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:

	6/03/2008	20/03/2009	Total Lost
Neck	33	32	1
R Arm	42	34	8
L Arm	42	34	8
Chest	112	95	17
Waist	111	84	27
Hips	140	113.5	26.5
R Leg	71	60.5	10.5
L Leg	71	60.5	10.5
			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!

	6/03/2008	19/03/2009	Total Lost
Neck	46	39.5	6.5
R Arm	35	30.5	4.5
L Arm	36	31.5	4.5
Chest	117	101.5	15.5
Waist	118.5	92.5	26
Hips	127	100	27
R Leg	62	53	9
L Leg	62	55	7
			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 :)