Is Life With the Lap-Band All Rainbows & Butterflies For Me?

No.

It.

Is.

NOT.

Let's get one thing VERY clear: Living my life with a Lap-Band takes WORK.

Check out this conversation that went down on Facebook a few days ago:

Great questions!

Thank you for reminding me that I am doing a lot of work each and every day to maintain my weight loss.  

Perhaps I am not sharing with you all the amount of hard work that it takes each and every day?

Let's discuss.

If you go back to blog posts when I was in my 14 month losing phase (Oct 2009-December 2010), I was in the phase that I like to call "Hard Core" mode.

It was on. like. Donkey. Kong.

I wrote down everything that I ate.

On a post-it note.  Low-tech.

I counted each and every calorie and protein gram that passed my lips.

Every day.

When I got to ~1200 calories for the day: I STOPPED EATING. Even if I still wanted to eat (head hunger issues), I just drank water.  This was usually right after dinner time.

Occasionally, on a rare day, I would end up in my bed at 7:30pm because as we always used to say in Weight Watchers: "When you run out of points for the day, go to bed."

I kept track of how many ounces of water that I drank each day. I did and still do aim for 100+ ounces each day.

I hardly ever ate out at restaurants during those 14 months.  I just didn't trust the cooks in the kitchen. Literally.

When friends would ask if I wanted to go out to Happy Hour downtown or go grab dinner after work, I usually didn't go.  

I couldn't go because I had to go workout. I would Zumba or ride the Dreadmill 4-5 times a week.

I couldn't go out because me in a restaurant meant that I would eat more than I should.

I didn't trust myself with my own food choices.

I also didn't drink any alcoholic drinks for those 14 months.

I was intensely focused on getting to goal.

Getting below 145 lbs.

And I got there.

I've blogged a few times about how weight maintenance is very different than my losing phase: go read that post HERE.

I've been in maintenance for almost 28 months now. 

That's twice as long as my losing "Hard Core" phase.

How is maintenance different for me?

I have one to two days each week where I get to go above 1200 calories.  I might hit 1600-1900 calories on those days.  

Usually the weekend.

I don't write down what I eat anymore.

It's been a few months since I've whipped out a post-it note.

But I still aim for 1200 calories a day.

Even in maintenance.

I got so much practice writing it all down during my losing phase, that I usually know what my calorie and protein totals are in my head now.

I still go workout 4-5 times a week.

And I sweat.

A lot.

Here's proof:

Is all that work worth it?

Absolutely.

Why is it worth it?

Because with all that work, I get to have health. Remember how badass my recent blood work/labs were?

Because with all that work, I don't need to take three hour naps on the weekend anymore. I'm not sleeping my life away.

Because with all that work, I get to have a rockin' body like this:

It's all worth it.

Onwards.