One last late night in the office

So I suppose you could say I'm procrastinating on getting the rest of my stuff done since I'm here on my blog posting!

I still need to finish my work projects before my "vacation" / cross country drive. I also have to finish packing up and cleaning my cube and then go home and pack up for the rest of our stuff to ship out tomorrow.

But instead of doing all that I'm here blogging and checking facebook. For a momentary break anyway.

I don't find myself nostalgic about the move at all. Very excited and happy! And busy. I can't wait for the next couple of days to be over and for us to get on the road already.

Anyone want some free Juice Plus Supplements

I have a bunch of unused, unopened SEALED bottles of the powdered Juice Plus supplements that NYU recommends for band and bypass patients. I never ended up taking them, I prefer the chewables, but they are perfectly good and were not cheap.

Consider this the sisterhood of the supplements.

Any takers? I'm moving and I honestly can't bear to toss this out considering what I paid for it!

I'm hoping to get someone who is interested by tomorrow (Thursday) so I can drop it in the mail before we move. U.S. only pleaseeee...

Highs and lows

Feeling a bit worn out. Maybe that's just because it's 10.30 pm, I just got home and now I'm looking around at all the stuff I have to pack. And thinking about an "urgent" work project that was due 2 weeks ago! ack! Three more days to get all our packing done and now i'm starting to stress. It'll get done I feel confident. I'm in a better place than with other moves (thanks to Alex) however, I'm just wondering how late I'll have to stay up to make it all work.

We're selling everything and getting rid of stuff on Craigslist and people are such flakes. They just don't show, so poor Alex is all stressed. After making arrangements with our landlords and everything to get the couch out through their hallway, the guy didn't come. Very lame. The other person didn't come and didn't call too for our entertainment center.

So those are the lows. The highs are that I just feel so great about my job. I'm crazy excited about our move to Austin and all the possibilities. I'm even looking forward to the time off and the cross country drive. And tonight was fun because I got to hang out with my friend Nora. We went to Max Brenner, a fancy chocolate/dessert place here in NYC in Union Square. Incredibly decadent, but I don't feel bad at all because the band only allowed me to eat a fraction of what I ordered.

Yay for the band!

I'm going to motor through the rest of this week and revel in having next week off.

My most recent fill and addictive eating

Those of you who follow this blog know that I struggle with poor eating habits or emotional eating. And really its more than that. There are times when I'm full, and I just keep eating because I'm seeking something more than taste or sustenance from the food. And that's where the band doesn't fix the problem. The mental reasons we eat. I watched something on TV last night about addictive eating and that of course is the heart of it.

You can't go cold turkey, you have to eat something, so it's a challenge. And if I'm honest, I basically just stopped taking responsibility for my eating for a while post band, because I thought, hey, isn't the band supposed to be doing the work, not me?

I had a fill before LA, and it really put me at a sweet spot and that helped a bit to get my head straight. Unless the band loosens a bit, I definitely would not want any more of a fill. I can eat but not too much. I get stuck on occasion but don't really have any problems with PBs etc. I think I'm in a good place.

It's been less than in weeks past, but there still have been occasions where I just want to binge basically. Binge is a relative thing of course. I don't mean shove food in my face as fast and as much as I can. But I do mean getting soda, chips, and candy bar and chowing down.

I tend to want to do this when I get home from work. But what happens if I'm already full, I shouldn't still want to eat that junk. But I do anyway. And in fact, it's hard to talk myself out of it. It's just in my head that it'll make me feel better. And it does, that's the problem.

Alex had a large fill this week, and it did a lot to help limit how much he can eat. It's good for he and I to both be on the same page about meals, etc. So that will hopefully help us both be good influences on the other.

I wonder about this addictive eating thing. I expected all the band blogs to deal with this issue very regularly, but I only see a few bloggers talk about patterns similar to mine.

Curious how many of you out there deal with these same issues and how they affect your weight loss success.

Lap-Band Billboards

I wanted to post this pic from my trip to California last week. We were driving a lot in LA and everywhere we went, I saw these billboards for the Lap-Band surgery. I wasn't really a fan of them though because they made it seem like a quick fix and almost like a cosmetic surgery or a pill you pop.

In fact, I was thinking I definitely would not tell my LA friends and family especially after seeing the way it's promoted there. I'd be afraid people wouldn't take me seriously with it.

Those of us who are banded already struggle with people who think we take the easy way out, and this definitely just makes it worse.

Back from LA

Whew! What a whirlwind life has been lately. So as you know, I'm moving to Austin, and now we're down to the last TWO weeks! Crazy. I FINALLY got to make the big announcement at work today, so I was pretty much gabbing with everyone all day long! When I'd say I was moving to Austin, they all assumed i was leaving the company, but nope! And they were all relieved when I said I wasn't which makes you feel good.

I had a last minute business trip to LA last week which was fab. GORGEOUS weather, especially when compared to all the snow in NYC. Totally missed the whole storm. Yay!

I had less free time than expected, but work-wise it was just excellent. Visited with lots of customers, was really motivated job-wise and had a lot of fun with my coworkers. A great opportunity for professional growth too.

I had been a bit nervous about getting a fill right before the trip given all the business meals etc, but that turned out okay.

It's interesting because for some meals with our managers and one of our authors, I felt like I had to explain why i was eating so little, and then for other meals with my aunt and uncle (who i visited on the last day), I felt like i was eating a lot! I probably ate the same in both situations however.

So much to love about LA including the scenery, all the posh-ness ;), and that FAB weather. However, the crazyyyyy traffic, not so much. And somehow I thought the traffic wouldn't bother me after driving in New York!

Looks like I'll be traveling lots more for this new job. Mostly in and around Texas since they want to take advantage of having me living / working "in the field" but I'll probably be all over the US in general. I'm cool with it, but we'll have to see how Alex reacts. I keep telling him to expect it, so we'll see how it goes!

Do you gurgle and make noises?

So I was talking to a friend a while back who doesn't know I have the band, and she was talking about a different friend of hers who does (rather judgementally, just reaffirming why I haven't told her.)

One of the things she mentioned was that this friend "makes noises." Her stomach gurgles and makes all sorts of sounds after she eats.

And for some reason after that I started paying more attention and noticing that my stomach also gurgles. Sometimes it sounds like it's growling, other times like it's "processing." It's not related to gas or an upset stomach or anything like that. I just make weird noises. HA!

At first it was just at night in bed, Alex would hear it and chuckle. But as I get additional fills, I've started hearing it at work too.

Just every once in a while, nothing too embarassing yet. But it caught my attention when my friend brought up the topic. I'd hate for her to hear my tummy and with all the other clues figure out my little secret!

Have any of you experienced this? And it's new post-band right?

Today is my 6 month bandiversary

In general, not sure how I feel about that. I do know that despite not having lost as much weight as I could have, I am definitely glad I got the band. It just makes me pay more attention and makes me more accountable.

And with one or two exceptions in regard to experiences, in general I'm not a freak or outcast when it comes to other people who don't know about the band. I'm still pretty normal overall. I'll have to write about this new tummy gurgling thing soon though.

And the good is that my blood pressure is normal now, and I have lost 35 pounds.

However, I'm glad it was covered by insurance. Had I spent all that in cash or even a large deductible, I would be quite upset about my current status.

I'll write more later on this topic...

Got the ok to get pregnant (and a hug from Dr. K)

So today's visit with Dr. K turned out to be a good one. I hadn't been to the NYU office in 6 weeks as it turned out, and in that time, I gained 6 pounds.

I wasn't surprised by that as I've been watching the scale, but of course the question came as to why.

I told her the truth which is just that I've been struggling with emotional eating, and I've had a fair amount of stress. She was surprisingly receptive when I told her about Alex being laid off and all the lay offs at my company and how I was reorganized into a new job. And now the move.

Despite the office itself being totally slammed, Dr. K was calm and spent more time than usual with me. She did say she thought it might be hard to find a Lap-Band doctor willing to take on a patient who they didn't operate on which surprised me. But I am going to send her my list of doctors, and she'll make a recommendation from there.

I also asked her about whether I had the okay to get pregnant and she said yes!! So we're in the clear! We'll probably take our time with all that's going on though.

And I got a hug from her when I was leaving. Certainly the first time a doctor has hugged me.
It was a very nice visit overall.

I also got a fill, one of the easiest ones. .3 ccs. We'll see how it works.

Dr. K tomorrow

I'm feeling a bit nervous about seeing Dr. K tomorrow since I've gained a few pounds since my last visit. Granted without the band, and with all this stress and change over the last few months, I'd have gained all my weight back plus another 30 I'm sure!

But I know Dr. K can be tough so I'm cringing about going in tomorrow. Last time I went in I saw Gaspar instead since he was easier to book.

I'm off to finish watching the Lost season premiere now and finish rewriting a report I worked late last night finishing. Arg...

No matter how hard I try...

...french fries just aren't as good post-band!

It's like my mind knows that they are bready and not so band friendly! And I have tried! It's weird that my actual taste would change? Not sure what that's about!

Fill moved up!

Turns out I have a business trip next week to LA, kind of a last minute thing. I'll be presenting technology to some customers and then will be making some other visits with our reps and managers. Kind of a new thing for me in my new job as marketing product manager.

Given that I'll be gone, I had to reschedule my fill appointment with Dr. K and this Wed was all they could give me. I'll take it!

I find myself having more trouble eating bread and whatnot, so I'm thinking with this next fill I'll be more like many of the other bandsters out there who can't eat breads, etc.

Actually had a smidge of trouble with a leafy salad the other day, though I had another today without really any trouble. But I must admit I was cautious and chewed, chewed, chewed. The more I have issues with things going down, the more I chew. A good thing I suppose.

Pick pocket

What a lame day so far, and it doesn't help that its Monday.

Woke up not feeling well. I've just felt like I've had a lingering cold for a week or two now and had a sore throat this morning. Just couldnt sleep last night at all which makes getting up earlier than usual hard.

We had to go to the DMV this morning so I could get a NY State license since we bought our new car here. The place was packed but I'm shocked to say, well organized. No frills though. You need a pen, you buy one. See below. I'd never seen that before!


So we waited in one line, then a second line, finally a third line and I got my temp NY license. Unfortunately, that's when Alex realized he no longer had his cell phone. We had just been sitting looking at it together reading an email, so we knew exactly when he had it. Then he slipped it in his pocket, the place was mad busy, he goes back to his pocket and it's gone. Not on the ground or anything. Given that we both knew he had just had it, it had to be a pick pocket. Perfect location too since it was so crowded and everyone's distracted with their DMV business.

Alex was extremely upset since he uses it like a computer and it had all kinds of personal info on it. We started immediately changing account passwords, etc after reporting it lost/stolen. Not to mention that the iphones themselves are expensive and it is like Alex's little baby, he loves that thing!

When I'm stressed, of course my instinct is to eat, but they forgot to include my donut when i drove through for coffee! Serves me right I suppose. I did instead get soup and salad for lunch at my favorite healthy place, Columbine in Tribeca. So I suppose the day can only improve from here!

Let's hope!