salsa1877

STUCK STUCK STUCK!:mad2::crying::blushing: Holy cow....it hurts. Make it stop. MOMMMMMMYYYYYYY!

We will be in Vegas from 9PM on the 25th to 4PM on the 28th! I am sooooo looking forward to it. I finally have an appt with a therapist and it is the one that specializes in weight problems and eating disorders. It is on New Year's Eve Day at 12:30.

Holy Popsicles Batman...it is 4 degrees outside. I know...for those of you that live in the frigid climates that is nothing...but for those of us that DON'T this is big news. Vegas in 2 weeks! Looking forward to the sun!!!

I know that Steph had ordered it and I was hoping to hear about it from her. We did get one. Frozen toes and all!! We also bought 2 games to go with it, but I think just like the Wii console...we are going to end up liking the game that comes with it better than any. Well it got up to 25 degrees and now it is quickly on the way down again. We are back down into the teens. We are supposed to have a HIGH of 13 tomorrow. Lows are going to be in the negatives. This is Minnesota weather!! The Dept. of Transportation posted on their website. "severe weather warning. Travel with survival gear" Ummmm....I think we will be staying on THIS side of the mountains. Still haven't heard if our kiddos made it back from the coast or not. Well I am going to go take a nap. The wii fit and the early morning freezer wore me out!

We are up at 6:00 to go stand in line at Best Buy for the Wii Fit. Not to mention 18 degree weather. Will let you know if we get one!

Yep...we have about an inch of snow out there right now but they got a ton of it in the mountains. We have kiddos at the coast (~a 6 hour drive from here across TWO mountain passes) and the teachers yesterday all signed a petition and vowed to donate money to keep them in a hotel until we could get them across the passes in a safe manner. The distrct said that the charter bus should be just fine. We don't think so but they just don't want to pay the extra money to have them stay longer. Right now the biggest problem is the COLD, COLD weather that we are having. Monday the high could be in the single digits. Um....I didn't want to live in Alaska! But like I always say about the weather here. We have 2 seasons. F#%#ing hot and F#)$#ing cold! I actually hope that they cancel the party that we are supposed to be going to today. I REALLY don't want to be around all the food. DH and I were talking last night about how frustrating it is that every activity seems to be around food! I know before that I LOVED that but now...not so much. For Thanksgiving I ran a 1/2 marathon, for Christmas we are going to Vegas. I am really trying to start traditions where our holidays have NOTHING to do with food. Well I am not going to be able to stay off the roads. My i-pod TOTALLY died the other day and I have become addicited to the nike+ running system that I have with it so we have to go to the store and get me a new one. It is expensive but it is what I need so I am getting it for me. I won't exercise without it so I had best get it. I have a new goal. Run/walk 100 miles by New Year's. That means about 5.5 miles per day which should be easy when we are in Vegas because our hotel is about 1 mile off the strip. Well gotta go. DH thinks this is the best time to head to the store. It is gorgeous out. THe sun is shining and the ground is sparkling.

I was really loose through most of my weight loss and in fact my final 20 pounds came off completely unfillled. Now I have some serious restriction but still can't lose the weight. Right now for me it is a mental thing. I am starting to get my head into the right place again and that is the key. Yesterday the cals were good and today I have planned even better so we should be good. I am back to the gym today. I was going to go yesterday but my shoulder was so bad. I took a nap with my hot pad instead. It feels much better today. Today is a 4 mile run. On Sunday I am going to try and get to 8 miles. Well I suppose I should supervise these hoodlums!

It is supposed to get COOOOOOOOOOLD here. The high on Monday is suppose to be 13 degrees. We are FINALLY going to get snow in the mountains. Tourism is dying here because of the lack of snow in the mountains and unfortunately... that is the main part of the economy around here. As for us...we have a party that we are going to (and not staying long because I don't want to be around food) and then out for drinks with some other friends. That is easy for me to ignore...I don't drink!! Well off to bed. My shoulder is killing me tonight. Wii injury!!! Be careful on the hammerthrow portion of the Sonic Vs. Mario at the Olympics. I pulled a muscle in my shoulder and have been in MAJOR pain yesterday and today. Donna - Congrats on the restriction. Mine was good today...tomorrow...who knows!

Car...my DH LOVES tennis. I do too, but really like the boxing. We are going to try out the new sports one that is out if they have it for rent.

BTW...I just beat him!!!!

I love the wii... and in fact my favorite game is the one that comes with the game. We are boxing right now. The training that comes with it will work up a sweat! We finally are living in a place that is big enough that it doesn't require us to put the coffee table ON the couch to play. Now we can just scoot it back. DH thinks he is cool right now cause he has knocked off more punching bags then I have. Well...when it is MY turn...I will show him who is boss. For those of you who don't know me really well due to my MIA months I am VERY competitive. On to some good news. I went to an in person support group in town today and itwas actually very good. I got the name of a therapist that works with MANY bariatric patients so I called and left a message with her tonight. She only works Monday - Wed so I won't hear back from her until next week but hopefully she will respond. One of the ladies there that I have been emailing with for some time now goes to her and says she is WONDERFUL. Tomorrow I begin adding some carbs in and going back to my anal retentive ways of counting calories. I know that it bugged a few people on my obsession with food, but when we were talking tonight I really realized that we all have to do this our way. And if that means freaking out in a restaurant because I don't know how many calories there are or coutning my calories 20 times a day then so be it. That is what I need to do. Afterall, this is MY life. So I am still sticking with the plan exactly how I had it set up, but now I am going to have a few carbs as well. More than anything though I really feel like I had my AH-HA moment that I needed. I feel REALLY empowered tonight. Well off to kick my DH's hiney. He thinks he is soooo good right now. Well I will show him...sore shoulder and all!

We just played the wii for 2 hours and my arms are killing me. Steph did you say you were ordering the Jillian Michaels game? If you do let me know if you like it and if it works!

Sounds like everyone is doing fabulous. I am really having to hold off on the temptation to step on the scale. I know that it MUST be going in the right direction and I have to have faith in that. My clothes are starting to fit correctly again and I have not had one morsel of unhealthy food in over a week. I am over the cravings as well. If you can just get past a week it becomes much easier. Went to the gym last night and ran a 9:25 mile. My goal is to get to an 8:00 mile. It will take me a while but I am going to take the same approach as I did when I started running. I am going to run that pace .25 miles at a time until I get to my goal. I have already got a plan for running my marathon. Run 3 miles, walk 1 mile and REPEAT 6 times!!! There is no way that I will be able to run the entire thing but at least this way I can run most of it. Well this has taken me most of an entire period to write so I guess I should send it before it disappears.

Ugh...I have gotten stuck a lot today. I think I probably need a teensy bit of an unfill...but it is a hell of a long ways to go for that. My tightness is really funky. Somedays I am REALLY tight (like today) other days I am just fine. Yesterday I was at a perfect fill level. Okay this is the second time I have heard about Wasabi peas. They apparently are something that I need to stay away from. Actually...the salty isn't the thing that triggers my cravings. It is the sweets. Car - I am pretty sure that if my insurance would cover it I could rebound the economy simply on the amount of money that I would spend in therapy. The therapist could single handedly buy enough cars to bailout the big 3! And Congrats on your 144!! I am hoping to join you in a few weeks. Speaking of therapists...I never received a return phone call from the therapists that I called over Thanksgiving break. Don't know what is up with the therapists over here but this is the second time this has happened. I am going to really push hard to find one during Christmas break. I really don't have time during the school week. Well I need to get ready for the gym. I am HOPING that my dinner will go down between now and 7:30 when we go to the gym!!

Good morning! Sounds like you all had a busy weekened. We had a very lazy one. SPent the weekend across the mountains and pretty much did nothing! It was great. Food choices have been fantastic and starting back to the gym today after my rest week. Just been doing a lot of stretching since the 1/2 marathon. Now it is back to the grind. And it is paying off too. I don't know how much I weigh because I am not stepping on the scale until Christmas morning...but the skirt that I am wearing no longer feels like it is cutting me in half. It is now comfortable to wear. HAS to be a good sign! As for Christmas shopping...we told our families not to spend anything on us and that we should just exchange Christmas cards because frankly we want to spend the money on us in Vegas. I know...sounds selfish, but both my brother and dad are broke right now and it made it easier on them as well. Well off to work. First day of the new trimester!!!!

Just checking in to say that I will be gone for the rest of today and tomorrow. DH has education tests that he has to take tomorrow on the other side of the mountains so we are heading out after the BB game tonight. We will be back sometime tomorrow. Food choices have been good. Not really even any temptations. I am really dedtermined and dedicated right now. The scare of the scale the other day did that to me!

I have a wii question! We only have carpet...will it work on there or does it need a hardwood type floor?

You are so right about the second one not tasting any better. In fact...half of the time it totally loses its flavor all together and I am just eating for the sake of eating!! I think a lot of this stems from the fact that when I was younger I always feared the food would be taken away from me (my biological mom was CRAZY!) and so I always want to make sure I have enough. I am the same way with everything though...not just food. For example, when I need to buy a roll of paper towels...I buy 2...ALWAYS. When I buy school supplies for my classroom I don't just buy enough, I MUST buy WAY more because I MIGHT need it. Just last night when I was shopping for my party today in class I had to get 2 bags of apples, 2 bags of oranges, but thankfully DH stopped me at 1 bag of broccoli and 1 bag of celery. I was of course panicked that I wouldn't have enough. Now I am going to have a TON of food left over...none of which I can eat right now. (NO carbs for me until Monday!) So as you can see this is a behavior I need to change in my life...not just in regards to food. While it is an obvious behavior that I have...it really manifests itself in my relationship with food. On a good note...I didn't finish my dinner last night!!! Now that I have lost my weight (and gained a few pounds back!) but still for the most part have lost most of my weight, I REALLY start working on behavior changes. I am hoping that while behavior changes are difficult to change that they will be easier NOW than they were 100 pounds ago! The behavior I am working on right now is to not eat everything on my plate. They say it takes 28 days to learn a new behavior. So...I figure if I leave something on my plate every day for the next 27 days (I started yesterday!) that I can start really learning that behavior!

Yesterday I ate 3 chicken legs (2 for breakfast, 1 for afterschool snack), 4 oz of sauteed beef for lunch, 4 oz of steak for dinner. I am lucky if I hit 1100 calories yesterday!! Didn't get to go to the gym yet but I should tonight. Today I am surrounded by food. Now mind you...I am only serving my kids healthy foods (fruit, veggies, LF animal crackers, 94% FF popcorn, and crackers) but I will not eat any of it. Instead I will snack on my chicken legs and sauteed beef. Well I need to start chopping the veggies for next period.

Wow...that is a story. Just my opinion...but that is an expensive doc. I would assume that things would be higher there because of your location but I had an EXTENSIVE tummy tuck and my surgery was only 2K higher than yours. Rough estimates put my reverse TT and breast reduction at like 6K. Just FYI. Yeah...my scale hates me. So I put it away for 2 weeks while I do some intense carb detoxing. Even though I have gone away from the candy and other not so good things...I still haven't gone away from the carbs. Now some people can do carbs just fine and not have any problems with them. However, one of the main things that I have learned in this journey is that we have to listen to OUR bodies...not anyone elses. And my body says..."just say no to carbs!" Yes I have to eat them when I am training because I need the energy...but they have to be good carbs...not just ANY carbs. Since you should spend about 2 weeks recovering from any race longer than a 10K (which a half marathon is!) I decided to use this opportunity to get away from the carbs since I won't be doing intense cardio workouts for 2 weeks. I will still be working out but they will be walks and SHORT runs, along with weights. That I can do with very few carbs. So what are the results...I had 2 chicken legs (roasted) for breakfast at 7:30 and I am not hungry at all. I have no desire to snack and I am not feeling panicky about food. Now this is only the first day and I will be going through carb withdrawls for the next few days but at least I am off to a good start. I am back to feeling the same nothingness in my tummy as I did when I was really working the band. Plus...this trimester is ALMOST over. Tomorrow is the last day and things will get back to some sense of normality after that. I will have 2 different preps, BUT they will be ability grouped so it will make life much easier. Well my prep ends in 15 minutes and I need to go potty (back to drinking lots of water too!!!) so I had best go! Last chance before the end of the day.

Steph - I totally feel your pain and share your struggles. I am debating on whether or not I should get an unfill. I struggle regularly with food getting stuck (not a lot of pb'ing just MAJOR discomfort) but am scared to death to get an unfill. It is taking a lot of work to try and get my head screwed back on straight but we can work through this together. I figure I have to start treating myself like a defiant 5 year old child again. I have put myself back on a schedule (see above post). There are 2 HUGE behavior issues that I need to address. 1. Not feeling the need to clean my plate 2. Being able to eat just 1 of something The first one has been an issue for me even with the band. Yes...I made my plate smaller and I put less food on it, but I still can't stop eating until my plate is clean. That makes it tough when there isn't a small plate available or their is too much food put on the plate. I can't open a small box of raisins an just eat a few...I have to eat it until the box is empty. I do this time and time again. Yes... I usually stay within my calorie limits but I have to learn how to not hoover my plate clean. The second behavior is very much tied to the first one. I can't seem to just eat 1 of something. If I want string cheese, I will eat 2 of them. If I have a piece of candy...it has to be at least 2. I can't have 1 serving of salad dressing...it must be 2. Again...I can usually stay in my calorie range but I NEED to learn to be satisified with 2. These are the things that I am going to be working on with my therapist...assuming any of them call me back. I called 4 last week and haven't heard a peep from any of them! This is why I stopped looking before!!! Well I have a lot to get done during this period so I had best get going. Steph...we are all here for you. Take it from an experienced one...going MIA doesn't help the situation.

I could move...barely. I was pretty sore, very tired, and getting sick. My throat is killing me!!! I may take tomorrow of if I can. However this is the last week of the trimester and I have A LOT of kiddos trying to make up work. SO my day off might come next week! I am moving better today and slept a lot better so I should be able to make it the rest of the week. The scale is not cooperating with me right now. I think part of it was all the eating out that we did for 4 days. I made healthy choices but you can't control what they put in the food when you are not cooking. I have refined my plan a little more food wise. 7:30 Am - Breakfast 300 cal 11:30 AM - Lunch 400 cal 2:30 PM - Snack 250 5:30 PM - Dinner 500 Well I had best ger going...classes start in 15 minutes.

2:28:49!!!! Won't let me change the font either! That was 11 minutes 40 seconds BETTER than my personal best! I am VERY excited, VERY sore, and VERY tired. After running for 2 1/2 hours I had a 7 hour drive home. I am going in to take a bath and then heading to bed. Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving.

Yeah...we are eating with my dad who tips the scale over 350...probably 400 pounds so I will be on extra good food watchout. He said something the other night that kind of shows that he didn't approve of my choice in the lapband. He said it was the "technological" way to do it and now I need to address the "real" way. I didn't get into it with him because I was struggling at the time. But tomorrow when I watch them all stuffing their faces I will be thankful for this restrictive little tool that won't allow me to go overboard. Right now I really have to watch what foods I eat. Fuel right before a big race is CRUCIAL! Off to the gym now!

Yep...I teach chemistry to sophomores at the only high school in town. Being so dedicated is probably my greatest strength and my my greatest weakness. Thank you for the compliment! I actually was in Costco the other day and got the greatest compliment of my life from a student that I had last year. She told me that I was the best and most dedicated teacher she had ever had. She said that she had good teachers before but none that would spend hours making sure that each student understand the material. I was SHOCKED that I was being told this. I know how much time, energy, and effort I put in, but I honestly didn't think that students recognized this. Now I really just need to learn to balance the workload and dedication with the dedication to myself. As my mommy put it earlier (Janet is my mommy...not my birth mommy, but my real mommy!) I kind of put 110% of my energy into school and really slacked off on me. I am working to balance that out.