♕ajtexas♕

Tonight’s dinner did not come from a grocery store. I made a venison roast from a deer that was shot on my uncles ranch and roasted veggies (butternut squash, turnips, yellow was beans & snap peas) that where grown on our land. My husband pointed out that nothing on our plate came from the grocery store. This made me think, ok the seasonings I put on the roast and the corn starch to thicken the drippings for gravy are the only items from the grocery store. That is pretty cool! (Just had to brag) Oh and by the way, it was delicious!!!!

By the way... do you see the girl walking along with the big bag of popcorn in the top picture?????

Yesterday my husband & I rented a craft booth at out town’s Market Days. We make several things (wood bowls & trays, bags, napkins, placemats & coasters) and we wanted to try selling them. The day started early, we were up at 6:00am. As my husband loaded the truck I packed food for the day. We would be at our booth all day (9am to 4pm) so I needed both breakfast and lunch for both of us. Now my band had been tight the day before, probably due to stress and excitement for the upcoming event. So I wanted to bring smart food for myself…. I knew there would be lots of tempting food vendors there with not so healthy choices. I made a protein shake to take with me for breakfast; I knew this would be safer than trying to eat something. For lunch I took 3ozs of chicken salad and a Greek yogurt, for a snack an apple cut into slices. I also packed a pre-made protein shake just in case I had problems eating and needed fuel…. I also packed 4 water bottles for myself so that I would get my water in for the day (course this meant I had to locate the closest bathroom, lol) As it turned out our booth was downwind from the kettle popcorn vendor…..yep smelled popcorn ALL DAY LONG…. & watched people walking by with big bags of the stuff. My created husband started asking people, “Need a bowl for that popcorn?” It was a great day. Business wise we sold a few things did some networking with the local vendors and made some good business connections. Personally it was a great success; I managed a challenging situation by planning ahead and sticking to my plan.

BBs are never alone. All for one & one for all! Which insurance company? I'll get my gun!!!

My rat terrior mix, Bugsy, caught a mouse and he wanted to bring it INSIDE!

Ok, you are going to have to give attachment lessons!!!!

I had my surgery 9 months ago, February 7, 2012. It seems like just yesterday, but no its 9 months ago. Wow, time has flown and wow things sure have changed. In celebration of being 9 months reborn I made a list of 9 things that have changed (excluding the weight & inches lost): No more medication – When I started this journey I had to take 3 different medications to control my high blood pressure. Today my blood pressure is normal without medication. Giving the elevator the day off – I work on the 8th floor, every morning I walk up the stairs to my office and in the evening I walk down. Plus during the day I go up and down at least 3 floors, several times. Sex – Sex is definitely better. I’ll skip the details… How my skin feels – I like rubbing my hand up and down my arm, my skin feels thinner (Don’t know if this makes sense to you) Wearing heels – When I was at my heavies my ankles couldn’t handle heels. Now I’m back to wearing heels again! My confidence – I walk taller, I smile all the time, I really like being me now! I like looking at myself in the mirror – dressed or naked, I like what I see. It’s not perfect but I like it! Finding my extravert self – When I was in high school I was very outgoing; I had no fear of talking to strangers. When I was at my heaviest I was so shy, I wouldn’t look people in the eyes, afraid to talk to them. Now, I’m back to looking people in the eyes and talking to strangers. The way others look at me – I love seeing guys take a second look; the expression on my friends faces when they see me and how the family responds to me.

My Lap-band is a great tool for my weight loss journey, if only I could band my head. How many times have we thought that? I read it on threads all the time. Well, we can band our head. In fact I have a Banded Brain Tool and it’s called SUPPORT. It comes in all different shapes and sizes. My Banded Brain Tool consists of five things: Cheerleaders – these are my family and friends who from the sidelines are cheering me on. It’s my hubby seeing me struggle and walking up to me whispering in my ear, “You are doing so incredible on this journey, I’m so proud of you.” Or my friends saying, “You look great!” Support Group – My support group meets once a month. Seeing fellow bandster, exchanging stories and ideas gets me from month to month. LapBandTalk – I log on every day, check in with my friends, help and support other bandsters as well as get help and support. MyFItnessPal – Keeps me honest with my food intake and my friends offer help and ideas here too. FitBit – My pedometer on steroids! I never though one little electronic devise would get me climbing stairs every day. It sends me emails when I earn a new badge (never forget the first day I climbed 50 flights – I was a dancing fool). I compete with my friends to see who can walk the most steps and we encourage each other one. Between my Lap-band and Banded Brain Tool I have been able to succeed with my weight loss.

“November comes And November goes, With the last red berries And the first white snows. With night coming early, And dawn coming late, And ice in the bucket And frost by the gate. The fires burn And the kettles sing, And earth sinks to rest Until next spring.” Clyde Watson

I took my husband to Longhorn Steakhouse today for his birthday. I knew exactly what I was going to order (plan ahead is the best advice for eating out). I ordered a 6oz Renegade Sirloin Steak with fresh veggies and a mix salad, raspberry vinaigrette on the side. I also knew I would be taking over ½ of it home with me (part of the plan). Salad comes and I have 2 or 3 bites and stopped, I wanted my steak so I wasn’t going to get full on salad. Waiter comes up and says, “Is everything alright with your salad?” “Yes, everything is fine.” I push my salad aside (wouldn’t let them take it away…..my chickens would never forgive me if I did). My steak arrives; I eat about 2oz of the steak, 1 small crown of broccoli & 2 small carrot bites. I’m full. The waiter comes up and says again, “Is everything alright with your steak?” “Oh yes, it’s delicious.” He walks away with the most confusing look on his face. Meanwhile my husband is sitting beside me trying to not laugh at this guy. I notice the smirk on my husband’s face and ask, “What?” To which he replies, “You are enjoying this aren’t you?” “I don’t know what you mean. I’m enjoying a nice steak here.” The waiter returns and I ask for 2 to go boxes, one for our food and one for the food for my chickens (yes, I spoil them). He brings me 2 small boxes and I say “Do you have any bigger boxes; I have a lot of leftover food here?” “I’m sorry, was there something wrong with the food, you didn’t eat very much?” At this point my husband couldn’t hold it in anymore and started laughing. I replied, “The food was wonderful, I just can’t eat the volume you serve.” “We do serve a lot of food here, but you would be surprised how many people can eat it all.” He brought me the larger containers and we left, both happy with our meal. Plus, my hubby gets steak and eggs for breakfast as well as a baked potato with everything on it (He ordered but didn’t touch) for lunch. To top it off my chickens were so very happy with their treat tonight!!

I am so glad to see I am not alone here. Don't let the G&S police get you, come hang with me..... I've got a gun!

I am so proud of you & I know your grandmother is proud too. She is watching you transform your life into a happy health life. Bless you & keep it up!

Remeber the weight you have lost.... Remeber what you have on your profile and I quote: Now that there is less of me other people notice me more! That candy is going to take that away from you......is it worth it? Yes it will taste good, but that taste will last 10 seconds. people noticing you will last a lifetime. Make me think of the MasterCard commercial. Price of candy $$$, price of people noticing me PRICELESS!!!

Stupid is what stupid does.

I read a post today that irked me, no it pissed me off. This Texas gal was ready to put her boots on and find her gun….. Hunt her some grammar and spelling police. A fellow bandster said they read a thread where bandsters were criticizing the grammar and spelling of other bandster’s posts. It hurt this bandster so bad that she had steered away from LBT. REALLY…….why????? Does it matter if we don’t use complete sentences or if we spell words wrong?????? Those of you who have a problem with bad grammar and spelling please comment and tell me why it’s so important to you. Cause (oh wait I should say because) I don’t get it. We are all fighting a terrible disease called obesity and one of the side effects of this disease is low self-esteem. We don’t need our brothers & sisters pointing out more of our faults….. We do just fine doing that ourselves. You are wondering why this bothers me….. So many times I hit that POST button and watch my written words appear on a thread and think SH** I spelt that wrong or that doesn’t make any sense hope they get my point. We are here for support in our weight loss journey. We consist of all different people, different education levels, different languages, different everything and we need support. What we don’t need is the grammar and spelling police after us!

Seeds are planted, her father & I are here to help every way we can. It just breaks my heart. Glad your 11yr old is improving.

Just checked the status of my new scale and it's NOT SHIPPED yet. Feeling a little panic setting in....

First you have to be willing to jump in anytime Then take the thread completely off topic and talk about pretty nails, dragons & princesses . And finally you have to kiss the pink princess’s butt. Once you have been accepted by the princess you must protect the princess from all evil (especially VD). Are you up for the job?

Thanks for the reply. My husband and I have discussed her eating habits. He has tried to talk with her but she gets very defensive. She knows all about my weight loss journey, I'm an open book about it in hopes that if she wants help she knows I'm right here for her. For now that is all I can do.

I ran into my patient advocate, Paul, at True Results today. The patient advocate is the first person you meet with and they walk you through all the pre-op stuff. Once you have the surgery you don’t see the patient advocate. Anyway, I ran into Paul and he about fell over when he saw me. (btw, Paul has been banded for 7 years – lost 120lbs) We sat down and chatted a bit. He said he remembers our first meeting and how I cried because I was so unhappy. And now I glow (his words). He said not only do I look great from the weight loss but my face glows with happiness. He said I was a walking Lap-band billboard. Me? Wow. It was so cool hearing that. I just had to share it. Now I just have to figure out how I’m going to get this big head through the doorway. lol

My name is AJ and I’m a scale-a-holic. I have lied to my LBT friends, it wasn’t intentional… I don’t know how it got so out of control. You see in the beginning I only weigh myself once a week, but back then I was seeing my doctor every week or two. Now I go every 4-6 weeks and that will get stretched out more. When I weigh in at my doctor’s office, that is my ‘official’ weight, I update my profile based on that. So when I weigh at home it doesn’t officially count…. Like I said I started weighting once a week, I even had a set day (Sunday morning). Then I started ‘just checking’ on Wednesdays, then Fridays too and before I knew it I was weighting every day. Then it was twice a day, once in the morning & once in the evening (just to see if there was a difference). It wasn’t my ‘official weight’ so what harm is there….. Well my scale died last night. Yep after ten plus years it went kaput. My beloved scale was no more. Panic set in, how am I going to weigh myself in the morning? Where can I get a new scale and fast…. Boy was I in a panic! I searched on line all evening, need to find a good scale and fast. Thankfully, I go to the doctors tomorrow and will get an ‘official’ weight. But in the mean time I realize that I have an addiction that I need to manage. The first step in the detoxing is cold turkey. I found the scale I want on Amazon, ordered it & selected Super Saving Shipping (It wound get here till next week). Next, if I have to I’ll have my husband lock it up….hopefully that won’t be necessary. lol

Thanks everyone. I know I'm doing right, it's just sad to see. She is 5'8", size 12, and is starting to get a stomach on her (not sure what she weights). She is what my mom would call 'big boned'......

Nail salon serves wine......sign me up!!!

Don't give up on Lobster!!! It might have been the way it was cooked, the loberst itself, or just your band for the day. I can eat anything most days but occationaly I will have something not work well with my band at that moment. The next time, no problem. The band likes to keep us guessing!