7 Weeks Post Op

Had a lovely deep cleansing facial today and an eyebrow wax and tint. It really makes you feel great. I have decided that I will be doing this regularly since turning 30 because its good to look after yourself. I have never bothered before so have to make up for lost time. I cannot recommend facial massage highly enough. My face feels smooth and supple and wonderful. It kind of irons out all the bumps. Apparently it also aids weight loss, as they massage you towards your lymph nodes to aid lymphatic drainage. Whether it actually does do this or not is beside the point - because it really does feel wonderful!

Having my hair trimmed later too. I cut myself a fringe on Sunday night as I got bored. It looks really nice, but I really need the ends evened out at the bottom, as I last had it cut in Jurmilla back in October when we went to Riga! So its a bit 'endy'. I might get her to make the fringe even more pronounced to, as I really like it.

So a total day of pampering for me.

I am going to take DS on a bike ride later today. Its not nice enough to go for a walk really, as it looks like it will tip it down, but a bike ride will be ok. At least if it does rain we can get back quickly!

I will be taking a photo next Thursday for my 2 month bandiversary. I took one at 4 weeks as well, but there really didn't seem to be much difference, so I didn't want to post it.

I think what I will do is make one of these blog pages simply of photos month by month and keep adding to them as I lose weight. that way you can all get the idea of how its going body shape wise.

I still have a sore throat, and woke during the night with ear ache too. Goody! So I went to the quack to see what it was. Apparently I have a little bit of *insert word too quick and weird to understand*. So that's good eh? Got some drops to take care of whatever it is anyway. I also must not use the ear plugs for a few about a week. So this time next week I shall be filing for divorce under irreconcilable snoring. Help me!

I received my meal from http://www.wiltshirefarmfoods.com/ today. They are WOW! We have just finished the first one... Coronation Chicken. MMMMMmmmMMMMmmm is all I can say.
We have already put our next order in!
Here's a picture of our lovely meal (excuse the dreadful decor... it will be done next week!!)

Nicole is 25 Pounds Slimmer Today

Nicole is 25 pounds slimmer than she was in early January. She started the NutriSystem diet and has been sticking to it more or less. Today she weighs 210 pounds and she started out in January at her heaviest weight of 235 pounds. Nicole is a mother of a two-year old toddler.

She also just started Tae Bo a few days ago and she says working out to the video is really good for her even though it is so intense. See more on Tae Bo for weight loss here.

See Nicole's weight loss progress here.

6 weeks + 6 days post op

Nearly survived 7 weeks with my band. Seems like a lifetime. I can barely remember the pain I had after surgery for those few days. It's funny how your body and mind can control negative emotions and make you feel much better, but with positive emotional things (e.g the birth of a baby, or marriage etc) you never forget... just the negative bits about it get dimmer and dimmer... (eg labour and nerves!) You can vaguely recall it but its not raw any more. I love that clever mechanism within ourselves.

Things I can really sharply remember about Brugge and the whole 'Band Experience':

*The room in the Acacia

*The last massive supper I eat before being nil by mouth.

*Getting changed into the hospital gown and sexy stockings - I was so excited

*Being wheeled off to theatre

*Walking out of the hospital on the 15th with my travelling buddy and new friends D & M and feeling really proud of myself and amazed at the prospects of life from then onward

*Watching Lillies on the TV in the Hotel; Both of us tucked up in our beds like on a sleep over.

*Having breakfast on the 16th February in the Dining room and knowing I was special

*Walking around Brugge and feeling the sun on my face

That's about it. Those are the core things I remember. When I think of them I remember more tiny little bits about those memories which make them especially mine... Like the taste of my first soup after banding etc.

I am glad I can grab these memories and play with them. It seems like a long time ago now, but they focus my mind on the fact that I have changed my life forever. So when I am feeling RUBBISH like today, and flick back through the photo's it makes me feel so much better.

I can't face food today. I have a sore throat and feel really tired. I have had a banana for breakfast and a ready made slimfast for "Lunner" (this is between lunch and dinner! Why don't we have a word for that time of day? We have brunch, but not lunner. Afternoon tea is not right either. To me it conjures up period dress, posh people, scones and cream and hooray Henries.... or am I wrong....).

Here is a picture of Travelling Buddy and I in Slovenia. We are BOTH in my coat!

Unsoliticted comments: Where do they lurk in your life?

Over at the LivingAfterWLS Neighborhood we have been talking about body image pre and post weight loss. Many of us carry battle wounds from childhood when we were called unkind names by children on the playground and sometimes by insensitive adults. I found this article by Laura Lallone about the wounds we carry from childhood to adulthood. If you are like me her story is all too familiar. I

Seeking 10 Weight Loss Tips that Help Save Our Climate

I find the latest updates about global warming and climate catastrophes quite alarming. But, this is a site about weight loss, not climate change. However the two topics can easily be tied in together. If we adopt simpler more natural lifestyles, it can only be good for the future of a healthy planet.

So here are some tips for weight loss that help the earth too. I'm looking for more ideas from people, please add your suggestion below.

1. Walk there instead of driving if at all possible.

Walking is a great way to lose weight. Walking burns as many calories as jogging per mile though it takes longer to burn them. One mile burns up about 100 calories. But the benefits are much greater as it tones the whole body, helps flatten the stomach, is a great help to the digestive system and has been shown to help reduce depression. It also increases a person's metabolism for the rest of the day, meaning more calories burned per hour long after you've stopped walking. (The image here of people walking on a city street is by wili_hybrid.)

2. Eat less meats and processed foods and more local fruits and vegetables.

Meat is a very energy intensive food to produce. Fruits and vegetables use up much less of the earth's resources per calorie and eating more fruits and vegetables and eliminating processed foods and limiting meats is one of the easiest ways to lose weight.

3. Drink filtered tap water instead of sodas, pop and juice.

Save on all those cans and bottles and sugary calorie goo factory production.



Please add your suggestions below. Let's build this list to at least ten great tips!

6 Weeks + 5

Lost another 1 and a half pounds!

I am OFFICIALLY the lowest I have EVER been since starting to lose weight.

I am now 16 stone and 8 pounds! YAHOO

The lowest I have been is 16 stone 8 and a half pounds, which was some time back in April last year. So I am absolutely thrilled.

If I lose just 1 pound a week until I go on Holiday at the end of May I will be in the 15 stone somethings!! That's is incredible.

I LOVE MY BAND

6 Weeks + 4 days

Today we are going to get the garden sorted. Hurrah!

I am going to the meeting with DS and then when we get back, hopefully DH will have already started doing some dump runs. We still have all those old fence panels lying on the lawn... (or mud as it probably is now!) and then we are taking down the triffid gazebo!

Should make a huge difference.

Later on I will post a close up of my scars so that you can see how they look like now.

OK, here is a shot of my gutz!

The big one on the right is my port scar. There are 5 scars: 1 on the left, one dead centre, the Port scar and one slightly further to the right of the port scar it looks like a little dot on this photo. Then there is one dead above the centre scar too but the camera didn't catch it. Its very small anyway, not even 1cm.

They don't look so bad do they? They were very angry the first couple of days after I took the bandages off... and I thought one of them was going to heal lumpy, but they are all nice and flat and well healed.

What this photo shows up, because I didn't use a flash, is the stitches under the skin. The wounds were stitched subcutaneously and then the seams left to heal naturally, so in normal light you cant see these marks... but the photo casts a different shadow and I can see quite visibly the little nicks in my skin where there are obviously stitches underneath. Interesting.

Anyway, today was a great day. We got the garden half sorted out. The Triffid is no more, and the ends of the Russian vine/Old mans Beard are pasted with plant killer... aka Jeyes Fluid. I love that stuff. It totally destroys weeds or horrible plants that keep growing where you don't want them. Use sparingly though, as otherwise you kill everything around them too!

So our garden now looks massive! Its amazing what a difference it has made. We still have a load of fencing to get rid of, and the lawn to repair with new seed, but we can do that another day.

So, all is right in my world at the moment, and its weigh in day tomorrow again! YEAH!!