salsa1877

Okay...I have to clarify...I do not eat like a cow!!! But I do eat WAY more than a typical bandster. But she isn't starving me. I LOVE MY MOMMY!! I am having a ton of fun and it is nice to finally get some R&R. She even got me to spend a fair amount of money. SHE IS A POWER SHOPPER!! It is funny how opposite we are in eating however. When I am at home I have eaten dinner by 5 PM...I think we had dinner around 8-9 the last couple of nights. However, I had to promise to tell her when I was hungry cause I tend to go with the flow and then almost keeled over around lunch time yesterday. Then I am a HUGE breakfast eater. If I haven't breakfast within an hour of waking up...bad things start happening. My mommy can go for hours without eating. NOT ME!!!! Yet there are so many things that we have in common. Well it looks like we are getting ready to go... Mother and daughter dressed in their size 2s!!! PS...she came out of her room and I am on the computer and the first thing out of her mouth "You are not working are you?" She runs a tight ship. Nope...no working for 4 days. A miracle must be happening!

Well I am getting ready to head out the door. I just got done running 5 miles in the rain (LOVED IT!) and now I need to take a shower and throw the rest of my stuff in my suitcases. I think I am going to bring 2 suitcases so that that I can go shopping. Afterall...I am going to visit our shopping QUEEN! I am taking my new Mac Laptop that I got from my new job so I should still be able to post here if I can find Wi-Fi anywhere in WA. I am leaving today (must be out the door in 1 hour) to go to my fill appt. I am only having them add .3 cc. I don't want to be too tight so we are taking this VERY conservative. Then I am staying with my bro and as of RIGHT THIS MINUTE he is taking me to the airport at 3:30 AM. However I am sure his gf will throw a fit and will have him take me Thursday night and I will sleep at the airport. Hopefully at some point he can find where she hid THEM when she cut THEM off...if you get what I am saying. I am officially done with the school! Yipeeeeeeeee!! Okay gotta run. Still have to take a shower and finish packing. SOOOOOO EXCITED!!! Janet if you don't receive my intinerary (I emailed it to you) call me and I will tell you how to access my account on travelocity.

Don't worry about the super glue. You have a real life chemist coming to visit. I can get it off!!!

Oh and the candy lady...my principal told her I was leaving and now she is refusing to talk to any of us. Ahhhh...high school...you would think it is the kids with all the drama, but no...it is adults.

Denise I agree that eating will be much easier when I am not at school. Today wasn't bad because I didn't do anything except for get ready to turn all of my stuff in. So here is the deal with the school. Our UNION (Did I mention I was VERY happy that my charter school job is NOT unionized) negotiated with the school district that we would "donate" our time to get checked out on Wednesday. As a result, the school district decided that meant that our building principals could dictate the schedule. Well our principal said...check out when you want. The district responded with "It is expected that all employees will be present for at least the period of time that is required to get all checkout materials in order. Classified staff (secretaries) play a vital role in the day to day functions of our buildings and their schedules do not allow them to perform check-out duties during their normal schedule. As a result, our district, along with most districts in the state, negotiated with local unions to pay teachers for 1 day after classes had commenced to give everyone time for an orderly and proper exit. While the budget crisis this year leaves us in a bind, it was negotiated that Wednesday, June 10 will be a workday and that the pay for that day was donated back to the school district. However, it is expected that you will be at your building for checkout. Failure to show up and check out will be seen as an unexcused/inappropriate absence and will be deducted from your paycheck as pay without leave." So in other words, we have to show up and not get paid, or not show up and get money taken out of our paycheck. I think I would rather just suck it up and not make a 160+ dollar statement! Okay...I have got to try and sleep. 2 workouts and a nap today have me wide awake at 11PM.

Turns out they ARE forcing us to work on Wednesday. The secretaries have been told that they can't check us out early because it would interfere with their work schedule for today so we have to wait until Wednesday. I hope they are expecting a huge line at the door at 7AM on Wednesday morning. And I hope they expect me all sweaty because I am going to go running and then show up at the door. When I am done running I will come into my classroom, grab my stuff, and take it to the office and hopefully get it all sweaty. NO I AM NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS!

I just ran a 5K on the next to last day of school. Ahhh...I love the sound of that. NO MORE after tomorrow. My classroom is cleaned out and I am going to make public today that I am leaving. If the other teacher doesn't like it...phooey on her! All I am doing is showing videos today while I go through the end of the year paperwork nonsense so that I can get checked out tomorrow so that I don't have to go in on Wednesday except to turn in my keys. OUr head secretary refuses to allow us to turn in keys until Wednesday. That maybe changed as of today because we technically don't get paid for Wednesday due to budget cuts. So technically they can't force us to work. Most people won't have their stuff done by tomorrow however and will need to come in on Wed. Hopefully not me!!! I have to be out of here by 10AM at the latest so that I can get to my fill apt. Well best get moving. NEed to take a shower and head out the door!

Janet, is it 2 miles to the top or a total of 2 miles round trip?

I don't run trails and I don't run hills so we can hike it together! I don't have the coordination to run a trail...I would probably kill myself or at least break an ankle. I ended up only doing a 6 mile hike. My legs were fine but my feet were getting wet from sweat and were starting to get blisters. It was pretty warm and my boots don't breathe at all. So the next time I attempt to do both hikes (they are 2 separate hikes) at the same time I need to remember to take a change in socks. Though today it might not have mattered. I am exhausted. My eyelids just want to close and not open for several hours. I will have to go to the gym later to make sure I get to my calories burned goal. I changed the settings on my body bugg to reflect my current weight and it is amazing how many fewer calories you burn when you are 6 pounds lighter. It also shows you how hard it is on your body to carry excess weight. So as you lose weight you either need to eat less or move more if you want to keep losing. I personally would rather move more and stay at the same amount of calories!

Good morning! Down 1 more pound this morning!!!! Today I am going for an EXTRA LONG hike. Up and around Smith rock and then up to the top of Burma Road and down again. I think it is between 12 and 15 miles, but most of it is uphill so even if it is shorter it should make for some great calorie burnage. Can't get DH to go with me though. I asked if he would just go and do 1 part of it and he was like "Eh...I don't feel like doing anything physical." Oy...sometimes...oh well. After that I don't know what I am doing. Probably working on curriculum for a bit and then maybe I can convince him to go to a movie or something. Have a great day!

Karla, my official goal when I had surgery was to be a size 10. I was SHOCKED when I got to a size 4. I joked that if I EVER wore a size 4 I was going to put my pants on inside out and take a picture. There is a picture of that day somewhere WAY back in the pages. Don't sell yourself short...you could get there too. Janet is a size 2/4 as well. Age, previous history, and other obstacles will not get in your way if you don't let them. I NEVER even dreamed that I would ever be a size 2. But here I am. Hard work, dedication, and refusing to give up will get you there too. I am not saying that you HAVE to be a size 2, but don't set your goals to low. Like I tell my students...Don't dream big, Live BIG! Dreaming only gets you so far....living will get you where ever you want to be. As for the Wii...I wish we could use it more. It actually isn't good for me because I play it and don't go to the gym! I should be at the gym right now, but instead I am at home playing a new boxing game that we rented. DH likes it but the jury is still out for me. I too have heard NOTHING good about the Jillian Michaels one. I am looking forward to hearing the review about the EA sports one. I have heard that it is pretty good. I am glad that Janet bought it so that I can try it out before I buy it.

BTW I can join in on the Wii challenges when we move to our new apartment. Right now we are playing but our front room has things stacked on top of each other so that we can actually play.

I would highly suggest that before anyone gets PS, that they have really become comfortable with their eating because you look so much better that when you see yourself you think "Why do I have to work so hard when I look so damn good." I am NOT the only one that has had this problem. There are a lot of us that have talked about this problem...though it is not widely published. People don't like to talk about their failures. However, there are at least 7 of us that have gone through this and emailed each other. This is another reason that it will be beneficial for me to wait until December. That way I will have acclimated to my new job and figured out if I am going to be able to handle the stress. If I find that I am turning to food like in my current job then I am going to have to wait until summer next year. But at least this time I am prepared for the mind set that seems to come along with the knife.

I think if I go with a Tank-ini I will be okay. I have some cute bottoms that I like, but I don't have a top to go with it. I am glad that you like to shop because DH doesn't. I don't particularly like it but sometimes you just HAVE to do it. I have a pool at the new apt complex we are moving to and I will be swimming this summer. I just REALLY want the surgery. But I am committed to running a half marathon on Dec. 13 with Losingjusme so I have to do it after then. By that time all of my other surgeries will be paid off.

I'm wearing a size 2!!! So I needed to get some shorts to go to Janet's and since my trip yesterday was aborted due to the terrorist carrots I went today. I found a pair of Gloria Vanderbilt size 2 shorts that fit. And yes...I can still breathe in them! As for the reverse tummy tuck, it is where they cut you just underneath your breasts (all the way across like a normal tummy tuck) and pull the skin UP. If you remember my Jabba the Hut belly from before I had 2 very distinct rolls. Well she told me that there was no way that they could get all of the skin from up top and that if I wanted to I could get the reverse tummy tuck at the same time that I got the lift/reduction. Well I still have a lot of loose skin so I figure that when I get the reduction/lift (which I desperately need....I have "knee"pples...not nipples) I will get the reverse TT. DH and I are still "negotiating" on my final size. I would like to go to a B and he says nothing smaller than a C. I just want to fit into clothes. I tried on 20 swimming suits and nothing works. (Hope your in for a long day of shopping Mommy) A one piece is completely out of the questions. If it fits below my boobs it so skimpy through the upper area that I look like bread dough over filling its container. If it fits though the breast area then you could fit a small child into the suit with me. I was REALLY hoping that when I lost the weight that I was going to lose their...but I only went from a DDD to a DD. DID NOT MAKE ME HAPPY. Well we got a new Wii game (rented it) so I am going to go play. Oh yeah...the union at school made it official...they are on a 4 day work week. SOOOOOOOOO happy I will not be there!

Well we WILL be practicing what we preach when I am there. I have promised myself that as soon as I get below the 150 mark I get to make the appt with my PS to get a quote about my reverse TT and breast reduction. So I am HELL bent on getting there. I think I normally do the Wii without shoes. I am glad you got the EA active because now I can try it out. I have 2 olympic games that I will bring when I come. However, my favorite is still the original game that comes with the Wii console. I can school you in boxing!!!! That is by FAR my favorite activity. And you can burn more than a few calories. I mean it is not like running but 254 calories per hour according to my body bugg.

Janet...I am glad that you got the Wii because I wasn't going to give mine up now...We are moving AGAIN...but I made DH sign a 6 month lease this time. However, we now have a place where I can actually play. Did you get the New EA Active sport that goes with it? I want this one. I am not a HUGE fan of Wii Fit...it goes too slowly for me. I don't like that you have to do an exercise, click all the buttons to get to the next one, and then don another exercise. I guess the new EA active just has you go from one exercise to the next with no interruptions. I am going to wait until I can get it free with my points from my Best Buy Mastercard. Okay...still on liquids today after my run in with the carrot yesterday. I am going to try mushies later today, but right now I am freaking hungry and nothing is taking the edge off. Going to try some watered down oatmeal and see if that helps.

Down 5 pounds....Yep...its official...I lost 5 pounds. Now MY new challenge is 7 more by my birthday (July 1). That shouldn't be too hard considering that I will be spending a week with the resident sheriff!! Then 5 more by August 1. That will put me just under the threshold for my healthy BMI and then it is maintenance. I really believe that with the new job that maintenance will be much easier. I will have more time to train, workout, and eat actual meals. We have a kitchen in the building where I can fix good meals for me. I won't EVER be getting there at 4AM because we don't have to plan daily activities because all of the "practice" work is done on the computer. I basically run my classes like a college professor. Lecture times, lab times, and office hours...that will be my life. I have NEVER been this excited about a job. So YES...now I am excited to get to work.

It probably was too fast. Because I am NOT too tight!!! I was SO hungry when I ate so I probably was eating faster than I thought at the time. I will be on liquids for the next 24-48 hours to let this settle. My stomach is SORE, but I haven't pb'd in about an hour. I am sooooo hungry though. I have only had 150 calories today. I am SLOWLY sipping on a fruit smoothie right now. I will be laughing at this one for a while. Thank goodness it was a slow Thursday morning at Old Navy!

I actually just think it was the carrots. I despise carrots but thought that maybe after 2 years I would like them. I eat and run all the time so I don't think it was the walking motion. If I couldn't eat and run I would die. 5 hours of running during a marathon with nothing to eat would just about kill me.

They were the ultra mini carrots. You know that ones that are WAY smaller than you little finger. I thought I was actually eating them slowly, but maybe not.

This is a story about how carrots are terrorists. This is a TRUE story and not from a science fiction novel. If made into a movie, this film would be given a rating of R for violence and graphic details. Please be advised before allowing your eyes or the eyes of small children to read this. Today, I decided to take the day off from work so that I didn't kill my co-workers or clients(also known as bratty teenagers). So I got out of bed at 6:30AM, facebooked for a while, and ate breafast at around 7:15. By 8AM I was out the door to go shopping in the neighboring town so as to not be seen by my employers. After gathering all the necessary cleaning supplies and ingredients for dinner tonight I headed off to Old Navy to try and find some shorts to go and visit my mommy. Considering that I only have 1 pair and the temp in Indio easily reaches into the triple digits, I thought this was a wise decision. Well apparently the store does not open until 9:30 so I spot a car wash just across the street and decide that my car, which has not been washed in months, or vacuumed in an even longer amount of time was due for spring cleaning. After cleaning out the car and shoving what appears to be a half ton of garbage into the garbage can, I feel a rumble in my tummy. Deciding that it was an acceptable time to go to the grocery store and grab a snack, I drove to the nearby Safeway. I contemplated for about 15 mintues about what to get: a protein bar, fruit, veggies etc. I finally settled on a snack pack that contained carrots, grapes, pretzels and 4 cubes of cheese. 160 calories and a very healthy choice. Little did I know that those carrots were actually undercover terrorists waiting to wage war against me. Old Navy was now open and I figured that I could walk and eat at the same time. So I carefully removed the thin film that was covering the compartmentalized container and decided to eat the carrots first because I like them the least, so I wanted to be able to savor the flavors of the grapes and cheese. Old Navy is less than one block away from Safeway and it took about 2 minutes to walk there. In that amount of time I consumed about 6 baby carrots and 5 grapes. I figured that I would hang out in front of the store while I finished my snack. As I was just about to approach the front door of the store, I felt this gurgling and rumbling feeling in my stomach. There was a garbage can to my left and the corner of the building about 10 feet in front of me. With little time to react I decided sticking my head under the garbage can cover would have been more disgusting that runnign around the corner and heaving in the bushes. However, before I could make it the 10 feet in front of me...I was erupting. However, in an attempt to maintain my dignity I dropped the snack pack and clamped my hands over my mouth. Well the force of the eruption was so hard that the slime burst through the cracks between my tightly clenched finters. There I was standing with my head in a bush by this point, slime dripping off my chin and running down my arms. Fortunatly I had a black shirt on so I was able to wipe my mouth and my hands off, turn around from the bush, pick up the snack pack, put it in the garbage and return to my car without anyone seemingly aware of the terrorist organization executing their plot in my stomach. Figuring that it was an all out assault on my body that would be done in one battle, I figured that I was alright. My ego a little bruised, and flushed from the embarrasment of my "dance" with the bush. That was just the first wave of their assault. Those terrorists were more prepared that I had anticipated. Fortunately they ahd to regroup and gave me enought time to get back to the car. My mission to Old Navy had been quickly aborted. The next thing I know they were throwing more grenades up me esophagus. So I grabbed a grocery bag from my earlier purchases and heaved away, sighing that I was at least in the privacy of my own car and where the results of the urban warfare were not going to be splattered all over the outside of my body. However, these little buggers came prepared with weapons of mass destruction and had co-conspirators on the outside. The bag had a hole in it. So all the "evidence" of the raging war that was happening with in my body was now oozing all over my jeans. I had an entire lapful of terrorist carrot slime. I grabbed the towels that were in my car and began mopping up the mess when another wave of attacks hit. This time it came so suddenly that it was all over the towel and the front of my shirt. By this time I had given up hope of suriving this attack. I put my car in gear and headed home. I figured that once on home turf I could win this battle. The terrorists owned the car ride and after throwing grenades, rocket launchers, anti air craft missles, and some nuclear weapons at me the ENTIRE car ride home I finally made to the comfort of my own toilet. There I fought back and heaved hard to get the bugggers out. Right now I can still tell that there are pockets of resistance, but for now, the truce is holding out. I do declare as I stand at this moment on the verge of victory that TERRORISTS will never again invade my stomach. Those little, cute, orange cylindrical things that masks themselves as health food, will never again be trusted. They will never again be allowed to cross into my territory again. The only way their passport will be granted access into my country is they have been cooked to mush. I hope you have enjoyed reading the non-fiction account of The Carrot Terrorist. Hopefully this best seller will NOT turn into a sequel or series.

Scales have not been happy with my food yesterday and the dinner the night before. I am up a pound....grrrrrr...So technically only down 3 now. But I don't have to work for 4 days and for the last 2 I am just going to be showing movies cause I don't care anymore....so...I will lose at least 3 more pounds in the next 7 days. YES...it CAN be done. I have it all figured out.

Eggs are definetly NOT a slider food if you scramble them. I usually eat cereal mixed with Danon lite yogurt for breakfast because I needed to eat at school. However with school soon to be over and my next school not requiring that I be there at 4AM I will be eating eggs. One of the things that I LOVE to eat is scrambled eggs with about 1-2 oz of turkey LF sausage, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms. I throw in a little Kraft FF cheese. That will keep me full for hours. The other thing that I have often done is have a burrito for breakfast. I don't have to eat breakfast food for breakfast so I will sometimes have chicken and broccoli, or meatloaf and sweet potatoes. Janet and I are opposite in when we want to eat. I am a morning eater and could skip dinner. She can skip breakfast and wants to eat more at night. As a result we have both had to make modifications to what is considered normal for us. When it comes to the amount of food to eat my doc always says 1 cup. Anything less and you might not get your nutrients and you certainly are not going to feel like you are satisfied. The healthier the food, the more of it you can eat. I always want to get the most bang for my buck.

There is absolutely NOTHING easy about the band. There is NOTHING easy about bypass surgery, the sleeve, or any other weight loss surgery. It is NOT magic. I equate WLS to construction: If you give a carpenter a bunch of nails and a rock, he can put the roof on a house, but it will seem impossible. (That is life without WLS for some of us). If you give him a hammer (our lapband) then he can put the roof on faster...but roofing is still a f'ing HARD job. My weightloss is something that I worked incredibly hard for. I am glad that it was not easy because slipping back into old ways would be even more likely if it had been easy. I WON'T let me gain the weight back because I worked too damned hard. Abstaining from poor food choices, working through temptations and running mile after mile was incredibly hard work that I would trade for nothing. So would I trade my lapband for anything in the world. Absolutely not. And yes I have had serious problems with restriction. But instead of using the band to make me lose weight, I used the band to help change my life. I never said well I can eat the same foods but just smaller amounts. Instead I said...I just paid 17000$, risked leaving my brother with ZERO family, and put this faith in myself to make my life better. There is no way I am screwing this up. I WILL eat like a HEALTHY person, I will exercise like a HEALTHY person, I will be a HEALTHY person. So yes, there are going to be hard parts...those are the parts that are going to make you stronger and allow you to get through the rough parts in the future. We will ALWAYS have struggles with food. I have come to accept that. But I have also come to realize and accept that I am MUCH stronger than any piece of food. After all...it is just a bunch of chemical bonds that are meant to provide my body with fuel to move. My stomach, intestines, and cells see food as nothing more than something that keeps them alive. They do not see food as a comfort, a friend, or something that will make the rest of the world go away. Instead you have to find other things that are MEANT to do those things. You have friends here, you have girls that love you, and you have to find a part of yourself that can do those same things for you. Because my friend, this is NEVER easy.