A Kick in the Rear, Please!

Thought of all of you yesterday and all the wonderful progresses you have made since being banded. I really find all of your day to day stories so encouraging and can see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for me. But I am really having a problem with getting motivated to exercise right now. So often I feel lethargic like all I want to do is just go home after work and lay on the couch. Or any energy I do have, I use for cleaning my house or getting dinner ready etc. My question is when did you all start feeling like you had the energy to start moving? Did it come naturally after you started dropping weight? I long to have that feeling of having tons of energy to accomplish things and be more active. It is really sad that I live in a great urban neighborhood where everyone walks/bikes to everything and I don't utilize it! Grocery stores, library, restaurants, bookstores, bars, shopping, you name it. And I only live 3 blocks from town! I can count the times I have walked or biked into town this summer on one hand. I just have no energy or motivation. I am wondering if this is all physical or partly mental with me. Or both. Of course it is harder to move around and it hurts more when you weigh 265 and 47 year old! But that is a poor excuse, don't you think? Help, I need some motivation and advise if you can give it. Feel free to be blunt even if it hurts to hear it. I think I need a good kick in the derriere!

Something to look forward to?

Went to my second Lap Band Support group meeting last night. Mostly made up of post op patients and just 3 of us who were pre op. One interesting thing that came up at the meeting was of course the subject of productive burps, or sliming, or throwing up. Everyone said, that it happens. One woman says it happens to her at least 5 times a week. They all said, that when they go to a restaurant, the first thing they do is check out where the bathrooms are so that they are prepared, just in case. To someone who eats and rarely throws up anything, it sounds horrific. But what was interesting,even with the PB/Slim is that they are all really happy with the band and would recommend it. Two of the women, who were over a year out of surgery, had only lost about 40 pounds each. The other two who were post op had lost about that much in the last 6 months since surgery. I will definitely keep going to these meetings. It is great to learn from those who have gone through it already.

1/2 way through the Oprah Show on Obese Teens

Oprah's show today is really bugging me. It is about intervention with obese teens and their relationships with food and their families. Blah blah blah OK? Everyone has family issues, some deal with it different than others, some eat, some drink, some cope. But enough of the psychobabble and get to a solution already. Not one mention about surgical options to deal with these obese children and their health. As if screaming at their parents is going to help them not eat as much. IT WON'T WORK OPRAH! Funny thing is that some of the kids they are showing have extremely obese parents too. But also nothing about genetics in this conversation either. I am turning it off now.

Ultrasound and Stress Test...kicked my butt!

One more thing to check off. Had my cardiac ultrasound yesterday as well as the stress test. The stress test started easy, but before I knew it I could hardly breath and was gasping for air. I am not sure if I passed or not because the technicians wouldn't tell me. But I did meet the marks that they were looking for. My heart rate went up to about 167, and the minimum they needed was 145. Other than that I will find out more when I see the doc next. Glad that is over.....next!

Prostate Cancer-this is my nephew and his story, Please Have Your Men Get Checked!

RE: My Last Post. . . a follow up.

Went to the Doc yesterday for consultation #3 of 6 needed for insurance approval. And the first thing she said to me was: "So what did you think of last week's Lap Band support group seminar?" I said, do you want me to be totally honest? So, I told her how obnoxious I thought the LP Rep was and how inappropriate her presentation was and she soooooo totally agreed with me. It was really funny because she totally ripped into the rep, was imitating her and thought she was dressed for a night out at the bar, and not a medical support group meeting. So at least I don't feel like such a #*&@$ for ripping on this woman so much in my last post. Anyway enough about her. I have to schedule my Stress Test for next week and get that done. I am kind of afraid of that test. How did you guys do with it?

1st Lap Band Support Group Meeting and she wore Fake Louboton's

Went to the first Lap Band support group meeting last night sponsored through the hospital where I am signed up. The have another group called "Club Bariatrix" but that is mostly RNY patients. So I am glad they formed this LB group. The group had both pre and post surgery patients. But unfortunately we didn't have much time to talk because this first meeting was moderated by the region's Alergan-Lap Band Sales Rep. Well let me tell you it was a bit of a turn off. It was basically an hour of this woman selling us on their band. Which really didn't make sense, because we are all getting that brand of band anyway. That is the only one this hospital uses. Then to really ad insult to injury, she was super duper in shape especially for her age. . . her body was amazing, almost like Jillian Michaels if you can picture that. Like a size 2 maybe? She definitely works out which is great. Then someone asked her if she was a Lap Band patient and she said no, that she was clinically obese at one time but lost it on her own through traditional dieting. (Why do I hate hearing that sooo much?) And that she actually put about 10 lbs back on because she was obsessed and got too skinny. (PLEASE) She had really strong cut- up Michelle Obama/or Madonna like arms, and had a very dark tan, rock hard boobies and no forehead movement. She said "OK?" a lot too when she was giving her speech which kind of bugged me. She had gorgeous David Yurman diamond jewelry on, and when I saw her leave she got into her hot little black Mercedes. OK, so I am sounding very bitchy now aren't I? I sound jealous don't I? Well maybe I am just a little. But I really wish they would have sent someone to speak on behalf of the company who knows what the whole lap band experience is like. It would have "sold" me more, if that was what they were trying to do. On a side note she did mention that Alergan also is the seller of Botox and some sort of breast implants....but that she doesn't get those for free just because she works for the company.