How I Lose Weight With My Lap-Band

Thank you for your extra love notes and encouragement here on the blog and also on Facebook after my last post about my weight gain.

Let's recap shall we?

What's been going on these past three months or so:

• I made craptastic food choices. No one chose these foods for me. I own these choices I made.
• I ate way too big of portions of those craptastic food choices. I chose these portions.
• I didn't do my weekly Friday weigh-ins for about 5 weeks (lost my accountability).
• I weighed in Monday 3/21/16 (five days ago) and the sh*t got real: 153.4 lbs.
• A weight gain of 8.4 lbs above my goal weight of 145 lbs.
• I am back on the accountability train with weekly weigh-ins and writing down my food choices each day (I track only calories and proteins). 
• I am staying accountable to my goal of getting back to 145 lbs.
• My daily goal is 1200 calories and at least 70 proteins. I eat real foods and chew a lot. It's been over a year since I've had a protein shake.

So it's my usual Friday weigh-in today.

The results?

Drum roll please.....

 

Bam.

There ya go.

A weight loss of 4.6 lbs!

I have always been someone who can lose and gain weight fast.

What have I  learned  REMINDED myself of these past 5 days?

If I do the work, I get the results.

If I track my food, I see the results on the scale.

Was I hungry this past week eating 1200 calories each day?

NO. Nope. Nada.

Thank you very much Lap-Band.  My band keeps my physical hunger under control so I can do the work of making food choices and portion sizes.

If you'd like to see what I am up to daily, go check out my Facebook page. I share what I am eating, recipes, workouts, etc.

Let's get real here for a hot minute

Those of you who follow me on Facebook may have noticed something.

I have not been keeping up with my weekly Friday weigh-ins.

My last Friday weigh-in on Facebook was February 5, 2016.   146.6 lbs.  Here's the official photo of that weigh-in:

I've been telling myself these tall tales in my head and thinking that I could do this weight loss maintenance thing without stepping on the scale.  

You know, that thing called "accountability."

I've been joking with myself into thinking I could do weight maintenance using the "how I feel" and "see how my clothes fit" methods.

But no.

No way, Jose.

I have learned these past few months that I cannot do that. 

Those non-scale methods of accountability do not work for me.

 

I could tell you that I have not been doing my weekly weigh-ins for all kind of  excuses  reasons.  

But it doesn't matter what those reasons are because here's what's gone down these past few months:

Food choices that were not always protein-focused. 

Food choices that were too large of portions.

Food choices that were ridiculous and it's time for me to slow my roll.

It is all about my food choices.

It ends here.

I am owning this.

So I stepped on the scale this morning.

Yep, 153.4 lbs.

That's 8.4 lbs above my goal weight of 145 lbs.

I am catching this slippery slope now.

Here's what I am doing to stop this ridiculous weight-gain:

Tracking my food choices by WRITING THEM DOWN

Stay tuned for Friday's weigh-in.

It'll be off the hook.

We said "I Do"!

Surprise!

Bonus Non-Scale Victory alert: the husband picked me up!

If you would like to see a video and photos from our wedding, click here.

We had a fun-in-the-sun honeymoon Caribbean cruise:

Love is Sweet

The fiance and I were so honored this weekend.

A BIG thank you goes out to my parents hosting such a fun engagement party for us!

It was a dessert bar with the theme: "Love is Sweet"

  

 

Mom, Sister, and I

Five Years at Goal Weight with My Lap-Band

It's been a crazy busy time for me lately.

Here are the places I've been to for business trips or for fun in the last three weeks:

• Chicago, IL
• Dallas, TX
• Newark, NJ
• Scranton, PA
• Milwaukee, WI
• Green Bay, WI

Phew!

I've been keeping up with my workouts and mostly eating how I should while on the road. 

As you know, I share all those lovely little annoying details of the day-to-day living with my Lap-Band on my Facebook page. You're welcome.

I've been so busy that my Goal-iversary came and went and I didn't even notice! On December 17, 2010, I reached my goal weight.  I lost about 120 lbs in 14 months.  That was five years ago.

I've been holding steady around the 145 lbs mark for FIVE YEARS now.

It's a lot of work. No sugar coating here.

Did I say it's a lot of work? Indeed.

Here's a pic of the Fiance and I on Christmas morning. I posted it on Facebook, but alas, there are some of you who are not on Facebook! Gasp!

The presents were all unwrapped.

The holiday treats were all eaten.

The Fiance was heading out the door for a 6 mile run in the freezing cold. His usual.

I was about to get my sweat on with my favorite workout trainer, Jillian Michael's via her free online videos in the living room. My usual.

What is the biggest learning lesson from these past five years at my goal weight?

There is no finish line and no "done" on this road to health.

I Can't Figure Out My Recent Blood Test Results

The "why" behind why I do what I do each day.

The "why" behind why I make my careful food choices each day.

The "why" behind why I measure my food portions each day.

The "why" behind why I drink over 100 oz each day.

The "why" behind why I exercise and sweat each day.

What is the "why" I got my LapBand in the first place way back in 2009? MY HEALTH.

Sure, fitting into a certain clothing size is super fun.

Sure, being able to be active and present in my daily life is good. (And not napping at home and watching TV for hours, 'cuz that's what I used to do at 260 lbs. Missing out on life in general)

But for me, the main focus has always been my HEALTH.

Did you know that at 260 lbs, my doctor was talking to me about pre-diabetes and high cholesterol medications?

Every year since I got to my goal weight, I've been doing well with no signs of diabetes and all results at normal levels. Yay me.

So I was extremely surprised when last week I got the results of my annual blood test / lab work.

I really didn't think I could improve on anything from the year before.

Weight maintenance gets pretty boring.

Here are my results.

I have improved my cholesterol results dramatically this past year! Yellow highlights are my newest results from last week and hand written info is from last year's tests:

The only issue is...

I have NO IDEA how I did this.

I haven't changed my diet and food choices in the past few years.

I am doing the same exact type of workouts I've been doing for the past 3+ years.

The only thing that I could guess is that this is a LONG-TERM result of eating WAY less red meat and animal proteins (chicken, beef, pork, etc) over the last 3 years?  Sort of a long term affect of reduced meat eating?


Back story: Three years ago I began my a new job at a vegetarian foods company.

Since employees can buy these vegetarian food items at a reduced price and these vegetarian foods are pre-portioned/frozen/convenient, I have been eating them ALL THE TIME.

It is convenient and cheap for me. Tasty too. That's all.  No other reasons.

Therefore, I eat meat only 2 or 3 times a week in these past 3 years.  Not very often.

Could I now be seeing the long-term benefits of a reduced meat (semi-vegetarian) diet?

Here's what I do know: I am a cholesterol ROCK STAR.

Sad News and a Visit to the LapBand Surgeon

Pemberley passed away last week.

I've been sad, but remembering the fun times we had together is helping.

She will always be my favorite workout buddy!

June 2015:

4 days post-op. October 2009:

In other news, since about late July/early August, I noticed that I was getting hungry quickly after a small sensible protein meal.

So then I thought, oh well, my seasonal sinus allergies will be ramping up soon, let's see how it goes. That band will get tight again. Allergies always makes my band tighten up.

And I waited.

And the seasonal sinus allergies went crazy.  Boxes of tissues later...

I was still hungry!

So I thought, with a big vacation coming up to Italy, I figured there would be jet lag and travel stress/etc (stuff that usually tightens up my band), so let's wait and think about a fill when I returned.

That vacation came and went.

But I was still hungry!

Then Pemberley passed away.  So I thought, oh no, this is very stressful/emotional (stuff that always tightens up the band), I bet that band will tighten up. Let's wait and see.

Nope.

I was still hungry!

SO, long story short, I finally went to see my Lap-Band doctor last Friday 9/25/15 for a fill. He added 0.4 ccs to my Lap-Band.

My hunger is reduced and my thoughts of food and what my next meal will be are GONE.

I love that at almost SIX years post-op, I can still get my Lap-Band adjusted and have that same reduced hunger and full feeling as I did at the very beginning of my weight loss journey.

Italy is a dream...

...that keeps returning for the rest of your life."

Someone famous said that quote. 

And they were correct.

I'm back from two whole weeks in Italy.

There was Michelangelo's David:

 

Wine in Florence.

 

A climb up the many stairs to the top of the Duomo (Cathedral) in Florence.

There's always time for a cappuccino in the rain of Florence.

Tuscany countryside adventures:

 

Chillin' poolside.

 

Ummm. Yeah. More wine.

But I DID workout six times. Water bottles for hand weights with my usual Jillian Michael's videos from YouTube:

 

Day spa relaxing under the Tuscan sun.

 

Cocktails at sunset at the Forum in Rome:

Gelato in Rome:

Cooking class in Rome on our last night in Rome. Homemade ravioli and tiramisu!

And by the way.

One very important event happened on day 1 of our vacation. 

In case you missed the many, many hints in the previous photos.

The event happened before the wine.

Before the cappuccino.

Before the poolside relaxing.

The boyfriend got down on one knee at River Arno in Florence at sunset.

And proposed marriage.

Of course I said, "Yes!"

Fortunati Noi

 

(Italian for Lucky Us)

Orbera. Weightloss AND No Surgery Needed

Orbera inflated with saline and deflated.

Orbera in the stomach

It's NEW.

It doesn't require surgery.

AND it's removed after six months.

Talk about a weight loss tool for the those of us fearful of a commitment.

But wait.

There's more!

It's durable.

It's safe.

AND it's now FDA approved.

Over 220,000 patients worldwide have received this tool as part of an entire weight loss program that include nutritional guidance, exercise requirements, and the medical support from a bariatric team.

And now us Americans can get Orbera too! Is it for you?

Watch this quick video to meet an Orbera (and me!) up close and personal: 


Here's a video of the placement of Orbera: https://youtu.be/w9dWiV_pYdE

Here's a link to find an Orbera specialist near you: http://www.orbera.com/find_a_specialist

A Visit To Apollo Endosurgery!

Guess what? It's that time of year again...

When us Lap-Band patients and obesity patient advocates gather in Austin, TX at Apollo Endosurgery.

Apollo makes the Lap-Band. Cool fact of the day #1.  You're welcome.

Aren't we pretty?

You can't deny it.

Can you believe that this was the FIFTH year of this annual meetup?!

And of course, we all were ready to catch up. We picked things up right where we left off last year. Do you recognize any of these Lap-Band super-stars?

You know that we OWNED that back row of the shuttle bus!

Word.

At our meetings we got to Skype with Lap-Band surgeon extraordinaire and Aussie: Dr. Dixon.

Don't be jealous.

He really knows how to rock a PowerPoint presentation.  A master of the slides.

You can hear the most amazeballs podcast interview with Dr. Dixon HERE.  He's kinda pretty too. Don'tcha think?

He told us cool stories about successes with the Lap-Band patients that he works with and even a story about medical studies with RAT BANDS. Yep, teeny tiny Lap-Bands that go inside rats where doctors learn about obesity. Cool fact of the day #2. You're welcome.

Next, Amy shared her story of her weight loss with the Lap-Band. Go check it out HERE. You will learn what a half-lesbian is.

Then we heard from Rachel Blind. Nurse practitioner who works daily with Lap-Band patients. She even shared with me her workout habits (but I've been sworn to secrecy):

We talked about myths too.

One myth that's floating around there that is FALSE: Lap-Bands are not being used anymore. So FALSE! Did you know that over 40,000 new patients received Lap-Bands last year? Cool fact #3.

I am short. That is all.

With the man who invented the Lap-Band.
He would like to remain anonymous on this blog. Very secret-agent like.

Dinner & Fun Times! Yum.

I can't wait for next year's visit with Apollo!

Super Star Links:

LapBand.com
Land of Cheese & Sunkist
Bariatric Pal
Banded Wendy
After The Band
WLS Matters
BariMart
BariatricGirl.com
Obesity Action Coalition



A few photos above courtesy of BariatricGirl.com