When Will I learn?

Yeah, so 'Fat Girl Friday' reared its ugly head on Friday...there were sweet potato fries, a few cocktails, a Dairy Queen chocolate/peanut butter Blizzard, and of course a Taco Bell extravaganza of fake orange cheese.

Sigh.

And we all know what a 'Fat Girl Friday' leads to...a 'Weight Gain Monday.' 

Double sigh.

So, here is a message to myself in black and white so I stop this behavior:

A good weigh-in day does NOT mean you get to pig out!

The end.

Shorts - Then & Now

With the weather warming up lately, I went through my closet to see what summer clothes that I have that still fit.

I came across my old pair of jean shorts...from Target...Size 24W.  These shorts were pretty snug on me the summer before surgery.

Here they are in comparison to a current pair of shorts, Reebok, size M.  What a difference!

Untapped Market Opportunity: Lap Bands for CATS!

You know those cute little anecdotes that you hear at your Lap Band Support Group?

Or maybe those interesting comments that you read about on the lapbandtalk.com message boards about how those around you in your life will change with your weight loss?

Yeah, I remember hearing certain comments and thinking..."yeah, right...that will never happen to me"

Well, one comment I remember hearing was how people's pets GAIN weight when us bandsters LOSE weight.  I guess us bandsters feed the extra food leftovers to our pets? or maybe the thought is, "well, if I can't eat it, then by golly someone's going to enjoy this fabulous tasty food."  And we all know who that someone is for me...my cat, Pemberley:

Anyways, I've just returned from the annual vet visit.  In the last two years, Pemberley's weight has increased by 31%.  Yeah, I did the math...cuz I'm down with spreadsheets like that.  But, YIKES...31%!

Pemberley's always been on the "Sizzler Buffet" food plan.  You know, the bowl of food filled to the brim all...the...damn...time?  Yeah, that's how she rolls. But I've been supplementing with bits of string cheese, rotisserie chicken, the list goes on and on...hey, at least it's protein, right?

Onwards to portion control and set feeding times.

This is her official "before" photo:

A Letter To My Brain

Dear Brain,

Are you slow on the uptake?  Did you not get the memo? Are you a couple of fries short of a Happy Meal?  Is the hamster dead, yet the wheel is still spinning?

Can you please, please, please update your mental image of how I look now? 

It's time to catch up and realize that I now look like this:

(photo: Bariatric Girl)

You do know that I don't look like this anymore, but seriously...I think you are still about 50 lbs behind:

So, Brain, get yourself with the program...time to update!

Your Friend,

Lap Band Gal

Weigh-in Day...and the Results Are...

Goal Weight: 145 lbs

Today's Weight: 143.4 lbs

Happy Friday!

The Disappearing Act

Abracadabra!  Presto Change-o!  Wait...  Where'd everybody go?

I think I have figured out one of the reasons why so many weight loss bloggers disappear once they hit their goal weight. No matter what their weight loss plan....banded, Weight Watchers, Atkins, gastric bypass, etc...most of them disappear from the blogosphere and interwebs the moment they check that proverbial box of "lose the weight."

Do they keep the weight off? who knows?

Are they off living a fabulous skinny life and have no time for blogging? Maybe. Who knows?

I think that as people get to know the "new" slimmer person...the positive comments and compliments end.  You know, that's why they call it the honeymoon phase after all.  I'm still in the honeymoon phase myself.  I run into acquaintances and friends that haven't seen me since I weighed 250 + lbs.  An example was a college roommate last week.  Then, there was the compliment from a coworker this morning in the cafeteria who I don't see very often as he works in another building.

One day, this will be the "normal" me.  The compliments of "wow, you look great!"  will STOP.  And I'm OK with that as my focus has always been on improved health.  The physical appearance change was just the "bonus" in the process.

One day, everyone will only know the me as I am now...the size 6 petite person who they sometimes call "tiny".

That's why I am trying to continue to spread the word about maintenance.  As I have said before, maintenance is just as hard as losing.  It's just a lot more boring.  There are no exciting losses (or gains) to report each week.  It's fighting the good fight...every...damn...day.

I try to set attainable goals for myself that are not related to the scale but rather fitness and general health.

Luckily, we all have some FABULOUS role models out there talking about maintenance. Stop by their blogs and say hello.

PS: Weigh-in day tomorrow, Zumba toning tonight!

Thinking About Chicago...Are you attending B.O.O.B.S. 2.0?

I am really looking forward to seeing you all in Chicago at B.O.O.B.S. 2.0.  I have been checking out the airfares and it's never cheap to fly out of my small town airport....sigh...time to start pinching my pennies.

We are so lucky to have an amazing team of ladies organizing the event for us again this year. 

Last year's B.O.O.B.S. was AMAZING.  I can't wait to meet all the new bandsters too.

My roomie is Stephanie from Electric Lady Band.  We get along well...we're both the early to bed, early to rise kinda gals.  But you never know...we could be corrupted to party all night long...fo' sure.  Worried that you don't have a roomie? Don't worry, our fabulous organizers can help you out with that.

So, if you're a banded blogger and haven't checked it out yet, head on over the the B.O.O.B.S. site.  After all, who wouldn't want to meet up with all of these lovely banded ladies?!?

Nutrition VLOG!

Main Points:

-Total Calorie Intake: no more than 1400 calories a day

-If you bite it, then you write it.

-3 meals per day, 2 OK too.

-Low B1 (Thiamine): Wernicke-Korsacoff Syndrome.

My Confidence...M.I.A.

This is a post that has bouncing around in my head for awhile now.

This is probably a weird thought, but my sense of self-confidence has been lost along with the 111 lbs.  Where did it go?  Have you seen it?  If so, please send it back to me.  I miss it.  You'd think that it should be the opposite. One should GAIN self-confidence with weight loss.


I used to have absolutely ZERO second thoughts about what clothes I would choose to wear in the morning...I looked GREAT!  I'd walk into a room and have no problems walking up to people and starting conversations. I was a very self-confident fatty.  Now I question and second-guess myself on everything.

I think my self-confidence was very much attached to my invisibility cloak.  Remember this post? 

People never used to look at the fat girl.  Heaven forbid anyone draw attention to the fat girl, that would make her feel uncomfortable, right?

Well, now I am no longer invisible...people look at me.  Good or bad, I am no longer ignored.

I still look behind me to see who people are looking at...  I wonder "do I have a booger hanging out of my nose?" or "is my fly down?"....nope...I'm just not invisible anymore.

This will take some getting used to...but how long will it take for my confidence to return?  ...I'm waiting.

Lap Band Gal is now on FACEBOOK!

Want to know more about what I do each day to be successful with the Lap Band?

Want to see what I'm eating?  Want to see my daily struggles and successes?

Perhaps you want to see some Non-Scale Victories...dressing room pics, etc?

Well, check out that Facebook badge up there on the upper left side.  Please join me by clicking on it and liking my page.  I plan to provide more updates than just my usual every other day blog posts.

What FB updates would you like to see?  Let me know.