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About this blog

Excerpts from the life of a woman on a mission

Entries in this blog

 

A change is gonna come...

I'm sitting here blogging when I should be packing and moving. PROCRASTINATION - LOL - Anyways I'm going through clothes seeing what fits and doesn't fit so I don't take it all with me.   As I'm going through things and realizing the bulk of my clothes are either too big or too small I started to think about all of the changes that have happened to me and my body is the last couple of months (including pre-op) and it's just AMAZING. Everything in my life has gotten better. I have a pretty great life anyways, but I feel better, I look better, my business has gotten better, my home has gotten better, finances, etc... just everything seems to be falling into place. Moreover, it's only going to continue to get better; and those are the changes I'm SO excited for.   I found a pic of me and my mom from my wedding day 8 yrs ago size 26 bride in a size 30 wedding dress because you know they run small and I remember at the time feeling pretty but uncomfortable. Not at all what I imagined I would feel like as a bride. I feel better on a daily basis than I felt on that day all done up.   But now, as I enter into my relationship with my special friend, I can't help but smile when I realize I will NOT have "fat" wedding pictures.   In just over a month I went from "cute pics" but having to use the infamous fat girl angles to get them to being able to take a pic straight on and from almost any angle.   And it's paid off, some offers have come my way from some people I've dealt with in my past and some new people as well. They can tell from a pic if you're using an angle to create a look. But they've noticed the difference in just the few new pics I've taken and now.. I'm sitting here wondering... Is it crazy that at 33 I'm considering going back into plus size modeling? I stopped when I was 21 and started packing on weight, especially in my face. But as it comes off...I'm thinking hmmm I could totally do this. I know I don't "look" 33 to most people but now I have to sit back and figure out if this is really what I want to do.   I already run my own business, a church (churches) and act as a personal assistant to two people. Not sure when I would make time for it.   But it's a dream deferred so to do it, or not to do it? Not many women my age get this opportunity or these types of offers.. I should take it. I still have weight to lose before I go full force into it because unlike in my day if you were a plus size model you were actually plus sized.. now you're a size 10-12 and they photoshop you fatter lol..     The differences just amaze me though, in such little time... just amazing.. God Results!   Before with a camera angle..   Last week... straight on.. no camera angle.
Yvette1026

Yvette1026

6
 

2 months post-op and 2 fills later....

"I thought you would have lost more weight by now" my mother says while we're having lunch yesterday. :frown: (the look on my face while I work on not choking on what I was chewing.)   "Well I'm supposed to lose 2lbs were week, I'm 2 months post-op or 8 weeks post op today and I'm way ahead of that goal. Yes I could have lost more if I was working out like I should and didn't eat crap for the last two weeks since I've moved but I'm still way ahead of where I should be."   "Oh ok.... I guess" she says as she shrugs and eyes me as she looks back to her plate.   I saw that... now suddenly UBER "aware" of what I'm eating (6oz steak, veggies, starch) I felt that old feeling rise up... "Would you ladies like pie for just 99 cents???" the waitress interupts.   "What kind of pie?" I ask... She lists them and I decide on peach, warmed with ice cream. Ala mode just like my extra pounds evidently..   I then turn to my mom.. "What?!?!?! We're sharing."   "I didn't say anything Yvette... eat what you want to eat..."   Already feeling full I take a couple of bites of pie and eat the ice cream. I know I know.. SLIDER food.. but it was good and I realized in that moment I will struggle with food for the rest of my life. I know I can overcome it, I've done very well since being banded but in the last couple of weeks there's been too many slip ups and letting the cravings get the best of me.   I don't know how those of you with kids do it, since I've had children staying with me for the past couple of weeks it's been WAY harder, they eat ALL the time and they want things I shouldn't be eating. I love them but I need to find a balance or something lol..   Guess it's practice for when I have my own. :redface:   Either way no more.. today I'm going back on the basics I was eating, I'm going to make my list and go to the store and get what I need to make healthy band and kid friendly meals. For the days they're eating crap, I'll do shakes/smoothies. No pizza, no pasta, no more bread and NO MORE SWEET TEA! I made it with one meal and it's been "Can I have tea?" ever since... and every time I pour them some, I pour me some.. EMPTY CALORIES! UGH..   Ok Done with everything else, as I was typing this this morning, I was on my prayer call and the person leading intercessory started praying about appetites being controlled and eating just what we need to feel satisfied, not to eat til a point of gluttony. God will minister to you in many ways...   It's time to get serious...Think I'll start some twoadays at the gym as well..   It's friday, my day off. I have to put my bedroom together, it's the last room in the house that hasn't been completed after my move. Tired of looking at boxes and clothes thrown everywhere.   Then to check my mail, the bank, other errands and plan my menu. But before all that... I'm going back to bed
Yvette1026

Yvette1026

11
 

1/18/10 - 1 month Post-Op, first fill and OMGOSH They FIT!!!

So today is my 1 month post-op and I also received my first fill, and let me tell ya, it came RIGHT ON TIME!   So the first fill was easy, lay back, pillow under your back, cross your arms, do a lil' crunch, relax and done.   The weird part was when she took all of my fluid out to make sure how much I had in me, then added a cc to it.. I could feel it "flush" through my body/band, what I imagine those lil' canisters at the bank would feel like as they get fed through those air tubes. It didn't hurt, it was just a weird sensation.   Moving on to better news... So the other day I had my first non-scale victory (NSV - yeah I'm learning the lingo lol) on a whim I decided to try on my ever so expensive seven jeans that I bought 4 years ago, when Lane Bryant first started selling them. Yes the ones Kimberly Locke modeled with the rhinestones and crystals and tears on them.. Yes those ever so fabulous, expensive and I'm glad they're still in style ones.   Let me say when I bought them in 2005 I was at the smallest I had been in YEARS or almost like ever. When I tried the jeans on I had to POUR myself into them, do the tight jean jump up and down, wiggle and finish with a deep breath in to button them. But I got them to fit, they were tight but they fit, and I figured I would keep working out and they would fit better. They were cut VERY small... I was an 18 or 20 in other jeans but in these jeans I had to buy a 24. The sales girls just smiled and said yeah they're cut REALLY small, be lucky you can fit into them, most people can't. I wore them once, I got "stuck" in them and had to have my brother free me with a pair of pliers as he carefully jimmied the zipper down so I could get out of them.   So back to my "on a whim" moment. So I decide to try the jeans on, as I do every couple of months, in hopes that one time, just one time they'll magically fit. The last time I tried them on they were about 6 inches from buttoning. Hmmm maybe if I wear a long shirt, some rubber bands or my big 80's belt I can pull them off... Yvette you BETTER not walk out of the house in jeans you can't button.. sigh.. the years go by the gap grew from an inch or two to the most recent of 6 inches from closing..   So I decide to check my progress and put the jeans on....THEY FIT... OMFREAKINGOSH!!! THEY FIT!!! and not just FIT but FIT COMFORTABLY!!!!   I have been wearing them pretty much every day since I tried them on on Saturday night. Ok so it's only Monday, doesn't matter... they FIT and I'm wearing them to get my money worth! lol   But all of that being said brings me to what I was told at my appointment today....Drum roll please...   Waist is down 7 inches since surgery one month ago!
 
Weight is down 22.7lbs since surgery one month ago.
 
I've lost 12% of my 66% of "extra weight" and am 90lbs from my doctor's goal for me.
 
My BMI is now in the 40's high 40's but still 40's!
  My doctor says my progress puts me at the 3-4 month post-op mark, and this was done in a month. She was VERY happy for me, and I was VERY happy as well as I fastened my fabulous jeans after my fill lol   I came home and had some soup, then a couple of ours later some applesauce.... about half way through the applesauce I felt I had had "too much" so I know the fill worked...YAY!!!   I'm SO glad, because after eating 2 big tortillas yesterday (bean & cheese burrito and a quesadilla - took me 3 hours or so but I ate it) and the mini loafs of bread that come from the cheesecake factory a couple of days before I was starting to feel like I felt before surgery, so this fill definitely came right on time.. I'll see how this one goes, I think she could have put in another CC, but I'll go back in on the 8th and get another one, I honestly think that will put me in my sweet spot...we'll see. Either way I'm feeling great and I'm loving life. This is THE BEST THING I could have ever done for myself! :confused:
Yvette1026

Yvette1026

16
 

1 yr post op...

So I had my 1 yr Bandiversary on 12/18.... I've been so busy I haven't had a lot of time to be around and check on on everyone.   But that being said, this year has been a bumpy one as far as my success with the band... band is fine, in place no problems. From Dec - April I did extremely well. May, eh... June eh.. next thing I know it's Nov and I'm almost at my surgery day weight. I was SHOCKED...   I was eating right, and ok so I wasn't exercising but then I figured it out... the coffee and sweet tea I drank every day were adding an extra 847-1200 calories to my diet per day. I didn't start drinking them until May when it got hot... and I spent the summer working in various locations so I made sure I got a coffee to start my day and 2 sweet teas to go along.. on those days we were hitting the 1200+ calorie mark on just the beverages alone. Of course it took me til after thanksgiving to figure this out, as I watched the scale creep up another 4lbs in 3 days, again I couldn't figure it out, I was SO tight I didn't really eat much at thanksgiving but ah yes, I was making my lil' runs to the closest QT (QuikTrip) for sweet tea and a caramel mach.   So here it is December and I feel like I'm almost back where I started... but now that I know and have STOPPED drinking them, the weight is rapidly shedding like it did before. This time next year I'm going to be where I want to be. So other than a lil' disappointed, I'm not worse for wear... but I definitely learned alot in this first year... I'm still down and still getting "OMGOODNESS You lost so much weight" compliments... so it's still working... now to just make up for lost time.   I hope all my fellow 1 yrers are doing well and had a very successful year! I also am in faith that you all had a fabulous Christmas, and in the event that I don't speak to you before then.. All the best in blessings for a prosperous new year!
Yvette1026

Yvette1026

4
 

$63,468.64

The price tag on my surgery. Nevermind the $800 for my first fill...That my insurance doesn't seem to be covering all of.. Question though. If it's $150 for a fill with no insurance, how is it $800+ with insurance and I'm responsible for $186 of it. HUH WHAT??? :blink: :thumbup:   I think I'm going to have to have a conversation with their billing department because one of these things is not like the other.   Or how do you get the surgery cash for 15K yet my insurance is being charge $63,468.64???? How does that add up? I guess I should be ok with it and grateful it's going to my insurance and not me but REALLY?!??!! $63,468.64??!??!?!
Yvette1026

Yvette1026

7
 

"I'm sorry, I almost didn't recognize you!"

That's what I heard today! LOL - it was like music to my ears. As the rest of the group chimed in on how much I'm losing. YAY ME - YAY MY BAND... Have I mentioned how much I love my band? lol   I went to feed the homeless this morning and one of my staff members from church walked right past me - then stopped drew back with a stunned expression and said "Oh HIIII" I just said hi back and went on about what I was doing. Then later at choir practice, the same lady was said "I'm sorry about early, you're losing so much weight I almost didn't recognize you." Then the rest of the ladies chimed in as well... HAPPY DAY!!! HAPPY ME...HAPPY BAND! YAY FOR MY BAND! :mad:
Yvette1026

Yvette1026

6

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