Monday and feeling good!!

Hi all!!

I had a nice weekend, didn't get too much exercise in, but did manage to go for a nice bike ride and lots of cleaning around the house in preparation for a family get together on Sunday at my house. I felt my eating was pretty good until yesterday's party. I started the morning with my usual protein shake and then a few bites of a breakfast burrito an hour later. Then, we had my hubby's family over for a welcome home party for my brother in law returning from Iraq and home for good as well as celebrating 3 birthdays (my son being one of the birthdays). We did a pot luck thing consisting of veggie and fruit platters, homemade tamales, pizza & nachos. I didn't do so good...I ate way more than I should have and everything went down fine. Dessert was a selection of cheesecake, carrot cake, strawberry pie & lemon cake. I just had a small slice of cheesecake. I gave all of the desserts for family to take home as I didn't want any in this house or I'd be too tempted. I did save my sons a small slice of lemon cake, since they both liked it. They are going to eat it after school today and then all will be gone.

I think its funny how no one mentioned to me that I have lost weight, but later after everyone left, my hubby said that his mom mentioned to him that I have lost weight and looked good and asked what I have been doing. I talked with a lapband friend of mine about this phenomenon. I think no one has noticed my weight loss when, in fact, people probably notice, but don't want to say anything. I don't understand that, but I was very flattered that she had noticed and said something to him. I guess people might be noticing after all and not saying anything.

Well, today is the last day of my kid's school book fair (thank God!!!!). I've had enough of it and plan to stay far away from the school for a while at least. I took the morning off and am about to leave to help Finnish it off and pack it away.

Bye for now!!

One-der-land!!!! Finally!!

Today I weighed in on my Wii fit and I was 199.5. Yeah!!! I finally hit onederland. I haven't seen the 100's since before I had my first son and he's 11 years old now!! It's been a long time. I'm trying to reflect on what I did differently to start dropping weight again. I've been keeping busy this week, which helps. I bought these Fiber bars at the store and have been eating one daily to help keep me regular and it has been working. I had bought some of those Auctivia yogurts and was drinking one a day and eating a light lunch every day. Also, my monthly visitor came on Monday and I always gain or bloat right before and then slowly loose weight during the visit, so that probably has something to do with the slight increase last week and then the steady loss. I'm really trying to figure out my body and how it works, so I will know when I gain the reasons why....Is it ever really possible to do???? who knows, but I try.

My son had an honor roll ceremony at his school and my parents came to see him get his award, so we all went out to dinner after. We went to Spagetti Factory, which I love. I love the Spagetti with Browned butter and Mazithera cheese (from the title of the dish, you can already imagine the calorie content). I started with a Cape Cod drink, then I had a small salad. We ordered Garlic Cheese bread for an appetizer and I had one slice and had some trouble getting it down. It hurt a bit going down, but didn't get stuck or anything. When dinner came, I was full after about 5 bites. I could have kept going, but tried to pay attention to my body and tried to stop when I was full. I had a lot of leftovers. We (me and my kids) always look forward to the leftovers to eat for breakfast in the morning. Usually, its not much. This time, there was a lot. I decided to give the kids all of the leftovers so they weren't calling my name later on in the day. So, I only had a few bites last night and now it is all gone. That was a huge thing for me and I'm so happy.

Anyway, I feel today is going to be a great day......Hope everyone has a great day and great weekend.

Exercising Did Pay OFF!!!

YEAHHHH!!! I'm so happy, Exercise did pay off!!! I'm back down to 200 lbs. I am soooo close, but can't ever seem to get off that 200 pound hump. I don't want to sabatoge myself either. I always feel good and then eat bad and it's a vicious cycle for me. I'd just love to get to wonder land. I feel like I've been teetering here for a long time. I'm at the book fair again all day, so I packed some very healthy snacks for me to eat throughout the day.....yogart, apple & Fiber bar. Here are some NSV that I have accomplished lately:

I have been drinking 64 Oz of water daily and drinking an extra 20 if I exercise.
I have not been weighing every day.

Those are just a couple that I can think of for right now. The water thing is a big deal for me.

Gotta go....Hope everyone has a great day!!!

Exerciseing and feeling great!!

Well, today I had a really nice day. A lapband friend of mine, came over to my house and we did a great hike up Mt. Rubidoux. It's a very nice hike up a beautiful mountain and at the top is a cross. I'm not exactly sure how far it ends up being, but I'd guess a couple miles up and a couple down. Then we went to a nice sandwich shop and had half a sandwich and salad. It was nice to spend time with someone who is going through the same thing as I am.

Later, I went to the gym and did 20 min of cardio and about 40 min of weights and then another 10 min abs. I'm feeling very proud of all the exercise I did today and sure hope it pays off this week. I didn't weigh in this morning, just got too busy, but I felt like I had when I woke up this morning. We'll see, I'll try to remember tomorrow. It's kind of nice to not fixate on the number on the scale for a day or two. I think I should try that more often.

Later toady....

What a day I had. Very busy and then took my son to the eye Dr. after school. He wants contact lenses. He's very responsible and has been asking for years. He wears glasses every moment of the day except when he sleeps, so we took him to get contacts and we going to try them out for a week or so and see how he does. It took 3 hours at the Dr. office before we finally got out of there. We were all starving, so I stopped at Weinerschnitzel (spelling???). I love that place. I had a mustard dog and then a few bites of chili fries. The hot dog was fine if I went slow, but the chili fries hurt and I just decided to stop after a couple bites, besides I have that stuffed feeling like I ate too much. It's been a long time since I've had that feeling and it feels good to feel really full as opposed to feeling hungry still and stopping myself before I overindulge.

One more thing, I always see people posting about greek Yogart. What is it and is it extra good for you???

Monday Blues

I don't like Mondays. The weekend is over, hubby goes back to work, kids have to go to school, homework starts (I hate all the homework) and I'm back to my regular routine. I went up a pound, but I was thinking it was going to be more than a pound, so I'll take that. I tried to be good over the weekend and felt I did ok. I'm going to be at the kid's school all week working with the PTA and helping out at the book fair, so that should keep my mind off food. Hopefully I won't eat much.

Nothing new to tell you about. I hope everyone had a good weekend.

Espresso Protein Drink

Mommy of 4 asked about how I make my Espresso Protein drink, so I thought I'd share and try to add some pictures just for fun. I've never added pictures before, so I hope I can do it. These are the ingredients I use in my drink:

I have had several of the automatic, fancy espresso machines and find the little stove top espresso maker to be just fine. The others work great at first, but then they always end up clogging up or getting hard water build up that all the cleaning in the world doesn't fix. I like this little one because its simple, easy to clean, portable doesn't take up counter space and makes great espresso if the beans are ground fine enough. I have tried lots of espressos and I'm a Starbucks fan, so I buy a bag about every 2 weeks (my hubby loves it too) and I have them grind it fine for me. Extra fine works best in my machine and makes really strong espresso.

For my morning drink, I usually throw about 1/2 cup milk, 4 Splenda packets, 2 scoops Trader Joe's Vanilla Soy protein powder and espresso in a blender and blend it up. Then I put some Ice in a glass and pour the mixture over the ice and this is how it looks.

Yummm......

Here are a few of the other protein powders I like.

I get the two big ones at Target, Vanilla and Chocolate. They are really sweet, so if you add these to the espresso drink, don't add as much splenda. I love the taste of the espresso, so the Trader Joe's protein is not flavored as much.

This picture stuff is fun, I'm going to have to do this more often.

BTW, I didn't weigh in today...I'm feeling boated and am sure it hasn't moved, much less go up. I did, however, walk with my family last night up this mountain near our house. It's really steep and its about a 3 mile hike up and a 3 mile hike down. We were all exhausted, but I feel so good that I did it!!! I also ate pretty good yesterday.

Hi

Hi all, I don't have too much to report today. I did gain a pound today, which was disappointing, but I'm not going to focus on that. I haven't really exercised good all week and today I didn't because none of my friends were going. I helped at the school setting up the book fair we are having and was really exhausted when I got home and fell asleep on the couch. I'm not feeling my normal self today. My energy level is zapped. I did take the kids for a short walk yesterday, but I wouldn't call that real exercise. I don't feel like doing anything today. I have to admit a very bad thing I've been doing the last few days. When I made cookies for my son's birthday, I put some dough aside that I didn't need. Thought I'd make cookies one night or something. Well, I've been dipping into that with a spoon and eating that. It wasn't a lot of cookie dough, but I couldn't help myself. That probably has something to do with my weight gain. It's gone now, so I can't do that anymore. I need to make some sugar free pudding tonight, so I have something sweet in the house. I also like to have low sugar fudgesicles in the house for my sweet tooth. I think I did ok today:

B: protein espresso drink
2 scrambled eggs

L: Chicken roll up with low fat cheese

D: Ground beef w/ cheese and some brown rice

As for NSV, yesterday, I went shopping at Ross for some new shirts. I can't stand not having anything to wear and got 3 new ones size 1x (I was wearing 2X or 3X). I was have two pair of capri pants I bought a few weeks ago size 14. I'm wearing them both and they fit just right (I was a size 18).

I need to exercise more.

Holding Steady.....

Well, I'm holding stead at 200 pounds, which I'm actually very happy about. In the past, 200 was my low and it would last a day or two and go back up, but this is 3 days holding steady at 200 pounds and I'm estatic. I usually hit my lows immediately following a fill and then the next day or two the scale goes up and up.

Thanks for all your comments about my big dilema. You guys help so much. I ask my husband and he just doesn't understand this band stuff at all. Really, I talk about it an awful lot and I think he's kind of tired of my stories and daily band talk.

So, this is strange, yesterday, I had my normal protein espresso drink for breakfast. I helped at the school all morning counting money from a fundraiser and when I left, I was thirsty, starving and had some errands to run. I ran through El Pollo Loco with the idea to just grab a light lemonade to drink and then looked at the menu and saw the chicken tortilla wrap and decided to get one. I'm sure the calories are high, but they are pretty small and very tasty. I drank some of my drink and then ate my wrap. I was having some trouble with that a little bit of pain going down, so I slowed down and chewed. All in all, I felt like it wasn't as easy as it normally is to eat something like that, but got the whole thing down. That was lik 11:30am......I didn't even think of food again until 2pm and I drank a crystal light protein drink (120 cal). For dinner I made Quiche. I never have a problem with Quiche and I made tater tots for the hubby and kids to go with it. I served myself 1/8 of the quiche and a few tater tots. After about 3 tater tots I got horrible pain and felt like it was stuck. I could feel it trying to go down and not being able to and then trying again. It hurt real bad and I know I get a horrible panic look on my face. I went into the bedroom to get ready to "hurl" and couldn't then it felt like it finally went down and all was ok. It was about a 5 min painful ordeal. I decided not to have another tater tot and just ate my Quiche and could feel it going down. I stopped at one piece, thought about going for another, but decided against it and didn't feel hungry again that evening.

I don't understand how for 2 weeks I can eat anything and then all of a sudden I feel restriction. I know my monthly visitor is about to make an appearance and people say you have more restriction during this time of the month. But that much of a difference??? Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that I'm feeling some restriction, it's just really hard to gauge how much and when you need a fill when things change so much from day to day. I'm the type of person who wants to know how things work and focus on things until I figure them out. I want to know how my body works and this is throwing me for a loop, and that is why I love blogging because we can all share our stories and figure things out together.

Sorry this post is so long, but on a side note. When it comes to snacks, I figured out that chips go down real easy without a problem as of now and they are something I crave regularly and I don't get full on them, so I can keep going and going. While popcorn,(I buy the microwave light one, about 100 cal a serving) will satisfy that salty craving and a serving acutally makes me full and leaves me satisfied. I'm going to try to keep my cupboard stocked with popcorn and try to grab that as a salty snack instead of reaching for the chips.

What Would You Do??

Ok, here is my big problem, and I've already mentioned it once on my blog, but I need some advice. So, I know I need another fill because I'm eating quite a bit, I can eat anything (some things give me a little discomfort, but they don't stick), I've never PB on anything yet. So, I know I need another one. The big delema for me is I can either go in on the 31st of March or the next date the Dr. will be in is the 14th of April. I am going out of town for 3 days with some of my girlfriends and they have no idea I've had WLS and I don't want them to know. Girls out will include eating out and coctails. We are leaving on April 3rd (which would be 3 days after the fill and probably the first day on real food). I really want to get it done sooner rather than later, but on the other hand would love to avoid any embarrasement of spending the evening in the bathroom or sick for that matter. I'm curious what the other banders would do???? I really need to make up my mind, so I can get an appointment. I scheduled for the 14th, but told the nurse I would call back if I change my mind.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Well, it's Tuesday and I didn't weigh in this morning because I was so bad yesterday. As you know, we went to Universal Studios. We ate a quick breakfast at home before leaving and I had a scrambled egg and tried to eat two sausage links and the first hurt, so I only had one.

Lunch was fast food at Subway and I had a kids meal, 4" turkey and cheese on whole wheat, 1/2 bag chips, 1/2 juice box.

Churro (I love those things and ate the whole thing without a problem)

Dinner was fast food again Rubio's Baja Grill a fish taco and shared some delux nacho's with hubby.

Before the band, it would have been much worse, but I still feel like I ate a ton yesterday and was sure the scale would show it today, so I choose not to weigh myself and be better today and see what I am tomorrow. I should exercise today, but have a lot to do and don't know if I'll be able to fit it in.

BTW, we had a great time yesterday and I was exhausted by the time we got home. A whole lot of walking.

No Clothes to wear!!

I'm so excited that I stayed at 200 pounds. I hope I can be good this week. I'm getting ready to take the kids to Universal Studios and just wanted to post real quick and get my stats up.

As you know, I went to several parties this weekend and I'm finding that all my shirts are too big and are not very flattering. Since I have lost some weight, I want my clothes to show off my weight loss and am finding them to be a little too big and therefore I look bigger than I am right now. I must have taken off and put on 10 shirts while getting ready and am finding myself wearing the same clothes to parties because they look the best. I need to get a few cute items to have on hand. I've found some jeans on clearance racks and have some extras, but blouses, I don't really have right now. Especially sweaters and since summer is around the corner, I won't be buying any sweaters, just a few bouses would be nice.

Anyway, Off to Universal Studios....have a great day!!!

Happy Dance!!!

That is what I am doing right now. I'm down to 200 lbs again. My all time low and after a very crazy weekend, that is not over with yet. I do my weekly weighin tomorrow that I post on my blog and I hope its the same or lower tomorrow. It would be really nice to be below 200. Anyway, I really didn't do so good this weekend and I'm trying to figure out how I actually lost, but I'll take it and be happy. Let me tell you what I ate:

Friday (sleepover with 7 boys):
B= Espresso protein shake
L= 1/2 pastrami sandwich few bites potato salad
D= 2 slice pepperoni pizza
S= chips, candy, bite of cake

SAT (end of sleepover and another party)
B= Espresso, 3 sausage links
L= 1/2 pastrami sandwich few bites potato salad
D= 1 slice pepperoni pizza , chips
S= chips, candy, 3 mixed drinks at party (Cape cod with diet cranberry juice)

Sun (so far)
B= Espresso protein drink

So, as you can see, I've been bad, but tried to pay attention to how much I ate. I did do a 1 hour hike with the kids on Sat morning. I can't help buy wonder if I need to eat more calories to loose weight???? Of course, more healthier choices, but maybe I need to get in 1200 calories a day if I'm exercising to loose sufficient weight. HHMMMM something to think about and play around with. Anyway, I'm going to yet another birthday party this afternoon with my youngest son (Lazer Tag) and they are having pizza, but I think I'll try to pass on that and drink a protein shake and an apple before I leave for the party. I don't plan on eating cake either.

As far as restriction goes, I can definately feel it and some things kind of hurt a little when going down, but they don't hurt enough to make me stop eating whats hurting, it just reminds me to slow down and chew. I'm having to stop myself from eating when I think I've eaten more than a cup of food. That is very hard for me. I went to lunch with hubby at this great little sandwich place on Friday and got a delicious pastrami sandwich on sourdough. I ate half and could have finished the whole thing, but stopped myself. I felt very satisfied with I left the table, not stuffed, but satisfied and proud that I stopped myself. I ate the other half of the sanwich on Sat afternoon and this time I had a little trouble with the bread. It hurt a bit, so I took off the top slice and was stuffed after the 1/2 sandwich. I don't get that, because one day I had no trouble and the next it was a little more restricted. I am begining to think some of this is in my head.

Anyway, Have a great day!!

Down .7

Ok, so I'm down on the scales again. Another .7 of a pound yeah!!! I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing different. I've been putting in extra protein each day. I've also been exercising a ton. I'm going to try that again today and hope it changes again tomorrow.

This weekend will be tough for me though. I'm having 8 boys overnight at my house for my son's birthday. I have pizza, pazokie (warm cookie w/ice cream) and tonz of junk food and candy for the kids. I hope I can control myself. Then, we have another birthday party to attend on Sat. Pizza, cake, ice cream and acholoic beverages. Sun is another birthday party...Pizza and cake and Monday we are spending the day at Universal Studios for my son's real birthday and eating out. My hope is to not gain over the weekend and hope I'm so sick of looking at pizza that I never want to eat it again (probably not possible as I love pizza). My hubby is off work tomorrow and wants to go out to lunch and spend the day together since our weekend will be so busy.

Hope everyone has an awsome day.

Finally!!

Finally, the scale has moved in the right direction. I'm down one of the pounds I gained. I'm trying to think of what I did differently. I added extra protein, which is good for me, but does add more calories. I got about the same amount of calories 1,000. I don't know what I did differently, but I'm glad I'm headed in the right direction. I went to the gym last night and am going to try to go again this morning for some weights.

No Change!!

I tracked my calories yesterday and I ate about 1,000 calories and even took my kids on a 30 min hike and no change today. I'm going to get extra protein in today and I'm going to the gym and I'll see what happens. If I don't loose in the next wee, I'll call for another fill.

The Scale is not Cooperating!!!

UUUGGGG!!! I went up again!!! The scale has been going up steadily for the last 3-4 days. I know I haven't been making the best food choices lately, but I'm eating about 1/3 of what I used to eat. I'm hardly eating!! I'm exercising!! I don't get it!!! Sorry, I had to vent. I'm so frustrated.

I think I need to go back and track some of the food I ate the past few days and see if its too many calories or not enough or what?? I'm going to eat really healthy today and see what happens tomorrow. I hope the scale is going in the other direction tomorrow..

Hope your day starts off better than mine.

Daylight Savings Time Begins

I'm loving the whole Daylight Savings Time. I am loving the nice Spring weather as well. I did go to the gym on Sat and did about 1/2 hour eliptical on a high level and then did some weights. I was still too sore on my arms, so I just did my legs really good.

You know what is wierd?? In earlier posts, I commented that I felt some restriction since my last fill, but realize I will need another in a month or so. Well, that is still true, I know I will need more restriction, but I am really feeling my fill for the last few days. I still struggle with stopping eating when I feel full, but I'm feeling certain things going down and sometimes there is a slight pain and then I can feel it go down. I have not PB'd yet, thank goodness, but I've had some close calls. I have to say that I haven't been eating the best choices, but definatly much smaller portions. For example, we went out to pizza last night at this great italian resturant near us and I had one large slice and was stuffed and thought afterwards that I should not have eaten the whole piece and next time would cut it in half (I have a hard time leaving food on my plate, whatever I serve up, I usually finish, so I'm going to try to serve smaller portions and if I need more, I can always get seconds). Today, we had some pizza left over, so for lunch, I cut a slice in 1/2 and ate it and was actually satisfied, not stuffed, but satisfied. So, I'm finding that I am eating a lot less and didn't necessarily feel that way immediately after this fill. Wierd, does it get tighter after a few days??? or I wonder if it could be my cycle?? Anyhow, I'm glad to be feeling the band now. I'm going to work with this for a month and then go in for the next fill. I find myself a little nervous about the next fill because I know a lot of foods will be out after the next fill, but afterall, that is what I got this for. To loose weight Right?? Right.

I'm going on a gils weekend trip with two of my best friends who I have known since I was a young girl. We are going in the begining of april and then my kids have spring break and we might go camping with some close friends. None of these people know of my band, and I'm contemplating weather I should do my next fill right before (it would be 4 weeks from my last), or if I should wait until after spring break and be able to test my band without an audiance. Also, I'd love to enjoy these two outings and be able to go out to dinner without stress over what I can and can't eat. Anyway, I think I'll wait and see how the weight loss is going and as long as I am consistantly lossing, I'll wait until after. If I stand still or gain, I guess I'll go in before. Any suggestions???

I didn't weigh today!!! I know, what??? I am a scale-a-holic, but I had been gaining the last two times I got on and was really bad yesterday with a dessert and all, so I'm going to wait until Monday and then I can post it on my stats.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Keep blogging.

My Stats

I posted my stats on the side of my blog. I went back into my Wii chart to see what my different weights/dates were and instead of listing them all. I tried to list week to week stats. On some occasions, I've been at lower weights, but tried to stick as close to each Monday as I could, so I could get a realistic idea of my progress.

TGIF!!

I'm happy it's Friday. I'm not feeling so good today. I have had this terrible headache for the last 2 1/2 days. I try to nurse it with meds and it will get a little better, but not go completly away and then come back real strong. I finally got it feeling good last night and was able to go out with hubby, but by bed time it was back and woke up with a headache this morning. I've been treating it and I feel ok now, but I find when I'm not feeling well, my food choices aren't the best because I grab what sounds good and is quick and easy. I'm eating a bowl of cold cereal as I type

Well last night was fun. I ordered a blended Strawberry Margarita instead of my usual Cape Cod. Probably a higher calorie choice, but it sounded good and I knew I was only going to have one. That is the thing with the band, once you eat, you can't drink anymore, so happy hour for me is one quick drink before I eat. Probably a good thing, since I used to have 2 or 3 drinks. Our bill certainly is cheaper!! The Blended Strawberry Margarita was not a good choice. You know how some people get brain freeze when they drink something cold. The band brought on what I call throat freeze!!! OOOhhh it kinda hurt and It lasted a few minutes before it went away. I think I try to drink too fast, because I want to finish it so I can eat some chips and salsa. I finished the drink slowly and tried to hold the drink in my mouth while it melted a bit before I swallowed and that seemed to help. It still happend about 4 times and it was enough for me to know not to order the frozen drinks anymore. We'll see if I learned my lesson.

I ate my salad and took a buffalo wing and a slice of quesadilla from my husbands plate and a few chips and salsa. I was stuffed when we left and probably should have stopped at the salad. I knew I was full when I finished the salad, but still ate the buffalo wing and quesadilla. I see I need to work on stopping when I'm full. This has always been a problem for me. But all and all, I don't think I did too bad. Here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast:
Espresso Protein Drink
Oatmeal w/flaxseed
Lunch:
Tuna salad
Snack:
Light Ice cream protein drink (I had no problem with this, but just a scoop of Ice cream for taste, not real frozen)
Dinner:
Strawberry Margarita
Salad
1 Buffalo Wing
1 slice Quesadilla
Chip & Salsa

And today, I gained 1 1/2 pounds, but I'm not going to take that to heart because I didn't weigh at my normal time because I was feeling so bad this morning when I woke up. I waited to weigh in after a shower, protein drink, lots of water and meds. Also, if I'm going to weigh every day, I'm not going to get so upset if the scale goes up on a day or two during the week. Every time it does go up, I look back a week earlier and see what it was and I still show a loss from a week earlier. Hopefully, tomorrow or the next day will be a better weigh day. I also went to the gym yesterday and did lost of weights, but I don't think that would change the scale. I know muscle weighs more than fat, but one day isn't going to make me gain weight. Right???

Sorry this is a little lenghty, but I wanted to tell you that yesterday when I ate the tuna salad, I put shaved cabbage in it and I got a taste of what being stuck feels like. I took a bite without chewing well and felt a slight pain and could tell that it was trying to go down and was having trouble. The pain came and went a few times and I actually went to the sink thinking I might need PB, but it did eventually go down and wasn't too bad. Since then, I've been noticing that things are not sliding down quite as easily as they were before. I haven't gotten that feeling again, but I'm so used to not chewing good, that I take a bite and feel it struggle a bit and it reminds me to slow down and chew, chew, chew. My cold cereal this morning did the same thing, so I slowed down and chewed better and didn't have a problem.

Well, hope everyone has a great day and weekend.

Down Another Pound

Yeah!!! I'm down another pound!!! So, that is 22 pounds total, my NEW all time low!!! I'm going to the gym this morning and going to try to eat good today. My mom is watching the kids tonight, so hubby and I can go on a date. We like to go to Happy Hour at El Torrito. I love the salads there, so last time we went, I had a drink (Vodka & Cranberry juice) while I waited for my salad and then ate the salad and had no more to drink, since I can't drink right after I eat. So, that is my plan and I'm sticking to it. I haven't had a salad since my fill, but I don't think it will be a problem as long as I chew, chew, chew. I'm going to try to put my weight/Date stats on the side of my blog if I can figure out how to do that. I have a hard time keeping my ticker updated, but I've seen other blogs where they put their weight/date stats on the side and its a good way for me to see how far I've come, since I can't get over that weighing everyday thing.

Did I mention, I love my band!!!!!!

Best wishes to Mommyof 4.....Surgery tomorrow!!!!

Later today.....

Well, just an update. I started solids today and definately feel the fullness sooner and am trying to work on stopping when I feel full. It seems like I keep going when I should stop eating. Today I ate:

Breakfast:
Espresso Protein Drink
1 cup oatmeal w/flaxseed
Lunch:
1 cup potato soup
sugar free chocolae pudding
Snack:
2 handfulls light microwave popcorn
Dinner:
3/4 of a 2 egg omlet

I still feel like I'm eating too much and shouldn't I have trouble with popcorn???? I wanted to try it just to see if I can tolerate it and it was not a problem. For dinner, I should have stopped at 1/2 the omlet, but kept going and then 10 min later the really full feeling came. I never feel sick to my stomach or like I can't eat another bite. I haven't experienced the stuck thing either. I'm glad that I'm not getting sick, but it seems like that is when you know the restiction is good. I feel good, but think I'm goint to need another fill in a month or so. Maybe I should have not had the last .5cc taken out. I really do see how all this is a learning experience and getting to know your own body. I see how everyone is different and what is too tight for one person might be perfect for another.

Anyhow, sorry for the mindless babble...... I'll try to post tomorrow.

Wednesday

As you know, I had my second fill and am anxious to test it and see how it feels. Last night, I made dinner for my family and decided to water down some mashed potatoes. I added a little gravy for flavor and extra milk to make it pretty runny since I'm on liquids the day of fill. I had about 1/4 of a cup and was feeling a little fullness. I'm not noticing any trouble with liquids or protein shakes, but today I'm going to try some mushies and see how they do. Today I was back down to 201.4 pounds. I thinks that is .2 pounds below my lowest weight to date. I haven't been this low in over 8 years. Yeah!!!! I'm excited!!!

Fill #2

Went to the Dr. today to get another fill. It was strange. Remember when I was comenting about how it kinda hurt a little when the kneedle went in? Well, this time, I was bracing myself and ready for the stick and I felt nothing. He put 2.5 cc in and I sat up to drink. Took one gulp, swallowed, then another, but couldn't swallow as the first gulp was stuck and wouldn't go down. I had to spit that gulp out and lay down for him to take out 1 cc. I felt instant relief and sat up again to drink. This time all went down ok, but with each gulp, I was making gurguling sounds and making lots of noises. Dr. said that means I am tight and if I keep it this full, I'd be on protein drinks for a week. We decided to take out .5cc as the thought of protein drinks for a week didn't appeal to me and I'm afraid of being too tight. I don't want complications or problems when I get home. I want to be able to eat, just not so much. I figure I have pleanty of time to get tighter fills if need be. I want to see how I do with a regular fill and decide how tight I want to go next time. Anyway, He ended up poking me 3 times and I felt nothing on any of the pokes. I don't get it, but I'm grateful I didn't feel anything. I drank a protein drink when I got home and tonight, when I get home from the gym, I'm going to try some thin soup. The protein drink was easy to get down and I can't say I was stuffed after drinking it. I hope mushies and solids give me the restriction I'm looking for.

I'm off to the gym now.

BTW, I'm feeling much better today, just the lingering of a cold now.

Feeling Better!!

Well, I have been feeling much better today. I've been taking cold medicine and it's been working. My hubby had Jury Duty today, so I met up with him for lunch and we had lunch at a nice little sandwich place downtown. I got a club sandwich and ate the whole thing with no problem and wasn't stuffed. I called the Dr. office today and they are going to squeeze me in for another fill tomorrow. I hope this one gives me some restriction as I've been gaining weight. Although I've been sick, my appetite hasn't suffered. I'm going to make salmon for dinner tonight with a small salad, since I ate so much for lunch. I'll let you know how the fill goes tomorrow when I get back from the doctor.

I'm Sick

Well, yesterday, I woke up with a stuffy nose and discomfort in my throat and by last night, I had a full blown cold. Sneezing, stuffy nose, watery eyes, headache kind of cold. I still went out to dinner with my parents and the kids. Today is my parents 40th wedding anniversay, so we did a little celebratory dinner at one of their favorite resturants. Did I ever mention that my parents love to eat out and my entire family socalizes around food (fatening food) and I enjoy taking part so much. I need to learn to make better choices when it comes to eating out. We went to an italian resturant and they have the best Mannocotti. I stopped myself after I finnished half my meal and finnished the rest today for lunch. I weighed myself this morning and I have gained 2 pounds. I've got to get back to good eating habbits. I'm calling the doctor tomorrow so I can get back into the office and get another fill because this one has given me no restriction. I'm trying to pay attention to when I'm full and stop eating and I think I've been doing pretty well, since I haven't had that really uncomfortable full feeling in a long time. It's really hard to stop eating and I want to keep going. I'm running on my own self control right now and am anxious to fell restriction like right after surgery. I'm so close to Onederland that I can taste it.

Anyway, I'm going to take the kids out for the day to go have some fun even though I'm feeling terrible. I'm going to take my cold medicine and push through the day.

Have a great day!!