From 300 to 120 Pounds

CNN has posted another inspiring weight loss story today about a young woman who lost 180 pounds and has become a fitness instructor. Jennifer Marnell is 5 feet tall and has gotten a lot of publicity since her successful weight loss. She was featured in this January's People Magazine as well as on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

See her story at CNN.

Weigh in day yahoo!

Ta Da!
Drum roll please...

I lost 3 pounds this week!! Oh yeah!

That takes my total weightloss since banding in February 2007 to 20 pounds, and MORE IMPORTANTLY 18 pounds since it was fixed on November 9th 2007.

YES YES YES YES YES 16 stone 8 pounds.

I think I can honestly say that since it has been fixed many things have dawned on me.

Things that I thought were impossible became like a light at the end of a tunnel, and then quickly disappeared when my band broke. I felt like a complete screw up. Finding out that it was broken after such a long time made me cry with joy because it let me dare the believe that it wasn't actually my fault.

Since it has been fixed...

I know what a 'proper' fill should feel like
I know a fill is nothing to be scared shitless of.
I know that at 5.1ml I had more restriction than I had EVER had
I know what 6.1ml feels like
I know what proper restriction feels like
I know when to stop eating
I know that I must sit down and be 'involved' in my eating
I now know why everyone says "chew chew chew" or "spew spew spew!"
I know what its like to lose weight every week when you find the correct restriction.
I know what it feels like to not be in pain EVERY day
I know that a lot of people have faulty bands
I know that I am not a failure
I know that I will reach my goal
I know I already feel better emotionally and physically
I know that I cannot over-eat any more.
I know that my band breaking was the WORST thing that could ever have happened
I know that sticking with it was the correct thing to do
I know that the band is the best tool in the world for me
I know that this band is changing my life
I know that I love my band like crazy

Oh my, oh my... within 2 weeks I will be hitting the mark where I am the lowest I have ever been. I could actually cry with joy. The lowest I got before my band broke back in May 2007 was 16 stone 3. That means just 5 more pounds until I reach my first HUGE milestone.
Cooooool. Bring it on!

**Update**
Todays cals: 560
100g boiled rice
1/2 can chicken curry
1 sausage
1 helping peas
1 tbsp mashed potatoes

Bye Bye Carina :o(

Today we said bye bye to our German lodger, Carina. DS was terribly upset. She seemed to be holding it together until I gave her a hug and thanked her for being such a cool lodger. The tears started then, so I quickly said goodbye and hurried her out of the door so that it didn't get all dragged out and horrible. I am really going to miss her. She has already phoned me and told me she is back in Germany and that she is fine. Apparently all her friends and family were there to meet her which is lovely for her.

So today has been a bit horrible. Its sort of been flat and grey and boring. I spent the afternoon and best part of the evening painting. I have painted a couple of doors, a couple of skirting's and some architrave. washed down the walls in the hall and stairs and washed the doors around the handles. I find they get really grubby for some reason. Its only when you start cleaning stuff you realise how minging everything is! So I have a sparkly house that stinks of paint. Great.

I have made the two rooms up for our new Spanish lodgers who arrive on Tuesday evening. I am really excited to meet them. I hope they will like it here and hope that they will be as relaxed with us as Carina was. we will make them as welcome as we possibly can anyway, so hopefully they will fit right in. Maria is taking the yellow bedroom upstairs and Xandra is taking the blue bedroom downstairs. I have made up both their beds and put fresh towels in their rooms and all that kind of thing. I would really like to run a hotel I think. I really enjoy making the room nice for guests.

Food wise, today has been a bit odd. I have felt hungry quite a lot today. I awoke with a bad headache, which I had to dampen with pills... the only ones were ibuprofen. I know I am not allowed to take it but I was desperate! I am sure one tablet won't hurt me. Goodness knows where the paracetamol have gone. We seem to eat packets and packets of them.

Anyway, today I have also pb'd twice.

Breakfast:
I didn't have anything except for juice.

Lunch:
Pasta with pesto and Parmesan on.

Snack:
1/2 Hot bread roll with pesto on

Dinner:
1 sausage, onion gravy, 3 green beans and some strange egg/flour gnocchi type stuff.

I pb'd on the roll, and also on my dinner. Only a little bit. Not serious, but I had to make myself sick on both occasions as my chest was so tight.

I am feeling really shit about food today. I sat looking at my dinner wishing I could just eat it all up really quick.

I did something really weird today too.. When I was eating the roll and I knew I had had enough, I took a massive bite and chewed it and chewed it and then spat it out. Then I took another big bite and did the same again. It felt really nice to have a mouth full of food and to really have a good old chew. Psychologically this is really starting to kick arse. I am obviously craving food, and craving chewing. I have taken to eating gum quite a lot too... another thing I never used to do. I was never a gum chewer. I know its really not a good idea to chew gum with a band in case you swallow it, but I am gonna risk it. I have never EVER swallowed gum yet... Famous last words? I dunno, but come on man its such a remote thing. Also I have a mouthful not some little iddy bitty piece of gum. I like to have about 3 or 4 sticks/bits going round in there at one time to get me really chewing! HA

So I am feeling hard done by and annoyed because I cant eat. Strange that this should coincide with Carina leaving and me being upset. I wonder what I would have eaten had I not had this band? So I just discovered I do comfort eat, and I kind of thought that I didn't too much.

Well I couldn't comfort eat, which is even greater news! Hmmm

Vice Busting Gets More Expensive

Isadora, I really like your blog. I was reading your story, so much like mine! Pregnancy gives us one good thing--the baby! but the weight? not so much fun to deal with.

I lost 130 pounds, would love to have you check out my story.


Vice Busting...everything else is just a diet!
Julia
vicebustingdiet.com



Julia, thanks much for your note and the inspiring photos. Congrats for losing all this weight after your divorce and keeping it off for 10 years. I know your motivational book has helped lots of people lose weight and I think it's quite likely that this program you're now selling for about $147 may be well worth the additional expense to some people.

Yesterday

Went to work on a coffee and a banana. Came home and we all went to Tesco's. I bought some new type of cereal bar which were really nice. The Groove by Alpen. Yum and only 140 cals each.

Then cam home and we went to tesco to get a few bits for the evening... DS wanted to get a cake for Carina (as she is going home today) and we needed some wine and beer to take to TB's house for the karaoke. We also got DS a new Wii game to cheer him up.

Lunch was 100g baked potato with cheese... only managed half and even then less than that actually stayed down as I was one again over the kitchen sink puking.

Then I went back to work and afterwards made my way to TB's house where TB's DH had made a lovely curry as a good bye meal. I couldnt eat very much at all. I had a poppadom and a couple of spoons of curry and rice, but that was it.

Yesterdays cals were 1400. Mainly due to wine, but cake and stuff too. Not a god day cal wise.
However 6 months ago a goodbye meal blow out would have topped to 3000 cals so its so great to know that I simply CANNOT eat over the top any more. So cool.

Are Slimming Pills Safe?

Slimming pills will probably help you lose weight, but that weight loss comes at a price: your health.

Slimming pills don't contain the right balance of macronutrients (carbohydrate, fat and fibre) that your body needs for good health and proper function.

Plus by reducing the amount of fat in your diet, slimming pills risk your mental health. Your brain's cells need a type of fat called Omega 3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid (PUFA) to build their protective membranes. PUFAs are only found in a select group of foods including seafood, flax send, canola oil, soy bean oil and walnuts. A lack of PUFAs can disrupt your brain's cell membranes, a condition that has been related to clinical depression (1). In fact studies have found that it only takes one month for mood to deteriorate when the proportion of daily energy intake from dietary fat is reduced from 41% to 25% (2).

There's absolutely no need to risk your health to lose weight: weight loss should improve your health not harm it!

To lose weight the healthy way you need to eat a nutritious diet, with small meals and snacks every 2-3 hours, as well as engaging in regular exercise. To find out how you can integrate a healthy, balanced diet into your lifestyle see an Accredited Practicing Dietitian. If you are based in Queensland, you can see a Dietitian at the Wesley Weight Management Clinic.

References:
1. Lombard, C. 2000, 'What is the Role of Food in Preventing Depression and Improving Mood, Performance and Cognitive Function?' Medical Journal of Australia, 173:s104-105
2. Anita S. Wells, Nicholas W. Read, Jonathan D. E. Laugharne and N. S. Ahluwalia, 1998, 'Alterations in Mood After Changing to a low Fat Diet' British Journal of Nutrition, 79 , pp 23-30

The Cabbage Soup Diet

A couple of reporters at Fox News have been trying the Cabbage Soup Diet this week.

They say that if you want to get a kick start on losing weight, it might be worth a try for one week. The cabbage soup diet is not limited to just eating cabbage soup all day as I had thought. They say it worked great for them. The diet helped them both realize they were not eating enough vegetables and fruit. It also helped them become more creative in trying different combinations of vegetables cooked in different ways.

They say that after seven days they have both lost five pounds.

See more about the pros and cons of the cabbage soup diet at Wikipedia.

The latest book about the cabbage food diet sells for $5 on Amazon - The New Cabbage Soup Diet