Maggie E.

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I really need to take some more photos. Had my last band adjustment in early May (prev one was 14 months before).. I had been maintaining for 5 - 6 months but had not been losing. Well, have started losing again.. actually due to a severe bout with bronchitus and some problems with the liquid medicines I have to take causing me to lose my appetite.. I have lost faster than I should be.. but hopefully that will settle down soon. This bronchitus is sure hard to kick though!  Can get into my size 12's .. even bought a pair of size 12 shorts that fits really good! My daughter and I are supposed to go camping for Memorial day weekend with a group of families from our church.. I sure hope I feel good enough to go. My daughter actually picked going on this camping trip over going to her senior prom!! So we will go... bronchitus and all! LOL! Will try to take some more pics and upload them.. people at work say they can tell I've lost more weight. Aside from some of my clothes being a tad looser though, I really can't tell .. my 14's fit great or are a bit loose.. my 12's fit pretty good although there are a pair or two that still have a bit of belly hanging over when they are buttoned up.. not as bad now though. If I could fit into my 12's with no belly hang over then I would be perfectly happy... I don't want to look starved or be a stick.. just want to be a healthy weight that I can maintain and will let me be active and go camping and hiking and biking. My regular doctor says between 150 and 160 but not lower.. so with a goal of 150.. I am 10 lbs away now! Hurrah!

Haven't posted in quite a while..  went from Nov til April and maintained, but was not able to lose any more. So.. finally decided to go for what will probably be my last band adjustment (prev band adjustment was 16 months before)... and it did help. In last month, I have dropped from about 173 to 166. That is pretty good after going for 6 months with out losing any! Of course, what did make me feel good was that during that 6 months when I wasn't losing, I wasn't gaining any back either,  So that gave me some confidence that I will be able to keep off the weight I have lost.  Anyway, am going to Connecticut to see my little sister in June.. she had lap band in January and has been going really good.. we have plans to go shopping for new clothes! LOL! Seriously, I haven't been up to Connecticut in 17+ years so am really looking forward to going! None of my relatives up there have seen me in forever.. they are going to be so suprised!

I know it sounds like I am getting awfully vain.. but I looked in the mirror this morning and thought " I look darn good today".... that is sooooo nice... I found a store whose clothes I really like at the outlet mall near me and they had some terrific deals at 70% off.. and now that I can get back into size 14's.. I found quite a few really great buys. So I was very excited and wore one of my new outfits.. and vain or not.. I really did look pretty darn good! LOL!

  I am back in a size 14!! Finally.. feels great!

I am so excited!! I went on my first camping trip in years... I used to go camping a lot when my kids were little. My ex husband and I did everything from tent camping, to a pop up to a big fifth wheel trailer and I really love camping. But after the divorce.. I didn't think I could handle a trailer myself. And I'm 52, have arthritus. etc etc.... I also used to be very much morbidly obese and had knee problems that had me in a wheelchair full time. 
 
My life is so different now.. of course I still have arthrtus.. but after losing over a 100 lbs it's not a trouble some as it used to be. I was able to get knee surgery and can walk now and I have a lot more energy than a year ago when I got my band.
 
So one thing I decided to do for myself was to do something  I loved.. (my reward to myself for doing so good with the weight loss and getting my health back!!).. and I bought a very small used travel trailer. It is really only big enough for 1 or 2 people, but I can haul it with my trooper and figured it would work for me. 
 
This past weekend I went on my first camping trip in it..I am so proud!! I got it hooked up by myself (had to get in and out of truck a lot to make sure I was lined up when I was trying to hitch it up.. but I did it!!), I got it set up at the campsite all by myself and when it was time to go I got it ready to go, hooked it up again.. even emptied the tanks at the dump station all by myself!! I had a wonderful time.. and my golden retriever went along and he had a wonderful time too!   
 
A year ago I would not have ever thought I'd go camping again! I had such a great time!

I read an article on Hubarlow's blog about drinking soda and caffeine and the more I think about it the more I think that the explanations in that article he posted there make sense. 
 
First of all, when I got my lap band, I was of course told not to drink soda or caffeine.. I didn't really understand 'why' but I followed directions. Eventually I could not live without my morning coffee and added it back to my daily regime.. but only one cup and I stopped buying soda for the house completely. I  buy cases of water instead and the kids can drink that or get soda's when they go out.. but I don't keep it at the house.
 
But in thinking about my own past.. I used to drink a LOT of soda. All diet soda of course (lot of good that does when you are eating a McDonald's double quarter pounder with cheese! LOL!).. I drank several cans a day, and when I went out I would buy the largest size they had (and sometimes drink it all and then refill it again). For years I have drank diet soda instead of water.. and of course since it was 'diet' I thought it was harmless. 
 
Once when I did weight watchers (a long, long time ago).. I noticed that when I was losing weight and staying on program.. I was drinking less soda. Was not a conscious thing.. but I'd go to subway or something and get a meal and eat my sandwhich and only take a few sips of the soda. I just chalked it up to a weird thing.. I wasn't deliberately trying to not drink soda, just noticed I didn't seem to be drinking as much of it with my meals. 
 
Well, for the past year I've done a really good job staying away from soda. There were one or two times when we went out and I got a small diet soda.. (we're talking like once every 4 months or something) and I noticed the same thing. I only seem to drink a few sips of it and then end up tossing the rest away. I just don't seem to drink much of it anymore. But I can drink a whole bottle of water without even blinking! LOL! 
 
I think.. my personal opinion.. that drinking soda is basically bad regardless if you have lap band or not. I think that for years, I drank so much soda .. and little or no water.. the carbonation might very well have played a role in enlarging the size of my stomach and might have been related to my overeating. And just in thinking about my family and my ex husband's family.. they were all overweight.. with the exception of one or two on each side. And coincidentally.. the ones that were NOT overweight.. were not big soda drinkers. One of my daughters has never had a weight problem.. she seems to naturally make good choices for food. She likes fruits and vegetables, peferrs plain food instead of salty or highly seasoned food.. and she rarely if ever drinks soda or caffeine. She has never had a weight problem .. (by the way she is adopted.. it's pretty obvious she didn't get my Italian genes! LOL!).. 
 
So it makes sense that the carbonation could cause your stomach size to increase.  As for the caffeine .. that is hard for me to do completely without.. but I am going to try to switch to herbal tea. I DO know that calcium is important in weight loss. Back to my weight watchers experience from years and years ago.. I did notice that when I ate lo fat yogurt for breakfast every day I lost better on those weeks than the weeks when I ate oatmeal for breakfast. Both were the same in points.. but I just lost better when I had more calcium in my diet. I also remember reading an article about the importance of calcium to weight loss in a magazine many years ago. (just forgot about it until I read Hubarlow's blog).,
 
Anyway.. I think it makes a lot of sense... Am going to keep away from sodas completely (even those rare occasions when I might order one) and drink water or lemonade or something instead. At home I have been buying those crystal light packets and if I get tired of plain water I put one of those in the water bottle or vita splash.  Just need to cut out the caffeine now... wish me luck!!
 
Last week.. only lost about 0.2 lbs... well, it is still going down and not up.. not quite ready for another adjustment yet. Have been under a LOT of stress.. (have a daughter with mental illness).. so just keeping at same weight is really not that bad given the circumstances..

Seems like it is getting harder and harder to lose.. over last month I have only lost about 2 or 3 lbs.. my total now is 105 lbs. But.. I have a 17 year old that has a mental illness and that has been extremely stessful. She is fixing to go into a residential treatment program and will be there for a year. I am very hopeful that will help her a lot.  So I'm not sure how much of the 'slowdown' in my weight loss is due to stress...

It is almost a year since my lap band surgery.. I have lost just over 100 lbs and have about 38 lbs to go...