T minus 1 week!

1 week to go until the 12 week body transformation begins. I'm starting to get psyched. Today I plan to go through my cupboards and chuck out the crap food. Not that I have alot of crap, but I have alot of "safe" foods.. that is, foods that I can eat when I'm having a disagreement with my lapband. I need to let go of this thinking... I need to stock my fridge and pantry with foods that I can munch on, that are lap band friendly and that aren't full of fat, salt and sugar. I'm talking mostly about crackers and biscuits that are easy for bandits to eat when nothing else will get down.

I've told DH that the pantry is being cleaned out, so he has asked if he can take some of the food to work.. I said no problem as long as it doesn't make it's way back to the pantry.

In other news, Motherhood is going amazingly well. I just love my little boy to death. He will be 12 weeks old in 2 days, I know... time sure does fly! He's getting a right little personality now and recognises his daddy and me and greets us with big smiles and happy squeals. We've got into a bit of a routine now with sleeping (yep, we've had a few sleeps through the night!! woohoo!!) and the breastfeeding is going just swimmingly. I will be going back to work in 3 weeks, part time. I'm excited but nervous. I'm worried my milk supply will run low because I'm not breastfeeding all the time, but my frozen supply isn't all that much - maybe 3 days worth? Oh well, I'm not going to beat myself up if my baby goes onto formula, I just had it in my head that I would breast feed til he was around 6 months old.

Back at the gym and feeling fabulous. It does remind me how unfit I've gotten. Did a step class today and couldn't hold a plank or do many pushups. before I fell pregnant I could hold the plank position for a minute on my toes and I could do 10 pushups on my toes...

I have some great restriction with my lapband at the moment so just trying to work with it. can't wait til the 12wbt starts. I know that the weight will just fall off me, what with breastfeeding, healthy eating, exercise and a lapband as well!!

OK, the little monkey has woken up so it must be lunch time! Thanks for reading!

LBG xx

12 week body transformation

I've signed up for the 12wbt... www.12wbt.com run by Michelle Bridges (Australian Biggest loser personal trainer).

I really need this to get in the right head space again. My eating is out of wack and it's because I'm using breast feeding as an excuse to eat more than I should and be eating the wrong types of foods.

12wbt starts September 20th and finishes December 12th, just in time for Summer! I would love to lose 10kg... will be setting my goals for the program in the next couple of weeks. I don't want t set an unrealistic weight loss target, but I need a challenge to keep me motivated..

In other news, I did my first spin class in 11 months last Saturday and I swear to you I almost cried as I was exercising. It felt so AMAZING to exercise at that intensity again. I freaking LOVED it and was tempted to stay for a second class, except that I felt like I was going to pass out. I would love to get back to my 3 spin classes a week... but that will depend on the LO and his schedule, but at the moment saturday spin is back on baby!

Haven't weighed myself in a while. Not going to until September 20th. For the moment I'm just going to gear myself up for the big start, clean out my pantry and fridge, read up on the book "crunch time" by Michelle Bridges and improve my exercise intensity.

Thanks everyone for your comments on the photos of my LO. He is super cute and gets cuter by the day!

Stace asked if I had any problems with my port while I was pregnant, if I had any pain or if it was visible through my skin. Towards the end (last month or so!) I did get a little lump where the port was, but no pain at all. My mum who would feel my belly thought that my port was one of the baby's feet. Since she doesn't know about the band I had to go along with it! Ah well!

OK, I'm off to bed. LO is sleeping longer now so I'm able to stay up past 8pm these days!

Thanks for reading!

LBG xx

A new photo!

Hey all,

Just wanted to post another couple of photos of my little monkey for you all. Such a proud mum!

LBG xx

8 weeks on

Wow! I can't believe it's been nearly 8 weeks since I had my baby! Still massively sleep deprived but my LO has started with the smiles and the "talking" so it makes the bags under my eyes well worth it.

Lapband wise, it's hit and miss at the moment. Some days I'm so tight I can barely get a protein shake down, other days, like last night, pasta was no problem. I don't understand why my band works like this. I don't think I ever will.
Checkup with the OBGYN was fine. I was 94kg which was a kilo or two lighter than the start of my pre-preg weight. The problem is that if I start dieting again then I run the risk of my milk supply getting low, which I don't want cos I am breastfeeding exclusively. And exercising too heavily (which I love to do with my spinclasses) also poses the same risk to my milk supply. So what to do? Definitely getting back to exercising, but not going to go as hard core as I would like to at the moment. I'm going to start back 1 spin class a week and the rest will be machine workouts and pump classes. This starts at the end of august when my gym membership kicks in again. As for the food and "diet" aspect. I'm starting my protein shakes in the morning. My main meal is generally at night cos that's when the band seems to behave itself the best. In between I'm going to concentrate on healthy snacks and lots of fluids.

Weigh in tomorrow!

Happy Sunday everyone! Thanks for reading.

LBG xx

Still Alive!

Hello fellow bandits!

OMG motherhood is the craziest ride, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! My little monkey man is nearly 6 weeks old (would you believe it?). I'm really starting to get antsy about going back to the gym, walking around is just SO BORING! And I love my me time when I go to the gym, so hubby has said he'll watch the baby while I go in the evenings .... but I really like going in the mornings. Gym membership starts up again at the end of August, so I'm going to wait until then and then I'm back at it with VENGENCE!

I've realised that I like food, and I like eating... so the only way to ensure that I lose weight is to tack on some hard core exercise ... like spin classes etc into the mix to ensure I can still eat what I want and lose weight. See, I can eat what I want, bandit portions, but it's the exercise that really kicks the weight loss into gear and at the moment I'm not motivated to take the baby out in the stroller or the carrier especially when it's cold and rainy out. I only walked once this week, cos the rest of the week the weather was shite... not a good excuse I know, but I don't want the baby to come down with a cold because I took him out in the wet weather (I'm a good mummy I know! :))

So, what now? I haven't weighed since Monday, but I was 94.8kg so just maintaining at the moment. I'm really trying to cook meals from scratch and eat "natural" foods... for eg, making a guacamole dip from scratch - avocados, tomatos, onion, sour cream, lemon juice, salt pepper... rather than buying the dip from the supermarket premade. I've been roasting chicken with loads of herbs and spices (so freaking delicious!), making salads with homemade dressings, salad wraps with loads of goodies packed... but I know I can eat too much at the moment and really need a fill. BUT, I am breastfeeding so I know I should be eating slightly more... I'm eating loads of good healthy stuff, no doubt there, but just too much...

... and tim tams... I'm eating too many tim tams :(

Here's another pic of my monkey man!

LBG xx

My baby is 1 month old already!!

...time sure does fly! Can't believe he's 1 month old already. Despite the 1am and 4am feedings, poopie nappies and projectile pee I fee so blessed to have this little guy in my life. :)

I dismally failed at my goals for this week. Only exercised twice this week, had fruit maybe once but I have been sticking to my bandit sized portions. I don't enjoy walking. I enjoy the gym and I can't wait to get back to my spin, step and pump classes again. 1 month to go until I can start back at the gym!!
Weigh-in on Monday was 94.1kg.

Just a short post today, monkey man is starting to wake up so it's time for a feed!

LBG xx

It was good while it lasted...

... the free weight loss ride is well and truely over!

Weighed in on Monday at 93.4kg. Weighed in today at 93.6kg. That's a loss of 12.4kg since I gave birth. Not bad in 3 weeks. But my weight loss has stopped.. and I haven't stopped eating crap.. so now it's time I pull in the reigns and get my head in the right space for weigh loss and healthy eating. I also need to start walking. I have been meaning to get out once a day with Master L but it's been so cold and I've been quite busy with relatives coming and visiting every freaking day. They've left now so back to some sort of routine.

I have been LOVING sushi though and have had it 3 times this week. SO GOOD!

I still have quite good restriction and don't really need to go back and see the fill doctor at this point in time. So I'm going to wait another couple of months and see how I go. I'm still getting evening heartburn but it's nowhere near as bad as it was when I was pregnant. I've halved my heartburn medication and only taking it before bed so I'm happy with that.

So the plan for next week:

Have breakfast every day - easier said than done when you've got a baby feeding on demand every 2-3 hours. I try and get a shower in there as well and clean the apartment, do some laundry and catch up on e-mails and stuff... but I will have breakky every day, promise!

Have 2 pieces of fruit every day. I have been SO SLACK in the fruit department. I've got some mandarins and strawberries in the fridge, but being winter I don't really feel like fruit at the moment. Gotta change that attitude.

Bandit sized portions - enough said on that one.

30-1 hour walk every day - again, difficult with a baby but do-able, either in the pram or the baby carrier.

Going to have to leave it there as I can hear munchin start to wake and should go and feed him now.

LBG xx

Sleeeeeeeeep....

I would sell my first born son for a solid 8 hours sleep...

... Just kidding!!

But seriously, I would kill for sleep that lasted longer than 2 hours.. I know I was complaining about getting up 5 times a night to pee, but I would take that over 2 hours sleep, 1 hour feeds, 2 hours sleep 1 hour feeds any day!! Ok, whinge over!

Sneaky jump on the scales today and I'm 93.2kg. Woo-freaking-hoo! I have yet to try on my pre-preggo jeans, they're in a box somewhere and DH has to get it down from the closet for me... It would be so cool if I could breastfeed my way to my goal weight! I think I'll probably have to start exercising to make that happen though... Breastfeeding will only do so much!

I am hardly eating at the moment. Probably 1 full meal (bandit sized full meal!) a day and that's usually dinner because my DH is home and he can take over the babysitting. Sometimes I manage a weight watchers meal in the middle of the day, but usually I get halfway through it and my boobie monster is up for a feed so it ends up going cold and bleh...

I'm snacking on cow cheese, nuts, rice crackers and corn chips. Very healthy I know... but so much easier for me to grab than to make a sandwich or a salad when you've got a second person attached to you and using up all your arms and hands (usually used for making said sandwich or salad!). I am drinking plenty of water though....

Tracey - I only had the head of 2 spears of asparagus so maybe that wasn't enough to cause any problems cos I didn't notice a change in my LO feeding habits. But I will keep that in mind for next time I feel like asparagus. I heard that we shouldn't be having things like onion, cabbage, broccolli and chocolate as well cos it can cause gas in the baby when feeding?

OK, enough from me for today. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

LBG xx

Monday Weekly Weigh-in

I'm going to start my weekly weigh-in again and make myself more accountable again... It's been easy to hide my weight through the pregnancy cos it was OK to gain weight. But now thats all over with, my focus is on healthy eating and exercise.

Today I weighed in at 95.5kg. That's a 10.5kg loss in 12 days since giving birth. COOL. I'm sure this won't last though. I will get on at some point this week and update my actual stats on the side of my blog as they are heaps old!

I'm off to make chicken patties before Master L wakes up for a feed. Tonight we're having chicken patties with grilled asparagus and zucchini for dinner. YUM!

LBG xx

Almost human again...

We've been back home for 5 days now and I have to say, it's amazing what a few hours of uninterrupted sleep can do for you. Granted, the sleeping tends to be done in the middle of the day, it's still soooooooo good to not have people come in and interrupt you, weird noises and other things that happen in hospital.

DS seems to like to sleep mostly during the day, so I try to have a good 2-3 hour sleep in the afternoon. Then feed him around 4-5pm, make dinner and chillax with DH until DS wakes for a feed at 8-9pm. Then I go to bed and feed DS around 11pm, 2am and 5am. DS is sleeping well during the day... I have to wake him for feeds and so I'm trying to get his night/day sleep cycles sorted cos they are backwards at the moment.

On the weight loss front... I'm down to 97.1kg... that's a loss of 8.9kg!! Yes, I am thrilled. I feel really soft and squidgy at the moment so I'm sure that my clothes don't fit exactly right. But that's OK cos I'm still wearing my maternity pants. They are ALOT looser though. My boobs are HUGE at the moment. I am breastfeeding exclusively and have gone up a couple of cup sizes... having huge boobs does have it's upside... they make my waist look smaller! hehe

I'm really not trying at all with my diet. Still have restriction, but not watching the calories at all. Just making sure I am drinking heaps of water. I am also going to try and get out for walks in the morning, just waiting for some more healing downstairs... it's also so friggen COLD right now!

And just as I give birth to my Baby, I have to send out a big congratulations to EM who has just found out she is pregnant (and also has a lapband!). YAY EM!!! Here's to a happy and healthy 9 months!

Thanks for reading!

And here is a photo of my precious little angel:

LBG xx