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About this blog

I decided to pursue lapband surgery after having my 7th and final child. I am 38 years old and currently going through a divorce and have 5 boys and 2 girls.

Entries in this blog

 

Wow, I think it's starting to sink in

It's when I look at photos of what I looked like in Dec, that the "Wow" factor hits me! I am 45 pounds lighter than I was at this time last year, and I just got some new pants today in a size 18 and they were TOO BIG!!! OMG!!! Do you know how long it has been since I was in a size 18, and now some size 16's are starting to fit me. I started out at a size 22. It's pretty emotional to think about and this is just the beginning!   I am in total amazement. There are times where I don't feel like I am losing any weight, but my clothes are getting loose on me and I look in the mirror and can see this smaller person starting to emerge. My diet no longer consists of fast food and sweets and junk food. I will have desert every once in a while, but it's not an everyday thing, like it was a year ago. Even my kids are eating better. My 15 year old daughter has lost about 15 pounds and she is now in a size 10. This surgery has not only changed my life, but is changing my whole family and everyone is getting healthy.   It brings tears to my eyes to think about it. Life is good! :thumbup:
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I'm glad that the holidays are over

It is so much easier after the holidays are over. I always overeat at holiday time and this year was no exception. I put on weight and my weight crept back up to 225. I'm back down to 220, and I've gone back to a pretty strict diet. I can honestly make a huge breakfast and eat it, but I've gone back to drinking the Carnation Instant Breakfast and I have my freezer stocked with Lean Cusines. Even though I gained weight back over the holidays, I am still lighter than I was last year at this time.   It is a battle. It is a battle everytime I go out to run errands and go past a fast food restaurant. The band is not a miracle cure. It is a tool, but you have to use that tool the way it was intended to use it. You CAN get around the band and snack the pounds back on. I do not have the will power to keep sweets in the house. This is my weakness. Sweets and fast foods. So I step on the scale EVERY morning. The scale will not lie. Those numbers on the scale won't lie and if you can't sneak food by the scale and not have it show up.   January is always a great month to get back into the swing of things because instead of all of the chocolate commercials you see the weight loss commercials. I don't know, maybe it gets better after you've lost the weight, but it is hard to watch the commercials for the junk food and NOT want to overeat.   I feel like if I can just get another 20 pounds out the way before Spring arrives that I will be set on a good track for success. Because when the weather gets warm I love to work out in the yard and I always lose weight.   I CAN do this!!!! :confused:
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I just didn't feel like working out last night, but I did

I was tired last night and I just didn't feel like working out. Not working out is just NOT an option. I had to self talk myself the entire time I was working out on my treadclimber. It paid off. I did it. And this morning I am SO glad that I did exercise. I stepped on the scale and it was moving in the direction I wanted it to, and that is down.   The thing that stinks right now is that I am losing the weight that I regained over the holidays. :frown: 6 more pounds and I will be past that and moving into new territory. I stepped on the scale this morning and it read 219. 20 pounds. This is all I need to lose to get BELOW 200! I can do this! I have to do this! :confused:
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I have been avoiding the scale

I have had a really hard time these past few weeks with munching a little more than I should, and I had gained 3 pounds. Well I just faced the facts and stepped on the scale and I lost one of those pounds! I have had to worst PMS cravings and yesterday I gave in to chocolate. I felt so guilty afterwards because it was not just a little bit, it was waaaaayyyy too much! I am ready to get back into the Drs office and get another fill. I've had 2 so far, and the last one was only a little amount. My hunger is getting the best of me! I was just so thankful to see that the scale had not gone up even more! Time to get back on track!!!
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I am home from getting my first fill

I was really nervous about getting a fill and it was not hard at all. He put in the numbing shot and I did not feel a thing. LOL...maybe that will change when I lose a little more weight and there is not as much fat! The needle he used was L*O*N*G!!! :thumbup: My suggestion is look at the ceiling, do NOT look at the needle. But in all honesty, I did not feel a thing so I am totally pleased with that! Now I am back on a liquid diet for a few days, which is fine with me. If that scale starts moving down some more, I'm all for that! :thumbup:
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How my journey began

Before having children I weighed 135 pounds. I remember weighing 180 pounds on delivery day with my oldest daughter and I was horrified! After I had her my weight went down to 150, but I never really lost the extra baby weight. Well after my daughter, I went on to have 6 more children and none of them were twins. With each pregnancy I'd put on a little bit more weight and I'd never be able to lose those last few pounds. When my youngest son turned a year old in March 2007, that is when I seriously looked into getting weight loss surgery. He had been breastfed but now he was weaned, so I would be able to have this done without interfering with his breastfeeding.   I had seen the commercial for the lapband and I got excited- this was MADE for me! I had dieted so many times in the past and the thing that always got me was my hunger. Gastric bypass had been around for years, but the thought of having my stomach cut and rearranged scared me to death.So I made an appointment with my Dr and got an appointment with the surgeon at the military hospital to see about having lapband surgery done. My appointment was in June 2007 and I almost cried when the I heard say the words "Tricare does not cover the lapband yet." My heart sank. I had finally taken the steps to start on this journey and it wasn't covered. He told me that gastric bypass was covered and that he hoped that lapband surgery would be covered in the next year. At this point I was so disgusted by my weight that I thought that maybe I could do the gastric bypass surgery and so I started on that journey.     ~The Gastric Bypass Diet Class~   So, I was already at the point where I was ready to have my body cut in some shape or form so that I could finally lose the weight that I had gained over my childbearing years. Lapband was not covered yet, so I actually started the process of getting gastric bypass done.   The class consisted of about 7 women, sitting at a table in a classroom setting and was taught by the dietitian. I knew I was not going to be able to eat the same foods anymore, but I had no idea that after you have gastric bypass done, that you will be fighting to get the nutrition you need. Sure, you lose the weight, but you can also lose your hair, become anemic, and you have to fight to eat enough protein every single day. And if you ever decide that you want to have something sweet, EVER again, you may have dumping syndrome.   I walked out of the class and literally had to digest all of the information. "Non-reversible" stood out in my head. What if when I got older this was something that could seriousily affect my health in a negative way? The amount of vitamins that I had to put in my system was alarming. If gastric bypass went wrong, then this was a life long mistake that I would have to live with. At 37 yrs of age, that scared me enough to hold off.   Fast forward to Feb 2008....Tricare APPROVES THE LAPBAND!!! :biggrin: I jumped on the phone and called my Dr for an appointment for a referral, and that is where my lapband journey really took off!
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Exercise

It is the dreaded word that I hate- exercise. I'm at that point where the weightloss was at a stand still, so I had to add exercise into the equation. So far, all of my weightloss has been from cutting back on calories. Exercise is one of those things that I always put off until the "next day". I'll do it when _______, insert word here. Well I have a very nice treadclimber in my basement that was collecting dust. My 39th birthday is in 5 months. My surgery date anniversary is 2 days before my birthday. I refuse to weigh over 200 pounds on my birthday!!! I AM going to get this weight off. I've been working out for the past 3 days in a row for 20 minutes a night. It feels good to be exercising. I'm going to increase to 30 minutes next week and so forth.
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Back on track

Finally!!! I lost 4 pounds last week of the weight I had regained! I am now back on the right track and it could not have come at a better time. To see the scale go DOWN the week of Thanksgiving gives me even more motivation NOT to overeat this Thanksgiving! I always tend to gain weight at this time of the year, and trying not to do so is hard. If I can just lose 17 pounds I will be below 200 pounds!!! :confused:
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About 2 month post op and I'm feeling good

I've been trying not to step on the scale too much, because it can be hard to see the numbers not go down as fast as you would like them to, but I stepped on there this morning and the scale read 215!!! I cannot believe I am only 15 pounds away from being 200 pounds again! And the best thing of all is that I tried on a size 18 the other night and it fit! I have not worn a size 18 in YEARS!!!   My biggest struggle I have found so far is that I still like to drink when I eat. I think that is slowing down my weight loss. Last night I didn't have a drink in front of me and I ate dinner, and guess what? I felt full a LOT longer! So I am going to try and obey the rules, and stick with not drinking when I eat.   The other thing that I think has helped my weight loss in the past few weeks is eating mixed nuts when I get hungry. They are high in protein and they help me feel full in between meals. :smile:
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3 weeks since surgery

It has been 3 weeks since surgery and this is the best I have felt in years. I've lost a total of 22 pounds in 3 weeks and my clothes are starting to get loose and I can really tell that I have lost weight when I look in the mirror. My blood pressure is normal and I have not had to take medication for my reflux since I have had surgery.   I am still drinking the Sugar-Free Carnation Instant Breakfast drinks, usually in the mornings. I also like to have egg beaters for breakfast, because they are high in protein and help me feeling full for a long time. I guess my biggest struggle right now is not drinking while eatting. I drink a lot of water, and it was that way even before surgery, and I hate not being able to drink while eating. But I've pretty much stuck to the rules. I want to get down to my goal weight. I want to weigh 145 pounds and be able to fit into a size 10 again.   The weight is coming off a little slower now than it was the first week or so, but I know that is to be expected. I get my first fill in 2 weeks and I can't wait! I am looking forward to feeling some restriction and feeling fuller, longer.:frown:
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