Leaping off the plateau!

So, I've been on this plateau for my weight loss for at least 3 months. It has been very frustrating. I think one problem is that I have been so happy with my new size, that I haven't been able to look forward to more weight loss. I'm thinking that I'm now use to my new size and have decided that I can now see me smaller and have made the mental adjustment to "leap off the plateau".


There are several indications that I have been able to make this adjustment.

• On January 12, I went in for another fill and have once again started to loose weight. So, in the last 2 weeks I am now down about 4 pounds.



• Seeing that January is a huge clearance month in retail, and I am a HUGE clearance shopper, I have been looking at the clearance racks/websites. I have made several purchases all in sizes smaller than I am currently wearing.



• The other night I was at a store, that was right next to Baskin & Robins. I walked to to door to "treat" myself to a peanut butter & chocolate cone. As I approached the door, I turned right around and headed back to my car.

My next challenge is exercising. I really don't enjoy it. Dr. Clinch says to loose the last half of my extra body fat, I need to exercise. I need to find an activity that I enjoy and have the time for that will give me the necessary activity levels. Once the weather gets better, I can see myself walking Roxy, but if its raining, it is really easy to stay inside where it's nice and warm.

My goal is that I will be breaking into some of the new clothes that are in my closet within the next couple weeks. I guess you'll know that I obtained my goal, when I'm wearing something other than the 10 outfits that I have been wearing since September!

I've lost my 8 year-old!

So, my youngest child turns eight this week and he is a very tall young man. I just realized as I watched the scale go down again for the first time in about 7 weeks that I have lost the equivalent on my 8 year-old in weight.

I went to see my surgeon last week and he was ready to do an adjustment on the band and I told him that what really needed the adjustment was my brain! So, we held off putting fluid in the band and I have been trying to eat better. One of the amazing things about the lap band is that you can basically eat all the sweets and desserts that you want... and you don't get full. I figured this out over the Halloween candy fest that seems to invade my home every year.

Another freaky side effect of the band is hair loss. If you don't eat enough protein you loose hair. I'm getting a little thin on the top. YEW! So, I've started taking protein shots, which is a 1 oz liquid drink that you can get at Costco that has 25 grams of protein. Hope this helps! But it is all the more motivation to adjust my thinking and to start eating better!

Even though I have reached a plateau on the scale over the last few months, I have dropped an entire pant size. My size 14 jeans are too big and the size 12p fit right, but certainly aren't tight. This has been rewarding. Another "non-scale victory" has been that for the first time in my entire life, I am able to wear tall boots. My legs have always been too large for boots... I am having so much fun wearing them.

I am looking to possibly getting off the plateau that I have been residing on for several months and jumping off the edge!!! It would be fantastic if I could loose some weight during the holiday season, which in my home if filled with lots of goodies. We will see!

Size 12P: Here I come!

So, weight loss has slowed down. But my enthusiasm is still there. I went to my doctor this week and was going to have him put more fill in my band and he suggested that we wait. He was pleased with my weight loss and told me that I have done in six months what it takes most people to do in a year and that is to loose 50% of their excess body weight. YEAH!! He also said looser is better than being too tight. He said that if I am on the tighter side I may eat more "softer proteins" vs "hard proteins". He said that if you fill up on soft cheese, protien drinks instead of meat and hard cheese, that you have a tendancy to eat every 2 hours instead of every 4-5 hours.

I am struggling with my self image. I am having difficulties envisioning myself as smaller than I am at this time. Last week I found some clothes on-line and started to order them in my current size or a little larger.... I took the dive and ordered medium and petite size 12. I was thrilled to put the P12 jeans and and am wearing them today, because they actually fit! Last night I tried the size M dress on. Granted it is stretchy but it fits! I am so looking forward to wearing it.

The scale is starting to move again, but having these non-scale victories are just as rewarding. I am looking forward to the next few months ahead and am determined to loose the majority of my "excess body weight" before my one year anniversary in April, 2010.

I'm half way to my goal!

So, the scale has finally decided to move once again and I am now at the half-way point to my goal. I am also at the point, except for the short time when I was 20 and lost some weight, I do not remember ever being this small as an adult. I currently weigh about 10 pounds more than I did when I graduated from high school 31 years ago.

So, I am now having problems visualizing myself as a thinner person. When I tell people that I still have another 50 pounds to go, most people also have a hard time visualizing me that thin and comment on the fact that I will by very small. Although the charts say that my goal is realistic, as I get closer to my goal I might have to adjust it, if it unattainable or if I just end up looking like a strong wind would blow me over.

So, as my body changes with this weight loss, it will definitely be a "new me". It will be interesting and exciting to watch the process from this point forward.

Fifty Pounds and holding

Well, I discovered that my theory on the acid reflux wasn't right, my band was too tight. A week after my adjustment in August, I ended up going in to have fluid taken out. Once again, I was able to sleep without waking up in the middle of the night feeling like I was drowning. While my band was too tight, I lost 6 pounds in a week. I have tapered off the weight loss, allowing my body to adjust to the drastic drop in weight during that week.

In the meantime, I am enjoying that fact that I am several sizes smaller than I was when I started this journey. Last night, I bought a jacket from Costco that was a "Large" I would have needed a "XX Large" six months ago.

We took our daughter down to California for college and enjoyed a beautiful walk through the Redwood National Forest. It was so nice to be able to stroll down the path and never get winded.

I have also started going back to the gym. Now I hate going to the gym and made it back one day last week. That alone is a victory. I need to start going into the dreaded place several times a week. Finding time for this in my busy schedule is a challenge.

I am posting a picture of me that was taken at my 50 pound weight loss.

50 Pounds -- A Huge Scale Victory!!

Wow, since I last posted on August 19, I have lost 6.8 pounds in 11 days. YES!!!

Last Tuesday I went in to see my surgeon and because I have increased how much I can eat, we decided to add .3 cc to my band. I did talk to him about what I thought was acid reflux which was happening if I ate just before going to bed. On Tuesday, when I got home I decided to groom my poodle puppy and did not eat until 10:30 pm. Normally after an adjustment, you eat soft foods, and what did I do at 10:30 pm? I ate pot roast. I paid for it all night long. Every time, I started to doze off to sleep, I would feel like I was choking on stuff... I then would start coughing and would cough up stuff.... This happened all night! I now have a new rule: Do not eat after 8:30 pm. As long as I follow this rule life is good!

But in the mean time, the scale has moved. As of yesterday morning, I have lost a total of 50 pounds. The equivalent of 50 pounds is:

• A Costco size bag of Russet Potatoes
• 5 -- 10 pound bags of flour
• 200 cubes of butter
• 3 and 1/3 of 5 gallons buckets filled with laundry detergent
• 1.25 bags of wood pellets

Even though my band is a little on the tight side, it feels so good to be loosing this weight. I've decided I like it that way. I read about people who have lost 25 pounds in 6 months and I certainly don't want to be in that position. I figure if I keep in contact with my surgeon and keep the restriction tight that I will get to my goal sooner than later.

Life is good and it feels wonderful not to be lugging around 200 cubes of butter every day!!

It Moved!!

Finally after almost 2 weeks the scale moved. I hadn't blogged lately, because the scale wasn't moving, I've decided that I put way to much stock in the scale. When I weigh the non-scale victories against the scale victory, they far out weigh the scale victory.

Non-Scale Victories --

• We went out to Teatro ZanZinni's and I dressed up in a dress that I purchased several years ago and it looked great. Here is a picture of me from that night



• I am now wearing jeans that are a size 14 instead of a 18Womens!!!



• I saw family that I haven't seen for a year and some of them did not know abut the Lap-band surgery. My nephew, looked at me and said: "Something is different, is it your glasses?" "NO". "Is it your hair?" "No, it just grayer since the last time I saw you. It's 42 pounds!!!" "I knew it was something..." It just felt good to have someone look at me with a shocked look and standing there trying to figure it out.



• I feel so much better.



• I went to the Puget Sound Poodle Club meeting during the first part of July and then again in August. They didn't recognize me. Seeing that they had only met me once, and then again the second time and I had taken off over 10 pounds in the short time, I just didn't look the same.



• My watch is not staying put, because I have lost about 3/4 inch off my wrist and it now hangs loose.



• I am completely off my diabetic, high cholesterol and blood pressure medications. And my morning sugar levels average 100!!!

Scale Victory-- 43.20 Pounds

Even though this is a difficult journey, I have to say I am very glad I did it. Even though I might physically get sick from eating incorrectly, these victories far out weigh the difficult journey.