I showed up.

I have a long history of weight loss attempts in my life.  Starting from about age 16...all the way to today.  So...thats 26 years of trying to lose weight.  UGH.

Way too long with way too little success.

I've tried lots of different things.  Jenny Craig was my first try.  My mom set me up there.  I remember feeling weird about the whole process and hating their food...plus the food was SO expensive and we didn't have the money for it.  My mom never said anything about that...in fact she encouraged me to still order it, but I just knew...so I quietly let it fade into the background.

The one that I've had the most success with is Body for Life with Bill Phillips.  I still love his program.  Its actually not THAT far off from what I do now...and the before/after photos are so inspiring. 

The one thing I did NOT do with all my weight loss attempts was go very public about it.  I would say little snippetts here and there, but I did not jump in with both feet and declare..

I AM FAT.  I WANT TO BE SKINNY!  I WANT TO BE HEALTHY!  I AM LOSING WEIGHT!

This time, I did.

And I love the support I've found.

Anyone thinking about lapband needs to immediately visit Lapband Talk.  Look...I even linked it for you!  Its a great source of information from pre-surgery questions to post-surgery information.  I spend at least 20 minutes on there every day...and I'm making friends...both online and local that understand where I'm at.

Second...I really like MyFitnessPal for tracking food and exercise.  Its the easiest tracker I've found.  I have some friends on there (that are also on Lapband Talk) but I do not use their forum or chat.

Finally...my good old standby site that has brought me so much love...Sparkpeople.  I have at least 3 friends from this site that I've known for 5+ years and even met them in person and they will remain lifelong friends.

Finally...Can I just tell you that right now my husband, who is deployed and in Afghanistan, has been such a big cheerleader.  He can't even read this blog (they are blocked by the Army) but we just finished this little chat exchange and so I wanted to say, "Thanks for the encouragement, babe."

Me:
Just finished my workout and sitting down to work. 35 minutes of run walk - 2 miles total - 290 calories burned...doesn't seem like much when you write it out like that.

Him:

yeah, but it doesn't take into account how much your metabolism will work now that it has been kick started..

Me:

Yeah...its also a great indication of just how out of shape I really am. lol

 

Him:

but it is a cycle of improvement. as you lose weight, you will have less to carry, you'll be able to run longer and faster which will allow your cardio vascular system support you better

you are doing a good job..

 

Me:

Thanks babe. I know I'm doing much better than I have in a long time. I just don't want to get discouraged this time. Maybe I'm trying to keep my expectations low for that reason.

 

Him:

then you can't say stuff like "doesn't seem like much when you write it out like that"

because you got up, you got on the treadmill and you did it.

most people don't even show up.

 

Yeah...thats right.  I showed up.  BOOYAH!