Huh.....I look GOOD!!

Lately, I see myself in the mirror and I actually like what I see. I watched a video on FB recently that really hit home. I think it was from Special K, but it talked about how women need to stop talking so ugly to themselves. Saying things like "my thighs are huge!" and "this makes my butt look fat!". Things we say to ourselves all.the.time. At least I know I do.  We would never say that to a friend. So why are we so self-critical?  Why can't we say "DAMN!  I look GOOD today!"??  Because then we'd be "full of ourselves". So maybe just saying to ourselves (but not out loud) is a good start. Just thinking it is enough.

DAMN I look good.....

Oh and Merry Christmas Eve! Still enjoying my sugary treats. Just for a few more days. Then it's back to low carbs and tracking my food. I plan to drop the last 28 pounds. Easy peasy.

New Family Pictures

I was so, so unhappy with my family pictures from last year (I already told you.....puffy face, frizzy hair, ugh!) that I made my family re-take them this year.  And they were SO excited.  NOT!!

So we headed out bright and early on a Saturday morning and got some great snaps.  I'm still not thrilled with me (what's going on with my HAIR???) but I'm so much happier with how I 'look'.  I still don't feel like I'm "small", you know what I mean?  I just feel like a normal size now, rather than morbidly obese.  And the sad thing is that when I reach 190 pounds, I'll STILL be 'overweight' according to the BMI chart.  That's crazy.  But whatever.....who cares......

Enjoy!!

My sweet, sweet boys!

At this point, I told them the quicker they smiled, the quicker we'd be done!
Zac is in the midst of losing all his teeth, so we captured the moment.  

Last year's.  I can really tell the difference here.

Sugar is the DEVIL!

Quick!  Name that movie!!

As of this morning I've officially lost 73 pounds!  I'm over 2/3 of the way to my goal of losing 100 pounds.  However, I've definitely hit a road block.  The hubs and I went on an adults-only vacation back in early November and I spent most of my time in our hotel room watching Criminal Minds reruns. The only accessible food was from the gift shop. And you know what they sell there. That's right....a bunch of bad food!!  So they had my favorites in stock: Reece's Pieces, Combos, and Cheddar popcorn. Now I want you to know, I went on this trip with the best of intentions. I planned to buy a bunch of high-protein foods when we got there. But we got in late, got lost and just went straight to the hotel. So my food choices on Monday were either a $30 hamburger from room service or the gift shop. I had also planned to work out every day. But this place was crazy expensive. They actually charged a daily rate for the gym!  So no. That didn't happen either. But here's my problem. I got started back on sugar. And now I can't quit it. It's got a sick hold on me. I did try. But at work, people keep bringing in sweets. And then you know what happened......the holidays!!!!  So seriously, TODAY is the first day in over a month that I didn't have any sweets. It was tough for me. I even had to yell NO to a coworker that tried to bring me some Reece's peanut butter cups....my favorite. It's hard work people!  Sugar is definitely my drug of choice and for me, I can't do it in moderation. I have to really just cut it out and stick with my protein. I really noticed a slow down in my weight loss when I got back on the sugar. Yes I know we're on the cusp of another holiday season. And I know I will have some sweets. But until then I'm fighting the urge with everything I have. And I still haven't had a soda since June. So there's that.

A note about my weigh-in today. Here's why it was monumental for me. I remember that 217 was the lowest I got when I lost a bunch of weight in 2010. So anything less than this will be the lowest I have been since high school. And that makes me want to cry tears of joy. I'm so happy right now I can barely stand it!  People are actually calling me skinny!!  I love it.

The picture below is the size 26 shorts I was wearing in June. Crazy, huh?

OH!  And that movie? It's Waterboy....a must-see If you haven't yet. 

10/21/13 Update

So I'm officially down 61.5 pounds today!  I now weigh 229 pounds.  It's been 109 days since my surgery (which is just over 3 months, so you don't have to do the math).  In some ways, it feels like forever and in other ways, it feels like yesterday.

I finally know how much/how little I can eat in one sitting.  My eyes were still way too big for awhile, but now I know that I can only eat about 1/4-1/2 cup at a time.  There for awhile, I thought if I just ate a little faster, I could get a little more in.  But that's W-R-O-N-G.  I have a hard time slowing down while I eat, but I'm working on it.  And I now know when to stop.  Which is crucial, let me tell you.

I am wearing the smallest clothes I have in my closet.....size 18's from my huge weight loss in 2010. I'm still 10 pounds higher than back then, but the clothes actually fit!  I can't believe it.  It's very exciting!!  However, I know in a few months, I'll have to face buying new clothes...and that's not a bad thing, right?

It's hard going out to eat with people who don't know I had WLS.  They stare at my plate with the tiny amount of food and just can't get over how little I'm eating.  So then I feel compelled to explain.  Which doesn't really bother me.  But it is interesting how people don't understand when people eat small amounts.  And then when they find out, they always feel guilty about eating in front of you.  Which makes ME uncomfortable.  *Sigh*  It's exhausting.

I completed my first 5K yesterday!!  It was a Graffiti Run, where they throw color on you at various points during the "race".  I did one in June, but (1) it was way too freaking hot and (2) I was carrying 60+ extra pounds, so I wasn't able to finish it.  But this time, I did!  My husband was kind enough to walk with me ('cause this girl ain't a runner....) and we finished the 3 miles in 50 minutes!  I normally walk a 20 minute mile, so that's major progress.  And I was so proud of my boys for finishing too (way ahead of us, of course)!

Size 18 pants from Old Navy

Before

After

It happened. Today!!

A day has come that I really never thought would come. I mean, yes I had the surgery and yes, I hoped it would work. But in the back of mind I was a little pessimistic. I've been doing well and making progress. However. Each time the weight loss slows a bit or I (gasp!!) actually gain a pound, I tell myself 'Well, that's it. I'm done.  But it's ok, I'm happy that I've lost 30 pounds. That's awesome!'.  Then the next day, I'm down another pound and it blows my mind again. So today it happened. I stepped on the scale. And it said (not out loud or anything....you know what I mean....) 240.6!  Do you know what that means?!?!?  I've officially lost 50 pounds. I'm halfway to my goal of 100 pounds.  In just 12 weeks (including the pre-op diet). I'm so excited I can barely stand it!  This has got me even more motivated. I actually went out and walked yesterday morning. It was only 70 degrees and felt amazing. And guess what else?  I'm in my size 18 clothes!  Now granted, some of them are tighter than others. But they zip and that's what counts, right?  In fact here's a pic of me in some size 18's (SO excited!!).

Confession Time

1.  In case you haven't noticed, I haven't posted on here since August 8th.
2.  I haven't been 100% faithful in tracking my food.
3.  I don't always remember to take my vitamin every day.
4.  I usually forget to take my calcium pill (Because it's chewable and it takes HORRIBLE!  However, I've recently switched to Calcium chocolate chewables and they taste SO much better).
5.  I still weigh myself WAY more than I should...usually in the morning and several times before bed.
6.  I eat my food way too fast.
7.  Which has caused me to throw up twice.
8.  And made me wish I could throw up more times than that.
9.  I still have eyes way too big for my stomach.
10.  I miss eating large volumes of food, so sometimes I don't want to go out to eat.  It's just sad.

In spite of all that, I'm still doing GREAT!!  I do not regret having this surgery one single day.  Not one!  It's the best decision I've ever made.  I'm still grieving the loss of food, but I'm finally getting used to the fact that I can't eat more than 5 or 6 bites.  Then I'm done.  I've thrown away more food than I care to think about.  And it kills me.  But it's a new fact of my life.

I'm back now and I'm re-committing to keeping up with this blog.  We'll see how long that lasts.  :-)

Here are some before/after photos, just for grins and giggles.

March 2013

August 2013 - down 40 pounds

Day before surgery

August 2013

 9/2/2013 Data:

Weight:  247.4 (43 pounds - yeah baby!!!)
Exercise:  20 minute walk with the fam

Vitamins

Here's the chewable vitamins I found for the liquid/puree/soft food phase.  And I have to be honest....they taste TERRIBLE!!!!  It was all I could do to choke them down.  It's so important to take your vitamins, so I made sure to take them everyday at the beginning.  And once I was cleared for tablets again, I quickly converted.

After about the first month, I was able to start taking these chocolate chews.  SOOOO much better.  It was like eating candy.  Yummy. 

My Staples

I think I've already admitted that I'm a creature of habit. Once I find something that works, I tend to repeat it over and over. So here are a few of my favorite things. These are the staples I turn to each day when I'm trying to do "high protein". 

Some details for your convenience:

Muscle Milk - 180 cals/20g protein
Turkey jerky - 45 cals/4g protein per stick
Protein bar - 190 cals/20g protein

The Snapple and Coffee are just for reference, not protein of course. But they're my faves and part of my daily routine so I wanted to share.

I'm still trying to break the hold sugar has on me.  Now that the holidays are officially over, I have high hopes. Wish me luck!

Day 43 - LAST day of soft foods/purees

Man, I've had the munchies today!  I'm not sure why.  I've done well on my protein numbers.  And I'm trying to make good, high protein choices.  But dang.  Luckily I'm not tempted by the chocolate bowl in my office.  Because it's full, let me tell you.  But so not worth it.

8/8/2013 Data:

Weight:  259.6 (31 pounds!!)
Exercise:  20 minute walk

Days 41 & 42

This week I'm realizing how awesome it is to feel good.  You know what I mean?  When you're feeling good and not having any pain, you don't think about it.  Until you feel bad.  And you can't sit up straight, or bend over and tie your shoes without sharp pain.  That's when you remember how great it was to feel good.  And you can't wait for that to happen again.  Well, it's finally here for me.  I had read that it takes about 3 weeks to really recover.  And of course I thought "pish-posh....not ME!".  Well, folks.  It's true.  I definitely felt better after the first week and a half.  But it took 3 full weeks to really feel GOOD.  And it's a great feeling.  So if you're just starting this post-op journey...hang in there.  It gets better every day.

8/6/2013 Data:

Weight:  261
Exercise:  20 minute walk with Tricia

8/7/2013 Data:

Weight:  261.2

Exercise:  20 minute walk with my boys

Day 40

So Monday was a typical Monday.  The one we don't want to face.  The day we all wish we could just stay in bed and sleep.  Honestly, if I could come into work at 9:00 instead of 8:00, I'd be happy.  Just one more hour would do me.

I've been looking for a way to track my weight loss and progress online and I think I found it.  It's called Weight & BP Tracker and it's located at:  http://www.weighttracker.info/.  Plus it's FREE so check it out.  You can also track your blood pressure (which has never been a problem for me, thank goodness!) and inches lost.  Here's a snapshot of my progress page and my weight loss chart:

You can see how it tracks your total progress, your BMI, your average loss per week and your projected time until you meet your goal.  Very cool.  I'm a visual person so I like to see it all in one place like this.

 8/5/2013 Data:

Weight:  262.4
Exercise:  No.  Didn't happen.
Food Diary:

Day 39

Sunday was a nice, relaxing day.  However.  If you look at my food diary, you can tell I had the munchies.  BIG time.  Sunday was a lesson for me in exercising my willpower.  People may think this is "the easy way out", but it's not.  It still takes a LOT of work to make good choices.  And I really struggled with that on Sunday.  I don't think I was even hungry.  I just wanted to eat.  And I couldn't eat a lot at one time, thank goodness!!  But I was able to get 3 cookies down with some milk.  And it tasted amazing.  But I immediately felt guilty.  And swore I wouldn't do it again.  If I gain weight after all this, I will be VERY unhappy with myself.  So back on track tomorrow.  No really!!!

8/4/2013 Data:

Weight:  262.4
Exercise:  20 minute walk with Zac.  Yes, I went twice as long as I've been going for 3 weeks.  YAY!
Food Diary:

Days 36-38

I'm being reminded day after day that I need to work on my brain when it comes to eating.  I STILL think that my portion sizes are WAY too small, and yet I can never finish more than 8-10 bites at the most.  Even though I want to eat more, I just can't.  And I also learned that 'they' are not kidding when 'they' say not to drink during your meal.  I've been trying to follow that rule, but sometimes I need the drink to help wash down my food.  However, my hubby and I were enjoying a kid-free dinner at Cotton Patch.  We did great on splitting the meal...I had 1/2 a cup of the potato soup and about 5 bites of his tilapia, but I was drinking my unsweet tea pretty heavily.  Well, "it" hit me like a ton of bricks.  This feeling of nausea/queasy/dizzy.  I just knew I needed to get home right away and lay down.  I'm not sure why the liquid does that...maybe it fills you too fast?  I don't know, but I certainly learned my lesson.  I will no longer be drinking during dinner.  Also, tonight after I finished back-to-school shopping with my boys, I ran through Freddy's for a hot fudge sundae.  Let me tell you...pre-surgery, I ate one almost every day.  Like, the Large size.  The whole thing!  So tonight I saw the "mini" size and guess what I thought?  "WAY too small!!!!" so I got the regular instead.  And it was way too much.  I ate about 1/4 of it and I was done.  I thought the ice cream would go down pretty easily and it did, but I got full pretty fast.  Which is great.  That's what I wanted, right?  It seems like all these things I've been craving are just not as good as I remember.  Which is a good thing.

8/1-8/3/2013 Data:

Weight:  262
Exercise:  Not much to be honest...it's so stinking hot and humid outside I can't stand it.
Food:

Day 35 - 6th day of purees/soft foods

So I've realized that my eyes are still bigger than my stomach.  I know it's a 'head-thing' that I'll have to get over.  I still look at portions and think 'it's not enough!!' but then I can't even eat it all.  I get full after just a few bites, which is awesome!  But I still love eating so much that I almost wish I could eat more.  Almost.  But I also realize that I love losing weight much, much more than I love eating food.  So I'm still convincing myself to make good choices.  I really focus on getting enough protein at each meal, which means ice cream is definitely out!  I just hope I can keep it up when I can actually eat more.

My clothes are definitely getting bigger.  My pants are almost hanging off.  However, I haven't been able to wear a smaller size since my tummy is still swollen and it hurts for anything to touch too closely.  At least I'm finally able to sit upright at my desk without a lot of pain.  I hope the swelling goes down soon.

Today is 3 weeks post-op.  The dreaded "3 week slump".  So I'm trying to prepare myself for it.  But I'm sure I'll still be upset.  I should probably put up the scale.  But I know I won't......

7/31/2013 Data:

Weight:  263.2
Exercise:  Got both my boys to walk for 10 minutes.  Even though it was SO stinking hot.
Food Diary:

Day 34 - 5th day of purees/soft foods

Tuesday was a long day.  For some reason, I had the munchies all day.  Fortunately, I was able to fight it.  I've worked way too hard for this to give in to some ice cream.  I did, however, pick up some frozen yogurt with some berries.  And it was AWE-SOME!!  So much better than the hot fudge sundaes I used to eat.  Better FOR me, anyway.  That night I made the mistake of watching my cooking shows.  I really should quit them because they make me hungry, but I was too lazy to get up and actually go get food, so it worked out ok.  See - laziness DOES pay off!

7/30/2013 Data:

Weight: 263.6
Exercise:  Didn't get to walk....couldn't talk anyone into going with me :-(
Food Diary:

Day 33 - 4th Day of purees/soft foods

Another Monday, another day at work.  It's getting better and better on the pain management.  I went another day today with no pain meds, so yay for me!  I went to see my doctor today for my (rescheduled) 2 week check-up.  I've officially lost 16 pounds since the day before surgery, according to their records.  My BMI has dropped from 42 to less than 38, which I think is awesome!  I'm making progress, so that makes me happy.

Hunter is making spaghetti for dinner!  So I'll be eating hamburger meat in no-sugar-added pasta sauce.  Can't wait!

7/29/13 Data:

Weight:  263.6
Exercise:  10 minute walk
Food Diary:

Day 32 - 3rd day of purees/soft foods

Sunday came awfully quick.  We rolled ourselves out of bed around 10:00 and got ready for breakfast/lunch.  I intended to get up early and eat breakfast but that didn't happen.  We headed to our favorite Sunday morning restaurant that serves the BEST breakfast taco/burritos in town.  And they're super cheap, which is the best part.  So we ordered some barbacoa for me and then I stole some of Zac's refried beans.  I ate just a small amount and was SO full!  I got a little queasy and I think it might have been from the fatty meat.  It was good though, but I don't think I'll do it again anytime soon.

MILESTONE:  I haven't taken my pain meds for TWO days!  I've really been wanting to cut back so I'm glad I'm doing ok without it.  I'm still on the hunt for liquid Tylenol....no luck yet.  :-(

7/28/2013 Data:

Weight:  265.6
Exercise:  10 minute walk with Dan and Hunter
Food Diary:

Day 31 - 2nd day of purees

Saturday was pretty uneventful.  I got up pretty early at 7:00, ate breakfast, then went back to bed at 9:30 for a nap.  Got up in time for lunch.  Sensing a pattern here?  :-)  I did get enough energy to clean up the kitchen because the mess was driving me crazy.  Then I may or may not have taken another nap......

7/28/13 Data:

Weight:  265.2 (25 pounds!!)
Exercise:  10 minute walk
Food Diary: 

Day 30 - First official day of purees/mashed

Boy was I excited about Friday. Although it was a little anti-climactic since I actually started eating real food the day before. However, I'd been looking forward to Friday for a week. My plan was to meet my friend Jolene at Cheddar's for a cup of their baked potato soup. In the past, I remember it being really thick and creamy. But this time it was thinner, almost brothy. And it just didn't do it for me. So then, since I didn't have enough protein at that meal, I felt like I was hungry the rest of the day. I've realized that I need at least 20 grams of protein at each meal. It helps fill me up and I truly believe it helps me lose weight.
When I got home, I ate/drank dinner (a protein shake) then laid down at 7:30 for a quick nap. When I woke up 3 hours later, I realized how incredibly tired I was! 

7/27/13 Data:

Weight:  266.2
Exercise:  Slept right through my walk!
Food Diary:

Day 29 - LAST day of liquid diet

Praise the Lord!  I finally made it to the last day of my liquid diet.  I really wondered if this day would came, but it got here so fast.  It literally feels like just last week that I had my surgery.  My 2 week post-op appointment is scheduled for 2:30 pm today.  OH wait.....I should say "was" scheduled for today.  That's right, folks.  I got a call from the doctor's office this morning telling me he couldn't make it, yada yada and could I come in on Monday.  I said "yes, of course, BUT I need to know if I can go ahead and start the soft food or DO I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL I SEE HIM?".  I'm pretty sure I went into dog-pitch at some point and scared the poor girl on the other end, but I had a moment of pure terror thinking I'd have to wait 3-4 more days until solid food.  I think she heard the desperation in my voice because she put me on hold, talked to the nurse, and told me that if I'm tolerating the liquids ok, I can go ahead and start on the purees/mashed/soft foods.  Next to my marriage and the birth of my two sons, I don't think I've ever been so happy.

So within minutes I talked myself into my first solid food in over two weeks.  Tuna fish mixed with lots of RF mayo and pickle juice (to make it really soft and mushy) and some salt and pepper.  OMGITWASSOGOOD!!!  I mean, look at this.....have you ever seen anything so yummy in your life?

Well, it may not look yummy, but it was SO good.  I think my co-workers got sick of hearing me say (after every single bite) "OMG this is SO good!!".  I did take it very slowly and chewed every bite like 20-30 times.  I'm very nervous about doing any damage to my insides, so I'm taking it very easy.  But man, it was so nice to have actual food.  I'm so sick of the protein shakes.  I know I have to keep drinking them because they're a great source of protein, but ugh.  It'll be so nice to get my protein from other sources.  Thankfully, I love me some meat, so there won't be any problems there.

When I got home, I actually made dinner for the first time in awhile.  Well, 2 weeks to be precise.  One of our favorite dishes is egg/cheese/sausage breakfast burritos.  So I cooked up the eggs and pork sausage and broke them up pretty good.  I made the guys their burritos and then made myself a small bowl of eggs and sausage.  Again, I chewed very slowly and thoroughly and didn't have any problems with anything going down.  I had about 1/4 cup in total.  And even threw away some of it!!  That's a big step for me.

Like most children of the 70's/80's, I am a serial plate-cleaner.  Remember all those starving people in China?  Plus, my eyes have always been bigger than my stomach, so I usually would get way too much food, then feel compelled to eat it all.  That's a lethal combo.  I experienced it the other day when I was heating up my soup.  I poured it into the bowl and I thought "OH NO, it's not ENOUGH!!".  Because let me tell you, 8 ounces does NOT look like much.  However, once I got it down I was full.  Which is the whole point of this surgery, amiright?  It's true when they say it's psychological.  You really have to work on your brain to get past alot of your issues.  They don't just magically go away.  Unfortunately.

7/25/13 Data:

Weight: 267.2
Exercise:  10 minutes with the hubs - we need to start "training" for a Graffiti 5K we're run/walking in October.
Food Diary:

Day 28 (13th day of liquid diet)

I had an interesting conversation with a co-worker yesterday, who also happens to be a good friend. Now this friend is tiny.  And I mean tiny, like 5 foot nothing and 125 soaking wet.  So my 5'10" self looks like an amazon next to her.  Especially when I was pushing 300 pounds. So anyhoo. She asked how much weight I'd lost and I told her almost 23 pounds. She said "does that scare you?" And I said "what do you mean?" And she said "that you're losing so fast?". So I was thinking (1) does she not know the point of this surgery and (2) can a fat person EVER lose weight too fast?  Then she says "yeah, I really need to lose about 8 pounds". Now, I have lots of slim friends that say this to me. And I get it. I do. But when you need to lose 100+ pounds, it's REAL hard to have a lot of sympathy for 8 pounds. And I think THEY think it's the same thing. But it ain't. Not...even...close, amiright?
7/24/13 Data:
Weight: 267.4
Exercise:  10 minute walk
Food Diary: **Note** I combined all three shakes into one entry for my convenience.

Day 27 (12th day of liquid diet)

OMGTWOMORE DAYS!!!!  I cannot wait to have real food in my mouth.  Even if it is pureed.  I'm already salivating just thinking about the egg salad, tuna salad, pudding, peanut butter, creamy soup, etc.  Although I'm a little nervous about getting it down, I can't wait to try.

I made an adjustment on my protein shakes.  I had gotten some protein mix from Complete Nutrition called Annex.  The only flavor I thought I could stand was Chocolate Malt.  Turns out, it was NOT good.  And I bought a HUGE tub of it.  So I was gonna gulp that crap down until it was gone.  But my friend Tricia reminded me of the peanut butter powder (PB2 - amazing!), so I started adding that in.  It made it taste SO much better.  So I realized that with the protein powder (22g), Mootopia milk (12g) and PB2 (5g), I was getting 36g of protein in each drink.  And I remembered the nutritionist saying your body could only absorb 20g of protein at one time.  So I was wasting 16g each time!!  I decided to only do 1/2 scoop of powder, 1 tbsp of PB2 and 1 cup of Mootopia, bringing it to 25.5g each drink.  It also cut back on calories a bit, so that helped.  I also cut out the cream of mushroom soup, sadly, because it had way too many carbs.  I'm going to miss it.  Which is sad, right?  I also realized how many carbs are in the NSA popsicles.  But that's on my eating plan, so I assume it's ok right now.  I was reading Weight Loss Surgery for Dummies last night and it said I should keep my carbs to 20-30 net grams per day.  But surely they mean after I start eating real food.  That's what I'm going with anyway.

7/23/13 Data:

Weight:  267.8
Exercise:  Walk with the boys.  Probably 10 minutes.
Food Diary:

Day 26 (11th day of liquid diet)

Monday here....back at work.  And I feel better than I have since the surgery.  I know they say it gets better every day, but it does, it really does.  I can't wait until I feel like myself again and I can do all my old stuff, like cleaning the house, doing the dishes, doing the laundry.....wait.  WHY exactly am I waiting for this?  Maybe I'll just take it easy for another week.  Or two.

The week before surgery, I went out to Steinmart and got myself a super-cute thermal cup for the tons and tons of water I'd be drinking, like this:

Super cute, right?  I wanted this because I hate when my drinks "sweat" and get water all over me when I drink it.  Well, when I got it home I realized you can't wash it in the dishwasher.  Seriously??  Who hand washes things nowadays?  Well, not me, that's for sure.  So I was really bummed.  Until.  

I got to the hospital and they gave me this pitcher: 

NOT very cute, right?  But it turns out, it works just as well.  Actually, probably better.  AND the best part?  You guessed it.  Dishwasher safe.  Heaven.

7/22/2013 Data:

Weight:  268.6 (22 pounds)
Exercise:  I'm going to try walking with Hunter tonight and see how it goes.  Although, just walking to and from my office from the parking garage takes at least 5 minutes each way.  And I did it round trip twice.  Plus I walked around Target for almost an hour.
Food Diary:

Day 25 - Things I haven't done.....(10th day of liquid diet)

As I laid in bed Sunday morning, I started thinking about all the things I haven't done in the past month or so....good and bad:

I haven't:

- had soda (diet or otherwise)
- had coffee (that was a BIG one)
- had sugar (I know I'm addicted to sugar, so this was huge, too)
- had starches (white rice, pasta, bread)
- had milk (if you knew how much I love cold, white milk, you'd be more impressed)
- had headaches (since the surgery...which is awesome!  used to have them every day)
- had foot/joint pain (just a few pounds can really make a difference)
- had hunger pains (this really shocked me)

I'm sure there's more and I'll add to this list as I think of them.

We went to the grocery store today and I actually drove for the first time since the day before surgery.  I did just fine, although I was exhausted after shopping with my children.  But that's an all-the-time thing.  I promptly went home and crawled into bed.  I did manage to oversee some room cleaning, dishwasher emptying and laundry washing.  My boys are really going to appreciate me more when this is all over.

7/21/2013 Data:

Weight:  270
Exercise:  Walking the grocery store for almost an hour.  That counts!
Food Diary:

Day 24 (9th day of liquid diet)

Had to take my puppy to the vet today for her shots. Tricia scheduled her dogs at the same time so we went together.  For some reason, just sitting in the exam room hurt so bad. I just couldn't get comfortable. Felt like my stitches were pulling no matter what. I'm really ready for that to be completely healed. Spent the rest of the day in bed. And for some reason all I can think about is food. I want to eat food SO bad. I'm not hungry so I know it's all in my head. And sometimes, for just a minute, I wish I could eat whatever I want.  And I think "why did I do this??". But then I remember that eating whatever I want is what got me to almost 300 pounds. And I don't ever want to go back to that. I did try something new today. I blended up some Progresso Tomato Basil soup. OMG it was so good. Maybe just because it was something new, I think. I must have drank it a little too fast because I got really full really quickly.  Lesson learned. I can't wait until Friday. I need to plan what I'll eat first. :)
7/20/13 Data:
Weight:  269.6 (21 pounds!!  Yay!!)
Exercise:  walked to the mailbox and Tricia's house
Food Diary:

First Vet Visit!!  Bella on the left, my Dixie on the right.

Day 23 - One week post-op (8th day of liquid diet)

Ugh.  That's about all I'm in the mood to say.  Just....ugh.  Second day back at work.  Just as tough as the first one.  I'm so, so, so tired I can barely stand it.  I'm about to prop my eyelids open with a toothpick.  I had read about how tired people were for awhile after surgery and, of course, I thought 'pish-posh, that won't happen to me'.  Well, folks, I was dead wrong!  I am exhausted and don't want to do anything but sleep.  Took another nap on the floor.  I would rather sleep than EAT and that's never happened before.  Also today....I hit the "I don't want to see another protein shake in my LIFE" point.  And that sucks because I have at least another week on liquids.  I'm going to lay down now.  Please don't wake me until tomorrow.  Late, preferably.  Ugh.

7/19/2013 Data:

Weight:  271.2 - I don't even have the energy to care that it's up from yesterday.
Exercise:  Yeah, right.
Diary:

Day 22 - First day back at work & 7th day of liquid diet

All I can say is, thank goodness I work with wonderful people.  Today was a little rough.  It hurts more than I thought to sit upright in a chair all day.  And I didn't realize that because I've been laying in bed every day for a week.  Everyone was really happy to see me, though, which was nice.  And I didn't have much going on today.  So I've had my heating pad across my belly for the majority of the day.  And at lunch time, I went into an empty office and took a nap.  ON THE FLOOR!!  And I didn't even care, I was so tired.  Now I'm just waiting on my husband to get here.....I just want to go home and go to bed.  The boys are staying at the grandparents tonight.  The A/C is still out and it's just easier to have them there.  I can't take another night with my youngest in the bed with us.

TGIF tomorrow!!!

7/18/13 Data:

Weight:  270.4 - down 20 pounds in 20 days!  awesome.
Exercise:  Not much today
Food Diary:

Day 21 (6th day of liquid diet)

Today was fairly uneventful. Just hot because the a/c is still not fixed. And depressing because I have to go back to work tomorrow. I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Still tired and pain in my belly when I do too much. I'm going to ride with my friend Lisa in the morning so I don't have to walk so far. I'm taking my heating pad and my pain meds because I suspect I'll need them both. At least they have working a/c!

7/17/13 Data:

Weight: 272
Exercise: meh
Diary: