Friday, March 27, 2009

Well...

What do you think about my new background etc? A change is as good as a holiday as they say, but unfortunately I'm not talented enough to design my own layout so had to choose from one of the themes available.

200g lost this week. Fark. Maybe I'm not eating enough? Some days I don't have lunch because I often PB it anyway. This week with GB being off on his boys trip I haven't been cooking I must admit! I have had a few not so healthy snacks too. Here's what I can remember:

Sunday:
Yoghurt (lunch)
A sm pastry tart
Salad

Exercise - 6km walk (just over 1hr)

Monday:
Light Iced coffee (small)
Diet yoghurt
Salad (lunch)
Quiche (dinner) - violently PB'd up :(

Tuesday:
Light Iced coffee (small)
Diet yoghurt (PB'd)
Salad (lunch)
1/2 Potato, light sour cream, light cheese, bean mix (WW recipe)
4 x small  mince mix like san choi bow (WW recipe)
choc cookies
Coke

Exercise - 45min walk

Wednesday:
Light Iced coffee (small)
Diet yoghurt
Salad (lunch)
Small bowl pasta
3x small veal cutlets (PB'd)

Exercise - 30min calorie burner L5 bike; 20mins weights

Thursday:
Light Iced coffee (small)
Diet yoghurt (lunch)
Salad (dinner)
1 sml pack vege chips

Exercise - 60min pilates; 45 min walk

Oh and I had a chocolate most days. Hmmmmmmm

I'm definately not drinking enough water. Going to fill water bottle up right now. And, done.

Missing GB. He's off in the Northern Territory on his boys trip and has been out of range for the past couple of days so haven't even been able to talk to him which sucks.

Fighting with DPI. Went into one of their offices 5 weeks ago to renew my driver's licence, change my address, get a new photo and have my visual aid conditions removed (thank you laser eye surgery). 2 weeks later, when I still hadn't received it, I called them and was told there was a mixup with my address because I'd also changed it online and it went to my old address. I tell them I have a redirection so I still should have received it but I didn't. Apparently I have to wait till 4 weeks before they can request a replacement. A few days later I get a sticker in the mail for my old address. Helpful. Then when 4 weeks had passed I called them again, they need my new address in writing. So I fax them a diatribe about the situation again giving my details in writing for the THIRD time. Yesterday in the mail I get a change of address sticker for my new address. STill not helpful when I don't have a farking valid drivers licence to stick it too. Plus the whole point of changing it when renewing my license was so that my new license would have my new address on it and a sticker wouldn't be needed.

So now I've sent them yet another fax, giving them until next Friday to get me my farking licence or I'll take my complaints further. I don't know who too, but I'll find the premier if I need to. Geez. No wonder people have such disrespect for government departments. And I work for one!!!

So pilates yesterday was a lot more fun than last week. We did a lot of on the ball work which helped me because my core isn't very strong so I had extra support.  Backs of legs and shoulders sore today though.

Last Friday I did a mini health assessment at work. She crapped on about the importance of eating brekkie - didn't tell her about the band - just nodded along. Had to stand on one of those smart scales which we all know are highly inaccurate...right?? My results were:

Cholesterol: Normal <3 mmol/ltr
Blood Pressure: OK - 105/80
Body Fat: 42.1% (significantly overweight)
Total Body Water Percentage: 41.8% of total body weight. Females should be 45-60%
Muscle Mass: 48.5kg muscle (overweight - higher body fat % with moderate muscle mass)
Basal Metabolic Rate: 6681kj rqd for BMR (no where near that!)
Metabolic age: 50. Slowest you can get!
Bone Mass: 2.6kg - Women 75kg + = 2.95kg
Visceral Fat: 7 rating = healthy 1-12

EEK!

Anyhoo, that'll do. Please leave me a comment, even if just to say hi!

Em :)

Friday, March 20, 2009

Bandiversary Update

12 months. It has been 12 months since the band and I (and GB) started this journey together and it's been a steep learning curve. Both GB and I often comment that sometimes we're slow learners when it comes to working with the band. Perfect example last night. We went out to dinner with GB's family for his neice's birthday. Unfortunately said place refused to grill the fish (can you believe it) so we opted for a caesar salad to share. GB's brother had a seafood basket including chips. Couldn't help myself. Had to have not one but 2 chips! I know that chips and I don't live a harmonious life any longer and sure enough I had to make a couple of trips to the loo to see those chips again! Bugger!  

So let's reccap. My starting weight when I first went to Doc Watson was 120.2kg and I'm now 87kgs - over 33kgs lost (32.5 post band).  Here's my measurements change too:






























































 6/03/200820/03/2009Total Lost
Neck33321
R Arm42348
L Arm42348
Chest1129517
Waist1118427
Hips140113.526.5
R Leg7160.510.5
L Leg7160.510.5
   108.5

GB has done some awesome things too. He's dropped about 37kgs in 12 months and is only about 4kgs from his goal. He's also lost 100cm off his body! What a superstar!






























































 6/03/200819/03/2009Total Lost
Neck4639.56.5
R Arm3530.54.5
L Arm3631.54.5
Chest117101.515.5
Waist118.592.526
Hips12710027
R Leg62539
L Leg62557
   100

I'm really proud of what we've both achieved in a year. I'm only a couple kgs heavier now than I was when I last lost the weight a few years ago which I'm relieved about. Now to hit that wedding goal!!!

We went and had a chat with Dr Fill (Bowater) at Doc Watson's surgery yesterday. He was really impressed with our success. He explained that both of us are in the "circle of success" in that the band has done its job in reducing our excess weight by two thirds.  He also said the a BMI of 27 is a researched figure relating to your longevity (not necessarily 22-25 which is just a theory). I told him that I was still struggling to eat sometimes around lunchtime  but usually fine for dinner (as long as I keep away from chips!) and he explained the reason that bandits struggle in the morning (and sometimes around lunch). When we sleep our feet and hearts are all on the same level and about 2L (or kgs) of fluid flows from our feet up to our torso. This fluid increases our stomach sizes which puts pressure on the band and restriction occurs. During the day, gravity takes effect and the extra fluid redistributes again which lessons the restriction. This is the same theory behind why some of us ladies have super restriction at TTOM because of the extra fluid in our bodies.

He reminded us also that as our bodies are getting smaller, so are our stomachs. So whilst we may have the sweet spot of restriction for months at a time, there may come a time that we find ourselves a bit more hungry than usual and looking to graze for food again. That will indicate it's time for a top up. Because our stomachs are shrinking, the band's tightness around our stomach will loosen which is why we'll start to get hungry again. It all makes sense doesn't it!

GB identified that this was a problem he was having at the moment. His last fill was in September last year when we got  back from Europe and he's been beating himself up trying to get under 90kgs the past month or so with no success. So Dr Bowater gave him another .25mls.

So I was pretty disappointed with the 200g loss last week which led to a bit of a binge over the weekend (as much as a bandit can binge!). I ate a truckload of cheese and wine Friday night. Drank big dog coke (ie full strength, not diet) all weekend and decided a quarter of a cheesecake would be appropriate for lunch on sunday. Yeehaa. So not surprisingly after all that, on the monday I sneaked a peak at the scales and was back of 89kgs! Wowser. Been on the straight and narrow this week since then though and overall lost 700g from last week which isn't too bad at all I reckon!

Walked 6km around Bibra Lake on sunday with my sisters. Tuesday did an hour at the gym. 30mins cardio, 30mins weights. Wednesday did 20mins cardio at gym then 15mins on the wii fit (advanced step is HARD!). Thursday I did my first ever Pilates class. And Oh. My. God. They do it at my work during lunch and a couple of girls I know are in the class. They told me that Thursday class is the hard class. Crap. Then the instructor turned up -  not the one they were expecting - and oh, oh it's going to be even harder. Everything burned. Now I can touch my toes (I'm told not everyone can), its much easier now that my giant stomach isn't as giant anymore. But I have ZERO upper body or core or abs strength whatsover... and it burned burned burned. Lordy bigordy. After the class, the girls I know commented that it was a super hard class, but still, I am so crap at it. Anyway, have committed to 10 weeks so will suck it up and hope I don't pass out or fart accidently. After work Thursday I went to the gym and did the Alpine program on the bike at Level 8 for 20mins then just the no program at L9 for 10mins.

In a lovely surprise, on Tuesday night, GB surprised me with tickets to see Phantom of the Opera at Burswood. It was fantastic. And even though GB admitted to nodding off for a minute in the second act, he also loved it. We had a quick bite to eat at Siroccos. He had a pasta with crab meat and chilli and I had the open vegetarian lasagne which was yummo. I only ate half though.

Food this week that made a reappearance:

  • Chips

  • Fruit (incl banana, pineapple, grapes)


GB is off to Darwin for a week tomorrow on a boys trip, so I'll have a week to motivate myself which will be interesting!

Hope everyone is doing well in the bloggerverse.
Em :)

Thursday, March 19, 2009

NSV

Just got changed for the gym and thought I must have picked up the XXL shirt instead of XL coz it was so baggy. Nope it was just the XL!

Gotta hold onto the NSV as the SV are very few and far between these days!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Good week

Very happy with my 1.5kg loss last week, even if it was TTOM. I usually struggle the week after so going to try my damndest this week to maintain or lose. GB struggling to get under 90kgs and has decided to put in a mammoth effort this week to do it. I'm still PBing on occassion and with no rhyme nor reason. We went to GB's folks place for dinner on Saturday night and struggled on prawns and cheese and PB'd a few times (including wine coming up through my nose - lovely) and it wasn't good.

On Friday we had our fortnightly date night and I nearly killed GB when we turned up to Jackson's. For those of you who don't know, Jackson's is considered one of the best fine dining restaurants in Perth and has a pricetag to match. It was a degustation menu - a whopping 7 courses! GB hadn't realised this! Luckily they are fairly small portions, that I'm sure a normal eater wouldn't be too impressed about but meant, luckily for us, we could eat most of what turned up on our plates. I started to feel full after course 3! There were 2 dessert courses which we asked to hold off on for about an hour so we could let the other go down. Had some gorgeous wine too. It was a nice meal and we had a lovely night but it was far too pretentious for us (the waitstaff wore white gloves!) and FAR too expensive! I'll try to remember to scan in and post the menu for anyone whose interested.

We played squash last week and I played the best I ever have in the second game. It took 20mins to play out and I eventually won 10-8. I was super proud of myself!

On Saturday, went to a few bridal stores with my sister. Tried on a few dresses but the chick was none too impressed when I shouted "NO VEIL" when she went to put one on my head!!! Saw a couple of nice designs, but I have my heart set on a particular style so I really want to try one in my size (they ones they had were about size 10's) so I can see if it suits before I commit.

Hope everyone else is travelling well and hope to catch up on your blogs soon.

Thanks for all your comments too, I really appreciate seeing them pop up!

Em :)

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Ugh

Well it seems TTOM has again brought with it hormonal restriction. Yesterday PB'd nearly everything. This morninh I struggled to drink half my small iced coffee and even now I can feel it sitting in my throat. Guess it will be a couple days of not much to eat.