Friday, July 30, 2010

Tightening a Slack Band With Exercise

I went to a second gym and took my second spin class of the week. Yesterday my band was loose and this morning my band was loose (I poured a homemade peppermint mocha down my gullet at rapid pace). During the spin class I tightened up so much that when I drank water I had to burp some of it through a few minutes later. The tightness has lasted all day. My total food so far: One home-made peppermint mocha, one turkey pepperoni stick, one peppermint mocha frappachino, 1 cup of chili (eaten in two stages), 4 mini-snickers bars, 2 cups home-popped popcorn. Everything on the list after the chili was after 4 pm. Until 4 it was just was just liquid and a pepperoni stick. I would love to know if I am just weird of if it works for others too. Test it...do some exercise and see if you band tightens up then comment please :)

The stupid snickers bars probably put me over the top calorie wise but still..balanced out with the solid hour of pedaling I managed to do.

Tomorrow we leave for a week of active vacationing at a rental house in Central Oregon. I plan on biking every day so if all goes as planned the scale should start to move DOWN again at least a little.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Its Not In My Blood

I just got a call about my blood test results. It is not a surprise that they found nothing. They did note that my iron was low (has been my whole life) and my vitamin D was low (has been for years). I am suppose to start taking a multivitamin and 3000-4000 units of vitamin D every other day. I am sitting in the sun almost every day for hours on end...I have the darkest tan ever and my vitamin D numbers should be awesome!

I hate vitamins...did you know that? This anti-regular mediation thing is a small part of why I chose the band. No required k shots as with Rny, I wanted to get off my high blood pressure meds. I avoid meds except when my neck hurt or my eyes itch then I am so annoyed that i will do anything to get rid of it.

While they had me on the phone she asked that I come in for an annual check up and pap smear. I guess I will be going in for that one when I get back from vacation.


So here is an interesting tidbit-I have now discussed this dizzy thing with two of my daughter who both have lost significant amounts of weight. One of them (my oldest) is having some dizziness issues right now. My other daughter said that when she was getting close to goal that she had was dizzy sometimes too. I find this interesting and since I know that our medical professionals know very little about what those losing weight experience I wonder if a little dizzy now and then is to be expected.

Finally----I took a spin class yesterday followed by participating in the warm up stuff of a basic training session starting. My friend was trying to steer me into joining the gym she has joined. I am a bit sore today but I sure could keep up with them a lot better than I could the last time I did anything in a gym (about 80 pounds ago). Another friend has invited me to do spin at her gym (different than the one from yesterday) in the morning. I am hoping that this extra exercise will kick another pound off my carcass. I weighed in at 179.2 this morning (.4 lower than I have hit so far but I am only allowed to count whole pounds in my scheme). I have also been starving hungry today (probably another sign that I am bottoming out on this fill). I'll try and white-knuckle my way through our vacation and amp up the exercise.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Visit to My 'Regular' Doctor

I have been having some minor issues with dizzyness during the past week or so. I decided that since we are going on vacation next week that I should get in and get it checked out. I called the doctor and (I love my doctor)...she got me in on the same day. The last time I saw her was last summer for my yearly check-up.

I went in with the physicians assistant and she put me on the scale and then did her ritual of reading my chart to decide where to start putting the weights. I stopped her and said...um that weight probably wont work as I have lost quite a bit since I was in here last time. She said..."you know you have to pay me 10 dollars for every pound you are off". I told her...sure. I said 180 she weighed me at 181. It was all a joke of course but she was quite impressed that I got it that close.

I then waited for my doctor come in and she was totally excited at the 125 pounds lost. She said that her best patient besides me had only lost 30...yup you read it...30 pounds. She said that she had even stopped recommending the band to her patients because of it. I told her about my theory that part of the problem is that our surgeons treat us for the quick in and out physical stuff but there is way more to this band thing that needs to be studied (like all of the stuff in between fills and all of the stuff we hash out online).

Anyway we then played the whole show and tell stuff...she felt me out (my port that is) and asked me if it hurt. then she asked to see my skin....I showed her my saggy belly and legs and batwings. She said that she would totally support anything she could to help me get some plastic surgery as it is reasonable to not have to deal with it and if her support would help with insurance or allowing use of our medical spending account she is willing to give it.


She then addressed the dizzy thing. I get dizzy when I stand up from a sitting position. She had me do it in the office and sure enough I had to lean against the counter for a minute to re-orient. She then had me close my eyes and put my arms up and see if I swayed and then follow her finger without my glasses on (I told her it would be easier if I could see her fingers...I really am blind as a bat!).

She did some blood work and is going to get back to me. The possible list is: anemia, electrolytes or just need new glasses :)....or worst of all...some dizzy thing that no ones knows the reason for...I will keep you posted.

Off topic note to Lynda and other English-phobes.

when Lynda was here we talked about typos and punctuation when we write our blogs. I have always worried about my typo habit on here but now I am even more sensitive..its totally not your fault Lynda...Im just obsessing but...man o man do I not have a ton of pauses in the post above? I like the three dot thing but sometimes...I just feel like a stream of consciousness can only be conveyed fully by including them :)...happy Monday!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Meeting and Drinking With Lynda.

Lynda from This Time Next Year Visited Portland this week. Since she was available to hang out and I am always happy to take a day off of work and parenting for fun and drink she and I spent Tuesday afternoon shopping around the pearl district and Wednesday afternoon doing a bit of wine tasting. Here are the pictures!

Waiting for our sushi late afternoon lunch in Portland. This sushi was better than my first try and isn't her hat cute? She found it while we were shopping. Lynda has a great soft southern accent and is easy to visit with..heck we got along so well that we hardly even talked 'band' during the whole two days.

At the David Hill Winery in Forest Grove. I spent way too much buying wine here and later at the Montinore Winery. Lynda knows her stuff :)..She knows way more about wine than I do and I gratefully sucked all of the knowledge i could from her.

Grapes on the vine at David Hill Winery The vineyards stretch far out into the distance. They were lovely.




Lynda and then I with our arm around one of the very realistic murals at the MacMenamins Grand Lodge hotel in Forest Grove. Washington and Oregon have several hotels and restaurants run by McMenanamins. They brew beer and some spirits. Most of their locations are converted historic buildings. This one is an old Masonic lodge that they restored and filled with artsy murals and art relating to the town, period and buildings.

Hanging out with Lynda was a blast. Despite the fact that I drive into Forest Grove daily I had never gone to either of the wineries or to the Grand Lodge before. Lynda gave me a little summer stay-cation opportunity by coming. Thanks Lynda!! :)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Pb-Stuck-Slime Definition Discussion

Over at the weight-loss roller-coaster, Sandy Lee posted a discussion about whether it is good to seek pb's, stuck episodes or sliming. I was just going to comment on her blog but I got too long winded and ran out of space. I have put it here instead.

I disagree a little bit...not about the whole tone but about some of the specifics. Maybe different experiences for different people?...

first I define a stuck episode much like you. Pain is the biggest sign. I usually want to vomit but cannot. Usually it takes three or four trips to the kitchen to pop the offending piece of stuck food out. I cannot always tell what will get stuck so this sometimes happens. Very often leftovers are the culprit so I avoid them.

Slime-happens not when I am stuck but when I over-eat. If I eat one or two bites too much the food takes up all of the space in my pouch and esophagus. The natural saliva that is excreted to work the food through then builds up on top of that food and causes me to slime. This is when I use a cup or stand over the sink.

PB-If I eat way too much. Three or more bites too much and I have pushed the food way up to the base of my throat (I can feel it from the inside) there is no room for any spit. When this happens I very often vomit a little bit of food and spit to make room for the rest to digest. This happens more after a new fill and less often when i figure it out.

burping-I was lucky enough to burp while having a flouro and I got to see what was going on. The burp came and the food and flouro that was sitting in my stomach passed through. I agree that it is an air exchange issue from our bottom stomach to our top--but it happens when my top stomach empties or food passes through. When I burp it is a heads up that my stomach is ready for water or is not stuck. These burps can come as a great relief when I have eaten a little too much or been stuck and finally burp through that little bit too much of food or little bit too big of an item. I have even been known to let out an ahhh..thank goodness that passed.

So then-should we look for or desire stuck episodes, sliming or pb's? I guess I like to have them sometimes but not frequently (except the burps..those are good all the time). The reason I like to feel restriction which might mean one of the three. The stuck means that I am trying to eat solid protein but it also might mean I am not chewing enough. if it is the trying then that is good. If it is the not chewing enough that is bad. Sliming or pb means that I am not listening to my body enough and need to stop eating sooner. sliming or pbing once in a while prompts me to re-evaluate how much I am eating.

If any of these are happening every day then I would worry that I am setting myself up to irritate or harm my band causing a cycle of problems. I don't think it is too bad on occasion though.

That is my two-cents anyway

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Bike Riders Weekend

Saturday after I got home from my class we loaded up the bikes into the back of the car and drove to the Banks Vernonia bike trail for a ride. This is the coolest trail ever! We started at the Banks end and rode a gentle incline for 4 miles. We went with a neighbor and his two daughter (friends with Grace). They got tired after the 4 miles but I cannot wait to work up to the whole length. Going away from the car it seemed a little difficult at times but did not seem like we were climbing but when we turned around and headed back to the car it was the coolest ride (coasting the whole way) for the whole four miles. If we hadn't been with children (Don't want to show them any bad habits) I would have cranked down the hill back to the car. We had one injury along the way. Graces friend skidded out while crossing a gravel road and skinned up her knee. Thankfully since we were coasting downhill she could just ride without pedaling the mile left back tot he car.


Attempted close up with an cell phone picture.


The park sign and a bit of the trail in the distance.


Starting to load our bikes back into the car.


David taking my front wheel off to fit it into the car.


Knee injury--ouch!

Today we met up with some friends In Vancouver, WA (just across the Columbia river from us. We did a much shorter ride along the river and then through the industrial park. We then packed up and had a picnic lunch East of town.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Food Adventures: Sushimi

I took another food adventure tonight when I voluntarily went to our local Japanese restaurant for dinner. On tonight menu:

Sake Nagiri (salmon on sticky rice)
Hamachi Nagiri (tuna on sticky rice)
Portland roll (cooked crab, cream cheese and cucumber rolled in seaweed and sticky rice.
vegetable tempura
warm sake
ice tea.



The salmon was fibrous and I was a little afraid that it would stick. I think if it had been very thinly sliced I would have been fine with it. I dipped it in soy sauce and it tasted nice. The tuna had a really nice texture and I was not at all worried about it getting stuck but the flavor was much like my adventure eating a raw oyster (tasted like the sea). The Portland Roll was a mixed bag. I still do not like the seaweed but the crab and cucumber were very nice.

The tempura was deep fat fried....everything tastes better with fat right? I like tempura. The green bean and squash tempura were very nice.

The warm saki was excellent (even though David said it was cheap saki and not very good). I found it fairly comparable to a nice smooth vodka and you all should know by now how much I like my vodka. At first the warm scared me a bit but it was really nice.

David now wants to take me to a nicer Japanese place and get more raw things down me. Does anyone have any more foody adventures I should take?

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Waiting

My tight band is still tight and I'm still doing OK with it. The thing is....The scale #%$#!$#$ scale....is stuck. The one thing this band has provided that no other diet has ever provided for me is when I know I'm good---that is eating tiny amounts, exercising-you know-all that goo dieter stuff-that band has insured that the scale MOVED...DOWN.... I have done the slow crawl past the 10's each 10 but this one seems stuck-ier. I wonder if this is in my head and if I had written these same words every time or not?????

One of these days I am going to print the entire two years (or more) of this blog out and give it a read. I bet there are a ton of cycles that repeat.

Tina

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Sunday Trail Ride

We are off with our bikes in the back of the truck to go with friends on a long trail ride. David baked bread. We will stop for cheese and fruit and carrying drinks. Our friends are bring the wine.

I'll check back in with the backside report. I found out a few days ago that just a few weeks off your bike causes your butt to relapse and the seat pain returns :)

UPDATE

OH the ride was EXCELLENT!! We met a few friends in a grocery store parking lot conveniently located next to a paved bike/walking path called The Fanno Creek Trail. All over the Portland area are paved trails that are bike friendly. This one ran out after 5 miles out and then 5 back. When we got back to the car we decided to take our picnic lunch to another park a few miles away where we could carry it more easily from the car and one that had picnic tables.

There was quite a spread-crab salad, David's bread, cheese, strawberries, cherries, pineapple, olives, sesame chicken, garlic cream cheese and so on. a good sweaty bike ride apparently caused my band to tighten up as all i could manage was a diet coke. About the time everyone was finished with their lunch I managed to get down my drink and then it was time for me to dash off to a lace knitting class I signed up for.

On the drive to the class I ate a 2 inch square of bread crust and one slice of provolone cheese. The class was two hours long and the food did not budge. I didn't feel stuck or the need to PB. It just sat there waiting. Just after class I had an iced coffee and it finally washed the food through.

I wasn't hungry until 8 pm. I had a small bit of dinner and now am having trouble with it sitting like a rock in my stomach. Again I am back to thinking I might need a little unfill. I like the return to weightloss but stuff sitting in my stoma so long is a tad worrisome. What is weirder is that Im not having any problems. I am not going after soft foods, not too many pb's, not sticking. There has been a little difficulty with acid indigestion but other than that not really any trouble.

I'll give it a few days but might have to call in for one....it is interesting that several people are needing little unfills. Is the weather a factor? hmmm I wonder.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Finally Cracked 170's

I finally dropped below 180 this morning into the 170's land. This marks a total loss of 125 pounds. That is as much as a small adult. I am now entering the high school years in my weight range. This is all due to some cosmic tightening of my band. Normally I get a bit of a tightening during my TOM. This time it is lingering. I am not really hungry and back to getting dizzy when I need to eat.

I have to be really careful still eating anything after dinner as it will cause acid indigestion in the middle of the night. I had a small bout of it two nights ago and think it was a bit of lingering dinner. Last night I had a big drink of water just before bed and it seemed to finish clearing out my pouch (several burps bigger than I would expect from water). I didn't have any indigestion at all last night.

Yesterday my daughter asked me if I thought I could keep this weight off even if I were to have a problem and lose my band. She was referencing the changes I have made to my habits..I have to say the question brought a jolt of fear and an immediate response of No I don't think so. My belief is that although certain things have changed I think I would slowly start to regain it. Heck the first thing that popped into my mind was a HAMBURGER WITH FRIES!!! I cannot believe my brain but that is the image that flashed across my vision within minutes of the question.

I really think that i would quickly search out my revision options if I lost the band. While deciding on the band I read up on the vertical sleeve and really think that would be my choice if all failed and I had to lose my band.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

It is HOT HOT HOT

My goose bumps have finally receded and I am gloriously warm. Ok...maybe it has gone a little too far. It hit 96 yesterday in my car. There is still a pleasant breeze though and I am sitting out on my shady patio with shorts and a tank top on looking at my wrinkly neck reflection in the screen.

Today's topics--Cold and wrinkles.

I have probably said this before but I have really felt cold this summer. This is a foreign thing for me. Always before I was the first girl in shorts and a tank top and the last out of them come October. I was sweaty with a constant sheen of liquid between my boobs. Promptly at 10 every night i would be so itchy and uncomfortable i would shuck the bra and hang around my family room all saggy. Last week I had goose bumps in temps even in the 70's. On the night of the fourth I had to layer on three t-shirts and a wool sweater plus two sweatshirts before I even put a dent in it.

At 96 yesterday I was comfortable in my tank top and shorts. When I got home that evening for the first time all summer I had boob sweat :)

alrighty..now onto the wrinkles. I am back down to 180 and have noticed a new crop of wrinkles. My chin is becoming positively crepe-y and I have a new arm fold just at my elbow. Im not sure I want to look 60 years old when I am still 46....Can you tell I am looking for excuses to hold onto the last 15 pounds? I just wish I could trust my mirror image eyes. I know I thought I looked good in the mirror at 300...I don't believe I do yet either. Along with my broken calorie intake thermostat I think my size-o-meter is broken too.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Moving Forward/ Looking Back

I have read on several blogs and probably even posted on my own about how compared to 'before' I eat much less food. This got me to thinking about how I had to change at periods over my weightloss journey. I did a lot of comparing--I eat less than I did kind of stuff. I would look at my meal at restaurants or watch others eat and feel very good about what I accomplished.

At some point I had to let go of what was and think about what was needed. I could only do so much patting on the back without getting stuck in a loop of I am better. Eventually that 'better' isn't enough and yet another change needs to be made. Several times I have found myself in a stalled weightloss cycle. I have looked at my weightloss record and graph and can almost see where those places were. The weightloss stalls and I went into a flatline (no weightloss but passing time). During these time I have posted about the decision dilemma. Do I need a fill? what am I doing wrong? why has the scale stopped moving? Is this a plateau? In almost all of these occasions I eventually needed a fill. sometimes, however I needed to alter some of my behaviors.

Honestly I have used a new fill on most of those occasions to prompt my behavior change. Fast food went when the band forced me to throw up that food too many times. Eventually my pattern of driving up for food ended. Too many instances of ice cream eating was put to a stop intentionally (to some extent I traded ice cream for coffee) and to some extent the band helped as I hit my sweet spot three meals a day was plenty and I was so concerned about getting in enough protein and liquids that I no longer had space for too much ice cream. This was kind of a background decrease in food quantity until I hit an optimum fill level. After that I needed top up fills in order to keep my at that optimum level.

Also in the background was an ever increasing implementation of small exercise steps. I took stairs, I walked I stopped being able to sit for long periods of time so I cleaned house more, walked around more and even changed my activities more. I attempted to introduce real exercise but have not been completely successful with that.

Which brings me to now...I hate it when someone posts something where you can clearly see their problem and start to tell them what you think is wrong..and then your own flaws slam you in the face :)...It is time for me to reevaluate what I need to do.

My fill is good. I clearly do not need another and in fact if I'm not very careful I might be facing the need for an unfill. The problem is my weightloss has slowed down to an unsatisfactory level. so looking over my habits and food intake what is left to change? Now I can turn to what I have already done..

I can compare the fact that the old me would have eaten a cheese sandwich for breakfast, a latte and pastry at mid-morning, a two cheeseburger meal with a large diet coke for lunch, a decent snack of whatever was left in the fridge and then dinner off of a large plate or pasta or some other high calorie item. This would then be followed by an evening snack. Ice cream or a bowl of cereal at night.

Now it is a skim peppermint mocha, tea or a diet coke for breakfast. an ounce or two of cheese for lunch with a few crackers. another coffee or some other small item for a mid-afternoon snack and finally some 1/2-1 cup sized item for dinner (usually meat, veg and maybe pasta or rice). Tonight it was about 1/2cup of home-made fried rice.

I have gone from mostly eating out to mostly eating in. I have gone from a lot of food to a small amount of food but that isn't enough. If it were I would still be losing. Although I hit 180 a few days ago I have had a bounce back to 182. That means that I have lost 2 pounds this month. It is time....to think about what more I can change.

the 'What' has been screaming at me for weeks or even months..but I have quietly turned my head away and avoided it. I played with it for a month of so a while back but as has always been my way...when it got tough I shied away and slipped back to my old ways. What is the 'what' you you might be thinking..or most of you might already know. Exercise!!!!! I need to get off my arse and really MOVE. I know exercise will get the scale moving again I just have to actually do it on a regular basis. Yes the little stuff is great and good but I need to look forward not continue to pat myself on the back for how far I have come.

Tomorrow...I get back on my bike and make another change to get off the last 15 pounds.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

My Liquids Day Seems To Have Done the Trick

Taking the day before a holiday to let my tummy have a good rest seems to have been just what I needed. I had a really hard time with liquids around dinner time (I do not know how I even did the few days of liquids I was required to do after surgery!!). I snuck in a couple of corn chips dipped in my soup. I even mixed up another protein shake for dessert but didn't really want it and thew most of it away.


So in total-one skim Peppermint Mocha for breakfast. One Protein smoothy wiht fresh strawberries for lunch. For dinner a bit more than a cup of chicken tortilla soup from the grocery store (We have homemade soups in our local grocery chain) with corn chips floated on top. Finally 1/4 cup of protein shake with strawberries in the evening.

No night time acid no tummy ache today.

As today was U.S. Independence day I had a full line-up of volunteer activities to take part in. Our neighborhood goes a little crazy with Independence day. We have a full on parade (high school marching band, floats, trucks, etc), a pancake breakfast, barbeque lunch, big bake sale at activities a the neighborhood pool and recreation center. Then in the evening there is a huge firework display that draws people from all over the area.

Grace is on swim-team which means that I needed to do my part. I have never really done much before-just the odd float judging. This year David drove his truck with a back end full of swim team members with squirt guns. I walked along side the truck to make sure none of the kids went flying out of the back of the truck and threw candy to the children watching. It was really fun and I was very aware that even a year ago I would have been too tired to easily walk the parade route. I am sure I would have hopped in the truck and let some other more fit parent do the walking.

Immediately after the parade I popped over to the recreation center to do a two hour shift at the bake sale. I ended up on the snow cone machine and sold at least 100 of them over the two hour period. Several other people maned the baked-goods. I will try and get some picture loaded up in the next few days. Not nearly as many as I would have liked though as more often than not I didn't have my camera with me when I wanted to take a particularly good photo.

After the bake-sale I walked home and finished cleaning house because we host most of my friends from outside of the neighborhood and several from inside at a potluck barbecue before the firework display at 10pm. This year we ended up with 11 children and 18 adults. We ate drank and were merry until 9:30 when we all walked up the greenspace to the maine park area where we had staked out tarps for the big firework event. It was as usual spectacular and even as I sit here there are still houses letting off their own fireworks in the neighborhood.

Needless to say I am a little worried about all the left overs hanging about in my fridge. Tonight I know there is a piece of peach pie and home-made ice cream sitting in my freezer but I am holding strong..No more food until tomorrow so I can sleep!!!

Happy U.S. Independence day and to the rest of you :) happy July 4th...haha

Saturday, July 3, 2010

I Can't Do Boobs :(

I finally got my teaching schedule for Fall term and I have a Saturday class again. This was not a huge surprise but i was hoping that I could call in sick or that the term would not have started on the BOOBS dates. No luck though. Not only do I have class on THE Boobs Saturday but it is the first day of classes. That is not really one any decent math teacher can skip out on.

Sigh....I guess if there is another one I can go :(

Damned Acid

Yesterday I was ravenously hungry all day. The weird thing is although I wasn't super tight I wasn't super loose either. Almost before I finished burping through one meal my lower stomach and my brain was screaming at me for more food. Of course being the weak willed person that I am I gave into the screaming more often than not and poured a barrage of sometimes healthy and sometimes not healthy foods down my gullet. Everything was fine until evening when the screaming hungries still didn't stop and I cracked into some cookies. I ate a total of 7 (I have not been able to eat 7 cookies since my first fill). So being the positive self talk girl that I am I proceeded to convince myself that because i was so open eating those cookies at 10pm would have no effect on the acid reflux issues I have been having when I eat at night...NOooooo not THIS time.

Yeah..well as is also quite common I WAS WRONG!!! I slept great until 4am when I woke up coughing and wheezing in a pool of acid. I ran into the bathroom spitting and choking piteously, wishing for some vomit or flu like symptoms but alas no it was a mess of my own making.

After an hour of careful sitting up in bed I laid back down and went back to sleep. My tummy is tender today and I am doing something I have read about often and always curled my lip in derision at....a day of liquids. I have always said no...not liquids. We are supposed to eat real food or the band doesn't work for us if we don't blah blah...well I am afraid I have harmed my poor stomach and esophagus and as an olive branch offering I am swearing off solids today. So far I have had one Starbucks coffee and one protein shake. I licked the spoon off the potato salad I made for tomorrow and that is all. I will probably try for soup for my dinner and then STAY AWAY FROM ALL THINGS FOODY in the evening.

Even the liquids have felt a little painful on my poor tummy. I really think my brain or thermostat or whatever mechanism can possibly tell me I am starving when my pouch is clearly full is fighting like crazy to keep my above 180 pounds. I need to name the evil beast...voldemort perhaps? hmmm but then of course my band should be Harry Potter. My husband just chimed in with an even better name though. Snape-you never know what side he is on. hahaha

Ohh I like this whole Harry Potter analogy.

So from here on my band's name is Snape, and the evil dark lord that makes me want and crave food is Voldemort. I think my port is the Weasley twins (always up to fun and games with a pinch and tickle thrown in for fun).

Friday, July 2, 2010

BYOC

BYOC:

1. Seeing that it’s a patriotic holiday of sorts I thought of this one: Where were you on September 11th?

I was buying a car. My husband and Grace (3 months at the time)and I went shopping for a new mini van. We had no clue until someone in the showroom told us what was going on. They had a tv on and we all stood and watched some of the news. At the time we had friends in midtown and were worried about them. As it turned out they were on vacation and were fine.

2. What is your idea of fun? If given the chance to skip work/life for an entire day, what would you do? (assume you’d be by yourself)

Probably get a a cup of coffee at Starbucks, surf the web a bit, do some gardening, sit in the sunshine and then maybe a bit of knitting or sewing.

Now if I wasn't by myself I would take a trip somewhere exotic. I discovered in Mexico City that it isn't nearly as fun to travel alone.

3. How many blogs do you follow?
Um I don't know I will have to go check...the funny thing is I'm not really a follower. I add blogs to my blog list more than I follow them. Maybe that is why I have such a low number of followers myself? but then it might be because I'm just boring hahah.

Do you read them all or just your faves? I read all the ones I have on my blog list. I also click on interesting ones I read on other the faves list of other people.

Do you comment a little, a lot, on all? I try to comment but don't always manage it when my family is breathing down my neck :)..as they are doing right NOW!!! Sheesh children and husbands wanting me to go with them to the store.

Have you ever unfollowed someone because of something they said or you didn’t like their blog? I have never unfollowed anyone but myself (I accidentally followed myself once). I have taken one or two people off my blog list because they never posted.
Do you routinely unfollow and why? nope--have only once in either case.

Ok I counted the number is 43 across two blogs. My blog list just for the band holds ok..weird also 43. I like to read my blogs as new stuff is posted and the blog list shows the newest posts. I hardly ever look on my dashboard to check that.

4. Repeat question. Pick one day and one healthy thing you’ll do for just that day next week.

Well it started raining and I blew off my bike ride this week. Maybe next week I can pull it off?

5. Repeat "Make someone a superstar" question. Whose blog or blog comment stuck with you this week and why? I think Linda and Rick's blog and the beginning of Rick's band journey is pretty darn cool. I do secretly (ok not a secret)wish my husband would get a band too.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Fighting Over Dinner and Four Pounds A Month

For some reason my body has decided its in Australia this week. Instead of being tight in the mornings I am now tight at dinner and then the food is sticking around well into the night and not passing through my band. It all became clear yesterday but has been going on for several days (I was just too distracted to notice apparently).

Yesterday I woke up and immediately wanted breakfast. 1/2 a diet coke and a piece of toast with cheese later I was happily burping down the food in 30 minutes (through the band burping I mean). We then had lunch at 9:30. Grace has swim team at 7:30 and I eat while she is swimming. By 9:30 she was ready for lunch so I had mine with her-yup I was hungry too-I made a small plate of nachos. On a tight band I can eat corn chips but no more than 4. I ate about a cups worth of these chips with refried beans and melted cheese.

We then made a run to the book store and its attached Starbucks for warming up. The sun was out but the air was cool. Grace read her book (man I love that she is old enough for this now) while I played with my nook (maddeningly difficult for me) and we both drank our coffees (yes my daughter drinks coffee and I feel terribly guilty but it is Portland and that is how we do it here).

We then dashed off to horseback riding lessons at 2:30 and then mucked out some stalls and then stopped off at Starbucks again on the way home. I had a $2.00 coupon for a grande frapachino and I couldn't pass it up.

Then home to dinner. I had one beef hotdog chewed to death with mustard and 1/8 cup of fresh garden peas. I loved the hotdog (100% beef Kosher) ...I took my time over it savoring its salty, smoky goodness and it went down fine I thought. I thought wrong.

It sat, I burped, I cleaned house again and gardened a bit and and and....at 9pm friends came over and I mixed up a mojito to sip while we played a game. I got stuck on a f-ing mojito. Not really but that is what it felt like. I suspect that the damnable hotdog was hanging around in my pouch from dinner 2 hours before. at 10pm I had a bit of a pb and then a big old burp and the stupid dog passed through (I thought again). In the middle of the night I had one episode of acid rockets and then another burp and the hotdog finally waved a cheery adieu and left my stomach.

Ok..fast forward to this morning. Another pound gone. 180....I last weighed this my senior year of high school. High school graduation to my best recollection. All new lower weights are totally high school territory-wahooooo.

So the dilemma-I think I need a skosh of an unfill but I do not want one. I am going to be a really good girl for the next few days because this might be another weirdo tightening week (have had them a time or two) and I am losing again. If my body has screwed up its time zone I am willing to roll with it. I will make something soft and bland for dinner tonight and keep the main meal to the daylight hours. I am also going try a cup of decaf tea before bed. Perhaps that will clean out my pouch before I go to bed.

Now finally the four pounds bit-for the past few months I seem to have fallen back to losing four pounds. It doesn't seem like much but it is weird how totally spot on it is. I was a little worried I wasn't going to make it this month but lo and behold just before the last week of the month I did a tighten up and blammo the four pounds are achieved right under the wire.

I truly believe that hormones screw with our weightloss and even the band. it is just totally wrong that i can have an obviously not good enough fill for 3 weeks a month and then stand at the edge of too tight disaster for one week and use it to lose 4 pounds only to work the same cycle again the next month. During the first two years of my band I was on birth control (Nuva ring). I think it helped a ton in the band tight arena. I did not fluctuate nearly as much tightness wise and hormone wise. I think I have talked about why im off birth control now..but it is definitely tempting me back.