Another Pound Down, Florida Bound, Learning Curve, And the whole state of CO is on fire :(

Weighed in yesterday and am another pound day... yay. A little disappointing since I usually clock in at  least 2 pounds down a week, but as long as the scale is going in the right direction I am happy. At least I know that I am doing my best and swimming every day, so that is all I can do :) Anyway, last Friday night was a relatively new experience for me because it was the first time I truly "overate" for my band and felt very very sick for almost a day afterwards... I was lucky that I did not throw up or anything, but it was a good lesson in eating very slowly even when I am super hungry because if I eat too much (even just a bit) it is very very uncomfortable. Part of the learning curve and working on listening to my body as much as possible!

Tomorrow is my last day of nannying until August and I have the month of July off and PAID :) AWESOME! I am leaving on a red eye Thurs night to go to Florida to visit my Grandparents and am really excited to see them and hang out at the beach. My old swimsuit crapped out because I ripped a rather large hole in it going down the slide at the pool, but I luckily found a Speedo that fits and was on sale at Sports Authority for $50! Size 18! This is much smaller than a few months ago to say the least! After Florida for a week, I am going to TX to visit my parents and friends for 6 days which will be nice. I am going to swim laps with my Dad at the neighborhood pool like we used to do when I was a kid :) I always used to try to race him and never actually beat him... maybe someday!

On a sad note, the whole freaking state of Colorado is on fire and it is SUPER scary and sad... There are over 6 major fires going on all over the state and most are no where near contained. My Uncle lives in Colorado Springs and he was evacuated today because his house is only about a mile and a half from the fire :( I truly hope the fire misses his neighborhood. I have the utmost respect for all of the brave firefighters out there working around the clock to try to contain all of these fires and save people's homes from damage, especially when it is over 100 degrees every day! The conditions couldn't be worse... dry dry dry, HOT HOT HOT, and windy. A fire started in Boulder yesterday (I am SAFE, I actually live in Longmont which is 20 minutes away from Boulder) in the Flatiron Mountains from a lightening strike and I can literally see the smoke plume from my house. PLEASE send good thoughts and prayers Colorado's way because we need all we can get.

Anyway, I will post from Florida soon!

Another 2 Pounds Down :)

Alrrriggghttt! Today was weigh in day and I am another 2 pounds down from last week which is awesome. I have been swimming laps every day consistently for 10 days now which feels really great... I have also upped my swimming time to an hour of laps each day instead of 30-45 minutes :) It is amazing that a few months ago, I had a hard time swimming laps for 20 minutes straight!! I am still also swimming/splashing around with Cody at the pool almost everyday during work as well, so I am definitely not for lack of pool time. It has been RECORD high temperatures for my area in Colorado the past week, so what better way to cool off! 

Unfortunately there is a HUGE forest fire about an hour away from where I live that is still only 50 percent contained... this is so sad because the fire started June 9th! It has destroyed over 189 homes so far too :( I think I am going to drive up there are donate some of my older larger clothing to that area... maybe some of the evacuees/people who lost their homes need clothing. 

On a lighter note, I am now continuing to find clothes in my closet that I haven't fit into in almost 2 or 3 years that now fit again and it feels INCREDIBLE. I know I have a very long way to go, but I am proud of what I have achieved so far. I am excited to visit my grandparents in Florida and parents in TX in about a week and a half... I can't wait to hit the beach! I still need to find a second job, so will start looking intensely when I get back. Not much else is new for now, but I will write more soon :) 

Eventful Weekend, Another Pound Down, New Photos, and a Video of Me Diving!!

I had quite an interesting weekend! On Friday, I spent the whole day at the pool with Cody (the kiddo I nanny) which was really fun :) We created this sort of "racing" game which is really quite fun (and burns some calories too!) where we race from different points of the pool and back.

Luckily I had a great afternoon, because working later that night at Mimi's was HORRIBLE! I have been having some issues with the night manager... I have always been nothing but nice to her and she has always sort of picked on me/singled me out and made me feel like I didn't belong at Mimi's. I have never had any issues with the rest of the staff or managers and LOVED working at Mimi's in the morning, but ever since summer started and Cody has been out of school, I have had to work nights during the week which means I am stuck with the night manager :/ I was trying to ignore her antics/remarks/attitude, but Friday night she crossed an unacceptable line! I had been with Cody all day already (8am-5pm), and was only supposed to work at Mimi's 5:00pm to 8:30pm, but the night manager suddenly decided she wanted me to help close. This was a problem for me because I was scheduled to open the next day at Mimi's at 6:30 am and needed to go home and get some rest!! One of my co-workers graciously stepped in and said she would happily close because she did not have to work on Saturday and I thought I was off the hook until the night manager shot her down and said "No, I want Caroline to close". There was absolutely no reason for this!

Then she made me do all sorts of side work that is typically the ACTUAL closers' duties... I was working on it when one of the cooks asked me a question and the night manager decided to SCREAM at me for talking at all when my work wasn't "completely finished". I was appalled by her behavior (as were the customers at one of my tables!!) and could not believe the way she treated me... It is ironic as well because she ALWAYS has friends come visit her while she is working and treats them to free food and talks all night and never does anything. I laughed in her face, finished my side work, checked out, and started to head home at 11:00pm. I was still fuming and 20 minutes later the night manager called me and accused me of talking about her to other employees and not only cursed me out, but told me that everyone hates me at Mimi's. Real mature, huh?! I told her I quit and needless to say did not show up at Mimi's the next day. I was actually pretty surprised none of the other managers called me to find out where I was/why I didn't show up, but I am assuming the night manager already talked to them. I decided I am not going to let her behavior slide and am going in on Wednesday to talk to the general manager about her behavior and explain why I did not come in on Saturday. I am pretty sure I am done with Mimi's at this point, but if I could salvage my position and maybe just work weekends when the night manager is not there, maybe it could work. If not, I am not hearbroken... I refused to be treated like garbage! The extra money has been nice, but my happiness means WAY more than money ever will :)

Anyway, back to the good stuff! Saturday night Steve and I went down to Denver for the evening to celebrate my 50lb weight loss and see the movie "Moonrise Kingdom". I wore a skirt that has not fit me in almost 2 years, and it was a little BIG on me! Felt incredible :)

We ate at this awesome Mexican food place called "Bluebonnet Cafe" which was delicious, and I treated myself to a "skinny" margarita made of pure lime juice, tequila, water, and a hint of soda water. I was one happy gal! I can definitely feel more restriction with the recent fill which is nice and keeps me in control. I only ate about half a taco, but it was a delicious treat! 

We went to the movie afterwards and it was pretty good... it is a Wes Anderson film and is only playing at one theatre in the whole state of Colorado which is odd. I was hoping to possibly go camping Sunday night, but unfortunately a terrible wildfire started right in the area I was going to camp in (Cache La Poudre Canyon near Fort Collins) which still isn't contained I believe :( Very sad. I spent the day with Steve at the pool instead and he took a video of me doing a pike one and a half off the 3m (high dive) board! The quality is terrible, but you can still see me doing it :) All the little kids cheered afterwards which felt good!

Cody's Mom is flying to Paris this week so I am with him 24/7 until Thursday... it is kind of fun that it is summer though because we can hang out at the pool, catch a movie, go to the park, etc... because we don't have a schedule to keep! Since I won't be home, I weighed myself today and weighed in at 267 which makes 3 pounds since last week... yay! I didn't have to be at Cody's house until 6pm today so I spent most of it at the pool again splashing around and swimming laps... I love swimming outdoors SOO much better than swimming indoors... really makes it more fun! 

Here is a picture from the concert I went to with Keren June 1st that I finally snagged off of her phone 

Last thing I will leave everyone with is a comparison photo... The photo on the left is me at my heaviest weight ever (318lbs!!) in late January, and the photo on the right is from Saturday night (June 9th) 50lbs lighter at 268lbs. Hooray! I love seeing results... it just motivates me even more to stay on track and keep on working hard!

Great Doc Appt. and OFFICIALLY 50 POUNDS DOWN!!

YAAY! Went to the doc yesterday for my second fill and weighed in at 269.1, then weighed in at 268 this morning which means 50 POUNDS DOWN! I am so happy :) My doc said I am way ahead of schedule because on average, lapband patients lose 50 pounds in a year and I have done so in 2 and a half months woohooo. Doc put 1.2 cc more of saline in my band and it was actually really painful this time because he had a very hard time getting the needle in... apparently my port is a bit "tilted". Luckily he eventually got the needle in and it was over! Doc said that this amount (6.2 cc total) should be good in my band, but that if I wasn't feeling enough restriction that I could come back in another month and get a bit more saline added.

Also good news is that my BMI is no longer considered "Morbidly Obese"... I am now under a BMI of 40 which puts me just in the "Obese" category. Not out of the woods yet, but I am getting there! Cannot wait to have a bmi considered normal or healthy :) Anyway, I have a full day of nannying and then Mimi's tonight and tomorrow morning, but will write more later!

Fun in the Sun, Photo Update, AND another 4 pounds down!

WOOHOO... Weigh in this morning was 270 which is 4 pounds down from last week :) I could not be happier! All of my hard work, self control, and exercise is paying off and just drives me to work harder :)

 I had a great day today and spent most of it at the pool with Cody the boy I nanny... we splashed around for almost 4 hours at this awesome pool near my house. I had never been to this pool before and it was HUGE and had two fast water slides AND a 3 meter board (for those of you who don't know I was on a diving team as a child and LOVE the high dive). Amazingly enough, I can still do most of the dives I used to do when I was on the team! I did a pike one and a half, a back dive, inward tuck, etc... It was hilarious because all of these little kids kept high fiving me. It was a beautiful day out too so it was nice to be outside for most of it. I look forward to spending many afternoons there this summer.

Next week my boss will be in Paris so I will be with Cody 24/7 Monday through Thursday night, but she is going to pay for Cody and I to go to WaterWorld (this awesome HUGE waterpark) so that will be fun. I am also going to try to go camping sometime this weekend if it works out.

Took some update "biggest loser style" pictures tonight but for some reason only one is loading from my phone? Here is the picture that loaded, and I will update this post tomorrow with the other two as well as create a "comparison" pics :) Gnite!

Next Fill on Thursday

So I didn't get to go camping after all because I had to help a friend with an emergency :(, but still went to the Bassnectar concert which was a BLAST!! Keren and I were a sorry sight the next day at breakfast... we danced so hard all night we were exhausted/muscles ached/dragging ass! Great night however :) I will post pics once I get them from Keren's phone.

Working at Mimi's Cafe has been great as far as the extra cash flow, but they keep messing up my schedule and scheduling me to work when I have to be nannying which is frustrating... then when I tell them I can't be there that shift (even after I have given my manager MULTIPLE copies of my availability etc) they expect me to figure it out of get it covered. Also, they have been very strict/weird about people taking days/time off... When I mentioned yesterday that I would be gone for two weeks in early July to go to florida and texas to visit family they told me they probably couldn't give me the time off! That is too bad for them because my trip is already booked... not only that but I only work part time a few days a week and am giving them plenty of notice! Also, there are certain days I need to work late nannying and cannot work at Mimi's but if there is already one person that has requested that date off at all, there is "no guarantee" I will get it off :/ We will see what happens I guess!

I am pretty stoked because my boyfriend recently found an incredible new lean pocket flavor... artichoke spinach chicken!! SOOO tasty and only 240 calories. Definitely my new favorite lunch item! I am getting my second fill on Thursday which is exciting... I am happy to show my doc how much weight I have lost since my last fill! My hunger gauge has been right on par and I can literally feel exactly when I am full now which has helped tremendously... with this second fill it will be even better :) Right now I have about 4.5 cc of saline in my band and on Thursday they will bump it up to about 7.5 cc of saline.

The weather is absolutely beautiful and I look forward to hanging out at the pool and hopefully camping soon. Will post my weight update and new pics tomorrow!!