A Great Day!!

Hi all, I'm back from the walking field trip with my son. We had a great day, the play about Jakie Robinson was really good and I'm glad my son got to see it. After we got back to the school, I took my son out early and we went to lunch and spent the rest of the day together. My son is a really good student and I started a sort of tradition/reward with him as long as he keeps his grades up. If he maintains being on Honor Roll, I will take him out of school early sometime during the trimester and take him to lunch and do something fun that he wants to do. I never really plan it, just a random day between report cards. Well, he got all A's but one grade and made Honor Roll, so today was our day. After lunch, he wanted a Jamba Juice and then we went to the book store and video game store. There is this pet store in the mall that has tons of adorable puppies and everytime we go to the mall, we stop and look. We already have a Chiuaua, a cat and a rat and we are not getting anymore animals, but we love to look. My kids always want to go into the petting room and pet and hold a puppy and I never let them for fear of falling in love with the puppies and wanting to take them home. We made a deal that on his special day, we would go to the pet store and hold a puppy, so we did. We actually held two a Wymeriemer (spelling??? sorry) beautiful, but that puppy was hyper and wanted to chew everything, my purse, our shoes, our clothes, our fingers. So then we held a Shitzu/Laso Apso mix and it was the cutest little fluffball. She was nice and calm and we did fall in love with her, but not tempted to take her home.....tooo expensive $999--unbelievable. Anyway, sorry for going on and on, but it was so fun, we'll have to do it again sometime.

I forgot to metion that yesterday I went to Ross and went shopping and I came across a too good to pass up bargain on a pair of Old Navy Jeans in size 14. I dared to take them into the dressing room and try them on. I got them over my hips and they actually zipped up without me laying on a bed, so I took them home with me. I can't say I can wear them out just yet. They really are too tight, but I'm going to keep them in my closet and try them on from time to time as incentive and I will look forward to some day soon when they will be a regular part of my wardrobe.

I have to apologize for my typing and grammer. My mind goes faster than my fingers and I'm usually typing so fast, that there are tons of errors.

Have a great weekend!!

TGIF!!

I'm happy it is Friday. Today is the walking field trip to the local community college to see a Play "Jackie Robinson". The walk is about 2-3 miles away, so I will get some good walking in today and his teacher is young and walks fast. I weighed on Wii fit today and lost some of the gain. I think its weird how I do the liquid thing the day of my fill and drop 2.5 pounds overnight, then I start regular food (and went overboard that day) and gain 1.5 or so back, and I lost another pound as of today. Anyway, like I said, I'm waiting till my monthly visitor is gone to get an acurate weigh in.

I did go to the gym last night and did my Kickboxing class and was feeling very energized during the class, so I worked my butt off and it felt good. I even worked hard on the ab portion and didn't feel any pulling or aching, so I can honestly say, I'm 100% recovered now. I bought some weighs yesterday, so I can lift some weights at home. I know I can do it at the gym, but I sometimes don't feel like going, so I figure if I have them at home, I can do it at home or at the gym and there can be no more excuses. Besides, my hubby likes to lift weights and we have a weight bench, so he can motivate me. I think I'll make the time to do some this afternoon or evening.

Hubby is going out of town tomorrow for a bike race, did I mention he loves to cycle (bicycle, not motorcycle). It's his passion and he has been planning to ride in this race on Sat. Its like 100 miles (I think). Can you believe that, I can't make it to the gym or do weights and he's riding his bike almost daily and loves it. He has never given me a hard time about my weight. He loves me just how I am and I'm thankful for that, but he is loving my transforming body too. He constantly complements me and makes me feel so good. So anyway, my best friend is having a garage sale on Sat and she lives next door to my mom, so I'm going to go visit her and my mom on Sat and maybe bring a few items over to sell at the garage sale.

Have a great weekend everyone. BTW, I just love seeing how many people are following my blog. Thanks everyone, I just love reading your comments and your blogs as well. I think I am addicted to reading the blogs. I'm a stay at home mom and kids are in school during the day, so I'm looking through them throughout the day. I have my email linked to my blog. Email me or comment anytime, I look at it several times a day. Do you think I need a job???? Ha ha . No, really, I do need a job.

BTW

BTW, is there a test I can do to see if I need more fill??? Should I try a little bread or something that people say won't go down easy???? I know the idea is to not get stuck, but I feel like it's bound to happen and that is how I will know if I have restriction and how I will figure out my limits. What do you think???

Hungry!!

Ok, so yesterday I was hungry all day and actually ate quite a bit. I don't know if its possible, but I feel less restricted than before my fill. It's probably in my head, but its how I feel. I started the morning off with my usual protein Iced coffee drink. Later that morning, I was hungry (earlier than usual), so I had some oatmeal, then later a scrambled egg, later some sugar free pudding. By late afternoon, I was hungry again, so I made a protein shake because that usually takes my hunger away. By evening, I was starving again and made tacos and rice for my family. I decided since everything went down fine, that I would have a bite of a taco and see how it went down and It went down fine. I stopped at one, although I didn't get that full feeling and really wanted another taco. Even brown rice went down with no problem. I'm thinking this first fill isn't going to give me restriction. I have my monthly visitor and am hoping my hunger and eating thing is hormonal, because I hate feeling hungry all the time and I just want to eat, eat, eat.

Today I go to the gym and am looking forward to that!!!! (not in a "I love to exercise" kind of way, more in a "I need to do this" kind of way). On Friday, I'm going on a walking field trip with my son's class. So, I will get a lot of exercise in this week. My husband has been sick all week and yesterday and today, I've had a headache I can't get rid of and it doesn't make things easier that medicine isn't as easy to take now. I'm afraid to try to cut and swallow pills since the fill. So, I've been crushing ibprofin.....Yuck!!!! I did gain back one of those pounds today, but I'm not going to take any of it personally, since my monthly is here and my weight is all over the place during this time of month. I will weigh when its gone and go with that weight. I'm still going to give this fill a couple more days and if I'm feeling the same, I'm going to call for another fill.

.....Later today

Well, I tried a little oatmeal watered down a bit with milk and it all went down fine. Later, I was hungry again and had a scrambled egg and all went down fine (I chewed it well). I was hungry again a couple hours later, so made a protein smoothy to keep me full. I'm thinking my fill is not too tight. Will probably need another one, but I'm going to wait a few days and see how real food goes and see if I continue to loose.

Current Weight

It's really hard to figure out exactly how much I've lost since I've changed scales. The old scale, was one of thos analog style ones and not sure if it was entirely accurate. Therefore, I probably weighed more when I started my journey. I've been going by the Wii fit since it keeps a chart, but its showing I weigh a little more than my analog scale. I got Wii fit after surgery and didn't know my starting weight on it. Anyway, I'm going to go by the Wii fit since I can go back and check dates and stuff and once I hit weights in the 100's, I want to be certain I hit that goal for sure. I'm so close. I had put on a pound or two and then I stepped on today and was down 2.5 pounds hitting an all time low of 201.7 pounds!!! I'm so clsoe to the 100's I can taste it. I hope this fill will carry me to that point. I still don't know how food is going to go down, but I find that liquid is practically the same as before the fill. I'm going to do a little Split Pea soup for lunch. A little thicker, but no chuncks and see how that goes down and how full it makes me. Not sure about dinner. If I don't feel hungry or want real food, I'll just stick to soup or a protein drink and go for the mushies tomorrow. If I"m feeling real hungry, I'll try some sort of mushie concotion and see how I do.

Until next time.....

Filled

So I went for my first fill today and everything went good. Dr. was a little late, so had to wait about 45 min., but thats ok. I just love my Dr. !! I have read a lot of blogs and postings on the fill, so I thought I kinda knew what to expect. I'm pretty pain tolerant and the actual poking didn't really hurt much, I just wasn't prepared for the forceful jab. I guess when I think about it, it has to get through the skin and the port opening, so it probably has to be a little foceful (not in a painful way, just a little shocking). The Dr. described it as a blood draw, but a blood draw is a gentle insertion of the needle. Anyway, I assume all Dr. do it in this manner, just never heard anyone describe it as a quick, firm jab. It really didn't hurt, not even as much as blood draw because once it gets through the first layer of skin, its over and he did it so quick, it was short and sweet. He put 5.5 cc into my band, and then I sat up and drank almost my whole bottle of water. I waited in the waiting room a few minutes to make sure all went down ok and then went out shopping. I drank a protein shake for lunch and the Dr. said to drink liquid type items for today and maybe tomorrow if I feel the need and then transition to mushies and then regular food. No real time schedule, just as I feel ready. I'm cleared for all exercise and weights as well and I asked him an all important question that has been bugging me. I'm not a regular soda drinker, but I like a Diet Cola once in a while and I keep reading that it is off limits, that it streatches your stomach pouch and that it is horribly painful. I wanted to know what the real answer was. Can it damage my pouch or will I just hurt and probably never want to do it again??? So I asked and he said it will not hurt or stretch my pouch, but the gas has trouble escaping and I could have bad gas pains. Now mind you, that is enough for me, I don't plan on drinking down a bunch of Diet Soda anytime soon, nor do I want a bunch of gas pain, but in the future if I decide to take a sip to find out, I know it won't stretch or damage my pouch. I am finding that all my liquids go down fine, almost the same as before the fill. I felt a small sensation when he filled my pouch (can't really explain it not painful). He said it doesn't feel real tight to him. I do have like a gassy cramping feeling, nothing horrible or unbearable, but I took some gasx when I got home and hope this feeling goes away because I really wanted to go to the gym tonight, but not with this sort of gas pains. Well, I've rambled on enough, and so far can't tell how much restriction I have, but as soon as I put something thicker into my stomach, I'll let you know. Oh, BTW, Dr. O told me to just call and come back in when I feel like i'm eating more than I should be able to wheather it be 2 weeks or 2 months just come on in. I love that!!!!

1st Fill Tomorrow!!

Well, my first fill is tomorrow and I can't wait. I haven't been very good the last few days though and I'm not exactly sure why. I feel like I don't even have a band. Yesterday, I was hungry all day and grazing all day. I'm not sure if its just because I have no self control, or my monthly visitor is about to come, or is it that I'm anticipating this fill and not being able to eat much and getting in my last meals?? I'm not sure, but whatever it is, I need to stop. I had dropped to my all time low of -20 pounds last time I posted, but I had gained a couple back. I feel bloated. I think it's funny how you loose a lot of weight and feel great, then you kind of get used to being at that weight and feel fat again. Anyway, I need that fill and can't wait until the Dr. sticks that needle in my stomach and fills me up.



I will try to post tomorrow to tell how the fill experience was.

20 Pounds BABY!!!!

So, last night, I did pretty good on my eating for the day. For dinner, I made ground beef tacos and tostadas for the family and I made myself a taco using lettuce instead of a shell. So I guess that would be a lettuce wrap and it was yummy. I made 3 small ones, but I realized I would have been fine with just two because I was stuffed after 3. I've also been loving the no sugar added fudgesucle at night for a little sweet (only 40 calories each). I went to the gym last night and worked my butt off in the kickboxing class and felt great. So, today, all of it paid off and I'm at my alltime low of -20 pounds. Yeah!!!!! I hope I keep it off until my fill on Tuesday and maybe if I keep up the hard work I'll drop one or two more, but if not, I know it will start coming off once the fill comes.

Today I am going on a walking field trip with my older son's calss, so I'll get a little walking in this morning as well and then Thurs I plan to do my Kickboxing class again.

New Recipe

Well, I have been really trying to be good with my eating after this past weekend and not doing the best. I've still managed to not gain over the weekend which I'm very happy about. I have this recipe that I just love and its so low in calories and very tasty, so I thought I'd share with everyone. I love Chinese food and this gives me that Chinese food fix and you can change it up however you like and its filling. It's probably something your already doing, but here it is.

---about 2 cups shredded cabbage
---about 1/2 cup thinly sliced white onion
---mushrooms or chicken or both
---1 tbsp olive oil

I heat up the olive oil in a skillet add the onions and cabbage and let them cook until the cabbage and onions are tender, add mushrooms and/or chicken. let everything heat well. Sprinkle with garlic salt to taste.

I used to make it with mushrooms, but today I had some leftover baked chicken and used that and it was delicious. I also added a splash of soy sauce at the very end and it was wonderful. I was thinking you could add some peanuts too and that would be tasty.

When I counted the calories with just mushrooms, its like 175 calories and its a lot of food. With restriction, you could probably only eat 1/2 or 1/4 of this.

Valentine's weekend

Well, hubby and I had a great night on Valentine's day. We went to dinner at my favorite, Macaroni Grill and I had my favorite dish Chicken Scalopini. I only ate about 1/3 of the plate and a bite of the yummy bread they serve there and I took the rest home. While we waited, we had a drink at the bar. My mom decided to let the kids stay the night, so we walked around and did some shopping after dinner and went home to watch a movie. We had a great time. I feel like I did ok at dinner and tried to eat less during the day to make up for the calories at dinner. I haven't done so well, the rest of this weekend. Not too many sweets, just feel like I can eat a lot and that nothing is staying the the small stomach pouch. All is passing through, so I'm so anxious to get my fill next Tues. I can't wait to get a little restriction back. I'm going to try to be really good this week, so I don't gain back this weight I've lost so far and I look forward to loosing some more after my fill. I have a friend who goes to the same Dr. and just had her first fill and she said she has good restriction. I hope I have the same outcome after my fill.

No school tomorrow for the kiddos.

Cookies.....Cupcakes....Valentine's Parties.....

Ok, note to self.......making cupcakes & cookies is too hard for me. I ate a couple cookies and some dough yesterday and then another couple cookies today. At the kids valentine's day parties at school, I'm the room mom setting out all this yummy stuff. I had a lot of carrots and ranch (not bad) and a small handful of chips. I have no self control and now I have a headache. I wonder if its all the sugar that my body is not used to. I woke up with a headache and haven't been able to get rid of it. No school tomorrow, so each of my kids brought a friend home to stay over night and I brought home some cupcakes and cookies, but I'll let the kids and dad finish them off. I'm not having any more sweets.

Valentine's Day is Sat and my mom said she'd watch the kids so hubby and I can go out for a hot date!!! yeah!!!! I think we'll go out to dinner and maybe a movie. Can't wait. I'm going to try to be good.

I weighed myself this morning and I'm a fraction of a pound lighter. Yeah!!!

Exercise

Well, yesterday, I went to my kickboxing class and nothing hurt everything felt great. I didn't need to take it easy except when it came to the abs portion of the class. I didn't do the abs, not that it hurts, I just feel a slight pull and don't want to hurt anything. I had a great workout and feel great today, except extreemly sore, but I love that. When I'm sore, I know I worked hard. I must admit, I hate every second of exercising, but I feel so good afterwards, that it keeps me going back (for the most part). I go to a small gym down the street from my house and on Tues and Thurs I take a kickboxing class at 4:30 with some of the teachers and friends from my kids school. Its great because my kids love to go so they can see their friends and they play their video games (ds) together and have a great time, so it makes it easier for me to go and lug them around.

Anyway, I weighed in today and lost another pound. Yeah!!!! (but its the pound I've been going back and forth with, so I'm still saying I'm down 19 pounds). I'm going to try to get to the gym to do some light weights today and start with 20 min eliptical.

Tonight I have to make cookies and cupcakes for Valentine's Day party's tomorrow. Wish me luck and willpower not to eat them all!!! BTW, I had to buy Valentine candy for my kids to give to their friends at school and usually I buy my favorite candy (chocolate mmmm..) so that I can eat the leftover. Well, I bought Nerds and Starburst (not tempting at all), so that I wouldn't be tempted to eat the candy. I'm happy about that!!!

Bye for now.

A Rainy Monday....

Hi there!! Well, I start solids today!!!! I'm very excited, but a little afraid of gaining weight. I'm going to try to be careful about what I eat, considering I've been down the same 19 pounds for a week now. We went to Disneyland yesterday and walked and walked all day. I felt good about that. I'm going to try to exercise more this week. I feel totally ready to exercise. I'm sleeping on my stomach again and it's wonderful. I missed sleeping on my stomach. I don't feel any pain even at the port site, so all is well. When I had surgery, I ended up with 1 large incision (2.5 inches long) and 3 small ones (less than an inch). All are healing well, except one of the small ones seems to be a little reder than the others, no pain, but looking a little different. I don't think it's infected or anything, but I'm going to take extra special care of it so it doesn't become infected. I have been very good about putting Neosporin on them and keeping them clean, so last night, I cleaned it well and then put a little Peroxide on it and then Neosporin and then a bandage just to keep it extra clean.

Today is a rainy day and now my other son is home sick, his tummy hurts, he doesn't like school so much, I think he is faking it, but that is ok. He is a good student and deserves a day off here and there. We are going to stay in and enjoy the rain. I think I'll light a fire and do some housework and maybe the gym this evening. I was going to go this morning, but can't. Tomorrow I'm going to do my kickboxing class. I did it last week and I was fine, I just didn't do the sit up part.

Thanks for reading!!!

New Blog Layout!!

Forgot to mention......How do you like the new layout???? Cute huh????

Thursday

Well, today I lost that pound that I gained. I know weight flunctuates, but I find myself in my old mindset. In the past, I'd do really good on a diet and loose 10-20 pounds and then slowly it would just come back on and then some. I could never really stick to a diet or lifestyle change for more than a month and I still fear that is going to happen. I know I've got to change my mindset, its just hard. I did really well yesterday and tried to make only healthy choices along with 3 protein drinks and then did about 45 min on the Wii fit game. I didn't get a chance to walk, so I did the Wii instead and today that pound came off and I know weighing daily doesn't help. Thanks for your advise Mindy!!!

Last night my little boy (8 years) came into my bed in the middle of the night complaining of a stomach ache and at about 4 am he was in the bathroom throwing up and has the stomach flu. Ooohhh how I hate the flu. I'm being very carful to wash my hands constantly. It scares me to even think of getting the stomach flu as a banded person in general, not to mention 2 1/2 weeks post op. How does the band and the stomach flu work?????? It seems that when you vomit from the stomach flu (not PB) everything would have to come from the large stomach up through the tiny opening that the band is around and up through your mouth. Couldn't that cause slippage if your really sick and vomiting uncontrollably??? I'm good about getting my flu shots and will continue to be :)

Well, I will continue to make healthy choices today and hopefully get a chance to do some form of exercise today (BTW, my legs are killing me from the last 2 days, but I love it!!!). Our downtown area has an artwalk tonight where you walk around and visit the different museums and they usually have something fun for the kids, so we might do that and that will get a lot of walking in. We'll see, depends on how hubby feels after work tonight. He was a little crabby last night. A lot of changes at his job and a lot more stress on him. I feel bad for him, but he is applying for a new job that will be a lot less stress, so we'll see!!!

Nothing New

Well, nothing new here. I woke up this morning and gained a pound. I know this phase isn't about loosing weight, but I certainly don't want to gain what I have lost back. I would like to at least stay the same until my fill. I did go to the gym yesterday and did a low impact workout and my muscles are very sore today. I didn't feel any strain in my stomach area and didn't do the sit up portion of the class, so I'm going to try to do this class twice a week if I feel ok. I feel good about that, but I think I need to layoff some of the mushies. I'm going to try to be more careful. I find that my appetite is much bigger than a week ago, but I'm not stuffing myself. A small portion satisfies me for a couple hours, then I want to eat some more.

Well, I'm going to go for a walk this evening with my family and hope by the end of the week I have lost that pound and not gained more.

Today is a great day!!! ......Mushies

Well, today marks 2 weeks since my surgery and I am finally able to start Mushies!! Yeah!!! Dr. even said salads with tuna or chicken, so that opens up all kinds of new menu ideas. I went to a Superbowl party yesterday and did pretty good. Someone had brought Posole (spelling???) and I was able to take some of the broth and only ate that. Of course everyone is drinking and, like I said in an earlier post, I usually drink beer, but I decided to make me a Cape Cod and I bought some light Cranberry Juice (40 calories per serving) and mixed it with a little Vodka. It was delicious, but I must say, I used to be able to drink quite a bit and not get tipsy, well, I think those days are gone. I had 3 drinks over the course of the evening (7 hours) and boy was I feeling them. I think I should have no more than 2 from now on, still not feeling too good this morning. I took beans and rice to the party as it was a Mexican theme and the refried beans I bought at this really good Mexican Resturant near us. there was some left over, so I'm having some as we speak for breakfast and they are wonderful. I know beans aren't a normal breakfast food, but I have been anxous for them since I know I can have them today. I'm sure these beans are full of fat, so I'll be carful not to eat too many of them.

You know how I said I'm one of those people who weigh every day and sometimes twice a day??? Well, I still haven't been able to get over that and I know that when the scale doesn't move for a few days, I get discouraged and forget to look at the whole picture. Instead of seeing that I haven't lost for the last few days, I should look at how much I've lost over the whole week or month. Well, my kids have Wii and they used their Christmas money and bought the Wii fit and I love it. It keeps track of how much you've lost and has little fitness tests and keep track of how many minuites you've exercised. I've decided to weigh in on that once a week to see what my weight loss is for a week at a time and it's great. Also, a great way to kind of start getting back into exercise after not exercising at all. I feel so good, I think I will start back to the gym this week. I will do light exercise and my doctor says when I feel ready I can go ahead and start back into it. I will be careful not to over do it.

By the way, at two weeks post op, I have lost a total of 19 pounds (12 pre op and 7 post op). Yeah!!!! Hopefully I'll get to 20 pound this week.