Success....at a price.

Well, its been a while - for good reason. The good news is that I finally have some movement! Yay. Down now a little over 20 pounds. Clothes fitting better already. The whole family is eating better. Fresh whole foods. Cleaned out the cabinets. Got rid of all the processed junk. Found good alternatives for the kids, like real 100% fruit roll ups instead of fruit snacks. Nuts and dried bananas instead of cheese crackers. Fresh fruits and veggies. No refined pasta or white rice. No aspartame. I think its been about 4 weeks now since I have had a diet Pepsi. I miss it something fierce. If I could drink it, I know I would.

That brings me to the price. My band is a little too tight again. Not sure why this keeps happening, but all of a sudden one day (not after a fill) it just feels too tight and its hard for food to pass through, causing acid reflux. I really want to find a way to have this work out, so I have been trying to manage it on my own. I have some very good days where I am fine, but also have some bad days like today where it is difficult to eat at all. I have to be very careful about the food I put in my body. Red meat doesn't do well. Small bits of chicken and fish are OK most of the time. Pasta, not so good. Seems to clog my throat really quickly. I have been trying to keep calories up with protein shakes and V8 Fusion. The V8 fusion was a nice little find. I didn't think I would like it, but it is really good and it is all fruit/veggies and has a full serving of each in an 8 oz. glass. The biggest downer is that any carbonation is not tolerated at all. The hardest part is that its starting to warm up outside and I would die for an ice cold fountain Diet Pepsi right now!

For those of you who don't drink diet drink and applaud my abstinence - don't. I WANT to drink it and have no desire to not drink it. My body will just not oblige. It is my one vice. I don't drink (much), don't smoke. Its MY vice.

Sacrifice will lead to success.