WHAT!?! 2 Years just snuck right past... (pictures)

I've been banded for 2 whole years... getting this little tool "installed" was the best gift that I could have given myself and my family. I am still anxious to see where this journey will take me. (And to be honest a bit nervous as to where I'll end up) But all I can say is that never in all my life of dieting have I ever been able to maintain any amount of dieting/weight loss for any amount of time. So this is a new record for me and you know what? I'm still losing...

Yeah, sure, it's a lot tougher now to lose weight then it use to be (when I was first banded, it came off without a lot of work on my part) but it's at least possible!!! And for so many years.... it was just SO IMPOSSIBLE!!! I feel normal now.

Maintaining is the new normal for me and if I want to lose weight then I have to really eat less and work out more. I mean that is what I always heard people say that's what it took to lose weight but it just never worked that way for me.

I can't really explain it. But if you've ever been really overweight you'll know what I'm talking about. And if you've never struggled with major weight issues then you'll just think it was lack of will power on my part. But I'm telling you... it was something more. Something I couldn't take care of on my own. I needed help and for me that help came in the form of a little tool called a Lap-band.

Now losing weight is more like a game. A challenge... Can I lose another 10 lbs? If not.. Oh'well.. I am happy where I am... if so then how cool is that!!

I have met all my personal goals for why I wanted to lose this weight... my last goal of seeing 180.00 on the scale is only 8lbs away. I have lost 125lbs. I am 94% of the way to my goal of 180lbs.

I feel blessed. What an opportunity and blessing this has been for me and my family. I remember about a week before I went to have my surgery laying in bed with my husband, he said something like "Wow, this could really be a game changer... you could look totally different in a year...." I agreed with him but my heart was thumping in my chest and I was really scared that it was just another false hope, just another gimmick, just another failed attempt... AND It hasn't been a magic fix. It HAS taken work, effort, dedication and responsibility. But I'm telling you now... It's been worth it!

So just for fun... here are some photos of me pre-band. As always click on the picture for the larger version. (cringe) I'm sure I have even better more embarrassing pictures in my back up files but these were the handy picture files still on my computer.










2 years After:

Yep, that's me on the left with 3 of my siblings... I look tiny wedged in there between my big ole brothers. Yeah, and I just said "tiny" a word that I never thought I would say in regards to me!

hmmmm... another gastirc to band story - GO CARNIE!

Carnie Wilson undergoes weight loss surgery for the second time

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/03/21/carnie-wilson-undergoes-weight-loss-surgery-for-second-time/?intcmp=features#ixzz1pn91sUrT

Whew!

Happy to say that I made it back to my pre christmas weight! YEAH!

I am on a new mission to make it to 180.0 by Easter. I even bought a Easter skirt and top that doesn't really fit at the moment. It's all snug and lumpy. So I have what about six weeks to drop that last 10-12 lbs. In order for that outfit to look good.

It's been a while since I set a serious goal so this is going to be challenging. I figure it's perfect timing. It's starting to warm up and I am am ready to get a movin.

I have always wanted to weigh 180.0 but never thought it possible. I am so close... I can almost taste it! I can soooo do this!!! Send me some good motivation vibes! Cute Easter outfit here I come... by the way... it is a size 12. AHHHH!!! a size 12!!! That is nuts!

It's Your Choice...

If you keep eating what you've been eating you'll keep weighing
what you've been weighing.  

Your CHOICE.  

ADMIT that every time you eat you are making CHOICES.

Choices that lead you towards or goal or choices that keep
you stuck or make you go backwards.  Figure out what you
REALLY want and make the choices that lead you there.

--Jessie

Read this to day... and it made me go hmmmmmmm.... going to post it on my bathroom mirror.

Don't think about it!

I've decided to "not think about it".

When I get up in the morning I just put my work out clothes on... drop my son off at school and head directly to the gym.

Once I am there I LOVE it!

The problem I have is that if I think about it... I make all kind of excuses not to go. example: I'll work out at home, I'll go later, I am running behind and the class will be to full... etc etc

So there you have it. Decide what you are going to do... and then don't think about it. ; )

1st major weight gain since being banded

Well it had to happen at some point. After having lost half of my fill... and combining the timing with Christmas. It was the perfect storm. Yep.. I put on about 9lbs!! HOLY CRAP! Yep that is how I feel. It happen in like two weeks... it was all that dang sugar and lack of will power.

The good news is that I am down 3 lbs already and I REFUSE... I SAY REFUSE!!! to go down the gaining weight road any further.

I have a fill appt this coming week. I am hoping that I have been unfilled long enough that any band irritation that I had has gone away.

To help things in the right direction... I am only allowing myself to have sugar 1 day a week. (I can have honey... just no sugar)

Also I am back at the gym.

That's it in a nutshell.

Stupid weight gain but hope is in the near future! : )

Want to see video of my fluoro? SO FREAKIN COOL!

Can I say AMAZING!! I have been banded for a 1 year and half and yesterday is the first time I have actually seen my band working. I have a whole NEW respect for "her". I always new that I had it in me but seeing it on screen and watching it gave it a whole new level of "real".

I was able to have my husband sneak some video while they were working on me. And I am going to share it with you... SOOOOO COOL! (or at least so cool to me)

My phone takes crappy video but at least you can see it...



The 1st video shows what I came in with... I was drinking a liquid and it just went in to my band and stayed there. The dark bubble is my small stomach on top of the band filled up and noticed that nothing is gong through. To the top left you can see a long vertical dark area that is heart burn. (which I could not feel)





This video shows what a band should mostly look like with liquid hitting the band and moving through the small top of my stomach to the bottom part of my stomach. (liquid should never meet resistance with the band.. just solid food)




This last video shows what my band does with liquid when I have no fill at all... completely empty.





In a nutshell I came in with 5.25 CC for some reason I was to tight and water was struggling to get through. Which explains my aspiration at night after drinking water before bed. For the most part I didn't know I was to tight... I never felt the heartburn. Crazy huh?

(I haven't had a fill since last February and the aspiration at night just started happening about 2 months ago)

So they took out all but 2.25 CC. They think I had some irritation in my band area which caused me to swell up a bit... which was causing the aspiration and the heartburn. So I am going to wait 3-4 weeks and go back in for another fill.

I don't like losing those fills but I respect the band to much to let it go irritated. This is my gift and I will be kind to it and my body!

Also: most bands should be at a 45 degree angle.. mind is at 70 degree which is a little odd but the Dr. said that could just be normal for my body.

--Heather