Shelleymb

It's been so long since I've even signed on to this site, I didn't like the change. But I kept changing myself! I am down 73 pounds and at a bit of a road block... because I'm PREGNANT! I'm 17 weeks pregnant and now my weight is creeping up a little bit. I had to have a cc removed from my band because I was so sick in the first trimester. It's crazy, it's been 11 months and I don't know what to write. ANY questions for me? I need to get into the flow of things again! Shelley

Hi! My name is Shelley, and you are not alone! I was crazy obsessed before my surgery. I even went over my data plan on my phone checking this site. I researched and researched to make sure I knew everything. Then finally I thought I was going crazy. I had so much pent up energy and anexiety over it that I would cry at night. So this is what I did... my suggestions to you are: -Pintrest I pretty much planned my entire wedding in a month to make myself stay off this site more than twice a day. And my wedding isn't until July 2014. -Pintrest again, but instead of researching the band. Research and pin the life you're going to have after the band. Focus on farther down the road. I have a whole board on pintrest of clothes and fashions that I want to be able to wear when I get to my goal weight. Pictures that I want to have taken, because you know you're gonna want a photo session when you hit goal. -Library I went to my local library and found a book that I hadn't read since highschool. Then I found other books to read. And it helped. I found memoirs from overweight girls, which were interesting. -Arts & Crafts I made a "Journey Journal" I covered a composition notebook in inspiring pictures and quotes and started writing information that was going to help me along the way. (I can send you pictures if you like to get a jist of what it is) You just have to figure out a way to distract yourself, cause after surgery, when you are in pain, you're going to ask yourself... "Why did I want to rush this?" (Don't worry, it's worth it, but you'll still probably ask yourself that.) I hope this was helpful! -Shelley

I don't even know how to begin to describe my day... it's been a pretty good one. How about I just walk you through it. 4:20am: My alarm goes off informing me that I have 5 minutes to get out of bed. "Don't tell me how to live my life alarm... I do me." I spend the next 4 minutes contemplating skipping the gym since I have been working so hard lately. I deserve a break right? 4:24am: I check my daily horoscope. 4:25am: So I get up, realizing the only that is holding me back from success is me. The only thing that has held me back for the last 20+ years has always been me. I am my own maker. So I get out of bed and head to the bathroom. 4:27am: I pull out the scale. I know that I shouldn't be doing this, that I should wait. But on Sunday I weighed myself after a 4 day weekend from work and knew that I could have done better and weighed myself at my parent's house and saw that I had gained 3 pounds. No sirree! This is a one way express to the new me, so I decided there and then it was go time. That I was failing my band when all it was trying to do was fulfill its destiny. To save my life. So now I've decided to weigh myself at least once a week to make sure I'm at least heading in the right direction. So this morning when I got on the scale... what did I see you may ask?? Pa dow! That's what I saw. Under 260! Haven't seen that in about a year and a half! 4:28am: Run screaming from the bathroom and jump onto Ty who is completely asleep. Tell him the news and watch him have an internal struggle of trying to show happiness for me and not punch me in the face for screaming and jumping on him at 4:30 in the morning. 5:00am: Get to the gym and jump on the treadmill. I chose the treadmill because I am doing a 30 day fitness photo challenge on instagram (Follow me! Shell_LB) and today's picture is supposed to be of "Calories Burned" So away I went. 5:42am: Then this happen.... FML right? What are ya gonna do? Fast forward to talking to my best friend who moved 3000 miles away from me to get married. Boo. She is having trouble get motivated to work out and eat right, so I just told her what I was doing. And how it is so helpful. All the journaling, food logs, counting, working out. ACCOUNTABLITY. This is part of conversation. Welcome to my life... And now I am at work... blogging.... I should win employee of the year! After work (hour and a halfish) I'm going to Costco for a few things, then River fitness Boot Camp. Gotta get that booty in shape. My Goal is 250 by the end of June... I may need to come up with a new goal. ;D

My oh my, it has been a long minutes since I have posted anything. It's hard for me to come to this site now as much as I did before I was banded. I think I used this site as a distraction from the waiting for surgery. Now that I'm banded I am distracted by the fact that this is a lifetime commitment to change and dedication. Figuring out what works for me, what doesn't work. How to find a substitute for the things that I can't stand and for things to feel somewhat normal to me. After my first fill I was a bit upset that my band is now half full and I'm not even two months into my journey. And while explaining my feelings to Ty he calmly looked at me and said, "You're going to have to make it work. It's not like they are going to go in and remove your band to replace it with a bigger one. It's a shitty mistake but you didn't like surgery, so now make it work." And he's right. Surgery was pretty much the most traumatic thing I have ever done in my life and I would be plenty happy never doing it again. But for the good things; -My old clothes are starting to fit -I'm getting stronger at the gym -I was invited to join a masters swim team * not sure if I'm ready, they are swimming about double the amount of yards that I swim currently :/ * -Running my first 5k of the year this Sunday... maybe... it might rain and it's the color run. That doesn't really mix well. To follow me better find me on instagram, I post pictures daily! Screen name: Shell_lb

It was interesting.... It was most definitely a PINCH... A long pinch. I found out that I have a 10cc band, and after surgery I had 4cc in it. They added another 1cc today. I'm nervous because my band is now half full and I have only just beginning my journey..... Well, bed time. Up to swim in the early am. Oh! I got weighed today. I'm 265! Good enough loss for me. Happy losing everyone and the weekend is close on us!

Just a check point post... The last few days have been pretty frustrating. I felt out of control with my eating, craving foods that I know I shouldn't have been eating, and things that I have been doing fine without... but I could not get enough chocolate. And the internal and external arguments that I had with myself were getting old. But sadly I ate things I know I shouldn't be eating unless on a special occasion. But I would make myself work out harder and more often, which I think is an eating disorder on it's own, but whatevs. I figured out what was wrong last night, it was the week before my TOM and I got it last night before working out. For some reason I guess I convinced myself that that issue would go away after getting lapband. I'm an idiot. But as the day has been going on today, I don't crave chocolate nearly as much, which is a good thing. Been doing well on working out, swimming 3 times a week. 2 aqua boot camps a week. 3 crossfit work outs a week and a zumba class or 2 and then it's Sunday and I lay around and watch tv. Love it. Measured myself at my month post op and I have lost a total of 9 3/8 inches overall. I still haven't weighed myself yet. I'll find that out on the 25th when I go in for my first fill, which I need desperately. It's taking more and more food to make myself feel satisfied, and it's only holding me over for a max of 3 hours before I start having to barging with myself. "If you wait 30 more minutes, you can have a granola bar.' "you're not going to die" but then it sounds like there is a pod of whales in my stomach and I normally give in at that point. But that's about it for now, other than that, not much going on... just living the dream I guess. Happy losing everyone. Shell

So I bought new jeans last night, I am a size down... actually a size and a half. I got into a pair of 18 jeans, buttoned them up and got the zipper up. But that doesn't mean that I should be wearing them. I have a No Muffin Top policy. It doesn't bother me to buy the size up to insure that the jeans fit the way that they are meant to. But I bought the 18s along with the size 20 that fits the way that it should, because the sale was pretty good. Silver jeans aren't cheap and I got them for buy one get one half off, so instead of paying $100 each It came out to about $75, which is a come up! And now I have a better judgment of my shrinking size since I don't weigh myself anymore. I fell like if I continue to work out the way that I have been, then the jeans will fit in a month or less. And for the people who will read this and think I'm crazy for buying 100 dollar jeans, I will tell you this. More expensive clothes fit the way that they are supposed to. The cheaper you buy, the worse the fit and the more alterations you will have to do if you want them to fit the way that they should. But, I will add, I take good care of my clothes, so I can sell them afterwards. I normally get upward of 50 dollars for each of my jeans because they are sturdy enough not to wear through the thighs. And when I buy dresses or going out shirts, I don't mind spending a lot, even though I'm only going to wear it once, because I always end up selling it for about what I paid for it. I had a different breakfast this morning and it rocked my world. English Muffin with peanut butter and strawberries. So glad it wasn't yogurt. I'M SO OVER YOGURT! Had my first Stuck moment yesterday during lunch. It was horrific. I was in public... with my sister... who doesn't know I had wls... so I told her I was choking a little. I couldn't get it to come up, so I drank water. I never want that to happen again. And the moment I swallowed the food I knew I had effed up. And I did. And this is why I will wait another month to eat a sandwhich. Happy losing everyone. The weekend is close! Shelley

Thank you! Ya I'm over yogurt! All those sound tasty! I will look into them.

This is going to be pretty random, I apologize in advance. Went swimming this morning with my sister and my cousin. My sister doesn't know that I had wls but my cousin does, she's actually the one that took me to the hospital on the day of the surgery. Anyway, my cousin told me that I was losing weight () but that my boobs have gotten smaller (D:) It's only a small set back because Ty told me that after I am done having kids, he will go to Japan and save a bunch of money and then I get a boob job ( :D) I haven't weighed myself in about 2 weeks. I'm slightly curious as to how much I weigh, but more curious on if I can buy new jeans. I am going to the mall to buy a new pair on Friday. Hoping I have moved down a size in the jean department. I know that I have lost an inch or so on my upper body because my jacket fits looser. So I didn't make a lunch for today. I try to prepare my lunch the night before, especially the night before I'm going to be waking up earlier to go swimming, but last night I was nauseated and I couldn't figure out what to make for lunch. Nothing sounded good at the time, and now besides my breakfast, my lunch bag was empty. I mean I can go buy something, but it was just disheartening to know that I was nauseated for some reason and that it affected the sound of food for the next day. I also have decided that I need to figure out some other breakfast because I am getting tired of yogurt. But it's just so much protein and I know that I need it, but it's becoming a chore to choke it down. I think I am going to start looking into some sort of frozen breakfast thing that I can start switching out with the yogurt. Maybe do every other day yogurt. I've been working out a lot, which is good I guess, but it seems like all I do every day is work, workout, and sleep. Does anyone else feel this way? How much is the norm for working out in the beginning? Ugh... it's only Wednesday, bring on the weekend.

Woke up this morning and went swimming with my sister and my cousin. It felt good to be back in the water, even if I felt like a dying whale. I just hope that I improve fast and get back into the swing of things. And at 4:30 in the morning, it is nice to know that I have two other people to hold me accountable... but I found out this morning after we swam and were getting dressed that it is an equal trifecta of accountability... we all got up to go because we knew the other was. I feel like if one had faulted in not coming the rest of us would have stayed in bed. Not going to lie, I had to give myself a 5 minute pep talk to get out of bed. Which went something like this, "Get up get up get up get up." <-- Me "Get up." <--Ty "Awe! Thanks for the motivation!" <--Me "It's not motivation, it's a request. You're annoying me." <--Ty So I got up and left. Rude boys. So the plan for right now is swimming 3 times a week M-W-F and Zumba in the evenings 5 days a week and an Ab workout on Saturday, and Sunday, if I haven't skipped any days to rest my booty. Have a great week everyone! Happy losing! Shells

Ya, that dumb scale was making me mad. So I took the battery out and had Ty hide it. Lol

I am a creature of habit, keeping my schedule at work is what saves me when it is the weekend and everything gets messed up. During the work week, I eat my breakfast at the same time, everyday. 7:00 Breakfast 9:30 a babybel cheese 11:30 Lunch 3:00 cucumbers then dinner whenever I get home, normally around 5:00. So this morning, due to an award ceremony, everything got messed up, and I wasn't able to eat my breakfast. Now as I sit down finally able to eat, I had to plan the rest of my meals accordingly. So I just ate my lunch at 8:45 in the morning, to insure that I stay full until after my training at 12:00 starts. Talk about First World Problems. :/

It's been a long while since I have posted, and I'm just sitting here planning my new life and figured I would check in with the few people who read my blog. I hope everyone is doing well and losing what they are working so hard for. I don't actually know what I have lost or gained lately because I decided to stop weighing myself. I was becoming obsessed and making myself sick when I would "plateau" for a day or two. Which I know is normal, especially since I'm not even a month out from surgery. So I haven't gotten on my scale in over a week I think. Which is kinda nice actually, the first 2 days were pretty hard, but now it's nice not worrying about it and knowing that on the 25th I'll know. The 25th is my fill date. I know that I'm going to need the fill, because as of right now when I eat my cup of food it only keeps me full for 2 hours, 3 if I push through the hunger pains. So I am eagerly waiting for my appointment to get a fill, if I wasn't such a wuss I would go sooner, but I need Ty to go with me because I'm scared for some reason, and the 25th is when he has his last two appointments. So I joined the YMCA last night, because our stupid government is broke and the base pool is going to be closed until sometime next year. And I just want to swim! And at the Y I can take Zumba classes. which I love. But if the government wasn't broke-dizzle then I wouldn't have to be spending 40 a month to swim. Which in retrospect isn't that bad since when I swam on a club team it was over a hundred dollars a month for me to swim. So on the topic of swimming, I have created a challenge for myself. I have found a website www.100swimmingworkouts.com that has..yup! you guessed it, 100 swim workouts to do. They start out for beginners with nothing over 1000 yards and builds up to swimming 2 miles by the end of the 100 work outs. I am waiting on a phone call from either my surgeon or nurse to tell me when I am cleared to swim. And when they give me the ok, I am giving myself 6 months to complete the 100 workouts. I am hoping to build up to swimming 5 times a week, which would mean that I would only really need 5 months, but hey, I'm human. I'm giving myself a month buffer incase I skip or miss a workout. If anyone is interested in doing this with me, let me know. I would love to have a motivating companion that I can help motivate right back. I have always loved swimming, and it is one of the healthiest things that I have ever done that I loved as much as food. So I'm ready to get back into the swing of things. I'm hoping I won't be a complete mess when I first jump into the pool. Well that's pretty much it for now. Love to hear from anyone with help or a simple hello! Happy losing everyone! Shelley

I am on day 6 post op and its finally getting better. I have been researching and researching for the past 8 months about lapband, but NOTHING could have prepared me for day of surgery and the 5 days following. I'm still a bit sore when breathe deep, and when I get hungry. But I'm definately ready to eat mushy foods, my protein shakes are making me sick and nothing sounds good anymore. Except pizza. I have been craving pizza for two weeks. But I'm ready. I'm ready to get back in the gym and I'm ready to really ready to start my journey. Follow me on Instagram! Shell_LB

Ive been wrapping my body in a heating blanket. The wedding is August 23 2014.

Surgery went well, I was pretty terrified, cried before and the woke up crying. The conversation that I had while waking up: Me: (soft sobs) I just want to get married. Nurse: Awe, that's sweet. Do you have a boyfriend? Me: (long pause) Well that's a dumb question. Why would I want to get married without a boyfriend? The nurse just laughed. Today, I'm pretty sore, gas pains come and go, and I've stayed on top of my Vicodin to avoid pain. Went walking around the mall today with my brother, the came home cause I was tired. But I'm happy I did it.

I've never had surgery before and I'm terrified. I don't understand how anesthetic works and that scares me. I'm ready to be home. That's all. Mumford and Sons playing to keep me calm, and it's working.

How weird, is that for pre op or forever?

Straws to drink with? She never said anything to me. I find I drink more water through out the day with my cup and straw cause I sip on it without thinking about it.

Burned off those lumpia .... Now it's time for bed.

I had my final appointment with my surgeon before my surgery on Friday. It was weird to be off routine for my liquid diet, and it caused me to stray from the path that I have laid down for myself. Because the clinic that I am working with is about 2 hours away, I froze one of my protein shakes so that when I got hungry in the afternoon, I would have a cold shake. Well, I froze the shake solid and it wasn't close to being thawed out and It came time to where I could feel my tummy grumbling. So when I finally got home I popped one of my frozen meals into the microwave and waited. And as I waited, Ty made some lumpia for his dinner. After I finished my meal, I made a mistake. I ate two little lumpia. And they were so good. But right after I finished being happy about the taste, I immediately felt guilt. So I got my phone and went to input the lumpia into myfitnesspal I found out that they are 110 calories each. I felt even worse. The only thing I didn't feel bad about was not going over my calories. But I still felt awful. Then I sat up and said to myself, "I am human, I make choices, some are good, some are better, and some just mean that there is another action to be its companion." So the next thing I looked up on my phone, was when my gym closed. 9pm, so after the food settles in my stomach, I am going to finish the action that I started by eating the lumpia. I'm going to burn those calories and more. I no longer feel guilty, I feel responsible.

Thank you for your concern I am very cautious about tanning. I only go once a week, and I have regular check ups with a dermatologist. I just have an olive undertone to my skin and I look like I have jaundice in the winter and spring, so I tan a bit to get rid of the sickly look.

I only took in 620 calories yesterday..... I was worried about starvation mode but I lost weight. I'm going to try to drink 4, I was just never hungry for the 4th one yesterday. I did crash though.... I was in bed before 8. It took me a bit to fall asleep, but I could tell my body was done moving for the day. All I have planned for today is cleaning house and tanning (<----my favorite) I think I'm going to be able to survive this liquid diet, but it's only day 2, lol, we will see. I just gotta keep myself busy.

This was incredibly helpful!!!