Well here it is April 9th and today I booked my flight to Toronto for the 28th of May for surgery on the 30th. I am very excited and thought hey maybe it is time to start a little Leslie thread to celebrate. (lol well not really little yet but I will be smaller soon)

I enjoy this site so much and find so many answers to my questions here. The encouragement here is like medicine it just makes me feel better! When ever I feel unsure I come here and read for a bit. I read the thoughts of others who are on the same kind of journey as I am and know that I am making the right choice. The before and after pictures are amazing. I need to learn how to resize my photos so I can start to post mine too.

I was thinking earlier that I will be able to wear some of last years summers clothes this year! I should have lost the pounds I found over the winter (who hides those damn things where I can find them?) This week I have had an interesting time... feeling less hungry for some reason and more focused on not gaining anymore before surgery, I lost 5 pounds!! :biggrin1: It feels good to see the numbers going down again and knowing that soon I will have the tool to keep them off.

Today I am greatful for learning about the lapband!

Well today was weigh in day for me and I was happy to see a few more pounds are no longer with me. I think maybe they are on the road I walk in the morning... lol Maybe I should put up a caution sign...don't want anyone to slip in all that fat!

It does feel good to wave goodbye, I know that things will slow down but for now I will enjoy my loss and when I am having a slow time I will remember that there will be times I lose more and times I lose less. I will look forward and smile when I think how far I have come and where I am going.

I will have my band to help me keep the weight off this time!!

LL!!! Great weight loss. I fully admit to being addicted to the scale, so I did peek this morning and was down 3.8 lbs. Water, I know. I will do an official weigh in on Monday mornings and change my ticker then.

I really admire you for what you are doing now - losing. I gained before I started and it's not helpful at all. You go girl!

Susan

Right on Susan! Way to get going! It feels good to see results doesn't it. -=big smiles=- Your on your way now and water is still weight and apparently you didn't need those 3.8 lbs. of it! LOL I am so happy for you.

I admire you too. -=winks=- it isn't easy to do what we are doing, not by a long shot. But it is going to be so rewarding to have a life that we can live more fully and hopefully longer with less aches, pains and health issues.

WE ALL ROCK!!!

Hi Leslielee. How are you doing? I recognize that the last month is probably the toughest because you are so close yet so far! I was very anxious to get started! Less than 2 weeks for me now.

Keep smiling LL!

Susan

-=smiles=- I am doing well Susan, plugging along trying not to be too impatient...lol it is hard to wait but what can we do...lol it will come soon enough. Somedays I do get a bit , mmmmm -=thinks=- I guess it is nervous. I shake my head and think "What am I doing? This is really serious stuff Leslie Lee! You could use this money to renovate the kitchen! "-=sighes=- Then I think " Why so I can enjoy cooking more? So I can eat more in my nice new kitchen?" I think I would rather be thin in my old disfunctional kitchen than fat in a brand new one! As I am sitting here writing now I am thinking it feels like I have been on a serious diet for the last year and a half. Likely because for the most part I have been. I hope that one day I will not even think about diets... that I will just be content where I am. That I will have done some of the things I really want to do and my health will be good.

I am blessed in that I am seldom sick but I know that being at the weight I am, it is only a matter of time before that changes. I have thought about that many times and tried to use it to stay on a diet, it didn't work as much as I want to avoid becoming ill I would fall off my diet and start gaining again. Sometimes I would tell myself "ohhhh I will just have dinner out...." and as I ordered desert I would say" just this time. I will go back on my diet tomorrow." Tomorrow somehow didn't come when it should have though. Like they say, Tomorrow never comes... It doesn't it just keeps looming in the future.

I have hope that it will be different now. It will no longer loom, but be welcome. The band will not cure me I know that, but it will help me. Help me to get past losing 50 lbs. 50 lbs is a lot of weight but when it takes you a long time to lose and it feels so good to be that much lighter it is hard to keep going, at least for me it is. I have lost 50 lbs. or less so many times that I really shouldn't even be here..lol I should have disappeared years ago!! But I am still here, bigger than ever and thinking.... " Not again...." -=sighes=-

Yep again....

I surrender. I admit I can't do this on my own. I need help and I am going to get it soon!

-=smiles=-

Soon I will be the me I see in the mirror and others will see that me finally.

I will!!

I will do the things I dream of doing and I won't feel exhausted.

I will go out for dinner and look at the booth and think... HA! I can fit in there with lots of room to spare!

I will walk by young people and smile as I do, knowing that they don't see a fat woman.

I will go to the gym and not worry about bouncing when I move!

I will be me.. The best me I can be

LL ~ before I admit this I must let everyone know that I am a man who is at peace with his manhood. In fact after this post I am going to pre-tend to drink a beer, get in my truck and go shoot a couple of small animals from a moving vehicle... A redneck at heart.

but I have to say LL I also went to Dracula the ballet and loved it... I took my wife as was only her second time at a ballet... first was a couple of weeks ago with kids at Cinderella. Dracula was great but I had to remind my wife that the men dancers attire was padded in certain regions!!!

Anyway I am a big Anne Rice fan and it was great to see another person appreciate her.

I can see you are doing great and have started your journey. One thing that worked for me was using a Diet and Excercise software to record weight, food and excersise to graphically show my progress. I admit I weigh everyday but know that small weight gains or plateaus happen and shrug them off.

My wife is even using the software know for herself... thin as she is just for health reasons.

Anyway rock on and good luck

CanadianMacDaddy ~ on his way to Home Depot and Canadian Tire to look at some power tools and car parts.... manly stuff not Ballet !!!

Leslielee,

I have to admit that I am also nervous and have doubts about my decision (probably like many people). I am thinking that I am not that big and maybe I can lose the weight AGAIN (as I have done before). The fact, however, is that I can never go below a certain weight and I have always gained back what I have lost. I have noticeably lost and gained weight multiple times in the past 15 years. I have changed my eating habits, be more active and still that is not enough. Now with high blood pressure and signs of other weight related issues to come, I have to do more than what I have already been doing. However, none of these diminishes my doubt about having the procedure done. Having said that, I am still going ahead with the procedure but not with complete ease. I see both the positive and negative outcomes of this procedure. I pray that I will be on the positive side.

I find the folks on this site to be most helpful and supportive. That helps. Most certain we should get our local support group going as mentioned in past responses. I will start a thread to get some feedback on that.

I would love to get together with you guys and share my experiences so far! A coffee date would be great.

Alrightie then!!! Lets do it! Coffee time! -=big smiles=- Maybe we can even do a get together half way between Calgary and Edmonton so those from places outside Edmonton can join in, once in awhile???

-=Hollars down to the boys (and girls) in Calgary=-

Hey guys! feel like going for a drive???

I just started a new thread to gauge how may people may be interested in participating in a local support group. For those of you that are interested, please proceed to the "Attention Albertans - Launching Local Support Group" thread to log in your answers.

LL ~ before I admit this I must let everyone know that I am a man who is at peace with his manhood. In fact after this post I am going to pre-tend to drink a beer, get in my truck and go shoot a couple of small animals from a moving vehicle... A redneck at heart.

-=chuckles and nods=- I understand, CanMac...your masculine side is safe with Us... right girls? -=runs out and shooooes all the small animals off the roadsides=- -=leaves the goffers cause I really don't like them anymore! (there is a story there... grrr little buggers!)=-

but I have to say LL I also went to Dracula the ballet and loved it... I took my wife as was only her second time at a ballet... first was a couple of weeks ago with kids at Cinderella. Dracula was great but I had to remind my wife that the men dancers attire was padded in certain regions!!!

-=smiles softly and thinks of all that padding.... sighes=- they sure do have big shoulders.....

Anyway I am a big Anne Rice fan and it was great to see another person appreciate her.

Anne Rice is quite a talented lady and really was the first that I read who put a human side to the vampire. I have read others since that have , but Anne was the first and so she remains very special in my heart. Have read all her vampires CanMac? I also loved the Tale of the Body Thief... lol reading the antics of Lestat in the body of a human was for me a real treat. I laughed a lot and shook my head more than once. I have this picture of Lestat trying to shallow orange juice with the pulp in it. I imagine the look of complete disgust on his face and chuckle.

I can see you are doing great and have started your journey. One thing that worked for me was using a Diet and Excercise software to record weight, food and excersise to graphically show my progress. I admit I weigh everyday but know that small weight gains or plateaus happen and shrug them off.

Thank you for noticing I have started, Can you tell me more about this software you and the Mrs are using? I would be interested in it. I have seen it for palms but I think I would rather use it on my laptop.

My wife is even using the software know for herself... thin as she is just for health reasons.

Anyway rock on and good luck

CanadianMacDaddy ~ on his way to Home Depot and Canadian Tire to look at some power tools and car parts.... manly stuff not Ballet !!!

-=hops into her car and heads down to Home Depot and then Canadian Tire with a trunk full of Alberta Ballet gear all kinds of padding and such to tuck in between the hammers and wrenches... (not to be confused with wenches) ties ballet slippers on the power tools and then smiles and big smile=- THERE!! much better now! -=crosses arms over her chest and then remembers to put out some Waxing stuff... strips of muslin.... spatulas for spreading the nice hot Wax and of course some powder for those extra tender bits=-

My work here is done!!

mmmmm another weighing day, I was down 1.8 lbs today. Slowed down a little but still a loss, which is always better than a gain.

I also got to finally go walking this morning and it was a beauty of a morning. I took my dog which made her very happy too. She loves to walk and has missed it this winter as have I. Last year at this time we were well into training for the Breast Cancer walk. What a different year this has been already. Better late than never Spring! I was starting to wonder. Anyway she is a Jack Russell named Shilo and she has a really hard time to walk in the winter...lol her belly drags and she kinda disappears in the snow.. think mini snowplow. It is just not a good this to watch. Plus her little feet freeze. I have tried all those goofy little boots and even made some crazy ones of my own, all with no success. She usually walks right out of them, and never fails to give me that "You're kidding... right??? You don't really think I am going to walk in this do you??" look. So she and I both took this winter off. -=smiles a big smile=- It is good to be back at it again. I missed it more than I thought. There really are some amazing places to walk in and around Edmonton.

The geese are back on the pond here even though it is still mostly frozen. They were fun to watch as the tried to land and skidded across the surface until the ice broke and they settled into floating along again. I wonder how many babies there will be this year? Last year there were two famlies and a total of 8 little ones. (I think) It was interesting to watch them grow and change. I will have to take pictures every few days this year.

I feel more at peace tonight with the loss of my friend and I smile as I think of him and know that he would be cheering every one here on for making the choices we have made.

I think I need one of those blog things so I can journal. I never was good at that before, maybe you can teach an old dog/kitten new tricks...lol

My bed calls...

Hope you slept well LL. I love reading your blog right here. If you do decide yo get another space for one, please give us the address so we can read.

I have a little Japanese Spaniel named Kayko. She too is very sensitive to the cold and therefore has to wear a little coat in the winter (Pink wool with leather toggles and patch pockets....but I digress).

I am glad you are feeling better about your friend. Loss is always hard and it takes some time to heal. Loss is not hard when it's your weight and another 1.8 lbs is great!! What will happen when you start the Optifast???

Have a wonderful day.

Hi Susan! I am not sure what will happen once I start optifast... I just hope that something happens! lol I have likely lost all the water weight that I am going to so it will likely not be too dramatic for me.. but a loss is a loss !!

I am going to try to post a link to pictures I am taking. I hope it will work since I am kinda not having fun resizing them for on here.

For those of you who enjoy Canada Geese I am going to try to take a couple pictures a day or every second day of the happy couple that are paddling around on the pond I walk to and around each morning.

I am thinking it might be fun to get suggestions for names for them...lol any thoughts?? Can't keep calling them the geese... well I guess I could but it is more fun to give them names.. so hopefully this link will work and I can keep everyone posted as to Life at the Pond! wonder how many babies there will be this year and when we will see them for the first time... -=winks=-

hope you enjoy the view, I can also upload short videos which I will do now and then.

http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t60/Leslie_Lee_photos/

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