Stuck-ish?

I was just thinking a couple of days ago that I need to get my second fill pretty soon, but now I am rethinking that. I made something for dinner tonight that we just had last week - I sauteed shrimp and broccoli and tossed it with tortellini and pesto. I served myself about a cup of food. I ate most of the shrimp, some of the broccoli, and about 3 bites of tortellini, and all of a sudden I felt like I had a golf ball stuck in my throat. I wrapped the rest of my dinner up and put it in the fridge for lunch tomorrow.

About 4 hours later, I needed to take some medication that had to be taken with food, so I had a few Triscuits and a spoonful of cottage cheese and took 2 pills. I have that golf ball feeling again and heartburn on top of it.

I'm trying to figure out what's causing this. Not that it really matters, I just need to respect it and take it easy on the food for now, but I'm finding the whole thing very interesting. Before this, I haven't had any stuck episodes, PB's, vomiting, or intolerance to any food. I can eat bread, salad, any vegetables, steak, and dry chicken with no problem.

I'm on antibiotics and painkillers because I had an abscess on my, um, let's just say upper leg region (yuck and ouch) so I'm thinking my newfound stucky-ness is either:

a) the stress from being in pain for a few days

b) the antibiotics

c) the painkillers

d) lack of sleep from tossing and turning all night last night

e) my fill just finally kicked in for real

I know you're not supposed to take antacids with antibiotics but damn I don't know how I'm going to go to sleep with this burny feeling in my throat, and I'm all hopped up on Vicodin so I need to go to bed soon.

True or False

I went to the support group for my bariatric surgeon's office last night. We played a weight loss surgery trivia game. It was pretty fun. We answered questions such as:

• What is the range of a normal BMI?
• Which has more protein per ounce: meat, dairy, or soy?
• Which surgery has a side effect of "dumping"?
• What are co-morbidities?
• Which surgery has an average weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week?

Then we got to a question that stopped me in my tracks:

• True or false: it is possible to lose weight with a lap band without ever getting a fill?

I rang my bell and answered: true. I figured it was a trick question. I mean, we all lose weight at the beginning, right? But over time, we all need fills. Right?

Well, my answer was right (and I won the point), but my explanation was apparently incorrect. According to nurse G, some people lose all of their weight without ever getting a fill. There was a gentleman there who was near goal, lost 60-something pounds and had never had a fill.

Really?

I have never heard of such a thing. Has anyone else? From reading everyone's blogs, I thought the whole point of adjustable gastric banding was the adjustable part. I'd love to hear some thoughts on that because I'm stumped.

I'm a little nervous to say this out loud, so I'll whisper it like Sarah did:

I was under 250 again this morning. 249.8, but I'll take it. I have been working hard, and I'm hoping this time the 250's are gone for good.

BYOCing for Drazil

1. If you had 3 wishes, what would they be and why?

One: I would wish that all of my family and friends would be happy and healthy and not have to worry about money or employment or infertility.

Two: I would wish that I'd be at my goal weight and would be able to eat and drink anything I wanted and never gain weight.

Three: I would wish that my house would magically clean itself.

2. If you had all the money in the world and perfect circumstances - how many children would you have and what sex?

One.

3. Have you ever faked it? (Because I need to laugh...feel free to skip this one if it's too personal.)

You mean "Present Face"? Of course.

4. What movie character do you think you look like?

Ummm. None that I am aware of.

5. Repeat question. Which blog or comment spoke to you or stuck with you this week and why?

Sherry, of Two Sticks or a Lighter, did an amazing VLOG about whether eating disorders or being overweight is a matter of being out of control or being a control freak. I don't know the answer to that, but it's certainly something I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out. Plus, it was just fun to watch because she's so darned adorable and reminds me of Arden Myrin.

*****************

As for me, same old, same old. Work is great, but very busy. After my LOVELY low of 247.4, I decided that I wanted to keep that and started working out like a maniac and eating less. Where did that get me? 251 as of this morning. Drat! Only then did I realize that all the weight lifting and stuff was going to make me gain blood volume and retain water. Oh well. I know I'm doing what I'm supposed to and the scale will eventually show that.

2 BYOC's and Some Other Stuff

I booked my flight for Chicago last night! I'm really getting excited.

The scale was up 5 pounds this morning. This is OBVIOUSLY not real gain - 5 pounds in a day when I worked out and ate well yesterday is just ridiculous - but I still didn't like seeing that number bounce up above 250. Grrr. I'm drinking water like it's my job today. I ate some Chinese food leftovers yesterday and also did a really good workout, so I must be retaining a bit.

Since I was so busy due to traveling and working at the new job, and I'm catching up on blogs today, here are the last 2 weeks of BYOC's that I missed...

Do you have any nicknames?

Noodle, Steph, Mama (from my birds).

What was your “last straw”? The incident/situation that made you decide to get a lap band or commit to losing weight via any plan this time?

The idea of going on Weight Watchers/Jenny Craig/Atkins/Slim Fast/South Beach AGAIN only to lose some weight, feel totally deprived, and gain it all back was making me depressed, but I felt like crap and needed to do something. My mom encouraged me to look into getting the lap band, I did, and the rest is history.

What’s your favorite joke or funny story?

My favorite funny thing is Garfunkel & Oates. They are hysterically funny women and I just love them. Here are two of my favorite videos of theirs.

Pregnant Women are Smug:

This Party Took a Turn for the Douche:

If you could be a TV dinner – what flavor would you be?

Right now, I resemble a Hungry Man, but I'm working my way to being a Lean Cuisine.

If you could be a cartoon character – who would you be and why?

I'd want to be Sandy Cheeks from Spongebob Squarepants. She is funny and fearless and c'mon...who wouldn't want a giant yellow sponge and a starfish as your best friends?

Who was your teenage heart throb?

Sebastian Bach from Skid Row. Oh, how I loved him! That hair! Those eyes! That voice! Sigh.

Do you believe being overweight is about a mental obstacle or do you believe it’s simply about overeating/food?

I think it's a little of both. I'll give you today as an example. My husband was making himself a grilled cheese for lunch. He asked if I wanted one. Heck yeah, I wanted a grilled cheese because they're delicious and he makes really, really good ones. However, I had eaten breakfast just a couple of hours before (3 slices of Boar's Head chicken on an Arnold's Sandwich Thin with a dab of mayo, and 3 sliced strawberries on the side) and I wasn't physically hungry. Pre-band, I would have been all over that grilled cheese, hungry or not, which is a mental thing. However, since I wasn't physically hungry, it made it easier to resist the mental pull of how good it would taste. Does that make sense?

What’s your all-time favorite song?

Ripple, by the Grateful Dead. We had a Dead cover band play at our wedding, and that's the song I walked down the aisle to.

Whose blog or comment spoke to you/stuck with you this week and why?

Jacquie’s blog about losing her dad and brother-in-law really touched me. Also, Amy W.'s posts about soul searching and bikini pics...wow!

Kicked My Goal's Butt!

My current short-term goal was to be under 250 pounds by the first day of summer, June 21. I blew that out of the water. When I stepped on the scale this morning, I weighed 247.4. Yay! That's 33.6 pounds down in 2.5 months. I celebrated with 45 minutes on the treadmill today.

For my next short-term goal, I'm resetting my "first day of summer" goal to being under 240 by June 21.

Bad Blogger...No Donut

I haven't been blogging lately and for that, I am sorry. I can't remember the last time I was this busy. I LOVE my new job but I don't have time to breathe, and then by the time I get home, the last thing I want to do is sit down at the computer.

My vacation with my mom and sister was amazing. We had so much fun and laughed and laughed and ate...my goodness...did we eat. We had delicious French food one night (including fries drizzled with truffle oil), pizza another night (my mom and I shared one with candy-striped beets and goat cheese), fabulous breakfasts, and when my dad asked how many times we had dessert while we were away, my answer was, "You mean how many times a day did we have dessert? Twice." Yeah.

So you might be wondering how much weight I gained. Well...there must be something to this whole "portion control" concept because I lost two pounds. I definitely did not feel deprived. I certainly was not "dieting". But my mom and I shared most of our meals, I didn't snack much, and I didn't gorge.

I honestly enjoy food more than I did pre-band. I have no guilt about eating. I am not calling myself "cured," not by a long shot, but I have always had two phases: on a diet OR off a diet. There wasn't really an in between. Now? I can eat reasonably. I can leave food on my plate when I am full. It's pretty cool.

Here are a couple of pictures from my trip.

The "bed" part of the Bed & Breakfast:

Dana, me, and Mom in front of the Red Lion Inn:

Mom and me at the outlet shops...it was freezing and even snowed a little! That was a real treat for this Florida girl. :-)

Dana and me at Laurel Lake:

Crazy Week

Tomorrow will be the first day of my new job. I am a little bit nervous about a few things. The commute is longer, I need to be there at 9:00 which means dealing with rush hour, and I will have an actual schedule with a lunch break and everything. For the last decade, I haven't had a particular time I needed to be in the office - I normally worked something like 10:00 to 6:00 and ate lunch at my desk most days. I don't really like having a whole hour for lunch - I'd rather just work through and get home earlier. But I'll see how it goes. Maybe once I have completed training, that will change.

I'm working on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, and then going out of town for a few days, which has been planned for MONTHS so I let the people at the new job know and they said it wouldn't be a problem. My sister and I are taking our mom to a bed & breakfast to celebrate Mother's Day. We're very excited about it, even though I will miss my husband and my parrots.

This will be my first time flying with the band. I'm planning a good, hearty breakfast several hours before we take off in case I do get overly tight. I haven't had a problem with getting stuck yet, and I'm pretty sure I'm not optimally filled yet, so I'm not too worried about it, but I do want to be prepared. I got some South Beach Diet cereal bars and almonds to snack on, and I'll buy a big bottle of water before I get on the plane.

I'm off to do some errands. I need to stop at the library and pick up a book for the plane since I'm almost done with what I'm reading.

If I don't have a chance to post again before I leave for my trip, have a great week, everyone!