Kathy S.

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

I was at 203 this morning.  That's a loss of 42 from my high about a year ago and a loss of 37 since my surgery on August 16 (8 and a half months ago).  I know I'll go up again over the next few days, but I also know that I'll hit this low again and move beyond it soon.  That 8th fill (3.8 in my 4-cc band) on March 12 finally gave me restriction.  I'm content with a small amount of food, and when I eat correctly--solid protein first, then veggies and carbs--I'm content/full for 3-4 hours.   

One way I can continue to judge my restriction is by ordering a 3-piece McDonald's Chicken Selects.  Before I was restricted, I could very easily eat all 3 pieces.  That filled me up and I was full for several hours, but I was eating quite a bit to get that way.  Now I can eat only 1 piece.  And I still stay full for hours afterwards.  

I know for most people it takes several fills to get restriction.  It took me 8.  But once restriction is attained, the band works.  I understood the theory behind it and believed in it.  But now I've experienced it, and it's working.

I have a long way to go, but I'm making progress!

I decided recently to start drinking homemade protein shakes for breakfast.  I've drunk CarbAdvantage shakes for many mornings over the past weeks but wanted more variety.  So I bought a Magic Bullet and some Body Fortress Chocolate powder.  I had my first shake this morning, and it was pretty good.  I got some powdered peanut butter recently (PB2), and I had been using it with Nestle's Carb Select and skim milk, but this morning I bumped up the protein with the Body Fortress powder.  I feel as if the extra protein made a difference for me because I wasn't able to eat lunch until noon, and I wasn't starving--even though I had had my shake at 7:30.

I also bought some new slacks yesterday--and they were size 12-14.  A year ago, I was in size 20-22.   I also was at 204.5 this morning.  Onederland, here I come!

Well, my checkup went well today, and the NP and I decided NOT to add any fill to my 3.8 cc's because I have lost 8 pounds in the last 6 weeks.  My official weight was 207, down from 215 on March 12.  She was VERY pleased with the results and asked that I keep doing what I've been doing.

I made an appointment for 6 weeks from today, June 4, so we'll see how things look then.  If I can continue to lose at this pace, I'll be happy.  Of course, I had hoped to be under 200 by the end of the semster, which is 13 days away.  I'm not likely to make it.  Still, I've lost 38 pounds, I feel great, my clothes are falling off of me, and I have more energy than I've had in years.  Who can complain about any of that??

I was at 205 this morning, so I'm anxious to see how I do tomorrow at the doctor's office.  I weighed 215 at my last weigh-in 6 weeks ago.  My losses up til then had been pretty sporadic, but I didn't have much restriction; now that I do have good restriction, my losses have been regular, and I like that!  The band is doing what it's supposed to do!

I was down to 206.5 this morning--a new low.  So what I'm doing is paying off.

I've been paying closer attention to my band over the last week, and I've discovered that I'm content with very little food.  I tend to still think I need to clean my plate, so I often try to eat all of what I have if it's already left over--or half of it if it's the first time.  I know it's okay to throw away the food--that eating it when I don't need it is wasting it--but it's hard for me to do that up front.  So I bring home a LOT of leftovers and then try to finish them off in a second meal.  Well, over the last week I've allowed myself to eat only as much as I needed from those leftovers, and many times I didn't eat even half of what I had.  Sometimes only 5-6 bites of protein has been enough to give me a bit of a full feeling in my chest.  So I've listened and stopped eating the protein.  I would then allow myself a few bites of veggies or fruits and carbs, but I ended up eating MUCH less than I had been eating.  I think I had just been stuffing my pouch, and I'm surprised I didn't have a backlash from it.

I'm scheduled for a fill Monday, 4/23, but I don't know if I need one or not.  At least I'll get to weigh at the clinic and be able to compare my official weight to what it was 6 weeks ago.  I've really lost over that time!

Well, it's been 8 months since my surgery, and I'm down to 207 (although the scale has been moving up and down for the past 10 days--I'm still counting that lowest weight as my weight!).

As I reflect on the time, I feel that it has been a positive experience.  Although my weight loss has been slow, I haven't felt deprived.  I can eat almost anything I want, and I rarely get hungry except for at meal times.  Finally having restriction has been wonderful.  It took 7 months to get to this point, and my restriction has changed in the past week or so, but I still am limited in how much I can eat.  And that means the band is doing its job.  That feels good.  I made the right choice for the way I live.

Now that I'm losing and becoming more active, Jason has decided to also start exercising.  He joined a Taekwando club last week and is really enjoying his sessions.  He's going 3 times a week for an hour each time, and he likes the workout.  I'm proud of him for taking action.  He probably weighs more now than he ever has, and he had been becoming more and more inactive over the last year.  So I'm glad to see him take the initiative to do something for himself.  This gets him out by himself several evenings a week--away from homework and grading and the TV.  

In 4 months, I'll have a year behind me.  How much will I have lost by then??

For the past few days, I've begun to feel as if my restriction is fading.  I still have good restriction throughout the days, but at dinnertime I've been able to eat much more than before.  I can't imagine that I'm losing restriction this soon, but maybe I am.  It's been almost 5 weeks since my last fill, so I guess I could be ready for another fill.  But, good grief--I have 3.8 cc's in my band already!  I'm scheduled for another fill in 9 days, but I had been hoping I wouldn't need one then.  Maybe I need a little tweak.

I'll see how the next week goes.

I was at 207 this morning!

It's good to be losing again regularly.  My restriction level is good, and I'm exercising several times a week.  Usually my workouts burn between 600 and 1000 calories.  I've also been using fitday.com to track my calories, and I average between 1000 and 1200 most days.

I really would like to hit 199 by the end of the semester in 6 weeks.  I had my surgery 5 days before the first day of classes last fall, and if I lose 8 more pounds by May 4, I will have lost 41 pounds during the school year.  May 16 will be my 9-month bandiversary, so I will be in onederland by then for sure.

I don't feel at all deprived because I eat whatever I want.  I'm just limited in volume, and I choose to eat (generally) small servings of sweets.  The band is a great tool, and I'm thankful to have it!

I was at 208.5 this morning!  That's progress.  I've floated around 210 for several weeks, so it feels good to finally see the scale move.

I'm ready to hit onederland!

I'm feeling better today, and I'm thankful for that.  This PBing episode was the first time I'd had problems 2 days in a row, and that was a bit disturbing.  I didn't think I was too restricted, and I'm sure of that as of today.  I just think I pushed it by eating the wrong textures of foods (and probably took too large of bites--one of my ongoing bad habits).

Saturday's PB was caused by eating a doughnut. My brother was in from the Chicago area, and I bought a dozen Spalding's doughnuts, a family favorite.  I had had one earlier in the day and wanted a second one early afternoon.  But it just didn't sit right and I felt discomfort almost immediately.  Eventually, I decided to go to the bathroom and cough.  Sure enough, it came up, and I felt better.  I went back twice more and coughed up more both times.

Sunday's PB was caused by eating a mixture of fried eggs and hash browns.  We were at Waffle House, and I started with a slice of bacon, which was really good and didn 't cause any problems.  I mixed my eggs and hash browns, as I usually do, and took a few bites of the mixture.  I started feeling weird and began to think I might be stuck.  After a few mildly-uncomfortable minutes, I decided I'd go to the bathroom and see if the food wanted to come back up.  Sure enough, it did.  I coughed pretty violently, and quite a bit of the egg-potatoes mixture came up.    

A few hours later, I drank a protein drink, and I had cottage cheese and peaches for dinner.  This morning, I had a protein drink for breakfast, and for lunch I had leftover grilled chicken and fettucine, and that went down fine.  So if I continue to be careful, I should be okay.  I'm scheduled for another fill 3 weeks from today.  I don't expect to need a fill, but it'll be interesting to see how much weight I've lost since my last one.