Catching up

To update you on my monthly fills and the band generally, I’ve had two visits to Taunton since I’ve been posting about my overweight history, but only one fill. In June I had been feeling very good restriction for the first two weeks after the fill, but tapering off after that, then the same pattern once again after the July fill, when they topped me up to 9 ml. They suggested that the following visit in August I had a chat with the dietician.

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She confirmed I was more or less on the mark in the way I feed myself (I’m afraid we lot are too far from perfect) and the staff didn’t give me a fill. They said I should start trying to see the band as the tool for feeling satisfied rather than feeling restricted, and that’s what I’m now trying to do. It’s harder, but less uncomfortable, and even more important that I don’t give in to the temptations at the office of muffins left over from meetings, or chocolate given us by our stationer, or the odd Danish pastry from the canteen at mid morning. The only way I can make it work is to drag out the eating process for as long as possible.

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Following a plateau longer than normal, I decided I would do something completely out of character – and joined the gym to try and speed up the weight loss. For someone like me who has never done anything like this before it is hard to overcome shyness and self-consciousness, even though I note that all sizes seem to go there and no one pays much attention. Walking into it for the first time was touch and go, I just wanted to turn tail and run… But the trainers have clearly dealt with idiots like me before, and mine was patient and reassuring, so I’m going again tomorrow. I felt no stiffness the following day, and realise I can do a lot more than just 5 minutes each on three different machines. The fact that they have TV’s fixed to them is quite an incentive; otherwise boredom would be a serious factor.

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I continue to swim every week, and though it’s pleasant when the roads are clearer of cars during school holidays, I shall be delighted when the little darlings are safely tucked up in their classrooms once again, and leave the swimming pool to those who don’t need to splash and shriek or jump on top of other swimmers to enjoy themselves.

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In for a penny in for a pound, I thought yesterday as I walked from the staff car park to my office, and I climbed the three flights of stairs to my desk… and again later in the day when I needed to go on an errand… and ditto today. My colleagues are between amused and open-mouthed as I crawl to my desk hanging on to the wall, unable to speak for 10 minutes. But hey, it kicked me out of the plateau, so I’ll try to carry on.

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This week I’ve had a terrific shot in the arm to incentivise me, which has just about robbed me of my appetite – but I think I’ll expand on it next time. My posts are probably too long anyway.

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(Don’t you find it intensely annoying to have to compose your post by typing in the silly little box, which isn’t even wysiwyg? I often use Word and then transfer, but would so much prefer to type into a format which is identical to how it will finally look. I wonder when Blogspot will wake up to this, and introduce some decent technology.)

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