Complete Unfill and Other News!

So, I realize it has been a significant amount of time since I have blogged...several months... Well, let me fill you all in on what has been going on with me. I had a complete unfill in June. Have a gained weight? YEP...Am I okay with that...YEP!  Did I have band issues or PB'ing episodes that caused me to have this unfill? YEP.  Let me fill you in on why I decided a complete unfill was necessary.  Well, hubby and I have been trying for quite some time to get pregnant and I am happy to say that we have now accomplished that task. However, we are not only pregnant with one baby, but we have two boys in the oven :)  We are having TWINS! They are technically due 1/28/14, but since they are twins they move the date to 1/7, which happens to coincide with the date my awesome father passed away. So, we are hoping I can make it to that date and offset the sadness with the happiness of these two boys. For some reason when I got pregnant, not sure if it was hormones or what, my great level of fill was no longer great. I could barely get any real food down at all and was beginning to have problems with "slider" foods as well, even drinks at one point. I talked to the doctor who told me I could have 1/2 the fill removed now and 1/2 later, but he suggested a complete unfill since we knew there were 2 inside me.  I decided that was the way to go.  I have gained approximately 20 lbs since becoming pregnant and expect to gain quite a bit more since they say you need to gain more with twins even if you are overweight to begin with. Here is a pic of me at 4 weeks and last week when I hit 20 weeks.

I apologize for not blogging but we were going through so much emotionally that I just couldn't bring myself to do it until I knew that they were past the most difficult stages. Apparently there is a thing called "vanishing twin syndrome" where one twin could be there at 8 weeks and then they won't be there at 12 weeks because they get reabsorbed back into the body, so needless to say that kind of had me freaked out and worried. I truly do intend to get my fill put back, or at least some, when they are born, but the docs advise I should be careful what I do until I complete the breast feeding stage because the babies need the nutrients. I hope all of you are doing awesome on your journey and yoru lives are as happy as mine is right now :)

Finally!

Well..I've finally hit my biggest scale victory to date. This week I lost 5 lbs, which is absolutely freaking amazing considering where I am in this journey.....BUT, that's not even the victory :)  I have finally reached the # on the scale which is the lowest I've been in my adult life, as a matter of fact I'm even 35 lbs below where I graduated from high school!!! This feels so good. I was quite afraid my band wasn't going to help me get to goal, but when I started tracking my food it said I was eating too little calories to lose the weight. As soon as I increased the # of calories and continued to bump up the walking and mountain bike riding, BAM, it started dropping. I'm down 11 lbs this last month which is awesome considering I had gained 6 while on vacation during that time. I am refocused and ready to do this! I can't wait to be able to go to Great Adventure and other them parks without the fear of whether I will fit on the rides with my extremely physically fit husband....lol...thank you all for your help, support, guidance and just being there with blogs for me to read and gain inspiration! We WILL do this!

OH CRAP...I just noticed ANOTHER victory too!!! I now have less weight to go than I've already lost...WOOO FREAKING HOO!!! I'm down 72.5 and have approximately 70 to go to get to my initial goal weight of 185....not sure if that will be my goal weight or not as I've NEVER been small enough to know if it will look good or not. I still want curves and don't want to be skinny, per se, so I will cross that bridge WHEN I get there....very excited!

WOOO HOOOO I'm Obese :)

YAY, I am no longer SUPER obese...lol...my BMI is finally 39.9 so I'm out of the super morbidly obese range...party time!!! That was one of my initial NSV's, so I'm super excited....Now, leave to vacation in the Florida Keys, so I have to keep all those Tropical drinks alone...:) Hopefully, the fact that I'm going scuba diving and going to be walking a lot will help stave off any vacation gain...and on another note...I found the Mountain Bike I want for my, dare I say it, 40th birthday coming up in a few weeks...Blah for age, but Yay for the bike :)  Here's a pic below...I'm a newbie to MTB, but I think I'll love it...hope so!

Well, well, well...it's been awhile ;)

So, no excuses for not blogging. I have not been too busy, nor too depressed, nor anything...I've come to realize I am not the best blogger in the world, but I am definitely one of the best LURKERS :) Since my last post I've lost a couple of lbs..I'm down 58.5 as of now. I was at a plateau for a long while and started using my Fitness tracker this past week, and its telling me that I am probably getting too few calories and that may cause my metabolism to slow...plus now that I look at what I'm tracking, not all the food has been the best choices, but the majority of the time have been pretty good. I'm going to start trying to "Faithfully" track and start drinking my water again and just get back to the basics. I also am still unsure if I'm actually in the "green zone". I hear people talk of this elusive place, and I just don't know if I'm there. Anyway, besides that, I guess its time to post some pix, since it has been awhile. This past weekend we went to Club Pure in Queens, NY to go see a freestyle show (its a type of club / latin house music) and below are some recent pix of me and some friends/freestyle artists, and of course my hubby, who is in the bright blue shirt to the left :)  Still have about 85-100 to go to get to goal!!!

Me and the Guys!

Just Me!

Me & a friend at the Hard Rock Atlantic City 3/8/13 where my husband performed!

My band is strange....

but then again so am I, so hopefully this will be great, long-lasting relationship! What I mean by strange is yet again, I don't know whether I am to filled or not enough. Yesterday I was able to eat Szeuchan (sp?) chicken and white rice (maybe 1-1/2 cups) no problem and right now i could only eat 1 egg, 1/2 sl toast and 1 strip of turkey bacon...which is awesome. I really don't know if I'm eating the amount I'm supposed to, too little or too much. I sometimes feel like I'm eating way too much, but if I think about what I used to eat, it seems so little. Well, that's my rant...so be it! I'm down 1/2 lb since my last post. It's going really slowly right now. I'm still walking 1/2 hour a day at least 5 days a week, but I really need to step up the exercise. It's been so dang cold I haven't felt like doing much. Oh well...off I go to figure out something more physical to do during this snowy, cold weather. Hope you all survived the Blizzard if you were in New England!

Can't Believe It Has Been a Year - 1 Year Bandiversary 1/26/13

Soooo...I meant to write this on the actual date of my "Bandiversary" but it just didn't happen, so here goes. It's been a year since I was banded. To date, I have lost 55.5 lbs. I really must say that I did think it would be more by now. I know I didn't even feel some type of restriction until July and didn't get to full restriction until December 2012 (if I'm even there!!!), but I guess I thought it would be a bit easier. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy with the loss and always do say that I would like to lose more slowly so that my skin will have a fighting chance; however, I think deep inside I really would have liked to see it come off a bit more quickly than this.  I have had 9 fills since I was banded, as my doctor was pretty stingy with the fills in the beginning and towards the end I didn't want as much as they were going to give me because I had heard so many horror stories about being overfilled.  I honestly must say that I don't even know if I am at my green zone at this point because often I can still eat a lot and don't get stuck on a lot of things, including bread/pizza/rice! It's quite strange I tell you...sometimes I can only eat small portions and others I can eat a lot more. I have 8cc's in a 10cc band, so I feel like I should be there by now.  I am truly jealous of those that have "rocked their band" and have done so well. I do exercise by walking 30 -40 minutes at least 5 days a week and I do use dumbbells to tighten up my arms, but other than that I really haven't done much. I have been okay with my eating at times and at other times I have not been so good. I do know that I can do a lot better and that I need to refocus my efforts, control my portions and make better choices. I know this band is a tool and I have to learn to work with it, instead of trying to fight it. 

I am still happy I got the band, as I have lost 2-3 sizes in clothing and just feel better in general. I guess I'm just a little jealous of the people I know that have been getting sleeved or gastric and they have surpassed my weight loss and they are only out of surgery 3-4 months. I promise myself that I will continue to put forth greater effort in making this band work for me, and I will continue to follow other blogs that give me inspiration, like Lap Band Gal!, Once Upon A Time...In the Land of Cheese and Sunkist and Athena Banded Warrior! 

My 40th birthday (that's just crazy!!!) is right around the corner in a few months, and I have asked my Mom to give me $$$ towards a Mountain Bike so that I can start incorporating a new form of exercise into my life, that I actually think I might enjoy. I've already mapped out some trails that I can start with and me and my husband are ready for some warmer weather.  I really want to thank you all for your support over the year and I hope you keep up with your blogs as well, as you are one of the greatest support systems a person can have!

Does Anyone Else Get Excited to Update Their Ticker?

Of course...only if its going in the direction that you want...lol. Well, today I was able to update my ticker and it shows another 3 lb loss since 2 weeks ago, so I'm super happy.This was over Christmas vacation, so to me that is a big accomplishment! I finally have most of my brain on right and am making pretty good choices.

On a separate  note, does anyone else experience the following after a fill? For some reason right after I get out of my mushy stage, which is about 3-4 days, I can kind of eat more and all types of things. I really can't figure it out, but then in about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks, I finally get the restriction that I expected.  Just curious because this seems to happen to me with all fills...strange.

Also, I want to thank Athena Banded Warrior http://athenabandedwarrior.blogspot.com/ for stopping by and offering up some encouragement. She is a true inspiration to me, and I think I may take up Mountain Biking when it gets a little warmer.  Of course we have no mountains, so it will be more like trail riding or hill climbing when I get strong enough, but it sounds like a great workout that might actually be fun! So thanks for your blog...:)  Hope you all are doing well and heading the right way in this journey. I must say I really did think it would have been a lot easier and not as much work, but anything positive and worth achieving is worth the effort, so I'm going to continue striving!