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!

I'm still here, just been a lurker lately :)

So, I just wanted everyone to know that I'm still here. I really can't think of fabulous things to say like some of the other blogs, so I've been more of a lurker than a poster. However, I didn't want you to think that I've completely fallen off the wagon, although I haven't done great. I am still content with how I'm progressing, albeit slow.  As of 12/14/12, I am down 50.5 lbs. I realize that this is very slow compared to some of the success stories I have read, but I'm still going gradually in the right direction so I'm pretty cool with it. Sometimes I wish it would be faster, but then I think that its okay because it will allow my skin more time to adjust. 

My husband and I have just started a new weight lifting routine during football. We decided that we will lift small weights for 25 reps each time there is a fumble, interception or touchdown. I must tell you I never realized exactly how many times that occurs during a game, but my arms are sore enough today to tell you it's A LOT!! :)  We wound up doing 425 reps by the time we fell asleep!!! I really think this is a good exercise though, as it will begin to tone one of my problem areas. I have always been concerned about my triceps and having loose skin, so the reps I'm doing are focusing directly on that.  Since I don't want to only do it during football, we are thinking of incorporating it into our television time when commercials come on. What do you think?

Well, I hope everyone else is doing fantastic in their journey. As for me, I have a fill scheduled for tomorrow which will bring me to 8cc's in a 10cc band. I still am not sure I'm in the "green zone", although several months ago I thought I was.  This is the one thing I wish I could figure out...lol Wish me luck!

I'm still alive! :)

So, its been a minute since I updated...I've had a cold for like 3 weeks and it sucks...haven't felt like doing much. I have been struggling with my weight loss, not making the best choices. I know what I need to do, but haven't been doing very much of it. I finally started walking again, since I've been working so many hours that I didn't even have time for that.  Hopefully this past week will be my last 55+ hour week and I can continue!!! Now I'm back on track again, aftering having gained 7 lbs...I took it off plus .5, so as of today I'm down 43.  I know its slow, but I'm okay with that as long as I'm going in the right direction. It's now Fall and my favorite time of year...no more BBQ's and high calorie drinks...just focused on renewing my goal! Hope all of you are doing well and wish all of the BOOBS safe travels if you are going to Chicago. Hopefully, next year I can go as well!  Here's a pic from the end of August of me, my husband, Mom and Bro-in-law....just to keep you updated on pic progress.

 

Oh yea...and its football season....soooooooo happy about that!  Here is a pic of me from last year with one of my favorite players from the NY Giants - Ahmad Bradshaw!!!!

GO GIANTSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!