Awareness, motivation, and... Hair loss!?

Hello friends! This week has been full of realizations and motivation for me... YES I am insanely happy I have been having such success with my band, BUT there are a few things I have not been 100 percent on all the time and I need to be! A few examples... I MUST get between 60-80 grams of protein per day, and sometimes I don't always make the cut because I making food choices that I want, not necessarily what I NEED. Also, I am not supposed to have anything to drink with food or for 30 minutes after I eat a meal, but I lately have been bad about doing that... I used to just take little sips of water with food which was OK, but now that I sometimes flat out drink when I eat, it can push food through faster and defeat the purpose of the lapband (and it's YOU ARE FULL NOW powers!). Lastly, I constantly forget to take all of my vitamins everyday... yes its a drag, but I HAVE to do it to stay healthy and get all the nutrients I need!

So, yes, it is a bummer I have been lagging on these things, but at least I  honest with myself and am aware... from now on going to make a significant effort to change these things :) I had strep throat last week and seem to have some kind of cold now, so I have not been in the pool for a while which is such a bummer :( However, I have been walking outside or going for short hikes for exercise instead. I will probably get back in in a few days once this damn cold subsides!! My boss Linda is in China this week so I am with Cody (the boy I nanny) 24/7 except for when he is in school until late friday night, so I have to work out when he is in school (or make him walk his dogs with me when he gets out of school in the afternoon:).

On another note, before surgery I was warned that significant hair loss/thinning is a pretty typical side effect of lapband surgery (and most surgeries apparently), even 5 months down the road. I have not really had an issue with this until recently I have noticed that my hair seems to be coming out alot more than normal in the shower and in my brush :( It is only temporary/will grow back (and not noticeable to anyone but me) but I thought I would put it out there for other bandsters who read my blog to read about.

Lastly, as far as weight loss goes, I have lost 1 pound this week WOOHOO! I am going to keep on trucking, and hopefully change those few things I mentioned at the top so that I can be a super bandster :) Hope everyone is well!

Strep Throat, But Another 2 pounds down :)

Hey there... sorry for the late post, I have been sick with strep throat the last week (YUCK) but am feeling much better now :) I hit a plateau last week (which is disappointing, but to be expected after such consistent weight loss for a few weeks), but THIS week I lost 2 pounds woohoo! It may also have helped that my throat was sore and I didn't each much besides soup this week, because it certainly wasn't the exercise! (I stayed out of the pool until today when I was feeling better).

Definitely time to swim inside for the season, today was certainly my last day swimming at the outdoor pool! It was chilly... refreshing, but too cold to enjoy swimming laps outside. I have been noticing some changes with food since my last fill now that it has been a few weeks as well... I have trouble eating anything with bread (such as a lean cuisine personal pizza)... it seems to sort of get "gummy" and almost hurts going down, so I am going to avoid foods like that! Not a big deal since I don't eat much with bread these days anyway. I went for a bike ride the other day and was totally spent after a mere 30 minutes and my butt was super sore... My Dad (an avid biker) says if I keep it up I will be able to go longer and my ass won't hurt as much so I am going to try to work a bike ride in a few times a week! I think I have mentioned this before, but one of my goals is to do a triathlon with my Dad in the future. I definitely have the swimming/walking(jogging?) down, but need to work on biking.

I love my new second job with the twin 6 month old babies (though I was not able to see them this week bc of my strep throat), but I am not sure that I will be able to keep it too much longer :/ I say this because when I was hired, the Mom told me she would for sure use me at least 2 days a week (about 10 hours), sometimes 3, and now it seems as though she is only going to need me 1 day a week because her Mother-in-law is helping her out more now :( 1 day a week is not really going to help me pay the bills, so I may be looking for another job.

I am almost ready to turn in my graduate school application which is exciting :) I am fine tuning my essay this weekend, then sending my essay to those that are writing me recommendation letters... once all of that is done I am ready to hit send! Cody (the boy I nanny) just started 6th grade at a new middle school and seems to really like it (though has been struggling with all of the change scenery, teachers, and new friends). I think this will be a great year for him, and hopefully this school can give him the academic help that he needs! I will write more later... have a great weekend all!

Feeling Great!

Took this picture before a date night to see "The Campaign" (which was HORRIBLE btw) with my boyfriend Steve and I FINALLY can actually see a real difference in my face... much thinner than a few months ago! It can be hard sometimes to see the difference because even though the scale says I am losing weight, I see myself in the mirror everyday... but a picture is worth a thousand words :)

I am still swimming pretty much every day but the pool is seemingly getting colder everyday and soon I will have to swim inside again instead of out in the sunshine :/ I am also going to have to pick up a few staple "fall clothing" items at Ross or somewhere else that is relatively inexpensive because nothing fits from last year or even the year before!! I am going to see the new Meryl Streep movie "Hope Springs" today with my Great Aunt which will be nice because I haven't seen her in a while... nothing much else new for now, just wanted to let everyone know that I am feeling great and looking forward to my next weigh in on tuesday :) Have a great rest of the weekend!!

Is it August Already?! Camping Trip and 4 Pounds Down

Hello! Sorry for the delay in postings... I have been a busy bee the past two weeks! I went to my bariatric doc a week and a half ago and got another fill of saline (1cc) so I now have a total of 7.2 cc in my band. It was a great doc appointment and the nurse who did my fill said I am like the "poster child" for lapband patients and was very impressed by how well I am doing with my weight loss! It doesn't come easy, and it helps tremendously that I exercise almost every day... Feeling great! This was the first time since I have been getting saline fills that I have truly felt a big difference when I eat (as far as getting full very quicklu) and I am also finally not hungry really at all in between meals which is great... this has already paid off big time because I have lost a total of 4 pounds in the last two weeks making my total weight loss 64 pounds! WOOHOO!

I went camping with my boyfriend this past week at Colorado National Monument which is in Fruita, CO (right near the border of CO and Utah), and it was truly incredible... It was only a 5 hour drive from where I live and well worth it! However, It was tremendously hot with no shade, so even though Steve and I had planned on doing a 4 mile hike, we settled for a few short hikes instead. The canyon and all of the natural formations were formed from erosion from water thousands of years ago... nature is amazing! After camping, we drove through and hung out in Pallasade, CO which is orchard/vineyard central... I tried mead for the first time! We also got some AMAZING rocky mountain peaches... YUM.

I interviewed to be a preschool teaching assistant and was anxiously awaiting to hear if I had gotten the job or not, and the woman finally emailed me yesterday to let me know that she had chosen someone else :( I am super bummed, but the email she sent me was incredibly nice... She had interviewed 14 people and it was down to me and another woman. She told me that I had a "larger than life" personality (in a good way) and that I was perfect for the job, had great experience, and impeccable references, BUT she was afraid that I would not be able to commit for more than a year because I will move on to bigger and better things (such as grad school). BUMMER. However, she did say that she would love to have me as a substitute assistant if she needed one etc...

I still need a second job, so I put up another ad on craigslist and have two interviews this week for different nanny jobs... the one I really want that would work with my current nanny schedule with Cody would be helping a new Mom with her 6 month old twin babies! I am interviewing with her tomorrow... wish me luck! I am still swimming everyday while the weather is still nice out and even though summer is almost over, I am really looking forward to fall :) It is my favorite season... the changing leaves, chilly weather, hot apple cider, PUMPKINS.. AHHH. I will have to get used to swimming laps inside again! Will write more later :) Hope everyone is doing well!