Lessons from Year One

As I have been reflecting on the past year I can't be anything but happy and proud. I am so very happy that I made the decision to take control of my life by putting the band in. And although I do not think I really knew what life with the band would be like, (you just really don't know unless you have one) I do believe that I have figured out three key things:

* The band alone is not responsible for my success. I make the decisions daily about what I will eat and if I wanted to eat around the band, I could do so VERY easily.

* Exercise is going to be a key piece in my continued success, just like any healthy maintenance program requires. The band does not replace the need to MOVE!

* The changes that I am making now cannot be temporary. I am shaping what my future behaviors will be by what I do now. The changes are forever.

I have mentioned before that I do believe that I have a food addiction....in fact I wrote this about 6 months ago, at my halfway point.

"I have a band now and it puts a distance between me and my food. It is my "pause button" if you will. I have always joked about being addicted to food but I really am starting to see, from behaviors like Friday, that there is probably some truth to that. I relied on food to make me feel good. I didn't crave the taste, but I craved the feeling, the fullness. Happy, sad, mad, stressed, whatever....food was my drug of choice. I don't think that I will ever truely get rid of it either. I think I can learn to control it, learn to outsmart it, but I am pretty sure that 1 year down the road this will still be something that I struggle with. (Man, I really don't like self reflection)"


I didn't realize it at the time, but I was spot on. I do struggle almost everyday. It gets easier if I have food already prepared but there are times that I do not win. There are times that I have ice cream. There are times that I choose to have cake for dinner. And you know what? That's ok! I will go work out afterwards, I will make better choices the next day, and I will keep everything in moderation. I mean, what is life without cake???


It looks like as of this morning I did meet my 100 lb down goal. Tomorrow morning will be the test to see if it sticks. I now have 40 lbs left to lose to make it to goal. I know that the next few months are going to be slow in regards to weight. I think it is important for all of us to learn how to make that shift in our brains. Losing 100 lbs in 13 months is really fast. Yes there were periods where I lost nothing, but there were months where I lost 14 lbs. I am still a scale junkie. I weigh every single morning and every single night. But these last 7  lbs took me 6 weeks to get off and I need to be ok with that!


It's time to buckle down and keep doing what I am doing. The weight will come off in it's own time. And although frustrating, it is an awesome feeling to be where I am. And all I have to do is look back to one year ago. I was 313lbs and unhappy. It will never happy again. Thank you band and thank you ME!!!!


And some pictures from memory lane...

July/August 2010

October 2010

November 2010

December 2010

January 2011

February 2011

March 2011

And the side shot from April 2011

Thank you all so much for the support that comes from this community. I would not have been able to make it through this last year without all of your love and support. What an amazing journey this has been and I can't wait to celebrate with all of you in Chicago!!!!!!