Wednesday, January 27, 2010

VLOG! (or pathetic attempt at one)

So.. I've never done a vlog before. and I must say.. it's really weird to talk into your phone. So. Hopefully there are more of these to come and hopefully they get better. but for now.. I just hope this works, lol. Happy Wednesday!


Tuesday, January 26, 2010

new pic :D




Mary and I on New Years, so not technically newww new. but new to you! :D

My band reminded me again that it exists! I had some troubles with carrots today. Here's something kinda cool, kinda gross.. So. I always imagine food in my asaphagus. I ate carrots today and got kind of stuck on them so I imagine chewed up carrots stuck there and anything I eat just lands on top of it until finally I have to puke to remove the 'stuck' part. I did that today. I always puke up everything in order from the last thing I ate. Ew. Anyways, got to the carrots. You know that 'pop' sound removing a cork from a chamagne bottle sounds like? That's exactly what happened. It was soooo weird. But instant relief. I need to be more careful with my carrots.

ANYWAYS!

Biggest Loser tonight. I love Jillian <3 .. even though she pretends to have a degree in counseling every episode.

Drink water!

P.S. If anyone wants to add me on Facebook, I'm completely open to that. Just keep in my mind that no one except my family knows I'm banded. Anyways - facebook.com/colormeamanda -- Or my name, Amanda White-Jensen. Let me know who you are when you add me! :D

Monday, January 25, 2010

survey

I'm feeling a little under the weather today.. which makes me not want to be productive in any other aspect of my life. It was hard to get up this morning and get my butt to the gym.. but I did it! And I'm glad I did.

I took this from Dash's blog, who took it from Tina. Woot.

1. What time did you get up this morning?
I woke up at 6:45 am to go to the gym (thankfully I don't have to be into work until 10 am on Mondays).

2. How do you like your steak?
I don't eat steak. Not because I don't like it.. I just don't get the opportunity. I'd probably ask for medium for lack of knowing any better.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
I saw Blind Side and New Moon on the same day, in that order.

4. What is your favorite TV show?
I love Biggest Loser, Law and Order SVU and Criminal Minds. (I also love Grey's Anatomy but haven't seen it in several seasons and I loved Friends when it was on)

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
Doesn't matter where.. just with who.

6. What did you have for breakfast?
honey nut cheerios with skim milk.

7. What is your favorite cuisine?
Hmm, I don't know.

8. What foods do you dislike?
Several.


9. Favorite place to eat?
Red Lobster. I wish it was calorie free. :P

10. Favorite dressing?
Ranch. I like italian as well.

11. What kind of vehicle do you drive?
Pontiac Grand Am - red, 2 door.

12. What are your favorite clothes?
I love jeans and hoodies.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance?
Everywhere!

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?
Depends on the day.

15. Where would you want to retire?
I'll just settle with being ABLE to retire, thanks.

16. Favorite time of day?
any time with my baby. :D

17. Where were you born?
St. Petersburg, FL

18. What is your favorite sport to watch?
Baseball!

19. Bird watcher?
No thanks.

20. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Both. Morning only AFTER I'm already up :P

21. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share?
Lol, not really. My two year anniversary with my girlfriend is coming up! :D <3

22. What did you want to be when you were little?
Teacher, lawyer, doctor. all the cliche's.

23. What is your best childhood memory?
I've been asked this before. I don't know..

24. Are you a cat or dog person?
100 percent dog lover!

25. Are you married?
It's not quite legal.

26. Always wear your seat belt?
Yes.

27. Been in a car accident?
A few minor ones.

28. Any pet peeves?
sure.


29. Favorite Pizza Toppings?
Pepperoni.

30. Favorite Flower?
I'm not so into flowers.

31. Favorite ice cream?
I do not discriminate against my ice cream choices.. no favortism here. I love it all. :P (okay, not really.. but I do like a fair amount of it)

32. Favorite fast food restaurant?
Is Subway fast food?

33. How many times did you fail your driver's test?
None.

34. From whom did you get your last email?
Not sure.

35. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
I wouldn't max out *my* credit card anywhere.

36. Do anything spontaneous lately?
No, not really.

37. Broccoli?
I like it.

38. What was your favorite vacation?
I never went on many vacations. I did like going to Alaska by myself when I was 16to visit friends.

39. Last person you went out to dinner with?
Mary.

40. What are you listening to right now?
Radio at work.

41. What is your favorite color?
Green.

42. How many tattoos do you have?
Two. But they're in the same area and look like one.

43. Coffee drinker?
I like cold stuff sometimes.



Well, there you have it. :p

Thursday, January 21, 2010

the foreign world of exercise

Hey everyone. So, I've been able to eat anything and everything for about a month now and I think my body has FINALLY realized that I'm going to feed it everyday.. so hopefully it stops hanging on to every single thing I eat. I'm feeling pretty strange. It's nice to be able to actually eat the food I set out to eat.. but it's weird to actually feel HUNGRY. all the time. very hungry. and now that I can eat anythinggg.. I need to keep the hunger in check or I'll go off the deep end and find myself at some fast food restaurant. Not okay.

Now: exercise. I realize I should have been exercising over this whole process. but I just didn't really care all too much about it. Sure I took a couple of walks in the summer, trikked a little bit, did some rollerblading in the fall. but I would hardly count any of those activities since I did none of them consistently. I joined a gym. Paid in full for two years right up front (if that's not motivation to actually USE the membership, I don't know what is). And I have to say, I know it's only been two weeks but I'm pretty proud of myself! I usually only go for about an hour at a time but am looking to increase that in the future. I'm really pleased with the gym. It's a little out of the way but I think anything that's not two houses down from my own is 'out of the way'. It has tonnns of machines and space, a "women's only" room with a nice circuit, classes, sauna, etc. I have a good routine going so far. I go Monday & Wednesday mornings, Tuesday and Friday afternoons. And one day on the weekend (so far it's been Saturdays). 5 days a week! Not bad! I was a member at Anytime Fitness years ago for a year, and I'm pretty sure I've been to this new gym more times in the past week and a half than I went to that gym, period. I really do like it there! I'm still getting a feel for how I should use my time. I usually do the circuit in the women's gym (12 machines) and then I use the rest of the time for cardio either on the treadmill or elliptical.

I'm happy to report that my water consumption has improved by 50%. But since I was at 0% before, I still have plenty of room for improvement. I really liked Amy's game of putting dashes on the bottle that holds the water! Seems like just that little incentive would make it easier to drink. Right now I use a 25 oz bottle ... I'm trying my hardest to get at least 75 oz (did you know that you're supposed to drink half your body weight in ounces of water a day? with 64 oz being the minimum?). I think I've only met my water consumption goal once. But hey, I'm working on it. Amy -- I have NO idea how you drink 120 oz a day.. or whatever it is that you drink. Good for you! but you're crazy. :P (I kid, I kid).

I miss my band. but every once in awhile it reminds me that it still exists (like me PBing on raw carrots this afternoon at lunch).

In non-food/non-band related news... My little sister has decided to get married. She's 18. Don't get me started. She's a very emotionally immature 18 year old at that. OH - and did I mention she was engaged to a different guy 6 months ago? Hmm, yeah. I love my little sister.. I do. But wow. I wish I was half as smart as I thought I was at 18. She's been dating this guy since October (known him since June).. They met at her schooling in Pensacola for the Marines. That schooling is over and as of the new year, she is in California and he is in Hawaii. I hope it works out for them, I truly do. And, hey, weirder things have happened. I just don't think it's the wisest of decisions right now. Not my life though. He seems like a genuinely nice guy (I probably won't meet him until the day before the wedding).. it's just all so fast. It doesn't help that my mom lives vicariously through my sister so she's more excited than words can say.. so my sis doesn't have anyone to really say.. "whoa. wait a sec. let's think this through'. *sigh* Maybe I'm just bitter about the dress I have to buy :P

I better get back to work :p

Monday, December 28, 2009

nom nom nom nom

Thanks for all your replies to my last post! So I flew home last week and had a doctors appointment on Tuesday. She basically drained my band (she took 5 cc's out) and then sent me to radiology where I had to do a barrium swallow (yuck!)...

So I went back to her office after radiology and as she was attempting to bring the images up she told me that the band doesn't lay flat across the upper part of the stomach but rather a little tilted. When she pulled up my images, my band was flat... and she said that if she just looked at that image, she would think my band had slipped. She went back and looked at the very first images right when I got the band and realized that my band just naturally lies a little flat and it was probabl normal for me. So.. no slip. We decided to put back in 2 cc's ... I told her I would rather be forced to control myself than not be able to eat at all, so we were pretty conservative.

Well folks, I can eat anything I want now. It's crazy. I have no troubles.. at ALL. Coming from someone who has had nothing but troubles, this is quite crazy for me. So I need to control myself. Seriously. I can't get another fill till like spring.. so here's where I have to prove myself. Luckily, I'm trying to only focus on maintaining my weight and maybbbee losing 10-ish more pounds. I didn't go too crazy with the food over the holidays... but my body is definitely not used to this many calories and I've gained about 3 pounds. BUT that's what I expected.. and I actually expect to gain a couple more before I start leveling off or even losing.

I hope everyone had a great holiday... :)

Thursday, December 17, 2009

[insert interesting title here]

Hello all my fellow bloggers. I creep all of your blogs all the time and you probably don't even know it! I silently nod my head along to alllll the things I can relate to, make sad faces when things aren't going how they should for you, and smile for all those pounds lost and NSV's.. but I rarely let you know it via comment. and for that, I'm sorry. I'd like to say I'm going to try to do better (just as I say I will update this blog more frequently) but I shouldn't say things I may not follow through with. [I find myself annoyed with the bloggers who leave for extended periods of time only to come back with a short blog of apologies and a 'promise' that more updates are to come... only to do it alllll again. So I make no promises or apologies for my long absence.. and who the heck knows when I'll blog again ;)] ... special shout out to Amy W. here.. who never, ever fails to entertain me, make me laugh, or make me think with her blog.

Life is speeding along so fast that I barely have time to register that we're almost in 2010. 2010! That's crazy! I took my last final of the semester this past Monday.. looking forward to a little break. My birthday was this past weekend.. 24! I didn't really do anything but relax at home.. which was perfectly fine with me.

Okay banders, here is life with the band lately: it blows. I've been getting some acid reflux over the past two or so months.. I usually just take some antacids and it goes away. A couple weeks ago, I started having some major troubles with keeping food down (I already puke at almost every meal as it is, so when I say major troubles..I mean majooorrr). I'd wake up in the middle of night (hours and hours after I'd last eaten) and puke! But the puke this time was different. I have to explain to nonband people that when we puke, it's never acidic puke like when you're sick to your stomach. It's simply the food you just ate coming up.. it's never reached my stomach, blah blah. We, as bandsters, all know this. Well, I've been puking up acid in the middle of the night. This happened two nights in a row so I called my doctor. I'm scheduled for an appointment on the 23rd... I fly into Minnesota on the 22. She's going to completely unfill me.. and then do an upper GI (if anyone has had an upper GI.. please tell me exactly what this entails!).. and depending on those results, fill me again accordingly. I'm worried that my band has slipped... but mostly, I just want to EAT again! I'm not talking pig out, tons of fast food eat... I would like to enjoy a salad. some grilled chicken. ANYTHING! So I haven't had much solid food in the past couple of weeks.. but I've taken the opportunity to eat plenty of ice cream. A girls gotta get her fat in somehow, right?! ;)

Water is another issue. I'm not good at constantly sipping water all day long. I like to drink a big glass of water every couple of hours. I cannot do that.. and so I haven't been drinking any. Plus, this might sound weird.. but I get acid reflux when I drink water. *sigh* I'm trying. *sips*

I've been holding steady at 153 lbs. I have already mentally prepared myself for what introducing food and an adequate amount of calories will do to the scale. It will indeed go up before it starts coming down again.. because I'm telling you right now, my body is STARVING! haha. I'm not even going to pretend that I can do this without the band.. but I need a chance to TRY. These last 20 or so pounds have been lost not because I'm choosing the right things to eat and being all healthy.. they've been lost because the band will not let me eat a godd@amn thing! I need a chance to prove to myself that if I can eat carrots, I will. If I can drink water better, I will. If I have the choice to eat, I will choose to eat something healthy. It's just not happening now.

I guess I'll leave it at that for now. Wish me luck with my appointment! I hope everyone is good, healthy and gearing up for this holidays!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Survey!

Thanks to all those who kept me entertained with this survey!! :D


A
- Age: 23
- Annoyance: In the grand scheme of things, ignorance or people who hold too tightly and firmly to their own beliefs. Also, intolerant people who believe that their faith is the only one that contains truth. But that's wayyy too deep for this survey.. so.. hmm. Healthy food getting stuck!!
- Animal: Morgan <3 dog.
- Actor: I prefer actress' to actors, for some reason? Maybe I relate to them more. I'm not sure. Love Sandra Bullock, Kate Winslet, Maggie Gyllenhaal.. among others.

B
- Beer: I don't drink.
- Birthday/Birthplace: Dec 13, 1985 / St. Petersburg, FL
- Body Part on opposite sex: who cares ;) haha. I do enjoy jaw lines.
- Been in Love: Yes, currently.
- Been bitched at: Of course, lol.
- Believe in yourself?: Today!
- Believe in God: I'm not sure what I believe. But I'm open.
- Before weight: 263

C
- Car: Poniac Grand Am, two door, red.
- Candy: Yes, please :D though I probably prefer chocolate.
- Color: green.
- Cried in school: yep.
- Chocolate/Vanilla: chocolate as a general rule.
- Chinese/Mexican: chinese.
- Cake or pie: cheesecake! but really only the easy jello stuff. yum!
- Country to visit: Anywhere.

D
- Day or Night: Both.
- Danced: I took ballet since I could walk until I was 12.
- Do the splits?: I could. I'd probably need a little practice now, lol.

E
- Eggs: I don't eat eggs anymore. but I like them scrambles, over easy, or hardboiled.. as long as they're done to my liking :)
- Eyes: hazel.

F
- First crush: kindergarten.
- First thoughts waking up: noooooooooo!!!!
- Food: is trouble.

G
- Greatest Fear: I generally fear failure, rejection, and maggots. :D
- Goals: Be happy.
- Get along with your parents?: Now that there are three states between us? Sure.
- Good luck charm: Not sure...

H
- Hair Color: Brown / Auburn
- Height: 5'4.5 (the .5 is important people!)
- Happy: Generally.
- Holiday: Christmas. :)
- Health freak?: I wish.
- Hate: hating is a waste of time and energy.


I
- Ice Cream: yes please!! any kind.
- Instrument: voice.

J
- Jewelry: I love the necklace I got for my anniversary.. it's the only thing I wear.
- Job: Emergency Services at the Red Cross. and full-time grad student.

K
- Kids: No.
- Kickboxing or karate: kickboxing.
- Keep a journal? not unless you count this.

L
- Longest Car Ride: hmm.. probably Minnesota to Florida.
- Love: I do.
- Laughed so hard you cried: my favorite.
- Love at first sight: Not unless you knew the person well before you first set eyes on them.

M
- Milk flavour: ...uh. milk flavored?
- Movie: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Mooned anyone?: Nope.
- Marriage: is illegal for me.
- Motion sickness? Nope.
- McD’s or BK: Eh. Subway?

N
- Number of Siblings: 2 younger ... one bother, one sister.
- Number of Piercings: I have two in each ear but haven't worn earing in over 10 years, lol.
- Number: 5 and 13

O
- One wish: overall well-being (finacially, personally, etc)

P
- Place you’d like to live: It's not about where I live... it's who I live with.
- Perfect Pizza: pepperoni.
- Pepsi/Coke: Pepsi over coke. But cherry coke above all.

Q
- Questionaires: when I should be working? Yes, please.

R
- Reason to cry: No reason.
- Reality T.V.: Biggest Loser.
- Roll your tongue in a circle? I think?

S
- Song: Your Winter - Sister Hazel
- Shoe size: I have small feet but they're really wide... so while I should be wearing like a 6, I usually have to wear a 7 to make sure they're wide enough.
- Salad Dressing: ranch. italian if the salad consists of only cucumbers.
- Skipped school: ahaha. who me? never.
- Smoking: No thanks.
- Sing well?: nah
- Strawberries/Blueberries: I have a lot of trouble with fruit.

T
- Time for bed: whenever.
- Thunderstorms: love!
- TV: biggest loser and law and order SVU.

U
- Unpredictable: kind of.

V
- Vegetable you hate: I love vegetables.. but they ALWAYS get stuck!
- Vegetable you love: asparagus is my favorite.
- Vacation spot: i've never really gone on vacation.

W
- Weakness: no weakness. :p
- When you grow up: happy.
- Which one of your friends acts the most like you: I think all of them are like me in different ways.
- Wanted to be a model?: uh, no.

X
-X-Rays: course.

Y
-Year it is now: 2009
-Yellow: my old bedroom was light yellow. When I was 14, I wanted to paint in black. My mom said no way!

Z
- Zoo: I like to Boo Zoo at Halloween.. it's fun to volunteer and see the kids.
- Zodiac sign: Sag