wine, great health benefits but also a breast and bowel cancer risk. Oily fish, fantastic for your heart, but watch the mercury. Dairy - good source of protein but a lot of saturated fat, yet choose the low fat variety and you're missing out on a lot of Calcium and Vitamin d, because your body cant absorb them without the fat that goes with them! It'll do your head in if you think about it too much - so moderation moderation moderation!

i could always eat bread when I had Fluid in my band and found it a valuable food - i dont do white crap bread, but good wholegrains, half a sandwich or a slice of toast as an addition to a meal was a guaranteed rib sticker for me and would keep hunger away for hours and hours - it reduced the amounts of other foods that i could eat. At first I could eat 2 slices in a sandwich, by full restriction I coudlnt eat as much of it. Now unfilled, I can eat normal amounts of bread - but I STILL cant eat Subway - that's actually caused a pb for me with an unfilled band! Doughy white crap stuff. Muffins and cakes also still cause me discomfort unfilled.

Have you ever taken it? I was put on that in my teens, when I was barely 6kg overweight! It is awful stuff, I was climbing the walls, vacuuming my bedroom at 3 am, I was aggressive, had insomnia and yes, no interest in food whatsoever, lost weight easily and regained it in a matter of 2 or 3 weeks when I stopped. It is dangerous stuff that can cause heart problems. However, when you feel desperate enough, you do what you have to do, and if you're under medical supervision, its your choise. It will probably make it very easy for you to eat hardly anything, but even with a lapband, if yours isnt providing the restriction you need, then rebound weight gain is going to be a problem when you stop taking it - and you cant take it forever, its too dangerous. No doctor will let you do that. What sort of exercise are you doing - really an hour of cardio a day is going to be necessary when you've already lost a lot of weight - it gets harder and harder and harder to lose it. My weight now, my daily intake needs to be about 1800 calories (WITH an hour of exercise a day) to maintain it, so I wouldnt lose much on 1200 either - you cant eat nothing sot he answer is you've got to burn more. And the exercise may need to be really vigorous - running or interval training etc. Otherwise weight loss does just peter out and may stop at a point you're unhappy with. But duromine is not a long term answer for you, although it will most likely work short term. Good luck and I agree, if it gives you a renewed control and gets you motivated again, then short term it may be worthwhile.

An hour of cardio most days and 2 or 3 body pump classes a week as well. That's for maintenance, but its about the same as what I did whilst losing.

Actually Elfie - I really DO think WW is a fad diet! But I'm anti diet all round, I just think it perpetuates an obsession with food, an unhealthy relationship with food and an inability to listen to your own body. By that I dont mean that you have created a low carb lifestyle for yourself which suits you and you stick to - I completely hear you and I dont call that a fad. But to live on counting points, always working out what you can eat, whether you have the points for this or that, its no different to counting grams of this or grams of that, it just isnt a normal way to eat. And that's a fad to me. Fad diets can be healthy in that they contain the nutrients you need, but nutrition is only half of weight loss - attitude, emotion, the mental stuff is equally as important and if you're hanging onto your healthy weight by complete adherance to rules and never breaking them, then I dont believe you're truly cured of obesity. Its only when you can eat what you want whether (and what you want is appropriate, becuase its amazing how you dont want chocolate cake every day when you dont grant it some evil food status) that you are no longer a fat person. So if you truly want to eat that low carb way and dont miss old habits, then that's a real obesity cure.

It depends, some people are talkers and get great value of running personal stuff like this by a counsellor. Personally, I dont see value in it for myself, I know myself well, even if I'm not always honest with myself! I am quite reflective and I really dont get a lot out of talking to people in this sort of situation, they never say anything I've not already thought of, although for some, even having your own thoughts or feelings confirmed can be very helpful. So - really its a case of whether that's in your personality or not. For me, I usually know the answer to something but may not want to face it, and until I come around to my own conclusions, I dont really value the opinion of a stranger on the matter. And my view on weight loss and overeating was basically that I didnt really care WHY I did it, or think it mattered why, I just had to stop it. I just had to learn to say no and I just had to get off the darn couch and go out and run. But that sort of in your face attitude is not for everyone and you may get great value out of talking - you know yourself best and if you think you'll get some benefit and want to get some benefit, you probably will. But its not the answer without your input, if that makes sense, nobody can really tell you the answer to these sorts of things.

Anything that goes down easily for you and that you can therefore potentially eat in excess - so it can be anything. Typical slider foods are ice cream, chocolate, Cookies, milkshakes, chips, and other junk, for some reason its so easy to eat whilst an apple can be so hard! Lots of healthy foods are sliders too, and you'll probably find that over time, they become favourites without you realising it - yogurt, Soup, for me Pasta is always an easy meal. Sometimes, without realising you're too tight, you can become aware that you're avoiding a large variety of foods and choosing easy stuff and maybe not losing like you were - you may not have reflux, pain, vomiting like you would expect without being too tight but if you're eating more calories because you're living on sliders, you can sometimes do well to have some fill out and go back to foods like salads, fruit, lean Protein etc. I've been unfilled for six months, and I was thinking about this - today I had oatmeal with some chopped dates in it (the real oatmeal, cooked from scratch, not packet stuff), an apple mid morning, a tuna and salad sandwich for lunch and we're having a barbecue for dinner - so a piece of steak and a big serve of salad. That's a healthy maintenance day for me (and I have to eat bread, pasta, rice etc for other digestive issues) - six months ago with 2.8ml in my 4ml band I would be having coffee for Breakfast, a couple of rice cakes with butter and vegemite or Peanut Butter for lunch, a few cookies or such with coffee during the between meal periods and pasta for dinner. I was thin, I was maintaining my weight and I *could* eat anything when I made the effort to, but I was always slipping back to this kind of carby diet becuase it was easy - I was TOO TIGHT, although I've never had vomiting or reflux. I had to be unfilled for another surgery and it took that for me to realise it, if I ever do refill it wont be to previous levels.

I cant stand it when people say a normal weight will be too skinny - especially from a doctor. Its a patently stupid thing to say - its a HEALTHY weight. And it would be like red rag to a bull to tell me that its unrealistic and I *cant* reach or maintain it. Just you watch me, lol. But I will say, to get to those lower weights, more fill is not necessarily the answer, you just end up getting too tight, eating round the band, losing your momentum. You have to really want it and be prepared to work for it and you'll probably find that if you can get to that place, your fill is adequate.

Yes - my husband! He lost 27kg and has kept that off, enough to reduce health risks but he's still most definitely overweight at 6ft 2, he's 98kg or so. He's a very finely built man, so whilst BMI wise that may not seem overweight, he's got way too much body fat, a beer gut and not alot of muscle. He comes from a family of distance runners, they're all built like whippets. So he's one that should weigh in the low 80's. He just eats what he wants, eats around the band, eats a bit till he's full and then goes back for more 20 minutes later when its gone down, never exercises, does a sedentary job etc. He's not had a fill for 2 years but is quite tight, he gets a bit of reflux and doesnt even bother going back to check it out. He drives me nuts, I cant see why you'd be so lazy and unmotivated, but I bite my tongue. Nothing worse than some reformed fatty giving you grief - but I will bite if he bitches about the time I spend exercising!

Banded December 05, had an unfill five months ago for another surgery and have remained unfilled since then since I have another surgery to go. I can still get stuck and slime on really bready items if I'm drinking at the same time. I have worked extremely hard not to gain weight and I havent, but its been a really big refocus for me, like mentioned above, over time you stop paying so much attention to what you're eating and i really had gotten too tight for me and was eating a lot of slider foods, I have absolutely enjoyed eating things like cold strawberries, raw carrots, yogurt, and wholemeal bread so much and I feel better for it, even though I'm having chemotherapy. Going tighter is not the answer, refocussing is. I never stopped exercising so I maintained my weight loss, which continued on towards the three year mark, but I lost the bulk of my weight in the first 18 months, down to a healthy BMI of 24, now I'm at 19. I plan to refill a *little* bit after my next surgery which is to reverse an ileostomy. Reason being, I dont think I absolutely need to refill to maintain my loss and I actually could do with gaining a few pounds, but once the ileostomy is reversed, I no longer have a rectum, so I will have huge frequency and diarhhoea issues which are usually managed by eating very little during the day so that you can go to work and eating more at night when you can just be near the bathroom. I think having some fill and eating bandster style again - because I'm now eating larger meals (not huge, but bigger) that are filled out with a lot of salad and vegies to satisfy me. But I dont want so much fill as to induce weight loss and I wont go as tight as I was, I've realised that I *DO* have self control and good habits now, but that being satisfied on small portions will help with my issues that are not weight specific.

Cardio is your best weapon for a flat belly - you simply have to burn the fat. supplement with strength training of course and work to strengthen your core for best possible shape but unless you lose the fat, none of that will show.

Hmmm, I've been unfilled for almost six months now, and I'd say having an unfilled band is not "quite" the same as having no band at all. For all intents and purposes it is close enough not to matter, I mean, I can eat unrestricted, I can eat anything I want to eat. With restriction I could eat whatever I wanted and my weight wouldnt budge, now I have to consciously keep the high calorie foods down and fill up on fruit, salads, vegies, all that very low calorie stuff, since I absolutely cannot exist of the size meals I was eating with restriction. I wake up hungry and want my Breakfast, where I never cared much about it before. I can eat cold thngs like strawberries out of the fridge, which is heaven. However, I have pb'd twice with no fill in my band - once when I had a subway vegie sub and a bottle of cold Water - that came up. The other was the one and only time I've eaten a burger unfilled - STILL too much for me, all that bread and meat together - I mean it was a real burger, not a pretend little crap burger like McDonalds, but a proper bread roll, toasted, with a homemade burger off the barbecue and salad. Again, I was drinking at the same time. Didnt come up but simed and felt very uncomfortable. I've been continually amazed at how I've been able to manage to stick to 3 meals a day and avoid the between meal eating and steer clear of crap foods, in fact I'm actually eating better than with restriction becasue I'm not eating around my band and filling up on slider foods between meals kind of thing - so I do wonder whether the band is still providing some appetite control. But believe me, if I wanted to eat up big, visit McDonalds every day and stuff my face and gain back 120lb, I could do it.

My story is simple and I call it the no bullshit approach. I wanted to give up dieting forever and I just have no patience with diet regimes that have rules and you cant eat this, but you can eat that, you must count this, but you can eat all you want of that, pah. Its no way to live. So, three small meals a day, from all food groups, basically whatever I wanted to eat that was healthy, a good hour's run most days and a bit of strength training. I have lost 120lb, although it was slower than for those who choose a "diet". Every now and then, I might eat something unhealthy, and I too would partake moderately at special occasions, I rarely say no to one glass of wine for example, but its not an at home everyday thing. I wouldnt pass up birthday cake either. I think it paid off though, I maintained it easily for 3 years as there was no "diet" to go "off". I was unfilled almost six months ago now for another surgery and have maintained my loss since then with the ability to eat absolutely normally - because i have learned good habits that allow me to exist in my normal world, not a strict set of rules that I cannot deviate from no matter the outside circumstances. I still exercise very vigorously almost every day. to me, you just have to cut the crap, cut the excuses, forget the promises of miracle cures, dig deep and DO it. Its that simple. Its not about Protein this or carbs that, its about growing up, stop stuffing your face and start moving. I mean, you can go to the movies and sure, you can have popcorn, but you have to accept that if you do that as well as the Starbucks coffees and the drive through breakfasts or whatever else your vices are, then you'll continue to have a weight problem.

Mine is unfilled completely for another surgery I had a few months ago and my eating habits have not returned to preband days - but I had great restriction for over five years. At the moment, I plan on leaving it unfilled, but I wouldnt take it out - it pleased me to know that its there if I need it - and truthfully, I am not 100% confident about why I have been able to maintain a very low weight without restriction - I'm having chemo, have had major abdominal surgery, etc and although my appetite has remained healthy and I eat a good solid 3 meals a day, and have to use willpower to fight head hunger between meals, I'd want to be pretty sure that I could do it much longer term before I removed my band. Besides, its not doing any harm in there, so why would I have more surgery? It is generally designed to stay there long term and statistics show that if its removed, weight gain almost certainly follows.

The advice I got was probably. The balloon will fail at some point, depending upon how you treat your band - ie. overtighness is not good for you OR your band, nor is constantly filling/unfilling. The more you can leave it alone, the longer it will last. Silicone is inert in the body and will last a long time, but its not likely you'll have a perfectly working band in 20 years.

Excess calories is excess calories no matter how you try to dress it up - if you eat unlimited meat, cheese and eggs, you will get and/or stay fat - becuase they're calorie dense foods and should be eaten in reasonable moderation. Same as if you eat excess chocolate. Also, that's a lot of saturated fat - despite what some studies say about low carb and blood chemistry, you're really risking your cardiovascular healthy if you go all out on these foods. But it sounds like you feel somewhat cautious about it, which is good. Its not that these foods are bad for you or that eating more of them and less carbs isnt good - its the "unlimited" that's the worry. If you want to lose weight, you have to limit food, period. You'll also drop a lot of weight quick -but because carbs in the body bind to Water molecules, most of it will be water. Its simple, deplete your body's carbohydrate stores and shed a sh*tload of water with it. So that quick, gratifying drop is all smoke and mirrors. Now, if you can stick to this diet for months on end, you will shed fat eventually - like any diet. Overnight results are never genuine.

No pain here either, never took a pain killer at all once I went home, not even paracetamol. I thought it was a very easy surgery.

Oh, I dont know. I got banded, lost 120lb in 2 years easily eating a balanced diet from all food groups - gave up calorie counting and obsessing over this food regime or that forever, took up running and kept my weight off for another 3 years before being unfilled for another health issue. Only to find that I've magically transfomred into a sensible, balanced eater, a dedicted exerciser and have no trouble at all maintaining a BMI of 19 to 20 with my newfound moderate eating habits and sane approach to food. Good enough for you? I cant think of one single negative thing about my personal journey, but then I had a very well behaved lapband, never have had any issues at all with it. Not everyone is that lucky but when it works, it really works well.

I only saw a gastro doc for the first time ever last year for bowel symptoms unrelated to my lapband, but what I'd say is it will be a normal consult, you'll be asked questions about your digestive habits and experiences and if he feels anything needs investigation you'd be booked in for an endoscopy or colonoscopy? I cant see what a GE could do in his office that would affect your banding other than schedule you for further testing if they thought it necessary. I guess they'd be looking for stuff like an ulcer, gallstones, etc.

Well, I believe you when you say you're not an alcoholic but sheesh, you drink an awful lot for a non acoholic, it definitely qualifies as binge drinking and not only will it sabotage your weight loss, it will definitely lead to later health problems, you're drinking WAY beyond the recommended intake for women. Its also easy to crave alcohol and cave in and have more than you should as well without having a "problem" with alcohol. But its a choice - keep up your lifestyle and probably forego real success or change your lifestyle. If you want to keep going ot, you have to decide not to drink if you cant decide to just have one - not drinking saves you a lot of calories and will probably cut down those post bar fast food detours as well, you lose all control when you've got a few drinks on board. That's the tough love part over with - I agree with you, its so awfully frustrating when you're trying to gain control when at every turn of your life there's another meal out, another drinks date, etc etc. I have weeks where I have that happen four or five times too, it drives me nuts, why does everything have to revolve around food? But the truth is, you cant always change it, nor may you want to if its the way you socialise and date, so the alternative is you have to learn to not view each occasion as an opportunity to go sick, but instead practice real restraint at each and every turn - drink club soda, eat only an appetiser, never ever ever order dessert, only drink white wine if you DO drink, and make damn sure you get plenty of exercise to balance it out. Nobody ever recommends skipping meals, but truth is, if we have a big lunch out, or we often catch up with my SIL and BIL with a cheese platter and a glass of wine on a Sunday afternoon - thenI dont eat dinner. The kids love being taken out for pancakes, and they are one of my fave treats too, so we time it as brunch and I dont eat at all again till dinner (even if I get hungry!), and we also often time that after a big walk up a mountain, known as the Thousand Steps, here in Melbourne, so a good bit of really hard exercise beforehand. I never ever miss my exercise, and on the days when I do have complete control, I really make them count so that I have a bit of a bank for those inevitable bad days. All that and I"m just working to MAINTAIN my weight. Being thin and healthy is a job, it never becomes efffortless, sad to say. You are always always working on it.

Thank you, that's much appreciated xxxxx