Leaderboard

start - 4/11/12 - 297.4 surgery - 4/24/12 - 282.6 14.8 1 month - 5/24/12 - 258.8 23.8 2 months - 6/24/12 - 246.6 12.2 3 months - 7/24/12 - 228.4 18.2 4 months - 8/24/12 - 217.6 10.8 5 months - 9/24/12 - 205 12.6 6 months - 10/24/12 - 196 9 7 months - 11/24/12 - 190 6 8 months - 12/24/12 - 181.6 8.4 9 months - 1/24/13 - 177 4.6 10 months - 2/24/13 - 172 5

Whew! Day 12 of 17 on my liquid diet. Surgury date is one week from today. It's almost surreal to think I'll be parked in a hospital bed one week from tonight. It's been a rough week but I've done pretty well. Total of 13.5 pounds lost on liquid diet. Not as much as I anticipated in the last couple of days, but I think I might not be getting enough water. Tried to up that intake today and hope that will help the numbers drop again tomorrow. I would love to hear from anyone who is post-op about what you recommend taking to the hospital. That is, besides a healthy dose of optimism and patience. LOL!

Sorry for the delay!!! I weighed 239 and change this last time... I have to weigh in again on Monday! Im excited about the loss but I wish it was more like 3lbs a week instead... So funny because every time I think about updating my blog because I know im behind on tracking my weight I keep saying 139, hahahaha...I havent been that low since I was about 19! Anyway...I was trying on clothes last weekend because we ELOPED!!! YAY!!! We ran away and I wore a dress similar to what I wanted. It was more about the moment, the meaning of the ceremony...and then I saw my pics!! WTH, I look like I need to be making tortillas in a mexican kitchen, lol (I am Mexican, BTW) hahaha.. I will post my most heinous pics when I am at home since I am doing this from work (oh oh) :ph34r: So I keep saying that I have some nagging little support issues from my partner... I will post about it on my next weigh in on Monday. I promise. Also feeling fuller this last week. Ive had some serious stuck issues twice in the last two days when I was eating my protein. Once with chicken breast yesterday at lunch and this morning with my eggs and sausage at breakfast. It might have happened some other times but I cannot remember past these last two. It was pretty painful. Trying to avoid mushy slider protein like the tuna w/mayo and melted cheese that I have been eating in a pinch. Getting too long- let me start another blog entry!

I have never had a blog or the desire for oen until now. I was banded in 2007 and started out very strong but after a divorce, a new baby, and becoming a single mom, my workouts and motivation just took a nose dive. A friend of mine wanted to lose soem weight and started this program through Team Beachbody. I watched as she posted stuff about her diet, challenges and victories all over facebook. I guess her before and after pictures are what affected me. I remebered seeing my before pictures and how excited I was to have made such a noticable change to my appearance and my health and I wanted that feeling back. So today is a new day. I have started the Turbofire program and to help me stay motivated I have decided to become a coach and help others as well. I'll never forget how important it was for me to be able to connect with other people going through the same things I was going through and what a help they were to me when I needed a kick in the butt. I'm going to pay it foward and again, make a choice to be the strongest healthiest me I can be for myself and the people that love and depend on me. Today is a new day and I look foward to many more healthier happier days. A new fitness program that I can work with and a wonderful support group with team beachbody and lapband talk. I'm coming back and I'll be better than ever. I'm worth it.

I had my surgical consultation yesterday and it went swimmingly. Dr. Rantis was a lot cooler then I expected. Reading his reviews online led me to believe that a) he is a terrific surgeon and he lacks bedside manner. I thought his bedside manner was fine, and he seemed to think I was quite hilarious so that gives him a check mark in my book We discussed my health history and asked me if I had any issues. I said, "No, I'm pretty healthy. Just fat." he said, "I like you, you're funny." Maybe I opened him up a little more because I tend to have a blunt, no holds barred type of attitude. Who knows. After having my body composition analysis done, I studied the little print out in disgust. 310 pounds even. That is not the woman I see when I look in the mirror. I don't feel like a 310 pounds person. I don't like myself right now, and I can't wait to change that. I can't wait to see the number on the scale go down and down and down. I don't know how I've allowed myself to get to this point. I'm embarassed and disgusted and just plain sad. The doc asked me what my goal weight was and I told him at this point, my goal is to break the 200 pound barrier. I remember when I weighed about 225, thinking the same thing, I just want to get below 200. How silly was I! What I would give to only have to work off 25 pounds. Now I need to focus on working off over 100. Sick. Now, I wait. I have to get a pyschological evaluation and personality test done, and I need to attend a pre-surgery nutrition class for bariatric patients. I have scheduled both already, pysch eval on 8/16 and nutrition class on 8/23. I guess I will find out after that what my next steps are. I plan on taking some before photos this week to track my progress. Really not looking forward to that but I will do it for the sake of the cause.

Good for you. You are young, beautiful, and starting a new life. The Fros 15 won't affect you (haha). Enjoy every minute, it goes by so quickly.

Well, another weekend has come and gone and I am back to work this AM. Had a successful weekend with very few slip ups. I had a NSV moment this weekend..We had some dead spots in our yard so we had dug them up and were re-sodding..well, I was carrying the 40 pound bags of new dirt and throwing the squares of sod while my husband "watched". I asked if he was going to help - he laughed and told me that I was in better shape than he was, so he would just "let me" get my exercise in for the day..Hehe, As tired as I was - not to mention dirty - I kept on with the bags and the sod until the job was done. I acutally amazed myself in the fact that I was not short of breath and did not really get overly tired and no soreness. Now, you to have to know I live in Florida and it was 97 degrees and humid - Hot my friends..A year and 100 pounds ago - none of this would have been remotely possible. But I guess I am in pretty good shape to have done this job. As I sit and look at my tiny plate, with my tiny amount of food (all the time really wanting a pizza followed by some ice cream) I reflect back on this weekend and realize that I have come a long way. I am not only smaller, I am healthier and stronger than I was one year ago. Yep, I still have about 40 pounds more to go (the weight of one bag of dirt - which I thought was HEAVY) so I trudge on..Moving foward, not wanting to go back to the old fat me. I am thankful for the surgery and my weight loss...even if I never reach my goal weight - hey, there is still 100 pounds less of me today and that in itself is a "GOLD MEDAL" performance - if I do say so myself. So, next time you feel down, feeling left out or short changed - go find an old picture of yourself (a fat one) and think back at just how "wonderful life was" when you were heavier - huffing and puffing your way through life, with sore knees, bad ankles and who knows what going on in your insides. Hang in there bandster peeps - we are in this boat together and we will succeed one way or the other. This Saturday I am doing my 5th 5K - this one is up and down the ramps of the Jaguars (NFL) football stadium. It is called the "Stadium Challenge" and it is a tough one. I did it last year and I am crazy enough to do it again. Been working hard on my training. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I make it through such a demanding 5K. Maybe that dirt and sod "training" will come in handy.....I bet my husband will take credit for that one ! Until next time - have a great week and stay true to yourself ! Melinda in Florida