Double Nickel

I hit the old "double nickel" mark today! I have lost 55 pounds since I started my lap band journey last year. So on my curvy, winding road to health and happiness I have gone from 303 last June, 277 at surgery in December and my current 248 today. That means I have lost a little over 18 percent of my body weight. Yippee! I still have so much work to do, but at least I feel like I am headed in the right direction. Gotta keep celebrating the milestones.

Slime X2

Ugh, I don't know what my problem was today but I got stuck and slimed 2 times today! Where in the world did that come from? I am finding that I am getting less tolerant of bread and bread type items. I don't know why all the trouble today though, as I didn't have anything much different from any other day since my last fill a month ago. So it starts...I feel tight, then the hiccups start then the slime starts until I pray I can finally get things moving again. Guess I need to slow down a bit and do some better chewing. I have a fill scheduled for late May, so I suppose that I will have to get used to more episodes of tightness until I find the sweet spot.

NSV: You Know Your Pants Are Too Big When...

You know your pants are getting too big when you can go to the bathroom and take your pants down without unbuttoning or unzipping them, they just slide on down past your hips. I am having a lot of those moments lately as I am between sizes and between seasons. I am hoping that capri season gets here soon--although the snow showers today don't bode well for that idea. I am running out of decent pants to wear, and since my "official" summer wardrobe is capri's it seems ridiculous to invest in more pants right now. Once I get some warm weather I know that I have dozens of capri's that will fit. But I guess if I had to have a complaint, this is a good one to have!

Oh yeah, one more thing...drum roll please...hello 249! I saw that magic little number on the scale this morning. So happy to see the illusive 240's. I am so happy to be able to say I am closer to the 200's than I am to the 300's. That's awesome. :)

New Number and Darn Blister!

I don't know why but I am continuing to get a blister on my right foot when I walk. It really puts a damper on my desire to get out and exercise! Phooey! I have tried different shoes, different socks, covering it, not covering it and all sorts of things, I just keep aggravating it. I am hoping that soon I will just develop a good callous and the bottom of my foot will be a little tougher. Now the old me would have used that as an excuse to just give up on my exercise plans but I just need to find a way to work through this or maybe find an alternative to walking while I heal.

On a positive note, I was so happy to see the scale start moving a little bit again. I saw 250 even, on the scale this morning. I should hopefully hit the 240's before the end of April. So I really need to keep exercising to get those numbers to keep moving. This is hard work!!

Beautiful Night

It was an absolutely beautiful night for a walk tonight. I did two miles at the track right before sunset. I am so happy that it is spring and the sun is shining and the days are getting longer. I also had a great lunch hour today. A co-worker/friend and I decided to have an impromptu picnic. So we grabbed some chef salads from the local sandwich shop and went to the park for lunch. We even had a little fun on the playground equipment, going down the slides. It felt good to know that I would fit in the spiral slide without wondering about my size. All in all, a great spring day. Too bad the weekend sounds like rain in the forecast. Oh well, just have to make the best of it. As they say...April showers bring May flowers.

1440 Calories...Good Grief!

I am on the road on business this week and went out to dinner with some friends/colleagues as a treat. They choose Olive Garden and I said I could make it work. I got my favorite dish, the Chicken Alfredo. According to the Olive Garden web site the typical portion has 1440 calories. Holy cow! Well, I did eat a hearty portion, but mostly the chicken and just a few bites of pasta. I left at least 2/3rds of the pasta. I also skipped the bread sticks and had a very small portion of salad. But then the three of us shared a piece of white chocolate raspberry cheese cake (yum!!). That was just a mere 890 calories--divided by three, I suppose my share was just shy of 300 calories. My goodness! So while it was hard to count my calories in my head, I would suppose I had at least 750 calories for that meal. (I still did OK for the day, lunch was pretty light, turkey sandwich and a handful of chips and breakfast was normal, cereal and milk.) So not my healthiest day, but at least calories weren't a total blow out.

So all in all, in a social situation I did so-so. But what gets me is that in the past I would have easily eaten the entire pasta dish and a healthy helping of salad and at least 2-3 bread sticks. It makes my arteries clog just thinking about it. Thank goodness I avoid restaurant eating most of the time lately, because I think that it would be a disaster. I think the restaurant industry in America is trying to kill us...and up until a few months ago I was a willing participant far too often.

Another Two Miles

Went for a walk before lunch today, another two miles at the track. It was killer, there is a restaurant right by the track and I could smell them cooking their broasted chicken. Mmmmm! Every time I would turn the corner and get downwind from the exhaust systems the wonderful smell of fried chicken filled my face. That's cruel and unusual punishment. So I finished my walk and now I am contemplating what to make for dinner. Chicken perhaps? LOL. Anyway, another good day at the track.

Nice Walk

I went for a walk at the track in the early evening. I went two miles tonight, woo hoo! I have started to keep a walking log again too. I used one a few years ago for some extra motivation and to track my progress. It's good to see all those steps and miles add up. I plan on going out again tomorrow. Maybe I will walk the trail for a change of scenery.

New Number

Well, it's Saturday, my official weigh-in day. I saw a new number on the scale today! Finally! The scale has been moving awfully slow lately, so I was so pleased to see 251 on the scale this morning. It's a gorgeous day out today so I plan to go for a walk a little later. Hopefully adding more physical activity will keep that scale moving. I am so excited to be in the 240's soon. Just a few weeks and I should be there.

Progress Picture

It was such a nice day outside I thought it would be a great day to take a photo outside. I haven't had much weight loss lately, but I am hoping that walking more will really jump start things. Today on the scale I saw 252. At least I am holding steady. For the record this is a 3x shirt from last summer (nice and loose compared to last year) and size 22 pants. Just wanted to save another picture for posterity and to look back a few months from now and say "wow". I still have quite a long way to go but I am making progress.

Nice Day for a Walk on the Trail

I went for a nice long walk on the walking trail next to the Missouri River near my house. It was my second walk of the day actually. I went for about a 3/4 mile walk at lunch time. Then tonight I walked about 1 1/2 miles on the trail. The ice is gone and the water was splashing up against the shore, so nice. I even did a few quick sprints to get my heart rate up. I probably look like an idiot running, but oh well I guess if someone doesn't like it they can just look the other way, LOL.

Guest Speaker Gig

I was asked to be the guest speaker at a cancer support group that meets once a month in the town I work in. They wanted me to talk about my lapband. I was a little freaked out about it and not really all that sure that I wanted people to know my business. But in the end I manged to have a good little presentation and I think they learned a little something in the process--whether they wanted to or not.

I guess the thing that was the best about it was that I spent a great deal of time thinking about my progress as I put together my presentation. There was also something very selfishly wonderful about just spending about 45 minutes talking about my life and everyone listening intently. It also helped me to really take a close look at my progress and helped reassure me that I am moving forward. It was a good day to take inventory.

Beautiful Day!

It was an absolutely beautiful day today. I actually had to work, but as part of my job today I got to take kids on little photography field trips. We walked around town taking pictures. I had to repeat the class 3 times, so I got in plenty of walking today. My darn blister is still bugging me a bit. But all in all, I had a good day. It is so nice to finally see signs of spring. I am trying my hardest to walk everyday and to keep working up either my pace or distance. Life is good today.

Nice Walk at the Track

I went for a mile and a half walk at the local track tonight. The weather was so nice and the blister on my foot didn't bother me too much. It's still a bit sore, but I think I will live, LOL. It is so much easier to get started walking when I am not at 300 pounds. I remember in the past that those first steps were awfully hard before. This time, getting started was easier and I have better stamina. Tonight I even did a few short spurts of jogging to get my heart rate up into the cardio level. Hope the extra steps mean more pounds off the scale this month.

Darn Blister

I was being so good today, and I got up and went walking. When I got done with my walk I realized I had been developing a blister. Gosh darn it, just when I am gaining a little momentum then I have a setback. So tonight's a beautiful night outside and I can't even go for a walk without exacerbating the blister. Phooey!

Back Again

Hey all, sorry if you were shut out of my blog for a while I was doing some maintenance. I'm back again. :)

Great Workout Tonight

I had a great workout tonight. I spent part of the night doing Walk Away the Pounds while simultaneously watch The Biggest Loser for some extra motivation. Then it was so nice outside and sunset was still quite a ways off, so I decided to double up and go for a walk around the neighborhood. I wish I could bottle that enthusiasm for exercise and keep it every day. Once I get started I am great, but some days I just struggle to get going.

I think I am going to try very hard to get up a little earlier tomorrow and walk in the morning. I think it would make a huge difference in the way I start and finish my day. I need some major endorphins helping me along right now. So tomorrow morning, I am off for a walk, I promise.

New Number

I am on my usual 1 pound a week regimen I guess. I was pleased to see 252 on the scale today, Saturday, my official weigh in day. The weather hasn't been the best this week so I haven't walked as much as I should have. I got some new batteries for my pedometer yesterday, so I am hoping to give myself some incentive by keeping track again. I hope to go to the walking trail a little later as the day warms up a bit.