Nine Years!

Ironically I was watching the most recent episode of Bigge$t L0ser and it turns out the football player had the band and I thought wait a second it's nine years TODAY for me. The player said it was one of the worst things he could have done because it didn't work and for him it was all about his mental state. B0b followed that up by saying that the band doesn't work in the long run because it doesn't address where the weight came from and you can't put a band on your brain.

While I don't think the band is the worst thing I have done, for me, this perspective is completely true. It wasn't the band that led to my long-term success, it was working on my own personal issues through counseling, etc. that I believe is the true foundation. And sure, I lost weight with the band, but I didn't achieve what I call my real results until I started working on me.

I think probably the most shocking thing for people to know about my journey at this point is I am eating more food on a daily basis then I ever had. My target calorie level on workout days is 2000! And, part of the goal is to ensure that I get all my calories in for the day within a targeted macro breakdown. Macros can roll people's eyes into the back of their head, but turns out that my diet with a few minor tweaks was naturally hitting the macros, but not high enough in calories. Imagine the shock of being told to eat MORE calories! I saw some pretty shocking results with these changes. My body fat dropped from 19 to 15 - measured in a dunk tank (hydro static). Pretty amazing stuff!

What bugs me - and quite often - is my port. It's visible and I think it looks like a tumor - so I'm self conscious about it. I can't remember how many years it's been at this point since I've had any fluid in my band, but it's been a lot. Lately I've been thinking more and more about having the port removed and might consider having the band removed entirely. I think having the port removed would be pretty minor, so we'll see....Until next year!