Melbourne Chat Thread!!!!

[susannah 2]

Hi All, Bronnie it is totally weird but my nephews had their birthday party this morning, and I was surrounded by food. I had absolutely no desire to eat!:biggrin1: The band has really put a clamp on my appetite. I was perfectly content to just sit there eating a tub of yoghurt while everybody else was eating and eating all kinds of junk and healthy food. I did not feel deprived at all! I am down 4 kilos post op now.

I think I love my band!:biggrin1:

Susannah

[bronnie70 0]

well done Susannah... im so happy you were banded first as your setting a really good example for those that follow including myself.

[dionnem 0]

Hi All,

1 Day to go!!!! Feeling verrrry nervous not about the band but about the op itself and the expectation of the future and the unknown. I don't want to go expecting to much but I fear that I am, I know I've made the right choice and am excited about my life ahead but I worry I won't do as well as I should... Is this feeling normal????

Susannah, Good on you I'm really happy for you that you've settled in so well.

Bronnie, Keep up the good work I am hopeless at diets and miss the whole comfort factor of food, you guys really indspire me.

Will check in b4 I go. Last minute jitters and all that.

[bronnie70 0]

You will be just fine... you have to be i rely on susannah and im going to rely on you to give me inspiration. So.... get your butt in there tomorrow and then i can watch you do really well and lose the weight..... positive thinking is half the battle. We are all going to do this together. im not far behind you and many others will follow us in our journey.

[She Smiles 2]

Susannah, 4 kilos!!! You're a bloody legend!!

[dionnem 0]

Hi All,

Off we go this will be the last time I post pre-band How exciting!!!! Feeling less anxious now, maybe it's the glass of wine I had!!! Will write soon and let you all know how it's going, thanks for all your support, couldn't have made this far without you all.

Take Care and Bronnie & Loretta hang in there, I can't believe I'm finally here and it won't be long B4 we all get one of these night B4 messages from you!!!

[TaNgLe 0]

Hey Dionnnem

I missed you.. sorry. I was at work all day and just got home..I hope everything goes well for you tomorrow.. before you know it it will be all over and you will be of the banded brigade :clap2:

Take it easy.Looking forward to hearing how it all went

[cammy 0]

Cam what kind of mints can you suck to avoid bad breath?

Go the sugar free route because you might end up eating alot, and at 10.3 cals each for a mento, 14 in a roll it's so easy to eat a roll a day which is 144cals (that's 6kg a year in weight gain just from trying to have fresh breath!).

Figure out if you are an emotional or hungry eater first.

Don't chew chewing gum for your breath if you actually suffer from real hunger - it just makes the hunger worse as your body prepares for food from the chewing action.... if you don't suffer from real hunger but are just an emotional eater chewing gum is really good though because it gives you the satisfaction of chewing + the fresh breath.

If you can handle going into the chocolate box without being tempted to buy chocolate go to the diabetic section - they have sugar free mints in little tins that contain guarana - so your getting the fresh breath + an energy hit for no sugar.... great! They have plain mint and berry mint, they are both good and you could swallow either through the band without a problem they are tiny (like a smint). They are about $4 I think (haven't bought any for ages but lived on them for over a year) but there is about 100 in a tin so well over a weeks worth so not expensive compared to other mints, just seems like they are at first glance.

Once you stop losing weight your breath returns to normal. When your losing weight you get really furry teeth for no apparant reason (to do with the burning fat) so invest the $30 in a really good fast electric tooth brush so you can clean a few times a day even at work but not for too long at a time, just to get the fur feeling off and freshen (because it's not good for you to brush too much - removes enamel; so don't do the full on 5min thing 5 times a day, 30 seconds will do just fine). Sadly Myer stoped stocking the best toothbrush I think has ever been on the market by sunbeam (can't even buy refill heads here anymore - get mine in thailand), hope I can find somebody else that stocks it to recommend it - I love mine and bought them for all my family and friends... they leave you not just clean like other electrics but full on feeling dentist clean - amazing! I've tried so many electric toothbrushes and none come close to this one. I use the polish tooth paste from macleans for that perfectly clean confident feeling.... I have to find these actualy names/model numbers tomorrow and update for those interested.

I am a really savy buyer (tight-ass) so always wait for a sale to stock up on tooth paste, mints and refills - stretch my $$$ further to spend more money on cute clothes (or for those newly banded, to save alway for plastics down the track remember every $ counts).

[cammy 0]

I am thinking of a career change. I am not sure if I could physically cope with nursing though given my health. What other career could I do?

Susannah

Susannah,

I assume you can study and are okay at least 90% of the time so you could complete a course? You seem to have a lot of compassion for others, and having MS yourself perhaps helping others with MS is a field you'd like to go into? If not nursing even something like a specialization like dietetics with an interest in those that have MS? (eg. a lot of dieticians specialize in children or diabetes or eating disorders). I mean in the 3 or 4 years of uni it takes you to study you'll have lost your weight and have more burst for life - already heading in a career path that your passionate about is the best thing... what do they say, find a career you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life? [ame=http://www.amazon.com/What-Color-Your-Parachute-2007/dp/1580087949/sr=8-1/qid=1171800597/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8005740-7683323?ie=UTF8&s=books][/ame]

I can't imagine being a nurse myself (kudos to those who are!) simply because of the training involoved - you have to do the really unplesant stuff before you get to do whatever it is your passionate about; i'd love to be a nurse working with lap banders because well a lot of those currently working in that profession are clueless - I really think they should only hire those with a band to work directly with the banded - there is hardly a shortage of successful nurses with bands (I can think of at least 20 in my state all who work in unrelated nursing jobs because there aren't vacencys in banding clinics) yet they hire the unbanded to work with us? Seems unlogical... the best in any profession usually have a personal connection.

Find your passion then from there you can get ideas about a career... you have to start the opposite way around though to make sure when your 60 and you look back you have the life you wanted or at least did whatever you could to get it.

Do you have a dream book? If not get a scrap book (the kind kids use - they are like $1 or less at the grocery store) and write out everything you want to do in life. Where you want to go what you want to see absoultely everything - add to it whenever you think or something else in the future also and get it out and read it frequently to make sure your on track.

Having the roadmap to the life you want is not dissimilar to a business plan... so map it out just like one. There will always be bumps along the way but as long as you have the general direction figured out you can adapt to it and know when you look back that you tried your best to have the life you wanted. Nothing in life is for certian, life is short and unexpected things happen..... that doen't mean we shouldn't plan now like nothing will change - we can adapt our plan along the way when stuff does change but knowing what we want and having it down in color on paper makes such a difference.

Decide.... what is imporant to you to have in life (family, career, hobbies etc.)

What you need to get it.... ($$$ you need to earn to live the life you want, situations you need to involove yourself in to have the lifestyle you want - clubs, associations etc.)

Then once you know know what you want out of life; then find the career that allows you to have it.

Remember to factor in how many working years you expect you will have with MS in different careers based on what functions you might lose and how soon you'd expect to lose them.... with things like dietetics as long as you can talk you can help people; i'm not sure if any streams of nursing are the same.

Too many people, especially men, find themselves their whole teenage life with a set career in mind (eg. lawyer, medicine etc.) frequently centered around wanting $$$ and then they look back when they are 40 and realize they missed out on what they really wanted - a family that they spent time with, their kids growing up, being with thier family 2hrs a night at best and a few hours on the weekends isn't what they imagined.... they had the $$$ but missed out on the life they really wanted.

If you go to Wahiki Island in NZ you'll see a billionaires playground with 100's of yhats most of which are rarely taken out and used because thier owners spend all their time working and although they bought the yaht of their dreams they don't use it - the people living the good life there are those on the dole or that work part time and get to enjoy the natural beauty of their environment - they go out there and catch their own food, soak up the sun and nature and live modestly but in reality their small incomes provide for them exactly the what the extremely weathly men wanted but don't have the time to enjoy because they are out there making those millions/billions. Similarly women tend to want one life but end up in another through not fully looking at the options their passions give them. They find they don't have the money for the life they wanted because they went into a career that didn't give them room to move or grow (but freqently they just don't realize the options) eg. I know girls from high school that became hairdressers and earn $25k a year and think there is no room to move or ever have the things in life they want unless they marry 'wealthy' (instead of for love).... but they could specialize in extensions or dreads or a particular area that they became the best at if they worked hard and then earn triple that; many think the only option is to become a salon owner to get $$$ but don't want that responsability because they want the kids etc. - my point being there are always options to fit our dreams and the lifestyle we want for ourselves if we think outside the square and plan for them.

Seriously, get that scrap book and a pack of colored textas and start writing - your already banded and starting to live the life you want so now's the best time to figure out exactly what you want out of life & do what you need to get it. Bounce ideas off other people too - we are here and always willing to give feedback and you have your real life friends and family too to help you.

Gosh I write really long posts, sorry if anybody fell asleep!

[cammy 0]

The only thing i have to do if i feel like cheating is ... look at your pics. Hope you dont mind but i showed my husband.... any reservations he had about me having this op, i think have now gone. He said 'WOW" about 3 times.

I have so far lost 1.5kg (now 101.5kg) on Optifast so im heading down to the double figures before the op. I have to be happy with that....

Can i ask how much you weighed going into the op??

I'm so happy that your hubby's reservations have changed & am happy I could help with that

Men are very visual creatures and it helps seeing another 'regular' person v's a model like we get bombarded with on TV weight loss commercials.... I think our failed attempts at those diets made our guys lose faith in the ability of things to work for us since we aren't models/actors.... and since the band is more scarey sounding than a normal diet (cause of surgery) as well as more expensive they get both scared and think we might be being 'conned' yet again... . plus they are our 'protectors', they love us and don't want us to feel like we have 'failed' again if it was just like one of those other diets.

My BMI (i guess that's the only way we can compare being different heights) I think was 39 going into surgery, (sz.22 at millers, 20 at 16/26, medium at my size). I went to genesis for a month (where i seemed to be most peoples idea of their worst weight nightmare) and then switched to fernwood (heaps better!) and went religously once the doc cleared me for exercise and got the best runners for my feet (for me that was nike tn's at the time $249, now with current changed needs is nike shocks $199 but footlocker frequently have 30% off sales so you can get better prices - without the best shoes for your feet - and everybody is different - you wont be comfortable or have the same drive - i couldn't believe just how much difference the right shoes for my feet made).... it took ages for me to get restriction (literally - it was october 12th 2005 when I put my foot down and went to a different surgeon to get restriction to make sure I wouldn't gain my weight back because my motivation and will power was really stretched to the limit and I was sick of living on appetite supressants when I had a band - wasn't going to take t he 'waiting 8 weeks' between adjustments any longer, I had had this thing in me long enough it should be doing some of the work by now! - he gave me a huge fill (what i was suposed to have was not in there) and I finally knew what having a band was all about) but I persevered without much restriction those first 8 1/2 months and it took 10 months 13 days to get to 'healthy' bmi. With your attitude I know you will do it too!!

I attribute my weight loss to my band because without my band I would not have had the motivation to actually lose all that weight - every other diet proved that - but every other diet didn't cost as much as the band (even if the band didn't do all or any of the work physically those first months just being in me brought out the tight ass in me that wasn't going to spend all that money and fail!).

I did gain back nearly (shock!) 12kg when I lost that precious restriction and was hungry 24/7 like a rabid hyiena. A year had passed so it was to be expected; I saw my surgeon who didn't think it was a big deal since he still thought i was skinny and my bmi was still (barely) healthy and then I went back to that other surgeon again (i mean i didn't want to be gaining and crazy out of mind hungry) - he gave me an adjustment which took away my hunger - those 12kg melted back off once the hunger was gone. Therefore I know my band is the only reason I am still a normal weight - if that rabid hunger and weight gain continued i'd be obese again by now.... gut wrenching hunger regardless of how much you eat is the most awful thing.... the band squeezing the vargus nerve just right stops that which is a miracle. I eat a tonne more than most because I don't have a "tight" band like others describe..... I still get up in the middle of the night sometimes and have a piece of vegemite toast with my dog (now when I cook 2 pieces one is for me and one is for her.... before it was 2 each!) - other people hear that and I can see the pained look on their face as they imagine trying to swallow toast lol. The band is so individual, we all need it to work differently in terms of tightness for our lifestyle.

[susannah 2]

Hi all, Cam you are amazing. You take the time to give us all such detailed responses to our questions. You are what 25 years old? And you are such a wise old owl. You write in a very eloquent manner. Ever considered being an author?

I have a bit of a dilemma. I went for my first post op exercise/walk this morning. I did about 40 mins. I got half way through it and my heart was pounding so fast and sweat was dripping off me in buckets. From walking! This has never happened to me before, and I was concerned, because my heart should not have been pounding so fast.

Have I overdone it? Is this normal post op? Do I need to ease into it over say a month?

I am thinking of Dionnem this morning and hoping she will sail through the op and recovery. I am sending good vibes her way.

Bronnie, great stuff with the Optifast.< img src="https://s.bariatricpal.com/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.png" alt=":)" srcset="https://s.bariatricpal.com/uploads/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Meredith Hi, Fee Hi, Mark hi, Angel hi, Loretta hi, Trin hi, everyone else hi!

Susannah

[She Smiles 2]

I subscribe to the no pain no gain idea somewhat with exercise Susannah (I mean I'm not a hard core beleiver, but bear with me here). It is a well known fact that more intense exercise burns more calories. And while the old any exercise is better than none argument is good, if you are wanting to increase fitness and lose weight, you HAVE to go hard(er). You have to sweat and you have to push yourself. I mean running on the treadmill for 20 minutes ISN'T easy for me, but I do it because I know that 20 minutes jogging is MUCH better for me than 20 minutes walking, and I can handle it (ie - I don't feel like I am going to die afterwards!). I am getting results because of it.

While you are still healing, I'd stick with the walking and building up to a higher intensity and longer walk bti by bit, but breaking a sweat is GOOD (plus its hot outside!). You also have to remember your body isn't getting the same kind of fuel it used to, so the sweating may be a reaction to that in a way. AND you might have been walking (subconsciously) faster than ever before because you are determined to get into a fitness routine and shift this weight (and that WILL happen!!).

However, if you ever feel ill, or like your legs will pass from underneath you, you've gone too far, but it sounds to me like you just did a great workout! Good stuff Susannah!!!:clap2: (the others may disagree with me on this...)

How is being back at home going???

[fee 0]

Hi all, Cam you are amazing. You take the time to give us all such detailed responses to our questions. You are what 25 years old? And you are such a wise old owl. You write in a very eloquent manner. Ever considered being an author?

I have a bit of a dilemma. I went for my first post op exercise/walk this morning. I did about 40 mins. I got half way through it and my heart was pounding so fast and sweat was dripping off me in buckets. From walking! This has never happened to me before, and I was concerned, because my heart should not have been pounding so fast.

Have I overdone it? Is this normal post op? Do I need to ease into it over say a month?

I am thinking of Dionnem this morning and hoping she will sail through the op and recovery. I am sending good vibes her way.

Bronnie, great stuff with the Optifast.< img src="https://s.bariatricpal.com/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.png" alt=":)" srcset="https://s.bariatricpal.com/uploads/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Meredith Hi, Fee Hi, Mark hi, Angel hi, Loretta hi, Trin hi, everyone else hi!

Susannah

Hi Susannah.....i totally agree with what you said about Cam....she has always been very informative to help others:)

Maybe ask your dodc if the heart rate while you were walking is normal? Maybe take it a little slower and do an extra 5 mins day by day and see if that helps you. Just build it up gradually, Thats what i do.

[bronnie70 0]

Susannah... take it easy mate!!! remember im going to follow in your foot steps so please dont overdo the excersise as thats one thing im not going to do. Im tired just thinking about it.... slowly...

[cammy 0]

Susannah - if your heart is beating out of your chest your probably burining muscle not fat - take it a bit slower (i know what your talking about i get that too especially when my BP is low when I start a run and it increases too fast so I have to stretch a bit and chase the dog around lightly to slowly get it up before I run - when your overweight you can - and really need to unless your super fit - go so much slower, as you get fitter your heart rate stays lower as you get faster so you have to go harder to burn fat, but while your overweight take it easier because you want to burn the fat so keep in that tartet heart rate and don't give yourself a heart attack!).

You know the real truth? Skinny people are jealous of how much easier it is for the overweight to get in their target heart rate and burn calories... if they could take a stroll and be in their target heart rate you can be they would do that v's having to full on run to get their heart beating at the taret fat burning rate. Running releases endorphins that makes you feel good but so does bumping uglies and i'm pretty sure I know which most people would choose if it wasn't for the weight loss or weight maintence running helps with. I am jealous of the old me too - I loved how easy it used to be to burn 1000 calories when I was 60kg heavier, I have to work 5 times as hard now to acchieve the same result. Enjoy the 'ease' into exercise because it won't last that long, soon you'll be skinny and having to run your heart out to acchieve the same thing a walk acchieves now (but being healthy/skinny is a pretty good trade off!).

The reason: to complete the chemical reaction to combust fat and use it as fuel we need to take in enough oxygen... if we are oxygen deprived it's easier for our body to burn muscle for fuel (not good!). That is why so many exercise machines incude a clip on heart rate monitor or handles - the best personal ones (not part of a machine) go across your chest and submit a signal to a wrist-watch looking display. Do you have a heart rate monitor already? Would be totally worth getting if your into exercise for the long term. If you stay within your target heart rate you burn fat, otherwise you burn muscle (and of course whatever available fuel is in your stomach).

I'm having the mid-20's crisis, turning 26 in a couple of months!! I've had a really long life it feels like but i still feel so young - can't beleive how many of my friends are turning 30 - that used to seem so far away. I freak out when 17/18 year olds tell me i'm old! I found my first grey hair the other day - scared the bejesus out of me - i yanked it out with some tweezers!

Remember, you just had surgery a few weeks ago... your body is going through a stack of adjustments. After I had the skin removal in April I had to wait 6 weeks to return to exercise, it was like starting from scratch again I didn't seem to have the same tone/fitness as before but I worked my way back up again... those first few days I felt 100kg overweight and couldn't figure out why barely moving had my heart rate going outside the target - I ended up going 3km an hour on the treadmill the first week back instead of jogging at 7-8km like I normally do. Take it easy - faster although we are programmed to think it by the skinny people isn't better - it's totally dependant on your personal fitness level - just go with what your heart rate tells you and your weight will melt off in a healthy way without losing all that vital muscle. Remember not to do intense cardio on the days you weight train because you want to build your metabolism (which is best served by increased muscle mass).... a 20min walk in the morning and half hour of weight training in the afternoon (you can use Water bottles to start with or even your cat, remember a litre of water is a kilo). Weight train every other day gently and don't forget to stretch or you'll be really sore the next day! The other days you can go much longer on the cardio within your target heart rate - doing that intensity within a few hours of weight training undoes the weight training work though because muscle is easier for the body to burn than fat so it burns what you are working on building instead of the fat.

I only studied personal training to help others, not for a career change, but so I could do voluneer work because I feel so much for all the overweight kids and obese adults that couldn't afford or were too afraid after previous rejections (i've been there - the genesis PT's made me feel like I looked like their worst nightmare when I first joined that gym after banding - nobody should have to endure that kind of treatment and not everybody can afford fernwood - espeically not kids). Helping other people is my passion (but I like money and the things/lifestyle it buys me too so I have to keep my company running also! If I could i'd just help others full time but that's not an option.... I try and do whatever I can though. I sure hope we can start banding more children in Melbourne soon - there are sooo many that need it. I didn't realise just how many until I went to the local pool (ringwood) on the weekned for the first time in about 10 years - my god - more than half the kids seemed to be vastly overweight, I was really shocked... in my day (pffh, 10 years ago) a really overweight kid was the rarity not the norm.... i can't understand what's happened. I used to be considered huge and I wasn't near as big as the kids these days. They took away the junk food from the schools and kids got fatter? How on earth did that happen. Something is really really wrong