The ups, downs and changes!

So, it has been a little while since I posted and it has not been a great time for me personally. It is in these difficult times that I like to review how things are going as well as try to find the positives to focus on rather than the negative. Don’t get me wrong, I do fall in a heap and allow myself time to be upset or angry or whatever feeling that I am feeling at the time but I generally choose to let that go on for a certain amount of time before I start looking for a plan going forward. Thankfully, I have been able to do that and though I am a little sad, I am moving forward.

I have been thinking about my Lap Band journey a lot in the last few days and have really noticed some differences in myself. These are some changes that I didn’t even realise were occurring, they have kind of snuck up on me. Firstly, I am eating way, way slower than I used to. This is a really big thing for me. I used to eat extremely fast and now people that know me are even commenting on how slow I am eating! It is nice to slow down and enjoy my food rather than hoovering down like I used to. One of the reasons that I used to eat very fast was that if I was eating something ‘bad’ I would want to eat it as fast as possible to minimise the guilt that I felt for eating it – crazy hey?

That’s another thing, the guilt has reduced significantly. My relationship with food was terrible before I had the band. I swung between two extremes of eating only fresh fruit, veg, rice, potatoes and chicken and fish to eating junk food at every meal. I had gone on so many restrictive diets in my time that almost every food had been banned at some point. I pretty much felt guilty about every food that I ate. Now, I have discovered that given the choice, I generally pick the healthier item. I am not there by any means, I mean even this week when I when things weren’t going great, I turned to chocolate and unhealthy choices – I’m still a work in progress!

I’ve also started to stick my toe in the ‘normal’ shops. I have been hanging back because I wasn’t sure that I would be able to fit into anything but I am getting braver and more confident by the day. Speaking of confidence, I went out with my husband’s family last week for dinner. This would have previously sent me into a spin of ‘I have nothing to wear, I look horrible’ and I would try to find excuses not to go. It was so easy finding some nice clothes that I didn’t even think anything of going out for dinner, I had fun! This is a big change and has really snuck up on me!!

The other thing that is going on with me is that I am going to train to do a 10km run. In my previous skinny life I once ran a half marathon so I know how to train for it. I have already mapped out my 10 week plan so I will update you each week on how I’m going. The run itself is part of the Melbourne Marathon and ends with a lap of the MCG!! I am not going to aim for any time, I am going to aim to get through it!!

Here is my plan for next week:

Monday: 15mins steady run
Tuesday: 20 mins of fast intervals
Thursday: 15 mins steady run
Saturday: 30 mins slow jog

Don’t be fooled by the words ‘running’, I would class my ‘running’ as a very slow jog type shuffle but I am out there doing it so I am proud!! It is an ambitious plan but I need a good healthy focus at this point!

Till next time, my friends....

Cheers,

Jodie

www.lapbandforthemind.com

P.S. Have you checked out Jen’s and my photo’s on www.lapbandforthemind.com? We will keep them updated over the months so you can see our journey!!

Measuring Success without the Scale

Those of us on the Lap Band journey generally measure our success through the scale – this can sometimes be deceiving. We can be retaining fluid at certain times of the month or building muscle and because muscle takes up less space than space than fat, we have lost inches but no weight on the scale – this can be frustrating! Some of us (I have been there many times in the past) even get obsessed with the scales and the numbers on there but there are other ways to measure your success on the Lap Band journey – here are the top 5 that Jen and I have come up with!!

1. Your clothes

For most of us who have been obese, we have a wardrobe chock full of different sizes – when I started my Lap Band journey, I had at least 7 different sizes of clothing in my wardrobes. I have used this to great effect on my journey. I started off in the largest size and I had a pair of pants in the next size down hanging behind my bedroom door. Every week I would try on this pair of pants and when they fit, I started wearing them and threw out the old, larger pair. I am down 4 pants sizes since the beginning of my Lap Band journey and I have my eye on the next size down which is hanging on my bedroom door!

2. How long it takes you to walk 2km or mile

For many of us who have had a gastric band fitted, exercise is an alien concept (or more like alien torture!). Exercise can be one of the best indicators of fitness and weight loss! Walking or any form of exercise becomes easier and easier the more weight that you lose because you’re not hauling around so much weight. Work your way up to walking 2km or a mile starting with 10mins of walking if that’s all you can do. Once you are walking a mile, write down the time that it takes you to complete the distance. Repeat this measure each week and see how quickly your body responds to consistent exercise and weight loss.

3. Monthly photos

You might not notice the differences that are happening every day when you look in the mirror but a picture is worth a thousand words! Take photos of yourself from the front, side and back at the same time each month and watch the changes take place! This also serves as a great record of where you have come from. If you are feeling frustrated with your journey – take out these pictures and compare where you were at the start to your latest photos, generally this will cheer you up straight away! Jen and I are only days away from posting photo’s of our journey on www.lapbandforthemind.com – check it out in the next week or so!!

4. Compliments from family and friends

It’s really lovely when we receive compliments from friends, family or even colleagues and this is a great way to see how you’re going on your journey. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time for people to notice the weight that you have lost if you have quite a bit to lose but then generally the compliments will come thick and fast!

5. Your own measure

For many of us, there are some great personal measurements that we can take. Some people like to measure the reduction in the number of medications that they are taking, some will measure it by the pain (or lack thereof) in their backs when they are in bed. For me, I have a strange measuring system and that is the bathtub! I like to have baths to for a treat and each time I get in, I check to see how far my thighs are from the edges. In the beginning, both thighs hit either side of the bath, now I they are nowhere near it and I can get my whole fist between my thigh and the bath – now I am aiming for 2 fists! What is your personal measure?

On a personal note, I am back in the exercise swing of things – thanks for staying with me through the slump!! With that said, I am off to do some water aerobics!!

Cheers,

Jodie
www.lapbandforthemind.com

How do you pull yourself out of a slump?

Okay – so you know that last week I took a good hard look at myself exercise-wise and I came up with a plan for this week. Well, I have a confession to make – the plan did not work and it’s official, I am in an exercise slump.

So this week’s post is all about what to do to get yourself moving when all is seemingly lost. In the past, this would be the point that I would give up and think, ‘oh well, it’s too hard to get fit, I will just quit and sit on the couch and watch TV instead’. To tell you the truth, that is absolutely tempting today I can tell you, it is really cold outside and the perfect day to stay in and be a couch potato. Okay – so I am sure that you will agree, I really need to get off my behind and do something – so I will. I tell you what – I am going to go out for a 45 minute walk and come back and finish this post.

Okay – so it is roughly 60mins later – I got changed, got my dog and we went for a walk. It was bracing outside but it felt good to be moving again!! I went down to a park not too far from home and though it was cold, it was pretty sunny and it was nice to be out in the fresh air.

Now not to make excuses for another week of not moving enough but I did have a displaced rib that hurt unbelievably which interrupted any plans that I had. I honestly don’t know how I did it but it happened and had to deal with it. So what I am going to do is leave last week in the past and look at what I’m going to do next week.

Now I will do another decent piece of walking tonight because I will be going to the footy and then I will do a walk tomorrow as well. I will have a rest on Sunday and then go to the gym on Monday morning. Then I will walk in the morning for the rest of the week.

Next week I am going to tell you good that I went getting moving again – it’s time to pull out all the stops people!!

The lesson for me this week is TAKE ACTION!! As long as I get to the gym or do my walk each day, I will be very happy. I have had to give up Bikram yoga for the moment, so I am going to do some yoga each day on the WII.

I will check in with you next week!!

Cheers,

Jodie Flynn
www.lapbandforthemind.com

Come with me while I take a long hard look at myself!!

Okay – so this week has been a pretty bad week for me exercise, wise – I haven’t made it to the gym or Bikram yoga – what is that?!?! I had been going really well and had been really consistent for months but the last week, I have really fallen into an exercise slump.

Of course, the first thing that I need to do is to ask myself some questions – so I thought you could come along with me while I nut this one out. Okay, so the first question is – what is stopping me from exercising? Well, on Monday, I didn’t go to the gym because I slept in and got up too late – I had intended on going there later but felt sick later in the day. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – I got to work early so that I could make sure that I got plenty done and then today – well I had a personal training session booked but I cancelled it because it is freezing and raining.

So, a week full of excuses, not good. I always have back up plans if I don’t make it in the morning (I am a morning person and exercise is way easier for me in the morning!!). Well, I could take my dog for a long walk or I even could do some time on the WII Fit but I didn’t do any of those things – why? I have been pretty tired, I have been working quite late and then going to bed late and not getting enough sleep so it has made it harder to get up early. Okay, so now I understand that the number one issue that I have is that I have not prioritised exercise highly enough – I have prioritised work over my health. Hmmm, I thought that little chestnut had been dealt with a long time ago – obviously I need to do a bit of reprioritising!!

Okay, because I now know that the problem is that I haven’t been prioritising exercise for myself – the question is why? I know the answer to this one straight away as it is a pattern that I have been working on breaking for a while – I think that work is more important than my health. Obviously this is not the belief that I want to have so I have been working on changing it to my health is my number 1 priority (as an aside, this is one of the big reasons that I got the band, I wanted to put health as my priority) – I am going to show this by taking action.

So – what action am I going to take? Since I missed my personal training session today I will take my dog for a walk – it will do us both good to get out of the house and get moving a bit. For me, it’s important to act right now because in the past I have been guilty of the old ‘I’ll wait until Monday morning’ which of course is only a habit that I had gotten in to – I am practising breaking it. Secondly, I am going to go to for a walk tomorrow morning and then I will go to the gym on Monday.

In addition, I am going to get my hypnosis MP3 out ‘Putting myself first’ because this issue for me is about not prioritising myself and I will listen to it for 3 days out of the next week. I am also going to focus on why I want to do exercise and for me, it is because of these things:

· I want to be fit and healthy
· I want to feel good about myself
· I want to be nice and toned for summer!

Okay – well this has been a long post and I hope that you have enjoyed coming along with me while I took a good hard look at myself! I will update you on my plan next week!! Remember – sometimes even though we think we have handled an issue, it still may come back in the same or a different way to challenge your resolve!!

Cheers,

Jodie
www.lapbandforthemind.com

P.S. Remember that we have our great new product out: The 5 Keys to Pre-Surgery Success. We have opened up an offer to our newsletter subscribers. If you sign up for our newsletter, we will give you the pack (plus all bonuses!) for the one time only price of $29.95 AUD that is a saving of $100!!!
This price will expire on 15 July so get in quick!!
Sign up to our newsletter at www.lapbandforthemind.com!!

P.P.S. Remember this special offer of $29.95 expires 15 July so get in quick to gain instant access!

Got a Lap Band already - here's how you can benefit from our eBook:

Chapter 2 - Goal setting & goal setting templates, these are useful wherever you are on your journey!
Chapter 3 - How much do you want it, great for reinvigorating your motivation!
Chapter 4 - Working out your mind, Focus, responsibility, persistence, this is really handy information to keep your eyes on the prize and move past those issues that can be holding you back.
Chapter 5 - Celebrate your success, it is really important to continue to celebrate all successes on your journey, big and small

Plus there is an unbeatable list of bonus items that go with this product!!
Bonus items:
Online journal
Exercise calorie tracker
Measurement tracker
Weekly exercise planner
Food tracker
Shopping list tracker