Reflection on 2010 and looking forward......

On January 12, 2010 I posted that I had finally gotten back to 217lbs! If you remember January was smack in the middle of my LONG 6 months without any weight loss. In April of 2010 I finally starting to loose weight again. So from April until now I've lost 38lbs - might I add with very little effort! I won't lie when I say out loud I lost 38lbs this year - that is disappointing to me, I didn't realize until now that it was that little. However, looking at the big picture I feel I am so blessed to have even loss! I know that so many bandsters out there are really struggling and I hope that you all find your way in the coming year.

Like last year, I'm not making a resolution to loose weight. That just would not make sense. On June 19, 2009 when I had the Lap Band Surgery I made a commitment right then and there for the rest of my life and for the New Year I just am planning on sticking to my commitment.

I do hope to hit my goal this year though. What my goal is however, is another question. I am confused to be perfectly honest with you. When you look at the weight charts for my height it says for a 5ft 5in woman you should between 111lbs-150lbs so I thought, aim for the middle - my goal has always been 125lbs. Then my doctor and many other medical professionals have told me that I would look skeletal at 125lbs. My nurse practitioner told me that my ideal weight would be 138lbs. I do think that sounds like a good number so for right now I am treating 138lbs as my goal weight. Not to say that once I hit it I might re-evaluate lol you have to know me after all this time of reading my blog - I change my mind a lot haha.

So here is to the new year and hitting my goals! Looking forward to meeting New Bandsters in the New Year and continuing to follow old friends!!! =) Cheers!!

Wednesday Weigh In

Last Wednesday’s Weight: 179lbs

This Wednesday’s Weight: 179lbs

Well so this looks like I did not loose any weight this week but I actually did! How?? Well I kept fluctuating and 2 days ago when I weighed in I was at 181 so I am thrilled today to still be at 179lbs! The last few days I've done really well with my calorie intake. Everyday I've had nearly a 1000 calories deficit. I'm really focused and it's a really exciting feeling. I want that 150lbs by my cruise so bad that food isn't calling to me. Isn't that cool? I want something more than I want to eat, who would have thought that would ever happen!!

I've received a lot of really nice emails lately from readers and I just wanted to say thanks! The fact that you read my blog really means a lot to me! Please continue to contact me, I love hearing from everyone! ladylapband@verizon.net

No crazy plans here for the New Year, you???

2011

Hey everyone!!! We are having a rather large blizzard here in New England today. I stayed home from work because I have a really small car that doesn't do good in conditions like this so I used one of my days off. I'm glad I did and that the people I work for are so cool because I am not a fan of snow at all, I really don't enjoy it. It's pretty for a minute and then it turns into Snirt (snow+dirt) you know what I mean pretty white snow covered in salt and dirt from the road, yuck. Where is the sun?? I cannot wait for my cruise! lol

I hope you all had a nice Christmas, or whichever holiday you celebrate I hope you enjoyed it! I certainly did, as I indulged in way too much food! Every night I went to bed saying "I don't like food anymore" haha. Thankfully I really didn't gain. This morning I was at 181 but that isn't anything new to me. The past several weeks I've been fluctuating like crazy between 179-181 back and forth back and forth. It is starting to drive me crazy. I plugged in a new program to my body bugg...my goal is to weigh 148 by my cruise...lol that probably won't happen but just humor me people lol. 148 by May 3rd is my goal and my body bugg says I need to loose exactly 2lbs per week from here on out to reach that. Sounds doable if I stay focused!!! I know I can do it if I stay focused but that is the thing....will I stay focused? I am surely going to try!!

I'm really excited about 2011, I can't see any reason why I can't hit my goal this year. Oh I saw a commercial for this new series called Heavy and it starts Jan. 17th on A&E, I can't wait! I love these shows, they are very inspiration to me, so if you need some inspiration make sure you check it out!!!

Wednesday Weigh In

Last Wednesday’s Weight: 180lbs

This Wednesday’s Weight: 179lbs

Yay finally another lb! Not only just one pound, but now I'm in the 170's, that is wicked cool!

I just got an email from my cousin about bridesmaids dresses (I'm in her wedding in June) it's time to starting looking and ordering them! It looks like we are all going to be getting together about mid January. Assuming I hit my goal of 175 by New Year Eve, I'm hoping to loose another 10 by the dress fittings. That would be ideal however hard. I'm gonna give it a go. At this point I am use to not making the goals I set, no harm in trying though!

I just passed my 1 1/2 year mark this past Sunday since being banded. The first year I did not drink soda like my doc said, after the 1 year mark I have been having like 1 soda maybe 2 on the weekend. I've had enough though, I just don't want it anymore, so I am going back to not drinking it again. Today also marks the start of me weaning myself off the caffeine addiction that I am on. I just want water to be my primary source of hydration and it can't be with so much of the other stuff!

"The Angel Song" Cover by Breanne Primeau

NSV

I didn't really think I could do it but I decided to give it a try anyway. I have successfully run 1 mile quite a few times now so I decided to try and do 1 1/4 miles. That isn't that much more right? I ran at a little bit slower speed because I wanted to pace myself, I thought this was going to be really hard. Guess what, it wasn't! Actually when I got off at 1 1/4 miles all I kept thinking was "I should kept going to 1.5 miles." So today I am going to try that. When I was laying in bed last night all I could think about what how impressed/shocked I was. I never thought there would be a day when RUNNING felt easy!! That still totally sounds like an oxymoron lol. This seems like such a small thing but this really made me realize that I totally underestimate myself and not just a little, A LOT!!!

I want to "adopt" running.  It burns so many calories in a short amount of time and I feel so accomplished when I am finished!! I hope if you are reading this and you aren't a runner or much of an exerciser at all that maybe this makes you realize that, that doesn't have to be you!!!!

I know it sounds corny and cliche but you really can do anything you set your mind to, you really can be all that you want to be!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!!

Wednesday Weigh In

Last Wednesday’s Weight: 180lbs

This Wednesday’s Weight: 180lbs

Ok so I have good news......this past Sunday I weighed in at 179!!! Bad news.....today I am back at 180!!! So I maintained or gained I'm not sure which it is but my number has not changed since last week!!!

I know maintenance is better than gaining but geesh I thought I would be doing better than I am. I should not be complaining I know - sorry! I set such high expectations of myself and then kick myself when I don't reach them!

Other Good News: I've my 1 miles run time by 36 seconds!!! I was running 1 mile at about 11min 50 sec and the day before yesterday I ran it in 11min 14 sec! I was really thrilled my goal right now is to be able to run a 10 minute mile. Once I can do that comfortably, then I will try and add to my distance.

There is only 10 days until Christmas!! My goal was 175 by Christmas, don't think that will happen now and I am upset with myself. Had I tried harder, I could have definitely done it!!! Well I guess I will just have to readjust....175 by New Years Day! Sounds good for me!!!

How are you all dealing with the cookies, chocolate, and other party foods? I'm not doing so hot! =( Confessions of a food addict!!!

Oh and I thought I'd share this pic...I got a trim and bangs!!

Meatless Mondays

There is this big movement to try and get people to go Meatless on Mondays. The goal is to help reduce meat consumption by 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet. I thought the whole concept was pretty cool. I had actually heard of it a while back but I was thinking yesterday about what I was going to eat today and it popped into my mind so I looked it up. http://www.meatlessmonday.com/


I think I am going to give it a go! Sounds like something I can easily do. I don't think the idea is that it HAS TO BE ON MONDAY, but so long as I can do it one day a week. I am planning on doing it Mondays though because I think it will be a nice cleanse after every weekend and it's easy to remember "Meatless Monday".


The website it loaded with recipes, I can't wait to try!!! Speaking of trying new things I went to the 99 the other day with my mom, dad, and hubby. They had eggplant parm on their menu and I was like "Oh I've always wanted to try it but I'm afraid to order it and not like it!" My dad ended up ordering it, he said he was contemplating it anyway and that way I could try it. So the verdict is.....YUMOO!!!! It was really really yummy. I found what looks like an awesome recipe on http://www.allrecipes.com/ and I think I will try it next Monday. I don't know what I will eat tonight.....I was a little unprepared so I am just going to wing it when I get home lol.


Anyone else ever heard of meatless Monday or every done it before??? If anyone had any bandster friendly meatless recipes and you wanna share, I've love to have them!

"Light a Candle" Cover by Breanne Primeau

Run, Don't Stop

Hi Everyone!!!

Life has been sooo nuts everything has been slacking on my part....eating...working out...blogging...everything!!!

the past 2 days I have started to crack down on myself again. Really watching what I am eating and yesterday I got back on the treadmill. What an accomplishment it is when I run a whole mile. After like .60 of a mile my mind is totally ready to call it quits but I took a moment to think and actually feel how I was truly feeling and I don't myself "My body feels totally fine, nothing hurts this is in your head just keep going." lol I know that sounds corny but it is really what happened and it totally worked. The awesome thing is, I'm not even sore today. Usually when I run a mile I am pretty sore the next day. I'm kind of bummed because I wanted to run again today but I am going out to dinner tonight with a girlfriend. We are going to this really cool restaurant called Fish Bones. It's a small little place and they have a fish market inside as well. I've been there one other time and I get the haddock every time it is sooo good I can't wait!!!

I hope you all have some fun plans for the weekend!!!

Wednesday Weigh In

Last Wednesday’s Weight: 180lbs

This Wednesday’s Weight: 180lbs

Hi everyone!! I want to apologize for being M.I.A.!!!! I started my new position at work this week and between learning new things myself and training the new person taking over my old position, it has been hectic!!! Oh and not to mention the new person taking over for me was a no show after 2 days....now I have my old position and my new one so I really don't have time to do anything!!!

So no weight loss this week!!! Pretty much expected. Last Thursday I called my nurse practitioner because I was feeling really sick because I could not eat anything, I had way too much fluid from that fill on 11/24. So she took out .3 of the .4 I had put in. I have not really felt restriction since but I'm giving it the 2 week rule, hopefully after that I will start to feel restriction again!!! Fingers crossed!!! She said I can come back for another .1 after 2 weeks which I will do if needed.

Thanks for all your nice comments on my weight loss from last week and also, thank you for all your nice comments on my videos!! It's nice to feel confident again! I am singing again this weekend, December is always a busy month of singing for me. I'll get that one up after the performance as well!!! Hope you all are well!

Live Performance

Live Performance @ Lowell First Church of the Nazarene



"Here With Us" originally by Joy Williams.
Hope you enjoy, feel free to share the video!

Oh and I'd love comments on the youtube page if you feel like leaving any there!

Wednesday Weigh In

Last Wednesday’s Weight: 185lbs

This Wednesday’s Weight: 180lbs

Yes I thought you might not believe me, hence the reason I made sure to take a picture this week. Heck I almost don't believe myself. You can't imagine how many times I stepped on the scale to verify that number haha.

I don't recall if throughout this journey I've ever lost 5lbs in a week. I never thought that when I hit onederland that I would be able to even drop that much in a 7 day period. You know how it goes as you get smaller you tend to loose less weight because you have less to loose. That is what I thought would happen to me, but I guess this is expected when you can't eat much.

Speaking of not eating much, I still don't feel deprived and I'm not hungry at all. I feel great, so I am not too worried. The nice thing about not being able to eat a lot is that food isn't on my mind 24/7 and my thoughts don't go directly to food at any point. I'm hoping things stay like this for at least one month because they say that is how long you have to do things in order for them to become habit.

Last but sooooooooo not least, thank you so much for all your very sweet comments on my video! I know my video seems a little out of place on a Lap band blog but it's all related to me. When I was a Sr. in High School I toured and did about 50 Christian Coffee Houses that year, and then I got fat and didn't want to be seen so I dropped singing all together. I am feeling great now and am putting myself out there again so for the mean time I will continue to share with you all in hopes that you will too see that you will feel good again!!! =)

Me Singing

Like I said in my previous post.....I sang Sunday night at my church during a special service and I wanted to share it with you all!! The song is called "One King" and it was originally done by a group called Point of Grace.

I know it is positioned the wrong way lol the person who recorded it didn't do it right and I don't know how to fix it lol! Tilt you head hah!

My Long Weekend & Fill Update

So I had a wonderful 5 days off recently. I was off Wednesday the 24th through yesterday (Sunday) the 28th. Wednesday Night we went and stayed at the Radisson. It looks like a big Castle, for my birthday. It was a lot of fun we went swimming and went in the hot tub and the sauna! Oh I love Saunas!

 

We actually didn't really do Thanksgiving this year. My brother, he is 27 and he is in the hospital right now. He is developmentally delayed and needed to go into a special hospital so they could change his medications. It's actually been a really good experience for him to be away from his family for a while but it's been really tough transition for us all at home, so we went there and spent Thanksgiving visiting him. It's a long drive there and then home and and we stay with him for a few hours so it pretty much takes up the whole day when we go. 

My husband had Friday off with me.....we didn't really do anything just hung out. Saturday night I went to my in laws to hang out and celebrate my Birthday, that was fun and then Sunday I went to church in the morning....and then went back in the evening we had out "Hanging of the Greens" service where we decorate the church. I love decorating. I also sang which I did record....I'll have to upload that later tonight for you all to hear if you want. 

So update on my fill from this past Wednesday......

Um I can't eat anything. Like legit almost nothing. I'm hoping it's hormones ect but we will see. I was telling my husband that right now I'm just going to let it go and see if it changes. As I loose weight I always loose restriction so I don't want to run back to the doc just yet to get an unfill. The only good thing is that I'm not hungry, not even a little. Food has been so far from my mind and I'm actually really enjoying that change. I do realize that not being able to eat very much is not healthy for me though so if I don't start to loose some of this restriction soon I am definitely going to go back to the docs and have them take some out!

NSV

I know the light in the back was bright, sorry!!! But you can get the idea from this picture!!! Since before I was banded I have ALWAYS said " I can't wait for the day when a bath towel fits all the way around me!!!" Today was the day!!! I had not tried it in a while but thought that it might actually fit now so I gave it a whirl and the proof is in the picture!!!

I never would have thought that such a small thing would make me feel so good about myself!!!