The Attack of the Jens and Fun Hiking...

I was a lucky girl this weekend and got to meet up with Jen and Jen.  I had such a great time with these ladies, they are so beautiful!  I also got meet Jen's (from Arizona) mom, she was so sweet!  Here is a picture that her mother was kind enough to take for us...

After brunch I went to Jen's apartment to get some clothes!  She gave me another pile of goodies, she is so good to me.  I received a few things that where given to her by other bandsters, I love that, so cool!

Sunday morning I had a training session with my trainer and worked a lot on the upper body strength.  I was almost in tears by the end, feel the burn!!  When I came back up to my apartment Dan had made me an egg white omelet, so nice!

Dan and I have been talking a lot lately about being more active.  He is very fit and athletic and loves to go hiking.  Every time we have gone hiking in the past it ends in shouting and tears.  I give up when it gets too hard and then we have the same argument about how I am so unhappy being fat and Dan is mad because I won't do anything to change it.  The argument then "snaps" me back to reality and I realize what I am doing to my body and I join Weight Watchers, again!  Needless to say, we have not gone hiking in over two years.

Well, that is until yesterday!  After breakfast Dan and I went Hacklebarney State Park to go hiking.  It was AWESOME!  I was very sweaty and bright red in the face, but I did it.  I can't believe how different my mindset was this time.  I WANTED to sweat and challenge myself.  I am sure the trails that we did were too easy for Dan, but he was a good sport!  There were a few steep climbs, some rocky paths and then one semi-paved path.  Here are some pics...

I am a hot mess in the next couple!

After all of this and the training sessions, I am very upset about the 2 pound gain this week.   Hopefully tomorrows fill will do the trick and get me back on track!

Three posts in one day - what is wrong with me?!  That's it, no more today - I promise!

Have a great day my little pups!

I Love You All!

Thank you so much for your comments the other day on my progress pictures!  You have no idea what all of your comments mean to me (or maybe you do!).  I really do love you all and have no idea how I would do this with out your constant support!  

Hide and Seek...

Okay, so I am playing Hide and Seek with restriction.  Where did it go?  I was doing so well the last couple of months and now - I gained TWO pounds this week - WTF!?

Over the last week or so I have noticed quite a change in my restriction.  I can eat a lot more now and I am getting hungry much quicker in between meals.  I am so upset about the 2 pounds, so much so that I am dying to get into Dr. Ren's office for a fill.  I am currently scheduled for June 1st, which is only a week a way.  But, I really don't want to gain anymore weight and this weekend is going to be CRAZY!  I have all this family stuff going on because it is my Mom's 60th birthday.  There are dinners and surprise family picnics and all my favorite Connecticut food - steamers, yum!

****Well, I just got off the phone with Dr. Ren's office - they are squeezing me in tomorrow morning at 7 - YAY!!!****  

I have my cards all ready to go for my "Why" post.  I just need to take the pictures, so hopefully sometime this week I can put them up.

5:00 am Ass Kicking and Comparison Shots, Yikes!

Hello All!

Thanks for the comments regarding the Fish Oil question!  I will look into it some more this weekend.

I am so excited to tell all you lovely people that I have.......A Personal Trainer!!  I love her, she is supper awesome! We met for our first official training session on Saturday.  Before we stared she did BMI & body fat calculations and then did my measurements.   We will do all of that again in a couple of weeks to see the progress.

I will be meeting with her twice a week, Saturday afternoons and 5:00 AM Tuesday mornings.  The first 5 am session was yesterday and it was rough.  I mean, it's not that bad because the gym is in our building.  She lives there too.  But my alarm goes off at 4:25, yuck!  Once I got down there it was okay and I was ready to get to work.  Each day we meet she works with me on a new program and then at the end gives me that program as a homework assignment for me to work on by myself during the week.

So, the first session on Saturday - she kicked my ass!  It was kinda embarrassing - the noises coming from my mouth!  I swear if you just heard me without actually going into the room, you would think I was doing very naughty things ;)  Oh and I cursed, a lot.  I apologize after each bad word and she just laughed and said she's heard worse!

After my workout with her yesterday morning I felt like taking progress pictures.  I realized that I had not taken any for a few months and my original goal was to did every month.  These are a little off because I am not wearing the same pants in this months pictures - they are black and seem to hid lots of scary crap.  You can click on the pictures to make them larger - IF YOU DARE...  Hahahahahahahaha!

Now for some side by side comparisons...

Not too bad, I guess!  They will only keep getting better, right?!?!  Sorry for all of the pics, I go a little crazy sometimes...

Quick Question...

Just a quick post here, I have a personal trainer, yay!  More to come on that after my 5 AM!?! workout tomorrow...

Anyway, my questions is - Does/has anyone take(n) Fish Oil supplements?

That's all for now, my little pets!

BMI Changes

I have posted some information on the sidebar of my blog.  The heading is "Progress Information" and I have attached two links.  The first link is called "Progress Data" and is a detailed list of my weekly weights and BMI information.  The second link is called "Weight Loss Chart" and is a chart plotting out my progress in weekly increments.  Once you open the chart, you can adjust the size of it by using the + and - buttons located in the top right hand corner.

As I posted my measly .5 lbs loss for this week, I realized something amazing has happened - I am no longer "Morbidly Obese"!  This is exciting news, my BMI has dropped from 47.55 to 39.96!  40 and above is considered Morbidly Obese, so I just squeaked into the "Obese" category!  Yay!

That is about all the news I have right now!  I will leave you all with a picture of me from the Sia concert last week.  She was amazing, her voice is even more beautiful live!

Making The Girls Happy ;)

So, the other day I posted some pics of my trip to Bermuda.  I have not really been that happy with my bathing suit to begin with - but after actually seeing pics of me in it all I can say is "Holy Boobies, Batman!".  There is quite a lot of saggage (I am pretty sure this is not really a word) going on here and to tell you the truth - I wasn't all that comfortable after wearing it all day long walking around.  There is like zero support for the girls - ZERO!

I have always bought bathing suits based on the body size, not bra/cup size.  I have decided to look for one that is specifically made for support and this is what I found, what do you think?  Be honest...

I decided to get this top because it has an underwire and the double straps are adjustable.  I normally go with the skirt bottom - but let me tell you - they are so uncomfortable once the skirt gets wet.  It takes HOURS for it to dry.  I have a great coverup so I figured I would brave it out and get the regular bottoms.

Another reason this has been on my mind is because my building has a pool and hot tub, that I really, really would like to use!

In order to enjoy it I must feel as comfortable in my suit as possible.  My building is FULL of attractive, young, hotties - which makes me uncomfortable already just thinking about taking my coverup off!

Bandwise, things are going great!  I went and saw Gasper on Tuesday and was told that I had lost 10 lbs in the last month!  Yay!  So, we both decided that I was good for now with my restriction and that we would talk again on June 1st.  I am okay with that, and kind of expected it.  I am at the point right now where I can pretty much eat anything, but I am getting full quicker.  I get a little stuck when I eat, but nothing serious.  He said that if I continue losing like this I will most likely need a tweek in June because my stomach will shrink a bit and the band might loosen.

I am going to to dinner with Dan tonight at Il Bastardo before we head off to Terminal 5 to see Sia, I am so excited, click on her name and check out this video - the song is called Breath Me and is amazing.  I have been following her forever now, but this song hit the "mainstream" after it was featured in the series finale of Six Feet Under.  <3 her!!

Oh, before I forget, Lynda needs your help!  She changed her blog, it used to be The Band Saga and is now This Time Next Year.  Click on her name and make sure you follow her on her new blog...

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Hello, I Missed You ALL!!!

I am back from my week long cruise and desperately trying to catch up on blogs.  I will be honest here - there are a lot I won't be able to read - I am apologizing now.  It is just impossible for me to read them all, I have almost three hundred unread  posts, yikes!  If there is anything that you think I should read, please let me know, otherwise, I love you all and will do my best to get caught up!

Bermuda was beautiful, I have never seen anything like it before!  The color of the water - I have been craving to see this water with my own two eyes for so long - it was even more amazing when I actually saw it.  It gave me the chills!

Here are a couple of pics of the group...

This is at the Martini Bar - our favorite "Before Dinner Cocktails" spot!

This is our dinning table, a wonderfully sweet couple - J & A - were seated with us for the week.  Our head waiter is in the middle, he was so much fun!  

The second day we were docked in Bermuda we went on a Taxi Tour with J & A.  We got to see quite a bit of Bermuda and the Taxi driver stopped at a few places and gave us 20 minutes to explore and take pictures at each stop.

So, as I said - Bermuda was wonderful, I really enjoyed myself.  The cruise itself?  Not so much!  I have never had the urge to go on a cruise.  My husband and I have both agreed that cruising is just not that appealing to us, not our kind of trip.  I went on this trip because it was with my friends and I am a firm believer that you should always try something once if you have the opportunity.

Three LONG days sailing from Bayonne, NJ to Bermuda - I felt like I was in Purgatory!  We docked for three days and then we were stuck on the ship once again as it sailed home, which took another 1.5 days.  We just got home yesterday and as I am typing this I am swaying!  I still have my "Sea Legs", totally annoying!  Don't get me wrong, the food and service were really great, I was pleasantly surprised.  I just couldn't believe how many OLD people were there - it was like a geriatric home, ahahaahahah!  I am talking tons of 70-80 year olds - not really what I had in mind...

Oh well, I tried it and I didn't like it, no big deal.  I would love to go back with Dan and stay at one of the resorts - Bermuda was so much fun.  Everyone was very nice and there was plenty to do.

Now, onto the big question - "Colleen, you went on a cruise for a whole week!  Wow, how much weight did you gain?!"  The answer - "NOTHING, I actually LOST 2 lbs, WTF!!"

This is totally crazy, I can't believe it.  I once heard someone say "They say that the average person gains anywhere from 8 to 14 lbs on a cruise."  That is crazy, but I can see how that would be possible between all the food and drinks that are available 24/7!  The best part for me is that I never really felt like I was "Trying".  I just ate when I was hungry and because I was with "normal" people at every meal, I ate a lot slower than them.  When I could see that they were almost finishing their meal, I would just stop eating mine.  This allowed me to eat smaller portions, which can be difficult because the staff does NOT understand words like - a little bit, that's enough and no dessert!

I definitely ate way more times a day than normal.  I would eat very little at breakfast, it is hard for me to eat in the morning, I always get stuck.  For lunch I would have some sushi and some pasta or something.  Our dinner seating wasn't until 8:30, so I would begin to feel peckish around 4:30, so we would go down and get tortilla chips and fresh salsa to snack on.  Dinner consisted of an Appetizer, Soup or Salad, Entrée and Dessert!  I would eat a little of everything and only walked away from the table feeling completely stuffed once.  I am very happy with the loss and extremely happy that I didn't feel like I was on a cruise while on a diet, that must feel terrible!  I heart my band!

This week's loss now brings me down to 41 lbs lost, yay!  I am so happy, I am actually out of the 220's - I saw a 1 after the 2!  It has been a few years since I weighed 220, so amazing!

I have an appointment with Dr. Ren's office tomorrow, not sure if I am going to get a fill or not, we shall see.

That's all for now, tata!