Stuck!

We went out to dinner tonight - and I had my first real stuck episode - ouch! I was eating edamame (soy beans) and a gyoza (dumpling). I thought I was taking small bites and eating slowly but clearly not small enough or slow enough. I had pain in the centre of my chest and back - went for a walk and had my first "sliming" moment (that word makes me think of snails!) - but then felt a LOT better and was able to SLOWLY eat some small bites of chicken. So apparently this last fill is giving me some restriction! Must. Eat. Slowly. And. Take. Small. Bites.

In good news I've lost 1.2kgs since Friday - hooray! That's 13.1 kg down now since I started Optifast on 2 November.

Fill number 3

Another fill this morning - 1 ml for a total of 6 mls. I haven't been hungry today - some "head hunger" - my brain is wondering why I've only had a drinking yoghurt and cottage cheese to eat. I ate some fish tonight and a few fries (very slowly) with the family (Friday night takeaways) - felt a bit of a stuck/indigestion feeling but that passed when I sat up straighter. Will be interesting to see how this fill changes things for me. I am eating takeaways occasionally - I don't want to see this post lap band life as a "diet" which I'm on until goal and then I can start eating "normally" again. Apart from the odd chocolate or potato chip indulgence I was a pretty healthy eater, but volume was my issue. My plan is to eat "normal" kinds of foods (within the bounds of the band re bread etc) but in smaller volumes. Am I dreaming? Or will this work? Watch this space...

Hi there - and a bit about me....

It's so great to know that people other than Maree and I are actually reading this....!

I'm Jenny - the one on the right of the unflattering pre-band photo at the top - but then all my pre-band photos are unflattering...! Isn't that why we have done this?? Hell yes!

I'm 46, I work full time for a hospital and health software firm and do quite a bit of travelling around the country. I usually fly somewhere for a day or 2 each week from my home office in New Plymouth, New Zealand. I'm married with 2 sons - the oldest turned 21 last Saturday and the younger one is almost 15. My "boys" (that includes my fabulous husband) are my biggest supporters in all that I do. I'm involved in the local musical theatre scene and I love to sing and entertain.

Here's my version of the Q&A Maree did below...

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:43am - had a sleep in as I've been away for 2 days for work and had 5:30am starts. And it is still school holidays this week so no need for me to rush to get anyone to school. I work from home so travel time to work is approx 3 seconds!

2. How do you like your steak? Medium rare - but not sure I will try it anytime soon.... don't fancy it getting stuck!

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Julie & Julia - with my son and my Mum - loved it.

4. What is your favorite TV show? ER has been my favourite for many years, closely followed by Boston Legal - sadly both now finished! I like Survivor, MasterChef, and I love watching sport especially the Olympics.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Somewhere where I can be in the sun by the sea all day and go to shows each night.

6. What did you have for breakfast? A flat white coffee made with freshly ground beans and silky smooth frothy milk - made by me just the way I like it - and a piece of wholegrain vogels toast with butter and vegemite.

7. What is your favorite cuisine? Probably Indian - but I like lots of different foods.

8. What foods do you dislike? Olives, oysters, mussels, cucumber are top of the Yuck list!

9. Favorite place to eat? Anywhere my family and friends are.

10. Favorite dressing? Aioli.

11. What kind of vehicle do you drive? The "P Mover" - that's a Mitsubishi Chariot 7 seater People mover... it is just a way to get from A to B and is in need of replacement - was good for transporting lots of boys.

12. What are your favorite clothes? 3/4 length pants... in stretch fabric - comfortable and flattering. Hope to be able to buy lots of fashionable clothes more easily soon.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Would love to go back to Italy. And I'd like to see Spain, India and Ireland.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? Always half full -unless we are talking about drinking something unpleasant like ginger ale!

15. Where would you want to retire? Here looks good so far - it is my hometown and I have lots of family and friends close by.

16. Favorite time of day? Weekend mornings..... freshly made coffee in hand and a whole day with no work stretching ahead of me.

17. Where were you born? New Plymouth, New Zealand.

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Rugby.

19. Bird watcher? You have to be joking! Why?

20. Are you a morning person or a night person? I like the mornings and don't usually stay up much past 10:30 at night... I work best on a regular sleep pattern or else I can be grumpy anytime of the day.

21. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? Can't think of anything right now...

22. What did you want to be when you were little? A doctor - but actually went nursing when I left school.

23. What is your best childhood memory? Camping holidays and swimming everyday in summer.

24. Are you a cat or dog person? Not really an animal person but we have a cute cat called Luci-fur we got from the SPCA last year.

25. Are you married? For almost 22 wonderful years.

26. Always wear your seat belt? Definitely.

27. Been in a car accident? Minor reversing incidents mostly - the P Mover is not a great car for seeing behind you!

28. Any pet peeves? Probably too many to mention - sweaty men at the gym who don't bring a towel is one...

29. Favorite Pizza Toppings? Pepperoni, mushrooms peppers...

30. Favorite Flower? Ummmm..... not much of a garden girl... maybe roses but not in my garden they're too much work.

31. Favorite ice cream? Espresso

32. Favorite fast food restaurant? Any fresh fish and chips - NZ classic takeaways

33. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Passed first time - just a few weeks after my 15th birthday - the process was much simpler back then.

34. From whom did you get your last email? Just got one from the gym where I go regularly to workout.

35. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Home theatre, electronics and furniture store probably.

36. Do anything spontaneous lately? I'm about to do something challenging - a 60km bike ride tomorrow - does that count??

37. Broccoli? Yes - love it.

38. What was your favorite vacation? 6 weeks with my boys - we went to Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, LA, Disneyland, London, Paris, Rome, Durham UK and Hong Kong - awesome family adventure.

39. Last person you went out to dinner with? Work colleagues from Wellington and Melbourne, 2 nights ago while I was away for work.

40. What are you listening to right now? Sounds like a chainsaw - the neighbour is building a shed.

41. What is your favorite color? Green

42. How many tattoos do you have? None.

43. Coffee drinker? Hell yes - a coffee addict actually.

3rd fill tomorrow

It's nearly 2 weeks since my second fill (1ml to get to 5mls) and I'm scheduled to have another fill at 9.15 tomorrow morning and to see the nutritionist afterwards. I need a fill - I've had very little restriction (just a "stuck" feeling for 10 seconds a couple of times when eating bread or rice too fast - am I meant to be able to eat bread and rice? I don't think so) and I'm only staying full for a couple of hours, as well as being able to eat fairly big meals. I've lost about 1.5 kilos since the last fill, which is great, but I think another ml or so will help.

It's a beautiful summer's day here, I've just picked up the kids from a school holiday programme and they're outside eating ice blocks - think I'll join them.

Thanks to all our new followers - if your profile has a link to a blog, I'm following you now as well. It's nice to be part of the "bandit" community.

All about me

Well, we had our first comments the other day (exciting!) and were asked (thank you, The Dash!!) who was who. So here goes:

My name is Maree, I'm the one on the left in the photo (not very flattering but the only one Jenny and I could find of us together - we are planning a new shot soon!). I'm 40, married with 6 year old twin girls. I live in Wellington, New Zealand and work for the government. A boring bio...so I thought I'd try a Q & A from some other blogs I follow:


1. What time did you get up this morning? 6.40 am in time for a shower and to get the girls' lunch ready before heading out the door at 7.55 (start work at 8 - luckily it's just down the road).

2. How do you like your steak? Rare

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Julie & Julia - saw it while I was off work after the lap band surgery - loved it.

4. What is your favorite TV show? ER was my favourite ever, otherwise Mad Men, documentaries and I love watching sport.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? If I could have all my family with me, somewhere warm, by the sea..

6. What did you have for breakfast? Coffee then some yoghurt at 10.45.

7. What is your favorite cuisine? Hard to pick one - love sushi.

8. What foods do you dislike? I like most food - not raw oysters, though!

9. Favorite place to eat? At home with friends and family.

10. Favorite dressing? Light mayo.

11. What kind of vehicle do you drive? Old stationwagon - not a car person, but it gets us around.

12. What are your favorite clothes? Wore a black wrap dress today which I love, comfy and flattering.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Would love to go back to Spain, Vietnam and Thailand are top of the list.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? Definitely half full

15. Where would you want to retire? Back to My hometown - warm and family are close.

16. Favorite time of day? When the kids are asleep, the dishes are done and I can relax.

17. Where were you born? New Plymouth, New Zealand.

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Rugby (but I'm enjoying the Australian Open tennis at the moment).

19. Bird watcher? No - I'd be bored in 30 seconds.

20. Are you a morning person or a night person? I wake up easily and these days late nights are almost a thing of the past.

21. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? Not yet...

22. What did you want to be when you were little? A doctor - maybe that's why I loved ER!

23. What is your best childhood memory? Swimming at the beach on family holidays.

24. Are you a cat or dog person? Neither but I'd have a cat if I had to choose.

25. Are you married? Yes - very happily.

26. Always wear your seat belt? Absolutely.

27. Been in a car accident? Nothing major although someone did drive into me in a carpark last week.

28. Any pet peeves? Too many to mention - men in bad wigs is one.

29. Favorite Pizza Toppings? Olives, feta, peppers...

30. Favorite Flower? daffodils

31. Favorite ice cream? Cookies and cream

32. Favorite fast food restaurant? Fish and chips

33. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Passed first time luckily.

34. From whom did you get your last email? A boring work email.

35. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? About to renovate so probably a carpet store - boring!

36. Do anything spontaneous lately? Ah, no...

37. Broccoli? Yes, please.

38. What was your favorite vacation? 6 months in Europe.

39. Last person you went out to dinner with? The girls from my mothers group.

40. What are you listening to right now? Crickets in the sunshine outside the door.

41. What is your favorite color? Red

42. How many tattoos do you have? none

43. Coffee drinker? Oh, yes - a flat white every morning.

Back to Work Blues

Works takes up so much of the day - it is soooo overrated! I loved my 2 and a half weeks holiday but it all went too quickly. I am not enjoying being back at work! The only good thing is that I am still slowly but surely losing weight and feeling good about myself. I too had a fill last Friday and I now feel quite restricted.... not so hungry and I now need to be very careful to eat slowly and chew everything really well. I've had a few painful episodes in the last few days where I have eaten the first mouthfuls too quickly and then had indigestion/stuck pain for 10-15 minutes while that goes through and before I can eat a bit more and feel satisfied. Obviously I have still been eating too quickly up until now so this is a good time for me to learn some restraint and new habits.

I'm still training hard for my cycle ride on the 30th. My training partner and I did a 38km ride on the main highway on Saturday... exhilarating and scary in equal measures! We think we are ready for the big ride now having conquered the big hill which we will have to ride up near the end of the event as well. Maybe I will feel brave enough to post a photo of myself after the ride.

Speaking of big events - we have a very exciting and busy weekend coming up with a double celebration of my son's 21st birthday and our parents 50th wedding anniversary this Saturday. Lots of family and friends will descend on our home for the 2 parties. And I am now at my lowest weight for 20 years - fantastic!!

Crazy spin class

I managed to drag my butt back to the gym today (first time in nearly 3 weeks - eeek!) and went to a spin (RPM) class. The guy who took it was CRAZY - spent part of the class running up and down the stairs "encouraging" by singing the lyrics "What do we want? Perfection". Really?! What I want is for the crazy man not to be singing so close to me. He was of course crazy fit as well and nearly killed me - but I managed to pace myself and did feel good afterwards. He did say he doesn't usually take a lunchtime class - well, hallelujah for that!

In other post fill news I'm definitely not feeling as hungry but not really restricted - ate a mini bagel on Saturday. So far today have had 2 weetbix, small tin of tuna and 3 cruskits and a small yoghurt. Going out to dinner tonight with the "girls" from my antenatal class (our babies are 6 but we still like to get together).

Second fill - and not before time!

After nearly 3 weeks of getting hungrier and hungrier I had my second fill this morning. A very different experience from number 1. First of all I had lost almost nothing in the 4 weeks since my first fill, but given the alcohol and chips over Christmas and the fact I've been HUNGRY, that isn't surprising. Secondly this one didn't hurt - yay!! So the fill was at 9.45 this morning. Since then I've had a coffee (flat white) and half a drinking yoghurt - am feeling a little peckish now at nearly 4 o'clock - so the fill is definitely working at the moment. Next fill is in 2 weeks. Now I have to remember to eat slowly and reduce portions - I've been used to eating whatever I want the last couple of weeks - like a whole bagel!! Really? I don't think bagels are meant to be band friendly....

I'm baaaack!

A long time between posts as I've been on holiday at the beach with no internet access. We had a great break with too much wine and snacks. I got on the scale this morning for the first time in nearly 3 weeks - my clothes felt okay (maybe even a little loose) but I know I've been eating too many slider high calorie foods and drinks -so stepping hesitantly on the scale - I'm down half a kilo - well that's better than any Christmas before and means I can move on from here...back to work on Monday and back to the gym. Just been looking at the timetable to see when I can go to a spin class. Not looking forward to work...3 weeks off and I could have stayed at the beach for the rest of the month (or the year!).

Feeling hungry again...

Seems the honeymoon post-fill feeling of satiety is wearing off... and I am feeling hungry again within an hour of eating. So much so that I just seemed to eat all day on Saturday... every hour I was back at the fridge or the cupboard for crackers, cheese, dips, toast, berries, bacon, chocolate etc etc.... Perhaps it is just that the house was quiet again and I was bored but it sure felt like hunger. Needless to say I have not lost any weight in the last few days. I did go for a 2 hour cycle ride yesterday - part of my training for the 60km ride I am doing as part of the "Around the Mountain Cycle Challenge" on 30th January - which hopefully burnt some of the excess calories off! Luckily I did not fall off this week, after leaving large chunks of my elbow on the road last weekend with 2 unceremonious crashes when I couldn't get my feet unclipped fast enough.

I have another week of holiday before I am back at work and with any luck we will get some sun and be able to enjoy some time at the beach. I haven't had my swimsuit on since I started losing weight but I'm guessing it will be a little less scary for the other people on the beach than before... I let you know if any one screams!