Going back to basics

Even though you might have a lapband, you still have to watch what you are eating. I've been quite relaxed with my food intake over the past couple of months.. probably since christmas. When things get too hard (like my band feels too tight), I go back to eating the easy foods, or I add sour cream or mayo to my foods, or I eat junk. If I know I'm feeling tight and I need to eat something in a rush, it's easier to get a drink and a chocolate bar because I know it's going to go down, and I know it's going to give me the energy I need until I can eat a proper meal. I also haven't been weighing myself.. Norti Norti! I would also like to use the excuse of my current situation with my redundancy. Food does make me feel better and I have noticed that when I get stressed I do eat more... lollies and ice cream seem to top the list of fave stress reliever foods!

As a result, I've put on weight.. I'm at 91.6kg. Devastated.. not really. I can feel it in myself.. I'm feeling fatter! My clothes aren't fitting as well as they should!! Disappointed in myself? Absolutely!
My only saving grace has been my exercise levels. I'm still managing around 3-4 hours a week, mixing it up and getting my HR up.

Bottom line is - I've lost control.

So, what do I need to do to get back into control?

First thing I said outloud when I saw the number on the scales was "right, as of monday I'm going to start a food diary". Why start monday? right after I said that, I said "no, I'm going to start right now!".

Things to do to get back in control:
1. Start up that food diary again - 1200 cal day
2. Drink more water - 2 L/day
3. Keep going with the exercise I am doing.
4. Blog daily and be honest and accountable

I have a job interview this afternoon. Wish me luck! Then when I get back from that I'm going to hit the gym for a cardio session.

LBG xx

Jogged 4km today!

I decided to get on the treadmill this morning and see how long it would take me to walk/jog/run 4km. I have entered the mothers day fun run every year since 2005 and this year I would like to be able to run the 4km event!

It took me 34 mins to do a combination of walk at 6.0km/h, jog at around 7.4km-8km/h and I even did a few 9.0km/h sprints! Go me! Felt pretty freaking awesome. Want to get that time under 30mins, so I'm going to start to do this "treadmill training" once a week for the next month, and then maybe look at getting out there and pounding the pavement.

Amazing that before I could barely keep up the 6.0km/h walking for 20mins and now I'm at this level! Still a long way to go though... my colleague who sits next to me at work runs 40km marathons!!

Everything with the band is good at the moment. I managed to eat a cheese and vegemite roll yesterday for lunch. It took me a while, but I had small bites and chewed thoroughly. Dinner was half a veal cordon bleu, a tablespoon of veg and a tablespoon of cheesy rice. 6 olives gets me full, which is perfect! Still tight in the morning, so have been having celebrity slim shakes with some extra berries. Tonight I'm going to make my famous vege soup that my hubby just loves!

Still no news re the job situation...

LBG xx

Still waiting!!

Looks like I might not get this job after all. I've just been told that an internal applicant has had a late entry and they made it to second interview. I have submitted my information for reference checks and done the online psychometric exam, but now I'm not so sure... People have told me that if you get to this stage that you pretty much have the job, but with this updated information, I can't be too sure.

I didn't get to 2nd interview round for another job, and am still waiting to hear if I got to 2nd interview round for a 3rd job I applied for. I've also submitted my CV for another job, so waiting to hear if I got to the interview stage. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Haven't been exercising as much as I should be at the moment. Most of that is due to travel. I went to boxing this morning.. love love loved it! Tomorrow morning I'm going to get to spin and Friday I'm going to do a morning cardio session at the gym before work. Saturday will be morning spin and Sunday I'm going road biking with a couple of friends which should be GREAT! Looking forward to that.

Cross your fingers for me everyone!!!

LBG xx

Waiting ... waiting...

I'm waiting to hear if I got this job I applied for... and it's driving me nuts! I'm away at the moment in Adelaide and I'm not eating well because I am a little stressed about the whole thing. Hopefully I'll find out either today or tomorrow about whether or not I was successful! I have been asked to give my references and complete some online psycho-metric testing so hopefully that's a good sign!!! :)

I'm actually sitting here eating an apple (with the skin) which is very very exciting for me! This morning I could barely get down half a small glass of smoothie and a couple of mouthfuls of coffee! I got myself a tablespoon of yoghurt but didn't end up touching that!! Strange because the night before I was able to eat indian with rice... a small amount mind you... but it still went down OK! I'll probably only get through half of the apple now but at least I'm eating it, feeling full and not wanting to expel any of it, which is fab..

It still kills me that my band is so unpredictable... 2 years on and I am still going through the rollercoaster of maybe today I'll be able to eat it, and then maybe today I'll be too tight.. I think it really does come down to the fact that I have kept quiet about my band. The fact that not many people know means that I more often than not have to rush through lunch, or make excuses for myself (heartburn and indigestion has been the latest one!!).. When I'm with hubby or by myself I eat well and don't PB. Last night I ordered risotto and didn't do too well with my colleague eating with me, so I got most of it take away and made an excuse that the wine was giving me indigestion. Went back to my hotel room and enjoyed a few more mouthfuls in the comfort of my own room and it went down fine... not sure how I'm going to address this other than letting people know about the band... thoughts peoples?

I will get around to catching up on ALL of your blogs I promise.. Things have been hectic at the moment...

Love love

LBG xx

Update time!

Hi fabulous friends. Just wanted to post a quick update from me. Have been home a week now and let me tell you, there is no place like home... loads of cuddles from my hubby, normal bandit friendly food and a few job interviews later and I'm feeling fabulous. Thanks for all your comments of support. I really really appreciate it.

On the job front, things are going great for 1 week in to looking. I've had 3 1st round interviews and 1 2nd round interview. I find out next week if the job is mine, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. Fingers and toes firmly crossed for this one..

On the lapband front, I've stopped the PB'ing for the most part and am back on healthy solid band friendly foods. Have also started exercising again which has been great so feeling pretty good. I think I might have lost some weight whilst overseas because of the fact that I wasn't eating much... which is great. But I haven't weighed myself yet...

Can you believe I passed my 2 year bandiversary without even acknowledging it! How bad is that! My bandiversary was on 2nd February... 2 years down 20 kg gone... very very happy. Could be better, but very very happy none-the-less.

Ok, that's all from me. Will keep you posted with the job update!

LBG xx

Flying home today!

Just doing a frantic check of e-mails and blogging before heading off to the airport. Looking forward to coming home :)

Good news, first job interview lined up for Monday afternoon at 5pm. Feeling very positive at the moment about my current situation. Looking forward to being with my husband and friends again... but feeling OK about my redundancy and starting to look forward to my future again...

Thanks all for your kind words and support. *hugs*

LBG xx

I'm coming home baby!

After a bit of soul searching this weekend and some timely advice from some work colleagues (who I must admit are a bit one sided at the moment).. I've decided to cut my trip short. I'm coming back to Australia and should be leaving on Friday.

I need to start looking for a new job.. and I've got to look after my best interests, not the interests of the company which I am doing at the moment! I'm not happy here, I'm lonely, missing my husband and friends to death and just want to be back in Australia where my life is so that I can get on with it..

I'm not eating properly at the moment, and because of that my bowels are suffering a bit .. not enough fibre in my diet at the moment cos I can't eat their damn stirfried vegetables and too much freaking rice and soup!!! I'm constantly feeling tired and today I woke up dizzy and couldn't shake it for an hour or so! Not good..

Time to come home and look after number 1.

LBG xx

Next Stop - Seoul, Korea!

Off to Seoul, Korea this afternoon. Leaving after my pretty shite week in Taipei. Well, it wasn't all bad... apart from being made redundant I had a smashing time! :)

Thanks to everyone who has left comments of support on my blog. It means so much to get such kind messages when I am so far away from friends and family.

Band was kinder to me yesterday. I had breakfast at around 10:30-11am which consisted mainly of Congee (Japanese rice porridge) and a chinese bread stick, and then didn't eat again until about 5pm where I managed 2 small cream cakes. OMG, the cakes here are like eating air.. so delicious, so easy to eat and the cream is that real sweetened cream that is sooooooo good.

For dinner I ordered a lasagne and salad because I was craving something "normal" to eat.. I am definitely getting over the asian cuisine very very quickly. I think it's because I am limited to eating only a few different types of dishes... Anyhoo, the lasagne was beautifully cooked, and I managed to eat all of it! It was a fairly small portion, as far as portions go... but for a bandit, it was definitely a large portion. I ate slowly and carefully and it went down a treat. I even managed to get some bread and butter in as well!

My flight leaves at 5:40pm, so I'm heading off for the airport this afternoon. I am looking forward to going to Seoul. I have never been before and the experience that I will gain professionally from this trip will look fabulous on my CV. But, after some interesting advice from a couple of my managers, they have encouraged me not to work as hard as I normally do, and to basically do the minimum amount of work. I.e. Don't go above and beyond... I may just take their advice on board!

Time to pack!

LBG xx

P.S. My retain therapy consisted of a new $300 guess handbag and some make-up!! I felt Soooooooo much better! :)

Stress = Tight Band

Ok, so you could probably imagine that because of the news I have received this week, coupled with me being so far away from home, my eating has pretty much gone out the window... My band is as tight as a cats bum at the moment... This morning I tried some Congee (japanese rice porridge) for breakky... no good, yoghurt... no good.. juice.. managable. Didn't eat again until 1pm, so my band had no action in between so I was just as tight. I did manage to get some seafood / tofu soup down and once I had started eating I found that I could get this seafood mince dish down... but again, comments from people on how little i was eating. This time I used the excuse that when I get stressed I don't have an appetite!!

Chocolate is my friend at the moment, and I'm allowing myself to eat some everyday because I've had a pretty shit week.. and it's probably the only energy I am getting right now.. thank goodness I brought those protein shakes with me!!

On the up side, I have had chat with a recruitment consultant for a job going as a Project Manager, and I'm feeling pretty positive about the whole finding a new job thing. Yeah, it's going to be tough to start again when I wasn't expecting to.. but such is life..

Who knows, perhaps this will be a blessing in diguise?

OK, I"m going to wonder over to some shops at the Taipei 101 building. Retail therapy always does the trick!!

Love Love

LBG xx

A bitter pill to swallow...

... and I'm not talking about the band.

I was told today that my job (and 15/18 people in my department) were made redunant today. Here I am busting my hump for my fabulous company that has just turfed a whole department on their arse. My colleagues got the day off, and tomorrow... to digest everything.. I'm stuck in a foreign country, slogging my guts, all by myself, wishing I was at home...

Needless to say, eating has been a little difficult today.

My last day is April 3rd. I have already started looking for a job.. redunancy payout was OK... will get me through a couple of months...

Wish me luck peoples!!!

LBG xx

Travels in Taiwan

Have been in Taiwan just over 3 days now. I am currently in the south of Taiwan in a city called Kaohsiung. I have had a simply attrocious time with my food at the moment. Mostly because I have had all my meals with other people and they have been where I haven't been able to take my time with eating, or the food types aren't band friendly and I haven't had a choice but to eat them.

Breakfast: I meet my colleagues for breakky in the hotel. Luckily I have a celebrity slim shake in the morning before breakfast so I know I'm getting something down. The breakfast is both western and asian. I am loving congee at the moment as it is like a savory rice porridge.

Lunch: has been a freaking nightmare. We visited this resteraunt where the menu is only in chinese, so I have to ask my colleagues what there is to choose from. I thought I would try some hot pot dish so that I could have the soup part of. What came out was a bandits worst nightmare. The soup was filled with vegetables and there was a plate with MORE vegetables to cook in the soup. Luckily there was a normal western "soup" choice, although the waitress thought it was funny that I was ordering just soup without a salad, rice and a main course. My colleauges also commented on how little I was eating. I tried to explain that I prefer to have smaller meals more often throughout the day.

Dinner has been a mixed bag. I went out for dinner with some colleagues last night. Japanese. It was all small portions of food, but around 10 courses! So I was trying little bits of every dish so that I could eat all dishes. Some of them were OK to eat, like this egg soup, or the miso soup, or the soft shelled crab.. but there was seafood and beef and eggplant, all of which I love, but not so band friendly. So I was eating very very small mouthfuls and again, people were commenting on how little I was eating. I gave the excuse that because my body was still on Sydney time that I was not hungry because it was 11pm at night back in Australia..

Right now I'm having a mushroom soup for dinner and a cheese plate with cheese and crackers. I am so glad I bought my celebrity slim shakes with me!! I am so over struggling to eat at each meal and I know that each time I PB that my stomach gets a bit swollen which makes eating even harder!!

Anyhoo.. back to Taipei tomorrow and then it's off to Seoul on Sunday for 2 weeks.

Speak soon!

LBG xx

Taipei here I come!

I'm currently sitting at a computer at the business class lounge just chilling before my flight boards. Off to Taipei, will be there at around 11pm tonight (or 8pm local time), so it's going to be a long freaking day! Checked in this morning only to find out that I was the lucky person to get the seat with a "fuzzy" personal TV. FUCKING AWESOME! If someone else doesn't board the plane, I get their seat.. but if it's a full flight, then I get 9 hours of BOARDOM ahead of me. Thank goodness I have a thick book to read and my computer... looks like I might do some work on the plane after all!! Can't say I'm impressed.. this flight is costing my work over $7000 and I'm flying business class... I should ask for an upgrade to First!! hehehehehe might just try that eh?

Other than that, band has been fairly tight. I PB'd an up and go yesterday, but then 2 hours later cheese and rice crackers when down OK. Dinner not so great - had a BBQ with steak. Nice steak, so tasty... but no matter how small my bites were, it didn't matter.. I did a spin class in the morning so burnt 650 cals. Go me!

I have around 20 sachets of celebrity slim in my bag.. planning to have them for breakfast most days while I am away... and for any days that I'm feeling a bit tight and couldn't be bothered eating..

Definitely going to miss my husband. This is the longest we have been away from each other in 6.5 years! The days will be OK, it will be the nights and weekends that will be the hardest.. especially cos we love seeing new things together.. it will get quite lonely I think.

OK, I'm off to google what to do while I'm staying in Seoul. Will check in soon and let you know what's happening in my world..

LBG xx