rorysmom

danaclark, a lot of the things you mention have zero to do with a person taking responsibility for his/her actions. people don't wear glasses because they sat too close to the tv or have c-sections because they didn't take care of their uteruses. again, the "easy way out" argument pops up because, presumably, people aren't taking responsibility for their actions. they aren't making healthy food choices at least 70% of the time. they aren't exercising. it is easier to stop eating when your stomach won't hold any more food! it is easier than telling yourself, "you've had enough" and all that jazz. i'm all for people having it easier! my 22 year-old cousin is planning to get one soon. and i want her to become a healthier person with all of my heart. i'm doing all i can to help her. but i tell you what, i would be very disappointed if she did not change her habits in conjuction with getting a band. i'm not in favor of her getting a band and continuing to eat lots of soft crap or just eating smaller portions of unhealthy meals. that is not taking responsibility for your health.

i don't think of WLS as an easy way out. my aunt really needed it to get her weight and health back (ever?) in control. and, for those of you who don't know my background--i don't have or need a band. but if a band had been available 16 years ago when i was 19, and i'd had the money, i would have gotten it. but since i didn't have a WLS option, and since i didn't want to be overweight, I had to do something about it. i had to exercise (the least of my "had to's"), i had to educate myself about food, and i had to find a way to eat that worked. trial and error on that last one. but most of all, i had to keep trying. i've gone up and down since my intial weight loss of about 65 pounds. i gained about 35% to 50% of it back 4 times. but i kept on it. discouraging at times, but a helluva lot better than the alternative. i'm sure most people who say WLS is the easy way out (if they are healthy themselves) feel that way because they know that being healthy requires consistent, life-long attention, education, and effort. doesn't have to be strident, 100%-all-the-time effort, but effort all the same. and so if a WLS patient continues to eat a high percentage of unhealthy food and does not exercise, then yeah, it does look like he/she took the easy way out.

Good Luck!!!!

new sho: how long have you had your band? how much weight did the doctor say you needed to lose? how much weight did you want to lose? what behavorial changes, emotional discoveries, healthy lifestyle (nutrition/exercise) changes have you made since you got your band?

hi all, my aunt continues to have success with the lap band. she is now down 121 pounds as of 11/22/04! now, her 22 yo daughter is in the process for getting a band! truthfully, her husband and son could use one too, but they are not interested. and the whole family has just joined a great hospital gym associated with my uncle's job. i haven't given much advice to my cousins about weight loss, et al., because i didn't want them to think it was all i saw. but now that they are taking steps to improve their health, i wrote down the top 10 things i've learned about exercise and body size/image over the years. i didn't share my thoughts on diet. i'll save that for another top 10 list. i thought y'all might like to see it too. so here goes! EXERCISE SHOULD BE FUN! There are so many ways to burn calories that there is no reason to do any exercise you don’t like. I love rebounding, walking uphill, and jogging slowly. I do not like stationary biking, running, the stair-climber, and most aerobic-dance classes. Find a few activities you like and stick to them! Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t challenge yourself or try new things. You must do that! Giving exercise your best effort is REQUIRED to get the results you want. But if you find that you don’t like a particular exercise, then don’t do it! And don’t let anyone tell you different. Exercise at least almost every day. And exercise everyday if you can! Yes. We don’t move around a lot if our jobs don’t require it. That inactivity, coupled with extra eating, makes it so, so easy to gain weight. If we had active jobs, we wouldn’t need gyms and scheduled time each day to work out. But we don’t. So we must make the effort to move our bodies every day.<O:p</O:p <O:p</O:p Wear a pedometer. The federal government recommends taking at least 10,000 steps each day for good health. If you don’t work out, you’ll be surprised at just how few steps you will take in a day. Cheap pedometers are not very accurate, but they will give you a decent approximation—within a few hundred steps. A pedometer helps to keep you aware of how active you are. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.<O:p</O:p <O:p</O:p Longer at a moderate (NOT EASY!!) pace is ALWAYS better than shorter at a fast pace. Even trainers disagree amongst themselves about this. Some say that if you exercise very hard for a short period of time (20 – 30 minutes), you’ll burn roughly the same amount of calories during the activity and for a few hours after as someone who exercises for a longer time (40 – 60 minutes) at a moderate pace. But I prefer moderate because it is easier to do, and you won’t dread having to exercise the next day because the day before was so hard. Plus, the more movement you do in a day, the better it is for your health. So make every exercise session at least 40 minutes long.<O:p</O:p <O:p</O:p Strength training is a must. First and foremost, eating healthy, small portions and lots of aerobic activity are what you must do to lose weight. But strength training is important because it makes the shape of your shrinking body look and move better. If you don’t strength train, you’ll get smaller, but you’ll be flabby! Fortunately, there are a few different methods of strength training to choose from: resistance machines, free weights, resistance bands, Pilates (on a reformer machine or on a mat), yoga, stability ball, and functional fitness/body weight. There is too much for me to say about all of these, but I just want you to be aware that strength training is important and there are many types to choose from. So research them online and ask the trainers to tell you more about them. Then make your choice(s). I have tried them all, and I prefer stability ball, functional fitness/body weight, and Pilates on the reformer machine. Pilates and yoga also incorporate flexibility conditioning.<O:p</O:p <O:p</O:p Take the emotion out of weight loss. It is so easy to feel bad about yourself for being overweight, not losing weight fast enough, overeating one day, etc. And if you tell yourself that you’re a failure and other such negative things, it makes starting over that much harder. And pretty soon, you’ll start doubting if you can really lose the weight—even while you’re losing weight! And then you’ll start sabotaging yourself, either because you don’t want to feel like a failure again or because you don’t think that you can really reach your goal. But if you take the emotion out of weight loss (I’m a failure, I can’t do this, why don’t I have any willpower) and focus on the mechanics of it (eating right, exercising every day), then you will be successful. THIS IS HARD TO DO! I know from years of experience. But one trick I’ve learned is, whenever you start thinking a negative thought, refute it out loud. Don’t let the thought keep replaying in your head. For example, if you start to think “I’m never going to lose this weight.” Say out loud, “What I was just thinking is not true. If I eat right and exercise, the weight will come off.” It’s like shining a light under the bed and realizing there is no bogey man underneath it. The more you attack negative thoughts, the more confidence you will gain. <O:p</O:p Keep a journal. Write down what you eat and how much you exercise. I said it before, KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. Awareness is so important. Also, write down your feelings. Write down your goals. Write down your motivational daydreams. It is inspirational! <O:p</O:p Set goal markers. Weight loss at first, and then good health later, is a never-ending process that can seem overwhelming.Make it easy and fun by breaking it up. I like to work towards mini-goal dates. Use events in your life as goal markers to work towards. Pull out a calendar and plan ahead. For example, in February, I have several events to attend. I’ll use these events as extra motivation to get in all of my exercise and to keep my eating on track. <O:p</O:p Love your body, part 1. Okay, so you may not like how your body looks right now. But as you start losing weight and really get into exercise, you’ll be amazed at how much you can do. Acknowledge and Celebrate every accomplishment. Love your body, part 2. Please, please, PLEASE, do not compare your body to anyone else’s. Be realistic about how your fit, healthy body will look. Your fit body will not be the size of 97% of the women on television and in the magazines. Rely on three things, in this order, to let you know that you are fit and healthy: (1) your body fat %, (2) your clothes, and (3) the scale. Your body fat % will give you a realistic weight to shoot for. And that weight will change as you gain muscle. Once you get to your goal weight range, your clothes size will probably range between 2 and 3 sizes, depending on the clothes manufacturer. One designer’s size 8 may be another designer’s size 12. DO NOT get caught up in clothes size. I know from experience that this can be hard to do. I mean, here I am working out and eating right, and this crazy designer still classifies my body type as LARGE. ARRRGGGHH! It can be frustrating. But just remember that every designer uses a different size fit model on which to base its sizes. Every designer starts with a size 8 and then works up and down—usually an inch per size. Plus, I choose which designer to give my money to. So if I come across a delusional designer who thinks that Nicole Ritchie is a MEDIUM, then that designer does not get my money!! <O:p</O:p LOVE YOURSELF. As corny as it sounds, it is so true. Body image and self image are two different things. You can have a good self image and also want to improve your body. But if your self image is poor, it will wreck everything you try to accomplish. So take pride in you for just being you. For being kind, smart, funny, loving, a great cousin to Rory… all of it. And then take that self love and accomplish all your goals—weight ones included.

wow! thanks!!

yes, jachut. a study about fidgeters found that they burned more calories than sedentery people. not surprising. all movement burns calories and is helpful for losing weight.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! and CONGRATULATIONS on your surgery date!!!! WOOHOO!!

has anyone heard from her? has she gotten approved?

great! i hadn't popped in here for a while. when i did, i didn't see anything from you and was wondering what was up. you're always so positive about everyone else's banding--even when you're having such a hard time. i hope you get approved soon. and even if it isn't soon, i hope you continue to do well on your own. your avatar looks great!

thanks, jammin! did she get her lapband?

congratulations!!

that's a nice upside! did you see your doc, or was it swelling?

wonderful!!

woohoo!!!!!!!

buena suerte!

that's very interesting, vinesqueen. and wow, do you have a lot going on! what movie?

i've always been comfortable exercising and playing sports for fun. but i get "tight" when i'm working with a trainer who expects things of me. it almost instantaneously drains the fun out of it. i also love to dance, but i have a hard time learning choreography! do you like moving your body?

chichigirl, gah! that is so humiliating. i'm sorry to hear that. vinesqueen, good luck with that migraine. sinus headaches are more than enough for me. melissa, i love tennis! but i don't play hardly enough to be more than a beginner.

vinesqueen, don't be discouraged by the amount of time your doctor wants you to exercise. you can break it up in two workouts/day. and most importantly, it doesn't have to be strenuous! 90 minutes is now the recommended amount per day because most of us lead very sedentary lives! if we had jobs that required us to walk at least half the time that we spend sitting, we wouldn't need to FORMALLY exercise 90 minutes per day. i strongly suggest using a pedometer to actually see just how little you may be moving. it has changed my whole perception of exercise and general activity. and it doesn't have to be balls-out jogging, cycling, tae bo or aerobics--unless you want it to be . vigorously marching in place while watching tv or listening to music counts. dancing counts. walking uphill on the treadmill counts. also, throw those weight routines in there for as little as 15 minutes 2/week. 3 sets of 12 repetitions of 4 upper body exercises with hand weights can be done in 15 minutes. it will make so much difference in the shape of your body. good luck!

congratulations! that's my birthday!

i heard a radio advertisement for a company that does nothing but help people get approved for WLS. it was called new weigh, i think. but i can't find it anywhere on the internet. i tried all sorts of spellings, but nothing. anyone else heard of it?

sleepyjean, thanks! this is it. but the commercial gave the impression that they were a 3rd party that helped you navigate through the insurance hoops--like lawyers who help people get their social security benefits. gah, could they have made it any harder to find?! i tried every name combination that i could think of.

they do judge by percentage lost. that is new this season. but to make it easier for us to keep track with as they weigh in, they calculate the percentage lost to pounds.

vinesqueen, that's both sad and funny. thanks!