Small gain and NSV!

Saturday I went for my *slight* unfill, and the doctor ended up removing 1.5cc's! I didn't object at first, but  then I realized I only had 4cc's to begin with (after I'd already left). So now I have 2.5cc's and I'm pretty sure I could eat a hamburger if I tried. I'm not going to try to eat a hamburger, I like the fear of getting stuck and vomiting uncontrollably--it keeps me in check.

I'm going to see how it goes for the next week or 2 and I'll probably go back to get more put in. I know he just wanted me to rest after throwing up so much last week, but geeeez. I guess we'll see just how much I've learned about controlling my eating.

Here's the NSV: I bought 2 really cute pair of shoes while I was in Seoul, regular 11 and not 11 wide! The wide WOULD be a bit more comfortable because I do just have wide feet, but my feet aren't fat anymore so it was tolerable. I wore the flats all night at work yesterday and my feet were fine. Hooray!

I'm starting to notice a little pattern with my losses. I'll lose really well for a couple of weeks, then I'll go up about 2 pounds over a day or two and then it'll just drop back off again. I got to 248, and today I'm back up to 250. I'm not worried though--it'll drop back off. It's only my 2nd gain since I was banded; I won't let it get me down! I'm also pretty sure that the mashed potatoes I had for dinner last night have something to do with it ;)

P.S. For those not familiar with the lingo, NSV is "Non-Scale Victory".

Uh oh, it's been too long...

Wow, I haven't been around the blogs in 5 days! Last Saturday I got another fill and met another (foreign) bandster. Of course I've been pretty tight--really only getting down liquids. Yesterday I finally managed to eat something a little more solid. I'll see how the rest of this week goes and I may go on Saturday and ask them to take a little out. They're really aggressive here about the fills!

The good news is that today, I'm only 1 pound away from my next mini-goal of 248! And I'm 50 pounds down from my highest weight ever! I've never consistently lost this much weight before. It's really crazy.

As for why I haven't been around blogland, well, some things have been going on that I'm not quite ready to share yet. Give me some time, it may come out eventually.

Until next time...

Happy Hump Day!

I love Hump Day (aka Wednesday) because I get to leave work 25 minutes early (9:35 as opposed to 10pm). It's the little things, ya know?

I'm going to Seoul this weekend to get another fill. I don't think I really need it badly, but I do feel like I can eat a lot more at night and having realized this, I've started snacking a little more at night. Not a lot, mind you, but more than I'd like. Oh well, I'll see how it goes. My doctor needs to check out my incisions anyway because one of them still hasn't completely healed. Besides, it's an excuse to go shopping again :)

I've been waking up fairly early (for me, at least) since I had my surgery. I really like it because I feel like I get so much more accomplished before going to work. However, Monday night I went to bed a little later than usual (around 2am) and ended up waking up earlier than usual at 7:30 am. I was pretty exhausted by the time I had to go to work. I went to sleep at 1am last night, woke up at 7 with a stuffy nose and coughing, and finally went and laid down on the couch (I can lay on my side easier on the couch because the back supports me better; still a little uncomfortable on my side from the surgery) and slept until 10:30. Anyway, long boring story short, I didn't get my walk in today because waking up later totally threw me off my schedule--I'm such a creature of habit sometimes!

Hooray for pointless posts! :)

Assah!

Yesterday I travelled to Seoul for my fill. It's 4 hours one-way by car, but luckily Korea has the KTX (high-speed train) so I can make it in 1 hour 45 minutes. I weight 267.6 at the clinic (wahoo!), which I haven't seen in about 3 years. It makes me a little dizzy to think about that; how easy it's been to lose the weight right now--why wasn't it this easy for the last few years? Anyway.

I got my first fill--1.5cc's in my 10cc band. I drank a little water, didn't choke on anything, so that was that. He also gave me the green light to eat normal foods--but chew chew chew (which I already knew, thank you blogland!). He gave me some tips, and told me to come back in 2 weeks. 

After the appointment I met up with the girl who was my translator on surgery day--let's call her K. Turns out we've become fast friends. She took me onto the US Army base (her husband's retired military) and went to lunch there at a Mexican buffet of sorts. I got little spoonfuls of little things to see what I could eat, and well... yikes. Since I haven't had the experience yet of chewing food with the band, it was definitely a learning experience for me. I did get stuck--I think I didn't chew something quite well enough. It was awful, I didn't want to, but ended nearly running to the bathroom to PB. After that, I just had about a tablespoon full of refried beans and mashed potatoes. Then K got a dessert plate--and man, desserts really do slide down! I didn't over-stuff myself, I stopped when I thought I should be full. 

Afterwards, we went shopping in Itaewon, which is the big foreigner area in Seoul, and the only place in Korea where you can buy plus-size clothing. K used to work at one of the stores, so she knew all the good places. I was actually quite impressed, as there were a lot of Macy's brands, and some Lane Bryant--and they were all reasonably priced! I bought 3 sweaters, 3 tops, and a jacket and pants for winter walking. I also found my shoe size, 11! However my feet are still wide and none of them were really comfortable. I have hope though that one day I will fit into a regular 11--I doubt I'll ever go down to a 10, as I've worn an 11 since I was 13 years old.

We went for a coffee, and it was delicious. Then we went for dinner with K's husband, who's really nice. We went to a place that has Philly Cheesesteaks, and I had maybe 3 tiny pieces of meat, which took me about 20 minutes to chew until I was comfortable with swallowing it. I also picked off a few of the peppers, and of course much of the cheese :) Of course, when I was done, it looked like I'd hardly touched the thing, but I just took it to go and gave it my husband for dinner when I got home. I didn't feel rushed though because K knows what I'm going through, and her husband's aware of my surgery. Hooray for no stuck episodes at dinner! 

I FINALLY made it home around 11:30pm (I left the apartment at 6:45am) and just before I went to bed I drank some water. Well, I tried to drink some water - I guess I drank either too much or too fast and it totally took its time going down. Uggggggh. Learned another lesson about dealing with the band. 

So, at 1.5cc's I feel like I already have restriction and with the little bit that I ate I wasn't hungry for several hours afterward. Despite the lunch episode, I feel like it was a pretty good day and I learned a lot about my band. I realize I didn't eat the healthiest, most balanced foods, but I'd kind of planned on it going in so I'm okay with that. 

Since I was gone all day yesterday, I'm now catching up on your blogs. Also, I stepped on scale after I woke up and it said 263.6! Assah! (Think of Hiro from Heroes, and "Assah" is the Korean version.)