Okay, guys, this it is!

No excuses, no whining, let's just make it happen!

We know how to make this band work for us and 2015 will be our year!

@@bacon -debt free is a huge accomplishment and what a great blessing to share with us!!!!

Today went as planned.

food OP.

80 oz Water.

5 miles quickly walked.

Onward and downward! Appreciate you all SO much! ❤️

I am back and hope to be able to post daily again. I went through a crazy week last week. On top of the craziness at work, I had the most ridiculous PMS ever! Sorry if this is offensive, we are all adults here.

Anyway, I am trying to get back to exercising and went to the gym today! YAY. I love the way I feel after I work out. It is true for me that I have more energy when I exercise. If I don't, I like to come home and sit on the couch all night long.

Eating was on plan today AND I worked out.

I will be going back and reading everything I missed.

Thanks for having me.

@@bacon, it's perfect. And congratulations.

My day went like this. Breakfast was two cheese sticks.

Snack was half a cup of pumpkin seeds.

lunch was a small container of hummus.

Afternoon snack was a quarter cup of almonds.

dinner was five (yes five) Popeye's chicken strips with ranch. That was actually the better choice. My addict brain really wanted my favorite carby Thai dish, but I beat it back.

For some reason I just had to snack today. Stomach started growling so I fed it. Twice. Me, the one who doesn't snack.

I got 24 flights of stairs in, over two miles of walking on my lunch hour, a bariatric support group meeting after work where a plastic surgeon spoke, and then I drove to an OA meeting immediately afterward.

The OA speaker had 22 years in and said she still occasionally battles the irrational urge to get her favorite drive-thru particular sugary treat when she is stressed out.

That made me feel better about my wrestling with the Thai food obsession.

It's been a full day and I feel I've been outrunning my food demons.

Tomorrow I will have fuller meals. I'll make two eggs for breakfast and bring some Italian beef for lunch. If I have nuts I'll eat them with my lunch.

Dinner will be a kale salad with some cheese.

What I'm proud of changing today is that I will never give up on myself. Never. I am worth recovery and I am worth the hard work it takes to get to my goals. I've also started to live by the rule that if I'm afraid to do something, it's probably a sign that I need to do it. So now many times I do just that. I'm proud of that.

Let's hear it from the rest of you!

Plan

6a 1 cup rice chex and 1/2 skim milk. banana. 230 cal. (Already happened)

9a Apple 90 cal.

12p chicken brown rice stuff and 2 sausage patties. 450 cal. (Guessing)

3p 1/2 cup ham salad.

6p ?????

Exercise will be light at best today. I have to do a 4 wheel brake job on our van this evening. I am off Wednesday and will make it happen.

Hey Hey Hey!!! Top 'o the mornin' to you!! ????

Meals & exercise are planned. I'm gonna knock out half of the exercise this morning and do the other half this evening with my husband.

Today:

B-8 oz shake w/fiber

L-Greek yogurt w/fiber & 2 tbl granola

S-8 oz shake w/fiber

D-2 egg omelette w/cheese, 2 bacons

S-sweet freedom bar

72 oz Water, 5 brisk miles

837c, 83p, 34nc

There you have it! I'm off to exercise and then clean house. Have I mentioned that I despise cleaning house!?! Gotta be done, like it or not. ????

Happy St. Patrick's Day every one! I am thinking about an accomplishment to share for this Tuesday and am interested in just how hard this feels. (Well hello there, low self-esteem, and so we meet again!). Here we go. Yesterday was a hard day for me, emotionally. lunch (AKA breakfast as I usually don't eat until I'm hungry mid-day) was on the run out with two people at one of those gourmet deli places where you go through a line with a tray. I went with lentil Soup and when we were at the Desserts I offered to split a brownie with some one. This gets the attention off of how little I am having. I was stressed and knew there was no way I could have anything more than a little soup. When it came time for the brownie (chocolate espresso brownie, no less), I had a tiny piece. It was delicious and I was done. So I did not deprive myself but nor was I set off by that bit of indulgence. Thank you Band. Is this the long sought after Moderation of which I've heard tales? Yes. I was moderate yesterday and that, for me, is a huge accomplishment. I am not on a diet, not off a diet. I'm just living and being and eating when I'm hungry and not eating when I'm not hungry. Mostly.

I am wrung-out today and very tired. Going to pay attention to the HALT which stands for never getting too Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired. Need some self-care and some decent sleep. Not coffee, not drama. Avoiding those two things today, which will not be a walk in the park as I'll be seeing my mother. Going to pack my 100 calorie yogurt and a little jar of mix-ins as I have to make yogurt "chewy" or for me it is a slider (I use chia, a little gluten-free Cereal and a few walnuts). Later I'm going to have a fried egg. Need to focus on Protein today.

Have a good one, all!

Great post Bandista.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Posting for accountability....

I'm hungry this afternoon, so made a change to today's plan. Meals all stay the same, but instead of the sweet freedom after dinner, I had an Atkins bar just now. It's a healthier choice anyway, right?!?

Updated Stats: 897c, 93p, 28nc

Did a 36 min exercise video before I cleaned house. I'll either walk outside or inside this evening, depending on the weather, for a total of 75+ minutes.

45 minute brisk walk tonight, so I can check off my plan for today.

One WLS thing I'm grateful for today...we were looking at a home under construction this evening and there were no stairs out the front door. My husband propped a board up to use as a ramp. When I asked him if it would hold me, he bounced on it and reminded me that I now weigh less than he does. This is major as he's a very active, very fit guy and I LOVE the fact that he now outweighs me by at least 20 pounds! WOOT!!

One thing I love about being more active is that I now have more energy to do the thing that NEED to get done. If you all know anyone that trucks for a living, you know there is no 9-5 in trucking. It usually ends up 12-14 hrs a day.(and NO I am not complaining) When you get home grass still needs cut, vans still need brakes, neighbors still need help, kiddos still need balls thrown, and the wife still needs to talk! So any extra energy I gain is very much helpful. I LOVE my life and I have been blessed by the very hand of our mighty God.

Yesterday I did not get all the food on my plan ate. dinner was light as I was in the middle of working on our van. The two hour job turned into a major project, when the hubs I decided need to be replaced, seized up from years of road salt. Yet another reason I need to move south.

This morning I am up and I am going to hopefully finish the van up before the family rolls out of bed. We are going to the Y at some point today. No clue about eating and meals, right now it's coffee.

@@enjoythetime @@2babutterfly Where ya'll at? I know 2babutterfly went camping over the weekend, still lost in the woods?? @@punkinvine hope to hear from you soon as well!

I accidentally walked an extra 8 flights of stairs yesterday. Four sets of eight instead of three. FitBit told me that at the end of the day. This must be getting easier.

Yesterday was on target and it felt very good to get out and get my two miles in at lunch.

The food was on plan too. I made it to my OA meeting and squeezed in a foot massage afterwards.

Today Breakfast will be eggs, lunch cheese and nuts, and dinner salad and beef. CoDA meeting in the evening.

The change I am proud of today is the willingness to stop eating when I get the stop signal. I don't always do this but I do it more lately. As we know, we can still overeat with the band. It can be miserable but it can be done, usually followed by sliming and PB'ing. Between the last normal bite and that bite that sends us to the bathroom, there are one or two bites that say "that's just enough".

Even if we don't PB, we can sense when more would be more than we really need. I don't want to stop then because it tastes good and I'm enjoying myself. But if I do stop, a minute or so later the desire to keep eating is truly gone and I feel really satisfied and healthy. Not stuffed, not uncomfortable. This feeling is what I guess that normies feel when they end a meal.

Today I am proud and grateful to be able and willing to eat like a normie.

Edited March 18, 201511 yr by JustWatchMe

Nice one, Just Watch! I am proud to be a dainty eater now. I don't wolf my food down or shovel, shovel, shovel. Gone are the days of huge servings and going back for more. Yippee!

@@JustWatchMe - great blessing to eat like a normie. I'm not there, I still battle it, so I commend you for your relationship with food! Accidentally walking an extra 8 flights of stairs?!? What an accomplishment!

@@bacon - Sounds like you might be off today. I hope you enjoy your day!

Today's meals are planned. I'll get my 72 oz of Water and my 5 miles of exercise. I have a doctor's appointment at 1, so lunch will be a Protein bar today. I love when I work my eating into my schedule, it keeps me from slipping into a fast food place and creating a guilt trip.

Today's plan:

B- 8 oz shake w/fiber

L-Atkins bar

S-8 oz shake w/fiber

D-bacon & egg pita

905c, 84p, 25nc

We are missing a few of you. Bacon gave the shout-out and I hope we hear from you!

Hope you all have a swell day!! I'll check back later. Take care of you.

Edited March 18, 201511 yr by s_suther

Hey my people!!!!

This last week has kicked my butt but I'm baaack:-)! I've been trying to get over what ever in the world I came down with. Feeling better so hopefully on the up swing of things. I must say that during all of this my fluids in general were lacking significantly, my band must have tightened during this spell because I noticed I just wasn't hungry and when I was I could eat very little and then would be overly full before I knew it. Drinking anything would keep me full for about 2-3 hours so it was hard to get everything in. It was weird. Starting Monday I noticed that the band was slowly working it's way back to normal and today I feel like I'm all the way back. For the last couple of days I haven't done so well with staying on plan, I did ok but there were a few things I could've done without but I'm balancing it and that's all that matters. Thanks to this wonderful group I got my kick start I needed to start and finish the day strong. You guys are killing it. Great job!

B: Yogurt and trail mix

L: Protein bar and a cheese stick

S: Cheese Stick

D: Weight Watchers Meal

S: Skinny Cow Ice Cream

Water: 80oz