Happy New Year!!!

2009 was such a great year. I lost about 48 pounds (around .9 a week on average, since I have slowed down now that I'm so close to goal), got over a major breakup, held on to my job during a time when so many attorneys have not been able to, and made exercise a part of my life for the first time ever.

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When I think back on this year, I will think of it as a year that I spent working on myself, and I am so grateful to have had my band to help me overcome what seemed like an insurmountable problem with my weight.

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I also am grateful for all of the amazing bandsters I have gotten to know over the past 15 or so months, for all of the inspiration and support you give me every day, and from the total kick that I get out of seeing how incredibly well everyone is doing!!

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So, what will 2010 hold? I know that it will hold more of the same positiveness and that (sloooooowwwwllyyy but surely) I'll reach goal during the New Year. I hope that my love life will be better than it's ever been, that my relationships with friends and family will keep on thriving and getting stronger, that I will do very well at work, and that the economy will keep improving. I hope for great health, success on all fronts, and lots of love, joy and happiness for all of us!

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I'll be out of commission for the next few days because I'm ringing in 2010 at a spa with a few friends. We'll be doing lots of yoga, having some treatments, and I'll even be taking (and undoubtedly looking ridiculous in!) a Zumba class! Of course, there will be some good food and wine involved. Will look forward to catching up with you in the New Year!!

The Vegetarians Are Coming! The Vegetarians Are Coming! (HELP!)

OK, bandster foodies! I need some help planning a menu for the 40th b-day dinner of my dear friend Don. Don lives in Puerto Rico, and is going to be in NYC for a visit next week. Because that coincides with his 40th b-day, I told him to invite over a bunch of friends and I'll throw a dinner party for them (which is also what I did when he got his Ph.D a few months ago).

Here's the catch. . . a bunch of Don's friends are vegetarians. So, I've been really trying hard to think of a nice meal that does not involve meat. This is what I have so far -- but I'd really appreciate any suggestions or constructive criticism you have to offer!!

Hors d'oeuvres: Different antipasti, served on separate plates in the living room

Appetizer: Arugula salad with lemon-parmesan dressing (recipe from Bon Appetit magazine via Epicurious.com. . 4 star rated)

Entree: Wild mushroom lasagne and garlic bread (OMG, carb loading!!)

Dessert: Tiramisu (4 star rated from Gourmet magazine)

What do you think? Should I be serving other sides with the lasagne? What if someone hates mushrooms? Is tiramisu light enough to go with this? It's a little stressful to plan a menu when I don't know the people so well that I know what they like! Any advice you have to offer would be most appreciated! :)

Christmas Fun!

Hi! I've been MIA for a few days because of the holiday! My mother and I had a great time here in NYC! I have to show you guys the presents that my 7 year old niece, Grace, got for me. She picked them out herself (her parents didn't even know what she gave me) and wrapped everything up for me to take home over Thanksgiving. Seriously, the girl has excellent taste and I will fully be rocking this look in 2010! (Maybe not at work, but that's just maybe. . . ) :)

LOVE! How cute is this?!? :)

Even cuter was the way she wrapped it. . . Not sure if you can read the tag. . it says: "To: Aunt Cathrien From: Grace ho ho ho merry boatatos"! This relates to a few hours that we spent over Thanksgiving singing up made-up songs about potatoes -- too funny!

For Christmas dinner, my mom and I went to The Standard Grill, which is the fab restaurant in The Standard Hotel. . .

Check out the Dalmatian Santa cap on the guy behind me. . .

Cute pic of my mother

I kept the meal pretty sensible and band-friendly on the whole. . . starting with a ridiculously good cauliflower soup. . . with a poached farm egg, covered by trout roe . . and sliced toasted almonds on top. I normally wouldn't get cauliflower anything, but it was the only soup on the menu. Glad I did though! It was surprisingly delicious!

This photo does not do my organic salmon justice!!

And then. . . . INSANITY ENSUED!!! We had the CRAZIEST dessert that I have ever seen in my entire life! It's called The Deal Closer. Warning!!! Food porn follows!! Warning!!!

The only "deal" this could close is putting your dining companion in a sugar coma!

Me, catching my first glimpse (I know. . I look a little crazy-eyed, right?!) :) :)

Mom, looking like a kid on Christmas morning!!

This dessert is a giant bowl of delicious chocolate mousse, with bits of cake in it . . covered with chocolate shavings and fresh whipped cream. WHAT?!?! OMG, was it good! And, you'll be proud to know that I did not overdo it (er, to the extent that even having one bite of this thing could qualify as not overdoing it. . ). I had one spatula's worth of the mousse, a few bites of the ice cream and stopped before I made myself ill! :)

It just dawned on me that this was an NSV of sorts. When I was heavier, I would NEVER have allowed myself to get a gluttonous dessert like this in public. . especially not at a chic restaurant with hot waiters. . . But now that I feel like I am not looking like a fat person anymore, I was able to order it and really enjoy it! And, the fact that I didn't gorge myself on it was also an NSV, since this dessert clearly goes right on down the band.

Did you notice that they served it with two spatulas?! Crazy!!

While the scale hasn't moved downward, it hasn't gone up either, so I'm feeling pretty good about that. I hope that I'll get the next pound off some time in the next two weeks. . .

I hope all of you had a happy and healthy holiday!! Am looking forward to catching up on everyone's blogs!

Christmas Came Early!! NSV!

Hello, pretty! I've been waiting for you!!

After about 2 months of stalking these boots on-line. . and REFUSING to pay full price, I finally found them on sale on Piperlime yesterday! They only had ONE pair left in my size. . for a second there, it was touch and go!! But, I got them. . and had them sent by overnight delivery so that my wait would finally be over.

I got home tonight, and they are in! I put on a good song to set the appropriate mood, changed into the dress I've been wanting to wear them with, and opened the box. But, when I tried to zip them, I couldn't!! AGH!!! My calves are still just a smidge too big for these boots!! Or. . . so I thought. . . after a minute of carefully adjusting them and pulling up the zipper, they were on!! And, they feel just fine and look great. Woo-hoo!!

I can't believe that I can finally wear normal boots! This is actually a big NSV for me, and I am so thrilled!

So, while the scale doesn't seem to want to move closer toward goal just yet, I'm going to enjoy things like these every chance I get! Merry Christmas everyone!! I hope that everyone is enjoying the holiday that they are celebrating, and I am sure that 2010 has a lot of nice things in store for all of us!

Guess who I finally met today?!?!

That's right, none other than the inimitable Angie! We met up earlier tonight for a drink at The Royalton Hotel, and had a great time. After a year of reading one anothers' blogs and writing back and forth, it was so great to finally meet her in person! Meanwhile, it really was just like seeing an old friend who I've known for ages! She is exactly as she seems on her blog and vlogs -- very open, nice, funny and warm!

Angie is now 80 pounds down, looks amazing, and is -- mark my words -- going to be tiny (!) when she gets to goal.

It's been so great to meet other bandsters through this blog. There's nothing quite like being able to talk "band" with someone else who is going through the same thing. Angie and I chatted a bit about the whole boy thing -- telling people about the band, and a whole host of other things.

AND, it's snowing here! It's really coming down like crazy now! On my way back from The Royalton, I walked through Times Square and had someone take my picture. . . here it is!

Post for Yana (and all Bandsters-to-Be)

I was reading Yana's blog a minute ago. She is one of the bandsters I have met here in NYC (though not at the last brunch) and is in the midst of her pre-op diet right now.


During my pre-op time, just like Yana (and just like nearly every Bandster I've encountered), I went through a period of questioning why I was doing the surgery. I thought -- why am I going to have myself cut for this? Why can't I just do it on my own? What if I fail at this? What if I have complications??
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If you've read my earlier posts, you'll know that I made a Pro/Con list to help me with these doubts, and that looking at it really helped to make the decision clear for me. I even took the list to the hospital with me, and had it right up until I was wheeled into the OR. I also made a Post-Op Plan for Success, listing all of the things I was going to do after surgery to help make sure that I wouldn't fail. I found both of these exercises to be a big help, since I really thought about my decision in a concrete way (i.e. on paper) and the pro/con list showed me that my "pros" really outweighed my "cons." And, in retrospect, my cons turned out not to be that big of a deal.


The diagram above is one that I found on Lise the Loser's blog before I had my surgery. It shows a host of the adverse physical and mental consequences of obesity. And, it also drove the point home to me that the risks associated with my surgery were probably much less than the risks associated with keeping on the course I was on. I found a lot of comfort in this, and I hope that any Bandsters-to-Be who read this will, too.

Bandster Brunch!

This was such a great weekend, between the Boot Camp party, the supper club on Saturday, and. . . brunch with several great NYC bandsters on Sunday! (I put links to everyone's blogs under their names in the caption just below. . )

Jen, Catherine, Carla, Colleen and Heather

Obviously (from past posts), I already knew Jen, and it was great to see her again! And, I had the pleasure of meeting Colleen, Carla and Heather, all for the first time. It was a great brunch and a really nice opportunity for us all to share our experiences and get to know one another, other than just through our blogs.
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I can't stress enough how helpful this blog has been to me throughout the past 14 months. I have met so many wonderful people through it, and all of your comments and commiseration have been a huge help to me. I also love being able to track my progress and to have such a great diary of this important year. I would absolutely recommend blogging to anyone bandster (or future bandster) who is interested in doing so.

Have a great night, everyone!

Another Culinary Event

On Saturday, my friend Marjorie and I headed out to Brooklyn to attend another event by A Razor, A Shiny Knife. That group is an underground supper club headed by the very innovative Michael Cirino, who loves food and is very into the science behind cooking.

We started out with lots of gorgeous, fresh ingredients, of course!

Most of you know that I really love to cook (and that hasn't changed at all since I was banded), and it was so much fun to get out there, roll up my sleeves and prepare a wonderful meal with about 20 other like-minded people! (Interesting observation. . no one there was more than a few pounds overweight. . . well, at least before the meal anyway. .) :)

The scene. .

Hare terrine. . this was a terrine made with rabbit (hare) meat, pork belly, heavy cream, pistachios, walnuts and other lovely ingredients. . . then wrapped in bacon (what?!) I only had a tiny bite, but it was dee-lish!

We made all sorts of wonderful things. . . ravioli stuffed with ricotta cheese that we made, and we also made the pasta for it. Here is me, kneading the pasta dough. . .

On the right. . . a big bubbling pot of tomato wonderfulness. . . into which we put lots of chicken and pork, until it just melted off the bone. This became the sauce for our ravioli. . . OMG, was it good!!


I'll refrain from putting up photos of every course, but it was a really amazing meal. I was glad that it was served family-style (unlike the last Razor event I attended), since that let me just take a small portion of the things I wanted. For some reason, my band wasn't that tight on Saturday, so I was able to eat a fair amount compared to normal. But, I didn't overdo it too badly, and -- SHOCKINGLY -- the scale wasn't even up the next day.

I was glad that my band cooperated -- I didn't even get stuck one time that day, I felt like I was really able to enjoy everything, and I don't think anyone thought anything was unusual about the portions I took.

Here is A (who made the terrine) with some incredible beef that was sliced thinly, then folded up around some grated truffle. Each little beef packet was tied with a single chive. Two were put into each of our bowls, and when they were served, hot broth was ladled over . . just hot enough to cook the meat. Wow. That was amazing, and the beef was so tender that I was able to eat it without a problem.

This cracked me up. . . the bottle says "DON'T F*ING COOK WITH THIS. ITALIAN SWEAT, BLOOD AND TEARS." Nice!

At the end, we did a Secret Santa exchange (we all brought little gifts with us), and I wound up getting three sized metal mixing bowls -- something I can always use!

We wound up being at the kitchen from around noon until about 10:30 p.m. What a great day, great meal, and a great group of people. I will definitely be doing some more events like this!

Here is me with my Secret Santa. .

Boot Camp Holiday Fun

This is me at the big wall. . . It's OK. . we're friends now!

This has been such a fun weekend! On Friday night, I went to my Boot Camp's holiday party with my friend Marjorie. It was a great party, and I really enjoyed seeing the people from my section in "civillian" clothes! Normally, we're all wearing really unflattering camoflage pants and army green t-shirts (covered with sweat, no makeup, etc.)! The funny thing is that it was actually kind of hard to recognize some people -- and I didn't know anyone's first name (we go by last names in Boot Camp)!

I realized the other day that I've lost about 30 pounds during the six months that I've been doing Boot Camp. I can really see such a difference in my body, and I am surely in the best shape of my life right now. What a world of difference from even this time last year!

Here is a photo of me with my two favorite instructors, Steve and Nicio

SIXTY SEVEN!! (And thoughts on telling boys. . .)

This morning, I hit 67.2 pounds down. That puts me at just 7.8 pounds from goal (and 17.8 from my aspirational goal. . ). Holy cr@p, that is fantastic!! :)

One thing I've been thinking a lot about is -- when it is appropriate to tell a guy about the band after I start seeing them. I think the answer to this varies quite a bit based on the nature of the relationship.

For now, I'm still really enjoying my rebound fling with C, but it's not something that I have any expectation will go anywhere. It's more about me getting back into the swing of things, and I'm really enjoying the attention.

That said, last Wednesday night, he was telling me about his New Year's resolutions and asked if I was making any. I told him that I wasn't going to be making any because (these days) when I want to make a change, I just do it right away, and over the past year, I've really been living out all of my most important past resolutions. I didn't elaborate too much on that. He knows that I've gotten more into fitness during the past year and have toned up and dropped a few pounds (not to mention hiring a tutor to teach me Adobe Illustrator, etc.), but I didn't explain the extent of the health-related changes.

Part of me wanted to get into the grit of the discussion. One of his resolutions was to write more, and my first instinct was to say something about my blog. But, I can't tell him about the blog without telling about the surgery -- and it's not exactly something I want someone who I'm having a physical relationship to read! (He does not need to have my "before" photos emblazoned on his mind!)

Part of my fear in telling a guy about the surgery is that his perception of me will change. I think that's a legitimate concern. Part of that is that I don't want the person to suddenly look at me through some kind of "fat goggles" and suddenly find me as being less attractive. Another part of that is that I don't want the person judging me based on my inability to control my weight without the band. I'd hope that anyone I'd be serious about would view this as a positive though -- that I find a way to fix serious problems when I have them, and that I'm not afraid to make big changes or take calculated, well-researched risks when I need to do so to improve the quality of my life.

Just something to think about. I'm thinking of using C as a guinea pig. . . telling him to see what his reaction is. He's a pretty cool guy -- very open, and I don't think he'd be judgmental about it, and he is likely to have an interesting perspective and to share it with me. And, if he does have a bad reaction, that is a lesson I can take into more serious dating situations. What do you think?

'Tis The Season!

I had a really fun night last night. My cousin, Heather, and four of her friends are in town on a visit, and I'd been trying to coordinate a time to see them. I called Heather around 5, and it turned out that she was just a few blocks from my apartment. . . so, I rushed home, and we popped open some bubbly that I had in the fridge, and had a great time!

As it turns out, one of Heather's friends is an interior decorator. She looked at my tree and asked if I had any ribbon (yes, a giant box of a zillion kinds) and if she could pimp my tree for me. I was like -- absolutely!! And, I'm so glad that I did! She took it to a whole new level!!

Check out the use of the leopard print ribbon here. . . Fun!

After that, I had plans to meet one of my bandster friends -- Peter (who you may know as REALIZEinCT on LapBandTalk.com) for dinner at Bar Boulud. We had a great time -- it's so nice to be able to sit with a fellow bandster and really talk about everything, from how we made our decisions to how people are reacting, and much more.

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Peter has lost about 80 pounds and is one of the first bandsters I know who did the Couch to 5K program and wound up becoming a runner as a result. He looks great! We walked around after dinner and took a look at the amazing window displays at Bergdorf and other shops on 5th Avenue.

Bandsters at Bergdorf! That window was spectacular!

I almost forgot to mention that Vincent Cassel (Oceans 12, Eastern Promises, etc. -- photo below) was a table away from us at dinner. I was happy to be able to provide a celeb sighting for Peter, since he came in from CT for our dinner! :)

Single digit?!?!

My mother just sent me an e-card with a really nice message. One of the things it said is "Now your goal is a single digit!" And, it is. I can barely believe it. . I am only 9 pounds from goal. Wow. . that is so major!

SIXTY-SIX!!!

Wow. . this last pound was hard-earned amidst Thanksgiving and December's holiday parties! I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to do a proper post . . . will get on that this weekend! Just wanted to share the 66 news. . . :)

Divine Intervention?

I didn't gain any weight over Thanksgiving (came back to see the lowest post-op number on my scale. . whew!), so that may have made me a bit cocky. . .

I was a little hungry late afternoon. . . with no healthy snacks around. . . and decided to get something out of the vending machine at work. Well. . . it turns out that they just stocked it with one of my favorite cookies. . . the Milano. . .

I plunked in a dollar and selected that option. And the freaking package just sat there, stuck!! I shook the machine a few times without any luck . . . then realized I was making a bunch of noise and really didn't want one of my colleagues coming in and seeing me acting crazy, trying to get cookies! So, I went back to my office, got another dollar (they were $.85) and selected it AGAIN. AND, both packages just stayed there -- they must have been glued together somehow! I shook the machine several times, but no dice!!

Finally, I just told myself "WALK AWAY!!! It wasn't meant to be!!" And, I did. I wonder what lucky bugger is going to get 3 packages for the price of one. . . :)