I had a busy week with my lap band. On Tuesday I saw my doctor who scheduled me for a follow up on Friday. My port area has been a little sore and he wanted to make sure that my band hadn't slipped. It hasn't. I then met with P.A. Gabe to discuss where I'm at and if I should sneak in a fill. (Truthfully I was scheduled last Friday for a fill but I didn't think I needed it and was just as happy not to lay out another $100 for a fill.)
Good news - I was right. I did not need a fill. Gabe and I discussed how I am satisfied with three meals and that I don't have hunger pains between meals. [Right click on chart above and back button to return to blog.] He would prefer only three meals a day with no snacking but I did confess that I do a snack twice a day - one on the train and one after dinner - and he had no objections. I'm losing an average of one pound a week and that is what they look for. Now that I've added a daily 30-minute walk in the mornings (so far six days in a row!), this should up it between 1 1/2 - 2 lbs weekly. That works fine for me.
I did make a follow up appointment in October because even though it looks like I hit my Sweet Spot, this will change as I continue to lose weight. You might remember from an earlier post that as you lose weight, the internal fat pad will thin out and allow the band to loosen. Think of a ring and how tight it is when you retain water and when you lose that water how the ring slips around a bit. That's what happens with the lapband. It is at those times that you need to tighten it's hold on the stoma (top of stomach.)
It's been 4 1/2 months since surgery and over 5 months since I began the pre-op diet. And let's add the months before that when I first met this group back on January 9, 2008. For all these months, I've been waiting for the lap band to be at its most effective point. And here I am...at the Sweet Spot.
Back to my Walking Queen post: it's been six days since I turned a new leaf. The second I wake up, I take care of the animals, throw on some clothes, put on my iPod and I'm out walking. I try to vary it up each day. The first two days I went the same way just reversed it on Day Two. On Day Three, I laughed when I saw my 30 minute (okay, okay - 27 minute) walk took me only 20 minutes. No, I didn't increase my speed by 1/3 but made a left instead of a right and took a shorter street. On Day Four, I took Kris' advice of walking 15 minutes out. Well, that took me two blocks from a main road, so I added the two blocks. Round-trip that makes an extra four blocks. That ended up being a 37-minute walk. I'll perfect it eventually. The best piece of advice that I had in a long time.
Do it first thing in the morning and get it over with!Genius! Pure genius!
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