Ten Weeks and a day!

I'm a day late to my blog this week with no excuse other than I'm getting ready to roll on out to sugar sands and celebrate life week starting tomorrow!

I had a doctor's appointment last week for what was to be my third fill.  Weighed in, lost 8 pounds since two weeks earlier for my previous fill, saw the doc for five minutes and he said he was super happy with where I was. Sweet!  No fill for me!  He asked several questions about what I'd been eating and what was happening with restriction etc., and said that I was losing "tremendously", and that I was a "model patient for the lap band!" YAY me!  I have been feeling the exact same things, but it's wonderful when your doctor concurs!

I'm down somewhere between 40 and 45 pounds! I. Am. Thrilled!!
I'm guessing I won't have much scale access over the next eleven days while I'm on vacation, so it should be interesting to see how well I do while I'm gone.  I still have really good restriction right now, so my band will be working it's magic for me and hopefully I won't have to think about it much.  I'll also be taking a vacation from the gym ~ but I'm hoping that walking the sandy beaches will partially make up for that.

On a mostly unrelated note:  Many of you know that I have a disease called Sarcoidosis.  I am under several doctor's care because of that disease, and am being watched like a hawk because of the medications that I'm taking to keep the disease at bay.  I was recently taken off of those medications until my check up in August, and have been doing extremely well, which I feel is due in some part to my weight loss.  I feel amazing, and for the first time ever I am actually looking forward to my doctor's appointments in Denver this coming August.  The weight loss won't cure the disease, I know that.  But it's certainly helping with many of the symptoms of the disease, and to me that makes the entire ordeal beyond worth going through.

But I digress.. This disease has killed four people that I have had the pleasure of getting to know over the past three years, and just yesterday I learned of the death of another Sarkie brother.  I just wanted to ask you to please send up a prayer, if you pray, for the family of my friend.  Sarcoidosis doesn't get the press that cancer gets, so it's a misunderstood and mysterious disease and sometimes the only way to spread awareness is to talk about it.  So I'm talking.  Sarcoidosis is ugly, and scary, and I hate that it has taken another friend from me.

Okay.. I will try to check in from the beach!! If I don't, I'll catch you all when I get back! Thanks for the support, the prayers, and as always thanks for stopping by!

Life Rocks!

*****

It's been 9 weeks since my surgery!  So many positive changes have taken place in my life in those short nine weeks and life is gooood!

In two days I will have my third fill.  I feel like I'm in a fairly good place right now with eating.. but I'm not opposed to having a little more restriction and letting this band do it's thing!  After this next fill I should be pretty tight when I am at the beach the following week!  I think that will be a very good thing! 

I weighed in at the gym this morning.  I had set a goal three weeks ago to lose ten pounds this month, and at weigh-in I was down 8!  I still have a week to drop those 2 pounds, and I'm pretty sure I will do it.  Because I haven't really known exactly what to expect as far as weight loss, that goal was the first and only concrete one I've set for myself so far. It feels awesome to be on track to meet it~ and now I'm thinking that this is the best way for me to navigate my way through this journey.. very small goals and one at a time.

I had a chance to shop a little bit at TJ Maxx on Saturday.  I found a pair of Levis that were sooo cute!  I looked them over.. stuck them in my cart.. pulled them out.. looked them over again, and said "what the heck, I'll try them on"  They were a junior size 15.  I swore I wasn't going to buy anything new for quite awhile... knowing that I'd keep losing weight and inches, and they would be too big in time.  But gosh they were cute.. and they were cheap.  So... I tried them on, and they fit!  Oh. My. GOD!  I had to have them.  So I bought them along with a couple of scarf/cover-up thingies that I can wear over my swimsuit at the beach.   I wore the jeans to work today because... well, duh.. they're new, and I've gotta say it.. they look awesome!   I hadn't even thought about how much fun it was going to be to slowly melt away.  So let me say it now.. if you're thinking about having surgery, or are in the very first few weeks and you haven't thought about that either.. just know ~  it's SO MUCH FUN!!  And I know it's going to just keep getting better!

I'm enjoying having enough energy to play with my grand kids!  We had so much fun in the mountains at a Go Kart park over the weekend.  Losing weight has given me energy and along with it more desire to play!  I'm starting to remember how much fun being active can be.  My health played a huge part (especially in the past 2 years) in me not being able to do as much as I used to.  I've always loved to dance, but when you feel like crap it's hard to remember how much fun that is. Losing weight has already had a pretty big effect on my health, and I feel so good these days that I'm almost afraid to say it out loud!

Leaving for my beach trip in 9 days and yep, I'll say it again ~ Life is GOOD! 
Thanks for stopping by!

2 months already!

Time flies when you're having fun they say! It's true! I have to say that this lap band journey has been a whole lot of fun so far.  It's exciting to wake up in the morning and know that I probably weigh a little less than I did the day before.  It's even more exciting to get dressed every day and spend a few  minutes looking at the way my choice of clothes fit me differently than the last time I put them on!  It wasn't all that long ago when I had the exact opposite problem.  It was very depressing to get dressed each day and try not to think about the fact that my choice of clothing that day looked like crap because it was too tight, or didn't fit at all.  I am so very grateful to watch the pendulum swinging the other way now.  I look forward to every change, every pound lost, every piece of clothing tossed in the "too big" pile, and every comment about the way I look.  I feel SO good! 

I realized yesterday that I actually have a lap!  Ridiculous you say?  Well let me tell you, for a very long time I didn't even realize that there was a nice long space between my knees and my gut when I sat in a chair!  It's true!  But it's there, and I can see it and I like it! My stomach is definitely shrinking.  All of my shirts show it, and now that I can see it going away I am more motivated than ever to keep working on it at the gym.  Not so very long ago my stomach and my "girls" seemed to be reaching for some invisible finish line that was out in front of me somewhere. For the past few years they were tied it seems.. I bet I could have stuck a yard stick in front of me and they would have both touched it evenly!! But today I can happily say the gut has given up the race and retreated! Yeee Haww! 

Still feeling good restriction from my last fill.. maybe a little less than last week, and I'm sure with the next fill I will be searching for food that keeps me very honest in my diet.  For now I can still eat what I want albeit very slowly.  I'm eating less than ever, but still.. carbs just aren't a great thing to put in my body and I know it. Another fill at this point would keep me from eating bread in any form I believe.  I love and hate that all at the same time! 

I'm going shopping this weekend for a swimsuit coverup that I can take to the beach with me.   I should probably try on my swimming suit before I go now that I think about it.. I can't say I won't grin from ear to ear if it doesn't fit and I have to buy a new one!  Two weeks from tomorrow and I'm Gulf Shores bound!  I'm not worried in the least about overeating on vacation.. I was a month ago, but today I feel like I have a pretty solid handle on living with this band.  It's the perfect tool for me and I'm having so much fun losing weight that I don't want to screw it up!

I'm not hungry between meals at all and this is a miracle!  This doesn't mean that I don't want to snack if there is something right in front of me... but I don't walk around feeling hungry AT ALL.  I love that!  And as far as that snacking goes.. It's pretty easy to distract myself most of the time.  If I crave something sweet I have a dum-dum sucker.  Less than 20 calories, and it does the trick when I can't just walk away.  But for the most part it truly isn't even an issue.  I can't stand artificial sweeteners, so eating something sugar free isn't even an option for me.  I'd rather starve.. seriously. 

Huge thanks to my friend Lisa for handing down some jeans that fit!  What a treat!  You saved me girlie!


8 weeks.. happy... less fat... more sass... loving life!
Thanks for stopping by!

Seven Weeks Into My Lap Band Life!

Seven weeks and one day... and I have ZERO regrets about making the decision to get my lap band! 
I have been faithful about going to the gym and I'm already starting to see the payoff.  Not in pounds on the scale mind you, but in the way I feel, and the way I look.  I've lost a few pounds too, but I've decided that isn't nearly as much fun as losing these inches!  My lap band and Curves work quite well together, and I'm so excited about that! :)

I had fill number 2 yesterday.  I was quite pleasantly surprised that it was relatively painless compared to my first one.  I was prepared to be far more brave this week.. I wasn't about to be called a pansy now!  But it turns out that it wasn't necessary at all.  About the only thing I felt was the quick stick of the needle. I asked Nurse Dot why it was so much better this time and she said "Because you're losing weight, and next time, it will be even better!"  Apparently as the fat disappears from around the port it can do a better job of embedding.  I just LOVE disappearing fat!

  I have a good bit of restriction right now from the fill.  (Restriction, for those of you unfamiliar with lapband speak  is basically the ability to feel when you are eating too fast, or too much at a time.  There is definite tightness and sometimes pain associated with restriction.  The opening between the pouch that fills as you eat, and the rest of your stomach is smaller with each fill, and it's definitely possible to get too much restriction.. to the point that you truly can't eat much of anything without literally getting sick.  The trick is to find the "sweet spot", and that's what we're looking for.) I will go back in two weeks for fill number three... exactly one week before I leave for the beach.  I was pretty happy about that.  I look forward to cooking and eating at the beach with my girls, but knowing I have my band as a "guardian" to keep me from over-doing it is sweet peace of mind!

Yesterday three people made comments to me about my weight loss.  Exciting stuff to me.. it's fun to know that other people see it and it's not just me motivating myself with some wishful thinking!  Hearing it from other people is super motivating to me and I love it!  I need to remember that wearing clothes that allow people to actually see a change is helpful..(duh)... I've been hiding my body in huge sweatshirts  for so long that I actually got used to wearing them even in the summer sometimes.  I still find myself wanting to hide my stomach and arms.. even though both are shrinking.. and I have to say that this is one of the things I look forward to the most ~ not hiding anymore.  I'm still a sweatshirt loving girl.. probably always will be, but wearing them to hide behind and wearing them because I'm chilly shall be two very different things!

I have to admit here.. I am a little worried that "my other butt" is going to be a lot flatter than it used to be!  I don't know why I think that.. just a feeling.  It may well just be an unfounded fear. But still, I'm working out each day with that in mind.  If My Other Butt is FLAT I might scream.  Just so you know.  It didn't used to be flat.  It used to be *rockin!* If i do say so myself.. but the "girls" used to be perky and a lot smaller too...

I promise not to be obsessed about it though.. so what if I have to wear a butt pusher upper...

Thanks for stopping by!