Make up your FREAKIN' MIND!

So....... I was supposed to get a wee fill last Thursday afternoon, but my doc had an emergency crop up and I was rescheduled until yesterday morning.
I've put on about 5lbs since starting boot camp and have been struggling with hunger. The weight doesnt bother me so much because i'm definitely getting leaner and stronger.
Good lord was this weekend rough though with the hunger thing. Sunday morning even my dbf, who usually hates my band when it's really tight and eating is uncomfortable, said 'you really need a fill. i can't remember seeing you be able to eat like this!'
We were at a breakfast beach party and I scarfed down a whole bowl of stew conch and yellow grits and even nibbled on some johnny cake. I then sat in the ocean picking at boiled garlic crab legs.
When I got home that evening a neighbour called out of the blue and invited me over for turkey tacos.... i ate two... then a sliver of dense, rich chocolate cake. oh and a scoop of ice cream.
Admittedly, it was a lot of food for me, but not by pre-band or normal people standards. Still. I couldn't wait for Monday morning's fill appointment.
Then, I was around the corner from my surgeon's office when I got the call saying they had to reschedule for Thursday afternoon. ARGHHHHHHH!!!! I jokingly (kinda sorta) told the patient advocate who called to tell my surgeon that if i'd put on 10lbs by the time I got to see him it was his fault.
WELL......
Betsy must have been listening all this time because after I got that call, the fickle band bitch clamped down.
Yesterday I barely ate a few forkfuls of tuna and grits all day. I nibbled on some sausage (i know, not the best option) when i was making some jalapeno dip last night and that came back up... so dinner was not even an option....
This morning I brought in some left over stew conch and although I'm hungry and feeling a bit weak, I just have this sense that nothing's gonna go down even though it's already 1:15pm.
What the HELL!
Soooooo.... I'm just going to see how today and tomorrow pan out and determine if I do actually need this fill after all.

66 steps and olympic competition!

More boot camp stories for you :)

But before that, I've been toying with the idea of a wee fill because I'm finding that since starting boot camp i'm hungrier and more often than before, but I'm really trying to manage it on my own by following the rules and limiting my ice cream consumption..... (not doing the best job there).
Well yesterday i was craving sushi so a friend and i went for lunch..... let's just say i had one of those 'i love sushi but sushi don't love me' kinds of lunches! It went down better for dinner.

this morning we were at the Queen's Staircase - 66 steps carved out of limestone once upon a time by slaves. It's a popular tourist destination by day, torture chamber for locals by early morning and night!

Here is the staircase from the ground. There's no longer a functioning waterfall along the left side. that would have been nice and zen like at 5 this morning!

Here's what it looks like from the top.

We worked in our small teams this morning. On my team is a former Olympian!!!! While she's not in Olympic (swimming) shape, she's fit. She's good. pushes the rest of us to do more. We have a great team..... and our weakest link has ability and is willing to be pushed so we'll do well. 

Today we were up and down those bloody steps countless times, then jogged over to another station where it was non-stop jumping jacks, jump squats, hops, mountain climbers, shuffles, etc etc.....all lower body. all non stop!

We did this cycle a few times, always jogging from one station to the next. And then we had to meet up at the top of the stairs and line up in our teams and sprint only the lord knows what distance up a slight incline. twice.

when i got home i realised for the first time:

a) just how many stairs there are to get into my house

b) just how fast my little dog likes to go on our morning walks!

i just keep thinking bikini. bikini. bikini.

my spare tire (pics)

So the other day our boot camp leaders instructed us to go to a local garage to pick out a used tire. we'll be using this for the first time at boot camp tomorrow. i call it 'bring your own torture device'.  Monday morning they also advised that 'prettiest tire' wins a prize.
My friend and I had already gotten some spray paint and just didn't have time this weekend to decorate, so she, another boot camper we've gotten friendly with, her friend and I met up at my place last night and turned my car port into spray paint central.

Saki gets hers started. We each had to coat our tire first with a solid colour in the spray paint that said it would adhere to rubber. She did aqua, I did pink and Leah did yellow

Nicholas managed to spray paint his hand lavender

Leah is a real trooper - she's washing her tire AND one for her friend Tessa who couldn't make it

Thank goodness I had the foresight to pick up extra drop cloths to cover my car port

the real trooper was Tura who came to help Leah. She's not even in boot camp

Leah gets creative

This one is mine - pink, black and silver

the paint finally came off my hands and arms when i was scrubbing dishes this morning!!!

You look Stunning!

That was the best of many amazing compliments I received on the new haircut.

Yup. One year to the day after I first walked into Dr D's office for my initial consult for lap band surgery, I continued with the incredible transformation with a haircut. Here's the photo diary depicting where I started and where I ended up!

I've been pulling my hair up in a ponytail most of the time - a sure sign it was time for a change

Ponytail from another angle -- in the salon waiting. A bit nervous for sure!

This is what it looked like out with no styling.

No turning back now!

There was more that I couldn't capture in this shot!!!

the adorable cap - the colour had been done, but now it was time for strategically placed highlights

the finished product. And yes.... I took hoop earrings with me so I didn't walk out looking like a boy!

snapped this one last night before heading out

Boot Camp cancelled

We've been praying for rain for months on our little rock in the middle of the ocean. It's finally come.

Last night one of the bootcamp leaders sent out a message telling us that if we get up at 4am and it's raining, stay home. If not, be there for 5am sharp. Well 2 things.
1. if i am going to wake up at 4am, I might as well go exercise.
2. i live 1/2 hour drive from bootcamp so chances are it could have been pouring at my house and dry at the site and i'd be paying heavily come monday.

So I got up and it was bone dry at my house. 2 minutes away it was pouring. just drizzling at Fort Charlotte where boot camp is, but getting heavier. 23 of us showed up so I'm not the only fool.

The trainers were concerned about injuries because the ground was really wet and slippery so we headed to the Queen's Staircase (66 steps cut by slaves out of limestone). More sheltered there, but the floor and steps were really slippery because of fallen poinciana tree flowers.

Most are going to try for a 6pm workout, but my friend and I can't because we're joining another friend for dinner to start discussing our 40th bday trip to vietnam next year.

So 5 of us joined 2 trainers at a gym they go to. Wasn't quite bootcamp, but I got a decent workout in.

Oh... and my massage at the vocational college last night was really good. they'd just finished their course on sports massage so it was perfect for what my aching muscles needed. I told the instructor afterwards that my massage was better than many i've actually paid for.

apparantly I have a lap band

You wouldn't think it the way I just scarfed down some of that bbq chicken breast. I was hungry. ravenous. so i scarfed. only ate about 1/3 of the meat on it. and with a nice chunk of it still in my hand i realised that yes, i was indeed stuck. because, you see, i have this lap band thing.
somehow i forgot about betsy so she made a raging appearance.
into the bathroom.
let's just say bbq chicken is quite nasty coming back up.

Boot Camp diary day 2

Figure i'll post about boot camp for a while.

So I managed to drag myself out of bed at 4:15 this morning and get to boot camp on time. I was actually the first one there. On the way I had to get gas and inadvertently pulled into the ONLY self-serve gas station on the island.... I know my American friends will get a kick out of the fact that we don't pump our own gas here normally.

Some ladies straggled in after 5am and got extra work to do.... I ain't gonna be late. No way. Not after seeing that.

Boot camp was hard enough as it is. There was a new trainer today in addition to Charles and Dwight. Carlos (aka Satan) was tough. As we were finishing up a 60-second round of burpees, he'd be showing us how to do what was coming next. SO. THERE. WAS. NO. BREAK.

We did all sorts of exercises and most of us were still sore from Monday evening's fitness evaluations. I love how they start off each session with a 5 minute run. Don't they realise that a 5 minute run could BE MY ROUTINE?!?!

Joke is.... after we were done with our hour-long torture session and had stretched.... Dwight mentions that through one of the other trainers (who we haven't yet met) he had 12 free massages at the local vocational training college for tomorrow evening. So first 12 ladies to give him TWO MORE FULL LAPS around the field got them. I did it. I finished about 6th. I don't know where that extra energy came from.

It dawned on me as I was doing this final jog that a year ago, when I weighed 262.5lbs and was in abysmal shape, I could barely power walk 2x around that field.... and that was all I was trying to do.... and here I was polishing off a crazy intense hour long workout with JOGGING two laps.

Wow. We've come a LONG way baby!

I survived (edited to add pics)

this evening was the first G-fit Boot Camp session -  fitness evaluations. Basically we did some warm ups and then a 5 minute run, sit ups, push ups (i knocked out 10 boy ones before switching to girlie ones for the rest of the time!), burpees (hate those), squats, suicides and then another 5 minute run. Good grief! I power walked the last minute and a half or so of that second run.... my legs were like jello!

It was so much fun.... they pushed but weren't in our faces drills sargent-style. today was an opportunity for the trainers to see what they're dealing with.

G-fit is just for Girls. There were 20 of us for this first session and we are all ages and fitness levels. Probably only one standout so far... but clearly she's a runner. I have told myself that whatever they ask of me, I will give them.

This is for me. And my bikinis! lol

We had lots of laughs and even though most of us just met when we pulled up to the Fort this afternoon, there was so much support and cheering each other on. I can see it getting really fun when they break us into teams after the second week. 

Wednesday morning we meet at Fort Charlotte at 5am. Pray for me people. Pray for me!

Sometime after the second week we'll be going out to the Royal Bahamas Defence Force base to use their official obstacle course. Good. Lord.
Will try to get some pics for Wednesday's blog. One of the guys running the boot camp just posted some pics from yesterday on our FB group so I grabbed them for my blog

We were about to start the final 5-minute run... and my group of 5 had JUST completed our suicides. My legs were floppy. Hence the ugly face.

We were getting ready to start our squats here and I think this is the point I was telling drill sargent Dwigh that I needed hands in front for balance or some such crap! lol

what have i done?!?

I just signed up for a six week boot camp.

11 months and 2 weeks after i waddled into my first appointment to look into getting lap band surgery, I am going to boot camp. Wow.

A former colleague and a friend's hubby are running it. They. are. going. to. kick. my. ass.

I think i'm in denial though because I'm honestly more worried about the wake up time than about anything they could possibly do to me.

This evening was sign up and a weight/body fat, measurement session. monday evening is fitness evaluation. They don't need to evaluate me.... i can tell them they have lots of work to do.

but starting Wednesday, every M, W, F for 2 weeks we meet at 5am... at a location roughly a half hour drive from my house. which means i'll be getting up @4am. WTF?!?!

After week 2 we move to 4x a week but they have 5am or 6pm sessions. I have a feeling I'll be making the switch!!! you know... for gas saving reasons.... because I could change after work and drive to the location which is actually on my way home.

I've been inspired to do this by Catherine of Chronicles from Band Land. She rocked boot camp and I intend to do the same.