Kirstie Alley has a new Weight Loss Elixir...

Okay, so I just saw this article about Kirstie Alley's new miracle weight loss product. Seriously, doesn't she know by now that this will not work?! I am so tired of all these weight loss products being supported by celebrities who know the real struggles of weight loss.

If her magical cure was so magical wouldn't we all be using it by now?! It also makes me feel a little sad that she isn't dealing with the real issues of her weight. I mean she was the first one to say she eats too much butter. There is not magic to weight loss... it is just hard hard work. I know she is under massive amounts of scrutiny and that can't be easy either.

Anyway, just another Friday here... I am not working today and have spent the majority of the day doing laundry and cleaning the house. I also made some good filling foods for the next few days. I will be working tomorrow, so everyone think of me as you are enjoying your weekend! :) Also, here is an updated picture of me. Still holding at 199... hopefully not for much longer!

Worst Stuck Yet to Date

So, tonight I was getting ready for a program at work and only had 20 minutes for work. I brought myself some chicken in BBQ sauce and decided to very carefully eat it. Of course I was in a hurry and probably ate too fast. All the sudden the slime starting coming and I didn't know if I would make it to the bathroom.

I ran to the staff bathroom and thank God no one else was in there. I got down on all fours and spit and spit and thought I would bring it up. I started to see stars! I am not sure what that was about but I thought I was going to die. Oww the pain... and then it went down. So then I threw away my chicken. I was so hungry I ate a couple handful of nuts... though nuts never sit well with me. I am sitting here feeling like crap and a little stuck.

Gross... this is miserable.

It is confirmed...

I need another fill. I am certainly feeling a big difference since my last fill but I am not staying full very long and I can eat way more then I should be. Today I am really focusing on getting in good solid proteins. I had eggs for breakfast with some cheese, a few turkey meatballs with marinara and cottage cheese for lunch, and will have chicken in some bbq sauce for dinner. Right now I am having my delicious fat free cocoa and coffee mixture for a pick-me-up. I work until 9 tonight and don't feel like I have the energy to make it.

My weight has been at a stand still but I haven't been doing my part to drop the weight. I keep getting up every morning deciding I will do it today and then by the evening I over did it enough just to maintain. Today I am hanging tough and if I can get through today it should get easier tomorrow and the next day and the next. I just wish I would stay full longer so I could stop thinking about food for a while.

Even though I am not losing weight right now my co-workers keep telling me I look thinner. That is always a bonus and I will take it!

Happy Thursday!

Inspiration for Lap Band success

Some times when I feel like I need a little motivation I like to look at success stories. One of my favorites is Caitlin Van Zandt's story. I am totally inspired by her swim suit photo shoot and want to do one of my own. Check it out HERE.

Oww... did I mention I need a little motivation?! I haven't been making the best choices. I think this whole 10 lb doctor challenge is stressing me out.

Down with the H2o

It is Monday again and I am trying to get myself back on the weight loss track 100%. The first thing I neglect when I get lazy is my water intake. I don't enjoy drinking water, and never really have, so it is kind of a chore. So today I am back at it and trying to get in 100 oz. Easier said then done.

I am also realizing I am having a hard time eating anything before noonish. It all seems to get stuck no matter how well I chew. It is much easier as the day goes on. I am still not staying full as long as I would like but I am certainly much better off. I need to take off 10 lbs in 3 weeks... possible but no easy. I didn't do myself any favors this past week. I went out to eat every day and chose slider foods so I wouldn't have trouble in public. I was pretty much able to maintain but ugh, I am tired of maintaining.

We are getting LOTS of snow here today. It is pretty but I am ready for spring. Only 26 days left!

Happy Monday!

Is this what I have been waiting for?

So, last Tuesday I had that 1 cc fill. Ever since I have been getting stuck on pretty much everything. Now I know I am not chewing well enough and am probably taking too big of bites. A friend of mine, who is also banded, told me she got stuck the most right before she got to her sweet spot. I am hoping that is the case for me. The problem is, I am still not getting any sense of full. I know I am not going to feel "FULL" but I thought I would start to get a sense of "I am satisfied physically". I asked before how I know if I am full... I don't get any pains or hiccups or burp.

And when will I know I am at my sweet spot? I am sort of struggling here because I am so hungry and I start to eat and I get stuck, so I slow down chew good and get in a couple more bites and then stuck again. Help! Do you guys having any suggestions? Honestly, I am tempted to go for the ice cream!

I have been nominated for an award!

I am totally honored to have been nominated for the Beautiful Blogger Award! First off, thanks to Band-Babe for choosing me. You are a huge inspiration to me and for you to nominate me means so much! So here are the rules:

*Thank the person who nominated you for this award
*Copy the award and post it to your blog
*Link to the blog of the person who nominated you
*Tell 7 interesting things about yourself
*Nominate 7 bloggers
*Post links to the blogs of your nominees


So, here are the 7 things that are maybe (or maybe not) interesting about me:

1. I was my high schools mascot, a cougar.
2. I hate when fruit gets poked or skewered. It creeps me out.
3. I grew up in the great white Upper Peninsula of Michigan. There were lots of bears.
4. My husband and I met on the Internet.
5. I had surgery in March of 2008 for a pilonidal cyst on my tail bone area. The cyst was so big that the surgeon had to make an incision that was 4 inches deep by 6 inches wide. It couldn't be closed and my husband had to pack the wound 3 x a day for almost a year. I documented the entire thing in photos. I still had an open wound when I had my LB surgery.
6. I asked Conan O'Brien to prom.
7. I worked in a tattoo parlor in high school drawing flash art (the drawings they have on the walls as tattoo examples).

The final part of this nomination was to nominate 7 others. Like Amy, I don't think I can nominate just 7. You are all beautiful bloggers to me and such an inspiration. If my nomination must be revoked for this reason, I understand! :)

Tuesday = Fill

I have had a sort of crazy past 5 or so days. I have been super worried about one of our cats. She had a lump which the vet was very concerned about. We found out last Wednesday and the cat had surgery today. Fortunately, the vet though everything looked really good and said it looked to her to be a cyst. She said she really wasn't worried about it. They sent it off to pathology, which will make us 100% certain, but I feel so much better today. I was so afraid it was going to be bad news.

Our pets are like our children. We love them so much and couldn't imagine losing them. I know the time will come, but little Sophia is very young and active. The thought of her being sick was shocking and devastating. So... this all lead to some really bad eating. My weight was not my priority and I just didn't care.

I went in for a fill today and I was up a couple pounds. I always weigh a little heavier on his scale so I am not sure how real that gain is. I will weigh myself tomorrow morning and update my ticker accordingly.

I was so happy to see Dr. Katz. He is wonderful and always tells me how amazing I am doing on my weight loss. He asked me how much I can eat... which honestly, I don't really get full, so I told him. He said I need another cc. So, he gave me 1 cc, had me drink some water and all was well. He did tell me he would like to see me down another 10 by my next appointment 4 weeks from today. He knows my motivation has been waining and thought a challenge might help. I think I can do it.. especially if this fill gets me to where I think it will.

The funny thing is... I don't really know how much I have in my band. I was filled during a revision surgery and Dr. Katz doesn't remember how much he put in. He doesn't feel that the number is that important and he doesn't draw my fill out before adding more. He had given me a guess last time I saw him but I don't remember. I do believe I am over half full with my 10 cc band. I think he thought I was over five last time so I am thinking I am 6-6.5 cc. After my fill last month I was no longer able to eat rice or bread and had to chew much more carefully. I was starting to feel like I couldn't push the volume of food quite as much.

Anyway, today turned out to be a really good day. I feel good, and am ready to get a jump on the weight loss again. How are all you guys doing?

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

NSV and blah...

I have been off of work for the past couple of days because I am working this weekend (Happy Valentine's Day to me). Anyway, I don't have much to report. I was down another .5 lbs but didn't feel like updating my ticker until it got to an actual whole lb. I didn't weigh myself this morning... but I will get around to it one of these days. I haven't been eating the best, but thanks to my band I can't do too much damage. I am still having some sporadic restriction but would love to have real restriction.. hopefully Tuesday's appointment will bring it.

On to my NSV... Jason (my husband) coaches Freshman basketball so I love going to the games. Well last night his team played a team that a friend of ours coaches. So I am sitting in the bleacher and the friend walks by so I yell to him. He looks at me and I see him finally make the connection of who I am (I haven't seen him since pre-op). I talked to him for a few minutes. Later my husband comes over to talk to me and tells me that the friend said, "Jay, Anna is looking gooood." I believe there was even a wink. Now, I will say, I was wearing a good outfit, my hair was good, and I had on make-up. But, I am also 60 lbs lighter. It felt great.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

60 Down!

I decided I would no longer have an official weigh in day. I think I am starting to work the system. I know I weigh in on Friday so I am super good Mon-Thurs and not so good on the weekend. I decided I will just start updating each time I see a new low. Today I was exactly 199. That means I am officially 60 lbs down and my ticker has flipped! I now have less to lose then I have lost.

On a bummer note, my restriction seems to be less restrictive the past couple of days. I can still feel it but not as much as before. I am trying to keep my eye on the prize and my eating reasonable.

We are getting hit with snow here in Michigan. I am working late tonight and should have a exciting white knuckle ride home tonight!

Good Monday Morning all!

And welcome to my newest crew of followers. Thanks to all of you who take time out of your day to follow my journey and cheer me on. I so appreciate all the nice comments. Back to the work grind this morning. I work a kind of strange schedule this week because this is my one weekend of the month to work. So, I will work Monday-Wednesday, as usual, and then I will be off Thursday and Friday and then work Saturday and Sunday. This always messes with my eating and exercise schedule. I am hoping to keep it together this week as I am exciting about my new low number on the scale.

I will do something with the hub after I get out of work on Sunday for the big V Day. We generally don't make a big deal out of it but like to have a special meal and exchange cards. It is always kind of fun. I would guess it will be kind of quiet at the library, but I could be wrong.

A week from tomorrow I get my next fill and I can't wait! I am feeling some restriction, as I have mentioned before, but it seems to disappearing again. I also don't stay full for very long. It is only a couple hours after I eat that I start to get hungry again. I do think this next fill is going to start to make a big difference.

Happy Monday all!

Holy Freak'n Crap!

I did it! I made it to onderland today! I was changing into my work out clothes and decided to jump on the scale and what did I see?! 199.6! AMAzING! I haven't seen that number in a long time... and I am so happy to see it again. I did take a picture of my scale but the lighting was bad and the number blinks so I tried to catch it. This was the best I could get:

If you squint and look really close you will see 199.6!

Well... it's official

I only lost .6 lbs this week. However, it brought me to 58 lbs down. I am so close to 60 I can almost taste it. This also brings me to 201. I can't wait to have a weight that starts with a 1! So close! I didn't make my goal. I had hoped to get to 199 by today. No such luck. Now my goal is to get there by next Friday. 2 lbs shouldn't be too hard! Getting through the weekend is always the toughest part though.



No super exciting plans for the weekend. My nephew and brother-in-law are in town for a hockey tournament my nephew is playing in this weekend. We will go to at least one of the games and probably hang out with them at their hotel a bit. Tonight is a semi late night for my husband so I will be doing dinner alone. I am planning on having a taco salad.



Oww... I ordered a big box of VitaBrownies this week and they came yesterday. Yum-O! They are 100 cal, 2.5 gram fat, 6 gram fiber, and 4 grams of protein and taste DELICIOUS! They are pricey though. But when I need a chocolate fix, these do just the trick!

Victory of the Non-Scale Type and other news...

So, I happened to be at the check-out desk talking to one of the clerks today when an old co-worker game up to the desk to check out. She didn't even recognize me at first and then she went on and on about how amazing I look. It was wonderful. She is also someone who has always struggled with her weight (her husband actually lost 110 lbs on weight watchers years ago and has kept it off). She knows I had Lap Band and I often wonder if she thinks about the surgery. Anyway, she was so impressed and complimentary, it felt great.

The scale has been very stagnant this week. Even though I have an official weigh-in day (which I may discontinue and just change my ticker whenever I hit a new low) I often check my weight through-out the week. Not daily, but probably every other or so. Well, I have dropped a very small amount of weight this week... I will update you tomorrow. Maybe the scale gods will bless me over night.

So, last night my husband and I went out to eat. I am for sure starting to feel restriction and have to be careful of my choices and to chew well. I asked Jason if I never lost another pound and maintained at this weight if he thought my surgery was a success. He said yes. I have been thinking about this a lot. I am so near to 60 lbs down and really feel like a different person. I feel great in fact. I am still obese, I still have much more to lose, but I am feeling somewhat attractive and pretty healthy. My weight loss has slowed, but honestly, that has been my own fault. I haven't made great choices all the time, not even 90% of the time. I have probably made good choices 75% of the time. If I was maintaining that would be great, but no so much for losing.

Now that restriction is kicking in, I feel like good choices are so much easier to make and that my portions really are starting to be controlled. I guess my question for those of you who are experienced with restriction is: How do you know when you have eaten enough? I still don't feel like I have "soft stop" or a full signal. I know I will not feel FULL. But I need help knowing what to look for, or will I just know when I have good restriction?

Office Candy Dishes Are One Of My Downfalls

I am a librarian. I work in a library with roughly 110 employees... less then 10 of those employees are male. This leads to all sorts of drama and issues including... DA DA DA... OFFICE *office office* CANDY *candy candy* DISHES *dishes dishes*(that is supposed to be a big announcer guy with an echo). So, pretty much on every desk in every corner there is bowl full or something fabulous. The desk one office up from mine has a good mixture of things including chocolate, runts, gummy lifesavers and more.

exhibit A

I can't seem to stay away from this freak'n bowl. I wish all the office candy would just go away. But no such luck, the bowls just keep getting refilled with new and exciting things. Today I had an almond Hershey's kiss, a chocolate mint square, and a tiny pack of gummy lifesavers. Thank God I did an hour of step aerobics this morning or I would really be hating myself. I guess eating 3 pieces is better then the whole bowl right?!

On another note, I don't see that magical 199 in this weeks forecast. It seems the scale is slow to move this week. I am okay with this. It is coming.

Weight Loss is Hard...

So, losing weight is hard work, I have always know this. I just read this article on Shine about why losing weight is so much harder than gaining weight. It points out some very interesting factors about weight loss and weight gain. The most interesting part to me (and scary) was this little table:

4.5 hours of walking to burn off 3 margaritas!!! It seems so unfair to me that it takes so much more work to take this weight off as it so easily comes on. Guess I will have to stick with the treadmill!