Shopping Photos

It's been so long since I've posted, I'm going the bullet route.

* I had a slight unfill at the end of March because I had some trips coming up and was afraid I'd run into trouble while I was away from home. I scheduled a fill appointment when I got back from one trip but rescheduled because I had to go back to Florida for a few days. That second appointment was a bust because I waited for 45 minutes and the doctor still had another 15-20 minutes before he could see me. My daughter was about to lose it, so I rescheduled. The office called me to cancel that one because my doctor was unavailable. I am FINALLY supposed to get a small fill tomorrow. Cross your fingers that it actually happens. I'm going to suggest my doctor hire a PA to handle fills.

* My eating has not been great. Since the unfill, I've gained a few pounds, and they're real pounds, not water weight. Weighed in at 210.2 yesterday.

* My exercise is really starting to gain momentum. An awesome new gym opened in our town, and let me tell you it's been a long time coming. Until now, we haven't had much to speak of in terms of a really fun, nice place with great facilities and innovative classes. To that end, I decided to try every single group fitness class the gym offers. So far I've tried six different classes (a few of them, like Zumba and spinning, several times). It's fun to mix it up.

* I have a big family beach vacation next month, and I need a couple dresses for dinners and some summer stuff. My sizes haven't changed much; I remain in limbo between fat-girl store clothes and regular store clothes. Which makes shopping a little more complicated and not a lot of fun when I have to concede defeat and go to the plus size section.

I got this at Bloomingdale's a few weeks ago, and had a few compliments when I wore it recently:




Here's my problem (in addition to not being able to wear normal sizes): I want to look put together. I would like to be able to put an outfit together and accessorize. I'm not good at it. I really want someone to just pick out my clothes for me every day, and make sure they're comfortable.

I took a page from Catherine's book, since she is always so impeccably dressed, and made an appointment at Saks Fifth Avenue with a personal shopper. Yesterday, I took the train into New York and had a nice little day to myself. I was so looking forward to this appointment, and I think my expectations were a little too high. I was hoping she would tell me exactly what to wear and what not to wear, which shoes to wear with things and what jewelry to put with each outfit. I think she would have, if only I had asked for complete outfits. It didn't occur to me to be that specific, but I will next time.

I tried on about 20 dresses, shirts and pants and bought four things. I only got pictures of two of them, when the dresser stepped outside for a minute, because I felt like a jackass taking pictures of myself in front of her and her assistant. In both of these pictures, I'm wearing the jeans I wore into the city yesterday, so pay no attention to the bottom half. (Also, it was rainy and humid so my hair went all crazy frizzy.)

I had asked the dresser to pull sizes 16, 18 and 20 for me. The 20s were uniformly too big, as were most of the 18 tops, so that was good news. I am still firmly an 18 on the bottom. Blech.

This one is a silk Michael Kors number, on sale:


This one is a little too tight so I'll save it for a few pounds from now. I feel like it's kind of Jersey housewife, so let me know if you don't like it. Be honest!


I had my hair highlighted between the two shopping outings. Now I just need a haircut.

When I get the dress I bought I'll try it on. I like it, but I'm not in love with it like I was in love with Shaun Cassidy in kindergarten. So we'll see...

Checkin' in

I really don't have much to say, which is why I haven't posted in a while. I've been reading, but not posting a lot.

My weight was 209.4 this morning. That's up about six pounds from my most recent low. I was supposed to get a fill last week but after waiting for 45 minutes at my doctor's office, my toddler was about to blow so I had to reschedule for a week from today.

I had a kick-ass kickboxing class on Sunday, and I'm still sore from it. That was fun. Mother's Day was great - I had the traditional inedible breakfast in bed (a smoothie made with yogurt that expired on April 28th), served by my children. They were excited and tried to be super fancy waiters, which was adorable.

I'm eating too much sugar, I'm eating too much sugar, I'm eating too much sugar.

I'm a Lazy Blogger

It's so true: As success wanes, so does blogging.

The bad news: I've gained six pounds, topping out at 211.6 this morning.

The good news: I had two really great workouts this week, Zumba and spinning.

I have one last trip to Florida tomorrow to wrap up a few things. I do so love flying with a toddler. Dear Person Sitting in Row 17 on our flight tomorrow: I am so sorry if my daughter has a conniption and kicks your seat. I tried to get an "extra legroom" seat but they were all taken. The car seat takes up a lot of space. I will hold her ankles as best I can. Sincerely, Mom of an almost 2-year-old.

I'm back home Wednesday and getting a small fill a couple days after that, which I hope will help get things back on the right track.

Florida NSVs

First things first: My dad's medical tests came back with fantastic news - the condition he has is treatable, and doesn't involve cancer. We are all tremendously relieved, and I thank you for your kind words and prayers for our family. You really comforted me.

I've spent the last week in Florida visiting my parents, hanging with the kids and having an all-too-short romantic weekend with my husband. It was sunny and hot and beautiful, a lovely change from the dreary, rainy spring we're having in New England.

My parents spend half the year in Naples, Fla., and when we visit we have a wonderful time but we completely wear them out. They go from zero to 70 for an entire week, and they aren't used to that much chaos at one time for such a sustained period. So when a condo in their building came on the market, Hubs and I decided to buy it. The sale was finalized on Wednesday. Once we get this puppy furnished, we'll be able to visit without overwhelming my parents. It's a great solution for us and for them. This trip was a little schizophrenic - mornings at the beach swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, and then afternoons at Bed, Bath & Beyond, Lowe's and Target.

Hubs had to work but came down late Thursday, and I left the kids with my parents and met him at a resort in Naples. Friday morning, we picked up the kids and went to the coolest county park ever - the Sun N Fun Lagoon water park. It was totally awesome, they had something fun and exciting for each of our kids. We loved it.

NSV Alert: I had to walk all around the water park in nothing but my bathing suit. No wrap, no cover-up, nothing. Just me and a swimsuit. AND I DID IT. I wasn't 100 percent comfortable - those women have some killer bodies in Naples. But I didn't spent the entire time dying of mortification, either. I had fun. I went on the water slides and laughed with my boy on the lazy river when we got stuck under a "waterfall" and my straw hat got soaked. I had a good time.

Also, I wore a pair of khakis that I bought last spring. They worked then, but were on the tighter side. This year, they fit perfectly. I haven't lost much weight at all lately, so this was a really nice boost for me. Changes are happening, even if they're not evident on the scale.

I hope you're all well. I'm off to start catching up on everyone's blogs. Happy Easter!

Monday, Monday

Where did the week go? I don't know about you, but I did NOT spend my week at the gym. No, I spent my week doing regular everyday stuff and trying to keep a lid on the antibiotic-induced nausea. (Zantac was helpful with that.) I went to the gym one day and felt really weak, so much so that I left after 20 minutes and canceled my appointments for the rest of last week.

Today I went back and did a 30-minute light workout with my trainer. I feel lame and can't believe how much this single infection has knocked me down. But today is my last dose of Cipro and I know I'll be able to get back to where I was at the gym. But this experience has been eye-opening.

My weight is up a bit but I'm having a lovely tomato, mozzarella and basil salad for lunch so I think with increased veggies and staying strict on my protein/veggies/little to no carbs routine I'll be able to turn things around.

More importantly, my sweet sweet dad is having a health scare and I am completely freaked out about this. He's only 62. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. We love him so much and we want to keep him healthy.

I'm a Hot Mess

I haven't been able to shake my infection, I'm achy and uncomfortable. My doctor hooked me up with some Cipro and my mother tells me that should knock me back to normal in the next day or two.

In the meantime, I've been eating everything in sight yesterday and today. I think it's partly emotional. I'm sick and a little overwhelmed with the usual household stuff, school stuff and the planning I need to do for summer. (Does anyone else feel like a freakin' cruise director when you're trying to get kids' activities and camps organized?) Also, Hubs is in the Middle East on business and I'm not thrilled about it.

But I'm asking myself: Why does a person eat when she's not hungry? Especially with the band, there's no excuse for that bullshit. It's taking away the whole benefit of having a band. Frustrating. It's a little tricky, because if I wait too long then I eat too fast and all hell breaks loose with my band. But I'm clearly eating when I'm not hungry, possibly out of habit or boredom or whatever.

You've all given me some good tips about shaking up my routines to get out of bad habits and create new ones, and I need to put those into practice. Like, now.

Guess What I Brought Home From Disney World?

One point eight pounds.

Not horrible, not great. I can deal with it.

The Inconvenient Truth (About the Band)

The truth is: This band of mine can be damn inconvenient sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love it and what it does for me, and I'm grateful to have it.

But my band really sent me off the rails this morning.

Over the weekend my band was inexplicably tight. It was a bummer, but it was not unmanageable. I didn't actually throw anything up, I just felt realllllly uncomfortable and slimed so I stopped trying to eat. But then my morning tea wouldn't go down smoothly and I got a little dehydrated because I was scared to have much of anything. Miraculously, last night things got a little better and I actually ate dinner.

And then this morning, for the first time in at least a decade, I woke up with a raging urinary-tract infection. I'm gonna go ahead and blame it on being dehydrated.

I have a 5.15 am pickup tomorrow for my kid's Disney trip. I went to a CVS MinuteClinic this morning, told them my tale of woe, peed into a cup and left with a large-ish bottle of liquid antibiotic. That may or may not cause diarrhea, but probably will clear up my UTI.

Then I went to my surgeon's office, where my doctor heroically ran to meet me after he left the OR. He very kindly withdrew a couple drops, taking me from 5.6 cc's to 5.45 cc's. He wanted to do a little more but I wanted just enough so I wouldn't get in trouble in humid Orlando. He was very nice and sympathetic.

I am slightly feverish and shivery and my kidneys are sore and it hurts to pee, but I'm hopeful that once I get the second dose of antibiotic in my system tonight things will turn around.

What Would You Do?

Yesterday I had a nice lunch and last night I sat down to dinner and couldn't eat more than 1/3 of an artichoke and some wine. Nothing else at all.

This morning I couldn't finish my tea, although by lunchtime my band had opened up enough for me to get some protein.

Tonight at dinner: Nothing.

Now, my band has been fine for the last couple of weeks. I did notice it was tighter when I was in humid Florida last month, maybe because I retain water and it makes the band tighter? Don't know, really. But this leads me to my dilemma: I leave at dawn Tuesday to take my son on a big Disney trip. I'm starting to get really nervous that I'll get there and not be able to get liquids down because it's so hot and humid in Orlando.

I called my practice today, and my surgeon is not on call this weekend. I'm going to call Monday morning and beg them to take me for a 0.1 cc unfill. I'm worried my surgeon will think I'm doing this because I'm going on vacation (although, really, who goes to Disney for the food??) and give me a hard time.

If I can't get in Monday or if he won't do the unfill, I'm not sure what to do. I did a halfhearted search for doctors in Orlando, just in case, but didn't find anything.

I'm thinking about trying to get a syringe and needle and, if things get bad, just have my mom try to do it. She's a nurse, so she knows her way around needles. She could probably figure it out, right?

What do you think? I'm kind of freaked out about this. We're only going for four days and I don't want to ruin my little boy's big trip.

Weight Watchers Update

Today was my weigh-in for Weight Watchers (the online version). I've been tracking as well as I can; it's tricky when you're not at home. But most days I've made an effort to faithfully log what I eat.

So far I've lost 3.8 pounds in nine days. I'm happy about this, although I think it's inflated because I was pretty bloated at my initial weigh-in. Also, these are pounds I've been gaining and losing for months now. I'll bust out the HOO AHH when I start seeing new numbers. I need to lose another 1.6 pounds to hit a new low.

But I'm seeing the loss as an encouraging sign.

One thing I'm noticing is that this new Points Plus plan really pushes fruits and veggies. I've been so-so with veggies since my surgery and reallllly bad with fruits, so this is a good thing for me. Right now I'm polishing off six ounces of blueberries. Guess how many points that is? ZERO, bitches. Guess what else is zero points? Artichokes.

I had three great workouts this week, which is good because I won't have any formal workouts next week. On Tuesday I'm taking my five-year-old to Disney World for his "only child" trip - no big brother bossing him around and no little sister bugging him. We'll be walking up a storm, so I'm not worried about missing those gym appointments. I'm a little worried about the food, but I'll make the best choices I can and give it my best guess when I log everything.

I just really need to get a handle on the nighttime eating. Let's break it down:

Problem One: I don't have dinner till the kids are in bed; then my husband and I sit down and eat together around 8.30 pm. When I eat with the kids I find I'm rushing so much to get stuff for them that I often get stuck because I'm not chewing enough or waiting between bites, so I sit with them and just have a glass of water while they eat.

Problem Two: I have a hard time ending my meal. I just want it to go on forever and ever.

Problem Three: Because it's a quiet time in the day and it's when my husband and I can actually talk, nighttime eating has become associated with relaxing.

Problem Four: I often have wine with dinner, so my defenses are down and it's easy to eat more than I should.

Bad habits all around. I'll have to figure out how to find a happy medium here. Additionally, I need to get rid of whatever died in our basement crawl space because the smell is starting to waft up through the floorboards.

(That's unrelated, but it's disgusting enough that I felt it merited a mention.)

Happy Friday everyone!