Okay gang, sorry I have been away for awhile – it has been a whirlwind of a week and one in which I celebrated my Bandiversary – yay – happy Bandiversary to me!!
My stats:
Started Optifast: 3 September 2008
Date Banded: 17 September 2008 – weight lost in 2 weeks prior to surgery = 6.5 kg / 14 lbs
Bandiversary: 17 September 2009 – weight lost overall 36kg / 78lbs
I have lost 69% of my excess weight so fair and I have gone from size 22 pants to size 12. I still have 11.5kg / 25lbs to reach my goal.
Reasons that I had the band in the first place:
· Fitter, healthier, happier
· Give myself the best chance of conceiving a child
· Reduce risk factors
· Look good in clothes
· Gain in confidence
I thought I would deal up my top 10 ways that the band journey has changed my life – so here goes:
1. Healthier and fitter – yay! This is definitely the case. I had my blood pressure checked recent ly and it was actually quite low and I found all of my tests bar one are in the normal range – this is excellent considering that I was pretty low in vitamin D before the surgery (I did make an effort to sit in the sun for 10mins a day though which obviously helped). I am going to be running the 10km run in a couple of weeks so am definitely fitter. The one test that I do need to address is that my cholesterol has risen so I need to ensure that I cut out all of the saturated fats and high fat dairy (I must admit some full fat cheese and yoghurt had crept in to my diet – no more, she cried!!). In addition, I have had bulging discs in my back and normally I would be at the osteopath around once a month to keep it flexible and normally every couple of months I would have a bad episode with my back – in the last 6 months I have been to the osteopath once and that was not even for my lower back – whoo hoo!!
2. More confidence – Before the band, I was in a real down on myself period. I didn’t want to see any of my friends because I was ashamed of my size and I barely had any clothes that fit me anymore. Now, I still don’t have that many clothes (mainly because they are all too big) but I definitely feel a lot more confident in myself – I don’t reject invitations to go out straight away and I certainly like getting dressed up again. It has been nice all of the comments that I have received from people as well – lately I have gotten all sorts of raving about how good I look and you have to love that!
3. Happier – Before the band, I would say I was pretty depressed and isolated. I was quite exasperated with myself that I had had to turn to the band to turn my life around. My self esteem was quite low. Even though it has been a tough year (not Band related) I feel that I am a lot happier with myself. Through the work that Jen and I have done, I feel like I can handle situations better (especially related to behaviours like comfort eating etc) and in general, I am very pleased with myself. The best thing that I feel now is that I am now more of a ‘glass is half full’ kind of a person.
4. More energy – Gosh, when I weighed my heaviest, I barely had enough energy to get out of bed. I was not exercising and at work I would go up and down the stairs a couple of times a day and would be breathing SO hard I would go to meetings 10mins before so that I wouldn’t be heaving for breath and embarrassed when I got there. I actually had a meeting upstairs at work today and I noticed that when I got to the meeting (1 min before it started!!) – I was barely breathing above my normal resting breathe – huzzah. Now, I confess, sometimes I am still tired and have a hard time getting out of bed but that is usually from the hectic pace of my life and not the heaviness of my body!
5. Greater choice of clothes – can I get an ‘amen’ on this one! Seriously, I was only able to buy clothes from the ‘Big is Beautiful’ type shops which was hugely depressing. I have always hated shopping but never moreso than when I have to go to those shops – it is very hard to come out looking like ‘the Devil Wears Prada’ out of there – I was more like ‘Frumps R Us’. Now I am wearing jeans and little tops and having great fun with accessories and all sorts – it has been SO much more fun!
6. Have become a foodie – interestingly, now that I am able to eat less, I have become really interested in cooking and making really nice, high quality food. This one has been a real surprise for me because basically before, I alternated between eating very strictly (on some sort of diet) and eating crap junk food. I had quite a few food hang ups from spending so much time on and off diets and thankfully, Jen and I have really done a great deal of work to move past these hang ups so that they don’t run our lives any more. I still have quite a ways to go but I’m getting there, people!!
7. Fit in everywhere better – this is a funny one but really important to me. I have mentioned before that one of the ways that I measure success is by how I fit in the bath – before the band journey, my thighs would touch (and squeeze against, mind you) both sides of the bath, now I have a fist and a bit of room in there! I fit in seats better at sporting venues, movie theatres, restaurants etc. I am not dreading my flight to Thailand later in the year because I know I will fit in the seat. These kind of things creep up on you over the journey but looking at 12 months ago – boy do I fit in places better!!
8. Take care of myself more – for me, a big part of this journey has been to change my self esteem. Eating junk food in huge quantities was a form of self punishment for me – as was dieting. The last 12 months have really been about learning how to take care of myself. Making sure that I am getting enough nutrition. Exercising as a gift to myself (rather than a punishment). Cooking interesting and yummy food to eat.
9. Celebrate my successes – I have been very guilty of the past of setting a goal, getting there and then not even celebrating my success (it is really linked in with the self punishment behavior as mentioned above). Thankfully, I have moved past that and have had a really nice 12 months of gifts to myself, massages and treatments to celebrate all of the success that I have had – gosh, I tell you – it has been nice (no wonder I am happier!).
10. I look and feel fabulous! As an overall, one of the things that I realized over the last month to 6 weeks is that I feel great and I can look in the mirror and say ‘you look good’! This is a really nice place to be!!
The past 12 months feel like they have gone in the blink of an eye. I am really proud of my efforts and am thankful that I made the decision to get the band!!
My stats:
Started Optifast: 3 September 2008
Date Banded: 17 September 2008 – weight lost in 2 weeks prior to surgery = 6.5 kg / 14 lbs
Bandiversary: 17 September 2009 – weight lost overall 36kg / 78lbs
I have lost 69% of my excess weight so fair and I have gone from size 22 pants to size 12. I still have 11.5kg / 25lbs to reach my goal.
Reasons that I had the band in the first place:
· Fitter, healthier, happier
· Give myself the best chance of conceiving a child
· Reduce risk factors
· Look good in clothes
· Gain in confidence
I thought I would deal up my top 10 ways that the band journey has changed my life – so here goes:
1. Healthier and fitter – yay! This is definitely the case. I had my blood pressure checked recent ly and it was actually quite low and I found all of my tests bar one are in the normal range – this is excellent considering that I was pretty low in vitamin D before the surgery (I did make an effort to sit in the sun for 10mins a day though which obviously helped). I am going to be running the 10km run in a couple of weeks so am definitely fitter. The one test that I do need to address is that my cholesterol has risen so I need to ensure that I cut out all of the saturated fats and high fat dairy (I must admit some full fat cheese and yoghurt had crept in to my diet – no more, she cried!!). In addition, I have had bulging discs in my back and normally I would be at the osteopath around once a month to keep it flexible and normally every couple of months I would have a bad episode with my back – in the last 6 months I have been to the osteopath once and that was not even for my lower back – whoo hoo!!
2. More confidence – Before the band, I was in a real down on myself period. I didn’t want to see any of my friends because I was ashamed of my size and I barely had any clothes that fit me anymore. Now, I still don’t have that many clothes (mainly because they are all too big) but I definitely feel a lot more confident in myself – I don’t reject invitations to go out straight away and I certainly like getting dressed up again. It has been nice all of the comments that I have received from people as well – lately I have gotten all sorts of raving about how good I look and you have to love that!
3. Happier – Before the band, I would say I was pretty depressed and isolated. I was quite exasperated with myself that I had had to turn to the band to turn my life around. My self esteem was quite low. Even though it has been a tough year (not Band related) I feel that I am a lot happier with myself. Through the work that Jen and I have done, I feel like I can handle situations better (especially related to behaviours like comfort eating etc) and in general, I am very pleased with myself. The best thing that I feel now is that I am now more of a ‘glass is half full’ kind of a person.
4. More energy – Gosh, when I weighed my heaviest, I barely had enough energy to get out of bed. I was not exercising and at work I would go up and down the stairs a couple of times a day and would be breathing SO hard I would go to meetings 10mins before so that I wouldn’t be heaving for breath and embarrassed when I got there. I actually had a meeting upstairs at work today and I noticed that when I got to the meeting (1 min before it started!!) – I was barely breathing above my normal resting breathe – huzzah. Now, I confess, sometimes I am still tired and have a hard time getting out of bed but that is usually from the hectic pace of my life and not the heaviness of my body!
5. Greater choice of clothes – can I get an ‘amen’ on this one! Seriously, I was only able to buy clothes from the ‘Big is Beautiful’ type shops which was hugely depressing. I have always hated shopping but never moreso than when I have to go to those shops – it is very hard to come out looking like ‘the Devil Wears Prada’ out of there – I was more like ‘Frumps R Us’. Now I am wearing jeans and little tops and having great fun with accessories and all sorts – it has been SO much more fun!
6. Have become a foodie – interestingly, now that I am able to eat less, I have become really interested in cooking and making really nice, high quality food. This one has been a real surprise for me because basically before, I alternated between eating very strictly (on some sort of diet) and eating crap junk food. I had quite a few food hang ups from spending so much time on and off diets and thankfully, Jen and I have really done a great deal of work to move past these hang ups so that they don’t run our lives any more. I still have quite a ways to go but I’m getting there, people!!
7. Fit in everywhere better – this is a funny one but really important to me. I have mentioned before that one of the ways that I measure success is by how I fit in the bath – before the band journey, my thighs would touch (and squeeze against, mind you) both sides of the bath, now I have a fist and a bit of room in there! I fit in seats better at sporting venues, movie theatres, restaurants etc. I am not dreading my flight to Thailand later in the year because I know I will fit in the seat. These kind of things creep up on you over the journey but looking at 12 months ago – boy do I fit in places better!!
8. Take care of myself more – for me, a big part of this journey has been to change my self esteem. Eating junk food in huge quantities was a form of self punishment for me – as was dieting. The last 12 months have really been about learning how to take care of myself. Making sure that I am getting enough nutrition. Exercising as a gift to myself (rather than a punishment). Cooking interesting and yummy food to eat.
9. Celebrate my successes – I have been very guilty of the past of setting a goal, getting there and then not even celebrating my success (it is really linked in with the self punishment behavior as mentioned above). Thankfully, I have moved past that and have had a really nice 12 months of gifts to myself, massages and treatments to celebrate all of the success that I have had – gosh, I tell you – it has been nice (no wonder I am happier!).
10. I look and feel fabulous! As an overall, one of the things that I realized over the last month to 6 weeks is that I feel great and I can look in the mirror and say ‘you look good’! This is a really nice place to be!!
The past 12 months feel like they have gone in the blink of an eye. I am really proud of my efforts and am thankful that I made the decision to get the band!!
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