Special Delivery

Yesterday I received a nice sized box filled with beautiful dresses that were sent to me from a very sweet, kind and supportive person....Nora the Traveling Bandita.  I could not have ask for a more lovely act.  Thank you so much Nora your gesture will not go unanswered. 


I head out for Chicago tomorrow to my friend's wedding.  I would like to join the B.O.O.B.S. challenge I am just not sure what the rules would be with me out of town for the first 2 weigh ins even tho I would still weigh and email in but it would be two different scales.  We shall see.

Hope all have a great holiday weekend.

A sigh of relief

As some of you know I am a travel nurse or a contract nurse and my contract her in Dallas is over and is time to search for a new contract.  Well this part of the job I don't like very much but I don't usually have to many problems.  This time I am going on two trips and would like to have it done before I leave.  Whew its over and I have made a decision.......wait for it, wait for it, I am headed to Vallejo, CA.  Now this little area isn't to well known, but the areas around it are.  I will be just north east of San Fran, south of Napa, and north of Berkley.  I love Napa and San Fran so the area pleases me to no end, however I hate having to pay CA state taxes which are the highest in the country.  The pay isn't great, but that will work itself out.  So knowing all this and having made this decision I can now breath easier and enjoy my trips....oh and I think the stress of looking for my next contract is what was keeping me so tight.  I did much better for lunch today.  Thank you to everyone who commented and your concern!

Anyone near the area?  Look me up!

This and That

No real title.....
I thought that if you were tight that meant you ate less, consumed less calories and therefore lost weight.....WRONG.   I have even gotten tight at lunch and eating less.  I have been going back and forth with a few pounds and this needs to stop.  I mean I have a goal to meet by the end of this week or at least by the 6th and this yo yoing isn't gonna get it.  I was fairly bummed all last week trying to get work straightened out but that too went in the toilet, which means I was too bummed to go to the gym......yes I skipped all last week.  I am making up for it this week and will even exercise on vacation as I am bringing my new, easy to pack gym shoes and gym clothes.  I am only bringing one set of gym clothes so don't stand to close after the first day......I am determined to get to my goal lets see if my body will cooperate.

Off to the gym and do some running around.......

New size excitement and other things.......

Ok so yes I went shopping again just to try things on and see.....well I have always had problems with not being able to fit into Kohls 3x clothing.  Well that is no more people...... I tried on  1x yesterday and it fit perfectly....yay!  I also got into a size 20 at LB.  I did buy a swim suit for my HI trip and I think that will be all that I buy.  It just felt so good to be in smaller clothes.

My weigh in for the week was today and I am still down five pounds for this week and I will take it with both hands.

I have mentioned this before but here it comes again as it is very hard for me to believe.....I am still tight in the mornings.  Silly I know.  So anyway I made a protein shake this morning and here it is...

2 scoops of max protein powder
1 tble SF vanilla syrup
1 tble SF banana pudding powder
1/2 banana
ice
8 oz water

around 250 cal
30 carbs
51g protien

I add the powders first to the mixer even tho the instructions say to add the eater first.  Then I added the water banana and the syrup.  Mix well.  It was so thick and I didn't even add milk.......I should be full most of the rest of the day.

Enjoy your Sunday.

BYOC

It's FRIDAY so that means it's BYOC - Bring Your Own Crazy! Brought to you by the one and only Drazil! We answer a couple of questions in an effort to get to know each other better and to give our blogging brains a break! Copy and paste and answer in your own blogs if you'd like!! ENJOY!!

1. What’s your favorite room in your house?
   Being away from home so much for work I had dilemma with this question.  Do I give my fav room at home in FL or a fav room while on contract.  So I will give both.  My fav room at home in FL is the living room.  It's not fancy but that is the room with pictures of family friends and places I have visited.  It has the big screen TV, the sliding glass door that if we faced the right direction we could see the beach, it has a great view of the kitchen which is where I love to cook and make great things for my family.  While on contract my bedroom is the best place.  I work a lot and sleeping is what I do most when I am home.
2. Picture question (or describe if you don't have a camera). Show us a pic of your current favorite earrings!
   Just my diamond studs.......love them. 
3. What’s your dress code at work? If you stay at home and went back to work outside the home, what dress code would you prefer?
   Scrubs and sometimes when I am not careful blood or amnio fluid.  TMI I know. 
4. Summarize your week in real life and in blog land.
   In real life, I had a fill on Monday, my second and wow what a difference and you can see that difference in my weight loss which so far this week is five pounds.  I haven't worked since Sunday due to a paperwork problem which sucks because when I don't work I don't get paid.  Next week  I am set to go to Chicago for a friends wedding and to the Taste of Chicago then when I get back on the 5th I am off to HI on the 6th.......both should be great. 

OMG Please Tell Me It's Not True

I forgot that today is my 12 week bandaversry or 3 months.  Wow where has the time gone?  So how about some three month numbers.....

Start weight on 3/21/11  280
surgery weight on 3/31/11 265
four weeks on 2/28/11  252
eight weeks out 5/26/11  242
twelve weeks out 6/23/11 is 232
Ht is 5'6 my BMI no is 37 which might I add is not morbid obese
I haven't done any measurements.
My next goal is 50 lbs by HI on July 6.
Goal is 100lbs by Dec , that's 180 by Thanksgiving and to keep it off during Christmas.

Thanks to all my friends family coworkers and my folks from blog land for all the support.

Pills, Pills, and gummies....

I am referring to my daily regimen of vitamins and supplements.  It seems I am on something for everything.....but we do what we must to keep our health up and feeling great.  I mostly take everything at night.  I take 2 gummy multi vits, 2 gummy fibers, 2 chewable calcium chews, 2 gummy probiotic, one biotin, one vit D, one clairtin, and an anti gas pill.  I have read " Weightloss Surgery for Idiots".....I know I am not much of a reader when it comes to something not a cookbook or not fiction, but this did have some recipes in it.  LOL.  I did read a lot of good information in it.  Like  you should take your calcium chews all during the day as the body cant absorb all you need at once, so now I take some to work in my lunch bag and have a few during the day.  I also learned that alcohol is the only substance that is absorbed quickly through the stomach lining and into the blood stream, which is why we lap band patients are now even cheaper dates than before.....lol.  Awesome.....

I also take once a week a B12 injection and that is for energy and other stuff I am sure.  I just know I feel better after.  When I need it I will take Miralax, but I try not to need it as it is not nice to my body. 

My exercise this week has suffered a bit.  I did go yesterday and plan to go the rest of the week so that I will get four days this week. 

I am also happy to report that since Monday I am down four pounds.....can I just say I love my Gerty.  I am also happy to report that I definitely know what being tight in the morning is.....I am only able to drink a protein shake before noon and that is very slow going.  I am very very happy about all of these things.

As we all like pictures here are a few.

These are chips that I love as I am a big fan of crunchy things and these have 14g protein 120 cal 8 carbs and 3.5g fat per 1 oz......love them!!!!!  I buy mine at The Vitamin Shoppe as the bag says in the background but I have also found them online.

Enjoy your day....

Some of my Favs......

I thought I would list just a few of the foods that I rely on to get my thru this weight loss.

For breakfast I usually feel cheated when I don't get some kind of eggs.  So some type of eggs which is usually egg beaters with either bacon or turkey sausage bites, both of which are very portable to work and easy to cook in the microwave. 

Laughing cow cheese any flavor are the best.
I use Max protein powder along with SF Torani syrups or SF pudding powder to flavor my shakes.
For crunchy which I need and crave daily, I eat peanuts, pecans, or Protein Crunchies which I get from The Vitamin Shoppe. ( I will post a picture of these soon).

I live on protein and I notice when I don't get enough.  Turkey wrapped in and around different things of low cal.  Chicken, beef, and pork are big protein getters as well.  Fish is quickly becoming a once a week meal for me to try to get omega-3 fats in my diet.

Tonight I baked tilapia that was dipped in egg white egg beaters and then dredged in seasoned(by me) panko bread crumbs and then sprayed with cal and fat free pam spray.  This dish turned out great and very crispy.  The fish was so flaky and easy to chew and easy to go down.....yum.

Til later.......



Not my fish but mine looked just like this.  The Panko crumbs make it so crunchy.

New Pictures

This was last week at Old Navy.  Two great things here...one the shirt looks great and two it was on clearence.  I bought it......

My second fill.......

and its still a mystery as to how much my surgeon has put in there.  He says he never tells his patients.  So I tried to sneak a peak and look.....looks to be no more than 2cc, but again just a guess.  I do have to say my surgeon is awesome. My surgeon for my weight loss surgery was suggesting places to eat on my trip to Hawaii. I just couldn't believe it.  He was also proud of my progress and was glad to give me a fill in his office today instead of doing it under fluro which cost me 200 bucks. 

My weight in his office was the same as on my scale was down 45 pounds....YAY!

til next time.......

Questions

I have never done one of these but I think this could be fun and informative.  Let's see......

Dinnerland put a survey out yesterday and I'm just now getting around to answering it. Loving all the responses I'm seeing out there in blogland and decided I'd get in on the fun!

• What would you say is the most important lesson or lessons you've learned about eating since you've been banded, and how has this contributed to your weight loss?
  I have been in nursing now for a long time and the one thing I have been taught was that if you dnt eat now and fast you wont get anything.  Learning to slow down has been hard for me and I havent
•  
• How are you sustaining your motivation to continue forward?

• Seeing highschool pictures of myself and rememebering how fat I thought I was and knowing now that I wasnt that big or unhealthy.  I want to get back there. 

• If you've experienced any discouraging set back moments, how did you deal with them, how long did they take to pass-- and what sort of specific strategies might you suggest that could work?
  I dont think I have had the band yet to have any major setbacks, but there was a week where I didnt lose any weight and then I began to think what have you done to yourself and doubting my resolve abou the band.  I just had to remind myself that I havent been this small since collage and I feel better now than I have in years and that tomorrow is a new day.

• Have you ever worried about being a complete failure at the band, and then gotten over that worry-- if so: did you tell yourself certain things that helped or do certain activities that reassured you?
  Oh yes.  As I have said I havent had the band long but doubt creeps in and if you let it it will stay and take over.  You have to find the reason, the main big reason why you spent long hours researching and spent all the money time and effort into figuring out why you did this and that my friend will keep you afloat when you feel like you hear the theme music to the Titanic.

• What is the proudest accomplishment you've made relative to your band journey thus far?
  Hearing my coworkers and friends and relatives tell me that I look great and knowing they mean it.

• What are you looking forward to doing next in your journey?
  Getting into smaller and smaller clothes......I cant wait.

• Where do you see yourself 1 year from now and how are you planning to get yourself there?
  I see myself past my first big goal and hopefully looking at plastic surgery, so that my outside matches the inside.  Being healthy!

• What sort of goal setting do you do in general, and how do you motivate yourself to keep going towards those goals?
  Right now I have a ten pound a month goal set for myself.  I know in the begining it is easy to set and most of the time keep these goals, but I know I have to keep moving forward and forgive myself when I mess up.  Motivation is seeing myself small in my mind and knowing I can do it.

• What is the most difficult thing about having the band and what makes it worth it anyway?
  I love good tasting food and I hate to waste so when it comes to finsihing my food it is hard for me not to.  What makes it worth it, is knowing that I will still be able to have good tasting food and with left overs maybe have it agian soon.

• Given the choice, would you be too tight or too loose and why? How would you handle either situation if you couldn't get in to your doctor for 4 weeks?
  Too loose for sure.  Being too tight would be hell.  Being to loose I can push myself harder to keep up with healthy eating.

• What are your 3 to 5 'desert island band foods'-- things you WOULD NOT/ could not/ don't want to live without? What do you eat virtually every day and why?
  Things I don't want to live without easy.... mayo, cheese, chocolate, chicken.  Everyday I have some form of chicken weather its eggs or breast, I have chicken.
   

• How many meals do you generally eat per day and at what times?
  Breakfest if I am working is at 6-730am with a shake at 530-600am for my drive in to work.  Lunch isnt til aound 1pm with a snack of something crunchy around 530pm.  A protien shake on the way to the gym around 720pm and then a light dinner around 930.  Then vitamins and supplements before bed at 10pm.

• Do you exercise, and if so, about how much? Do you think exercise has been pivotal to your weight loss?
  I do exercise at least three times a week usually more.  I go to Anytime Fitness and do 30-45 mins of cardio on the elliptical and then weight machines for 30 mins.  On my days off I try to do more.  I hate to excercise as we all do, but I feel it has help tremendously.

Confession Wednesday

Well I see that some of the blogs I follow are doing a "Confession Wednesday" so I think I will do the same....

I still eat to fast....I am a nurse and we learn that if we want lunch we have to eat on our feet and quickly so I just haven't been able to retrain my brain yet.

I have had four BMs today and have done this several times in the last month.  I have no idea why or what triggers it. 

I don't always drink the recommended ozs of water a day, but if my urine is clear then I feel I am hydrated.

I don't go to the gym as often a week as I should but do try to get at least three days a week in.

I still weigh everyday and sometimes more than once a day.

I don't blog as often as I should........

I am working on all of these.....

have a great week everyone.

Oh My....

This last weekend I visited friends in Okc. I had a great time and I mean a really good time....translation....I ate everything in sight or at least it felt that way. I have gained a a pound back which puts me at just a two pound loss for last week. I had Gouda grits, peach soft serve(homemade), part of a five guys burger( which are the best). I only hit the gym three times last week and didn't keep up on my water or protien....bad lap band patient.

I have to say something tho....I went to old navy and wow and yay I fit nicely in their shirts. Pic soon!

Nothing much......

Nothing much to report from here, just sticking to my calories and the gym.  My weight is still at a three pound loss for this week, but there is still two more days before Sunday's weigh in so we shall see.  Headed to OKC tomorrow to see some friends and have a great weekend.  I have been watching the Mavs and the Heat playoffs and I have to say they have all been close.  Go Mavs.....

Here's wishing everyone a happy and safe weekend.

And the new number is.......

Well I did it finally I am now down 40 pounds, actually 41 pounds today.  I am noticing that my clothes are to big and as a matter of fact I am down to a 22 from a 26 and some 28.  How exciting!!!!  What is so funny is that my coworkers keep asking me when I will buy smaller scrubs and my answer is always the same.....as long as I can tie my drawstring pants tight enough to keep them up on my butt then I have no need for new scrubs. 

I am now aiming for my 10 pound goal for the 1st of July so that when I go to Hawaii on the 6th I will be down 50 pounds. 

I know I need a fill and have an appointment set with my surgeon on the 20th which is the earliest I could get.  I am not hungry sooner but I fill like it takes longer for me to get full.  I had to start taking Miralax this week and wow what a difference that made.  Maybe just once or twice a week on the Miralax as that stuff really works on me.

Have a good one....