This Week’s Pictures:

Many people have been wondering what’s going on and what is next for me. Understandable since it’s been quite awhile since I’ve made a video. And though this was made a few days ago, I’m just now getting it up on my blog. Hope this answers some questions and I’ll be making a post that explains more.

But there are a few minor changes and some new foods I have found along the way. So, I’ve decided to share it again and have made a new video about the types of foods I eat, a run down of a normal eating day for me, and the workout routine that I have. I hope it’s helpful!

What an incredible week. The old me is gone… again and with luck, for good. And the new me is back and on fire!

This Week’s Pictures:

This Month’s Measurements:

	Current	Total Lost
Neck	14.9	-3.6
Left Bicep	13.1	-7.5
Left Forearm	10.1	-7.8
Left Wrist	6.9	-1.4
Right Bicep	13.4	-6.1
Right Forearm	10.6	-3.5
Right Wrist	7.2	-1.2
Bust	41.5	-13.1
Waist	38.5	-16.8
Hips	48.8	-14.3
Left Thigh	23.8	-11.3
Left Calf	17	-5.7
Left Ankle	9.9	-2.1
Right Thigh	22.6	-12.7
Right Calf	17.5	-4.7
Right Ankle	10.3	-2.1
Total Inches Lost		107.9/total 8.5/month

Last night was my monthly Lap-Band support group meeting with my surgeon. One of the topics that came up was whether or not food still called to you. As in, what are you craving or eating because you want to and not because you NEED to.

Immediately post-op hardly any food called to me. It took more than a week to be interested in wanting anything other than my liquids. And I was quite content with my egg salad during the “soft solids” phase. When solid foods came back into the picture, I had no problem eating the things I should be eating. My routine with food was consistent and I was very happy with it.

I ate good solid protein, perfect 4 oz meals, and avoided high calorie, high carb, and high sugar food. Sounds like following the rules, right?

And I have, for a long time. But as I’ve noted on a couple of my weekly update videos there have been times when I have eaten things I shouldn’t have. More notability is my guilt over Ghirardelli after my gallbladder surgery.

So I got to thinking. How was I able to get food to stop calling me and what happened that it started calling me again? Why do I occasionally choose to completely mess myself up and eat something I shouldn’t? Because after consuming something I should not be eating, guilt follows and I know it wasn’t worth it. And truthfully, it is a very BRIEF moment that I allow myself to buy something I KNOW I don’t REALLY want. And even before I consume something I shouldn’t, I DO NOT want it. But I do it anyway. What’s wrong with this picture?

When thinking about the turning point, I took a look at my eating history. Because I have been tracking my food for so long I wanted to attempt to pinpoint the moment that food started calling me again. And not only discover the actual cause for the cravings but the mentality that I have that allows me to eat something I don’t actually want.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I know the moment, the exact moment I started wanting CRAP food again.

There I was in Costco looking at these wonderfully delicious deli rolls they make. Cranberry cream cheese spread, turkey, lettuce, and tomato wrapped in a tortilla. They’re heaven sent and they used to be my go-to meal after shopping at Costco. And my bright idea was to create those in a weight-loss friendly version. I got low calorie berry cream cheese, low carb tortillas, and my favorite Oscar Mayer Honey Turkey deli slices. They tasted exactly like what I wanted. But, they were higher in carbs than I had been eating.

What do carbs do when they metabolize in your body? Do you know?

They raise the blood glucose levels. And there in lies the problem to my cravings.

Raised blood sugar, raised desire to eat CRAP!

But now I understand that the physical craving comes from eating carbs. Those tortillas, even low in carbs were NOT complex carbs and poooof instant blood surgar spike for this once diabetic. That doesn’t sound like a good combination to me.

I want to also say that the thing about all this is that prior to surgery I suspected that I would be more sensitive to carbs and avoided eating a lot of carbs. They can’t be completely avoided and carbs, especially complex carbs, can be good for the body. But each person has their own sensitivity level to how many carbs they can be eating without feeling like they need to consume the whole house or multiple bags of Ghirardelli chocolate, like I did. And so immediately after surgery I avoided carbs. Then I thought maybe I wasn’t so sensitive after all and bought the tortillas. And then the cravings for the crap came back and until last night, completely forgot about my prior belief that I’m carb sensitive.

Hello, Katy!

Now I still have the mental issue of eating things I don’t want to actually eat. I discussed a bit of my most recent mental struggle on my Post-Op Lap-Band Week 23 video. And I intend on writing more about that mental struggle soon.

In the meantime, I must avoid those carbs again. And I will. Starting today… starting NOW!

I promised that I’d be open and honest on my blog. And though this is not a topic I’d typically discuss with a large majority of people I don’t know, I want to be honest about every piece of this journey. So, here it goes….

In my early teens, my period was what I believed to be normal. The first couple of days were very heavy and then it’d slowly taper off. A normal period for me could last anywhere between 5 to 8 days. It was never consistent.

During my adult life I have been putting on weight slowly to reach my high of 387 lbs. And remember, I come from a place of being heavy… all of my life.

Now that I have lost 88 lbs, my periods have really changed.

Last year I went to the OB/GYN to learn more about uterine ablation (no judgment, please). My periods had become really irregular. Lasting anywhere between a couple of days to a couple of months. And I would have them sometimes once a month and sometimes I’d have no period for more than 6 months. And because I have ZERO desire to ever have a baby or be pregnant (my daughter is adopted), uterine ablation was my answer to solving the problem with my period.

Then, I went into the hospital for all of November 2009 (that’s another long story) and I was unable to proceed with uterine ablation. And by the time I could, it was time for my Lap-Band surgery and I have not picked my visits back up with my OB/GYN yet to continue the process.

And here we are today, at 88 lbs lost.

For the last 3 months my periods have been more “normal” than they ever have.

I have a period, every month. I know EXACTLY when it’s coming (that’s the first). They are not at all as heavy as they used to be. As in, I’m not afraid to leave my house the first 2 days of my period. It lasts for 5 to 7 days and I’m done. Moving on.

Now, I’m still very much interested in uterine ablation as a period is just something I’d rather not have at all. Yes, at just 29 I’m done with having a period that I have no medical necessity to have. However in the mean time, I’m dealing with something that’s actually manageable. Something that doesn’t stop my life for a few days while it gets lighter.

It’s a relief! It’s comforting to know that I will have no embarrassing public moments.

So, there you have it. It’ll be interesting to know at this point if my periods will change again as I get closer to my goal weight. But for now, if I must have them, at least it’s something within the realm of normal and tolerable.

What a crazy couple of weeks. I hate that I am so behind in videos and updates. But I’m balancing big changes for my family and my weight loss journey. This by far has been one of my biggest challenges since surgery. It’s an interesting ride.

And while I’m at it, I apologize that I am vague in this video about the changes happening in our life. There are some details that I simply cannot publicly share at this time. But when it all works out, as I’m sure it will, details will come.

This Week’s Pictures:

I’ve been anticipating this day to come for a long time but more so the last couple of days as my weight has been hovering at 301 lbs. And I knew the minute it happened I would grab the camera and show all of you…

Goodbye 300+ pounds. May I never see the scale begin with the number 3 again!

I’m so excited. To date, it’s 87.6 lbs lost. And I’m still hoping that tomorrow it’s even lower.

I can’t remember the last time I saw the scale start with a 2. I have never weighed myself to know where I was at any given time. And I presume that the last time I really knew my weight I was around the 250 lbs mark as that seems to be what I put on my driver’s license… every four years since I was 18. Either that or it was just a guess at what my weight is. And honestly, because I really can’t remember, I’m going to presume that it was a guess.

And speaking of my driver’s license, it is to be renewed Feb. 2011. My goal and hope is that I can actually BE the weight on my license. And I swear, I will never lie about my weight on my license again.

It’s been 21 weeks since I had surgery. I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone by, everything I have done, everything I have been through, and how willing I am to keep going. When the going gets tough, I’m only one to fight for a bit before I give up. But it has clicked in mind and I am not giving up on this… through good or bad, I’m loving every minute. Every non-scale victory, every moment of weakness, and every moment of strength. I’m becoming the person I want to be and each day, I love that girl a whole heck of a lot more than the girl I used to know.

This Week’s Pictures:

This Month’s Measurements:

	Current	Total Lost
Neck	15.4	-3.1
Left Bicep	13.4	-7.2
Left Forearm	10.6	-7.3
Left Wrist	7.4	-.9
Right Bicep	14	-5.5
Right Forearm	11.2	-2.9
Right Wrist	7.4	-1
Bust	42	-12.6
Waist	39.8	-15.5
Hips	49.8	-13.2
Left Thigh	24.3	-10.8
Left Calf	18.2	-4.5
Left Ankle	10	-2
Right Thigh	23.8	-11.5
Right Calf	18	-4.2
Right Ankle	10.3	-2.1
Total Inches Lost		99.4/total 6.9/month

I bought more bananas than Zadey could eat. I try hard to avoid this since I tend to shy away from bananas these day and I believed banana bread to be a bad choice for me. And not that I’m saying this is wonderful and great nutritionally speaking, it’s much better than my original version of banana bread. So, banana muffins it is. There is no sugar, instead I used honey. Instead of white flour, whole wheat. And I replaced oil with sugar-free applesauce. The taste? Delicious and incredibly moist! And kid approved!

The sugar content came out a bit higher than I would of liked. Next time I will replace the honey with Splenda. However, I’ll also increase the applesauce to 1/2 cup so that the muffins remain very moist. Doing this will also bring down the calories.

Ingredients:

1/3 Cup Sugar-Free Applesauce
1/2 Cup Honey
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
3 Overly Ripe Bananas
1 3/4 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 Cup Hot Water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

In a large bowl, beat applesauce and honey together. Add eggs, and mix well. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Add flour. Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then add to batter.

Using the 1/3 measuring cup, scoop batter into lightly sprayed muffin pan.

Makes 16 servings

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 105.3
Fat: 1g
Cholesterol: 26.6 mg
Sodium: 8.6 mg
Potassium: 91.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate: 23.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.1 g
Sugars: 11.5 g
Protein: 2.8 g