Six Months Post-Op Progress

It's hard to believe six months has gone by since I had lapband surgery.  Even though the progress hasn't been as much as I was hoping for, my life has transformed in a way I didn't think possible. 

The lapband is a bit tricky because you can't just rely on it to keep you from eating large amounts or bad foods-- you have to make a conscious decision every day on what to and what not to eat.  And I can honestly say I still have a lot of work to do in this area.  I still eat bad things for me and when I'm hungry at 10p, instead of just going to bed, I'll have a bowl of cereal or something else not very healthy.

However, I do eat about 50-60% of the amount of food that I used to, which you can imagine cuts a lot of calories out of my diet.  Instead of gaining weight like I was doing for the past two years, I have been losing... even if it has been at a slower rate than I would like.  I have also started drinking protein shakes in the mornings instead of cereal or oatmeal, which is helping me make sure I get enough protein in every day. 

6 Month Appointment & Bloodwork
Last week, I had my fifth fill at my six month post op appointment.  I now have 8.5cc in my band that holds 15.  Most people are in the "green zone" when they between 6-8cc, but I guess I'm a "special" one who has not really felt restriction or the band working until the past two months. I have been able to tell a big difference since last week.  Unfortunately, it's been a lot of trial and error with me eating certain foods that I have been able to digest fine the past six months, but now they seem to be getting stuck. 

I think yesterday was the first day since my fill that I did not get something stuck to where I had to throw it up to get it unstuck.  Sorry, I know that's gross, but it's a reality of life with lapband.

During my appointment last week, they also took 12 tubes of my blood to do my six month blood work.  My veins have always been hard to find and they had to stick me in three different spots to get enough to test.  I wanted to pass out, but just kept telling myself, this is part of the process of me getting healthy again.

The test results came back the very next day and for the first time in a long time I did not have elevated blood sugar or elevated cholesterol.  EVERYTHING WAS NORMAL. Woop Woop!

Working Out
Even though I broke my streak of working out 146 days in a row, I have still consistently been going to the gym 5-6 times a week or running outside to make sure I keep going on my progress.  Also to be expected, my body at times gets pretty worn down where I have to take a step back and allow it to recover.

This happened last week while I was lifting and ended up pulling two ribs out of place.  Luckily, my friend Alexia is a chiropractor who was able to pop them back in. (Thank you so much for that!!) Four days of cardio instead of lifting and everything is about back to normal.  It's very strange how stir crazy I was going in just those four days not being able to lift.  I really have grown to love it again.

My Progress
It is hard for me to see a difference in my body from pictures over the past few months even though I know I've put in a lot of work and feel better than I did back then.  These pictures usually make it easier to see the difference, but for me, the changes are becoming harder to notice.  I'm not sure if that's just the "fat girl" in me that will always see me a certain way or if I really have stalled as much as I feel I have.

On a positive note, I am down to 217 for a total weight loss of 34 pounds so far.  I know that's great, but I catch myself comparing my journey with others who have lost more than me in only three months.  I know you aren't supposed to compare, but it's easy to do... especially considering how many WLS people I follow on facebook and instagram.  But I also know I am building a ton of muscle because even though I've only lost seven pounds in the past four months, I've lost 4.25 inches in my waist, 3.5 in my hips and 1.5 in my bust during that time. 

So while I have a long way to go, in order for me to continue to bust through this plateau, I'm going to celebrate these past six months and push even harder going forward.

So here is the breakdown-- in the past six months I have lost...
-- 34 lbs
-- 8.45 inches in my thighs
-- 3.75 inches in my arms
-- 8.5 inches in my waist
-- 6 inches in my hips
-- 3 inches in my bust
-- Total of 29.7 inches

My goal is to be under 200 by the end of the year, but it will take a lot of hard work and will power to make it happen.  Wish me luck!

My Very First Rest Day

Yesterday was my 146th day of exercise in a row.  It started with a WOD at the gym followed by 6+ softball games in a local tournament.  It was a great day and 573fitness came out on top after a five extra-inning championship game.  My first time playing softball in over five years and I still got it.

If you remember, my original workout challenge was to exercise 90 days in a row(read blog post here), which turned out to be a lot easier than I first imagined.  And really sprung me into this amazing and fun new lifestyle where I look forward all day to the moment I get to go to the gym.  On my 91st day, I wrote of my transformation where I gained my new mindset and determined what I was going to do next-- 180 days of exercise in a row.

In the past 146 days, I have walked, swam, played tennis and volleyball, dragon boat raced, white water rafted, ran a 5k, got closer to my goal of a ten-minute mile, averaged six crossfit workouts a week and competed in two competitions.  It's been fantastic, but also extremely tiring at times.   

So today, Day 147, I am taking my very first rest day.

I have no doubt I could have kept going to day 180 and beyond.  But when I think about what my real goal is here-- it's not to exercise a certain number of days in a row, but to live a healthier and more fulfilling life.  The only way I'm going to do that is if I am healthy in all areas, not just the gym.

My workouts have been great and I'm starting to step them up by doing extra workouts with a small group of girls at the gym.  But I still struggle with eating the right things, drinking enough water and probably the biggest one-- getting enough sleep to function properly.

Those are the things that need my focus now, but I will not let up on the exercise.  I've decided to allow myself one rest day a week if I really need it. That way I still have something I have to work towards each week, but I can give myself a break and flexibility when I need it.

What I've Learned
While it was sometimes difficult to get a workout in during the past 4.5 months, it was  NEVER impossible.  One thing I have learned through all of this is that there really is NO EXCUSE.  We will always be busy, we will also have a million things going on and conflicts that come up, but if you are being truly honest with yourself, you know that the only excuse for not making it to the gym or eating the right things, is that you simply did not want to badly enough.

I'm not saying that important things don't come up or that you don't deserve to splurge a bit every once in a while. I have a lot of work to do in this area, but I now know it is all up to me-- I'm the only thing that can stop me from getting where I want to be.

I have definitely sacrificed plenty in the past 146 days by making my workouts and me a priority for the first time in a long time.  It's been challenging, it's changed some of my relationships with friends and family, but more than anything it has been one of the most rewarding things I've done.  And I don't plan to stop.

Why Not Me?

It's been a few weeks since I last posted and not too much has changed.  I am still working out every day with today being my 128th day in a row of exercise.  I also had my five-month follow up appointment a week earlier than normal and they say I have lost five pounds since my last visit.

What they don't realize is that I've been fluctuating so much that according to my calculations I've actually only lost one pound since last month.  At least their scale has finally caught up to my home one.

I'm currently sitting at 220 pounds from my previous 251 when I started this journey a week under five months ago.  When I started I was in the farthest obesity categorization-- Morbidly Obese.  According to the BMI Scale, I am now considered Moderately Obese, in 11 pounds I will be Obese and then quite a few pounds after that, finally just Overweight. 

That's what the chart says anyway.  But most of us know that Body Mass Index doesn't tell the whole story.  An example of this is a trainer at my gym was talking today about how she is considered overweight on the BMI scale.  If you saw this woman you would know that is simply impossible.  Not sure I've seen a more healthy and in shape person in my life.

So I'm not too caught up with the categorizations and I'm coming around to the idea that the number on the scale isn't everything either.  Though it is something I care about... a lot.

Today, at the doctor's office, I filled out the regular paperwork asking questions about my eating habits-- what I eat, how much I eat and how often.  If I'm being totally honest, I could probably have checked a few more of those boxes on the right... I realized today that I had something sweet every day this past week.  That has to change. I need to get back to eating the way I was at the beginning-- limiting all sugar intake.  This is necessary if I want to lose the weight I've been obsessing over in every blog post.  It's time to be honest with myself and get real with my eating habits.  

So I'm starting today-- A Tuesday.  I'm not waiting for Monday to come around to re-start my healthy eating habits-- there is no better time to start than right this second.

My doctor agreed that I am almost to the "green zone," but that I still need more restriction to make me feel full after eating less than I have been. I received a small fill of .5 totaling 8cc in my band.  I've really been able to tell a difference after the last fill so am hoping this can be my last one for a while.  But we will see.

Mrs T WOD:
Also since my last post, I participated in the Mrs. T WOD event at 573fitness.  I had missed registration because I didn't think I would be physically ready for it nor did I have a partner, but on Wednesday before the event a spot became available for me to compete.  I was so excited and the trainers were awesome calling up people to find me a partner.  They found me a great one in Lisa who met me at the gym on Thursday so we could go over all of the work outs and also test out the 1.4 mile run that includes the biggest hill in Bonne Terre.  We were as ready as we were going to be on a three-day notice.

The event was incredible.  I couldn't believe how many people were there (Around 150 participants!) all encouraging each other and loving this great sport.  Not to mention, we were all there to support a local family who has a loved one battling cancer.  Its an amazing thing when a friendly competition is accompanied by camaraderie and compassion all in the name of a good cause.

There were several instances during the day when I saw others do extraordinary acts of athleticism and I thought "I don't think I'll ever do that."  But as the day went on, when I heard myself start to say that, my response turned into "Why not?"

"Why not me?"

That was a turning point for me.  Not because of a certain workout or because we placed in the event(which we didn't), but there was a moment in which I finally stopped mentally limiting myself.  I stopped telling myself I couldn't.  I decided at that moment that I owed it to myself to continue to make myself better.  That I really can do anything I want to do. 

Before:  I can't do pull-ups.
Now: I will do pull-ups by next year.

Before: I'm not as strong as the others.
Now: I will get stronger.  And I will do extra workouts and lifts to get where I want to be. 

Before: I'm never going to be under 200 pounds.
After: I will, but I'm going to stop obsessing over it.  It's going to be slow, but I will get there. Just keep going.

So I guess I was wrong-- there have been some changes since my last post.  I've finally decided to be my biggest fan instead of my worst critic.  And that's good enough for me... for now.

Four Months Post-Op: Is this thing working?

Zero.  That's how many pounds I have lost in the past month.  Before you start to yell at me saying that I can't just go off the number on the scale, "muscle weighs more than fat," and I need to stop being a Negative Nancy, please know that I'm not.  I'm stating the facts. That I haven't lost any weight this past month.

While I know I have lost inches and feel better about my health than I did a month ago, it still makes me question this whole process and whether the lapband is going to work for me.  The difference between lapband and other weight loss surgeries like gastric bypass and the sleeve is that the others result in immediate and drastic weight loss right from the start.  The moment after surgery, their stomach is smaller and they feel immediate restriction with whatever they put into their bodies.

With Lapband, it's a different story.  You may lose a large amount of weight at the beginning since you are on an all liquid diet for ten days, but once your stomach is no longer inflamed from surgery, you no longer feel that restriction.  I have been able to really eat whatever I want and large amounts of it.  The goal with the lapband is that with each adjustment you start to feel more restriction to where you eat less and you stay full and satisfied for longer periods of time between meals.  You keep going back to the surgeon get more saline put into the band until you are in what they call "The Green Zone."   Here's an illustration below that might explain this a little better:

So where I have been in the past four months is the yellow zone.  I get hungry between meals, am able to eat large portions and, well, haven't lost any weight this past month.  Currently sitting at 221 compared to 251 when I started.   What that really says is the thirty pounds I have lost is really due to the exercise and workouts I have put in and then also eating a bit less than I was.  I may have cut out some of the bad stuff like soda and alcohol (except for a weekend or two), but my eating behaviors haven't changed as much as I thought they would.  Or as much as they probably will once I'm in the Green Zone.

Four-Month Appointment:
So I went back to the doctor on Tuesday where they agreed I wasn't where I needed to be since I have only lost three pounds in the past two months. But in those two months, I've lost over three inches in my waist so obviously I'm making progress, just not on the scale.

They agreed to put another 1cc of saline into my band making it 7.5 total in my band that holds 15. Immediately following my fill, I could already feel restriction that I have not felt since surgery.  I'm not sure if I'm in the green zone yet, but I definitely feel the band working a bit better than it has been.

Here's a view of the progress so far.  You can't necessarily tell a huge difference between May and July, but it is still progress.

Non-Scale Victories(NSV):
One of the greatest things that has happened over the past four months is at some point I stopped being completely self-conscious about how I look(I mean, I shared those pictures above, am I right?!).  If you go in my closet you will find an embarrassing number of cardigans and jackets that I have worn in the past to disguise my weight.  I was disgusted by the fat on my arms and how tight some of my clothes would fit, and cardigans were my way to hide my flaws.  

Since I had surgery, I have been to two weddings, to both of which I wore sleeveless and strapless dresses with no cardigan at all.  Even though I am definitely far from where I want to be, I am finally happy in my own skin.  When I get dressed up or even when I'm wearing workout clothes (which is 98% of the time), I am finally proud of where I am and know that I am the best I can possibly be in that moment.

So I'm going to continue to set goals, like I did with exercising 180 days in a row-- on day 103 today-- and take things one day at a time.  And no matter what that number is on the scale, I'm going to keep going and eventually I'll get to where I want to be.

The Impossible: 90 Days of Exercise

Ninety-one days ago I made a decision.  I was going to work out 90 days in a row.  Up to this point, I had just started walking outside again after having lapband surgery on March 25th and was slowly getting back to feeling normal.  I knew I needed to set a goal.  A challenging, yet reachable, goal.

And in doing so, I found out something I wasn't expecting.  IT'S IMPOSSIBLE.   Not impossible to workout 90 days in a row, but impossible to stop.  

__________________________________

How I Got Started:
I didn't just start running a 5k on the first day.  Actually, I haven't even done that yet (I'm sure it will be coming up here shortly though.)  I started by walking.  I didn't want to push it too hard at first because I was nervous I would bust an incision and could still feel the presence of the band at the bottom of my esophagus because the swelling hadn't gone down yet.  So I started walking.  My mom or my dad would join me around the 2.17 mile loop at their house.

Walking became a daily occurrence, but I didn't limit myself to that.  My husband and I started playing tennis and can be found laughing and/or cussing up a storm at the Bonne Terre Park several times a week.  It's fun... for the most part. :-)  Neither one of us are pros, but it's physical activity that we wouldn't be getting if we were sitting on the couch watching Netflix.  (Though I'm sure that's where both of us would rather be lately-- we are late to the Breaking Bad party, but it's getting good in Season three!)

                                                         Spike in his stylish sweatband.

I also got a group of girls together to start playing sand volleyball on Thursday nights at the local Pub.  I didn't do it for the beer-- you can find me drinking water inbetween games-- I did it because it was another way to get myself to move.  Another commitment I had to follow through on.  I even started playing on another team so that I can get more exercise in each Thursday night instead of sitting around waiting to play again.

Probably the most important thing I did was join 573fitness.  Ever since this gym opened when I was living in San Francisco or maybe it was Dubuque, I have wanted to be a member.  It was one of the things I was most excited about when we found out we were moving back home.  It all just worked out that our move was at the same time as my surgery so I could join soon after.

This gym is a community of people, including many long-time friends and family of mine, all there with a common goal: to be the best and healthiest they can be.  We do this by lifting weights, running, rowing, and even handstand walks (Well, not me yet, but I have progressed to doing handstand holds against the wall!! woop woop!) among many other activities.   We do WODs(Workout of the Day) and most importantly, we support and push each other to do better than we did the day before.

I didn't show up at the gym able to do everything that was prescribed, and I still can't.  But that's not what this gym or overall crossfit is for.  It is for you to focus on how you can improve in many different areas of lifting and cardio.  It really is all about pushing yourself to do one more rep or one more lap than you did last time. But you must do this in a safe and healthy way.

So for the crossfit-haters-- not everyone is trying to win the next crossfit games, 99% of us are just trying to better ourselves and maybe drop a few numbers on the scale, all while being injury-free.

A Normal Day
My day typically starts with a conference call or a morning run at the Bonne Terre Pond.  I can actually run a ten-minute mile now... something I don't think I've done in my 20's.  Sometimes if I have plans for the evenings, I will go to the Tuesday through Friday morning classes that my friend, Aubrey, holds at the gym.  I work from home so that also allows me to go for a quick run on my lunch break or when I don't have meetings.  In the evenings, I either go to the gym (usually 4 times a week), play tennis, sand volleyball or get talked into playing disc golf with my husband.

I'd say more days than not, I workout or exercise multiple times a day.  And yes, it is important to have rest days-- especially for those athletes who train crazy hard.  But for me, it's more important that I get up and move EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  So on those days when I really don't feel like going to the gym or running at the pond, I make myself at least walk the loop at my parents' place.

That has really been the game-changer for me.  No matter what, I have to do some type of activity that day.  I no longer allow it to be a choice.  It is a given.  Every day I have to move.  I have to sweat.  I have to progress in my weight-loss and health-gain journey.

It really is that simple.

Day 90
So as I said on Facebook yesterday, I really wanted to do something significant on my 90th day.  Some girls from the gym were going to a competition in Union,  MO, as part of a charity event to help pay for a little boy's bone marrow transplant.  I'm always up for participating in a good cause(You may remember I ran a half marathon back in 2010 as part of Team in Training  for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.), but I had told myself when I started going to the gym that I wasn't going to do competitions.  I only wanted to go to the gym and do the workouts to get in shape.  I didn't care about lifting more than the other people at the gym.

When I found out they had a scaled division, which means the work out is the same but modified or with less weight than the Rx workout, I decided that it would be such a great milestone for me to finish FOUR WODs on my ninetieth day of working out.

Once I got there, it was a blast.  And something else happened I wasn't expecting.  I was determined to win my division.  Not because I wanted to lift more than other people, but because I wanted to prove to myself that I could.  That I could do anything if I just get out of my head and DO IT.

So I did.  

-- I maxed 125lbs. in clean & jerk.
-- Immediately following, I ran 400 m and did 40 burpees in seven minutes.
-- Next I did 136 reps of 55 lb. Thrusters and 25 lb KB swings in 12 minutes.
-- Then the final three in the scaled division competed for first by doing 5 Rounds of 5 dead lifts, 7 shoulder to overheads and 9 squats, which I finished in 6 minutes and 8 seconds to get first in the competition.

What's Next?
As I said, what I learned in the past ninety days is that I can't just stop after ninety.  Nor do I want to.  Exercise is now an addiction, but more than anything, it is now a part of who I am.  I don't ever again want to be that girl who lets a week go by without even walking more than a hundred yards to and from her car... the next thing you know a month has gone by with nothing to show for it.

So where do I go from here?  I'm not too sure.  I know I need a goal-- that's how I work by having something to drive towards.  So for now, how about 90 more days?  Yeah, that sounds good to me.

Anybody want to join me? 

The Waiting Game

Yesterday was a pretty big day for me as I went to my three-month checkup post-lapband surgery and also visited the audiologist at Mercy Hospital to get my shiny new hearing aids.  Yes, I'm officially an old woman.

I'll address the hearing aids first.  Hearing loss is something I have dealt with pretty much my whole life, not my own hearing, but my mother's.  She has worn hearing aids since her mid-thirties and has had a cochlear implant in her right ear for the past five years.  My little four-year-old cousin also just got hearing aids when doctors realized she had severe nerve damage in her ears a few weeks ago.  Hearing loss runs in my family and I've known for about 7 or more years that I, too, would need to do something about it.

I went for a hearing test back in November and have severe to profound hearing loss in both ears.  My left ear is slightly worse than my right.  I had been teaching classes at work and had to start telling the class participants to wave me down if they had a questions or I would just keep talking.  I realized that when I had to start telling people that I didn't hear well, that it was time to get it looked at. We ended up moving back to Missouri before I could get my hearing aids so I went to the audiologist at Mercy in May to get the ball rolling again.  One of the main reasons I went to Mercy is because that is where my Uncle also went to get his the year before.  We have the same insurance and he ended up not having to pay as much as he thought so I was hoping they could do the same for me.

Unfortunately, I won't know how much the hospital will cover in "write-offs," but it is a possibility they will cover more than the measly $400 from my insurance.  EACH hearing aid is $3,500 so you can imagine after already paying more than $6,000 for lapband surgery, we are really hoping to get more than just $400 taken off of a $7,000+ hearing aid bill. Yesterday, I only had to pay a $500 deposit and then once they process the insurance and everything else, we will receive the remaining balance that we owe.  Hoping it's a low number or else Mom and Dad will be having us as their roommates for a lot longer than originally planned. :-)

Now on to my three month check-up.  In some ways this past month has been pretty disappointing... mainly on the scale.  I am only down three pounds since last month.  Though there are many areas that have changed pretty drastically over this past month that are keeping me motivated and excited about the future.  It's hard for me to really picture myself at my goal weight of 150 lbs.  It just seems so far away.  Heck, the 100s seem so far away, but I know I will get there eventually.

I feel like I'm just waiting... doing a lot of physical activity while I wait, but waiting nonetheless.  And waiting is exactly what my mom and I did yesterday morning.  My appointment was scheduled for 9a and we finally saw the doctor at 11 for my adjustment!!  We weren't very happy.  Though once we were able to see the dietician and doctor, everything went pretty smoothly.  Even though I am disappointed in the lack of weight coming off the scale, they say I am making progress and doing great.  Though they do agree that I am not yet restricted because I am getting hungry more often than I should.  And I'm eating a full plate of food-- eventually I'll get full off of much less than that.

So the adjustment this time was a little different than the last two.  The doctor said they went to a seminar where they said it's a good idea to take out all the saline when you do the adjustment so you can see how much is in there (what your baseline is) and then put it back in.  I'm so glad they did that!  Turns out that there was already 3.25cc in my band from surgery so when I thought I only had 2.5 in my band that holds 15, I actually had 5.75!  I've been reading online where most people are in "the green zone" around 6-8 cc in their bands.  That means I am so much closer to being there than I thought.

Since 5.75 still wasn't giving me much restriction at all, she went ahead and put .75 more in.  So now I'm sitting at 6.5 cc and am hoping to get full off of much less.  I only ate soup yesterday and had mashed potatoes for breakfast this morning because I want to ease into eating solid foods just in case I feel restriction that I haven't felt before.

So while the scale didn't necessarily move as much as I wanted it to, I have made a ton of progress with losing inches, firming up and getting in shape.  I have now exercised 73 days in a row on my way to my 90-day goal and I am definitely getting stronger through my crossfit workouts. So instead of just going off the scale, below are the inches I've lost in my three month journey so far:

Totals Lost:
Weight: 30
Thighs: 5.25 inches
Waist: 6.5 inches
Hips: 4.5 inches
Arms: 4.5 inches

Looking forward to the month ahead and hopefully moving the scale along to reflect what I'm feeling on the inside and starting to look like on the outside.  

Running & Plantar Faciitis

Well not too much has changed since my last post, but thought I would update you.  The scale has been bouncing around a bit over the past two weeks, but I am down 30 pounds this week and continue to exercise daily.  Sometimes multiple times a day.

I either run or go to crossfit in the morning and one of the two in the evenings, unless Spike and I are playing tennis or disc golf.  My hip hasn't hurt me since I realized my balance ball chair was the problem and switched it out for a normal chair in my office.

Though now my foot is killing me since I started running.  I finally made myself run a mile and a half without walking-- big whoop, I know, but it took me a while to start running again-- and am hoping to progress to where I can start running in some races again soon.  But because I am running again and still weigh 221 pounds, I believe I have developed Plantar Fasciitis (Thanks, Brooke, for looking it up and for motivating me to run more than a mile!).

According to livestrong.com, "Plantar Fasciitis is one of the most common conditions causing pain in the bottoms of runners' feet.  Pain is prevalent from the front of the heel and along the arch, and is typically most acute first thing in the morning or when you get up after sitting a while.  Fascia connect the heel bone to the ball of the foot; plantar faciitis results when the fascia becomes overstretched due to improper weight distribution from the heel to the ball."

Treatments include buying running shoes with good midfoot stability, stretching the band of tissue between the ball and heel, rubbing the foot with a golf ball and also doing calf stretches.  I've tried the golf ball, but it still hurts after I go for a run so will be going shoe shopping this weekend to find the perfect pair of running shoes to help ease the pain.

I also am not able to take any anti-inflammatory medication so just need to suck it up and stop being a baby.  Thursday will be day 60 of exercising in a row so I'm not going to let a little foot pain stop me from getting my workout on.  :-)

In other news, I did have my first spell of vomiting (sorry, it's gross) from eating too fast last week.  I was in a hurry to eat breakfast so I could get on a conference call and did not chew my food up good enough.  I was having trouble breathing due to a piece of food stuck in my band and finally after an hour in the bathroom, it came back up.  It was NOT a good feeling, but I just need to be more careful when I eat and make sure no matter what the situation is that I don't let myself get in too big of a hurry.

With all that being said, I hope that you get the picture that weight loss surgery is anything but easy.  The band that was placed inside me does not automatically make me lose weight, it's the decisions I make each and every day that allow me to progress in this journey.  The band is only a tool I can use, even though I'm not to the point where the band is really working to its full potential yet-- that won't happen until they fill it a few more times with saline so that even smaller portions of food will make me feel full.

Next adjustment (or fill) is on June 25th-- that gives me two weeks to shed a few more pounds before my three month "Bandiversary."  Thanks for checking in!