Why would I delay a fill?!!?

I thought that this week I would talk about a situation that happened to me recently. I went through a period of not losing as much weight as I would like and an interesting self sabotage that came up was that I avoided going back to the surgery to get a fill!!

I finally went back last Friday and since then, I have lost 3kg’s – now this is a little unusual and mostly because I was retaining a good deal of fluid and keep in mind that it was not the only reason for the weight loss – the other reason being that I am having a weight loss ‘push’ at the moment, so have been focussing on a pretty rigorous exercise routine. It did lead me to examine why I would have waited (probably 2 weeks more than I should) rather than get my bottom down to the clinic asap to get the fill corrected.

So, I have had a good long think about it this week, especially considering that Jen and I had always reiterated to each other, right from the beginning, that it was really important to get a fill even if there is a little bit of shame because of the small amount of weight loss or even if we have put on – we really believe in the ‘partnership’ with the clinic and that keeping in touch with them more than necessary is way better than not being in touch enough. So I was confused about the delay!

Searching inside of myself, I found the following reasons:

· I was enjoying eating more
· I was using the food as a comfort item rather than as fuel
· I was able to eat some of the foods I hadn’t been able to for awhile

This led to quite a discussion with myself as I don’t really want to hold myself hostage in this way in the future and I thought I had addressed these issues completely and was a little surprised to see them come up again.

After a lot of soul searching, I put together a plan of attack which is really to be more consistently aware of my patterns – go back to basics and become aware again. The first step to change a behaviour is to bring it to constant awareness, the second step is to start to choose a different behaviour, the third step is to practice, practice, practice the new behaviour and I tell you, this is what I’m going to do!!!

Have a sensational week everyone!

Cheers,

Jodie

Taking care of yourself!!

One of the common areas that I have found coaching clients that either are or have been obese, is that we are very hesitant to take care of our own needs. We will happily take care of others and will certainly advise others to take care of themselves but when it comes to our own needs we are more likely to give ourselves a lecture on how lazy and no-good we are.

Jen and I experienced this powerfully last week as we both came face to face with a massive brick wall and felt like we couldn’t go on. The nicest part of working with a friend that I have known for 30 years is that I know that she will treat me way better than I treat myself (though I am a work in progress and am definitely getting better at treating myself nicer). We able to give each other permission to take some time out to take care of ourselves – and in case you didn’t notice, we did!!

So what drives this behaviour to be nicer to others than we are to ourselves? Well, for me, it was always about not feeling good enough - basically never living up to my own or others expectations. I have come a long way and have practised a lot but sometimes it still rears its ugly head in my life. For example, this week I didn’t go to the gym on Wednesday because I was sick on Tuesday night but I caught myself asking people if it was okay to do this – as if they would know better than I would how I felt?!?? I ended up not going and being very proud of the fact that I chose to be nice to myself rather than punish myself with exercise as I have done many times in the past.

The very best way that I have found to change this way of treating myself is via a tip that I saw on Oprah (oh yes, I love Oprah!!). The tip was to treat yourself in the way that you would treat your child, best friend, niece, nephew – basically anyone that you love unconditionally. This has been excellent for me though it is always a trick to catch myself when I am doing it and turn it around.

On a personal note, I am back at Bikram yoga which I am just loving!! I am also off for a fill tomorrow, definitely have been able to eat more lately which is no good!!

Until next time!!!

Cheers,

Jodie Flynn
www.lapbandforthemind.com

It's your journey

Jen and I had an interesting conversation this week about taking responsibility for your own journey and I have been thinking about it ever since. As we all know, the band is only a tool to help us on our weight loss journey, we have to work with it for it to work. Of course, one of our basic philosophies at Lap Band for the Mind is that you need to change your behaviours to have success and taking responsibility for your own journey is a huge part of that.

So what does this mean ‘taking responsibility for your journey’? Well it is all about understanding that you know your body better than anyone else better than the doctors, nurses etc that you see along the way and questioning things if they don’t seem quite right. I am constantly asking myself – do I have enough fill in the band, do I have too much, am I eating more than usual or less? Sometimes, we all fall into the trap that someone else knows better. I know that I went for a fill one time and they put in .5 when I was thinking that .2 would be probably the amount that would be best though I didn’t speak up and – you guessed it – I was overfilled. No one likes that feeling I’m sure and I experienced quite a bit of panic at not even being able to drink water but I was able to get in to see a fill doctor pretty quickly to get the situation rectified. I really could have seen this as a negative experience but instead, I saw this as a positive situation as I now knew what my maximum limit is.

This incident has really served as a reminder to me that:

a) speak up if you don’t agree with what the nurse or doctor says
b) Knowledge is power – if you don’t understand something, always ask
c) Doctors see many people every day, it is up to me to remember the details of my own situation

This taking responsibility for your own journey really does make a difference to your success with the band. Sometimes I expect to lose weight with the band even though I am eating unhealthy food items and I have to pull myself back and say ‘What foods do I need to eat to lose weight?’ – or even ‘are my expectations realistic’. It is all about the questions that we ask ourselves after all.

Hope you are all going well and remember – it’s your journey and you’ll succeed if you want to!

Till next time.

Cheers,

Jodie