That's a Wrap

In December, the marketing director at the hospital where I had my surgery called and asked if I'd be interested in helping their new Bariatric Wellness Campaign. Honored and flattered, I accepted. I spent a day filming and this morning found this bit on their website... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koZyFlR8X8k&feature=youtube_gdata_player

It was fun to do and I'm so proud to share it.

Because I've fallen out of the blogging habit, I'm going to call this my official last post. I can't express my gratitude for all the support this community has given me, especially early on. I'll be lurking to check on your growth, or shrinkage. Best wishes to you all.

With immeasurable thanks,

Jessica

Checkin In

I'm about to go for a run but thought I'd say a quick hello.

My runs are about 2 miles and only usually 2x per week. While cardio is important to me, strength has become what I crave. I try to do an ExcerciseTV routine 3x per week. Feels good to feel strong.

Where I don't feel so strong is in the pantry. My restriction is pretty good so my weight is remaining steady but I could stand some fine tuning in the ol' decision maker. Although I'm VERY happy where I am and could happily live at this weight forever, I wanted to see my goal met...136. At 5'2" and 144, I'm still "overweight". 136...just once!

Seems stupid huh, 8 silly lbs? Didn't I lose 2x that in the first two weeks of this journey?

I've been poking around the web about tummy tucks. I know a few bandsters who have had them but haven't blogged much about them. And when I search randomly, I'm not finding bandsters specifically. Can anyone recommend some good bandster's TT blogs?

Hope you're all well,
Jess

Greetings from SoCal

I can't even tell you how often I think, "Dude, I gotta blog about that," and then don't. I even sometimes get as far as looking for a pic (cuz I wouldn't dare just pop back into your life without posting one) and give up. And where would I start anyway? Well, I'm just gonna type...so, sorry for the lack of concise thoughts.

2011 has been great, life-wise and weight-wise. Life, in an uneventfully great way. It's been all about family. And weight, similarly uneventfully good.

Although...

I was living happily between 142-145. (The cap I've set for myself, forever I hope, is 145.) Well one weekend in Vegas set me back a few months. Yowza, I know. I was hovering about 147. Also around that time I played in an annual softball tournament. Being someone who was always athletic, even when it was asterisk-for a fat girl, I was so, well, mad at how weak I was. No power in my swing and felt like the batters box was wet clay. So I decided to start moving my ass. Imagine that!

I remember reading an old post of Catherine's (Chronicles) and her talking about how exercise didn't click for her until quite a while after surgery. I like to think that it wasn't just something I comforted myself with since I'm now proof that it's true. I'm kind of addicted to exercise.

I'm not a nut by any stretch, but I like to do at least a little every day. My runs are between 1.5 and 2 miles, or I'll do a free FitTV Video on Demand (DirecTV channel 1831) workout. I really like Chris Freytag's "10 Pound Slimdown" series and they're only 20 minutes. Sometimes I run and do 10 minutes of core a bit later.

What I've learned from exercise so far (after only about 8 weeks of regularity):

1) A little does go a long way. Those fitness chicks trying to sell you their crap are always saying things like "just start small...a few minutes a day...just get moving". I always imagined that to really be fit, I'd have to spend hours at the gym. Turns out those chicks weren't lying.

2) I LOVE feeling strong.

3) Muscle really does weigh more than fat, but that doesn't freak me out anymore. The scale moved up a bit at first but my clothes were fitting better.

4) I really like Yoga. Unfortunately, thanks to my loose-ish port and belly skin, will not likely ever do it in public. (I'll have to repost some port pics...it's a really great pub trick.)

5) Being a bit sore everyday isn't as annoying as I used to think it was.

6) This change in my lifestyle, and yep, I'm calling it that, will have more of a positive effect on my tots than any other part of my journey to date.

Here are my little warriors. (And no, I'm not making my 2 and 4 year-olds exercise.) This was before the little one decided it'd just be more fun to jungle gym all over me.

Talk attcha again soon! :)

~Jess~

What's missing from this picture?

If you said about 215 pounds, you'd be right. My husband and I went on an overnighter to a hotel/casino (Chumash) with some friends. Jaimie and Jason were both banded last year and are doing AMAZING! They tell me I'm their inspiration for doing this but they're just as inspiring to me.

Another friend of ours just had gastric sleeve surgery a couple weeks ago. She had some scar tissue on her stomach so that surgery was advised over lapband. She's doing great too. She's down 53 pounds from when she started her pre-operative (Kaiser required) diet program.

I also found out yesterday that another friend was finally approved for surgery and will be going under the knife (or poker thingies) on March 31st. He's been jumping through the pre-op hoops since September and was almost fed up enough to throw in the towel. So glad it all worked out and he'll be another WLS buddy soon.

Hell, I might have to start my own damn support group! Ooooh, that kinda sounds like a good idea. Starbucks once a month for some skinny lattes and good convo's.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy? Close but no.

I respect you too much to offer any lame excuses for not blogging in a while...so I'll give you a non-lame one: I just don't blog when I don't lose. Gosh, I didn't even do a one-year bandiversary post. Man, I'm a slacker.

Some friends of mine, a married couple, have just moved back to Cali from Oregon. I'm soooooooo glad, because 1) they're great friends, 2) their son is the same age as my youngest, and 3) they're both banded.

{Sidebar: We had them over for Superbowl. It was really tough to plan a menu. It's the biggest snacking day of the year. My poor non-banded husband.}

They were banded about 6 months after me so, naturally, look to me for advice and whatnot. He has said on occasion that I'm "the poster child" for Lapband. I know I've told him that it's been pretty easy...but I'm starting to wonder if that's being misinterpreted. Not just by him, but anytime I may tell people that. My husband even pointed out that I may not be giving myself enough credit.

"Easy" may lead people to believe that I'm living the dream, eating anything I want and losing weight. The reality is, the band (at optimal level) has just made it easier to make better choices. For instance, macaroni and cheese. Two years ago, ask anyone who had ever met me what my favorite food is and they'd say mac 'n' cheese. I ate a box for a meal two or three times a week. (3 boxes is 3,690 calories...that's a pound people!) The band has made it so if I want to eat mac, I must take small bites and chew. And frankly, it just doesn't taste as good when you have to chew it, so I just don't even bother it at all. If I make some for my family, I may put a teeny bit on my plate and eat it if I get to it.

And it may be tough to deny myself something that I know is tasty but once I decide not to eat it, that's it, decision made. I have not once said "Man, I sure wish I had eaten that cheesecake yesterday."

I suppose part of the problem is whenever I'm talking to people about it, it's in a social setting and I'm probably grazing and drinking something alcoholic. Hmmmmmm.

So I don't want to lie and tell people it's been hard. I've had my ups, downs, plateaus and oh, hell, gallstones (ouch) and gallbladder removal. I must accredit much of my easiness metering to my attitude. I am a believer in that life is not only what happens to you but how you react to it.

(Don't worry, I'm not walking around telling skinny people it's easy. This is only in conversations with WLS patients or candidates.)

I'm going to really think about how I portray my journey to people when it comes up. Maybe I use the word "easy" because I want people to feel encouraged and empowered. But I might be doing them a disservice. What do you think?

Bandsters, tell me how your journey has been so far using only a few lines.

Hello 2011

I wanted to find a pic from last year around New Years. This is what I found, from by birthday in Vegas, December 2009. I thought I looked so good here. Good hair, nice smile, my favorite shirt. (Yep, a boring green t-shirt was my nice going-out shirt because I liked how it was almost fitted but hugged nothing.)

I think maybe I'll use it as a table cloth, or maybe some curtains.

Merry Christmas

(They're both smiling. Looking in the same direction would be asking too much.)

Sorry friends, I am reading blogs but haven't had time to comment much. It's the end of the year crunch at work and I'm shopping in all the spare moments.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas. I'll be in touch again soon!

Oh yeah, I cut off all my hair last week.