6th month Bandiversary....

 Most importantly, the people of Boston are in my thoughts. It is so sad what has been happening for so long. This is like 9/11 all over again. Terrible devastation. Great quote posted by Deirdre.

So yesterday while I was on my pity pot about my weekend binge it totally escaped me that it has been 6 months since I was banded!

But first, thank you all for your supportive comments and suggestions yesterday. I received some great advice and am going to implement it!

When I started this journey I had one reason. I did this for me and only me. I covered all of this in my 5 Month Post-op post. so I won't go into it all again. I started off great and things have slowed down. I knew it would slow down, and I am also fully aware of why. I have gotten lax in some areas, like the eating area for sure. I am working on tightening things up!

I am not going to let this defeat me. I have come to far. I need to stay focused on why I started all this to begin with. I need to sit back and re-focus on me.

Thanks everyone for reminding me of the accomplishments I have made over the last year! (I should go back and read my own blog sometimes!)

1. 1 year ago - I quit smoking by doctor's order so I could have lap band surgery. Yep, This is the only reason I did this. I totally didn't want to!
2. I overcame my pity party after a 4 month "whoa is me"  binge on DQ & Baskin Robins! I blamed the weight gain on my lack of cigarettes. I hit 274.8 lbs and looked in the mirror and said "the lap band won't work for you either if you keep this up!" SO I started swimming regularly.
3. I proved to myself that I could lose weight without smoking! I lost 14.6 lbs by surgery day.
4. I have dropped 8 pant sizes and 3 shirt sizes. From size 22 to 14! From XXXL shirts to XL!
5. I have lost 45 lbs in the 26 weeks since surgery. An average of 1.73 lbs per week! 7.5 lbs per month! Even with a few gains in there. I have lost an overall amount of 59.6 lbs in 8 months.
6. Most importantly, I have found the ability to like myself. I am still working on the self love thing, but I am getting better at it every day. And I will continue to have days and weeks like yesterday and that's OK. I just have to keep my eye on the prize. What's my prize, my prize is ME!

Because I have gone from this:

To this!

and from this:

To This!

So Yes I feel good. And I will continue on! There will be pity parties along the way, I'm human. But this too, shall pass!

Thanks for reading! More later :)