Day 82 - The Journey Continues!

Hi All,


Had the weekly weigh in this morning and I'm pleased to report a loss of about 2kg last week!!! I am now down to 109.5kg - my next goal is to be under 100kg by Christmas Day ........ I really hope I can get there!!!


Since the the 3rd Week in August 2009 (when I started the pre-op Optifast) I have lost 30.5kg or about 67 pounds! That's a drop in BMI from 40.6 to 31.7 which still makes me obese but it won't be long my friends till I am just "overweight" which is good for now :).


I am feeling proud of myself for making the decision to get the Lap Band - to be honest I had a few apprehensions, both financially and also the whole surgery and risk part of the process. The band is the key to the so loss so far but I have also been working hard to make the right choices - from a food quantity and type aspect, and it's great to get a good result so early into what is a life long process.


My aim is to get to 85kg by May next year - the plan is for my wife and I to go to America on holidays for a month..... I've been there before but my wife hasn't so it will be a great experience for us both as a couple. I am actually very focused on the holiday and am using it as a motivation when "bad food opportunities" present themselves. If things continue as they are I will easily meet my goal by May next year:)


Below is a picture of me on my last American holiday arriving at Las Vegas Airport - complete with Hugh Hefner pipe and harem of beauties!!! They all wanted a piece of the Regmiester and I'm not saying which piece ;)






The band has been going well ...... I can pretty much eat whatever I want in smaller quantities and eating my lunch for example takes about 20 mins, which is about right. I am going back to the Surgeon's Office on Tuesday next week for a weigh-in and potential fill, which if I get it will be another 1ml taking me to 4.5ml in a 10ml band. At this stage I reckon I will give the fill a miss ........ I believe I have enough restriction and don't want to get to the point where I can't eat and spew everything up! I've read allot of blogs and as always there's "a fine line between pleasure and pain" in band fills- I think I will leave it another month and see how things go.


Everything is calm on the home front - we didn't get the house I mentioned in the last post, which we were shattered about as it went for about $40k more than it's market value and although I "wanted it bad" my head ruled my heart and we made the right choice in stopping at our upper limit.

That's my update for this week - feel free to comment!


Loving the band and loving life! Reggie Boy xxxx

Day 75 Post-Op

Hi all!

Sorry about the delay in posts but life goes on and generally life has been good for the Regmiester since my last post.

Work is moving along nicely with the industry I'm in not being knocked around too much by the supposed downturn which is great - and it's almost time for my annual wage review so I am hoping for somewhere between a 3 and 5% wage rise which would come in handy!

We are going to an auction this morning to hopefully buy our new house - we have been renting for 12 months since we relocated back into the area and have been looking for a long while to find something we really like. Who knows whether we will win the auction or not, only time will tell! here's a link and a picture of what will hopefully be my new pool!

http://www.rwmaitland.com.au/pol/property/search.asp?f_PropertyID=1172967&f_AgentID=2966&xsl=2966&f_st=1





Things have settled down a bit with the daugther dramas I spoke about last post - and I am hopeful we are headed in the right direction - I am getting her back into year 9 at high school on Monday so another meeting with the Principal .... we are now on a first name basis and good mates. I am thinking of asking him over for a BBQ next weekend - haha.

Now onto the Lap Band Stuff!!!

Weighed in this morning at 111.6kg down from 140kg which means I am more than 50% to my goal weight :) Things have slowed down substantially though I am still heading in the right direction and have no doubt in the world getting this lap band is one of the best decision I have ever made - and I would make the same decision again in a second.

I recently had some blood tests done and guess what???? my LDL HDL and total cholesterol count is down from 6 to around 3.8 - man was I stoked with that. I am also on blood pressure tablets each day and suspect that the dosage may soon be able to be reduced. I will go to my GP to seek his guidance but I am hopeful that this medication will now longer be required as my weightloss continues.

I have had two fills the first they injected 2.5ml's and the second a couple of weeks ago they put in another 1ml, after fill number one I still had no or perhaps a minor restriction, but that extra 1ml made all the difference.At 3.5ml's in a 10ml's small AP band I am now feeling a good restriction. I have another fill appointment scheduled for the end of this month, I am not sure if I will get anymore put in at this stage, but I'll see how I go. As far as "PB's" go I need to be really careful to chew food thoroughly and take my time - if I don't watch out "up it comes". I believe my fill level is right though - it's just my own behaviours I need to keep in check and make sure I don't rip into the food like I used to pre-band. As far as what I can eat, well there is really nothing I can't eat as long as I "pace myself". Steak, bread, you name it, it's on my menu in small quantities-which makes me very happy as I thought I may have never been able to eat some of my favourite foods again.

The only thing preventing faster weight loss is alcohol! I have always loved a beer /scotch or 20, and things haven't changed. Since I have been banded I have had one "piss-up" per week where I might have 15-20 drinks in a session >>>>>>>> not good I know but old habits die hard. I have always only drunk one night a week either Friday or Saturday night and have found it hard to stop this 25 year habit! What this does besides the usual health and social issues is puts me back 3 days / week before I get back to where I was pre "pissup" ... this is really "weighing heavily" (pardon the pun) on my mind and I need to cut this out or try to at least moderate it substantially - otherwise I am cheating myself

Here is a pre-op picture of big Reggies gut:

And here's a shot taken last night by one of my mates, when we were having a few coldies out the back - some people are starting to notice my weight loss and tell me I'm looking a bit pale????

Anyway thanks for reading, please feel free to leave a comment I love to read them.

All the best Reggy Boy xxxx