Jachut

Running doesnt necessarily destroy your body if you're running moderate distances like an average person and not running marathons etc. And even then, plenty of marathoners are just fine. Part of the skill of running well too involves having great core strength, strong hips and back muscles protect your knees, hips and feet. People that get inured when they run usually have muscle weaknesses that could be worked on. I try to run only three or four times a week and do something else other days also to give my body a break. The main people that arent built to run are females with wide hips (that's bony structure wide, not fat storage wide). The Qangle means they have a great angle from knee to hip which predisposes them to injury.

I havent needed antibiotics since I was banded 4 years ago, but I do dread the inevitable. Many antibiotics make me violently nauseous and cause vomiting.

Running is a religion, definitely! But sadly, many people just wont ever get it. Its not that easy to get into, you have to be able to do it at a certain level of skill and intensity to get that rush from it. When you die just walking around the block, its expecting a lot to be enthusiastic about running. But there's gotta be a reason why runners are such bigmouths about their passion doesnt there? I never shut up about it. I think for me, running always respresented the pinnacle of fitness and athleticism, and to me it was the ultimate achievement. I just dont get the same rush from the treadmill/weight machine routine. And that dream of running and feeling elated, that's always what I imagined about being thin too. Its the mental image I had in my head all the way into surgery.

Definitely - I never had a sweating problem when I was heavier and I was never so warm that it appeared I was warmer than everyone around me. But I definitely went through a period of about a year when I was freezing all the time, then appeared to adjust and now I'm just one of those thin people who always seems to need a cardi or jacket, lol. I do tend to wear more clothes than I did. And i love the hot weather! Always did but now I really adore it. It cant get too hot for me, which given its ofen 115 in Melbourne in the summer is a good thing!

I usually leave the crusts as those are the parts that cause me trouble. otherwise I can eat bread, but really dont very often. It doesnt stick for me so much as its extremely filling and just not nutritious enough to be worth it, as I cant eat much else with it. I also noticed after last week when I went on school camp and had no choice but to eat white bread, cornflakes, white Pasta, chicken schnitzels and chips, i felt full to the point of overflow constantly, and felt completely crappy at the end of four days (probably because I had not one single BM in that time!). So for me, the occasional slice of wholegrain bread is fine, but my old style carb full diet is definitely not.

You know I always thought so too. Of course, some people are "big boned" and more muscular and meant to be bigger (not fatter!). But one thing that absolutey blew me away from weight loss is that I dont have the body type I thought I did. I'd always look at models in magazines and think I was like a totally different species, that I could never get that thin. By the way, I'm NOT that thin and wouldnt try to be, health is more important. But it turns out I actually DO have that sort of body. I dont have the wide hips and broad shoulders I thought I did, I'm actually fine boned and fine muscled.

How about you get 2 serves of fruit (2 pieces) and five of veg (about 2 cups total) every single day? I find when I really concentrate on this, my fat and sugar intake drops waaaaaaay down becuase fibre filled foods like these take up so much room.

Dont feel bad for saying it. Its not so much judging, just noticing. I've heard lots of people complain on here that as fat people, they've felt judged eating in public. But realistically, to see somebody (normal weight or not) walking down a mall shoving huge bits of hot dog into their face without even sitting down to eat nicely IS gross! Its digusting. I've always been repulsed by seeing people walking around the shops eating! The other thing that I hate hate hate is people walking around sucking on huge paper cups. And nearly everyone does that these days, so that's my problem, not the cup-suckers! But I think its a truly awful habit. I will not have a cup of coffee unless I can sit down and drink it from a proper cup and saucer or mug. I wont patronise coffee places that only have paper cups unless it really is truly a "to go" coffee like at my son's football or something. There's definitely a correlation between obesity and the slow death of nice manners and etiquette. When I was a child, you sat at a table to eat dinner, you didnt walk around eating in public, you couldnt get food at every stop every second of the day and you dint walk around attached by a straw to a hugely calorific coffee drink. Coffee came black or with a dash of milk and you mostly had it at home. Nowadays, we eat anywhere, anytime, off and out of anything!

Make sure you get plenty of oily fish - even take an Omega supplement and add flax oil to your diet. Usually a big increase in fruit and vegies (especially leafy greens) improves skin and hair too. I've always had dry skin and particularly dry hair and lets not even talk about my nails (havent only seen them for brief periods in the last 25 years, I wear acrylics or gel because they're just so flaky) but it always improves with dedication to nutrition. Bandsters, no matter how careful they are, are very often lacking a full, balanced diet. How many people, for example, can really get two full fruit serves and five half cup vegie serves in in a day?

I could easily fit into ALL of those categories, lol!

I use onions in everything, love em. I have to say though, one can live a full and productive life without celery, lol. I loathe it.

It's worked for you before, and it will work again! I have to ask though - why in the world would your husband not want you to lose weight? Surely your health and wellbeing is of concern to the entire family?

I cnat help being a bit astounded by what other people can fit in when I eat with a group. It doesnt repulse me though, I just thank goodness I'm not filling my body with all that rubbish and facing an old age of ill health and pain due to obesity. Although I must admit, being in a food court at a shopping centre and watching the great unwashed masses shoving their cake holes full of KFC and McD's is a bit revolting.

We're having family over to our house this year and I'll do what we normally do for celebration meals. Its usually a good quality piece of meat in the weber, like a nice whole eye fillet or something, the condiments - gravy, horseradish, mustard, some roast potatoes, and a nice big healthy salad. We're not really dessert eaters, so its usually a cheese platter. Basically a healthy meal with fresh food. But the wine DOES flow a little freely in my family, lol. I put out dips, cut up vegies and crackers etc before dinner, but usually dont touch them myself to save room.

Not so much angry afterwards as regretting every trying to eat calamari! I had a terrible one on holidays a few years back, it was SO painful. I was with my family they were so alarmed, and it was in public too, I was frothing at the mouth like a rabid dog. We had to walk back to our holiday house, I had to spit in the street, pb'd on the railway track on the main road, continued to vomit for hours and hours afterwards. One piece of calamari! Strangely I was fine the next day and able to eat without issues.

Portion control is much more powerful than you realise. I say now that I ate healthy, i just ate a lot of it, but really, that's not true. I ate rubbish - huge amounts of sweet carbs in my diet, huge. I still have a problem with those foods. But portion control is still all I needed to lose all my weight. I have greatly cut down on bad foods, but I still eat them, I just could never give them up entirely. I was away this week with five other adults at a school camp and I could literally not eat meals after three days - I had been fed SO much food what with Breakfast, lunch, dinner, morning tea, afternoon tea and supper that I just couldnt keep going. My lunch on the last day went in the bin and I didnt eat dinner that night when I got home! I was literally gobsmacked at what the five other normal weight adults put away. I've forgotten how much I ate and at the time (before banding) I considered it normal because it was compared to what others eat. I'd often say "I dont understand why I"m fat, I dont eat that much". Truth is, at a BMI of 36, I wasnt as fat as some people get. Dont be mistaken, control your portion size as consistently as a band does, make good food choices and you WILL lose weight. YOu dont need to have been on a diet of two big macs, large fries and sundaes (have never done that in my life!) for it to work.

People do swear that a tight bra affects their band. I dont really see how, since your stomach is underneath your ribcage. It would have to be one tight bra to constrict your ribcage.

I've got clothes in my wardrobe in an Australian 8 to an Australian 16 - and they all fit me. If I try on a fitted dress I'll likely need the 12 for my hips and the top part of it will be enormous. I always buy jeans from jeans west and have to buy different sizes according to the style. I'd like to come to America and fit into a size 6!!!! But what does it really mean?

The benefits of it are speculative at best, and personally, I wouldnt take the chance with a band, of taking any product that's going to bind up, clump etc. With a healthy diet in moderate portions, your cholesterol levels are going to improve. And you can try some of those plant sterol spreads too on a regular basis. Oats are wonderful for reducing cholesterol as well. I agree totally with Betsy - if those measures dont work, then its time to speak to your doctor.

Well, its not something I've experienced with, but it is understandable, do you think it could be something you will just get used to? Have you grabbed a mirror and taken a look to reassure yourself that all looks normal down there? They are pretty ugly things to look at, lol, labia tend to be quite large, with the inner ones protruding. You're not having any issues with dryness or anything (might be age/hormone related)? That can make you feel hyper aware of your bits.

Well, I dont think that's too much food - and I dont think its unusual to get hungry! The band wont necessarily stop hunger - well it doesnt for me - I still get hungry like I normally would but I get satisfied on much less food and that lasts longer than it did. But being away and eating with five other adults this week made me realise just how little I really eat for someone as active as me! You're not eating a lot of food - so hunger is normal. Eat when you're hungry, but eat healthy and small portions.

Wow, I wonder how long it will be before you give into temptation and UNFILL so that you can eat for a special occasion, or enjoy your vacation? Because of course, then you can refill so easily aftewards. Good luck. I think you've just started on a slippery slope. If this is really a serious thread and not just a hoax though, I think the problem of people flying across states for fills is a really bad one in the states. I cant understand why in a country that size, there's not doctors everywhere, I've never heard of people having to do that in Australia, its usually a matter or driving across suburbs (apart from people who live in remote areas of course). I just dont get why its the case there.

Yes! You can feel "normal" again. Early on, its very consuming, mentally, physically and emotionally. Many people I think arent ready for that, no matter how they've prepared, when you think about it, there's not very many ways in which we can change ourselves as fundamentally as completely renovating our health and appearance. My primary goal out of this was that I was fed up to the back teeth of being a fat person. I hated the way it consumed my thoughts, I hated the way I had to "resist" food, I couldnt help being always ready to eat and always consciously avoiding eating bad foods. I hated the routine of the Monday morning diet, I hated the abortive attempts at exercise programs, I hated all of it. I vowed once I was banded I was never ever ever going to "diet" again. I dont think that personally I would have coped well had I not had it done here in Australia where that approach is supported, I'm not saying a more structured routine is wrong, but I think i would have come to blows with almost every US doctor out there, with their nutritional views, rules and targets for daily eating. I will not do that ever again. I eat what I want when I want. So, maybe I had slower weight loss than others - it took me 2 years to lose 100lb and actually, I'm still losing at the rate of about 3lb per year, lol. That was a worthwhile trade off for me. I chose the exercise that appealed to me, not the latest craze I read on the net. I knew what bad things they say about long, slow cardio but I knew I liked running so that's what I did. That way, I actually DID it. I knew that yet another gym membership was going to have the same result - early enthusiasm, followed by life getting in the way and the rest is history. I like healthy foods. I have to force some healthy foods in (it really is a challenge to get enough fruit and veg when you're banded), but that's my version of swallowing Vitamin pills (which I dont take). I dont like Protein shakes, and I dont believe I need mega protein, so I ignore that particular avenue. Today, its the first day of school holidays, I've had a hard term as a graduate teacher, I fancy a bit of window shopping and a cappucino and vanilla slice (a gorgeous concoction of choux pastry and custard) and I'm damn well gonna have it. Why not? Its a once in a blue moon thing and I for one dont think that the occasional treat with food is dysfunctional or indicative of an eating disorder. Once I allowed myself that, I broke the "well, I ate a vanilla slice, so I may as well drink this milkshake, eat this ice cream, pig out on this chocolate" cycle. I eat more when good food is put in front of me, I sometimes dont eat when I'm busy, I have periods where I eat too much sugar and others when I eat really realy well. I dont really think about it or beat myself up over it. Hey? Guess what? I'm NORMAL. I never viewed normal as some sort of perfect eating, perfect exercising robotic life where you got x grams of protein, 100% RDI of every vitamin every day, etc etc. That's setting yourself up for failure. I saw normal as eat what you like, mostly healthy and dont obsess over it. To me, the band is a great tool for achieving that becuase it takes inappropriate hunger out of the question. I hate to say it, but I think many people who defend their more rigid regimes are really still clinging to the hope that if they do everythign right they will be rewarded. I think it takes a lot of courage to let yourself go and abandon that adherance to imposed rules and really listen to your body. It is a really really hard thing to do but I think THAT's the key to lifelong weight control. Otherwise, its just using your band to strangle your desires. Its your desires and mental processes that you really have to work on to really become free of your weight problems.

For the past few months I've been starting the day with a green smoothie - just blended up fruit and greens, I make it up the night before for DH and I so its easy to have first thing. I usually have my coffee in the car these days, on the way to work. In my desk at work, i have a stock of healthy prepackaged cereal portions - organic granola and oats mainly. I can get milk at work, so I just have that. I also prepare my lunch the night before (usually a salad with some sort of protein) so i can just grab and run. Healthy diets are easy with forethought and preparation but I often find I feel too lazy in the evening to do it. But forcing myself is key to staying on track the next day. On the weekend I can take my time to enjoy breakfast a little more, i still have my smoothie and then follow a bit later with something like sardines and tomatoes on toast, avocado and tomato on toast, somehting I can sit and eat with a knife and fork. I get sick of cereal but it is convenient for weekdays.

I can understand that, I havent taken the pill since very briefly in my 20's as I really dont like mucking around with things in my body like that. But I always felt it added a couple of kilos to my weight. Now I'm in my 40's and I know that I am having bowel complications from mild endometriosis. I know if I go and sort it out I'll end up on some sort of hormonal therapy like going on the pill. And I've put it off and off and off...... I always got by just fine without the pill, I used a diaphgragm even though they went out with the ark, it seems. But the mechanical barrier method worked for me and didnt affect my body. I had my tubes tied after my third baby.