Kick in the Pants

So last night after reading all of your replies to my Too Fat to Fly post (thank you for the reassurances!), I decided this is just what I need to set a mini-goal. I've been kind of floundering lately, not really focused on any particular goal, just going along and hoping my restriction is enough to keep me from doing real damage. Not ideal for good, consistent weight loss.

Today is Feb. 16th. We leave for Utah on March 12. My mini-goal is to weigh 225 the day we leave. That's aggressive, I have probably 9 pounds to lose in less than a month. If I don't get right there, then I hope to be close.

The Plan:

* Work whatever restriction I have. Eat fish, turkey chili, substantial foods that will fill me up with relatively few calories.
* Avoid wine, even on weekends (current rule has been wine only on weekends.)
* No drinking with meals. At all. Ever.
* Exercise. I've done little exercise thus far, so there's lots of room for improvement here.
* Drink lots of water.
* Drink decaffeinated tea at night to avoid snacking. Thanks to Barbara for that tip, it did help last night.

I have my second fill on March 1st and I'll ask for 2 cc's then (I have 4 now).

Wish me luck!

Too Fat to Fly?

OK, so I've heard about airlines cracking down on overweight passengers and now my fear is at a higher level because of this story.

I haven't flown since last winter because I was at the end of my pregnancy and then was doing the newborn thing. But I'm **really** nervous about an upcoming trip in March. Right now I weigh 233.5. I'm sure I've flown a little heavier than that and not gotten kicked off. I can probably lose another 8-9 pounds before the March trip. Anyone here flown at 225 and had any problems?

I'm going with my husband's entire family and our two older children. I will die a thousand deaths if I get kicked off the plane for being too fat in front of all of them.

The Fill Works - But Not Quite Enough

The good news is, I do seem to stay full longer with this 4 cc fill. Food actually leaves my mind for a while after I eat! Crazy.

The bad news is, I was still able to eat a pretty big dinner last night at a restaurant.

(This Valentine dinner was a preplanned girls' night out - our husbands were on childcare duty. The three of us were the only non-couple table in the entire restaurant.)

Anyway, I was able to eat one roasted (moist) shrimp, two medium-size scallops and a pretty decent size piece of sea bass with quinoa and sweet pea risotto. Oh, um, and flourless chocolate cake with a small scoop of raspberry sorbet.

Good news: I put my fork down after every bite, concentrated on talking rather than eating. Bad news: I drank water (and a glass of sangria - yum) with dinner, which I never do normally.

I don't actually feel terribly guilty about any of this, so this isn't a 'confession,' really. I've done well since the fill last week and the scale is moving in the right direction and I know I will continue to make good choices. But I do think my ability to eat that much at dinner means I'll be ready for another fill when I go back to my surgeon on March 2nd.

Mysteries of the Scale

I stepped on the scale this morning and it said I lost three pounds?! I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm delighted. It's kind of funny, though, how I blame any overnight gain on water retention, but never attribute crazy losses to dehydration.

Whatever. I'm counting it.

(I'm actually logging a 2.5 pound loss, because I stepped on and off the scale about 17 times and at the end it was consistently showing a 2.5 pound loss rather than three pounds. )

THIRTY (30) POUNDS!

FINALLY! The fill (and post-fill liquid diet) put me over the edge and I dropped the half pound I've been holding onto for the last 11 days. So 30 pounds down since my first surgical consult in October, and 17 pounds down since my surgery on Jan. 4th. YAY!!

On the band front, so far the fill is fine but it's hard to tell since I'm only on liquids. The real test will be Sunday when I go back to solids.

I have to take my baby for her 9-month checkup this morning, which means: shots. I swear they're worse for me than they are for her, though you'd never know it to hear her scream. The worst part is when she looks at me like, "How could you let them do this to me?" Such a sense of betrayal.

I realize that sounds dramatic, and before I had kids when I heard people say things like that I thought they were completely ridiculous. Now I am that ridiculous person.

Have a great weekend and Happy Valentine's Day to the Sisterhood! I heart you all.

Fill 'Er Up

I have 4 cc's in my 10 cc band! My surgeon mentioned at my post-op visit that he usually gives 1.5 to 2 cc's for the first fill and I was none too happy about that. When I went in this morning, I asked for four and to my complete surprise, he gave it to me.

Please God don't let me be foaming at the mouth an hour from now...

**UPDATE**
I'm on liquids through Saturday, and the protein shake I had this morning went down fine. I just had 1/2c of turkey chili that I thinned out with some chicken stock and blended - delicious and filling. I may still make a two-week appointment just in case (thanks Gen for the suggestion). But I'm sure I'll be a bit more restricted now, even if it's not the sweet spot yet.

Photos, Photos Everywhere

We had a snow day today! Here's a shot of our backyard.

The good news is, I was so busy keeping the kids occupied that I had little time to eat. We had fun most of the time but if we have another snow day tomorrow I'm toast. I used all my good ideas today. I could never be a camp counselor.

Unrelated to anything much, I was downloading photos and found one of myself at close to my lowest weight, about 165. This is also before I had children. And it's from 10 years ago. In other words, I couldn't use it on a dating website at this point in my life.

Here's one from the fall, when I was going through the pre-op process. I was at my highest weight here, almost 100 pounds more than in the old photo. Kind of appropriate that there's a big ol' container of fries in front of me.

So. That's depressing. There is much work to be done. Tomorrow is my fill, if I can make it to the 8 am appointment.

I hope you're all warm and dry!

New Jeans and Question of the Day

I'm wearing new jeans! SMALLER jeans. Which is a really nice NSV, particularly since the scale is not moving. I can't legitimately complain about that, though - I know full well why the scale is not moving. And by that I mean I can officially eat a quarter pounder with fries.

So the waistband on the jeans got a teeeny bit tight after lunch. Serves me right. FOR SHAME.

In the good news department, my fill has been moved to first thing Thursday morning, and I've revamped the childcare arrangements since there's no chance in hell the Hubs will be able to fly home Wednesday night as planned. New York City schools are canceled tomorrow already, for only the third time in eight years. Yikes.

The good news is, I've got milk, eggs and numerous child-oriented videos. We have a list of projects (the kids' school valentines, cleaning bedrooms, packing away clothes they've grown out of, etc.) that will keep us fairly busy, along with shoveling and spending two hours dressing them in snow gear so they can go outside for 90 seconds before deciding it's just too cold.

For everyone getting this storm - Stay warm and enjoy as much of it as you can!

Question of the Day: How many cc's did your surgeon give you for your first fill, and how many cc's did it take till you felt good restriction, or at your sweet spot? (I have a 10cc band.)

Snow on the Horizon

My fill is supposed to be Wednesday morning, at the hospital with a barium swallow. Unfortunately, we are supposed to get a boatload of snow Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, which is going to completely mess up my carefully-calibrated childcare arrangements.

I have a call in to the doctor to see what my options are. Stay tuned...

TOUCHDOWN!

OK, so it wasn't a low-cal day. But I followed my plan, ate lots of raw veggies, had a taste of the other things, and all in all I'm happy with the way the Super Bowl eating went.

I didn't have a horse in this race, but GO SAINTS! New Orleans deserves some good, unfiltered joy. Congratulations!