LoseIt!

I was banded in January and I still have times where I blindly look in the fridge or pantry. The difference is that now I typically don't bother to eat anything. Best of luck to you!!

Glad to hear that everything went well!

Well, I got the big haircut today. There were piles of hair everywhere! I would post a picture of the winning style, but I can't. My wonderful stylist of 15 years went rogue. Chop, chop, chop. After venting to my mom for 30 minutes and crying about it for an hour...I took a shower spruced up and starting looking at it objectively. What I was originally seeing was just short hair. My mind was screaming "boy", "butch", and "soccer mom". Sigh. All of the pictures I had were of medium length. Short in the back but with the sides and top long so it was roughly all one length. What I got was short all over, just shy of a pixie cut. I am proud of myself because I did express my displeasure and did get her to get rid of the scary "roundness" of it all. She did admit that she cut it too short on top, but I can't get too mad at her. She has been an AWESOME stylist for so many years. I think she may have been distracted today because she had to tell me she was dropping me as a client. I knew it was coming because she has been wanting to scale back. I wish she wouldn't have been so nervous about it... :-) Ha! Anyway, now that I look at it, it is a cute cut. Just VERY short. Thank goodness I'm 75 pounds lighter and feeling better about my body. This cut last year would have put me in the looney bin, i think. I tried to take a picture but I can't get a good one of myself. I will try and have someone take one on Monday. I guess one silver lining is that it is going to inspire me to lose more weight just to stay confident with it. All in all, I wanted something different to emphasize my transformation and I got that. It certainly makes a statement. I'm determined to make that statement "I'm a confident and sassy woman!" and not "I hate my hair." Have a great weekend! Beth

Welcome!! You will find a lot of great support and resources here. I was banded in January and have used this site to document my progress. I can't tell you what a difference it has made. Best of luck to you!!

Y'all know I'm all about setting goals, making/implementing plans and rewarding myself. It is a cycle I can truly live by! :-) I have 5 pound mini goals. Today I'm officially 75 pounds down!! YAY!!!! I'm very happy to reach this mini-goal as I feel like I have been working at it for longer than usual. So, I went to the numbers. Hold onto your hats! It took me 30 days to lose this 5 pounds. (Regardless of anything, that is FANTASTIC and far better than I ever did pre-band...especially 8 months into a weight loss program. In fact, I don't think I ever stuck with anything for 8 months anyway.) 30 days is a little longer than usual, but I'm starting to notice a pattern. 35-26 days 40-13 days 45-27 days 50-12 days 55-30 days 60-16 days 65-28 days 70-21 days 75-30 days It seems like it takes me longer 26-30 days to lose 5 pounds, but then a shorter time 12-21 days to lose the next 5 pounds. I lose 5 pounds on an average of every 23 days. I love numbers! All in all, this doesn't really mean anything. Except it does tell me that I'm still doing VERY well, even if some days it feels like I'm chipping at an iceberg. :thumbup: I have been trying to focus on things other than the scale and weight, but sometimes it is nice to see the progress made there too. 276 days ago, I weighed 75 pounds more than I do today. I have lost over a quarter of my body weight. Sometimes it takes me writing statements like that to put it all into perspective. Another super goal reached today is that I am no longer Class II or super obese. I am just plain old obese!! YAY!! Haha! Just 30 pounds to go until I'm overweight. :-) This weekend, while at home for the first time in a few weeks, is going to be busy. I'm going to try and relax tonight, but tomorrow I have Jazzercise then a haircut and errands to run. Sunday I have church and theater tickets. Somewhere in there I have to do all the laundry that is piling up!! Then next weekend it is yet another out of town trip. What was I thinking?? Oh well, being this busy is MUCH easier 75 pounds down. Have a WONDERFUL weekend everyone!!

Beautiful!!!

Wow, it has been quite a busy week. But vacation was SO FUN! My BFF Cori went with me to Indianapolis. She had a cold, but she was a trooper. We flew in Friday afternoon and went to Circle Centre Mall. I went straight to the Colts store to stock up on gear. It is so frustrating because Misses fit XL is still too snug and most of the unisex shirts are too shapeless. Sigh. It was funny though because they didn't have a fitting room but the salesguy just told me to go try them on in the bathroom...in the bathroom of the mall outside the store. Ha! That felt very weird. Only in the Midwest... I ended up with a cute shirt I can wear now. It is unisex, but fits less boxy than most. And I also bought a Misses one to wear in a couple months when I KNOW they will fit! :thumbup: Then we went for some Bazbeax pizza. If you are ever in Indy, I recommend it. Yummy! Then we met my friends at the Slippery Noodle to have some drinks and people watch. We talked for a few hours before calling it a night. Saturday, after an AMAZING breakfast at Maxine's Chicken and Waffles (another Indy must) Cori & I drove over to Terre Haute for ISU Homecoming. I didn't really run into anyone I know so it was uneventful, but we did visit some old haunts which was fun. I also bought some gear at the bookstore and had the same issue I did at the Colts store. Not complaining, but I will be glad when I can fit in Misses sizes all the time. I know it is coming soon. In the late afternoon we headed back to Indy and went to church. After we hung out at Champps to watch the disappointing Rangers game. Cori was feeling pretty bad so we just had some room service and turned in early. Sunday was GAMEDAY!! We all met up and walked around Lucas Oil Stadium. We finally made our way up to the suite. There was some seating confusion, but it ended up being fine for the most part. I will say that if you are a rich person that is giving away seats for charity, you should probably make sure that everyone involved knows your wishes. Some people in this world are just entitled and mean. My friends are awesome, so we took the high road. After the game (WE WON!!) we hung out in downtown Indy at different bars to watch the late afternoon games. After that, we had dinner and turned in early again. There was an American Legion convention in our hotel, so we were constantly surrounded by 70 year old men. That was funny! Sunday morning, after a half hour detour to Smoothie King, we made our way to the airport. When we landed, I had to hurry to Ft. Worth for my fill appointment. I tell you, I HATE liquid days, but they certainly do jumpstart weight loss. In addition to finally dropping everything I gained after my unfill, I'm even down another half pound. Another half pound and I will be at another mini-goal!! Last night I had dinner with my AOII little sis. We hadn't seen each other since 1996! You know that feeling you have when you are talking with someone and you just know you are supposed to be friends? That's what it is like for me with Shannon. She is amazing and inspiring. I'm so glad we reconnected. Tonight it is back to Jazzercise. It has been a WHOLE WEEK since I have been. Bad me. But I'm ready to get back into the groove. After being on limited calories because of my fill and it being that time of the month...I could only get myself to run a mile and a half yesterday. I was slightly disappointed at first until I remembered that 4 or 5 months ago, I couldn't even run a mile. So, I will take it!! It will be super to have a weekend at home! Plus, I'm getting my hair cut on Saturday and it needs it!! Have a great day, y'all!

Fantastic post, BG! I seem to think things out in a similar way. I've come to the same conclusion that the band doesn't always follow logic, but it helps me anyway. :thumbup:

Way to go!!

It is unbelievable how busy I am at work this week, so this blog entry will have to be quick. :-) I hope to get caught up on all my blog reading tonight!! I'm meeting my sorority little sis for dinner tonight. It will be the first time we have seen each other in almost 15 years!! We reconnected through Facebook and figured out that we both live in the DFW area. That was over a year ago!! But we are finally getting together and I'm so excited. I can tell through her FB posts that she has lost a lot of weight this year and she has really been working at it. She's been an inspiration to me! Her pictures now look like the same Shannon I knew in college. :-) As promised I'm attaching my spandex progress pics. The changes are definitely more subtle, but I can tell that the once "sausage casing-like" shirt is now getting baggy. Yay! Plus, I'm starting to have a break between my chest and belly, so that's nice. Have a great day everyone! Hope to catch up more tomorrow.

Hang in there!! It gets so much better. :thumbup:

That sounds absolutely awful!! I'm so sorry you have been going through such pain...and frustration to boot. Thank goodness you have the source pinned down. I hope that they will be able to fix you with the LB so you can get down to the business at hand! But most importantly I hope you feel better very, very soon!!

Hi everyone! It is a busy day getting back into the swing of things. I will have to post about my trip tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm very proud to say that I lost a pound on this vacation that I found on the last vacation!! :cursing: So, only a pound to go until I'm back to my lowest again. Also, I got a fill yesterday so that should help me control some of my hunger. I was holding my own, but it was tough. It is time for progress pictures! I have attached my "Casual" pics from the beginning, last month and this month. I also attached "Head" pics from the beginning and this month. I will post the super fun "Spandex" pics tomorrow. I missed you and look forward to getting back into my routine!! :thumbup:

Hi Angela! Most of us are beginner bloggers, so welcome!! I have found it so helpful to blog through my experience. It really helps me keep focused and on track. Good luck to you!

We are all in the same boat and think we all find it helpful to read about everyone's experiences. It is amazing to follow people from the start and then through their journey. Welcome!!

Glad that you are feeling better! Once you start getting into a normal diet (and get on a fill schedule), things will really start falling into place.

I'm a part of a Yahoo group (Band Buddies) where I get emails from fellow bandsters. It is similar to LBT except communication is primarily through emails instead of forums and blogs. Many of the active members of the group are from my Support Group, so it is interesting to actually get to know them face to face. One member of the group is often setting up challenges for us to participate together. The newest is Onderland by the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is on 2/06/11 which is almost 4 months away. I only have 12(ish) pounds to lose to get to Onederland, so I was hoping to get there by Thanksgiving(ish). Now...in order to LOSE 100 pounds, I have to lose 27 pounds. As many of you might know, my goal is to be there by 1/31/10 which is roughly a year from my surgery date. This challenge works perfectly!! So I have two Onederland (of sorts) challenges in one. Shrek was great!! If you like family friendly musicals, you will love it. Debi, my friend from group, and I went to Champp's before and had dinner. We even shared (between us we may have had 1/4) a dessert. One thing we talked about was the ridiculous portions. Both of our meals were easily 3 servings. And I'm not talking about "real" servings (probably 5 or 6), I'm talking about normal person real world servings. The sad part is that I could have easily eaten the entire plate pre-surgery...probably along with a salad and part of the dessert. Even though it kind of grosses me out now, I don't judge the people that clean their plates. Lord knows that without this band, I would most likely do the same thing. I'm just very happy that I stopped the madness and took control of my life. Only one more day and then another fun mini-vacation! Have a good one, y'all!

Now that I had some taken out (when I was sick), I can eat absolutely anything, but not the quantity I could eat prior to surgery. This is exactly where I want to be once I get to goal. However, since I have a lot more to lose, I'm getting a fill on Monday. I would like to be full on the 3/4C-1C of food as I was before and not be hungry between meals. Good luck!

I have chills and a heavy heart from your story. What a blessing you are to your SIL and your daughter. I have no doubt she is going to be a beautiful bride and you, a beautiful mother of the bride!

Great job! Keep up the AWESOME work!

Amen, sister!!

I lost 7 pounds last month, so in no way has my weight loss stalled. However, as you all have come to know, I'm a very impatient person. I want to see a little come off on the scale EVERYDAY! Obviously, that is unrealistic and I need to learn to appreciate life without one eye focused on the scale. One way I'm doing that is through pictures. As horribly hard as it was for me to have pictures taken of myself at my biggest, I'm now very glad I did. The physical transformation I have gone through is instant inspiration to me when I have any low feelings at all. Another way I focus OFF the scale is focusing on how my clothes fit. I'm wearing a size 16 NY&Co pair of pants today that I bought when my mom was in town. Less than three weeks ago, I could get them on, but they were too snug to wear. Today, they look perfect! I remember the way I felt when I weighed 285 pounds. I still went places with my friends, but I felt withdrawn. I wanted to fade into the woodwork. I wanted to hide myself and my body. I was so hard on myself for every little thing because I felt insecure because of my fatness. Now, I'm much more confident with my body. I practically flirted with a guy in the elevator this morning. Ha! I will catch a glace of myself in a mirror or window reflection and I can hardly believe it is me. I worked out twice yesterday and didn't feel like I was overworked. It's absolutely incredible. As you also have been able to tell, I love having my picture taken now. I still have a long way to go, but I just feel so darn good! No need to put off living while I finish the job. :confused: Tonight I'm going with one of by LAP-BAND® Support Group buddies to see Shrek. I have made friends with two girls from the group. I'm so grateful to have folks face to face that are going through what I am going through. Plus, they are super fun!! Happy Wednesday!

Just got my flu shot, so I'm ready for Fall! :confused: Last night I had a few moments of thought about my journery. I'm in my "small" range. I'm within 10-15 pounds of my lowest weights as an adult. I wondered briefly if this could be it for me. I mean, I look pretty great! I've gotten into almost every "skinny" piece of clothing I have. What can I really expect? And then I started looking at some pictures. My SIL was finally able to send me pics from my 5K. As I was looking at them, I realized that if I can do THAT...I can do MORE! It might take 3 years, but who cares? I'm loving my life right now and I'm going at a pace that I can continue for as long as I need. Sometimes, I guess I just need to remind myself. :thumbup: Speaking of my 5K pictures, I have attached a few. As I mentioned before, my SIL was absolutely awesome! I'm truly not sure I could have done it without her. Today I'm committing to running 2 miles at lunch and Jazzercising for an hour tonight. Fun NSV: I was able to wear a dress today that I have had for YEARS, but it hasn't fit. It looks really nice and I've gotten several compliments!! Have a wonderful day!!

You rock, sister!!

That's fabulous!