55 Pounds and My Dad

After seeing 228, 222, and every number in between on the scale last week, I was starting to wonder how long it would really take to hit my next milestone. Thankfully, the scale has been behaving the last couple days and steadily decreased until today’s low of 220 - 55 pounds down! This marks my lowest weight since March of 2005 so this milestone is more meaningful than any so far.

On another note, I am not sure if I mentioned it, but my dad has been working through his 12 month approval process for the band. His insurance requires much more work than mine did including 12 consecutive months of a weight loss program – with compliance (which they see as weight loss). Luckily, our surgeon has found that if they submit at 6 months (with co-morbidities and double digit weight loss) they tend to give early approval. He hit his 6 months this month and got his approval today!!

He still has a bunch of medical tests and pre-surgery therapy sessions to get through, but his current date is May 21st. We are very excited, but I think my dad is starting to get really nervous. Although, my belief is that you should be nervous with making such a life changing decision and this certain counts as that. Sometimes I think I am more excited than him, but I have tried really hard to explain both the positives and the negatives of everything I am going through so I don’t overly influence him to do something he doesn’t want. However, I am so excited to have my dad healthier. I want to make sure we spend as much time on this earth together as possible!

Calling all runners – Questions!

So I am thinking of becoming a runner. It is soo NOT me. I can remember running in middle school gym and dreaded it!! However, something has taken over my body and running is starting to sound … fun! OMG!

 

So I have a few questions for all you runners!

• When did you start running (weight/fitness level)? 
• Did you ever run before?  
• What kind of training did you do?  Did you do any weights or cross training in addition to the running? 
• Are there any runners out there with flat feet? Do you have any issues?  
• Where are your favorite places to run? Parks, trails, roads? 
• I have signed up for a 5k in 61 days 19 hours and 31 minutes :) – any advice? 
• Have any of you run or are in training for a half marathon?

I am kind of thinking of doing a half on Oct 3rd, but I am not sure if that is achievable. They have a 16 week training program and allow walking (all walking if you want), but I have to sign up by April 1st.  I know I have some issues with my feet and legs (flat feet, overpronation, and knock-knees..grr...) that I have to take care of so I don't get injuries, but I want to really challenge myself (safely of course).

4 Months and Lessons Learned

I just realized today that I missed my 4 month anniversary yesterday. I have lost 52 pounds as of today and 7 pounds since the 3 month mark. Horray! This is certainly my slowest month so far especially since most of those 7 pounds were lost in the first two weeks. I saw 225 on the scale for 3 weeks in a row along and bounced between 224 and 230 for a couple! However, I think I have finally left 225 behind and pushed through this plateau with today’s weigh in of 223.

The last few weeks have been a learning experience to say the least. For others in this stage of the journey I thought I would log the three major things I learned.

1. Have a strategy to deal with plateaus before you hit one, but realize that it may take time to work.

According to everything I have read the sooner you figure out you are in a plateau the better your success will be so I create a two part “test” for myself. I saw the same number two weeks in a row on a consistent basis. My weight loss for two weeks was less than my average for 1 week).

Also I think it is really important to have a plan to deal with plateaus before you hit one. The stress associated with seeing the same number over and over again let alone bouncing up 5 pounds is enough to deal with without having figure out how to fix it. My plan was to a) start tracking calories eaten for several days b)increase or decrease calories depending on results and c)increase exercise.

I found that on several days my calorie consumption was actually too low. So I adjusted my calories to 1200-1400 and will continue to track them until my fill on Tuesday (my NP’s request). Also I found that my calorie burn was still close to my goal, but I figured it was lower than I needed at this point (more later)

Finally, having a plan is great. However, it does not ensure immediate success to my utter dismay. My weight loss is still half of what it used to be but I feel confident that with my plan I will start moving consistently again. If I don’t then another major change to the plan is needed along with a trip to the dietitian…

2. You need to appreciate the progress you have made so far.

On Tuesday I decided to take a picnic lunch to the beach and enjoy a nice walk on my lunch hour. Even though the lake still had ice on it, the sun was blazing down and it felt so great! As I was walking with the puppy I realized that I have not appreciated the MAJOR progress I have made so far. And by appreciate I don’t mean the quick thanks I give when I step on the scale or hit a major milestone. That is fleeting since the next thought is “ok now to see xxx.xx”. The kind of appreciation I mean is the daily reaffirmation that you have come so far, that you can do so much more, and that you have been successful.

Since Tuesday, there has been a change in my life. Not earth shattering or anything :) - but I started finding a piece of myself that I haven’t felt in a long time. It is really strange and hard to explain, but I love the feeling. It has also given me a better motivation to go forward and I really needed that right now.

3. Calorie Burn goes down as you lose weight

I “knew” this happened, but somehow I missed when it happened to me. I am not sure if it was because I couldn’t really come to terms with how much I lost or what, but it did come as a surprise this week.

Basically the more you weigh the more calories you burn doing the same activity. So even though I have hit my “activity goals” (which is based on minutes and intensity) I was coming just a little short of my calorie burn. Now each week this wasn’t significant. I would hit 2300 instead of 2400, but my high days were also much lower.

I had a eureka moment this week when I realized that I was 21 pounds lighter than when I first started tracking my burn so OF COURSE my calorie burn was down. I couldn’t believe I didn’t see it before. So I realize that to shake things up and really get out of my plateau I couldn’t just increase my activities slightly I really needed to bump them up.

I will have more to pass on in a later blog, but lets just say that I completed 15.12 miles this week – even with traveling to Cleveland on business. I am still working out a good plan to reach some new goals that I created, but as soon as I do I will pass it on.

Support Group and New Tool

Tonight was my monthly support group night and once again I was all by my lonesome. This is the 2nd month in a row that I have been by myself. I thought for sure after the January meeting when we had 3 people things were looking up, but I guess one of the people didn’t like that we were talking about doing exercise classes as an optional topic. I loved the idea since it was not going to be a “teach a fat person to exercise” event, but more a introducing us to new things – like Zumba, Yoga, Weight lifting. A chance to try things and see if we liked them. I mean I really didn’t like her cooking class idea, but I went with it.

The way I look at it is that this meeting isn’t just about “ME”. Every meeting is not going to meet the needs of everyone so there has to be some give and take. Heck, I have to listen to basic nutrition facts that I could recite by memory, but I don’t complain. Well I do, but only when they don’t bring things that pertain to band patients – like eat whole wheat pasta instead of white pasta!

Anyways, I expressed my concern during tonight's meeting that I needed to get more involved some how - especially with nobody else attending. I am afraid that I will stop like before if I don’t. It is just the way I am. I know it, I am dealing with it, and I will over come it.

My great NP had a great solution. It was something that we have talked about before, but starting next week I am going to start working out with the people in the office. I think it will be exactly what I need. Not only will I get some great ideas from the staff, but it will also be a lot harder to create excuses to not go!

So since nobody else showed up tonight, after 20 minutes we decided to go out and walk and talk. This was my second walk of the day and they sure didn’t pull any punches. If I had done it by myself I would never have taken the road up the big hill and gone through the parking lot around the building instead of just in front of it. I got out of running up the dirt hill, but they assured me that next time they won’t let me skip out :) It was GREAT! I had a little problem with the big hill – I know I was red as a cherry, but I could still walk and talk so we didn’t slow down.

At the end of the walk Kristie (the NP) said that by the end of summer we will run the 1.5 miles instead of walking it. I mentioned that I wanted to do a 5K by October and both her and Kelli (the dietitian) got excited and decided that we should do it together. They are both have been runners in the past so I think I am going to be in a world of hurt, but honestly what better people to push me than an NP and a dietitian (who I think also focuses on exercise) .

I also found a great tool the other day that I LOVE. It is RunKeeper.com and it is an Iphone app (maybe ipod touch too). You turn it on before you start walking or running and it maps where you walk and how fast you are walking. It was been a great addition to my tools :)  Here is a look at what I walk looked like:

BodyMedia Fit Review

I was asked in January to write a review for my Surgeon's newsletter and I have been planning on sharing it with you guys for a while.  After my posting yesterday I thought this would be a great time.  Now to make sure I don't get in trouble with the new FTC blog rules I would like to make it clear that I recieved NO compensation for the views listed in this review. I can go more in depth if anyone wants, but for now I will just leave it at this:

Body Media Fit Review

Have you ever wondered how many calories you burn during the day? During your time at the gym, cleaning the house, shoveling snow, or even shopping? I know I have. I tried several methods of calculating my calorie expenditure including online calculators or using the displays on exercise equipment, but they never seemed accurate for me. After having gastric banding surgery, I was tracking what calories I was eating and was trying to increase my activity level, but it felt like I was missing an important piece of information.

A while ago I found a great solution. It is called the BodyMedia Fit (formally called GoWear Fit). Some of you may have seen its sister product, the Body Bugg, on shows like “The Biggest Loser”. This is almost identical and is actually produced by the same company. It is a device that you wear on your arm that gathers information like how you move, how many steps you take, how hot you are, how fast heat flows from your body, and how much you are sweating to calculate the number of calories that you are burning.

I wear the armband all day and night (except when in water) and at the end of the day I can upload my data to the web software and see how I did. The software shows many things including how many calories you burned, when you burned them, as well as how many steps you took, how much physical activity you engaged in, and how long you slept.

This has been a great tool to add to my arsenal. I found out immediately that I was greatly overestimating my activity level. I was a little shocked since I was exercising, but since it was low impact and the rest of my life was still sedentary, the activities just didn’t add up to enough calories. However within a day, everything changed.

The motivation I get from seeing where I am in relation to my fitness goals for the day is tremendous! I take that extra walk at lunch. I take an extra trip window shopping to increase my steps - I love the fact that shopping burns more calories than my old exercise routine! I can even see when my body gets used to a certain exercise routine and I need to change things up to keep burning the same calories. Even though it was a little pricey at $160 (plus a monthly fee of 6.95), buying the BodyMedia Fit is the best thing I have done besides having surgery.

Tracking

I have been asked several times what tools I use to track my info so I thought I would dedicate a post to it. Now just to warn you this is basically what I do for a living. I work in an Information Technology department that in simple terms gathers information, stores it, and displays it in a way to help create analytical processes. So that being said I probably do much more tracking and analyzing than the normal person. For me this has been a great tool, but for someone else this may be way too much. I think it really maters the type of person you are and what stage of the process you are in. However, I do think that each piece of what I do is helpful and maybe a piece of it will give someone else an idea.

RealizeMySuccess.com

The first tool that I started with was the Realizemysuccess.com website. Since I have a realize band this software was free and highly recommended by my physicians office. I don’t use all the features of it, but I do use two key pieces frequently.

The first is the “My Stats”. It tracks basic measurement spots as well as your weight and goals. I could track this somewhere else, but I do like how it is set up. Plus there is an added benefit that my doctor’s office can see my progress. I know that they do check up on me every once in a while so to get any benefits from this I try keep it up to date.

The other major piece that I use is the “My Food Diary”. I like this journal better than any others I have used. I find it very easy to use and love that you can add your own recipes and save them to add in the future to your food journal. I also like the “Summary Data” tab on this page. It shows both your goals for day and how you are doing towards them for each day of the week. This came in handy when I was tracking my calories daily. I only track my calories a few days each month now, but it is still good to see the goal numbers so easily. Another benefit is that the Doctor’s office can see everything in your food journal.

One thing I found really lacking on this site was the exercise tracking. There was just no way the numbers it was generating for me were correct. After a month of using it, I decided I needed to find something that would work better for me. Not just in the tracking, but in the accuracy. In January, I decided to purchase a BodyMedia Fit (very similar to the Body Bugg). This has been great for me and I believe it has been the best thing I have done besides getting the band.

BodyMedia Fit

The BodyMedia Fit tracks many things. First of all it tracks total calories burned – by minute. You can easily see if you have hit your target for the day, but you can also see how you did at certain times of the days. This has been a great educational tool since it is amazing what does and doesn’t burn calories. One of the first things that I figured out is my time on the recumbent bike burned diddly squat and shopping with a cart burn a heck of a lot more – even if I never put anything in the cart. I can also see how many steps I walk by hour and how intense my activities are.

I love how I can set goals and not only see how I am doing on them daily, but during a 1, 2, 3, or 4 week period. Since I also add in my calories estimates I can what my average deficit for the same time period. I also like how it tracks sleep and weight loss. As you may have noticed weight loss and calories consumed was tracked in the Realize site, but I do find it useful to have them in both spots.

Excel

Another spot I track data is in Excel. I do this mostly because I can’t control and modify how the charts and graphs in the two websites I use look like. I also like to add “what if” scenarios. For example, “if I lost 1.75 pounds a week when would I hit my goal” or “how much would I weigh on P’s wedding or G’s Birthday”. I also like to analyze my weight loss and look for trends (good or bad). For example, what is my average weight loss for January and has it dropped since December. I have many graphs that I have made for these reasons.

This is my “master” chart. It shows my actual weight loss in purple. I have different forecasts that extend out from the actual at different increments (1.25, 1.5, 1.75, 2, 2.25). My overall goal is the blue horizontal line and several major dates are in blue vertical lines. I use this chart for many things, but mostly it is a motivational tool for me. For example, I know that if I push myself I can follow the orange line (2.25 pounds a week) and I will be X pounds on a certain date. However, if I don’t stay as dedicated I may follow the green line (1.25 pounds a week). Both assume that stick to the basic plan and both lines are acceptable tracks for me to follow, but to date what I have had to do to follow that orange line has been worth the any sacrifice that I had to make so far.

This chart is basically a zoomed in version of the former chart so I could track towards one of my major milestone dates – Memorial Day. (I have a not so secret stretch goal of hitting onederland on this date.) I have removed the weight loss from the pre-op diet so that I could add a trend line. The trend line in black basically shows what my weight loss average is to date and for future dates. It currently shows that I have been losing more than 2.25 pounds a week. If I really want to hit that onederland goal I have to stick very close to this line. I find this graph helpful to identify as quickly as possible when I am going off track. This is important because if I identify a problem now I have a chance of fixing it. The closer I get to the date the harder it will be to recover from any slippage.

The last major graph I will show is my goal graph. Basically this just tracks my goal dates and goal weights. I update the date as I reach the goal and the trend line shows where I would be at each date if I continued to lose at the same rate. However, I know that I will slow down. My goal line is more realistic that my trend line. This graph pulls me back to reality. However, deep down inside I love hitting my goals early and I think that maybe just maybe I won’t slow down… Either way I love that I hit my goal before my year anniversary.

Weekday Meal

I have seen several people posting this so I thought I would join. Now this isn’t a completely typical day for me. I normally don’t have sausage three times a day, but I am trying to use it up before it goes bad and I really love it! Also I had a major PB issue last night so I was a little sore today. I normally wouldn’t have split my lunch with my afternoon snack, but the extra restriction from the swelling made me eat less for most of the day. By dinner I felt fine so I was able to eat everything (but I loved feeling what real restriction feels like for once). Since I split my lunch and didn’t have an additional snack I was a little short on calories and protein so I finished the day off with a protein shake. I don’t do this often, but it works really well to get my numbers up on a slow day.

• Breakfast: Protein Shake
• Snack: Bagel Chips and low fat cream cheese
• Lunch: ½ Italian Turkey Sausage, Strawberries, and pita chips
• Snack: ½ Italian Turkey Sausage, Strawberries, and pita chips
• Dinner: 1 Italian Turkey Sausage, Wilted spinach with bacon and mushrooms
• Snack: Protein Shake 

I ended up spot on with my calories, protein, fat and carbs. And honestly I felt like I ate a lot today. The only thing I would have changed is the way I got a lot of my carbs. The pita chips and bagel chips were whole grains, but I would have preferred to have had one of those in a non snack food form.