salsa1877

I think you should go all sweaty because then you can show how you are putting your new lifestyle to work. At least Phyl was there, that in itself made it worth going I am sure. Well I am back at work today, but still sick. Now on top of being sick I am so far behind that I don't even know where to get started. I just graded an entire stack of projects and not one was fully completed. In the new grading system we are using that means that I turn them back to the students and it is up to them to fix them and turn them back in for a real grade. Right now they all received an "I" which stands for in progress. I really like the system as it makes the class about learning the material and demonstrating their understanding rather than just earning enough points to pass the class. However when the idiots pull a stunt like this because they are too lazy to read the rubric that I have given them, then I have double the grading work for no good reason. Oh well, perhaps I should pass them off on my principal to grade. He offered!! I can't wait to post pictures, but I want to wait 3 more days until my 6 month bandiversary. I am really starting to see a big change. Finally, my mind is catching up with me! Okay back to work, I have to start somewhere.:biggrin:

Ugh. Still at home sick. Steph it is a good thing you posted yesterday cause I was getting ready to shoot you a PM to make sure you were doing alright. I taught at a small school the last 2 years so I understand what you mean about them being a huge part of you. This is my second time at a big school and I like it some ways better. Being anonymous does have its advantages sometimes! I am glad you had a better night. My BF has been a pain in the ass lately too. I think he is getting apprehensive about changing shifts and so he has this sort of "who cares" attitude. We were supposed to go to the superbowl party together, but literally as we were walking out the door, he decided he wasn't going to go. So I went by myself. I have no idea what they serve for lunches at my school. I never go down there. I do know that when they feed the teachers it is NEVER healthy. The first week back before school actually starts, we were served 8 different meals. I was on mushies, so I couldn't eat, but none of it was healthy. Conferences are Thursday (14 hour work day, ugh) and they are feeding us sandwiches from our school cafe, but I still can't/dont want to try bread. I always just take my own lunch. Usually once/month I cook 3 or 4 big pots of something (chili, noodle-less lasagna, meatloaf) then freeze them so I can just grab them in the morning. I try to make sure that I count every single calorie in the morning so that I know how much to work off so that I can relax a little at dinner. We usually hve home cooked meals that are based on our imaginations so it is difficult to count calories. So I did watch Oprah yesterday and it wasn't too bad. Sometimes she really does come across as an idiot though! And what was up with Dr. Oz saying that lap-band is not reversible. Hmmmmmmm. I think it is. Now I never plan on having mine out and that wasn't even remotely the reason that I chose banding over bypass, but let's get the facts straight. I am with you Janet on not knowing whether I would want a 13 year old getting bypass. I know that I would not have been successful as a child having this surgery. Hell I don't know that 2 years ago I would have been successful, but I digress. Here is the difference between me and those kids... It appeared that those kids had very supportive parents... I didn't. Janet have fun at the support group. I am going to to to one on the 19th. The wife of our librarian had the surgery and is not doing well with it, so he thought maybe if we went to the support group together and she could see how successful I have been, that maybe she will get on board. It is not a good situation from what he has said, but maybe I need to hear her side. Could be interesting cause I don't mince words and I am a food cop! Lindaa - No tomatoes here either. A milkshake is not a good choice, but if you are that tight it does have nutrients in it, so it is not horrible. I wish I could have had it, but ever since surgery I can't do dairy. That is what makes being on liquids so horrible for me. Everything nutritional is dairy based, but if I drink it then I am in the bathroom for the rest of the day. Soy milk disgusts me so that is out! Well I need to finish grading these papers. I am able to think a bit better today, but I was so tired that I just couldn't go in this morning. Now I am really going to be behind, but oh well!

I didn't go to work today either because I am still sick. I am feeling better, but still not good enough to go and stand in front of 150 teenagers. So that means that starting tomorrow I am working out 1.5-2 hours a day. Thursday is going to be a bear because I have a 14 hour workday (We have conferences!). Well I will do my best. Good for everyone for keeping up. I actually miss working out.

Well I have to say that when you finish with your work you are going to be a masterpiece. OMG you look fabulous. 5 days and counting until I get to post my 6 month pics. I am excited because there has been a huge change in my body since I took the last pics. For those of you biggest loser fans, these 5 days should be my "last chance" workout, but considering that I am at home sick today and that both of my principals go to my gym, I probably shouldn't go tonight. Besides, I really do feel like crap and I don't think I would make it very far on the treadmill. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow and will go.

OMG OMG OMG OMG! I AM OVERWEIGHT! So it would take a morbidly obese person to understand how excited I am to only be overweight. I just fixed my ticker and noticed that my BMI is below 30, so I went to check to see where that fell on the table and OMG! I AM OVERWEIGHT! :eek::biggrin: Maybe I went a little overboard but I won't ever be at the tipping point between obese and overweight again, so I had to celebrate!

OMG OMG OMG OMG! I AM OVERWEIGHT! So it would take a morbidly obese person to understand how excited I am to only be overweight. I just fixed my ticker and noticed that my BMI is below 30, so I went to check to see where that fell on the table and OMG! I AM OVERWEIGHT! :success1::clap::party::hurray::eek::Banane48: :biggrin::woot::Banane22: Maybe I went a little overboard but I won't ever be at the tipping point between obese and overweight again, so I had to celebrate!

SO here is the phrase that really gets to me "lost all that weight all on her own". I have heard that phrase a lot lately with all the new year's resolution shows and magazine covers and everytime I hear it, I go home and try to find that person that is doing the work for me. I keep waiting for that person to make all the food choices for me, drive me to the gym, run my miles for me, pedal away on the bike, and lift the weights for me. Why do I seem to be putting in all this effort if I am not doing it on my own. Whoever that "other person" is better starting pulling her fair share, cause this is ridiculous:biggrin: They even say that the people on biggest loser "lost all that weight on their own!" Now I love that show, but seriously I don't think that putting people in an artificial environment and give them 2 personal trainers with an unlimited amount of time, education, and top of the line workout equipment is doing it any more on their own then I am. I know I am preaching to the choir, but it just irritated me. Janet I am with you and Kari. Planning a vacation to Oprah to ambush her!

I just tell them no water and if they ask why I just tell them because I had lap band surgery at that is the rule. But then again, I have always been very comfortable telling about my surgery. If they do bring it then I just slide it to the far corner of the table. I too have been a waitress and I know how crazy it can get and you can't remember everything. If it is that big of a temptation then I would just hand it back to them or remind them "no water" when they bring it.

So here we are in our 6 month after surgery and I was wondering if there was one thing (other than better food choices/smaller portions or exercise) that you are doing that you think is really making the difference? Here is what I mean. I used to be a HUGE eater in the car. I was also a "closet" eater so that makes sense. But prior to being banded I ate in my car at least 1-3 times per day, and it was never healthy. We went to Carl's Jr. the other day for my BF to get something to eat and I was looking at the nutritional facts and just about passed out. My daily food consisted of a loaded breakfast burrito (870 calories), 2 sides of hashbrowns (360 cal each) and a large lemonade(400+ calories) . Then before I would go home I would get 2 big hamburgers (470 cal each). THe amount of calories that I would consume in the car was astounding. So that is why I asked. I thought it would be kind of fun and maybe help someone that is on a plateau or early on in this journey find some things they too can do to change behaviors.

I stayed home. Went to school this morning to make copies, but then came back home. We are supposed to be getting a new couch delivered in less than an hour so then I can curl up on the couch with my box of tissues and watch daytime tv! I actually have a lot of work to do, but I am going to veg until about noon and then get busy. Besides I can't think anyways. Yeah it always makes me angry whenever anyone even HINTS that WLS is the easy way out. The fact that there are so many people who are NOT successful with WLS should clearly show that this is not easy. Of course anyone who says anything about WLS and being easy gets a piece of my mind... and not the pretty part either. Well I am going to try and eat something. My fill is really loosening up. I don't know if it will be to the point that I have to go back in the end of March and get a fill (VERY SMALL ONE!) or if I will be just fine here. My superbowl party was fun yesterday. I have realized though that when food is just sitting out I end up eating more than I should. At home, the food is always in the kitchen. Thankfully we do not have an open floor plan so I can't see the fridge or the microwave or any of the food, so I don't have a problem with grazing. I mean I did really well eating wise and made good choices (the people hosting new I had surgery and made sure to have high protein choices for me!). I just happened to notice that I am more likely to graze when I see the food. One person did bring this ENORMOUS chocolate cake and I did have a piece of it and frankly I didn't think it was to die for. Now prior to these changes I would have done anything to have another piece, but now I am happy just having that half of a sliver (and not the part with the frosting HUGE NSV for me!). I am a huge frosting girl. For the first birthday that I had after my dad and I started talking again we celebrated together since is is shortly after mine. Instead of the cake, we both just ate the tubs of frosting. I know that had to lead to a few pounds that I am working off now! Okay well I need to move our old love seat out of the way so I will check in later.

My band mommy looks HOT! I will post my pictures on Feb 9, which is my 6 month bandiversary. Yesterday was a huge NSV day. You all know that I have been struggling with body image issues, but I think I had a bit of a break through yesterday. We went to Wal-Mart last night and some of their clothes were marked down to 3.00$ and since that is cheaper than our thrift stores here I bought a few shirts. XL are starting to be a little to big so I thought I could go to a L. Well they didn't have larges in all of the colors/styles that I wanted so I decided I would get some mediums that I would shrink into. So I came home and tried them on and lo and behold some of the mediums actually fit. I will have to lose a few more pounds for all of them to fit, but I couldn't believe that I was standing in my living room wearing a size medium shirt. To be honest, even when I dreamed of what my smallest size would be when I lost the weight, I prayed that it would be a large. I don't ever forsee being in a small on the top because I really do have a wide rib cage. There is not much fat left on it and bones aren't supposed to shrink! But I can't even make a goal for the size pants that I will be in. All of this is unimaginable to me. For the first time last night I looked in the mirror and I didn't see myself as fat. It was earth shattering in a good way. Well I am sick as a dog. I think I caught what my BF had and it is terrible. I can't think and I am trying to plan for a sub and it just isn't working. Usually I strategically plan the days that I am absent so sub plans are easy, but when it happens that I am actually sick and need to be gone, sub plans are a nightmare.

So my plateau is officially gone too. I woke up this morning to find the scale down 2.5 pounds. That means that in less than 6 months I have lost 75 pounds. I can't even believe it. I was in such shock this morning that I must have gotten on and off that scale 20 times. Also we went into the other town so that I could buy some bras today at the outlet mall and when we were there I went into Eddie Bauer's cause they were having a huge sale and I am not kidding you, I got into a size large, button down shirts to go with my SIZE 9 jeans. I am not going to get to the gym today however...I am sick as a dog. My head is pounding, my nose stuffy, my throat raw and my ear hurts. Sounds like a good ol' cold to me!

So my plateau is officially gone. :biggrin: I woke up this morning to find the scale down 2.5 pounds. That means that in less than 6 months I have lost 75 pounds. I can't even believe it. I was in such shock this morning that I must have gotten on and off that scale 20 times. Also we went into the other town so that I could buy some bras today at the outlet mall and when we were there I went into Eddie Bauer's cause they were having a huge sale and I am not kidding you, I got into a size large, button down shirts to go with my SIZE 9 jeans. Katrina - Congrats on getting to onederland. It is such a huge milestone and really seemed to reenergize me to keep it going. Phyl, Lindaa - I am with you on not knowing who to root for. We are going to a Super Bowl party tomorrow so at least it won't be a lackluster game. I can't bring myself to say that I am rooting for the Pats but I think Eli is a chump too so. The only reason that I would like to see the Giants win is because of Michael Strahan. I like him. Ruby - I am glad that you are happy with your fill. It is funny how some of us can't tolerate being that tight and others are just happy as a clam. That in itself tells you how personal this journey is. So Janet must have had a wild evening last night...she hasn't checked in with us today. :biggrin: Well I am supposed to be chaperoning our winter formal tonight, but I am getting sick so I don't know if I will last the entire time. Later

So for anyone who needs a little bit of motivation to put their goals down here, do I have a story for you. I have not been feeling well the last couple of days (stress from work I think) I had a terrible headache yesterday and started getting one today. However I went to the gym and I was only going to do 40 minutes but while I was walking I thought how I was going to put that on my challenge numbers and I really didn't want to have to deal with decimals (I teach science all day the last thing I want to do is deal with more numbers!) So I decided that it would be better for me and my math laziness to just do 2 more minutes so that I could keep it at whole numbers. Any way you can motivate yourself to get a few more minutes out of the gym is good for me. Happy Anniversary Becky! Welcome Mary Frangi- Thanks for staring the thread! This keeps me WAAAAY motivated.

NO FILL FOR ME!! 2 weeks ago I had to have a slight unfill because I had been so tight. After what I went through for a month I am not sure that I want another fill! No I am just at a good ol' stall. I lost 15 pounds last month because I essentially lived on protein shakes (too bad they don't have a puking smiley cause that is what should be inserted here) and soups. So I halfway figured that it would slow down. I do think that I am gaining some muscle because my size 12 jeans are getting to big. The teachers at work today kept commenting that if I stepped wrong they were going to fall off. So I tried on a pair of size 10s and they fit, but they weren't as comfortable as I wanted them to be and I didn't like the color so I didn't buy them. Well I am off to veg for the evening. I had a long day at work.

Whew what a day. Today was grading day so that we could enter our grades in. I am still not done. With the new grading system that a "lucky handful" of us are doing it takes much longer than regular. It really is worth it though. The system seems to be working and I am actually hating my job less. It makes it more meaningful. Anyways I love my new workout goal. I went to the gym tonight and said that I was only going to do between 30 and 40 minutes. Then as I was working out I realized that the way I have my goal set up I would have to start working in decimals if I didn't do the entire hour. I realized that after teaching scientific/math concepts all day I don't want to come home and do more math, no matter how easy it is. So I figured I would just do the whole hour. Success on the first day. Now if I can keep that attitude up for the next 28 days I should be golden. Well I am off to just veg for a while. I have a bunch of work to do tomorrow so I will check in when I can. I will have to come back and look at the chair when I have the energy to click a mouse!

If it was me, I wouldn't do them on a regular basis. The one thing you should ask yourself is "Can I live like this for the rest of my life?" If the answer is no or probably not, then it probably isn't something that we should be doing. This is about a lifestyle change. But this is just my opinion. You have to do what you think is best for you. I have not lost a pound in almost 2 weeks, but I don't think I am going to do anything too extreme. I may look at my carb intake and adjust that a little bit, but that is the most extreme that I would do. But again that is just my opinion.

I did make my January challenge last night but barely. I had the worst headache of my life so I went home and went to bed. I didn't go to the gym but I did do the yoga video so I counted it. Alright this is going to be my final goal. That doesn't meant that it is going to be the last month that I will be doing exercise, but this is what I am hoping to maintain for life. I have gone to hours because that way if I miss a day I can make up for the next. So my goal is now 30 hours a month. Great job to all of you who made your goal last month and to those who may not have made it, but are beginning to make the commitment to exercise in their life.

I have never done weight watchers or Jenny Craig. All my diets were my own concoction or strict Atkins. I know I am eating too many carbs right now. It is good to know that i will be able to eat more of them when I get to maintenance and not gain weight, but right now when I am still losing I do have to keep them low. The reason I am eating more carbs is because I am still tight in the mornings so I have to eat softer foods which includes oatmeal and cream of wheat. This morning I did have some noodle-less lasagna so that was certainly lower in carbs and I am finally to the point that I am not starving. Good thing too because I am out of food!!! Okay well we do have donuts that are right behind my classroom but I am not going there! We are going to have some beef stew for dinner so assuming that I can get the beef down that sounds really good for me. I am going to go home from work however and take a nap. I am exhausted today and I have a raging headache. I have to go to the gym sometime tonight but I will do that after my nap. My goal for next month's exercise is going to be in hours. I think that 30 hours a month for exercising is a reasonable goal that I can maintain for life. That way if I miss one day I can make up for it over the next few. Well lunch is over and I have kids streaming in. Later.

Ummmmm....my scale is moving in the wrong direction. First it stopped and I haven't lost anything since 2 days after my unfill, but now it has gone up a pound. It has to be muscle mass, but I really wanted to lose 75 pounds by my 6 month bandiversay which is in 10 days. I don't know if I am not eating enough with the new increase in exercise, but I have found that lately I am hungry in between meals. I woke up hungry this morning. usually when that happens I just drink something and will be fine. However, today that just didn't cut it. I ate at 6:30 and I just had to have a protein bar at 9:30 cause I thought I was going to die. I know we are not supposed to snack between meals, but when I get lighthead and feel like I am going to throw up I think that constitues real hunger, not head hunger. I didn't want to eat because I was in the middle of class, but jeez. I actually still feel really light headed. This is why sometimes I think I need to go to a nutritionist. I really don't remember what mine said about calories. I am eating about 900-1000 a day and working off between 400-700 in exercise a day. I am pretty sure that I am losing size as my size 12 jeans are getting a bit loose and are starting to slide off a bit. I can pull them off and on without unbuttoning them so that is usually a good sign that they are getting loose. I don't like tight clothes so I will stick with these for a while, but at some point I am going to have to go to the store and see if the 10 fits. In all honesty, that was my goal size, but I thought I would be smaller than I am when I got to a size 10. I am still having body size distortion issues so now I have no idea what my goal would be. I am pretty big in the chest area so shirt sizes will always be distorted for me. I had planned to to go the bigger town next to us this weekend and get some of the spanx type undergarments at Target (apparently they have a cheaper brand that is just as good), but we just got socked with a new winter blast so that is a no go. Maybe next weekend! Okay gotta get back to grading. I swear I am going to take all of next week off from grading. I say that but then I would be so swamped I woulnd't recover until spring break!

Okay I am going to make this challenge if it kills me. I got in two workouts yesterday and 2 today. That means that I only have to do 1 tomorrow. And I think that is exactly what I am going to do. So here is the thing that made me angry today. When I go to the gym in the afternoon I workout until I have burned off all of the calories that I have eaten during the day, especially if we are going to go out to dinner because I can never have an accurate count from restaurant meals. Today however we didn't decide that we were going out until right before I left work and headed for the gym. Meanwhile I had eaten 650 calories during the day (eating to many carbs/calories in the morning because I am still too tight during that time!). So I figured that it took me a total combined time fo 30-40 minutes to eat those calories BUT IT TOOK 2.5 HOURS IN THE GYM AFTER WORK TO BURN THEM OFF! :tt1::tongue: How unfair is that. No wonder we are the fattest country in the world. And I made decent food choices throughout the day: Oatmeal for breakfast, homemade chili for lunch, and a protein bar for after school snack. Ugh could you imagine how long you would have to be in the gym to burn off a big mac meal! :eek:That calculation alone will keep me running as far away from McFlabbies...ugh I mean McDonalds as I can get. Well off my soapbox and off to bed. Swear all I did today was workout and work. Oh wait...that is all I did. I hate the middle of the trimester grading times. So stressful. I have found that the gym does help with that though. Night!

My fill gets tighter during that TOM and when I am stressed out, so they can tighten up. I live in Redmond OR. Is that close to you? My doc is in Olympia, WA and I do go out of town to get my fills and unfills. The doc in Bend, OR will do an unfill, but the price they quoted me was outrageous and they don't do it under fluoro, so I didn't go to them. Janet - My doc said that I just had to stay on liquids for the remainder of the day after having the unfil. Though it still hurt to eat the next day so it took me a while to get back to being able to eat at night. Mornings are still tight for me, but at night I am wide open. Though I am too scared to eat bread or rice. Even when I was completely unfilled rice didn't work well for me, but I wasn't a big rice eater anyways so not a problem for me. Pasta seems to go down just fine. Mango- Gosh I really hope that they can do something about those hives. Hives or middle schoolers? I don't know which ones are worse!:tongue: I worked out very hard today. My goal is to burn off all of the calories that I have eaten for the day if we are going to go out to dinner. Usually I plan when we go out to eat and eat accordingly during the day. Today I ate 650 calories by the time we decided we were going out to dinner. (Being to tight in the mornings is leading to higher calories because I have to eat a lot more carb based foods which are higher in calories!) So I worked off all 650 calories. This whole food/calorie thing isn't fair. IT took a combined total of about 30 minutes to eat those 650 calories and 2.5 hours to burn them off. HOW IS THAT FAIR. But needless to say I did it. I ran, I walked, I walked up a very steep incline, I elipticalled, and I biked. Hey it 2.5 hours you have to change it up or you are going to fall asleep and fly off the treadmill! Well to my newly extended family I am going to bed. My eyes are caving into the back of my head. Wahooo. DVR on Saturday so no more staying up late to watch the biggest loser. Oh and by the way Janet I was so angry that the pink team got sent home. Bette-Sue was my hero. If she could workout like that I certainly could. I can't stand the "orange team" Now I am rooting for the new black team all the way. If I was there I would want Jillian as my trainer. For those of you who don't watch ignore my rambling. Nighty Night

I never pb'd when I was so tight. I just had incredible pain. I am pouting for you! It is amazing to me that some people are as tight as you are and keep going back for more because they are hungry. I want to shake them and tell them that the reason they are hungry is not because they are too loose, but rather because they are too tight. I am way looser than I was before, but even now the dang thing is so tight in the morning that it is hard for me to find foods that will keep me full for the 4-5 hours that I have to wait between meals and not cause me pain. Yogurt just doesn't cut it. Okay well back to Biggest Loser...this show is ticking me off. The stupid little games they play. I know for those people who don't understand what it is like to be overweight it is the only thing that would keep them watching. But I still don't have to like it. Nighty night

Janet if it makes you feel better I had nachos from taco bell today. Okay so I did replace the beef with beans and left off the cheese sauce, but they were still nachos! As the official food cop/angel sidekick I give you permission to eat them. Besides what the hell else can you eat! I was terribly tight this morning and it is causing me to be hungrier later in the day which is not good for me. But back to you. Remember 98% of the time you can be good. Your birthday is part of the 2%. Now if you say that you are going to have that for dinner tomorrow night then your band daughter will come and kick you in the hiney. But today eat em up!

Let me tell you, we are all adults here and if what you said offended anyone then they just need to stay away and stop reading. So that was more offensive that anything you said. I agree with Jaqui that you have to do what is right for you and what you can live with. I could give the complete rundown of what I do, but that may totally backfire for you. My best advice would be to stick with what your doc/ nutritionist say to do. I don't drink anything with liquid calories...especially Protein drinks. Yes they are protein, but dang most of them are FILLED with sugar and that makes me not lose weight, but for some they do fantastic drinking those DISGUSTING shakes. 98% of the time I eat only healthy things. That way when I do splurge a litte...who cares. Life is going to be like that. Ask yourself "What am I doing when I lose the most amount of weight?" Then think can I honestly live like that and not feel deprived? If you can't then guess what...you are on a diet and this is not about a diet...this is a lifestyle. So that means that you go from that level of optimum dieting and you make the modifications that you need to in order to be able to live and still lose weight. Right now I do think it sounds a little complicated, but we are just finding ourselves right now...on many different fronts. Once we determine what we can live with, I think that it will become effortless like it is for Jacqui. She is definetly right about forgetting about what we CANT do, and focusing on what we can. So to summarize...Who should you listen too???? YOU!