GAS and 16 DOWN

I am four days post-op, and I'm felling pretty good. My only complaint is GAS! I am a burping machine, I must confess it feels really good to burp! I don't know if I should be doing the burping thing with the new band, but it relieves the gas discomfort.

Yesterday, I was explaining something to my husband and this growl/burp/word came up from my gut and out my mouth. Initially I was mortified by the non-human sound, but we just had to laugh. Tyler said I sounded like a twelve year old boy who chugs a pop and belches out words to be cool. Wow, NSV- I'm as cool as a twelve year old boy- awesome! Anyways, it is getting better each day, and hopefully I will be done with this gas by the end of the week.

In other news, I am down 16 pounds! I am going to celebrate today by going for a walk.

The good, the fat, the ugly.

This is where I started.

Start Weight: 255 lbs 4/11/10

Neck: 14.5inches

Bicep: r 15.5 in l 15.0 in

Forearm: r 10.5 in l 9.75 in

Chest: 41 in

Waist: 40.5 in

Hips: 51 in

Thigh: r 29in l 28.5 in

Height: 5'7''

Pant size: 18

Shirt size: XL

I AM BANDED!!!

I am officially a bandster! My surgery was yesterday, and it went really well. Here is how it all went down. We spent the night in Columbia, MO and woke up at 5am. I had to check in at 6, and by 6:30 I was getting all the pre-op stuff done. I was the first surgery of that day, and was given some "I don't care juice" and was wheeled away at 7:30. The next thing I remembered was waking up in the hospital room with my husband and my nurse at 9:30. I wasn't in pain, but I was pretty nauseous. I walked to the bathroom, and felt even more icky, then my nurse gave me some really good stuff that knocked me out and made the icky feeling go away. I woke up at 2:30 and felt really really good. We packed up all my stuff and went home.

We live about 3 hours away from the hospital, but the ride wasn't that bad. We stopped a couple times to walk around and even went to Walmart to get some popsicles. When we got back I went straight to bed and woke up around 7 this morning.

I had some hot tea for breakfast and a little cream of wheat. Other than that, I'm not really hungry. I have been to the pharmacy to pick up my pain meds, but I don't think I need them. If I had to rate my pain its a dull 4 or a 5, like a pain you would feel after 1000 sit ups. It only hurts when I get up or sit down, but if Im still there is hardly any pain.

I will post my pictures soon, I need to figure out how to do it;)

ps I have lost more than 11 pounds since April11!

I am getting ready to be banded tomorrow!!! I am so excited and a little nervous. I want to make a list of why I want the band, so here it goes...

1. To lose "the weight." I want to get rid of the weight, its just that simple.

2. Running. I started running two years ago, and got up to an hour without walking, so I was doing pretty well, but guess what? Absolutely no weight loss. I want to get into running again and eventually run a marathon with my dad.

3. My Health. I do not have diabetes, heart disease, or sleep apnea- but I don't want to develop them.

4. Clothes. I want to wear and shop where I want. One of my goals is to finally be able to wear knee high boots!

I will add to my list as I go, but with a clear liquid diet for the past 10 days, my mind is foggy.

I know most of these goals are on the selfish side, but the band is for me! Not for my husband, or family or anyone else- its just a tool that will help me be the person I always have been, but only thinner!

Surgery DATE!!!

I will be banded April 21! I am so excited to have a surgery date. I will post before pictures and measurements sometime this week.

NO MORE EXCUSES!

I started making excuses for my weight long ago, but never really came face to face with them until recently.

As a little girl and even in high school, I was normal- not thin or skinny but very average. I gained weight in college and then lost it. I gained even more weight after college and lost it all again. Throughout the past 10 years I have probably I gained and lost over 200 pounds. It just gets harder and harder with time... I thought I would never say that!

As I tend to do, I made excuses for my weight gains and failed attempts to lose. Let me explain. I would tell myself, "your an athlete, and athletes are thick!" Or "you are tall, so you can handle the weight," or even better "it must be a fat mirror, you don't really look like that." All of these things helped me cope with my weight, its like I was trying not to develop a poor body-image, but all I was doing was making excuses.

I am a very fortunate that I don't have a poor body-image, but now I have a realistic grasp- I am overweight and I need to change. I'm not ugly and have the curvy/camouflages weight well/you don't look like you weigh that much body type. I have an awesome husband who is in love with me, a wonderful family and great friends. They all tell me, "you are pretty so people don't notice the fat" (obviously paraphrasing). HOWEVER... i'm not happy with my body and I want to change it!

Since December 2009, I have been researching lap-band surgery. (I have secretly been obsessed with reading all the awesome lap-band blogs! ) I have finally made the decision- NO MORE EXCUSES- I am going to get banded!

I am awaiting insurance approval, and will keep updating as info comes in.