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Wow!! Today marks a 50 lb loss...the most I have ever lost in one sitting...and the weight continues to melt away....I am excited when I meet up with friends and family who havn't seen me in a while who compliment me on how thin my face looks and even my own brother says he can see the loss in my waist line.... Easter was a challenging day! I got up early and quickly whipped up 3 pumpkin pies and a chocolate cream pie. I put the big ole' ham in the oven to bake with a brown sugar mustard glaze like all the family loves. I baked up a sweet potatoe and defiled it with butter brown sugar and marshmellows. we did not have a turkey as we were at my daughters and this is what she had to prepare. I make a green bean cassarole and stuffing and a fruit salad, I peeled 5 lbs of potatoes and made mashed taters...and when it was all place in the buffet line for all to go thru, I took a teaspoon of everything and managed to finish most of it before feeling the satisfaction of eating Easter Dinner with my family as I always had in the past. I did skip the pies and the amazing desert buffet my sister in law had prepared but everyone else was able to indulge. Easter was a success! I did not lose any weight over the holiday, however I did not gain any either.

I am really really glad I found a post to share my lap-band surgery experience. I thought about creating a personal blog, but felt it would lack the support from other lap-band patients. So here goes everything: I had my surgery on 10/31/2011. Halloween. Barely had time to grab halloween costumes for my boys-who have been super supportive of mommies post surgery needs-as supportive as 7 and 9 years olds can be:) Surgery went great, post 3-4 days was as painful as abdominal surgery is expcted to be and by day 6-7, I was feeling much much better. I took a three week leave from work which was great to get rest, adjust to the eating routine and just be stress-free to truly focus on recovering. I hated being on the liquid diet for what...4 weeks? That was hard as hell. But by my 3 week appt I had dropped 11 pounds. I started at 256lbs. Im currently at 239 which is a little frustrating for me. But I defintely notice what many weightloss surgery folks notice....my clothes are all big. I was wearing an 18-20 pre surgery and purchased my first size 14 pants a couple of weeks ago. All of my old pants, whether jeans or dress pants, are big on me. I'm wearing my old bra's and buying size large sweats versus extra large. So I'm not too concerned about the scale, but it's frustrating and that's maybe because 256 and even at 239, it's the heaviest I have ever been. I've had one fill and can't recall how many cc's I received, but I have another fill coming on 4/25/2012-which will be 4 months after my last fill. I can certainly feel the restriction. But I do get hungry in between. Now I have a hard time eating the following foods (which is not a bad thing): rice, bread, eggs, pasta, and grilled chicken unless it's extremely tender. Can't eat fast even if I want too! It will come right back up and keeps me in constant control of how I eat which is fantastic. I buy less groceries, I order less when I go out. If I do eat too fast, the pain is a good reminder to not do it again. I was advised during my last nutrion visit to not count calories. They want to know how I do and how I feel just by eating and go about my daily routine. So that's what I've been doing. One constant that I still deal with? Finding time to exercise! The size of my stomach changed (the little band anyway), but my normal every day schedule has not! I'm determined to make this work for me and again, I can physically see that results are possible so I'm not giving up my fight to use this tool I've been given. Especially since the post surgery pain is still fresh in my mind:)

well i had my 2nd post op appt and now i have lost 40 lbs since my sleeve surgery March 5th. I haven't been doing my walking since saturday due to high pollen count that is kicking my butt.started at 431 oct.....got down to 417 for surgery march 5 now im at 377lbs. Still got alot to go but one day at a time.

I have went for 260 to 218 yea working it out.

Well yesterday out of pure want to i tried on my wedding dress from 2009. I put on the slip that wouldn't stay up with out a fight, i put the suckeriner bra thing on that i didn't need extenders for any more and i gracefully stepped into my wedding dress that was about six sizes too big. As i thought back to my wedding day i thought about before the wedding the scared feelings that excitement then i remembered thinking what am i going to look like in the pics? I thought omg call off the wedding im a cow. But i said oh well im not going to change in one day so lets get this over with. Needless to say i hated all the pics of my wedding that had me in them. And now here i am about three years later in the same dress thinking damn i wish i would have been this skinny the day of my wedding. And that makes me think should i sell this dress and buy a new one with the money i get from the old one and do it again lol or maybe just take all the pictures again. But here is the thing that was me. And my husband married me for me not for what i looked like but me. Im still the same person there is just less of me. And my husband seems to love me just as much as he did the day we said "I DO" so sitting in that dress made me realize that i was happy about the wedding and the wedding pics after all. So i pulled the dress off and i hung it up and that is where it is going to stay if for nothing else but a reminder that even fat i was still beautiful to someone. Its so easy to think that once you are looking cute that you were just ugly before and that everyone saw your ugliness but you. but really your only as pretty as you make your self out to be. I know most all Americans don't see it this way but this is how it should be. It really doesn't matter what you look like on the outside what matters the most is how you are on the inside. You can be the most beautiful person on the out side but if the inside is nothing but rotten it make you not look so beautiful after all. Any ways i realized that im the same person i have always been nothing really changed but my outside shell. And that is something to smile about. And now im not treated like an ogar but treated like the person i always thought that i was but no one could see but me and my husband who made it very clear that i was always beautiful to him. And once i stoped hatting myself and could see that the more beautiful i have become no one is ugly because they are fat and no one should hate themselves because they are fat that should love the person that they are. And if at the end of the day you can love the fat you as well as the new you then its a good day. So for that i want to say thank you to the most loving man i have ever met.

“Most people fail, not because of lack of desire, but, because of lack of commitment.” ~Vince Lombardi

I am so excited!!! I found a friend that started her lap band journey last month!!! And we live in the same town and our kids play sports together! I know that sounds crazy but i live in a very small town and i have yet to meet anyone that has lap band. Not only that but we have the same doctor and her first fill and my like seventh is on the same day at almost the same time. Its so nice to know that i don't have to go alone any more. Now i am no longer shy about telling people that i have had lap band and everyone ask me about it but they cant really understand everything until you have had it and are pretty much going through the same thing. My favorite thing about lap band is that people ask me questions but to someone who has never had it done they cant always understand what you go through on a daily basis. Like right now i am having to fight myself to stay way from food, and drink more protein that is just icky. Any what i mean by staying away from food is that i have to stop myself from just snacking on everything like when i cook i want to snack but then when the meal is done im not hungry any more and if i eat well my tummy says NO! so that for me is my biggest problem right now. Every day is something new. I have pretty much everything but snacking under control so far. i have awesome blood pressure, haven't had heart burn in a while, i haven't been sick in a while, And im not feeling sleepy all day long any more. I got all my lab work done and everything was wonderful! That can make anyone day better when you hear that your vitamins are wonderful. I have knowtist that my tast in food has changed. Like i used to love chicken nuggets and french fry's. now not so much. I like more fish now and i like lots of veggies now and just things that before i liked but never really wanted. French fry's are my least favorite food and bread. But i find that i really don't miss them that much any more. I do still eat pasta from time to time and Ramon noodles lol but i found that i can eat them when i cant eat anything else. Chips are becoming a problem and they weren't before my last fill. I can eat them but it hurts and i do the little furby sounds. so i guess maybe i should stay way from all chips, and tacos. Before its all said and done im starting to wonder if there will be anything that i can eat lol. the only veggies that i have found that i just cant do is broccoli, and sometimes asparagus but to be honest i don't really like asparagus that much. I hate when its in a can! And they are not easy to eat when steamed. Oh and raw veggies, they are not good going down. pretty much i have found that anything cold isnt easy to go down and usually wont. But again i don't really seem to mind it so much. Now don't be crazy there are tons of things that i would just LOVE to eat like a burger, or stake, or turkey, and Chicken but i look at all the ways that i used to fix this stuff and i realize that its really wasn't that good for me to start with. Any ways i know this is all scattered and nuts but oh well.

Well I'm meting away according to my family and friends, but that's a good thing. I,m still trying to readjust to eating solids but them seem to get right in the middle of my chest. Also having problems with learning how to swallow correctly as my stomach is not big or deep any more so this is a new feeling and i have to get used to it. Planning on heading to Clearwater beach this weekend to hang with the wife and family. I hope all the new sleevers are taking it easy and being patient. God Bless! P.S. I am creating a website www.fiftynotfat.com, where the goal is to help those who are 50 and over learn how to get in shape, eat right and get health, so I'm looking for people who write, give advice on health, lifestyle and fitness. www.ffiftynotfat.com

Once again I was battling the Evil Denizens Of Cake and kicking some fabulous creativity butt when one of my coworkers come into The Batcave (a very, very small windowless room that the baking and decorating magic happens in. While the Receiving team may say that THEY have The Batcave and we're The Fortress of Solitude, they're wrong. So ha!) So there I was in The Batcave when a coworker of mine decides to chill out and talk to me. I love to talk and so normally I'm up for a good conversation except this guy is so socially inept and awkward that all the girls in the department cringe. Because he and I are the only people in the department currently not married or dating I think he thinks we have this 'bond of whatever' between us. Kinda like the two amigos against the big, bad world in our search for love and marriage. Except...no. While I would like to be in a relationship, right now I'm crazy busy and I also don't hang my self-worth on whether or not I have a man. Plus, he's really, really socially inept. Anyway, he starts drilling me on why I'm going to be out of work for 2 weeks, that he heard I was having surgery and what was it, etc. Since I have to work with him, and am more of a "Rudeness As A Last Defense" sort of girl, I tried to politely change the subject. Nope, the guy was like a friggin' blood hound. By this time a couple other coworkers had come back to The Batcave and were listening in. Which irritated me to no end. Hello, rude much?! Well, the week before I had perfected my reply to people like him and so decided to see if it would work a second time. What I ended up doing was first I said that I was getting wings so I could flit around bringing cake to everyone. Instead of taking it as "Def-Con 1 Mind Your Own Bloody Business Or There Will Be Consequences" he asked me again. So what I did was lean forward and say, "It's actually really upsetting ((dramatic pause)). You see I woke up the other night with this spider-alien thing stuck to my face with a tube down my throat ((fake voice tremble)). They have to do surgery in order to rip out the alien love spore before I do my best Sigourney Weaver impersonation from Aliens 3." Yep, it worked again! When in doubt pull out amazing silliness and people tend to edge away from you and leave you alone. Or laugh. Either way they go away and stop asking intrusive questions. Niiiiiice!

WELL TODAY I WAS DOING LAUNDRY AND DID NOT FEEL LIKE PUTTING ON CLOTHES TO PICK UP MY LIL GIRL FRM DAY CAMP SO I OPENED UP MY DRAWER AN ROOTED AROUND ON THE BOTTOM OF THE DRAWER WAS A OLD PAIR OF TOMMY HILFIGER JEANS USED TO BE MY FAV.......SO I SLIPPED THEM ON AND HELD MY BREATH YEP OVER MY HIPS,YEP AROUND MY WAIST,BUTTONED WITHOUT SUCKING IT IN LOL...NOT MUCH BELLY HANG EITHER YEAH ME A SIZE 16R NOT A 16W EITHER JUMPING UP AN DOWN !!!!!!