surgeon appointment this afternoon

Yup,  I have an appointment to see my surgeon the day before thanksgiving.  Although if anything happens he'll probably be taking fluid out, instead of putting it in.  After I called my stomach started feeling better.. And i was tempted to call yesterday and cancel the appointment, until this morning. I got a Starbucks strawberry smoothie (lots of proteins!) for my drive this morning (YAY I got to drive my new car to work!) .. and for the first 20 minutes or so, I could feel the smoothie kinda getting caught up in my band.  It is cold, but it's blended well.
I could only do small sips of it at first, but by the time I got to work I was able to down the second half no problem.

I'm pretty sure I should be able to have a smoothie without feeling like it's almost getting stuck.  I'm just confused because I haven't had a fill since early July.  Nothing has changed.  Ah well.  I'll talk to the surgeon tonight and hopefully all will be well. And hopefully he won't continue to dissapoint me.  All the reviews on him are good, and he's being doing this forever, but I've never had a barium swallow.. i've never had a numbing shot before a fill (all two of them).. and for the first fill he had to sit and poke me multiple times. Like lots.. I know what's one thing that can cause leaks, and  you'd think a Doctor with 14 years experience (but maybe only 11 in lap band) would know better? I suppose if today is just as disappointing I'll contact Kaiser and see if I can go to the other bariatric surgeon they use.

I suppose that's it for now! hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

<3 Sam

edited to add:  Since I STILL don't have a scale, and until money is better i might not get one, I took some measurements today.  It was at work so they're prolly a little off, but I needed to see proof of progress.  so far in 6 months i've lost a total of 22.5 inches.  A breakdown of what I'm measureing is on my stats page.

Appointment made

Yarp, I have made an appointment with my surgeon to talk about an unfill.  Wednesday afternoon.  Now i'm all worried he'll think i'm doing it so i can eat more on thanksgiving.  Blah.  But honestly, I do better if I'm able to eat actual food for breakfast in the mornings.  Shakes don't cut it.  And yogurt sometimes is uncomfortable. So in I go.   Also for the last 4 days or so my stomach has felt a bit off.  Like not quite sick off, but not normal. sometimes eating helps (new feeling for hunger??) but not always.  Maybe my band has gotten too tight (weather? hormones? freak of nature?)  and it's irritating my stomach.

Hopefully all will be resolved soon!  On a yay note I "jogged" a bit as i was walking the doggy yesterday.  It wasn't for long, but still.  I don't think that the dog will make a good jogging companion, as much as he could use the exercise too.  He's way to interested in stopping and sniffing everything.. I'd yank my arm out of my socket if I was moving at a faster pace.

Speaking of dog walks, I need to figure out something.. In order to not walk the dog in the pitch black, I need to go straight home to walk him, skipping the gym.   I COULD go to the gym afterwards, but at that point i'm home, and the hubby is home and my will power is out the window (not to mention the rest of the people are off of work and the gym will be more crowded). Which is why I would always go to the gym on the way home, never stop.

I really should just go home, change to gym clothes, walk, throw the dog in the back yard and go to the gym... Just convincing myself at the time is the issue.. *sigh*

<3 Sam

Losing weight the hipster way

Came across this article today Losing Weight the Hipster way.

It was amusing.  But really it all comes down to same ol', same ol'.  Burn more than you consume.  :) but his tips are good:

Former "chubster" Martin Cizmar offers these tips on How to Work Out Without Looking Like a Tool:

Always take the stairs."It's pretty easy to commit to never riding an elevator or escalator again." He also recommends volunteering your help when your friends move, becoming the office go-fer to pick up off-site coffee, walkng the dog and energetically cleaning your residence (including the windows) once a week.

Walk whenever you can."Always an easy, low-impact way to go. Also, it doesn't really look like you're in the middle of a sweaty workout, so you can get some exercise in while wearing jeans, leaving the people you pass to think you're simply in a hurry to get somewhere," he writes.

Stand at concerts."You would probably burn 200 calories over the course of a four-hour concert. Not bad, right? So stand for the show — it's more rock 'n' roll, anyway."

Fidget.Cizmar endorses the nervous tics that drive everyone else crazy: Pacing, tapping your toe, wiggling a foot, slicking your pen. He cites endocrinologist James Levine's Science magazine article on non-exercise activity thermogenesis: Fidgeters burn an extra 350 calories a day.

Fitocracy

I don't know if any of you consider yourselves "gamers" like I do.  I don't know if any of you have heard of Fitocracy either.  But after reading an article about it, similar to this one About Fitocracy, I was totally interested.

Long story short, yes it's another website to track your fitness goals, work outs etc.  However this one has the gaming twist. you earn points, you level up, you have quests to complete.  One girl I know was interested because as she put it "I'm lazy as hell, but I'm super competitive too, so this could be good"  .. As for me, when I played WoW I was very into collecting all the "things" and leveling up, and getting achievements.  If I can apply that to fitness, this could work for me.

I finally got an invite today so yay! and I have 10 invites to give out it looks like.  So if anybody is interested, send me an email with your email (or if your not shy leave a comment with your email) and I'll invite you.  First come, first served!

<3

Sam

edited to add:  This is still in Beta, so expect changes/updates etc.  There's a forum associated with it, where you can make/get suggestions.  Looking around I don't find anything to track food, so you'd still need something for that, but it still looks fun for tracking exercise.

Picture Time

yup, Picture time!  mostly of my surrounding during the dog walk yesterday, and one of me!  I'm really likeing the front camera on the iPhone.  it makes taking self pics to easy!!




This is how work makes me feel

 ... I probably shouldn't put this picture first, as that's what you all will see on your reading list... ah well

and let me just say, it's not easy trying to take pics of the moon, with a dog on a leash!



hehe.. Oops.

Yeah, oops, it's been 20-ish days since I've blogged.  I totally blame my still broken and not replaced scale.  I have no progress to report!  Even if my scale were working I'm pretty sure i'd have no progress to report.  I have been very lax.  and Very into the cookie dough.  Bad me!   I think without my weigh-in's I haven't been holding myself very accountable.  *sigh*

Also in my non blogging defense, I did have like 3 days when we weren't home until late... because I got a new car!  it's my first ever new car.  I got a 2012 Chevy Cruze Eco.  I loves it! <3

Also also, Work has been a bit busier than usual.  I have 12 hours of overtime coming on this next check (yay $$)  and even without overtime, I haven't had as much blogging time as I had before.

Excuses, Excuses.

I promise to be better. no excuses.  It's okay if i go to the gym after work, then come home and walk the dog, even if it is going to be dark out!  And no more cookie dough!

Also my band has been weird lately.  I haven't had a fill in maybe 3 months.  I'm okay with that.  But I swear it's gotten tighter.  I mean maybe this last week or so was due to ToM, but even before that, applesauce felt like it was getting sort of stuck.   I dunno. I can still drink my water, so I'm not too worried, it's just odd.

<3
Sam

Edited to ad:

Let me clarify things..  It's really tight in the morning (sometimes) to the point where applesauce is a bit uncomfortable.. but it does go down. But later in the day regular food is fine (assuming i'm not wolfing it down).  I think/hope it's just hormones/cold weather (is that possible?) making things tighter in the morning.  If it keeps up I will call my doc about making sure everything is okay and/or taking a bit out. Because yeah, complications scare the bejeesus out of me.