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HUGS Coops. It bites, doesn't it? And some days it really is NOT enough to be told, Oh but you will feel SO much better and happier and have more energy............................ (although all that IS true!) Hang in there.

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Caution: Sarcastic and Cynical!!!

Hey Jane thanks for the hugs :)

On a completely different topic, I'm interested to see how many new people crop up on the forum over the next few weeks as a new year kicks in!

I haven't weighed myself in ages because I got the shock of my life last time I did - heaviest I had ever been. Even including when I had another person living inside me adding to the weight. I do NOT want to know that I am heavier still. But will have to weigh in when I go to see the surgeon so no living in denial for too long.

I have found it really hard over the last week or so because DH has been taking the kids to the pool and Miss Three keeps saying she wants me to go too - and I KNOW I shouldn't worry about what other people think about me in a pair of swimmers but the reality is I DO. And even worse, I worry about what I think of me in a pair of swimmers! So I haven't gone :(. But, I honestly do look forward to being able to go swimming with them next summer :)

I keep wondering what I should do about when to have the surgery. I know that a lot of it will obviously depend on when they can schedule me, with the added complications of fitting it in around study and work. I think at this stage that I'm probably looking at deferring semester two, and having the surgery in July. I WANT to have it in March.. but I don't know how that will go with their schedule, any conditions they set etc. So I guess I'm just going to have to stop stressing about it, and wait and see what timeline we're on.

I had to go to see my GP to get a referral to the surgeon, and I was SO tense about it, expecting him to be all judgemental, and in fact it was the easiest conversation I've ever had - I walked in and he said "What can I do for you?" and I said "I was thinking of having lap-banding" and he said "I think that's an excellent idea!" and I said "Well, I've made an appointment with the surgeon for the 24th of January" and he said "Great!". So I gave him the details and he wrote the referral. YAY! So we had a brief conversation about it, and I said that I feel confident in my ability to lose weight, but not to keep it off, and he agreed, and said that yes that's the hard part. I was thinking further about it and here are some dot point comments, just for anyone who's interested in where my mind is at in terms of the surgery:

* I believe I could lose 25-30kgs, which is about half the amount I need to lose, but I don't feel at all confident I could lose more than that.

* I know how hard I worked to lose the 20kgs last year (that I have then put back on with interest this year) - essentially I was exercising 2 hours per day - BUT I wasn't working or studying, and since I'm now doing both (on top of family/ domestic responsibilities) I just don't have that time.

* I believe that keeping the weight off would involve maintaining an exercise regime similar to what I had last year (i.e. 2 hours per day) and that's an unrealistic long-term lifestyle for most people - and for me, I want to live a NORMAL life, not a life where I am training as though I'm an athlete.

Gotta go do the toddlers' bedtime routine.... Happy New Year everyone!

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There is never a wrong time to do the right thing

mmmm  You've obviously been doing a lot of thinking about this and its great that the doctors are so encouraging. 

Ray, if we all lose weight is it the case that we will need to keep up exercise along the lines of 2 hours per day to maintain the weight loss??  Cause I agree thats not realistic long-term for me either.  Will having the op mean that coops wont have to exercise to that extent to keep the weight off once the weight is off?

Just this weekend I caught up with a friend of mine who had the op in June this year.  She is still about 1 metre across her girth, I didn't ask what she weighs.  But it's not worked at all for her.  I don't know any of the specifics of what she's been up to since.

Have a fantastic New Year and catch you in 2008 with all the newbies. I'll be an old regular then hehehe.

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Hi gorgeous!!!!

The seminar I went to said once you had the appt, and saw their team you got in pretty quick, so March MAY be possible for you! I wish you all the best for this, I really do. It is an option for me down the track, financially not viable now, and I am not ready to say I can't do it alone yet, mentally. I have a real hurdle there, so possibly a good thing I can't afford it. I know a few people who have had it done, the surgery itself does not scare me!

I know, on the exercise front, I only have to work that hard to lose, and only if I am not really watching everything I eat. I have head SO many people say that they found the loosing hardest, but once they changed their lifestyles. and lost the weight, maintaining the changed lifestyle basically maintained the weight. Who knows? I have never managed the loss! LOL!

 

More hugs, just because! 

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Caution: Sarcastic and Cynical!!!

The seminar I went to also said that it is usually pretty quick - I think about six weeks. The only thing I'm curious about is Don's experience of being told to lose 10kgs before having the surgery.... am thinking that maybe if I just swap to meal replacements now then it will help both with preparatory weight loss and also the lack of food for the first couple of weeks after the surgery.

I found this comment on Jane's journal, posted by Lollylorna - I couldn't have said it better myself - I have exactly the same thing: 

""I've found that the most successful method for me has been diary tracking food and exercise.  Where I go wrong is when a 'crisis' happens that takes up full priority.  Suddenly everything goes out the window, then once it's over, I have to re-evaluate and start again.  Sometimes too much motivation is a problem, because it wans and then guilt/failure feelings take over because I didn't eat the serve of quinoa or something ridiculous.  This is a nasty cycle, and finding the refreshed approach to get out of the on/off rut can be difficult.  That's when I go into overthink.  Distancing myself has the holiday effect, then I can come back to it 'centred and re-focussed'.  The trick is to not gain while unwinding...  The big cruncher for me is how to react healthily when unexpected or worrying problems arise in a way that means our health priorities are not compromised while the problem is being resolved.  Stress is my nemesis.""

Re the exercise thing - I don't know how much exercise is required for me to maintain the weight loss - the experts say at least three times a week don't they? - but I do know that the start of me ending the lovely weight loss that I had achieved was a gradual dropping of the exercise with no corresponding increase in dietary intake. And the thing is, I like food, and I hate being hungry!!! That's what I like about the surgery - it reduces the amount you eat while also dealing with the whole hunger thing!

Jo - re your friend who is still fat, my surgeon at the info session said that people have been known to put on weight after having the surgery - you can work around it, if all you have are calorie-laden soups, fatty foods, icecreams, six sugars in your coffee etc, and don't do the all important exercise. Key to successful weight loss is a healthy diet and moderate exercise, whether you have the surgery or not.

I've decided that since it's going to be a lovely 25 degrees tomorrow, and it's still only Jan 2 so most people are still on holidays, I'm going to ride in to work tomorrow - the first time I've riden on a work day - I have only ever riden on a weekend. Will let you all know how it goes.

Oh, also, I weighed myself - same as I was about 6 weeks ago - max I've been by 1.6kg.

 

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There is never a wrong time to do the right thing

Well done on the weigh-in.  Same weight for 6 weeks unchecked is a great achievement.  A big relief I bet.

re my friend who had the surgery... I hope she can work out how to resolve her issues because I don't know how to help really as she is in Melbourne and I am in Albury.  I don't want to lose her!!!

I hope the weather stays nice for your ride tomorrow

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That is what I like about the idea of the surgery, too. But for me the emotional crap tied up in it is even bigger than the simple "I like food" thing. So I don;t think surgery is MY answer.

Spot on about cheating the band. I have a friend who is 40kgs heavier now, yet I have another who has lost 25kg in the past 2 months! Yay for making it work. It is not a magic solution, it still takes work! 

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Caution: Sarcastic and Cynical!!!

25kgs in two months??!!! Can I be her please??!!!!!!

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There is never a wrong time to do the right thing

She was about 150kg to start with I think? And that includes 10kg lost on Optifast first! And yes, I am happy for you to lose that much as fast! LOL!

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Caution: Sarcastic and Cynical!!!

Hey all. Jo, yeah it was a relief actually - I was pretty worried about it to tell the truth - so it was nice to know it's stayed stable.

My ever-reliable alarm-clocks with legs failed me on Wednesday so I slept in and didn't have time to ride to work, but I did grab my gym bag on the way out the door (toast and coffee in hand!) and went and did a session after work. It was the first time I've tried my weights routine without it being in a PT session. More or less in order the exercises are:

seated chest press  -  pushups  -  lat pulldown  -  cable row  -  tricep dips  -  leg press 90 degree  -  lunges  -  leg cycle  (I think that's the right order!)

It was a pretty good session until after the leg press, which I did no worries, 2 sets, 165kgs - I figured that would be reasonable since I was pressing 190+ in the PT sessions - so then I had to do the lunges. I did the first set of lunges, ok, not great, I think my technique was off but got through them and thought it was ok for my first attempt. THEN when it came time to do the second set, I stepped forward, lunged, and yelped/shouted/groaned in pain - I could barely even get back up. So I walked around for a while, tried again with the other leg, same thing, so I decided to just do my stretches and go. So yesterday, I woke up pretty sore and it just got worse through the day. It got to the point where my husband needed to move the couch to do something and it took me so long to get up that he ended up giving up and told me to just stay there! Even worse, I couldn't even get down to go to the toilet! It took me about 15 seconds to lower myself down to the seat!

I went for a walk last night to try to get some of the tension out, which was ok - but then tried to do some quad stretches in the local park, which was the halfway point, and am so inflexible that I ended up hurting my ankle trying to keep hold of my foot to do them!! So got back and asked my husband to help me do my stretches, which was really good - that made a difference. Then woke up this morning, still pretty tense, couldn't even bend my legs to walk, so I had a super-hot shower then did the stretches with DH's help again, then came to work... and I stood up a while ago to have lunch (tomato & avocado roll - yum!!) and had lots of pain, no bended legs while walking again etc.

I packed my gym bag this morning but I still can't work out whether it's better to do the gentle exercise at the gym (I was thinking a low level on the x-trainer) or whether to let my legs rest and recover. I just don't want them to seize up. I think at this stage I'm leaning towards a gym trip - because if it hurts I can just stop!

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There is never a wrong time to do the right thing

Isn't it annoying how we put things off because of fear and then when we finally bite the bullet we find there was nothing to be worried about in the first place

 Just looking at an online book shop and found this title.  Have you seen this before?  Maybe you could find it in the library

The Patient's Guide to Weight Loss Surgery : Everything You Need to Know about Gastric Bypass and Bariatric Surgery   By: April Hochstrasser

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Thanks Jo. Lap banding is actually not a form of gastric bypass, it's a different approach altogether. I had this great information that I now can't find that explains all the options, but essentially there are two key surgical approaches - limiting food intake (i.e. like the lapband) and reducing absorption (gastric bypass). The lapband works by creating a pouch at the top of the stomach, where all the nerves that send signals to the brain about being full are located, and that's where your food collects, rather than in the stomach proper - then it gradually moves on to the stomach proper, and makes its way through the gastro-intestinal system as normal. In contrast, gastric bypasses creates new routes for the food to pass through that skip part of the gastro-intestinal system, meaning you can eat as much as you did before but less food is absorbed. Gastric bypass has been around a while, while lap-banding is relatively recent and is rapidly overtaking other gastric surgical options as an approach to obesity, especially in Australia - less quickly in the US, where they are still tending to use the bypass approaches.  If you're doing a search for the surgery I'm having, make sure you look for "lapband".  The website of the people I'm going with is http://www.lapbandaustralia.com.au/

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There is never a wrong time to do the right thing

Hey, did you read in the paper they are looking into making it free? Not sure of details, but about time!

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Caution: Sarcastic and Cynical!!!

Really, completely free?? Wow, that'd be nice!! It's already available on Medicare and in public hospitals, but the problem is the wait - it's a hugely long waiting list apparently - I want to say 2-3 years but I might just be making that up and it could be much more than that!!

I decided that I would try meal replacement shakes to start the weight loss that I will probably have to have before the surgery, and I figured it would also get me used to liquid meals, so I tried one that I got from the supermarket (Musashi Ultra-Trim I think it's called) and can I just say -- YUK   There is NO way I'm going with those. So I came across my old WW stuff last night, by sheer coincidence, and I've decided to follow that. So meals today:

Brekky: 50g oats + 150ml skim milk;  coffee (200ml skim milk + 1 tsp sugar)

am tea: 600ml diet coke

lunch: pasta salad: 1 cup cooked pasta, 50g kidney beans, 1 tomato, 1/2 capsicum, lge wedge cucumber, balsamic vinagrette

pm tea: 130g lite vanilla yogurt

dinner: fish fillet, small potato, lots of vegies.

I worked out that not including dinner it's 1000 calories, so I guess dinner will take it up to about 1400-1500. I also packed my gym gear, so I'll be off to the gym after work :)

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There is never a wrong time to do the right thing

I've been having a flat day. I have spent the day wanting to eat chocolate, but managing to resist. I went out to buy a book that I found a reference for ("60 studies that shape psychology") but it wasn't in stock. I did however buy a book written by a woman (lawyer, wife, mother) about her experience of living with schizophrenia, and I was all set to sit down and read it and have coffee in a nice cafe in the trendy suburb where I was, but then walked out of the bookstore, and realised I was in a trendy suburb, and felt so fat and disgusted with myself that I drove home in tears. And it's just one of a number of things that have reduced me to tears today.

But, on the upside, when I got back from the bookstore my DH went out and Ms Three and Mr Two and I all made some lovely necklaces and bracelets, and that cheered me up - it was some really nice mother-child time, which I haven't had in ages. I look forward to my DH going back to work on Monday so I get them back!

I am impatient to have this surgery.

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There is never a wrong time to do the right thing