4 Months

Hello Bloggers :)

Today marks 4 months of being banded. I don't have much time to update because I've got a bunch of school work to finish, but I had Ben take some comparison pictures and I just wanted to get them posted tonight. I don't see much of a difference, honestly. It makes me sad. But, Ben says he does, so hopefully you will, too.
Have a good day, all.

xoxo

10/14/11 236.5 lbs



12/4/11 223.8 lbs

























10/14/11 236.5 lbs



12/4/11 223.8 lbs

10/14/11 236.5 lbs

12/4/11 223.8 lbs

 

No Dr. Appt

The surgeon's office called and cancelled my appointment for today. I rescheduled (tentatively) for Dec. 13, but I might have a final exam that day, so it could change. After work, daddy came over and brought me some Christmas decorations that my grandma wanted to get rid of. I LOVE decorations of all kinds, I'll take anything. Currently, I have two boxes of fall/Halloween decorations sitting in the living room waiting to go out to the shed and switch out with the Christmas boxes. Decorations make me happy. Anyway, on his way here, daddy stopped at a plus size clothing consignment shop and picked up a sweater for me. Since I didn't have to worry about my appt, he asked me if I wanted to go check out this store, so I said sure. It's just a small boutique style place, but it was awesome! They had some really cute clothes there. I got another top for $5 and a pair of pants for $7. Sweet :) I know where I'm going to be getting my clothes when I shrink out of my current ones! Maybe I'll do a fashion show when Ben gets home and I'll have him take pictures. We'll see.

Have a good day, all :)

xoxo

Week 17

Hello bloggers :)

Hope everyone's doing well on this fine first day of December. Crazy, huh? The year just flew past. That being said, I'm 17 weeks post op today and as you well know, Thursdays are my weigh in day. Today, the scale said 223.8! A loss of 3.2 pounds since last week, 40.6 since surgery, and 54.2 since my high of 278. I am ecstatic right now, let me tell you. My BMI is down to 40.9! So close to just being regular obese instead of morbidly! Weird to get excited about that, but I'm sure you ladies know what I mean. I've been making sure to get my water every day (not gonna lie, I slacked off with that for a few days and it showed on the scale) and I'm really being a good girl and cutting out the bread/rice/pasta. I feel so good that the number keeps going down, and I really am starting to feel it more in my clothes (gonna need new underwear soon--saggy butt syndrome), but I wish I could physically see it in my body. That's sad.

Another sad thing is that I lost a follower today. That's never happened before. I mean, I'm sorry I don't post every day, or even close to every day, but my schedule just simply doesn't allow for it with taking 5 literature classes. So, for those of you following my journey, I really appreciate it. Your support means so much to me. Thank you.

On a happier note, Ben's mom is out of the hospital! She got out on Tuesday and she's doing well. Ben's dad's birthday was this week, so we're going to head up this weekend for a visit to celebrate. There will be cake. I don't care for cake, so I think I'll be ok, but if there's ice cream, I might just have a tiny bit of it. His dad's diabetic, so last time there was ice cream it was sugar free--hopefully it'll be the same this time.

Hmm...what else is going on? Oh! Thanksgiving day was an awful terrible horrible mess of a day. Literally. My plumbing in the kitchen decided to stop working, Ben spent the day using the plunger and pipe snake to no avail. Thank goodness my family didn't celebrate on Thanksgiving day, otherwise I'd cry, I think. I went to work that day and my mom was at my house, so she helped Ben after I left for work. Friday, we called a plumber and after trying to unclog the drain, he said he'd have to crawl under the house (we live in a trailer) and cut a piece of the pipe because they couldn't get it out through the drain. So, that was going to cost $200 dollars, so I called Ben and he said he wanted to try to take the DIY route. So glad he did because the next day, he crawled under the house, tapped on the pipe, and whatever was stuck in there dislodged :) No cutting or anything. He makes me happy.

Sunday, my family celebrated Thanksgiving at my brother's house. My sister-in-law doesn't particularly care to cook, so I do the cooking. I love it. Made a 23 lb turkey, sausage and cornbread stuffing (the only good thing I got out of my relationship with my ex was that recipe), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, crescent rolls, and pumpkin pie for dessert. I definitely ate more than I should have. Felt like I was going to die a little bit afterward. But, I know for sure that I didn't eat as much as I would have pre-band, so I can be happy about that. And now I know for next time not to be an idiot because it really is painful.

On the band front, I go for another check-up tomorrow. I don't think I'll be getting a fill. I think I could take or leave one, really. I'll leave it up to what the NP thinks. I haven't had a PB or slimed or anything, so that kind of makes me nervous because I feel like I should have experienced this. I know it's better for me not to, but not having an experience like this makes me feel like I may have messed something up. I'm paranoid, I know. But, I'll let you all know how it goes tomorrow. I'm going to take my computer with me for when I stop at my dad's house after the appt because I have to do my laundry there. Because our washing machine's broken. Sick of being a grown up.



Where's Peter Pan when you need him?


Hope everyone's having a good week. I'm off to go to class.

xoxo

Week 16

Week 16 weigh in day brings me to 227 on the nose! That's a 2.8 lb loss from last week, 37.4 lbs since surgery and 51 lbs from my highest ever back in summer of 2010. Now there's something to be thankful for!

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

xoxo

Thanksgiving! and a NSV

It's officially Thanksgiving break and I plan to take full advantage of it. I'm going to use the time to catch up on all of your blogs, do some school work, hang out with my family. Because I work taking care of the elderly, my company can't close for holidays. I picked up a shift tomorrow and my family's going to have Thanksgiving dinner at my brother's house on Sunday. I'll be cooking, he'll just be hosting. It works out, because both he and my sister-in-law are nurses, and my dad works for the airlines, so we all have jobs that don't close for holidays. I'm so excited to cook for everyone. Love feeding people.

I'm going to pick up my mom today and she's going to stay with us for a few days and help me get everything prepared for our Thanksgiving dinner and I think we might do some Christmas shopping, too. She's excited, I think. She always seems to think that she's going to get in our way and I have to keep reminding her that she's my mom and I've lived with her before. She definitely got in my way more when I was 15 and in the "My Mother's Ruining My Life" stage.

Speaking of moms, the visit with Ben's mom on Sunday went well. She's still going to be in the hospital for a few more days, but she seems to be doing alright. She was happy to see us. And you know something? I can't even tell you how happy I am that we don't have the type of mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship that is frequently portrayed in sitcoms. I genuinely like her and she likes me too and that makes me happy.

I'm in such a good mood today. I'm sorry I'm kind of bouncing around, but I just love the holidays and Thanksgiving is my favorite. I always reflect about the good things around this time, which is nice because in general, I'm a rather pessimistic person. I've actually been down on myself a lot lately because I feel like my weight loss isn't good enough. But, that makes a good segue to my NSV! Before surgery, I went to a thrift store and picked up a pair of size 20 jeans (they're a small size 20, I think) and at the time of purchase, there was a good six inches or so to button them. I tried them on again about 2 weeks ago and there was still a gap. Yesterday, I tried them on to see how much I had to go til they fit, and to my surprise, the suckers actually buttoned!!!! Not only did they button, but they feel good on. I'm so excited because I was seriously considering living in sweat pants forever. Lots of body issues lately. It's no good.

But, I've set a mini goal for myself, which is to be down to 220 by the end of the year. I think that's pretty reasonable and it'll definitely keep me accountable through the holiday season. One thing I'm definitely thankful for this year is the opportunity to have had this surgery, the support of family and friends, and the encouragement of this awesome blogging community.

I hope you all have a very happy and safe Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for this year?

xoxo

Week 15

I'm so terribly sorry for my two week absence. There's been a lot going on...get to that in a minute. I hope everyone's doing well though. I'm not going to lie, I haven't even had time to read your blogs, so I've got a lot of catching up to do.
Weigh in today was 229.8! Pretty excited to be out of the 230s. Hit a bit of a plateau there, but as long as I'm going in the downward direction, I'm happy.
The reason for my not posting last Friday like I said I would is because my friend Mary had her baby and Ben and I had to go welcome her to the world. So, between that, studying for my Praxis II test, and all my other school work, I haven't had time for much of anything.
I did notice that I'm up to 62 followers now. This is amazing! I'm so glad to have the support of all you wonderful people and if I'm not already following you, certainly leave me a comment with your URL.
So, I took my Praxis test on Saturday when we went down to visit Ben's brother and sister-in-law. We had a good time. Hopefully I passed--won't find out til December 6.
Ben's mom is in the hospital, so we've been a bit pre-occupied with that. It's just been a weird past couple of weeks.

On a happier note, Lolli nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award :)

Versatile: ver-sa-tile [vur-suh-tl] or, especially British, [vur-suh-tahyl]: capable of, or adapted for, turning easily from one to another various tasks, fields of endeavor, etc.: a versatile writer.

Word information source: www.dictionary.com

Here is how the award works:

1. You thank the person who presented you with the award.

2. You tell 7 things about yourself.

3. You award 15 other newly discovered bloggers.

Thanks so much, Lolli :) That made my day when I saw that (even though it was two weeks ago...sorry!)

As for seven things about me?

1. I'm a procrastinator and I'm usually late when going places. I'm working on it though and I'm getting better with it. A couple weeks ago my brother organized a family dinner at Outback Steakhouse and told everyone to be there at 5:15, but told me to be there at 5:00. Well, I get there early and wonder where the crap everyone is and when they finally get there, brother says "It's the Jackie Rule. Even people outside the family know about the Jackie Rule." Jerk.

2. I love my grandma very much. She's freaking sweet. I was born the day before her birthday, so she always called me her birthday present. She's the only grandparent I've ever known because the others passed away before I was born, so she's extra special to me.

3. I used to bowl on my high school bowling team. I really kind of miss bowling. A lot.

4. Since having had surgery, I'm very much enjoying spicy foods. I never really cared for them before, so it's a little strange, but I really like it.

5. I'm getting sick of doing observations for school. I've already done my 30 hour field experience class, but this semester I need to observe for 15 more hours. My last day of it is tomorrow. I think I'll need to do another 15 next semester. Lame.

6. I can't wait til my niece or nephew is born. I'm going to crochet so much stuff for it. And I'm going to snuggle it and love it and spoil it like crazy :)

7. I have a friend named Alicia Kozakiewicz. Almost 11 years ago, when we were 13, she was abducted and enslaved by an online predator. He took her across state lines and tortured and raped her. The FBI found her and now she's taking a stand against internet predators, pedophilia, and child trafficking. Click here to check out the Alicia Project's Facebook page. Her story is amazing.

Here are some people I'd like to nominate for this award. Don't know if I'll make it to 15, but I'll try.

1. Samantha at *My Weightloss Surgery Journey*

2. Lani at ...Watch This Space...

3. Robin at A Wine Girl's Way to Thin

4. Rachel at Fat Fish in a Skinny Sea (I just love feeding her fish!)

5. PurseQueen at From Fat to Fabulous...

7. Samantha at I'm with the Band

8. Kelly at Life of a Banded Army Wife

9. Melissa at My Journey to Band Land

10. CeCe at Banded for Boots

If I went any farther, I'd be getting into people who've already been awarded, which is unnecessary. So, sorry for not reaching the full 15, but hey, life goes on.

I'm going to wrap it up here for now. Another busy weekend ahead--Work thing for Ben tomorrow after observing, cleaning Saturday, and visiting Ben's mom Sunday.

Have a great weekend, all.

xoxo

Week 13

Weigh in: 230.5 :) loss of 1.6 from last week. Running late for school. Long post tomorrow for 3 month bandiversary!

xoxo