Debbie3sons

A new small NSV for me. I needed a white belt for my summer white jeans and shorts. Being that I had a massive huge waist I bought an xl. Too big and they didn't have a smaller size, so took it and had holes made. Was in Kohl's the other day and bought 2 size large belts and they fit and past the first hole.
My weight has not changed in about 1 year but I guess inches are changing which is wonderful for me. Yesterday I wore a size large maxi skirt from Gap and I looked great. I don't know how to down load pictures, that is why you never see any of me.
Needed to share. Thanks for listening.
Arlene

Happy new month to everyone in WLS land. I haven't been writing much but I try to read about all of you.
​The end of July is my 2 year banding. Best thing I ever did. I am much healthier and I actually enjoy walking. My weight has been around the same for 1 year but my surgeon thinks I am at goal even though I would like to be 40-50 pounds less. I am around 190-195 right now. When I got married 43 1/2 years ago I was 144 and have not seen that number since. Under 200 maybe 2 times in all my married life.
 
I enjoy eating out and do so almost every day at least one meal. Bread is a problem food for me so only great bread in restaurants and then mostly the crust and dunked in olive oil. A week ago I was out with my grandsons, 6 & 14 and husband and I ordered fried onion rings. I had 1 too many and after very bad slimming and throwing up slim I threw up that f**kn onion ring in front of the boys. How embarrassing is that? The band tells you when to stop and you need to listen.
 
I enjoy outlet shopping and walking. I go almost once a week even if it is just window shopping. When I go walking I need to be someplace not just in my area, boring! So I went when it was the Memorial Day weekend sales!! OMG, I did good. I wear a size 12 shoe and Easy Spirit had sandals for 1/2 off. I bought 3 pairs for $80.!!!!!! Mighty fine value when you have huge feet and I am only 5'5".
 
​Congratulations to all who graduate this spring.
Enjoy your summer.
Arlene aka Eye Candy

Happy Wednesday
How is everyone? I know I haven’t been on here much lately but I’ve been really busy at both jobs.
My new work hours have been a real adjustment for me. It has been challenging but I think I have getting the hang of it.
I will say this planning my meals has really helped because it eliminates the temptation of me eating fast food and eating junk food at the day care.
The Day Care is my trigger because I am surrounded by cakes, cookies, and chips.
A few weeks ago I noticed me eating item more often. This is not good because I am still a t plateau.
So one week I started bringing salad and Greek yogurt to the day care. So I started sharing my meals Fun Boy (my nephew). So he now loves Greek yogurt.
Last week Snowmagendon hit the Mid-west again so I had left a salad at the day care since my sister 2 kids at the day care I told her go ahead and get them my salad.
The kids loved the idea and they started bragging to the other day care kids about my famous salad.
After taking to the parents and my sister we decided to have salad 2 days an week for snack.
Each time the kids will add something new to the salad or we will buy a fruit or veggie they never had before.
So far this has been a success! My only complaint is they kids a drowning their salads with ranch dressing! Will be wrong if I replace the Hidden valley ranch with a healthier version of a ranch dressing?
I am just happy my day care kids are enjoying salads now even though they are going thru to bottles are ranch dressing!
This is why I love them. I wonder what I can get hooked on now???
Even though I am still at a plateau I love my band!
God is good
Thanks for reading.

Hello everyone. I have been reading everything but just haven't written much. I am busy with my family. My 95 year old mother's mind is getting worse. Last week she didn't recall my name. That sucks. My mentally challenged brother, he is 6 years older than me, is a handful. Tomorrow we are looking into adult day care for him. I hope it works.
 
Today my oldest son is 39. Can't believe I have a child that old. I baby sat his son, Max the other night. Max is 14 months and priceless. Laughs, yells and loves to eat fruit.
 
I belong to a gym and Friday was my first time there since November. I went yesterday and today and I feel much better about me. It was like starting over again. I went slow and didn't push myself but loved it. Do you know what you call people like me that pay and don't go to the gym?, profit! My husband won't get off his fat ass and go with me.
 
A high school friend posted this, funny and dumb: I want to die like my grandfather, in my sleep, no pain not yelling and screaming like the people in his car. I have a weird sense of humor.
 
Before the band my tops were either a 2 or 3 xl plus size woman's. Yesterday I bought a new sweat shirt, size misses large! Yeah! me! Now to just get rid of the muffin top which is my largest part of the body.
 
Everyone have a great week. Thursday, Boston is either getting lots of snow or rain. They don't know yet.
Arlene

Happy Monday everyone!
 
I have been so busy I haven't had time to check in with everyone.
 
I wanted to share this story with everyone so I will try not to bore you!
 
When I started my lap band journey I only told my family and my best friends.
 
As I got more comfortable I started telling everyone!
 
Today a fellow co worker came up to me and told me that he is getting the lap band because I inspired him.
 
I was shocked but I was so happy for him.
 
We had this conversation before.
 
He asked me questions and I told about my journey. But I always told him "my journey will be different from yours."
 
I am proud to say that I am happy that I was able to inspire someone to live a healthier lifestyle.
 
I don't think I say this enough but I am thankful for this site and everyone on this site. You guys inspire me to do better and for that I thank you!
 
So take time to inspire someone today and maybe that person will pay it forward.
 
God is Good!
 
Thanks for reading!

Sooooooooo... Yea. If you're squeamish, you may want to skip this entry. I'm going to keep it as clean as possible because I don't want this entry deleted, I think it's important to talk about.
 
Anyway, so I'm starting to notice the weight loss on my body parts. My thighs are sagging, my face, my breasts... All heading downhill. But I knew sagging would happen, so I really didn't stress about it.
 
Well last night in the shower, I noticed something else sagging...... My vaggy! What? What's this? Is that all me? I decided to investigate further once I was out. Got a mirror, locked my door, turned the lights on bright. I took a good look.
 
I Definitly noticed some changes. First of all, i noticed stretch marks! Who knew you could get stretch marks from losing weight down there?! They were on the side and towards the back..Ugh. Wonder if I should try rubbing Merderma or Palmer's Cocoa Butter on it.......??
 
Umm. Nah. I better not.
 
And do you know how it looks to blow up a raft, balloon, etc., with air? Well that's how it used to look. Now deflate that balloon, raft, etc. That's how it looks now... Wonder if I can get Botox there??
 
Nah. Sounds painful.
 
Guess ill just have to live with this saggy vaggy. I wonder if any other WLS female patients have noticed sagging in well.. Unusual areas.
 
Nah. Probably just me.

This is really a repost of something I said yesterday but thought it was worth a blog entry
 
Watching my 600lb Life on TLC can be inspirational, aggravating and downright annoying. Many times I want to reach through the TV and slap patients but more importantly the non-supporting people in their lives. I will admit I have only seen a handful of episodes.
 
One thing I can tell you from being a 5'6 488 pound morbidly obese person is it was just a struggle to wipe my butt and it was to a point where I showered after to make sure I was clean and the shower alone was a task because of the aches and pains in my muscles and joints. Walking from my car to my office even with the use of an elevator took a lot out of me. I would last 10 minutes walking the grocery store with my wife and would end up going out to the car and wait for her to finish because I was out of breath and legs ached so bad.
 
I don’t recall eating food and gaining weight simply because I was lazy or didn’t care about myself. I didn’t eat with the intent of becoming morbidly obese to a point where I couldn’t do those simplest of daily life tasks. I have a serious junk food addiction and I loved it. I ate from the moment I wake up to the moment I went to bed.
 
I am not making excuses for myself or anyone else but keep in mind you’re watching an edited reality t.v. show. Do we really know what is going in these people’s lives? They edit the crap out of these things to create the draw and because everyone loves a train wreck and more often than not they will put those things front and center.
 
One thing I am certain about is I will always remain humble and will make sure I never become like the people who used to judge me. I was a terrible mess physically and eventually mentally and I am lucky to be where I am today. I absolutely refuse to forget my 488lb self. Sometimes I wonder why me? Why was I successful? Just because someone doesn’t care about themselves doesn’t mean they don’t WANT to care about themselves.
 
Hope is a very powerful emotion and it can make or break you

Good evening. I was watching the local news, Boston, and they showed a new device from England. It is a pill you swallow and it blows up into a balloon. The balloon stays in your stomach and takes up room for around 3 months and you lose about 20 pounds. After they deflate the balloon your stomach is back to where it always was. It cost around 5k!!!
It will be tested in the USA soon. Bad idea, sorry, don't like it. This is as bad as sewing mesh on your tongue for a month. When are they going to stop with dumb s**t???????
But then that is how people make money, millions of dollars.
 
I love my band and today it really did it's job when I was bad. Thanks band for reminding me to stop and eat smart.
 
Now if the band could say, Arlene get off your fat ass and get to the gym, then I would be more in love.

I have not been around as much lately and several LBT friends have asked why……
 
I was banded in February of 2012, lost 80 pounds in 10 months and have maintained that weight until I had a tummy tuck on Halloween…
 
After the surgery I had 2 drains, they were removed after 2 weeks. Within 5 days, my tummy filled up with fluid and my doctor drained it (this is like drilling for oil with a really BIG needle….. not fun!). Within about 5 days my tummy was full again so my doctor put a drain back in. The next week the area above my belly button filled up with fluid and I had another drain put in just below my bra line.
 
About a week later I had the upper drain removed & that issue was resolved, BUT….
 
I was still accumulating over 50cc of fluid a day from my lower drain. Doc said the magic number was less than 20cc a day for 2 days in a row, well that wasn’t happening. So on Monday doc flushed Ethanol thru the tubing of my drain into the pocket in my tummy (100cc total). This is supposed to irritate the area between my skin & abdomen wall and cause it to stick together. Today (Thursday) I am still getting 30cc of fluid a day from my drain…… I go back to the doctor Monday.
 
My options are, do the flush again and if that doesn’t work…..another surgery. Ugh
 
Complications happen, I know that. But, how has this affected me mentally? Well, I can’t exercise (every time I do the amount of fluid goes up), I can’t go in my hot tub with my husband (open incision), Have this glamorous drain to carry around in my pocket….. IT SUCKS!
 
And I have gotten very depressed over it. I have disconnected from my life lines (Local support group, LBT wait I mean Bariatric Pal, and my family) Yes I looked to food for comfort. (We won’t even add the holidays on top of all this….)
So you wonder….how is my weight? I am about 10 pound over my original goal weight (I weigh between 177-180, depends on the day). But even more important is how I am mentally? I will be honest, I am struggling. I am pissed, why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this? WHY? Oh WHY? OH WHY????? Full on pitty me party here!!!!
 
This is my confession, I am not the perfect role model. I struggle, I have pitty me parties, I ask why me…… and so I stayed away from my support. Too many people saw me as inspiration. How can I be inspiration when I am like this????
 
I am taking my complications day by day. I am not giving up (& yes the tummy tuck was worth it). I just don’t think I can motivate anyone right now.

Hello everyone. I haven't been writing lately but I have been reading. Sorry, just been busy with life.
Today I go for a 3 month check up and I failed. How did I fail? I didn't lose any weight but stayed within 3-5 pounds of my last visit. When I go and get a fill it is very tiny under .4cc. My doctor goes slow.
 
I have not been to the gym since November but I pay every month.
Joke of the day: What do gyms call people like me, who pay and don't go? Profit!!
 
I had an ugly thing on my forehead and had it removed the other day and have 2 blue stitches. So right now bending over makes me a little dizzy. But I have gym clothes on. I bought a new 'outfit' yesterday. The real Arlene likes outfits not separates. I am nuts. When I skied many moons ago (I learned at 40) my skis, boots, poles and my ski outfits all matched and had the same colors. I am nuts. I am so nutty that I have sox to match sweaters. Orange stripes. I buy men's sox because I wear a size 12 shoe.
 
So soon I will be at the doctor's and he won't be pleased with my weight not being down. Everyone have a great weekend.
Please cheer for the NE Patriots!!!! We need a super bowl, because we are Boston Strong. Speaking of Boston Strong, that came after the marathon bombings, the RMV just approved a new license plate with Boston Strong on it! Some of the money will go to the marathon survivors.
Enjoy your weekend.
Arlene

Do you like my picture? I have a booty now!
 
Happy Snowmageddon everyone! It is negative 4 degree over here in the St. Louis Metro Area and over 12 inches of snow. I so want to go outside and play in the snow but it was too damn cold!
 
New Year Day was my 8 month bandiversary and I went shopping on last Friday to celebrate. So I went to my new favorite store “Dots” and brought me an outfit.
 
I found me some cute pants but they didn’t have a size 14 but something told me to try on the 11/12. At first I hesitated because I was tempted to go over to the plus size section and find me a size 14. But I then I heard my best friend Lesley voice saying “hoe you better not go over there!” in my head.
 
I finally tried on the pants and I was stocked when they fit! I even did the squat test in them and passed, but they were a little bit tight around my stomach. I took two pictures one showing my stomach and the one shown above. I sent them to Lesley and she told me I look fine in them.
 
I just like to say that I am still stock that I have a booty now! LOL my ego gotten a little big especially after the 46 likes I got on my Facebook page!
 
Anyway I called in work today and I have my two other friends over here. We had an official sleepover last night over here. I think I am going to convince them to do Walk away the pounds 3 mile walk. With or without them I am going to.
 
Don’t worry about me I am good in the Midwest I have wine and protein mix to last me! LOL
 
God is good!
 
Thanks for reading.

Happy New Year Eve everyone! How was everyone holiday?
 
I really enjoyed my holiday Santa was really good to me.
 
Guess what?
 
My coworkers chip in and brought me a FitBit Flex for X-mas!!!!
 
How cool is that!!! I love my Fitbit and it sync with my fitness pal account. I am still trying to figure out if I need to track my workout still and use my fitbit calories burn? Or stick with the fitbit? So if know the answer let me know!
 
Now for my recap.
 
2013 was the year of change for me.
 
I change my eating habits and my wardrobe.
 
I change my lifestyle and adapted a more healthier lifestyle.
 
I change my way of thinking. Instead of thinking about my next meal I am now thinking about what type of workout I am going to do today.
 
I change my friends since my surgery I learned who is with me and who is againist me. I let all my haters go. (see ya!)
 
I am so ready for 2014
It is going to be something else. Starting with my first 5K run!
 
Happy 42nd Anniversary to my parents!
 
God is good
 
Thanks for reading!

Most people use the holidays and all the goodies as an excuse to eat whatever they want. So now here it is almost the new year so what will your excuses be now? I have said this a million times that for us holidays are for family not to stuff ourselves with food. I don't bake anymore on the holidays because sugar is my trigger. If we are going to a party I will bake then leave it where ever I take it. I have no control over sweets so I just have to stay away from them. There are no major holidays between now and Easter that would require sweets and bad food so now get back to doing you and get the devil out of your head. Just because we had wls does not help with the emotions or the head hunger. If you can get that beat then you will be successful. Whenever I go for food I ask myself are you hungry. Most of the time no I am not and I get some water and go back to what I was doing. The only way you will achieve your goals is to stop making excuses. Actions speak louder then words. You don't have to talk about it just do it. Wishing everyone new and old a happy and prosperous new year. It is always in us to do what we want but our excuses make it hard to do right. If you are not truthful to your self how can you be truthful to others. Just a random thought.

Happy Wednesday Everyone.
 
I know I've been quiet on here lately but I've been working late at the day care so the parents can wrap the kids christmas toys or get their layaways out. But It is so worth it!
 
This weekend I need to catch up on my favorite blogs I miss you guys!
 
Okay back to my entry title. What date I am talking about?......
 
You ready?.......
 
 
Can I get a drum roll?......
 
 
 
 
On April 5th 2014 in Atlanta GA Me and my best friend Lesley will be doing My First 5K run!!!!!
I am too excited!!! But Not just any run I will be doing the Color Run!
 
Why not? I figure it I am going to do something I have to do it right! Me running my first 5K run with my best friend and getting covered in colors what more can a girl ask for!?
 
 
So I am going to start training after I meet with Dr. Richardson on Jan 7th to see what he think and to make sure my incisions are good.
 
Once I get the okay then I will start training.
 
So any advice and motivation are welcome!
 
79 pounds gone forever and I love my band!
 
God is Good
 
Thanks for reading!

Hello and happy holidays to everyone. Tonight is Hanukkah and tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Being Jewish always meant fried potato latkes and other non healthy foods. As far as I know we are not doing a Hanukkah celebration this year being that tomorrow is turkey day. Saturday I will be seeing the whole family, plus. My youngest grandson, Max will be 1 on Friday. I don't ask menus because my son's MIL (she likes to run the show) is coming in and she is a cook and baker. She loves to bake so much that she researched her new oven ($12, 000.) She also is very thin and healthy. And she is the most frugal person I know. She likes her stuffing so much she isn't going to my brother's tomorrow. Weird!!
I hope all of you eat accordingly. I am bringing green beans to my brother's because I know that the sweet potato casserole is very sweet with marshmallows etc. and I really hate it, any way. I don't like my SIL's stuffings either which is good. My son's MIL's stuffing is the one I make with Ritz crackers but mine is better because I have added a few things. My DIL said it was much better. It was the great grandmother's recipe. So now you want to know how I have their recipe. Well, my DIL's grandfather and my MIL's brother-in-law were brothers. We are NOT related. We just share cousins and the same aunt and uncle.
Well everyone enjoy the weekend. The food, the shopping deals. MA, where I live, the stores do not open tomorrow. They open mid night, and even that is crazy. I have never gone black Friday shopping and never want to.
Peace to everyone and remember our wonderful troops that make it that we can celebrate all of our different holidays as one country.
Arlene

As I write this, the snow has started, again. It is around 10 out and it may get 35 tomorrow or what I call a heat wave. Every year my husband wants to go down south but my children and grandsons live here. Our elderly mothers live here. Also you need $$$ to live in 2 places but tonight is Mega Millions, over $550 million, so that would get him his warm weather.
 
This past week I have had vertigo and the room has been spinning. Awful. I am seeing my ENT today for my annual and hopefully he can help me. My oldest brother told me he has it too.
Not an excuse but I have not been to the gym because I am afraid of what could happen if I do any of the machines. That is why we have wonderful doctors, to help us. They help with our band questions, also.
 
I love when people bad mouth other's WLS choices. If you did not have a band or sleeve or by pass you can't judge. I do know many people who had by pass and after 7-10 years they are larger than before. One of these women said her surgery failed. WRONG! she failed. I have seen her eat and drink cocktails and wine, daily. The only sleeve people I know are at my monthly support group and they are newly done and they have no complaints, good for them. I decided I didn't want anything other than Band because it can be removed and the others can't. Each to his own and band bashing is just RUDE!
 
I hope everyone has a warm and safe week.
 
Arlene

Happy Monday everyone! How was everyone weekend? Mines was ugh!!!
 
I was in a positive mood until Friday night when my furnace went out! Yay! Lucky for me I have a home warranty but I spent the whole weekend with a broken furnace.
 
So how did I survive? I went straight old school. I turned on my stove and my oven and slept in my living room. I am so happy that I have a small house.
 
Why is every time I get extra money something goes wrong? Anyway I decided to take my bestie out to dinner to my favorite Mexican Restaurant. My intention was to have one margarita and guacamole. Well I did get full of the guacamole but I so did not have just one margarita.
Let’s just say my a$$ worked out a lot on Sunday. As a matter of fact I multitasked. I was doing step aerobics on my Wii Fit and watching football.
 
Okay confession time
I order a steak burrito to go and I ate the whole thing yesterday! It took me 45 mins and I chew chew and chew but I ate the whole thing.
 
Confession number 2.
 
To be honest with you guys the burrito could have kept me full all day but I had 2 serving of puff corn and mini ice cream. I blame Mother Nature.
It out my system …. For now. I have no regrets about yesterday because to today is a new day. To be honest with everyone it is my lunch time and I am not even hungry yet… weird.
I hope everyone is having a great day!
 
Thanks for Reading

Well Bandsters another Thanksgiving (#4 since I had surgery) has came and gone and even though I made enough food to feed an army I still was true to my healthy self. it is amazing how I have changed over time and how much I continue to appreciate the healthier side of life. This year has been filled with ups and downs and there have been many challenges that could have made me resort back to old habits and gain back my weight but I stayed true to my belief in myself and maintained my weight. I read a post this morning on my FB page and I really loved it. It was called the "15 things to give up" I thought I would share them with all of you and I hope you can use them in your life and your journey.
 
1. Doubting yourself
2. Negative Thinking
3. Fear of Failure
4.Destructive Relationships
5. Gossiping
6. Criticizing yourself and others.
7. Anger
8. Comfort Eating
9. Laziness
10.Negative Self Talk
11. Procrastination
12. Fear of Success
13. Anything Excessive
14. People Pleasing
15. Putting others needs before your own
 
When I read these words this morning I thought WOW!.... Someone wrote these just for me because I think at one point or another I have done one or all of these behaviors and they have not served me well. I have been very successful with my WLS and I am very thankful for that. I so appreciate the friends I have met on LBT and this site. I have made 7 wonderful friends who without some days my life would seem empty, they are always there to support and never hold anything back. LBT brought us together and FB keeps us together. Some of us have had the pleasure of meeting in person and this has made our friendships all that much stronger.. Dawn, Janet, Terri, Michelle, Cheryl, Dee, and Carole you are all so very special to me and I am Thankful this Thanksgiving that you are all a part of my life. WLS and LBT brought us together but what keeps us together is our bond of friendship and sharing our lives and families with each other.
 
We have a few more holidays to go this year but I am looking forward to each and everyone of them. As many of you know my mother has Alzheimer's disease and each day that she continues to have the memory of her life and her children and grandchildren I cherish and consider a gift from God. Dealing with mom's disease has really put prospective back in my life and continues to help me on a daily basis to try and remember to stop and smell the roses. At Thanksgiving this year my family all came together, yes we had a wonderful meal with everyone's favorites but the best of the day was watching the smile on my mother's face as she sat and talked with her sons, her grandchildren and her great grandchildren. Here is a picture of four generations of the women in our family and Mom is the glue that has held us all together all these years.
 
So as you work toward your goal remember to" Keep it Real", this is your life and remember we only get one chance at this life so make it worth it. Believe in yourself and your success with come in time with patience and hard work.
 
"Love the New Me" aka Diane
 

Do you guys like my picture of me and Fun Boy? I had him all weekend and we had fun.
 
How was everyone Thanksgiving? You know what I am actually proud of myself I did good even though I had a big piece of my mom famous Sweet Potato Pie at 11am and it was so good. I even bake a chocolate cake with egg whites and applesauce if only I could of find a healthier version of chocolate icing.
 
Anyway my big sister host Thanksgiving Dinner at her house and we had fun. I grab the smallest plate that she had (it was one of Fun Boy plates) and had a simple of everything! My daddy even commented that he was on his second plate and I was still on my first and only plate. I just laugh and told him that I have to chew chew chew and chew! He laughed and said that I was doing a good job.
 
Can I tell you guys a funny story?
I really wasn't sure about my chocolate cake that I made. One thing about me I love to bake but I don't need eat what I make. This time I was curious so I cut me a small piece of cake. As I was making my to go plate.... Fun Boy was over there eating pieces of my cake. When I looked over there he started laughing and ran. I just laugh and continue fixing my to go plate. Little did I know SJ (Fun Boy) went back to my cake and started eating it again! I turn around and I called his name and he looked at me and said it was good. Together me and Fun Boy finished the piece of cake.
 
The next day was my moms birthday and I did something with her that I haven't done in a long time..... We watched a movie together. It is true the best things in life are free!
 
Tomorrow I go back to work and I see my doc on Wednesday. God is good!
 
Thanks for reading.

I have not written since the new site has been up.
There are things I hate and things I like but it is Alex's brain child not mine or yours. So just grin and bear it.
 
So I am a natural red head. Only color I have ever been in 63 years. Money is very tight so 2 months ago I bought s decent color and it looked good. I couldn't do hi lites but that was fine because I wasn;t born with them. Last week my husband was with me when I went to buy another box of dye. He choose a different color. Sunday I had bright red/orange hair. It glowed!!!
I called the company and they said to buy light brown. I left it on for 20 not 30 minutes. My hair is almost black. UGH!!!!!!!!! Today I am puling out the credit card and getting hi lites. Who the f**k knows what I will look like. Anything is better than almost black on a very pale skinned red head. When you get older you have to go lighter not darker because you do get paler I think.
I can't do Thanksgiving with this color. My youngest grandson, Max will be having his 1st b. day party with about 40 people next week. Can't embarrass him.
 
I have been staying in the middle 190's for a long time now. Today I am back down under 192!!!!!!! I have been 188.? after a fill for 1-2 days. I would love to see the 180's again soon.
 
I do not eat any pies so I am not worried about Thanksgiving desserts. I have never had a pie because I don't like cooked fruit.
 
This is very long but I needed to rant about my hair color.
Have a great day. Boston is cold and rainy today. Stay warm.
Arlene aka Eye Candy

Happy Wednesday everyone. I know I haven't been active on here lately but I am back now. So how is everyone? I hope everyone is well.
 
Where should I begin?
 
This month has been a good month for me despite of me being a plateau... life has been good. I had a couple of moments this month. The one that hurt the most is when I didn't get my dream job. What is my dream job? To work in Human Resources I have a degree and experience in that field and I had my 10th interview and I still didn't get the job. I felt defeated but I got back on track. I decided to continue practicing my interview skills and keep moving forward. "Every NO! is one step closer to my YES!"
 
Yesterday I had my port placement surgery. This time Dr. Richardson didn't have me come in at 430AM it was 830AM this time! Once again my amazing daddy took me to the hospital. He was off at work at 630am that morning and was still able to stay with me the whole time! I have to admit I was really nervous this time around I don't know why but I was.
 
However I did get the biggest surprised yesterday....... I AM IN ONEDER LAND!!! (is that the right term?) I was shock was I seen the number 193.4! I was so nervous I couldn't cry. I have seen those numbers since I was 19. Wow I am still in shock!
 
Today I am resting I haven't got my appetite back but I am slowly drinking water. I want to do some type of exercise today but I just do want to over do it. I am so close to my high school weight!
 
It's nice to know that my Wii Fit was not lying to me. I am going to reward myself by going shopping for some new clothes and get me a pedi on Saturday. Besides I am on leave until Dec 2nd.
 
God is good and I am loving my band!
 
Thanks for reading.

Farewell size 20W I will not miss you much,
You have been with me through the tough times,
Welcome size 18W OH how I have missed you…
I look forward to some good times..
May you not over stay your welcome…
Farewell size 20W - Here is my pledge…
To remember the times we had together
To remember the why’s
To remember NEVER AGAIN…..
 
:wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:

Well hello everyone and fellow Bariatric Pals!
 
I am so happy that the blogs are available I was going thru withdraws to a min. LOL
 
So what has been going on with me?
Well last month I did my first 5K walk and I was amazing. (see pics below)
 
I am set to have my port placement surgery on Nov 20th and I decided to take the rest of the month off.
 
I am at a plateau now on my weight lost but that will changed soon.
 
Other than that I am loving my Band!
 
Thanks for reading.

Remember starting a new school? Having to make new friends? Trying to find your way around? Everything was so different and you hated it….
 
Remember moving to a new town? Not knowing anyone? Having to leave all your friends behind? Everything was so different and you hated it….
 
Well here we are, starting a new school…..
 
Alex has built WLS University (BariatricPal) and within that university are the specialty colleges (Lapband, Sleeve, Bypass). It is all new and SCARY! We don’t know where to go, we don’t know where our friends are…… and we are expressing feelings of dislike.
 
What if we meet some new friends? Learn about their struggles with their WLS? What if we gave them support? We all know the one similarity we share is that WE have a problem with our weight and WE had to do something about it. That problem didn’t go away when we had surgery. We just started a new journey of healing. A journey that is for life. The same journey for all of us.
 
Let’s embrace what Alex has provided us, a place to go for support, for help and for education. I know it is scary right now, we are only 2 weeks into the new school. (Don’t know about you but I keep getting lost.)
 
But, in time this new university will be our old familiar stomping ground. We will be running into all our friends all the time. We will know the layout like the back of our hands…..If only we give it a chance.
 
Thank you Alex for building us this beautiful WLS University called BariatricPal.

This morning I had my first follow up appointment in 6 months. I had been struggling the last week or so deciding on whether or not to get a fill. I got some good advice and some suggestions and after talking with the PA today we decided there is no need for one right now. I am eating 3 meals a day with no snacking or cravings. I am going anywhere from 3 to 5 hours without getting hungry and I have found for me I tend to get hungry sooner after having the shake but with real actual food I can go 5 or 6 hours.
 
At the end of the day I do believe I was factoring my fill needs on 1. Getting hungry at times sooner than what I was months ago. 2. Scale is not where I wanted it to be.
 
So....# 1 is OK as I have narrowed it down to why I get hungry sooner and I can adjust.
 
#2 is definitely not a good reason for a fill. Getting a fill certainly has nothing to do with the scale and getting a fill will not help the scale move any faster. Thank you to Missy for reaffirming that for me. I mean I knew in the back of my mind it was not a valid reason for fill but hearing it from someone else just made more sense.
 
I also found this morning that my last fill was not in April it was actually back in January when I got .5cc. I had it written down in a notebook but hadn't actually looked it in a while.
 
Lastly, my PA is going to work on getting insurance approval for a new sleep study. 240lbs later it is obvious an adjustment is need on my CPAP.
 
Other then that I am living the dream and enjoying life. Happy 5th Anniversary to my beautiful wife Kelli (Kelli1016).
 
If you read this then I wish you a happy Friday and I hope you're doing well and rocking your band or preop diet!!