B00Bs 2011 Fun Facts Survey!

How did you pick your blog name?
Adventures in Band Land - I've no idea how I came up with it; I think Catherine's Chronicles from Band Land probably influenced me as hers was first band blog I found and read (from start to finish in about two evenings!)

When did you start blogging?
I first started blogging in November 2007 when hubby & I went travelling for seven months and I wanted to keep a diary of our trip that other people could read; when we returned from travelling in September 2008 and I found out I was pregnant I started another blog, which I still write to this day alongside my band blog.

Theme of blog
Obviously Adventures in Band Land is my blog about being banded and all that it entails; my other blog is about everything else that goes on in my little life.

Did you go to B00Bs 2010?
No, I didn't feel confident enough to attend such a gathering at that point, plus there was the financial aspect, not to mention the distance to travel!

When were you banded?
20th January 2010, the day before my hubby's birthday - you can imagine I wasn't much up to partying or cake eating!

How much have you lost?
In UK-speak I've lost exactly 6 stone; to the rest of the world that means 84lbs, or just over 38kgs. I've got 10lbs to go to reach my own personal goal, although to get into the 'healthy' BMI range I need to lose another 28lbs (or two stone). Now, I know this might sound like an excuse, but I can't honestly imagine that I would look healthy at that weight, even if the powers that be at BMI hq tell me that is what I should weigh.

What are you most looking forward to at B00Bs?
Meeting all of the ladies whose blogs I have been reading, and meeting up again with Tina as we only had a couple of hours at our first meeting when she was over here in the UK. Also attending the drag show on Thursday night and doing a little shopping in Chicago...

What/who do you hope to find/see/accomplish at B00Bs 2011?
I'm hoping to have a great time with lots of other like-minded ladies!

Children? Pets?
One son, Arthur, who will be two-and-a-half by the time B00Bs comes round; three chickens (although they're not strictly pets, I suppose)

Who is your roomie?
I'm lucky enough to have two roomies - Debi and Krystal; looking forward to meeting them!

What time do you arrive?
About 10.30am on the Thursday; luckily Krystal arrives about 30mins after me so we can share a cab to the hotel - result!

What airport/flight/time?
I know it's O'Hare; I know it's Thursday at about 10.30am and I'm pretty sure it's an American Airlines flight, other than that I'd have to go and look it up and I'm feeling too lazy right now.

What events are you signed up for?
Thursday night Drag Show - I am sooooooooooooo looking forward to this, should be a great first opportunity to meet fellow bandsters and relaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax over a couple of (small...) drinks.
I've just emailed Shannon about the Sears (Willis) Tower tour to see if I can still go along - I know it's late but I'm not very organised at the moment (we're having our house pretty much rebuilt while we live in rented accommodation and there are a lot of other things going on right now!)

Hobbies?
Shopping (and I intend to enjoy this hobby to the full in Chicago!); reading (hopefully I'll get the chance to do this too, without seeming rude!); drinking coffee (Tina, are you coming to Starbucks with me??!!); reading and writing blogs (might not get the chance to do this too much in Chicago.)

Career?
"Career" makes it sound important; I'd call it my "job" - part time, I'm an indexer for a publishing company. One day a week in 'high' season I work at the wonderful Lazyhill gallery in Abbotsbury owned by my very good friends R&G. And the rest of the time I look after my lovely little boy.

Single? Married? In a relationship?
Very happily married since December 2005 (we got married in NYC) to my wonderful hubby who secretly got in touch with Stephanie to organise my attendance at B00Bs this year; he and my mum have bought me the flights for my upcoming 40th birthday. Aren't I lucky?

Your birthday month?
November; I'm a Sagittarian. And I turn 40 this year. Yikes.

What do you want other B00Bs to know about you?
In case you don't know already, I live in the UK.

I'll probably be a bit quiet or maybe even shy when you first meet me and I also quite like my own space so I may sneak off for a little bit of 'me time' every now and again - please don't think I'm being rude, I blame it on being an only child!

Some Weight Loss Calculations, and Other Things

I thought I might look back over the past 19 months and work out how long it took me to shed each of the six stone (each stone = 14lbs for those of you who don't work in such archaic forms of weights and measures) that I've lost so far, for no other reason than I thought it might be interesting (for me, not necessarily for anyone else - although I suppose it may give other bandsters an idea of how long it can take for the weight to disappear if, like me, you don't 'diet' as such and don't really take on any extra activities/exercise.)


1st stone: 18st 10lbs-17st 10lbs (262lbs-248lbs)
When I started this blog on January 7th 2010 I weighed 18st 10lbs; by 29th January I was down to 17st 10lbs, so that's 3 weeks and 1 day for the first stone.


2nd stone: 17st 10lbs-16st 10lbs (248lbs-234lbs)
29th January - 24 April 2010 = 12 weeks and 1 day


3rd stone: 16st 10lbs-15st 10lbs (234lbs-220lbs)
24 April - 9 August 2010 = 15 weeks and 2 days


4th stone: 15st 10lbs-14st 10lbs (220lbs-206lbs)
9 August 2010 - 25 November 2010 = 15 weeks and 3 days

5th stone: 14st10lbs-13st 10lbs (206lbs-192lbs)
25 November 2010 - 20 March 2011 = 16 weeks and 3 days


6th stone: 13st 10lbs-12st 10lbs (192lbs-178lbs)
20 March - 22 August 2011 = 22 weeks and 1 day

As you can see, apart from the first stone which came off within three weeks of being banded, my weight loss has been pretty slow and it has slowed even more the closer I get to 'goal' (whatever that may be!) But, losing 14lbs in 12-15 weeks (as with the second, third and fourth stones) is fairly close to 1lb a week, which I think is the recommended amount for a healthy weightloss regime. When you take into account that for the first few months of being banded I hadn't hit my 'green spot' and was still going for fills, then I think the amount/speed of weightloss is quite commendable.

I hit what I think is (was) my green spot with a fill on 28 July last year - that's 13 months without a fill. However, I've been having a few issues lately with how much (actually, how little) I can eat so I've just booked an appointment with my surgeon for 28 September (the day before I fly to Chicago, conveniently enough!) and I plan on asking for a little un-fill. I've been struggling with 'proper' food for quite a while now; I know the band is here to stop us eating too much but I'm getting fed up with the fact that I can literally eat just one or two mouthfuls of what I consider to be real food (veggies, meat, pasta, almost anything you can think of) before getting uncomfortable and/or stuck. I don't want my son to think I have some sort of issue with food; I want to be able to sit down with him and hubby and eat a (small) meal and, right now, I can't do that. I can eat crisps, crackers and chocolate in larger (although not large) quantities, but I'm sure as heck not sitting down in front of my little boy with a plate piled with that sort of thing while telling him he should be eating the vegetables and meat or pasta or whatever other yummy things hubby has cooked. That's just not right. So, an un-fill it is. And if I start gaining, then I'll have to think about a fill again. I just wonder if an un-fill for a few weeks might help settle things down in the band department and then I can move on. Perhaps after Christmas...

The Big Six (Stone)

Yesterday I had an awful band day; it started normally enough with coffee and then another coffee with a biscuit. Then about 12pm I had a little lunch - it was some left over roasted veggies. I think I managed 2 or possibly 3 roasted sprouts and a similar number of squares of roasted beetroot. And that was it. Those little beggars sat on my band ALL day. Why is it that the healthy stuff hurts and the unhealthy stuff (chocolate, for eg) goes down with almost no problems?

In hindsight perhaps I should have tried to get rid of the offending veggies, but I really wanted them to just go through so that I'd eaten something 'good'. Later on in the afternoon (about 3.30pm) I had two sqaures of chocolate and they sat on top of the veggies and got really painful so I ended up having to do what I should have done earlier.

Then about 6.30pm hubby cooked a superbly tasty meal for dinner - a goat's cheese pasta with sauce made from pesto, cream and spinach with lardons and black pudding - it was delicious; well, the tiny bit I had was delicious, and by tiny I mean 4 mouthfuls of sauce and half a piece of pasta. That was all I could manage, and even that took me well over an hour to eat. But, worst of all, I ended up having a horrendous PB while reading small boy his bed time story, about 7.45pm; while he wasn't looking I had to grab a nappy sack and be sick into it. Gross, with a capital 'G'!

All evening my band/tummy felt sore and even this morning it was a little tender, so I've stuck to liquids (and a couple of pieces of chocolate) so far today (it's now 3.30pm). However, perhaps the pain was worth it because when I weighed this morning I'd lost another 1lb, which means I have now lost a grand total of

SIX STONE!!!

Pre-band and when I was first banded I don't think I could ever have thought it possible to lose that amount of weight, but here I am 19 months post-band and six stone (84lbs) lighter, and boy am I chuffed!

12st 10lbs - 178lbs - BMI 29.6

(a total loss so far of 84lbs - 10lbs to go!)

OMG - I'm Overweight!!!

Goodness me, I'm quite amazed (and extremely pleased, of course!) - I've lost another 1lb.

12st 11lbs - 179lbs - BMI 29.8
(a total loss so far of 83lbs - 11lbs to go!)

This latest loss has taken me down into the next BMI level and I'm finally overweight!!! I'm not obese any more - hooray!!!