FIVE Year Bandiversary!

On November 16, 2005 I was banded. Hard to believe it's been 5 years (OK, close enough!). In honor of that I am going to do a reallllllyyy long post. The first part is my standard one that I have been doing every year, but at the end I am adding more additional thoughts...oh, and there's a few before/after (never been seen) pics...

Official weigh in stats:

• Height: 5'8"
• Starting weight: 234 lbs
• Original goal weight: 149 lbs (Sat here for a while in maintenance and then decided I was still a bit fluffy)
• Revised goal weight: 138 - 142 lbs (Stayed within this range for a while and picked up boot camp)
• Revised goal weight again - Current maintenance range  132-136 lbs.
• Current weight today: 130.5 lbs
• Overall loss: 100+ lbs
• Lbs to goal: 0 lbs

BMI: 19.8 - 20.7 -  (Normal weight = 18.5-24.9)

How many fills have you had?

• 1st fill – 1.2cc – 12/21
• 2nd fill – 1.8cc – 1/25
• 3rd unfill - was just too tight - went to 1.4cc
• 4th unfill - dilated pouch - complete unfill
• 5th fill - .6cc
• I think I went up some from here to about .8cc; then unfill to about .4 cc; then another to .2 cc - that's where I remain.

Are you going to stay at your current fill level? Yes. Although I think the added drop in weight, has resulted in no fill whatsoever. This might be OK, but if I am struggling to stay within my maintenance range or not feeling at all satisfied with bandster portions (which seems to be disappearing) then I am going to consider a smidgen of a fill.

What are you going to do next? Keep doing what I'm doing and determine some sort of additional fitness goals (see thoughts at the end)

What size clothes are you wearing?

• Pants: 2/4
• Dress: 2/4
• Shirt: S/XS
• A year ago, I'm pretty sure that I was a 4/6. While there is not a lot of weight difference there was a whole lot of shape shifting. I have boot camp to thank for that.

What do you eat in a typical day? There really isn't typical anymore, but I always eat 3 to as many as 6 meals. I listen to my body and if I'm hungry I eat. I should say though that "meals" is used loosely here. It could be a few nuts, a string cheese, a yogurt, half a bar, etc. - each is a "meal" - and I consciously make it a bandster portion.

Was it worth it? Yes, it was! It was much more expensive when I got it than it is today, but it was still worth every single self-pay penny!

Have you had any problems? Yes, but not anything horrific in my book. You'll see in the beginning of my blog that shortly after my surgery I swore my stitches in my port popped. Everybody told me at the surgeon's office no way and not to worry about it (there was a huge snow/ice storm when I was supposed to go in for my after surgery follow up). When I went in for my fill, my port was on it's  side. I still have not had it fixed, but you can now see a big lump from it when my shirt is off and FEEL it. Feeling it is the grossest. (I think many people refer to them as port baby or something? Well, mine is more of a tween!) I have also had some problems with pouch dilation. Turned out that it was likely a combination of being too tight and eating too much over time. Signs? Eating more than you are supposed to (and also could be in conjunction with eating too fast) and getting heartburn (aka - reflux).

Have you pb'd? Unfortunately, yes. More so when I was too tight. Currently only from stupidity.

What rules do you follow? Eat slowly. Take small bites. When I feel full - stop. Eat bandster amount. Don't drink with meals. (See the side.)... and: Eat CONSCIOUSLY - am I hungry? Am I full? Does it taste good? etc.

Do you have loose skin? I had said no previously. As I got thinner, my skin is not definitely that of a 20 year old, but I'm not 20 either! I'd have to say that the skin situation has improved more over time though. How is that? Exercise! Boot camp and jogging. The only time you can see a "skin situation" is when I'm in a certain position that I only do when working out. You can also see a bit of loose skin in the tummy area when I'm naked and leaning over (so you won't be seeing it!) which is not noticeable when i am standing up or in a swimsuit.

Do you 'diet'? Yes? No? Even if I only ate hamburgers, wouldn't that be a hamburger diet? The bottom line whether you have a lap band or not is you have to make healthy food choices most of the time. For a while, I was roughly following Weight Watchers that my friend gave me all the scoop on---the intent though was to become more in tune with what I was eating (the eating consciously crap). It was successful for me, but with all the exercise it just wasn't feeling right. It was feeling like work, so I just started listening (and trusting!) my body and eating when I am hungry---what you can pretty much think of as intuitive eating. Your call on whether or not it's a "diet", but there isn't anything that is restricted from my eating if I want it. But then again, sometimes I want a bunch of crap and I tell myself no. So you tell me.

So what is all this about this 15lbs you gained? Well, for about 5 or 6 months sometime in 2008(?), I didn't work out, log my food, or make good choices. Major, major funk city---ironically this is when there was a "break" in my relationship with my hubby. The good news is that I only gained 15 lbs. In the past, this would have been much worse. I also avoided the scale, so it was my clothes screaming at me that they were tight that woke me up. I just slapped myself upside the head and said: HELLO, get a grip. You spent a ton of money. You are being an idiot. Get back on track and do it NOW! You will feel better if you do. (I think I was in a bit of a depression.)Well, I did - I'm just stubborn like that. That is what you see referenced in a period of 12 weeks. During that time with a lot of dedication and effort - and following all the rules - I lost 15.5 lbs....and, felt a whole lot better!

Favorite Posts:

If I was going to point out a few posts to go read, it would be:
My thoughts on protein and some other opinions
Restriction
Craziness (IMO) of what WLS success is
Golden(?) rules
My Most Important Rules
Why Do You Exercise?
Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3

Accomplishments this past year:

• Stronger and fitter than when I hit goal originally. (I can do man push ups!)
• Look and feel healthy and fit.
• Found a workout I really enjoy - boot camp - and got over feeling guilty about the expense!
• Feel like I am getting on solid ground in maintenance. (I'm sure I said it and thought it before, but for some reason now it's different. It takes a lot to convince me something has really changed I guess!). I guess I feel this way because I really do pretty much eat what I want and I don't obsess over eating things that are not the healthiest of choices and my lack of dependence on the scale. And, I probably need to distance myself more from the scale if you read my post about freaking out about the low that has been repeatedly displaying.
• I have gone into stores and found clothes that I really liked, but at times instead of not having a large enough size, it's now because there isn't a small enough one. (It's weird.)
• I realized I didn't do one of these posts at 4 years. I don't know why 5 years "feels" so different---more of a milestone, it just does. I figure that 10 years will be the same.

What's next? Next year I want to have more strength overall (build more lean muscle) and possibly consider seeking out another fitness goal or activity. I want to continue on this maintenance journey eating food in a balanced way of eating healthy most of the time, but also not when I want to! Continue working on not speaking negatively to myself and in regard to my body (it's a sub-conscious thing and I do it out of habit. I've gotten better, but would like to stop doing it entirely.) Continue to blog! ... maybe learn how to include pictures in this blog so they look a little better! : )

Here's to another 5 years of successful maintenance!

Notes on Pics:

• Top 2 pics - I probably weigh more than 234 lbs  (my starting weight) in these pics, but that is my highest recorded weight which was after cutting way back on crap while thinking about WLS.
• 3 pics in black - those were when I decided that some before pics would be a good idea and had probably already lost 20 lbs. I'd definitely have taken these differently in hindsight (maybe tighter outfit and not black for sure). 
• Halloween Costume - that's from 2008 - I weigh 145 lbs in that pic. What a difference 10 ish lbs makes though between this and the next!
• Recent Pics - I weigh 132 ish in those pics as I hadn't weighed myself. I've been weighing in around 130.5 - 131 lbs.