Hello? May I come in?

I am here........

I an not going to bore you with details.  I am not going to ask for an 'excused absence'.

Here is a list as to why:
Hubby's  knee replacements -- both knees  in 3 months.
He had a stroke and kidney failure.
Endless doctor appointments
A full time job
VERY shorthanded at work (if u need a job and liven in the Austin, TX area--contact me PLEASE)
Massive overtime
Training new employees

Weight lost?  I have lost 68 pounds. Have 7.3cc in my band, who's name is Lucy. Learning to eat with a full band. Many stuck episodes and 'backwash'. I hate PBs

I am tired............but.........may I come back to this wonderful group of Bandsters? Please?

WHAT THE HECK?????

What the heck!  For weeks my weight has bounced between 195 and 198! I know I could probably make better food choices. But here's the deal--my clothes are getting looser; my shoes are floppier; people comment saying I've lost more!  I just bought this stuff less then a month ago and they fit when I bought them.  So .....  The scale is not showing a weight loss but my clothes are!    What is going on? I want the weight to come off!  

I talked to Dr G

I talked to my doctor or rather talked and cried. I told him I was tired all the time and overwhelmed with home, work, hubby....well shoot....with LIFE!

He asked if I was taken vitamins. I was taking Flintstones Complete but the nutritionist said not good. So I started Centrium Silver (yes I'm above 50) apparently thats not good either. I cannot swallow those "horse bill" vitamins -- so what a girl to do? Dr G gave me a specific vitamen and wrote out a vitamin plan. He told me to order online and ordered a complete blood work up. I am bruising very badly so he told mre to take vitamin C. I have to take calcium, iron, vit c, B-12,and the multi vitimen.

I really hope this works. I just so tried and I am very tired of it!!!!

Please excuse my absence...........

I have been absent. I have been reading about everyone though.

So here's a note from my doctor: "Please excuse Cheri's absence. Her life is overwwhelming."

First off, I am on a weight loss seesaw - down 2 up 2 down .5 up 1 down 1.5 .......... You get the picture. I am making many "carb comfort food" choice right now. Not the best for losing weight.

Also, I am wondering if I might be suffering from exhaustion. Is that a medical condition? Is there such a thing? If so, what are the symptoms and how is it treated? I sleep all night but I wake up tired. I yawn all the time. No, I do not have sleep apnea. I feel I just push myself all the time just doing what needs to be done. Work, housework, grocery shopping, laundry, Hubby's normal needs and additional needs due to his knee replacement, our dog, bills, money, family, car maintenance, doctor appointments, driving Hubby (he cannot drive due to his disability)

I go to see Dr G today for a check up and fill. I just might talk to him.

Weekly weigh in.........

So..........in a few moments I will be naked and stepping on the scale..............
Well, I have procrastinated long enough.........here goes..........

Starting weight: 257 lbs

Current weight: 197 lbs

Weekly Loss: 0 lbs -- Gained 0.5 oz

Total Loss: 60 pounds!!!

BMI: 33.6

Week In Review: decided to move closer to work when current lease is up; apartment shopping; continued hubby's recovery; short had handed at work; overtime; thinking of change Weigh In Day to Fridays.

Horrible horrible experience

Hello I am still here!

So Saturday I had a horrible experience. I was at work and suddenly I had to leave my teller window because I had had an accident and it was not the clean kind. when it was all said and done, I had to go to target to buy new clothes including underwear. it was horrible and I was deeply embarrassed but I looked adorably cute in my new outfit!

So I have experienced some "never befores":
Never before have I crapped myself at work
Never before have I bought clothes that fit me from target
Never before have I taken clothes off the rack and bought them without first trying them on and they fit!

Also that day I had three regular customers ask me if I was new to the branch. when I explained who I was and that I've always waited on them before and that it was me, Cheri and I had lost a little bit of weight--it suddenly dawned on them that I WAS Cheri and I HAD lost ALOT of weight! they said they did not recognize me!

Later that night we went to a restaurant and they believe me that I had a lap band and allowed me to eat off the buffet at the child's price! They didn't even want to see my Lap Band card!

So I guess you could say that my embarrassingly horrible experience had a silver lining called 'Non Scale Victories! WOW!

Before & today

For you viewing - proof positive that my I-Band is working.

Left: September 2011. Right: today April 25, 2012

Thank you Lord for this fabulous tool to use. Thank you for the answer to a life long plague. THANK YOU LORD!!!!!!

Weekly Weight In..........

Starting weight: 257 lbs

Current weight: 196.5 lbs

Weekly Loss: 2.0 lbs

Total Loss: 60.5 pounds!!!

BMI: 33.7

Week In Review: UGH!

I have collar bones!!!!!!

Really! For sure! I see them! They are right where I left them! Hehehe!

I have collar bones! So cool! So very COOL!

WEEKLY "So how did I do this week?"

Starting weight: 257 lbs

Current weight: 198.5 lbs

Weekly Loss: 1.5 lbs

Total Loss: 58.5 pounds!!!

BMI: 34.1

Week In Review: I SURVIVED! Hubby's knee replacement went well and rehab is going great. I came down with pneumonia but 4 days, 3 antibiotics, 2 shots, and 1 cough syrup--I am feeling better! Priceless! AND--I became a resident of One-Der-Land!!!!

This just made me smile!

I needed this today.

Spoiler Alert: Remember! Y'all Told Me I Could Rant and Rave!

Would u believe I AM SICK AGAIN!!!! Just left the Doctor and I have pneumonia! I am off work till Monday!

What is wrong with me? It seems since my surgery, every little thing that comes by, I catch it! Why? I take a Centrum Silver Chewable. Do I need something else? A different vitamin? More vitamins? A B-12 shot monthly? Blood work to see if my thyroid levels are off (I have no thyroid-benign 8cc tumor).

Why is this happening? I am miserable. I hate being sick. I hate missing work. I might get fired! Hubby's knee replacement is tomorrow and I just don't need this added stress!

Is there anyone that can shed light on this, please?

My Easter dress!

Easter 2012

WEIGHT-IN DAY

Starting weight: 257 lbs

Current weight: 200.0 lbs

Weekly Loss: 3.0 lbs

Total Loss: 57.0 pounds!!!

BMI: 34.3

Week In Review: preparation for hubby's surgery, confetti egg fight a work--it was A LOT of fun and a BIG mess (we are betting the cleaning crew was not happy).

HAPPY EASTER!

Okay okay okay

So I haven't blog since last Sunday. It seems like all I have had on my mind is hubby's surgery, how risky it is, how much it is going to cost, how that cost will effect our budget, etc, etc, etc........
That is not what I want this blog for. I want it to be an uplifting place. A place for encouragement. Not a place for my rants And gripes.
Besides y'all don't want to read about my woes. So I havent written. Not much positive in Cheri Land right now.
Then I read Mari's post from The Tale of a Band Called Beyonce, how she felt she was so boring so she doesn't blog much. The comments from y'all were amazing and very supportive.
So if y'all will humor me and allow me to gripe a bit now and then....I will try to be more present in Blog Land.

Tomorrow is weigh in day. I hope I've done well.

Love to all!

It's Weigh-In Day! WE ARE NOT ALONE!

Starting weight: 257 lbs

Current weight: 203.0 lbs

Weekly Loss: 1.5 lbs

Total Loss: 54.0 pounds!!!

BMI: 33.8

Week In Review: heel stress fracture - no exercise, Mini-Vacation-did not get to do what I wanted to do, frustration.


As I am weighing in this morning, I was stuck with the following: At this very moment, I am not the only one doing this! My LapBand Family is doing the same thing! It's Weigh In day for several of us. We are all getting up and the first thing we think is "Did I lose this week?". We go to the bathroom, strip naked, take our place on the 'throne', and push out every drop of pee possible. Then, clothed in our Birthday Suits, we approach the Scale. The Place of our Scarifed Tastebuds. The Altar of Our Success. The Instrument of Loathing and Joy. The Indicator of Our Hard Work. It is with one step, we all collectively hold our breath and step up. The result will either be a jump for joy for a loss or a sigh of relief for the not so perfect week. Some of us will dismount with disappointment or disgust. Some will run through the house naked, proclaimimg A New Low and announcing to a Startled Mate the Accumlative Loss, while doing the Chicken Dance! (Yes that is me dong that!).

We are not alone, Peeps! WE ARE NOT ALONE!!!!

"Keep calm and carry on......"

That's a bummer!

Zumba! I love it! It is sooooo fun! But........my Zumba days are over. I have a stress fracture in my heel. I am really bummed!

Life. I am still here.

I am still here. Albeit absent but still here.

It has been a week since I last posted, (sounds sorta like a confession!). I just think I need to vent. I am not mad at anything, I am just so overwhelmed right now and I just want to write about it. ****SPOILER ALERT****: This may be long - escape now if you are scared!

A year ago, I tore my achellis tendon. My weight was a contributing factor. I was in a cast for 4 months and a stirrup splint for 2 months. It has healed but my ankle/foot is not the same. That being said--I am having a hard time with Zumba. I REALLY like Zumba. I am no good at it but I am exersizing and liking it. It hurts my foot. Last night I wore an ACE and my stirrup splint. It still hurt. So much so that my foot throbbed all night long, waking me up many many times during the night and has really hurt all day. Not sure what to do now. It hurts to continue Zumba but I need to do Zumba in order to not hurt. ***sigh***

Work. Enough said

I am just finishing up a "mini vacation". I was going to spring clean and visit girlfriends and go to the movies. Well, it has happened again. What I plan or want to do, gets superseded by Hubby's disabilities and his illness. He is having total knee replacements April 12--two days before our 33rd wedding anniversary I might add. I have spent my "mini-vaca" taking him to the doctors for testing, pre-op, etc. He cannot drive due to his disability. Shoot, we recently bought a new car--the one He wanted, even though he cannot drive! I wanted a Challenger. We got a Camry. Don't get me wrong, I am very pleased with the Camry. It is just an other example of what I want gets pushed to the wayside. ***sigh***

Stomping Big Foot and Butterfingers live above me. Big Foot gets a walking and the glasses and dishes in my cabinets rattle and tink together. Butterfingers drops the bowling ball collection at least 4 times a day. Tried to talk to Big Foot but was ignored. I have spoken to the management office about it and they talk to them yet nothing changes.

Anyway all this and more has caused alot of stress. As a result, I have been comfort and stress eating. Not NEARLY as much as before WLS, but more than I think I should be. I have weighed the same or two weeks. No loss. No gain. No happy. I can really eat anything and have no real restriction. I have 5.5cc in my 10cc band. I think I need more.

Hubby's PCP is also my doctor. He knows I have an over filled plate and a high stress level. I take a "happy pill" - as I so loving call it - and Doc said that as long as i am hubby's caregiver and put with dealing with him, he will not take me off my "happy pill". I think he may be right.

Thanks for listening, errrr, reading! Love and blessings to all!

Workout Wednesday

Yes! You read that right! I - Me - The FORMER Couch Potatoe Queen - worked out on Wednesday!

Zumba! It is hard and I have no coordination but I REALLY like it! A stranger gave me a Double High Five! I sweated. I also learned to not eat before class. Makes for a hard workout.

I am sore but it feels good!

On the home front: Hubby is getting knee replacements. I am concerned as he has poor health and is a brittle diabetic. Risks are high but we have no option as there is nothing more that can be done for his knees and he is in EXTERME pain. I am going to try to control the stress and comfort eating I would do in the past. Prayers for both of us please.

Please permit me to brag..........

Today marks the tenth anniversary of my Son's service to The USA.
I am so proud of him! He is and remains my HERO
Thank you, Son, for your service, sacrifice, and pain.