Two Thousand Thirteen

I'm going to make some goals for 2013:

~ Lose as much weight as possible, I don't want to put a specific # because I don't want to disappoint myself.
~ Keep the house cleaner.
~ Exercise at least 4 times a week.
~ Pay off credit card.
~ Get at least 1 Geo Cache a week.
~ Plan an amazing trip to Disney.
~ Plan a nice birthday for Hubby.

I can't think of anything else, perhaps I will add more when I come up with them.

What life is like

Life 50 pounds lighter is great! I find myself running up or down the stairs, jogging to my car when it's raining and dancing in the kitchen while cooking dinner. The day after Christmas, my sister, aunt and I went to for a hike. We were in NH so it's was a nice hilly walk and I led the pack! It felt amazing to not be in the back out of breath.

I can't wait to know what life is like after the next 50 pounds is off!

50 Pounds!

I am 1 pound away from being 50 pounds down! I'm hoping it will happen this week.

2 months Post-Op!

I've lost 45 pounds! 11 pre-op and 34 post-op!

My first banded holiday

So the family and I are back from Thanksgiving in New Hampshire (where I grew up and my family still lives). We had a great mini vacation/holiday.

Thanksgiving morning we got up early for the Turkey Trot 5k. My husband, sister/her boyfriend, and I all did the race. This was my second race, I did it last year. My time last year was 55 minutes, this year I did it in 50 minutes!

At Thanksgiving "dinner" I had a small plate, only one serving, and no roll. Later we had dessert at my aunts house, I had little bits of things but I left feeling so good about myself. I wasn't over stuffed, I was satisfied and not feeling deprived at all!

Current weight: 275 :)

What is going on here

So live here is pretty boring. I am trying to eat right, eat little portions and not snack. I'm also trying to get enough water in and workout everyday.
On an average week, I can workout 3 times at the gym, 1 time at aqua aerobics and the other 3 days I try to walk, ride my bike or use the elliptical.
I also try and cook ever day, but with my smaller portions we are having a lot of leftovers and my husband can't eat them all, so some nights we have left overs for dinner.

I'm weight somewhere between 279 and 277. Depends on the day :) I'm so happy with my weight loss!!!

1 Month Post Op!!!

Another recipe!

Ok, so here is a variation of a a recipe I found on Pinterest ( here is the original pin -http://pinterest.com/pin/41799102762736086/).

It has no name so I call mine - Broccoli Tomato Melts

What you need:
1 Beefsteak tomato- sliced
1 bunch of fresh broccoli- chopped
Minced garlic
Mozzarella shredded cheese
Ground pepper

Turn the broiler on in your oven.

Place slices of tomato on baking sheet, sprinkle with pepper.

Sautee minced garlic and broccoli for 2 or 3 minutes.

Put broccoli/garlic on tomatoes.

Top with cheese.

Place under broiler until cheese is melted and browned. 

 These are super yummy!!!

Recipes I love!

I've made these two recipes and my goodness I LOVE them!!!

 http://peaceloveandlowcarb.blogspot.com/2012/06/philly-cheesesteak-stuffed-peppers.html#.UIyhWIaA0X4 Made this just as the recipe said.

http://greenlitebites.com/2012/01/30/mexican-style-portobello-mushroom-pizza/ This one I added some refried beans before I put anything else on. 

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed these, I hope try them!

Realization

While driving today I was thinking about my plans for tomorrow. Crazy has school so I will drop him off and go to the gym. I have been very diligent about going to the gym while he is at school, so while driving I had a realization. I like going to the gym, it's not a chore. I don't stress about who is watching me, what I look like, I get to watch The Doctors on TV, I get to take a shower/put makeup on and don't have Crazy at my feet.

Conclusion: go figure, I like the gym.

Also I went to the doctor today, I'm down 8 pounds in the past two weeks.

2 weeks post op!

I'm two weeks post op and feeling great! Today I did 25 minutes on the treadmill and 10 on the bike. I did my fastest mile yet, 17 minutes. I alternated a couple minutes of walking then 1 minute of jogging. I think I may have over done it a bit, so I will take it a bit easier next week so I can heal a bit more.

I think I will try and go to aqua aerobics this week, I miss it so much!

Looking forward to a fun weekend!

FOOD!

I need food.

This liquid diet is really getting old. I'm not hungry, but not being able to chew on anything is really driving me crazy! Not to mention that I have to cook for my son and husband almost every night (I've taken to doing it 5 times a week and making them eat leftovers the other days).

Pinterest is the worst for me. I love pinning recipes and I'm a total gluten for punishment because I'm on there every night pinning things, plus making cookies and other things for Hubby's work. I just can't stop myself from wanting to bake or make things. But I'm not eating it, promise!

Last night was super hard for me. My Hubby had a table tennis tournament, he does it every year. And ever year they give out free PIZZA. Ugh! It was really tough for me to see and smell everyone eating their pizza while I sipped my tomato soup. I even had to feed Crazy some, I almost cracked but I stayed strong.

BTW the scale read 288 lbs this morning. That's 30 pounds down from my original weight!!!

1st post op apppointment

So today I had my 1st post op appointment. I'm off the pain meds, my incisions look good and I'm up and active. My doctor gave me some pictures of my surgery, Hubby was pretty excited about that.

Lastly, I got weighed, I've lost 11 lbs in a week!!! So freaking excited!!!!

Made it to the other side

So yesterday I had my lap band with plication surgery. My surgery started just after 12 pm and I was up and walking around 4 pm. I saw my surgeon, he said, you don't even look like you had surgery today.

Well, I was fine when my family came to visit but I had a hard time sleeping, didn't want the hard meds because they make me very hot but around 6 am I told them I wanted them, I need to get some sleep.

After that I felt pretty good, I got up, got dressed and walked out of the hospital around 10:15 am, this morning. We took a walk around the grocery store, picked up Crazy from preschool then came home.

I took two walks around my house, trying to get some of the gas out. I took a nap, but I'm still not comfortable laying down. I really hurt my neck from the way I've had to position my head. Hopefully Hubby will give me a little massage.

Tomorrow!

So yesterday at my last appointment before surgery my date got switched again, back to the 4th!

TOMORROW I'M GETTING BANDED!!! I'm so excited!

Pre-Op Testing take 1

Went today for my Pre-Op testing, which didn't happen.

I got there on time, gave them my insurance card, the receptionist went away come back and said, there is a problem. Grrreeaaattt. Here is the deal, because they moved my surgery back 1 day, my insurance won't cover the testing today, but it will on Monday (try and figure that one out!).

So I'm going back on Monday for what could be 3 hours of testing and getting the hospitalist to sign off on me to get the surgery. It's only 7 days away!!!!

I have that on Monday and my last appointment with my surgeon on Tuesday. My mom gets here on Wed. to help with Crazy. I'm excited to see her!

This is sucky!

I HATE this pre-op diet! It's awful, I just think about the shakes and I want to puke. I have 10 more days and at this point, those shakes can suck it : )

Also, my surgery got moved to October 5th, it had to be moved back not forward of course.

Pre-Op Day 4

4 days into my pre-op diet and I haven't followed it correctly once. I suck. I don't want to do it at all, I'm just want to throw a huge hissy fit and stomp my feet.

18 days until my surgery, I need this to go fast!

Denial

Today starts my 3 week pre-op diet and I'm in denial about it. I don't want to do it!

It's not to bad - 3 shakes, 2 fruits and a salad with protein. It's much better than an all liquid diet, but I like variety and snacking. It's crazy to think that I can't eat anything except those things for the next 21 days. Then when I'm done with that, I will have my surgery, eek! Am I ready for this?

Rewards

I think rewards are a great motivator, so I've come up with a list of rewards for myself.

Pounds lost                     Reward
     25                         New haircut/color
     50                             Massage
     75                         Shopping Spree (at the thrifts store)
    100                        Trip to theme park

That's what I've got thus far, we shall see if I need to make more depending on motivation or because I've lost more than 100lbs. I would ultimately like to lose 120-150 lbs, but let's get to 100 first and then go from there.

29 days!

Eeeekk! It's getting close!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4uf7w3VpFo&feature=plcp

My Vlog

This is my first video!

http://youtu.be/XeTJ2gqSFbg

I'm moving!

And so is the scale! We have gone to the pool a few times this week and last, so I've been taking that chance to move my butt. I've been taking the weights and doing some moves I know from aqua aerobics, along with holding on to the side and kicking my legs for 5 minutes.

According to my scale, I've lost 9 pounds compared to my Dr.'s scale. But who the heck knows what it will say on Thursday, at my appointment.

Lastly, I've joined a gym. Crazy will be going to preschool two days a week for a few hours, so I'm going to take that child free time to work on myself. I'm going to do that twice a week and aqua aerobics twice a week also, if hubby is willing to watch Crazy at 5:30 twice a week. We shall see how that goes. I love AA but getting someone to watch Crazy is hard.

Things I can't wait to say!

"Want to feel my port?"

"Why yes, I have lost weight!"

"Yeah, I do look good, thanks!"

"I'm full."

"I need to get to the gym."

"I've lost X pounds!"

Getting down to business

We were in Philly for a few days, and I was sick as a dog, so that cut down on my snacking. And we did a bit more walking then normal.

Now that we are home, I went for a 1.5 mile walk yesterday and today we headed to the pool. While hubby took care of baby boy, I did some of my aqua aerobics moves. It starts up again at the beginning of Sept. and I'm super excited. This is the one activity that I have never dreaded, and actually look forward to. I hope with losing weight, I will pick up more activities that I enjoy as much. I would love to try zumba and spinning.

I have to lose 10 lbs by my surgery date, I have an appointment at the beginning of  the month, not sure what for. I hate the scale there, it doesn't seem to budge. I seem to be at least a pound heavier there than at home.

And my date is....

October 4th!

It's later than I had hoped but it will be worth the weight ( hehe, get it?). I still have to lose about 9 pounds before the surgery. I'm going to start aqua aerobics in September but before then I should get on my bike more or go for walks. It is just so humid and gross here!

I made a ticker, as a countdown to my surgery thing, but can't figure out how to put it on here. I really suck at this blogging thing.

Surgeon Appointment Tomorrow

I have an appointment tomorrow with Dr. Ahmad. I'm super nervous but also kind of excited that I could finally have a surgery date tomorrow.

Also I've been trying to do some exercise everyday. I've mowed the lawn and gone on bike rides, I hope that this along with different eating helps me to lose a bit of weight.

Exercise

I haven't been exercising, like at all. It's been so hot, I don't feel like riding my bike or going for a while. I know I need to, I'm so lazy. I suck.

Sad

One of the biggest reasons I'm getting weight loss surgery is so that I can have another baby. At this weight my body can't do it right now. I know that waiting and trying in about a year from now is the best for both me and future baby, but I'm so sad about waiting. I'm constantly surrounded by pregnant woman and I want to burst into tears.
I want another baby so bad. I want crazy to have a sibling, preferably before he starts school. I know I'm young and have a while to have children, but it still hurts. I'm a mother, I've know that was my role in life for a very long time, and I don't feel whole yet.

Vacation Pictures

My friend Jo took a lot of pictures of me while on vacation, and I hate all of them! I look terrible, it's just disgusting.  Here are a few:

 

I'm ready to not look like this anymore. One of Hubby's cousins had gastric bypass done in March and she is doing amazing! She even gave me a bunch of clothes. We talked about the surgery and now I'm even more excited for surgery. September can't come fast enough!

Back from vacation!

I'm back from vacation, we spent a month in the Isle of Man with the in-laws, we also spent a few days in England.

We just got back last night and this morning I had another nutritionist appointment. I call that dedication :) For my insurance I need to get weighed in every calendar month (for 6 months) so I needed to get there in the month of June and didn't wanted to risk not getting there before by Friday.

Good news is, I lost weight. Perhaps staying on the 3 floor of a building with no elevator the first 2 weeks of our vacation had something to do with it. I also think I wasn't snacking as much also.

My plan from now on, until my 3 week post op diet starts, is to have a shake in the morning, a salad with protein, fruit for snacks and a low carb dinner. I'm looking at a early Sept. surgery date, that is about 10 weeks away.

Nutritionist II

Another appointment with the nutritionist. I gained weight, I have skills like that. She thought maybe it's because last time it was warm and I was wearing a dress, but today it's cold so I was wearing pants and a sweater. Who knows.

I have another appointment before I leave for vacation, hopefully that will help me make good choices during the trip.

Weight last time: 318 lbs
Today's weight: 321 lbs

Another Appointment

Today was the nutritionist and psychologist appointment. They went well.

I'm a little over whelmed about the changes I'm going to have to make. Before surgery I will go on a 3 week diet of nothing but shakes, fruit and a salad/lean meat. EVER DAY, for 3 WEEKS. Yikes. Then taking vitamins and shakes forever. I know it will become second nature, but I need to digest this for a bit.

Endoscopy

Had my endoscopy done on Monday. Got there at 11 and got my IV in, watched some tv and then at 12 got wheeled into the rooms where they did it. Dr. Agarwala was there, he was the one to actually do the endoscopy. He is really nice.

I had to be put under, don't really like that feeling or the waking up part. I was really tired for the whole rest of the day.

It went well, they did however find that I have a hiatal hernia. This is the cause of my newly acquired acid reflux. Only started to have this since Dec. but it's a real pain (get it, hehe).  It looks like C or D, I'm not sure. Hubby was the one who actually talked to Dr. Agarwala.

 

 My next step is my Nutrition and Psych appointment on April 16th. Then I have nothing until May. 

Blood work

Got blood work done today. The lady was super gentle so it wasn't bad.

Monday is my endoscopy at 11. I can't eat all morning, I'm not looking forward to that!

1st appointment

Had my first appointment today! It was great. The doctors/nurses/staff are super nice and helpful. My doctor said that he will do the gastric band (lap band) with plication. The plication is a new procedure where the surgeon folds the stomach in half and stitches it together, creating a tube like shape. It is completely reversible and is getting better results than just the lap band alone.

My insurance requires 6 months of weight monitoring, and since I haven't been to the doctor in a long time, this month will count as month 1. Hopefully I am looking at a surgery date in August.

I have tons of other stuff to do before surgery, like a psych meeting, nutritionist meeting, blood work, cardio exam, pulmonary exam, among other things. But I have 6 months, so I don't need to rush things!

I'm so excited!

New Direction

I am heading in a new direction. On 3/13 I attended a meeting at the local hospital. It was an informational meeting about weight loss surgery. I have my first appointment with the surgeon next Thursday (3/22), I'm so excited!

I want to keep an open mind about what surgery is right for me, but I'm looking more into the Lap Band instead of the gastric bypass.

I ready to start this journey into my new life.

50+ degrees in Feb.

So it was super nice today, I heard it was going to hit 60 degrees in the city.

I've been a bit lazy, the chafing hurt so bad that I had to take some time off.

But I did 5 minutes jogging, 2 minutes walking, 5 minutes jogging, 2 minutes walking then a little bit of everything. A total of 17 mins.

Snowy

Yep we finally have snow, took forever to shovel with Crazy "helping".

Anyway, today I started with 3 minutes of walking. Then 2 minutes of jogging, 1 minute of walking for 14 minutes. So a total of 17 minutes. I wanted to do at least 20 but my shoulder started to hurt so I stopped.

I have had some crazy chafing, agony!

This us just for my future reference (so you can ignore it):
Walking @ 50
Jogging @ 60-65

Yep, I'm doing it.

Did day number 3 of the first week. I didn't do it outside, I got on the elliptical and had a great time actually. I so did some back pedaling on the machine. Wow was that hard!

I'm going to need a little praise here

Today the weather was really bad, raining off and on with winder at about 25 mph. But you know what, I got out and did my walking/jogging.

Yea, I'm going to need a little praise for that. Anyone?

I guess I'll just pat myself on the back.

C25k

I started the C25k (couch to 5k) today, my feet started to feel numb or sleepy while doing it but it wasn't to bad.
I did it around 7:30 at night, thinking that while most people are home, they wouldn't see me because it's dark. So of course because I'm trying not to be seen, I kept setting off peoples motion sensor lights! I wasn't even that close to their house!

1 month until Crazy's 2nd birthday, I want to at least look like I've lost some weight.

I will weigh myself on Tuesdays.

2012- A new year!

309 lbs. That's what I weighted this afternoon. Depressing isn't it? I need to change my life.