Bandster Quiz

1. How long have you been banded? 8 months, 1 week, 5 days.
2. What was your highest pre-band weight? / Current weight now? / Total lost to date? 270/196/74
3. What is your best "go-to" food to get in your protein? crabcakes, hummus, egg whites.
4. What is your favorite protein brand/shake? I despise protein shakes, never touch em.
5. What food do you miss the most now being post-band? Fresh chewy Montreal bagels, burgers with buns.
6. What is your favorite "mushy" food? Soft boiled/poached eggs, matzo ball soup.
7. What was your worst PB experience? PB-ing all over myself in the car in rushhour traffic on my way to meet a friend - without being sure I had something else to wear. Luckily I am so messy and constantly have clothes sitting in my car!
8. What has been the hardest part of this journey so far for you? Being patient with my sometimes slower losses, learning not to give up when the going gets tough.
9. What is your best NSV to date? Buying jeans from companies like Hudson, Joe's and Citizens of Humanity was really exciting.  Also the attention I'm getting from guys is amazing.
10. What is your top non-weight goal for your band? (top NSV maybe?) To wear a bikini! This won't happen till after the Tummy Tuck I'm sure.
11. What is your goal weight or size? My current goal is 170, that's what I'm hoping to get to before having a tummy tuck... I'd love to ulimately get under 160, and be a size 8.  I would have originally said 10, but I'm pretty much a 12 in a lot of things right now... woah! so 8, but 10 if it's tight in the boobies haha.
12. What band "rule" do you live by (i.e. don't cheat on)? Exercise at least 1hour/day, no pasta or rice.
13. What band "rule" do you not follow as much or aren't so good at? I drink soda. And alcohol. Oops!
14. What is your goal "reward"? Tummy tuck at 170... And maybe a trip? Hmm. Some bling for sure.
15. In the spirit of Thanksgiving being right around the corner (US), what are you most thankful for, post-band? I'm just so grateful to have found something that helped me find the strength within myself to lose this weight, and to have such an amazing warm and spirited community of bandsters to learn from and teach. Love you all!

I get so proud when

the lapband commercials come on tv!

I'm watching Tough Love on VH1. I didn't watch the first season, but the premise is pretty much this guy is a the son of a matchmaker and "gets" women. There are eight women who have issues that are hurdles in relationships.  I could very well end up hating this show, but for now I'm intrigued.

Especially because one of them women's "issue" is that she has body image issues - she used to weigh 220lbs and has lost a lot and doesn't know how to deal with the attention without getting needy... or err slutty.  If you're me.  I know this isn't all of your experience, but it's definitely been mine, so I'm interested in her journey for sure.

Has anyone watched before, is anyone watching now?

Plus or Not?!

Hi Ladies,

As anyone who's read my blog for a while knows, I LOVE to shop! I love clothes, I love accessories, I love retail therapy.  I've bought myself a bunch of new jeans lately, some cute plaid shirts and tees to wear to classes, etc.  I do find I'm really lacking in tops to wear out to the bar, it's just hard to find that stuff because a lot of things without stretch my boobs are still big for... and it's fricken annoying!

I've also started looking for a dress to wear to our work Holiday party which is December 9th. I've got some ideas as to what I want - shape wise - something high-waisted, because I can kind of make my problem area disapear in the right shape, and colour-wise - something silvery or purple-y I think. I've tried on a couple of dresses and some have been OK - but so many I feel so in between sizes. I think if it weren't for my belly I'd probably be like an 8 in the legs, I'm a 12 in the waist, a 14 in most tops, but a 16 in anything tight in the bust... With thin little arms! Oy. So disproportionate.

Anyways I was on Nordstrom.com and saw this gorgeous dress at half off and I want it but it's only in some bigger sizes... So anyone hanging around 22 or 20 check it out!

Thanks for the Support...

And some of you were right - cause guess what - I'm back down to my lowest weight yet, 195.8.

I wonder if that burst of calories was what I needed to get me back into losing mode. I have been exercising so so much, and maybe the extra calories in real foods- as opposed to Cheez-Its and Apple Cider were what I needed.  I think I may not be normally getting enough calories, so I really need to start journaling and getting a better understanding on that.

One difference I did notice was I had NO appetite yesterday.  I made myself eat a yogurt after the gym, a handful of nuts and dried fruit around 1, and then ate a small dinner at my aunt's at 8.  And I wasn't even thinking about food.  That could also have to do with my lady status... When I'm PMS-ing I could eat a horse, once my period arrives my appetite does tend to decrease pretty dramatically.

Well again, THANK YOU to all your sweet comments... I guess I could stand to cut loose a bit sometimes, and know it won't kill me.

xox
Angie

This is my confession

I originally just sent Amy a message about this, because I didn't think I could share it with everyone.  But then I remembered how it's important for everyone to get the good and the bad.  And I thought I'd share.

Last night I went out for dinner with one of my closest friends in Stowe, S.  We actually had a glass of wine at her apt before we left and indulged in other things that make you even hungrier.  We went out for a reallly nice dinner - she doesn't know I'm banded so I was pretty nervous about how it'd go, when / if I'd get stuck, etc.  I ordered apple-sausage bread pudding to start because the server said it was amazing and it sounded soft, and then a beef dish for my main. 

Because we're good friends with the chef and maitre d, we were comped a bottle of wine (which meant S's bf was gonna be picking us up!) and treated like royalty all night - we were served TWO EXTRA COURSES.  The first was pate which I had never really tried but figured I had to and it was actually pretty good... And the second was goat cheese fondue. I DIED IT WAS SOOO GOOD.

Everything was delicious.  And I don't know whether it was the wine sips pushing things down or the chew chewing but I never got stuck or over-full till right at the end.  Which kind of freaked me out. Seemed like I got out home free.

Then I went to bed. It's my t.o.t.m. right now, and so I had the worst cramps and gas pains and stomach ache all night long, had to get up a million times to use the bathroom, had to take Gas-X, have no interest in ever eating again... Am feeling very sorry for my poor little stomach pouch. 

I'm gonna treat her and me very nicely in the next few days... And take responsibility for the weight gain I'm sure might ensue from last night's binge.

The weirdest/hardest part was my friend was like I'm so proud of you for eating, you know you don't always have to be on, blah blah... Which would be true if I didn't have the band. Who knows. It's a new day and I'm back on track.

xx

What Do You Eat?

I find myself at a loss a lot of the time about what food to put in my sweet little belly.  It can't take much - though it can take entire boxes of Cheez-It's it would seem.  I'm just curious as to what everyone's magic foods are, the ones they can eat all the time, know they can count on, etc.  I'll share some of mine too.

• Hummus.  I love hummus, it is protein-packed, delicious, not at all bland, and pretty healthy. 
• 1/4 c which is quite a lot is about 110cals, depending on the brand.
  

• Corn Tortillas  - I can barely eat much bread, pita never works, but toast me a corn tortilla till it's completely crispy and I'm a happy lady - perfect to eat with my hummus!  
• 1 small corn tortilla from my favourite brand, Ricardo and Maria's is only 75 cals and .75g of fat!

• Corned-beef hash.  It isn't the healthiest food option out there, but it's one of my favourite things to go eat after a huge workout at the gym.  At my breakfast place I'll often order 1 poached egg on top of a side of their hash and I feel SO fueled and protein packed!
• A half-cup of hash comes to about 225 cals and a scary amount of fat- so I don't do it often, but it goes down so well and fills me up that I doubt I even consume a half cups worth.

• Fried egg whites. Plain. sometimes with ketchup. Could my life be blander.
  

• Activia! I eat it every morning.  Keeps everything happy. Do it!
• Fat-free is 90 cals I think, regular about 110.

That's about it! Clearly I need your help... I'm kinda feeling a bit bored with my basics!

xox
ange

Plateau... Finally Busted!

I've been SO on point this week, really eating true meals, trying my very hardest not to get to the PB moment (it still happened once but it was on a food that has never given me trouble before.)  I have been excersing up a storm- yesterday I did half an hour of spinning and then an hour of dance... But this morning may well KILL me - half hour spin, hour of dance, fifteen minutes of abs and half an hour of weights and lifting... I asked my trainer to bust me out of this and she is like WOAH!

I'm down to 195.8 right now... Normally I'd be worried I won't see that number again tomorrow, but I think that with the working out I have planned I should be just fine.

xoxo
ange

Clothing Update!

Everything except the Rachel Pally top is spoken for!

It's all gone folks!

Traveling Pants... and Jeans, and Dresses and Tops!

Who wants to go shopping in my closet?

I have a couple items of clothing to give away!

This Dress is a size XL from Mossimo by Target. The top is stretchy cotton, the bottom is linen, the waistband is stretchy.  It's definitely a bit more lightweight/summery, but would look cute with tights and a cardi.

This top is Rachel Pally, SO pretty, and never worn, it was always a bit funny on me. It's thigh length on me, so cute with leggings or pants, it's got a tie around the neck thing.  It just doesn't fit that well into my wardrobe, but probably would be a nice work thing.

These are size 14 from American Eagle, never worn. I bought them on sale and then never wore them and then I tried them a few weeks ago and they're too big.  They've got cute ribbon detailing on the cargo pockets and a gather at the bottom.

These jeans have been awesome for me, I've worn them SO much over the past few months.  They're also American Eagle size 14, stretchy, the style is called slim boot, so they're slimmer through the leg with a slight boot cut. I'm kind of sad to part with them, but they fall off, so alas I must.

These jeans are size 14 from Old Navy, dark denim in a style called The Sweetheart.  They're a light boot-cut, almost straightlegged, they're definitely tuck-able into boots. They're stretch and pretty comfy.

So any of these are free to a good home - just claim em either by commenting or emailing me, if you have any questions just let me know!

xox

ange

Statcounter

A lot of you have asked how I know things like people googled cheesy poof pic and found my blog... And how I know how many people read me, where from, etc. Here is is, easy!

1. Go to http://www.statcounter.com
   

2. After you register you'll be able to login, and click on your current project - mine is named "i am in repair..."  You'll see some stats like this:

3. After that it's easy and fun to explore - there's a map to show you where all your visitors come from, 

 

 

And then there's "search engine wars" and keyword summary which tells you what search engines people put search terms in to find you!

Hope that explained everything! Let me know if you have questions!