oBand blogspot #2

I used to weigh in almost daily right after the surgery, excited to watch the scale leap downwards. Of course, after the initial weight fell off and I “leveled off”, I was discouraged that I wasn’t still losing 5 pounds a week! In fact, once I lost 10% of my body weight, I plateaued for almost 6 weeks. But, I kept working at it diligently and got over that plateau; and was delighted when the scale starting dropping again. Now I weigh in much less frequently. I let my clothes and my reflection be my guide. I actually enjoy looking at myself in the mirror now… my shape is really starting to look much smoother and I am wearing clothes I had boxed up 12 years ago and expected never to see again! Since most of them are out-dated, I allow myself to splurge on a new item or two as I keep dropping sizes. (On a side note, I put on a T-shirt I wore a lot last year, and it imply looked ridiculous on me this summer! I loved that feeling!)
It’s been two weeks since I’ve “weighed in”. Last year, that statement might have caused me to break out in a rash, have heart palpitations, and become drenched in sweat. This year, I seriously look forward to jumping on the scale! This morning’s result? 87 pounds lost since surgery date! Two weeks left to my “anniversary”! Will I reach 90 pounds? That is such a huge goal… and one I NEVER expected to see – even in 5 years –just by diet and exercise alone.

Thanks Dr. Naim!  Thanks oBand Surgical Center!

oBand blogspot #1

I just voiced another oBand commercial today.  How lucky am I to be tied to such a great company (both oBand and Go Country 105, of course!)?! 
And this is the blogspot I created for the Go Country 105 microsite on their webpage:

I have never successfully lost weight with a diet or exercise regime, certainly never more than 40 pounds at a time, and kept it all off longer than 3 months. Once I got bored with it or my body became used to the change, I usually I gained all the weight back, and then some extra, just for safe keeping. I finally gave up trying because if I ignored my weight problem and food intake, I would gain slower than if I tried to diet! So when I initially learned of the LapBand, I was pretty skeptical. I doubted it would work for me… nothing else had. When I decided now was the time, I was still insecure at first. But I figured if I only lost 50 pounds because of the procedure, it would still be 50 pounds I could not have lost on my own, and I would have the tools in place to maintain that weight in the future. Why wait?

After attending a few seminars and doing some research on the procedure, I connected with oBand Surgery Centers and met with Dr. Naim. The staff at the oBand Center are great, and they were confident this would work for me. I became confident that I would be successful, too. My goal was lofty, in my opinion… I wanted to lose 75 pounds in the one year after my surgery.

My life-changing appointment with Dr. Naim at the oBand Center was almost 11 months ago. I never dreamed I would meet AND then exceed my goals. To date, I have lost over 80 pounds and now I hope to exceed 85 pounds by the one year anniversary of my new lease on life!

Check in on me in about 6 weeks, will you? I will be the one shouting my joy from the rooftops!

 

photo credit:  see earlier credits in prior blog entries

Hey folks! I'm still here!

I updated my latest weight loss in on www.myfitnesspal.com and was really stoked to go back to my blog and see "70" staring back at me.  WOW.  That's pretty heavy stuff!  70 pounds!!!

So what's happened since I went to oBand Surgery Center on August 13th, 2010?

• I've lost at least 12 inches off my hips/waist.
• I've lost 4 full dress sizes... I even got into a fun cocktail dress from back in the day - that looked GREAT -  that was 5 sizes down from my highest regular size.  I won't count the one size above regular that I bought when I was 8 months pregnant with the Twinkies or the other few larger sizes with very unforgiving fabrics.
• I've lost 3 notches on my watch, which originally was pretty snug on the very last hole...
• I've lost 5 bathing suit sizes.  It really felt good to hit the pool this summer!!
• I've lost at least 6 inches from around my back/chest.
• I've lost 2 cup sizes. Not so awesome.  Oh well.
• I've lost my mind...wait, that was the lobotomy I got recently.
• I've even lost a width of a shoe size.

But what I've lost the most? 

• A little inhibition.  I still do want to crawl into a corner when the spotlight is on me, but I'm less likely to avoid the camera flashes.  I even voluntarily got up and did some karaoke at a twins convention this weekend!
• A little humility. In a good way of course... I am happy to accept compliments now. I love it when friends and family goes out of their way to tell me how great I look.  I actually say thank you, and mean it.  And I don't feel like I am fishing for them... they come naturally and easily.  I still sometimes blush.  ;-)

I've GAINED:

• confidence.
• happiness.
• more friends - because I'm exuding the aforementioned confidence and happiness!
• and apparently, "longer arms" because I can wrap them around other people farther!

Yay me!  But I still have a long way to go. Maybe this time I won't be absent for so long!

A whole bunch of a lot of things...

Update time!

I went to the gym today and my weigh in was 51.2 pounds down from surgery day!  Yay me!  I still feel guilty for losinng weight even when I do NOTHING to help my cause.  I think I found the ice cream stash more than once this week - shhhhh!  Don't tell!

My new Danish au pair totally rocks.  She's been here for about 10 days so far and is proving to be a great match for our family!  We had a blast celebrating a Danish holiday today.  The girls dressed up in princess outfits, nanny as a witch, and me in my LA Kings hockey jersey (complete with black eyes and "missing teeth") - which is so not cool in the O.C.!  We hit a barrel (pinata) with a cat (candy) inside and ate these incredible homemade buns with pudding and frosting.  I really have no idea what it was all about but it is supposed to be similar to Halloween.  Good times!

In fact, today I am guesting on nanny's laptop because mine decided today to not work anymore.  It is realllllly weird typing with a Danish computer... the keyboard is full of those funny letters like the 'o' with a slash through it, the Æ letters and all that Scandinavian jazz.  So if there is a typo, you will have to forgive me until I can edit this thing on a computer that speaks my language!  Danish spell check thinks every word is wrong!!  And, the screen is so tiny, that I can fit my entire palm on the screen and fill it up completely, so I can't even see what I am writing!

I like to follow other multiple mom's blog's and one multiples community blogsite featured me today!  Check out my post at Multiples.... and More.  Better yet, go send them some bloggy love too!  I know I will, as soon as 1) I wake up, or 2) find an English computer that works, or 3) get to work ad hijack their laptop!

Have a great day, dear readers!!

The plateau has been conquered!

So my recent post about plateaus keeping me down?  Not so much anymore.  I busted through that bad boy finally... right at Thanksgiving, which is so random!  And, I'm steadily losing weight again.  About 1-2 pounds a week, without much on the exercise front.  Again I wonder to myself how much weight I would have lost had I been pumpin' iron, running around the neighborhood or hittin' an eliptical machine!

Plateaus and Periods

Gosh, diet plateaus sure stink. (Content was edited... I really feel much stronger about that opinion!) 

Periods are no picnic either.  (Again, I could write a novel on that topic too!)

Put them both together and this is a recipe for diet disaster which includes a trifecta of depression, brownies, and lethargy.   Makes me kinda want to pull my hair out.

Motivation... or lack thereof

Why can I not get motivated to exercise?  Seriously!  It's like every time I go to the gym and have a great work out, and look forward to going tomorrow... that when it is finally tomorrow, I totally lack the motivation to have a repeat performance.  Why?  Let me tell you!

Accountability

Webster’s defines accountability as: the quality or state of being accountable; especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions .

When you “diet,” do you tell everyone that you are on a diet? Does it bother you when people constantly ask how you are doing and if you are losing weight, especially when you are not? And does it bother you when people say things like, “Well, you shouldn’t have that on your diet, right?!” or “shouldn’t you go to the gym more than twice a month?”

Or do you diet silently, not telling anyone, in hopes that if you fail, no one will give you any grief about it. So that no one bothers you about the fact that you’ve been paying for a gym membership for over 4 months without actually having gone inside?

I used to be a quiet dieter, keeping it to myself so no one will be let in on my latest failed venture. I was never accountable to anyone. What did my cat care if I lost 10 pounds or gained 15?

Now. Now I am accountable to my family. I am putting them first this time, because I need to get into a zone on the obesity scale that isn’t screaming red. For them. Because I want to be here on this earth, able to participate, now and in the future.

I am accountable to myself. I didn’t realize how little I thought of myself, before. I didn’t really care if I succeeded. What difference did it make? Once you weigh this much, what’s 20 pounds either way, right? Now, I jumped into this diet, this lifestyle change, with both feet and I cannot look back.

I am accountable to everyone I let in on the secret. I told people that I am going to lose a lot of weight. Whether it takes me 9 months or 2 years, I will lose a significant amount of weight.

I am accountable to everyone who reads this blog. So accountable in fact, that I put a weight ticker on the right hand column of my blog! I am aiming to update the weight loss ticker once a week for sure, or twice a week if I am super successful!

I am accountable to about 5 million people, by my last count. I put my story on my blog, on the website of a company where I work, and on the air-waves at a radio station!! Who does that?! I told millions of listeners that I was losing weight and they can too.

So now I am accountable to everyone else’s weight loss plan, too! OK, not really. But I am accountable to those who did what I did, at the place I used – the oBand Surgery Center. And I want to be! I want to be there to support anyone following my lead. Because we’re in this together.

I’ve already been responsible for gaining an extra 200 pounds. I’d like to be responsible for losing it too. And losing YOUR extra 60 pounds. And HIS extra 120 pounds. And HER 80 pounds.

How can I support YOUR weight loss plans? I’m finally ready.

 

Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accountability


Photo credit:

Week 8 thru 12 - Life as a Post-Op Bariatric Patient

Read me first, if you are new to my weight loss blog!
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5-7

Week 8 - 12
So as many of you know, October at my house is non-stop activity.  I had maybe 4 days where I could get to the gym if I wanted to... but had NO energy or nmotivation to do so.  I know, I know... some of you might be thinking "girlfriend has time to go to Disneyland 5 times that month, she couldn't bust her butt to work out a bit?  Gym's open til 10 ya know..."  Well, that's where "being human" comes into play.  Being human, I am prone to mistakes.  Mistakes such as "well, I suppose 1 piece 10 pieces of candy won't hurt" or "finally, a day of rest... I think I will!"  Mistakes like getting OUT of the habit of going to the gym frequently.  Mistakes like thinking that I should test my boundaries and eat as much as I can knowing the LapBand will stop me when I am full.  FAIL.   The LapBand is a tool, like Weight Watchers, let's say.  Weight Watchers gives you guidelines and rules and tools to use to help you lose weight.  But it's up to you to actually do the program correctly.  Same with the Lap Band.  You CAN fail if you put your mind to it.  You can overeat and stretch out the top of your stomach like you willingly did to the bottom of your stomach.  You can eat ice cream and consider that a liquid, like water, therefore you are still hungry for real food.  You can not exercise and watch your weight loss go from 20 pounds lost per month to maybe 5 pounds per month.

So, imagine my whole month - 5 weeks of not going to the gym, eating chocolate and halloween candy, and going to how many birthday parties with cake, and even throwing one of my own, complete with ME cooking a cake, cupcakes, cream cheese dips, artichoke dips, chips and dips... oh my!  What did that do to me?  Especially since I did NOT get a band tightening during week 10 like I probably should have.  The doc was on the fence... he would have tightened it if I asked, but I was having a problem keeping foods down (turns out it was my chewing issue, not necessarily what I was eating because it was all good healthy stuff) so I elected to go without the tightening.  Besides, I knew that I was having a party in 48 hours and the first 48 hours after a tightening is rather restricting .... liquids only!

So after almost a month of not seeing the inside of the gym, I went yesterday for a weigh-in.  Well the great news is that I hit my post-partum weight low from Fall of 2006.  I'm actually rather excited about it because my friends all commented that I looked great after the baby weight fell off because I had essentially dropped 105 pounds (60 of me, 45 of baby even though I gained those 45 during losing the 60... it's weird math, sorry)!  Anyway, now at the end of 12 weeks post-op, it's a total of 35 pounds lost but since my last blog post in mid-september, meaning I lost those 7 pounds in September after my tighening, then stayed flat for October.  I'm excited because even after all the crap I ate, I didn't gain anything!  Averaging the 35 pounds over the 12 weeks, that's 3 pounds a week, which is pretty awesome for a diet and/or lifestyle change, right?!

I'm still so happy my "tool" (aka LapBand from the oBand Surgery Center) is still working for me regardless of whether or not I help it work or follow the rules.  I'm going to "work it" in November and lose 10 pounds.  Really!  I'm going to, darn it!  I'm also going to start blogging my diet.  It will hold me accountable for my food consumption.  I don't want to have to admit eating a bag of chips and cheese dip!!  But I'll start tomorrow. 


photo credit:  google images

My October

October is always a super busy month for me.  Like, really busy.  So busy, in fact, that I've had a heck of a time trying to get to the gym this month and most likely won't go more than a handful of times the entire calendar month!  I really want to... but it's just not gonna happen.  Blogging?  I haven't even averaged once a week this month. Here's why:

Week 5 thru 7 - Life as a Post-Op Bariatric Patient.

Week 1;  Week 2;  Week 3;   Week 4  <-- read me first in case you're new here!

Weeks 5 thru 7

My doctor’s appt at the end of the 4 week period did result in a LapBand tightening.  What’s that?  Yeah… that’s the part THEY DON’T TELL YOU ABOUT!  Well, I will.  

My Rise to Fame

I am so nervous, people!!

Wednesday night is going to here fast. I have committed to holding webinars regarding the LapBand procedure for oBand Centers!  What does this mean to me?

Week 4 - Life as a Post-Op Bariastric Patient.

Week 4 was pretty much a normal week for me. The only difference between this week, and one of maybe 6 months ago, it that my food intake is substantially less than what it used to be. And of course, I'm currently quite obsessed with food right now.

The Towel Doesn’t Lie!

I got out of the shower last night and wrapped my towel tight around me.

Week 3 - Life as a Post-Op Bariastric Patient.

My 2 week post-op doctor appt went very well - I was given a hug and a big thumbs up. Doing very well. I am able to move up to the next food intake level. But do you know what? If the shakes weren’t so unappetizing to me, I’d be OK with not eating anymore. I’ve gone 18 days without a single bite of food. I did have a drinkable yogurt or two, and a Jamba Juice on a day when I ran out of drinks and “just had to stop” for sustenance (and sanity).

My first video!

I've spent the majority of the past 20+ years dodging cameras - video and still - and I've done a pretty good job of it. 

Post-op Week 2 - A look into the life of a starving bariatric patient!

WEEK 2
Monday, I went to the spa gym and had a body analysis done. BMI calculations, measurements, weigh in, assessments… the whole thing took an hour. But guess what? I’ve lost 18 pounds in 2 weeks!

oBand Just Saved My Life - Surgery Log

So I did it!  I went to the oBand Center and got me a LapBand!  This post will serve as all the details about my first week as a bariatric weight loss patient.  You'd be surprised about easy this was...!

The Second Step

It was a very stressful time. We were in escrow, selling the home I moved into when we got married. The home to where I returned from the hospital with our bundles of joy. The home we left when the Station Fire threatened our lives and returned back to after we got the “all clear.” I was packing up half of my home to go into storage and the other half to go to a temporary apartment where I would stay with our family until we could purchase another home … a larger home in a better neighborhood in an awesome school district. A sacrifice, a struggle, and a stressor, but it was for the better. I was trying to plan the Twinados’ 2nd birthday party without knowing where we were going to be living in 3 weeks. I was working 2 part time jobs in order to contribute to the family’s income. On my days off, I would drive off to spend the day in Orange County looking at homes for sale in the areas we were targeting. I also knew that THIS year I was going to do something about my weight. But I didn’t know how I was going to fit that little chore in with all that was going on in my life. Yet, one magical day, a sparkle was put in the eye of someone at work, and the ensuing result might change my life.