JustWatchMe

Well, I certainly made the most out of my feast day. Anyway, not gonna stress over it. Had a good meal out with my bestie but the drinks just killed the calorie count for the day. I didn't even finish my dinner. I haven't had Pasta in many weeks. Maybe months. Sent a third of the order home with my friend. But those appletinis.... No regrets though.

I had no social confidence when I was at my high weight at age 28. I was confident in my career skills and my intelligence, but not in interactions with people. I could teach a training class and get accolades for my ability to explain concepts, but don't talk to me alone after the class ended. I lost my excess weight in 1988-1989 and everything changed. I was a normal size and my social confidence skyrocketed. I tried new activities and met people. I met my husband and got married. It took a lot of years for all the weight to come back. It took a lot of years for all that confidence to erode. I was still "all that" for quite some time. I was also in denial. Slowly I lost the self confidence I had when I was fit and happy. My marriage deteriorated and I felt powerless in the relationship. I allowed myself to be overridden at every turn. I focused on my children. Life became very miserable. A year ago I decided to get my confidence back. I needed to change my life and in the mental state I was in, that was never going to happen. I remembered the confidence I had when I lost weight years before. I got my band in March this year and made huge life changes in July. I am taking my life a day at a time now but slowly my confidence is coming back. For me it is not only about appearance. When I am obese I am also in a food coma every night and I am "checking out" of life. When I am eating clean and taking care of myself I am fully present and proud of myself. Yes, my size is part of that but it's so much more than size. I don't ever want to feel "less than" again. I've learned that how I treat myself ultimately teaches others how they can treat me. And they are going to treat me well, or they will be out of my life.

I lost 130 pounds over two years by diet and exercise at age 28. I got down to 156 pounds and got married. I gained 11 pounds on my honeymoon and never saw 156 again. Fast forward a couple of decades, a couple of kids, dozens of diets and pills and rounds of Weight Watchers, and many more pounds lost and regained. This March I was banded. I lost 50 pounds before my first fill. I follow the plan most days pretty well and I'm down over 80 pounds. Halfway to goal. The difference is this time those pounds are not coming back. I'm 53 years old and I've been there and done that. I want a life. I'm getting one.

It just rebooted after I sent that post. Grrrrrrr

Hi Alex, I don't know why, but for the last day or so the freezing and crashing has gotten much worse. I'll be reviewing threads in Participated and often when I reply or like, it will freeze. Nothing gets it going again except closing and restarting the app. Sometimes it happens even when I'm only reading the posts and not interacting with them. Also, I've noticed the screen jumping constantly as if it was refreshing all the time. Very very annoying because it is so hard to read as it jumps and refreshes. I didn't notice these problems several days ago. Weird.

@@intelirish, congrats on the progress! For me I have been so glad to not get on the scale. I probably will do it on Sunday because I'm so curious, but I feel so much better that I'm sure some weight has come off. Also with a weekly weigh in on Sunday I know my results aren't going to be reflective of any immediately previous fast. Sunday morning is after two days of regular eating. I got hungry after all this morning and lunch is not for two more hours. So I had some almonds, measured out and counted. The almonds are 240 calories and my breakfast was only about 90 calories. No wonder I was hungry. Drinking my Water with the flavor drops. It's so easy to drink a lot of water that way. I don't know why I resisted them this long.

@@Bandista, a 5k! Wow! Hey take those cheers and clapping. You deserve them! You've inspired me today. I need to up my exercise, crappy knees and all.

Fun Friday! I'll have to be careful today. lunch with coworkers followed by evening dinner and drinks with some friends. I didn't plan it both for the same day, but that's how it evolved. So glad it's not a fasting day! Odd thing is I was quite hungry last night and totally expected to wake up ravenous. Nope. Normal mild hunger waking up. I had some lean beef slices for breakfast and I'm getting ready for my coffee now. This week was much easier than I thought it would be.

I went out for awhile and I feel better now. Word to the wise. Don't go grocery shopping late on a fast day. I had to go because I was out of dog food. But sheesh. It was hard. I bought some veggies and hummus and promised myself I could have them at breakfast if I really wanted to! Oh and I bought some Dasani Drops water enhancers. Pineapple Coconut and Strawberry Kiwi. The pineapple coconut one is yummy and I pretended I was having myself a piña colada. Ok folks, time for bed!

Ok, well, I had all my food at lunch today and came in for the day just under 500 calories. I have been totally pumped up all day and feeling skinnneeeeee. I even went to Target to try on jackets, and I'm down from a 3x or 4x to a 1x. I actually didn't buy one because I didn't care for the styles. Omg. That's new. Before, if something fit, I bought it in three colors just to be safe. Black, black and black. And then. Then I heard back from my divorce attorney about a legal question I had today and without going into specifics, my emotions got all worked up and I'm feeling like $#!t. Like Pavlov's dog, I want food. Head hunger. I was feeling great. I was feeling happy. Then I felt like crap. And I want to eat. I'm not going to eat. I'm going out for awhile. I took a walk and I'm going to finish this day strong like it started. Living well is the best revenge. I'm going to live well!

Oh yeah. Don't come between me and my special food. Grrrrr......

Oh I miss my Jimmy Johns. Unwich? No bread?

Dammit, I am crying at work. Thanks @@SillyAuntDi! You're beautiful and a true inspiration.

When you freely discuss your BMs with strangers on the internet

You know you've had WLS when..... You freely discuss your BMs with strangers on the internet. ????

Notice the warning against NSAIDs.

@@MiltonMommy, you are not alone. Fear of gaining is real and I've read your experience here before. I think my surgeon's office and hospital support group meetings have just done a good job of scaring me early on! Also, I'm 53 years old with arthritis and other crap going on, and I tend to take after my mother physically. At my age she was hospitalized with an emergency bleeding ulcer that almost killed her. All due to an arthritis NSAID that burned a hole in her gut without her realizing it until she passed out on the bathroom floor. They tried to cauterize it laproscopically but failed, and so she had open gut surgery in the ER. That experience affected me and made me very conscious of stomach care. If my late dad who had dementia hadn't found her and had the presence of mind to phone for help she would have died. Anyway, I didn't enter into WLS lightly (few of us do) for these reasons. So I am real cautious about an overly tight band.

When it's the first really chilly morning of the season and you realize you have no jacket in your closet to wear because 1) you were so pumped up about your weight loss you gave away all your fat clothes and 2) you are still losing so you still haven't bought a new one. Brr!

Ok folks, today is Thin Thursday! Fasting for me. What that means today for ME is I started my day with 4 oz prune juice light (sigh) and my coffee with yes, cream. Half and half actually. Gotta have my coffee. Probably two mugs full this morning. I brought my Water bottle and have some Mio drops to help keep me drinking water all day. I'll go to Subway for lunch and get a spicy Italian chopped salad and cup of broccoli Soup. Without added oil that's a lunch of 470 calories. I found I don't need oil if I have enough banana peppers in the salad. Then at six pm I am meeting a friend for walking and talking for a couple of hours. That will get me through my day and I plan to hit the sack early with a grumbling tummy! I am SO psyched to be doing this and not weighing in the morning as well. I'm so glad others have hopped on the 5:2 train with me!

@@SillyAuntDi, you're amazing!

I'm so glad you had fun! Woo hoo!

No but it kinda makes sense. They stuck a tube down your throat for anesthesia and maybe bruised some of your vocal cords or whatnot. Be kind to your voice for a few days. Maybe check with your surgeon too.

"Weightloss can help prevent reoccurance and even with knowing this I still can't control my food on my own!" Yep. Obesity is a disease. If knowing equated to fixing, none of us would be on these boards. Good for you getting the surgery you need to live a long and healthy life. You deserve it and we are all here for support. Good luck!

@@MiltonMommy, thanks for your post. I'm six months post banding and scared of going too tight. Can I ask why you were tight for so long without an unfill? Throwing up all the time? My team stresses all the time that I shouldn't be getting stuck or throwing up if I am eating small bites and chewing and eating slowly. They put the fear of God in me about throwing up and causing my band to slip. So my last two fills were very very small ones as I approach the green zone slowly. I'm so glad you're giving it another go. There are many people on these boards who are coming back from a difficult time like yours. Good luck.

You're gorgeous!!!!! Look at you! I am so inspired. I have the baggy saggy skin too but it's under clothes so for now I'm ok. Eventually I may try to have insurance pay for a panniculectomy. I'm documenting skin issues with my general practitioner right now. I started a prescription powder about two months ago. A plastic surgeon I went to listen to recommended that people who were planning future plastic surgery take these steps way ahead of time. A paper trail with your general practitioner is critical to lay out the argument that the excess skin should be removed for medical reasons. Anyway, I haven't decided of course if I'm doing it or not. However, I'd like to keep my options open. Congratulations on your wonderful success!