Lentil Soup Never Looked So Good

Here's the beautiful Nigella Bites showing us how she makes lentil soup.

3 New Weight Loss Surgery Videos

We have three new informational weight loss surgery videos for you!Click to our Video Index to watch these new informational programs - they are at the top of the page under "NEW"Obesity and Diabetes: A Strong ConnectionFour Fast Facts to Determine if You're a Candidate for WLSWeight-Loss Surgery with Fewer Scars and Less PainAlso, check out the Gastric Banding videos - they are up and running

The Neighborhood:Community Upgrades & Membership

Our LivingAfterWLS Neighborhood - the online community we call a safe haven circle of friends - is now a little over 16-months old. During this time weight loss surgery patients from around the world have connected and shared their living after weight loss surgery experiences. Pre-ops have come aboard, asked questions and shared their excitement. And old timers have shared the wisdom that comes

The Cave Woman Diet

Coty Fowler lost 20 pounds in six weeks and reached her ideal weight by adhering to what she calls "The Cave Woman Diet". The diet is based on eating meat, fruits, nuts and vegetables.

She says she began "by purging the kitchen of every slide of bread, every cracker, every package of pasta, and every cream-filled pastry."

She goes on to describe what her daily meals were like and then she says; "At the end of five days, I had lost three pounds and my chronic indigestion. Goodbye Tums! And I was never hungry since I ate all the time. Previous dietary study indicated that to change our metabolism it is necessary to eat often. This reprograms the body to stop storing fat.

The second week I dropped four pounds and my energy level skyrocketed. I was not just cleaning house, I was cleaning closets and kitchen cabinets and organizing items for a yard sale. Interestingly, I had no more sinus headaches or joint pain and had eliminated the use of over the counter decongestants and arthritis pain relievers.

At the end of six weeks, I had lost twenty pounds, my clothes no longer fit and I had energy to spare. I was sleeping soundly and my anxiety level was greatly reduced. I felt better than I had in years."

Check out The Cave Woman Diet story here.

Band Land is the place to be!

Hey all...

Just wanted to give a shout to my mate Maria.....
Did Elle get her letter?? I posted it to an address from memory... I sent it to number 10... is that right? If not, Number 10 have her letter. I have also lost your email address with the computer muck up, so drop me a line babe. Let me know how you are doing!!!!

So, Band's are the new black. If you are porky, and don't have one, well you better get on over to Belgium and bag yourself a deal. I LOVE MY BAND.

We had a rocky patch in our relationship over the last couple of months, I said some things, it said some things right back at me... But we have made it up and are getting a grip!!

I am loving this eDiets thingy! Its wicked. I'm loving it loving it loving it.

I have had wine, biscuits, an Indian meal out, lovely dinners filling lunches and breakfasts and am losing weight easily. I am also finding that I am eating less... How weird is that???

I think slim fast and me were like a match made in hell. I was committing adultery to my band!! I am SORRY!!!! but it has forgiven me totally. I am on the right track now. Its 1am and I am full from dinner which I had at 9pm.

Today for instance I have had the following:

2 bananas for breakfast - just fancied it

lunch was boiled rice with a kind of curry... aubergine, onion and lentil's with tomato juice made with olive oil and sugar - but in moderation and accounted for!

dinner was braised beef and mash.

2 muller lights for a snack later on.

total cals: 1274 HOW COOL IS THAT!

I am chuffed to little mint balls.

So my new weigh in day is on Monday's like it used to be. I am really sorry for screwing about with my weigh-ins, and I didn't like not being on some kind of plan. It was not good for me to be free like that.

Next Wednesday will be exactly 6 MONTHS on since I had my gastric band fitted I will take a photo and record my weight again... But I will do it on Tuesday this week as that's when I get weighed in at tesco just this week... (see later on in this post!)

Then I will be keeping with this regime and I am looking forward to see the result for august, as I think I might finally nail the 16 stone barrier and get to those 15's. I am positive I can do this now.

Other news... ummm Well i got a right bargain yesterday. I picked up a folding caravan for £500. Absolute result! we had a trailer tent for the last 3 years, but its just about as knackered as a tent can get, although it has done us an incredible turn considering. We have had some fun times in that tent. Really good memories... anyway, My Dad phoned me up about midnight on Tuesday and said he knew a bloke who was selling one. When he told me the price I nearly ripped the phone of the cord! (well actually its cordless... but you get the picture!!)

They are about 12 grand new! This is 20 years old, but it is IMMACULATE. So i drove down and picked it up yesterday... all the way to Sussex and back. Took ages as traffic was a nightmare!!! Then when we got back we didn't really have much time to coo and ahhh over it because we had to get to the Theatre for DS's show. His show opened at the theatre in P at 7pm and it was really great. Its the first time he has done a stage performance to a paying audience and it was really nerve wracking as a parent!! He did well bless him.

But that's about it. So much for a rest now its the holidays! I need a big style break, not that its going to happen any time soon!!

Tomorrow we are of to clean out our caravan... not the folding one, but a real 23ft job that we have inherited of my mother in law. It needs a good scrub up, so we are cleaning it out tomorrow and then sleeping in it the night, then the next morning we are off to take DS to his weeks camping holiday as a 'secret agent' so that will be cool for him. Then we go back to DH's Mums pub to run a Karaoke for the evening and the following morning (Sunday... that's if you are still with me!) we are driving our shiny new caravan to FRANCE!! Then we are parking it at our chosen campsite and staying there for 1 night and coming back Monday night but LEAVING our caravan in France in Storage so that we can have it as a little weekend getaway on the north coast of France!! Wicked... Mad but cool.

So that's why weigh in will be Tuesday this week only.

So I am excited about that. TB is trying desperately to persuade TB's hubby to come with us so that all 4 of us can have a laugh and eat cheese and drink wine under the stars of the French coastline, but hes having none of it at the moment. I think she will work on him!!

Anyway, probably wont be posting until Tuesday or so, so check back with you then... also will have been weighed!! HURRAH.

Weight Loss Stories at Good Housekeeping

Good Housekeeping Magazine has some nice weight loss success stories they've recently posted to their online site. Here is one of their success profiles; Robyn Spieler. She lost 70 pounds in less than a year.

She did this by cutting out the carbs and by going to the gym four days a week. See more about her story and other stories at Good Housekeeping here.

Weighed in today.... 2 and a half pounds off!!

Oh thank goodness...
Weight is going down again.
I have lost 2 and a half pounds this week. I am over the moon... especially as I have only been doing the totals plan since saturday, and the slimfast thing didn't really work out all that well because I was so hungry.

I am really glad.
My weight is now 16 stone 11. YAY! Not as low as I was a couple of months ago, but I have really got it now.

I LOVE MY BAND.

I was trying to use it as my only weapon, but now I have really got my head around it. The band is a secret weapon.... Whereas before banding I would NOT been able to do the Totals plan without veering off drastically every day, this is now SOOOOooooo Easy its untrue. I am absolutely stuffed full to the brim. I stop eating when I want to, and I feel satisfied. Its not quite 1000 cals, but its usually about 1500 on average. I will still lose weight that way too!!

So I am happy. I think another small fill will totally sort me out. Its been a while since I saw him now... 3 weeks, so it will be a good 5 weeks when I see him again. I think I should. I really don't want to be messing about any more.

I read a lot that people drop a load of weight, then put some back on until they "get it!" and then they lose. I hope that's where I am at now. I feel completely happy with myself.

Today I have had:
Breakfast - 1 x banana and a glass of pomegranate juice.
snack - 2 apples
lunch - WFF Honey chicken and veg
dinner - Pasta with cheese, onion and tomato and 100g of oven chips.
AND a glass of red!!! Yeah!

Nice, and total cals today is 1600.

cool

I have also just finished re doing my Utility room... (I never seem to be relaxing do I? I think maybe I am hyperactive....) It looks so much better. I should have taken a photo before I started but honestly It was rough. I still have a bit to do.. I have to re-decorate and remove a few shelves of the facing wall where we used to keep books, but other than that its sorted. I am so happy. I never knew that Ikea delivered and had an online service or I would have looked ages ago. The internet keeps me poor!! HA HA.

Take a look... I love these boxes... they were only £8 each. Bargain. The only problem was they came flat packed in 21 boxes.. GROAN. My fingers still kill after screwing them all together yesterday.

Looking Ten Pounds Slimmer on Camera

Can a camera make you look ten pounds slimmer? The HP Photosmart camera has a 'slimming feature'. And it really does work. Here's a photo of Libby before and after using the slimming feature on her camera. See more details about how this deceiving magic works at a blog by Regina Lewis.

eDiets totals plan is going well.... not hungry anyway

Well, its day 3 of my new regime... How many can one girl have??
I am like the Imelda Marcos of diet regimes.

*sighs*

Its going well. The first day, Saturday, was obviously fine, but yesterday I went a bot over the top. Not on purpose, but simply by not knowing the plan and reverting to type... e.g. Slimmingworld.

So I went over my days 'Totals' but the calories were not awful... 2254. That's pretty good i reckon.

Today has been good though. I have got in some serious exercises in the form of an alan key and 168 screws to twist home. My hands KILL and my arms are aching like mad. The boxes which were the result look fabulous and will form my shelving system beautifully. Its a series of arranged boxes (oiled pine from IKEA) for shelving which I am having cover one wall in my utility room. It should make the whole place look a damn sight better.

This morning for breakfast I had a bbq'd chicken breast from last night with some coleslaw, a muller light layers and an apple. That kept me going right up until 5pm when I had 100g cake which I had baked. Then I had Bami Goreng which I LOVE from Eismann. Its an Indonesian dish of noodles and chicken and spices which is all wok cooked. Its lovely. So we all had that, and i had another muller light too. So today I have eaten just 1255 cals. I still have 3.8 Totals remaining (what a rubbish name for them... should be points or units or something... how queer).

I am about to watch Big brother and I am now leaning heavily towards either Brian to win. I think he is a sweet guy, naive, but sweet and gentle and sensitive. He deserves it most out of all of them I think.

I am also FRUSTRATED completely with Facebook and eBay because for some reason they seem to stop loading the page too often recently... its WELL ANNOYING. anyone else had that trouble??

So, night all... be good!

Turn Your Fat Burning Mechanism into High Gear with Interval Training

Not Sure which diet is best for you?Check out our Diet Reviews===========================I’ve recently experimented with High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and have received amazing results. HIIT is, undisputedly, the single most effective factor involved in breaking weight loss plateaus and burning fat. HIIT consists of short bursts of exercise at high intensity levels – near or around your

eDiets again

Right. I have had ENOUGH of slimfast I think its MERDE. It is NOT filling me up and I am starving---but NOT wasting away like I want to... :o(((((((

Very upset.

So I thought I better join either Weightwatchers online or something when remembered that Tesco teamed up with eDiets a while back. I remember reading it in tesco. I get weighed in tesco too so it all makes sense...

So I have signed up for 10 weeks on eDiets TOTALS plan.

Today has been a BREEZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I mean it honestly.

This morning for breakfast I had my last slimfast (well.. Tesco's own ultra slim anyway)
Then for lunch I had a WFF meal - Honey and Mustard Chicken with veg and mash
Then I had a snack - Cadbury's animals 25g
Then for my dinner I have had pasta with a stir in sauce.

I am allowed 19 TOTALS A DAY(bit like weight watchers points I guess)

My WFF meal was only 1 and a half!!! HA HA. That's well cool. Means those meals are really really good for me. I have finally done something right for a change.

My pasta was 7 and my sauce was 1.5 so that was cool.

With all that grub I still have 5 points to use. I am bloated and content and happy with the world. How cool is that. It also tells me I have had 1420 cals today. That's less than I have had all week on slimfast!! Just shows doesn't it! 19 Totals = 1600 calories or thereabouts.

So I am feeling good.

A Doctor Loses 270 Pounds

Dr. Nick Yphantides weighed 470 pounds at one point. He then decided to change his life. He took a sabbatical for one year to focus on what he enjoys most (baseball) and to lose weight in the process. He went on a medically supervised liquid protein diet (soybean based) for several weeks. Just over a year later he had lost an amazing 270 pounds.

He's been quoted as saying "Food was never meant to be your friend, Valium on a plate, where you turn for comfort, an alternative to boredom. Food is for nutrition. I eat for very different reasons than I did in the past. How I eat and why I eat is more important than what I eat."

There is an inspiring 7 minute video about his weight loss story here. It shows him at his heaviest weight and his current weight. At one point, after he had lost 103 pounds, he says he was very discouraged because he didn't feel much different. But then he went on a fishing trip with his brother in Alaska and happened to catch a 100 pound fish (as shown in the video). That experience got him completely motivated again and he was able to persevere until his goal was reached.

I wanna know if the scales yell OUCH!

I am desperate to weigh myself... but I know I mustn't.

I know it will be really cool if I can stick to this plan for the rest of the week and on Monday hop on the scales at Tesco and see what delight they have in store for me...

But I also know that if I hop on now, there is a BIG possibility that I will have lost 3 pound or something and that will make me feel instantly cool and excited about what it will be on Monday... and Monday will roll around and I wont be as excited and happy as I would have been cos it will say just 4 or something... whereas if I wait till Monday and it says 4lb off then I will be Jumping up and down in Glee!!

I am such a psycho. Someone needs to study the minds of dieters and people like me. We just don't think normally man. I swear my life would be a whole lot easier if I didn't have these hang ups.

I must also try to get out of the habit of thinking that I ma doing this until Monday.. I have to do this PERIOD! I have to eat less FOREVER. I have to eat low cals ALWAYS AND FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. Its like I look at it as some kind of race. Once I get the the finish line (monday) I can sit down and not worry. The trouble is the finish line is millions of days away yet, not just Monday!

I need some motivation. I am really quite starving TBH.

I have really really really stuck to it today. I have had:

Ultra slim shake - 220
Ultra slim shake - 220
apple - 60
I tablespoon of rice - (god knows how many cals - I was so friggin' hungry I ate the scraps off my sons lunch plate! )

That's it. I have also drunk 3 cups of coffee and 2 pints of fizzy water with lemon in which is quite nice.

Its getting on for tea time now. I have spent all day busy on the beast looking up flights, holidays and camping places etc etc. I want to go away. I very very nearly booked a weekend in Sweden which would have been nice. Then I thought better of it and nearly booked another place in Denmark, but they didn't have a hotel available... so am guessing the reason is that there is actually nothing there to interest anyone and that's why there was only one hotel there. What town has one hotel??

Anyway, I then looked up camp sites in Sussex. I thought it might be nice to go to the seaside and catch up with old Friends and stuff and DH can work while we are there too. We did it last year and it was great. But its like £140 just to camp in someones poxy field for a week. I cant justify that when I could have my weekend in Sweden in a hotel for less!

This country rips the absolute guts out of you. What has happened to the £3 a night pitches like I used when I was a kid? I mean, good grief, its only a field with a toilet in it. If they had andrex and nice soap in the hand washing utensils, and maybe someone who could slop the piss from the floor more than once a week, then I might see why they would need to maybe charge... um... i don't know... £3.50 a night, but good grief. Its a field!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I could say that the more you pay the better you get, but thats simply not right.

How can they justify £9 per person per pitch per night...??? I mean you can get a nice cosy en-suite travel lodge for £35 a night and you don't have all the hassle either.

Anyway, no doubt we will end up handing over some hard earned cash to impoverished farmers who should be growing things in their fields, but can't because the government pays them NOT to so they have to resort to ripping of campers.

What a country.

UPDATE to FOOD DIARY
Honey and Mustard chicken - 330
Rubard pie and custard - 260
banana - dunno off hand

So I know I have had my 1000 cals... how can anyone survive on this. 1000 cals is well hard.

Yawn... the last few days of work

Groan... Only a few more days of work. Its pretty scant to be honest. I have 3 today and on Friday I have only 5 and then Saturday I just have 2 and that's it for the summer. YAY!
The piano exam results should be with me shortly, so that's a dreaded wait, but they always do really well.

I have to figure out a way of not doing Ryan for the summer. His mum caught me on the hop and said "Yeah, I would like him to carry on through the summer as he really likes it" and I wasn't concentrating enough to get my act together and say that I stop for the holidays.
I really don't want to do any lessons at all through the summer, as I can never relax and just chill out. I always have to be thinking about whats on next week, or got to be back in time for this or that... and its the only time I can really kick back. Even when I was on holiday in Sri Lanka I was thinking about work.. "How far are the exams away, did I book that pupil in for this or that bla bla..." So although I was chilled, it was only because I was out of the country. Its nice to relax and chill out here in blighty for a while too.

We do live in a beautiful country, but we never get to see it. Instead we have to drag our bums half way around the world just to stop for a second and appreciate someone Else's country.

I have tickets to Legoland and I want to go to the National portrait gallery again and maybe the Museum of London. I loved it there.

Anyway, today I have had 2 slimfast shakes, 1 apple and 1 snack bar. I am pretty hungry to be honest. I am looking about for food, so I bought some fizzy water, which Dr. Dovey told me I could drink in moderation to fill up a bit. Hopefully it will do the trick, but not give me too much wind.

Wind is a problem. I do seem to fart loads and belch loads after drinking too... That never used to happen. Well ... maybe the farts did :o)

Off to work in a bit. DS has made a pineapple upside down cake to take to kids club with him this afternoon. thank goodness he didn't make it for us, otherwise I would be nibbling bits of it for sure!

Still desperately clinging to plan... need some motivation.... but don't want to get on the scales just yet because its pointless. I will ring TB and have a chat to her.

*Stomach lurches* I can smell Pineapple cake cooking.. *Groan!*

UPDATE
Well I battled with myself and resisted phoning in sick. I would only have felt guilty and not enjoyed my free time, and as a bonus for not cancelling I got an extra £28 that I had forgotten that someone owed me! YAY. If I hadn't gone until September they might have forgotten too! So it pays off.

I am going to formulate a plan over the next couple of days to get myself together, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I feel really dead in the water to be honest.

I am in a bit of a downward spiral in attitude to the rest of the whole wide world. I am in a bit of a 'ME' place where I am only bothered with myself, my husband, my son and my mates TB and TB's husband and family. I know that sounds well harsh, but I cant seem to function outside of that circle at the moment...

I want to be here at home, or at TB and her husbands house. I only want to spend time with DH or DS and them. I feel a little bit fragile and I don't really know why. Its very cathartic to write this blog, and I am glad I have kept doing it actually.

so I am basically neglecting things a little. I am neglecting my other Friends, and other opportunities to get together, and I am not sure why.

I need to figure it out.

Anyway, regards Lap Band... Hmmm let me see.
Todays consumption consists (in order) of the following

5:30am - 2 bananas = 216
9:30 am - tesco ultra slim = 220
11:30 - xtra bar + apple = 124 +60
2:14ish - handful of Polish snack called Flips - approx 33 grams = 100 cals
2:30 - Ultra slim = 220
3:30 - 4 slices of white bread with butter and jam = 450
8:30 - lamb dinner from WFF = 268
10:30 - Ultra slim = 220

Daily total: 1878 cals - PHEUGH!!!!!!!!!

I seem to be getting increasingly STARVING hungry. I could not deal with the lack of food and gave in to bread and jam.

:o(

I am going to try to implement a new strategy...
...try and suppress my cravings in three simple steps--drink more water, get an adequate amount of sleep, and eat low-calorie filler foods in place of snacks.

Also, I have contacted Cisca at www.obesitycare.co.uk for an appointment to see Dr. Dovey again. This will be fill number 5. BUT - that is if there was any saline in there from Dr. Dodgy (aka Clayson)

I should not be hungry, I should feel a gurgle, I should feel satisfied. I don't.

This week I have tried my VERY best to not eat too much. I am only at the end of day 3 of this plan... it feel like FOREVER. I mean it. I am constantly looking at the clock to see when I can next gobble something. I HATE THIS.

I know I am supposed to have some will power, and I do, but COME ON! I know loads of bandsters now... none of them feel like me. I feel like I am going insane. I have images of the band hanging loose around me. I just wish I had had the Bypass. I would be so much further along the road to bintness.

I mean, I have put on 7 pounds in a month... a lot of it my fault from over eating... BUT isn't the band supposed to STOP me from doing just that??

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Anyway,
solved the swimming pool problem I think. Famous last words. We will have a GREEN pool as of tomorrow. Great. But its better than black I guess. I could have saved myself a hell of a lot of hassle, but there we go. We shall see if solution #346 works.

I will keep ya posted.

Foo fighters-Big me

The best Foo Fighters song ever... don't know about the video though...

Weight Loss Motivation

Not Sure which diet is best for you?Check out our Diet Reviews===========================Weight Loss MotivationLosing weight is not that difficult. I’m sure everyone at some point in there life has lost weight whether it was intentional or not. The problem, however, is keeping it off permanently or at least for a long period of time. One major reason for this is that people choose the wrong

17th July - Feeling positive

Well, this morning, I have had 2 coffee's and an Ultra slim shake.

I think its a good idea for me to keep a track of my food intake a it helps me to focus on what I am doing. I find it too easy just to breeze past something and eat it. I am like a vacuum. It has to stop.

I am awaiting a tesco order and I have bought some muller lights and fruit, but I think the Something Xtra bars I bought yesterday are amazing. They are SO tasty, and only 124-8 cals each. They either have yoghurt coating or chocolate, so I could essentially eat 3 of them a day, and that makes me feel great! They are full of extra nutrients too... hence the name... Inulin, folic acid, iron, calcium and fibre in the cranberry and chocolate one and caffeine, taurine, vit C, folic acid iron and calcium in the mango and apricot ones.

They are proper lush.

So I have a slim fast for brekkie and either a muller, bar or fruit for snack and then slim fast for lunch then a bar/muller/fruit for snack, then dinner for no more than 600 cals and then a snack after that later on.

I am also going to wear my pedometer again, and get a bit more exercise.

This morning I have already done the pool - silicone sealed it and am about to fill it up. Yee HA!

It should be completely done now.

I will update this later.

*mini update*

lunch: ultra slim shake and 1 and a half muller lights
p.m. snack: an xtra bar and an apple.

Pool update: Not that optimistic... don't think its going to work TBH. Its filling as we speak. Once its full I will mark it and see what happens.

* mini update No. 2*

Dinner - Salmon and Broccoli supreme with baby veg and mash - 330 cals
peach and passion fruit muller light layers - 95 cals

Total today so far:
ultra slim x 2 = 440
xtra bars x 2 = 248
apple = 60
2.5 mullers = 237
salmon thingy dinner = 330
total = 1315

I am also going to watch a film tonight and do 10,000 steps on my treadmill which will take 1 and a half hours.

Oh, and the pool is a TOTAL DISASTER.

I am not throwing anymore money down the drain, and I am buying a liner. End of.

16th July.... BLACK MONDAY

I went and got weighed.

It's not good.

TB and I went to tesco's in the morning and braved the dreaded machine.

We have both put on the same amount of weight since stopping going to slimming world.

How weird is that.


Anyway,
here are the results of the weightloss jury....

16 stone 13 and a half pounds - 107.8kg - 237.5 lbs

I am also 43% fat.


So yesterday we both went on a strict diet.

Here is what I had:
1 and a half slice of toast (at least half puked back up) - 88 cals
2 Ultra Slim shakes -430 cals
3 Something extra bars - 384cals
1 fish in parsley sauce with veg and mash - 262 cals
1 avocado with mayo - 300 cals

total cals for 16th July = 1464 cals

Product Recommendation: Emergen-C

It's not very often that post here to recommend a product, but today I'm giving a shout-out for Emergen-C - The vitamin and mineral drink mixes that dissolve in water. A nutritionist recommended the "Energy Booster" formula to me. She explained that the Emergen-C products work well with our bodies because the vitamins and minerals are easily absorbed. Now, I tend to be a bit skeptical when it

Losing the plot in the evenings.... WHY?

Today :

breakfast = slimfast = 220 cals

lunch = slimfast = 220 cals

tea = venison and veg = 312 cals

snacks = 2 bananas and 2 apples

3 coffees and 1 squash.

Then this evening, I got the munchies.

First I had a bowl of baby rice with jam.

Then I had an avocado pear and salad leaves and cocktail sauce (tomato sauce and very low fat mayo mixed together)

Then 2 glasses of red.

Its like I have to top my calories up in the evening..

My weight is creeping steadily up by half a pound a day it seems, and soon I am gonna be Right back where I started. I need to ind something to do in the evenings so that I dont do this.

I think I am going to try and go to bed earlier with a book and a couple of pints of water... that way I will fall asleep instead of eat.

I am so good during the day and then I let myself down whilst I sit on the sofa.

Anyway, all bar the shouting, the pool is complete.

I have a few rows of tiles to put at the bottom once I am positive its not leaking anything major, and a little bit more grouting around the outside edge and that's it. But it is now actually usable.

Its done! YAY!

Here it is being filled. Its now completely full and comes just under the last tile line.

Raw Foods to Sing About

Angela Stokes lost 160 pounds by switching to a raw foods diet. Here's another of her videos. Here she reminds us to try eating more raw foods each day. She shows us some of her favorite raw foods.

Feeling ... underappreciated

Today I had a slimfast for breakfast, Venison for lunch and am about to have beef and stout pie for tea.

Slimfast 200

+

Venison 312

+

Beef and stout pie 602

=

1114 cals

I am continuing to eat SHAG ALL, but still seem to be losing nothing.....

HELOOOOOOOOOOO

Anyway, I am feeling under appreciated because of... like... stuff....

I don't know. Does anyone else every feel like this?

I seem to run my butt off for my family. I educate, work, clean, cook, build ad goodness knows what else, and am constantly doing stuff. Every time I turn around DH has wandered off to the TV or PC and DS has left his work and gone off to play the PS2.

I have to be constantly nagging at both of them... One "get up and help me" the other "Get some clothes on". DS seems to spend half of every day in the nude. This was endearing when he was 2 and all he wandered about in was a sun hat and tellytubbie wellies... but at 8 and a half I think he should be able to manage to get dressed without me nagging "Pants!" .... "Socks NOW!" "Put your shirt on"... "What did I say, get those socks on!"... "Where are your trousers gone?".... Get your shirt on again"... "Where are you socks" until I give up and think... well hey, at least hes liberated.

But its just another thing to add to my list of chores.

I really wish my life was like one of those novels.... where the dashing husband comes home (and the house is all neat and tidy and well cared for) and ravishes the wife on the kitchen worktop whilst little johnny is handily at a friends house. Then they sit and chat cosily while she twiddles her hair and he massages her feet in his lap... Crap like that. Then they have a candle lit dinner lazily, and the plates disappear magically and stuff... Then after only one glass of wine and immaculate make up they both slither off to bed (the child would have gone to be magically on his won of course) and then make love again for about... Oh I dunno...more than 5 minutes anyway!!

The sheets would still be ironing board flat and the room would smell all lush with roses and shit.

And that would happen every day.

Oh jeez, the reality.

Oh, and she would be bought expensive little goodies at least once a week because he was thinking of her, and at least once a year buy her something really special as a surprise - over £10 and not from the garage up the road.

One of the last pressies I bough DH cost £350. My money is his money, and his money is my money.... we don't do that "who's gonna buy the food this month..?" rubbish... we just have one account and pool all the dosh. Now, I still was able to wangle it so that he didn't notice that I had bought him something so nice.

He has had trousers, shirts, a nice pair of shoes, all kids of things...

The last thing that Phil bought me was a lovely necklace for £25. I can't really call it a pressie, but it would have been so nice, except that I had to hint so amazingly badly that I was practically buying it myself. So I kind of don't think about it as a gift... so it has to be the bouquet of flowers that he got for me (from Tesco) when I came back from my Lap Band operation in February.

Now, we did go on a fabulous holiday that cost an arm and a leg, but I don't consider that a gift... that was all of us. I am talking about specific Nice Ladies Things that can be shared across a pillow and involve delight and exquisiteness. I cant think of anything more lovely than lying there talking and then getting a little box given to me all wrapped up in a bow with a pair of earrings or something.

These things cost just a couple of quid... its not the money, its the thought. It could be a sodding stone off of the beach for all I care, but the timing and the thought....

I just realised why I am feeling like this again.... Its another anniversary of one of my dead babies. I lost it just before we got married... So 10 years ago today.

Great.

I wish I never remembered. No one else does.

Low Carb or Slow Carb?

Not Sure which diet is best for you?Check out our Diet Reviews===========================First I’d like to thank all of you that have participated with your wonderful and insightful blog comments. I would like to invite others who read this blog to participate as well. I’d love to know your thoughts and opinions – and many others would as well. So by all means let us know – Don’t be shy – spill

Drinking Tap Water for Weight Loss

Drinking lots of water is one of the easiest ways to lose some weight quickly, especially for many people who are chronically dehydrated.

But tap water is usually a better alternative to bottled water. Bottled water companies are not regulated for safety or purity. And the environmental waste resulting from the bottled water craze is horrific. Here's an eye-opening passage from the Food & Water Watch:

Bottled water wastes fossil fuels and water in production and transport, and when the water is drunk the bottles become a major source of waste. It takes more than 47 million gallons of oil to produce plastic water bottles for Americans every year. Eliminating those bottles would be like taking 100,000 cars off the road and 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Each one of those bottles required nearly five times its volume in water to manufacture the plastic and may have caused the release of nickel, ethylene oxide, and benzene. Then, rather than being recycled, 86 percent of them are thrown away. Breaking down these plastics can take thousands of years, while their components seep into our water supplies.

How long does it take to build a pool???

Well, as you can see.... it takes quite a long time.

I started on 16th June, and now its the 10th July.

If we hadn't lived in good old Britain, we may well have finished by now, but because of the DAILY DOWNPOURS its sat under water for many a day whilst I mourn for it.

But, as you can see... its coming along well now. Just have to put in the little glass pebbles (already they are half done), grout them and then its finished. YAY! It has 2 inches of water in it and holding, so that's cool. I put a bit of water in there so that it will soften the grout haze (I seem to suffer with this phenomena rather too much to be honest!) so that I can scrub it off with a wire brush. It works thank goodness. I just couldn't see baby oil doing the same job here - we would all just crack our heads open.

Anyway, band wise its all a blur. I have been drinking way too much I think. I have had a glass of wine every night, which is not good when trying to control calories, but my meals have been good. Its weigh in tomorrow (yep, I changed to Wednesday because that's the day I had my lap band) so we shall see.

Anyway, my husband is being renamed Jane. Calamity Jane in fact. He is SO hurting himself right now.

Last Sunday he tripped over the piles and piles of crap down our side passage and fell onto his arm whilst holding 10 40x40cm tiles in his arms, which slammed into him. The bruise is the length of his arm right now... Then this Sunday he went to badminton and performed a teenager move in a 36 year old body and his ankle touched the floor whilst the sole of his foot was still on the ground.... Mmmm that's gotta hurt right? Yep!! Not broken but just about every tendon severed! What a guy! His foot is Black. No exaggeration. Its just black. God knows what it will look like in a week. His arm just gets worse and worse, and this looks set to be another splendid show.

Here's a pic of him with TB's husband just after the accident. TB's hubby looks right pleased having a blokes foot on his knee doesn't he!! HA HA

Confronting Morbid Obesity

Here's an artist who is morbidly obese and has created this very touching video about his weight loss issues. His name is James Barany.

Bonsoir - just watched Shrek 3

Just got back from the cinema, £50 lighter (OUCH!!!) and probably 2 lb heavier.
Hows that for funny!!!

it costs a FORTUNE the cinema. 2 adults, 2 kids (one is on loan for the night!), 2 pots of minstrels, 2 small popcorn, 2 large (aka demi pins!) of coke and a bottle of water. FIFTY QUID.

Good grief. I feel like I have been violated.

I was not too happy about the rude word for 'bottom' being used in a UNIVERSAL rated movie for 4 years and above. Nor was I really delighted with the amount of - quite realistic - violence involved. Its quite unnerving simply because the lines between cartoon and reality have been blurred by technology. I wasn't quite sure at certain points whether it was a REAL leg on a cartoon body, or not... Scarily real. Just hope kids get the difference.

When I think about kids getting a grip on reality, I always think of that programme about the kids born in 2000. Child of our time show. I remember when they were about 6 he asked them to look at the television, and it showed a bowl of popcorn. Then he asked them all individually what would happen if he turned the telly upside down.

Interestingly he asked the parents whether their kids knew the difference between reality and fiction on TV before hand. All said that "Of course they know the difference" (and let them view things like Eastenders and other things depicting 'real life' - mind you if real life were that bad I think I would slash my wrists and be done with it!)

well interestingly enough, only 1 child said that "nothing would happen... its just telly" A few didn't know what would happen, but the majority said "NO! It would all fall out silly!"

So there we go.

Proved to me that I needed to curb what DS watched big style.


Anyway, I was also not pleased with the fact that there was a lot of things about magic, witches and other stuff in it. don't really like all that for kids. I wouldn't dream about letting DS watch Harry Potter, so a watered down version of Arthur and Merlin and witches all wreaking havoc still has the same essence.

I VERY nearly dragged them all out... that's how strongly I thought about it. Happily for them the bad words and the majority of the witchery/cussing/frighting etc happens within a 5 minute span about 4/5ths the way through. It was all over and went back to fantasy fairy stuff again.

But, different to the other happy go lucky innocuous Shrek 1 and 2. Didn't really do it for me.

Anyway,
I am about to eat my first take away curry after 2 months and have a glass of wine. Its a day off the diet, as the pot of minstrels will tell you.... Oh No. Actually they wont tell you because i ATE THEM ALL. HA HA HA HA

I am also going to watch Marie Antoinette this evening with DH, Travelling Buddy and TB's husband.

As of now I am NOT going to call her travelling buddy, I am just going to write TB. I know its also a horrid disease, but she knows I love her!!

nighty night

Janet Jackson Gains Weight

The Skinny Website has just posted these new photos of Janet Jackson. After losing over 60 pounds and keeping the weight off for more than a year, it looks like she has gained more than a few pounds since her cover photo on US Magazine (just seven weeks ago) where they celebrated her one year weight loss anniversary.

Competitive Eating

Joey Chestnut is a competitive eater from San Jose, California. On July 4th he won the 92nd Annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, beating six-time defending champion Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi by consuming 66 hot dogs and buns in twelve minutes.

Jocelyn Noveck writes;

Watching these "gustatory gladiators," as the show calls them, brings a few basic questions to mind. Why do people subject themselves to this torture? More importantly, how do they do it (when most of us would get sick after, oh, four hot dogs or six waffles or a dozen ribs)? And is there any long-term harm?

The first question is pretty simple. Why do people do it? As with many things, the desire for fame and money. Prize money at some events can be $30,000 for the top player, and the Nathan's contest, for example, gets an hour of Big Event coverage on ESPN.

Still, there must be something deeper — the fiercest of competitive instincts — motivating Sonya Thomas, the most unlikely speed-eating champ you'll ever see. The woman they call the "Black Widow" weighs 105 pounds. Yet, she can consume one-sixth of her body weight — routinely defeating guys three times her size.

Some of these men are so big, "it looks like they have their own ecosystem," says the witty George Shea, who with brother Richard runs the International Federation of Competitive Eating. Thomas, in comparison, "looks like she couldn't finish a tin of cottage cheese." (Spoken like a man who probably never eats cottage cheese ... since when does it come in a tin?)

Thomas is an assistant manager at Burger King, which in terms of speed-eating training seems as good as it can get — kind of like Andre Agassi growing up on a tennis court.

See the rest of the article here.

Walking the Weight Off

Mr. Fat Guy set out to lose 100 pounds. He is six feet tall and weighed 303 at Christmas. That's when he started walking off the weight. By March he had lost 28 pounds.

But then he fell off the wagon. In June he started in earnest again. He now weighs 281 pounds and has recently made an extreme goal of walking two hours per day. When he keeps to his regular walks the weight falls off quickly. See his progress at No More Mr. Fat Guy.

The beautiful photo above is by chaosinjune.

BABY OIL - OH YES PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

Still feeling a touch miserable...

But, VERY please with my fill.... I have some good restriction.

This morning I had baby rice and a spoonful of jam for brekkie. I like baby rice better than porridge. Also its less calories!! HA HA.

For lunch I had a slimfast smoothie, and I have just had my dinner and I am full full full.

ahhhh

So cals today:
baby rice - 190
slimfast - 200
dinner - 600

Not bad - 990 cals. Bingo!<



I have spent the day wondering if it would be possible to do the pool or not... but it threatened to rain all day, and with weather reports always being wrong, I thought it best not to. However, this must be the only day in the entire history of the universe when they got the weather right. It said fine all day, but showers at about 5pm. As if on cue... 5pm the rain comes down.

Grrrr.

I will trust it tomorrow and it will be wrong you wait and see!

anyway, I thought of a cunning plan for my bathroom. You know I have had major grout haze headache for nearly a year now... well today I SORTED IT! OH YES! I was once again looking at another expensive bottle of tile haze remover in the bathroom which did absolutely nothing the first time I used it. I was looking at it, with its smug £10.95 price tag and then at the wall COVERED in grout haze, then back at the bottle.

"Hmmm" thinks I. "Whenever the walls get wet, it shows the colour of the tiles perfectly and looks nice.... then it dries and it goes all white and floury again...."

"It needs to stay wet....Sugar solution worked until it washed off.... Hmmm...."

And then I hit on it.

OIL.

Baby oil gel to be precise.

I tested it on a little patch and my tiles gleamed through with their magnificent colours. I then showered it and used a bit of soap and then went and had a coffee. I came back about an hour late and there was the solitary gleaming tile shining, NO! BEAMING out at me!

I got hastily to work and now my bathroom looks like a showroom! its fabulous. I could leap for joy.

I always knew that there would be a good use for that baby oil!!! HA HA

Declare Your Independence

Presented with permission from our Living After Weight Loss Surgery Neighbor Judy Petite:"Happy Birthday, USA! This month, this nation celebrates a time when we declared we would no longer be governed by another entitity that did not have our best interests at heart. No, our forefathers declared that our nation would freely and independently be in charge of its own affairs.Have you read the

5 Months after Lap Band surgery

Ok... I just went and got weighed. I am annoyed.

Far from going down, I am steadily creeping up!


I weigh 16 stone 9 pounds on the scales at the chemists. That's 233 pounds.


That takes my weightloss to a staggering 19 pounds. Whoop dee Bloody dooo.


I was 16 stone 4 and a half on 8th May. ( 228 and a half lbs)


I am now 5 pound heavier and I am, obviously, thrilled!

Feeling pretty damn grim

I have an awful pain around my port... its been slowly getting worse.
When I had my fill on Saturday it was just sore from the injection...
On Sunday it was ok, but I could feel it.
Yesterday it was pretty painful, and I had to come home from work, cancel my lessons and go to bed because it was really horrible but I think it was all exacerbated from lack of food!
Today it been terrible. I have been in agony all day long. I had to work today as I re scheduled all my clients for today seeing as I had to cancel them yesterday, and I could REALLY have done without it.


This evening, it has been less noticeable. Funnily enough, I think its just a case of muscle pain. I know that might sound crazy, but the injection really hurt on Saturday, and I usually suffer a little bit after the fills with feeling a bit sore, and if you couple this fill with the fact that its the time of the month too, and I am bloated and sore anyway, I think that's got a lot to do with it.

I am monitoring the situation, as obviously it could also be an infected port, but its not red, sore to touch or hot or anything like that.

Today I was thankfully back on solids too, which helps no end.

Yesterday I was so weak that I simply had to go to bed. I woke at about 2am, and read for an hour, but couldn't sleep, so I came downstairs and made myself some mushy dinner and watched telly. I felt really bloated afterwards! COOOOOOL

This morning when I got up I was all ready to have breakfast when I though "Nope!" and I have decided to continue on the slimfast plan for a little while longer just to see what the difference is. Now the problem I have is that I will not get an accurate weight reading because of having the curse, which is tragic because tomorrow is 5 months exactly since banding.

I will get weighed tomorrow anyway, because I want to be weighed and stuff whether its accurate or not, because I feel like I haven't really had a regular weight reading for a while and I kind of miss it you know? It was a kind of comfortable rhythm weighing every Monday.

I am going to try and make Wednesday my weekly weigh in now as that then ties up with the date of my surgery better.

So today I started out with a slimfast for breakfast. I then went to town and had my nails done and got DS's hair cut and then came back and did a load of work with him - Maths and language arts and spellings and stuff. He is getting really good at spelling. I cannot believe that I have been able to teach my own son to read, write, add up and all that stuff all from scratch. I feel WELL proud of myself.

Then for lunch I had a slimfast too... so 400 cals so far.

Then I went to work, and when I got home I had Lamb steak with ratatouille and potatoes. It was luscious. I then later on during the course of the evening I had 2 muller lights and some cherries, 5 rice cakes and a crumpet...
So today's calories were

slimfast x 2 = 400
Lamb dinner = 436
cherries = 100
muller x 2 = 190
rice cakes = 300
crumpet = 90

total: 1516

So although its not 1000 like Dr. Dovey recommended, its still a lot less than I usually eat. Also I do feel like there is a lot more restriction. I am VERY full right now. I think actually the crumpet (which I just ate) was not really necessary and I can actually still feel it in my gullet... not a pleasant feeling to be honest.

So tomorrow is another day, and we shall see what it brings. I will be busy again, as I have to work, so I will endeavour to prepare a bit better and maybe take some fruit with me or at least some liquid.

Tonight was really funny, as Travelling Buddy and TB's hubby came around for the show. Its so funny watching it with other people. Also we had a right old laugh about a letter that arrived at their house this morning, and we spent ages concocting a really horrible reply, then a nicer reply and then one that would really annoy - one that was so nice and lovely that they would know it was sarcasm, but .... maybe not be able to really know for sure.

I love writing letters. I think its sad that people don't know how to write well these days. Its rare to get a letter isn't it. There's nothing better than receiving a good letter. A conversation is over instantly, but letters stay with you for as long as you keep them. I love them.

Does Losing Weight Have To Be So Difficult?

Not Sure which diet is best for you?Check out our Diet Reviews===========================As I have often said in the past, weight loss and weight gain are directly affected by Input and Output. Many people would like to think that weight reduction occurs with the use of sophisticated theories like thermogenesis (calories burned by digestion), wonder supplements like hoodia or the miraculous

Portion Control Plates

A Canadian study recently found that diabetics were able to lose 5% of their body weight over six months when using a plates and bowls that clearly mark appropriate portion size. The plates are decorated to indicate portion size for carbohydrates, proteins, vegetables, cheese and sauce. They are just large enough to hold an 800-calorie meal for men and a 650-calorie meal for women. The bowls hold

Monday blues...

Hello everyone.
The fill on Saturday with the new doctor went really well. I HATED the drive though. It was terrible, plus some horrible white van man drove into the side of DH's car and then drive off! Thank goodness I had borrowed his car and not mine, cos at least them his company pays for it!

Anyway, It was definitely different with Dr. Dovey. He was really nice and I felt completely at ease. He suggested that I eat only 1000 cals and do exercise daily an I will definitely lose weight.

I suggested that I had tried that before the band and it didn't work... was this just some kind of placebo thing... you know... pay out a shed load of money and we will 'think' ourselves thin... but apparently not. He convinced me that 1000 cals pre-band was unattainable due to the constant hunger, but 1000 cals is completely attainable post banding because of the early satiety and longer feeling of fullness.

I gave me 1 and a half mls and that takes me to 7.7 mls in my band. But he also said that its possible to have had evaporation from the band, and it might not be that much really... ? !
I just don't know what to think. Its all seemingly hypocritical. One says one thing, another says another, neither agree, or disagree.

But he made much more sense that anyone else so I am gonna go with it and see what happens.

Also, when I was eating baby food I was full, and losing weight. I didn't mind eating baby food at all... so I am gonna eat it for breakfast a bit more.

I shall update this later...