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Since I work about 12+ hours a day, I am always grateful for assistance with the housework. I was quite thrilled the other day to come home to find out that my mother completed two loads of wash for me. However, it quickly turned to dread when I discovered that my black dress pants that I wear to work were put into the dryer. Now, let me fill you in a little bit about my dress pants. We usually have a battle in the morning with zipping them up. I lay on the bed, wiggle around, and feel the pain throb on my finger as I try to get that zipper up. I would NEVER put them in the dryer as the heat from the dryer is not my friend! So I had to break down and wiggle my butt into Spanx and thought I had won the battle with my pants. Well...sort of... It was still a challenge. This is what I usually deal with and what I have been dealing with for quite some time. I was banded on March 4, took 2 weeks off from work, and during the first week back at work, I avoided my black pants since I was still sore in my stomach area. So here it is...Friday, March 30, and I have run out of options for clothing. There in my closet, looking ever so quiet (and a bit afraid of the battle that may ensue) are my black pants. Ugh! I am going to hate this beginning to a Friday morning I thought to myself. Well, here it goes. I decided not to go with the Spanx as sometimes it is not all that comfortable for sitting too long and I knew I had a meeting to attend that day. Obviously, I had been weighing myself since March 4 and thought, hmmmm... let's see if 20 pounds has made a difference in my world. (I have 130 more to lose...not real sure if 20 really made difference yet.) I put both legs in those pants, pulled them up, and got ready for the wrestling match on the bed. Much to my surprise, they zipped. I don't mean just zipped up....I mean they zipped without a 10 minute worm dance on my bed! I was thrilled! Beyond thrilled! These pants haven't seen a dryer for quite sometime so I just know it was thrilled too! No one at work has noticed the weight loss and I really don't expect anyone to notice until I buy new clothes and lose around 40 lbs. But my pants and I knew better that particular day. We were winning together! As I shut off the light in my bedroom, I thought I heard a small voice say, "I'm next" from the pair of pants (Size 16) that I wore several years ago when I lost 70 lbs. Yes...my friend...you are next! Just stay in that drawer a little bit longer. I am working on getting you out and about as soon as I can...and I promise we won't have a battle!

It been almost a year since my band as of tomrow it will be 23 more days till my one year. Gosh my life has changed. I am now a size 4 /6 I am now 129.8 lbs> I am also now a full time Zumba / Group exercise instructor/ personal trainer. Yes life has change but it not about how I changed it about the lesson I learned alog the way. The Lesson I want to share with you today. The lesson I had to apply to life to my life to make me a success. First lesson become uncountable.It the things we hate the most the things that are the hardest for us, that do us the most good. A great example is the frist time I tried Zumba I hated it I was so bad I had two left feet. My frist thought was I never going back I hate this but i went back now i am Zumba Educational Specialist I am dance ever day and I share my love with orthers all the time But this lesson needs to keep being taught. The other day my trainer asked me if i did my 20 mins on the stair climber I said i hate it I call it the Michen of evil and she said to me Laura Thas just why you must do it. t The things that you hate the most do you the most good. I knew she was right. The Next lesson Is the frist person who needs to believe they can Has to be you. If you want to change you need to say Yes I can. The words no I can't has to be gone we spent years say NO I can't exercise eat right making all excesses . If you do not belive you can that you wont you stay just stuck were you are. Relive you can be the change.This take streath. More then physical streath this was one of the hardest thing i ever did To believe in me. I am worth being believed in. and because I belive in me others do too and I have created a network of people who believe in me because I do The last lesson I will share is Be the butterfly. Butterfly change into something beutey but each on is unquine diffent. Each one has to learn to spered there wings fly. And be free. One you embracess change and become fee ro it you wiil become beatful something everyone will love

I've been feeling really good about my progress lately, not just the weight loss, but also my physical abilities and what i can now accomplish. I had taken the day off from work yesterday and decided to reward myself. I went to the movies and saw GI Joe 2. I know I shouldn't have bought the popcorn, but I did and just got the smallest size. The sales girl tried to get me to buy the size bigger (she was just doing her job) and although I would have loved it, I refused because I knew I couldn't eat that much and didn't want to take it home with me only to finish it off later. Then she asked the bigger question, do you want butter on that? I said yes (even though I know how bad it is), but I didn't ask her to put some in the middle as I would have before surgery. Ohhhhh....how yummy it was. Half way through the movie and I had only eaten half the bag. I put it down to stop myself from getting sick. I later picked it back up and ate a little more. I had to put it back down again because it was making me feel sick. The movie was almost over and I had the urge to use the bathroom. So glad I was able to finish the movie before rushing out, although I could have waited for this movie to come out on DVD. Not worth the money, even though I did see it in 3D. On my way home, I decided that I was going to make this a "cheat" day for myself. I stopped at my favorite Teriyaki place and got some spicy chicken teriyaki. I also stopped at the local produce stand and got some fruits for the week and vegitables for the soup I planned to make for the weekend. By the time I got home, I was hungry, so I started eating some of the chicken. I didn't touch the rice because I know I shouldn't be eating it, even though this is my cheat day. I probably ate about 4 or 5 pieces of the chicken and had to stop. That chicken ended up being 3 meals for me. Yes, I did eat it again for dinner and the rest of it this morning for breakfast. So, what I'm finding that even though I want to try to eat some of the things that I used to before surgery, I'm still applying some of the teachings my nutritionist taught me, by habit and not from guilt of what I'm eating. I also weighed myself this morning and I'm down 3 pounds, which made me not feel so bad about eating things that aren't so good for me yesterday. I did realize that even though the popcorn tasted amazing, I probably will try it without the butter next time I go to the movies (I don't do it very often). I also realized that the teriyaki that I used to love doesn't taste as good now. Lastly, I know that it's okay to treat myself once in a while and knowing that I still can apply what I've learned to my choices, I still can do it without feeling guilty providing that it's on a rare occasion. Today, I am back on my schedule of making good choices (minus the teriyaki breakfast). By the way, I did eat my normal breakfast for lunch. I'm feeling good, possitive and happy and can't wait to see/feel the changes that will happen through out the next year. =)

These are so great!

Congratulations and you have hit on all the key things success with lap band, exercise,accountability, believing in yourself and having patience. So happy for your success and thanks for sharing.

i get banded tomorrow 4-1-13 and your blog is an inspiration, sounds like we suffer from the same syndrome...i also ask my husband questions like that, i was hoping that when i got this done, they would stop....looks like i was wrong....congrats on your weight loss....truly amazing and inspirational!