Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Goals

I've been thinking about some of the small goals I'm looking forward to achieving during this weight loss journey. New things come to my mind and I get excited.

One of the things I'm actually looking forward to is enjoying the act of looking for clothes. I have never enjoyed this act because all the clothes I wanted to wear were not available in my size. Hate to say it, but Lane Bryant does not have a goof variety of clothes that are "trendy" to my liking.

I'm also setting a reward time as a trip to an amusement park where I can ride any ride that tickles my fancy. I love roller coasters and have not been able to ride them in a very long time. At least not comfortably.

Flying! When I moved back from South Africa, I had a more relaxed flight then I had had since I was a child traveling over to Japan. See, before I moved back, I had dropped down to 250lbs. I was not cramped into the seat and did not have my legs falling asleep because of the arms digging into my legs. I also didn't need to fly most of the time with my arms crossed.

Shooting long shoots is not going to kill my feet and back.

Oh, there are so many more and I will list them as they come to mind. It's a list for myself to look back on when I'm in a low spot during this journey.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Doc gave me an "A"

In January I started the process to undergo the Lap Band procedure. My insurance will cover the procedure, but they require a three-month waiting process with a coupe of hoops to jump through.

On my first appointment where I was supposed to have shown that I have lost some weight in prep for the surgery. Instead I actually gained seven pounds. This is a huge life change and I was sabotaging myself all over the place that first month. It's not that I don't want to lose the weight, it's the fact that I've never been at a "normal" weight. Or, as another Doc friend tells me, a "healthy" weight.

At my first month appointment with the Doc I was crying over the fact I had gained so much weight. I was at an all time high.

I've made a commitment that I'm going to be totally open with things here and that includes revealing my weight.

My all time high at that weigh in was 324.

Doc was real nice. He gave me a one sheet food restrictions. Very simple to follow. Challenging, but simple. The rules were:

1. No flour!
2. No sugar!
3. No artificial sweetener!
4. No corn or corn products.
5. No potatoes
6. Eat two fruits for a mid-day snack and one fruit in the late afternoon as a snack.
7. Drink 64oz green tea per day.

That's it. No other restrictions. However, the most difficult item for me to stop was fizzy drinks. I really enjoy the fizz in my drinks. No more!!!

I walked out of his office on February 20th with a plan. Have I stuck to it for the entire past four weeks? No. I've had two Smash Burger's and one sub sandwich I ate over 4 days.

Today I had my second appointment with the Doc and I've lost 11.5 lbs in the four weeks since our last meeting. I'm down to 312.5 lbs.

I've been doing a lot of research and reading a lot of other people's experiences about this and I'm excited but still concerned about how this is going to change my life in every aspect. This is NOT a cure for my weight problem, simply a tool or a coach that will be with me for the rest of my life to assist me in losing the weight and then to keep it off.

The first year of this journey is when most of the action is going to take place. I want to blog about my experience mainly for myself to see how far I've come along. I'll be posting photos as well so I can physically see the transformation.

Care to join me on this journey?? I'd be happy to have you along for the ride.