Suggestions from NYC Bloggers, Please!

Dear NYC-based banded bloggers (and others who may be in-the-know)

On 10 December hubby & I celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. And, what better place to do that than in the city where we got married - NYC! Now, this isn't our first visit to the city (in fact it will be my 15th [or thereabouts] and hubby's 12th [or thereabouts]), but it will be our first since I have been banded. So, I'm asking for a little help here on where would be a good place for us to celebrate our anniversary with lunch or dinner on Friday 10 December:

somewhere that hubby can have a good meal but where I can also eat a band-sized portion and not look like a freak
somewhere a little bit special, but not somewhere that we have to dress up in designer togs (because we don't own any) in order to fit in - casual-casual as opposed to smart-casual would be the preferred dress code!
somewhere that isn't the Rainbow Room (done it, not impressed) or River Cafe (done it enough times and ready to try somewhere new)
somewhere like Sarabeth's (done it, like it) or Good Enough to Eat (same)

Thank you in advance!

50!! I Did It!!!

I did it, I did it, I did it. Or should I say 'The band did it'?!? Or perhaps it was all those vibes the BOOBsters were sending out this weekend?! Well, whatever it was - I lost 50lbs! I am totally and utterly amazed. After a plateau lasting several weeks, the pounds have been dropping off on an almost-daily basis. We were away over the weekend, so I was without the scales for two whole days, but this morning when I hopped on, I was:

15st 2lb - 212bs - BMI 35.3
(a total loss so far of 50lbs; 46lbs to go!)

I'm so pleased! Can you tell?! 50lbs! They've gone. I don't know where they've gone, but it's a long way away and they won't be able to find their way back. I hope.

In other news, I owe Tina a big thank you for nominating me for the Cherry on Top Award. I'm honoured - merci very much!

The question that goes with this award is: If you had one chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be?

Hmm, that's a hard one. What's the saying about never regretting anything you've done, only the things you haven't done?! The trouble with going back and changing just one thing, is the repercussions that that change can have on everything else - we've all seen Back to the Future; but I'm being a bit too literal here, this is only theoretical after all! I guess the change would have to be doing whatever needed to be done to not end up being nearly 100lbs overweight in the first place!

And now I need to nominate six bloggers for the award (although being so late with this one means most people have probably already received it!) I'm going to follow Tina's idea and nominate bloggers with less than 100 followers (like me) in the hope that it will send a few new readers their way - we all appreciate more followers, don't we?!

Frst up is Alison because she's a fellow Brit, and there aren't that many of us (of the banded variety, I mean!)

Julie, because she's struggling and needs our support (and she's a Euro-bandster!)

Sam, who is six months banded and has already lost over 60lbs!

Jennifer, because she makes me laugh.

Oh, darn it, I'm going to stop there because all the other bandsters I know of have more than 100 followers!

It's a Slippery Slope

So far, so good on the downward slide towards goal. The scales were kind to me again today:

15st 3lb - 213bs - BMI 35.4

(a total loss so far of 49lbs; 47lbs to go!)

Does anyone else think it's weird that you can be on a plateau for weeks and then lose 2lbs in 2 days? I do. Weird, inexplicable, and downright odd, odd, odd.

But I'm not going to complain! I'm just one single, solitary, bite-size pound away from being 50lbs down, and today's weigh-in took me to a total loss (in UK terms) of 3.5 stone. Just 2lbs away from being 'Class I Obese' and just 4lbs away from being '14 stone something' - I'm so excited about seeing '14' on the scales; the last time I was in the 14-stone bracket was in 2003, which was the year I met hubby; it will be great to get back to the weight I was when we met (about 14st 7lbs.)

Official: Blogging Aids Weightloss*

* according to survey carried out on one blogger who reported 100% success and satisfaction with product.

Ok. So yesterday I mentioned that I had been vacationing at the Grand Plateau Resort, Plateauville, Plateaunia; I also said I was ok with it and that it was all my fault as I wasn't really paying any attention to what my band was telling me when it said things like: 'Stop, you've had enough', 'One more bite and you're going to regret it', 'Right, that's it lady, off to the lavatory with you'. Not to mention the biscuits, cakes, desserts, etc, etc.

Well, guess what? When I had my dinner last night, I remembered what I had written about taking the extra bite and then regretting it, so when I was full I pushed my plate away and I didn't have another mouthful (except I did have a yoghurt and a couple of handfuls of Galaxy Coasters later...) Which led me to conclude that getting my thoughts on here actaully helped. Until yesterday I hadn't blogged for about a week and I'd been on my plateau for about three, then I write about how I'm not exactly helping myself or my band, quite the opposite in fact, and look what happens.

And this morning, as a result of listening to my band and working with it, rather than trying to defeat it the scales rewarded me with my new lowest low:

15st 4lb - 214bs - BMI 35.6
(a total loss so far of 48lbs)

And, do you know what that means? It means I'm halfway there! Halfway to losing the 96lbs that I'd like to lose in total.

It means that I'm now standing at the top of the weightloss mountain, I've done the uphill half and I'm about to teeter into the downhill.

Although you could look at it the other way - I've done the downhill half and now I have the uphill half left, since it surely gets progressively harder/slower the closer you get to goal?!

Extended Staycation...

on Plateau Island.

I haven't lost any weight since the end of August. I've no one to blame but myself though as I'm simply not trying at the moment. I seem to have slipped into a phase where I'm really quite content to be this weight/size (15st 5lbs/215lbs, UK size 18/20) since it's such a novelty! My confidence has soared and I feel good about myself. Admittedly, I would probably feel a gazillion times better if I weighed less, but for now I'm ok here. The problem with being 'ok here' though is that I'm snacking away on biscuits and chocolate like the end of the world was nigh. I'm not putting on weight as a result of these snacks, but if I could give them the elbow I'd probably lose some weight.

I've also noticed that I'm eating too much; I get to a stage where I'm full and then I push it and have another mouthful of whatever it is I'm eating, even though I know I'm likely to end up having to make a dash for the toilet. How stuipid is that? I need to get myself back under control!

Anyhoo, I hope all the BOOBsters have a wonderful time in Chicago this weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing the photos (I think!)

Remember the Dress...

...that I bought for the wedding? Well, I had a major NSV when I tried it on at home about 10 days ago - it was too big, so I had to take it back and exchange it for a smaller size! And here I am, wearing my (UK) size 18 dress and feeling rather pleased with myself:

The wedding was fabulous: great weather, wonderful location (the photo above shows the view from the chapel looking down into the village), lovely food (I managed a fairly sizeable main course and three - yes, three! - of the mini desserts) and fun times catching up with friends and colleagues. Not to mention the fact that hubby and I had two nights away without the small boy. Bliss!

No Longer an All-Consuming Passion

Has anyone else found that food is no longer the 'be all and end all' that it used to be?

Since I got to my sweet spot (in fact I sometimes feel that I'm actually a little bit beyond it when I can barely manage a couple of mouthfuls) my interest in food has seriously waned. I'm pretty sure that a lot of it has to do with the fact that I don't tend to get hungry any more and so I'm not thinking about food so much.

And then, when I do get hungry I often feel like I can't really be bothered to eat because there are so many foods that don't go down too well at the moment, and dealing with the whole uncomfortable-ness (good word, eh?) of being stuck is just not worth it. This is especially true in the evenings. I've read that lots of other bandsters tend to have less restriction in the evenings; something like this, perhaps?But for me that's not the case; I tend to have the least amount of restriction through the day, with more in the mornings and evenings; a little like this perhaps?!Eating an evening meal is a bit of a chore and it can take me a good hour to finish what's on my plate, but I try to eat what's there as I'm sure I could do with the food from a nutrition aspect, if not from the calorie side of things!

Funny though, I never seem to have trouble with dessert or chocolate...