The difference a year makes.....

The pink shirt is from July 2009 I weighed around 242 there, and the purple is from July 2010 and I weighed 180.

These pictures were just uploaded onto facebook, from my college reunion weekend with my friends. I really can't believe the difference a year makes! *WOW*

I must say getting the band was the best decision of my life!

Week 8 Challenge Results EDITED

Morning Ladies, Here is this weeks challenge results.

The winner for this week is: Mary- Being a winner, by being a loser Mary lost 2.2% this week, awesome job chicka! She has lost over 43lbs since she started this journey, and I think we can expect big things from her. Keep up the great work Mary!

As a total we lost 22.5lbs this week. EEEEEEK! Definitely not our best week ladies- let's kick this up a notch and finish with a bang. For the entire challenge we have lost as a group 477.3lbs. I would really love to see us finish at the 500lb loss mark. This would be we would have to lose 22.7lbs this week, which is under 1lb per person. I am confident we can do this!

Lots of love, hope everyone is having a fantastic week! xxoo

Big things popin!

Hey Everyone and Happy Sunday!

Just wanted to check in with everyone and thank you all so much for all the kind words you left on my 70lbs loss post, they all meant so much and brought a huge smile to my face.

Today Rick and I attempted another bike ride, this time we made it 10 miles, rode for about a an hour and a half, and my heart rate monitor said I burned 902 calories!! YAY!!

During pre-op I read egg faces blog a lot and all of her yummy recipes convinced me to buy an ice cream maker (click here to see the one I got). Unfortunately we never had enough freezer space to freeze the barrel you need to freeze to make the ice cream. Miraculously we've made enough space for the barrel and tonight is our first time using the machine in a year! We are making a chocolate soft serve with sugar free pudding mix and splenda. I will let you all know how it comes out!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

Challengers- Don't forget to send me your weights tonight, only 1 week left!

Down 70!

WAHOOOOOOO! The scale read 178 this morning make me officially down 70lbs! I am about 3 weeks away from my 1 year bandiversery and at this point last year I was just about to start my pre-op diet. 70lbs is more then I could have ever imagined losing in 1 year, I am so proud of myself. My clinic told me that they hope for their patients to lose 50% of there excess weight in the first year after surgery, that would have been 60lbs for me. So according to their statistics I have passed expectations. yipppppe!

My parents are down visiting this weekend so I have to cut this short, but I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!

Challengers: Don't forget to send me your weights tomorrow!!!

Challenge Week 7 Results

Congratulations to Grace- from Grace's Fat Chance. She lost a whopping 3.2% this week! Grace has had a rough couple of months from nerve pains, breakups, internship issues and even going through the process of applying to grad school and just getting ACCEPTED! With all of this on her plate she has overcome a lot of these problems and continues to lose weight at a rapid pace and lead the challenge. Grace, I am so proud of you for everything you have accomplished, and I'm sure everyone else is too. You deserve this!


With this impressive loss it brings the group to a total loss for the week of 65.9lbs and a total loss for the challenge of 455lbs! HOLY SHIT! That is impressive!


BREAKING NEWS: I emailed a few of you for weights yesterday stating that this was the last week of the challenge and that pictures of the scales were due next week...apparently I am 1 week ahead of myself. OOOPS! Please note- We have 2 weeks left of the challenge, and pictures of the scale are not due until Sunday, August 1st. So sorry for the confusion!


Happy Losing Everyone, I'm so proud of you all!!!!!!!!

Challenge Week 6 Results

Helllllllo ladies! I have finally completed this week's graph and am so proud of all of us!

This weeks winner is Kelly- The new me is coming out. She lost an amazing 2.1% WAHOOOO! Kelly is doing an terrific job, she lost this weight while away on vacation, now that's dedication! She just had surgery in May, so I'm sure we can expect big things for this girl. Great job!

Now for the total group weight loss, we lost 48.2lbs this week, bringing us to a total of 391.3!!

As for sweaty pretzel man- Thank you all so much for your hilarious comments. I am so glad that so many of you could relate in one way or another. This is how I ended up handling it, I sent out an email to the entire office that said:

Today when I arrived at work I noticed that some food behind my desk had been opened and not closed. I just wanted to remind everyone that things behind my desk are my own personal belongings, if there is something that I would like to share with the office it will be on the table in front of my desk (i.e jolly ranchers) Thank you so much for understanding.

So I think this will do the trick, I took the highest road possible that I could think of while still getting my point across. Hope it works!

XOXO

Fill Update and Opinions Needed

I had my appointment today with my nurse practitioner for a checkup and fill if needed. We discussed my restriction level and decided to go ahead with a .1 fill. She got the needle right in on the first try which was great! I asked her if the humidity could have anything to do with me being so much tighter on some days and she said she didn't believe so. She thinks the major factor in sudden tightness all stems from stress. This definitely could be the case, but who knows. I weighed in @ 182.4 which is 13lbs down from my last appointment 13 weeks ago. She was very happy with this progress and so am I. I also asked her about a possible un-fill in September when I go on my cruise, she didn't like this too much and said no. She did have me schedule an appointment with her for right before I leave to make sure I am at a comfortable restriction level. I guess we'll play it by ear. With this .1 fill it brings me to 7.1 total cc's in my 10cc band. As soon as I left my appointment I went and got a coffee coolata with skim milk..high in sugar but oh so good and it went down just fine. For dinner I just had baked potato soup from panera and it was DELISH!

OK so I need some opinions, a very strange thing happened at work today. I brought a bag of pretzels to work today and placed them on top of a cabinet behind my desk, mind you I am in a cube so all of this is out in the open. I work in a pretty small office, about 15 people total, but there are multiple companies within my office suite. One of the companies hired a new person last week, a very sweaty gross looking man. So I leave for my fill appointment around 12 today, and around 3 I get a call from my coworker who is in hysterics laughing. I guess so called sweaty man, went BEHIND my desk and opened my bag of pretzels, ripped the bag down the middle, grabbed a handful of them and then walked away without closing the bag. I don't even know this man! I've said hi and introduced myself, but that's all! The thing is, he is the vice president for this other company in my suite and I don't know if I should say something. I don't want to be the fatty that yells at someone for stealing her pretzels, but he needs to know this isn't OK! So what do I do? Should I send out an email to the entire office saying someone opened my pretzels and that's not OK, do I send an email to just him, do I go and talk to him in person? This is the most award situation EVER lol.

Challenge Update: I am waiting for a few more weigh-in's, but I should be able to post the graph tomorrow!!

XOXO

I went for my first bike ride of the year today!

Guess what I did today?!?!?! I know you can probably guess from the title of this post, but I am just so freaking excited. Last year about 2 weeks before my surgery Rick and I went out and bought new bikes, I had tried riding that week but with being on the pre-op diet and the August heat, I didn't last long. Today was a different story though. We dug the bikes out of storage, filled the tires with air, put them on the bike rack and off we went to find this mystical bike trail we've been reading about. It was about 2 miles down the road from our house, and it was like finding a hidden jewel. I can't believe this has been so close to me and I have never taken advantage of it. What the trail is, is a 6.6 mile trail that used to be a railroad back in the day. A few years ago the town took it over, and paved it and made it into a wonderful little bike way. It was such an awesome smooth ride with no traffic, the scenery was great and I even found a bunny!!! I am so thrilled, and pumped up on endorphins. I really hope we can start biking more, we don't have any excuse not too now. Here is a pic Rick took of me at the end of the trail...right after I found the bunny and was super excited haha.

I hope everyone had fantastic weekends. Last night my best friend and I went to Jack Johnson concert, it was terrific! I love his surfer style music, its so happy that you can't help but smile and dance when you hear it. This morning I went to the beach for a few hours before going on the bike ride. I was feeling a little daring and lifted up my tankini top to tan my tummy and got a little too crispy, oops!

Tomorrow is my first appointment with my nurse practitioner since March. I think I have decided to ask for a .1 fill. Just a little tweak to get my weight moving again. I will let you all know how that goes tomorrow.

CHALLENGERS: Don't forget weights are due today!!! xxoo

Week 5 Challenge Winner

I'm sure you are all on the edge of your seats waiting for me to tell you who the winner of the week 5 challenge was.

Lets all congratulate Jess on not only losing 2.8% this week, but for making it into the 150's!!

Way to go Jess!!!

Challenge Week 5 Results

The winner for this week lost 2.8%! WOW! Let's play a game and see if we can guess who it is!

*She had to get an un-fill this past week

*She has 2 daughters

*She had her surgery in January 2010, and is down 57lbs

Any Guesses????? Stay tuned for the answer!

Snapshot of last week: We lost 54.9lbs total, bringing us to 341.3lbs thus far!

I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday weekend! xxoo

Where I am..

Good morning my little sunshines! Today is my 'Friday' and I couldn't be more excited. Tonight after work, Rick and I are heading up to my parents home in Maine until Monday. I plan to do a lot of laying by the pool and working on my tan for the next few days :o) For the past 2 weeks my weight has been doling steady between 182-184, I'd really like to see the 170's sometime soon. I feel like I'm somewhat happy where I am, and haven't been trying as hard as I should be. To most this would be a great weight to be around, but for me being only 5ft 1, I still have a lot of work to do. I am just about at 11 months out from surgery right now and down 65 lbs total. I'd really like to be at 75lbs down for my 1 year, which is August 14th and would put me at 172lbs. So I have about 6 weeks to lose 10lbs, totally doable, but also a stretch!

I have an appointment with the nurse practitioner the week after next, I'm not sure if I will want a small tweak or not. Some parts of me want to get one, and force myself to be stricter with my choices, but other parts of me think that I like where I am. I also scared myself a few months ago when I had to get an unfill, I don't want to be back there.

I wanted to give a quick challenge update as well- Since this week's weigh in happens to fall on the 4th, I know this will be difficult for some people to get on the computer and email me their weights. If you want, I would be fine with everyone emailing me their weights Saturday, Sunday or Monday. Whatever is most convenient for you guys!

I hope everyone has a fantastic and safe 4th! xxoo