Weigh-in Day

Goal Weight: 145 lbs

Today's weight: 140.6 lbs

At or below my goal weight now for over two and a half years.

I love my Lap-Band.

Who Supports You?

Let's flashback in time.

All the way back to September 8, 2009.

I did not have a Lap-Band at the time.

I probably weighed about 256 lbs on that day.

I was waiting for my Lap-Band surgery.

It was set for October 20, 2009.

Just six weeks away!

I couldn't wait.

But I also knew that I needed support.

Lots of support if I was going to be successful with my band.

I knew no one personally who had a Lap-Band.

So where did I look for support?

On that fateful day in early September 2009, I went online to Lapbandtalk.com and posted this post in the "Lap Band Buddies / Mentors" forum:

Hello!

I will banded in mid/end October. I am 30 yrs old, Single, and living in Southern Oregon. Looking for a mentor who's "been there, done that."  Perhaps a few years post op...

Thanks!

A woman named Sandi who was 5+ years post-op responded right away to my forum post.

What followed was a flurry of emails back and forth.  The emails went on for months and months.

Sandi took the time to tell me all of her tips and tricks of being successful with her band. 

One of my fave restaurant eating tips that Sandi emailed me about:  When I am done eating and am still tempted by the food sitting on my plate, take the small salad/bread plate and put it on top of your big plate.  Squish that food down.  Cover it up.  

I still use that trick to this day.

Sandi lost approximately 250 lbs with her Lap-Band and continues to maintain her weight loss.  You can read about her journey HERE.

I am very lucky that I know, even today, I could email or call Sandi for support anytime (PS: I still don't have all of this Lap-Band stuff figured out).

Did you know that you too can also get some FREE weight loss support group time with Sandi?

Yep, check out this link for the support group details.

Now I ask you: where have you found the most support for you and your weight loss journey? Tell me. I wanna know.

Weigh-in Day...

Did you see the results of me stepping on the scale this morning over on Facebook?

If you missed it, go check it out HERE.

What about you? Do you weigh yourself? What day is your weigh-in day? Where do you write it down?

Don't Be a Hater. Be a Roller Skater.

From this day forward, yesterday will be referred to as "Double Workout Wednesday."

True that.

The sweat was a drippin'.

I rocked my usual Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD with my coworker peeps over my lunch break.

The Boyfriend ran seven (7!) miles on the dreadmill yesterday morning. Damn.

Then last night, we met up with another couple for some awesome-sauce skatin' at the local roller rink.

 

You've been sharing with me your Workout Wednesday stories on the Facebook page.  Did you see everyone's posts and comments about their workouts yesterday? Go check it out.

Wanna Win a $100 Gift Card?

You know that you do.

Don't deny it.

Here's how:

There's a new online survey* for weight loss bloggers.

It's being conducted by a bunch of fancy schmancy professors at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

I emailed one of the professors to make sure it's a legit survey. And it is.  

Here's an excerpt from the email I received from the professor:

"We are trying to understand what bloggers get out of blogging about their weight loss journey and what readers get out of reading those blogs---including what elements of weight loss blogs do they find most/least helpful to their own weight loss journeys.  I haven’t seen any research on weight loss blogging, but it appears that many people do this (and many people enjoy following these blogs) so I’m curious to study blogging to find out what the benefits are and if there is some way that blogging might be leveraged in formal behavioral weight loss programs. We plan to publish the findings and we think the findings will be of interest to bloggers and non-bloggers who are trying to lose weight." 

Therefore, if you have a weight loss blog, please cruise on over to the survey. Participants are entered to win a $100 gift card to a store of their choosing:

Survey is located HERE.

*I am not affiliated AT ALL or in ANY WAY with this organization or survey. I just think it's awesome-sauce. Participate. Don't participate. Whatevs.

I Want To Be Smart Again.

I'm among friends here, right?

This is my safe space to talk about the cray-cray-crazytown (with a capital "C") going down in my head?

Well, come sit down around the campfire, let's hold hands, and sing "Kumbaya."

Can we also talk about how I know that I am not supposed to care what people think of me?

Or what people say about me?

I was a pretty confident fatty.

I owned it.

I rocked it.

Now that I'm not so much of a fatty anymore, I seem to hear more what people say about me. I guess that I care more?

Where did this insecurity come from?

I think my confidence left town when my fat blanket went away. AKA my "invisibility cloak."  People used to not see me.

I guess they see me now.

There's hardly a person out there that doesn't hear other peoples' words and occasionally wonder...

I'm wondering how in the past:

• I used to be smart.
• I was organized.
• I used to be kind.

When I was a fatty, people would comment on my "inside."

It was great.

The comments were based on something that I did or finished or worked on.

Go me and my accomplishments!

Now?

It's only about the "outside" that seems to matter?

Here's what I occasionally hear now:

• I'm skinny.
• I'm petite.
• I'm pretty.

Don't get me wrong, I love me some compliments as much as the next girl.

But wait.

Are we actually talking about being solely judged on one's appearance?

Gasp!

No.

Say it ain't so.

(note: sarcasm)

I guess after thirty years of only hearing about my inside, these outside comments usually make me feel kinda awkward.

I usually have no response.

Or I change the conversation topic to the reality TV shows or the weather.

I'm a conversationalist.

Maybe I do this, because in my head, the "inside" type of comments have more value to me.

Maybe I do this, because I have never learned to take a compliment gracefully.  There should be a class for compliment taking. I would be SMART in that class. I would get an "A."

Maybe I do this, because the people who saw me go from fatty to non-fatty didn't make these outside type of comments.

It's the NEW people in my life.

Now that I think about it, the outside comments are always from people who never knew me as a fatty. Isn't it fun to be new in town and meet all new peeps? (note: MORE sarcasm)

These past nine months have been interesting.

In my brain, it's not just what someone has going on on their outside, but also the inside that counts.

A complete package of kindness, generosity, and some nerdy smarty-pants thrown in for good measure.

I was raised to be a strong, smart, and confident person. 

Looks were never a priority growing up. My childhood photo albums full of rather unfortunate haircuts and mismatched outfits prove this fact repeatedly.

Now a few questions for you:

How do you handle comments about your appearance from others due to your new appearance and weight loss?

Do you have any helpful tips on taking a compliment gracefully?

Thanks for stopping by the campfire...now let's go wash this smoke smell out of our hair.

Would You Like To Hear Me On the Radio?

Yeah, me neither.

I'll be interviewed on the radio this Sunday June 16 at 7:05 PM Central time on FM Talk 106.5.

That's tomorrow if you're wondering.

Wait.

A second.

Did ya miss that link?

Did ya blink?

Here it is again! FM Talk 106.5.

Go set your reminders in your iPhones or write it on the back of your hand or stick a post-it note on your forehead.

You'll forget.

What will we be talking about on Sunday night?

We'll be discussing one of the biggest myths out there on weight loss surgery:

WEIGHT. LOSS. SURGERY. IS. NOT. THE. EASY. WAY. OUT.

Fo'. Sho'.

We shall talk about cake too on Sunday night.

Did you know that cake is my Spirit Animal?

See ya there: tomorrow, Sunday June 16 at 7:05 PM Central time on FM Talk 106.5.  Hosted by: Fit & Flourishing.

**Edit**
Added August 28, 2013:

Link to the podcasts of the radio interview:

Part 1

Part 2

Weigh-in Day & Why Did It Take Me So Long To Figure This Out?

Goal weight: 145 lbs

Today's weight: 140.4  lbs

These bad boys went to the office with me yesterday:

That's right.

I actually convinced a few coworkers to do Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD with me in the big conference room at work during our lunch hour.

Jillian is kinda scary when she's about seven feet tall and yelling at me from that big screen up on the wall:

Sweaty Bettys alert! Check out those post-workout glows:

One of the lame ass-hat reasons why I never exercised at work before was that I was worried that I would be hot, red-faced, and sweaty at work all afternoon.  Which is totally gross. Gag me with a spoon.

Well guess what? I was wrong! 

Here I am about an hour after my workout (I had a quick 2 minute shower after the workout): I am not a hot mess. Even with a quick 30 second, the-bare-minimum-make-up-application.  Word.

I love that I when I went home after work, I didn't have a workout waiting for me.

I was already done.  D-O-N-E.

I had checked that exercise box off of my to-do list at lunchtime.

And can you guess what we are doing again today at lunch time in the conference room?

Yep.

Gettin' shredded.

Did Ya See It?

I have a fancy new blog title header.

Yep.

Check it out.

Way up there.

At the top of the page.

Try to contain your excitement.

I figured it was time that I got around to updating those pics.

In my opinion, there are no "after" photos.

There are only "now" photos.  I am never done on this journey.

And those "now" photos on the old header were from 2010-2011: Totally old news.

Welcome to 2013.

Can you guess who made that fantabulousness happen way up there at the top of the blog?

It was Jen over at Just Foolin Blog Designs.

Jen has magical blogtastic design skills.

She also maybe has a Rainbow Brite unicorn named Starlight, too.  But that's our little secret.  Shhhh.

She can hook you up too with some fancy shmancy blog designing too.

Cruise on over and say hello to Jen to see what she can do for your blog.

Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?

Yes.

They do.

Especially this princess.

The Boyfriend and I went hiking on the trails out to the beach this weekend.

Brrr!

It was chilly.

It was breezy.

But we survived.

And had fun...hiking almost 4 miles!

Nice stats!

We made it to the beach!

Chocolate.

That's what was taste-tested at my weight loss support group this past weekend.

Yep.

That's what she said.

Chocolate.

But don't worry.

There was none of that good ol' fashioned, full of sugar, Hershey's chocolate in sight.  

Bummer.

The kind of chocolate that we tasted was the hippy-dippy, 8,427% cacoa, fancy shmancy stuff.

Damn:

The chocolate taste-testing was part of a presentation from a local sous chef, who we shall call Hawaiian Shirt (HS), who also happens to be 6+ years post-op with his gastric bypass surgery.  He's maintained his goal weight for almost five years now. That's HS standing up there at the front of the room. 

We also tasted different types of salt.

HS told us all about how different salt flavors can enhance our food choices and add minerals to our diets.

Ummm. 

Sure.

Whatevs.

We tried Pink Himalayan salt.

We tasted a black salt with a name that I couldn't pronounce.

Ya know: That spendy salt that you don't find at Wal-Mart.

Check out all that
colorful salt!

Onwards to my favorite part of HS's presentation:

We got to make our own rub for grilling meats.

We went around the table and smelled different spices and added them to our cup.

We wrote down each spice that we added so we could recreate the recipe at home one day.

So many spicy choices!

 I ended up with a curry sweet n' spicy rub:

Lastly, I got to catch up with friend and fellow blogger, Stacey.

Stacey has a VSG (Sleeve) and blogs over at: Time to Get Real.  Stacey is looking for encouragement to get back into blogging on a regular basis.  Please stop by her blog and say "hello." She's waiting for your comments.

Me and Stacey.

The Truth About the Lap-Band -- You Have to Watch This Video

This is awesome.

That is all.

Weigh-in Day...

Goal Weight: 145 lbs

Last week's weight: 139.6 lbs

Today's Weight: 141.4 lbs

Up almost 2 lbs since last week.

But still below goal.  Phew!

PS: did you see my easy recipe for transforming boring yogurt into a Cinnabon extravaganza? Check it out on the Facebook page.

A Letter From My Former Fat Self: You are Officially Ridiculous

Dear Skinny Bitch (that's ME...well, it's what Siri in my iPhone calls me anyway),

What is it about taking a trip that turns you into a reeedonkulous donut-eating, cookie-muchin', Mexican taco-shoveling-in-the-face beast?

The moment that you leave your routine and every day life you don't just fall of the bandwagon, you fling yourself off the back of that wagon. Hard.

And this wasn't even a trip for vacation. It was for business.  Ya know: WORK.

 

Sure, I know that you got to experience one of your favorite non-scale victories (fitting in the airplane seat, crossing your legs, AND having tons of seatbelt left), but that doesn't mean you get to eat three packages of biscotti while sitting in that seat.

What's this I hear about you not having exercised now for an entire week? What up with that?

Was making time to watch the Bachelorette while eating an ice cream sandwich in your PJs in bed instead of heading downstairs to the hotel gym a wise decision?  WTF.

It's time to regroup, Skinny Bitch.

The journey back to fatty town is a slippery slope.

Tonight you will let Jillian Michaels kick your booty back into that exercise routine.

30 Day Shred DVD is just hours away. It will happen.

Remember how you promised me that you wouldn't forget what it feels like to be a fatty?

Here's your wake up call: you're starting to forget.

It's time to remember.

It's time to wipe that smile off of your face and get back on track.

 

Sincerely,

The 258 lb Fatty From Your Not So Distant Past.