Weigh-In Day!

I had a loss!! A miracle indeed! Down a half pound. I'll take it. :)

Adios Amigas!

Support Group Last Night

Last night was not like the usual support groups I attend which is usually led by a therapist. Instead, the NP who does the fills for my surgeon's practice led the group. I found this to be a great opportunity to ask band/medical related questions that the therapist can't answer usually.

Fortunately, there were no Hershey Kisses passed around like at THIS SUPPORT GROUP. Wow!

One question that I asked: if I will ever not feel my port?

My port seems to remind me of its presence just about daily. For example, when I lean up against the kitchen counter/sink to do dishes. My port is right at the counter height,...or if I twist or stretch a certain way, there's another reminder. It's not really pain, just a physical reminder. The NP that I will always feel it. Interestingly, this is not something I thought about before surgery.

Another good thing about support group is the reminder that everyones band journey is completely different. There were a few other participants there that were overcoming life obstacles/challenges that often take priority over eating right/exercising/etc.

Lastly, I am starting to realize that I'm not exactly anonymous in this blogging adventure...

As you know, I have never revealed even my first name.

I was the first to arrive at the meeting room for support group. Second to arrive was the NP. The first thing she says is "It's Lap Band Gal!" I had totally forgot that I had given her my blog web address at our last appt. She says that she reads some of our blogs (probably yours too!) to get a sense of "the word on the street" about us bandsters!

Weigh in tomorrow...sigh.

91!

No, not 91 lbs..but 91 FOLLOWERS! I just wanted to do a shout out to all my followers. You guys are always offering support and comments on my posts. You will never know how much I appreciate you all. :)

I'm off to Zumba class tonight. Should be fun!

I'm anticipating a GAIN this friday on weigh in day....sigh...the "Peanut Butter Cup" incident is to blame.

FAIL

Dear Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups,

You are so lovely in your gold and brown wrappings...just like a little gift. Why do you call my name when I am 5 aisles away in the grocery store?

I don't know what I was thinking when I put that bag of you and your little friends in my shopping cart at the store on Saturday. Oh wait, I think the thought process was... "Oh, I'll just have one each day as a special treat...this bag will last FOREVER."

Well, as you know, what happened was not good…it was absolutely terrible. The delicious smell of peanut butter and chocolate wafting out of the bag....just called my name. You, your little buddies, and ALL OF the rest of the bag....yep, gobbled up and gone in less than 24 hours....sigh.

Why do you slip oh so quickly and easily past my new lapband?

I think we need to end our relationship here and now.

Don't worry, I will think back fondly on the relationship we had, like the thought of opening presents at Christmas when I was 5 years old.

With Kindest Regards,
Lap Band Gal


PS: Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

More clothes for the Sisterhood...and revealing the weight

I just completed a major closet cleanout (again) and came across some items that may interest you.

Just respond to this post letting me know which ones you want and they're yours. Email your mailing address to lapbandgal@yahoo.com.

Also, I have decided to "come clean" about my actual weight....I guess I was embarrassed about this for awhile now...well my ticker up at the top is now updated to show my actual weight. Before, it just showed weight lost.... This is a big scary reveal for me.

Anyways, back to the clothes:

Lane Bryant Black Straightleg slacks - Size 4 Petite - yellow square fit - TAKEN

Lane Bryant White/Blue stripe button down shirt - Size 18/20 - TAKEN

Lane Bryant Dark wash Stretch Bootcut Jeans - 4 Petite - yellow square fit - TAKEN

Lane Bryant Dark wash Stretch Flare Jeans - 5 Petite - yellow square fit - TAKEN

Lane Bryant 3/4 sleeve blue sweater - size 18/20 - TAKEN

Merona/Target Pink/green argyle sweater - size 24/26 - TAKEN

Beautiful Blogger Award! Thanks Kraney & Jen!

I have been catching up on the blogs today and just saw that I was nominated for the Beautiful Blogger Award...wow!

Thanks JEN and KRANEY for the nominations!!! I would post the award here, but my laptop is being difficult...sigh.

"THE RULES"
* Thank the person who nominated you for this award;
* Copy the award and post it in your blog;
* Link to the blog of the person who nominated you;
* Tell seven interesting things about yourself;
* Nominate seven bloggers and;
* Post links to the blogs of your nominees

Here are the (somewhat) interesting things about me:

1> I work at Harry & David...therefore I have to look at (and resist) free samples of these goodies everyday in the breakrooms:

2> I'm a world traveler...I have traveled to over 35 countries around the world.

3> I am taking Mandarin Chinese language classes...Ni Hao!

4> I have an obsession with In-n-out Burger. SOOOOOOOOO TASTY! But there are no franchises in Oregon, so I haven't had it since being banded. Probably a good thing...

5> I camped out in central Africa (what is now the DRC) for six weeks when I was 11 years old. It was real camping too...no bathrooms (squat behind a tree), bathe in the river (with the hippos), slept in tents, boil water for drinking, etc....a few steps above the conditions on the show Survivor. I feel like I got the "camping" thing out of my system after that trip. Ask anyone who knows me and I am now an official "indoor girl". 4 stars hotels for me! LOL

6> I don't really drink alcohol. It's a taste/cost thing. Some people don't like brussel sprouts, well I don't like alcohol...it's expensive too. I thank my lucky stars this wasn't a battle I had to fight in regards to being banded and the calories in wine/drinks. Kinda ironic as I worked for one of the largest Australian wine producers for 6 years.

7> I'm double jointed in both my pinky fingers and pinky toes. Random...I know.

I would like to pass this award nomination on to all those bloggers in my blog roll (on the right side of the page). They are awesome bloggers!

Weigh-in Day

Happy Friday Everyone!

Today I weighed in....and lost 2.8 lbs. That's a total of 61.4 lbs. Yay, 60 lb goal achieved!

However, I don't feel that I deserve that because of the crazy eating that I did in SF last weekend. Things that come to mind: chocolate lava cake with real vanilla ice cream, french fries, Indian curries, vanilla frappaccino at Starbucks, I could go on...and on.

Luckily, I did some walking around and I guess the exercise balanced things out.

By the way, I haven't really journaled my food intake for about two weeks now. I am testing things out to see how it goes...perhaps I will go back to journalling, but I feel that I kind of "get it" now on how to eat correctly...a weird thought indeed.

PS: Tomorrow is my four month bandiversary! Time has flown by!

Busy, busy, busy!

Hey!

I have been super busy lately, it's funny how life creeps up with lots of "to-do's" sometimes...

Anyways, I wanted to let you all know that my lapband support group on Wednesday will be led by the NP (who does most of the fills).

So, I was thinking that if you have any questions, that I could get them answered for you. Any burning questions out there? Any nutrition questions? Ask away!

PS: tomorrow's weigh-in day!!!

Back from San Francisco!

Hey Everyone!

I hope you all had a fabulous valentine's day with your sweetie. Here's my sweetie (yes, I'm the crazy cat lady!):

I am back from a long weekend in San Francisco and it was great to see friends and family.

There was an Ann Taylor store near our hotel and we decided to take a look around the store. In my eyes, Ann Taylor has always been the "skinny girls" store... Seriously, take a look at the stick insect-like models on the WEBSITE. Just sayin'...

Anyways, I went in and tried on a few things....and.the.clothes.actually.fit. Size XL of course, but they fit! hah!

NSV! I got one top for work and one for going out...

Weigh-in Day!

I lost 2.5 lbs this week for a total lost of 58.6. That means I have crossed the half way mark to my ultimate final goal. 58.6 down, 57.4 to go. YAY!

This is why you're fat

Before I tell you about an extreme hot mess of a website called "This is why you're fat"...I have a few random updates...

1> I mailed the bear off to Katie in Australia of "The Secret Diaries Of..." She was the first of the soon-to-be bandsters that responded to my earlier post offering up the Bari-Bear. I hope the bear comes in handy during her recovery. Perhaps this is the beginning of many journeys for the Traveling Bear...?

2> My black dress from Jessicalondon.com arrived today...it'll need to be hemmed up for this shortie, but it'll do fine. A bit shiny though... size 16!! Here's a pic:

3> There's a newbie bandster, Logan, out there who could use our support. I stumbled upon his blog today and it's a good read. He's about one week post-op. Please go say "hi" :0)

4> Lastly, here's the website that I promised you, "This is Why You're Fat", which I also found today...first let me say that there are tons of food pics on this site, so you may not want to take a peek. Second, it's like a passing a really bad car accident on the freeway...you just can't look away...website is HERE. What are your thoughts on this site?

PS: Tomorrow is weigh-in day...

My LapBand Buddy Sandi

Happy Saturday everyone!

Maybe I haven't been looking in the right places/blogs, but it seems difficult to find a bandster who is more than 2 years post op. Perhaps these fabulously successful bandsters move on with their lives and are too busy to blog and post on the message boards at Lapbandtalk.com or Obesityhelp.com? Not sure....

Anyways, I have a lap band buddy that I haven't told you all about...her name is Sandi and she is 5 years post op. Wow. We "met" on lapbandtalk.com when I was in the research/early stages of my weight loss journey. I was eager to hear more from the long-term bandsters. So we have been emailing back and forth since August and she has been very encouraging and a positive support.

Sandi has a fab website/blog. She has lost 250 lbs and is maintaining her loss everyday. WOW! She is an awesome inspiration!

Here is a little gem she passed along to me lately about how I can handle the over abundance of food (buffets!) on my upcoming cruise. This tip could also apply to eating out in restaurants: "if you put too much food on your plate eat a little bit- that was a LITTLE bit and then salt the food, sugar it, or just squash it with another plate..I have done all 3 more times than I care to remember. It works!" I know I would stop eating if it was salted/sugared/squashed. ...great tip!

Go check out Sandi's website, she is a success story!

Sisterhood of the traveling.....BEAR!

I am offering up this Bari Buddy bear for a pre-op out there...

He's not squishy, but rather hard. He's a special "Bariatric Surgery Bear". About 15" tall....

In the days after surgery if you need to get up from bed, a chair, cough, sneeze, etc, you hold him firmly against your tummy area. It makes it hurt WAY less.

Just respond to this post with a comment and he's yours. I will UPS him to you. I just ask that you pass him along to another pre-op when you're "done" with him...LOL

ONDERLAND!!

I am officially declaring that my weight now begins with a "1". YAY! The Wii has been reporting this for about 1.5 weeks now, but it wasn't "official" until my regular scale showed it.

I also went for a fill today...I got .1cc. And OMG, do I feel it! It's amazing what the .1cc can do...I am now at 6.1cc's in a 10cc band. So onwards and upwards to the 24hrs of full liquids.

Thank you for voting on the dress poll. Looks like the red fringe dress was the most popular. You guys had some great tips about accessories and checking out consignment/used clothing shops. I did end up buying a dress off of JessicaLondon.com on clearance which will arrive at my house sometime next week. When it arrives I will post pics! It's a black satin/empire waist kinda dress. Here is the link.

Have a great weekend!

Oprah & Dr. Oz Lay the Smack Down on Diabetes!

Did you see Oprah today?

It was all about how Diabetes is the "Silent Killer"....wow....lots of great information.

It was also a fabulous reminder on why I got banded to begin with. Diabetes runs in my family....as it seems with most people.

I don't understand how some people can just assume, "oh well, I'm going to get diabetes since everyone in family has it, might as well eat what I want, not exercise, and not care about it."

People can avoid a diabetes diagnosis - they just can't assume they are cursed with "bad genes".

One of my favorite sayings on diabetes is "Genetics loads the gun, but behavior pulls the trigger."

My gun may be loaded, but I'm not pulling that trigger.

PS: Weigh-in Day Tomorrow! I am so close to ONEDERLAND.....

What's on my fridge...

Yep, here are pics my surgeon took when he was installing the band...and a graphic that shows all the health reasons I chose to lose weight....

These keep me accountable (and reminds me of my band) -- especially when that "head hunger" starts up.

Thank you for voting on the dress poll!! The poll closes soon!

MAJOR NSV!

Happy Monday Everyone!

Just had to report that I had a major Non-Scale Victory (NSV) today.

I went to see my primary care physician that I haven't seen since before the band. He was pleased with my weight-loss (50+ lbs). But more importantly, he reduced my blood pressure meds in HALF! YAY!

My poor health is my primary reason for getting banded, my appearance improvement (clothes fitting better/etc) is just the "bonus".

I LOVE MY BAND