Doing well!

Things are going well since this last fill. I'm able to make better food choices and get full faster. I love it.

One area I need to work on is afternoon, between lunch and dinner. That's probably where I get the most calories of the day. If I can distract myself during this time, I think I'll be able to get fewer calories in.

I've lost one pound since the fill. Here's hoping for many more of those.

Still here!

You can pretty much count on the fact that if I'm not posting much it's because I am struggling. This last year has been so hard. It was about a year ago that I found out I was pregnant. Because of my choices and circumstances I have lost so much ground on the weight battle. I thought I could get the weight off fairly easily after Aaron was born, but not so. I have struggled and struggled and the weight I lost right after he was born is coming back on, slowly but surely.

I'm not going to say that I can't do this weight loss thing without the help of the Lapband, but the truth is, I haven't. I haven't, in my adult life, been successful at losing weight or let's be honest, even maintaining my weight without the band. So I'm going to stop being stubborn and wishing that I am the same as everyone else and just take advantage of the band and the knowledge I have gained from having it.

I have had two fills over the last few weeks. The band holds 10 ccs of saline. The first fill I got was 2 ccs. I had a little bit of restriction, but not much. This second one I was able to get 3 ccs of fluid in. (She suggested 1cc, but I asked for 3 and she agreed.) I have had one day of regular eating since this fill. I'm able to tell a significant difference.

I am not nearly as restricted as I was pre-pregnancy, but I'm at a good level. I can eat without a lot of trouble, but I do get full quicker and stay satisfied longer. I feel a great relief to some of the struggle.

I need to be careful about my food choices, or this won't make a lick of difference. I think I'm going to write out a food plan for the week. I'm going to plan my meals in advance so that I'm not standing in front of the fridge wondering what I should eat. That tends to lead to poor choices.

I have become lax on a few band guidelines over the last year. I'm going to recommit to following them better:

Not drinking with meals. I was so good at this before. I need to get back to it.

Focusing on protein. My food needs to be protein dense for the most part.

I made a yummy protein packed treat tonight. I blended a cup of 1% milk fat cottage cheese till it was smooth and then added it to 1 package of Sugar Free Pistachio Pudding and 1 cup of 1% milk. I divided it up into four servings. Each serving had nine grams of protein. It was like pudding, but thicker and creamier. I topped it off with a little light spray whipped cream.

My exercise lately has been mostly the basic T-tapp workout. I think I am going to add some walking videos to it. It's getting colder and it's hard to get outside with the kids. I've also had some ankle pain that has kept me from walking much. I hurt it about a month ago and it's still not 100% better.

I anticipate that I will be doing better than I have been, so I'm likely to post more often. Stay tuned!

Moving along

Well, after three different sets of family visiting, having a wonderful time with them and enjoying way too much yummy food, I'm almost back to the weight I was before the visits. It is crazy to me how fast I gain weight. Though, this time, as soon as I got back on track it has come off fast as well.

I'm still hoping to reach my first weight goal by September 1st. I've also exercised 4 days in a row, successfully. I can feel my stamina and my strength returning. Yay!

10 %

I just read a great article that I'm sure I read a while back. It says to break down your weight-loss goals into more manageable chunks. Start with setting a goal to lose 10% of your body weight. Then once you're there, do it again, only this time your 10% will be a smaller number. Keep it up in these small steps until you're at goal.

Here is the article.

I like this approach. I'm needing something to help me feel more successful on this journey.

I seem to have a 2 week cycle. I can do pretty well on my eating for about two weeks and by the end of my second week I'm back to square one. Unfortunately, my weight seems to follow right along with me.

I haven't made any real progress with my weight loss or fitness. I keep coming back to my bad habits. I have come to realize I cannot eat that way and not expect to gain weight. I have to stay vigilant or I will not be successful.

My baby is seven weeks old. It seems like such a short time, but at the same time, I am ready to be back on track and making progress. It is time.

Next step is exercise--Exercise, what's that? It seems so daunting at this point. My sister is coming to visit me next week. I asked her to help me get back on track exercising while she's here. She is amazing. She's running a half-marathon on Sunday. I walk around my house or maybe the grocery store on occasion. I need to move more in her direction. :) I still have the goal to run a 5K on or around Thanksgiving this year. That's run, not walk! I will do it. No excuses.

Pretty good

I'd say things are going pretty good. Not great. Not poorly. Just pretty good. I've been able to stay out of sweets a lot better than I had thought I might. I've got to make some more changes though, because my weight isn't responding as quickly as I thought.

I've been down six pounds so far, but my weight is really bouncy! It fluctuates quite a bit. Right now it's inexplicably back up to higher than I started. It's not because I'm eating poorly, so I'm not really worried about it, but still, it should be going down faster and more consistently. That means I'm probably eating too much of not good-enough food.

I do pretty well at getting my fruits and veggies in. I know I'm still eating too many refined carbs; crackers, bread, pasta, rice, etc. I'm a rock star at getting my water in. I'm consistently getting 80 oz of water a day, often more.

So I'm going to try tracking my calories for a few days to get a feel for how many I am eating and where I need to make changes to get things moving faster.

I've done a handful of exercise sessions. I'm surprised at how out of shape my body is. Walking is still hard for me. T-tapp was hard, but I feel like it's about the level I'm at right now.

My official weigh-in day is Monday, so we'll see how I'm doing by then.

Ready

Well, I'm back. I'm ready to get this weight off and get back to my pre-baby size. So here we go!

As of right now I have no fill in my band. The nearest fill-doctor is over four hours away, so as of right now, I'm going to see what I can do on my own without having it filled. If I get stuck and can't lose any more, then I will look into getting fluid put back in my band.

Honestly, I don't miss the restrictions of the band as far as having to eat slowly and some foods that I can't tolerate. If I can do this without having to get that restriction, I think I will enjoy the eating aspect of my life much more.

So as I posted before, I gained way more weight with this pregnancy than I had ever intended to. It ended up being about 75 lbs. So, right now, in order to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight, I have 50 pounds left to lose. Yay for already being 25 pounds down from my baby's birth three weeks ago!

I have tried to exercise a couple of times since baby was born, but both times I ended up in pain and really worn out. I think I was jumping the gun just a bit. I went for a walk around the neighborhood. I didn't make it more than about half a mile either time. My abdominal muscles were very weak and sore throughout. I will try again soon and see if I'm ready yet.

My biggest problems that have caused my weight gain are not exercising and eating too many sweets. So this week, I started back on not eating sweets. I will allow myself one occasion of sweet-eating per week. (Like a party, or movie, etc.) I'm on day three of no desserts and down four pounds so far. Not bad results. It really shows me that sweets make a huge difference in my weight.

So I will be posting much more regularly to keep myself accountable and update you on my progress. Stay tuned!

Baby Boy is here!

Our baby was born this last week. Feeling very happy and blessed.