The Banded Life: Long Time...No Bloggie!

Hey!.....Remember me?......I'm that skinny chick that climbed out of that fat chick. Took a bit more than a year to emerge, but here I am....and I'm back!

I know you all must be wondering what the heck happened to me? I do apologize that I abandoned you all for more than 7 months now. I'm a baaaaddd girl! LOL! I used this blog to keep me on track and stay honest to both myself and my readers. The problem? My new way of eating became so second nature, that I was able to just do it without worrying about hitting my targets as stringently as I needed to in the beginning, so I got lazy about spending the time to blog and instead, filled that space up with other things. For that, I apologize to all. The truth is that just because I didn't feel like I "needed" it anymore, doesn't mean that there weren't those of you out there who may have needed it.

Well, now I'm back and making this blog a priority again, so let me catch you up:

I started this journey as a size 20W and now wear a size 4
I am currently 5lbs away from goal weight
I am now a runner who can finish a 5K without collapsing!
My knees thank me every day
I went to Great America a couple times this summer and fit in all the roller coaster restrains!
I take no medicine
I have great blood pressure
I no longer suffer from GERD
I am now able to play with my kids and enjoy it
I no longer live to eat, but rather eat to live
I have incredible family and friends who support me 100% in this transformation & I am thankful for them every day
I have lost evenly and have a flat stomach without the need for plastics. Thank you angels!
I am healthy & I am happy

Well, I know that's the really short version of things, but If you have any questions, leave me a comment and I will answer anything you want to know there.

I saw my doctor Saturday, December 10. He is very pleased with my results. Because I am only 5lbs away from goal, he wants me to slow my loss rate down and take the next 2 months to get there. This means he wants my calorie intake to be increased by 300cal/day. Which for those of you who followed me before know, that's an extra half a day's amount of food! At first, that seemed a little overwhelming but after further discussion with him, it's doable. The thing is I don't necessarily have to increase the volume, but can eat denser calorie foods to make up the difference. I can now have low fat cottage or ricotta cheese as opposed to my usual fat free. Nuts are easier to include in my day (and a whole serving of peanut butter is now OK)

So my new rules:

900-1000 calories a day
minimum of 85g protein
maximum of 40g carbs
maximum of 30g fat
minimum 64oz water
exercise 3-4 days/week
stay active

I know I owe you all an updated photo. I think the current "current" was about 45lbs ago -- I am still having body issues while learning to accept the "new me" so to me I don't look to much different, but to all of you the change will seem drastically different. I will get to that within the next week or so. At the very latest, I will post one of me at Christmas. The thing is -- there's still a part of me who is still that camera shy fat girl, but I'm working on that and learning to be comfortable allowing myself to be on the lens side of a camera -- so bear with me.

Well, that's is I suppose. I am currently tracking the day and will let you know what I did soon. I may not post every day (but rather 3-4 times a week or so) but will include every day in the weeks postings for sure.

Hope you're all having a great holiday season and making wise choices as you are faced with those holiday choices that center around food.

Oh yeah, and my friend Michelle over at The World According to Eggface is having a great contest to give away a Christmas stocking full of samples. You should check out her blog and sign up for your chance to win here:

Stocking Full of Samples Giveaway