Alterations for My Alterations!

One fringe benefit I've noticed about being closer to my goal weight is that I no longer have to buy outrageously expensive clothing to look and feel decent at an event. The two Karen Millen cocktail dresses I recently bought are a perfect example of that -- they each actually cost less than the tax on the last formal dress I bought. (In all fairness, I probably wore that gown 8 times over 2-3 years, so I did get a lot of use out of it. At the time, I splurged because I couldn't find anything else that I felt really good wearing.)

Most of you know that I gave away an incredible amount of clothing over the past year. I did set aside most of the really expensive pieces though (as well as my "start weight" pants, which I like to put on once in a while and play Jared from Subway. . hee hee). :) I haven't done much in the way of alterations up to this point, because I didn't want to have them tailored down to a transition size that would only fit a short while.

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When I was heavier, I bought quite a few St. John suits. That was basically my uniform for work every day. These suits are gorgeous. . . beautiful material, very flattering, and they look (and are) expensive and polished. They also are all knit -- so forgiving because they can be "blocked" (basically, stretched) up if you gain weight, or blocked down if you lose. That let me wear them for a really long time during this process, but finally I got to the point where they were just too big to wear.

So. .this weekend, I finally took two of them to the tailor. It was interesting to see that she had to move in the shoulders, shorten the sleeves (because my arms are smaller now) and shorten the skirts as well. It's a lot of alteration and I am really curious (and nervous. . I'm kind of up a creek for an outfit to wear to a big presentation this week if this doesn't turn out well) to see how they come out, and whether my tailor can size them down by somewhere between 6-10 sizes. Fingers crossed. . . I'll try to remember to put up a photo.

In other news, I got home last night to find a package in the mail from my very good friend, Christina, who lives in Berlin. It has a note on it telling me not to open it until I get to goal! How thoughtful and nice -- not to mention exciting (!) -- is that?!? :) I can't wait to get there so that I can open it!!

So much for that. . .

I'm pretty sure this doesn't even count as a breakup . . . but I wound up having a talk with C last night and found out that he isn't interested in taking whatever it is we've been doing to another level. So, since there isn't even a possibility of anything else developing, I don't see any point in continuing to see him. It's one thing if that's an unknown factor, but when someone tells you point blank that it's not what they want, that's another story.

This is a bit disappointing because I do like him, but it's not exactly the end of the world or anything. Other than me having a bruised ego that someone I'm interested in doesn't feel the same way, there isn't much more to it. And, while the amazing chemistry has been totally messing with my girl brain, there are definitely some things about C that would have gotten on my nerves if we were in a relationship.

Still, it's annoying to me. I just don't understand guys sometimes. . .

Perceiving Perceptions. . .

Tonight, my friend Lauren hosted a GNO (Girls' Night Out) at her apartment. We tend to get together the same 8-10 girls on a regular basis. . either here or out on Shelter Island. I really like these girls, and among them are some very good friends of mine. . but I'm kind of picky about who I open up to. . . so, only two of them know about my surgery. The two are Erica (of the wedding last summer) and Emily (who is plain old awesome).

Anyway, it had been a month or so since we'd all been together. It's funny . . because the closer I get toward goal, the more each individual pound is noticeable. I mean. . the first 30 pounds, practically NO ONE said anything! But, in the past several months, I've lost 5-7 pounds, and everyone notices. C gave me a nice compliment about that over the weekend, my receptionist at work made mention of it today, and all of the girls had nice things to say tonight. It's kind of surprising to me. I thought the "big reveal" was over about 20 pounds ago. . . . :)

Whatever, it's all good, positive and nice . . so I'm going to enjoy all of it. I hope you all are having nice nights, wherever you are, and am sending you my best.

Measuring up . . . at 70 down

At every 10 pound mark, I tend to take my measurements and do a contrast. In the first few posts like this, I was only counting the inches from my arms and legs once (despite that I do have two of each. . math never was my strong suit. . !), but here I've counted them both.

(Having trouble with the spacing. . hence the dots)

. . . . . . . From Start . . . . From 60 down

Hips: ......... 9.75 in. ...... 1.5 in.
Waist: ....... 8.5 in. ....... .5 in.
Chest: ........ 7 in ......... 2.5 in.
Forearms: .. 2.6 in. ....... .6 in.
Thighs: ..... 6.4 in. ...... .4 in
Wrists: ..... 1.7 in. ........ .2 in.
Ankles: ...... .6 in. ....... 0 in.
Calves: ....... 4 in. ........ 1 in.
Upper Arms: 4 in. ........... 1 in.
TOTAL: 44.55 in. ...... 7.7 in.

So crazy. . . I've lost 3.7 FEET. That is kind of shocking to me! Obviously, in a good way. . but shocking nonetheless. I do find it a little disconcerting that this last 10 pounds seems to have disproportionataly come off of my chest. . what is that all about?! Nonetheless, I went to Saks this weekend to get fitted for bras, and everything is still very proportional (and looks proportional to me), so I'm not freaking out about it. . .

Thanks for everyone's nice posts yesterday! I was on such a high all day from hitting 71, and your posts kept that great feeling going all day long!

Since I posted twice yesterday, I wonder if a lot of people didn't see the first one. Was curious to know what you thought about my blog outing. I'm also wondering how many other people who I know have stumbled across my blog and just haven't told me. Slightly disconcerting, but I'm going to do my best not to edit myself because of it.

Have a great day, everyone!!

OMG!!!! SEVENTY!!!!!!!!! SEVENTY-ONE, ACTUALLY!!!

I am 71.6 pounds down as of this morning!!! Holy mother of amazingness, people. I am OFFICIALLY no longer overweight and my BMI is now in the "ideal zone"!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!

So, what does this mean? Well, I've lost a lot of things. . . for example. . .

SEVENTY POUNDS!!;
Compartmental syndrome;
Not liking how my body looks;
Being worried about having to take the middle seat on an airplane (not that I want to sit there now. . worst spot on the plane!);
The inability to shop wherever I like;
Having my feet kill within moments of wearing heels;
Feeling less attractive;
Berating myself about my weight every single day;
Avoiding seeing old friends and colleagues because I didn't want them to see how much weight I'd gained;
Being uncomfortable in a bathing suit;

Worrying about what health problems my weight would ultimately bring;

AND SO MUCH MORE THAT I WON'T MISS A BIT!!

Let's do a perspective check, shall we?!?

I LOST THIS CUTE DOG (I love how worried he looks. . . no puppy, I just lost your weight. . you are fine!)

WHERE OH WHERE IS MY BACKPACK?!?!? Oh wait. That's right! I lost the equivalent IN POUNDS of this monstrosity off of my entire body!! Can you just imagine carrying that thing around every day? Apparently, that's what I was doing!

OMG. . . . . HAS ANYONE SEEN MY EMU?? No, wait. I mean. . . has anyone seen the emu-sized amount of fat that I took off my body in the past 15 months with the help of my band?! No? Good!! Awesome & good riddance!!! Plus, emus are creepy. . :)

Now people. You didn't REALLY think I could possibly do this post without showing you a 70 pound fish, now did you?!?! I didn't think so!!!!! Well, here goes. . . .

I feel so incredibly blessed and grateful to have been able to hit this milestone. I didn't think I could feel better than when I hit fifty, but I absolutely do. I have tears in my eyes as I am typing this because I had so much hope about getting to this point, but it was so hard for me to comprehend that it was really possible and that it would happen -- even though intellectually I knew that it was.

ONLY 3.4 MORE POUNDS TO GET TO GOAL. LET'S MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!!!

Self-outing. .

I had a really interesting conversation last night. I was at a wine tasting and a guy there (let's call him X), who I've met several times, mentioned that he'd read and enjoyed my blog entry about an event that he had hosted. I was really surprised to hear this, but given who it was, it was OK.

I hadn't realized that Google Alert would pick up my entries, since I specifically set up this blog so that it wouldn't be crawled by Google and other search engines. But, when I mentioned X's group, he got an alert about the post.

Anyway, it was interesting to find out that he'd been able to see my blog. It's funny, since obviously, I'm putting all of this very personal information out there on the Internet for people to read. But, this is the first time that someone I know found the blog independently, without knowing that it existed and without me knowing. In some ways, that makes me feel a bit . . well, naked! But that said, I appreciated it that X told me, and it was interesting to hear his reaction, which was very open and non-judgmental.

So. . . another twist. . ? It's a good thing that X is extremely cool and, while I don't know him that well, I do get the sense that he will be respectful of my privacy. (And X. . sorry. . I know you may read this, and hope that's not too weird. . .) It's such a small world that not only did I used to work with his brother. . but he's also going on a trip with C next month. . . Ack! :)

Having a ball. .

Last night, I went to the New York Auxiliary Ball at the River Club, which is a private men's club here in the city. One of my friends was on the planning committee for the event, so we decided to attend in support.

As you can see from the photos, I wore my RED (!) Karen Millen dress for the first time! I wore it with these round-toe heels in black satin that have a bit of a platform and stockings with a back seam (thank you Spanx, you for making these -- I love you!!). I really loved the outfit and felt great in it.

I just realized that I haven't been to a true black tie event since the Judges' Dinner in March 2009. I used to feel kind of stressed and nervous getting ready for these events, mainly because I didn't feel as good about my body as I would have liked. Even last year, when I had already lost 33 pounds, I felt better -- but still was a little stressed about the dress, how it would look, etc. But this time, I just felt really excited about getting dressed up and wearing my pretty new dress. It's such a simple, nice thing, and it felt so amazing to be able to really enjoy it.

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At the event, they had all of these fun party favors . . feathery headbands (see below) and black top hats. I picked this one, which went with my dress. I really liked it -- was a lot of fun to wear!

This event was for a school, so the guests were primarily couples (read: zero single guys of interest), but that was just fine. Actually, I saw C on Friday night, and we had a really good talk, which was needed since I'd been annoyed with him recently. I have no idea what is going to happen on that front, but I like him. He is cute, funny, smart, interesting, silly, and the chemistry is off the charts. So, I'm going to try to just go with the flow while keeping myself open to meeting someone else unless this gets more serious.

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OK, one last photo before I head off. . . here is one of me and Marjorie in the beautiful powder room. She was supposed to do a funny face too, darn it!! :) The dress she is wearing is the Dior gown that she got for a total steal when we were in Palm Springs last September. It really looked fantastic on her!

Weighing It Out

I've read so many posts and entries on LapBandTalk about weighing yourself that I thought I'd write about what I do. It works really well for me.I actually weigh myself once every single day. I do it in the morning, after I've used the loo and before I get in the shower or eat anything. Since my pre-op diet, I've kept an Excel spreadsheet with my weight and measurements. I only write my weight down when I hit a new lowest number. I also only update my stats in my LapBandTalk signature when I hit a new low.

Every time I lose a pound, my weight bounces up and down a bit before I hit the next pound lost. Because I've seen this pattern on a daily basis for about 15 months, I'm used to it and it doesn't really phase me. That's not to say I don't get upset about a plateau just like anyone else -- but if the scale is up .8 from Monday to Tuesday, I don't stress about it.

So, just to recap -- I count my weight on the day it's the lowest. I don't care what day of the week it is . . I'll take my SVs (scale victories) when I can get 'em!

I firmly believe that there is no "right" way to weigh yourself. Just do whatever lets you keep track of your progress (and monitor any backsliding) without unduly stressing yourself out. Hope that helps!

** One more thing I want to add is that, during the years that I put on most of my extra weight, I avoided the scale. I was terrified to get on it because usually a month or two would have gone by since the last time, and it would always show a gain. Now I'm on that thing every single day. There is no way that 10 pounds is going to creep back on me without me knowing about it as it happens. So, I feel in a much stronger position to keep that from ever happening again.

So cute . . had to share!

I was on the phone with my sister earlier, and had muted the television. At one point, I looked over and saw that Max (my cat) had seated himself right in front of the television and was very intently watching a program about eagles! I've never seen him really watch TV before, and it was just so funny and cute that I had to take his picture!

Fun Bandster Day!

I had brunch today with two of my bandster friends, Jennifer and Tracy. Most of you probably know Jen from her blog. I met Tracy through Lap Band Talk a year or more ago. We are both lawyers, and our surgery dates are very close together, so we bonded over that and have been e-mailing throughout the last year. Today was the first time we met in person!

Here we are in the dressing room at Bloomingdales

Brunch was great. There is somehing so nice about being able to talk "band talk" with fellow bandsters. It's amazing how common our experiences are, and it's just nice to talk to friends who really can understand and appreciate things like how wonderful it is to be able to do things like wear heels all day long now!

One thing that I should mention is that Jen got to ONEDERLAND today!!! WOOOOO-HOOOOO!!!! Congratulations!!! That is just awesome, and she looks fantastic!!

After brunch, we headed over to Bloomingdales because Jen needed a cute dress for her upcoming trip to Las Vegas, and I wanted to look at dresses too. She found an adorable black dress that looks so cute on her!! And, I wound up buying a new dress from Tahari in. . . . A SIZE EIGHT!!! I honestly don't know that I've ever had a size 8 dress before. Even at my thinnest adult weight, I was always in a 10. Major NSV!!!

Here we are in our new dresses. . .

SIXTY-NINE!!!!

Spoiler alert: This post is not about sex!

Get your minds out of the gutter, people!! :)

By some MIRACLE of God (which probably includes the extra workouts I got last week and this one as part of Angie's Hardcore Challenge), the scale is down ANOTHER POUND THIS MORNING!!! WOOT!!! (SORRY I'M YELLING! I'M EXCITED!!!!)

This puts me at 5.2 pounds from my goal!!!!! And only 2/10ths of a pound away from being 70 down!!! WHAT?!?!?! WOO-HOO!!!

What will my prize be when I get to goal?

With only 6.2 pounds left to go to get to my goal, I get asked pretty regularly what I'm going to do for myself when I finally get to goal. Honestly, I don't have any big plans for a particular reward. I've definitely celebrated lots of SVs with treats like massages, facials and such. But -- and I hope this makes sense -- it seems to me that getting to goal is the biggest reward I could give myself for the work that I've been doing.


Don't get me wrong. . . I am fully going to go more crazy on the clothing-buying front, and I'll probably wind up doing some celebrating with my mom and my friends, but all of that will be more incidental than incentivizing.

SIXTY-EIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

About freaking time!!! As of this morning, I am 68.8 pounds down and (insert drum roll. . . . ) only 6.2 pounds from my initial goal!!!

Between the holidays and my reduced exercise schedule between Thanksgiving and New Year's, it took me over a month to lose the last 1.2 pounds. But I'm very happy to see that now that I am back on track, the weight is still coming off.

Reflections on Dating. . .

I was kind of bummed out yesterday because I've been starting to like C more as I'm getting to know him, and the indications are that. . . (ugh. . hate this expression. . .) he may just not be that in to me. WTH?! :) I know he likes me as a person, enjoys spending time with me, that there is good chemistry, etc., but my impression right now is that this is never going to turn into anything more intense than casual dating. Basically, he hasn't amped up the amount of effort or energy that he has put into seeing me, and I'm tiring of the status quo.

Now here's the funny thing. . . I find myself a little surprised by this! I am a really nice girl, I have great friends, a wonderful family, am successful in my career, etc., etc. He is clearly attracted to me, and we have a lot in common and many common interests, so that's not a problem. Then again, this whole thing did start with an overtone of it not being anything serious, so maybe his male mindset is committed to that mode.

This made me think a bit about my feelings about my weight. In some ways, I'd been assuming that my weight was the main thing holding me back from being in the kind of relationship that I wanted after PP and I broke up -- and that once I got to a good place weight-wise, everything would just fall into place.

Part of that is because by getting my weight into a good spot, I feel wonderful, am more confident, and just feel good about myself in a way that I haven't in years. Another part is that I know that guys are visual creatures and that by being thinner, I'd have a bigger applicant pool of people to date. So, I guess I was kind of expecting that the first guy I liked once I got into a good space would be more excited about the prospect of dating me. So much for that theory!! :)

Meanwhile, I fully recognize that weight isn't the key to romantic happiness. But, it was something that made me feel less good about myself. And, in small way, I even secretly feared that part of what was holding PP back from marrying me was the fact that I was overweight -- even though I'd been heavy the entire time he knew me and he was always very complimentary about my appearance. I guess I thought that if I didn't like myself at that weight, it would be hard for him to.

So now, once again, I'm back dating and find myself with someone who does not seem interested in pursuing a more serious relationship with me. And, I don't even have my weight to blame anymore!! However, you will never find me complaining about not having extra weight so that I can blame it for anything! Instead, I need to just move along and find someone else who is more on the same page. Wish me luck. . . :)

Sweet Spot

I was just looking through my blog, and realized that I've been at my current fill level since March 12, 2009. Can you believe that?? That's more than 10 months without a fill! I'm really happy with the level and feel like I am at my sweet spot. I have 2.85 ccs in my 5 cc Inamed band.

I know that people vary on what they consider to be their sweet spot -- not just in terms of the number of ccs, but in terms of the amount they want to be able to eat. For me, I like my band to be tight enough that I can't overeat -- but loose enough that I am not completely conspicuous when I eat out, and so that I don't get stuck all of the time. My band is loose enough that I can eat some kinds of pasta, but tight enough that red meat and soft bread can be problematic.

Now that I am closer to goal, the weight just does not want to come off. A big part of that though is that since November, my schedule has been packed with one fun event after another. Dinners, holidays, parties, brunches, etc. And, I've enjoyed them all! I didn't gain any weight, but it's not exactly a surprise to me that I didn't lose any. Although I worked out through this period, I wasn't getting in as many workouts as I usually did.

Anyway, now I'm back on schedule with working out (and am going to get in an extra one this week because I'm taking Angie's Hardcore Challenge). I'm excited to see if that gets me to the next pound off. Stay tuned. . :)

Bitten by the Shopping Bug. . .

Uh-oh. . more tipsy shopping after brunch today! :) My friend Candace was back in town for a visit, and we got together for brunch with my friend Erika. Afterwards, we did a bit of shopping. . . including a return trip to Karen Millen (where I got the great deal on the black cocktail dress last weekend).

The sale was still going on and. . . emboldened by all of your nice feedback and Sherry's encouragement to try out more color. . . I bought another dress. A RED DRESS!! And, it was about $150, marked down from around $380. Nice! I actually like the black one better (and excuse my bra. . will need to get one that works better with the dress), but I like this for a change of pace.

I also got an incredible deal on a vereee sexyyyy knit dress from Wolford. It's so funny to me that this dress covers me from my neck to below my knees, but it's really body-conscious! Not sure if you can see the military-style epaulettes, but they totally make the outfit. This is a a $790 dress. . marked down a whopping 70% off!! The deals today were insane!! I had to hold myself back!! After all, I am not yet at goal yet, and I want to save the bulk of my shopping enjoyment for when I get there!

Gym Music To Get You Moving

There is nothing like a great gym mix to motivate you to work out -- and to put in extra effort when you do it. So, in that spirit, I'm going to share my favorites from my new gym mix. Happy working out! Let me know if you put any on your mix and like them!

1. King with out a Crown - Matisyahu (such a happy-making song!)

2. Womanizer (Benny Benassi Extended) - Britney Spears

3. Boom Boom Boom (DJ Ammo/ Poet Named Life Megamix) - Black Eyed Peas

4. 3 (from Britney - The Singles) - Britney Spears

5. Pon de Replay (Radio Edit) - Rhianna

6. Bad Romance (Bimbo Jones Radio Remix) - Lady Gaga

7. Cry for you (Spencer & Hill Radio Edit) - September

Enjoy!

Dinnerland!

I think I missed out on some blogland drama today, which is fine with me. But, I do miss checking one of my favorite blogs . . Dinnerland. . . and am sending this shout-out to request an invitation! Try me at chroniclesfrombandland@gmail.com if you can't invite me through my user account (which is set up under another e-mail address). I hope all is well!

There comes a time in every woman's life. . . . (BMI Index BS)

I've been wondering just how accurate those BMI calculators really are. . . I started out with a BMI of 37.2 on my 5'6 frame . . . and am now down to a BMI of 26.36, according to the NYU Medical Center's calculator. Meanwhile, I pulled up another BMI calculator for women, and it had me at a much higher BMI.

Based on the NYU index (and that's the one on my doctor's site), I need to lose about 9 pounds to get into the highest part of my ideal range. That actually sounds right to me. But, meanwhile, friends are telling me that I look great and shouldn't lose any more weight. Of course, some of these friends would freaking kill themselves if they had to buy a size 12 (even at Karen Millen), so we'll take that as a compliment and won't pay too much attention to it!

The thing is . . . I know that even the NYU's site's BMI calculator is wrong. My BMI can not be the same at my weight after 7 months of Boot Camp as it would be if I didn't have as much lean muscle mass. So, I view the calculator as an approximation. I have my next checkup coming up within the next month, and I'm going to ask Dr. Ren for more guidance on setting my goal weight. I want to be reasonable, and I don't want to overdo it.

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In the words of the great French beauty and actress, Catherine Deneuve, "There comes a time in every woman's life when she has to choose between her face and her a$$." I'm not quite there yet, but I want to know when that moment comes!

Catherine Deneuve

What a luxury my band has given me that this is one of my (future) worries!! I feel very lucky that this is the issue that I am thinking over tonight! Thank you, band!

I feel good (da na na na na na na!)

You guys are the nicest, most supportive and generous people in the world. Thanks so much for the super nice, really positive feedback on my last two posts! It made me feel so good to be able to share those photos with you and to read all of your great feedback. Thank you!!

Tonight, I'm going back to Boot Camp after a 2-3 week hiatus (they were closed for a week during the holidays. . and I was too scared to go back last week!). I know that it's always really tough after I've missed for a while. But, I have been doing other exercise during this time, so I hope it won't be too bad. Plus, Tuesday is "Ab Day" at Boot Camp, and that's the day that I can do the best. . . fingers crossed that I don't pass out or throw up! :) :)

Comparison Shot. . .

Here is me on Halloween 2008, versus me in the dress I had on today! What a difference 15 months makes!!

Shopping NSV!

Today was a big day for me, in terms of NSVs. I went shopping in Soho with my friend Marjorie, and was looking for a dress to wear to two formal events that I have coming up. We went to a few places, including to the Karen Millen store. I've been there many times, shopping for friends, but had never tried anyting on before because I know her sizes run small and there was never anything there that would fit me.

Well, guess what? It fits now!!!!!!! Thank you, band!!!!!! I found an amazing black satin dress, it fits wonderfully and I love it!! I don't think that a year ago, I could have fully imagined wearing a gorgeous, sexy dress like this and feeling comfortable and confident about my appearance! This is such a great feeling, and it just made me so happy. And the bonus?? The dress was on a major sale. . marked down from $380 to $175. . and an additional 30% off!! It wound up being $133.37 when all was said and done.

That's the kind of Perfect Storm of shopping luck that tells me that God wanted me to have that dress!! :) :)

Dinner Party for Don!

Update: One of my friends just sent me her photos from the party, so I've added a few new photos to the post!

My dear friend, Don, just turned 40, so I threw a dinner party for him last night. We had a bit of a disconnect about how many people he was going to invite, so we wound up with 12 acceptances, although I only have chairs and room at the table for 8! Still, we found a solution and it was a lot of fun!

Photo of me & Don -- not that great . . but my face looks so thin that I had to post it -- freaky!! I look like a teeny girl!!

Our friend Thu is clearly making an important point here! Don looks camera-ready though!

Instead of placemats, I bought some festive wrapping paper (from K-mart!) and cut it into placemat-sized rectangles. I used some of the paper as napkin rings as well. You can see that above, and in the first photo.

In the photo below, you can see how we dealt with the guest-overflow! We put 7 people at the main table (only 11 wound up at the party) and four at the kiddie . . er, tatami-style. . table! Then, we switched up the seating for each course so that no one got stuck on the floor for too long.


Another wrinkle was that most of the guests are vegetarian, and I had never cooked a completely vegetarian meal for guests before. As you might know from my earlier post, I was really not sure what to make! Thanks for everyone who gave me suggestions -- that was so helpful!

I went with this really delicious salad that had arugula, shaved parmesan, grape tomatoes and pine nuts. I made the dressing from olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese. YUM!

For the entree, I made two wild mushroom lasagne. One of them is shown below. Honestly, this was really delicious and I was able to make it in advance so that I had very little to do once the guests arrived. I also served garlic bread and, of course, lots of nice red wine!

For dessert, I made a pastel de tres leches, which turned out so nicely, but I didn't get any good photos of it! Darn! I also served fresh berries to go with, or to enjoy solo.

Update! One of our friends took some good photos of the cake! Am adding them in here! Why do I look like I have a double chin?!

All in all, the dinner was a lot of fun, people had a great time, and I think Don really enjoyed celebrating his b-day in this way! One thing that was interesting was that I hadn't seen a few of the guests since the last dinner I had for Don, which was in the summer, just a short while after I started Boot Camp. It was nice to find out that people really noticed how much more fit I look now, and that I had shed quite a few pounds. NSV!! (I have to take my NSVs. . not having any SVs lately!!)

Newbie Q&A

Marjorie took this one with her iPhone. . . I was being silly and demonstrating some of my sassy Zumba moves on New Year's Eve . . :)

A pre-op bandster posted some good questions on Lap Band Talk, and I wanted to re-post my answers here. I broke down the questions a bit differently than she did and added a bit more below.

1. Would you do it [getting banded] over again?
Absolutely. The band has changed my life in countless positive ways, and the things about it that I thought would be hard have not been a big deal at all.

2. How long post-op until you feel normal again?
This is a really interesting question. For me, I was only obese for 6 or so years. So, it's only been since I lost about 30-50 pounds (and beyond) that I felt like had rediscovered my "normal" self once again. It has been the best feeling in the world.

In terms of recovery from surgery, I was well enough to do a city tour two days after my surgery. I had shoulder pain for a few months, but it was at lower and lower grades and less and less frequent as time went by. My incisions never hurt at all.

3. Do you ever "forget" you had the surgery done?
No, I don't think you ever forget completely that you were banded because it forces you to think out your food choices. That said, I no longer stress when going to a restaurant or to dinner at someone's house. I know how (and what) to eat without getting stuck.

Seeing the photo from 2008 in my last post showed me something interesting though. I had let myself "forget" that I was ever so heavy. I feel right and normal at my current size, and when I see my before photos, it is a little painful to me to see just how out of control I let my weight get. But, it reminds me to be grateful for how far I have been able to come with my band (now let's get that last few pounds off!!!).

3. Are there any foods you CAN'T eat post-op? )I heard veggie and fruit skins, pastas, popcorn?)

I can eat all of the above, but the type of bread that gets soft and gummy when you eat it is totally out of the question. Toast or the crust of a hard roll is fine though. I also am hesitant to eat steak in a restaurant if I am with people who don't know I am banded or if the band is feeling tight, since I sometimes have trouble with red meat. I generally go with fish, which I love, so it's no hardship.

4. Do I need to give up coffee and soda?
Doctors' instructions vary on this, so you should follow the instructions you are given. I still drink coffee every day, but I did give up diet soda and sparkling water. I do still have sparkling wine on occasion, and it's never been a problem.

5. Do you deal with heartburn or reflux regularly?
No. (But once in a while, I do have a feeling that might be heartburn or reflux, but it's pretty minor -- I'm not sure what it is exactly and will ask my doctor about it during my next visit.)

6. Can you have this surgery and NOT tell your whole family, friends, and co-workers?
Hell yes. You may want to tell a select few so that you'll have support, but you do not have to. It's harder to keep confidential at the very beginning if you have to eat with people. But, if you have your surgery in winter, you can just have soup all of the time when you are post-op.

I was VERY selective about who I told (and am glad about that in retrospect) and I eat normally enough that people don't tend to question it.

7. How is it you DONT lose weight immediately after surgery?
You have to go through a "healing" phase before your doctor will fill you to good restriction. During that time, your band is (generally) wide open and you can eat as you did before. Many people gain during this phase -- it's called "Bandster Hell" for that reason. But, the weight comes right off soon enough.

As for me, I put on about 5 pounds during Bandster Hell. Cut to today, and I'm less than 10 pounds from goal, wearing a size 10. So, don't stress about it!

8. What type of band do you have and are there any differences in the manufacturers?
I have an Inamed 5 cc band and my sweet spot (which has remained good for me through the past 9 months) is 2.85 ccs. I don't know about differences between mfrs.

9. No liquids with meals, whatsoever?
This is the one bandster rule that I've never been able to follow. I probably would have lost faster if I did, but I'm OK with my rate of loss.

10. Post op diet consisted of?
2 weeks of full liquids, 2 weeks of mushies, then regular food. It was like heaven to be on full liquids after my 3-day clear liquid pre-op diet! There are plenty of good things to eat during this time, and it wasn't very hard at all. It just required a few advance calls to restaurants when I had plans to eat out!

Denial. . . It's not just a river in Egypt!

So here's an interesting story that I want to share with you. At the New Year's Eve party at Mirbeau, the (very cute) husband of one of the girls we met grabbed Marjorie's phone and, without us realizing it, was scrolling through her pictures. I was the first person to notice this, and when I did, he was just getting through some recent ones. And THEN, before I could take back her phone, he scrolled onto some from Thanksgiving of 2008, when I was substantially heavier.

I think this is the photo that he pulled up:

Thanksgiving 2008. At the time, I didn't love this photo, but now it's borderline painful to look at -- I feel like anyone seeing it would think I was going to eat the entire turkey. . .

I was embarrassed. I said something like "ugh -- don't look at those photos -- they are from last year and I've lost quite a bit of weight since then." I could tell he was surprised, and he just said "Wow -- you look great now." Which, I think was the best possible response.

I wanted to ask my friend to delete all of these photos, but after (sober) reflection on that issue, decided not to do that. These are photos from a really fun Thanksgiving celebration and the reality is that I was much heavier then (I was just one-month post-band surgery at that point and in Bandster Hell). Whatever my weight was then does not take away from the fun of that day, and it doesn't somehow make me look fatter now. It's hard to let that sink in, but I do believe that is the truth of the matter.

Happy 2010!

In the snow at Mirbeau Spa and Inn

I had a great time with my friends during our spa celebration! This was such a nice change from New Year's in the city, which tends to involve buying overpriced tickets to a party that usually isn't that fun and struggling to get a cab home at the end of the night! Instead, we just relaxed, exercised and pampered ourselves!

This is the view from our room -- the garden is modeled on Monet's garden at Giverny.

Another view from our room.

All of the rooms -- and all of the treatment rooms -- at the spa have fireplaces, which was a very nice and cosy touch!
Here we are at dinner, following a round of massages and a Zumba class. This was my first time to do Zumba, and it was a total blast! The instructor was a lot of fun and had us doing all of these Latin dance moves (salsa and merangue steps, etc.), and some crazy other stuff too. At one point, we had to. . air guitar? Yes. Air guitar! I was simultaneously mortified and entertained!

I'd love to do more Zumba. I'm going to see if I can figure out where I can sign up for classes here (that won't be too expensive or conflict with my schedule and boot camp). I definitely recommend trying this to anyone who likes to dance. It's really a lot of fun!

New Year's Eve was such a blast! The day started out so nicely. I got up and did a 1 1/2 hour yoga class while my friends slept in, then had breakfast and relaxed a bit. Then I went into a 100 minute (!) massage, which was just fantastic! After that, I spent some time in the steam room, then showered and met up with Marjorie in the hotel's hot pool (basically a big outdoor hot tub).

The tub was great -- and it was snowing when we were in there! We also met two couples who were in there at the same time, and wound up having the best time with them at the inn's New Year's Eve party!

Here we are with some of our new friends at the NYE party. The band was amazing, and we danced most of the night!

I hope that everyone had a great New Year's and that your 2010 is off to a great start! I am pleased to report that I did not gain any weight over the holidays, though the scale does seem to be stuck!