Medical ID Bracelets..what??

So, I’ve decided that my best ideas come to me when I’m sitting in the bathroom at my office..strange..I know..but I always leave there running back to my office so that I don’t forget my great idea. Hence how this post came about. From reading my favorite lapband resouce lapbandtalk.com, I learned that I should be wearing a medical ID bracelet. From what I read Dr.s want us banders to wear one for several reasons. First, because we are not supposed to have NSAID’s(read the WIKI for more info) and two the EMT’s (if I’m ever involved in an accident) need to know that I have a band, because if they insert a nasogastric tube into your body to administer meds or help you breath or whatever without knowing it could puncture my stomach pouch and oh boy would that be bad…

So, I started looking for one of these medical ID bracelets. If you know me, you know I hate silver and all types. I’m a 24K gold girl. This is the best I could find:

Are you kidding me?? Ewww. I’d rather get a tattoo on my wrist than wear that! I’m off in search of more options. So, next time you see me, if I’m wearing a hideous bracelet like the one pictured above on my wrist please be sure to complement me and tell me how pretty it is

Week 15..no change

Took the week 15 measurements..no change again. It’s so hard..but I have to keep things in perspective. I have lost a lot of weight (41 lbs) in a very short amount of time..3 months. I mean it had to taper off at some point right? The scale will tell when I go back on Sept. 8th! I haven’t felt all the great lately – however, that is probably a function of the fact that I haven’t been eating all the great lately either!

I did hit up the Gap for the first time in 4 years last weekend. I bought a dress that is a size 12 – how exciting is that?? Although, I have to keep in mind it was a dress..I’m still in a 16 in pants. Almost a 14 but not quite yet. But I guess that is pretty good from a size 20. I also went to Old Navy and TJ Maxx and bought some things – it was very exciting to be able to shop in the “regular people” sections!

The gym. I need to hit the gym. I know it. To keep this weight loss up I need to work out. There is just not enough time in the day to get there. I know what people say, “make time!” but it is so much harder than that. Try working two full-time jobs and we will see how easy it is to get to the gym. Last Saturday, I literally worked from 8:30am until 2:30am!

But, I’m still chugging along..trying to anyway.

Not much to report

Took the week 14 measurements..no change It has been getting harder that is for sure. Austin and I have quickly realized that eating out is not an option. It is so hard to resist nachos, waffle fries, new england clam chowder, I’m still fighting off bread baskets okay. However, the grocery store is also key. A lap-bander must have food in the house at all times or else all hell breaks loose.

Austin and I made the trip to Costco for the first time in awhile. They had a 12 pack of Chobani Yogurt for $8.99 (or something close to that). What a deal. That stuff is at least $1 a pop in the store.

Everyone keeps telling me I need to buy new clothes. I buy new clothes and two weeks later..they don’t fit. It’s a good problem I guess. But still frustrating. Nothing much really going on. Austin and I went to the beach for the first time in a few years. We went to Wingaersheek in Gloucester – we had a lot of fun and I can’t wait to go back.

A Few Weeks Behind on my measurement update..weeks 12 & 13

So sorry, I’m a week off in my measurements. Things are still going great. I did have a little dress incident over the weekend. So I’ve know for months about my co-worker, Michael’s wedding. However, it wouldn’t be me if I planned to far ahead. So the last Thursday, I got a dress out of my closet to wear to the joyus event and tried it on – when I had bought it two years ago it was a bit snug..needless to say..it hasn’t fit since then. Here is the dress:

So Saturday comes and I get all ready and have about 5 minutes to put my dress on before I have to leave. I put it on and OMG!! There are brown spots all over the front of it…not sure how this possibly could have happened. Frantic cursing and pacing ensues. What the eff am I going to wear. I go to another dress..and it’s so big you can see the entire front of my bra while standing. Go to dress option 3..put it on..it’s supposed to be fitted..it looks like a garbage bag but nothing is showing that’s not supposed to. I leave the house, get in the car start backing out of the driveway, look down and realize my entire bra is showing! My boobs! everything..wtf am I going to do now. I’m already 20 minutes late to pick up my co-worker..I keep driving..I’ll figure something out. I pick-up Angela and her firsts words are “OMG, what are we going to do? I brought duct tape, packing tape, pretty much anything I could find in my apt. We’ll fix you!” So we haul it to the ceremony to which we are running into the church with Angela screaming..”you know we are going to run into the front of the church and your boob is going to fall out!” It didn’t. We sneak into the back of the church and I have my pashmina covering me like a nun. Our bosses are like, “where the hell have you been??” We leave the church and are driving to the reception, Angela and I are discussing what exactly we are going to do and then I see a sign from god, The Wrentham Outlets. I dart across 3 lanes of traffic and we enter the mall. Both of us go dashing into Sak’s Fifth Avenue..we’re grabbing every dress we can find..or at least I was. I look over and Angela has jeans in her hand! I try on, try-on some more, and some more. Nothing. I couldn’t find anything. Angela and I decide to see where we can get with the duct tape in the parking lot of the Wrentham Outlets. After some McGuyver like skills from Angela, I’m taped up and ready to go! We survived! Austin and I have a personal wedding to go to this coming weekend and I said to him on Sunday we are going to buy a dress at my go-to store Nordstroms, of course! We went last night and I found something. I’ll post a pic next week.

Finally, the inches update for the last two weeks – I can’t remember where I left off so I’m just going to post the total inches lost for this week:
Bust 37 (down 7 inches total)
Waist 37 (down 9 inches total)
Hips 44 (down 9 inches toal)
Thigh 24.5 (down 7 inches total)
Arm 13 (down 2 inches total)

Making for a total of 34 inches lost in 13 weeks!

If you’re not reading this blog..you should be..

http://marlomc.wordpress.com/

This is the blog of a Boston-based marketing agency that talks about fashion, food, the latest and greatest of everything. Now, I probably should be promoting it since I technically work for a competitor but it is one of the funniest reads. All of the employees blog and they write the way they talk.

I just finished reading this blog post..”Don’t Hate Me ‘Cus I’m Bootyfull” It was hilarious! You should def. add this to your blog reader!

Week 12 weigh-in

So, I went to see the good Dr. Robinson this morning, barely. I over slept for my appt by about 45 minutes thus making me 45 minutes late for my appt. When I couldn’t get a hold of anyone I decided to go and see if I could still get in — and I did! I mainly wanted to go to get on the scale. Last night, I made up my protein shakes for the day in case I did get a fill and had to do the liquid diet today – I was prepared. I got on the scale and was down another 9 lbs! Making for a total of 41 lbs lost in 12 weeks!! Dr. Robinson was super excited and very impressed with my progress. I’m almost half way to my goal weight in just 3 months!

I didn’t end up getting a fill because I’m still losing. Dr. Robinson said he has had a few patients with the lap-band who never needed a fill. I didn’t make it to the 100’s yet…but I’m SO close. I know when I go back the first week of Sept, I’ll be ready for my 100’s party! I’ll post a pic soon!

Girls Weekend 09 and Visting with Madison

So, I just returned from another mini-vacation. I went back to Illinois (chicago to be exact) to visit with one of my bff’s Dawn and her 2 month old, Madison. What an enlighting experience! I learned so much about babies, how to hold them (because I had never really done that before), how to feed them (never did that before either), how to bath them (nope not that either) and all kinds of stuff! Dawn is super lucky because all Madison pretty much does is sleep. But I wonder if she will have the same course of action as a puppy? Sleep, sleep, sleep the first couple of months and then BAM! run all over the place chewing everything up! I doubt it. I did pretty good with my eating for the two days I was with Dawn. Stuck to the plan and felt great.

Decker then picked me up on Friday to make the trek to Michigan City, Indiana for the 3rd annual girls weekend. This is a reunion of the Beta Eta Bradley Gamma Phi girls that were in our clique. There were 15 of us in total and what a fun time! However, Michigan City is a place I would be content not visiting again. We went to some local bars, hit the Blue Chip casino where I lost all my money, and rented a pontoon boat for 1 hour because it was FREEZING! But I am so glad that I got to see my girls and have a little bit of fun! The eating was another story. I did okay. On Saturday, my stomach was wicked upset and I couldn’t figure out why so I wrote down everything that I had consumed that day and was WAY over. I’m supposed to have 3 starches, I had 6. I had two extra servings of protein and more. While I didn’t eat “bad” necessarily – I just ate too much.

Here is a pic of my girls, Laura, Decker, me and Kara.

The inches update for the last two weeks! and our vaca to IL

So Austin and I finally had a week of from Photo Fun Box so we decided to take a trip back to my homeland of Collinsville, IL. We had this great idea to drive and then about a week before our trip we thought it would be better to fly — which is was! We went with my parents to Six Flags St. Louis, which was awesome! We did the roller coasters, water rides and the water park! We went to the Zoo and we went to the Casino Queen. If Austin wasn’t a good gambler we would be in trouble because I am a horrible gambler! I did pretty good with my eating while on vacation. I just ate slow and stuck to the plan. I did have french fries for the first time in a solid 3 months! But only a few! I ate a lot of chicken and salads – a few times I had pork – overall it was good. The best part was when I came back and took my measurements.

We left last Tuesday (7/14) I took them that morning:

Bust     38 (down 1 inch from last week and 6 inches total)

Waist 38 (down 1 inch from last week and 8 inches total)

Hips 46 (down .5 inch from last week and 7 inches total)

Thigh 26 (down .5 inch from last week and 4.5 inches total)

Arm 13 (down .5 inch from last week and 2 inches total)

So, when I got back on Tuesday it was super late so I took my measurements on Wednesday morning

Bust 38 (no change from last week -  6 inches total)

Waist 38 (no change from last week – 8 inches total)

Hips 44 (down 2 inches from last week – 9 inches total)

Thigh 25.5 (down .5 from last week – 5 inches total)

Arm 13 (no change from last week – 2 inches total)

This brings my total inches lost to: 30!!!! I don’t go back until August 4th for my next weigh in and hopefully first fill!

Inches Update..a few days late

It’s been a crazy week. We are on Week 8 since surgery. Some exciting news is that none of my clothes fit. I was so tired of wearing super baggy pants – I pulled out  a pair of BabyPhat jeans that have been in my closet for close to 3 years with the tags on them. I just don’ t really like them because they are super stretchy (i.e. super tight). I put them on this morning and Austin said, “you bring a whole new meaning to the song ‘Apple Bottom Jean..boots with the fur…she had the whole club lookin at her.” Only he sang it.

Bust     39 (down 1 inch from last week – down 5 inches)

Waist   39 (down 1 inch from last week for a total of 7 inches)

Hips 46.5 (no change from last week – down6.5 inches)

Thigh 26.5 (no change from last week – down 4 inches)

Arm 13.5 (no change from last week – down 1.5 inches)

That is a total of 24 inches..I’m not sure that’s how you say it or not..or if that is even a lot. It seems like a lot.

I thought I would post a picture update as well!

Week before surgery:                                                                                  Week 8:

Made it through the 4th of July…

So, I was a tad nervous about the 4th seeing as how it is one of the biggest drinking holiday’s of the year in Swampscott and I haven’t had a drink in almost 4 months! Not only was I nervous about how the drink would affect me but also, what was I going to drink with this lap band!! Someone mentioned Smirnoff’s Lemoncello (sp?), so I thought I woudl try it. It went down great! and it was nice to have a little adult beverage after such a long hiatus. I consumed three beverages..but it was the last one that did me in. I think I had a little more than 8oz in one hour..and it was just too much liquid in my belly. In terms of food I did good too. My mother-in-law made me some pulled bbq chicken and I had my fruit cups. I did have 1/2 cup of potato salad and 1/2 cup of pasta salad but that is the beauty of the band – I can do that if I want to. So, I made it an all was well.

I also realized that I need to get my but to the gym to make this work. I went last Friday and that got me motivated I think because I got up at 6am this morning and went to the gym! ME! The queen of sleep got up early. On the flip side it is only 4pm and I could take a nap at my desk right now!