HOLY CRAP!!!!
I just had to post these like this
I hope no one is offended, but this blog IS called MY OTHER BUTT!! 

The one on the left was taken on April 11, 2011... 7 months ago.
The one on the right was taken this morning ~ November 10th, 2011. 

I'm almost embarrassed to post the original... but a picture says 1000 words eh?!

Reflections

I love photo reflections.. I love taking photos of reflections is more like it.  I didn't take the above photo, but when I saw it, it reminded me of something that happened the other day, something that's been happening quite a bit lately, and it made me smile. 

I caught my reflection in a window two days ago, and I was so surprised.  I looked AWESOME!  Now, for whatever reason, it's so different for me catching my reflection by chance than it is looking in the mirror every day.  Don't get me wrong, when I look in the mirror now I can definitely see changes in myself.  I know I'm not physically the same person that I was 7 months ago, but I don't think I see myself honestly, because I do mostly see a bigger person than I think I am now.  But my reflections that I catch in windows, doors or unexpected mirrors still keep surprising me!!  More than once I truly didn't even realize it was me I was looking at.. well, at least it didn't register that it was me if that makes any sense at all!

I went to see my surgeon today for my 7 month check up.  I have lost 95 pounds!  The nurse whom I regularly see told me that soon I will need to sit down with the doc and set my final goal! It feels fabulous to have reached this point so much sooner than I had planned! 

My other bit of fabulous news is that I am now wearing a size 10 jeans! Can I get a HELL YEAH?!! 

No fill for me today.  The nurse warned me that I may not make it a full month though without reaching "super hunger mode" and if I do before my next appointment to call them and come right up for a little fill!  I'm still floating up here on cloud 10, and I don't plan to come back down anytime soon!  And I might just add too, that "my other butt" is making a very nice come back if I do say so myself!  It definitely needs work, but it sure is lookin good in jeans!

For those of you reading this blog who are just starting your lap band adventure, or whom are just thinking about starting it, I want you to know that if you are willing to make a few sacrifices, this tool is the best thing you can do for yourself!  If you are wondering if you can cheat your way through, the answer is yes, but why the hell would you? And last of all, attitude is EVERYTHING with this process!  You must believe you will succeed, and be ready to put forth every effort to do so! Be willing to give some things up to gain SO MUCH!!  It's worth it.. worth every last penny, worth every piece of bread you eventually won't be able to eat, worth every bottle or can of soda that you probably won't be able to drink for a good long time, and worth dealing with the head hunger for awhile.  Keep your eye on the prize!!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Six Months! Goooo ME!

I'm 8 days past my six month bandiversary!  I can't believe I forgot to post this.. okay, maybe I can.  I've been pretty busy enjoying life! 

So, six months out, and here's what I have going on:

I have lost 84 pounds as of this morning. 
I have dropped more than ten sizes in most of my clothing
I have shoes that are too big, rings that are too big, and clothes that I had sentimental attachments to falling off.. (yes I know.. toss 'em!)
I have a collar bone.
I brought another bone to my doctor's attention at my last fill... the nurse laughed at me and said "honey you will be finding all sorts of bones you didn't remember you had!"  This particular bone turned out to be my xiphoid process which is right in the sternum and something I don't think most people are even aware of ever.. but when it suddenly appears, it's ummm.. interesting!

I need a new driver's license photo, because my old one is almost unrecognizable as me!  Plus my weight on my license is alll wrong now!
I sleep so very well now, and I think that's because I don't snore anymore!
I'm much healthier, and I feel FABULOUS!

I actually like seeing my reflection unexpectedly when walking past a window, door or mirror and still can't believe it's me sometimes!

There's more, but you get the idea, right?  I love my emerging body.. I love not feeling like an impostor in someone else's bigger body! I love the energy that I have, and can share.  I have always loved life, but I didn't realize that it was possible to love it more, and it is. 

I have no reason to believe that by my one year bandiversary that I will be at my ideal weight or very close to it.  I hope I'm not jumping the gun on making that forecast for myself, but so far this lap band has exceeded my expectations!  I went into it expecting it to work... I was completely willing to do whatever it took to make that happen. To date, I've had very few disappointments with my band, and many huge surprises! 

If you are reading these blogs looking for encouragement and positive results, I hope I have given you that.  I wouldn't change one single thing, and if I had it to do all over again, I would in a New York minute.  It's been the best thing that's happened to my body in years, and near as I can tell, it saved my life!
The one and only tiny complaint I have that is worth mentioning is that I do believe all of my lost FAT used to keep me warmer!!  It's getting cold here on the prairie, and the new healthier me is going to need to buy a big old coat for the winter... in a much smaller size of course!  Not even a real complaint now is it?! :)

Here's to six months under my belt, and here's to the next six months of losing and winning! 
Thanks for stopping by!

Oh.. here's a couple of 6 month pics to share! I would have worn more flattering clothes if I'd have known I was going to do this blog today!!  But this is me in my fall/winter uniform hehe... love my blue jeans and sweatshirts, even if they do make me look fatter than I am.  Funny.. I used to wear them to hide all that fat!  'Scuse the messy hair too... dang I'm a hot mess!!  

5 months out!

I passed the 5 month mark and didn't have a chance to get a blog done until today.. so I'm at 5 months and 6 days!  Hmmm what's that.. around 21 weeks?  I don't know.. I kind of lost count, but what I do know is this:
I'm down 73 pounds, and I'm down more than 10 numbers in sizes! TEN NUMBERS... well, more than ten numbers actually, if you count the last pair of jeans I bought! (insert big ol grin here!)   I guess honestly, that's only 5 to 6 sizes since sizes tend to jump by 2 numbers, but I think it's absolutely amazing!!

I've been enjoying this journey so much lately, even though Ive come to the sad realization this week that eating isn't really a very pleasant experience for me anymore.   This kind of makes me sad, and extremely grateful at the very same time.  Weird, I know.  My last fill was last week, and boy is it tight right now.  But I loosen up quite a bit as I drop inches, and I know it won't last forever.  I've had to adopt some little tips and tricks to make eating easier these past few days.  My band is way tighter in the morning than in the evening.  I have to drink something hot to even be able to eat anything at all, and even liquids are a tight squeeze when I first drink them each day.  But eventually things loosen up a little, and I can eat... sort of.  I now know what it means to have to eat verrrry slowly!  I'm talking super small bites, and 5-10 minutes in between each bite right now... thus, not such a pleasant eating experience.  Everyone in my family is done WAY before I am, and it's about impossible to go out to eat anywhere and actually enjoy a meal, unless I just sit there and talk, not eat.  BUT, I still have the best luck with meat.  I can still eat steak.. not very much, but I can eat it.  Hamburger doesn't like me as much for whatever reason, and forget chicken.  I don't care how moist and tender it is, it hates me... or my band hates it, whichever way that goes.  And another surprising thing.. I absolutely can NOT eat mashed potatoes.  They get stuck every stinkin time, even if they have lots of gravy on them.  (Insert big ol sad face here!!)  I LOVE mashed potatoes.. and you would think that would be something I'd have to be leery of, since for most people mashed taters are sliders.. (they slide right on through) but not me.  Ahh well, it's a good thing probably.. if they slid right on through I'd probably eat them three times a day. 

I can't do any carbonation at all.. it feels weird and unpleasant.  I haven't drank a soda in almost 6 months, and don't miss it, however I attempted to drink an AMP energy drink today and it about choked me.  It's surely a good thing that I love water and iced tea!  I've been having issues with lemonade lately too.. not sure what's up with that.. the weirdest things seem to get "stuck" for me. 

I've reached ONEDERLAND and I couldn't be more thrilled about it!  That's my "Scale Victory",
and now for some "Non Scale Victories" for the week::
The "girls" are shrinking slowly, but surely.. my tank bras are getting too big, and that's awesome!
I can easily wear a size XL top down from a 3X and sometimes 4X.   That's progress!  If my top half would catch up with my bottom half in the downward spiral I'd be in good shape, but I'm not complaining, it's happening and I can see it. I bought some size large leggings this weekend, and they fit beautifully! I wear size 13 junior jeans, and they bag pretty bad in the butt by the end of the day. 
My shoulders are so pretty! LOL  I used to HATE my shoulders.  They looked so fat and ugly to me, and now I just love them. 
I have tons more energy than I remember having in years. I jog up and down my stairs several times a day and don't end up laying on my bed or the floor as my lungs beg for mercy!  I take up so much less space these days too.. weird... in my clothes.. in my car... on my furniture... My daughter in law pulls my pants out of the dryer now and just says "wow" every time.  There really is a huge difference.  Yeah.. things are diminishing and I just love it!  I've lost close to 40 inches over my entire body. 

My other butt is emerging too~  it's taking shape a little better.  I was thinking it was going to be on the flat side after all of this, but now I'm not so sure. It's still weird shaped, but  I'm seeing differences there almost daily.  Exercise is helping I think. 
So that's my report for now.. I'm hoping that by the time Christmas gets here I need a lot of new clothes!!  I already do, actually, but I'm hoping I need a lot of new smalllllller clothes!  I'm getting greedy now aren't I?  I can't help it, I'm seeing this weight melt away, and I have so much hope now that it's not going to take forever to get to my ideal weight.  I was willing to settle for 20 or 30 pounds over the "ideal" when I first started... but not anymore! I now know I can do this!  And that's such a wonderful, empowering feeling!

Thanks for stopping by!

Somewhere just over 130 days into my journey I am down a little over 60 pounds, more inches than I have counted in awhile, about 4 pants sizes, and at least 2 top sizes.  There's the overview!  My band is working exactly how it's supposed to still!  I can't help but be impressed by that! 

I don't have tons of stuff to write today, so I think I will just let a photo speak for me.
You can see my BEFORE photos on this blog under the "photos" tab.  And this, is me taken on Saturday morning... just a progress photo.  Still got a long way to go, but I love seeing changes! :)

 And that's all I've got today!

The journey so far has been so much more than worth it!  Thanks for stopping by! 

4 months

4 months after lap band surgery, and life is GOOD.  Actually, life is better than good!  But I've been so bad!  I have every excuse in the book, (I'll just say that up front!)  But I haven't been to the gym in almost three weeks!  STILL I have managed to continue losing weight, and eating great, and I'm thinking that when "fill day" comes next week I probably won't be needing one.  But I do have a week to go, so maybe I shouldn't be so sure. 

At any rate.. I have a lot of wonderful news to share this week.. I'll try not to let this get too long.
First off the list.. my son's wedding was FABULOUS!  Lots of work, lots of company, lots of craziness, but worth every second!  I had the privilege of photographing the event, and I'm so grateful for that!  It was definitely a different perspective... I could have opted to sit it out and watch from a normal 'mother of the groom' perspective, but I had a lot of fun where I'm most comfortable: behind the lens!

Second off the list:  I completed "Lab Rat Days" in Denver yesterday with excellent reports! I got away from there with my "medication free" status in tact, but possibly not for long.  I did have a Defibrillator interrogation today and I might be looking at some kind of anti-arrhythmia medication later this month, but nothing is certain..  I will update on that later. 

I'm continuing to fill up bags with "too big" items, and that's still as fun as it was from the first pair of pants that went in! I'll admit that's not very motivating as far as getting me to the gym. I think it would be easier if I stopped losing weight while I was thinking up excuses not to go!!  I will go back tomorrow.. I'm sure of it.  (Laughing outloud!)  I really am ready to return.  Gosh it's easy to stay away though, and I just don't know if I will ever be one of those people who gets addicted to exercise.. I won't hold my breath waiting for it, that's a promise!  I did promise myself that once the wedding was done, and all of my company left I'd get back into my routine, and I can't be breaking that promise now can I?  

Last big news... "HOUSTON, WE HAVE A COLLARBONE!"  
Yep.. it's there.. just as I suspected! (Laughing out loud again!) I've  been waiting for it to show.. I missed it!
I'm weird.. I know it!  Okay, perhaps I didn't miss it.  Honestly, I didn't even realize it was missing until someone else discovered theirs after losing a lot of weight!   But once I realized it was hiding, I was pretty excited to see mine again!  And today, I can see it!  Sweet huh?! 

Thanks for stopping by!


  

15 Weeks of Lap Band Love

 

 

Happy July 26th!  It has to be a holiday somewhere doesn't it?  Maybe I should just say Happy Day 105~ that's how long it's been since I got my lap band.  15 weeks!  

I really don't have too much of anything new to report this week.  My last fill is still doing it's thing.. I'm eating two meals a day, and for the past week the meals haven't been very big.  But I'm satisfied, and staying full until it's time for the next meal.  I still have no desire to graze or eat between meals, and I am so grateful for that.  Sometimes my band feels so tight that even liquid takes its sweet time going through, but that's never been an all day thing for me.  It's usually in the mornings and evenings, and I can still drink just fine, but the first few swallows remind me that my band is still there.  I feel hungriest at lunch because I don't normally eat breakfast anymore.  Firstly, I'm not hungry for a few hours after I wake up, and secondly, if I were to eat it wouldn't be much.. my band is tightest in the mornings, at least that's how it feels.  By 11 am I am super hungry though, and have found that I can eat lunch, but not a lot.  My lunches have been my smallest meal.  By dinner time (at least 6 hours later) I'm hungry again, but a small portion of food satisfies and fills me up!  

Do I dare hope that this will last?  Could I have found a sweet spot already?  I guess only time will tell.  I'm scheduled for another fill in August, but I'm truly hoping that I won't need it.  Weight loss at this point is slower. I'm dropping 3 to 4 pounds a week on average and that makes me very happy! Just enough to see a little loss every few days.. and as long as the numbers are going down I have a big smile on my face! Still no Pepsi or any other type of soda for me, but I have occasionally drank a wine cooler or beer with no difficulty or adverse reaction to the carbonation.  I technically could drink a soda now I guess, but I DON'T MISS IT anymore! Yay me!! 

Ya know, initially I was kind of dreading the holidays this year.  I was nervous about how much food I would want to eat, and how that would all play out since typically the holidays have been gorge fests for me.  I was thinking about it the other day though, and I'm not nervous about it at all.  I can't eat that much, regardless of how much is in front of me, and in my estimation that's exactly how this band is supposed to be working.   I'm actually very excited for the holidays this year for so many reasons, not the least of which is that I will be smaller!  I love cooking around the holidays, and much of that is traditional, and I'm so looking forward to that yet.  I still love cooking even though I don't have that desire to eat as much anymore.  Tonight we're having guests for dinner and I'm doing comfort food extraordinaire! Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and country gravy, cheesy creamed corn and salad.  Yep! I'm eating it too, and when I'm done I will still be under my allotted calories for the day!  It's really a great feeling to know that I can still enjoy the food I love the most sometimes, and I don't have to worry about sabotaging myself.  I don't know if this will hold out forever.. but while it lasts I'm loving it! 

See ya next week ~ and thanks for stopping by!