It's January 24th...

And I am on pureed food, not hungry much at all, and was 182.8 this morning. Thank goodness I may have finally crawled out of the 184 sand-trap I was in for a while.

Here's the report from my visit to Dr. A last Friday:

I arrived at 8:30, exactly on time but nearly having run out of gas in my prius. I was pushing it and the "miles till fuel" went from 10 directly to 0 so I seriously thought I was going to have to push my car the last half mile to the office. Luckily this did not happen. I hadn't intend to cut it so close but left home with 45 miles till fuel and it's not that far to his office so I figured I could make it and get gas after. I was holding my breath the entire way though!

I got weighed and registered 184.4 with clothes on, down from 197 at my last visit (3 months prior.) I'm averaging just 1 lb per week for that span of time but Dr. A was ecstatic. My little info sheet says I have no lost 75% of my excess weight. Dr. A says that the average Lap-Band patient 1 year post op has lost 30% of their excess weight. I cannot believe this, it sounds like horrible results! Who would get a surgery that promises something so underwhelming? I'm glad I did but I'm also glad I am so determined and fight hard to not be average. I feel sorry for people who have not had the same results as me because I know how angry I would be if I had only lost 30 lbs since surgery (not yet a year out, but still.)

So anyway, he indicated that I was doing so well that I probably didn't need an adjustment and I told him how hungry I'd been lately (especially after 3pm) and how I'd been tracking my calories and it took 1600-1800 to satisfy me. He said that I had a significant amount of fluid in my band but agreed to do a fill anyway. I asked for a small amount (.25 or smaller.) Then, as he was pulling out the fluid I asked him how much I had and he was surprised to find it was less than he expected. I knew that a miscalculation had happened somewhere along the line. I'm pretty sure I should have only had 4.75 - he had thought I should have 5.5. Turns out I was right (he had forgotten to subtract a bit he took out once in my first fill.) So I guess he felt better about adjusting since I didn't have as much as he thought I did. He gave me .5 even though I really had only wanted .25 but he's the expert, right?

So, I spent the whole weekend on liquids and started having soft foods a bit yesterday, no trouble so far. Just not hungry. Though I feel kind of weak and like I need food, I'm not physically hungry and not complaining. I've been slowly making it through my 20oz of protein shake for the last few hours. Not sure if I'll be able to get in all my water. I normally take a while for the swelling from the fill to go down and plus, now I've got .5CCs more than I used to and I already was generally tight till about 3pm. That's where the trouble started. At 3pm it was like a switch would get flipped and I would be insatiable. I tracked my calories and nutrients really well for the week before my appointment and was finding I had to eat up to 1800 calories of protein, fat, and complex carbs to be satisfied. I think I'm safely back in the close-to-1000 range since my fill. I do love that feeling of just not being hungry and welcome it back again.

In other news, my first Weight Watchers at Work meeting was today. But it wasn't a real meeting, disappointingly. It was just an intro session to get signed up. We'll start next Monday for real with a weigh in. I will probably be at 180 by then, I can only hope. It would be amazing to lose 2lbs a week and be at my goal "ideal weight" of 155 by the time the 12 week session is up. It's almost too good to be true to think I could be so close and my goal so attainable, but really, if I stick with the program and utilize the support and of course working with my band and keeping up the exercise, there's no reason why I can't do it.

Ugh, the exercise has been an issue. It's been so cold out, I've been staying up way too late at night, and I've been waking up more tired than normal and with some muscle pain. Especially yesterday and today, having quite a back ache that I've never felt before. As long as I'm not eating much, I don't feel the need to exercise more than my normal walking, zumba, and barn stuff affords me. If I'm at 1000 calories a day or close to it, I don't need to go crazy (nor do I have the energy to, I think.) But I do miss the activity and felt so good all those days I got to the gym before work. I want all these aches and pains to go away and for the weather to get better so I can enjoy exercising again.

Anyway, enough bitching. Been 30 minutes since I finished my protein shake, I think I'll try my pureed chicken salad for lunch.