freelance frog

You have a great attitude... and that will get you where you want to be so much faster!! Good luck on your journey!

Time flies when you're having fun they say! It's true! I have to say that this lap band journey has been a whole lot of fun so far. It's exciting to wake up in the morning and know that I probably weigh a little less than I did the day before. It's even more exciting to get dressed every day and spend a few minutes looking at the way my choice of clothes fit me differently than the last time I put them on! It wasn't all that long ago when I had the exact opposite problem. It was very depressing to get dressed each day and try not to think about the fact that my choice of clothing that day looked like crap because it was too tight, or didn't fit at all. I am so very grateful to watch the pendulum swinging the other way now. I look forward to every change, every pound lost, every piece of clothing tossed in the "too big" pile, and every comment about the way I look. I feel SO good! I realized yesterday that I actually have a lap! Ridiculous you say? Well let me tell you, for a very long time I didn't even realize that there was a nice long space between my knees and my gut when I sat in a chair! It's true! But it's there, and I can see it and I like it! My stomach is definitely shrinking. All of my shirts show it, and now that I can see it going away I am more motivated than ever to keep working on it at the gym. Not so very long ago my stomach and my "girls" seemed to be reaching for some invisible finish line that was out in front of me somewhere. For the past few years they were tied it seems.. I bet I could have stuck a yard stick in front of me and they would have both touched it evenly!! But today I can happily say the gut has given up the race and retreated! Yeee Haww! Still feeling good restriction from my last fill.. maybe a little less than last week, and I'm sure with the next fill I will be searching for food that keeps me very honest in my diet. For now I can still eat what I want albeit very slowly. I'm eating less than ever, but still.. carbs just aren't a great thing to put in my body and I know it. Another fill at this point would keep me from eating bread in any form I believe. I love and hate that all at the same time! I'm going shopping this weekend for a swimsuit coverup that I can take to the beach with me. I should probably try on my swimming suit before I go now that I think about it.. I can't say I won't grin from ear to ear if it doesn't fit and I have to buy a new one! Two weeks from tomorrow and I'm Gulf Shores bound! I'm not worried in the least about overeating on vacation.. I was a month ago, but today I feel like I have a pretty solid handle on living with this band. It's the perfect tool for me and I'm having so much fun losing weight that I don't want to screw it up! I'm not hungry between meals at all and this is a miracle! This doesn't mean that I don't want to snack if there is something right in front of me... but I don't walk around feeling hungry AT ALL. I love that! And as far as that snacking goes.. It's pretty easy to distract myself most of the time. If I crave something sweet I have a dum-dum sucker. Less than 20 calories, and it does the trick when I can't just walk away. But for the most part it truly isn't even an issue. I can't stand artificial sweeteners, so eating something sugar free isn't even an option for me. I'd rather starve.. seriously. Huge thanks to my friend Lisa for handing down some jeans that fit! What a treat! You saved me girlie! 8 weeks.. happy... less fat... more sass... loving life! Thanks for stopping by! http://www.myotherbutt.blogspot.com

Inspiring!! Thanks for sharing!

I was on Prednisone for almost 3 years, so I know all about Cushing's syndrome. I never did get that hump on my back... but I would wake up every morning for months and run to look in the bathroom mirror to see if I had it yet! I got the moon face though, and the redistribution of fat was horrible. It ALL went straight to my belly, and nothing fit right, and everything looked hideous. I HATED it. I was so grateful to get off of the steroid when they finally took it away. I gained more than 60 pounds in the first two months i was on it. I continued to gain for the entire 3 years. . Once I got off of the prednisone all of those symptoms slowly started to go away, but the belly stayed the same. It's still my biggest problem as I've started to lose pounds and inches since my surgery in April, but I see HUGE progress now and I just wanted to tell you that the lap band will definitely be the best tool you can have to get you back to a healthy you! Hang in there! I hope you hear positive news very soon!

The worst part was the gas pains. The surgery was a breeze! I have ZERO regrets!!

Don't worry about gaining a little on the mushies.. just remember that you knew this wasn't going to be a breeze when you started, and remember WHY you ever started the whole process to begin with! The end result is going to be SO WORTH IT!!! Don't beat yourself up over chocolategate! Just try to find something a little less toxic to your plans to help you through that sugar craving and tell yourself as many times a day as necessary that YOU CAN DO IT!! You can! Hang in there!

Ohhh the countdown!! Before you know it you'll be counting your weeks out from surgery!! I'm excited for you~ it works if you work it!

You will find that after your fills you will be able to eat less and less of the things that you are currently able to tolerate! For me it's tortillas! Pre banding I ate everything on tortillas LOL and for the first five or six weeks post band I could still eat them without too much trouble, but after this last fill my band is totally rebelling against tortillas! A few other things as well.. but I'm happy about it for sure.. if I could have kept up eating that crap I'd never get where I'm going ! LOL Keep exercising.. and as soon as you get your next fill I bet you'll find you have a lot more restriction on things that you can eat pretty easily right now.

It's WORTH IT! Keep telling yourself that every single day.. over and over again if you have to!! The weight loss is extremely motivating! Hang in there!

Great loss! Congratulations!

Michael, I couldn't tell you how many oz I eat at a meal... since my last fill it's not very many! Tonight I had a filet mignon that was 5oz pre cooked.. and could only eat three very small bites.. Also had a small (and extremely delicious) ear of corn and I ate most of that... surprisingly the corn went down very well.. I've talked to a lot of folks who can't eat it post lap band. That was the most I'd been able to eat all day.. breakfast was a shambles, I couldn't even do yogurt this morning, and lunch was the same.. I tried to eat a little hamburger and the first bite got stuck, tried a second and my band rebelled so I just gave it up! The best part about today was that even though I couldn't eat much for the main part of the day, what I did manage to get down filled me up and satisfied me for the rest of the day. Not hungry in between meals at all.

Seven weeks and one day... and I have ZERO regrets about making the decision to get my lap band! I have been faithful about going to the gym and I'm already starting to see the payoff. Not in pounds on the scale mind you, but in the way I feel, and the way I look. I've lost a few pounds too, but I've decided that isn't nearly as much fun as losing these inches! My lap band and Curves work quite well together, and I'm so excited about that! I had fill number 2 yesterday. I was quite pleasantly surprised that it was relatively painless compared to my first one. I was prepared to be far more brave this week.. I wasn't about to be called a pansy now! But it turns out that it wasn't necessary at all. About the only thing I felt was the quick stick of the needle. I asked Nurse Dot why it was so much better this time and she said "Because you're losing weight, and next time, it will be even better!" Apparently as the fat disappears from around the port it can do a better job of embedding. I just LOVE disappearing fat! I have a good bit of restriction right now from the fill. (Restriction, for those of you unfamiliar with lapband speak is basically the ability to feel when you are eating too fast, or too much at a time. There is definite tightness and sometimes pain associated with restriction. The opening between the pouch that fills as you eat, and the rest of your stomach is smaller with each fill, and it's definitely possible to get too much restriction.. to the point that you truly can't eat much of anything without literally getting sick. The trick is to find the "sweet spot", and that's what we're looking for.) I will go back in two weeks for fill number three... exactly one week before I leave for the beach. I was pretty happy about that. I look forward to cooking and eating at the beach with my girls, but knowing I have my band as a "guardian" to keep me from over-doing it is sweet peace of mind! Yesterday three people made comments to me about my weight loss. Exciting stuff to me.. it's fun to know that other people see it and it's not just me motivating myself with some wishful thinking! Hearing it from other people is super motivating to me and I love it! I need to remember that wearing clothes that allow people to actually see a change is helpful..(duh)... I've been hiding my body in huge sweatshirts for so long that I actually got used to wearing them even in the summer sometimes. I still find myself wanting to hide my stomach and arms.. even though both are shrinking.. and I have to say that this is one of the things I look forward to the most ~ not hiding anymore. I'm still a sweatshirt loving girl.. probably always will be, but wearing them to hide behind and wearing them because I'm chilly shall be two very different things! I have to admit here.. I am a little worried that "my other butt" is going to be a lot flatter than it used to be! I don't know why I think that.. just a feeling. It may well just be an unfounded fear. But still, I'm working out each day with that in mind. If My Other Butt is FLAT I might scream. Just so you know. It didn't used to be flat. It used to be *rockin!* If i do say so myself.. but the "girls" used to be perky and a lot smaller too... I promise not to be obsessed about it though.. so what if I have to wear a butt pusher upper... Thanks for stopping by! http://www.myotherbutt.blogspot.com

The exercise will help a LOT! Don't worry about not having restriction yet.. as long as you can't eat as much as you used to be able to eat and you are exercising you will lose.. maybe not tons, but it will go. The inches will come off even if the scale isn't showing a loss.. trust me!!

Yes, fills are included in that price.

If I had to workout in the afternoon or evening I would never get it done!! I love my morning workouts. I won't lie.. some days it would be really nice to sleep that extra hour and a half instead of getting up and going, but like I said, when I do that, the workout goes bye bye and I feel guilty later! So it's mornings for me. It's a great way to start your day if you can do it!

I would, and I did! And I'd do it again! 15K for me. Included the hospital overnight stay, surgery and several follow ups!

Another one obsessed with the scale here lol. I'm getting better about it, but yeah, I just couldn't help myself there for awhile. And it damn near drove me nutz! Going to the gym will help, and once you start eating solid food, believe it or not, you'll start to notice a bigger difference too. Hang in there!! YOU CAN DO THIS!!

Congratulations!! That's just AWESOME news!!

Cheering you on from the Nebraska prairie!! GOOOO YOU!!

Week one at Curves = Fantastic! I feel so much better about what I'm doing now to help myself get to my goal! YAY me! It seems that the girls at my Curves have learned a lot about how to make the machines work their best magic on me! I remember the last time I joined Curves I would leave there feeling like I hadn't even worked out. I remember thinking.. "weird... I'm not even sore" every time! There was good reason for that.. I wasn't doing any of it right! But I'm here to tell you.. I'm sore! (Not heinously so though) and when I'm done every day, I feel like I've done something for ME!! Something fabulous! I went on a short trip last weekend to see my Grandmas! I was a little nervous about how it all would play out for me.. seems like in the past my "little trips" always turned into diet sabotage! I don't know what it is about traveling that makes one want to eat, but it happens for me every time! So, knowing that about myself, coupled with the fact that I would have zero access to a scale for four days (gasp!) I spent a few moments in a state of curiosity about what might happen! I shouldn't have worried for a moment! Turns out when you have a lap band you don't really get any hungrier just because you're in a car driving across the sandhills! And having no scale access was a bonus! When I got home I had lost 3 pounds (and a few ounces) and that felt pretty amazing. It seems like I had more than my share of "stuck" episodes while I was gone though, and I'm not really sure why. Possibly because of the different foods I was eating.. fish, chicken and hamburger (unless they all have lots of sauce or marinade of some sort) all get stuck now since last week.... which brings me to my "fill" story. So yes, last week the day before I left for my weekend journey I got my first fill. Okay.. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but I didn't think there would be any pain. I"m here to tell you.. (please excuse my brief moment of oncoming sailor speak) THAT SHIT HURT!! I'm a pretty tough girl with a very high pain tolerance. Self proclaimed of course, but just ask my mom, she'll tell you! Maybe it was because I wasn't expecting any more pain than a blood draw type stick, I don't know, but it hurt a LOT! Before she injected into the port she pushed and prodded (I assume to be sure she was going to inject in the right spot, and to be sure the port was where it was supposed to be) and that may have been the worst part.. I had no idea I was still so sore internally from surgery... but how could I have known that since I don't go around pushing on the port site that way? At any rate, once she found it I felt some relief but the stick hurt too, and then she had to "tapdance" on top of the port for a bit before the needle would go where it was supposed to. The digging around, the pushing around and the stick itself made for some pretty unpleasant moments for me, but the good news it was all over within ten minutes and I now am the happy owner of 3cc of fluid in my lap band! Dot told me to come back for one more in two weeks. That was another surprise.. I didn't expect to go back for a month or so (based on other's stories) but I scheduled my next fill for June 1, and out the door I went, none the worse except for a little emotional scarring from the surprise of the pain you know?! Hahah! What a whiner I can be! I was assured that the next one wouldn't hurt as bad and I chose to believe that... I've definitely got a little restriction with this fill. My new and improved slow eating habits need to be newer and a little more improved. I can only imagine what it will be like after another fill in 2 week... Dot told me that they have found for "most" of their lap band patients, the *sweet spot* is between 5 1/2 cc to 7 cc. How awesome would it be to find that sweet spot in 2 fills? Hey, a girl can hope! So, six weeks out I am 30 pounds lighter, and I will be able to give you some inch calculations by the middle of next month when I get re-measured at Curves! My beach goal was to lose 10 more pounds by June 23rd, and enough inches that I'll be needing a new swim suit! My first 'goal jeans' are still fitting just fine at a size 16, and will hold me over for a few more inches, even if the butt does sag quite a bit by the end of the day. My son is getting married on August 5th and I'm kind of hoping for a dress that will look adorable and be a few sizes smaller.. again, a girl can hope! Time will tell... 30 days til beach time!! Thanks for stopping by! http://www.myotherbutt.blogspot.com

11 pounds in 13 days is GREAT!! Don't be disappointed with that girl! Cheering for you from the Nebraska prairie!!

I was a little worried that if I blogged about how much that fill hurt I would freak someone out who hadn't had a fill yet LOL... sorry if I did that... It was just kind of unexpected I guess! I am eating whatever I want.. literally! EXCEPT.. no pop at all. And trust me.. I do want pop.. Pepsi to be precise.. but I haven't had one since the week before my surgery, and it is getting easier. I just eat so much less than I used to. Most meat gets stuck unless it's in sauce of some sort.. or gravy or whatever.. that helps tremendously.. I have been on regular solid food since week two.. my doctor told me to go ahead and advance my diet at that time, but to just be careful.. and eat slowly. That's the hardest part for me.. but I'm getting better at it every day. I make my meals last half an hour easily, and that's really without even trying this past week, because eating slowly helps so things don't get stuck as easily as they did at first. I get between 700 and 900 calories a day in. I've had a few days with more... closer to 1000, but 7-900 typically fills me up very well. I haven't craved sugar at all (except one day) in the six weeks since surgery. I'm grateful for that.. but I have craved those carbs and also protein. I can't eat much of it, but I love steak, and have it 2 or 3 times a week. I can eat about half of a filet. or around 3 or 4 oz and I'm full. I try not to cook potatoes like I used to, but still do eat them once a week and sometimes twice. Fortunately I can't eat as much of them as I used to either, so I'm not getting as many of the crappy calories that I used to consume. I'd probably be down twice what I am if I would give up those carbs... and I may still do it~~ I need some more will power.. bad!

Yay YOU! I wish I loved to work out! I don't hate it.. really... but I don't love it yet. I think once I see the effects of the workout I will learn to love it though LOL! enjoyed your blog.. keep up the good work!

Hmmm really good idea Brenda! Thanks

Tomorrow will be 5 weeks and going strong for me and my lap band! I honestly don't have one single complaint about my band yet, and can't imagine having gone another day without it! I have my first fill this coming Wednesday. I've gotten much advice to ponder about that little milestone, and I'm looking forward to seeing what changes it brings about. Hopefully nothing too drastic, because the next day I'll be leaving for a few days and won't be close enough to my doctor to run back in for help if it's too tight or something goes wrong. But I'm not anticipating anything negative, and I'm pretty excited to get "tightened up" as my brother so eloquently puts it! Seriously! He asked me when I go in to get tightened up the other day! It made me giggle! I've made some strides this week in my lifestyle and I'm pretty happy about that. I re-joined Curves this week. I needed to have a more pleasurable work out experience, and I have known for a few weeks that this would be my next step. I love the 30 minute work out there, and the extra personal trainer support that I get. I haven't decided whether or not to keep my YMCA membership for the pool or not. I haven't been using it very faithfully, and it's going to be money down the tubes if I don't. Not sure what I'm waiting for there.. but I need to make a decision soon. I am down 27 pounds and lots of inches in five weeks time. I have set a goal for 10 more pounds in the next five weeks which will put me right down to my beach trip. I'm hoping for more lost inches honestly, and I think that will be achieved regardless of what my stupid scale says. That scale makes me want to scream sometimes, but when it gives up a pound or two it redeems itself completely. Poor scale. I have to wonder sometimes if the verbal assault it gets doesn't make it actually mess with my head!! I can't wear most of my jeans now.. except for the two pre-prednisone pairs that I saved. They're going to wear out quick if I don't get some new ones to tide me over! But I am going to stubbornly refuse to do so for three or four more weeks... a little bit closer to beach time! I've noticed that as far as inches go my arms are the most stubborn for giving them up. I see the biggest changes in my stomach and hips. Also my "girls" are not budging. Yes, I know some of you would be happy to take them off of my chest... literally!! And trust me, I'd be completely thrilled to give at least half of them to you! I wasn't always huge chested. They came along with the kids, and stuck around all these years. You'd think I'd be good friends with them by now, but not so much! If they don't reduce, I will be one funny looking chick when I do find my other butt!! But that's just my humble opinion I guess. Time will tell.. Everyone always says the "girls" are the first to go, but it's not true in my case. I'm still craving steak, and meat in general, and not having many issues with any particular food. I still fill up quite quickly, and can only eat a fraction of what I used to eat. I have no problems yet with wanting to graze or eat between meals which I love! I've learned to make a meal last about 30 minutes which was previously unheard of for me!! I'm thinking the upcoming fill won't have to be much in order to improve the way the band is currently working, which seems to be beautifully thus far! My apologies if my straight talk about the girls offends any of you guys who might be reading.. just one of those things I must discuss on this journey! Let me know if you'd appreciate a warning next time! Thanks for stopping by! http://www.myotherbutt.blogspot.com