A Wonderful Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Yesterday I had lunch with my parents, Lee my brother, Kathy my sister in law, Joey my nephew and Kathy's mom. It was a nice time with my family. I love them so much. I am so thankful for the family I have. After lunch me and Joey took the golf cart out for a ride that was fun. Then I took a nap, so I could work last night. Here is a picture of me and my parents and me and my nephew Joey.







This morning at 6am when I got off I met my friend Jon and we went shopping. We met with my friend Brooke and her Mom for breakfast then headed to the town center. After a few hours there I headed home and took a nap. Then I woke up and went back out in the crowd before I had to be a work. I love this day. What a wonderful shopping day. I am gonna be so tired tonight at work though.. dreading this 12 hours.

I hope each of you had a great Thanksgiving. I am so thankful for each of my online buddies. :)

Answers for Linda O

I am gonna follow Catherine & Amy's and post my answers to Linda O's questions she asked. I am still fairly new to being banded. December 4th will be 4 months for me. Everyday I am still learning this whole process.

1. ANY REGRETS? Are you happy with your decision and would you do it again?
I have no regrets. I wish I would have done it sooner.

2. ARE YOU SORRY, YOU DIDN'T GIVE TRADITIONAL DIETING ONE MORE TRY?
Not at all. I have tried before, but gave up. Now the band helps when I wanna take that extra bite you just can't.

3. WHAT IS THE WORST THING ABOUT HAVING THE BAND?
Not being able to have bread and not drinking with meals has been my hardest. I have finally mastered the not drinking part and I have not had bread since two weeks before my surgery. I also love what Catherine wrote. So I ditto her response.

4. WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT HAVING THE BAND?
For me it is the results thus far. I am so excited about how well I am doing. I am sure as I get further along my answers will change.

5. On a scale of 1 to 10 HOW HARD WAS/IS IT PSYCHOLOGICALLY TO GET OVER THE FACT THAT YOU CAN'T EAT THE SAME WAY ANYMORE?
I think it is about a 2-3. I had my mind made up and I know that I want this soo bad and when we want something we get it right.. So you just do it. I know I can't have bread so I dont eat it. It like conversations me and myself have together. It sounds odd I know, but I am getting to know myself more and more.

6. HAS BEING BANDED MADE YOUR PERSONALITY CHANGE? For the better or worse?
Not changed, but for me I have never been complimented a lot so this is a big change for me. I am loving that people that dont know I am banded notice I am losing weight. It is making me more confident.

7. Are you still able to party a little? (I am a wine drinker...can't imagine giving it up completely) and are you a party pooper now cause you can't party as much?
I still hangout with my friends. I am no party pooper here. I am usually the ring leader so that wouldnt go over well. haha.. I do have wine it is the best choice. Beer is a total no no for me. Which is a good thing. My Dr. has us do low carb so my new favorite is sugar free jello shots. No carbs in vodka. ha..

8. HOW MUCH HAPPIER ARE YOU WITH YOUR BODY? I am wondering what I will look like 50-80 lbs thinner. I am 47 and will have a "lose skin" issue.
I have a long way to go still. 50lbs lighter though at this point I am already noticing changes in my body, but I am not sure how the skin will be when I get to my goal. I do work out to try to not have a lot of the loose skin.

9. HAVE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS CHANGED? Spouses? Family? Friends? Strangers?
No my relationships are still the same. I have the best family and friends support system in the world.


10. DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE SAME PERSON OR COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOW THAT YOU HAVE LOST WEIGHT?
I feel the same. I am going to remember this and come back and do this again when I lose 100lbs, then when I get to goal weight to see the changes.

11. What do you wish someone would have told you pre-op?
It will be ok. You can still eat pretty much anything you already do. Your not giving up everything. I went into this thinking I was giving up a lot of foods, but the truth is you dont have to. Its about quanity.

Thanks Linda for posting some great questions. I hope this helps.

Question for my fellow banders

I was catching up on some blogs that I follow today. Everyone has their struggles up and down. It is kind of scary. Being three months out I am still new to this whole process, so I am still learning day by day. I think by reading peoples blogs that you never stop learning. I also sit in my centers support group twice a month and realize more now that ever before that all we have inside us is a tool. We will only succeed if we use our tool to the best of our ability. I try to stay positive and I am really happy with my weight loss thus far, but to be quite honest I am scared of failure. I am getting to the point where people are noticing my weight loss and that gives me the biggest high, but what if I don't make it. What if I fail at this like all the other diets I have tried in the past. Does anyone ever have these feelings??? I have always said that all the other times didn't work cause my heart wasn't in it and now I know that I want it now more than ever and my heart is in it. Even my Dad tells people she is gonna do it all the way this time. I have done so well about being good and really trying to do well, but I guess I am only human to second guess myself and worry. ?????
Today has just been one of those days. Could use some love from my banding friends. :)
On a positive note. I did donate blood today. I did however, drive all the way to the town center about 35-40 min away to stand in line to realize that I forgot my Id and I drove all the way back home to get it and tried that again. That was the very beginning to my wretched day!

A BIG DAY!!!

So I have BIG news.... Most of you know that I made a goal for myself when I had surgery that I wanted to be down 50 pounds by Christmas. Well people.. it's not even Thanksgiving and I DID IT!! As you can tell I am super excited. All of this self admiration is different for me. Praising myself and all, but I am so happy today.
I never imagined that I would lose it so fast. It is amazing. Hard work, but when you make up your mind and want something so bad it will happen. YAY ME!!!!!

It's Been 10 Years

Last night was my 10 year HS Reunion. I can not believe how fast time flies. I had a great time. I was debating going for a while, but I am totally glad I went. It was great to see everyone. One of my closests friends from school was there, Faith, I havent seen her in a while and it was like we never missed a beat. I love her. I understand life happens, but it is sad when friends lose touch. It was an amazing night. I am so glad I went. I thought I would share a few pics.

As Requested

Ok so everyone wants to see more pictures so here I am. I tried to find some good ones. I hope these will do.
Feb-09

March-09






















The gray and pink shirt was on a cruise 2 months after surgery. The blue shirt was 40lbs down and the most recent 47lbs down is the one of me at the Gator game.

Passing the Time

I am sitting at work. Waiting on the next hour to go by. I was looking at so many blogs tonight and a few of them had this question thing on, so I stole it and decided to fill it out.

Also, today is 3 months since surgery and I am 47 pounds down. I had originally set my goal for 50 gone by Christmas. I think I will make that. I am super excited about how well I am doing.

I hope you all have a wonderful day.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

A
- Age: 28
- Annoyance:
- Animal: My outside cat Sassy
- Actor: Matthew McConaughey

B
- Birthday/Birthplace: March 18th, Jacksonville, Fl
- Body Part on opposite sex: Eyes
- Been in Love: I thought I was now not so sure.
- Believe in yourself?: Yes
- Believe in God: Yes


C
- Car: A White Fusion. That I love.
- Candy: Reeses Cups
- Colour: Green
- Cried in school: Yes
- Chocolate/Vanilla: Vanilla, Cake Batter from Cold Stone to be exact. Thanks to BK
- Chinese/Mexican: Mexican
- Cake or pie: Red velvet cake

D
- Day or Night: Night
- Do the splits?: umm..no

E
- Eggs: Scrambled eggs with cheese
- Eyes: Blue, but sometimes they look greenish

F
- First crush: haha…
- First thoughts waking up: What will today bring.
- Food: before the band-PIZZA! Now: Soup. or chicken and green beans

G
- Greatest Fear: Spiders
- Goals: To find out what life is really like being a smaller girl without letting it change the person I am.
- Get along with your parents?: Absolutely. I am very close to both of them
- Good luck charm: don't really have a good luck charm.

H
- Hair Colour: Blonde highlights
- Height: 5'8
- Happy: Yes!
- Holiday: Christmas
- Health freak?: not so much, but I am trying to be better
- Hate: the unknown


I
- Ice Cream: Cold Stole Cakebatter with Reeses Cup.
- Instrument: Clarinet in school

J
- Jewelry: Silver. Also I am coming into a new love for fun necklaces and bracelets
- Job: Airport Operations/Police Dispatcher at Jacksonville Airport


K
- Kids: Someday
- Kickboxing or karate: Kickboxing 
- Keep a journal? I write a blog...

L
- Longest Car Ride: Many church trips in the bus and van for LONG hours at a time
- Love: Will come one day.
- Laughed so hard you cried: One of my favorite things
- Love at first sight: They say it can happen.



M
- Milk flavour: Vanilla
- Movie: I have way too many favorites.
- Mooned anyone?: Never.
- Marriage: Someday..
- Motion sickness? Nope
- McD’s or BK: McD's it used to be a must with my girls on Saturday mornings.

N
- Number of Siblings: 1, 14 years older than me though.. yeah, yeah I was a surprise, but such a blessing too.
- Number of Piercings: none
- Number: 7

O
- One wish: to be wanted by someone

P
- Place you’d like to live: on the beach
- Perfect Pizza: pepperoni and mushrooms
- Pepsi/Coke: Diet Dr. Pepper but I haven’t had one since before surgery.

Q
- Questionaires: Pass the time


R
- Reason to cry: Oh pretty much anything. Pretty much all movies and some tv shows. Sad I know.
- Reality T.V.: The Biggest Loser, The Hills, American Idol,
- Roll your tongue in a circle? Yep


S
- Song: This years love by David Gray
- Shoe size: 10/11
- Salad Dressing: ranch
- Skipped school: yes, but Mike told on us when he got caught. ha
- Smoking: heck no I hate it
- Sing well?: In my car is where I perform hahaha..
- Strawberries/Blueberries: Strawberries

T
- Time for bed: I work nights so it is usually 630am. If I am off I usually hit the bed after midnight.
- Thunderstorms: hate them.
- TV: Love my DVR

U
- Unpredictable: life! Amen!!

V
- Vegetable you hate: Asparagus
- Vegetable you love: green beans
- Vacation spot: a cruise, NYC, the mountains, the beach, anywhere really

W
- Weakness: hmmm… I’ll think on that some more .
- When you grow up: a mom
- Which one of your friends acts the most like you: none I am the only GAIL

X
-X-Rays: had a few. I always mess up my ankles

Y
-Year it is now: 2009
-Yellow: makes me think of a school bus


Z
- Zoo: I love the monkeys and giraffes
- Zodiac sign: Pisces