In Search Of Myself

10 Tips To Keep You Exercising

2008-03-05T13:18:00.001-08:00

1. Always exercise on Monday. Starting the week on the right foot makes it easier to stick to your plan.

2. Never skip exercising for two days in a row. You
can skip a day, but the next day, you must exercise no matter how
inconvenient. This rule dramatically increased the number of times I
exercise over the course of a month.

3. Remember, exercise GIVES energy. If you feel too
tired to exercise, remember that exercise boosts energy. It took me a
long time to notice that I’d drag myself to the gym, work out for forty
minutes, and leave feeling far more energetic than when I went in.

4. Any work-out “counts.” Give yourself credit for
the least effort. My father, a runner, always said that all he had to
do was put on his running shoes and close the door behind him. Why does
this work? Because if I know I can quit after five minutes, I get
started—and once I start, I usually follow through with my usual
routine. Getting out the door is by FAR the toughest part.

5. You don’t have to shower. One problem—mostly for
women—is that taking a shower can take too much time. Look for exercise
like strength-training, yoga, or walking, that don’t make you sweaty.

6. Throw money at the problem. Spend more to go to
a more convenient gym, or to get an iPod, or to work with a trainer.
Exercise pays off BIG in your quality of life, so this is a place to
splurge.

7. Don’t set the bar too high. I have a friend who
thinks it’s not worth exercising unless she’s training for a marathon –
and so she never exercises. She’d be better off going for a one-mile
run five times a week.

8. Don’t kid yourself. Belonging to a gym doesn’t
mean that you go to the gym. Having been in good shape in college
doesn’t mean you’re in good shape today. Be honest about what your
habits really are now.

9. You have time. Just take a twenty-minute walk. If you can’t do more, do that! Just a twenty-minute walk will really pay off.

10. Exercise for SANITY not VANITY. I find it more
motivating to think about the fact that exercise is going to make me
feel happier, calmer, and more energetic, right now, rather than to
think about vaguer long-term benefits, like strengthened immunity or
longer life. It’s not clear that exercise has much impact on weight
loss, so don’t be give up when the pounds don’t fall off. It’s worth
doing for so many other reasons.

Full Article

Artificial Sweetner Makes You Fat

2008-02-14T07:37:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON - Using an artificial, no-calorie sweetener rather than sugar may make it tougher, not easier, to lose weight, U.S. researchers said Sunday.

Scientists at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, studied rats that were fed food with the artificial sweetener saccharin and rats fed food with glucose, a natural sugar.

Full Story

Which is also what my nutritionist has been working with me on for the last month or so. Giving up my sweetners. Which go in the coffee, tea, crystal lite, basically all the drinks. She says they make you crave more and more sugars. Additionally she said artificial sweetners are treated the same insulin wise as regular sugars, so it's not helping regulation my metabolism or keep my blood sugar on an even keel.

She recommends switching to stevia, since it is also non caloric, but also rates a big fat zero on the glycemic index.

This weekend we are going out of town and had already planned on stopping by the nearest whole foods to stock up on some supplies. So now we are adding stevia to that list. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hello Size 18's!!!

2008-02-07T10:14:00.001-08:00

The other day I was online at Coldwater Creek and they were having a huge sale, tons of things for under $10.00. So I went ahead and ordered a few pairs of slacks in a size 18, and a couple of XL tops. I figured if they got here and they were snug then it would be even more motivation to eat clean and workout harder.

This morning they arrived and everything fits perfectly. The slacks are just right (well one pair is a bit big in the thighs), and the tops fit lovely.

I am so jazzed I can't believe it. 18!!!!!! XL (with no numbers in front of it). Holy Moly!

Interesting Article

2008-02-04T09:47:00.000-08:00

Wouldn’t you just love it if your body decided to burn fat and calories on its own?

It can:
1. Exercise in short, intense bursts (interval training) for effective fat burning after exercise.
2. Increase the amount of resistance/strength/weight training you do, to build more lean muscle. Muscle is ‘metabolically active’ and burns more calories than other body tissue even when you’re not moving.
And of course, for best results:
3. Chill on the amount of food you are eating.

Technically:
1. Our bodies are built to survive, so when you exercise for long periods of time (often and consistently) your body thinks it needs to hold on to fat for energy. Doing short (12-15 minute), intense exercise sessions builds strength and burns calories, but not fat, so it “feels safe” using fat stores for energy after exercise.
2. Resistance training (using extra weight) helps build lean muscle mass (and strong bones), and muscle burns more calories than fat.
3. If you are obsessing over things like fat grams and not eating a nutritious diet, your body will reserve energy (store fat) to survive.

Realistically:
1. Varying your exercise is the most effective and efficient way to stay lean and healthy. You must do some longer exercise to build cardiovascular endurance, burn lots of calories, and yes, even burn fat during exercise - your body will not click in to “save” mode unless you exercise for long periods of time, regularly and often.
2. You must do resistance training in order to build muscle and strong bones.
3. Nobody wants to exercise more - and we don’t want to train our bodies to need more exercise to stay fit. So exercise efficiently – two short, very intense (relative to your level of fitness) training sessions weekly, like a 15-minute fast run/walk or fast cycling sprint intervals, and two moderately long, moderately intense sessions (30-45 minutes) of strong walking, cycling, or yoga, with one long day (60-90 minutes) of a moderately paced walk/hike. That’s a great five-day/week training schedule.
4. Instead of adding more days to your workout schedule, add a weighted vest to your training. I have said this before, but this is the most efficient way that I know of to build muscle while burning calories. For more information, go to http://www.walkvest.com/.
5. Eat moderately - stop counting fat grams and calories and look at how much food is on your plate! And eat more nutritiously by eating foods that are natural and unprocessed.

Mississippi to Refuse Restaurant Service To The Obese?

2008-02-01T10:12:00.000-08:00

I found this via Sparky Girl's Low Carb Blog:

HOUSE BILL NO. 282
AN ACT TO PROHIBIT CERTAIN FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS FROM SERVING FOOD TO ANY PERSON WHO IS OBESE, BASED ON CRITERIA PRESCRIBED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH; TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT TO PREPARE WRITTEN MATERIALS THAT DESCRIBE AND EXPLAIN THE CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING WHETHER A PERSON IS OBESE AND TO PROVIDE THOSE MATERIALS TO THE FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS; TO DIRECT THE DEPARTMENT TO MONITOR THE FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) The provisions of this section shall apply to any food establishment that is required to obtain a permit from the State Department of Health under Section 41-3-15(4)(f), that operates primarily in an enclosed facility and that has five (5) or more seats for customers.
(2) Any food establishment to which this section applies shall not be allowed to serve food to any person who is obese, based on criteria prescribed by the State Department of Health after consultation with the Mississippi Council on Obesity Prevention and Management established under Section 41-101-1 or its successor. The State Department of Health shall prepare written materials that describe and explain the criteria for determining whether a person is obese, and shall provide those materials to all food establishments to which this section applies. A food establishment shall be entitled to rely on the criteria for obesity in those written materials when determining whether or not it is allowed to serve food to any person.
(3) The State Department of Health shall monitor the food establishments to which this section applies for compliance with the provisions of this section, and may revoke the permit of any food establishment that repeatedly violates the provisions of this section.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2008.

H. B. No. 282 *HR03/R51*
08/HR03/R51
PAGE 2 (RF\LH)
ST: Food establishments; prohibit from serving
food to any person who is obese.

PDF Version

This is scary on so many levels

Bah

2008-02-01T07:13:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling really good lately even though my weekly losses aren't quite as big as they have been in the past.

Last night I made adobo and rice for dinner, and for the first time in a couple months got a miserable case of the foamies/vomiting. I can't believe I used to get that feeling a couple of times a day! It definately makes me appreciate the progress I have made.

Last night was my first meeting with the therapist and it went really well. I really like her and we are going to be meeting weekly until things settle down a bit.

My exercise up until this week has been really good, this week I have slacked off a bit due to fighting off a cold, but am starting to be able to breathe again so I should be back at the gym this weekend.

Yay

11 Tips to Increase Your Metabolism

2008-01-25T13:06:00.000-08:00

Eat Enough:
Eat More Frequently:
Eat Breakfast:
Eat More Protein:
Eat More Fiber:
Weight Train:
Build your Muscles:
Work your Legs:
Do more High Intensity Cardio:
Avoid Booze:
Increase your Incidental Physical Activity:

Read the full article

Bah

2008-01-16T11:28:00.000-08:00

Well the good news is that I don't have an auto-immune disease which causes my hair to fall out. The bad news is there is no rhyme or reason to why it's coming out the way it is. My nutritional lab work is all coming back good. The best we are able to come up with is that even though my lab work is all good, this is still a killer shock to my body and it's decided that hair is optional.

There is another girl who goes to the surgeons support group who is 2.5 years out and is still wearing wigs, so I think if she is there next month I'm going to chat her up and see what her story is and compare.

I do have a referral to the dermatologist to see if it is skin related, but no one thinks that it will be since I have beautiful scalp where the hair used to be, so it's not likely.

I have been given the go ahead to chop all my hair off, so I plan on doing that this weekend.

Crazy.

Dark Hair

2008-01-09T15:44:00.001-08:00

Dark Hair
Originally uploaded by Incredible Me.

My new hair came today!

Which is good since the big bald spot is now 4" in diameter and I am now being tested for auto immune diseases such as lupus and alopecia (?) which is where your body attacks your hair follicles and you lose your hair in large "lesions" like how mine is coming out.

Looks natural enough even though it's a bit darker than I would have liked.

Personal Trainer

2008-01-04T15:35:00.000-08:00

Today I met with one of the gyms personal trainers for a trial session and I really loved it!

He is all about form and working out effectively and getting healthy (rather than ripped or bulked up). So I signed up for 2 half hour sessions a week for the next month, and hopefully it will get me going again.

This time last year I would have laughed at the thought of having a personal trainer.

A New Year

2008-01-01T15:55:00.000-08:00

Happy new years everyone.

This year I haven't really made any new years resolutions. I've decided to keep working on last years resolutions which were;

Work on my fitness level
Work on living a more eco-friendly and sustainable lifestyle
Be kinder and more patient with my loved ones

I made great progress on these last year, but I still feel like I have so far to go, so I'm going to keep with these and see where I end up in 2009.

Today I went to the gym and worked out for an hour, I did about 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes around the circuit strength training. Working out was a joy today, since I finally broke down and bought new workout pants (size xl) which meant that when I was doing cardio my pants did not start falling off and when climbing on and off the other equipment my baggy pants did not get snagged on things! Yay!

Update

2007-12-29T18:56:00.000-08:00

My lab work was reviewed last week and we are seeing improvements. I meet again with the dr next week (this coming week) and get a referral to the shrink.

I'm wearing a size 18/20 and it's amazing how small I looked in the mirror. It's crazy. My sister saw me the weekend before christmas and I think she was a little surprised at my progress. She hadn't seen me in a few months and remarked how different it was.

For new years R and I are going to switch to a gym that is about a mile further from our current gym, but offers many more services including evening yoga classes we plan on taking together. But what I am looking forward to is that it has more cardio equipment which means no more waiting for a treadmill or elliptical machine, and it has tons of group classes, more person trainers to choose from and if I wanted to it offers fencing... which might be fun to give a go. The other bonus is not only does it offer more features, but it's actually cheaper!

Yay

Holiday Madness

2007-12-21T22:12:00.001-08:00

This is my first holiday season with my new guts and frankly I'm not doing all that hot.

I've made tons of cookies and while I've given 98% away, but let me tell you I've eaten a few, not great.

I haven't been to the gym in a couple of weeks, but mostly that is due to the fact that I hate my gym and want to join this other gym which is much nicer and offers more, but all my money is tied up in other people's xmas gifts. That's ok, I'll just join in January with the rest of the town.

My hair is still falling out like crazy. Nioxin was a complete waste of money, not only did it not stop (or even slow down) the hair loss, it made the hair that I do have feel like frizzed out straw. Forget that. My bald spot now has a diameter for about 3 inches. Don't give me the crap of "it grows back" either. It's been falling out for months and let me tell you, it's as smooth as a baby's ass. There is no regrowth whatsoever. It's super frustrating. I'm about ready to shave it off and try the Sinead look.

Lab Work

2007-12-19T17:54:00.000-08:00

Well today I had a review of my last set of lab work, and it is finally starting to show some progress.

I am now only slightly anemic, and the CRP test while still way higher than normal has come down 3.4 points which is good progress.

Of course I got a couple more vitamins to add to my daily routine, but all in all things are definitely getting better.

Interesting Gif

2007-12-13T12:17:00.000-08:00

click to bring up animation

Issues

2007-12-11T16:31:00.001-08:00

I'm still doing ok with the weight loss, and my weekly visits to the nutritionist are going well, and I'm slowly developing a post bariatric diet that fits with my needs and tastes.

Despite all of the work I've done this far, I have decided to look at getting my head some therapy.

In the last couple weeks I have come to realize that I am more of an emotional eater than I had really thought. Mad = eat something that makes you feel good. Bored = Make a giant batch of cookies. Sad = Chocolate.

Now that I'm unable to indulge as I did before I've slowly taken on a bad habit that I used throughout high school; namely cutting myself. A habit that deeply bothers my family and friends. Now before you go flipping out, I'm safe about it, and there are hundreds and thousands of people out there who hurt themselves when they are upset. Some people bite the insides of their cheeks, pull their hair, bite themselves, hell some people beat their head against the wall literally. This is all a different variations of the same thing.

However, I don't want this. I need to learn how to properly handle my stresses and emotions, and for that I'm going to check out therapy, and hope that I find someone who can help me find better ways to deal with life.

Bariatric Friendly Egg Nog

2007-12-06T07:49:00.000-08:00

Tis the season for Nog. I found this recipe on Shel's blog and thought I would share it as well.

LINDA’S EGGLESS EGG NOG

One 1-ounce pgk sf instant vanilla pudding powder
1 cup half & half (can use fat free)
5 cups milk (I used Skim)
3 tablespoons Splenda granular
1 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon brandy or rum extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In large bowl whisk together pudding powder and half & half until dissolved. Whisk in until smooth milk, Splenda, nutmeg, cinnamon, brandy extract, and vanilla. Pour into a large pitcher and allow to chill for at least 2 hours. If mixture becomes too thick add a 1/4 cup milk at a time and stir to blend. This is thick, but not overly so.

Food

2007-11-29T07:21:00.000-08:00

After years and years and years of dieting and trying to eat healthy there was one item that I was really looking forward to getting rid of after having the surgery.

That item was the food scale. I was naive enough to believe that after surgery nutrition would for the first time in my life; come to me naturally.

It doesn't. I'm now more than ever, a slave to my food scale. In my quest to accurately log my foods for the weekly visits to the nutritionist, I now weigh all my food as I put it onto my plate,. Then after I am finished eating, if I don't finish my plate, I weigh it all again to figure the amount left uneaten.

I am slowly finding out more and more that rather than surgery to rearrange my guts, maybe I should have had a lobotomy to get rid of what ever is messed up in my head

New Panties

2007-11-26T09:06:00.000-08:00

Well finally having several instances of running to get something and having my old panties start falling down my legs I broke down and got some new ones.

I'm excited to say that I can now buy panties from Target in a 6 pack for $7. I'm also super happy that I was able to cram my big ol' booty into size 9's which is the size 16 equivalent. I was hoping to find some 10's which are the 18/20's but they didn't have any so I figure the 9's would be a bit snug, but I could deal until either I shrunk some or they stretched out a bit. Really the 9's are fine, not even a muffin top peeking over.

I'm so pleased, I'm not kidding myself that I can cram my butt into 16 jeans, but my 20's are getting loose in the butt and thighs, so I'm hopeful an 18 is not too far away.

WTF

2007-11-14T12:57:00.000-08:00

I'm getting shorter.

Before surgery I always measured at 5'9"

Lately everyone tells me how short I look so I remeasured while at the Nutritionist's office. I'm 5' 6.5".

Did I have fat on the bottom of my feet that made me taller?

I don't want to be short.

11 Reasons To Work Out In The Morning

2007-11-10T19:24:00.000-08:00

To trick yourself!!
It doesn’t mess up your eating schedule like working out at lunch or in the evening can.
Not very many good TV shows on in the early morning. Except Saved by the Bell which, coincidentally, is a fantastic program to watch while you work out!
Getting up sucks. Going to the gym sucks. Combine them and you’ve cut down the suckiness in your life automatically!
Very few conflicting obligations at 5:30am on weekdays. Has your kid ever had a soccer practice at that hour? Ever been invited to a cocktail party at that hour? Not likely.
In the summer it’s actually bearable in the early hours. (This applies only if you live somewhere hot.)
Meanwhile, in the winter, the gym is WAY less crowded before work than at the dreaded after-work hours. Especially in January
Not much time to make excuses for why you can’t go to the gym between waking up at 5:15 and arriving at the gym at 5:30.
Less showering! Once per day takes care of everything! (Less on days you don’t work out!)
Fewer stereotypical gym folks in the early morning. (‘girl who wears lots of makeup and shows cleavage,’ ‘Grunt man,’ and the twenty-eight very sweet, but locker-room-dominating, senior citizens don’t make it to the gym until later.)
Working out in the evening sucks.

Found here

Nioxin To Make It Better

2007-11-08T10:48:00.001-08:00

Nioxin To Make It Better
Originally uploaded by incredible.shrinking.me

This stuff better work. It was expensive, it smells yucky, and my hair doesn't feel soft and lovely like it normally does. Plus the scalp treatment has made my head red and irritable (normal side effect), which would be ok if you couldn't see my damn scalp!

My Bald Spot

2007-11-08T10:46:00.001-08:00

My Bald Spot
Originally uploaded by incredible.shrinking.me

Here is the biggest of my bald spots. I have to admit, losing my hair was one thing, but I didn't realize I'd lose it in patches!

100 Pounds Gone

2007-11-07T07:13:00.000-08:00

I was beginning to think I would never make it, but here it is. 100 lbs less of me.

Yesterday was good in so many ways. I finally hit my 100 lbs marker. R was willing to go with me to my support group meeting, and then at the meeting I won a gift basket full of primo shampoos, conditioners and other hair products. Full sized. There must be $200 worth of stuff.

Talk about a good day.

Update

2007-11-03T11:03:00.000-07:00

So here I am.

5 months out of surgery, and when all is said and done I've basically hit a small (hopefully) plateau.

I've basically not been losing any weight the last couple of weeks scale wise, but according to the funky fancy tests I do at the Dr's office I have actually lost quite a bit of fat while gaining some of my muscle back. In fact in the last 6 weeks I have put on 11 lbs of lean muscle mass.

Oh yeah I'm a stud at the gym. This week I have tried shaking up my work out's by doing at least a mile on the treadmill before switching to the elliptical. Then doing weights I have added a set of extra rep's to each exercise. This week I did yoga 3x before bed, and did a couple of after dinner bicycle rides with wunderkid.

Tonight, I'm planning on taking measurements and hoping to see some progress there.

In other news I am going bald. I was completely prepared to lose quite a bit of hair considering I've had many, many protein struggles along the way, however I was expecting to lose it in an even manner.

I have not.

I have bald spots in patches over my head. I look like a dog that has gotten the mange. Tres sexy to be sure. I know it will come back, some of my patches have baby fuzz already but that isn't the point really. It looks funky.

Tomorrow we are off to the whole foods market to stock up on some supplies, and I bought a couple of diabetic cookbooks this weekend to try and get some new staple recipes in my repertoire that follow the low carb and low glycemic index diet that the nutritionist is having me follow.

Farmer's Market Haul

2007-11-02T09:19:00.001-07:00

Farmer's Market Haul
Originally uploaded by Incredible Me.

This is what I got at this weeks Farmers Market.

Tons of healthy, delicious, and organic freggies.

Aren't you jealous?

Yoga

2007-10-29T21:43:00.000-07:00

I haven't done my yoga in awhile, but I started again tonight and I have to say that it's gotten a whole lot easier now that my belly is about 12 inches smaller.

So Freaking Close

2007-10-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

I really want to be at 246.5 by the end of this month. That will put me at an Even Steven 100 lb loss. I'm jonesing for this number something awful. It's ridiculous.

However, the last couple of weeks have shown a slow down on my lbs per week loss, so I'm not sure if I can hit 7 more lbs by the end of the month.

I'm going back to the nutrionist today, and have been diligent about keeping track of my foods and exercise. So hopefully, keep your fingers crossed for me that it happens.

10 Simple Ways To Never Get Sick Again

2007-10-16T15:14:00.000-07:00

1. See a chiropractor
2. Laugh hard
3. Scatter your workouts
4. Sleep 7 hours a night
5. See an acupuncturist
6. Meditate
7. Perform cardio 4 times a week
8. Stretch
9. Eat organic
10. Be wary of meds

Full article

Hallelujah!

2007-10-04T16:38:00.001-07:00

Oh yes, I met my new nutrionist yesterday and I LOVE, LOVE, L-O-V-E her!

Told her my woes, that shakes make me gag, my other protein drink is starting to make me gag, I have deficiency issues and she was wonderful about it.

I've come home with some new supplements that I am to implement slowly over time (because as she says something is better than nothing), and some samples for a bariatric meal replacement shake which is different than a straight protein drink, because she feels I may have protein sensitivity issues having never been a big protein eater even before surgery. So yay, yay, yay!

I'll be seeing her weekly for the next month while we work through the immediate deficiency issues, and then every other week for a bit.

Finally someone who is willing to work with me rather than just say go do this even if you do throw it all up!

Dr's Visit

2007-09-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

And I have to admit I'm a bit discouraged.

I'm becoming anemic, while I'm still on the very, very low end of normal, I've always been very, very high, and she said this probably has a lot to do with my being very tired somedays, and being anemic may be contributing to my inability to keep foods down somedays.

Then there was blood work done to assess your cardiac risk, and a score of 1-3 is normal, 3-9 being a high risk for heart attack, and my number is 13.7, which the Dr. says points to something else being wrong and while she did a EKG on me at my appointment and she assures me that my heart is fine, I have more testing to be done, and the nutrionist is also to look at this and work with me.

Needless to say, I'm bummed out. I have an appt. w/ the Nutrionist on Wednesday, and more labwork to do in 2 weeks.

Update

2007-09-24T17:13:00.001-07:00

Boy have the last few weeks been a bit crazy.

I've been keeping up with my exercise plan. I go to the gym 3x a week in the morning after dropping G off at school. I'm very pleased with myself as this morning I managed to finish a mile off in just 15 minutes! I'm also up to 10 minute stretches on the elliptical machine (that thing used to make me vomit after 3 minutes). I'm also still doing strength / weight training 3x per week. The weight loss has slowed somewhat lately and I'm hoping it's due to the fact that I'm getting some of my muscles back.

I went up North to attend a group work meeting on Saturday and a private meeting with the owner on Sunday, and everyone says that I look great which is really good to hear.

G went to spend the night with his dad, who I haven't seen since before I had surgery and he asked if there was something wrong I have lost so much weight since I saw him last.

To top things off, while I was disrobing Saturday evening I realized that the top I bought to go with my size 22 jeans was an 18/20. Wow is that crazy.

Last week I had R take my measurements, and I've lost a crazy amount of inches. 63 Freaking inches. That's 5'3" btw.

This weekend is going to be the first weeking in a month that we don't have plans and I am very much looking forward to being able to tidy up the house more thoroughly, and just sit back and relax!

Size 22 Jeans!!!!!

2007-09-13T20:07:00.001-07:00

Holy moly, I've got size 22 jeans.

I went out tonight to buy one new outfit for tomorrow's big dinner, since I feel bad going to something dressy with clothes that are falling off of me. I was just hanging on to my 28's so I thought if I'm lucky I would be able to squeeze into size 24's.

I grab the 24's and try them on and they are way too baggy in the butt and thighs, so I went back and grabbed a 22 thinking there is no way that they would button.

Well they totally button, in fact I bet by the end of this month they will be starting to get loose.

Finally progress that *I* can see!

Settling In

2007-09-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

Well things are finally settling down into a more "normal" schedule after the move. G is back in grade school, the older boys have settled in at Cal Baptist, and R is back at work.

Working from home is going well. I'm able to get a fair amount done without all the office distractions.

Our social life has been super busy lately. 2 weeks ago we were in Irvine for the Toby Keith concert, last weekend we were in San Pedro for an awards banquet, this weekend it is back to San Pedro for yet another awards banquet, and the weekend after that we are up to Ventura. Holy moly, there is not enough time in the day anymore!

I've finally settled in to my new scale and am down to 268.6, I have to admit I am jonesing to break the 250 marker. All in all though I'm very pleased with my progress.

I've kept up with going to the gym 3x per week, doing both cardio and strength (holding off on the trainer though until I get back to some semblance of normal strength), and have started walking the nature trails near the house after dinner each night. I'm also slowly starting getting back into yoga. My goal this week is just to do it 2x before bed, and I normally do a series of 3 sun salutations and then just a standing pose flow. Next week I plan on upping it to 3 nights a week adding some floor poses.

274

2007-09-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

My old scale crapped out and doesn't work at all, so R bought me a new scale. So today's weigh in is 274. That's 3 lbs heavier than last week, and I'm trying to tell myself that it's because all scales are different, but I'm still sad.

The good thing about the scale is it gives you your body fat percentage so I have a new number to watch shrink away. When I started the surgeons scale told me I was 53% fat (ewww yuckky), and now I am 43% fat which is 10 percentage points better. So at least I have that to cheer me up with.

Shameless Self Promotion

2007-09-03T11:22:00.001-07:00

I'm selling some really cute halter tops, dresses and jeans on ebay. They are all sized 28 / 4x.

Feel free to check them out if you need anything in that size.

Update

2007-08-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

So now we are mostly moved into the new house. Just finishing up the fine tuning.

Last weekend I joined the gym that is about 4 blocks from here and Monday morning I had my free session with a personal trainer. It was great, he showed me how to use some of the machines, and things to with the free weights. It was good and he kicked my butt. How sad for me though to realize how much strength I have lost after having surgery. Bicep curls with a 10 lb weight and I couldn't do 15 reps. Oh well, what is important is that I start up again.

For my delayed bday present R bought me a great Tanita scale that also gives you your body fat percentage and prior to surgery I was at 54% and am now down to 48%. It was nice to see that go down too.

I still struggle with protein daily, but have found some good vitamins to take from someone in my support group and I am feeling much more myself these days.

Also, as you can see from this weeks weigh in I am down exactly 75lbs. Which is holy cow, fucking amazing! I can't hardly believe it. I can't wait to take some pictures this weekend to see the difference in myself!

T-T-T-Tasty Tastay!

2007-08-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

I'm back and I'm making progress.

I've finally found a protein bar that I like. They are Think Thin brand. They come in a variety of flavours, and I have to say the creamy peanut butter is my favourite of the moment (you can almost kid yourself that it is a reese's peanut butter cup).

Anyway here is what the bar brings you:
240 cals
8g fat
4g sat. fat (not good I know)
2 g fiber
14g sugar alcohols (which is a bit high for us bypass patients but I only eat 1/2 a bar at a time so it is ok).
20g protein.

So I eat half a bar for my mid morning snack and the other half in the afternoon for a lovely boost of 20 grams of protein, which really just makes everyone happy.

PS. They also have a white chocolate raspberry I'm trying to find in stores, because that one sounds delish, and it also benefits the Susan G. Komen breast cancer fund. So you can get your protein and save the tata's in one great bar!

AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

2007-08-07T22:05:00.003-07:00

I'm not missing.

I'm going to Vegas this weekend and moving next weekend.

I'm simply going CRAZY!!!

9 Weeks Ago Today!

2007-07-31T19:21:00.000-07:00

So 9 weeks ago I had my WLS. Holy wow ~ where has the time gone?

Healthy Lifestyle:
I still struggle with food, and have not managed to get past the soft / pureed foods stage. This is one of they many reasons I will be so happy in a few weeks, once I start working from home because I will be able to fully focus on my weird eating needs without having an office look on too.

House News:
R finished signing all the docs on the house tonight, and escrow closes tomorrow. I'll be going down on Saturday to wait on dryer and fridge delivery, while the boys start ferrying things from R's old place into the new place.

Vegas News:
My dress came last week and today I had an appt with the alterer to get the bust and waist taken in. Once she had me all pinned in I could not believe the difference! Holy moly do I look curvy and svelte! I can't wait to dress up for R and be the belle of the ball.

PS. Have you seen my ticker over there ----> I'm down 56 lbs!

Depressing

2007-07-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

I shouldn't be depressed. Today was official weigh in day and I was down 4 lbs since last Tuesday.

However, I went mall walking with my friend tonight and we had to stop at LB because they were having a clearance sale. So I grabbed a few things to try on, and that is where it all fell apart.

I'm still not in the next size down. Or I'm definately the wrong shape for the next size down. I tried on NEXT SIZE DOWN pants and while they were baggy in the butt and thighs I still couldn't get those mofo's to come within an inch of buttoning.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Yes I know, I shouldn't pout, and I should look at the long term, but holy moly. 50 lbs less ought to mean I can button the jeans in the next smaller size. (Please don't tell my I was cramming my ass into jeans that were too small).

Progress

2007-07-22T22:00:00.001-07:00

I have not thrown up once since Tuesday. It's a world record. I bought more liquid vits, it's definately way easier to swallow and cringe, than to chew and cringe.

Started my period today as well, it came with a lovely period pimple. I hope this means it will be a normal period and last longer than one day.

Finally told the roomie that we are moving out, he said it was good because he was thinking of taking a job offer out of state. See, things really do happen the way they ought to. He's also going to be gone pretty much all of next month, so I can pack and clean the house without anyone hovering. That will be nice.

It's The Weekend

2007-07-21T08:10:00.001-07:00

Last weekend R came up, the three of us went up to the Farmer's Market and out to see the new Harry Potter movie. I ended up shortly there after with some sort of stomach bug and was pretty much hanging my head in the toilet for the rest of the weekend (yes peeps, I am a fine date!).

This week has been crazy hectic at work. Work and I have come to a working from home agreement and everything is settled, I spent Friday in interviews looking for someone to take over my more mundane tasks and play gopher to me, and out of 5 candidates I have one (1!) maybe. We are running the ad again this weekend to see if we get some better applicants.

The house is slowly (very slowly) getting packed up. The rescue mission was here yesterday to pick up a ton of donations. That felt good.

Now we are getting ready to head to R's this weekend. One last weekend together before we hunker down and finish getting our respective houses in gear and combined into one. Scary but exciting!

I Exercised Today

2007-07-18T21:45:00.000-07:00

So... since I'm over the 6 weeks my surgeon makes you wait to start exercising... I attempted a workout.

I did about 10 minutes of Leslie Sansone's Walk Away The Pounds (and then I was pooped), and did 1/2 of the strength training exercises spark had laid out for me (I will admit that with my recent days of vomiting up everything I eat, I didn't bother with any of the stomach/core exercises).

Damn if I don't feel good about myself, even if it was only 20 minutes.

Work today was good, we finally settled on the plan that will work best for my working from home once I move next month.

So I officially am moving in with the honey one month from today (8/18), and I'm slowly weeding through everything in the house. I have a ton of stuff set adside for the rescue mission to come pick up on friday, I've thrown a ton of CRAP away. Now I can't figure why there is still so much stuff left over.

Gabe's room is all sorted through and ready to go. So is the living room, so now it's my bedroom and the kitchen left. Holy moly, thank goodness I have a whole month!

Not As Bad As I Thought

2007-07-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

Today was my one month post op visit to the Nutrionist. Well, I was a couple of weeks late.

Anyway, I'm not doing quite as bad as I had thought, and she gave me some more things to try. We revised my protein goal downward again since I'm having some problems with it. Now I'm at 50. Get 50 in no matter what she says. Not going to happen today though... agh I suck.

I'm so excited that tomorrow is Friday!! R is going to be here for the weekend, we've got a shopping trip planned to the big nutrition store to get some things, then we are going to have a family movie-thon and watch a few of the Harry Potter movies before seeing the new release next weekend (we don't want to go this weekend way too crowded).

Already dreading tomorrow

2007-07-11T19:51:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I meet with the nutritionist. I should be thrilled, since theoretically she is supposed to help me overcome my issues...

But I don't like her. She is roughly a 40 year old cheerleader. I can't understand why she works out of the office of a bariatric surgeon because on my initial consult with her she told me she just didn't get "head hunger".

WTF is there to get? You see something delicious, you aren't hungry, you eat it anyway. Apparently she has never had a craving for some chocolate, cheesecake, or egg rolls.

Have I mentioned she works out of my surgeons office? So tomorrow I go in. I'm expecting a lecture about my lack of protein... but after that is over I'm hoping she will give me some suggestions. I have huge texture issues. I can do a shake a day for a couple days, but then on the 3rd day it will hit my mouth and I immediately gag on it. I need something I can manage all the time.

I've recently started adding tofu back into my diet, but will need to talk to her about that as well, since soy products mess with my thyroid hormone therapy. LOL nothing is as easy as I think it is going to be, but that is ok. I'm going there tomorrow to learn, and even if she hates me and doesn't understand me, I'm going to make her teach me. I will come out of that office with better suggestions.

The one good thing is R is going to bring me a case of the one protein bar I actually like to eat. So if I can do one of those a day it's 14g Protein, but I think I can manage to eat 1.5 as a snack throughout the day and that's an extra 21. Which really would be a huge difference.

10 Steps to Loving Your Body (c) by Pat Ballard

2007-07-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

1. Never stand in front of a mirror and think negative thoughts about yourself.

2. Never stand anywhere and think negative thoughts about yourself.

3. Search carefully for your good points and when you have found them, nourish them and build on them and cause them to grow daily.

4. Close your mind to any negative words, thoughts or actions that someone might send your way. Don’t allow negative thoughts into your subconscious.

5. Always conduct yourself in an honorable fashion and don’t allow your mouth to appear larger than your body.

6. Always do your best to look like you care about yourself, as no one respects a slob, no matter what size that slob might be.

7. Learn what your best colors are, what your best hair style is, and what your best clothes style is, and never leave your house without being dressed
accordingly.

8. Always, and without fail, smile and simply say, “Thank you,” when you receive a compliment. Never think or say that the compliment isn’t true.

9. Stop apologizing about your size. Expect everyone to accept you, respect you, and be happy with you just the way you are.

10. But most of all, you have to love yourself. When you love yourself, others will love you and respond to you in the exact manner as you feel about yourself.

Rough Patch

2007-07-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

I want to start off by saying that I do NOT regret having this surgery. However, that being said, I am having a very difficult couple of weeks.

I am supposed to have progressed on to trying soft foods that are not pureed, but I'm having a heck of a time with them, and have decided to stay on puree for awhile longer. Though even then, sometimes I must still eat too fast, or not wait long enough to drink and I end up losing some of it.

Weight loss wasn't much this week in comparison to other weeks, however, it's going down and really that is all that matters.

Periods. WTF? It lasted 1.5 days. That can't be right.

I've found some liquid vits that are much more tolerable to me than the chewable bariatric advantage ones. I have to space them out oddly during the day, but I've got the multi vitamin, iron, and calcium liquids from floradix. Within 3 days of taking them I feel like I'm almost back to my pre-op energy level. Such a relief. I was pretty sure I was going to remain a walking zombie the rest of my life.

4th of July

2007-07-04T23:16:00.000-07:00

Today I ended up going to work for a little while, then went over to a friends for a bbq get together.

There were lots of people there... and lots of food. Since I am newly into soft foods (still preferring pureed to having a grouchy pouch) I didn't bother with anything other than eating the middle out of one deviled egg. But as I sat there looking at all that food I was a bit nostalgic for the old days where you could indulge in the yummy things.

I know that one day I will be able to eat most of that stuff (the grilled shrimp kabobs looked to be worth dying for), and it will be fine, but I wonder when I will be able to get around this "head hunger". (I don't want it, I'm not hungry, I can't have it; but man it looks GOOD!)

Hmmmm

2007-07-01T23:55:00.000-07:00

This weekend the BF and I went to see the new Die Hard movie. Do yourself a favor, go watch it, I haven't been this entertained in a long time. Those action scenes had me clenching up in my seat they were so good.

Today the BF put in the official offer on the condo. So we should know shortly whether or not I can dream about combining our 2 households into a new place, or into the current place. I'm hoping for new since we can paint it anyway we like. Anyway, if it doesn't work out we are just going to give up on Cali and search out the perfect place to move to in a year or so.... and that would be just fine too really.

This weekend we went to a giant nutrition / healthfood store, and I was able to find many different protein drinks to try out, along with some protein bars that I've been able to nibble through. So the protein wagon is starting up again. Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!

Holy Shiz-nit

2007-06-27T18:39:00.000-07:00

Today was my one month post-op visit to my surgeon. (Don't the rest of you just loooooove your surgeon?). Well he said I'm doing fabulously. My one stubborn incision has fully healed and has drained properly. He says my weight loss is just lovely (I was worried it wasn't good enough).

I told him I was having problems getting in the 100g of protein and he said it was ok as long as I didn't go under 75g. He also approved me to swallow my smaller pills. No more chopping up my synthroid! Which also means I can swallow my senokot to make my butt get into gear!

Anyway since I can't be bothered with tables at the moment here is the gist of my measurements.

Bust -1"
Waist -4.25"
Hips -2"
Thigh -2
Arm -1

Which makes a total of 10.25" less of me.

Yay!

307.5

2007-06-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

So definately a good week.

I'm not going to make it to my overly hopeful goal of being under 300 by the end of the month. There is no way in hell I can drop 7.5 lbs off in just 5 days.

Tomorrow I go to the Surgeon's office for my one month post-op appt. I'm very curious to see how he feels about the progress I've made. (I have fears that it's not enough, too slow, etc).

Then within the next week or two I need to schedule an appt with the Nutrionist I don't like. I'm sure she will be displeased to find that I haven't been getting all my protein in, but I'm not sure what to do when the minute a shake or protein bullet hits my lips that I immediately gag up what I've just swallowed.

I'm going to buy some more chocolate protein powder, because I have found that I've been able to do a milked down shake... one cup of milk to a 1/2 scoop of powder, with a 1/2 banana in there to cover some of the nasty taste. But doing it that way means, you don't get as much protein in. Still better than nothing.

I looked back at my food journal for the past week and I average about 500-600 calories a day. I'm honestly not sure if that is too low, high or on target, since the NUT never gave me calorie ranges to try to aim for. Just what size meals I should have. (1/4 cup serving of pureed protein 3x per day). Hmmmm

Big Day

2007-06-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

I've had such an incredible day.

Today I resigned from my job. I have been with this company for over 10 years (this is a feat when you consider I only turned 33 this year). I actually really, really enjoy my work and love the bulk of my coworkers.

Why am I quitting? Because after 4 years of dating, I'm finally ready to move in with my BF! So I'll be moving about 1.5 hrs south of where I am now. I'm hoping there is an opening at our sister company in his neighborhood, but if not that is ok. Everyone needs someone to count their beans and I've never had a problem getting a job.

My supervisor was very supportive. She says it will be impossible to replace me, but she and her husband have done things together with us (christmas parties, accidentally showing up at the same restaurant so we sit together), and she is really happy for me too! I'm also going to stay until mid-August only moving until right before school begins that way there is plenty of time to take care of business.

Hell, even my mom is excited. Yay for me.

Tomorrow is my weigh in day and I'm super excited about that too now, since today my undies were baggy on my butt. That can only mean good news!

Little Dishes

2007-06-21T19:40:00.001-07:00

More Little Dishes
Originally uploaded by Incredible Me.

This was in with the birthday gifts from my mum. These are 4 little plates that are probably at most 4" square.

Perfect for WLS lunches and dinners don't you think?

I also got the cutest little silverware too.

(Please ignore the ever present chapstick for my eternally dry lips).

Wow

2007-06-19T18:50:00.001-07:00

I weighed in today at 312.5

That's a lovely 34 lbs less than I was a month ago today! I'm very excited.

It's been wicked hot, and the a/c has been out at work (apparently there is something very broken in there because the parts aren't due in until Thursday). Needless to say - hot means I don't want to eat anything at all.

I'm also out of my anti-naseua meds without a refill, and I'm actually feeling pretty puke-y. Am hoping to get a refill tomorrow from the surgeon. Because let me tell you it's almost impossible to choke down protein drinks when you are feeling gaggy.

Other than that things are going nicely. At the office I am *almost* caught up with all the work that sat around the two weeks I was out. Though I have 3 seperate meetings tomorrow so I'll probably just fall behind again.

Yay for me!

Toxic Friends?

2007-06-17T19:43:00.001-07:00

I have been very private about what I have had done. I've only told my closest family and friends, hoping that if I kept the group small, that everyone would be supportive of me.

This has turned out to not be the case. I've gotten ~~great~~ fabulous support from everyone except for one person. This one friend I think is trying to be supportive; she calls me every other day to check in, makes sure I don't need any errands run, and I think "Wow! How nice is this?"

Then there are other moments. For instance she was hear when I came home from the hospital, but then the first words out of her mouth were "Now you are going to be prettier than me", or today when she stopped by she told me "I was sure you would have lost more weight already".

I honestly don't know how to respond to these comments. She gets overly sensitive about things, so I know if I were to say "hey, that shit hurts my feelings", she would be the one to get upset.

Ugh, I don't want to have to deal with this.

Food Glorious Food!

2007-06-14T16:02:00.001-07:00

I have now happily moved from "liquids" to "purees" which just has put me over the moon happy.

Last night for dinner I made a chicken dish from Eating Well After Weightloss Surgery.. it was a Chicken and Apricot Tangine. It was quite good even all pureed into ugly babyfood consistency.

Today I've had pureed cottage cheese for breakfast and lunch.

The addition of food is making it much easier for me to come closer to my protein target (I don't care what you say... I'm just not good at getting all 101 grams in every single day).

Tonight, I'm pureeing some chicken salad.

Who knew baby food could be so exciting!

Itchy and Scratchy

2007-06-13T11:55:00.001-07:00

Not sure what is going on. I thought I just had dry skin, but now I'm breaking out in a bit of a rash. I itch so badly I can't sleep and when I do sleep I scratch hard enough in my sleep to draw blood.

I finally called the surgeon to ask what it might be and what I could do. Turns out the answer is Benedryl. Yay! That stuff makes me drowsy so I'll be getting some good sleep....
... however it seems to have another side affect... one that leaves you running for the bathroom every 20 minutes.

Today was G's school play. It took everything I could do to sit through it and race back home to the bathroom.

I'm not even bothering with work!

1st day back at work!

2007-06-11T15:39:00.000-07:00

Only kind of sort of though. I'm part time for now because I am still so tired all the time.

It was nice to be missed. Even though everyone was supposed to be covering bits and pieces of my job, I still came back to fat stacks of work.

I think everyone must have missed me because they were very happy to give me my work back, even though they still need to do some stuff for the next couple of weeks, while I focus on the things that aren't able to be handed out to everyone else.

But... 1st day, 4 hours, not too terribly bad!

Yay

2007-06-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

Today was my one week (slightly delayed) post op appointment with the surgeon.

He was pleased with my progress, said I'm healing up nicely. Was pleased I was weaned off of the pain and nausea stuff.

I have on incision that seems to have a bit of drainage blocked behind it, he said that if it gets worse (which it's been the same this last week) to call him, and if it is there at my 1 month appointment, he will drain it there in the office. I'm of course hoping it's a good incision and just absorbs into my body like it is supposed to.

I was released to drive and to go to work. Yay on the driving, not so much on the work!

Protein....

2007-06-06T17:47:00.000-07:00

This is what I've found.

It tastes like ass.

It tastes like Jello shots (gross!).

However, it delivers the most protein in the smallest amount of goo.

That's 42G's of protein per 3 ounce "test tube". That's pretty much two shakes worth of protein in a tenth of the liquid.

They are not cheap. They are roughly $3 a shot (with shipping). I'm hoping to find them somewhere local. But I guess $6.00 a day when you don't eat anything else is ok.

It still leaves me about 17 grams short of my nutritionists goal of 101 grams of protein per day, but this is at least do-able until I can start adding some solid stuff into my diet.

Progress

2007-06-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

Or really lack thereof.

Today feels like such a set back. I basically slept all night and was up for maybe an hour or two during the day and then I would turn around and take a 3-4 hour nap.

I've been up for 3 hours; it is now 8PM and I'm looking forward to going to bed tonight.

Sis made me a shake today with only 1/2 the powder, but I was actually able to finish it. Which is much better than anything so far. Full scoop shakes I can't even get a 1/4 of the way through as they upset my stomach too much. I've also been a good girl and choked down my vitamins today.

I really do feel like shit today. Tired, run down; I realize this may have much to do with my inability to choke anything down so I am trying no matter how barfy it makes me feel.

I'm Home

2007-06-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

I've actually been home since Thursday, but have felt too much like a train wreck to do anything.

The hospital stay was pretty much a blur, the first day was really hard, I was heavily doped up so I was pretty out of it. The 2nd day was a bit better, I was able to walk a bit with help. My catheter irritated me a bit and I ended up with blood in my urine for a few days, and my IV leaked into my hand a bit and is pretty swollen. Other than that I was a fairly model patient, walking, doing my breathing, and sleeping. Can't beat that I guess.

Thursday and Friday had been pretty bad for me, I was still sleeping pretty much all the time, but due to the morphine withdrawals I was having really severe nightmares (I kept waking everyone else in the house up with my screaming). The bf came for the weekend to give my sister some nursing duty relief and he was an absolute peach of a nurse, helping me get up and down, helping me walk around the neighborhood, pouring my medications (and keeping track of what has to be taken and when). Hell he even helped me shower and horror of horrors helped me with bathroom duties!

Yesterday was the first day where I was awake for the bulk of the day, and today I'm starting to space out the pain medication a bit further as well. That definately feels like progress.

I have had a lot of problems getting my protein in, the shakes have been making me really naseous even with the anti-barf medication, so I had switched to a couple of days where my fluids were lentil soup thinned out to a watery consistency in the blender with chicken broth. This at least got me some protein.

Today, I will try a shake again.

9 Hours To Go

2007-05-28T22:08:00.000-07:00

The poo juice was vile and foul. And I didn't really see the need for the second one.

I'm pretty much packed up and ready to go.

I'm getting nervous and scared but I'm also pretty tired so I think I will sleep ok.

Can't wait to get back home!

1 Day To Go

2007-05-28T12:49:00.001-07:00

And I'm dying.

Today is poo juice day. I'm supposed to drink two Phospha Sodas today at noon and again at 6PM to make sure I'm fully cleaned out before surgery.

Let me tell you this stuff is disgusting. So foul it's miserable to gag down. I got about 3/4 of the way through it, before some of it decided to return. Then I gagged down the rest and chugged about 2 glasses of water, 1 glass of crystal lite, and another cup of broth to get rid of the taste.

I've asked sis to bring home some ginger ale to put it in the next go round, to hopefully make it more palatable.

Other than that everything is going well, I'm putzing around the house cleaning up a bit, finishing up some laundry, and yes, running for the potty every 10 minutes.

G is over at my girlfriends house for the night, she will drop him off at school in the morning then head over to the hospital to relieve my sister of hospital duty. Then once school lets out Sis will bring G by the hospital to see me (he is worried today).

I'm to be at the hospital at 5am, then surgery is scheduled for 7a, and should take roughly 2 hours.

I'm so glad to be here.

2 Days to go

2007-05-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

I'm at the end of my 2nd day of my clear liquid diet and I'm not climbing the walls quite as badly as I had imagined I would be. I think this is only because I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

My sister is here. Tomorrow we are going to take "before" photos and measurements that I will show no one but myself. But I want them just the same. Then I figure each month on my "surgi-versary" I'll do more photos and measurements. So that maybe I will be able to see the difference. Right now I can't imagine anything else but this.

It's going to be quite weird.

3 Days To Go

2007-05-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Today starts my three days of nothing but clear liquids (water, crystal light, chicken broth, and sugar free jello). I'm definately starting to get nervous.

This morning I'm off to the hospital to have some last bit of bloodwork done, then today is my sons bday party. Hopefully that will keep me quite distracted for at least a little while.

7 Days To Go

2007-05-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

Today I had my pre-surge appt with my PCP.

I got to pee in a little cup, have about 8 vials of my blood drawn, chest X-rays... and then there was the highlight... my very first EKG.

The nurse girl is very petite (keep this in mind for later). She tells me to undress from the waist up and lie on the table and she will be right back with the EKG machine. As she starts to head for the door I ask her if she is going to give me one of those little paper outfits to wear. She says I can't wear the paper gown so she hands me a little paper ~~blanket~~ napkin.

So I undress, lie down on the table and try to cover up with the "blanket". Well, if I'm lucky it covers a boob and a 1/2. So in she comes with the machine, of course it is bigger than her and a bit unweidly so quite a few people are able to walk down the corridor and see her trying to bring in the mystery machine while I lie there half naked with a napkin perched on my trying to cover my nipples.

Once she does manage to get the bohemoth of the machine in the room she starts slapping all these little stickers on me, leg, arm and then she removes my "blanket" so she can do the ones on my chest. One sticky goes between my boobs, another one needs to go under, so she grabs my boob and pushes it up to my chin to stick a sticky under there, and then because when I lie down the girls like to try and drift over to my armpits, she then grabs one and pushes it back to the middle of my chest so she can stick on one the side.

Did I mention this girl is tiny? She is maybe 5' tall and 90 lbs. Just one of my boobs looks larger than her entire head. She has also started to perspire a little bit... like the strain of pushing my mountainous tits around has worn her out.

Then she has to attach the electrodes to all the little stickies and run the test. The test takes like a minute tops. I kid you not it took her like 10 minutes to get the stickies on. Once the test is done we do the push me / pull me boob thing again so she can remove the stickies, she hands me my "blanket" and off she runs (but not before a few more patients can walk by and see me 1/2 naked).

Through all of this I really have no idea who is more embarrassed. I have to tell you I was looking forward to the part of the day where I could pee in a cup in private!

Note From The Universe

2007-05-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

Just put yourself ahead in time, pretend that it's next month already, and imagine that the past 4 or so weeks just totally rocked. Every hope you now possess for the coming weeks has manifested. Every challenge was breezed through. Every cool person stayed cool, every trickster became an ally, there were happy surprises along the way, and, you got plenty of sleep.

This is how we do it.

Kung Fu -
The Universe

Presents!

2007-05-20T20:17:00.001-07:00

Presents!
Originally uploaded by Incredible Me.

I'm just a little spoiled!

9 Days To Go

2007-05-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

This weekend was big date night with the bf and friends.

We had a big dinner at one of the local seafood restaurants, then off to a comedy show. It was a lovely time.

As fun as it has been I am anxious to have this weekend over. I have a busy week of Dr's appointments and getting the office ready to be without me for a couple of weeks so I am hoping that this week just flies by.

My sister will be here a week from tomorrow to be my companion for my 2 weeks of recovery and I have promised myself that I will take pictures and measurements before surge and then monthly there after to monitor my own progress. While I'd rather do anything but take pics and measurements, I know that afterwards it will keep me motivated to keep on trucking.

P.S.

2007-05-19T08:50:00.001-07:00

10 Days!

It's the final countdown.

Coming Out Of The Closet

2007-05-19T08:22:00.000-07:00

The group of people I've told that I'm having WLS is very small. I literally can count them on one hand.

It took me over 2 years to come to the decision to do this on my own, I've done lots of internet research, I've gone to support groups, I've gone to seminar after seminar. Yes, I've read the stories of people who have not had the best outcomes. I've still decided to move forward with this.

I finally told my mom last night. I was really nervous about it... I had been dabating whether or not to tell her from the moment I got my surgery date. I have an aunt who had a lap band surgery who has been a fairly non-compliant patient and hasn't lost quite as much as the rest of the family has imagined and I did not want to be compared to her, or feel the need to justify my decision to anyone.

Now, I am so thankful that I did tell my mom. I was honest that I really just wanted to be supported and she was great. It went so much better than I had imagined. Yay.

... I'm still not planning on telling anyone else.

No Surprise Here

2007-05-15T19:26:00.001-07:00

You Are Midnight

You are more than a little eccentric, and you're apt to keep very unusual habits.

Whether you're a nightowl, living in a commune, or taking a vow of silence - you like to experiment with your lifestyle.

Expressing your individuality is important to you, and you often lie awake in bed thinking about the world and your place in it.

You enjoy staying home, but that doesn't mean you're a hermit. You also appreciate quality time with family and close friends.

What Time Of Day Are You?

Protein, Protein

2007-05-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

So I've bought a huge variety of protein drinks to try before my surgery to find something that will be palatable to me afterwards.

So far I've only found drinks that I hate! Tonight I tried a Nectar brand Strawberry Kiwi and it tasted and smelled exactly like pepto bismol (which makes me vomit). I have to admit I was very disappointed. Nectar is a brand that most people don't have issues with, since it is not very thick and can be mixed with water. I'm hoping the other flavours I have won't be quite like this one.

I Have A Date

2007-05-05T16:42:00.000-07:00

A date with the surgeon that is.

My wls will be performed 5/29/2007.

Very exciting.

Testing 123

2007-05-05T16:01:00.001-07:00

Uber exciting first post