Morning all. I am off to do Jacobs ladder this morning with Andy so this will have to be quick. I got up early to try a jog but I went two lamp posts/walk two/jog two...walk three/jog one thought ppft I dont think so, warbled home, only actually went to the end of our road and back but I made sure I jogged the last two to our house (so I looked impressivly red in the face) only I ran in the door huffing and puffing and master 11 said 'wow mum you were quick the same ad segment is still on the tv as when you left'! Not feeding him tonight lol. So we are going to do Jacob then swing by Freo for lunch. I bought all size 16 clothes yesterday so I think I can safely assume that I have pretty much arrived at that size. Not bad since I started at a comfortable 22. I feel good. I have started having a glass of red every night as they say its good for you. I asked my boss if he new of a really sweet one as they all taste like vinegar to me. He told me to try Browns Brothers Doncetto which I did and OH MY GOSH its delicious. I drank the whole bottle so I figure my antioxident level is right up there! Not going to have any now for another week but man it was good. I will try and get a photo of the ladder today and post it tomorrow. Will catch up again in the next couple of days. Bye for now Dianne

Its been a while

Hi all, Well its been a fair while since I posted and I would personally like to thank my dear friends at Telstra Big Pond for that. I am very happy to say we have finally parted company and I hope that that particular business falls into a big pond! Anyway I am now with another provider who only has you on hold for 40mins at a time instead of Telstra standard 80 minutes so thats gotta be better for a start. I have been to see my surgeon on Monday 4th Feb and was 102kg which is a 6.5kg loss since I last saw him 8 weeks ago. 8 weeks seems a long time and 6.5kg doesnt seem to be that much but in old terms its another whole stone down, so I guess that calls for a woo hoo. I have definatley had times in the last month where I have thought 'what the hell did I do this to myself for?' I have had some real battles with eating food and keeping it down and finding that the good stuff gets stuck and the junk shoots through is really tough for someone who has spent her life making shocking food and quantity choices. I spent the last 3 weeks doing Dr Atkins protein diet and kick started my wieght loss again but at the same time its a struggle when the whole purpose of this band was so that I could (or thought I could) forget 'dieting' and just live life. Anyway after my wiegh in with Dr Hamdorf I flagged the whole idea of Dr Atkins and have resumed just normal eating habits. I had a 1 ml adjustment to the band which had made it very tight - 9.5mls in a 11 ml band. I now can only eat tiny amounts and very limited on the foods. Summer fruit is soooo out. I dont think I will have another adjustment again for a long time. My friend and I at work are walking each lunch time and doing Jacobs ladder. For those of you who dont know Jacobs ladder is 240 stairs that go up the side of kings Park. The first day took us an hour to do the whole route now we are down to 35min so its getting easier and now when we get back to work my legs dont shake involuntarily lol.
Its certainly been a painful experience but becoming ummm more comfortable - I just cant say enjoyable. Andy and I are continuing with our bike riding and other forms of exercise which is great and he is getting quite buff. I have applied for a job as a Prison Warden so I have to master 7 mens style push ups. I am up to 4. At least I havent landed on my nose.............yet! Will post again soon cos I can now. ciao for now Dianne

I have a couple of days off work (woo hoo) so thought I would do a quick update. I am hovering around 103 - 104kg. I wish that I could stay away from the scales cos I know its no way to run your life or have your life run by scales but its also the one way of having some (hopefully) positive results from some hard yards. I aren't doing the whole band diet correctly and I definitely know how to cheat it if I want treats but I am also aware that I am only cheating myself so I do try to stay on track. I can eat a side plate size meal now which I am comfortable doing especially if it is a good meal of veges and meat. If I want to I can probably eat a small pudding after it but mostly I don't want too. If I really want something sweet like my beloved Christmas plum pudding I have it rather than dinner. I still find it very difficult not to graze but continue to keep trying. I caught up with a work colleague yesterday after three months and she was shocked at the difference in me. Its a buzz when that happens but I get a bit shy from the attention too. I stopped in and saw another friend the other day and she was also shocked at the weight loss. She is really struggling with losing weight herself and I felt so bad for her. I remember only too well what that desperate feeling of the tunnel with no light is like when it comes to trying to Lord over weight control. I saw my nut case mental sister (long story) the other day and she walked straight past me which was really exciting cos I didn't get her daggers like usual hehe. I am still trying to do the walking or biking thing but time passes so quickly that its often a day or two before I have another go at it. I walked home from the new train station yesterday which was the first time I had been there and so when I left the train station I headed towards the road via the car park but by the time I had got to the end of the carpark and realised it was all gated and I had to either hurdle the fence - ppfft yeah right or walk all the way back and around I nearly called it quits and jumped on a bus but I didn't. Well I'll be off now to sort out my son who is flying to NZ on Saturday to spend a couple of weeks with his Grandma and Grandad in Christchurch. Oh for some kiwi Fush and Chups!!! xx

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