Woop Woop! And Tina is a Genius.

At last, at last, at last, at last. Another 1lb gone.

13st 11lbs - 193lbs - BMI 32.1
(a total loss so far of 69lbs - 25lbs to go)

I think what may have helped is cutting down on the coffee. I've gone down from three or four mugs a day to one or two. It's not that my coffee itself was loaded with calories, since I only drink it with the addition of a little skimmed milk, but what was going on alongside the coffee - ie, the biscuit-shaped accompaniment to that steaming hot mug of Joe. It is nigh-on impossible to drink a cup of coffee without eating a biscuit (or three, or perhaps enjoying a slice of cake or some chocolate) at the same time, isn't it? Or is that just me?! Anyway, I'm wondering if cutting down on this little habit of coffee + sweet snack is what has helped with finally shifting another pound?

Tina over at Losing It actually made this suggestion to me in a comment on one of my previous posts where I talked about coming to terms with staying at (or around) this weight and being satisfied with it. She mentioned that perhaps I could just change one little thing and see what happened - here's part of what she said:

"What is one thing you can change tomorrow? You don't have to give the cookies, cakes or coffee up yet..just cut back one this next week-one cookie less per day or one coffee less or one walk more..something like that. Give it a week and see if it helps."

Tina, you are a genius!

(And, believe it or not, the heartburn helped too, or else I might never have been moved to cut down on the coffee. Perhaps it was a sign from the Band Gods.)

Not So Bad

It seems cutting back on the old coffee-ola seems to have done the trick with subduing the heartburn (touch wood.) After Alison commented that strong coffee but not lattes give her heartburn I decided to make my coffee with a slightly smaller scoop than usual (rather than the Mt Everest style heap I usually throw in the cafetiere) and add more milk. So far, so good. Phew; I'm very glad, cos giving up the old Java Joe would have made me v. sad.

In other news, the pesky scales are still stuck on 13st 13lbs or 13st 12lbs. Ho hum. Still, as hubby pointed out at least I'm able to sit with him and Arthur and eat breakfast, lunch and dinner (albeit small portions) which I really struggled to do when my band had got super tight. You win some, you lose some (or don't lose some)!

Hope you are all keeping well out there in Banded Blog Land. I read Steph's post about how so many of us are falling of the blogwagon - perhaps it's difficult when we are this far into the journey to be blogging 'I lost a pound, I put it back on, I stayed the same' whereas previously it might have been 'yaaay, my new lowest low' or 'NSV' or 'I reached goal' on an almost daily basis. I also sometimes feel that I'm under pressure to blog for fear of falling out of the blog loop, or being forgotten about; I don't want either of those things to happen, but I also don't want the blog to feel like a millstone round my neck whereby I feel guilty if I haven't updated in a while. I also have another blog (which I'd started waaaay before the band blog) which I have to update so that keeps me blogging busy. It's tricky, and I sure don't have the answer.

Heartburn Heartbreak

A little update on the heartburn situation; it would seem that coffee is the culprit (although there may be other things that will set it off that I've not yet identified). And that is more than a little heartbreaking. I LOVE my coffee, and usually drink 3 or 4 large cups a day. I get all excited when I see Starbucks and really enjoy sipping on a caramel mocha. So, I've cut my coffee consumption to one mug a day, and that is generally sipped slowly over the course of the morning (with many visits to the microwave to reheat it in between - nice...)

So, I'm going to give it a little longer and if things don't improve then I guess I'll be heading back to the surgeon for a(nother) little unfill. Bah.

Heartburn

I seem to be suffering from heartburn, again. The last time I had this was back in August/September last year when my band was really much too tight. Then I had the unfill from heaven, the day before B00Bs, and all was good in the world. Since that unfill I've had two 0.5ml top-ups, which has taken me to 8mls in a 10ml band. That's still 1ml lower than where I was in August/Sept when the terrible heartburn started plaguing me.

Anyway, what I wanted to ask was - if you are banded and you get heartburn, is it right to assume that it is caused by the band? Does anyone else who believes their band to be at a good level of fill (ie not too tight) suffer from heartburn?

I know coffee can be a trigger, but I'm not sure I can give it up. (And don't ask me to give up the chocolate either...)

Just to Confirm

A little thought snuck into my head that some readers might think that my post yesterday was a little bit down-in-the-dumps or whingey. I just wanted to say that it wasn't meant to sound that way, if anyone did read it like that. It was just a sort of means of saying to myself

'This is where I am, so get used to it or do something about it'

Getting used to weighing just under 14st (somewhere around 194-196lbs) certainly isn't such a bad thing when you consider where I started (18st 10lbs/262lbs); I think it's just that having been as low as 12st 6lbs (174lbs), being a bit heavier is a little disappointing. Although I have to remember that getting down to 174lbs involved eating almost nothing and having constant heartburn for about a month because my band was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too tight. Right now I'm eating regular food in small portions, which is where I want to be because I don't want my little boy looking at me and thinking 'Why doesn't mummy eat anything?' when we sit down to breakfast, lunch or dinner together.

Looking back at my blog to the first time I reached 14st (18 February 2011) I can see how happy I was, so I need to regain some of that feeling and be grateful to have come this far. How can I not be happy at having lost 5st?!

Resigned

I've decided that I just have to resign myself to being this weight. If I'm not willing to actually work at being a lower weight, then I have to accept that this is the weight I will stay. Instead of blaming the band for not doing the (rest of) the hard work for me, and huffing and puffing every time I step on the scales, I have to say:

'Self, if you're going to carry on eating chocolates, biscuits and cakes and not doing any exercise, then you will have to get used to being this weight. Self, you can't expect the band to do anything more if you're not going to help. Self, the band enabled you to lose 5 stone (70lbs) without your help; the band did all of the work. Self, now it is your turn to either a) join in or b) quit moaning.'

There we have it. Self, get on with it.

Still Here, Plodding Along (with a couple of photos)

But still not losing any weight. GRRR! I know it's TOTM, so that usually puts the kibosh on any weightloss hopes, but really? Still nothing. Yesterday morning I weighed in at 13st 13lbs. Blah blah and blahdy blah. Two fills and no weightloss. Still, I've taken a positive step in the battle to shed the pounds - I've started eating a 'proper' breakfast. For a while now, I'm ashamed to admit, my breakfast has consisted of a mug of coffee, and then an hour or so later another mug of coffee and two (sometimes three, and sometimes even four) biscuits (ie cookies). Isn't that awful? Everyone knows that eating a good breakfast sets you up for the day. But knowing these things is one thing (those of us who are banded knew we shouldn't have been eating all those calories that got us to needing the band in the first place, but we didn't/couldn't stop); putting them into practice is quite another matter all together. Still, for the last three mornings I have dutifully sat down with hubby and small boy and eaten a bowl of cereal, as hubby tucks into his Shreddies and small boy tucks into one, two, three, sometimes four bowls of Cheerios. He lives by the motto: eat breakfast like a king, eat lunch like a prince, dine like a pauper (I'm constantly trying to persuade him to eat 'just one more mouthful' at dinner time and he simply isn't interested, he can quite happily munch on just breadsticks and cream cheese.)

Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes, finally breakfasting like a king (or queen). And for the last three mornings I've definitely noticed a difference in my eating habits - ie I'm not looking for snacks, and I'm lasting through til lunchtime. Give that girl a gold star, it's only taken her several months to work it out.

And on an entirely different note: B00Bs 3.0. I do so hope I can make it again this year!

And on another completely different note, I thought I'd share some photos with you of a little family outing we took on Saturday to the fishing village of Beer in Devon and the town of Lyme Regis in Dorset - we're very lucky to have them both about a 40minute drive away from where we live. The sun was shining and it really was a lovely day out. And I might have had a little ice cream. Just a little one... A PB&J sundae - how could I resist? And still I wonder why those pesky pounds aren't falling off me?!