My Life as a Bandster

[neenagh 0]

I,m glad u can laugh! I would have been so upset! I have a friend who goes there to do charity work, and he's about 6'4 and over 300 lbs (mostly muscle) and now i'll have to ask him if people stared and stuff! never occured to me that they were that much smaller!

you must tell us about your trip! was shopping involved?

[bandiva 0]

Hi everyone. Sorry I have been out of the loop. I have been really busy at work. February is not usually a busy month, but I had my open house yesterday, and today I am going for more training and then next Sunday I go for more training in Vancouver. So no days off for me!

I have been losing quite well. I am really happy to have reached the 40 pound mark. It is amazing how quickly a pound here and there can add up. I have good restriction. I am trying to stick to softer foods, I find if I eat more than 3/4 of a cup of stickier things I end up sliming.

I kept a diary of my trip to China, so when things calm down I will post the condensed version here.

I read through the Canadian forum almost everyday. It helps to see how you all are doing, what you are going through etc, now I just need to start posting more!

I am very happy to have my band. I feel like I have no doubt that the weight will come off and stay off this time. I treat it like it is pure gold and to be treasured and handled delicately. I feel much calmer about my weight/weight-loss than I ever have before and it feels great!

Take care everyone....you are my inspiration! xox

[argon 3]

Congrats, bandiva! you're doing awesome! :mad:

[becca77 0]

Good to see you back here Bandiva!!

[bandiva 0]

Had a rough afternoon today. I had some garlic sausage for lunch. While I am eating it, I am thinking..'man, this hurts', but do I stop???? No, why would I do that? So then I slimed for a couple of hours, had a hot tea and lived to talk about it. It's strange how the body is saying no, and the brain is saying keep going, there is just a little left.

Hope you all had a fabulous day!

[CLOE 0]

Ouch, that hurts Bandiva. Old habits die hard, happens to the best of us!!

[kwhenrykerr 0]

Fixing the brain to understand when to stop is the hardest part of all. I wish their was a pill to fix the brain.

[bandiva 0]

I read this today and thought it was helpful, so I thought I would share it with you. Hope you all are having a fabulous day!

De-Stress in 3 Minutes or Less

Stop Emotional Eating Before It Starts

-- By Dean Anderson, Behavioral Psychology Expert

What is the single, most common problem that most dieters face when trying to lose weight? Will power? Nah. Temptation? Sometimes. Emotional eating? Bingo! That’s why it takes so much more than good intentions and information about nutrition and exercise to be successful. The ability to manage difficult situations and feelings effectively—without turning to food and eating—is a necessary foundation for a successful weight loss plan and healthy lifestyle.

Fortunately, there are many proactive steps you can take to keep functioning on all your mental cylinders during tough times. These steps range widely from basic relaxation techniques to the development of a reliable support network. Other options include:

• Keeping a food journal to help you identify your emotional eating triggers
  
• Cultivating mental and emotional well-being through practices like meditation, mindfulness, massage, and yoga
  
• Developing good problem solving skills
  
• Turning to the Message Boards for help and support when you need it; offering help to others as a way to get your mind off your own troubles and gain a little perspective on things

But all of these things take time, and there are many instances when you need something you can do right now, to keep yourself grounded, focused and able to make good decisions. After all, you don’t always have time to take a walk, relax in a hot bath or call a friend to talk things over. That’s what we’ll be talking about here—a 3-minute trick for handling stressful situations in the moment.

Minute 1: Stay Grounded

Emotional eating happens when you lose your connection to your grounded self. Stress itself is not what makes you reach for something to eat. In fact, stress is often a good thing and your grounded self knows this! We need the physical stress of exercise to keep our bodies in good shape just as we need the stress of intellectual and emotional challenges to keep our minds healthy.

Nine times out of ten, what really leads to emotional eating is getting caught in a "mind storm" of worst-case scenarios, projections, misinterpretations, and all the emotional overreactions that come with these thoughts. This "storm" turns a manageable challenge into something that makes you feel helpless, overwhelmed, ashamed or afraid—and sends you to the kitchen to find something to stuff those extreme feelings. When you can stay grounded in the moment of stress, you have many more options.

Here are some simple ideas to keep you grounded when something (or someone) pushes your buttons and your feelings start to spiral out of control:

• Take a few deep breaths. (You can also count to 10, if that helps.) If the stressful situation involves someone else, take a timeout and agree to continue the discussion in a few minutes.
  
• Remind yourself where you are. Take a look around, noticing and naming the colors and shapes in the space around you.
  
• Notice the physical sensations you are experiencing. Whether it's a sinking feeling, turmoil in your stomach, tension in your hands or jaw, restricted breathing, or heat on the back of your neck, try to name the feelings that go with the sensation. Is that sinking feeling fear, or dread? Is the heat a symptom of anger?

The idea here is to stay in your body and in the moment—with what’s real—instead of going inside your mind where all those unreal scenarios are just waiting to get spun out-of-control.

Minute 2: Reality Check

Once you’re calm enough to start thinking productively, put all those thoughts that are clamoring for attention inside your head through a quick reality check. Here are several very common thought patterns that have no place in reality. Do any of these apply to you?

• All or nothing thinking
  Example: You go over your calorie limit or eat something on your “forbidden” list, and then decide to keep eating because you’ve already “blown it” for today. Reality: Weight loss is not a one-day event. If you stop overeating now, you’ll gain less and have less to re-lose later. That’s something to feel good about!
  
• Reading your own thoughts into someone else’s words
  Example: Someone made a mildly critical or unsupportive remark to you, and you feel completely devastated. Reality: The more bothered you are by such remarks, the more likely it is that you are being overly critical of yourself. When you treat yourself with respect, what others say won’t matter nearly so much.
  
• Either-Or thinking
  Example: You make a mistake or have a bad day and feel like a complete and hopeless failure. Reality: No one does well all the time. Mistakes are a necessary and valuable opportunity to learn—if you don’t waste them by getting down on yourself.
  
• Taking care of other people’s business
  Example: Something is going badly for someone you care about, and you feel responsible, or pressured to fix it. Reality: People need to learn from their own problems. You aren’t doing anyone a favor by trying to fix things just to make yourself feel better.

Minute 3: Putting Things in Perspective

Most common problems that you face in everyday life are much easier to handle when you keep them in perspective and avoid making mountains out of molehills. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to make sure you aren’t in the mountain-making business:

• How big a deal is this, anyway? If I knew I was going to die in a week, would this be something I would want to spend this minute of my remaining time on?
  
• Will any bad things happen if I postpone thinking about this until I have more time to figure things out?
  
• Do I have all the information I need to decide how to respond to this? Do I really know what’s going on here, or am I making assumptions? Am I worrying about things that might not even happen? What do I need to check out before taking action?
  
• Is there anything I can do right now that will change or help this situation?
  
• Am I trying to control something I can't, like what other people think, say, or do?
  
• Have I really thought through this problem, and broken it down into manageable pieces I can handle one-at-a-time?

Use this approach whenever your thoughts or situations begin to feel overwhelming, and you'll quickly find that the mountains that seem impossible at first can quickly morph into what they really are—manageable hills that you DO have the ability to climb. All it takes is three little minutes of your time.

Article created on: 6/21/2006

[Doddie63 6]

Hi Bandiva: Excellent thoughts but one seems to be missing. Being alone. One of the most dangerous triggers. Have you experienced being alone for long periods of time? There are a lot of overweight people who have little or no friends but the TV and Internet which is not a script for weight loss. Doddie

[bandiva 0]

Hi! I am feeling a little down these last couple days. It is probably cause I know what I have to do, I just keep procrastinating...exercise. Ironically, I love exercise, but I am having a mental block...

I would like to get off atleast 4 more pounds before the 23rd. I am going back to Grande Prairie to visit the kinfolk. I need to stay positive and maybe work a little less so I am not so tired. I can do this!

Hope you all are doing well!

[Doddie63 6]

You say your are so tired. Is this because of a physical or mental issue. You may have low blood sugar, Iron deficiency or you are depressed. I think you must clear these issues up by going to your doctor and eliminating the ones that are not the problem and working on the remainder. Doddie

[becca77 0]

Bandiva I know exactly what you mean. I love to excercise too but I can't understand what keeps me from doing it. I procrastinate and then feel guilty about it. Weird. You have done amazingly well so far. You should be very proud of yourself!

[bandiva 0]

Well, I finally got my butt on the treadmill Tues night. Did three miles and loved it. I went med-fast, and it was great. Yesterday I had a brownie, and today my scale un-stuck and I was finally down another pound. Hmmm....I wonder if I should have a brownie everyday to help me lose weight!

I need a fill. Don't feel like going back to TJ right now so I am trying to arrange somthing near home. Found a Dr. in Olympia (Washington) that I will call today, as well, I am going to try dr. Amson here in Victoria again today. So far, they are not returning my calls. They gave me a lame story about how they don't want to fill me because they missed out on the money because I had my band in Mexico. They need to get over it, he has a 3-4 year waiting list, I would think my health should be the bigger concern...but at least I am not bitter :biggrin1: . I will keep hounding them though becuase I feel deserving of local health care. I am going to try to contact Dr. Leung in Surrey...just need to find his info.

Doddie...in answer to your questions (thank you, by the way) I think I am just a little stressed out. I was having a few issues at work but I think I have dealt with about 75% of them. Sometimes (usually) it is not fun being the boss. Did some firing / hiring and it seems to be correcting things. Also, my mom found a lump which is probably nothing but you still worry (she is 78), and my sister is a new grandma and is having a few issues there. I am really hurting for her. It would all be so much better if I could just control everyone and everything! (I may have a few issues to deal with in this weight loss journey!) Thanks for your concern.

Happy Days everyone!

:confused:

[Gaffer 1]

They gave me a lame story about how they don't want to fill me because they missed out on the money because I had my band in Mexico. They need to get over it, he has a 3-4 year waiting list, I would think my health should be the bigger concern...but at least I am not bitter :biggrin1: . I will keep hounding them though becuase I feel deserving of local health care. I am going to try to contact Dr. Leung in Surrey...just need to find his info.

That is a real childish way for this Dr. to look at fills. It sounds like he has enough business to not worry about people going to Mexico. Why not do your fill, charge you for the fill & take the money for it.

Andrew

[kwhenrykerr 0]

"MISSED OUT ON THE MONEY" At least you got a truthfull answer. Not a bad answer when you look at doctors as a bussiness. Take your money where you feel is best for you.