Planting flowers..

I'm up at the lake and spent the day planting flowers. My hubby is very outdoorsy and was doing alot of landscaping too. And then there is the brown lab, my other helper. Although helping really isn't her main goal, getting her face into the stream of the hose water is her really her only goal. Into any water really. Dirty. Swampy. Muddy, it doesn't matter to her, if it's water, she wants to be one with it. LOL. She's a great dog.

I'm not sure how this post will turn out, I've never added multiple pictures before. But you can see my flower bed behind Meg, the brown lab in this picture. Hubby helped me plant some of the ones in the center and back because my port (lapband access site) started hurting. I guess bending over too long and straining to dig in the hard soil started to bother it. So hubby dug about the last 10 holes for me. I thought that was nice of him to offer to help me.

Here she is with her face wet.
Geraniums! I am not much of a flower person, so I tried to pick easy things to grow! I went with nice easy flowers to grow: Impatiens, Pansies, Petunia's and Geraniums. I saw some Verbena that was pretty and I bought it but I haven't planted it yet as I don't know how big it grows, I'll have to look into it a bit more. I always thought Verbena was just the flowers that grow on a Lime tree, LOL. You always see fragrances like Lemon or Lime Verbena mentioned together. See? what do I know about flowers?

This is one of the Gerbera Daisies I got for Mother's Day. I love them!

Hubby built me some flower beds, the greenery in the middle is a Hydrangea we've relocated from home up to the Lake. I hope it likes it up here. Weight stayed the same this week. I'm not upset, that seems to be my pattern. Lose a few.. then plateau a few weeks.. then lose again. I am at 164. AND.. I am no longer obese. Still overweight.. but still working on it.. I was wearing shorts the other day and hubby came in and said, "are you wearing my shorts" I didn't know why he would ask such a thing and then after I said no he said, " well then, it looks like you need some new shorts!" They were big on me, looked pretty ridiculous apparently. So I went to Kohl's and hit some great deals. And I got into a 12 in one of the brands. Still a 14 in the others. But I was so happy to be in those 12's.. I bought one in each color they had.. LOL!
Okay.. hubby is wanting me to get off of here so I can get dinner going. See yaaaaaaa.

Feeling Fantastic

I saw my Band Doctor today for a check-up. He says I'm doing great... I've lost 60% of the weight I need to lose to get to my goal weight. I weigh 164.5. I'm trying again with the whole 5K/podrunner thing. I'm on week 2 of consistent exercise. And I have to say, I really feel great. As hard as running on the treadmill is, I am starting to 'get' why people do it. I feel such a sense of accomplishment when I'm done. And this time I have a partner doing the couch to 5k program with me. I think that's really helped too. So if you are reading dear 5K-Lapband-friend, Thanks!

In other news.. my daughter was supposed to go on a school trip to Washington DC next week. And now, because of a swine flu outbreak at our middle school, it looks like they may cancel it. But the stupid thing is, they aren't planning to close the school, just cancel the 8th graders trip. They've been planning this trip for 2 years.. I've been paying for it for the last year and a half($800..ouch) and now they may not get to go. What a bummer.
Have a safe Holiday Weekend...

I decided it was time to post my Before & After pictures. The pictures in my underwear are a bit more dramatic.. but I don't really think anyone wants to see those.It ain't pretty!! I looked at them today.. and cried. I showed hubby and he said.. "wow.. you were a moose"(thanks honey).. but then he said "I don't ever remember you being that big" well.. that's good I guess. I look at the pictures.. and I don't either. But I want to make sure I never forget.. so I never go back there again. I look at myself in the mirror alot more now. I think when I was heavier I got to a point of just ignoring myself.. only seeing myself briefly.. only looking at MY FACE in the mirror. But now I see all of me.. I weighed in this week @ 167.5. I am around 3 pounds away from being out of the obese category. I can't wait. I've been making healthier food choices and trying to be more conscious of my water. Exercise is still not coming easily, but I was also sick this week. Tomorrow is Monday and I'm planning to be back at the gym first thing. Take care and have a good week.

Up at the Lake Again

Greetings from Lake George! We are up at the lake this week, kids are off school, and we are getting one of the cabins ready for weekly rentals. This will be our first time renting weekly, so we are busily furnishing it and getting everything in place for the quickly approaching summer season. So if anyone wants to rent for a week in the lovely Adirondacks, drop me a line. I have lots of weeks open, lol.

On the diet/banding front things are going well. This last fill did the trick. I believe I am at what they call the 'sweet spot'. I eat about a cup of food and stay full for 3-4 hours. I cannot eat much in the morning at all, I am quite tight. But oatmeal w/flax goes down and I need the fiber from it anyways, so it's working out okay. I am down to 168. Weight loss is still slow, but at least it's moving DOWN. Yayy. I only made it to the gym twice this week, but one day it was warm enough to walk, so I guess I'm doing allright.

I keep thinking about Valerie Bertinelli and how amazing she looks in her bikini. Now, being in a bikini was never a big goal of mine, but she made it look fun. Who knows..ofcourse I may have hanging skin issues that would rule that out entirely. Let's hope not.. but it's possible. I've been overweight for a good 15 years. Honestly, I'll just be happy to not cringe at the thought of bathing suit shopping. Plus size bathing suits always left much to be desired in terms of the cute factor. I hope to be down at least another 10 lbs by summer so I can buy size 12 swimsuit. Off to do some laundry and start making lunch for the gang.. peace out.

So Long Claudia

The hospital where I work has decided to cut costs, not surprising in this economic climate. But what did they cut? The Employee Wellness program that I was part of. And they fired Claudia, the coordinator, my motivation, my trainer. I was just crushed when they called to cancel my appointment with her next week. Hung up the phone and burst into tears. Claudia has been a huge support for me. Encouraging me so much, teaching me about nutrition, training me to use weights, charting my measurments, showing me my progress. The Employee wellness program was an incentive program and if you did well, you got the next year of your gym membership for FREE. I was 6 months into it, and was on track for a free year. Now it's gone, and Claudia is gone. The gym is still open (for now) but it's just not the same. Later that afternoon Claudia herself called me to say goodbye and encourage me to keep up the good work. I thought that was really sweet, here she is losing her job and she remembers to call me and encourage ME. Ofcourse I got so choked up I didn't have much to say to her except to thank her and tell her how sorry I was to see her go. So sad, I know people are losing their jobs all over the place, but its still sad. The president of the hospital met with us on Friday to discuss the current econmic situation and what the hospital is doing. So far my job seems secure. Patient & Guest Relations is not an area that is being scaled back at this time. But honestly, if I am let go, I would not be all that devastated. This summer we are going to be renting one of our cabins out weekly, so it will be alot of back and forth up to the Lake on the weekends I'm not working. If I wasn't working at all, I'd be able to just stay up there with the kids. We'll just have to see what happens...

I got a Fill a week ago friday. This picture was taken in the doctors office, they had a Lapband with a syringe with saline in it so you could see exactly what a fill does. My doc was running late that day, so I played with it, and then decided to take a picture for y'all. I weighed in the office at 172.. yikes.. up 2 pounds! It was also PMS, so I know some of that was water weight, but still.. I didn't like seeing a GAIN. This fill has definitely brought me some restriction, although I still seem hungry often. I got 'stuck' on scrambled eggs yesterday morning. That was not fun at all. I still didn't throw up, but it hurt so much I would have preferred to just throw it up and move on. I guess eggs are a common offender for some, it was a first for me. I hadn't had my morning Tea in the morning, I think that maybe had a bit to do with it. But anyways.. the scale is back down to 170. Now let's move onto the 160's. I am tired of the 70's!!

During the warm weather last week I walked EVERY day. Yayy.. my son and my dog came along too.. and on days when I didn't feel like it they both gave me the encouragment to get out there. This morning it was 24 degrees.. my son didn't even want to go.. LOL. Thats COLD! I'm hoping it will warm up this afternoon and I'll be able to go, otherwise I will dust off the treadmill!! And I will use my exercise ball for thigh presses and sit ups.. I'm not going to let Claudia down!

Still here..

It's been a month since I've posted. I went on vacation.. had a wonderful time. But I got 'stuck' a couple of times. So when I came home I cancelled my appointment for a fill. But since then.. I have been on a plateau.. not gaining, not losing. Just staying the same. Grr.. frustrating. And I'm hungry.. alot! So this friday I finally scheduled another fill. I am so nervous to get filled too tight, or to have the wicked shoulder pain return. But I am so frustrated with the scale not moving. And I have been exercising more.. finally. It's still a struggle.. but I am learning to JUST DO IT. I had my 6 month assessment with Claudia, at the hospital gym where I work. I could do 11 push ups now.. 6 months ago I could do ONE, seriously, and thought I was going to die. I had to see how many situps I could do in one minute, I did 14, previously I did 2, and struggled with them. So yeah.. I'm making SOME progress.. just.. not as much as I had hoped. I'm down 2 sizes.. I wear a 14 now, I started in 18/20. Summer is around the corner, and I don't expect to be in a bikini.. but I really would like to be in 10's and 12's. I'm going to go ahead and post my weight, because it helps me when I haven't posted in a while to know where I was compared to where I am at time of next post. Did that make sense? lol

Okay.. so.. I weigh 170. I still haven't broken the 40 lb mark.. but I'm hovering here at -38 lbs. My goal this month is -2 lbs. Just TWO. I just really want to hit that goal. I'll try to check in more. Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Still struggling..

Well I haven't posted in a couple weeks. I gained a 1/2 a pound after the Belgian waffle incident. And then this past Friday another 1/2 a pound. And this time I had no idea why. I know thats not a huge amount, but when you are trying so hard to get the scale going DOWN and 2 weeks in a row it goes UP.. it is just damned frustrating. It shouldn't be this hard. My eating was so much better this week, yet still I had a gain. Grrr. I still love my lapband, I'm still thankful it keeps me from doing more damage to myself. But I have to admit I wish it was easier. I've done my 30 day shred a couple times this week. I need to do some form of exercise EVERY day. I don't know why I struggle so hard with this. On youtube there is a pyschiatrist that helps bariatric patients prepare for surgery and counsels them afterwards. She's posted on there and I found it very interesting, her name is Connie Stapleton. She talked about exercise, that you need to just get your mind set to make it something you simply have to do. Like putting gas in your car, like getting up early for work when you'd rather sleep. It's just something you do, because you have to. So I'm really trying to incorporate that into my life. Kinda like the Nike logo.. JUST DO IT.
I saw my lapband surgeon on Friday. We discussed putting a little more fill in my band. I am sure I need it. But I was heading up to the lake that afternoon and so we decided to wait. Should there be a problem I really don't want to be 4 hours away and in agony. So when I go home I will go get a fill. And hopefully that will get me back on track. I do have to keep reminding myself that while I am loose and able to eat things I can't normally.. that just because I CAN, does not mean I should. So far so good, being on vacation up at the lake it is always harder to stay focused on eating healthy. But I'm just going to do my best. It's all I can do. It's upper 30's today (heatwave) so I am going to go for a walk and get this body moving. Take care..