So Tired!

30 weeks
Pre prego weight: 257lbs
Last weeks weight: 268lbs
Today's Weight: 267.9lbs
total gain: just going with 11lbs
Still craving chocolate! like crazy!

Only 10 weeks till I meet my little girl! ( I have a feeling I will go early though).



Not sure why I can't shrink the picture, but here I am at 30 weeks!

We had a 4D ultrasound done on Saturday, here is Alora Nicole (hubby spilled the beans about the name on facebook, so no use not telling you guys). She weights about 3lbs! and is so sweet and cute! I can't wait to hold my beautiful bundle. She has hair too, go figure with all the heartburn!



Not much is going on. We had a great low key Christmas. I got some great gifts from both hubby and family. We went to see Les Mis on Christmas and it is amazing!

All I can say is that I am tired, so so tired. This making human life thing is exhausting! Even when I'm not doing much.
I have had some tightness in my band the last couple days, but I think that is due to a change in the weather here. Not that I have slowed down on the food intake. Example here is what I had for Christmas dinner last night.  So still getting plenty of nutrients down...of the yummy kind. So no need for an unfill as long as I keep up on my water intake. I do find that makes a big difference on tightness too.


I can't wait to take a nap later. Have a great week everyone!

Christmas and Water

29 weeks
Pre prego weight: 257lbs
Last weeks weight: 273lbs
Today's Weight: 268lbs
total gain: 11lbs
Craving chocolate everything! Not sure that is so much a craving as it is just being a woman.

I will go over the drop in my weight first. The only thing I changed was my water intake. That's it! At my last weekly update I told you that I had to focus more on getting my water in and that weight drop is the solely from that undertaking. Two days after I weighed myself and I had dropped down to 264lbs but that I think was a fluke and a good poop. This just shows how important getting the right amount of water in really is. As women we tend to hold on to water a lot more then man do...damn hormones! Men you really have the biological advantage. On average I should be drinking just over a gallon a day for my weight, I have been adding more for the pregnancy as well. This link is a good way to calculate an average amount of water you should be getting in a day. You would be amazed at how much better you feel just from being properly hydrated.
Ok I have talked enough on the importance of water.

Can you all believe that we are just under a week away from Christmas! I hope everyone has there shopping done. I thankfully have finished and just have some cooking to take care of. I finally got my Christmas cards out yesterday morning on the way to work. They had been sitting on the kitchen counter for two weeks waiting for stamps.
My hubby is having his work Christmas party at our house on Friday and has turned our entertainment center into a fire place. As you can see below. He has completely taken over the living room with decorations. Kinda cool since I don't have to do it.

Baby girl update. At my last OB appointment I was told to start doing kick counts. For those of you who don't know what that is...at around the same time every day I have to count at least 10 movements in an hour. Well I have not even started because she is so active that I have no worries that she is not ok.
Also I can still see my toes! One of my friends on the east coast asked if I could still see my toes so I took a picture of my view looking down and they are still there! So that's exciting :)


Tummy, toes and puppy!

Hubby and I have started getting our preparations for the hospital underway too. Nothing major just reviewing what we want in a birth plan and making lists of stuff to pack in our hospital bags. It's getting so close! We are so excited. We have a lot of work to do to finish up the nursery. I think we are going to put more work into it this weekend. We have a dresser to put together and a closet to organize after washing about a ton of baby clothes. We have also settled on a name! But I'm not going to tell you...sorry :) While hubby says he wants to tell people I kind of want to keep it under wraps until she gets here.
I got my push gift! What is a push gift? Well its a relatively new thing where the daddy gives his baby's mama a gift for having his child. I got a matching necklace and earings set in amethyst set in silver. It's five carats all together and beautiful! Hubby did a great job! Plus I still have my Christmas presents to open :) I was going to post a picture of the necklace but my computer is not cooperating.

Since I wont be on till after the holiday I hope you all have a great one!

Bandiversary!

Holy crap!

With the baby stuff and family and the holidays I totally forgot about my 2 year bandiversary on December 8 2010! My how the time flys!

I love my life with my lap band. I would not change a minute of this journey. It has brought me to meet amazing and inspirational people from all across the country. My life is my own again and the biggest success for me is this wonderful and amazing baby girl growing inside me. The best decision of my life has giving me the chance to have the biggest blessing of my life. Plus I can't wait till after my pregnancy so I can finally make it to my goal weight of 200....so many exciting things still to come :)

Here are some pictures starting with 350lbs down to 250 lbs and my currant baby belly :) I have gone from a size 28 pants and needing help to stand up out of a chair to currently a size 18 and (pre-prego) could run 2 miles!

350lbs and a very sad sad person



250lbs...100lbs down in July 2012



28 weeks prego at 273lbs (elizabeth just for you :)

Calm Rainy Day

28 weeks
Pre prego weight: 257lbs
todays weight: 273lbs
total gain: 16lbs
Craving ricotta cheese! omg yum!

Good Morning all my beautiful followers. I'm not quite sure why I am in such a good mood this morning but I am. It's rainy and dark outside but I am doing great!

This past week we have had a couple things happen that were kinda neat. Starting with last night we had a new neighbor move in that will be sharing our driveway. He is getting all of his things move in before his wife and daughter get here in a month. Can't wait to get to know them. New military neighbors can be so hit or miss. It would be nice to have another great neighbor.
We finished setting up the Christmas tree over the weekend and I love how it looks :) Like always though the cat is having his way with my tree. I have had to take ornaments off the bottom and am constantly fixing the tree skirt. Last night I kept having to shoo him away from chewing on the branches (its a fake tree and plastic no good for kitty)

Pretty Tree! Crooked star

Crazy cat that likes to eat plastic...possibly brain damaged, but damn he is adorable

My family has been showing me so much what a blessing they are to have in my life. We have had packages for baby girl showing up almost every day. We have all of her furniture and have not had to pay a dime out of pocket. Then the moral support even though they life all over 16 hours away is amazing. I do wish they lived near me but for the situation we are all in I feel lucky to have them to call any time.

I had my 28 week prego check up yesterday. I saw my primary doctor at my last visit and I wont see her again till a couple weeks before I deliver :(
With the holidays and the time frame I need to be seen next I guess I am just not able to get in with her on time. The nurse basically refused to push my next appointment back a week so I could see my doctor saying that is was a care issue. I mean I get it and the liability on them if something happens but I really like my doctor and I am not a fan of the midwives in that joint.
Everything went well though. Since they are tracking my weight from my first trimester loss of 7lbs and I am tracking from my pre-prego weight we had a slight conflict. So I told her that and she updated it in my chart and stopped scolding me. I guess 7lbs makes a big difference to them. I also got given a maternity parking pass! Kinda a big deal on a military base, there is maternity parking everywhere and it is always wanted at the grocery store. So now I can start waddling my into places from a shorter distance.
I did take her warning to heart about my diet and keeping an eye on my weight gain. I am going to cut out a ton of sweets that have been finding there way into my mouth. Plus up my water intake. I think I was reading Lady Labbands post  ( don't quote me) about 90oz of water a day and I realized how much I have gotten out of that habit. So I have gallon of water by my desk and I plan to drink at least half of it at work. Water is even more important now being pregnant. I lost sight of that somehow.

Well I have rambled enough with this long post. Long story short...things are good :)

Blog Share / Encouragement!

For those of you who don't know I am an avid craftaholic!
One of the many things that I have dabbled in and still love is soap making and bath and body product making in general. ( i make a mean bath bomb!)
I follow the blog of a woman who is successful in this corner of the craft universe. She is also a very healthy person. Not very often do I think to look for motivation for things other then soapy love stuff but today I saw this post and wanted to share it with you.
This just reminds me that inspiration can come from anyone, anywhere.

Soap Queen

Scared

27 weeks
Pre prego weight: 257lbs
todays weight: 270lbs
total gain: 13lbs
I would say I am craving whipped cream and apple cider but those go along with the season I think :)

My weight has gone back up a bit but I am going to say its normal. My blood pressure is great still and I have been watching my diet.

Today I am most uncomfortable. I have so much pressure in my lower abdomen that I have been taking potty breaks just so I can take my pants off for a couple minutes. All I keep thinking is the other women in the building are telling people, hey don't mind the prego chick sitting in the handicap stall with no pants on she has a mental condition.  

Most of the time this pregnancy doesn't seem real, even though I can feel her kicking my insides like she is playing every position on a soccer team. Life seems to be moving fast these days and when I do get a moment of realization let me tell you I am having a mini freak out! The bigger my belly gets the worse my nerves get too. I have this fear of not being able to bond with my baby and that I will freak out. It comes down to, I'm scared. I know that a lot of these feeling are normal but they are scary none the less. Its hard to vent about these things too because hubby just tells me that I am over reacting.
I just have to keep reminding myself to take a deep breath and take things day by day when I have these moments.

Thanksgiving was great! I know it's been a couple weeks since I posted. We got to see all of my husbands side of the family and all the new additions that were added in the last 9 months. We have been a busy family ;)
Ths drive kinda sucked but it was worth it overall. We got two garbage bags full of clothes for baby girl and lots of belly rubbing.

The most exciting news in my life recently is that we got a Costco membership. We figured it might come in handy with all the diaper usage in our near future. We got a knew set of knives on our maiden voyage and I almost cut the tip of my finger off the same day with them...not good!

I finished my Christmas shopping today for my hubby and I hope that he will love everything. I think we are both going a little overboard for each other since we know next year will be for baby girl!

Ok well this post is long enough so I will sign off and keep ya all posted next week. Happy holidays everyone :)

Driving Food Coma

25 wks prego
pre-prego weight:257 (weight loss in first trimester, 7lbs =250)
Last post weight: 265
Today's weight: 257.4
total gain from pre-pregro weight = .4lbs

My weight is back to pre-pregnancy somehow. I guess cutting out the salt is really making a huge difference.
I think that all the swelling from the salt I was eating was messing with my band too. I have been able to eat just fine in the last week or so. I think overall I have cut back my salt intake 80% from what it was. I know this weight miracle is not because of watching my diet. I have been cooking and freezing food to bring with us for Thanksgiving dinner over the last couple of days. Lots of good eating has been going on. Not to mention I decided I wanted stuffing and mashed taters last night for dinner...we had chicken with it so I had my protein.

We leave tonight to start the 16-18 hour trip up to see hubby's side of the family. So with my current diet I will start driving with a food coma and leave with a food coma. We are going to try to drive about 5-6 hours tonight and stay some where.Maybe even more if we are feeling up to it. My handsome baby boy is coming with us on our trip too.

My baby boy (Teddy) laying on my belly

So between him and myself we will be stopping a lot to pee I think.

Here is the belly progress picture that I promised last week. It's a day early because in the morning I will be on the road and wont be able to post.

Baby girl is growing like a weed and moving like crazy! She is moving my belly around a lot too. It is the coolest thing to experience. Knowing that the weight loss is making it possible to experience this pregnancy like a normal regular weight person make me all the more thankful for my band. At my highest weight there is no way that I would get to see my baby moving through my belly and my hubby would never have been able to feel the baby move. I LOVE MY BAND!

Until next week my friends. Have a great holiday!

Warning: A little bloody!

24 wks prego
pre-prego weight:257 (weight loss in first trimester, 7lbs =250)
Last post weight: 268
Today's weight: 265
total gain from pre-pregro weight = 8lbs

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Happy belated Veterans Day to service member's past and present.

I shockingly did not get more then one picture of myself from the Marine Corps ball this past week. I was very upset at the whole night of events as well. For anyone that has been around the military you know how important the ceremony at these events are and the honor that is given to fallen members and hero's during them. Usually you could hear a pin drop on carpet during the ceremony. People would not be quite and you couldn't even hear the speaker on the microphone. This event was so rude I was ashamed to be associated with this unit. Here is the only picture I got of myself the whole night:

I hope you all had a great weekend and got many things accomplished for I did not.
We had planned to clean out the garage, but hubby cut his hand open with a box cutter about 2 minutes after we started cleaning. So we spent a couple hours in the ER getting him stitches. Not horrible looking from the surface, but it was a bleeder. He is doing good now though. He cut a good way into the muscle there so it's painful to move his thumb and I have a feeling it's going to take a while for the pain to go away with movment cause it was so deep.





On the weight front things have gotten good :)
I was put on a low sodium diet last week when I went to see my OB doctor. When going over my diet and reflecting on my slowly raising blood pressure she thought it was a good idea.
A quick recap: my weight went up 12lbs in about a 30 hr time frame to 274lbs.
Not only do I feel better, my bloating has gone down and my weight I feel has evened out for now. My blood pressure (taken this morning) has gone from 138/68 back down to a wonderful 110/65. So I think I will continue to keep an eye on my salt intake for the rest of my pregnancy.

My band has been so weird. I posted that I was having issues with being tight but now she is playing mind games with me. I have been able to eat ok. As long as I slow down and focus I have been ale to get most things down (with the exception of dryer meats) So I am going to hold off another week to look into an unfill.

We are going to Oregon for 4 days next week for Thanksgiving. We will be driving and it's about a 14-16 hour drive one way. I will try to touch base with you all next week before we head out. I will be putting up another belly pick then too.
 I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving!! This year has flown by so fast.
In the spirit I am thankful for my family, friends and all your support. This wonderful baby girl growing inside of me and being able to have my husband home for as long as I can keep him.

What are you thankful for?

Crazy Lady Follow Up

I just wanted to let you guys know what my doctor said about the weight fluctuations that I posted about yesterday.
We went over my diet and I had my blood pressure taken. She noticed some swelling in my ankles and calf area. My blood pressure for me was high but not out of normal range. She looked over my chart and said it has gone up a little every visit.
Conclusion? I am on a low sodium diet now. She wanted me to see a nutritionist but I declined. I explained that being a WLS patient I feel pretty well informed on what a good diet is and that I just haven't been fully applying my knowledge. She agreed.
I have gone from having issues with low blood pressure and low sodium levels pre-prego to having borderline blood pressure issues and being put on a low sodium diet. She did say that it probably has nothing to do with my weight and that some people are just more prone to stuff like this.
I guess sometimes it doesn't matter how much weight you loose before getting pregnant some thing are just going to happen.
I also think FritoBandito over at BJ and the Bandit may be right in her comment yesterday, I should stop driving myself crazy and just hide the scale for a while.

Also today we are going to the Marine Corps Ball. I know hubby is Navy, we are on a Marine corps base though. Pre-prego I was 30lbs down from when we went to the Navy ball last year. For poops and giggles I tried on my dress from last year about 2 weeks ago and it was big so I was just going to have some straps put on to help hold it up. I tried it on again Sunday before bringing it to the tailor and I don't need straps for it anymore. My baby bump is holding things in place nicely. Hopefully in the last 2 days no major developments have happened to were I can't get the zipper up tonight....fingers crossed :)

I will post some pictures from the ball soon!

Crazy Lady in the House!

23 wks prego
pre-prego weight:257 (weight loss in first trimester, 7lbs =250)
Last post weight: 266 (WTF!)
Today's weight: 268 :(
total gain from pre-pregro weight = 11lbs

I am going crazy! I have been weepy and happy and weepy and pissed off and so so so overwhelmingly happy! If I had any doubt....well golly I am pregnant now!

A day of eating:
Water: about 1 gallon a day
Breakfast: coffee and egg beater
snack: celery and peanut butter
Lunch Lean cuisine steamer meal of chicken and ravioli
snack: m&m's (shame shame)
O that's not bad for a prego you say? Just wait till you see what cravings came knocking for dinner on Monday...
Dinner: onion and chive cream cheese with chicken and biscuit crackers. A whole small container!
or last night for dinner? salsa and chips with cheese!

I do so good during the day and at night it's like a little food obsessive demon takes over and after it leaves I feel like crap for eating this nastiness.
My weight went down to 262 on Monday and then yesterday morning it was up to 267. Last night just for poops and giggles I stepped on the scale again and it said 274! I feel like a fluctuation such as this (even though I am eating like Oscar the grouch lives) is not a normal fluctuation. 12lbs gain in under 48 hours seems extreme to me. I have my monthly OB appointment today and I am going to run this by my doctor. What do you guys think, normal or just weird?

Life has been good overall though. We have started decorating little girls nursery and I hauled my every growing tushy around babies r us to finish up our registry on Saturday. It's amazing the things that zap my energy now.
Saturday we finished the registry, went grocery shopping and picked up some paint at lowes. I was helping paint later in the day and had to sit down I just got exhausted all of a sudden. It seems that my 1 1/2 mile walks over lunch have not been doing much for my energy.

I hope you all have a great week.

Tight Band?

The week or so I have noticed a lot more issue with eating. I have always had a very unusual pattern with my band tightness since the beginning.
The common trend of most bandits is tightest in the morning and by the time dinner comes around for a lot of people the tightness of the morning has worn off and they are ok.
I have always been tight in the morning, able to eat whatever I want at lunch and for dinner I tend to be a little tighter again. I have never been able to figure out why this is but I have learned to eat with my band and that is just how she roles.
The last week and a half or so I have been very tight at dinner, tight to the point were I have PB'd 3 times. Part of this is because I get so hungry so fast and feel like I am starving so I don't chew as well as I should. This little girl I'm growing has no patience for hunger! (I know I am not paying attention to a basic rule)  But part of it is because I think the hormones are finally getting to me.
I have ever been one of those people that gets tighter when Aunt Flow shows up every month and have considered myself very lucky for it. All I can think though is it must be the increasing hormones through out the pregnancy finally catching up with me.
Common sense would say "hey lets go get an unfill" but reality is not that easy.
It would be about a month long process of getting everything taking care of. From getting a referral from my primary provider to scheduling an appointment at the nearest facility which is an hour drive away. It sucks! I know I should probably get the process started but I am just to lazy! That's horrible, I know.
The baby is getting plenty of good growing nutrients and stuff, so no worries there. Plus I can still take my vitamin.
I will probably give my doctor a call to set up a referral some time this week but for now I am just to tired. O so very tired. I think some tomato bisque soup is in order for dinner tonight :)

It's A.....

22 wks prego
pre-prego weight:257 (weight loss in first trimester, 7lbs =250)
Last post weight: 259.1
Today's weight:  266 (WTF!)

Not sure what the hell happened with my weight this week...
My diet has not changed and I have been walking more and feeling good. I stepped on the scale this morning as naked as a jay bird and bam...WTF batman, Holy hell! I could probably drink more water, but I pee all the time as it is. So who knows maybe thats just the baby catching up to me. I am at a complete loss about this rapid gain.
I know I am going to hear about it from my doctor next week   :(

Today is HALLOWEEN!! Soooo....

Short and sweet today! Baby is doing great!! 2 leg, 2 arms with 10 fingers and 10 toes. We are measuring a week ahead and weighing in at 1lb 3 oz!! Going to be a big one! Quite the mover too, would't sit still the entire time the ultrasound tech was getting measurements.

Without any more delay the little one's gender....

Belly Pics and Baby Guessing

21 wks prego
pre-prego weight:257 (weight loss in first trimester, 7lbs =250)
Last post weight: 258
Today's weight:  259.1

I am so sorry guys! Time just slipped out of my hands and I completely forgot to post last week! Here I am though half way through this wonderful reproductive process with a lap band. Weight gain is great and to a minimum consider that weight update has two weeks between it (and that is without a poop for four days). As I promised at 20 weeks I would share an updated belly picture. On the left is the starting belly, middle is 15 wk belly and then 20wk belly:

I have noticed that I have a few new followers! Welcome Thanks for following me on this crazy wonderful journey :)

Two weekends ago now I went to get information on starting in a nursing program out here. With any luck I might be in the nursing program in a year and a half :/ if everything works out for me. Seems like such a long time after spending so long getting my associates. I don't know if that will work out though. My wonderful Navy man is going to be putting in for a secondary school that is in Texas so who knows if I will have the time between application and acceptance for him to get all my pre-recs done let alone getting into the nursing program. With a driving force of supporting a soon to be born munchkin time seems to be very pressing.
I broke down and bought maternity clothes that weekend too. I am in the same size pants as pre-pregnancy just with some extra belly room.So that makes me a little happy. I am taller than the normal so I either ware capris or leggings. So I did buy a few long shirts and some leggings too. Let me tell you buying maternity clothes does nothing good for the self esteem. I am buying bigger shirts so that is a down side but that's because the girls have gone up a full cup size and I'm surprised how much of a difference it's making with the fit of my shirts. I just have to keep telling myself it's all because good baby things are happening :)

I went healthy (easy food) crazy. I went online and got a ton of veggie filled protein packed lower calorie crock pot recipes and made a bunch and froze them. So far we have had ( a not so healthy ) pot roast when hubby came out of the field, yummy turkey chili and today I am making a reduced calorie potato soup. I am test driving the whole crock pot meal thing to see if it works so a couple weekends before this bundle of joy appears I can stock up and not worry about eating healthy. All the work will be done.

4 days till we find out what the baby is...any one want to fancy a guess? Here are some clues to work off of for your guess. I had horrible morning sickness the first trimester, I have bad heartburn all the time now and my belly is small for being 21 weeks.

Till next week my lovelies :)

Tired!

19wks prego
pre-prego weight:257 (weight loss in first trimester, 7lbs =250)
Last wks weight: 257
Today's weight: 258

Cravings: A tall glass of ice cold water before bed, salty snacks
Aversions: Not really anything any more, I can eat eggs again without feeling sick! Hallelujah!

We had a very relaxing Columbus day weekend. Didn't do much besides go to the beach. I have the best tan I have ever had in my life! We had to say goodbye to an awesome neighbor this weekend too. They are moving out on to bigger and better things away from the military. I made a couple of loafs of pumpkin pie bread this weekend too. Brought a bunch of them to work to get rid of them. I was just in a baking mood.

Not much to say this week though. Weight has stayed just about in the same area. It's amazing what eating better food does for you. I'm be no means being a saint, proof in the left over pizza I am eating for lunch.

I set a goal for myself before I even got pregnant that I would try to stay in a 15lb range for weight gain during pregnancy. Everyone I have told that to has laughed at me and told me how they gained 50-80lbs! I find it hard that no one else finds it ridicules to gain that kind of weight just to push out a 6-9lb baby. (yes I know all the other stuff that comes out too) If I go off my pre-pregnancy weight though (before I lost 7lbs in my first trimester from being sick) I have only gained 1lb. It can be achieved! I will succeed in the minimal weight gain!

Food break down for the day:

breakfast: fruit and protein smoothy with water not milk
snack: 2 small turkey burger patties left over from dinner
lunch: 1 slice of left over pizza
snack: greek yogurt
dinner: no clue yet, but I have to use up the left over ground turkey in the fridge before it goes bad.

Hubby left for his couple of weeks of field training today. It will be nice to have the house to myself for a while. He will be gone just long enough for me to start missing him. (and for me to have a clean house for more than a minute)

How did you all spend your Columbus day?

Missing my BOOBs

18wks prego
pre-prego weight:250
Last wks weight: 259 (yikes)
Today's weight: 257 (a little better)

Cravings: A tall glass of ice cold water before bed (the worst time to drink anything)
Aversions: Still eggs and not really anything else.

I am really missing my BOOBs this week. Seeing all the pictures and all the fun! I am going to say it right now and you can all hold me to it. I will be there next year! It is just over 6 months after I have the baby and I will be there. I have my BOOBs fund all set up and $100 towards the cause already! I. WILL. BE. THERE. (unless hubby deploys and I have no one to watch the baby...in that case BOO!)

I had my monthly OB check on Monday and everything looks good. At the appointment I weighed in at 260lbs and kinda got scolded for gaining 7lbs so quickly. I also had to get all the genetic blood work drawn and pee in a cup. I also set up my ultrasound to find out if its a boy or a girl! Only have to wait 26 more days! I heard the heartbeat again and she said it was a good strong heartbeat and the right rate. So everything is peachy keen :)

After that appointment I went and got healthy food from the store and set myself straight! It shows in my weight already. Let get this straight right now....I am not trying to lose weight! I am just eating healthier. I want to avoid any scolding on losing weight while prego, it's not happening. I can however control how much weight I gain.
So breakfast for the last 2 mornings have been a 33g protein shake with 3 servings of fruit and some fiber powder to round it all out. Morning snack is a greek yogurt, my other morning snack varies. I had left over shrimp yesterday and today probably a weight watchers cheese stick. Lunch is a protein packed salad, turkey wrap or left over taco meat this week. Dinner is left over turkey taco mix and black beans with fresh green beans. So like I said...by no means am I trying to lose weight, just eating like I should have been eating all along :) except for that pizza hubby brought home last night...oops 

Spent this last weekend on the beach again. It's becoming quite the enjoyable habit. The waves were so strong and some over 10 feet high. A little scary at times but awe-inspiring! I am also going to start going swimming for 30-40 a couple of times after work. I have not been doing any workouts since I got prego and I need to help my cardio build back up so I am not totally starting from scratch after the kid makes it's appearance. I really let fear get to me from the past pregnancy issues we had. I basically shut myself down and focused on being an incubator : /

I hope you all have a great week and keep yourself on track no matter what. It is never to late in your journey to start fresh and keep fight past your fears :)

Going, Going, Going!

17wks 1 day pregnant
Last weeks weight: 253.1
This weeks weight: 259 (O my holy lord what the hell happened!)
Food Aversions: Eggs, buffalo sauce on anything and the smell of beef jerky!

As you can see my weight has all of a sudden gone "Hey girl, I'm here and your preggo!" So the couple of weeks of eating what I wanted and thinking the bebe' would use those 1000 or so extra calories are over. (bebe/ only needs about 300cals).
It didn't help that dinner last night consisted of cream cheese wontons dipped into cheesy mashed potatoes. I really need to get a handle on this food thing again. I don't want the last 2 years of hard work to go to waste just because I am having a baby. It wouldn't work that I lost this weight to try and have kids just to be to fat to participate in their lives.

Recap on the week: spent Thurs/Fri sick on the couch with crap coming out both ends. F-u-n day that was. Over Sat/Sun I felt so much better so we went to the beach and I frolicked in the water like the sun goddess that I am now :)
I have an OB appointment on Oct 1st. I get to here the heartbeat and be reassured that everything is going ok. We wont find out what we are having till the end of October and we are going to be getting a 3-D ultrasound done. So pictures of that will of course be posted!
Work has been work but going by nice and fast this week.
Big news!! My sister in law had her second baby yesterday! So I am an Auntie again to another little boy! So yay! Family is expanding again :)
Hubby is getting ready to go to his field training for 3 weeks next week and I get the house all to myself! He will gone just long enough to were I will just start to miss him.

I have seen everyone on blogger and Facebook making preparations to have fun at BOOBs this weekend! I am so jealous! It was such a great time last year, and I learned and grew so much from all those wonderful ladies that I got to meet.
For those of you who remember the wine from last year, I still have an unopened bottle of the white wine in my fridge. I had planned on either bringing it with me this year or drinking it this year if I didn't go. It looks like I will just have to wait to drink it next year either in Chicago or cuddling my new baby and reminiscing!
Have fun ladies!!!

16 Weeks and a Belly

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I am going to be posting mostly on Wednesdays. This has normally been my weigh in day and is now the day in the week that starts the next week in my prego hood.

16 weeks pregnant
Last weeks weight: 253.9
This weeks weight: 253.1 (general fluctuation)
Food Aversions: still want nothing to do with frozen yogurt, haven't even tried eating eggs this week
Cravings: Captain Crunch berry cereal and salads! (with ham chunks, almonds, cheese and bagel crisps YUM!)

Well this past weekend was really nice down here in SoCal. We had temps in the high 90's. A friend of ours just got back from deployment and spent the weekend with us. He and hubby spent the weekend by going to the beach and boogie boarding and playing xbox. I went window shopping while sucking down a light Jamba Juice smoothie. I also spent time and got my toe nails done. I also started making a baby blanket this weekend, crochet style. Overall a relaxing weekend.

I am not going to sugar coat my eating for you guys. I have had a horrible diet! I have basically been eating what I want when I want. I am now cutting out some of the sweet stuff and adding more veggies. I don't want to gain 50 pounds from eating my pregnancy away.

On the prego front:  thank heavens I have not had a headache all this week so far! Fingers crossed that I did not just jinx myself. I am always tired, whoever said you feel like your old self again and have energy in the 2nd trimester needs to be shot. I'm not drinking anything with caffeine (I had 2 cups in 2 weeks and I think that's what gave me the headache) so staying awake is next to impossible some days. I have a pillow in my car to take naps over lunch. I am getting up 3-4 times a night to pee and I hear it only gets worse! I have also started having heartburn. I can't lay down at night without taking my dose of tums and it's been getting to be an annoyance through the day as well.
Right now the baby is about the size of an avocado. In the next couple weeks baby is supposed to double is size, yay! The baby can hear things now and my husband seems to think that talking to our little peanut through my belly button is a good idea and it tickles the crap out of me! Hubby has been so good to me and is already so sweet toward the baby. He has been sticking his head down to my stomach and talking to the baby the whole time. He taps on my stomach and waits to feel baby kick back (even though I tell him that if I can't feel the baby move yet, your not going to feel the baby move yet)

I will take a new belly pics every 5 weeks. Started at 15 weeks and the next one will be at 20 weeks. Lets see if I can get some belly pics to load to give you guys a good before picture:



before



15 weeks



The First Trimester

So I'm preggers!
I am 15 weeks and 1 day.
Food aversions: eggs (but always want them) and frozen yogurt (boo!)

I found I was pregnant at the beginning of July. For those of you who don't know my history, we have had a little difficulty getting to a viable pregnancy. So hubby and I are super excited!
When I was doing my research into what surgery was right for me it was difficult if not impossible to find any personal stories of banded pregos. I know recently a youtuber know as Kenze Restricted had a beautiful baby girl and has shared her story through video. So I want to add to her experience.

Ok here comes the ugly...it started right away for me!

You hear about how as soon as your body knows your pregnant your bowels stop, well mine sped up! The WLS community is no stranger to poopy issues, so I know you all can bear with me on this one. So for the next 2 weeks I was horribly nauseous with vomiting and poopy. I lost a total of 7 pounds in a 2 weeks time frame. This is what put me at my 100lb mark.
I am not going to complain I took that goal with both hands and screamed IT"S MINE!! (even though it was miserable getting to that point)
I had never had any real side effects with any of my previous pregnancies, then again none of them got far enough to along to warrant any.

I have told my hubby many times that this might be his only child with the way I have felt.

The pooping issue got better and the only worries were the nausea and minimal vomiting. I have not yet hooked up with a new band doctor out here, so I have not gotten an unfill.
That hadn't been an issue till about week 11.
My in laws came to visit and we were running around Lego Land, Disney Land and the beach and I got a nice little cold. I am the woman that never had any problem with being tight except in the morning and that blew up in my face!
I have had the slightest bit more restriction since being prego but then with a cold on top of that for a week it was almost impossible to eat solid foods. I have since come to the conclusion that I need to get an unfill, but I have put it off due to limitations on getting time off at work. It will have to happen though.

Here we are at 15 weeks and I have been dealing with headaches, nausea and exhaustion. Naps at lunch time have been helping. I have gone back up in weight to 253.5. So no real worries I guess, your aloud to gain at least 5lbs in the first trimester and those 3 little pounds have only been in the last 2 weeks.

I'll wrap this post up with saying that I am over the moon to be a mommy soon but I do not like being pregnant. Maybe that will change in a couple more weeks but to quote Gwen Stafani "This shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!"

So let me introduce you to and show off my little peanut!!!

Hello Strangers

Hi all!
I know I said I was going away forever but some pretty exciting stuff has been going on in my life and I wanted to put it all in writing and out there to help other people.

"Why did you try to leave us!?!"
Well names out of it...I had a person harassing me. Long story short this individual got denied by insurance and was taking it out on me. This person felt I didn't deserve my band and wasn't using it properly and that by my 1 year mark I should have been down to goal. So I blocked them and left blogger.  Not a good excuse I know but it gave me time to live without blogging and I do miss it and all of you that come with this package deal!

So lets get you all up to speed:

• In May I achieved my Associates degree in general studies
• In May we moved from Illinois to southern California.
• I started working on Marine Corp Base Camp Pendleton (our current duty station)
• In July I hit my 100lbs down milestone

• In July I also celebrated my 26th birthday!
• Also the biggest news of the year and the reason I feel I need to share my story more now then ever is...I am pregnant!

So that should catch you all up :)

Since this post is a lot all at once I will put follow up post about what being pregnant with a band has been like. The good, the bad and the ugly!

I also understand that BOOBs is coming up just right around the corner and I am sad that I am not going to be able to go this year :(

Farewell

Hi everyone,
Since Dec 8th 2010 I have been posting on and off about my weight loss surgery journey. I have met so many wonderful people on blogger and have found inspiration in all of you. I am making the decision not to post any longer. Life has taken me on a different course from here. I cherish the people I got to know and those of you that I have met. I wish you all continued success in your journeys, where ever they my take you.
Farewell my dears

California Dreaming

Hello from sunny California!
I am sorry I haven't been on in a while but we were in the moving process.
I am safely in our new house on Camp Pendleton right on the edge of Oceanside and only 3 miles from the beach!
I did not gain a single pound on the trip out here. I am staying steady at 258. The is a first for me. In the past I have always gained weight during travel, so this was a huge success for me!
Also I went clothes shopping (not on purpose), I was able to pick a shirt of the rack and take it home without trying it on and was confidant that it was going to fit!
I LOVE MY BAND!
I stick by that this was the best choice I have ever made for myself. Anyone is SoCal?

So much to do and so little time!

11 days till we move and all I have to do is...

• pass 2 finals
• make brownies and banana bread tonight
• sort through half of everything we own
• clean the whole house
• do a dry run on packing up the cars
• go to work every day for another week
• gather up our medical records
• spend a whole day following the movers around while they roughly pack up my whole life
• celebrate an anniversary
• throw a party
• clean the whole house again
• clean my car
• o and get my work outs in some where

I'm sure there is other stuff I have to do that I haven't thought of yet.
I have not yet weighed myself again, so that is a little bit of success in the first 4 days of this month :) Although I think I will weigh weekly this month, if I can because of the move. I tend to over eat when I travel by car. Too many temptations. We are packing a cooler full of stuff to bring with us. Any way not to much to talk about today. Just busy trying to get everything together and running smooth for the move and everything else it involves.

I hope you all are having a fun filled and fantastic week.
Love your faces!

Monthly Weigh-In and Blabber

Epiphany!
I did some math (because I am bored in biology class) and if I try to lose about 6lbs a month for the rest of the year I will be at goal by my 2 year bandiversary!

That would be an awesome bandiversary gift to myself.

This all does depend on if we have a successful pregnancy before the end of the year. Fingers crossed.

So today is the last day of April and my weight is....260.2. I am a couple pounds up because of good old aunt flow came to town a couple days early. But I am still impressed with that weight. I started April at 264.8 and saw 258 at one point. I think once my body evens itself out from the TOM it will be back down again. So can I technically claim 6lbs lost for April right?

We played a couple rounds of drunken laser tag this weekend and I am sure that had a lot to do with a good weight in this morning. I kind of watched what I ate over the weekend but still had some crap here and there. I was as sweaty after 2 half hour rounds of that as when I do my full 80 min workouts. A good choice of activities that I would never have been able to do 92lbs ago! Love it! I am fully looking forward to the wonderful new activities I can participate in once we get back to California.

Not much else is happening today. It's Monday, blah. My last full week of work before the move. I do technically have a full week next week as well but I am taking Monday and Tuesday off for pack-up and pack-out and the last couple of days I have to drag my tushy around this wonderfully messed up campus and check out.
Alright well I have to get back to work.
Hopes it fun my darlings!

Uncomfortable Shrinking and Acceptance

I have always loved laying on the floor to take a nap. I like to lay in front of the fireplace on a cold day, or lay down and read a book, or watch TV.

It is no longer comfortable. *sigh

My bones, are sticking out. That should be in itself an amazing thing. I can see hip bones and my hubby loves jokingly gnawing on my ribs, (I love the weirdo of mine) but they are uncomfortable.
I can no longer lay flat on my stomach on the floor or even in my bed. (we have a really firm mattress) I have to put a leg out to the side to lift up my body just a bit so I am comfortable.

A good problem to have?

----------------------------------------------------------

I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that I will lose all my weight but it will just take time. Just because the weight loss is slow doesn't mean it isn't happening. That first year post-op is amazing! your losing weight crazy fast and your body is changing and almost everyday you are finding an NSV to celebrate. Your like a little kid with there eyes being opened to all the wonders of the world for the first time. Then you grow into that teenager who just got into their first car accident and it was slamming head first into a wall. (at least for me it felt that way)
This is truly a whole different life and not just a quick fix. I have noticed my body reshaping itself to how it was meant to be. This last 58lbs are going to reveal the real me. The first 92 has been a shrinking blob but now the sculpting begins. I am very excited. There are without a doubt going to be some things needing to get touched up. I have varicose veins that I want to look into getting taken care of, some are protruding a little and my husband has already promised me a boob job and a tummy tuck after we have kids. (so in like 6 years maybe, lol) I can't wait to see what I look like when I reach goal. I can't say when this is done because it is never done.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and love yourself in whatever stage you are in this journey. It's an amazing one!

Band Appointment

I saw my surgeon today.
I thought I had not lost a pound since November, as it turns out I have lost 11!

I really need to keep track of my dates better. It was a nice ego booster to know that even though my weight loss has slowed it has not stopped.

He reassured me that the pain I have been having on and off is not really anything to worry about. I don't have any symptoms that he is worried about. He did tell me to try some zantac or prilosec for a couple of weeks to see if it gets better. He thinks I just might have some irritation of the stomach lining along with my poop issues. This is the first time going in that I did not get a fill. He offered but I don't think I am anywhere needing one.

That being said I think I will get a second opinion once I get to California about my pain. My surgeon has never really instilled to much confidence in me. The only reason I went with him was because my insurance gave me 2 options and the other one is an hour and a half drive north. That was just not going to work with work. I am looking forward to a better doc in the future.

I hope you all have had a good week. This post is very one topic today. I have to go take a shower and go to bed because some how I can't seem to get there before ten at night in the last couple weeks. I'm draggin! Amen for coffee (i know I am back on the coffee wagon, ugg!)

Love you guys....till next time :)

Ethics, dun dun dun

Wow were has the time gone! I feel likes its been a month since I posted.
Life has been in full swing trying to get ready to move in a couple of weeks. There is outings and purging of stuff and painting and going away parties, school to finish up and the list goes on and on!

I have not weighed myself since I last let you guys see into my dark love story of scale compulsion. my eating has been ok, nothing to be excited about. I have gotten lots of protein in and lots of water. Hell last night I did 80mins on the elliptical, I am planning to jump on for the long tonight too.
I had some concerns last time that I was not eating enough calories. What I had listed was what I allot myself while at work. I leave a good amount of calories open for dinner because my life tends to be a little hectic and depending on the day I have no idea what dinner may bring. Don't you all worry about shrinking little me though I eat plenty of food. My band was just having a bad day that particular day. At work we have been surrounded by floor refinishing chemicals and I think it had a lot to do with that for some weird reason.

Anywhoo I wanted to thank all of you for inspiring me to write a paper for ethics class. I wrote it on teen weight loss surgery. I know people still have a problem with adults who get the assist but I wanted to know what people thought about kids getting the assist and I have to say it was eye opening. An 11ur old girl in mexico had a gastrectomy.
I decided I was against kids getting these major things done to them. I would like to know how you all feel about it though. Leave a comment if I have peaked your interest.

Well the clock is a ticking and I have a workout to get in before bed.
Love ya all
big sloppy smooches!!

p.s.
I told you all I bought me some shorts for the first time ever so I thought I would show you a picture.

shorts ans horizontal stripes! What What!!!

UGG!

Today sucks on the eating front.
I had a hard time getting my yogurt down this morning and I could only get about half of it in at that. I spent about an hour trying that. I sipped on a small cup of coffee for about an hour and am having a little bit of difficulty with water too. I can usually eat a boiled egg in about 3 mins and be fine. Right now I am sitting staring at the last couple of bites that has taken me awhile too. I ate half, got up took care of a patient and came back to it. I will try it out here in another minute.
Last night I had a hard time with dinner too.
Yesterday at lunch I PB'd for the first time in a couple of months and I think I am feeling the effects of that. At least I can get a little bit of solid protein down.
Today I planned my food out as follows:

Breakfast: oikos peach yogurt. 130cals 12g protein
Snack: Boiled egg. 78cals 6.3g protein
Snack2: Boiled egg. 78cals 6.3g protein
Snack3: 3oz Shrimp. 135cals 16.5g protein
Lunch: my home made chili 1 cup. 154cals 16g protein
Dinner: possibly left over home made turkey mushroom soup. unsure right now though

So right now if I can get it all in my work meals will equal 574cal and 56.8g of protein.
You might notice that I plan out 3 morning snacks. That is because I eat breakfast at 6 a.m. By 8:30 or so I am hungry because I am running around all morning. Then I snack again at about 11:30ish and eat lunch around 12:30ish. The extra snack is there in case I want to eat a little more at one of my snack times.

Fingers crossed that food goes down a little better as the day progresses.
Have a good Wednesday everyone :)

Poopy Glue Shorts

I have a few things to talk about today :)
Lets start off with a couple NSV's shall we...

One of my biggest goals with weight loss was to be able to were my wedding rings again. They were on a necklace for over a year because they were just to tight to get on any more. When I could finally get them on again I posted about it HERE. Well today I was taking off a pair of gloves to throw in the trash but I had to set them down on the metal table next to me and thank goodness I did! I heard a clank and looked down and saw my ring off my Left hand was gone and inside the gloves I was going to throw away. So not only do the fit my rings are getting to the point that they are falling off! So I have to find a quick fix because I don't want to get a bar placed in it just yet so I can still wear it if I swell up during pregnancy. So I hot glued it for now. It gets the job done without costing money or ruining it. That's a great NSV to me because that means I am smaller now then I was at my 1 yr anniversary when I got this.

Next NSV is that I bought shorts for the first time ever outside of needing them for when I was in uniform. I have never willingly worn short for as long as I can remember. One pair is dark and looks like cut of jeans and the other is a lighter pair and has patch work and a little bit of lace on it. My hubby was not with me when I bought them and I did not leave the dressing room when I tried them on. He did say that my legs looked so different when he inspected them. (not as cellulite like) I have since worn them around the house and in front of the other navy wives around here and felt not only fine about myself but didn't care. It was liberating my darlings! Another powerful NSV. 

So now onto poop. I have had issues with constipation since being banded. I have started using fiber powder in my drinks about twice a week. It seems to work and not leave me feeling to bloaty and crampy. Have you guys had issue with constipation and what do you do for it...

Ok my homies I hope you had a great Monday and I can't wait to peruse the blogs in a minute. 

True Dat

"It takes a little courage, and a little self-control. And some grim determination, if you want to reach the goal. It takes a great deal of striving, and a firm and stern-set chin. No matter what the battle, if you really want to win, there's no easy path to glory. There is no road to fame. Life, however we may view it, is no simple parlor game; But its prizes call for fighting, for endurance and for grit; for a rugged disposition that will not quit." - Navy SEAL Master chief

Have a great weekend my dears :)

Oops, I did it again...

Well I said I wasn't going to weight myself for the whole month of April. I failed. I work in a clinic and I wear scrubs every day. They are wonderful, comfortable and forgivingly stretchy! Not concussive to weight loss though. Last night I had class and I wore a pair of jeans that I just washed and the were tight and uncomfortable as all hell. All I could think was WTF Batman! How have I gained this much!?! So I hopped on the elliptical last night for an hour, drank a liter of water and ate a boiled egg then went to bed. I jumped on the scale this morning expecting to see 268 or worse but to my great surprise I weighed in at 260!! That makes me ecstatic!!! I could have sworn I was up with how tight those jeans were last night. but hey I will take that weight!
So that puts me down 4lbs since April 1rst!
Those are new jeans too. I buy the same brand and cut for every pair I have and it's still hit or miss. Sometimes they are to short after the first wash and tighter then a pair of new spanks. weird.

Also I got some great news today...I GOT THE JOB!! A couple days ago I told you I had applied for a job working in the hospital on base and i got it. I start on 21rst of May. So no Oregon for me, but the cats will appreciate that. They wont be in limbo move for a month. That's the only sucky part about it.

So we are going out to celebrate tonight. I will make the best food choices that I possible can when out and get on the elliptical for an hour before we go to dinner.

This is turning out to be such a great day!
I hope all of you are having as good a day as I am having!

Fail

Ok so I failed on the no processed foods. I am starting over. Where the heck did I find the will power to do the pre-op diet? It really makes you wonder why we have such selective will power.

Last night we went to red lobster. I had a cup of lobster bisque which is 210 caloreis. and I only had a small bite of a biscut (I know I will get stuck if I try to eat a whole one) and a half a pound of snow crab legs. That is only 90cals if you don't dip it into the butter they give you. I of course did and that is of course 350cals!!!! Thank goodness we dont do that very often. So dinner by itself was 650calories and that doesn't include the mudslide that I drank before dinner.
Side note: pre-op I would have eaten multiple biscuts, a whole bowl of soup (not just a cup), a whole seperate meal of either fried nasty seafood or pasta, dessert and a couple of drinks and still not have been full. Crazy difference!

So I am starting over. I will say I have completely cut the caffeine out. I had a headache pretty much all weekend but hey it's gone. My veggie and fruit intake is up too but my chocolate intake was very high this weekend as well. 2 bags of these this weekend....

So cutting that back out. So round one was not successful round 2 will be though. I am getting out my running gear tonight and going for 3 miles with the hubby. I have yet to schedule a 5K to do.

I feel almost out of control. I know I am the one controlling what goes into my mouth but it doesn't feel like it. I think I just have so much going on right now that I kinda just feel lost and out of control. We are moving to a place that even though I want to move to brings so much uncertanty. Looking for a job, waiting to start back up with school, the move itself, getting unpacked, worring about my animals during the move. I know taken in stride it's not a lot but some times it just gets over welming. Not to mention this past weekend I have had some major baby issues. I would be 26 weeks this week and I keep seeing everything everywhere that reminds me that I am not expecting my baby. I keep wondering if it would have been a boy or a girl. I think about how big my belly wound be and it just hurts like nothing else. It also doesn't help that 19 people in my building are expecting offspring, my baby sister in law has a 1 month old now and my older sister in law is 14 weeks along. Some of the testing for the infertility came back and we have to take another round of medication so we can test again before we start trying again. So that is going to be at least June now. My hubby says I should go talk to my theapist but from everything I have read all of this is completely normal to feel. So I don't know. I am happy for everyone just sad about my babys that I have lost.

We are moving to Camp Pendleton, Ca on May 15. We were planning on going up to Oregon to visit family for about 20 days between here and there, but I might have a job. If I get the position that I got called for I will not be making my way out to Oregon. Hubby will be going it alone after he gets me to Cali and in our new place. It would be ideal if I got this job and things will hopefully fall into place.

Sorry for the long depressing post, I really am having a good day. I promise :)
I hope you all have a great Tuesday...HUGS

Cave Man

I am an addict.
Sweets and caffeine are controlling my life.
I have not lost a single pound (that I know of) since November 2011
This needs to come to an end

I am calling this my cave man phase.

I am not eating anything that is processed. I am not eating any dairy. If I can't recognize what meat it is that I am going to eat then I'm not eating it. If I can't pick it and eat it then I'm not eating it.

Basically I am eating nothing but fruit, veggies and meat. I am doing this to cleanse my body of all that crap that it's craving and to give me a clean slate. I am doing this because it is healthier. I am doing this also to help my body better prepare to get pregnant again. (it can't hurt, right?)

I would like to hit my 100lb mark before we start trying to get prego again (original goal for baby makin) and this is what I am doing to jump start things. It still amazes how much food you can eat if you eat healthy!

So for work I have brought with me 4 boiled eggs, 2 1/2 cups broccoli, 1 cup cucumbers, 1 cup strawberries and 1 cup watermelon. That is a lot of food and it is not even 500 calories! Love it!

Ok, happy Friday people! I hope you all have a great weekend.

Calender

For those of you who have been hanging around with me for a while you might remember last summer when I went a couple of months with only weighing once a month. In one of those months I had lost 12lbs! I was kicking my ass though. So I am going to spend the month of April trying this little experiment again. I will post a calender with days that I have worked out and avoided the scale. So I have to focus on working out and eating right if I want to see a loss. I want to be 100lbs down by my birthday on 16 July and I want to see that pretty little 5 after the 2 on the scale before we leave in May.

So here is a preveiw of my calender.

I am going to be trying out some new recipes I have acquired from other bandsters and see how things go :)

Hope you all had a great Monday!

Holy Pants Batman!

17months post-op. 88lbs lost and I will find the motivation in as many places as I can to keep going! 

I throw out all the clothes that are to big for me once I shrink out of them. I don't want any of them laying around so I can rationalize that its ok that they fit...it's not! Today I went to get a new pair of jeans and just for shits and giggles decided to hold up the size that was tight on me pre-op.

From a size 26 - currently an 18, and still shrinking. 

These last couple months have been a real challenge for me. I am finding motivation anywhere I can. This was a big one for me today. 

Till next time peeps! Stay motivated, Hugs.

I Work Out!

Left: a girl who could barely lift herself out of a chair without help

Right: a woman who can run 3 mile!

The mojo is coming back!

For all of you who know who bandedwendy is on youtube (google her...amazing women!) She is starting a SoCal chapter of WLSFA (weight loss surgery foundation of America). I have the honor of being able to join this chapter when I get to SoCal in June! (mojo booster) This means I get to shake the hand of bandedwendy and possible give her a big old bear hug! She has been a great role model for me since being introduced to her vlog in October.

Ok so that's all for now. Peace and love my darlings! Till next time :)

p.s. since people are asking how to find this WLSFA here is the link to their Facebook page

Run-a-licous

So I have started running again and I did 3.11 miles on friday in about 41 mins after working myself up to it over the course of the week. I have been riding me bike again too. We did about 8.5 miles today on the bike. I don't believe I have found my motivation again yet but I do love how I feel knowing that I got off my ass and just did it. So I am going to try to run or bike every day except Wednesday because I am starting class up again on Wednesday. I have to keep reminding myself that I couldn't even stand up by myself a couple of years ago and how for I have come. 88lbs is no small amount of weight and whether I have motivation or not I owe it to myself to at least keep going so I don't get to that place again. I am looking to do a 5k soon. Not sure when or for what but base host them all the time. So whenever I find one to fit into my schedule I will do it.

Also we have only 8 weeks left till we move. 7 weeks till I am sleeping on the floor and in strange beds for about a month. Thats really the only thing I hate about moving is strange sleeping arrangement's. I am lucky enough to not have to do all the packing. The Navy will do that for us. I will try to get some running in while we are on the road. My bike will have to be packed because the bike rack we have doesn't fit either one of our cars anymore.

I really have to start concentrating on my eating. I have been a sweets whore. Today alone I had a giant Reeses egg, half a blonde and half a bag Hershey drops. I have to really stop the bad not caring eating. I have been saying I want to see 100lbs gone by the time we leave and it is still doable if I get my act together.

off to bed now, love you all and have a great week.

Motivation

I have hit that point in my weight loss journey where I am officially out of the newbie excitement stage. Ok ok, so I have been there since about Christmas. Now I will proceed by giving you a bunch of excesses...winter hit full swing and I have been to cold to move, or I have been so busy with school and work to have the energy for anything else. My knee hurts when I bend it at the wrong angle so I shouldn't walk at all, the couch told me so.
Chocolate is a super food as long as it's dark chocolate.
So many excuses so little time to use them all. I am even a lucky girl with P90x videos and an elliptical in my living room. Still Have not yet hit the 90lb mark. So if you went to BOOBs 2011 I still look the same.

For those of you who are farther along in your journey than I am. How do you keep up the motivation? Getting back into running is the most daunting task in my mind right now (saying a lot since I am prepping for a cross-country move).

I am thinking of moving back to no scale months again just to up the motivation not to see a higher number at the end of the month.

Ports

Ok everyone I need some feed back...

I have your average run of the mill port on old Phyllis (band). Since doing P90x I have been having a little bit of pain during the ab work out. I have been thinking about asking for a low profile port after we get settled in California in June some time. My question to you all is, do any of you have a low profile port and what influenced the decision to get the low profile port.

kiss kiss hug hug

Busy weekend

Hello all my beautiful followers!

Thank you for all  your uplifting and understanding comments, hormones can be a bitch sometimes.

Update on the weight loss side, still staying at 262. My goal is to be at 250 (100lb mark) by the time we leave in May. That gives me 75 days to lose 12lbs. If I stay on track I should be able to get there in that time.
I have a little sinus cold going on. A sore throat from post nasal drip and plugged ears. Not sleeping so good and solids are a little hard going down. On top of the sinus cold we got some snow on Friday and the temperature dropped so solids have been out this weekend. It's fun to experience how outside factors effect my band, not. Having a hard time with p90x. I have not been doing it every day but I have still noticed my pants feel bigger.

I am also working on a power point project this week for my computer class and that will be how I spend the rest of my day today except for a stop to make date and walnut cookies for work. The filling is dates, honey, walnuts, some special dark chocolate chips and orange peel, all run through the food processor and then I will bake it in some filo dough drizzle with more dark chocolate over the top. Not horrible for you but still tasty. and just a little sinful :) I also had class yesterday and my group project people over for about an hour to go over the project details for Tuesday.
I only have one semester till I get my associates degree. I am taking ethics and human biology.

Till next time my dears. I hope you all have a great week.

Great week...Horrible day

So this week has been awesome! First it started off with a dead Monday. We were slow and I was able to get a lot of stuff done at work that I normally just can't seem to find time for. Tuesday I had a great Valentine's day. Hubby surprised me at work for lunch with a couple of candles and a red table clothe and a single red rose. Then after work I went to a meeting for school and found out I am only 2 classes away from my associates degree!! Very awesome! I will get it 3 days before we move to California. Wednesday I got a small raise (just in time to quit lol). I also as of yesterday was down 4 lbs from Sunday morning! So awesome week up till that point. (and still is really)

Today I turned into an emotional wreck! I was self consous because I decided it would be a good idea to step on the scale this morning after a p90x work out last night and was 2 lbs up. (duh of course the scale is up) Also because I just felt fat even though I have been working out a lot and losing a little at a time. Then I got unnecessarily jealous at my husband for a completely stupid reason that is so stupid I am not going to even say because I fell foolish about it now. Also I consumed 8 cookies today at work which set me way over my caloric intake. Basically my hormonal emotional state was sent down hill because I have been so overly hard on how I look and just feel ugly. I have been feeling like I have failed myself by not being 100lbs down already. Wow that was much harder to admit then I thought it would be. I have been judging my progress off of other people and I really need to stop doing that. Also all the inspiring bandsters out there that are in single digit pants make me feel like I will never get there. I have to find my mojo again. I would love to lose that 12 more pounds before we get pregnant again.

I just keep telling myself how blessed I am though to have this wonderful week and to be 88lbs down with my wonderful band and be so close to my associates degree.

Time Flys

Hello my wonderful bloggers!!
It has been a long time since I have blogged. A lot has been going on since then. I think the last time I did post was in early December.
This post got a little long so feel free to skim over if needed.

My weight loss has not gone well. I have been stuck between 262 and 271lbs for a couple of months. Emotionally I have noticed I have been eating a lot of my issues. I am working on getting myself back to center emotionally. I wasn't working our while I was pregnant and for about 2 months after the loss. I do find it a success that I have stayed within a 10lb range for that long though. I have started working out again. I am running a couple of times a week and the hubby and I are doing P90x. (painful) Things are looking up on that end. Now only if I could get my eating under control. Possibly therapy could be in order? I think so.

In December we had a lot happen. First we started going to see a infertility doctor since this last miscarriage was not our first and weight loss did not cure that issue. We have had great success in that area so far. After two months of tests and procedures it looks like an easy fix with just low progesterone. So supplementation can be done for that. Fingers crossed.

A couple of weeks before Christmas the dog ruptured a disc in his back and had to have surgery to remove it. He wasn't walking for a couple of weeks afterward but he is doing great now. He has physical therapy just like a human to help him with the learning how to walk again.

My little sister in law is going to have a baby in about 3 weeks or so if she can hold out that long. Also my older sister in law is pregnant and is due in early October. New family to look forward to this year.

We have also gotten orders for our next duty station. We are going back to Camp Pendleton, Ca. Before we go back we are going to spend about 20 or so days in Oregon with the hubby's family. I will have time on my hands as well as a car to get around so if you would like to get together hit me up.

I love you guys and miss you guys!
Hugs :)