☠carolinagirl☠

I am very happy to hear from you, again. The beginning of the school year is always very busy. Sometimes you just have to walk away from your desk and say it's me time for 15 minutes.
Have a great Labor Day weekend and relax with your wonderful husband.

Thanks all! We have a 3 day weekend coming, but it is full. The normal - grocery time and cleaning the house. My BFF had a baby yesterday, so we are going an hour north to see them and meet our new godson. Sunday we are going to my moms, because we haven't seen them in a couple of weeks. Monday I hope to get a little rest and go out for our anniversary dinner. The hubs and I will have been married 4 years on Sept 5, but we know we won't be able to celebrate during the week.
I hit the bed about 8:00 last night and got up at my normal 5 am. I however, feel tired already. Don't know what's wrong with me. All I want to do is sleep and eat. Have a doctor's appointment next week, hopefully they will do blood work and see what's up.

Please know that you are worthy of all good things. It's so easy to get down on ourselves when we're exhausted. Please be gentle with yourself and take good care -- you are worth it. Thank you for posting. It really helps me to read what others are going through. Life can be so stressful. When I'm able to step back and view things from a distance, sometimes I gain insight.

Kime, it is so easy to fall back into our old ways and into our comfort zone. Here are a few suggestions from someone who works a lot of long hours. Plan... Planning snacks and meals is key to being successful and staying on track. Yes it takes time and energy to get this started but it pays off in the long run and than you are not tempted to migrate to those comfort foods and allowing your head hunger to rule you again. On your days off take the time to sit down and plan some meals that will allow you to take the left overs for lunch the next day. Make yourself some healthy snacks and place them in snack bags in a container and keep in the cabnet or fridge. I keep my protein bars in the freezer, this forces me to eat them slowly and take the time to enjoy them. I place my nuts or chocolate in individual bags that are my serving size. I never trust my self to know when to stop eating because honestly who sees it but me and if no one sees it it does'nt count RIGHT. That was my old way of thinking and it is so easy for me to go back there if I don't stay focused. I like snacking as much as the next person so I plan. I have also found that if I allow myself to eat Pizza or a pasta dish I am soooo hungry in a very short period of time and this makes it hard. I work hard to eliminate carbs at night and focus more on protein and green veggies for nights. I always try to save some calories for night time because when I watch TV I want a snack some nights and I figure planned snacks are better than just eating anything and everything in site. My last comment is don't give up on your self, you have done a good job of losing weight and will continue to lose. Stress is unfortunately part of our daily lives and there will always be something that triggers us to eat or graze.
Good luck and I know you can do this and reach your personal goal.

hey jim
i read this last night and wanted to respond but on my lap top at home with my long nails its hard for me to type (fast/alot) so i waited til i got back to work..your progress is amazing....you know from our convo's you are one of my inspirations and i am sooooooo proud of you....your wife has the BEST example of a success story...tell her i said so
i find if we say i am gonna do this a certain number of times, we tend to stress and if we dont, we stress more and then it consumes us....
i think if you work out (when you can), it will count
as you know, i am in agreement with you....everything we do movement wise counts.....us larger BMI people took things for granted.....
so dont get caught up on a set number of times per week
just do what you can, when you can.......that is what you have told me
before......i remember that
work is crazy......i dont have time to do much of anything and when i get
home i want to crawl into a hot bath, then my bed and go to sleep....some days i walk....some days i do my aerobics, some days i dont.......i just do what i can.......i eat good, let the band work and stay positive and focused........just LIKE YOU ARE
saggy skin, i feel ya
but my ole man said to me would i rather be fat with tight skin (well over 300+ ) or nearly under 200 and some saggy skin.....give me sag any day
love ya
virginia

wonderful blog and GREAT suggestions ......why are they great? they obviously work.....just look at your before/after. all the best love

Jim, you've done a phenomenal job! I agree with Sojourner; try & set a more realistic goal, and take some of the pressure off.
It's true that exercise needs to become part of our daily routine. Easier said than done, I know! If it weren't for my dog giving me "the face" every morning, I'd probably plop down at my desk, and not surface for hours. I used to take her to the park; play catch, then sit my butt down on a bench while she plays. Now, I take her out for a good 40-45 minute walk through the hills about 4-5 times a week, which has made a huge difference in my progress. I know I "should" (hate that word) do more, but for now, this seems to be "enough".
You're doing great, Jim.... Keep it realistic, and try not to get down on yourself for not living up to your own expectations. As my father always says, just do the best you can :-)

Congrats on your amazing success Jim! I read a good article a couple months ago and posted a link to it on here. If I can find it, I'll repost it. It discussed not worrying about some long term fitness goal, but just concentrating on your progress today. If we concentrate on what we do today...the long term goals will come.
Heres a quote from it.
""Einstein didn't think he was intelligent, because as his intellect expanded so did his ability to comprehend how much there is to know. Exercise works the same way. As you become fit, you become more aware of higher standards of fitness. Identifying yourself in the scale of being fit can be the cause of depression that will cause you to quit. You must not think about a future state of fitness you want to obtain. You must only think of physical motion in the moment. You must develop sets of physical motion without setting a goal of obtainment. You just do it as a ritual. You don't think about the time involved. You don't become over exhilarated. You just do it."
http://drsimpson.net/fitness/aeobics/aerobics.htm

Hi Sojourner,
Thank you for giving me another perspective. Perhaps you're right and I am just putting too much pressure on myself. Really it is not so much the 10 hours a week I am looking for but rather some consistency. Seeking out that consistency I guess I am just adding more pressure. As for the walks I do enjoy them however not on the level of perhaps other activities. I thought maybe if I looked at it as something that has to be done daily such as a shower, work, cooking dinner then perhaps it would actually get done.
When it's all said and done I just have to do it and I have to make the time to do it.

wonderful blog and GREAT suggestions ......why are they great? they obviously work.....just look at your before/after. all the best love

wonderful blog and GREAT suggestions ......why are they great? they obviously work.....just look at your before/after. all the best love

Congrats! And an awesome blog full of good advice. Thanks!

awesome girl! I'm going to keep this entry and refer back to it when I get to goal. Hopefully in March!

I eat out all the time and eat from the kid's menu a lot. I also will order a small salad and for $4-$7. extra add a protein, like chicken, shrimp or salmon. I do that one a real lot and love it.
So far no has said anything to me for eating small portions, which I like.

When my band is adjusted properly I eat a little bit of everything I like and no one really notices. I throw away food if I add too much to my plate. I try to stay away from foods that may not agree with my band but sometimes I still get stuck out in public.

I have had my band for almost 6 years now and have been through a series of ups and downs that I will not get into right now. You can read my last post about my journey so far if you want but I will say this..................every person is different and every person's amount of fill and number of cc's in their band is different. I have a 14 cc band and had lost about 150 pounds a few years back. At that time I had 12.5 cc's of fill in my 14 cc band with very tight restriction. I had to have all the fill removed 2 years ago and I gained all the weight back. I just had the band refilled again on Monday and I only have 6 cc's in and have the same restriction that I had several years ago when I had 10 cc's of fill in my band. There are a lot of variables. Some people have more fat tissue around their stomachs, where the band is placed than others. Clearly over the last 2 years, I have managed to accumulate a lot of fat tissue around my stomach for 6 cc's to give me good restriction when 2 years ago it would not have given me any.
Please, please slow down, relax and take your time. You sound a lot like me and I almost died twice because I was eager to lose weight fast and I abused and misused the band fore years. Read my post here if you want to know the story.http://www.lapbandtalk.com/topic/175029-starting-over-after-almost-dying-twice-and-gaining-back-150-pounds/
Most of all, good luck to you and if you need to chat or want some advice, I am here for you.

I can relate. I am a certified scale watcher which is not necessarily a good thing. Have you been taking your measurements? I find at times that even when the scale is not moving I am dropping inches. Especially around my waist and my arms. Even if the scales are not moving seeing that parts of you are shrinking helps with morale. Don't let it get you down. Think about the way you were pre band. Were you losing the two pounds a week? Probably not or you would not have went with the band. My advice- Go to the store and buy two one pound bags of sugar. Set those two bags close to your scales. When you weigh and see those one or two pound losses look at those bags of sugar. Those two bags are what you are not carrying around on your body anymore!!!! Major accomplishment. You should be proud of yourself.

Oh lord can I relate. All the people who were banded with me got restriction early and started losing. Me? I had to diet like all hell and exercise like a demon to lose half the weight they were losing.
I felt like I'd never get to that 'elusive' green zone. Why was it so much harder for me???
But the funny thing is that the eating habits and exercising that I did helped me lose most of my weight before I even got to green zone. Once I did get there (8.5cc in a 10cc band) it became EASY. To lose the rest, to keep losing past goal, and then to maintain for 3 years because I had learnt the good lessons about how to eat and how to keep active.
And on average, my 'slow' loss was actually about 10lbs a month on average. Less to start with and more as I got fitter and I felt the effects of the band with my later fills. I lost 70lbs in 7 months, but if you told me that in the beginning I wouldn't have thought it was possible.
Yes it's different for different people but it doesn't mean it's a bad different. It's just different. Hang in there.

Everyone is different with their weight loss. I have been around the same weight for 4-6 months but I am fine with that. With the band you lose slower than with the other 2 WLS. That was one of the reasons I chose the band and also because I didn't want my insides cut or removed for good.
Maybe talk to your dietitian for help with your eating.

Kuddos for u that u didn't forget urself and stuck by ur tool and who cares what the coworkers think they have problems also so they feed on other people's misery ,however I bet your friend who had thefire thinks your fiery and you did and r doing good for you and others so keep that in mind and body.

You sound like the real deal, and from my experience you are an endangered species. Hold your head up, and continue to be true!

Sorry to hear about your friend's fire. As for your co-workers, they are co-workers, not friends. People are with their co-workers more than anyone else in their life yet they don't understand the bonding sometimes. Very sad for them.
Meanwhile, raising money for the fire victim was great and must have made you feel wonderful. NSV!