Weigh-in Day and the Results are...

Beginning Weight: 258.8 lbs

Goal Weight: 145 lbs

Today's Weight: 140.2 lbs

Still below my goal weight.

That's what maintenance is all about.

Happy Weekend!

To Tell or Not To Tell?

Did you see the GREAT comment from from FK at "The Secret Diaries of" on the post about the Lap-Band lanyard?

Here's FK's comment:

"On the lanyard wearing being out and proud, What are you thought on telling people about your weight loss surgery? I did with the band and it was totally they wrong thing to do... now that I am moving to a sleeve I just don't know what to do? I don't want to lie but I also don't want to explain and justify it to everyone either. Working in a hospital does make it slightly harder..Any thoughts?"

I think that telling others about one's weight loss surgery is a VERY personal decision that each patient has to make. It's up to each of us.

For me, being very open about my surgery with anyone who asks has been one of the best decisions that I've made on my journey.  I'll usually reveal that I have a band when someone asks how I lost weight.

Why?

Reason #1:

Because of the support.

I can honestly say that the support that I've received on my journey to lose 119 lbs, has come from the most unexpected people in my life.

I realize that I'm rather lucky. 

Not everyone is supportive.  People can be judgemental and mean.  Like I couldn't lose the weight on my own, so I had to have surgery.  Whatevs.

Reason#2:

I also reveal that I have a band because I would never want to discourage or mislead anyone who is trying to lose weight using traditional methods by saying that I'm doing the same.  I'm NEVER hungry.  What a HUGE help that is. Thank you BAND.

And sure, I still get the occasional curious comment like "Can you eat that?" 

Which I usually respond with a smile by saying "Yes, of course I can. But I probably shouldn't." and then proceed to chow down on the Taco Bell Nachos Bell Grande or piece of cake sitting in front of me.  Yum.

But seriously, from what I can tell, most people usually couldn't really care less what I'm eating or not eating. 

Most people are usually disinterested in the thought of a Lap-Band and what it is. I can usually tell when their eyes glaze over and roll back in their heads.  They don't care.

So, now it's your turn:  Do you tell? Not tell? Only tell certain people? I wonder what it's like telling coworkers in a hospital environment? Help FK out.

Thank you FK for your comment!

I'm Sexy and I Know It. Giveaway Alert!

Are you a sexy beast too?

Yeah, I could tell that about you.

You're turnin' heads at the gym, right?

Me too.

Time to work on your reading backwards skillz! (gotta love mirror pics.)

Seize the Day!

Do you SPARKLE?

Cute bows!

I LOVE my workout tops from Ruffles With Love!

And don't you worry, they've got shirts with and without sleeves.

...and even some fierce mens workout t-shirts too.  Muy caliente!

How can you get your hands on one of these tops?

There are FOUR (yes, 4!) ways to enter this giveaway:

ENTRY #1- Go visit Ruffles With Love and come back here and leave me a comment telling me which shirt you'd choose.

ENTRY #2- Become a new fan of Lap Band Gal on Facebook and then come back here and LEAVE A COMMENT 

ENTRY#3- Post about the giveaway to your buddies on Facebook or some other social networking or support forum you frequent or pin this. Then come back here and LEAVE A COMMENT

ENTRY#4- Blog about this giveaway and include the link to the contest (tell me the url so I can enjoy your post!)

VERY OFFICIAL RULES:

• PRIZE: A $25 credit to Ruffles With Love. That way YOU can decide what YOU want. 
• Contest periods ends: Tuesday, September 4, 11:59PM (Pacific time)
• On Wednesday, September 5,  I'll draw a name using a random number generator and announce the winner here on the blog.
• I will also email the winner at the email address provided. 
• Giveaway is open to anyone in the United States (48 contiguous, Alaska & Hawaii.)

Bonus!

Ruffles with Love is offering up a COUPON code too! Use "LapBand10" for a 10% discount on your next order.

Treasures Found!

I've been cleaning closets, drawers, and taking tons of stuff to Goodwill. 

I know.

What an exciting weekend, right?

Right.

There's something so calming and cathartic about getting rid of stuff. 

Did you see the post on Facebook about my size 24W formal ball gown that I finally gave up?

Onwards to some treasures that I found!

A Weight Watchers weigh-in book. Do you know how many YEARS that I started and stopped Weight Watchers? Loads. As you can see, this book was from an attempt in early 2008. I started just after new years in 2008....resolution time, right?

I also discovered that I actually weighed more than what I was noting on my ticker at the top of the blog. Yep, my new official pre-band weight is now 258.8 lbs (not 256 lbs). It's the details people.

If we look farther along in the book, we can see that I was up to my usual Weight Watchers routine: be really into it for about 10-12 weeks (lose about 20 lbs) and then give up.

Onwards to the next treasure...

An old pair of really BIG knickers. Size 24W to be specific.  Here they are next to my current knickers. What a difference.

The last treasure...?

A LAP-BAND lanyard.  Yep. I totally forgot that I had this statement-maker.  An accessory that all the cool kids are wearing.

What a great way to be out and proud with my Lap-Band at work by proudly displaying my corporate name badge/ID with a bad boy like this.  I can't wait to wear it:

Weekly Weigh-In & Down on the Ground

Goal Weight: 145 lbs

Today's Weight: 139.8 lbs

I remember that when I was a fatty, sitting on the ground was hard.

It was a pain in the ass (literally) to get down onto the ground.

It was even more of a struggle to figure out how I would lift my body up off of the ground when it was time to stand up. 

Would there be a chair or table nearby that I could use to pull myself up?

Or maybe there would be someone to help me up?

I avoided sitting on the ground/floor a lot because of this.

Now with about 115 lbs off of my body, the ground is no longer my enemy.

For me, it's all these small things that add up to make my quality of life so much more enjoyable now.

Tuesday night at a concert. 
I never did figure out how many calories

are in a strawberry daiquiri wine cooler...

My Two Favorite Things

SUGAR

and

PIE

That's how I came up with my Trailer Trash name, "Sugar Pie" for the Trailer Trash theme party on Saturday night.

If you really want to see a redonkulous pic of "Sugar Pie", go check out Facebook. 

It was very memorable and fun party, with some serious red-neck party games!

So, you may be wondering...what does one eat at a Trailer Trash party?  

Well, if you are avoiding all food porn...you may want to avoid looking at the following pic:

Are you ready for it?










Here goes:

There were cheese doodles and pork rinds too!

Unfortunately (fortunately?), I only had water at the party.  My gall bladder (?) has been acting up with some pretty awesome upper right tummy stabbing pains that stab me in the back too. Always after I eat.  Good times.  It made me not want to eat ANYTHING at the party...not even a Ho-Ho or a Twinkie.

The ultra-sound of my gall bladder (about a month ago) came back with no conclusive results.

No stones, no nothin'. Who knows?

I am going to be in denial about my gall bladder for at least a little while longer so just roll with me on this.

Weigh-in Day & a Question for You

Today is either my 156th or 157th (?) weekly weigh-in. I should really keep track of these details.

Anywhoozle, here's the scoop:

Goal Weight: 145lb

Today's Weight: 141.6 lbs

Another week in maintenance.

**********************

Now a question for you:

I am going to the annual trailer trash themed party this weekend and need ideas on what to wear, how to do my hair, make-up, etc.  Help!

Here's what I wore to last year's party.

Note: duct tape name tag (we made up trailer trash names for each other), NASCAR hat, fake tattoos, and cigarettes stuffed down the bra:

Isn't it funny how...

...day by day nothing changes, but when we look back, everything is different?" ~C.S. Lewis

Abso-freakin-lutely.

Nothin' seems to have changed with my routine and what I choose to do day to day to maintain my weight loss, but oh how different I feel and look because of that routine I've been rockin'.

I'm now stronger.

I'm now healthier.

Why do I keep doing what I do to be successful?

I've started to wonder if I am genetically wired toward being slightly obsessive-compulsive and a structured, routine-following kinda gal?

Can I please blame my genetics? If I can, I would like to point out that I think it has skipped a generation (but that's a discussion for another day).

Is this what makes me successful with the continued maintenance of my 115 lbs weight loss?

As you know, I do love me a nice color-coded spreadsheet.

I am usually confused when I hear a bandster say, "I am so sick of eating the same things every day, I need new food ideas."  Huh? New ideas? I literally have about five to seven meals that I just rotate through out the week.  I've been eating the same stuff.  Some foods have stayed with me since even the pre-op days.  That's almost three years.

In case you haven't noticed, I love being inside my comfort zone of routine and structure.

If you look up "control freak" in the dictionary, I'm afraid you just may see my pic.

To say that I live "inside my box" is an understatement.

That's why I occasionally push myself out of my comfort zone and try new things.

Like how I literally pushed myself out of an airplane at 10,000 feet up in the sky a few months ago.

Or how I wore a bikini in public last month.  That was a HUGE step for me.  Way bigger than the sky-diving.

Or how I went on vay-cay to Florida recently and didn't feel the need to make a clipboard of fun and schedule every. single. moment. of. each. day.  I'm finally learning to go with the flow on certain things in my life.

But I think that my routines help me in maintaining my weight loss.  Routines help me create structure.

My life is crazy busy...job, friends, family life, staying on track with food/exercise, etc.

Routines help me avoid bad decisions that can happen when my life gets busy (which is often) or when the "food pushers" strike.

For example: when in the morning, a coworker pops into my office and says to me, "Hey, let's go get donuts in the cafeteria!"

I can respond with "no thanks" and resist the temptation because I always have my Greek yogurts waiting for me in the fridge.

For me, making decisions about food in the spur of the moment or on the fly can lead to BAD food decisions.

Yep. Welcome to Borings-ville.

Will I get burnt out?

Will monotony creep up on me?

It hasn't yet in in almost three years.

I guess those are some of my worries in maintenance.

But don't you worry, if you've made it this far down into this post and still don't undestand my level of cray-cray, just remember, it's a control freak thing, I wouldn't let you understand.

Non-Scale Victory Alert!

When I am Jazzercising, I feel like I look like this:

But I bet I look more like this:



But that's OK, because I am gettin' my sweat on and building muscles.

Who cares.

Now, onwards to the Non-Scale Victory (NSV):

Yesterday in Jazzercise class, a random woman who sometimes stands behind me (who also seriously needs to rethink her personal safety circle -- a close-stander I tell 'ya), said to me:

"I like being behind you in class because you know how to do the dance moves right."

Wha?

Huh?

Didn't she just see me skip to the right while everyone else did kick-ball changes to the left?

No?

Hmmm...I guess that my continued attempts at my top-secret project, "Become a Jazzercise Bad Ass", is coming along nicely.

The illusion is now complete.

I Have a Secret Relationship...

...with goat cheese.

It's my favorite cheese.

Ever.

So I invented some turkey burgers to grill up on the George this past weekend.

...and

oh. 

my.

goodness.

YUM.

Here's the recipe:

Lap Band Gal's Goat Cheese Turkey Burgers

206 calories.  22 grams protein.

Servings: 5

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5-10 minutes

Damn QUICK.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey (93% lean)

1/4 Cup bread crumbs (20g)

1 Egg

2 oz crumbled goat cheese (I used the kind that had the herbs on the outside)

1 tsp onion powder

3-4 shakes/dashes of garlic salt

3-4 splashes of Worcestershire sauce

dash of black pepper

Ingredients

Throw everything in a bowl.

Mix it up.

I made 5 burgers.  You may want to make more or
less burgers depending on your portion size.
Each burger was approximately 4.2 oz before grilling. 

I sprayed George with cooking spray and
grilled it for about 5-10 minutes.

While the burger was grilling, I put the four remaining burgers
individually between wax paper and then into Ziploc bags.
Into the freezer they went for a quick dinner during the week!

These burgers turned out very moist and
full of FLAVOR.
YUM!
I had a little Girard's Light Champagne
dressing on the side for dipping.

This is for ONE burger, no dressing.

I'll definitely be making these again!

Weigh-in Day and the Results are...

Goal weight: 145 lbs

Today's weight:


- Posted from my iPhone

Is 'Overachiever' One Word or Two?

While cruising around among my old blog posts from 2009, I came across this post. 

Go read it.

You know that you want to.

In that post, I talk about what went down at my very first Lap-Band adjustment (fill) appointment.

And guess what?

I now realize over two and a half years later that my biggest take away from that appointment with the-best-nurse-practitioner-ever WAS NOT actually the Lap-Band adjustment itself.

Gasp!

I know, I know..

It's all about gettin' our fills. Right?

Wrong.

At least for me.

My biggest lesson and takeaway was this: a prescription for exercise. This was the kick in the booty that I needed to get going on the exercise bandwagon:

Yep. Exercise.

Don't you roll your eyes at me. I'm feelin' those eyes all the way over here in Podunk middle-of-nowhere-Oregon.

Before this appointment, I honestly thought that I could be successful with weight loss and maintain said weight loss with no exercise.

Boy was I wrong.

For about two years now, I've been gettin' about 60 minutes of exercise 5 days a week.

And I'm not the only one who's rockin' the exercise.  Check out these plans on today's Workout Wednesday post on Facebook.

Well done ladies!

Do You George?

In the Weight Watchers days, I used my George Foreman Grill almost every day.

But then somehow when I moved from California up to Oregon five years ago, my George Foreman grill was broke by the movers.

Who knows what happened.

But I never got another George.

Until yesterday.

Georges were on sale at my local Freddy's store.

So now I have a George again.

But I need your help with recipes and ideas.

What do you make on your George?

Speaking of elderly boxers, did you know that Muhammad Ali's daughter, Khaliah, has a Lap-Band too?

Best part of this video starts around minute 3:00

Weigh-in Day & Flashback Friday

Goal Weight: 145 lbs

Today's Weight: 142.8 lbs

Onwards to my monthly tradition.

On the first Friday of the month, we flashback in time...

Here I am at the office:  

October 2009 ~ 255 lbs

Yesterday (August 2012)

No wonder vendors, sales people, and other work peeps who I rarely see at the office, occasionally don't recognize me. Ha!

PS: Did you see my early wake-up call on Facebook this morning?

Let's Talk About My Back Fat

An intriguing topic...right?

No?

Well, just roll with me for a minute here...

I found this old photo the other day and thought that I'd  make you look at it  share it with you.

A lovely sail away photo from a cruise in April 2011. Weight: 139.2 lbs. I was at my goal weight for about five months when this photo was taken:

Dad & I chillin' on the pool deck...or wait, is it "Me & Dad"?   Whatevs.

Now let's look at a photo that was originally meant to be a "before" spray tan pic. Taken three weeks ago. July 2012. Weight: 139.4 lbs:

 Hi Mom! Yes, I know that nice young ladies don't put nakey
pics of themselves on the interwebs.  No need to call me to tell me this.

...and that is why I continue to exercise.

Almost the same exact weight.  

15 months apart.

Such a different shape not just in my back but also in my arms.  No rolly wobbly bits.

I've learned that in maintenance, it's not always what that scale says but how I look and feel.

And do you know what?

I feel strong.