It's my Optifastaversary!!!

Okay people, it is my 12 month anniversary from starting Optifast – how quickly does a year go, my goodness!! So, this post is a small look at the past 12 months – I will do a full retrospective when I have my Bandiversary in 2 weeks!!

It has been an amazing 12 months for me. This time 12 months ago, I was struggling and I mean, literally struggling through my first day of Optifast. I was full of optimism though – I wrote in my diary ‘this is the first day of the rest of my life’ and truly, it has been. I got half way to work on that first day and realised that I didn’t even have the Optifast products with me, I had to turn back and go get them and of course was late – der!! I used the two weeks of Optifast to ready my mind, house and complete environment – it was a really important two weeks for me (and for Jen . I did not cheat on the Optifast period at all, not once – I am still proud of that achievement.

So what is different for me from 12 months ago – I am going to do my top 5:

I feel SO much better about myself, it is a great feeling not to loathe what I see in the mirror or feel disgusted with myself after I have eaten so much people wouldn’t even believe it. Now I am confident and happy – it’s a nice place to be!
I am healthier. I had an appointment with my haematologist today (I have a blood clotting disorder) and he told me that my blood pressure was excellent, even a little on the low side.
I am fitter – indeed, as any of you regular readers know, I am training for a 10km run that I will do in October and after my 50mins session of running last Sunday, I am confident of being able to run the whole way!!
I look great! I am wearing size 12-14 pants – a great achievement for this pear shaped girl whose size 22 pants had gotten tight. I am taking more care with my appearance, I make those little efforts that when I was feeling bad about myself – though many of you know
I am nearly normal!! I can go into ‘normal’ shops to buy clothes. I don’t feel like people are looking at me when I am eating or not being able to fit my bum into seats. I still have weight to lose but I am quite calm and relaxed and trust that the band will help me to achieve my goals.

It has been a great 12 months!

In other news, Jen and I went to a seminar with Helen Bauzon the nutritionist. Honestly, it was a brilliant seminar that I wished I had attended 12 months ago – she is fabulous. You know, she also has online support groups and weight loss competitions all very reasonably priced – check out her website at: http://www.helenbauzon.com.au/. I realised from the seminar that I had become afraid of some foods, with Helen’s help I am wiping the slate clean and trying foods again – it has been brilliant!!

Helen (as well as Caroline – the wonderful fill doctor) also let me know about www.bandbuddies.com.au – these are chewable vitamins and I tell you as soon as I heard about them, I was on the site ordering them because I had an incident a while ago with a multi vitamin getting stuck in the band – I have been mortally afraid of the multi vitamins since then. I haven’t received them as yet but I will keep you up to date on what they are like.

That brings me to my previous challenge – to have the vegetable powders from AIM. You know what? They weren’t that bad. The Barleylife was like one of those wheatgrass shots that you get from a juice place and the carrots and beets tasted exactly like carrots and beets so not horrible. I am definitely continuing on with those as I am quite concerned about getting enough nutrition.

Well that’s about it for the moment – I am off to the gym for a run (sprint intervals, not my favourite) on the tready and then am having gnocchi for dinner.

Will check in soon!!

Cheers,

Jodie
www.lapbandforthemind.com

P.S. Have you checked out my BFF Jen’s blog – here is the link: http://mindthebandjen.blogspot.com/

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

Got a touch of the when / then?

I don’t know about you but sometimes I feel like I am completely living in the future. Lately I have found myself saying when I lose weight, then I’m going to be able to wear these clothes, when I lose weight, I will be able to go out more, when I am maintaining my weight, my life will be so much better!!

I am not as bad as I used to be in the when / then stakes but sometimes it still comes up as an issue for me. I have also found that this has almost without exception been an issue with all of my clients who have a challenge with their weight. However, this is not only a challenge that is significant to those of us who battle with their weight. Many of our fitter / thinner friends have this when / then attitude to many parts of their life – for example have you heard people saying:

· When I win Powerball, then my life will be great
· When I meet my soul mate, then my life will be complete
· When I fix how I look, then I will attract the partner of my dreams

So what is wrong with thinking about the future? Well nothing really unless you put your current life on hold until you get your when / then thing – that makes the present less than it can be!! However, I think that the biggest issue with the when / then thinking is that it can be hiding a deeper issue. When I was single and overweight, I used to think – when I’m thin, then I will attract the partner of my dreams. The problem with this was that despite the fact that I was a fun, interesting, successful person, I didn’t think that anyone would like me because I was overweight.

So, what do you think happened then? I lost weight and discovered that I still didn’t think that people would like me and that was when I realised that there were some underlying issues that cosmetic changes to the outside of me could not fix. Interestingly enough, I did meet the man of my dreams and he is wonderful and completely loving though one of the things that I have discovered is that I still have times where I think ‘Does he really like me?’ This has been a bit of an underlying challenge for me and one that I continue to peel back the layers on. For me, it is important to keep on digging in to the issues that I have so that I don’t fall back into the whole cycle of ‘when / then’ and then feeling discouraged about my present life and then turning to food for comfort. Now, the important thing for me is ‘what can I do to make my now great?’

Here are some questions for you:

· How do you when / then?
· What is the underlying issue?
· What can you do to make your present more fun, exciting, excellent?

Cheers,

Jodie
www.lapbandforthemind.com

P.S. Jen and I released our new product this week: 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!

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