Is it Saturday yet?

Alright, work was pretty awful. Well, it was okay for the first couple of hours, but I was really feeling the gas pain the last 3-4 hours. We're not supposed to ever sit down in the classes, but I just didn't care by the last class and sat down. Of course, sitting didn't help much either but at least there wasn't any danger of me falling over.

Sadly I have to do this again tomorrow and Friday. I'm a little nervous now, but I'm sure I'll be fine. Then Saturday I get to make the trip up to Seoul again for my first fill (am I really ready for a fill? We'll have to see about that).

I guess the good news is that since I came home an hour and a half ago, I've been farting almost nonstop (I considered saying "tooting", but decided that these are much more than toots!). Unfortunately, it's not relieving any of the pain I'm feeling. Has anyone seen "The Last King of Scotland"? Remember the scene where the doctor uses a baseball bat to push out the dictator's gas? I'm seriously contemplating taking that course of action.

Who's no longer on death's door?

MEEEE!!! I weighed myself today and I am no longer classified as morbidly obese--now I'm just Obese (Class 2)! Wahooooo!

In celebration of my new obesity classification, I thought I would finally post some official "before" pics (although they're the present, but whatever).

Oh lord, I'm really doing this

My belly is still a little swollen, but it really does stick out like that.

Alright, hopefully you weren't blinded by those. One day I'll learn how to make side-by-side pics, but I don't think it's necessary yet.

Also, thanks so much for all your comments! You're all so encouraging. I'm happy to have 8 followers already--now I feel like I'm actually writing to someone :)

Well, off to work I go. Wish me luck!

Refreshed

I'm feeling a bit better than I was yesterday. I just came back from a good walk--a full 30 minutes! I'm still wearing my compression band because I feel like things are all jiggly... well, jigglier than usual... when I'm walking. I took it fairly slow I think, but I still felt the cardio-ness of it all. (I'm a tad out of shape.)

Being fairly new to blogland (mostly family and real-life friends read the other blog), I've been spending waaaay too much time going blog-to-blog and following and commenting. It's really exhausting! I also love that there's such a tight-knit community of bandsters; I'm excited that I get to be a part of it.

There've been so many posts regarding Halloween and Halloween candy lately; having been banded the day before Halloween, I'm really glad that Korea doesn't really celebrate it. It's slowly becoming more popular with the little kids, but adults don't really do anything so the candy temptation has kind of been a non-issue for me, as there hasn't been any. Either way, I believe it's okay to indulge once in a while--if you never let yourself have those treats, it just leads to binging. Of course, if you're anything like me, then you'll just end up "indulging" everyday, totally sabatoging any progress you've made.

It's bittersweet, but I'm also kind of glad that I won't be home for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year. I just don't trust myself to handle that kind of temptation yet; I really need some time to focus on myself and really do this. The best way for me to do that is just to avoid situations where I am tempted to eat things I shouldn't, in quantities I shouldn't.

I find that it's much easier to stay on track when I'm active in forums and blogging. When I did Weight Watchers in the past, I was most successful when I actively participated in the forums; it's the accountability I suppose. So take note--if I go a long time without blogging, it's probably because I'm eating things I shouldn't.

Uggggh, gotta go to work today. I'm so not ready for this!

Going back to work tomorrow!

Seriously, this gas pain is for the birds. It's really all in my chest, and I'm not happy about it. Every so often I get what feels like a bubble moving up from my stomach and I feel like I'm going to burp but never do, so then I'm left just feeling slightly nauseous like I'm going to puke. The whole episode only lasts maybe 20 seconds, but it's awful. I've been taking Gas-x, trying to walk around... I get an occasional fart, but nothing groundbreaking.

I went to E-Mart earlier (I even took the bus instead of a taxi) in search of measuring tape so I could take my measurements, but all I could find were the auto-tape measures. Oh well. I did end up buy little spoons, little forks, and small containers for my food. I was pretty sore by the time I got home so I just sat on the couch for a while. Later I took a walk around the neighborhood; again, I was pretty uncomfortable by the time I got home. I just want to feel normal again! Uggggh, it's only been a couple of days, I know, I'm just ready for this part to be over with.

I go back to work tomorrow; I teach English in the evenings, 4-10pm. I don't think it will be too bad though as I only really sit down for about a half hour total. I have to stand the rest of the time, so hopefully I'll be okay. I just hope I don't have to use the toilet; we only have Eastern-style squat toilets at work, and it's hard enough to use them on a good day. (Don't worry, there are plenty of normal toilets throughout Korea, I just happen to work in an old building.)

So, I haven't really posted many pictures of myself. Here you go! (The second one is one of maybe 3 full-body shots in existence.)

2 years ago, ~300#. Not sure what I'm doing here.

June,  about 280lbs

Maybe tonight I'll take some pictures of my tummy and bandages. I've never posted any pictures of my stomach. I might need a drink for that one. Oh wait...