It's the first few days of July, and I'm getting ready to go on vacation!

We are traveling to Florida for a family reunion / vacation - and I can't wait! A whole week with my beloved family, seeing some relatives I haven't seen in a year or so, and no work stress!

Don't get me wrong, I do like my job, but...getting away is ALWAYS fun!:crying:

I'm going to have an active vacation - do a lot of walking, some water sports, eat good food (lots of fruit and veggies) and be sure to drink my water. My band "Jillian" will help me stay on track, and not suffer the usual 5 - 10 lb gain I USED to have on vacation.

In my previous blog post, I mentioned a new swimsuit I had bought for the occasion - well, that suit is staying home. An unintended side effect of losing the weight has been the 'tummy hang'. When it was more solid, it stayed kinda 'up', well now, it's very soft, and so it hangs...not cute in a close-cut swimsuit! :sneaky:

I'll be okay, though, because I have two other swimsuits that fit me great now since I've lost the weight.

I am officialy down 50 POUNDS! I'm so happy that I started this banded journey.

At the end of our vacation, my DD and I are visiting a college she wants to attend. It will be fun to hang out with her for a couple of days...then I drop her off in New York for a convention with the youth branch of our NAACP, and I return home.

And the major NSV? We went shopping for summer clothes during a recent sale at Old Navy, and just to see what happened, I decided to try on a pair of size 16 shorts. I didn't honestly think they would fit, but I wanted to see how far I still had to go.

Lo and behold, THEY FIT! I stood in the dressing room grinning like a total fool, and then crying because the last time I wore a size 16 was when I WAS 16!

So to prove it wasn't a fluke, I went to Target yesterday and tried on a pair of cropped pants (also for my vacation). THEY FIT! :thumbup::thumbup:

I am LOVING this banded life, and I'm so glad I made the decision to become healthier, stronger - and oh yeah, slimmer through this method.

Much love to all my banded peeps on the site, and if you are considering being banded - do your research, visit the threads on this site to get some different perspectives, and then make a quality decision.:thumbup:

I would do it again in a heartbeat...:blushing: