Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Getting lower....
Just thought I would let you know quickly that when I got up this morning I jumped on the scales and it said 16 stone 3... or 227lbs.
so that means I have lost 25 in total... Obviously that's not an official weigh in because I like to do that on Monday#s but it proves to me that it was indeed retention.
I am really pleased... especially as we went out for pizza last night!!! Hurrah!
I just booked an appointment for hair extensions! YIKES! I have long hair anyway, but I want it longer!!
This is my last Wednesday of work!! This time next Wednesday I will be IN THE SKY!!
*update*
Well today was tiring. Lessons went well though, all my pupils are quite easy on a Wednesday... 2 adults 4 kids and 1 teenager who's quite advanced.
The advanced lesson is starting to happen now. It has been really hard getting her to work at what she needs to do. People don't realise the work they are taking on when they decided to venture on to grade 7 and beyond.
A lot of mummies and daddies decide that poppet wants to do grade 7. Ok. They don't realise that you are looking at a minimum of 2 hours practice daily.... And to actually BE grade 7 when you take the exam your looking more at 4 hours. This is a serious intensive study. What actually happens is that poppet practices her pieces once through and then does her scales once - and thinks that he/she is now grade 7. You could teach a monkey to play 3 pieces given enough time... doesn't mean hes grade 7.
I feel that if you have a piece of paper that says grade 7 on it, you want it to really mean what it says... you don't want that certificate to just mean "I can play 3 tunes quite well and stumble through a piece I have never looked at before". You want that certificate to mean "I have done a years worth of intensive study and you can chuck anything at me at this level and I can do a great job of it".
My pupil, thankfully is not one of these... but I am pretty sure she didn't like bringing her practice time up to length and working at things, not just playing easy stuff. Its taken a good year to get her to change her technique to something approaching elegance and its going to take another before I will even consider her ready for grade 7. Shes doing well, I just hope she keeps the pace going. She will be an excellent pianist if she continues... but as with all teens... there are other things pressing. Her goal is to be a piano teacher, so the drive is there... lets hope it stays.
Other than that, boring day. Didn't get home until 10:30pm and was shattered. Ate my tea on the sofa and watched 2 episodes of Home and Away then went to bed.
That's all folks.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Holiday of a lifetime
http://www.heritancehotels.com/HA/index.php
We are staying in the Luxury Suite...
Ahhhhh
Feeling a much better
Here are the two bowls of cereal in my little blender...
Here are the two bowls of cereal blended roughly (i.e. chewed) in a measure....
For the benefit of those who can't see.... this has made just over half a pint of mush. There are still quite a few large chunks of stuff in there, but basically it has the same consistency as cereal chewed and spat out.
this is therefore 10 ounces of food. Now, this was the first time I had ever eaten 2 bowls of cereal straight off the bat like that.... So that tells me that a big bowl of cereal, even If I over filled the bowl would not be more than 8 oz.
This has made me happy. My meals are less that 8 oz too. Definitely.
So why am I not losing weight as fast as say... Helen? I dunno. But looking at what she eats, she doesn't eat very much at all (see her comment on yesterdays post) so I think probably she has a different and tighter band than me. I have read her blog often enough to see the difference in her pb'ing and eating patterns and there is a vast difference between hers and mine.
So she has enough restriction, and I have restriction..... just not quite enough....yet!!!!
this is where these blogs and chat sites really help. Dr. Clayson could not allay my fears. Helen could. It could have been anyone but they have to know what you are going through.
***A big THANK YOU to Helen!!! ***
I am losing weight. I have to look at the bigger picture. I am so bad at not doing that.
I am 20 pounds lighter than I was 3 months ago. That's great!
So even if I lost half a pound a week, its still the right way.
I WILL get to my target and Helen will get to hers.
Erika and I seem to be following much more similar routes... I have to keep in mind that we are ALL different.
I feel much more positive.
Thanks for bearing with me and I am sorry if I have been horrid and petulant.
Love you all!
Monday, May 14, 2007
BLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH
Feel crud
Am stressed beyond control.
Put on 1 and a half pounds this week.
And yes I KNOW it is *star* week... but AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I am able to eat too much.
What banded patient with 5mls in their band can eat 2 Massive bowls of cereal and not even feel full....??? Hmmmm?? That's right. There isn't one. What about a big curry and rice and then later on second helpings. What about a whole meal and then pudding?
Jeeez I need some help man!
I tried in vain all day to make an appointment for a fill with various companies, and basically not a lot will do it.
A place in Winchester will do it for £260 (Gulp!) but not until 9th June.
Rubbish
Another company will do it if I buy their aftercare package. £1450.00 (GULP GULP GULP!)
Another place will do it if I pay £270 for the fill and £250 for the surgeon consult.
GRRRRRRRRRR
So basically I am stuck with it and wait until I get back from Sri lanka where I shall eat my way around the Island and come back as a bloated crispy fried English woman. I am SO worried about this. I have self control but for Gods sake, I wouldn't have had the band if I had been able to control myself that well would I?????? I have no idea why Dr. Clayson wont fill me before 6 weeks are up. Even Cisca at www.obesitycare.co.uk which is the company I had my band done through said its usually about 2 - 3 weeks between fills. Even Dillemans said that to me himself!!! I thought this guy worked in close connection with these people. The bloke Dr Dovey in Barnes will fill you up when ever you cross his hand with silver too. I mean we are paying for this! I need restriction or I will have to slash my wrists!!
I did talk to Dr. Clayson and he tried hard to reassure me. I wish he would get another secretary as his one is a bolshy cow to the Nth degree. She has a serious superiority complex.
Anyway, Dr. C told me that a lot of people go through this. Its normal.. don't worry, relax bla bla bla but for GODS SAKE. I am paying him £75 to fill me so I lose weigh, but I don't!!!! I am not made of flaming money. All I feel is its £75 wasted... I mean I don't know this guy do I really. He could be just jabbing a needle in me and making some kind of sick psychological test and in 2 years turn round and say "oh yeah, you know you have had 10 fills from me... actually you lost weight with the power of your mind" or some crap like that.
Am I insane???? Does anyone else doubt their doctors like this?? I pay £75 I want results NOW baby. Not in 6 months time.
How do I know that hes not milking it and that actually you can shove 10 ml straight in there and crack on, but that would only cost £75 rather than the £ 375 they can bleed you with if they spoon feed you the fill 1ml at a time bull shit.
Sorry I am just mad.
Anyway,
Hateful day,
Hate everyone and his dog.
Going to boil head
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGH!
Eat Chick Peas for Weight Loss
One cup of garbanzo beans will provide you with 50% of the fiber amount recommended for daily consumption. The high fiber prevents blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal, this being especially good for anyone with diabetes, insulin resistance or hypoglycemia.
Garbanzo beans are an excellent source of the trace mineral molybdenum which helps detoxify sulfites. Sulfites are a preservative that is often added to prepared foods such as deli salads and salad bars.
The insoluble fiber found in garbanzo beans helps to make your stools bigger and to prevent constipation, irritable bowel syndrome and diverticulosis.
A cup of garbanzo beans has amazing nutritional benefits. Of the daily recommended values of key nutrients, it provides 70% of folate, 50% of fiber, 29% of protein, 26% of iron, 84% of magnamese and 164% of molybdenum. All for 269 calories.
See the excellent overview of chick pea health benefits here.
See the recipe for the Garbanzo bean salad above here.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Rainy on the outside, Rainy on the inside
Post Eurovision chill down
Its all about eurovision... so you don't have to bother reading it if you don't wanna.
Well. That was the most crap eurovision I have ever watched. I thought the presenters were shocking and the humour in the little Finnish interludes between the entries were disturbingly tragic and childish for such a lovely nation.
I have also never witnessed so much shameless political voting in my life. Yes, I know it always happens, but I watch this every year ok. Seriously... I print the score card and everything. I actually love the show - well used to love it.
I am appalled that Serbia won. It was a miserable song with strange dancing and touchy strokey girls prancing about in imperial German wear or some utter rubbish. The singer her/himself looked like a cross between Penfold from Dangermouse and Jimmy Cranky and it was outstanding simply because it was bad.
The trouble is you have 13 or 14 former eastern block/commie states including their mother ship nation Russia all voting for each other. The rest don't stand a chance to be fair.
I must admit there were some pretty random votes from the western countries to countries i SERIOUSLY doubt anyone watching phoned in a voted for. I mean COME OFF IT! There should be some way where we can view the call breakdown because I think its boll***s to be honest.
I have just been looking at a website (www.songcontestvoting.com/eurovision) that gave the predictions based on who 'fans' thought was going to win.
Here is the line up:
1st. Serbia
2nd. Turkey
3rd. Greece
4th. Georgia
5th. Ukraine
Check out my predictions based solely from watching the show and marking dance/outfit/performance/song:
1st. Russia 12pts
2nd. Sweden 10pts
3rd. Hungary 8pts
4th. Greece 7pts
5th. Latvia 6pts
6th. Slovenia 5pts
7th. Finland 4pts
8th. Spain 3pts
9th. Belarus 2pts
10th. Moldova 1pt
Heres the actual 'winners'
1st Serbia (WTF???)
2nd Ukraine
3rd Russia
4th Turkey
5th Bulgaria
Now take a look at the what the site says about how they got their predictions:
"They could only vote once and, where possible, were prevented from voting for their own country. Results were converted to Eurovision scores (1-12). If eligible countries didn't vote in the poll then we tried to fill in the gaps using data from our main survey on which countries they were 'most likely' to vote for.
So as you can see its all a load of Boll**ks. Serbia's song, Molitva, was apparently a heartfelt plea to an estranged lover with religious overtones. The obviously religious Serifovic said she would celebrate her victory with 'litres' of white wine. A nice Christian thing to do... go and get wrecked. "I can't lie to God as I kneel down and pray. You're the love of my life," cried Serifovic as five bouffant backing singers touched her back in support.
The dancing was like a slow-motion lesbian porn film.
Unfortunately the singer Jimmycranky/Penfold aka Marija Serifovic has an unusual resemblance to a particularly horrid Slovakian by the name of Ivana which made the whole thing even more unpleasant for me.
Here is a picture of Ivana drawn by my sister sophi and then a pic of Maria...
Hmmm I forget which one is which now. Maybe they are cousins or something.
The man about to be dunked is Ivana's boyfriend. Poor poor thing.
Anyway, here is a GENUINE result from this houses jury...
This was my rough draft of the score card...
I shall not be watching another eurovision.
And finally, a quote from http://www.clickpress.com/releases/Detailed/34098005cp.shtml
"Furthermore most fans either don’t think ‘neighbourly’ voting exists or that it’s just a bit of fun. Only 28% of UK respondents (and 24% overall) thought suspect voting patterns were reducing the contest to a farce."
SHUT UP!! Serbia was awarded the competition's maximum score by five of its eight neighbours.
These are obviously NOT fans because eurovision is now BLATANT and SHAMELESS neighbourly political voting and IS a complete farce.
I am sad to say this was my last Eurovision. Its too difficult for me to watch it anymore because it simply isn't a true reflection of the song/act/dance/outfit quality any more.
In fact maybe they should just get around a table and vote for which country they like best, o want to trade with/exploit and save the general public from the excitement of thinking there really is a contest in the first place.
...and yes, I am now off to enjoy the rest of my life.