Im here. And nothing is happening. Ok, thats not COMPLETELY true. Who am I today and how did I get here...here goes...

Im 39 and will be 40 next month. Wow, as if that isnt something breathing down my neck in regards to pressure! I work in a financial call center and spend most of my day sitting on my rear. I am engaged to be married for the THIRD time, they say that it will be the charm, I hope so because at this point im concerned my family will refer to me as Liz (that would be JLO to all your younger gals, for a point of reference). I am a mom in a blended family, DH has two sons, one who lives with us and I have a 16yo DS and 13yo twins, boy and girl.

So how did I expand to my maximum density? Slow but steady like the turtle. I think back to Jr High weighing 115 and thinking, I need to lose 10lbs! I could really smack myself now in retrospect. But puberty got to me VERY early and that started the hips and booty expansion, but the serious weight gain happened after my first marriage because we loved to eat and I ballooned from 145 to 190. Then I lost weight after the divorce 3 years later and HAHA looked good enough to get pregnant and went up to 215 delivering a 10lb child! Marriage number 2 and the twins came along but I was careful to only gain 25lbs with those kiddos but my husband owned a pizza place and that was good for 3 years then he sold to my parents so it stayed in the family. I went down to 190, then back up. I tried Weight Watchers (lost 15lbs gained it back). Did the Cabbage Soup diet, Atkins and the 30 Day Body Makeover (I did lose 32 lbs but gained it and then some with current DH). When I met current DH I was feeling good about weighing 207. Thats right, 207lbs. Did I mention im only 5'2"?

People have told me that I carry my weight well and I dont look as big as I say I am. Well I may not look it but I feel it. And thats what got me here. I met DH and worked on maintaining. But I ate just like he ate, the same trap that got me eating like my male coworkers ate 8 years earlier. I was eating like a 6ft early 20's guy and I was a mid 30's hispanic woman! We moved to Dallas last year and I gained 20 more pounds from just wanting to leave work. I was eating the way I said I never would, going through drive throughs and eating in my car in the parking lot. I was embarrassed because I was getting winded just going upstairs in our home. Our kids could get away with not doing their chores upstairs because they knew Mom wasnt getting her rear up off the couch to check. What finally did it was when we went to Ross for who knows what and I stepped on the scale and it read 250. I almost cried. I was embarrassed and asked DH to step on it to test how accurate it was. It was accurate alright. So I called the WLS center and started my journey.

So where does the Microwave Mentality come in? Well, as a kid I really loved Joan Rivers. I just thought she was hilarious. She had this joke that Elizabeth Taylor was so fat that she would stand in front of a microwave and yell "HURRY!". Well that was me when I was reheating a meal and thats sometimes how impatient I feel about the weight loss process. I want it done in a hurry. And im learning it doesnt work that way.

Normally when I am interested in something I research the heck out of it. I went though the WLS center and read all my stuff and had the surgery on May 1, 2012. However, 2 days after my surgery did I notice the line on my Doctors list of do's and don'ts that state I will not get a fill until 3 months after my surgery. WHAT??!!?? 3 months? I check other's blogs and their posts and see some people who got some of a fill at their surgery and others about a month later. I am almost 2 months out and I feel I havent even arrived to the race. WTH??!! I lost 15lbs in the first week and kept it off until 2 days ago where I have gained about 4lbs back. Because it feels like nothiing has ever changed and it feels like I have no restriction. Because I went back to my old eating ways.

I did quit soda altogether. I do make better food choices. I started working out, walk/jogging on a treadmill and did Zumba on Monday. But at the same time, even though its early days, I feel a little cheated. And this is where the Microwave Mentality creeps in.

So im rising to the challenge another lap band blogger threw out to the lurkers. BLOG- hold yourself accountable. Make goals and track accomplishments. My body, my health, needs this to work.

Starting weight 262 on surgery date 5/1/12

247lbs 5/16/2012

251 lbs 6/27/2012