meverhart

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Yay me!  On the day before Thanksgiving, I finally passed the 100 lbs lost mark!  I thought to myself that it must be some sort of cruel joke by God to help me get to that goal right before the biggest eating day of the year, but He helped me through the holiday, and I even lost another 1/2 pound!  As it stands on my last weigh-in yesterday, I only have 1 1/2 pounds to lose to get to my personal goal of losing 102 1/2 pounds, which will put me at a weight of 145, down from a highest weight of 247.4 last March (2008).  NOW, on to the hard part of toning up all of this sagging skin that I've got, so YMCA here I come!

I can't even put into words how amazing this feels.  This is without a doubt the best thing I have ever done for myself in my whole life, and I wouldn't change a thing about it.  I was able to go shopping on the day after Thanksgiving with my mom and buy things off the rack at a size 8 pants and a Medium top.  I even bought 1 pair of size 8 Calvin Klein jeans at Belk's that were labeled as a SKINNY cut!!  I thought I was going to cry right there in the middle of the store.  Someone asked me this week how I stay motivated at this point now that I'm reaching my goals in order to keep myself from getting slack and regaining some or all of the weight.  The feeling that I have right now are all the motivation that I need.  I've got more self-confidence, and I'm actually starting to see myself as NOT being the "big girl" of the group anymore.  

For anyone reading this who is just getting ready to have surgery or is still in the early process of losing weight, please let this be an encouragement to you, because it is SOOOO worth every single second of it when you get to the end like this!

I went in to see the doctor last week for my 1 year checkup, and yesterday was officially my 1 year surgiversary.  To date, I have lost 91 lbs with the Lap Band, and I could not be happier with the results!  My highest weight was 247.4.  My doctor's goal for me was 160, and I'm now below that at 155.6, so he is extremely pleased with my progress and told me that Lap Banders rarely reach goal weight in the first year.  It usually takes at least another 6 months because of the slower weight loss rate than bypass.  He called me a poster child for the Band, so I don't think I could do much better than that!  My goal is to lose about 12 more lbs to get to MY goal of 145, which is what is considered a healthy BMI and weight for my height and puts me down into the "healthy weight" category instead of "overweight", "obese", or "morbidly obese".  I haven't been at a "healthy weight" since I was in middle school, so that will be a BIG deal for me!  Hopefully I can get there by the end of the calendar year, which will be a challenge, given the holiday season, but I really think I can do it now, for the first time in my whole life!

The eating is going fine right now.  I'm eating about 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of food at each meal, except for breakfast when I usually only eat an ounce of 2% cheese to get some protein in my body and get my metabolism going first thing in the morning, but otherwise no breakfast because the band is a little tight that early in the morning.  It's the exercise that I need to work on now!  I had gotten into a good routine, but I got overwhelmed at work and the exercise was the first thing to go, so I haven't really been to the gym in over a month.  I've got my gym bag with me today and plan to get going again, so keep me in your prayers for that one, because now that I've lost all this weight, I've gotta get rid of all of the extra skin on my arms and thighs (and that dreaded belly pouch that I had even before I lost weight from having 2 kids!).  Wish me luck!

I've also had a lot of NSV's (non-surgical victories) lately, including not only being able to fit into all of the "skinny clothes" that I had before surgery, but having to give all of those clothes away because they're too big for me now too!  I've had a couple of problems, though, including still having problems with my knees, but that is chronic and is at least less since there is 90 less pounds on them each day, so I guess I'll live with that.  I have also been having a lot of pain in my tail bone when I sit down for any period of time.  I saw the nurse (my mom, who's been an RN for 35 years), and she told me that my tail bone actually points out instead of curving back in like most, and that I've lost so much weight that I just don't have enough padding back there and it's poking out whenever I sit down!  I just never noticed it before because I've been either obese or morbidly obeses since the 8th grade.  Can you believe that!  I don't think when I had this surgery I would have ever imagined that someone would have told me that my butt wasn't big enough!  Woo hoo!!  I'll take that problem! 

Anyway, thanks for reading my blog.  I wish all of you the best of luck in your weight loss journey, and I hope that you'll keep thinking about me as I plug on in mine!

Meredith

I just went to my 10 month check up this week, and my doc was very pleased that I have basically lost 80 lbs since my highest weight when I first went to see him, 71 since surgery.  I didn't even need an adjustment this time because things are going so well right where I am!  I am super excited.  I only have 22 to go to get to my goal of 145, and I really think I can get it done by the end of the calendar year, even though I know that the last 20 lbs are always the hardest to get rid of.  I am still losing about a pound a week, sometimes only 1/2 pound, but others closer to a pound and a half, so it evens out.  With 5 months left in the year, if I keep up that average, I should be right on track to reach my goal by New Year's.  What a wonderful thing that would be!  To go through New Year's Eve without having to make a resolution to lose weight would be awesome!!  I know I really have to kick up the exercise to get it done, so that will be the real challenge, especially once the holiday seasons start creeping up on me!  But, I never really believed in my hear that I could get this far, and I have, so I'm thinking I can do anything now!

Well, I am down a total of 61 pounds at 7 months out.  That means I've lost about 5 - 6 pounds in the last month, so I'm still losing an average of at least 1 pound a week, which I've become thankful for, since I know a lot of bandsters who have slowed down even more by this point.  I attribute my continuing steady losses to the fact that I've finally gotten onto an exercise schedule.  I am exercising as much as 6 days a week for an average of around 30 - 45 minutes, and I'm alternating between walking on the treadmill, doing the stationary bike, and swimming laps in the pool at the Y.  It's actually a training schedule that my husband found online for how to go from a couch potato to a triathlete in 22 weeks.  I'm not sticking to that time line because I don't plan on entering any triathalons anytime soon (so I've actually been on the 1st week for the last 2 weeks), but it's really helping to ease me into a continuous exercise schedule, and the amount of exercise and the intensity of it gradually increase at a pace I can keep up with.  I also really like it because it alternates what I do every day, so one day I'll just walk for 25 minutes, but the next day I'll swim laps and ride the bike, and then the next day I'll ride the bike and do the treadmill, so it mixes it up a lot and keeps it from getting boring.  So, I guess my testimony this month is for exercising, and hopefully by next month, I can say that I'm still taking my own advice and that I haven't let this exercise program drop by the wayside, like I did all of the other programs I tried to stick to before surgery!

Well, I hit that 6 month milestone, and I am officially down 55 pounds (and down from a size 20 to a size 14) since my surgery!  I started at 247, and my personal goal for myself is to lose 104 lbs total (which would put me down to 145, where I haven't been since middle school!), so this also means that I am over 1/2 way to my goal!  The weight loss has slowed down significantly, but I am still losing about a pound a week, which my Doc says is good for a band patient at this point.  I got my 4th fill last week, so I now have 5.25 cc's in a 10 cc band.  I felt a little bit of restriction with my last fill, but I am definitely feeling it more with this one.  I am having to go back to the original rules of surgery where I have to eat slower and chew better than I have been lately, but if it keeps me losing weight, I'll do whatever I need to!  I don't know if this is my 'sweet spot' yet, but we'll see.  Even though the weight loss has slowed down over the last couple of months, I have still continued to be encouraged by NSV's like being able to comfortably cross my legs, fitting into clothes and sizes that I haven't been in since before I had children over 10 years ago, and being able to climb stairs without needing a guard rail or a hand from someone to help me.  I can tell that I'm getting healthier, and my kids are noticing that I'm more active and able to do a lot more with them, and that makes me feel great.  Losing weight has rubbed off on my DH as well because he's already lost 25 lbs himself!  One man at church yesterday came up to us and said "There's the incredibly shrinking couple!" and that was the best thing I could have ever heard!  I know that I can do this now, and if you're reading this, I know you can too, so don't get discouraged and keep running towards the goal of better health and a better you!

OMG!!  I can't believe it!!  I knew that I was having this surgery to lose the weight, but deep down I think I couldn't allow myself to think about actually losing this much!  I'm in ONEDERLAND!  I haven't seen a weight starting with a 1 on my scale in years and years!  I was stuck right at 201 for over a week, and I think it's because my scale just didn't know how to bring up a number that didn't start with a 2!!  But, now I've been under 200 for almost a week, so I know it's gonna stick, and I have promised myself to NEVER let myself go back over that mark EVER again!  I still have a long way to go.  I won't be at the halfway point of what I want to lose for another few pounds, but just seeing a number starting with a 1 is a huge motivation to keep going, because it helps me realize how far I've come already.  This surgery is the best thing that I've done for myself in my whole life, and I will never regret it!  To anyone who is just having surgery and is maybe struggling a bit, just keep going!  When you hit those milestones like getting to your halfway point or making it into onederland, you know that it has all been worth it!

Meredith

Today I am 4 months out of surgery and 43 pounds lighter.  I have gone from a size 20 to a size 16 (in most things, anyway!), and my knees are feeling a lot better, so I'm really happy with that, but I still have a long way to go and I'm a little worried because I have already slowed down a lot with the weight loss.  I have had 2 fills so far, but I don't think I've got good restriction yet and I'm only losing about 1 pound a week, which I am told is good for someone 4 months out with a band, but it's still discouraging, knowing that I still have about 60 pounds left to lose.  If anyone has any suggestions on how to kick start the weight loss again at this point, I would greatly appreciate it.  I just put in a call to the nutritionist to set up an appointment with her to make sure I'm on track with the eating, so hopefully that will help!