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Ok, the good news. I graduated from walking indoors to walking outdoors. Now the bad news. Monarch butterflies are bullies! I've finally gotten enough endurance and stamina to start walking outdoors. I still don't like exercising, but I do like the effects. And I just can't make myself use either my recumbent bike or treadmill - they're just too boring. And besides, the computer is just 10 feet away the whole time, pouting from lack of attention. Did I mention that my Dell is an attention wh*re? So I have to get outside to walk. I have a state park just a few miles away and there are some nice nature trails that are about 1 mile in length. I've only been out there with my best friend. That way, if we run into a bear or wolf, I don't have to outrun the critter, I only have to outrun my friend! But this week, my friend is out of state, visiting his sister in Ohio. So it was questionable if I was going to motivate myself to get out and walk today at the park. But I mustered up the energy and drove out to the park. So here we go. I got my bright yellow shirt, the $5 forest green cap that I picked up in Alaska (is says, "If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes!") and shades. Oh goodie, I look like a guy cruising the park looking for other guys - that has been known to happen at this park. Luckily for me the park was almost deserted and even better, no one was on the trails. So I started my normal route. Around the lake, skirt the canal and head back to the car through the flat areas. There are some ups and down areas that I think help strengthen my legs and ankles, but not so steep as to cause me pain, or worse, hurtle down hill out of control! Going uphill is no problem. I just don't do down's very well. I'm not good at getting down, boogieing down or going down hill. Anyway, back to my story. I was minding my own business, walking the trail, hugging the shade, and lost in my own thoughts when suddenly a black shape swoops out of the woods. Mere inches from my left arm. And I did what any manly man would do. I flinched and started windmilling my arms (oops, I meant to say, "used my master karate skills"), to swat away whatever that deadly critter was - to keep it's venomous fangs away from my throat! A lifetime later (or about 3 seconds in real time), I realized it was just a huge Monarch butterfly fluttering by. He casually fluttered across the trail and back into the woods. But I swear, this was no ordinary butterfly. I think it was a Pimp butterfly, cause he fluttered with a limp and was very colorful, like a pimp, and had an attitude. I swear I heard him say, "Punk ass bit*h!" as he fluttered back into the woods. I'm sure he told all his butterfly friends about how he - a 1 ounce butterfly - scared a 280 pound man and made him flinch. I guess I'm lucky he didn't give me two punches for flinching or have a smart phone to capture a video of whole thing. Otherwise, I might be on Youtube ring now, going viral. P.S. The good news is: I managed to walk just over 2 miles AND, as a bonus, got in a killer arm workout. But I fear the psychological scars may never heal. Keep Pimpin that Sleeve!

I got the call that I have been waiting on. My insurance has given their blessings for me to have sleeve surgery!!! I'm so excited! I just can't hide it! On June 11, 2013, I will begin a new and exciting chapter in my life. Good bye Big Mama. Hello healthy mama.

Wow I can’t believe yesterday has been one month since I got banded. I am happy to say that I have lost 27 pounds and I feel amazing. I really didn’t have any plans yesterday I just made me some coffee and use Atkins French Vanilla protein shake as creamer and worked out for 15 minutes until I received a phone call from my Bestie Mandy. She stated that she had a surprise for me. Mandy had tickets to the St. Louis Cardinal game! I was a little bit excited until my fears kicked in. So what were my fears? Yesterday I was able it start drinking alcohol but will I be tempted to have a beer or mix drink. What if I get hungry and Busch Stadium didn’t have 5 week post op friendly food. Unfortunately I did not have time to research their menus and I need a better cell phone. My least favorite fear was am I ready to do this? I decided to not shelter myself because I am banded I need to live and learn. Mandy brought her cooler and added 4 bottles of water. At the stadium we found an Asian stir fry place and they had shrimp. I ask the hostess if I can just order a side a shrimp because I am lap band patient but they charge me $10.50 anyway. Mandy didn’t care about the price and paid for it. The cool part about it was they gave me a Large Chinese to go box full of shrimp! We got more than $10.50 worth of shrimp. Mandy stated laughing at me because I got full of 12 pieces of shrimp. She ended up taking the leftover home. It was a great game because the Cardinals won! After the game me and Mandy met up with our friend Jessica. I haven’t seen Jessica since she came over and made me homemade soup for day one of my 2 post op diet. Jessica complimented me on my lap band success and told me that I look amazing. I have to admit I felt pretty good. We went to our first bar and I had a glass of water with lemon. I wanted to have a drink at the second bar we were at. I was thinking shot of grey goose with water and I was going to add a crystal light packet in it or maybe a beer and let it fizz out for a bit before drinking. I had all these scenarios going through my head and I decided to drink at home first to see how it feels before I drink in public. So water was my drink of choice last night and I was okay with that. If felt good going out last night and just having fun. I am so bless to have great friends in my life. Thanks for reading.

I'm down 8.2 lbs on my 11th day of the liquid diet. I'm actually feeling the loss in my clothes, which just makes me more excited and pumped up to have the surgery and get even MORE off. I had my pre-op app. with my gp and she's 'signed off' so there's no stopping me now. I'm understanding that need to chew issue that I read about. But the V8 satiates my need for salt pretty well (I would HOPE 920 mg of sodium would do the trick!) Right now I'm feeling absurdly narcissistic and completely wrapped up in ME ME ME. I feel a bit badly about this, but I think I'm feeling weirdly about it because I never have thought about ME in the past; it's always been about my husband or kids or parents or students or anybody EXCEPT me. I've neglected myself and it shows in my excessive weight. I feel differently already and wonder if people can SEE the change in me.

Congratulations on NSV! and welcome back also!

That is so blessed!!!

glad you had a good time. welcome back t

Good for you!!! So happy to hear!!!!!