Merry Christmas and all that.

Gidday. Its been ages since I last posted mainly due to it being Christmas and New Years.I survived it all ok although the scales have moved down they stuck hard and fast for a couple of weeks as punishment for not sticking to healthy eating (something that I am still struggling to get back into). Christmas for me is about Christ then FOOD. I do all the pressys and things but mostly after my faith its all about the food. I decided this year not to buy much as we had breakfast at my eldest sons place and dinner at my daughters so this was a good opportunity to not overdo it. However, I dont need to buy much before I start to 'overdo' it. Just the kids treats alone leave me enough scraps to 'go hard' and I just delve into the left over choccy stockings and eat up the cherry ripes which everyone hates even me but waste not want not is the Dianne motto! We had crayfish for breakfast Christmas morning. I must say I arent a great crayfish fan but hey it was there for the taking so I took some chew chew chew then woops sick! Sorry about the wastage son! Then came the pancakes and ............ burp yep that was a waste too. I managed to keep the bacon down and some juice. Dinner I did much better and found that the pork crackle slipped down nicely. After Christmas all the chrissy puddings and cakes became 70% off so I just fought and fought the urge to buy stacks of them and in the end I gave up the fight and bought 4 but.................two are still in the cupboard lol. Its a real battle to fight the old habits and urges. The quantity I can eat is remarkably smaller but I still try to eat more than I should before I take myself by the ear to the corner of the room and give myself a good talking to! I hope you folk all had great festive times and didnt over indulge too much. New Years was very dry for me which I dont ever feel too worried about mainly (apart from seeing others act like twats) I cant see the point in such empty calories when you can have Christmas cake and custard mmmmmmmmm. Andy and i have been biking as part of our new years resolution. After the last attempt of about 20kms I have had a couple of days break to try and get the feeling back into my arse. Well thats it for me. Will type again in a week. Happy New Year to you all xxx

Oh the pain of food that gets stuck

Hello all. I am trying to think of witty funny amusing little things that have happened to me but I cant all I can offer right now is the PAIN of the band when food gets stuck which in my case has been at almost every meal for the last week. After my last fill I am really struggling to keep food down for long enough to call it a meal and not a regurgitation process. The foods I could once eat I just cant seem to anymore and now I am eating foods which are rich and calorie laden just to get some sort of nutrition the trouble is you don't need much to pack on the weight. Gosh its all a bit depressing right now. I cant eat bread and I am completely cool with that. I cant eat hot chips which is a God send but I can eat Calamari which is fried and I can eat most saucy things which are usually high calorie like Garlic Prawns (and I aren't even that much of a prawn fan). I can eat some meats as long as the are drenched in gravy. If it keeps on going like it is I will have to have some fill taken out. Bugger. Not too worry though its all a bit of a process. Every time we go out and get something to eat (or even at home) I get a couple of bites in then it gets jammed somewhere between my throat and breast bone and I have to rush of and be sick to dislodge it. Andy and I had lunch at Kings Park today but after to small mouth fills of a savoury I had to lean over the gutter and get rid of it. Really does put you right off the moment. Andy is so good. He seems to recognise the look that comes over my face and then starts rubbing my back to help ease the pain. He should of been a nurse but when I said that he said 'its not like I enjoy it or anything'! Bless him. Well I have nearly finished my Chrissy shopping which is cool. Funnily enough the only things I want are food related like a pasta maker and cook books. Maybe I should ask Santa for a bike or something non foodie.....................nah. We have Andy's work do this weekend (yes only two days before Christmas) and I have been out patrolling the shops looking for a glam outfit. Its a cocktail party. I found a skirt in a flash store and when I was telling the lady I was banded and didn't want to buy it until close to the date for fear of not fitting she told me she had been banded too. She said no one knew not even her husband. Dunno how one wouldn't notice the scars or the port site or the chucking but he mustn't be too observant as he hadn't noticed. I was too much of a sook not to tell. Andy's boss is a complete nutter (woman) so it'll be an interesting night watching her. She is extremely vain and has her husband and her millionaire boyfriend so has been a bit unsure which one she will bring. For one reason or another we met the boyfriend the other day and.........................his wife!! Andy's boss also has something wrong with her hair (she says its stress) as it keeps on falling out and the other day Andy came home and told me how Mary came out of the bathroom at work pointing to her hair asking Andy if he could notice how her hair on one side of her head had broken off. Andy was hooting with laughter at his bosses broken hair day. She also has botulism oops botox injections and its hilarious as she walks in after an episode with a frozen face and no movement. I will definitely not have anything to drink on Sat night for fear I may speak out of turn. Must make a note to myself not to have alcohol lol. Shes been really rude to Andy about a couple of things so it would be tempting to cause her a few frown lines or broken hair evening especially as it is cocktail party after all! Well no more news from me but I will post on Sunday after the Le Grande Cocktail Party. xxx Dianne

Computer is up and running. All systems are go!

Finally my computer is back to working although I lost all data from the hard drive including all my photos some of which were taken just before my dad passed away and are obviously irreplaceable. I knew to save them onto a back up disk but it was one of those things that I thought I would do later and of course as per good old Murphy and his law it is now too late. My computer can also not handle the camera downloads now (I don't have a clue why) so I will have to take some updated shots and post from a friends computer. After my last fill I am now unable to eat so much that has never bothered me before like Christmas cake and raw apricots. Oh the pain. And as Murphy would have it we have become friends with someone who has a stone fruit orchard. Ah well. I have been sick a few times mainly from new foods that I haven't tried since being banded like Christmas cake but also because I still have to remember to eat more slowly. My friend Jo at work is leaving to take a position at the Tax office so Ill be sad to see my little banded sidekick leave but the catch ups will be even more interesting. Well no more news from me. I will update on Sunday. Have a good week and eat some Christmas cake for me xx

So much news so little time

Gidday. My computer has packed a sad so I am waiting for the computer Dr to fix it and am having serious withdrawls. I am using my friends computer to do this so am in a real hurry to blog. I saw my surgeon last night and he was very pleased with my progress. I have lost just under 6 kg in 6 weeks which is the exact result we wanted so that's a bonus. He put another 1.5mls into the band and now it feels very tight and I have to eat extra slowly as I almost instantly feel the food stick if I don't. And it hurts like crazy. Andy and I ate out a couple of weeks ago and I was sick mid lunch which was incredibly stressful cos I couldn't find my way out of the food hall and just had to let nature take its cause. The asian food stall lady was a bit shocked and wouldn't give me more than 2 serviettes to clean up with, so I was a bit of a mess by the time i got back to work. I now carry a little zip lock bag and wet wipes with me for those little emergencies. Very exciting to find I am now a size 16 for the most part and I couldn't fit any of the clothes in my favourite fat shop cos they were all too big!!! That was a way cool moment. My next little goal is to get into double digits. Its all feeling a bit exciting now and I can dare to dream that a normal weight range is eventually going to happen for me.
I'm looking forward to getting Christmas out of the way as everything during the build up seems to be focused on food and I am working hard to live by the ' I eat to live not live to eat' theory so will be glad when the supermarkets stop bombarding me with all the festive fair. Well I need to sign off now and head home so I will see ta ta for now and will post again next week. I will also put some photos up as soon as my computer is restored to good health xx Dianne

No Change in scales

Hi All, Its been a week since my last post. I don't have much news in the way of changes but I have no problem just burbling on regardless. The scales are unmoving this week so I am swaying between 107 and 108kg. I have a heap of problems eating healthy food and if I could live on hot chips I would (and try to quite often). I can only eat about 10 or so normal size chips or a small packet from macca's but its still enough to affect my state of mind and the scales. I know its a case of just staying away but saying and doing are of course two different things. I am now a regular loo goer so am glad that the constipation faze has passed but the wind is still a massive problem. Now, this might not sound like a big deal but when I have to keep getting up and down from my desk to exit the building so I can fart it starts to cause some looks from people. I am the windiest person I know and its caused much more from milk, fruit and veges than anything else (woo hoo all the excuse I need to eat hot chips - bugger that's potato) . I emailed my dietitian about it but still haven't heard her views on it. Andy and I are walking daily. We manage between 4 - 8 ks per day which I am thrilled with. Mostly we hover around 5ks but then we do a biggy. I can eat a small portion of food now (about entree size) so my vitamin and mineral intake is heaps better. I can eat just about anything I want except sushi. I ate 1 sushi in the car the other day and it was so painful as it got stuck and so gross as I bought it back that I have decided as much as I love it, it is gone from my menu forever! When I see my surgeon in Dec I will have another 1 ml fill which will tighten up the band some more. That's about it on the band front but I will close with a story from my friend who read about my JUST SPECTACLES glasses debacle. The other day she went to a shop to look at some shoes. She found a nice pair of wedge heel shoes for $40.00. The sales girl (and by the sound she should get try hard sales girl of the year) bustles over and says 'oh those ones are reduced to $10.00 a pr. The bottom of the shoes are different but as my friend thought she was talking about the soles she didn't care because as she said 'why would I care if the pattern on the soles are different, no one sees them when you are wearing them'. Of course when the lass returns with the box and my friend opens them up she is a little shocked to find two very different looking shoes with the only similarity being they are both black in colour. Even the height of them was different! Well they were only $10 I guess and she could borrow my glasses to finish off he look! New post next Sunday, Have a groovy week xx

What's with all the flies

Summer has arrived today. It wasn't here yesterday or last week but today we clocked 36 on the thermometer! And of course, today we took our walking to a whole new level and decided we would walk in the sand dunes (where there is no breeze) and sometimes snakes cross the path. So, off we set out at 10.30am and into the dunes we head. We walked for an hour but at least Andy didn't get weak from lack of food because he managed lots of protein in the form of 3 flies one via his nostril. I managed to blow out my meals before they headed south. Oh they are so gross and so persistent. We got back to the car and headed straight for the sports shop where we purchased two real prrrreeety nets to put over out hats to keep the flies at bay. Have I told you all how flippin gross they are?
The scales that I decided not to get on last week are down to just under 108kg yay!!!! Can eat lots that I couldn't before so the stomach band has adjusted and swelling has gone down I guess. Still feel full after meals though so that's fantastic. I see my surgeon on the 3rd Dec for another fill which will be great and get me through the festive season with a fair amount of cheapness. Andy has his hernia operated on in Dec so hopefully he will be right for the new year too. No more news from me. Will post again on Sunday the 18th Nov. xx Dianne