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Two months ago my doctor said as far as they were concerned I was at goal, 175 lbs. I was happy with that and started onto the maintenance stage of my journey. Last month I gained 2 lbs, first time I had a gain but hey holidays. Doctor’s office was still very pleased and said that my weight will vary like that on maintenance. Then a dear friend here on LBT put out a challenge “100 miles in January”. Walk or run 100 miles during the month of January. I was in! I needed something to get me moving more. I reached the 100 miles on Monday; my total should be around 120 miles for the month. (go me!) Today I went back to the doctor, weighed 171! (lost 6 pounds in 4 weeks) I haven’t seen that much loss since the beginning months of this journey. So, what did I do different? My eating was the same as it has always been 1200 calories a day, etc…. The only thing different is the increased walking for the challenge. I am so happy with myself. I couldn’t ask for anything more. Okay, maybe a tummy tuck and….. Well guess I could ask for more. I love & respect my band. Yellow rose you serve me well, thank you!

December 5, 2012. The first day of the rest of my life. The last few days have been very dark days. I've been in a stall for a about 5 days now, and this is my second stall in 8 weeks. My highest weight was 242.2 and starting weight was 239.8. I've been stuck at 205 + or - 2-3 lbs. Today is my 8 week surgiversary. Today I am feeling much different than the few weeks, even the last 5 days. I have learned so much about my body as well as food, nutrition, and life in these last few weeks. Today I hit 100 oz of fluids. Prior to today I might have hit 50-60 on a good day. Today I hit my protein. Today I walked over 2 miles in under 40 minutes. Today I ran on the treadmill. I haven't 'ran' in almost 10 years... Today I made healthy choices. I have had sooo many struggles. EVERY SINGLE MEAL is a challenge. (anyone else?) Every meal is a new opportunity to choose the best food for my body. I am sooo far from perfect, and have struggled every single day. Today I put the scale away. Today I will focus on being healthy. Today I will focus on exercise and going forward. Today I will focus on being happy and living in the moment. My hunger has NOT gone away, however I can say that it is NOT the same kind of hunger as pre-surgery. Music has been my healing power. I hate plain water, and most protein shakes. I have learned that I am a strong woman, but I have a lot of dark demons that haunt me, I have many issues that I am always going to struggle with, but I am NOT going to let them beat me or get me down...I have done that for way too long. Thank GOODNESS for the amazing people who post on this website as they are and have been extremely supportive and I have learned so much from the many others who are taking a walk on this journey. I don't always post, but I read others posts and comments daily. Cheers to the rest of my healthy life!

Saw the doctor yesterday and it couldn't have gone any better!!! Our converstaion was like we had known each other for years. He didn't beat around the bush and told me that I had a lot of work to do. I am totally ready for this and willing to do whatever it is I have to... I was able to have labs drawn that same day and so the process is officially started, AND to top everything else off, I have already been approved by my insurance. In about 3 months I should be ready for surgery! I can't wait to get an official date to put on the calander. Next appointment in a month and is suppose to be full with many other appointments.

vehemently disagree that the scale is the enemy. It is part of a set of tools that people can use to track progress. One must learn how to interpret the information-- among other information - to evaluate success. Along with clothing sizes and general overall feelings of healthy and improvement, the scale can be an effective tool. Knowing how to interpret data and use it in conjunction with other tools can help tremendously. If you track scale weight and inches, you will begin to see patters--- inch loss where the scale stands still... and then a drop in scale weight... and then inch loss. If you track food as well, you can see an immediate impact that certain foods have on our bodies, i.e. sodium. If I eat something salty, guaranteed it will show up on the scale. Bloated? Cycle coming? Constipated? All of that shows up on the scale for me. I bet it does for others. I'm annoyed when I see someone asking about how to improve their efforts and the first thing people say is 'well ignore that data'. Actually.... what is that data telling us? If the scale AND the measuring tape AND the clothing sizes all say the same thing, is the scale still invalid? if I'm at a standstill, HOW DO WE ADDRESS THE STANDSTILL? Telling me to ignore the problem and keep doing what I am doing when I am getting no result sounds nuts to me. Don’t brush me off as crazy because I look at numbers and you don’t know what to say to actually solve the problem.

OMG, my surgeon now has everything they need from my PCP which means I will be having my surgery on Tuesday 2/5 at 11am....I'm excited and nervous and a whole big ball of emotion I don't know what to do. I started my journey a year ago and never thought this day would actually come and now my surgery is just a few short days away!!!! I still feel like people judge you when you tell them you are having weight loss surgery, I know I'm only 36 and that I shouldn't have some of the issues I have with my knees and my back. I'm a nurse I should know better RIGHT???? I think the last time I was under 200lbs was 17 years ago right after I had my son. I want to be able to walk up and down my stairs without hearing my knee crunch with every step. I'm still young RIGHT??? I want to be able to go to an amusement park and go on the roller coasters without having to have my boobs crushed in the harness (I have had people do pushups off my chest to close the harness.....) I want to do so many things including going to a normal store and buy cute clothes instead of having to pay through the nose for clothes that don't look like something my grandmother would wear.....I'm so ready for this surgery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I ran across a post about using baby silverware or chopsticks to help get the proper speed and bite size for bandsters. So I decided to try it out. This morning's breakfast consists of 2 scrambled eggs, 1 cup of spinach and 1 Tyson reduced fat sausage patty. I cut the spinach and sausage to the proper size, dumped that and the eggs into a microwavable container, and when I got to work this morning microwaved it for a couple of minutes. I am now sitting at my desk with the chopsticks I bought off of Amazon, eating breakfast, and it is working well. The chopsticks slow me down and force me to take small bites and I don't feel nearly as silly as I would with a baby fork or spoon. That and the sticks are much easier to clean.

Well, I went back to work on Monday and have had a pretty good week so far! I teach kindergarten so I've been REALLY tired in the evenings but I'm glad to be back into a routine. I started walking Monday night on my treadclimber and have done 30 minutes the past two nights. Today was my first appointment with my surgeon since having surgery. He said everything looked great and I could start on regular FOOD! Oh yeah!!!! Just watch my portions and chew,chew,and chew some more! I go back in 4 weeks and will probably get my first fill then! I'm really happy with thus decision and for once in my life feel like I'm actually gonna "do it" this time! Hope you're all having a great week and achieving myth success with your band!

I packed my normal breakfast of a Protein shake and a some steel cut oats, and drank my shake when I got to my desk. a couple of hours later I was hungry again and pulled my oatmeal out. Then Mistress Band spoke, "I'm not eating that stuff, get me some more protein!" So down to the cafeteria for a couple for eggs and hash browns, threw 3/4 of the hash browns away, and Mistress Band is now one happy camper. When I woke up this morning, I was feeling pretty lethargic, I knew I had been doing a lot of physical labor on 1300 calories a day with the constant snow fall here, but I thought I had been allowing for that. My body disagreed, and a real part of my journey is learning to listen to my band and my body. Food for thought.

Hello it's me again.... I have about T-minus 5 days and counting to see the doctor for the first time and start the process of a new me. I think it's crazy that my nerves are starting to take control over me and all the other emotions that can go with it. I am not sure, but I think I may be driving my husband crazy. I have called on my insurance and the surgery is approved, but I have to have 3 months of monitered doctor visits. Piece of cake right? Just makes me want to be pushy and have the surgery sooner rather then later. I am still fighting with is this what I want? My immediate answer would be YES!!!! The doctor visit will seal it for me and I will know then if this is the diredtion i want to go, however I think I will still question off and on until I get it done! My husband has started second guessing my decision and now it seems like he doesn't want me to get the surgery. I am not sure he understands how bad my back hurts and my knees and hips ache all the time. I recently found out I am in early stage of type 2 diabetes and I have high cholesterol. As the doctor put it I am a tcking time bomb and need to make some drastic changes soon. I realize I am altering part of my anatomy because my will power is not up to par, but I look at it this way.... Aren't I altering my anatomy by being this large and wasting away cartlidge in my joints..... I figure I can either sit here in my home feeling imprisoned because I don't like to be out and about with my size or I can take control of my life and put things back in order. I think my answer is that I am going to take control of my life rather then my life control me.

Practicing my positive attitude! Week 5 Update HW: 273 SW: 250 LW: 232.8 CW: 233.8 (+1) Up one this week due to f**k ass trick ass mark ass Moms Nature. She should be showing up sometime this next week, taking this pound and some others with her so yes. NSV’s— all my buttons button. HUZZAH! I am getting lots of compliments at work because the loss is obvious now. They say they see it in my face and my thinning profile. Yay, that’s nice to hear. I’ve walked 7 of the 10 mile goal I set on the 15th. I plan to overshoot that so I should be close to 20 miles in January. FUN! I think I am going to push myself to walk two miles a day… the ONE mile thing doesn't even get me breathing hard unless I kind of jog it.