Kathy S.

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I was at 188.5 yesterday morning and at 188.0 this morning.  It feels good to be losing again.  I've made good food choices this week and have had several good workouts.

This weekend I'm going to my friend Judy's cabin in WV to spend a couple of days with her over Fall Break.  Wednesday after I get home, I'll have my next fill.  I think I'm ready for another tweak to get better restriction.  My last fill was on August 13; the one before that was in March.  I've done pretty well with the degree of restriction I've had, but I'm ready for a bit more.

Saturday, Sunday, and today have been great days for me.  I've exercised well, and I've made exceptionally good food choices.  I had a bout of constipation late last week and decided I need to add more fiber (and more fruits and vegetables) into my diet, so I've been very conscious of those kinds of choices.  I also am drinking even more water then before.  I've been faithful in geting at least 64 ounces a day, but I'm aiming toward 80-100 a day now.  That's 4 or 5 20-ounce bottles instead of 3 or 4 that I've been drinking.  In fact, I've drunk one bottle before even getting ready the past 2 mornings, and that has made a difference in how easily I've gotten in the rest of my fluids.

I've also decided to add different kinds of snacks into my daily diet.  Yesterday and today, I  had 10 almonds and some apple slices instead of my usual string cheese and 100-calorie sun chips.   Tomorrow I'll have a box of raisins with my string cheese or some almonds and mandarin oranges.   If I can get 3 servings of fruit throughout the day in addition to whatever veggies I have with my dinner, that will help with my fiber needs.  I'm also chewing 2 fiber tablets during the day--one in the morning when I take my chewable vitamin and one mid-day or in the evening. That episode last week was an important wake-up call for me.  I'd gotten lazy in my eating habits, and I needed to be more proactive in my choices.  I want to lose weight, but I also want to be healthier.  And I want to stay healthier.  So that really does require changed habits, not just different occasional choices.

We'll see if the scale has moved tomorrow morning.  I'm ready to start losing again!  But I also need a fill--no doubt.  I am able to eat too much, and I need my band to work with me to control that.  The band will work for me.  I am successful, and I'm going to continue to be successful.  I'll call the clinic tomorrow and make an appointment for a fill.

I've been floating up and down to and from 189.5 for the past few weeks, and I'm tired of it.  I've exercised nearly every day this past week and have been more careful with my food choices the past few days because I'M READY TO LOSE!  I suspect that I need a fill because some evenings I'm able to eat as much as I did pre-surgery.  I just don't want to get too full and need an un-fill.  But I think I'll call tomorrow and see if I can get an appointment in the next few weeks.

Before that, though, I'm going to watch every single bite I eat, and I'm going to make the best choices.  I really want to get below that 189.5 mark.  It's been too long since I've lost.

I've been working in the spare bedroom over the past few weeks, trying to sort through all of the clothes I have in the closet and in piles and boxes.  Today I finally got through the last of the clothes and have 4 boxfulls of clothes to get rid of!  I've also found an assortment of clothes in various sizes from 14-18.  I can wear the 18s and some of the 16s, but I'm nowhere near ready for the 14s yet.  Still, I can tell a big difference in my size, and I'm amazed when I hold up the 22s-24s and see how big they are.  

I also went through the laundry room today and sorted the clothes that were hanging in there.  I can't believe how many items I have that I can't wear any more!  As I box things up, I have kind of a strange feeling.  I've done this so many times before: boxed up the large sizes as I've undergrown them--only to re-gain the weight and have to buy replacement clothes in the same sizes I got rid of.  This time, I know it's going to be different, and that feels good.  I'm not goofy or giddy about it; I just have a very settled, content feeling.  This time is the last time I'll have to lose this weight.  The rest of my life will be healthier because of this band.  I've said and done all of this before, but this time it's absolutely true.

I was down to 189.5 this morning!  I weighed twice to see if the scale read the same weight more than once, and it did.  But I weighed later in the morning and was at 190.0.  Still, I like being in the 180s, so that's the weight I'm claiming.

Jason and I overslept this morning, so I didn't get to do my treadmill workout.  I should have done it this evening while Jason was at Taekwondo class, but I spent the entire time on the phone with Mother and then Connie. Whew.

I have a difficult week this week with a lot of meetings and other obligations.  In fact, Friday I have to chair a systemwide committee meeting for the first time.  I've never had that level of responsibility before, so I'm a bit intimidated by it.  I know it'll be okay; I just feel pretty anxious about it.  

I'm going to need to eat wisely and exercise plenty this week to keep my body and spirit in good shape.

I was at 191.5 again this morning, so I think I'm getting ready to lose again.  My pattern has been that I hit a new low, float up from it for several days, finally hit it again, and then--finally--lose again.  I'm SO ready to get into the 180s.

I'm at the lowest weight I've been at in several years now.  In 2004, I was in a pilot study group that drank 3 protein shakes (we didn't know if we had soy or milk protein), all the fruits and vegetables we wanted (at least 5 servings), and 1 packaged, microwaveable entree per day.  I lost 30 pounds over the 15 weeks of the study and ended up at 190.  Using Weight Watchers, I had gotten as low as 170 in 2000.  I'm looking forward to getting below both of those figures.  My first goal is below 190.  Then I'll aim toward below 170.  I know I can do it.

BTW, Jason was able to get the treadmill working, so I used it today for 40 minutes.  It felt good to get my heart rate up and know I got a good workout.  Burning an additional 3000-4000 calories a week ought to help the weightloss. 

Well, it's another Saturday, and I'm holding steady at 191.5.  I had hoped I'd drop a pound or more in the past week, but, alas, no such luck.  But I haven't gained, and I think by next week, I'll lose something.

My treadmill has been out of commission for the last month, but I hope to get it up and running (what a great pun) today.  I found an inexpensive motor on ebay and received it today.  Jason said he would work on it after he ate lunch--but that was before he discovered that Independence Day was on TV.  It's almost over, so maybe he'll give me a few minutes then and get my treadmill operating again.  I've been walking Glo a couple of mornings each week, but that's just not the same.  According to my Polar heart monitor, I almost never get my heart rate up to level by just walking the dog.  In fact, on the treadmill, I often can get my heart rate to stay where it should be only by walking really fast AND lifting weights at the same time.  So since the treadmill died, I haven't had much of a workout.  It would sure be nice to be able to spend an hour getting a good workout tomorrow morning!

By the way, I've started a blog at http://kcswango.blogspot.com.  It's just a place for me to record some reflections, none of which yet are about my weight loss.  But it's there if anyone wants to read it.

FINALLY!  I was at 191.5 this morning.  I've floated up and down from 193 for the past several weeks and was SO ready to see the scale move.  Granted, I've eaten more cookies than I should have, but oatmeal seems to have been calling my name recently, and I tend to believe that cravings result from the body's actual needs.  So I try to listen and give my body what it asks for--not to an extreme and not instead of its absolute needs for protein, fruits, and vegetables.  I've been eating very well, very healthfully, but I've also been eating those darned cookies.

I bought some Centrum Silver chewable vitamins several weeks ago and have taken them faithfully ever since.  I think I've missed only 1 day!  That's a first for me.  I've never been able to sustain that habit, mostly because vitamins have tended to make me nauseated.  But these taste pretty good and don't upset my stomach, so I've been taking them.  I keep them on the bathroom counter and grab one on my way out in the mornings.  I also have gone through a box of Spring Valley calcium chews already and have bought a box of Viativ chews (because they were out of Spring Valley, which were tasty and less expensive than Viactiv).  I feel as if I'm taking pretty good care of myself these days.

My treadmill motor burned out several weeks ago (I just realized I may have posted about all of this already since everything I've commented on has been going on for "several weeks"), so I've not been getting the regular exercise I was used to.  Instead, I've been walking Glo several mornings a week and cleaning the house more regularly.  I keep my exercise monitor on for all of that so I can see what my heart rate is and how many calories I've burned.  And this morning after walking the dog, I spent 10 minutes on the exercise bike and a few minutes on the exercise ball.  But I miss my treadmill.  I'm going to order the parts today.  Maybe they'll come in this week, Jason can repair it over the weekend, and I'll be back into my routine by the first of next week.

BTW, I got the word Friday that I've been cast in the next production of the college's theater department!  I'll be playing Mother in The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, which will run November 15-17.  I marked my lines last night and started analyzing my character.  This will be fun! 

Well, I had my 9th fill today, and I have the same amount of fill I had with my 7th fill.  This was the first time they had problems accessing my port--not bad problems: it just took forever to hit the spot and draw out the fill.  That's when I learned i had only 3.5 cc's in it.  They added .1 cc, so now I'm at 3.6...again.

I weighed in at 196.5, so I'm officially down 48.5 from my high.  I'm 3 days away from my 1-year bandiversary, and I'm ready to get super-serious again.  I want to drop some pounds.  Classes start a week from today, so I'll be taking my lunch every day and will have a great opportunity to really watch what I eat.  I'll also be able to exercise several mornings a week before heading to school.

I went 5 months with that fill, so I know what restriction is.  I'm looking forward to having good restriction again and losing 2 pounds a week for awhile.

I was at 193.0 this morning.  It's slow progress, but it is progress!  I also have been under 40% body fat the last few times I've measured and this morning was at 39.0%.  (The clinic's office measurement is always higher, but I use the same scale at home every week and know the percentage is dropping.)

A week from tomorrow (August 16) is my 1-year anniversary, so I'll measure myself and get a total of inches lost.  Today is 51 weeks since my surgery, and I'm down 52 pounds.