Tracy Bloodgood

Nice to see so many new face's on LBT. I have the day off today so I was trying to catch up on the web site. It is nice to see some old friends and some new faces. I am Diane and I was banded on October of 2010. I have now lost 112 lbs and am 8 lbs from my ideal body weight, a healthy BMI and healthy percent body fat. My journey like all WLS patients has had it's ups and downs. I have had my share of plateaus and difficulties and I can not tell you how much this web site and the people on her who are now friends have helped me. I have been a silent stalker and finally an active participant. In the beginning I didn't feel I had much to share so I read, listened and tried to learn all I could about my body and lap band. lap band got me started on this journey but after the initial 50 lbs the work really starts, honestly having lap band is just a little insurance.(sorry if you did not realize this but it is true) It is like having an extra conscious, that says,"Now you know you have eaten enough and if you take one more bite I am going to make your throw up if you take one more bite" "See I told you" I still have days when my eyes are wanting way more than my tummy will hold, and my 3rd conscious (hubby) says, Di ya gotta lot of food on your plate, you know you can't eat all that. I hate it but he is right. I can not say enough about my family, friends, co-workers and cyber friends. With out all of their support I would never have made it. They have held me accountable and challenged me when I felt things were stalled. Hard work, dedication, goal setting and sticking to the program works. The old saying is so true, "You are what you eat!" I love eating healthy now, I feel so much better, I have so much more energy and I am off all of my asthma medications and blood pressure medications. I never thought that would happen! I love exercising and I love working out with a trainer. Yes it is hard work, yes it takes commitment and yes it is also expensive but I made the financial cuts in my daily life because my health is worth this, I deserve to be healthy. I am thin now, WOW, can't believe I said that but I do have to admit, I am thin. I wear size 4" and 6's, I have no boobs left, (but a really sexy bra from Victoria's Secret with some sexy panties) I do have a little loose skin on my upper thighs and tummy could be tighter. But hey my arms look awesome and with "Justin's" drilling in the gym I will tighten up the other areas in due time. Will I be perfect, "Hell to the No" but you know what for a 56 year old lady who used to weight 252 lbs and wear a size 24 I look pretty damn good.
Soooo. lapbander's new and old my words of wisdom to you are: Love yourself, believe in yourself, never lose site of your goal. This is not a "DIET", this is a life time commitment to living a healthier life style. This is about beating the odds, this is about being accountable to yourself. We can lie to ever one else and say, yes I am following the rules when In our hearts we know we can give more.
How bad do you really want this? How much are you willing to give? After all it is your life!
I am giving this 100% plus, I am so worth all the hard work, dedication and commitment.
Remember you are worth it also, give your self a break, forgive your self for what went wrong yesterday and move forward. If you dwell in the past you will never have a future.
Hugs and Best Wishes to all my cyber friends, thank you for all your support and encouragement!

I went to the doctor again yesterday for another fill. My last fill was at the beginning of April and with this fill I have been able to notice restriction finally. I have been feeling great and can really tell if I eat too fast or too much. I stepped on the scale at the doctor, and in 4 weeks, I'm down 7lbs. I am so happy with that. I know some people see much faster weight loss, but I am satisfied with how I am progressing. As long as I see the scale moving in the right direction, I will feel like a success. I have been TRYING to avoid stepping on the scale too often, but I have been trying to watch at least once a week to make sure I am on track. I feel so good about where I'm headed.
My roommate moved out a week ago, so I have my basement back and can finally start using my treadmill again, which I know will help too. Its been hard with all the rain to get out and walk too much, and I cant leave the kids home, so I havent been able to do as much as I want to. Now at least I can watch tv while walking on the treadmill.
I am walking a 5K in 2 weeks, so I would love to get prepared for that as well.

Ok i'm probably gonna be late for work but who cares. I FINALLY HIT ONEDERLAND!! i thought i did yesterday but wanted to make sure today and yep 199!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was a long haul, but now i'm here. i believe i can make my goal in1.5 months!!!!! thanks for all the encourgement guys...ok gotta get to work!

This has officially become easy... yes I said easy! I raise my heart rate for a few minutes and lose weight! My appetite is virtually non-existent, my growlies in my stomach tell me when to eat and now it doesn't take much to satisfy them! Even water does the trick when I'm out of calories for the day. I can eat what I want in 1/2 cup portions. Still try to use my calories wisely though. I drink at least 40 oz of water a day and eat an average of 800 calories. I did PB eating a piece of chicken wing the other night and I can tell you I used to do it like almost every day before I got my head in the game, and it was never as near painful! Even have to allow water to take its time going down right now. So right now I'm on cruise- control and my 15k investment is finally allowing me to do what I should have been doing years ago.....
 
 
Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...... I exhale....
 
I am no longer worried that the weightloss is going to stop. I weigh myself everyday just to get the rush when I see it go down. If it goes up (cause there are days it does go up!) It doesn't phase me cause I know I need to eat 3500 calories to gain 1 lb of fat and there' s no way I'm eating any way near that amount, so it has to be water or something else. After doing some research on the basal metabolic rate(bmr), I think that many of us are being advised wrongly by using the calculators. The calculator told me I needed over 3000 cals for my bmr, having a somewhat sedentary lifestyle. But the body weight analyzer scale advised that I only needed 2200! So now I don't have unrealistic expectations about losing tremendous amounts of weight when I only need 2200 cals to maintain my current weight. I now realize that even if I starved myself and didn't do any exercise whatsoever, I would only manage to lose 4lbs per week! Also I find myself questioning the starvation mode theory. Afterall bypass patients have to eat way less than 1200 cals and they still lose weight. So if I can get in enough of my important nutrients such as protein in under 1000 cals, that's what I'll do. I find the scale sticks for long times whenever I try to go over 1000. Below 1000 works for me, it might not for you.
 
I am no longer worried that my loose cothes will start to get back tight! I wore a 22 jeans today and the legs have space!
 
My greatest joy comes from hearing my sons' and husband's remarks about how much they enjoy watching me shrink! lol
 
I have more energy now to actually get out of bed and make them lunch and they are thoroughy enjoying the healthier meals the're now getting, plus I'm getting in exercise by being out of bed an hour earlier. Win-win!
 
To my weightloss.... This morning, beginning of my 7 week, I weighed in at 310 lbs. That's 25lbs in the 6 weeks, 5lbs this week and 42 lbs down from my pre-op weight.
 
 
I am estatic! My BMI is exactly 50! So I know by next week it will be below 50. ESTATIC! Till next week......

Well its a new day and that means new obstetrical, I have found since me and lap band became friends that i have new things to deal with everyday. What are you talking about you might ask well here we go lol. Before banding i would wake up in the mornings slowly get out of bed and want to cry as soon as my feet hit the floor. my feet hurt and my back was in a big amount of pain. Then i would go to the bathroom, Then strait to the kitchen for a soda and the remote. not to menchen i would wake up at eleven if i didnt have to take kids to school. any ways after my soda i would head to the fridge for my breakfast which was usually leftovers from the night before and since i would wake up at like 11 or 12 i didnt see the point in trying breakfast. so i would eat ten times to much and then it was lay around and watch tv, play on the computer, or maybe wash a load or two of clothes. I didnt have energy to do anything any more. And my clothes where always jeans when cold and an XXXL t-shirt and if it was hot or warm basketball shorts and an XXXL t-shirt. I mean dont get me wrong i had very beautiful clothes but i was to big to wear them.
So that was my before life all that right there i didnt like to go or do anything! I was a total couch potato! Now this is pretty much what i face every morning i will wake up uncurl myself (i usually wake up with my knees in my chest) then i will get up out of bed stretch no pain. journey to my bathroom do my stuff, go to the kitchen start my coffee, feed my dogs play with them a while, get my coffee and get on the computer and usually this is all before i wake up the kids to go to school or like a day like today where it is spring break all before nine o'clock. any ways i drink my coffee and get on the computer and check my email, and i run a business from home called Pomeranian's place. after all my computer stuff is done and all the coffee is gone i start off with maybe a protein shake because its so hard to eat in the mornings or i just mix protein and fiber with the coffee that i am drinking. Then i start off my day with cleaning (sometimes lol) and running earns like food shopping and just everyday life stuff. I usually always try to eat by 12 in less i am working at my other job which i got in October, then i will eat at one because i dont get off until 12:30 most days. After my lunch time meal is done i will do some more cleaning or play with the dogs, then maybe go and get the kids from school or when they dont have school i will work in the garden i am planting or mow the yard i find that i love to be outside now. And i am just waiting and counting down days until summer when i can go swimming anytime that i want. And clothes well for one i had to by all new clothes and i find myself bying things that i really love and no t-shirts my sizes now are pants size 11-10 and shirts xl to large. but i can buy girls shorts and look good in them again nothing skanky im to old for that lol. well i dont think i am to old i am 25 but with three kids i don't want to embarrass them. My point is is that after lap band i feel better i feel the need to get out and go. instead of trying to find the closest parking spot at a mall or store i find one that is farther away i mean yeah i dont want to loose the car one and two sometimes i just want to get home after a long day at the mall.
Thats another things shopping before i hated malls and i hated food shopping. I hated malls because most stores just dont make things for big women. And food shopping because that is when people are the meanest. When they see one big girl with a basket full of food they tend to sometimes say "and she wonders why she is so fat" any one else ever hear that? It will make you cry and just leave but what they dont think about is i have four other people at home besides me. Let me clear something up i knew i was fat and i knew i had a problem but until someone is in the same place that you are they will never understand what your going through.
As for malls now i love it no one looks at me crazy when i pick up a little shirt and no one says anything about do u really thing that you can wear that? No its really not like that for me. Here is a good story it was in january when i had just hit the 100's i needed new clothes and so i went shopping at a mall. What i didnt realize was that i had no clue what i was supposed to wear. I knew the size 14s i had on where way to big for me now and the XXL shirt i had on was also way to big. I went in to a store called the buckle. I was greated by a girl and a guy, they asked me what are you looking for i said i dont know. so the guy must have seen that i was almost ready to burst into tears and he came over and said what can i help you find what kinds of clothes do u like i said well i really dont know. He said what do you mean you dont know. I said well you dont understand before now all i have been wearing is basketball shorts and t-shirts. he smiled and said why i told him because before now i weighed about 300lbs he smiled and said no you didnt, i said um yeah i did and now that i can wear things in this store i dont even know where to start. He said well how much do you weigh now i said 198. he stoped and said holly crap! but he brought me all kinds of things to try on and worked with me untill i found a pair of jeans that fit perfect. He asked what size i was wearing right now i said a 14 he said no you my friend are in a size 11-12! Thanks to that guy i can now go into a store and know exactly what im looking for and what to buy although my size has dropped again i still know where i am supposed to be.
I know many people have had to feel like this sometime in there lives right. It is just so awesome to know that when i tell people how big i was they are like no way your so little now. Ill admit after that i went a little extream with the weight loss. And this right here is why they will not fill my band i lost to much weight to fast and with out really seeing it i was in trouble. I haven't been filled since January. I wasnt eating like i was supposed to and no i wasn't eating crap i was eating maybe once a day. and my band gets tighter and tighter when i don't eat. again i dont know why this happens it just seems to happen. I would eat one slice of lunch meat for lunch and again for dinner. I wasn't hungry and if i thought i might be i would drink something. Well my husband started trying to make me eat and thats when the throwing up started and im still fighting with it but im also eating right again and im trying very hard to do what i know i am supposed to do. And the treat of going to the hospital makes me want to stay on track. What i was doing wasn't right but i got carried away with all the weight that i was loosing and weighing myself everyday wasn't helping. And my scale was way off and that wasn't helping either when i thought that i weighted 198 or like a month and what i really was weighting was 189 well that's a big difference. I am back on track now and i gained a little weight back but it wasn't bad i didnt crumple and die but im slowly loosing weight again and the way that i am supposed to so im happy and i only weight myself once a month and when the doctor does it for me. And that takes a lot of pressure off my shoulder.
So even if you slip a little make sure you have someone to catch you and throw you back in place because everyone needs someone while dealing with change. And im not going to stop im am just going to do it smarter. And at the end of the day i know i am better then one year ago. and that to me is well worth it.