The Gift of Onederland!!

This is the picture of my scale this morning! So exciting!! January 20th marked six-months since I started the pre-op diet (July 20th), I can't believe I have lost 84 pounds in that time period. I continue to be amazed at this band, but dammit I'm also proud of myself and the hard work I've done to get here. ;-) For those that are considering the band, it's an amazing tool that has definitely helped me in my success. It helps curb my desire to overeat and has really helped with my portion control. That being said, I've learned that you have to use the tool, it won't work without you doing the work. 've definitely retrained my brain to see food differently and to use food differently. This is a huge behavior change and I believe that, for me, I had to be ready to change in order to have this level of success. 


I've had some people ask lately what some of my tools to success have been. I did a blog on this I believe in November called "I'm Thankful for...", but I was thinking of a couple of other things I had to share. 

1. I've noticed that many of you have the same issue I have in the morning. Tightness that holds us back from eating. I know that some of our doctors have told us to drink warm liquids and that will help open us up, etc. Well, right or wrong, I do the opposite. I get a large (20 ounce) iced coffee in the morning (note: I was not a coffee drinker pre-band) and that is my breakfast. It takes about two hours to drink and most importantly, fills me up! Around 11am I have a protein bar to get in more calories and more importantly protein. There are two that I LOVE (again was not a huge protein bar girl in the past). I love the peanut butter and chocolate Zone bars - they have a good amount of protein. The second is the Luna bar (toasted nuts and cranberries). Less protein, but yum! 
2. When I plateau, I do find that Amy's advice to drink more water is always key. I try to do about 80 ounces of water a day. On the days where I take in a lot of water, I find that that coupled with exercise definitely helps the scale move. This is important for me to look back at each time the scale stalls because as we all know, I'm not so patient with it!
3. On the exercise front, the last time I wrote about my success I mentioned that this was an area in which I FAILED! This is something I've really improved upon and for those of you like me who hated exercise and NEVER did it regularly in your life pre-band, maybe this will work for you. I started the Couch to 5k program and only do it three days a week. This is the whole philosophy of that program. It's about starting slowly and gradually exercising so you don't burn yourself out. I'm not saying you have to do the running thing, but I found that only having to commit to 30 minutes three days a week has been a great kick-start for me. I used to think that in order to be successful at exercising I had to do it 5 times a week or everyday. Not true. For me, simply making the decision to exercise on a day I don't feel like it is a big win. So three times a week = AWESOME accomplishment!

The absolute most important key to my success above any other has been the love and support I receive from my family, my friends and from YOU - my friends who understand and can share this journey together. I think it's amazing that we have each other and honestly don't believe I would be where I am now without each and every one of you. Love you all so much!! xoxo