Feeling "One"derful

So this was a good week, I was really expecting it to be after last week. I have enjoyed some good things this past week, and really yummy thing but not very nutritious. I really miss crunchy things like chips, so I set out to find a healthier, gluten free alternative. I found these chips at Walmart. They are called Chipins and my favorite is the cinnamon sugar flavor. They are crunchy, a little sweet and a lot good. In between soccer games this weekend my family went to the Cheesecake Factory, it's not my favorite food place, but I gotta say they do cheesecake right. I ordered some chicken dish, it wasn't good so I only had a couple bites, but I did order a piece of blueberry cheesecake. It was heavenly! I enjoyed that piece of cheesecake for 3 days, and relished in every bite. Enough talk about that or I will work myself up into a food frenzy. I have tired of eating tuna, if I am going to eat protein I want it to be warm. Another thing that I have reintroduced in my diet is hard boiled eggs, love them.

I have been very active this week. We opened our pool and it has been a serious arm workout getting it ready. I scrubbed the pools walls Tuesday, and just today I am able to lift my arms over my head with out terrible pain. My arms and shoulders were like overcooked noodles and extremely sore. We have been vacuuming the pool a couple times a day. I am not complaining, I actually like doing it, it's kind of relaxing like mowing. Anyway, all of this pool maintenance just adds to the soreness of my arms. I have also been working in my yard installing solar lights. I like the way it looks with my new lights. So while I haven't been formally exercising or working out, I have been very active this week.

The Hubs and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary this past week. We didn't do anything special, but every year we do write love letters to each other to celebrate. It's something I really treasure and love that we do this for each other. I can't say enough great things about my husband, I am deeply, madly, crazy in love with him, even more today than 19 years ago.

Frienemies and Weight Loss (or lack there of)

My food consumption this week has been very similar to the past several weeks, however my weight loss was non existent. One ounce, that's the difference between my weight this morning and my weight one week ago. I am feeling discouraged. I did notice that it was about 4 weeks ago when I felt like I had a weight loss stall. At that time, my frienemy Flo was visiting just as she has been this last week. So keeping my fingers crossed that the bloating and hormones are causing me to hold on to weight. If I don't see more of a weight loss next week I will be calling my doctor.

So even though my diet is now unrestricted, I am sticking to what has been working plus adding a few things I have missed, like salad. I love salad, especially a good spinach leaf salad. So for Mother's Day my family took me to Houlihan's and I had their grilled chicken fruit summer salad. I made 4 meals out of that salad. It was so good and I look forward to the next time I get to have one. I also tried a martini. I don't think this smaller stomach is interested in tolerating liquor. A little sip burned all the way down, so it will be a long time before I attempt liquor again. Although, I did have a drink of my husband's beer a few days ago did not feel that burning sensation.

I think I have mentioned before how much I love to shop, and I still do. However, shopping for myself has become less fun, I just can't seem to find things that I think flatter my figure. Hopefully, as I lose more weight my perception will change. I have broke down and bought new bras, my boobs aren't really smaller, but my band size has definitely changed. This next week I hope to get further into one"derland."

8 Weeks Post Op - Last Week of Lock down

This has been another good week for many reasons. Today was the last day of class for me, so I am officially on summer break now. This week I also completed all my final assignments and projects for the classes I am taking and it is a relief to be done. On top of all that my weight continues to decrease. Although, this week weight loss has been a little bittersweet. This week the goal was to get to "one"derland, and it didn't happen, kinda. This past monday I was feeling particularly good and had a busy day doing yard work. So when I came in for the day I weighed....my weight was 199.2, I took a picture. I was so happy. I decided not to weigh again until my normal weigh-in day....Thursday. I fully expected to get on the scale today and be less than what I weighed Monday. It didn't happen and this morning I weighed 200.0 lbs. I was really disappointed. I had to remind myself, that I am less than I was last Thursday and that is what is important. Hormones and hydration can cause weight fluctuations, and to make myself feel better I am totally using both as a cop out for mine. I have set a new goal to be at 190 lbs before we leave for vacation, I am really going to try to get there.

I haven't tried any new foods, but I look forward to my unrestricted diet starting tomorrow. I plan to continue with the following changes in my diet: Avoid breads, pasta, and flour foods, eat the lowest amount of carbs at dinner and highest amount for breakfast, eat a high protein lunch around 2pm(ish), avoid snacking. I feel like this has been the key to success so far and I want to continue down this path. This last week I had a fun size york peppermint pattie, one of my favorite candies. After I consumed it I had to look up the nutrition content, it has 50 calories, that is almost half the calories I consume for dinner when I eat fish. That's a lot of calories for such little nutrition benefit. Needless to say, it just wasn't as good as it used to be, and I just don't want to spend time consuming calories that don't really benefit my body. When you consume about 800 calories per day, there just isn't room for 50 calories of crap. It's a weird thing to say, coming from a recovering crap lover.

I finally weigh less than my husband, so I am calling off my mission to sabotage his dieting efforts. Don't get me wrong, my husband is a hottie, but it sure feels good to have a lower number than him, even if it's just by a few ounces. I mean really what's a healthier longer life without the man I love by my side?

7 Weeks Post Op - I'll take another week like this

I had a significant weightloss this week, and it couldn't have come at a better time. However I did not see a significant change in my other measurements from 2 weeks ago. I have not weighed this number since 2004. The really great feeling is to know I will never be here again and that this is just a pitstop on the way to less fatville. The other really exciting thing is how close I am now to weighing less than 200lbs, that will be an exciting weigh in and I hope that it's next week!

This next week is the last week of my restricted diet, I am excited to introduce protien other than fish and poultry in my diet. Although I have found some really great fish to eat. If you have never tried Gorton's Simply Bake tilapia and salmon you are missing out. They are delicious and I am able to almost eat a who serving. They are extremely high in protein and low in fat and calories, but packed full of flavor and yumminess.

This week I consumed a couple of new things...my husband took me to one of my favorite pre-surgery food places, The Canoe Club in Lake Latowana. They have the best spinach and artichoke dip. They serve it with fried pita bread, it is the best spin dip I have ever had. Anyway, we went and I had a couple bites. The pita bread is the first bread I have had since before surgery, it was good. All of it was so tasty, but I couldn't eat much of it, I was just full. That is a welcome change because prior to surgery I could have finished it off, by myself. Another thing I had this week, peanut butter. It was so good, I just had a spoonful, and enjoyed every minute of eating it.

My clothes are fitting very loose now. I will be having a garage sale sometime this summer to get rid of everything and raise funds to buy new stuff. Once I get to one-derland I will be rewarding myself with some new tennis shoes. I went to my favorite thick figured lady store, Lane Bryant, tried on several things in the smallest size available, nothing fit. Lane Bryant has been a big part of my life the last several years, so it is definitely a big deal to not be able to fit their clothes anymore. I also went to Maurices, a cute trendy clothing store, and for the first time in I don't know when I am able to fit in clothes in their "normal" size section.

So this next week also marks the end of the semester for me. I hope to be less stressed, have more time to work in my yard, exercise and work on some crafting projects I have in mind. I am pretty excited about getting to fill my time (for a couple months) with things I want to do instead of things I have to.