Workout Highs, Good Friends, Good Times..

Happy Sunday all!!!
Today is one of those days that I remember how much I love living in Arizona. It's GORGEOUS out!  Close to 70 degrees with a little breeze and almost perfect. Timmy and I went to lunch (Pita Jungle of course Michelle!) and sat outside and just enjoyed the fresh air. I had my first official public PB experience though which was no fun. I don't know why I keep trying, but Pita is not my friend. I had to excuse myself and head to the ladies room for a quick spit up/near vomit experience.  Oh well, one day I'll learn!

I went to the gym and I think I know what it means to have a workout high. I was rocking the treadmill, listening to my tunes and I could have just walked for hours.. I finally looked down at my time ( moved my towel b/c I hate seeing the time go by on the treadmill) and I had already gone 45 minutes!!  I was sweating like a beast but just kept going. I rounded out the hour and then called it a day. But now, I feel FABULOUS!!  I did about 150 abs (on my favorite ab/sprinboard combo ).  The gym I go to is a very small gym and most people go there for Personal Training so there was NO ONE there. It was awesome.

Last night, Michelle and Joy and I went out for a little Girls Night Out.  They are both Moms so they were in need of some cocktails. We might have gone to the deadest (is that a word?) bar in Scottsdale! Nevertheless, we proceeded to knock down some drinks, have some dinner and just laugh and laugh and gossip.  It was one of those "good for your soul" evenings.  

So, more fun this week!  My friends Jen, Jen , Julie and I are going skiing on Friday - taking the day off and hoping they can all survive without us for the day!  I haven't skiied in a while (about 4 years) and I'm hoping I can still do it!!  I cannot wait!! I dug out my ski-stuff and realized that my pants that I had were purchased about 3 sizes ago so I needed some new ones.  Luckily I found a good deal at REI yesterday!

I'm getting a fill this week!! Can't wait as I know I definitely need it.  Also, am doing my weigh in with Kathi tomorrow as well as measurements.  I'll post my progress tomorrow! Finally, I'm in on  Kristin's workout Challenge this week so I'll post my progress at the end of each blog, which will force me to blog every day! Lucky you!! ha!

Hope you all have had a great weekend!! 
xo, js

Sunday, 1/31:  Workout - 60 minutes cardio, 150 abs..

The Blog about Nothing...

It appears I have lost my BloJo (Blog MoJo)!  I haven't had anything to talk about lately.  So, I've been reading a lot of blogs and haven't had a lot of time to comment since I mostly do my reading at work and there's usually a fire to be put out somewhere as soon as I start to comment!  I'll get better at that.

My hamstring injury is getting better.  I worked out again on Wednesday and while we did not do legs, I felt much better after about 30 minutes of walking.  I need to get back on my workout kick. I mean, I'm still working out pretty consistently, but I haven't been doing cardio as intensely as I had, which I believe is the reason for .... (drumroll please)....................I have hit a plateau. 

It sucks, but I haven't lost a lb in about 3 weeks. I've been teetering up and down. Super frustrating but I won't let it get the best of me. I know that I haven't been a model Bandster and I know for sure that I need to get a fill. I also know that my clothes are still getting looser and I'm buying things in smaller sizes than I have in years. That is motivating me now.  I have a fill scheduled for next week and it would be nice if that did the trick. 

Hope everyone is having a great week!
xo,js

What good are legs for anyways???

Yes, those were the exact words that came out of my mouth this morning while working out with Kathi, my trainer..  You see, minutes before, I continued the curse of My Left Leg but pulling my hamstring something FIERCE!!!!!  What is the Curse of my Left Leg you ask??  Let me take you back a year or so.. 
First, I had a stress fracture in my left foot caused by who knows what..  had to wear a boot for 3 weeks. That was fun. Second, I fell outside my doctor's office whilst wearing new cute wedge shoes and bruised and twisted my foot so badly that my podriatrist said it would have been better off had I broken it!! So, I was off that foot for about another 3-4 weeks, and then when all seems clear, I go and do what I did today!  I was doing a similar move that I have done tons of times in the gym and this morning, I just heard something snap and  felt something pull. I thought "hmmm, that didn't feel too good" so I complained (I normally complain so this was not unusual) and we tried a million different ways to stretch it out, but none worked and the pain has gradually gotten pretty rough throughout the day. I'm able to walk but it's just a throbbing pain. I'm hoping it subsides soon b/c I really wanted to do some cardio today but am going to take a break and hope for the best for tomorrow.

Anyways, what I had planned on doing was a little survey, so I'll post that below! Hope everyone had a great weekend!!  I have a lot of blogs to catch up on. I wasn't barely online all weekend.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:10! 

2. How do you like your steak? Medium

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Avatar in IMAX 3D this weekend - DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!!! It was good, but not the most fabulous movie that everyone keeps sahing it is!

4. What is your favorite TV show? I watch a LOT of TV!!!  My current fave is Modern Family and then Glee is a close 2nd.  I also love Reality!!

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? I would move back to Chicago in a heartbeat if the timing were right and the planets aligned (great job, baby, etc... )

6. What did you have for breakfast? Scoop of Peanut Butter and an apple juice

7. What is your favorite cuisine? Mexican but I can't do burritos anymore!

8. What foods do you dislike? Cauliflower, Cooked Broccali, Salmon

9. Favorite place to eat? Pita Jungle

10. Favorite dressing? Balsamic Vinegar - no oil

11. What kind of vehicle do you drive? White Honda Accord

12. What are your favorite clothes? Jeans, Yoga Pants and long sleeve t-shirts

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? I keep saying I want to go to Thailand for my 40th, but no one is willing to go with!!  I would also love to go to Greece and/or Bali

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? Depends on the day.  We have a joke in our family that my husband and my SIL's cups are ALWAYS 1/2 full and my brother and mine are always 1/2 empty. Mostly full though these days!
15. Where would you want to retire? Wherever all my closest friends are.

16. Favorite time of day? Evening

17. Where were you born? Oscoda, Michigan (in the thumb of Michigan yo)
18. What is your favorite sport to watch? College Football and Basketball

19. Bird watcher? I'm a bird fleer...I've been randomly attacked by birds too many times.. I freak!!

20. Are you a morning person or a night person? Def Morning

21. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? Uh no... nothing exciting going on!!!

22. What did you want to be when you were little? A Radiologist or Oceanographer

23. What is your best childhood memory? I have too many to name.. I had a great childhood!!

24. Are you a cat or dog person? I'm somewhat of a dog lover..  I have two that I love most of the time

25. Are you married? Yep!

26. Always wear your seat belt? Always, it's the law!

27. Been in a car accident? Um, unfortunately yes, and a lot of them!!
28. Any pet peeves? Um yeah, I have several:   people who saying something rude or hurtful and then follow up with an "I'm just kidding" - uh, no you aren't.. you wouldn't have said it in the first place if you were; Liars; Gum smacking and chewing with your mouth open! 

29. Favorite Pizza Toppings? I used to love Pepperoni but Pizza is no longer my friend!!!

30. Favorite Flower? Peonies.

31. Favorite ice cream? Neapolitan - although I only ever eat the Strawberry and Chocolate parts

32. Favorite fast food restaurant? Chik - fil- a when I can have it but nothing really lately!

33. How many times did you fail your driver's test? None when I got it in Mississippi, 3 times in Germany.. it was HARD!!

34. From whom did you get your last email? My boss

35. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Bloomingdales

36. Do anything spontaneous lately? Nope, I'm boring!!

37. Broccoli? YUCK!

38. What was your favorite vacation? Most definitely my recent Mexican vacation in October. That or San Fran with Tim a couple of years ago

39. Last person you went out to dinner with? Michelle, Timmy and Brandon (and KD too!)

40. What are you listening to right now? The white noise above my workstation..  very quiet in here!!

41. What is your favorite color? Green

42. How many tattoos do you have? None

43. Coffee drinker? Nope, never have even had a cup!

Today's Blog Post brought to you by 7 year old Maddie M!

So, for those of you that don't know, my husband turned 40 last October and we went (along with 6 of our buddies) to Mexico to celebrate.  I got the above cups made for our trip and had SEVERAL leftovers from my order. I gave some to my friend Melissa while she was here in November and she brought them home for her kids. 

Yesterday, I received something in the mail from Melissa and it had a sticky note on it stating " This is Maddie's schoolwork.. hilarious"  Attached to the sticky note was a letter with a picture of a little girl and boy and two of the "Heavy Nacho's 40th" cups next to a sink.  Here is the letter:

" Me and my brother made up a game it's called Heavy Nachos 40th.  There's big cups that say heavy nachos 40th but there really big cups. so me and my brother fill them up to the top.  That's really high. We try to drink the hole thing of water. We take big gulps of water I always feel wierd in my stomach.  Me and my brother always say ahh when we're done. it feels good.  Every time when we're done playing my brother says I would have liked it with milk better.  He loves milk.  I don't like milk.  The water feels wierd in our stomach. It makes gurgling sounds."

I almost peed my pants reading this letter!!! I loved it!!! Tim told me he plans to write Maddie back and tell her that he loves to play this game but with Beer!!!

xo,js

Keep on Keeping On...

First, thanks to everyone who commented on my last blog (aka Pity Party!) I'm feeling much better today!!  And feeling the LOVE!! I appreciate it!

So, I'm still at work.. so not fun!!! Obviously, I'm not really working right now (am taking a break :) ) but damn, can't a girl get a break every once in awhile from the craziness?? Not me or my co-horts I guess!

Had a couple of NSV (non-scale victories for the non-weight loss followers!) that I wanted to share!!
Some are kind of silly but hey, I'll take what I can get somedays!

1. Went to see my endocrinologist today. I hadn't seen her since mid-2009 and I don't think I ever told her I was getting my surgery. For the first time ever, I did not worry about getting on the scale at her office b/c I knew that whatever the number was, it was a LOT better than it was last time I was there!! She was shocked that I had lost so much weight and then I had to fill her in on the new addition to my stomach! 

2.  Tim and I were laying in bed the other night and we were comparing arm muscles and he said to me " your arms are getting skinny Miss Magoo" (his name for me) and then he said, "you are looking Hot!' - then I of course told him he had the bigger muscles and gave him a hug!! Love that man!

3.  I went to the mall last night after work and bought a pair of jeans - 2 SIZES SMALLER - WOOT WOOT!!!!!


I was scanning through some pictures on my computer the other day and I came across this gem of a pic.  This was exactly 3 weeks before my surgery and I don't even recognize myself anymore.  I still have a double chin, but definitely don't have 3 or 4 anymore!!  And the shirt I'm wearing in the pic I wear all the time now to workout and it falls off my shoulders.   Thank god for the LapBand!!! 

Observations and 2 a days..

Happy Monday! Doesn't that make you want to punch them when someone says that?? I mean, really, who's happy about Mondays?? Not me!!! "Someone's got a case of the Mondays" and it's me!!! Plus, the weather is shitacular here in AZ today. Gone are the blue skies and warm sun and instead, we have pouring rain, grey, cold (as in lower 60's cold) and crappy... happy freaking Monday!

So, I had some observations this weekend that I thought I'd share..

1. I'm not sure that I'm a person who "connects" well with others in blogland. I've had a blog for a couple of years over at another site and I kind of noticed the same thing over there. I mean, I think I'm a hoot and am a fabulous person to know, but I'm not sure I convey that very well through my blogs. I don't really get a lot of comments on my blog and I don't know what it takes to be one of those people that everyone is drawn to. I started this blog as a way for my family and friends to keep updated with my life and with my surgery progress, but in the meantime, I have found many wonderful people with whom I have the Lap Band procedure in common. I, unlike many others who have had my procedure, do not have my weight posted or my measurements, or even a before picture. This wasn't something I necessarily wanted my friends and family to know (weight and measurements, they know what I looked like!). I did pretty much tell everyone who would listen that I was having the surgery. I have never been ashamed of it and really needed all the support I could get. And, I've gotten it. Anyways.. I digress.. just was talking to Michelle about that this weekend and was kind of heartbroken that I wasn't the popular girl in blogland that I always wanted to be!!! :)

2. Another observation - I was sitting in a chair watching the Golden Globes last night and I looked down at my crossed legs.. did you catch that?? I said, my crossed legs!!! Um, when did that happen that I could cross my legs?? If you were an earlier reader, you know that I did the top 45/46 reasons I wanted to lose weight and crossing my legs was one of them!! How in theh world did I miss that happening?? Regardless, I'm giving myself a big ole' woot woot for that one!!!

3. One more observation - went to get a Pedi this weekend and noticed that when they pushed the arm of the chair over and it snapped in, it didn't snap back like it had in the past b/c my booty was overflowing!! Another WOOT!!!

4. I canceled my fill that was for this Wednesday. I rescheduled it for 2 weeks from now. I've been having a little bit of port pain everytime I work out when I do side crunches and I want to see if this current level of restriction will last for a bit longer. I think another fill of 1cc might put me OVER the edge so we'll see.. hopefully I won't be begging to get in next week after I realize I'm non-stop starving!!!

5. I took a picture this weekend and didn't have to jut my chin out like I normally do in order to get rid of (or try to get rid of) my double/triple chins.. kind of a fuzzy pic, but I like it.. (was trying on my friend Joy's fabulous new glasses)

Finally, I think I'm going to commit (by commit, I mean I am writing it here so my trainer can see it and the other peeps that hold me accountable can also see!) to working out 2x a day a few days a week. I've been going to work out with Kathi in the AMs and we've had a hard time keeping on track due to my recent flus/sicknesses/some personal matters she had, but I'm pumped and ready to get on a regular schedule. So, my plan is to work out in the AM on MWF and then in the PM on MTWT and occasionally F and throw a Saturday or Sunday in there. I'm checking out Zumba tomorrow night as well!!!

Speaking of working out, I'm late in getting out of here for the gym. See ya'll later.

xo,js

Friday, Friday, Oh How I Love you Friday!!

I don't think there's anyone more happy that it's Friday than me!!! Really, I don't!! Work has been ca-razy lately and I'm looking forward to some down-time this weekend!! I have a lot of rambling thoughts so I thought I'd write a quick blog..

1. My stomach flu was as quick in it's going as it was in it's coming.. thankyoubabyjesus.... I feel MUCH better today!!! AND, I think I managed to drop a couple lbs too!! yahoo for Stomach Flus!! (j/k)

2. So, it appears that meat of any kind (chicken, beef, pork) is NOT my friend lately. Everytime I take a couple of bites, I spend about 20 minutes hovered over the sink trying to get it out. Not so pleasant.. So, I need to start working on some other protein alternatives.. what does everyone else consider their go-to protein fix??

3. With the newest development in my meat intolerance.. I'm thinking that I might reschedule my fill that I have scheduled for next week. I think my restriction seems pretty good. I might be able to push it for another couple of weeks.

4. Has anyone ever been on a Hot Air Balloon ride?? When I was driving into work this morning, I saw a HAB in the air, just over the mountain range and it looks like it would be soo much fun!! Of course, first thing I did was google if there was a weight limit on those bad boys.. b/c, just my luck, even after losing some weight, I'd still be too chubbo to get on one..

5. Finally got back in the gym with Kathi this morning!!! It sucked but was glad to get back on schedule.

6. Am thinking of trying Zumba this weekend based on all the people that say how much fun it is!!

I had more to say when I started typing this but got interrupted 20+ times so my thoughts went away!! (damn you work, can't you see I'm BUSY blogging?? )

Have a great weekend!!!