freelance frog

Yep, it's not crazy, that's always the case when I get stuck.. forgot to chew properly! You'd think after more than three months I'd learn, but obviously not!

Going from month to month I've officially been banded for 3 months now! 13 weeks if I count the weeks and just over 90 days! . At any rate.. I'm in the game further than I'd been able to imagine from the beginning and according to my doctor today, I'm doing "phenomenally well" That's good stuff to hear! I had my third fill today and it hurt. After the second one feeling so much better I wasn't prepared for this one at all. A very inexperienced PA got to do the fill today, and wow.. hopefully she gets a few more under her belt before he turns her loose on me again. (insert disgusted look here!) But, the great news is I had lost weight, not as much as the last time I went in a month ago, but I was down 5 pounds this time. I had a two week vacation in there with no fill before I left, so I was expecting to have gained. I'll definitely take the 5 pound loss! I got a 1cc fill today which puts me at 5cc total. Maybe this will be the beginning of the sweet spot era! I am hoping! I realized today that I am half way to my goal! In three months time that is AMAZING stuff! I feel extremely empowered and motivated right now. I'm getting a little glimpse of my other butt! It's definitely coming out of hiding a little more every day, and it feels fabulous! Every single day I notice little changes that make me very happy. I wasn't prepared for that. I don't know why. It's definitely an added bonus to this journey. I don't really know what I thought it would be like, but not knowing exactly what to expect, I didn't allow myself to get overly excited about how fast the weight would come off, or how the inches would melt away even faster. I certainly haven't had a moment's disappointment since day one. I am so grateful for that. As far as diet goes.. I'm only eating two meals a day most days now, and that's what my doctor wants. I have very little desire to graze or snack between meals at all anymore which pleases me to no end. I haven't drank a Pepsi or soda of any kind since the week before my surgery, and I barely miss that at all right now which is seriously amazing to me. It's been 90 days.. and I had hoped that is all it would take to make me able to kick that habit completely, and I believe I have. I know I drank at least 900 calories per day of just Pepsi before my lap band, and sometimes it was more! These days I drink a lot of water, a lot of unsweetened ice tea, and an occasional glass of lemonade. My meals each day are less than half the size of my pre lapband meals. Again, I'm so amazed by that! It makes me giggle when I think about it! I have to admit, I pretty much eat whatever I want. I don't disallow myself anything unless I've had "stuck" issues with it. I haven't had any bread yet since my fill today, but I suspect it will deal me fits. I'm okay with that, because the past month I've had to be pretty careful about bread and tortillas. They are the most likely to get stuck for me. I still eat cheesy things, I still have sour cream on some things, although not as much as I used to. I just don't crave it like I did. I never crave cake, cookies, brownies etc., but then I never really did before either. I still eat pasta, potatoes and occasionally pizza, but my portions are child sized, and I get full on them really fast. I eat a lot more salads these days and thankfully haven't had any "stuck" episodes due to those. My latest kick has been the Strawberry Fields salad kits from the produce section of the grocery store. 200 calories per serving, and there are only two servings in the bag. BIG servings! One bag is at least three lunches for me. The kit has dried sweet strawberries, slivered almonds, and this delicious strawberry vinaigrette that you pour over it. Sometimes I kick in a little feta cheese and still my calorie count is low, and they are so yummy!! My "head hunger" is way less than it was in the first two months. I'm much more able to be completely satisfied eating just when I'm actually hungry right now. I think this is due in large part to the fact that I haven't deprived myself of eating many of the things I love to eat. Allowing myself to have those things has let me feel more in control, and because I can only eat small portions I'm not getting the horrible damaging amounts of bad stuff that I used to get. I don't know how this would work for everyone.. it just works really well for me. And I decided from the very first week after this surgery that I was going to find, and follow what worked the best for me, and I'm convinced that is why I've been as successful as I have so far. When something has stopped working (like bread and tortillas) I let it go and move on. I have an entire close full of clothes that need to GO! My pile of too big clothes has been growing, and yesterday I realized that almost everything in that closet is too big. Some of it is still wearable.. I'm okay with a few baggy things, but most of it just won't work for me. Love that! I'm supposed to go back in a month to see where I am.. I have high hopes and a goal. Wish me luck! Thanks for stopping by! Follow me at: http://www.myotherbutt.blogspot.com

Awesome blog! I enjoy reading what you write.. always!

Wow, you've been through it! My hat goes off to you for your attitude, which I know is a huge part of any health related battle! HOORAY for being done with chemo! Here's hoping that you'll be feeling like your normal self in no time, and that getting back into your lap band regime will go off without a hitch!

Are you snacking a lot during the day? Even what you might consider low calorie foods? Just something that you didn't mention, and I wondered if that might be an issue. Since you are not keeping track of the food that you do eat, I'm wondering if grazing throughout the day might be part of the problem??

Maybe you had your surgery for the wrong reasons, but you can make it work for you for the RIGHT reasons! It's true, that if you are miserable doing the healthier thing that it won't be as easy to do it. But if somewhere in your soul you really want to be healthier it's not too late to let your band do it's thing! I'm only about 12 weeks out from my surgery now. Yesterday we had our big food celebration at my mom and dad's house and I felt AWESOME being the one sitting there actually eating very little comparatively and feeling full when I was done. I ate a small portion of dessert as well, and I felt completely empowered taking a tiny bit of it, knowing that I wouldn't be able to finish a normal sized portion. I used to envy people who could do that. I hated going out to eat with friends who would order a 1/2 portion of anything! I felt completely inferior to people who didn't eat with gusto the way I did. And to be able to eat like a healthy, normal person right now feels really, really good to me. I hope you'll be able to get to a point where you can enjoy the way your band helps you to eat. But mostly, I hope you'll be able to find a way to make it all about YOU!! You deserve to be healthy! Hang in there!

Tomorrow will be 12 weeks into my banded life and I still don't have a single regret to report! I've never been more sure of my decision, and it's been many years since I've felt healthier and better about who I am! I just spent 11 days on the best beach vacation ever! A girl's trip to Gulf Shores, AL was just what the proverbial doctor ordered, and I'm home tanned, relaxed, and more than a few inches smaller than I was when I left!! How's THAT for vacation? Perfect if you ask me. I lost a whopping total of one pound while I was gone haha! But towards the middle of last week I noticed that my bathing suit (which I spent a lot of time in) was fitting very strangely. It felt too big in the stomach for starters, but then I noticed that the bra cups in it were all deformed looking. I realized that the girls had shrunk! YEEE HAW!! There's hope on the horizon my friends! I admit I was a little concerned about vacation eating, especially since I didn't get a fill before I left, but I had decided that I wasn't going to stress about it. I ate very well.. I ate normal sized portions, and had no problems with wanting to snack between meals. I drank at least one frozen alcoholic concoction every single day while I was on that beach.. along with lots of water and lemonade. I felt a little restriction at times which was comforting, and let me know my band was doing its job, and had a couple of "stuck" episodes that were mild, and lasted only a few minutes. I ate LOTS of steamed shrimp! Mmmmm! I miss that yummy steamed shrimp.. the kind you can get on the Nebraska prairie just doesn't compare. One highlight of my trip that I must share ~~ I PARASAILED!! Oh yeah! I stepped right outside of my comfort zone and flew high above the Gulf of Mexico! I absolutely loved it and will do it again if I ever get the chance. I felt like super woman when I was done, and I kind of still do! I was without a scale for the entire vacation, and that freaked me out a little.. I figured that I'd have gained a pound or two by the time I got home, even though it was pretty obvious that I'd left a few inches down in Alabama somewhere! I was pretty happy when I stepped on that scale yesterday and realized that there was no gain, and I could still be friends with both the scale and the mirror! I'm happy to be home.. and while I didn't use a gym even once while I was gone, I did have the sand to walk in so I got a little added exercise I guess! It's back to the gym for me this week! I'm also looking forward to adding a daily fruit smoothie to my diet! Hey~ it's my healthy version of a daily frozen concoction that will remind me of the beach as I delve back into reality! Thanks Aunt Jan for introducing me to the wonderful smoothie! My other butt is getting closer.. I can feel it! I hope you all have had a safe and happy Independence Day if you're in the USA~ and mostly, that you spent it with the people you love! That's all for this week ~ thanks for stopping by! Follow me @ http://www.myotherbutt.blogspot.com

What a great post!! Cheering for you from the prairie of Nebraska!!

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! Follow me: http://www.myotherbutt.blogspot.com

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! Follow me: http://www.myotherbutt.blogspot.com

Here here!

Congrats on the size 14! VERY WELL DONE!! :bananajump:

Don't worry, your body will definitely remind you when you're eating too fast, or not chewing enough! It keeps you humble! I think you will feel more comfortable with your eating once you start getting your fills and feeling some restriction, I know I did. I was worried about eating too much and sabotaging myself before that.. but as it turns out, I wouldn't have needed to. I lost weight anyway. Hang in there! Congrats on joining bandland!

If it's any consolation you look absolutely wonderful!!

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! Follow Me @ http://www.myotherbutt.blogspot.com

You have a great attitude... and that will get you where you want to be so much faster!! Good luck on your journey!

Inspiring!! Thanks for sharing!

I was on Prednisone for almost 3 years, so I know all about Cushing's syndrome. I never did get that hump on my back... but I would wake up every morning for months and run to look in the bathroom mirror to see if I had it yet! I got the moon face though, and the redistribution of fat was horrible. It ALL went straight to my belly, and nothing fit right, and everything looked hideous. I HATED it. I was so grateful to get off of the steroid when they finally took it away. I gained more than 60 pounds in the first two months i was on it. I continued to gain for the entire 3 years. . Once I got off of the prednisone all of those symptoms slowly started to go away, but the belly stayed the same. It's still my biggest problem as I've started to lose pounds and inches since my surgery in April, but I see HUGE progress now and I just wanted to tell you that the lap band will definitely be the best tool you can have to get you back to a healthy you! Hang in there! I hope you hear positive news very soon!

The worst part was the gas pains. The surgery was a breeze! I have ZERO regrets!!

Don't worry about gaining a little on the mushies.. just remember that you knew this wasn't going to be a breeze when you started, and remember WHY you ever started the whole process to begin with! The end result is going to be SO WORTH IT!!! Don't beat yourself up over chocolategate! Just try to find something a little less toxic to your plans to help you through that sugar craving and tell yourself as many times a day as necessary that YOU CAN DO IT!! You can! Hang in there!

Ohhh the countdown!! Before you know it you'll be counting your weeks out from surgery!! I'm excited for you~ it works if you work it!

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! http://www.myotherbutt.blogspot.com

You will find that after your fills you will be able to eat less and less of the things that you are currently able to tolerate! For me it's tortillas! Pre banding I ate everything on tortillas LOL and for the first five or six weeks post band I could still eat them without too much trouble, but after this last fill my band is totally rebelling against tortillas! A few other things as well.. but I'm happy about it for sure.. if I could have kept up eating that crap I'd never get where I'm going ! LOL Keep exercising.. and as soon as you get your next fill I bet you'll find you have a lot more restriction on things that you can eat pretty easily right now.

It's WORTH IT! Keep telling yourself that every single day.. over and over again if you have to!! The weight loss is extremely motivating! Hang in there!

Great loss! Congratulations!