Long Overdue Update

I haven't been feeling like blogging lately but that doesn't mean I've given up my weightloss efforts.  So I wanted to post a long overdue update. 


WEIGH IN

Since my last post in early January, I am down 10.7 pounds and down 112 total.  Incredible!  After I met my 100 pounds lost goal, I will admit I did ease up on the eating right and exercise and my loss stalled out for about 6 weeks.  But I got back on the wagon and in my past 5 weeks or so have dropped the 10.7.  This just goes to show that what they tell us is true....weightloss surgery is only a tool.  It does not solve every problem or relieve you of the responsibility to make the right choices.  Because the fact is as time goes by you will be able to eat more.  And when you eat junky stuff like chips, cookies, ice cream, you can eat alot more of that kind of stuff than you can lean protein and vegetables.  No, I can't pack those things away in the quantities I used to but clearly I can eat enough of them to keep me from losing.  And I feel fairly certain if I tried, I could gain weight even though I have a small stomach now.  I am doing most of the work at this point, with some support from my surgery.  I'm the one making the right choices (or not) and exercising my body (or not).  The surgery definitely helps with portion control and cravings, but I'm still the one doing the work.  I'm about 9 months out from surgery now and still no regrets.  I would do it again in a heart beat.


MEASUREMENTS
Since I last posted measurements in December, here are the results:


neck - -0.25/-3.0 total
bust - -3.5/-13.0 total
waist - +0.5/-12.5 total  (WTF???)

hips - -1.75/-9.25

I have a lot more measurement points than this, but I don't want to bore you with them.  In total, I am down 63 inches.  I have to admit I am very frustrated with my waist measurement.  I mean, really, UP half an inch over the course of 2 months?   I always get annoyed when I hear people asking how to spot reduce fat.  I'm like "Come on!  Every knows you can't spot reduce."  But now I am feeling desperate about my fat belly and find myself thinking "what can I do to shift this belly fat?"  I know, I know, you can't spot reduce.  It's just the frustration talking.  I must be patient and trust the process.  Changes are happening.

FITNESS

I'm still working out 3 times a week with my trainers at Fitness Together and am getting alot stronger.  One of my current fitness goals is to leg press 410 pounds because I want to be able press more than my trainer...who is a guy.  What can I say?  I'm feeling competitive.  My goal is to get there before Memorial Day.  I am currently able to press 300 so I think I can do it!

For the past 5 weeks I've also been doing the Couch to 5K training program 3 days a week on my day off of FT.  I can't believe I am RUNNING!  I've never been a runner.  Ever.  I mean, seriously.  EVER!  But running I am.  In fact, I did a 10K yesterday.  I didn't run the whole thing, I did walking/running intervals.  But I did start the race by running 21 minutes straight with no walking.  That is the longest period of running I have done.  After that I completed the race doing walking and running intervals the rest of the way and finished with a time of 1:25:33.  My goal was to finish under 1:30 so mission accomplished.  And I got a snazzy medal to show off for my efforts!

By evening, I was whooped!  My hamstrings and butt were so sore so I soaked in a hot tub and ended up snoozing hard by 9:00 that night.  I slept for 11 hours!  So, yeah, the 10K whooped my butt.  But I whooped it's butt too, so I guess we are even. 

All in all I am still doing well.  Feeling really happy with my progress!

Weigh In: 2.2 down, 100.8 to go

Woohoo!!!  I have now OFFICIALLY broken the 100 pound mark AND am just past the halfway point to my goal.  There is something about being halfway that just feels so danged good.  I guess it's knowing that I am on the downhill slide now.  And that I have less to lose than what I have lost so far.  I still have a long way to go but getting this first half knocked out really is a great mental relief.

I feel like I have really got some momentum going so I want to set a short term goal to keep me focused on maintaining the momentum.  My goal is to get under 250 pounds by the end of February.  This equates to a little over 2 pounds per week so is definitely an agressive goal.  But I want to capitalize on my momentum while I can.  When I reach my goal I will be closer to 200 than I am to 300 and that sounds pretty danged good to me.

As for hitting my 100 pound goal, I think that deserves a reward, don't you?  Here is my 100 pounds lost reward.  Ain't she pretty?  Zoom!  Zoom!

Weigh In: 2.3 down, 103 to go

I'm late getting my weigh in post up.  I lost 2.3 this week, putting me at a total of  99.2.  My goal was to lose 100 by the end of 2011, so I was a little disappointed to miss that mark.  But then it doesn't really make sense to discount a 99.2 pound loss, does it?  And it's also nothing to sneeze at that I lost about 10 pounds during the holiday season.  Can't say I've ever done that before!

I will hit the 100 pound mark soon enough.  And while one of my New Year's resolutions is to lose more weight this year, at least I am already on that path and my habits are set.  All I need to do is keep doing what I am doing, which is much progress over last year when I was starting at square one.

I am satisfied with where I am and confident I am going to get where I am going this year.

Merry Christmas Weigh In: 2.0 down, 105.3 to go

Merry Christmas all!  My best Christmas gift this year is a 2 pound loss on the scale this morning, putting me at exactly 3.1 pounds away from my goal of 100 pounds in 2011.  Gotta keep my focus in order to achieve that. I've lost a little over 7 pounds since Thanksgiving and that has got to be a first for me!  Usually this time of year I can't even maintain, let alone lose.  So I am happy, but am saving the big celebration for next week!  100 pounds, baby, I'm coming for ya.

Weigh-in: 1.9 down, 107.3 to go

It's been two weeks since my last weigh in post and I'm down another 1.9.  Actually last week I was down 2.9 but I gained a pound this week.  Too many Christmas lunch celebrations this past week.  Trying to get back on the straight and narrow so that I can hit my goal of 100 pounds lost by the end of the year.  I have 2 weeks to lose 5 pounds.  I can do that but only if I stay focused on good eating and exercising.

I'm still working out at Fitness Together and it's going great.  I am so much stronger than I was when I first started.  My legs are getting hard and even my biceps and shoulders are not so squishy.  I've never had strong shoulders so I am loving feeling the muscles in there!

I don't really feel like I've gotten any smaller lately although maybe that is in my head.  But I do notice how good I am feeling and how life just seem so much easier now.  It's all the simple things that had gotten so hard for me....walking up the stairs in my house, walking anywere at all for that matter, running errands on the weekend....used to do maybe one errand and it would absolutely wear me out.  Now I find myself going all day with no problems.

Life is good.  I am happy.  I'm even off my anti-depressants. 

A year ago I never would have thought I would be someone who chose weightloss surgery.  Today I am so very glad that I did.  My only regret is not choosing it sooner.

I am happy and hopeful!!!!!!

Weigh-in: 3.5 down, 109.2 to go

Wow, what a difference Hardwork! Dedication! makes.  (shout out to Dolvett!)

I tracked my food every day on MyFitnessPal and worked out 6 out of 7 days this weeks and the results speak for themselves.  This puts me within 7 pounds of my first 100 pound goal.  I want to get this done by the end of 2011.  Totally doable if I just keep doing what I am doing.

I should be able to do that.  I feel like I have my groove back.  I am noticing tons of changes in regards to my fitness and my Fitness Together trainers have been working me even harder because I can handle it.

I also finally started doing cardio at home between my T/Th/Sat workouts with my trainers.  I've been trying to use some of the cardio workouts we learned at the Biggest Loser Resort.  One of them is called "treading" where basically you warm up, then go as hard as you can for 5 minutes, active recovery for 5 minutes, hard as you can for 4 minutes, active recovery for 4 minute, and on down through 3, 2, 1.

I do this on the treadmil, varying my speeds through the workout.  This week my "hard as you can" was getting too fast to walk comfortably so I JOGGED!  Seriously.  Me.  Jog.  Never would have seen me doing  that.  Granted, was a very slow pace (4.3 mph) but it was jogging nonetheless.  I am so excited about this.  I love seeing the fitness changes.  It is so motivating for me.  I find myself finally enjoying exercise and wanting to challenge and push myself to do more and more.

I've already been thinking about my 2012 goals and one of them is that I want to do at least one 5K each month in 2012.  Then I thought, "Heck, why not start now?"  So I am signed up for a local 5K this weekend.  It is actually an offroad walk supporting a nature trail in town that I didn't even know existed.  I plan to walk it since it will be uneven terrain and I am not at all an experienced runner.  I am really looking forward to it.  And to tell you how dedicated to exercise I have become lately, I still plan to work out with my trainers that day after I do a 5K.  Who am I?????  I don't know, but I definitely like the change.

Changes I noticed this week:

• A couple of the jackets I recently bought for work that were a smidge too small (couldn't button the comfortably) I can now button.
• Taking a bubble bath this week, I noticed that I can fill the tub alot fuller because I am smaller and displace much less water that I used to.  That's one I wouldn't have foreseen.

I'm feeling great these days and am really looking forward to what I am going to accomplish going forward!

Weigh-in: 3.3 down, 112.7 to go

Whoa, it's been awhile since I posted.  Haven't really been feeling it, I guess.  Haven't really been super focused on weight loss either, as evidenced by a measly 3.3 pound loss in 6 weeks time.  But that's better than I usually do when I go MIA from my blog.  Generally I'm gaining during those times.  So I'll briefly celebrate that victory before I kick myself in the ass and get moving again.

My birthday was on Thanksgiving and I had set a goal to be at 100 pounds lost by then.  Didn't happen.  Historically I do not do well when I set timelines for myself.  It's like it sets off a little rebel in my head that immediately starts the sabotage.  When will I ever learn not to do that?  Not today, apparently, because I am going to try to hit the 100 pound mark by the end of the year.  That gives me 5 weeks to lose 10.5 pounds.  Gonna be tough but I do feel my mindset shifting back into weightloss mode this past week or so.

I am working harder with my trainers at Fitness Together and have started incorporating exercise into the days that I do not work out there.  I didn't do that before.  I'm getting back to tracking my calories on MyFitnessPal and I am planning ahead at work by stocking my desk drawer with go-to snacks that keep me out of the vending machine.  Once I am done here, I have veggies to chop up and bring to work as well.  Fact is I get the stress munchies at work and there just doesn't seem to be any changing that so I need to have something I chomp on that won't do too much damage to my calorie intake. 

At Fitness Together, they started a Biggest Loseer type competition to keep people focused over the holidays.  We weighed in just before Thanksgiving and will again just after New Years.  The prize for the biggest percent of weightloss is free week of training.  That would be great but hitting the 100 pound mark is what really has me motivated.  If I win the contest, that's just (fat free) gravy.

There's been quite a bit going on with me these past 6 weeks, but I'll save that for another post.

Onward and downward!

Weigh in: 0.1 gained, 116 to go

Well ain't that a pisser!  I gained a smidge this week.  I did eat some junky stuff at work this week.  Stress, as usual.  I also think this is partially the result of my being......ummm.....irregular this week?  You picking up what I am laying down?  So I'm going to take my psyllium husk pills that seem to help me get things moving again.

While I am bummed the scale didn't move because I REALLY want to hit the 100 pound mark by my birthday (Nov 24), there were some things to celebrate this week.  Namely:

1. I fit into the size 20 jeans I have in my closet.  Since I'm a fat belly girl, they are a bit tight in the waist but the butt and legs fit perfectly.  It's time to do another round of closet cleaning. 
2. I am kicking ass and taking names in my workout sessions with my trainers at Fitness Together.  They said I am noticeably stronger and one said he can see that I have lost weight. I am able to get through the workouts without stopping to rest all the time like I had to when I first started.  We are upping the weights I am using.  I did some girl pushups with good form!  (One of my fitness goals is to be able to REAL pushups, not the girl ones.)
3. I have gotten more comments about the fact that I am apparently "glowing".  I don't know if this is the weightloss or my new retinol cream.  ;-)
4. I think my hairloss may be slowing down.  I am not totally sure about this though.  It might just be wishful thinking.  My hair is WAY thinner than it used to be.  I am thankful I started out with lots or I'd be bald by now. 

I am overdue for my next checkup with Dr. Kim.  It's a busy week at work  but I need to find time to go get my bloodwork done.  This is the appointment where they check to see what has improved and to check and be sure nothing bad is going on.  I'm very interested to get these results because before my surgery they identified that I was severely anemic and they actually infused me with 4 thingymabobs of iron.  If I'm low again, I will have to start on iron pills.   Hmmmmm....can anemia affect hair loss?  Must google that.

Weigh In: 7.5 down, 115.9 to go

Woohoo!  My first weigh-in at home in two weeks and down 7.5 pounds!  Thank you Biggest Loser Fitness Ridge.  I did more than I ever imagined I could during my week there.  And I'm noticing a big difference in my workouts at home now.  Basically it's now kind of hard whining to my trainer during a 45 minute workout when both he and I know I worked out 6 hours a day for a week.  That was my overall lesson learned at Fitness Ridge.  I can do more than I think I can.

With this week's loss, I break out into the 280's and from a BMI perspective I break out of morbid obesity.  Now I am officially categorized as "severely obese".  Still doesn't have a very nice ring to it but I am certainly headed in the right direction.  I am so happy with what I have accomplished so far. 

My birthday is about 7 weeks away.  November 24.  I'm at 86 pounds lost.  I realized that if I can manage to lose 2 pounds/week from now until my birthday I will have lost 100 pounds!  That is going to be my birthday gift to myself.  (And possibly a new car.  My current one is 10 years old and I sort of put the carrot out there for myself that I would get a new car when I lost 100.)

In order to accomplish that goal, I am getting back to daily calorie tracking on MyFitnessPal and upping my exercise.  I am already doing 3 days per week with my trainer at Fitness Together and plan to add 2-3 additional days of cardio on my own in between.  I want to hit that century mark so bad.  And I deserve it!!!!!!!!!!!

Changes I noticed this week:

1. Had to buy new bras.  Am officially a C cup now, down from a D. 
2. I think I saw a guy checking me out at Target yesterday.
3. Feeling strong in the gym.
4. My pants are starting to be loose again.  Not quite ready for a smaller size, but will be soon.
5. Went clothes shopping and actually enjoyed it a little. 

Weigh-in: 2.3 down, 123.4 to go

Woohoo!  Good loss this week and into a new "decade" on the scale.  I ended up not doing the 5 Day Pouch Test as I had planned.  I couldn't get it together this week for some reason.  First day I went to work with my protein powder, but no shaker or milk.  My head just wasn't in the game, clearly.

We upped the intensity of my workouts at Fitness Together so that may have had something to do with the little jumpstart I had on the scale this week.  The two trainers I work with there seem pretty excited about my trip to the BL Resort.  Not as excited as I am though! 

I cannot believe I am leaving for Utah tomorrow morning.  I will be at the BL Resort by mid afternoon.  I don't think they make you workout the first day.  The program starts with dinner that night and I think they just do a class or some sort of orientation type thing.  Then Monday morning will be my first hike plus several more hours of exercise classes.  Can I do it???  I can't wait to find out.

I am so paranoid about getting blisters on my feet.  I've read that's the most common injury.  And it can really sideline you.  I've bought some really good, double layer, sweat-wicking socks and am bringing duct tape and Body Glide with me.  I've read you can tape hot spots with the duct tape and it can prevent a blister.  I don't want anything happening that will keep me from fully participating in anything. 

I plan to be blogging daily while I am there unless I have technical issues.  Or can't move a single bone in my body to type.  :)

Weigh-in: 0.7 down, 125.7 to go

Down 0.7 this week.  I have to admit I wasn't a very conscientious sleever this week.  It's actually a little scary how much you can still eat when you are sleeved when you are eating junk.  That's why it's so important to eat PROTEIN first.  It fills you up and there's less room for junky stuff that slides right on through.  This week I need to focus on that and also on the "no drinking while eating" rule.  When I find myself straying from the sleeve rules I end up feeling hungrier, eating more, and while I haven't actually had a weight gain since my surgery, my goal is certainly not to lose fractions of a pound each week.  So I gotta get back to following the rules and remembering that this surgery is a tool, not a magic bullet.  I have to do my part.

On the exercise front, I am working out with a trainer at Fitness Together 3 times a week and I'm finally starting to feel the difference.  I can make it through my workouts easier now without having to stop and rest so much.  They've also started to up some of the weights I am lifting.  Very cool.  I am supposed to be adding cardio at home during my non-FT days which I have not done yet. 

More on the exercise front, just one week til I am at the Biggest Loser Resort in Utah.  Seriously, next week at this time I will be there.  I can't believe it!!!  I am simultaneouslly thrilled and terrified.  I bought a new digital camera to take plenty of photos and plan to blog daily about my experiences there.  I am super excited because Sione Fa from whatever season he was on is a trainer there now.  He is so freaking cute!  Pretty sure he's married though.  But still, a gal can look, can't she? 

Weigh-in: 1.4 down, 126.4 to go

No picture this week.  My phone battery is dead and I left my charger at work.

I lost 1.4 pounds this week and broke the 75 pound mark.  Very happy with that.  I'm making it a personal goal to have lost 100 pounds by my birthday, which is on November 24.  That's approximately 12 weeks away so should be a doable goal. 

Changes I noticed this week:

• Went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant I was at several months ago and fit in the chairs.  Last time I was there I was squeezed into my chair and felt like an elephant.
• Shopping at Lane Bryant, I was able to fit easily into size 22's.  I was even able to fit in a fitted jacket sized 22.  Much better than when I was busting out of even their larger sizes.  I still remember the experience that prompted me to write this post.

Weigh-in: 3.1 down, 128 to go

Just a quick one to post weigh in results.  I'm down 3.1 pounds this week.  Woohoo!  I think my new workout routine really gave me a boost on the scale this week.

Busy day today.  I'm doing my September measurements later and will post those results tomorrow.  My prediction is not much change.  I don't feel like I've changed much this month.  We'll see though!

Weigh-in: 1.5 down, 131.1 to go

This is a belated weigh in post with no picture.  I went out of town to visit a friend this weekend and I weighed in on Friday before I left.  I was out of my normal routine and forgot to get a picture.

I lost another 1.5 pounds this week pushing me over the 70 pound mark.  I am happy to continue moving in the right direction but really would love to get my weekly losses up a bit.

This past week I started training at Fitness Together.  I bought a package of 36 sessions (pricey!) and am planning on going Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday each week.  Even though I've been walking on the treadmill, I am so out of shape when it comes to these workouts it's almost embarrassing.  A couple of times I've had to sit down and rest for a minute.  The 2 different trainers I have worked with have been nothing but encouraging though.  I can feel I am working, let me tell you.  My quads were so sore over the weekend.  Finally they started feeling better today....just in time to resume working out tomorrow! 

The weekend was really fun.  I needed a break away from work, a change of scenery, and a temperature that was less than 100 degrees.  I really enjoyed myself.  Best part is I had alot of "changes I noticed" to report from my trip.  Here goes.

Changes I have noticed:

• I was able to ride on a plane and the seatbelt fit.  I fit in the seat.  And I was able to walk around the airport and carry my luggage without nearly keeling over or bursting into tears in the parking garage.  Much improved situation from this trip I took 2 years ago.  I was around 350 pounds.
• Going out to eat with my friends I was able to fit in a booth.
• I was able to take a walk with my friend and not almost die.
• We walked around and shopped and I did not almost die.
• I really didn't give much thought to my weight at all during the weekend as it really didn't hinder anything I wanted to do.

Big changes for me and I am happy.

Weigh-in: 1.6 down, 132.6 to go

Blurry pic.  Sorry! 

I'm down another 1.6 pounds today, which happens to be my 3 month surgi-versary date.  I'm just shy of 70 pounds lost.  I lost 28 of those on my pre-op liquid diet, so 42 lost since surgery. That's 13 pounds per month on average post surgery.  (Are you impressed with my math skills yet?)

I'm thrilled with my overall results and look and feel alot better than I did when I started, and yet, I'm a little disappointed with 13 per month.  I'm greedy.  And impatient.

I could be losing faster if I'd follow the sleeve rules and exercising more consistently.  That's all up to me.  A smaller stomach doesn't necessarily make me put the right things in it.  And I still succumb to stress eating at work.  Working on it.  Improving.  But not all the way there yet. 

I'm doing much better in the exercise department than I ever was before, having worked myself up to 45 minutes on the treadmill this week.  Right now I am doing that 2 - 3 times a week and I'd like to get to where I am exercising 6 days per week.  I've been playing phone tag with the folks from Fitness Together.  I want to check them out and see if it would be a good fit to help me get a more formal exercise plan in place.  I notice my arms and legs getting smaller but they don't have the firmness they once had.  I want muscles!

Things I noticed this week:

• Compliments galore.  Seriously, all week long different people were saying nice things.  And not necessarily just "you lost weight."  Lots are just saying "you look good" and one especially appreciated "aren't you lovely today."   Then there was one guy who said what I am sure he thought was a nice thing but really kind of stung a little.  "Whoa, Deb, what have you lost?  Like a thousand pounds?"   He meant well I suppose. 
• I'm paying more attention to my appearance.  I've been buying new jewelry to wear.  It's been YEARS since I made the effort to consistenly wear earrings every day.  I am loving playing with makeup again and spend more time on my hair.  And I'm liking what I am seeing in the mirror a whole lot more than I used to.

Weigh In: As God is My Witness, I Will Never Weigh 300 Again

Finally. Two-ville.   Twodertown.  Whatever you want to call it.  I am out of the 300's.  Never to return.

I have lost 68 pounds so far.  That's a crazy amount of weight.  I had another person at work comment that I they can tell I am losing weight.  I feel really good. 

Changes I noticed this week:

1. I upped my treadmill time to 40 minutes (from 30) and it was super easy. Will bump it up to 45 starting today and see how that goes.  My goal is to get to a full hour before I go to the Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge the week of September 25.  Once I get to an hour I will work on increasing my speed.
2. My home treadmill is upstairs and the climb up is not a deterrent anymore to me going up to exercise.  And when I am finished, I can easily walk back down the stairs without any problems.
3. While typing this blog post, I am sitting Indian style on the couch.  Haven't been able to do that in quite some time!

This week my goal is to re-focus on the "sleeve rules" for eating.  I am still finding myself eating too many junky carbs because they taste good, because I am stressed, and because they fit real easy into my sleeve.  This is the behavior that got me up to 367 pounds to begin with so I need to keep working on changing those behaviors.  The sleeve is just a tool.  I need to do my part in order to be PERMANENTLY successful!

Weigh-in: 1.8 down, 136 to go

Alternate Post Title:

"The Scale Is A Cruel Bitch"

I really thought I would be under 300 this week.  I'm not.  I won't make any predictions about next week because I don't want to be disappointed again.

I'm just going to keep on making the right choices and trust that the scale will move, even if it's not at the pace that I would like it.

Now, time to get my 301 pound ass on the treadmill.

Weigh-in: 0.7 down, 137.8 to go

Down 0.7 this week and just a smidgeon closer to breaking out of the 300's.  I was really hoping to do that this week.  But hope is all I did.  My actions this week did not support my desire to be in the 200's.  

I ate crappy stuff this week.  I didn't follow the sleeve rules of  "protein first".  Even with a new tiny stomach, you can eat crap.  I had M&M's almost every day.  Bad move.  I know, I still lost and I should be happy.  But I did not have this surgery so I could eek out fractions of a pound per week on the scale.

But clearly the surgery doesn't do all the work.  And I didn't do my part last week.  No more of that.  I am back to following the rules this week.  To date, I have not tracked my food or calories at all.  I was hoping I wouldn't have to.  And, true enough, I've lost almost 65 pounds without tracking a danged thing.  But this week I am committing to tracking so I am going to start using my MyFitnessPal account to do so.

I am going to be under 300 pounds next week.  So I better get crack-a-lackin'!!!!


ETA:
Can't believe I forgot to add this week's "Changes I Noticed".  For this week, it was a smaller jeans size.  I'm fitting in my 22's now.  They are tight in the waist still but wearable.  The snugness helps remind me that while I have made good progress, I still have a long way to go.  Still so glad I saved all my jeans in all sizes as I gained.  I'm good down til size 16.

Weigh-in: 2.6 down, 138.5 to go

Down another 2.6 and inching ever so much closer to getting out of the 300's permanently.  I am so happy I made the choice to have vertical sleeve gastrectomy surgery.    It is the help I needed to get moving in the right direction.  I'm only 2 months out from surgery but I am already learning that this surgery is just a tool and not a quick fix.

 

How VSG is helping me

• It does help me to not overeat.  Well, I can still over eat, but the quantity that qualifies as "overeating" is much smaller than it was.  Prior to surgery my stomach seemed to have an almost limitless capacity.
• It's taken away that ravenously hungry feeling and I no longer spend my days thinking about when and what I am going to eat next.  Based on what I have read, the surgery removes the part of the stomach that produces grehlin (the "hunger" hormone).  For the first month or so I literally felt no hunger in my stomach.  I mostly ate because I knew I needed to but I never felt hunger driving me to eat.  That was really weird.  I had heard reports of this in what I read prior to surgery but thought there was no way that would happen for me, the perpertually hungry girl.  But it did.  Now here in the 2nd month, I do experience stomach hunger but it happens at normal intervals, like after I haven't eaten for 3-6 hours, depending on how carby the last thing was that I ate.
• In allowing me to drop a substantial amount of weight quickly, it has helped me to be motivated to start exercising and to continue to work hard to get to my weight loss goal.  Before it was too easy to get overwhelmed at the prospect of losing 200 pounds.  Even if I lost 3 pounds in a week, it was discourage because it seemed like a drop in the bucket.

 

How VSG does not help me (or how I must help myself):

• VSG does nothing for "head hunger".  One of my biggest problems before (and still) is stress-eating at work.  I still have to fight that battle.  While I can't eat as much as I used to, I can still hit the vending machine and make lousy choices.  And I will admit, I have sometimes.  Lesson learned.  Weight loss surgery is not the easy way out.  It's a tool.  The choices are still up to you.
• VSG does not walk on the treadmill or do other forms of exercise for me.  As I am losing, I am noticing how flabby my muscles have become and I'm considering signing up at a peronal training gym to start working on shaping up my muscles now.  I gotta do that work.  The surgery doesn't help me do that work.

Is it worth it?  The answer is an unequivocal YES.  My only regret is not having done it sooner.  I would do it again tomorrow. 

Changes I noticed this week:

• I can put my bra on without practically throwing my shoulder out from all the contorting and stretcing I needed to do before.
• I can scratch an itch on my back without having have something to help me reach it.
• I am wearing smaller undies. :)
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Weigh-in: 3.2 down, 141.1 to go

Didn't get a chance to post my weigh in yesterday.  I am down 3.2 pounds this week, putting me over the 60 pounds lost mark.

I only walked on my treadmill once this week.  We are working like slaves this week.  My employees and I have all logged 70-80 hours this week and that doesn't include what we are going to do today.  This is utter bullshit.  I have been squawking for 7 months that we need more help and only just now are they starting to realize I am not full of shit.

I am freaking crabby today when I should be happy because I have lost 61 pounds.

Changes I noticed this week are not many but only because I've be so focused on work.  I did notice that the pair of jeans I had gotten into just a couple of weeks ago are already starting to gap in the waste and look baggy.  It's a good thing I own jeans in every size from 26 down to 12!!!!