Dear Dr. Oz...get me on your show...ASAP

Linda posted the other day about the Dr. Oz show that focused on Lapband surgery.  And just like Linda...I thought that Dr. Oz presented a very balanced look at the lapband.  The show really focused on the recent BMI requirements and how they changed...and the question was "For someone with just 30 pounds to lose...is the lapband a good idea?"

However...I had just one teensy weensy (and by teensy weensy I mean HUGE) problem with the show (as did Linda).

They featured two lapband patients, one 6 years out, one 6 months out.  And they showed how much each ate now that they were banded.  The girls 6 months out...get this...

breakfast:  6 tablespoons of yogurt
lunch:  maybe a cup of broth
dinner:  crap...I can't remember...but is wasnt solid either.

I was yelling at the tv.  I was flabbergasted.  I was annoying Heather.

First, I could and did eat more than that a WEEK after surgery.
Second, if six months after surgery your doctor still wants you on liquids and mushies...COO COOOOO!
Third, what she was showing doesnt follow ANY bandster rules I have ever heard of.  Everything she ate was a slider and hardly any protein!

It made me so frustrated because I do not want anyone thinking it's that "easy".  I also don't want someone considering lapband to look at that and say there is NO WAY I am getting the surgery if that's all I can eat!

It was some BULL-HONKEY!  So...I emailed Dr. Oz today.  I am sure he will call me later tonight.  I will keep you posted.

In the meantime, it did make me realize that for those just starting to research WLS, I should (and perhaps YOU as well) should write up a little post about what OUR lives look like now that we are banded.  I mean...I know you can tell that by reading through our blogs...but I have to remind myself some people don't know the ins and outs of banding like those of us who have been around the band block.

Yes?  yes.

Happy Thursday!

Atkins Is Over...and So is the biggest loser challenge!

The BL challenge was 3 months long. We will not know the winner until this afternoon...

My starting weight:  176.5  
Ending weight: 159.5
Difference: 17
Body percentage lost:  9.63

My partners starting weight: 174
Ending weight: 141
Difference:  33 pounds
Body percentage lost: 19.20

I will take it!  It was tough.  Atkins helped me lose 15 of those 17 pounds over the last 2 weeks and four days.  I am sooo looking forward to maintaining again...to not being obsessed or crazy.  To just being healthy and fit.

I thought I would do a little recap of my thoughts on Atkins for your guys.

Pro's: 

• I was really on a sweet kick.  Starting Atkins was a real eye-opener for me.  It took less than a day for me to realize that practically everything I was putting in my mouth was sugar loaded.  I was eating a lot of candy, drinking regular soda, and tons of other carbs.
• I have always thought that the idea of restricting carbs was a load of whooey.  But it is interesting, after the first 4 days off of sugar and carbs, how I do crave them less.
• Seeing how 98% of the things I enjoy do have carbs, I have found some new products and alternatives out there to high carb or high sugar options...ones that I will continue to buy and eat regardless of whether or not I am doing Atkins.
• The idea of how we burn fat based on what we are eating is very cool train of thought. I would like to continue to explore this topic.
• I have realized I do not need or require the immense amount of carbs and sugar-shit I was eating.  I just don't. 
• It helped me lose some weight!  Whether or not it was really because of ketosis, or just because it was a change to my normal routine...it definitely helped me shed over 10 ell-bees!
• It was fun and a crazy feeling relief not to have to add my calories up in my  head all.day.long.

Cons:

• I went and gave blood last week and they get your cholesterol read.  Remember that I have been trying for over a year to find my genetics and bring my number (usually around 213 and my doctor wants it under 200) down.  Last month at my doctor visit, it was 197!  Last week, not even two weeks into Atkins...it was 237.  The highest it has ever been.  Even higher than presurgery.
• Lack of energy.  Atkins says that by week 2, you should have more energy.  Not so much for me.
• The social aspect of Atkins blows.  Its hard to low-carb/no -carb around others without making them aware of it.
• It's expensive!  Even if I didnt by the bars...bacon, meat, eggs...aint none of that cheap my friends!
• Less poop action.  You know I love a good movement.
• While I never got full fledged ketosis breath, I had dry mouth a lot and just a weird taste in my mouth.

Where do I go from here?

• I intend to continue to be aware of my carbs.  I will not move on to the official stage 2 of Atkins (called OWL), which allows you 5 more carbs a day (for a total of 25)....although I will try on most days to stay around that goal.
• I want to limit my beer drinking. I don't actual enjoy beer.  It doesnt satisfy any thirst.  If I am going to drink calories, I would rather drink a nice cold pepsi. 
• When I do have breads and pastas, I will have 100% whole wheat.  But that it nothing new.
• The occasional candy bar is not the end of the world....but it adds no value to my nutrition.
• And while I joke about oreo's and ice cream, what I want even more than that is some cereal/granola!  Man...I am going to eat a little of that this weekend.
• I am nervous that when I do eat some sugar, I will go crazy.  I am interested to see if I can feel a physical or mental urge to consume more non-stop.
• For the challenge at work, I have upped my working out.  I remember when I used to work out 3 days a week.  And then it became 5 days a week.  Now it is 5 days a week, and sometimes it is 2 times a day.  It is very easy to slip into crazy...regardless of what it is.  And while I hate to say it, I think my body is a little tired.  I don't want to run myself into the ground.  SO, I may cut back....maybe....:)

Would I recommend it?

• Yes.  At least to jump start a stall, or to get some sugar out of your system.  If you do decide to do it, would recommend following the guidelines to the letter.  You don't need the book. Atkins official website has all the phases, foods, etc. you will need.

Final thoughts:

• We all have to find what works for us. This helped me for sure.
• I am actually super afraid of eating "bad" sugar again.  I am afraid there will be some chemical reaction in my brain and I will go nuts.
• It's crazy to say it...but my band didn't have much to do with this weight loss.  And from here on out, with my level of restriction...my band won't really have much to do with whether I lose more or not.  That will be solely up to me.  What my band WILL do is keep me in check and prevent me from pigging out and gaining all my weight back. 

Sweaty and Sweet

In honor of Karin's Workout Glow Wednesday (which I think is a wonderful idea bc we all are looking for reasons to boast about are cardio induced sweat)...here is this mornings results.

 I double layered my shirts today to sweat a little more.  I don't know if you can tell that white tank is soaked.  Tomorrow morning I am doing cardio before the weigh-in, and I kid you not...I am wearing a long sleeved UnderArmor shirt and beenie (water weight be gone).  I may fall out.  Someone should have the AED ready.  Lisa and I already made a pact that if we do pass out, we will drag our partners body to the scale.  And weigh them in...naked. :)

Temptation Island

It occurred to me that I have neglected to blog about my weekend.  We went to Defuniak to catch some of Fisher's ballgames.  Good times. 

It was a very challenging weekend being on Atkins.  Because this is my choice, I hate to impose my eating restrictions on anyone else, and feel terrible if they begin to make decisions based on what I can and cannot eat.  So Friday night we went out for...

MEXICAN.

Sweet Chalupas, I love Mexican.  I love cheese dip, chips, little carbs that scream "ole'"!  So I watched everyone eat chips and salsa.  In slow motion I watched those little flat pieces of pressed corn (aka chips) dip into the white cheese.  I watched big mugs of cold beer being delivered.  I slobbered on the frozen drink section of the menu.  And then I ordered a chicken burrito and ate the inards.

So on Saturday we woke up early, headed to another ball game. 

The thing about Atkins is...it's not a diet of convenience.  You can't pack fruit, grab a bag of chips, no granola bars...etc.  So I existed on the Atkin bars for the most part.  I decided to cook a late lunch for everyone (bacon cheeseburgers) around 3 (the first time we ate since breakfast)...

and the damn thing got stuck bc I was so hungry and ate it too fast.  Up it came.

And my wonderful Gainey's...well...they drink a lot of beer.  And although I dont miss beer, I kinda wanted to be a little intoxicated late in the day as well...since almost everyone else was. 

No beer for Amy.

And then...it was time to go fishing.  Um...me no likey fishing really.  Because a) you have to touch the worms and b) if you catch the fish you have to TOUCH THEM!

And I will tell you one thing I don't like so far about low carbin' it.  I lack energy.  I can rally for my workouts, but this weekend I was just..."dull".  And Henry was so worried about me.  And everyone thought something was bothering me...but it really wasn't.  I was just missing the "spunk" that makes Amy...Amy.  I couldn't find it...and I didnt like it.

But onward and upward my friends!  Tomorrow is the last day of the competition and I can't WAIT for it to be over.  I will post the results for you, as well as my summary of this low-carb thing.

Happy HumpDay!

12 days in, 2 days left

I am 10 pounds down in the last 12 days.

And yet...today I had a teensy weensy break down.

DAMN YOU POST PMS*

*I decided today that there is such a condition as post-pms.  Call me Dr. Amy.

Doing this weight loss challenge with a partner is stressful because I want to do good for my partner.  I want to do my part!  Lisa has lost 32 pounds in the 3 months since we have been doing this challenge.  She started at 174 l.bs.  Granted, that was a high weight for her and she went from not working out at all, to working out and changing her diet...but she has done extremely well, and I am super proud of her.

But I feel like I haven't pulled my weight (hahahahahaha PUN). 

And I don't think I will meet my goal of 159 pounds by Thursday.  That's 4-5 more pounds.  And mama doesn't like not reaching her goals.

So, I am stuck at 164 since last week.  And after I weighed in today...I hung my head and started to cry.  It went a little something like this:

I step on the scale.

Heather:  "What's the damage"?

I stomp my foot.

Me: "164.  Same as before I worked out this morning.  Same as yesterday!"

I slump in the chair, place forehead on Heather's desk.

Heather: "Babe, your body just likes it where it is.  You are super sexy and I love you. "

Me: crying now and talking like a 3 year-old "But Lisa's body didnt like it where it is...SHE lost weight.  I am letting her down."

Heather: "You are not letting her down.  She is proud of you".  hugging me "Now stop it". more hugs "Stop it right now".

And so I did.  But it happened. 

So on Thursday morning, I think around 10 am....I will weigh in.  Here's hoping my friends!

Happy Tuesday!

The Addiction that Was

Sometimes I find is hard to articulate to "non foodies", just why I couldn't "push away from the table"...or how I became 327 pounds.  We all have our reasons, but I stand beside the fact that I am addicted to food.  Even now, healthy and 162 pounds, I think of food...pretty much non-stop. 

So...

I thought this article was interesting. If you would like to see it in it's original form, you can click here.  Bariatric Girl does an awesome job of posting weight loss surgery and related articles on her Facebook Page...which you can find here.

Whether eating food or simply craving it, food lovers appear to have neural activity similar to that of substance abusers, a small study suggests.


The study of 48 young women (mean age 20) found that while the women were anticipating drinking a chocolate milkshake, those with higher food addiction scores had greater activation in brain regions associated with reward than those with lower scores, Ashley Gearhardt, MS, of Yale, and colleagues reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry.


And when the women actually got to drink the milkshake, they had reduced activation of inhibitory brain regions seen on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

"Similar patterns of neural activation are implicated in addictive-like eating behavior and substance abuse and dependence," Gearhardt and colleagues wrote.

Prior research has shown that there's an addictive process in the development of obesity, the researchers noted.

Food and drug use both result in dopamine release in the brain's mesolimbic regions, and the degree of release correlates with subjective reward from both food and drug use.

Yet no studies have examined the neural correlates of addictive-like eating behavior, the researchers said.
So they hypothesized that higher scores on a food addiction scale (the Yale Food Addiction Scale) would be associated with patterns of neural activation that are similar to substance dependence.

Gearhardt and colleagues enrolled 48 healthy young women with body mass indexes (BMI) ranging from lean to obese (24 to 40), who had been recruited for a long-term healthy weight maintenance trial.

Each woman had fMRI as they were exposed to two conditions -- anticipation of a rich chocolate milkshake versus a tasteless control solution, and consumption of the milkshake versus the tasteless control.

The researchers found that food scores correlated with greater activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, medial orbitofrontal cortex, and the amygdala when women anticipated drinking the milkshake (P<0.05).

The anterior cingulate cortex and the orbitofrontal cortex have both been implicated in motivation to eat, as well as with intake of drugs in patients with substance abuse, while the amygdala is also associated with increased motivation to eat.

Women with higher food addiction scores also had more activation in other regions associated with the anticipation of reward -- the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the caudate.
Yet there was less activation in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex when the women actually drank the milkshake -- an area associated with inhibitory control and ability to suppress previously rewarded responses.
Thus, the reduced activation "may be related to either less inhibitory control during intake of palatable food or a reduced satiety response during palatable food intake," Gearhardt and colleagues wrote.
Still, the study showed no significant associations between food addiction scores and BMI.

Those scores, however, were correlated with emotional eating and external eating, so the findings could have something to do with the fact that the sample was young and more metabolically healthy, the researchers added.

Gearhardt's group concluded that the study "supports the theory that compulsive food consumption may be driven in part by an enhanced anticipation of the rewarding properties of food," and that eating "may override desires to limit caloric food consumption ... resulting in disinhibited food consumption."

The researchers noted that their study had some important limitations.

For one thing, they excluded participants with eating disorders and Axis I psychiatric disorders, so few participants met the clinically significant distress or impairment criteria of the YFAS, required for a diagnosis of food addiction.

Therefore, the researchers said their work should be considered a conservative test, and future studies of the neural correlates of food addiction should include participants with more severe scores.
The team also did not measure hunger (although participants were asked to refrain from eating four to six hours prior to their fMRI session) and noted that fasting and hunger are associated with similar patterns of neural response, possibly confounding their results.

They noted the relatively small sample size and said the results would not be generalizable to men.

Gearhard and colleagues suggested that future studies should be longitudinal in design to allow for "a greater understanding of the antecedents and consequences" of true food addiction.

Don't Give Up

Today you woke up.  You opened your eyes, you got out of bed.

Not everyone gets that chance.

But we did.  Today we got the chance to do whatever we can do make it the day we want.  Now, today...we might not get exactly what we want, we may not reach our ultimate goal...

But we get the chance to try.

If YESTERDAY you ate too much, fought too much, were moody, sad, angry, tired, at the end of your rope...

Today is a new day.  Take a deep breath.  Try and replace the negative thoughts that flood your mind with positive ones.  It can be a time consuming process...but try it.

Just for today.

And then maybe tomorrow will be a little easier...a little better...a little healthier.

As it relates to my lapband/weight loss journey...I was never perfect.  I gained some weeks, I went coo coo crazy some weeks.  I was never consistently the perfect bandster.  I don't know if that even exists.  When it comes to my human journey...well hell...I fuck that up all time.  :) I can be so emotional (when you wear your heart on yourself, it can get bruised pretty easy).  Sometimes I overreact, sometimes I think the sky is falling...

But I think that all we can do is hope that we learn a little, grow a little, and pick ourselves up...

I believe in happiness.  I believe in love.  I believe in the strength of the human soul.  I believe in the healing powers of compassion, laughter, and diet sunkist (okay...that last one may be a stretch).

And today I believe in me.

-Namaste

Yoda Amy