Fat Woman With A Band

My perception is rose coloured because I’ve lost more than 50 pounds. I was hoping on losing close to 50 when I stepped on the scales this week, and happily I had lost even more. And that was even after being away on vacation last week.

I have to remember this for those weeks when the scale doesn’t move or when I go up. Because I know that will happen. Plateaus are common for anyone losing weight and I’ve had them on previous diets.

I’ve had a couple of days this week where I haven’t eaten enough. I eat at least 1200 calories per day, but I’m o.k. even if I get closer to 1300 or 1400. A couple of days I think I’ve come up short for a couple of reasons. The first is poor planning. I didn’t spend enough time thinking about where I was going to be around meal times and I didn’t have anything appropriate to eat with me. By the time I got home it was too late to prepare and eat a meal. I ended up having a protein bar.

The second reason was eating too quickly, taking big bites, and then not chewing enough. I then had to do a few productive burps. Not only did I lose the food, I also couldn’t continue eating. Obviously I haven’t mastered the skill of eating with a lapband successfully. Yet.

I’ve been walking and rowing at least six days out of seven, and participating in aquafit at least three days a week. I’m very glad the weather is warming up as it’ll make walking that much more enjoyable. I don’t even think of these activities as exercise anymore.

Boardwalk here I come.

52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52,
52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52,
52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52,
52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52,
52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52, 52,
52, 52.

Yes!

5th Avenue Snacks by Laram777

I have returned from my first vacation with a laparoscopic band. I’m very pleased with how it all went, and not just the eating part.

I went to New York City where I was surrounded by food. There are street vendor carts everywhere selling food I’d happily quaff. You’ve got your pretzels, your nuts, your middle eastern food, and your hot dogs. Then there’s the coffee, the bagels, and the pastries. All that before you get inside.

What I was really happy to see is that many places had calorie listings for their food, especially the fast food or lunch places. All the chain burger joints listed calories on their signs, but even Pret a Manger, Au Bon Pain, Starbucks, Europa Cafe, and others had food listed with calories. Amazing! I know calories aren’t the be-all and end-all of eating smart, but it’s a good start. I found it really helpful.

Now having said that, I didn’t have any really great meals. I had two good meals, and all the others were not memorable. I started each day with oatmeal with fruit. Definitely a larger portion than at home – no excuses.

I had one vegetarian meal in Greenwich Village that was tasty, similar to the quality of food at Fresh or Big Carrot. The other meal was chicken, brown rice, and a salad combination at Au Bon Pain. Very good.

In previous trips I would have eaten deli – I stayed just down the street from Carnegie, Stage, and Ben Ash delis – pasta, asian, and more fried foods. I didn’t do any of that this time. Did I miss it? Yes, a bit. But not enough that I actually went and had any of it.

So, I think I could have done a little better making my food choices, but I’m still happy with what I did. What I’m most proud of though are the non-scale victories. And there are a few.

Beginning with the airplane ride. Simply put, I could do up my seat belt. And I could put the tray table down all the way. You have no idea how big a deal that is. No idea. These two simple things made me very happy. Very.

In NYC you can do a lot of walking; I did as much as I could. For the most part I felt fine. I had enough energy, and my joints didn’t ache too much. The only time I felt physically challenged was at MOMA; strolling and standing as you do in a museum is uncomfortable to the point of painful for me. At least this showed I still have lots of work to do, and I have to work more on loosening up my IT band and bum muscles. If it isn’t one band, it’s the other.

The trip was a good test for me, and I’m proud of how I navigated my way with the band.

Do it when you’re ready and not a moment before.

What’s “it”? Pretty much anything, really. My “it” is all about weight loss. Here’s how the timing worked for me, and the process I took to lapband surgery.

1. I was feeling very unhealthy, again, and I knew I had to do something about it, again. But, I was having a very hard time getting motivated. I had been looking at weight loss surgery alternatives, but just couldn’t convince myself to do more than read about it.
2. A friend has a friend who had lapband surgery, and was very successful losing weight. My interest goes up a notch.
3. I do some research on the procedure and can find lots of positive information about it, and not much negative. Interest is definitely climbing.
4. I make an appointment at Slimband (then called TLBC), and even though it’s a marketing blurb, my interest continues at a high level. I give myself a deadline to make a decision in the vein of “shit or get off the pot.”
5. It’s the end of the year – a time to think about how the year went, and how next year could be better. What could be better than getting healthy?
6. I sign-up for surgery.

So, the tipping point (aren’t I fashionable?) was researching weight loss surgeries and then finding a person who has undergone the procedure with good results.

So I’ve changed my eating habits substantially since surgery 13 weeks ago. More fibre, more fruit, more veggies, and less bread, pasta, and fried foods. I roast or steam my vegetables, have roasted chicken or turkey, and much more vegetarian or soy products. Lots of water, and no soft drinks. Tea more often than coffee, but usually only one cup of either each day. I think I’m doing pretty darn good. But …

I’m bored of my own cooking. If a make a batch of stuff, I eat it almost everyday until it’s all gone. I never think to freeze the portions – I’m going to have to work on that. So, it’s very good timing for me than I’m off to NYC next week. Not only is it one of my favourite cities, but it has lots of food choices.

I’m not going to “fall off the wagon”, just make the best choices I can without making myself crazy or worry about whether I’m eating too much, or not the right things.

The change will do me good. Then when I get back I’ll be able to get back into my kitchen and start cooking again.

We were just talking about how some things appear to change slowly and some things appear to change fast. Say you’re away from your usual neighbourhood for a little while. When you return you may notice a new store, or a new sign but the neighbourhood is still there. Things may move quickly when it comes to electronics or computer-related stuff – it seems as if there’s a new device or new software daily.

And this is how weight loss seems. I feel like the weight is coming off so slowly. I know that it is dropping as medically recommended at a little over a pound a week, but it feels like it’s going to take FOREVER to get to my goal. And then I realize that it’s been 12 weeks since surgery, and it feels like the time flew by.

Two things I want to share in this post. The first is this: have you ever worked out how many calories you need per day? It’s a very interesting number to see, because from that you can figure out how much you have to “play” with to lose weight. The caloric needs number shows how many calories you use to just to be alive.

If you’re interested in losing weight, and again not taking into account any physical activity, one pound equals 3500 calories. So, this is how it works for me currently.

I use approximately 1800 calories to be alive.  I’ve been trying to eat roughly 1400 calories per day. Each week then I’ve been losing about .8 lbs (3500/(7 x (1800-1400))) just by moderating my food intake. Then if I do any activities that will use up more calories I drop a bit more weight.

The more one weighs, the more calories are needed per day just to maintain that weight. As I lose weight, I need fewer and fewer calories per day to keep my body going – this also is one of the reasons weight loss becomes slower. The only way to boost the weight loss is to exercise more – and perhaps eat a bit less, maybe even drop to 1200 calories per day.

And, what is your happy weight? That’s right – not your correct weight, your happy weight. Self magazine has a handy little table. If you check this number against BMI charts or insurance charts you’ll find it’s within the range. I’m definitely trying to get to my happy weight.

I’m going down slowly to get happy fast.