My butt hurts..........

LOL ~ went horse back riding yesterday morning for 1 1/2 hours ~ now you know the reason for the pain! It was a beautiful ride, weather was perfect, horse was a good girl for me the inexperienced rider! Her name is Cody. Here's some pics:

Business trip/vacation...

Not sure what my weight is. I know I haven't taken in many food calories over the last couple of days ~ I'm not hungry with my gizmo ~ guess that's a good thing. This last "fill" has really made a difference. Last night I ordered a cup of she crab soup and a house salad. I got the soup down but the house salad came home with us after only a couple of bites. My eyes and brain are bigger than my pouch!

Here's a recent picture:




or two:








I've been walking the dog (she belongs to our friends that we are staying with) every night but it's just a little horse shoe neighborhood walk ~ nothing real exhausting for sure. So last night walking out to the ocean and light house was the most exercise I've gotten since we've been here.

Closet Cleaning 101

1. be in the mood.
2. don't be sentimental.
3. if you haven't worn it throw it.
4. if you can't wear it throw it.
5. if the material makes you feel yucky throw it.
6. if the item looks 30 years old it probable is, throw it.
7. if you are preparing for a household move....throw lots!!

Three closets, 12 huge garbage bags to the goodwill, I'm sure I'll review this list and go for it again over the next few months!

First new outfit in ONEderland!

wt 199.4

Shopped today ~ how exciting to be able to shop in the normal sizes! No plus size, no big W and the stuff fit! I bought a size 16 pant and XL shirt. Here's some blurry not good snapshots the hubster took....and they look better in the small size.....

ONEderland or WONderland or WONDERland?!

ONEderland because I'm officially under 200 lbs ~ 199.4 but still under 200!!

WONderland because I win ~ so take that fat girl!

WONDERland because I've been wondering what it would be like to be there again!! It's been a long time...........too long!!

Love me some gizmo!! ;-)

Lap-band Surgery The Miracle And Talk Of The Town...

OK, so maybe just the office...

I just walked out of my office into the warehouse and a co worker I haven't seen in awhile says to the co worker she was standing with something about "she's lost a lot of weight." Other co worker says something about "she had that weight loss surgery like so and so did." As if I couldn't hear them.......as if it was necessary to tell about my gizmo ~ my little tool and partner in weight loss. So anyways I guess it's not my hard work of trying to eat right, journal my food intake, exercise and take charge of my health. It's just the surgery ~ miracle cure for obesity ~ not a tool ~ it's just magic ~ you just wake up almost 32 pounds lighter one day....get a clue peeps.

so the gossip moves forward once again...but my motto is "if they are talking about me they are leaving someone else alone"

Surgery Anniversary Day!

Banded 6/18/09.
Started 3 day liquid Pre Op diet @ 232.2
Weighed in this morning @ 200.6
That's minus 31.6 pounds in 3 months.

I'm thinking that's pretty good considering I have not starved, I have not denied myself bites of things I like, I have not killed somebody, I have not over exercised, I have had big girl drinks, I am back to 2 cups of coffee a day (morning and afternoon), and I have not made myself unhappy about my decision to have the surgery! ;-)

Real Food Today! Post Op Day 90...

wt: 202.2

The scale moved slightly this morning!! ;-)

OK, it's back to regular food today after my "second fill" on Monday. Normally I've been eating a whole lunchable for breakfast. That's 8 crackers, 8 circles of lunchmeat and 8 little squares of cheese. I only got half of it in this morning. I'm not saying I felt full cuz I honestly do not know what full feels like. I know what over full feels like (that feeling after a huge Thanksgiving meal) but not what "full" or "satisfied" feels like. I just felt like I couldn't eat another bite of it. Now maybe it's all in my head thinking I have more restriction now or maybe it really was the stomach sending a message to the brain (like I have a brain) saying enough already, you are full, let this satisfy you and I'll send you another signal when I'm needing more food! I am a slave to my stomach......

onward and downward....

Second Fill ...

wt: 202.4

I've been holding steady on the weight for about 3 weeks now ~ hovering just above ONEderland ~ ugh!

Had my second "fill" yesterday. Here's the questions and answers:

Type of band? LAP-BAND AP System

How many CCs in? 8 1/2 now (was 8 CCs before yesterday)

How close can I have fills? in about 8 weeks maybe get another fill but if the band only holds 9 CCs how much more can one band take?

So my next appt is in Nov 16th.

Doctor asked if I was drinking with meals, if I was exercising and how often, if I'd had any problems with food.

I know for myself I need to focus on eating only when hungry, not grazing, not eating something just because it's there and cut back on the big girl drinks.

onward and downward!

RoAd tRip....

Done with another road trip....went to MI ~ saw my Aunt Vivian and got on her computer and pulled up my blog so now she can read it too!! She couldn't get here from the link I emailed her but she's here now.... So let me back up about a month:

Aug 23rd ~ "it's my Aunt Vivian's Birthday today!! HaPpY BiRtHdAy Aunt Vivian!!" ;-)

OK, now that my butt is covered with that post let me go on... haha

Friday was a long day and I didn't eat anything until late into the afternoon and I was about sick to my stomach and had a headache ~ not good.

Saturday I started my day off with breakfast ~ egg and a piece of cheese...after that it was a handful of chips, 4 almond M&Ms, a few mixed nuts, and more snack "road trip" foods but this morning the scale was down!

Today (Sunday) I'm sticking to liquid type foods because tomorrow I go for my second fill. This is not required just decided I'd do it today and tomorrow ~ give my stomach a rest from road trip foods?!

I'll post about my second fill ASAP!

I see new followers!! How exciting!! Welcome! ;-)

Since Amy confessed....

I did too in a comment to her ~ read on my followers (btw I'm up to 10 followers now ~ only 40 more to go!):

AmY aMy AmY ~ I'm in the same boat!! It's been a rough go of it since my b'day blowout weekend ~ so hard to get back on track. I too thought since I was banded almost 3 months ago it would be easy to crawl back on and sail away but NO I'm standing on shore eating when I'm not even hungry! I was so close to ONEderland(201.2) and this week I've slipped further and further away pound by pound ~ now I know PMS is a contributing factor but geez.....I need to get a grip and pull hard to get back onboard where I belong! Maybe my second fill on Monday will help?! ;-)

wt this morning: 205.8

09/09/09

Sorry just felt the need to post the date! ;-)

Saturday Thoughts ~ Ramblings

Wt: 204

The weight is hanging up there the past few days ~ not sure why but that I usually get "off track" on the weekends?! I wonder how it will be after my second fill? Will more restriction keep me on track better?

The man candy worked this morning ~ I stayed home and cleaned FINALLY!! College son is not coming home this weekend and younger son is staying w/a friend for the weekend. That leaves the man candy and me to entertain ourselves.... due to rain we opted to walk the mall this evening.

Hope my blog friends have a great Labor Day weekend!

Did The Stairs Again This Morning

This morning my niece who is in town visiting went with us ~ here's some snapshots:

A view from the top:


Jennifer:



Me after two times on the stairs:

"The Stairs"

<----doing the happy dance!! I did "the stairs" two times tonight w/o stopping!! That's right folks 201 down, 201 up, 201 down, 201 up ~ no wonder my legs feel like noodles!! On the second trip up I said to my man candy "if I die, know I love you and I died doing something I wanted to do to reach my goal!" My heart kept beating the whole hour long hike from top to bottom so all is well!

Seems to be more..........

hair in the sink the last few days when I comb it out in the AM. Not good. The nutritionist told me that if I didn't keep up with 50g of protein a day about 3 months from surgery my hair would fall out. And guess what it's almost been 3 months since surgery! Now I was very careful to hit that 50g a day so what is going on?!

Since I spent last weekend wine-ing this week I have been whine-ing cuz the scale went up all the way to 204!! But after just a few days of eating right, journaling and getting some exercise added back in there it's down to 203.6 this morning. That's a good thing! Now to get it to move some more the next few days in the downward motion!

Today is my step Mom's bithday! She is no longer married to my Dad and hasn't been for years but she'll always have a special place in my heart! Happy Birthday Mom aka Sharon! ;-)

We did the park last night ~ I counted the steps again ~ still got 201 and didn't stop again this trip on the way back up so next time I'm seriously thinking of doing the steps twice!!

If you are reading my blog and have not done so yet ~ please sign up to "follow me"! I'd like 50 followers by my next birthday!

(thanks Sarah for becoming a follower today!)

It's My Birthday and I Can Wine If I Want To, Wine If I Want To...

That's right my birthday weekend was spent wine~ing! ;-)

I decided I wanted to do the local wine trail and stop @ the wineries we had not been to, take pictures, take notes, decide if we'd ever go back to any of them, that kind of thing.

Before I go any further let me just say the winery tour is not all about the wine, drinking and getting drunk. It's a cultural thing, meeting new peeps, seeing beautiful scenery, learning how wine is made, how the grapes are harvested, etc.

On Friday we toured 7 wineries, on Saturday we toured 3 wineries, on Sunday we toured 2 and repeated 2 that we've been to before. Overall good time!

1. Stone Hill (www.stonehillwinery.com):
Very historic, very friendly peeps, great guided tour (about an hour long), wine tasting @ end of tour for only tour peeps and it was only 2.50 per adult! Meant two men from Michigan and chatted for awhile. Also chatted with "Ray" as he stocked the bottles of wine. He told us where to get great pizza near our home! Bring your camera! Bought Kick'n Berry and Cream Sherry (Cream Sherry was wonderful!)

2. Adam Puchta (www.adampuchtawine.com): OK place, outside bathrooms, signature port pretty good ~ gold medal quality. (Traminette)

3. Hermannhof (www.hermannhof.com): pretend self guided tour, won't let you taste the port wines ~ didn't buy anything from them as we know we like the Spring Blush and can buy it anywhere.

4. OakGlenn (www.oakglenn.com): The road in was a pretty drive. Well off the road (dirty car road LOL), beautiful view @ winery, coolers OK, don't tell anybody about this place LOL, port wine tasting, indoor bathrooms but dark, Patriots own the place! Port/White was yummy!

5. Bias (www.biaswinery.com): train = twice! Bad road.

6. Bommarito (www.Bommaritoestatewinery.com):
Nick was great! Very personalbe. Came in off his tractor to pour us a little wine. Great guy to talk to, would go back and take a group of peeps with us! Very laid back, relaxing atmosphere. Coolers allowed. Wood fired pizza sounded yummy!

7. Robller (I don't know how to do that funny thing over the letter o) (www.robllerwines.com): OK, nice taste guy but only part time hehe, on hill over looking vineyard. Liked VILLA ROUGE (semi dry) red wine ~ fruity, chill-able red. A great "getting to know you" wine. Grapes: Chambourcin and Villard Noir. Also liked KASSELFEST (sweet) ~ chilled, sweet red, with rich, berry flavors. Great with dark chocolate (now you're talking my language) Grapes: Steuben, St Vincent and Chambourcin.


Saturday we hit 3 more:

1. Blumenhof (www.blumenhof.com): can bring cooler, OK view, dusty road.

2. Augusta (www.augustawinery.com):

3. Sugar Creek (www.sugarcreekwines.com): Sunset Red was good and we bought LaRustica Red!

Sunday we hit 2 new and 2 old ones:

1. Chandler Hill (www.chandlerhillvineyard.com):
Made me think that this must be what the California wineries are like. Pretty pricey in my opinion. Small taste glass was 5 bucks for 5 tastes. Big (ugly) taste glass was 8 tastes for 10 bucks and you get to keep the ugly glass. They didn't have their own wines ~ mostly CA wines and some MO wines but not made there. They are in the process of growing grapes/making wines/etc. The food we saw peeps eating looked pretty good, view was nice, lower parking lot was gravel and that meant dust on the freshly washed car, shuttle bus to the top. I would go back, planning to eat lunch there, and enjoy but today we had our picnic basket and wanted to go to a winery that would allow it in.

2. Yellow Farmhouse Vineyard & Winery (www.yellowfarhousewines.com):
I almost blew it on this one as it was not on the map and I was thinking they wouldn't have their own wines so when hubby asked me did I want to stop I almost said no but quickly changed to sure why not?! Good change of mind! Paige was our server. You can sample as much as you want for 5 bucks and you get to keep the cute little glass. If you buy a bottle of wine the 5 bucks is waived on the tasting. She talked us right into a bottle of wine haha. She was very informative about wines, grapes, etc. While we were there, a newspaper reporter asked if he could photograph us ~ why of course! When we were ready to leave he asked for our names, address, etc and told us the article would be in the business section of the paper on Sept 4th ~ so we'll see, maybe we will be in there! This winery allows coolers, dogs, etc ~ has bright colored chairs hill side, picnic tables, a covered area and a one man band. I'd repeat this one.

3. (repeat) Balducci (www.balduccivineyards.com): friendly servers, nice winery to sit and relax, enjoy the view and eat from your picnic basket! Liked the SONATA ~ a blend of white varietals Vidal, Rayon and Chardonel. Aged in stainless steel with a sugar level of 3.25%. Also liked: CHIARETTO ~ Light bodied semi-dry red aged in stainless steel. A blend of Chambourcina and St. Vincent grapes, with a sugar level of 2.8%.

4. (repeat) Montelle (www.montelle.com): server very friendly, they stopped giving out chocolate with the Raspberry wine tasting so hubby bought us a little piece of chocolate to enjoy! We've been here several times with friends, great view from the deck area. No coolers allowed here. They were parking peeps into the overflow lower parking area, they asked if we were handycapped and I said "no, but I'm retarded does that count?" and I scrunched my shoulder kind of funny, he smiled and sent us on up the hill into the regular parking lot. Sometimes it pays to cut up with the hired help! ;-) Always like the CHAMBOURCIN, CYNTHIANA, RED RASPBERRY and the FRAMBOISE is really good as a dessert wine.

I will post some more info and pics @ a later date so make sure you check back! ;-)

BTW ~ have no doubt my weekend pushed me away from ONEderland a wee little so this week is journal, exercise, and move the scale down!

Thanks for....

the new followers!! 2 in one day!! ;-)

Thanks for....

all the b'day wishes I got today!

scale went up a wee bit this morning to 201.4 such is life.

Here's a snapshot of me from today (if you click on it it gets bigger ~ oh joy!):



I must learn to suck the gut in!! ;-)

Calling All Lurkers ~ Calling All Lurkers....

During our hike/walk/jog/step experience tonight the man candy in my life wanted to know how many followers I have for my blog ~ I replied FIVE! Then I was thinking it would be great if the "lurkers" signed up to follow my blog too!! So come on peeps ~ join me in blogspot and follow me ~ maybe I could have 50 followers before my next b'day?! ;-)

Post Op Day 70

wt: 201.2 (31 lbs gone as of this morning!)

Happy Birthday to "the girls" ~ they are a year old today and if I had it do over again I'd have that surgery again only earlier in my life!! My plastic surgeon was great and the results I'm pleased with for sure!

Now my real birthday is tomorrow and I'd love to drop that 1.2 pounds over night but I'm thinking that won't happen but by the end of the weekend I plan to be in ONEderland!

If by some miracle when I weigh tomorrow morning I'm in ONEderland ~ you will hear me screaming and feel me doing the happy dance just so ya know it's not an earthquake!! ;-)

I've had 3 co workers say something to me today about losing weight. Is 31 lbs gone the key number for someone to notice? Who knows ~ who cares ~ it's not about being noticed, it's not about being proud, it's not about who says something, it's ALL ABOUT ME ~ THE NEW ME ~ MY NEW SELF!!