Let me hear you say WOOOAAAHHHH HEEEEYYYYY

Is anybody out there? Lordy Bigordy! Where is everyone? I miss you guys! Please leave me a comment! I've said it before and I'll say it again - "I'm fat - I need constant reassurance dammit!

 

PS. I'm officially a homeowner now. EEK!

10 Weeks down

Hiya,

Good weightloss for me this week - 1.3kgs - so very happy with that. It also meant that after 10 weeks banded I have kicked over 10kgs to the curb! Almost 11kgs. So although I may not be doing as well as others banded at the same time as me (I read on the Yahoo message board that some had lost about 15kgs), this is good steady weightloss for me and considering I didn't do Optifast very well (lost less than a kg) I'm happy with this result so far.

This has left me with 8.8kgs to lose before heading off to Europe in 8 weeks. Tough but do-able. Another tough aspect is that it's my birthday on Sunday which means this week will probably have numerous meals out and a touch of the alcohol. At least the band will stop me from eating the portions I would normally eat! Still, will try to up the exercising this week to compensate for the extra calories.

I get the feeling today is going to be a tough day. GB couldn't sleep this morning so got up ridiculously early for his walk with Westie. Then decided to go have coffee with his mum (who works as a cleaner) before going to work ridiculously early. Then of course I couldn't get back to sleep so decided I would go to work a bit early. Get to work and realise I've left my laptop at home. Grrrr. So had to go back home and get it. I mean we only live 8min drive away from work but still!!! And now people are annoying me. Bastards.

That's all from me today,

Em :)

Buggered

Yep. Got absolutely caned in our PT session last night. Here's a reccap for anyone interested:

• Run across half the oval kicking to our bums


• Run across half the oval high knee running


• Sprint across half the oval


• Walking lunges (turning to each side) half the oval


• laying under a bar and then holding yourself up for as long as possible (for me about 5 seconds!)


• crab walk about 10m x 2


• 20 stomach crunches


• 10 push ups


• 10 pushups bringing knees to elbows alternating sides


• high plank for 30seconds


• running up and down a set of stairs 10 times


• using elastic straps, doing bicep curls, chest presses, and like a seated row but not seated.


• sitting at right angles against a wall and holding


• laying on matt, legs crossed in the air and crunches reaching up to ankles

Then we did it all again! Fark I was stuffed. I had sweat literally dripping off me and I felt nauseaus.

My sister and her boyfriend are moving in with us tonight until we get back from Europe. Should be interesting times ahead. I wonder if I'll kill them!

Em :)

Chocolate is Evil

I love chocolate. And as chance would have it, it's about the only thing that I can eat without having any discomfort whatsoever. Bastards. And of course we have a chocolate fridge here at work. I am trying to be strong and stay away but sometimes when I get a bit peckish - the call from the fridge is too strong! I have gone from having a full bar to one of those snack size ones so that's good isn't it?

Well our weekend was good. On Saturday we spent the day at my mum's paving and replanting her plants in her little back courtyard. We were in bed by 9pm... on a saturday night. What exciting lives we lead! On Sunday we went to the movies and saw "What happens in Vegas". It has Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher in it. Was ok. GB thought it was great. Then we went to our new place we're buying so GB could tidy up the reticulation cords that were hanging out. Settlement is on Thursday - SCARY! After that we went home and I had a nap :). Later in the afternoon, we went to the Balmoral for a couple of beverages as it was our friend's birthday. A nice and relaxing day all up. Except for PB-ing the wedges from the pub. Which serves me right for eating some wedges.

Back into the PT sessions this week. GB's back is getting better so we're getting back on the exercise train this week. I'm actually looking forward to it but I bet he absolutely canes us today.

Anyhoo, that's it for today.

Em :)

4 kgs

Four farking kilos. That is how much GB lost this week. And that is without his usual exercise regime because he hurt his back last week. Four farking kilos! He has struggled to keep any food down since the fill so I guess that explains it, but still. Four farking kilos! I'm proud of him I swear, but jealous as all hell!

Because GB hasn't been doing the gym, I haven't been going either and we've been busy organising our house settlement etc. But I have, twice now, done 30mins on my cross trainer which I'm feeling pretty bloody proud of myself about!

Anyway, that's all I have to report.

 

4 farking kilos.....

9 Weeks Down

Well what a difference a fill makes! I almost went under that elusive 110kg mark... SO CLOSE! Nevertheless a 1.8kg drop this week is great. No hunger at all really which is good. Haven't been able to eat breakfast which I guess is ok. Differing opinions on that. "They" usually say how important breakfast is blah blah blah. However I'm reading Paul O'Brien's new lapbanding book and he pretty much says if you're not hungry - don't eat. Been eating salad for lunch which is going down ok. We bought half a cheesecake the other day and that was a bad move. Last night's dinner: cheesecake. Yum. I'm finding that if I take too big a gulp of water that it kind of gets stuck - but not to the extent of PBing. Weird - it's just water.

Doc Watson said on Friday that he doesn't need to see us for another couple of months. Given that that would bring us right up to when we fly out to Europe he said it was best to just make an appointment for when we come back in mid September.  Which is 4 months away! He doesn't want us too restricted going away which is good I guess. I'm going to see how I go in 6 weeks and if I feel like I'm eating too much or getting hungry I might try to get a fill. That way there's another 3-4weeks to settle before we go away.

I did 30mins on the cross trainer at home last night! Apparently all that dust on it doesn't affect it's capacity to work you silly! Then did about 10mins of sit ups, leg lifts and pushups.

Well the townhouse we bought a couple of months ago is finally settling next week! Because it is brand new we had to wait for the titles to be released. So we have our final inspection today and we're looking around for a property manager. I've had shit ones having been renting for quite some time so I'm keen to find someone who'll do a good job by us as well as whomever rents from us.

I thought I'd post a few photos:

Me & GB on Mother's Day:

Skinny GB at the Million Paws walk

The two of us in a corporate box at the Rugby last friday (the fill meant we couldn't eat much of anything on offer though!)

Us at Kings Park on Mother's Day

No PT this week

I have posted this month's measurements on the measurements page if anyone wants to have a gander!

No PT this week unfortunately, had to cancel. GB has hurt his back either at PT last thursday or cleaning up my workshop at work on Saturday (I dragged him in to help!), so the poor love is only allowed to walk this week. He was pretty miserable yesterday, in pain and also not able to keep much food down at all. I've told him to stick to liquids today and see how he goes. He managed to drink an optifast shake this morning and a cup a soup for lunch. The week after the fill was pretty awful for him last time so I'm hoping it does get better for him. I also appear to be coming down with the flu thanks to the half a dozen people coughing, sneezing and spluttering at the training last week. Bastards.

Nothing else happening really, so enjoy a pic of our pooch Westie taken yesterday in her new "Spoilt Bitch" jumper I bought for her at the Million Paws walk.

Quick Update - 2 months banded

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Been busy with work and life - you get that! Was running a training course all last week so wasn't in the office on my computer at all! What's been going on?

Weight: put on a bit last week due to having a phat time of life! Eating too much... definately time for a fill!

Measurements: Took monthly measurements and have lost 22cm all over which is more than I lost the month before which is terrific. Will post as soon as I can.

2nd Fill: GB and I went for our second fill on Friday. Doc Watson was very happy with our progress and the exercise we're putting in. He gave us both 1ml taking us to 5ml in 10ml bands.

Eating post fill: Difficult. We had corporate box tix to the Rugby on Friday night after our fill. Couldn't really eat much of anything. GB again had a big task of keeping anything at all down (same as last time). I struggled but was ok. Saturday - didn't eat much of anything - wasn't hungry at all. Had an iced coffee at the shops then nibbled on ham and cheese at GB's parents house that night. And a bit of popcorn at the movies that night - that's it. Sunday, GB made us scrambled eggs for breakfast - neither of us could eat it. It seems we have joined those bandsters who can't eat breakfast. Shame. Did the million paws walk with friends and then went to The Balmoral for lunch and bevvies. I ate a greek salad - had a PB - stupid lettuce leaves. GB didn't eat much of anything. I also shared a small piece of cheesecake with a friend - went down an absolute treat!!! Haven't eaten anything today yet - GB tried an apple - no luck there either.

Anyhoo, that's all I've got to say about that! Hope everyone else's journey is progressing well. I hope to catch up on your blogs this week!

Em :)

The aftermath

Ok, I'm feeling slightly better this morning. The pain from Monday in the quads (I think) is no worse which is good. I have however strained my groin I think. I did feel a bit of a twinge last night when I did one of the side lunges so that's causing a few issues this morning but a lot better than last night when I thought I may be a parapalegic!

GB said this morning that he had the best night's sleep in months last night primarily because I couldn't move! Lovely!

Anyway, must get back to work. Busy busy busy. I'm in a working group that has put together 1 week's training next week for clerical and admin officers and I have to present 2 of the topics. I still have to write up the presentations!!!

Cheerio

Em

PT 3: The pain continues

I wanted to post this whilst the pain is still fresh. Let this be a lesson to everyone. Never admit to your personal trainer that you are still really sore from the previous session. 1st exercise. Legs either side of a step and jumping up on top of it into a squat. The pain was extreme. Then he moved onto arms stuff with the weight machines and dumbells and I literally thought they were going to explode. Then we had to do walking lunges. Again my legs screamed. To finish off - knee high running on the spot and then kicking bum running on the spot for 60 seconds each. I finished 1 second early and had to do 20 seconds more. Bastard.

As a result of all this I find myself literally unable to get off the couch. Not because I don't want to. Because I cannot put any weight on my knees.

Lordy bigordy.

:(

Still hurting....

Decided not to go to the gym after work last night because my legs were still so sore. GB and I walked Westie for about half an hour though (not at any great speed) and I ran...jogged..shuffled 2 x 1.5laps of our park. Then we did some medicine ball situps together (sans medicine ball). So still did some exercise just not as intense. The muscles above my knees are still sore today if you can believe that and we have another PT session tonight!

Thanks for your advice Myf about Yoga. Not sure how I'd go with that. I did a body balance class last year when I was quite a bit lighter and which combines yoga, pilates, tai chi and I vowed never to go back coz I was so crap! But the gym does have yoga classes so maybe I'll think about it.

I made a lovely cannelloni last night. I know we're trying not to have carbs for dinner blah blah but we felt like something really tasty and I think it was my best ever! Of course I made a whole tray of it so we'll be eating it all week!! haha

The last few nights I've noticed (and so has GB) that my stomach is making all sorts of gurgling noises. It's kind of like hunger grumbles but I'm not hungry. What's that all about? It's really loud!!!

Anyhoo, best be off

Em :)

7 weeks on...

It's been 7 weeks since the banding - wow how time flies! A bit disappointed with only a 600g loss this week considering the exercise I'm putting in, but my diet hasn't been the best so I guess that's fair. Will retake measurements next Wednesday and will hopefully see some change there.

My scars are mostly healing nicely. The small one on the right is now finally starting to dry up and heal after a week of putting betadine on it. And the end of the big scar is starting to heal too. Not sure why these two have been a bit of a pain in the arse but we're getting there. I do still get a bit itchy around them.

I'm still sore!!! I am still struggling to bend my legs to sit down and get up which is frustrating! And our next PT session is tomorrow! So hopefully will be semi better by then!

Food yesterday:

Breakfast: 1 weetbix & skim milk

Lunch: Greek salad

Dinner: satay chicken and steamed vegies

Dessert: Banana split (1 scoop light icecream)

Snacks: 300ml Light Iced coffee

Well better get back to work. Blah. I need a day off.

PT 2: Electric Boogaloo

Ouchy Wouchy. I can barely walk. We had our second personal training session last night and it was another toughy. We did kickboxing and as a result my legs no longer like to leave the ground. Or bend. Which makes going to the toilet and sitting down quite the awkward task. In between kicking the trainer we had to do dips and pushups against the little wall (my hands are sooo sore!) and throw a tyre back and forth. We also had to do medicine ball situps without the ball which killed! And a bit of running around and jumping through the tyre. Finished off with 5mins on the cycle on fatburner level 10! (12 for GB) We were shattered by the end of it. Poor GB had to ride home on his pushbike after all that too!

When we got home we took Westie for a walk for about 45mins too. Slow and steady to get the bloody circulating again!

Food was pretty good yesterday:

Breakfast: 1 weetbix & skim milk

Lunch: Greek salad no dressing

Dinner: Chicken stirfry

Snacks: nestle no fat yoghurt

Anyhoo, that's it for today. If anyone has any suggestions as to what they'd like to seem me talk more or less about on this blog, just leave me a comment. Thanks to Myf for all her awesome comments! At least I know 1 person is reading this! haha

Em :)

Monday-itis

So the weekend was good. I'm PB-ing a lot more that I want to be. I'm pretty sure I can put this down to being gutsy. Especially when you're talking to someone and just not thinking about what is going on in your mouth. It's a big learning curve - el-banderino. GB and I went out for dinner on Friday night for our fortnightly splurge. We went to the Must wine bar in Highgate. There was already a bit of a crowd around the bar and when we walked in we were asked if we wanted to go up to the Champagne Lounge. So off we troddle, through the locked door (seriously you need a code to get in) and up some stairs to this lovely, quiet lounge. The bartender up there told us they had one of the biggest selections of champagne in Australia and had 5 that you could buy by the glass. But if we wanted spirits or wine that was ok too. He went through them the champagnes by the glass one by one, with me nearly balking at the upward of $20 price per glass. They also had Dom Perignon by the glass at $50 each. Holy Schmoly. GB says to me, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" And just as I'm about to say "Yeah the second one for $24 sounds nice", he says "It has to be the Dom!" WHAT THE??? I told him he was paying if that's the case! So we had a glass each and it was truly spectacular. If you have an opportunity to try it (without the $400 per bottle price tag), I highly recommend it. Dinner was downstairs in the dining area opposite the main bar. The meal was nice (if not slightly overpriced particularly when we're only eating half of what's on our plates!), but we found it too noisy for an intimate dinner for two.

Saturday GB went over to a friends place to help with more flooring stuff. I had a day to myself. Went to the gym for about an hour which was good. Then did some washing and had a shower and went to Garden City for a change. Decided I deserved a pedicure so off I toddled to Professionnail. Not very impressed. I love after a pedicure when you feel like you're walking on air and all tingly. Well this didn't happen. Didn't even get a very good foot massage. Oh well, my toenails look pretty. Then I went and did some grocery shopping and headed home. After hanging the washing on the line I headed to GB's friends place to catch up with the lads. His friend's girlfriend brought over the Wii she had just got and we played bowling (4 strikes in a row thank you very much!), tennis and golf. You actually have to make the movements! It was great fun that Wii thingamajig! This morning I saw on Sunrise, the gadget guy was showing a Wii game that had a step thingy and you could do exercises - it was like a personal trainer! hahaha technology today. At least these kids stuck in front of the tv all day are getting a bit of exercise now.

Sunday we had a family meeting/intervention at my mum's which is way to long a diatribe and stressfull to go into here but it had to be done. Afterwards we met the boys at the Gate pub and my sister and I shared a piece of cheesecake. And it was tasteless. Dammit, if I'm going to eat crap it should at least be tasty!!!

Well tonight we're off to the PT again. GB actually road his bike to work today. Not sure how bright an idea that was given that he's going to have to ride home after the PT session!!! Got a bit asthma-y last time so have my puffer with me for today.

I've been reading everyone's blogs that are on my sidebar and what a bloody inspiration you lot are! Sorry if I don't comment every time, but know that I am reading your blogs!

Ciao for now!

em :)

Men v Women

I was just reading an article on news.com.au about Sam winning The Biggest Loser and these paragraphs pipped my interest:

"Fortunately for males and unfortunately for females they (males) have the hormone testosterone, which is a hormone that allows you to build lean muscle tissue and cut fat at the same time," he says.

"It's the way God, or who ever discovered this world, built us.

" Females were built to survive in evolution, they need to be able to hold weight in times of famine and carry a baby, feed kids and things like that. That's why the human race has survived and why women will hold weight on a bit. The more testosterone you have on a chemical level the more weight you will lose."

So does this mean I should be shovelling testosterone down my throat? Will I grow "man bits"? Hmmmm

GB did his official weekly weigh in today and was disappointed to have only lost 400g. I think that's awesome considering we've made a few dodgy food choices this week (*cough*chinese*cough). Plus that's like almost a tub of magarine of weight he's lost. He's on the last hole on his belt. The same belt I might add that he bought about a week before our surgery and could only just get it done up on the first hole. He's gone from a size 47 to 42 in pants and shirts and all this in 6 weeks. People are saying they didn't recognise him walking past. I'm uber proud of him.

Back to Sam. It was terrific to see him win last night and looking great and happy. 71.7kg lost in 6 months! I'd be happy if that's what I weighed! And he didn't look sickly thin like last year's winner who admitted after that he was planning to put back on about 15-20kgs after the show as he was too thin! I couldn't help feel a twinge of sadness for Alison after losing by just 1%. And how unrecognizable was Sean! Oh my god. Thanks goodness that pony tail got the chop too! Kristen looked like she'd gone for some muscle definition which would have reduced her chances but she looked terrific.  My personal faves were Sheriden and Nicola. I thought they looked mint and what I aspire to.

Dinner

I forgot that I took a pic of the dinner I cooked for us a few nights ago. It was out of one of the weight watchers cookbooks I have. It was a small veal steak with salsa, avocado and cheese on top. I made some potato dish to go with it.. I know not very healthy but I did use extra light cream! And that is a side plate not a dinner plate to give you an idea on size. It was yummo too!!

Just spoke with our PT and confirmed our next session for next Monday after work. We're going to do it Monday and Thursdays which gives us a good break in between.

Work is giving me the poops today. Why do people have to be so annoying?? Grrrr

6 weeks on...

Yes I'm alive... arms very sore though.

First an official weight reccap: 7.5kgs in 6 weeks. Not too bad, not as much as I would have liked but still, not too bad.

Now for what you've all been waiting for..... how was our PT session? In a word - TOUGH! Holy moly! GB and I did a 10 min walk on the treadmill (me at 6.3k/h) as a warmup. So far so good. Then our trainer came up to us. He said we were going outside to train. He grabbed matts and boxing paraphenalia and off we troddled out to the back of the building. He started us jogging on the spot when a friendly homeless indigenous australian decided to have a chat. He'd spotted the boxing stuff and wanted to know our trainer's boxing experience as apparently he was a golden glove. I guess this means he was good, or somewhere in the depths of his mentalness he thinks he's Rocky... which ever it was it was annoying. We did our best to bumble along.

After our jogging on the spot I was already tired. Then he explained that we'd go through a circuit together and then one of us would box with him while the other did the circuit. The circuit started off with pullups (or chinups) on this side rail. And here's about when it came unstuck for me. I have ZERO upper body strength. So my body barely moved when I pulled on the bar! Anyway we had to do 10 of those. Next we leant onto the rail and did pushups. That was tough too - 10 of those. We then moved to the stairs (about 10) and had to run down and then bolt up them, counting the number as we got to the top. 10 of those.  After that I could barely breathe! I hobbled over to the other rail and we had to do like scissor jump lunges. 50 of those and I was literally about to die. We then moved over to the window ledge and had to put one leg up behind us and do like a squat on the other leg. Shit. Then switch legs. Next we held onto a pole and did calf raises where we went up and down on our toes. Then we got to have a drink!

After that we did about a million different crunches. THen GB got to go off on the circuit and I got to box for the first time ever. It was great fun but I couldn't believe how much my heart was racing and sore my arms got. left punch, right punch, left hook, right hook, left uppercut, right uppercut. Over and over and over. My arms are stinging now just thinking about it! The only downer was the dude crapping on about what we were doing wrong - grrrr. When GB finished his circuit we swapped and I nearly died all over again doing my circuit! When he was finished we did some pushups (sort off - I couldn't really bend my elbows with my arse flat like that!). Then we moved back into the gym for 5 mins of intervals on the bikes. FARK! Trainer dude asked us throughout how we felt between 1 and 10 - we were at 9's and then after the bike - 10!

It may have been the lack of oxygen to our brains but we signed up for another 10 sessions each. We discussed it with trainer guy and he agreed that we probably wouldn't be able to manage an hour long session (that one was just half an hour) so we're going to do 30min session twice a week. I was literally shattered last night. A bit asthma-y too so will have to remember to take my puffer with me to future sessions. GB was pretty impressed with it too - he felt like he was going to throw up!

Anyhoo, must be on my way....

em :)