A week of fabulous!

Last week was really fun as far as clothes went, I think I looked pretty cute everyday...my photography skills need some work though...not sure if its the lighting in the bathroom...or if my phone doesn't take that great of pictures...or just me? Anyway, here goes the fashion show.

Yellow chevron top, with citrus accessories from Charming Charlies 

Super cute print top from Stitch Fix

Maxi Shirt and fabulous necklace from Stitch Fix

Close up of the necklace

Dolmen Sleeve top, I would have never picked this out for myself. But it is really flattering. This top is also from Stitch Fix

Boyfriend jeans, the last item from my first Stitch Fix.

What a great concept Stitch Fix is....5 items that go with several items you already have in your closet....super wardrobe really expands your wardrobe.

Who Knew?

Who knew shopping could be so much fun? I'm truly enjoying clothes shopping, the selection of cute things in small and 6/8 is amazing! The next 3 pictures are something sort of fun and dorky at the same time. Its Disney Inspired outfits.  This is my start, waiting on the jewelry for the next couple. 

Obviously Minnie Mouse, you can't see my ears but I have little Minnie mouse earrings too. I saw a silver bow necklace that will round this outfit out. 

Ursula, black shorts, purple top and sea shell jewelry.

Nemo Inspired, orange top, white bottoms, black sandals and fish necklace. I had trouble finding the fish necklace, but found a fish key-chain and made my own.

I continue to love cute workout clothes, but this was a huge NSV, for the first time ever...or at least since puberty, my thighs don't meet in the middle.

Had an super shopping trip to the Gap for new school clothes, will be posting pictures of those next. Then a friend became a Stitch Fix Stylist and I'm waiting on my first box from them....feeling pretty awesome to be able to be in on that trend.

1 year update

My 1 year surgery follow up appointment was postponed from June 15 till today, not by my choice. The medical Dr that worked with my surgery group...doing follow ups and pre op teaching is no longer with them. I'm beyond disappointed about that, but what can you do...today i waited in the exam room for over an hour, till one of the surgeons got there...so I'm not in a good mood about all of that. But the good news is my official weight loss for the year is 93 lbs, and they are happy with my progress and the fact that I'm working out regularly, I need to be better with my protein....been slacking a little and my vitamin  D.  So those two items are now on my radar!

Now for the fun stuff. right after school was out, I went to Orlando with a work friend, we went for an EdCamp, then stayed a few extra days for Disney.

I had a great time, it was the first time I'd done a vacation with another woman....even though the first day was job related.  The weird thing was, even though I felt like I ate a lot and I drank a lot I still lost weight. The great thing was, I had so much more energy to enjoy everything.

My second trip was to take Joey to North Carolina. to spend the summer with his Dad and that part of his family. I loved seeing Kaylee...my one and only grand-daughter in a sea of grandsons, but I also lost weight on this trip and marked another item off the bucket list.

Flying is the wind tunnel was probably the most fun I've ever had.....the real thing might have been better, but my weight and health two years ago when I did that was not the best.  The next picture is at a lake...I did not get pictures of all the fun stuff we did there...they had one of the blob things and a Tarzan rope thing....again....back at 229 lbs, that would have not been any fun at all. I had a total blast....and lost another lb on that trip. Last picture is me and Kaylee, only grand-daughter....love all my grandsons....but OMG this girl is so much fun to shop for.

Next appointment is in 6 months, Jan....I am going to be a better blogger between now and then.

I made it!

My goal was 139, which is a 90 lb loss. So I made it with a lb to spare. I guess my new challenges will be 1. not losing too much more (that is a weird concept to me) 2. Maintaining this weight and 3. Continuing build some muscle hoping to tighten up some of the loose skin.

This is me and Dontae, he is my personal trainer, he is the third one I've had since joining the gym.

Absolutely nothing against the other two...I made progress with them too...I just think my weight loss was so fast during those times and I was not strong...they got me strong enough to start getting some great results. I'm still a work in progress, but I cant believe how far I've come.  Im actually sporting the beginning of a six pack! Who would of thunk?

Tomorrow I get my bloodwork done; my 1 year follow up is  June 15.  I can't wait I know they are going to be pleased. I certainly am.

The Last Pound is the Hardest!

At one point this week I hit 139.4; that is .4 away from my goal of 139. But this morning I was 140.3, sigh. I know it's not all about the scale, I am really happy with wearing size 8, but still.  My one year surgery follow up appointment is June 15. I will get there by then!

I had my physical with my primary care Dr. last week, its official: I'm off all prescription meds; he is very happy with me.

Last week at work was a bit of an ordeal; our district is becoming a Google for Education (GAFE); so I was in the 1st cadre to become Certified Google Educators. We can take it a step further and become Certified Google Educator Trainers, but not sure about all that yet.  Let me just say, Google Engineers are amazing people...what Google can do is wonderful; but they really need to ask educators to create the test questions.

Nerding out with Google glass!

Yesterday, Bill and I drove to Shreveport, to see Blake and the Golden Knights perform at an Air Show. It was awesome. Barksdale AFB, put on a great show as did the Golden Knights. Super proud Mom right here!

And since this is a weight loss blog, I will mention that it felt great to be able to walk around and enjoy without huffing and puffing.

Color Run

The Color Run happened this weekend, it was a blast!  It is not timed, so it really is all about having fun.  As you can see we started out all clean.

It was fun going through the Color Stations and I ran the whole way. Not fast but I stopped once for water and slowed down for color.

I must have spent 45 minutes to an hour in the shower trying to get clean...but cant wait to do it again.

Writer's Block

I have know idea what to write about, fairly uneventful week as far as the weight loss journey goes. I even forgot to weigh my self so I don't know if I've lost, gained or stayed the same.  I did enjoy meals this week, I'm going to chalk that up to planning, making menus, grocery list and sticking to it. Enjoyed some really good tasting and healthy meals from Cooking light magazine.

Next Saturday I will run my first 5 K in I don't know how long.....maybe 8 years...and with my weight at that time it was not pretty.  So Saturday my daughter, her sister in law and are doing the Color Run in Dallas, weather should be perfect, and I'm almost ready....I can run 25 minutes without stopping....that is what week 7 of C25K has me doing. I've talked to my personal  trainer and have a plan so my legs not being tired on Saturday....so I think I'm ready.  I've heard you stop at stations for the color so it is not like this is going to be a bunch of hard core runners...it is truly supposed to be about fun. Next weeks's blog will be all about it. Wish me luck! 

SpringBreak

One fun aspect of our little trip was that we stopped at every Buc-ee's we drove by, so that was 4 different ones on our over 1200 mile trek.  We had lousy weather...either we followed it, or it followed us but we did not let that hamper our good times.  Our first stop was Corpus Christi, which is a long way from Dallas...we stopped in Austin for lunch we went to a place called Franks, which has amazing hot dogs.  Parking in downtown Austin is a bit of a hassle so that detour took more time than planned.  But in the end it was worth it.

 

 
This group of pictures are from Corpus Christi, we had a great view of the downtown marina and ate some amazing seafood. Wednesday we toured the USS Lexington (I'm guessing most of those pictures are on the regular camera) and the state aquarium, we saw the statue of Selina on our way to dinner, and got interviewed for the local news!

The next leg of the trip was Galveston, we fell in love with this place and did not have nearly enough time to explore and check it out in more detail. More amazing seafood, but also one of the most amazing experiences...I believe we were saved by a guardian angel! We were walking along the Seawall back to our hotel, this guy on a bicycle, stopped us to talk military (Bill always gets a lot of that kind of attention when he wears his Navy hat.)...he kept throwing praise God and God is good at random times and he was almost manic...when we were through talking to him and continued on I said he was a little crazy, but nice at the same time...just then Bill says did you see that...I did not see, but heard a crashing sound and saw a car sitting down on the beach...not sure exactly what happened but the car went off the road, over the seawall and landed on the beach....people were rushing and stopping from all directions, once we saw the situation was under control we continued on. Bill said it was divine intervention (and he does not talk in spiritual terms at all); if that guy had not stopped us and engaged in that odd conversation, we would have been at the point where the car went over the wall!

We plan on going back there sometime soon.

 

 The last stop of our trip was to see Kaylee, number 1 grand-daughter (although she is 4th in the grandchild line, we went to the Kemah Boardwalk and as you can see she was not impressed with the Stingrays!

Kaylee was impressed with T-Bone Toms, a restaurant that has been featured on Triple D and so was grandma. She also thought her first Merry go round ride was pretty spectacular. Kaylee and Shari head back to North Carolina in a few weeks, so it was extra special we had this little visit.

I only hit my step goal one day and my weight maintained, but I consider that a success. I think the picture of me standing on the seawall, really shows the transformation.

Trying on bathing suits...eeek!

 

I'm embarrassed to say I had 15 to try on, not sure how I ended up with so many except that maybe I kept having to buy bigger ones.  10 were too big, and I forgot to take pictures of one that did fit.  I still have work to do, but at about 8 months out from surgery I'm thinking this is not too shabby.  I'm really pretty pleased with the abdomen area; but not so much with the baggy skin on my rear end.  I'm thinking a bathing suit with a little skirt might be a good camouflage. SPRINGBREAK is next week, on Tuesday we will head down to Corpus Christi for two days, Galveston for 1 day, Kemah Boardwalk one day, stay tuned for that adventure.  Oh yeah, I'm hoping to do some spring cleaning before we go. 

Had 8 month post op appt today, officially down 86 lbs; I weigh 143 and next appointment is my 1 year f/u in June.

Dumping Syndrome and other side effects

 Friday night my husband and I went out to eat, I was hungry for enchiladas...and I'm happy to report that is something I can eat without issues....1 to 1 and 1/2 then I'm full.  Well, there was a sign saying Feb 22 was national margarita day, so I thought I'd celebrate a few days early since I'm in a Mexican restaurant anyway, so I order a skinny margarita.  I can also do one of those without issue, margarita came, I drank it and by the time my dinner came I'm full blown dumping.  Either the server forgot to say skinny, or the bartender didn't know skinny means without sugar. Our food order was wrong too, but I felt too bad to eat...sweating profusely, according to my fitbit my pulse was in the 120's (normal resting is in the 60's), dizzy, held it together until we got home and puked...it was not good. I never complain at restaurants because I worked as a waitress many times in my younger years...but after this incident I decided I need to stand up for myself a little better.  It's one thing to be a picky negative customer who complains about everything...and complaining because someone's mistake caused real physiological problems.  

Now lets talk poop; another problem that I don't remember being warned about is the changes in your poop. Not that poop or gas ever smells good, but now it is especially foul smelling.  I found this product:

 and it seems to work pretty good, I like chewables.  I've heard they sell it at Walmart but I ordered mine online, directly from them. Some people that I've talked to about this problem say it is because of the high protein in our diet but I'm thinking the different chemistry and how our food in general is broken down is partly to blame.  Needless to say I was really happy to find this pills.

I have my 8 month follow up tomorrow, 85 lbs lost...I'm happy with how it is going and I'm pretty sure my Dr. will be too.