LoseIt!

I can hear the happiness shining through your post! Best of luck to you!!

It seems like there is something EVERY SINGLE DAY that I could use to get me off track. In yesterday's blog I mentioned the stuck episode. Yuck! Now today I have a sinus/ear infection. Bleh! It isn't horrible, but it is starting to suck the lively out of me. I have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow morning so I figure if I can hang on until then I will be better or will get something to get me on the road to being better! On the positive side of allergy issues...I'm not very hungry and the drainage makes me tight so I lost 8 tenths of a pound yesterday. Ha! It's probably water weight, but I will take it today!! :thumbup: I hope you all have a wonderful day and I'm sure I will feel better tomorrow!

You lost 2.5 lbs on a cruise?? That is just fabulous! Go you!!

Wow! Early morning work outs always impress me. I haven't been able to muster the will power to get my lazy butt out of bed. GOOD FOR YOU!! I love my support group too! Have fun!

Are you drinking the high protein or low carb SlimFast shakes? I like the SF ones too, but I found they didn't have much in the way of protein. Good luck working out! I always find that I feel SO much better when I do it even if I do have to drag myself there.

I always think oatmeal smells good, but once I put it in my mouth, I can't get it out fast enough! I guess it is a texture issue. In my opinion, variety is good. So who cares if the combinations are normal. Glad you are doing well!!

My glue came off when I started showering, which I think was the 48 hour mark. I only had one strip remaining at my one week appointment and the nurse ripped it off. Ha! I'm a rule follower and they told me not to rip it off, so I didn't. She laughed at me. You are doing great, girl! Enjoy the heck out of those mushies!

Congratulations! It is excellent to have both the scale and non-scale victories!!

Good luck and safe travels! You have done well and serve as inspirations to us all!!

When I'm asked how often I get "stuck", I usually respond 1-2 times per week. When I eat, sometimes I can feel that things aren't going down correctly and I stop. Sometimes it is at the end of the meal and sometimes it is after only a few bites. Typically it passes quickly and I've never had a situation where it wasn't corrected before the next meal. It is uncomfortable and annoying, but not painful or concerning in any way. Which brings me to Saturday... I woke up in the morning and went to Jazzercise. After class I went and got some coffee and a smoothie. As I drank both, I noticed that I seemed a little tighter than normal, but both went down fine. For lunch, I drove through Raising Canes (I had never been there before) and got some chicken fingers. I actually have chicken fingers/nuggest/strips at least once a week. It is a standby that typically works for me. After just a few bites, I knew that I couldn't go any further. No worries. I threw the rest away and went about my day. We went to see The A Team in the afternoon. I had thought I would get some popcorn, but I didn't feel exactly right after the botched chicken fingers so I abstained. Before the movie began I started to get HORRIBLE acid reflux. It wasn't painful per se, but it was intense! I started to panic just slightly and in my head went through the reasons I might have reflux. Of course the first thing I thought was that my band slipped. Yikes! For a few minutes I pondered what I would do if I had to redo the surgery and worst case scenarios. Heh. Then the reflux was right in the very back of my throat...almost immediately it moved down my throat and lower into my chest. It FINALLY occured to me that I had something REALLY stuck and it was trying to make its way out one way or another. At that point I went to the restroom to see if I could help it. No dice. I sat through the rest of the movie (I actually enjoyed it!) as it moved up and down, up and down. After the movie, we went to dinner. I ordered some chili knowing I wouldn't eat any, but thinking I could take it home. On the way home, I stopped and got some OJ. I had heard that it helps. I drank some sips of it and waited but that didn't help. I chugged some and other than PBing that...nothing. So, I waited a little while longer and had some ice cream. (Man it sounds like I eat like crap, doesn't it?) The ice cream stayed down so that gave me some calm knowing that I could get down protein shakes and some nutrition. I went to bed with some awful reflux. I don't have a recliner, so I just went to bed. It was very uncomfortable but I managed to get to sleep around 11 PM. I woke up about 12:30 with some pain in my shoulder that moved into my side. I had heard my Support Group leader talk about referred pain and assumed that's what it was. Around 3 AM I woke up to the most god-awful gurgling in my stomach. It took about an hour to calm down and I fell back to sleep. I woke up and my tummy hurt quite a bit. I didn't want to take a chance eating anything before church. I hadn't thought about communion, but I never seem to have an issue with it and this time was no different. After church we went to breakfast and I had an egg over medium. It went down fine. I realized that I was sore from the trauma, but I was FREE! :smile2: I ate soft and soggy food throughout the day (i.e. the chili with no meat, then crockpot chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner.) I feel back to normal today! I have to say that situation was most unenjoyable!! I don't think I did anything out of the ordinary, so my guess is that it will happen again someday. At least I know that it can happen and then get better. On another note, for some reason, I want to set a weight goal for this month. I want to lose 2.8 pounds by the end of the month. It is absolutely doable, but a little more than I usually lose. I thought if I documented my goal, I might make some good choices that will help me hit it! I will keep you posted. Have a GREAT week everyone!

That is fantastic!! Thank you so much for sharing.

Thank you so much for that post! I'm about 5 months post-op and a foodie. I'm learning that I can enjoy DELICIOUS meals out and still be on track. Like you, my issues were day-to-day...day-after-day bad choices. Glad to hear you had such a good time!

No question that this site helps! It is great that we can all be here for each other!

I'm so glad you are getting some good results! Losing in your face is great. I feel like it took forever for it to show in mine. Keep up the awesomeness!!

Good idea on weighing once a week. I so wish I could get myself to do that!! Hope you can work out getting to the gym. I just can't believe how much regular exercise has elevated my mood!

I weigh every morning which some say is a no-no. It is a motivating tool with me. If I'm up, I commit to working harder. If I'm down, I get excited and I'm ready to do more. I guess I just need a lot of feedback. In the past, that has only worked for a little while. Because although when I am up, I get motivated to work harder...that only works when you go down most of the time. That's why things are going so well now. I don't mind working out 4, 5 or even 6 hours a week because I'm seeing results. (Interesting side note: I always thought I worked out 4-6 hours a week, but when I started actually tracking it, I wasn't. I've found that writing it down makes me accountable and more likely to actually work out more.) If I woke up most mornings weighing the same or more, I don't think I would have the motivation to continue. Although I'm up, down and all over the place each day, I am consistantly moving down the scale overall. Which (finally) gets me to my point. Tuesday I had a 30 minute work out, but I totally splurged at dinner with friends...not horribly mind you, but definitely more than normal. Wednesday I was at the same weight as Tuesday. Makes sense. Wednesday I worked out for 90 minutes total in two sessions and ate well. On Thursday, I was down 8 tenths. YAY! But still makes some sense. Yesterday, I did a Jazzercise class, but during the day I ate a brownie, a serving of Chocolate PB Hagendaas ice cream, & two Ghiradelli chocolate/caramel squares. DUDE. That was ridiculous! Today I'm down 4 tenths. WHAT?? Now, I know enough not to take that at face value, but ha!! It is my goal today to eat well enough and work out hard so that 4 tenths doesn't pop up tomorrow! The challenge is on! By the way, my size 2 Lane Bryant jeans are getting baggy in the booty. Should be into the size 1s soon! After that...regular store jeans! Woohoo!!

Sweet, I can completely identify. I'm SO impatient and blogging has helped me through it. Lap Band Talk has been such an important part of my journey. Good luck to you!!

This is such a tough, tough thing. I think that you need to make an appointment, INSIST on seeing your doctor and LISTEN to what he has to say. Fills are an important part of this process, but so is personal responsibility. You have a tool inside you to help you and you are not using it at all right now. You have to do something to get yourself on track. But you have to get your WHOLE self on track. Best of luck, girlie. We are always out here for you.

Wow...that is a tough schedule! I hope you can figure out a way to make it all work. Good luck!!

That is so great, Christie!! I'm so happy for you! It is so inspirational to see people doing so well.

I am a big proponent of sleep!! I'm glad that things are going well for you. My surgery was 5 months ago and in some ways it feels like last week. The time just starts to fly by!

After I managed to extricate myself from my wallowing yesterday, I started thinking about how blessed I am to have the support system I have. I am one to push myself, but for me, support is critical. First and foremost, my mom is my rock. She has been supportive (almost PUSHING me! ha!) from the very first moment. No hesitation whatsoever. We talk during my commute each morning and I'm estimating that on average 60% of our daily conversations are about my "journey". Today for instance, it was 95%. She and my dad are hands down my biggest fan/supporters and I love them dearly. My best friend is not a nurturing type person (by her own admission) and listening to me talk about the surgery or my weightloss endeavors in general isn't her favorite thing. But she is always a trooper and I KNOW that she supports me in a happy life 100%. She is like a sister that doesn't fully understand my issues, but just wants whatever is best for me. I have two exercise accountability partners. One is my godmother who works out with me on Tuesdays. We chat while we work out and use it as time to catch up. She was the first person other than my parents that I told of my LB plans. She has also been supportive from the first moment and likes to hear about the ins and outs that I learn along the way. I have another friend that I work out with on Wednesdays. She is a RUNNER...as in she ran the Boston marathon. With her, we put on our iPods and get to working out. Since we are at such different paces, it works out well. She is interested in all things healthy, so we often swap ideas about foods. All three of these friends work with me. In addition to them, I have several other people that ask me about how things are going and never cease to give me compliments. In fact, one of our partners (who I barely know) gave me a gift card yesterday because he knew I hit the 50 pound mark. He had LB several years ago and although we have never discussed it directly, I can tell he is paying attention. He compliments me a lot and the support is just incredible. Then I have LBT & my support group. I blog here several times a week and the feedback I get from you guys is so powerful! I can't believe how eager I am to check if anyone has responded to my blog, or a picture, or if they have posted a visitor message. I have befriended two ladies in my support group and we clicked right away. One carries on an email conversation with me everyday. We compare food choices and other things. The other texts me sporadically to ask me what's going on or to update me on something with her. It is amazing how close we have gotten in a short amount of time. All of this and I didn't even get into my extended family (who I saw recently at my grandmother's funeral) or my close group of friends. ALL of them support me. i had one slight hiccup at the very beginning with one friend but we straightened it out quickly. I write all of this to remind myself how lucky and blessed I am. I read stories on here how people are treated badly or have saboteurs in their lives. I know folks who have told nobody or only one person and don't have anyone to share their experiences with. I honestly can't imagine that. I competely respect everyone's choices on whether they tell, don't tell, or tell sparingly. Everyone is different and has different circumstances and needs. So, in my opinion, no one is WRONG in how they choose to handle it. Today is a day that I see how wonderful life is! For those of you that are contemplating LB...I can't tell you what to do, but I can tell you that my life is SO different from six months ago in the best possible way!

That is great!! It is so good to feel good at you birthday. Just think how great you are going to look at the next one!!

I rode 5 miles on the bike at lunch and I will go see my trainer tonight. I'm starting to LOVE my workouts. Exactly for the reasons you said.

I am SO glad things are going so well!! You are going to do so great!