Loving the sunshine for the first time in a long while...

I think most people who know me well understand that I really do love cold, rainy days.  I have always loved the rain, and most especially the kind that comes with a nice thunderstorm.  I doubt that will ever change, but now I seem to be loving the sunshine much more than I have before.  I remember loving summer in high school, when we would spend nearly every day at Big Splash, soaking up the sun for hours.  It's been decades since I enjoyed sunshine, but I think it's coming back to me now.  You will still find me indoors where there's air conditioning when summer hits around here because anything above 90 is just obscene to me.  But right now, when the days are in the 80s, I am liking being outside and I even bought a lounge chair so that I can sit in the sunshine for a little while and soak it up.  (I hope my Mom has smelling salts at her house because I know she just fainted when she read that last line...).  I will never be the sun worshipper that my parents are, but I am at least getting back outside now instead of hiding indoors all the time.  I guess it's another one of those little things that has happened that I never expected on this weight-loss journey.  Just goes to show that it's about so much more than pounds and inches.  It's about life and remembering how to live it.

But since this blog is about my WLS journey...my weight loss total now stands at 82 pounds as of May 9, 2011.  As much as it pains me to admit my weight, I have to say that I am really looking forward to being in the 100s soon.  I cannot remember the last time I was in Onderland (as it is universally called by weight-loss and diet sites) and I am hoping to make it there before we leave for Las Vegas at the end of this month.  It will be the biggest milestone for me thus far (although I do realize it is just another little goal among many) and I am excited to think it's just 5 pounds away.  

~k

6 months out :)

I don't know how it's possible, but it appears to be approximately 6 months after my surgery already!  Short update as my mind is otherwise occupied at the moment, but as of May 2, I've lost 80.5 pounds and about 3-4 dress sizes.  I'm feeling great and doing much better about getting all my vitamins in nowadays, though I've still gotta go for my six-month labs and so I won't know the real verdict until then.  But I'm hoping for good news :)

Pic update, taken today, 5/4/11...

~k

Happy Easter!

So it's been a few weeks since I blogged and I thought I'd check in.  Things are still going well and I feel great, still eating pretty much anything that sounds good.  I guess I am going to be one of those people who does not get "dumping syndrome" which is both a good and a bad thing.  Dumping syndrome is what happens to bariatric patients who consume too much carbohydrate or sugar at one sitting.  It usually means becoming sweaty, nauseated, and just generally feeling like you want to die.  Or at least this is what I've read and heard from many people.  But apparently I am among the few who will not experience this, and it's kinda funny because that's part of the reason I went with gastric bypass instead of the lap band, sleeve gastrectomy or duodenal switch procedures.  I wanted the dumping syndrome to be a threat of sorts; a kind of deterrent to eating the wrong stuff if I should ever be tempted.  But I can eat candy and sweets when the spirit moves me and I don't seem to suffer any ill effects whatsoever.

Since last Monday (4/18) I have lost just one more pound, bringing my total to 78 since surgery.  I am enjoying clothes and clothes shopping again, and I am happy to say that the table stacked with clothing is now gone from our room.  Woot!  I also got rid of at least 50 t-shirts and probably half that many pairs of pants and shorts that no longer fit, so the room and closet are getting better, little by little.

Most recent pic from 4/21/11...

Wishing everyone a wonderful week :)


~k

Monday again?? Time flies...

It seems like I was just posting here yesterday, but I guess it's been a whole week again and I don't know where it went.  In fact, I'm not sure what happened to the last 18 years, since my baby will be graduating in a matter of weeks and had his senior pictures taken a few days ago.  It fairly boggles my mind.  Next weekend we will be celebrating his 18th birthday and he is going skydiving, as it's something he's been begging us to let him do forever.  I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to go watch.  I'm not really sure my heart can take that kind of excitement and I'm sure I would come home completely gray-headed.  

Today the scale says another 2.5 are gone, which means I have lost 73 pounds and now have less than 50 to go.  (pic to follow shortly)  But it's Monday, so that means I am in the middle of several errands and this post will be short and sweet.  There is also the matter of Suki bringing me her mouse so that I can throw it over and over again and this short and sweet post has taken me much longer than it should have.  I am off to throw the mouse on my way out the door.  If anyone wants to come over here and throw a mouse for hours on end, I am happy to entertain any and all applications.  It's a full time job.  Oh, and it doesn't pay, either.

~k

pedicure + new shoes = happy me

Last week was a little disappointing, but it was good for at least one thing...proving that the scale really isn't always the best way to measure weight-loss success. When I weighed in last Monday morning, I had actually gained 2 pounds. But I knew that had to be just my body adjusting to changes in weather, water weight, etc. I usually gain at least a few pounds during the usual monthly cycle, but I couldn't even chalk it up to that reason. So I just hopped off the scale and went clothes shopping in the spirit of "Ha! I'll show you, you idiot scale!" and discovered I went down another dress size and a little more. It was great therapy and helped reenforce the concept (in my head) that sometimes the scale is not the best way to quantify weight loss and I should not give it the power to ruin what might turn out to be a perfectly wonderful day.


So if that same scale is to be believed today, I lost another 2 pounds for a total of 70.5 thus far. I have also discovered that my tastes in clothing have changed a little since I was last in this size and I let myself buy a few outfits. I am trying, though, to keep it under control and wear what I already have. I will be heading out to my consignment shop in a bit to drop off another load of clothes, so the room is getting better, little by little. Now if only I could end my torrid love affair with shoes...(But seriously, I mean, how can I be blamed for my love of shoes!?  Shoes don't judge, they never get tighter, they NEVER make my ass look the size of Brazil, and they always make me happy and brighten my day, especially after a great pedicure with some flowers on the toenails.  Just sayin')

~k

18 weeks, just over 68 pounds...

It's Monday again, and I cannot believe I am saying this, but...Monday is becoming  my favorite day of the week.  And it really has nothing to do with being my weigh-in day (although that doesn't hurt any).  Having Monday as a day off has seriously changed my opinion of probably the most-hated day of the week around the world.  Mondays make me feel pretty good because I usually get a lot done on Mondays that I've been putting off, and I am the Queen of Procrastination, for those who might not realize.  Fact.  I am a true ostrich at heart, and burying my head in the sand is something I do with panache.  I'm not necessarily proud of it, you understand; but if you're going to do something, do it right.

The no-longer-evil scale says I lost 3 pounds last week, bringing my total to 68.5.  It's interesting to note (at least to me) that I lose more weight on the weeks I eat more food.  It makes sense in the metabolism-fired-up way, but it's not something most people can square in their heads.  I still haven't really started exercising (except for shake-weight arm/shoulder workout), but I certainly run around doing other stuff a lot more than before.  So I guess that's gotta count for something, right?  I know one thing...our stairs are a lot easier to climb now.  They must have become much more shallow, and there are probably less of them than before :)

~k

still cleaning out clothes!

Our room looks like the local thrift store, though I am making a valiant attempt at clearing it all.  Stacks and stacks of clothes, sorted by size and season, litter almost every available surface.  Standing in the middle of it all yesterday, it was hard to believe that I have removed over 4 giant tubs already, and that doesn't even count what I've cleaned out of the closet.  I made another trip to the consignment store and found out that a few of my things already sold (1st or 2nd day there) and she was ready to write me a check.  I told her to just keep it on balance because now that she has almost all my jeans and capris, I'll be needing to find some more.  Hard to believe I could want any more clothes, but the sizes I have now are not aligning with the seasons and I find myself without many jeans or capris to wear for the next month or so.  I guess this is maybe one of those times I can be thankful that I like brands like Baby Phat, Apple Bottoms, Torrid, etc. because they sure sell well at the consignment shop.  And that lady in there loves me.  As I left yesterday, she called "keep bringing in your stuff, you've got GREAT clothes!!"  Man, don't I know it.  If she could only see my bedroom...

So at my weekly Monday meeting with my scale yesterday morning, I was down another 4.5 pounds, for a total of 65.5.  I am sure I will hit a plateau at some point, probably soon, and that's okay with me.  You would think that I'd have a time frame in which I expected to lose this weight, something like "I'll be a size whatever by summer", but I really don't.  I think I'm just so grateful that it's actually working, and so stunned every week by my progress, that I don't care much about the time that's passing or when I'll reach goal, or anything else for that matter.  I'm just humbled and thankful to feel so good and to enjoy putting on clothes again.  You know, there are so many little victories along this path, things not represented by the number on the scale or any other measuring stick.  Things like wrapping a bath towel around myself after a shower and realizing it overlaps itself, with no gaping spots.  Imagine.  A towel fits around me now!  Or I pick up an around-the-house shirt to put on and realize it is no longer tight across the shoulders and actually hangs down my arms.  And I doubt there's a way to measure the loss of self-consciousness and how it affects nearly everything I do.  I feel more like looking up and around instead of looking down or trying to hide myself. And something as simple as crossing my legs or curling up in the corner of the sofa as I read, then having it occur to me, all of a sudden like, that I couldn't sit that way a few months ago.  It's almost comical to be sitting in a chair, then look down and realize your legs are crossed and want to jump up and yell "HEY! MY LEGS CAN CROSS AGAIN!!"  However, since this particular revelation happened in church (where I sit at the front, literally in front of God and everybody) I decided to keep it inside and simply smile instead.

Wow, didn't mean to ramble on and on...but anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely cannot make a long story short (or ANY story short, for that matter) so I guess one should expect this if you dare to read my blog.  But since I do actually have a job and a beautiful, fabulous, hell-on-wheels car to pay for, I'll close here.  Happy Tuesday to all :)

~k