Two Month Bandiversary Stats

Well, it's been two months ago today since my band surgery and here are the current stats:

October 29, 2009 (Two months after Lap Band Surgery)
Weight: 269 (-21) (Hence the "21" balloon!)
Left Arm- 17 " (-1)
Right Arm- 17" (-1)
Left Thigh- 33" (-2)
Right Thigh- 33" (-2)
Left Calf- 19.5" (-1)
Right Calf- 19.5" (-1)
Hips- 56" (-.5)
Bust- 45" (-3)
Waist- 43" (-4.75)
44.1% fat (-6%)

TOTAL Inches lost: 16.25

Size 22/24 to start and currently a size 18/20.

I am very pleased with my results so far and hope that by next month's stats, I will have lost a little bit more of my stubborn butt and hips! :) I weighed 269 when I got married 6.5 years ago, so I am so happy to see that number again this morning.

My First Vlog

Ham Hocks, Waves and Butts

I sneaked away the other day long enough to pick up some badly needed groceries. After being trapped inside the house for six days, we had no food! (Which could be a good thing for me- but not so much for my boys!)

While I was standing at the deli ordering some meat and cheese, I couldn't help but notice an 18 pound ham hock. Good grief, that thing was huge! I couldn't believe I had lost an equivalent, and then some, to this HUGE slab of meat and bone. Just crazy. And, equally as crazy is that I have about 6 more of them to go! I need to take a picture of it the next time I go to the store.

I picked up some avocado, sprouts and sliced chicken for sandwiches and I decided to grab some of the recently advertised Arnold's 100 calorie multi-grain, thin slice sandwich bread. So today for lunch, I piled avocado, sprouts and chicken onto the bread and it was to die for! I must have ooohed and aaaahed after ever bite and surely drove my husband crazy. It's my new favorite lunch. Mmmmmmmmm. It felt good to have a healthy and yummy lunch after all we have been going through with illness with my three year old. I have been craving nothing but crap!

Switching noodles here-
This morning while cuddling with my boys, my oldest decided it would be fun to "kick" my leg. After his initial kick he curiously asked, "Mommy, what's inside your leg?". Laughter ensued when he realized that Mommy had waves under her skin. SO NOT FUNNY! Sigh.

AND

When I was looking back at my pre-op pictures, I had scrolled down far enough to get a wide view of my rear view. That was it, nothing but my big'ole bah-dunk-a-dunk was visible and my soon-to-be two year old excitedly proclaimed, "It's Mommy!". Uh, that obvious huh.

I am looking forward to the day when my legs don't remind my boys of the ocean and when my butt is easily confused with the butts of others.

H1N1

My boys' health has taken a turn for the worst. Both of my little guys are sick now. My three year old has been vomiting for the past five days and today he has been weak and lethargic with a high fever. I am fearing the H1N1 virus and I am worried sick about them. I am on my way to bring them to the doctor's.

Please say a prayer for them.

And of course, the last thing I can even think about right now is losing weight, but I won't give up.

Attack of the Bug

My family has been attacked by the stomach flu. So, needless to say the weekend completely SUCKED! My three year old has been really sick since Saturday morning and he continues to throw-up all over himself. My poor baby has it coming out both ends. It's not pretty.

Off to go bathe and do more laundry. I hope this is over today, LORD willing.

Wait, Let Me Get My Pants On

Okay, so I need to explain the title of this post, but I have to tell the story from the beginning.

I was sitting at my kitchen table clipping coupons, and I decided to start singing. I was making my boys laugh by belting out "Born Free" at the top of my lungs, opera style. I should tell you that I was doing all of this in my undies (my boys don't care, they're used to it!). Still singing, I heard someone knock at the door. Knowing I wasn't dressed, I panicked for a second and ran to the front door to see who was there.

I looked out and saw my husband's friend's truck. He came to build some shelves in the garage for us. Anywho- I knew he needed the garage door to be opened, so I walked over to the interior garage door and swung it open in preparation to open the outside door. SURPRISE!!!

There he stood. Already inside the garage...on the steps...two feet from me. I almost DIED! I quickly hid behind the door and he covered his eyes. SO EMBARRASSING. Especially since this guy is young, in great shape, and is very much into eating healthy. And there I stood...all 270 pounds of me...in my undies. How attractive.

He just stood there and asked if he could use the bathroom, neither of us knew what to do, it was so awkward. So, after I announced that I needed to get my pants on, in he came.

I don't know what is more embarrassing, being caught in my undies, or knowing that he was standing at my door while I was belting out opera. Needless to say, he didn't make eye contact with me for the rest of the day.

If anything, this occurring and having two people tell me in one day that I have such a pretty face, has only provided some serious fuel for my fire. Burn on!!!

So Sad For You...

...number 272. You're gone! I originally planned on celebrating every five or tens pounds. BUT, I've decided that for now, I am going to celebrate every-single pound that I lose. Hello 271. I am so excited to see the 60's again, I can't wait! :)

FINALLY! :)

Whoo-hoo! YES! FINALLY!!!
After going back and forth from 275.4 to 277, I finally showed
275 who is boss. When I stepped on the scale this morning, I was so determined to
see 274, that when I first looked down I was disappointed because the 4 wasn't there.
But, upon closer inspection, the 4 was a 2! Hallelujah!!! Hello 272, don't get comfortable, you won't be around long.

Okey-Dokey Folks, I Did It!

This morning I had my second fill with my doctor's office's PA. Okay, let me just say he totally rocked! For the first time, I have had an overwhelmingly positive experience at the office, and I told him that.

It was his enthusiasm for me and my goals that led me to finally do it. I finally ate right and followed the plan since right after surgery. I had a protein shake for breakfast, a protein shake for lunch, a serving of peanut butter pretzels (150 cals.) for a snack and another shake for dinner. All-in-all, I would say no more than 900 calories for the day. AND, I was able to get in a one hour hike.

I have to say, I feel so wonderful compared to the all of the other evenings I have gone to bed feeling like a failure. I have been grasping for some hope from someone/somewhere only to keep failing myself. But, today was different. I made a special point to put myself first and hold myself accountable. Although I wasn't supposed to have solids today, I was proud that I stopped with a single serving of the pretzels instead of telling myself I blew it anyways only to eat even more.

The PA put in another 1.5 ccs so now I have a total of 4.5. He originally put in 2, but I wasn't able to swallow water so he backed out .5 ccs.

I am going to bed looking forward to tomorrow instead of praying that I don't fail once again.

I Just Got My Arse Kicked

I decided to go for a bike ride tonight and throw in some fresh air with my exercise. I learned that exercising on the elliptical everyday is NOT the best workout. The bike ride totally WHOOPED my ARSE, big time.

I can barely move!

Uh-oh, I Really Think I am Losing it

Folks, I have a serious problem. I CANNOT for the life of me get my act together. I have been eating lately like there is an actual threat of food going out of style.

Yesterday, I ate a bowl of cereal and some chicken salad around 4:00pm and declared that that would be my dinner, and I would eat nothing else for the rest of the day. THEN, my friend called and reminded me that we had dinner plans. Great. So, I ordered a taco and ate chips and salsa and sucked down a HUGE Dr. Pepper.

Determined to make today better, I woke up with plans to get some laundry done and finish with some house cleaning. All was going well until my three year old announced to me that my soon-to-be two year old had literally drained half of the tub's water onto the floor. The whole bathroom was flooded. The bathroom rug was under an inch of water and my bedroom carpet was soaked. I LOST IT. I screamed so loud at my children that I actually peed in my pants and scared the crap out of myself in the process. Now, I do have to say that between an upset belly and my little guy playing go-fetch with Me and his pacis all last night, I probably got 3 hours of sleep and no more than 30 in one stretch. So, I am dealing with some exhaustion today.

My head is messed up and to help fix it I have administered one King size Reese's pumpkin, an order of cheese sticks from Sonic and a small strawberry slushy. So, it is 2:30 and I have easily packed away all of my calories for the day already.

I need to be honest here, I'm worried about myself.

My Motivation for the Day...

This is what 15 pounds of fat looks like (each blob is 5 pounds):

Randomness....

This post is going to be completely random, so hold onto your socks 'cause here we go.

First of all, I am getting kind of humphed with my dear hubby. I hope he means well, but I have been hearing things come out of his mouth that make me want to slap it. One thing in particular that is really getting my goat is that the band is not working, and won't work.

Now let's see. The only way that I could possibly relate how hurtful those kinds of statements are was to go below the belt, so that is exactly what I did. I simply asked him if he had a tee-tiny little peenie and the WHOLE world could see and know about it and he was ridiculed and made fun of for how ridiculously small it was- would he appreciate me telling him his peenie extender was a joke and wasn't going to work? I know this is a giant stretch (no pun intended), but I didn't know how else to portray to him how frustrating it is to not have his support and enthusiasm.

Next, is my poor mother. I called her the other day to tell her how frustrated I am becoming with the lack of scale movement even though I have been exercising 1.5 to 2 hours a day and that I am eating 1/4 of what I used to. Her response? "Well Honey, maybe you need to start exercising". Yeah. Thanks for listening. AND, she keeps asking me questions about how much I can eat and if I am still over-eating.

I definetly have more to learn about living with my new band friend (poor little thing still doesn't have a name). It seems like I am getting stuck a little too often- I need to learn how to take smaller bites and chew, chew, chew more before my next fill. And speaking of getting stuck, how do you fellow bandsters deal with getting stuck in public? I had to excuse myself to the restroom the other night while eating out and quickly hurried for the nearest stall. The restaurant was almost empty so I was looking forward to a scantily occupied bathroom. Unfortunately, the bathroom was small and very busy. I couldn't help but wonder if the people "sitting" in the stalls next to me noticed that my feet were facing the toilet. I was afraid that people were going to think I was in there making myself get sick. So ladies, how do I deal with that?

AND, the best for last. The scale moved 2.6 pounds this morning! Hip-hip-hooray! Now, I am still sitting at 275.2 which means a total loss of 14.8 pounds, but I'll take it seeing how I haven't seen 275 in a few weeks.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading my totally random post!!!

My Hair is Going to Come Out...

but not because of my surgery. No, no. I am going to pull my hair out any given second now. I have waited and waited before posting this entry, because I have been hoping that I wouldn't have to.

I have been eating GREAT. I have been working out for almost TWO HOURS a day- 45 minutes or so on the elliptical machine and then 15 minutes of ab and muscle work in the morning and before bed. Sound great, right? Well, could someone pah-leeze explain to me why I have been playing ping-pong now with the same three pounds!? I lost 15 pounds in the blink of an eye right after the surgery, and now nothing. Absolutely nothing. It has been over a month and my scale sits stagnant.

After my last post about my whopping one pound loss, it showed up again on the scale this morning. I am working so hard to lose this weight, but it keeps finding me!

I am beyond frustration. What gives? I really think I am just going to start crying and not be able to stop. My dear Amy reiterated to us all how important it is NOT to compare, but I had major weight loss surgery here folks, and other bandsters are doing so well.

I have been doing my best to remain positive and stick with it, but I really needed to vent.