Gradual Weight Loss Works for Sally

Diets were not working for Sally so she decided to take a long term approach and change her lifestyle, rather than dieting.

She says;

Because I've taken a gradual approach, I've had gradual results as well. At first I lost a good bit of weight, but now my weight loss has slowed to an average of about .5 pounds per week. I'm down 26.5 pounds from where I was at the beginning of January; I'm halfway to my goal. If I keep my current pace, I will reach my goal one year from today. Two years to lose 53 pounds--I never before would have found that acceptable, but I also never before could have managed to lose it at all!


See her very interesting story here and here.

Spicy Cranberry Sauce in Pinot Noir

Did you receive our LivingAfterWLS Recipe of the Week on Sunday? (If not, subscribe by entering your email address in the Free WLS Newsletters box on the left.) It was all about cranberries. Well, Elise over at Simply Recipes presents a great cranberry sauce using a Pinot Noir as the simmering base. Her food blog is one of my favorites, though not weight loss surgery oriented. She is all about

Word of Thanks

Dear LivingAfterWLS Friends:Just a word of thanks for all your support, prayers and kindness over the last few weeks. As many of you know my father has been critically ill and on Monday underwent open heart surgery to replace an artificial aortic heart valve which has given him life since 1969. Yes, 1969. Remarkable. He now has a new artificial valve and is responding well. Your thoughts and

Totally stoked!

Ok, I just could not resist.

My DH jumps on the scales 38 times a day. The first time he does this is in the morning, after going to the loo and completely nude. Its so funny what we do in the privacy of our own homes huh? We wake up and I can hear the scales from upstairs and the "Yeeees!" as I hear him lose another pound. Our scales talk to us. They actually say your weight so you don't need to look down. He has been doing slimfast for just over 2 weeks now. He went onto it when I had my last fill (20th october) and has so far lost exactly 1 stone (14lbs).

So as he is tripping lightly, nude, up the stairs dodging the semi open blind so our neighbours don't get a morning treat, I decide to have a go.

I hopped on and WOW. This morning in my nightie I was 17 stone 3.5lbs (241.5lbs) which is FAB. I actually hopped on those scales 3 times and each time they said the same thing. when I am in the high 17's they are not so accurate and they sometimes say different weights one after another as it fluctuates because of my hefty bulk, but under 17 and a half stone they seem to be dead on accurate. I love this.

So I know I weighed in yesterday, but I am adding this one in because its real, and has totally given me a boost of confidence!

So check my ticker a the top of the page - now lost 10.5 pounds since banding. 13 more pounds and I will have broken my pre-band-blow-out-weight! YAY

Obviously I will update this section, but I just had to share this because I am truly happy this morning for the first time in about 6 months!

Breakfast this morning:
1 pint of s/free squash to take my pills with.
1 coffee
1.5 weetabix with milk. I had 2 in the bowl, but only managed 1 & half before I pushed the bowl away.

Lunch:
1 cup of coffee
1 Tesco Healthy Living yogurt
1 small banana
home made chick pea curry and rice. No idea how many calories, but it had the following ingredients:
chick peas
tomato passata
garlic
onion
peaches
curry powder and other spices
boiled rice

I actually ate a larger portion than I thought I would, but it was still much less that everyone else.

I have kind of managed to work out the calories in each portion of what I ate for the curry, and today's total calories is roughly 970. Not bad again. I am probably over estimating, because before the curry I had only eaten 370... but 600 is not bad considering. It was yummy too!

I also died my hair black today. I really fancied a change and I didn't know whether to cut it or bleach it or what on earth to do to it really, so I was playing around with a programme called 'Face on Body' (which is really really cool by the way) and decided to use a good photo and change what I looked like. I picked a picture of Donald Trump and some strumpet and bunged my face on it just to see what I would look like with black locks. It looked really good, even though the picture came out a bit naff and I was now standing next to the most ugly man on the planet, so I just went for it!

Here's a picture of Donald and Me, and then a pic of the real look once I had done it. Well pleased!

All part of the new me!

Getting Up Early to Exercise

Katie lost an amazing 124 pounds off her petite frame over a period of 17 months. She now weighs 110 pounds.

She was slim on her wedding day 18 years ago but started gaining weight after her pregnancy. She tried many fad diets over many years. But nothing worked. Seventeen months ago she decided she was going to exercise early in the mornings. Real early. She started getting up at 3:25am to beat the crowds at her local gym. Her workouts are 90 minutes long.

See her story and some very inspiring before and after pics here.

Weigh in today...

Well, I weigh 17 stone 6 and a half pounds this morning. (244.5lbs)

I thought I would weigh in again this morning seeing as it's Wednesday again. It was also a Wednesday that I weighed before I went off to Belgium again, and by strange coincidence, it was also Wednesday that I was banded in the first place.

So Wednesday will be the weigh day for me.

To date - my total weight loss since banding is 7.5lbs

Because of last nights choke... And for those who have asked "Do I mean PB?" No, I really do mean choking - I could hardly breath with that food stuck in my band - which was too far down to be puked up by fingers down the throat, but not wanting to go through the band either; I guess you could call it a 'half way house'. Trust me I had my fingers down there many times, but it didn't do anything except bring the swallowed saliva back up again. Grim for sure, but its these type of experiences that help others right?

Since being reconnected to my band I have come to the conclusion I haven't had a pb... just a reaction to the food going through the band, or not as the case my be. I haven't had a classical burp followed by regurgitated food. That has not happened at all. Its strange, but maybe others have experienced the thing I am going through and also had a PB...? Your experience is valued.

So all I can call my episodes are 'chokes' as nothing ever came up, just royal pain on and off for between 20 minutes and 3 hours, near loss of consciousness, shakes, runny nose, sweating, hiccups and eventual release as the food passed through the band.

I am going to seriously re train my eating as it is obvious that I have a serious difference now.

So, today, because of last nights 'half way house choke' as I will henceforth refer to them, I am on liquids for 24 hours. I can feel my band in my stomach right now.

This morning when I got up I had a glass of water and took my tablets. Prozac comes in a capsule that is ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING and I refuse to break it apart and take it any other way, so I was careful and swallowed both pills individually with a couple of large swigs of water. When I went to the doctor on Monday for pain medicine, I spoke about getting the Prozac in liquid form, but he said they are not supposed to prescribe it as it's horrendously expensive. Diddums. What a joke. If I need it mate, then you will have to prescribe it. I then broke up my Co-dydramol into quarters and took them individually with large amounts of water. I followed this 30 Min's later with 2 warm coffees. Then for lunch I had a yogurt. I have just finished another warm coffee and am about to have another one.

I really don't want to have to go and have an un-fill or a de-fill or whatever you call it. That would just be bloody typical! So I am really going to take it easy, and also I am just gonna stay away from really dry foods. Its not worth the hassle. Maybe after I start to lose some weight then I will be able to have a try again, but for the time being I am going to let this settle down.
I think that I might have some gastric swelling as I can actually feel it around my oesophagus which is a bit worrying, so I will let it settle down with fluids/soft diet for 24 hours and then see how i feel. If its still terrible, then I will do another 24 and so on until I go to mashed stuff again. Now I know its working, I am going to do it right.

Something in me just had to push it a little bit and see if it REALLY was going to work, if there really was a difference you know? Its so horrible having lived with this crud for so long, and getting so down about it and losing all faith and confidence in the band, the doctors, the surgery and even myself. I really thought I was a total failure.

I know its working for sure, and I am really really REALLY EXCITED!!

Update from M the bunk mate - she was out of theatre last night. Her tubing was in her intestines!! OMG. Yes, it was quite a nasty surgery as they had to go deep apparently. I shudder to imagine, but she phoned this morning and its all done. She left the hospital this morning with her DH and went back to the NH hotel where I stayed -Her DH apparently had wild boar last night just like I did for my last supper - it was heaven I'm telling you!

So I also must tell you I had a call from the company who supply my band to Dr. Dillemans. They are handling everything and I should get some forms to fill in in the last week of November. I fill them out, send them back by Post and then they deal with it within a week apparently. That will be good, as I can pay off my credit card and not worry about spending money for Russia. That's a weight off my mind. I spent the holiday money on getting back to Belgium in a hurry, so I was kind of fretting that we would be eating in the Moscow soup kitchen for the week! Not a good thought.

If I get any more news I will post it.

I am feeling really up beat today and happy and bright and alert. Still in pain, but not doing too bad.

*Whispers* My bands working!!! HA HA HA HA

*silent hope and optimism is growing inside me right now*

Food log for today:
8oz glass water
2 cups coffee
1 Tesco Healthy living Toffee Yogurt
2 cups of coffee
1 serving of Quaker Real fruit porridge over cooked and then pureed till a paste
8oz skimmed milk (for my coffees)
1 cup of coffee
1 glass of water
3 inch square piece of home made lasagne (low fat) pureed

Total calories for today:
approx 800 (can't work out the lasagne at all)

The lasagne I made was really tasty.
Heres the recipe
1 500g packet of leanest steak mince
1 500ml packet of tomato passata
20 sheets of Egg Lasagne Verdi
3/4 pint skimmed milk
3 oz flour (or enough to thicken)
1 tablespoon of green pesto
grated mild cheddar cheese (enough to lightly cover each layer and the top)
1 beef oxo cube

Pre heat the oven to 200 oC
Dry cook the mince in its own juices until no red meat is visible.
Add tomato passata, pesto, oxo and mix.
Blend with an electric hand blenda until no big lumps are left.
Set aside

Put milk in a pan with the flour and bring to the boil whisking continuously as it thickens. If too thick, add more milk/water. Add a little salt and pepper if liked.
set aside.

Get a large 16inch x 10 inch square casserole (or smaller for more layers)
Grease the bottom of the casserole with olive oil or butter.
Put a little white sauce on the bottom and spread around
Then add 4 sheets of pasta to cover the bottom of the dish - Keep close together.
put a dollop of mince sauce on each sheet and carefully spread to cover the sheets then grate enough cheese to cover.
Cover this layer with another 4 sheets of pasta.
put a dollop of white sauce on each sheet and spread
grate cheese over, add another layer of pasta.. continue i this manner until its all gone.
The top layer you want to put both mince and white sauce and then cover the whole thing with grated cheese. No need to go over board, but needs to be a little more than you were putting in the layers. I think i must have used about 200g cheese in the whole thing. Don't worry if the edges of the pasta sheets are peeking through its gonna be lovely anyway!

Bake for 30 minutes and eat!

What you don't eat, let cool and cut into portions and freeze. It reheats in the microwave in 3.5 minutes from frozen and is just as yummy.

As you know I made this lasagne yesterday, and froze last nights leftovers. I didn't think we would be having it today, but both my boys wanted it again!! So its served us another night.
This recipe makes 6 good sized adult portions.

Enjoy.

Oh Sweet relief - 3 hour choke over

OH MY

I just spent the last 3 hours choking; Let me set the scene.

It was 4pm. DH and DS are getting ready to go for a bike ride. They shout cheerio, and off they go slamming the door behind them. I am on http://www.lapbandtalk.com/ looking up everything I can about lapbands now that I am all interested again since mine might actually works now...(!)

I got up, went to the fridge, grabbed some houmous and then went to the pantry and grabbed a box of finn crisp slims. Ripping open the packet and yanking off the top of the houmous whilst reading some thread or other I start to tuck in.

I had 3 crackers and 1/5th pot of houmous. Felt a bit chokey and clogged. So I stopped.

All seemed fine, just a bit blocked up, but not like anything before when I have had to lean over the sink etc. Spent another 15 minutes or so on the computer looking at stuff, and then the boys came back. I got up and started to get the things ready to make dinner.

I was making a lasagne. I made the mince sauce and then the white sauce and started laying the pasta in the dish etc. We are about 45 minutes post crackers at this point. DS wanted to help make the lasagne, so I let him put the pasta sheets on, and DH grated the cheese in between the layers as I HATE grating cheese (EEEEwwww) and so we called it a family lasagne. However, DS was dithering about and making a right mess, and I was feeling *dodgy* and slimy in the mouth. so I told him to run along and I quickly finished the lasagne. By the time I had put the last layer on it and DH was grating the final lot of cheese on it, my head was in the kitchen sink amongst the grotty empty mince meat packet, garlic crusher, coffee cups and veg peelings. I was spewing slime for England and the pain in my back was crushing.

I got DH to bash my back like he was burping a lead baby and it helped to ease the pain, but nothing relieved it. I got the lasagne in the oven and wandered about a bit. it was so strange. I sat on the sofa and looked up some stuff on DH's laptop as he was in the classroom with DS playing 2 player games across the Internet by this time. So I was sitting feeling really weird, and hot and flustered and I got a bowl and just put it under my mouth. The saliva started pouring again. It was 6:30 - 2 hours since the crackers. I felt hard and uncomfortable. I needed to be in the quiet. DS and DH had come back into the front room and were making so much noise talking and the telly and all that stuff... I just HAD to get out of there. I took myself off upstairs and sat on the toilet seat with my head in the sink. At 6:45 I called Dee. I couldn't take anymore and I didn't know what to do with myself. She was such an amazing godsend to me. She was right there in the bathroom on hands-free listening to me foaming at the mouth, having Man-Hiccups and spitting and puking and telling me it will pass. I was so glad. She then told me it was gonna get worse after the hiccups. The hiccups move the stuck food you see. It got worse just like she said and I wanted to DIE. It was like I was gonna choke to death. I was talking all funny, I couldn't breathe and the PAIN!!! Then Puke! Up came a bolus of something - I thought I must have swallowed a golf ball and missed it hidden under the crackers or something as that's what it felt like, but this was just a soft little bolus of half digested cracker paste.

Then, as I was doubled over banging my foot on the floor for DH to come upstairs watch my death throws, and Dee is on the phone saying "Its ok, honest", I felt relief.

Phew... then I felt faint and thought I was gonna pass out, and then I got the shakes. totally uncontrollable. The adrenalin that pumped through my body in that time was untrue.

It was 7:30pm and it was all over. 3 hours choking on a cracker when I wasn't particularly hungry is NOT something I want to repeat in a hurry.

So guys, its has never happened before, and I now know what it feels like to have restriction.

YYEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

Dee reminded me that when I last saw her, I was frustrated and angry that my band was not working and I said "I just want to PB, and choke and be restricted!" Well, that wish came true! Something is definitely going to happen now and I feel excited beyond belief about that!! THANK YOU GOD.

So today's food:

1 weetabix

1 piece Spanish Omelette

3 finn crisps and 1/5 tub houmous

1 Tesco Healthy living toffee yogurt (i am about to try this)

Total calories: 637

All I can say is Wow.