LoseIt!

It's been quite a week! I'm glad it is the last day of my self-imposed exercise hiatus. I do think it has been productive though. I learned (as I suspected) that I was using exercise as an excuse to make bad food choices. I think that now I have my head wrapped around the idea that I can make good choices without feeling like I'm sacrificing greatly. A couple of my thin friends say that is why you exercise...so you can eat what you want. I tried to explain to them that is a faulty argument for me two reasons. First, they are thin and just working to maintain. I am trying to lose over 100 pounds. In a year, when I plan to be at or very near my goal weight, I can live on a very small calorie deficit or even breakeven. But if I do that now, I will never get to where I want to be. Secondly, and probably most importantly, I am a food addict or at the very least, I have an unhealthy relationship to food. Eating "whatever you want" most likely means a very different thing to me than it does to my thin friends. I can never have the attitude that I can eat "whatever I want". Even at goal, I will have to modify that. I would like to think that I will lose this weight and gradually learn better food habits. I would like to think that when this weight is gone, I can eat like a "normal" person without the assistance of the band. While I don't think that is 100% out of the question someday, I do think that I will probably need the help for at least a long while. And I'm really starting to be okay with that. Right now, I AM dieting, whether I want to admit to it or not. Now, it is also life changing and I'm not dieting in an unhealthy way. However, I'm eating in a way that I do not plan to continue forever. I don't think you should have a 1,000 calorie deficit forever because at some point you need to even out. But that IS normal. This week while not exercising, but focusing on food, I have lost 1.6 pounds in 5 days. I hope to increase that over the weekend. My plan next week is to keep the same plan with my food, but add a 150-200 calorie snack on days that I work out. That should increase my calorie deficit on those days by 350-450 calories. Starting tomorrow, the schedule is to work out 5 1/2 hours in the next 8 days. After 0 hours in 6 days, that should be interesting! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

I completely feel you. I felt the same way! Then I got LB and I'm on my way down (very happily I might add!) It is different for everyone, but I couldn't do it as I was. Now I can! Good luck to you!

Awesome! You should be very proud!!

Great attitude and SO true!

First and foremost, CONGRATULATION and WAY TO GO for you AMAZING success! That is super awesome! You already know that a 2nd night of junk is a bad choice. I wish you oodles of good luck recommitting to this. I know it has to be tough and kudos to you for doing it!!

I'm not sure why I haven't blogged much this week. I don't feel bad or down, just not motivated to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard.) Jax & I have reconciled, so that's good. I have taken a one week hiatus from exercise (which might be a very good reason I'm so blah right now.) I've decided to completely focus on food intake this week. I have done great! My goal is to keep it up next week when I layer in exercise, but to add a 150-200 calorie snack on big work out days (like Jazzercise.) I don't think I need additional calories for my small 20-30 minute lunch work outs. Next week I will hit it hard, I actually start on Saturday with an hour of Jazzercise. I have more Jazz on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday & the following Saturday. That alone would be great! But I will also layer in at least one lunch work out on Tuesday and go from there. Saturday I'm also getting my hair cut. I think I'm going to continue with the length. However, I'm thinking I might go shorter and sassier next time. But for right now, I like how my long hair is framing my thinning face. Plus, I wear it up most days because it is SO DARN HOT!! I can't believe that tomorrow is Friday. This week has flown by! I hope you are all having a fabulous one!

Today is a new day, huh? I think I have finally gotten over my "I feel fat" phase. I feel very sure that another one will come eventually, but no worries now. I had Group last night. I LOVE getting together with such a wonderful group of people. There are veterans, people at my level, and newbies. We share, share, share and it is FANTASTIC! I hope you all can find a support group near you. They honestly do have a tremendous effect! I don't have much time today, so I will just update my spandex pics. So lovely. Ha! But I can tell the difference. I have attached one month ago and today. Plus I couldn't resist attaching one from the very beginning. Have a super day!!

Hee! I have never so enjoyed being called crazy!!

Wow, that's AWESOME! I don't know if I would have had the chutzpah to actually switch out my trainer. Good job on finding new ways to motivate yourself!!

Congrats on the 2 pound loss!! That recipe sounds fabulous!

Chicken & pineapple shish kabob sounds delicious! I think you did a great job!

Hee hee! So true!

I've heard about doctors that delay fills, but I haven't heard the no fly rule. That's nuts. People do it all the time. There are flight attendants with the band for crying out loud.

I took my montly "casual" pics today. It is the first month that I don't really see a difference. But then again, I only lost 4 pounds since the last picture. At least it is the right direction!! I will take my super fun spandex pictures tonight at Group. We will see how that goes. I wrote a nice little blog this morning, then my computer ate it. So, I'm going to have to bail this morning. Have a great day and I will talk to you tomorrow!

This was one of the most fascinating threads I've ever read! I'm from the US and my doc/nut mentioned that I should get around 70g of Protein per day. The only thing they said never to drink again was carbonation (which is a whole other debate for me.) I think what it comes down to for me is portion control and "righting" my diet to a better balance. I cringe when I think about the high calorie meals I ate being banded. I feel sure that I regularly ate around 3-4 THOUSAND calories per day when I was being "good". Plus, I was very focused on carbs and fat. I LOVED eating Pasta in heavy creams with fried whatever and cheese on it. I'm kind of embarrassed to think that if my doctor wouldn't have given me the "eat protein first, then veggies, then carbs" line, I probably would've continued focusing on things that aren't very nutritional or high in calorie. I'm not REALLY eating a HIGH protein diet, but I find that if I focus more on getting my protein and limiting fat, that I have a more BALANCED diet. I still eat carbs, but they are more like a 1/3 of my diet as opposed to 2/3. I find that my challenge is relying on processed foods. I would like to get better about eating naturally as I move forward.

I touched on it in my post, but I think if you are out here, you are are in a way soliciting advice. So any I get from you all who are in the same (or similar) boat as me I'm ALWAYS going to appreciate. I was more focused on the "real world".

Oh my, I don't think I could've read the details of the surgery! Glad to hear you are getting settled!

I didn't think I could either, but I was able to stick to my doc's 2 week pre-op diet. You can do it!! Just take one day at a time...one meal at a time.

Hi everyone! It is amazing how much you can learn about yourself when you are willing to accept it. One thing I have noticed during this "journey" is that people have no hesitation in giving out advice and indicating that they know better than I do. I have had that with diet, exercise, you name it. But then I started to realize that I do it too! And I started to wonder how I am making people feel when I do that. I'm trying to make a consicous effort to only give advice when it has been requested (except of course when it comes to my parents...they get it automatically. :tt2:) It is a fine line between giving (or getting) information and giving (or getting) unsolicited advice. In my opinion, I LOVE information and want as much of it as I can get. But I can do without advice and the judgement that sometimes comes with it. For instance, with my decision to start walking down the stairs at work...I appreciated getting the information that walking DOWN stairs can be hard on your knees and isn't typically a recommended form of exercise. With that information, I can pay close attention to my knees and any pain that might creep up. However, I didn't appreciate the advice that I should be walking UP the stairs and how I should go about doing that and then the judgement that followed when I decided to stick with my plan for the time being. [Deep breath.] I just get frustrated, you know? Anyway, I hope it goes without saying that my blog is an unofficial solicitation for feedback, so advice out here NEVER goes unappreciated!! :smile: Maybe I'm being hypocritical, but I think it is different. Speaking of Project Stairs, I have finished Day 4. My calves are still burning, but at least I was able to get out of bed this morning without feeling like I was going to collapse! They hurt, but now feel more like I had a crazy hard work out...not that someone beat my legs with a bat. Ha! One more day then they will get a two day break. My friend bailed on water aerobics with me last night. She is a working mom of three, so I can hardly get upset with her! I went to Jazzercise instead. I will go again tonight. I love it, so it is always good! Have a great day!

I have it for about a week after each fill. Like Barbara mentioned, eating before bed makes it a lot worse. I always make sure that I finish eating 2 hours before I go to bed. If you continue to have it, make sure you talk to your doc! Good luck!

Have you had your first fill? I know that between 3-5 weeks out, I was ravenous! At 5 weeks, I had my first fill and it really helped. Good luck to you!

Thank you all for helping me celebrate Fat Day yesterday!! Thankfully that is past and I feel much better today. :cool: On Monday, the elevators broke in my office building. Since the service elevator takes so long, I took the stairs. I work on the 18th floor so that is a lot of stairs. I was very sore (especially my calves!) yesterday so I decided to walk down the stairs every day until they don't hurt anymore. I'm not sure if that is genius or nuts! I did it Monday right before leaving work and going to Jazzercise which I don't think was the best plan. Last night I did it after work too which was fine since I didn't do much in the evening. Although this morning I could hardly get out of bed!! Tonight I'm planning to work out so I thought it would be better to do the stairs in the morning. It only takes 5 minutes which is crazy since it can cause SO MUCH PAIN. Ha! So, I did it and it's done for the day. During Fat Day, I decided that I needed to vary up my exercising. I have a membership to 24 Hour Fitness but only go for my (very sporadic) personal training sessions. One of my good friends is also a member so I challenged her to go to some classes. We are supposed to be doing the aqua aerobic class this evening, so that should be fun! Have a great day everybody!!

I feel like I was exactly in that same spot right before my last fill. I have an excellent doctor and decided to go in and ask. I ended up with a .1 cc fill. So, not very much. BUT I was super tight with heartburn for a week. It's been two weeks since the fill and I feel like I'm right at my sweet spot. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts. In retrospect, if I would've known then what I know now (that I would have two weeks of heartburn and stuckness), I wouldn't have gotten a fill. But I did and it wasn't horrible and now things are fine. All that said, you have to listen to yourself and your doc. Good luck, chica!!

Tae Bo! Billy Blanks! I totally was on that bandwagon for a while. Fun!

I realize that even after losing over 60 pounds in 7 months, I'm not going to feel "skinny." I have at least another 60 pounds to go and I also realize that even skinny chicks have their fat days. So, I'm just going to wallow a bit in my fat day. Yesterday my feet were killing me. I have had MUCH less trouble with my feet as I have lost weight. At the height of my weight gain, I could barely get through a normal day of work in crocs or tennis shoes. Now, I am careful with the shoes I wear, but I can wear "normal" shoes to work and I work out regularly. My feet ache some, but I think that is normal. However, yesterday, it was like I was back up to 285. :cool: They hurt throughout the day. At the end of the workday, we received an email that the elevators were not functioning. We were told that we could use the service elevator, but there is only one. The service elevator is the slowest form of transportation on the planet under normal circumstances. For it to service all 22 floors, it would take me an hour to get to the lobby from the 18th floor! I had to get to Jazzercise, so I took the stairs. I have to say that it wasn't as bad as in the past when we have had to do fire drills, so that's a plus. But my legs were a little jello-ish at Jazzercise. My feet hurt so bad at class, I feel like I was at 50-60%. I don't think walking the stairs was the cause since they hurt throughout the day, but I'm sure it didn't help. I was SO internally cranky during that class. I was picking fights with people in my head to the point I had to physically shake it. [sidebar: Do you all do that? I often times find myself picking fights or having arguments in my head. For instance, if I know that I'm going to tell my boss something he isn't going to like, I have the worst case scenario conversation in my head. It drives me crazy! I'm getting better about not doing that, but I certainly did it last night!] I went home and did all the things with my feet that I am supposed to do. They feel a lot better today and I tried to pick out a pair of comfortable shoes. No Jazzercise today, but I'm planning to workout at lunch. I think I will choose the ellypical or the bike so I can limit impact on my feet. Then, because I am a glutton for punishment, I plan to walk down the stairs at the end of the workday. That is my punishment for wallowing in my fatness. :laugh: Oh well, tomorrow is another day!!