A New Decade and Need Some Advice

My weight this morning was 239.8--I've officially entered a new decade, the 230's! It took me just over a month to get here. It feels like it took forever, but I know it's a good pace.

I need help! My band hasn't given me too much trouble lately, but last night for some reason I could not eat my chicken "taco"--and I even made homemade guacamole to go with it! (I've eaten it before with no problems.) After PBing AND throwing up the entire contents of my stomach, I settled for just not eating. Now today I have these occasional hiccups and it hurts where my band is (but only when I hiccup). If the pain doesn't stop by tomorrow, I think I might have to go to Seoul on Saturday to get a little more unfill (hopefully not a total unfill). This morning I'm verrrrry slooooowly eating a bowl of cereal with some strawberries but I'm feeling kind of nauseous and I can't tell if it's good old fashioned morning sickness or if it's because of my band.

Last but not least, thank you all for your wonderful encouraging and congratulatory comments over my last few posts! It means the world to me to click on my comments page and see all of those sweet messages :) You guys are the best, and I couldn't do this without your knowledge and support!

60 pounds gone!

That's right, folks - I've officially lost 60 pounds from my highest weight ever (35 since banding). Let's see, what does 60 pounds mean to me...

• It means I'm finally wearing the smallest clothes that I brought with me to Korea, comfortably.
• It means I have to buy a new belt soon because my old one is nearly useless.
• It means I no longer feel like a fat tub o' lard walking around Korea--now I'm just fat (Koreans called my old coworker "fat", who's 6ft. tall and about 170lbs, so take it with a grain of salt). 
• It means I feel like I look pretty good with my clothes on, but underneath all the Spanx there's quite a few... jiggly bits. I'm okay with this (for now--we'll re-evaluate after I have a baby.)
• It means that my blood pressure has been completely normal the last 2 times I've gotten it checked.
• It means that I'm much more comfortable taking the KTX now. The seats are about as wide as airplane seats. I would say I'll be much more comfortable on the long flight home in April, except that I'll be nearly 6 months pregnant and I'm pretty sure it'll be one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. 
• It means that I can shop for pants again in regular Old Navy and Gap stores!
• It means that I weigh less than my dad!

I'm sure there's more, but this is what I came up with on the spur of the moment. I can't believe I'm almost in the 230's; I wonder when I'm going to "stall out" and start equalizing my weight loss with baby weight gain. I love my band. I know not everyone is this lucky, but so far I really haven't had any major plateaus. I don't keep a food journal and I don't count calories or fat or protein or anything. I just try to be  aware of what I'm putting in my mouth--I eat relatively healthy meals, so if I want to go out and splurge a bit, I don't feel bad or guilty. I <3 Lola! (Remember, Lola is my band.)

Talk about inspiration!

A friend of mine from high school used to weigh around 350lbs, and last February he decided that something had to change. As of today, he reached his goal weight of 175lbs strictly through diet and exercise. He used his own diet and his own exercise routine. How incredible is that?!?!?? It may be 10:30 at night, but I definitely feel like I ought to go run around the block now. Check out his blog at Duct Tape Wedding Ring.

Let's do some squats!

I know I've mentioned this on my other blog, but I don't think I've talked about it here yet. "It" being toilets in Korea. 

Now, in my apartment I have a nice normal toilet that we're all used to. A nice, somewhat comfy throne upon which to sit and ponder the meaning of life. However, if you go out in Korea (or Asia in general) to use a public toilet, it's a 50/50 toss-up whether you'll be faced with one of these: 

a traditional "Western" toilet

or one of these: 

a traditional "Eastern" toilet, or "squatter"

Sadly, my old school building only had squatters. I pretty much never used the toilet unless I absolutely had to and I had a strictly "pee only" policy. There's usually pee all over the floor thanks to hundreds of elementary school children (and it's not exactly easy for girls to aim) and it's generally just gross. 

My school just moved into a brand new building this week and I was certain we would have real Western toilets as the restaurant below has super nice bathrooms. Alas, I was wrong. We only have squatters, again. I'm convinced it's because the owner doesn't want us spending lots of time on the toilet. 

I'm slightly worried now, as it was hard enough to squat down when I wasn't pregnant. Now I'm worried that when my belly starts to grow I'll eventually get stuck in a squatting position and not be able to get back up (there aren't any convenient handicap rails or anything, just the wall to help you up). Sigh. I've really enjoyed my time in Korea, but I can't wait to get back to the US. Just 3 1/2 months to go. 

Super awesome NSV!

Okay, so I know that each and every one of you has at least one pair of pants in the back of your closet that are your "skinny pants".

In my case, I have 6 pairs of skinny pants. Levi's boot cut jeans 22W, Lane Bryant Right Fit jeans Red 4 (roughly a 20/22 I think), 3 pairs of Gap "favorite chinos" 20reg, and 1 pair of Gap "favorite chinos" 18reg.

I was already wearing the Levi's over the summer, but by fall they were pretty baggy and hideous. I fit into the Lane Bryant jeans in the fall, and have been wearing them religiously. They're getting almost unwearable, but if I wear them only the day after washing, they're fine. They're about to be retired though, as I recently bought some jeans from a Korean plus-sized store :)

In the meantime, I'd been trying on the Gap 20's maybe once a month; I can get them over my legs, but the waist was nowhere near fitting. Well, Blogland, today was a momentous day--I got my butt into those Gap 20's and they buttoned without any breath holding! Here's a little backstory about them: The last time I wore one pair was maybe fall/winter of 2007. Two of them I bought in the spring of 2008 and well... they still have the tags on them. Apparently I had high hopes for my weight loss at the time, lol.

Anyway, here I am wearing the pair that I haven't worn in 3 years!

I hope you have a fantastic day!

The difference a year makes

I was just looking back through my blog (since I kinda went public about my surgery today) and realized that it's been a year since I started it. I remember being so fed up with my weight last year, I decided to join Weight Watchers Online and I would make it work in Korea, one way or another. Yeah, that lasted about a week, although I was in denial for a few months and didn't cancel my membership until May or June probably.

My weight loss has been slow, but steady. I'm okay with that, as long as the scale is moving in the right direction. I also have to keep reminding myself that I'm pregnant, and maintenance at this point really is okay. I've also resolved to join the gym tomorrow that's $160 for 3 months. I told Marc to make sure I do it (despite the freezing cold 10-minute walk to get there) and you guys, please comment asking me if I did it! I haven't exercised in about a month... I had a bad cold one week, and that was it.

The scale told me 243.1 today--is it wrong that I already feel skinny? I guess it's just been so long since I've seen these kinds of numbers, my mind is playing tricks on me. I have to keep reminding myself that to other people, I'm still just fat. *sigh*

I'm happy with the way this blog turned out. I'm happy that instead of dying after 3 entries last January, I found a reason to pick it back up in September. I'm also happy that I found the bandster blog world because, honestly, this would be a heck of a lot harder without all of you!

2010

2010 went pretty well. Nothing negative to report, and that's always a plus!

• We dug ourselves out of debt and started paying on my student loan
• We visited China and Singapore and Malaysia
• We decided we were content with our life in Korea, but not content enough to stay a third year
• I made the decision to take charge of my health and have lap-band surgery in October 
• Found out I was pregnant about a month after having the previously-mentioned lap-band surgery (haha, joke's on me!)

I'm looking forward to 2011, as it will see our return to the homeland and the arrival of our first child. 

Happy 2011! I hope you enjoyed your celebrations. We went with some friends to a park downtown to see a show and watch them ring the giant bell at the new year. Afterwards, we watched "Tron: Legacy" so we wouldn't have to wait behind thousands of people trying to get a taxi. 

Awesome vocal ensemble

Children's choir; they were adorable!

Traditional dancers

I didn't take any pictures of the actual bell-ringing or the fireworks because I was too cold to get my camera out again. 

Happy New Year!