Fat Woman With A Band

Often when we’re learning something new we think of the process as following a steadily climbing curve, which at some point begins to decrease – the bell curve. As time increases our learning may get more difficult to begin with and then begin to drop off as we’ve “learned it all.”

In the past week I’ve been thinking of my progress curve as it relates to fitness. I don’t feel my progress has followed a standard bell shaped learning curve. Rather it feels like improving my fitness level can best be shown as a series of steps. It feels like I just arrived on the top of one of these steps or the tread after a very, very long riser.

Though my workouts haven’t been easy, I feel like I’m recovering faster between sets of exercises, and I’m able to get to the next exercise a bit faster. It’s not consistent, but I feel I’m making progress.

Also on my regular walking route around my place I used to do it in about 1 1/2 hours, with the last 30 minutes a bit of a struggle. I walked this route the last couple of days – I powered my way through it in about 1 hour and 10 minutes. I was able to sustain a faster pace, and I wasn’t dragging my butt at the end.

And I lost another two pounds. A grand week, all in all.

Did I tell you my project plan? No? Really?

I’m not surprised. I didn’t really have one articulated in my head. Other than losing weight I haven’t told many people how much I want to lose. And though I’m not quite ready to tell everyone how much I weigh right now, I can share this.

I want to lose 134 lbs. That’ll get me to a “normal” BMI for my height. To get to this goal I have three more milestones.

1. The next milestone to reach is to have lost 100 lbs. I’m 4.6 lbs away.
2. The milestone after that is to reach a BMI that says I’m overweight, not obese. I’m less than 2 points away from that.
3. The final milestone is really the goal – a loss of 134 lbs from my weight in November 2008.

I’m projecting reaching my goal sometime in March 2010. Thinking about my weight loss as a project plan, i.e., using the milestone terminology, helps me keep my eye on the prize.

The last time I lost a lot of weight (10 years ago), I remember being very happy when I fit into a particular pair of shorts. They were shorts from Mountain Equipment Co-op, light green, and used. They were my partner’s. I can still remember how pleased I was when I could button them up. I remember wearing them a lot.

I kept those shorts though I haven’t been able to wear them. I tried them on a few weeks ago and they fit a bit snugly, but they fit. I felt “almost there.” I’ve just tried them on again, and they fit perfectly. It’s the most curiously happy feeling – being happy in a pair of shorts that are probably 12 years old.

I then tried on all my shorts, and they all fit perfectly. Our weather hasn’t really been shorts weather yet, and today isn’t necessarily going to be either. I don’t care. I’ve got a pair on and I’m wearing them.

I know I still have a way to go to reach my goal, but at this point right now, I feel good. I feel accomplished.

Photo by Nick Kocharhook

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Yeah me!

Friends can make you crazy. Friends can make you sad.

And friends can make you proud. And they can make you happy. And that make you laugh. And laugh. And laugh.

This week my friends have been amazingly supportive. They’ve fussed over me. Told me how good I look. Even suggested I could stop losing weight.

This is me smiling. Thanks friends.

This plateau is over, thank goodness. And even better than that, I’m more than half-way to my goal weight.

I know this half will take more time to lose than the first half, probably more than twice as long. I’ll have to deal with it – I think I can.

But for right now – Yeah me!

I lost weight again, thank goodness.

I know I shouldn’t obsess, and I know that I shouldn’t expect to lose weight each week. But that is my expectation. No amount of self-talk helps me … I just have to live with it. Live with the idea that I’ll continue to lose weight each week, and then live with it when I don’t.

On the happy side, I’ve had a couple of days of uber walking. Of course my little muscles are screaming, but never mind. I also know that at some point in the not too distant future I’ll have to kick up my exercise a notch or two. I’m just not quite ready to do that. And by “that” I mean going to the gym and using the torture equipment. Sounds lovely, doesn’t?

I had my teeth whitened this week. One’s teeth are graded on a scale of A1 – D4, with D4 being the dingiest. My teeth were D3-D4. Now they’re D2-ish – you can’t jump from the “D” line to the “A” line apparently.The procedure itself wasn’t onerous – it only took about two hours start to finish. I’m happy with the result.

Hey I just realized! I haven’t said how much I’ve lost. I’m down 65 pounds. And people have noticed. Two people whom I haven’t seen in a little while saw me this past week. Neither realized it was me to begin with, and both were very complimentary. Thanks S & B, it means a lot to me.

A happy week! Yeah me!

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.

As some of you may have noticed my website looked a little strange for a couple of days. Happily as you’re reading this post, it’s now working tickety-boo. What this experience has demonstrated, again, is that I’m not an island.

The long and short of it is that I could not have figured out how to resurrect the site by myself. I asked a long-suffering friend to bail be out, yet again. He spent hours cleaning up the site and reinstalling all my posts. I’m very grateful. It was his help and advice that got this blog going again. And, I have to give kudos to the webhosting support desk, also. They are very responsive, and their help is appreciated.

And with my weight loss I’m doing a lot of the work, but can’t do it without support. The support of my family, my partner, my friends, the people at the clinic, and the Y. There’s also the support I get from visiting and participating in the myslimband.com community website, and the lapbandtalk.com website.

I may be losing weight for me – it’s all about me, remember – but the support is the grease keeps the pounds slipping away.

Now, where is the blog that makes wine recommendations? There’s a blog-saver I’d like to thank.

I had my first “fill” yesterday. It went o.k.

The band can hold up to 10 cc’s of saline solution. The nurse placed 4 cc’s in it yesterday via a needle into the port just under by skin. I could feel something immediately – a slight pressure on my right side. Not painful, and only a little bit uncomfortable for about an hour or so.

The rest of the day I could drink water, protein smoothies, and I had some home made tofu and vegetable pureed soup. I could definitely feel something then, and it was hard getting it down. But, this morning’s cup of coffee went down smoothly with no hiccups.

I’m scheduled for another two fills, two weeks apart. The clinic’s nutritionist recommended that after the third fill to “sit” with it a for a little while to determine if it’s o.k. That is not to ask for another fill, or possibly defill, until I’ve worked with that amount of fill I’ve received to that point. What I’m looking for is the “sweet spot.” That is, a restriction that will allow me to eat about a cup of food at one meal, and feel full for at least three to four hours. She went on to explain for some people that sweet spot can be the difference between having 7 cc’s of saline vs. 7.25 cc’s of saline.

I also got weighed. I’ve lost 24lbs since I began, and I have a l-o-o-n-g way to go. The nutritionist also counselled patience. She said that losing between one and two pounds a week is optimal. I know she’s right, but it’s very difficult to hear. I want to lose big numbers every week, and lose all the weight I want to lose quickly. And, at the same time, I know that it is physically impossible to do that unless I exercised eight hours a day with a trainer, and had my meals prepared for me in the most nutritionally balanced way. And this doesn’t happen for anyone in real life.

I’ve signed up for a six-week course at the clinic to learn about eating smart with the band, and I suppose even without the band. It’s about how to optimize the 1 cup of food I eat at each meal, and how to optimize my whole day’s nutrition. More on this in the coming weeks.

I’m off to begin my day with a bit of rowing, and then an aquafit session, before I get to work.