A failed dinner and trying something new.

Am I the only one who stresses over what to title their blog posts? *sigh*

I made fish tacos last night, and they were gross. I tried making mahi mahi, and I almost barfed when I took it out of the bag and saw it still had skin on one side. Ew. I scraped the meat off the skin when it was mostly cooked, and then I threw in the sauce. And, true to form, I made up two of them for my plate but only managed to get through part of one. My eyes are still way bigger than my stomach. Never has that saying been more true than since I got banded. Am I right or am I right? I made shrimp for the hub's tacos, and he liked his, so I guess it was worth it. 

Yesterday I wasn't feeling too great about some of my food choices. I had some junior mints in the afternoon and a muffin for breakfast. But, the scale was down a pound overnight! Whee! I have my gym bag in my car, so I'm ready for this afternoon. I'm going to try one of the classes they offer. It's called On the Ball -- resistance training and ab work using the exercise ball. Should be cool. I will report tomorrow!

Refocus, Refocus!

Shame on me! I almost went to bed without doing this post. I've been wasting far too much time on pinterest.com. So addicting.

Anywhoozle, I won't be long tonight. I plan on going to the gym tomorrow morning (say wha?), so I must get my beauty rest. Cuz you know my two kidlets will probably not sleep all night, so there's that.

First things first... I got to meet the lovely CeCe and Cat this weekend! We had an awesome crepe breakfast, and the time just went way too fast. I could've sat there and chatted all day with them! I'm stealing this pic from CeCe:

What do we learn from this picture? CeCe and Cat are cute as can be. And I need new bras, um,  like yesterday! Yowsers.

So, yeah, refocusing... I know the scale is going to be up tomorrow. I did really well all week up until Friday, and then all hell broke loose. That is why I'm dragging my sorry ass to the gym this week. Same rules apply as last week: bandster basics, water, exercise, no testing the band! No more screwing around. I WILL be under 200 by Christmas!

I will also post some pics of my craftiness in the form of felt flowers tomorrow. Or you can just look at them on facebook. Night ya'll (that was for you, Beth Ann and Ronnie and Debi!).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick shout-out to all my banded sisters out there... Don't stress over your meal tomorrow. Eat lots of yummy turkey protein and a little bit of whatever else. Have a piece of pie and enjoy it. It's one day. I promise you will not gain back all of your weight.

I love you guys! Have a happy happy Thanksgiving!

Return of the Refocus!

What can I say? I've not been very focused lately. I've talked a good game, but there hasn't been much follow-through. I haven't even been blogging as much as I'd like. Yes, it's the holiday season, but that's no excuse on either account, is it?

 

Last night I was finally catching up on reading some of your blogs when I came across Fluffy's Bandiversary posts. Something struck a chord… again. Really, I don't know how many times I have to be hit over the head with something to make it sink in. So, I'm renewing my vows with you, with my band. To love and to cherish, to take care of in sickness and in health, to do my best not to barf, to eat bandster portions, to not drink with meals, to make healthy choices, to exercise, till death do us part.

 

First thing I'm going to do is reinstate my Sunday night refocus posts, in which I will give you my intentions for the week. Next I'm going to list all my NSVs, so I can review how far I've come instead of getting bogged down in how far I still have to go. I'm also going to print out a list of bandster rules and hang them on the side of my computer monitor at work. There will be no escaping!

 

Let's get to it. Here is what I intend for this week:

1. Drink more water. I know I'm dehydrated. I don't feel the need to be specific -- my intake is that dismal. Just drink.
2. No candy. Period.
3. Exercise 3 times, whether it's at the gym or Just Dance on the Wii. Do something to break out of the rut.
4. Bandster Basics.
5. 1200 cals per day, logged on myfitnesspal.com
6. Thanksgiving: Lots of delicious turkey protein and a little bit of whatever else. A piece of pie. Done. No need to stress over it.

 

Now, let me tell you about my visit with the NP at the Weight Control Center. Basically, she told me I was a band superstar, but I begged to differ. She told me that most of the band patients she sees lose only 40-60 pounds, and that with me having lost 70 and having kept it off, she was impressed. So, of course, I had to tell her about all of our band superstars losing over 100 lbs. I could tell she was skeptical. Hmph. So, I also told her I plan on losing 100 myself and to give her some credit, she was very supportive and helped me put a plan in place. Next appointment is in December. It's a big day. I have a fill in the morning, then I go to the WCC for a DEXA scan for body composition, a meeting with the exercise physiologist, the nutritionist, and finally the MD. It's 3 weeks away, and I would love to show up under 200. Finally. Seriously done with Two-nusia.

 

So. Over. It.

 

Happy Monday everyone!

Random lady makes my day!

Not much to report from me. Weight steady around 204 for like the fifth week in a row, still struggling to get all my protein in, etc, etc, etc. I do have to say that protein pudding made from HMR 70 is really freakin' good though. It has saved me from an absolute chocolate breakdown once or twice.

I just have one quick story for you. This past weekend I was in Me!jers looking for some workout pants, and a lady who worked there saw me looking through the racks. She told me to hang on, that she was about to be marking some stuff down and she would tell me which ones were on clearance. So she starts with this one rack and says, "Oh, these are plus sizes, you don't need those." Wait... what? I wanted to say, "Are you really looking at me right now in my frumpy sweats and fleece and declaring that I do not need plus sizes?" Seriously, I could've kissed her. No one has ever declared me to be a non-plus size person out loud. It was awesome.

The Nut That Wasn't

Yesterday I had my first appointment with the nutritionist at the weight control center. And would you believe, she was actually sane? Yes, a Nut who is not a NUT! I am so pleased.

First of all, she gets the whole band thing. She didn't suggest anything crazy, and didn't argue with me when I said a certain food wasn't tolerated. She is also Italian, and even commiserated with me on missing pasta. She quizzed me a lot on my habits and validated some of my choices and made good suggestions when things needed change. All in all, I was really happy with the visit. 

She set a protein goal of 65g per day for me, but I'm going to keep aiming for 75g. She recommended some HMR shakes and protein Chicken Soup to help me get there (I struggle). She also suggested I get more consistent with my vitamins and get on some Calcium, and she hooked me up with mega samples of the Bariatric Advantage Calcium Crystals. They are supposed to be flavorless, but regardless it will be a way to get more water in.

So here is my plan:

Breakfast: Protein bar OR bacon/fruit OR protein drink

Morning snack: greek yogurt OR almonds

Lunch: protein and veggies (frozen entree, leftovers, salads)

Afternoon snack: crackers/veggies w/ hummus OR chips and salsa OR cheese OR HMR shake/pudding

Dinner: protein and veggies

Snacks are what get me off track usually. I have a horrid sweet tooth, so I'm hoping that making the HMR pudding will help stave that off while helping me keep the protein count up.

Next week is my appointment with the nurse practitioner!

The flu. Poo.

I've been such a bad blogger lately. But I'm going to fix that. My excuse for last week was that I had possibly the flu, possibly pneumonia. I'm banking on the latter because the antibiotic they put me on really kicked the shit out of whatever I had.

I had kind of a neat NSV yesterday. I don't even know if you could call it an NSV. There is this long sleeve tee I used to wear all the time at my heaviest. I even remember wearing it to support group right after surgery. Well, I caught a glimpse of myself in it, and holy crap, it was ridick. It was so big... even the arms looked like you could fit two of me in them. So much for that shirt! It was a nice little reminder of how far I've come though.

Can I just say that I hate daylights savings time? It really bums me out that it's dark out now when I get my kids from daycare. And dark when I leave the house. Oh, winter, please go fast!

Tomorrow is my appointment with the nutritionist. I'll let you guys know how that goes. I haven't seen her before, so it'll be interesting to see if she's one of those who really "gets" the lapband or if she's going to tell me to eat a half wheat bagel for breakfast. Yes, I actually did receive that advice from a post-band nutritionist. She truly was a NUT.

Desperate times call for desperate measures

That's about where I'm at. I had a conversation with a friend on my trip this past week during which I realized just how little effort I've been putting forth lately. I also realized that the beginning of this plateau was the very month I got this new job. Stress much? So I've decided this calls for some major overhaul in how I am approaching life in general these days. I need to build some new habits and new routines and not let myself get dragged down into the muck of ambivalence.

I've been called on the carpet in the past for my ambivalent attitude towards weight loss. I tried to examine it from a psychological perspective, and the best I can come up with is that ambivalence arises from a perception of being powerless. Do I feel powerless in this journey? I shouldn't. I've already accomplished a major chunk of weight loss so I know it's possible. I think sometimes I let the craziness of other parts of my life sneak into my weight loss mindset. So is it that I feel powerless to change other parts of my life that I now feel I can't do this either? Maybe I've just had a lot of whirlwind changes over the past two years and things have not quite settled down yet. However, I cling to the notion that if you wait for the right time to start something, that time will never come.

So what to do? Well, yesterday I stopped at my hospital's Weight Control Center. All bariatric sugery patients are funneled through here for pre-op and post-op care. I, unfortunately, did not benefit from this because my surgeon at the time was the only one doing lap bands here and kept all her support functions through her own office. She left town 10 months later, and I ended up with my new guy, who I love. To make a long story short, I joined the weight control center so I could see a nutritionist, but I never took advantage of anything else they have to offer. I now have an appointment with the nutritionist next week and an appointment with one of the medical docs later this month. I'm hoping if I put a little more focus on this area it will help me stay on track. I only have 35 more pounds till goal and I don't want to take another five years to get there.