Losing Again and Out of my Rut

I started working out this last month...I weighed in today...even with my TOM water retention, I'm down 8 lbs!!!!  I try to go at 5 am every morning and it's been great.  I have more energy and I feel really good...I was trying to work my band just with healthy eating, but adding exercise has really helped.  I usually do 40 minutes on the bike and 15 minutes with weights.

Hope you are well.

My boss went on vacation and he bought me a T-shirt back as a gift.  I was afraid to look at the tag and it was a MEDIUM!!!!! What an NSV

My pants are getting big!!!!!

One lesson learned from my band experience is that I wish I started an exercise regimen when I got the band...As much as I complained about my slow menopausal metabolism...the simple reality is I needed to MOVE...and I've been moving lately!  I joined a gym and when my kids are active I try to be active with them.  The result is that I put on my dress pants for work this am and they were BIG!   I also notice more contour to my abdomen area...and my irregularity is so much better...

OK...hope you guys have a good week!!!!

Carnie Wilson? A Bandster? Wow..Welcome to the club!

I"m sure a lot of you have read the news that Carnie Wilson has the lap band.   She's a bandster..Back to Carnie...I hope that everything works out...she has encountered praise for her weight loss efforts but so much criticism...Here is a woman who opens her heart and tells people about overcoming her greatest challenge and then people criticize her for getting surgery and then for getting fat again...What right do they have?  What right does anyone have in criticizing the way someone looks? I applaud her for putting herself out there and I only wish her luck.

As much as I wish I had gotten a gastric bypass, I"m reminded that the band was an excellent decision for me...Surgery was relatively non invasive with no complications and its instituted long term habit changes for me.I don't criticize other WLS...whatever works toward bringing people to better health outcomes is a good thing.

Carnie, more power to you!!!!

Changing my lifestyle -MOI

I'm coming up for air!  My work schedule is manageable and so is my husband's.  I've decided I'm going to carve out 3 days for exercise and relaxation for moi.  Sometimes my schedule seems impossible but I realize that my kids are older, more independent, the gym I"m joining has a great kids play area and this is a great place to socialize with my friends.
 
Sometimes I'm dissatisfied with my weight loss but I realize that even if I keep up what I'm doing, I will get to my goals and probably stay there for the long term.

So often I feel guilty for thinking about myself and my needs, my weight and think it is so damn narcissistic; but ultimately achieving healthier outcome is a great thing for everyone in my family.

Thanks for listening...

Weight Loss Fairies (Blessings in Disguise)

I've been working on a stressful management consulting project team...the lead is not very good and is very inexperienced...but two people who have made this project bearable are my friends John and Pat...both are into fitness and exercise...they are constantly logging in their food choices, making excellent food choices, talking about the calories they are going to burn each day through exercise and talking about their healthy BP and cholesterol levels. John has had a 12 year sustained weight loss of 70 lbs!  Pat has just always worked out.  Yesterday we were having salads for lunch and talking about working out...This is such a change...I have evolved.

And of course I have my blogging bandster world...it helps me so much to read your blogs and to hear your frustrations and triumphs.  Both my weight loss friends in real life and blogging life have helped me re adjust my mind set.  I hadn't been reading for the last month and I was catching up and it was such a nice refreshing slap in the face...to see so many people on track and losing weight and looking BEAUTIFUL!

I drank a ton, ate less and exercised yesterday due to your direct and indirect influences.  I'm thankful for you!!!

I'm BACCCCCCCCCCCK

Hi...Darlin 1 and Barbara, thank you for reaching out...I've been gone from blogging because I've been distracted by:

• My Demanding Job-My job requires long hours and I work with a new manager that is not very experienced.  She has created a lot of client and team gaffes that have derailed us.  She is a nice person who tends to micromanage and not see the big pic...
• My Sister's Wedding-My sister got married after 5 years of struggling with a relationship.  I don't think its the best decision but I went to NYC to support her with my husband and boys.  She's 6 years younger and like my kid so I've been sad about it.
• My Kids-they have lessons galore...as soon as I get back from work, we are on the road or I'm helping them do their work.  They are worth every moment though.
• My husband's Uber Demanding Job-My husband is at work till 11 pm every night.  His crazy schedule will soon end in mid March.  I don't like it but he has a great work ethic, provides for us very well and I can't complain...But his schedule has literally made me mom and dad for the last 5 months.

How is my weight?  The same...I'm one of those who doesn't loose weight unless I"m focused on it.  I've never jumped on the scale and seen a huge unexplainable loss...each loss is hard won...every ounce.

I'm going to go swimming now.

Missed you...I had not read blogs for awhile and I was so surprised to see how beautiful Melissa Wolfe, Nora and Ronnie look...you are rocking the band!!

WAH...beware...this post is filled with self pity and vanity

I've been away too long.  Basically because:

• It's been crazy at work
• My dad had a health scare (collapsed but we think it was just dehydration and a lack of Potassium...it was scary because they thought it was a stroke or heart damage
• My kids are in dozens of activities and have great social lives.  They are only 9 and 10 so they need to be driven everywhere.
• My husband has a demanding job and is rarely home before 10 pm so its me managing homework and activities solo (on the flip side, when he's with the kids or at home, he's a wonderful father)

But I've been missing blogging and the powerful things it brings.  And then I logged in yesterday and saw Barbara reaching out to me and asking me to blog when in reality she was popping into my mind throughout the weekend (weird in a wonderful way).  Her moral encouragement was speaking to me across the internet.

I had a hard vanity moment this weekend.  My mother in law had a 100th birthday party which is great.  I was happy that she has lived so long and that my kids have a great relationship with her.  But the part of the party which evoked my vanity is that we took family portraits in Korean hanboks...it's the traditional outfit for women.   The women in my husband's family are tiny...95 lbs to 120 lbs.  And the 120 lb women are 5'7"!  So they looked gorgeous and lithe.  If you have any sort of chest, it really doesn't look flattering...I didn't feel pretty.  My sister in laws kept offering to strap me in and bind my chest down (think of that scene in Gone with the Wind where mamie tried to squeeze in Scarlett's waist to fit into the ball gown).  We had to take professional portraits and I dread  seeing them.  I feel smaller and healthier than last year but things make me feel horrible...I know its not all about me...it is my MIL's 100th birthday and all I could think about was how I felt compared to my nieces and sister in laws...For some reason it was really disturbing that a year and a couple months after surgery I'm not at goal and I'm still fat in the eyes of my culture.  Compounding things were that I couldn't keep things down very well for the last two weeks but it wasn't resulting in any weight loss...Wah wah wah wah wah

I found it hard to sleep for two nights after but now I feel stronger and filled with more resolve to stick to the rules and not give up my journey which I think is a long, life long journey. 

Thank you friend...Thank you for Barbara for reaching out to me...