colderbythelake

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Well all, I'm still around.  It's my bandiversary.  I can't complain too much.  Haven't lost the total amount of weight that I wanted, but then again, I haven't gained either.  I continue to lose in small amounts but that's my fault.  Exercise will forever be my problem.  I've been tryng to get my significant other to bring my bike in so I can start biking in the morning.  That should help.  I must admit I feel pretty darn good.  I still can only eat small meals and there are a lot of foods I simply don't even try to eat because they usually end up stuck.  No hotdogs, burgers, fries, no eggs (just can't make them work no matter what I do to them), no tuna or salman (catfish, walleye and talapia are perfect) no pasta unless it's wheat, no rice unless it's brown or wild, sometimes I can handle chicken and ground beef or turkey in spaghetti works too and I can usually eat a small portion of filet mignon.  I love salads and thank God I rarely have a problem with them.  All-in-all, I'm glad I got the band.  I'm sure I'll lose more.  I work full-time and have a part-time job in retail and I don't have any problem being on my feet 6 hours or longer.  I'm rarely sick (keeping my fingers crossed).  I'm lot more comfortable and happier with the exception of my girls which have gone sooooooooooooooooo far south that I really really really really wish I could afford to get a reduction and lift.  But maybe in time I will.  So that's the scoop.  Suppose I should come in and give a better update later.

It's nice to see the pounds are continueing to go down.  In one month, (depending on how you look at it), I've lost between 5 and 7 pounds.  For the most part I wear size 14W pants.  Shirts are another story since it appears that the girls refuse to let got of anything.  How special.....  I found out that the size of my girls weigh any where between 15 and 23lbs.  How awful is that.......  I mean if the girls would just give up the ghost I'd only have about 11 to 19 lbs left to lose and I figure the remainered is in my rear end!!

Such is life.  As long as I keep losing and I feel great, it doesn't matter

Well I survived my almost 8 month plateau!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For almost 8 months now I went back and forth the same two pounds going from 178 to 180 and actually the scale rarely moved off 180. 

Iit's been really cold here in northern Minnesota and I've been really cold and I've been soooooo hungry in the morning that I started having two packets of Instant Quaker Oatmeal (the good stuff cuz the stuff with Splenda and Splenda in gerneral makes me nauseous).  I wait until about 9:30am to have breakfast and those two packets hold me beautifully until noon lunch.  Then because I work a part-time job which starts right after my full-time job, I have dinner at work between 4pm and 4:45pm

Last week I went down to 178 and then suddenly by Sunday I was down another pound to 177!!  Then today!!!!!  I'm down to 175.  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!!!  Mind you even though I have been on this plateau, I have actually dropped 3 YES 3! clothing sizes!!!

So, I have now lost 64lbs and I have 36 more to go!  I also was watching an informal which I rarely do and I bought an exercise cd that I think is right up my alley.  I will be starting with that next Monday.

Kathleen

Well guys I have to admit that 9 month period that it took to getting surgery seems like it too longer than the 1 year following surgery!

This has been quiet the journey.  I made so many changes in one year and not only have I made them, but I've survived them.  I had my surgery, three months later I made a year long commitment with the chiropractor to get my back in order.  7 months after my surgery I did something I should have done 16 years ago and I moved out and am working on my divorce.  All-in-all, I still speak with my soon to be X and actually get along better with him.  I also moved in with a man I've known for 6 years.  He's been there for me through thick and thin.  Seems that when a person has gone through @#%!@#E$ in the past they have a better appreciation, respect etc when they do find the right person.  Our big thing is not taking anything for granted. and being mindful or each other and for me I'm learning the fine art of compromise.  Prior to having the surgery I was really starting to focus on me.  More like an awakening.  Realizing who I was, what I wanted out of life and who I wanted to become.  My daughter is 17 1/2 and will graduate from high school and then be going out of state for college.  My son just turned 22.  I could kick myself for allowing my mother to make me feel guilty and pressure me into going through with a marriage that I knew wasn't right, but I had like zero self-confidence for so long.  btw, my mother is having a bigger problem dealing with my divorce than the soon to be X.

I have done so many things besides eating healthier, I work full-time and about a month and a half ago I started applying for some part-time work.  Well, yesterday I got a call for a second interview with a new store opening up in the mall C.J. Banks and I'm very excited about that as I can work some evenings after work and weekends and since Bob is working 6 days a week, this is perfect for me!

Life is full and getting fuller everyday.  I'd like to thank everyone who has supported me and encouraged me.  It hasn't been an easy journey and sometimes it was down right bumpy but when I was a kid, I sure had a ball going over the bumps!  And yeh, sometimes I get downright discouraged, but those things, once I work them through just make me stronger!

So in toast I say, "Here's to it and for it and to it again, for you better get to it or you may never get to do it to it again"!
Kathleen

1.  I can't wait until I can buy smaller bras ~ I'm buying smaller bras!
2.  I can't wait until my bras quit poking me under my arm pits,jabbing me  in the side of my arms, riding up my back and digging into my flesh! ~ My bras hardly poke me or dig into my flesh anymore!
3. I can't wait until my underwear stops rolling off my stomach and under my roll. ~ LOL My underware doesn't roll off my stomach and under my roll anymore!
4. I can't wait until I can buy sexy lingerie, bras, panties, sleep wear. ~ I have a few sexy items now!
5. I can't wait until I can buy clothes with shape instead of bags. ~ Starting to buy nicer clothing was wearing 24WP pants now in misses 16's.  My shirts are anywhere from 16 to XL.  2X's were sometimes getting tight in the past.
6. I can't wait until my pants stop squeezing the life out of me. ~ My pants don't squeeze the life out of me anymore! Oct 13th I was wearing 24WP's and today I wear a junior size 18P. It's the end of Oct and I wear size 16 misses.
7. I can't wait until my seatbelt quits jabbing me in my thigh. ~ In early December I realized my seatbelt was nolonger jabbing me in my thigh!
8. I can't wait until I can get the seatbelt in my girlfriends car to fit around me so I can latch it. ~ The seatbelt goes around me!!!
9. I can't wait until I can play tennis with my daughter.
20. I can't wait until I can go down hill sking again AND find snow pants that fit!
21. I can't wait until I can go up and down the stairs without huffing and puffing. ~ It's getting easier to go up and down the stairs!
22. I can't wait until I can go for a walk without pain and huffing and puffing.~ walking is much easier!
23. I can't wait to join a belly dancing class
24. I can't wait until I can bend over and tie my shoes and breath at the same time. ~ I CAN BEND OVER AND TIE MY SHOES AND BREATH AT THE SAME TIME!!!!!! 
25. I can't wait until my confidence gets stronger. ~ My confidence is growing everyday.  I even went and applied for a part-time job to go along with my full-time job.
26. I can't wait until I'm no longer embarrassed to be seen in by old friends and family. ~ I'm still working on this.
27. I can't wait until my dad quits asking me if I have a problem pushing myself away from the table.
28. I can't wait until I really like me for who I am. ~ I like who I am.
29. I can't wait until I can wear a swimsuit in public. ~ I could wear a swim suit in public now!
30. I can't wait until I can get a good nights sleep, where my arms don't hurt and my shoulders don't hurt, when I don't wake up with a head ache, when my fingers quit falling asleep when I
should be the one sleeping, when I don't toss and turn all night long because my back hurts. ~ I sleep fantastic at night and don't snore as much..
31. I can't wait until going up and down the stairs in the morning isn't a problem. ~ Going up and down the stairs anytime is no problem!
32. I can't wait until my feet quit swelling up in the summer and I quit smelling terrible in my flesh rolls where I sweat year long.
33. I can't wait until my blood pressure goes down and my cholesterol goes down. ~ BP is steady still on meds, Cholesterol is down from 245 to 221. I think.
34. I can't wait until the little problem I have with sleep apnea goes away.  ~ I don't think this is a problem anymore.  Mine wasn't that bad as I didn't need a breathing machine thingy.
35. I can't wait until people tell me how wonderful I'm looking. ~ People are starting to tell me I'm look great!
36. I can't wait until people tell me they are proud of me.  ~People tell me they are proud of me.
37. I can't wait until people quit looking at the amount of food I eat.  ~ People don't watch me anymore.  They probably never were in the first place.
38. I can't wait until I can go shopping in all the fun clothing stores.  ~ I keep going back to the plus size area only to realize that nothing fits me there anymore!!!

My intentions were to stay on top of the every changing me, but I have happily fallen into a comfortable pattern and for that I'm very very thankful.

I know I have to look below and pull up my list of things I could hardly wait to do and get it updated.

Let's see one thing not on my list was to get on with my life and after wanting out of my marriage for 16 years, I finally moved out on May 30th.  I am very happy and only wish I'd done it sooner.  I lost one of my best friends to lung cancer at the end of March and I am realizing the importance of living life fully and this is just what I've been doing!  My weightloss has come to a crawl, but I'm OK with that.  Hey!  I'm not gaining!  Things are shrinking back into place and I feel fantastic.

I just wanted to say I'm doing fantastic.  I'm 4 freakin pounds away from being 189 that I just can't stand it.   This will also put me down 50 pounds and to the half way point!  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

Made an apt with my PCP so she can she how I'm doing.  I'll be just two weeks shy of being 7 months out, plus I need to be reevaluated for my blood pressure meds, but it's still up.   I need to have my cholesterol checked as it was sky high before so I am hoping that has changed for the better .

I have made a practice of being very active with my Dr. or should I say his physicans assistant.  I was going every 2 to 3 weeks for visits, but the last two were 4 weeks apart.  I've had 6 fills and 1 unfill, but I am at my sweet spot and doing fantastic! 

I read a tread here about bumping up the calcium so I did and I think that it maybe actually be helping!  Since it's gotten so much warmer here almost 80 which is what we see in July!  Anywho, I've bumped up the water and I now walk several times a week for about an hour to an hour and a  half.  Helps that I got new walking shoes.  I went to Foot Locker and they had me stand on that gizmo that tells them what I need!   I'm still trying to make up my mind on which dual action stationary bike I want and my next purchase will be resistance bands.  The skin is shrinking back on my tummy and I can see things I haven't seen in years!  No don't ask me what either cause I won't tell!!!  OH the girls aren't getting any smaller.  I went for a bra fitting at Younkers Sat and this lovely young women helped me!  The girls look much better and I feel much better.  AND if it wasn't for the girls I'd be wearing size 16 dresses but I have to wear 18's because the girls won't give it up!!  Size 18 pants are too big and 16's are too small so I'm sort of having a delima there!  How care if my pants are falling off! I was wearing size 24's!!!!!  OH and I was wearing size 8 1/2 - 9 wide in shoes and now my shoes that didn't fit are fitting again.  I am wearing 8 - 81/2 B's.

Life is great and I thank you all for all the support you have given me and continue to give!  Pat yourselves on the back, you all deserve it!

Kathleen

I posted something in the lap band forum that I realized today is my 6 month bandiversary.  I haven't done so bad.  Lost 44lbs in 6 months.  About 7lbs a month.  Not bad.  But, I was asked this question.  Don't hold back, tell us how you really feel about your band".  And here was my response.

"Here's what I've learned and here's what I know.  It's taken 6 fills to reach my sweet spot.  I consistantly visit my Dr mostly his PA every 3 to 4 weeks.  Up until the point that I reached my sweet spot it was truely up to me to help my band work for me.  Now my band and I work together.  My band does not just work all by itself for me.

You could easily eat around it.  You could easily eat the wrong foods.  It won't work unless you are mentally prepared to make it work.  You do have to change your eating habit's and you do have to exercise and then when it's not working you need to sit down and figure out why or what you need to do different.

It is not the easy way out!  I don't want to imply the the other forms of WLS are the easy way out, but I know without a shadow of a doubt in my mind that for me if I would have gone with RNY it would  have been and with any lucky I'd probably already be down 80+ lbs.  I know the band is a far healthier way to go.

I know that I can still enjoy most of the foods I did in the past.  I still go out for dinner, it's just more of a challenge figuring out what's the best choice to eat.  I know there is life after surgery and that there is no need or people to be grieving the loss of food or stuffing themselves for their "last meals" prior to surgery.  Something I did not feel the need to do.  It's not a diet, it's a way of life.

Thank you for asking me that!  I needed to think about it, but when it came down to it the thoughts just flew right out of my brain.  EASY!"

Kathleen

NEVERMIND!  I couldn't make it work.

I posted to someone message in the lap band forum and I thought this was a good place to also include it.  The post was pertaining to "does it get easier"?  And this was my response.  I don't know that is necessarily gets easier.  I think what  happens is things start to fall into place better.  As with you, if I go too long between a meal I forget to chew chew chew and I usually end up with something stuck and in pain.  I've had 5 fills now, and I finally at my "sweet spot".  The beauty about the "sweet spot" is know when your pleseasntly full and you stay satisfied longer.  I don't so much focus on the calories.  I found a whole new way of eatting and I never realized that ordinary food tasted so good!  I don't count calories, I do eat healthier foods.  I know what foods are bad so I just stay away from them.  Protein is my friend am I'm no longer sluggish after lunch because of consuming too many carbs.  I also know that I tend to have my worst problems with getting stuck following the first week after each fill.  It's like the learning process starts all over again as you continue to make adjustments to the fill.  You need to chew better, eat slower and make better food choices, becuase with each fill comes new changes.  The best part is that between the fills you have an opportunity to adjust to the new changes so that by the time you are ready for the next fill you are prepared to make the next set of changes.

btw, I'm just coming off a 6 week plateau.  It wasn't discouraging, oh a bit depressing sometimes, but very doable.  I spent the time getting reaquainted with myself.  Changing up the routine and figuring out what I needed to do for me to make this work for me.