1 week

Well, it's been a week since surgery and I am starting to feel better.  I find that I get tired really easy which I did expect.

I have lost 9 lbs since the surgery.  The first 3-4 days I did not lose a pound at all, in fact I came out of the hospital 2 lbs heavier than when I went in, go figure. But now I have been losing 2-3 lbs per day so far.

I am building up my walking again, when I first came out of the hospital, I was able to only walk at about 1.7 mph for 10 minutes at a time.  Today I was able to do 2.9 mph for 22 minutes for 1 mile total this morning.  Before the surgery I was doing 2 miles per day at 3.2-3.4 miles per hour (about 40 minutes).  I'll be back there soon.

What hit me today though as being shocking, awesome and surprised me the most was..... drum roll please .....  today I looked at the stat on my fattracker program and it has finally gone under 100 lbs to lose.  You see, there are all these distinctions in all areas of the dieting community.  To see that it actually said 99 lbs left to lose kind of hit me as being awesome.

I have come so far.  Woohoo!

Check out this weird photo that I took in the bathroom the Sunday before the surgery.  The light rays are from the window and the flash in the mirror.



 

 

HOME

This is going to be a short post b/c I am tired.  Surgery went well, and now I'm home It's been 3 days since the surgery, everything seems to be working as expected.

It's a Go!

It's a go!  Dr. Waldrep said he would do my surgery and it's on Monday!

One analogy that he left me with after the appointment was that if I went to the grocery store, to the pet food aisle and picked out the heaviest bag of dog food and carried it around the store that is what it was like before I had lost the 44 lbs.  It really opened my eyes.

So today was my last day at work and I busted my butt hard to get everything done, I still left quite a bit to do, but I finished the critical stuff.

Next step - two days on a liquid diet, then nothing after 12:00 Midnight on Sunday night.   My surgery is not until around 3:00 in the afternoon.  He wanted to leave lots of time for me because of my adhesions.

Then it is one or two nights in the hospital.

As I realized last night that all my hard work that I have done the last five months has brought me to this goal, I started to think about clothes and what I will need to buy eventually.

I thought:  "Tonight I'm going to look online at clothes in regular sizes!".  My next thought was:  "Where the heck do I shop for regular size clothes?"  So I actually did a google search for where to shop for appropriate clothes for a 45 year old.  As I browsed to see what was out there, it hit me that I don't even know what I like and had to sit down and ask myself:  "What is my style going to be?" 

All these questions, floating in my head as I searched online for a dress.  Now, I know this is premature, I don't know what size I will end up in or how much more weight I will lose, but what an exciting proposition to chose a style and be able to go to any store and buy clothes!

I know that I have a lot of work ahead of me still and what I will go through in the next 4-6 weeks will not be easy, but it will be so worth it.  I'm worth it!

As a sidebar, in the five days of walking this week, I have walked 11.3 miles so far and I plan on walking Saturday as well for my two miles.  Shhh - don't tell anyone, I actually enjoy how I feel afterwards!  


P.S.  I don't think working out is addicting yet - haha - guess I have to keep up the work until it is an addiction :)


Peace Out!



 

Beliefs

We believe in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  

I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves me and my family.  I am grateful for the scriptures and the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

I believe in Jesus Christ, the restored gospel and I believe in personal revelation.

To read the Book of Mormon go here!

Our son had decided he did not want to receive the priesthood and become a Deacon when he turned 12.  He had his interview with the Bishop today and changed his mind.  

I am proud of the choice he is making, he is a good-hearted young man who tries so hard to do what is right, even with all the extra difficulties he faces.



 

Weight Update

I've lost 43 lbs now, I've been working very hard and I am now walking over 2 miles a day on the treadmill, almost 11 miles this week.  My appointment is this Thursday with Dr. Waldrep and if he agrees I'll have the surgery next Monday just over one week away.

How do I feel so far?  It has not been an easy journey so far.  I keep trying to increase my stamina and to try different activities.  Like today, I walked 2.3 miles and then we went to Sunsplash and my goal was to just keep moving which I did until the very end when I sat down in the sun to dry off.

I have started wearing clothes I haven't worn in years, which feels great.  My stomach area is "looser" if that is a term that I can use.  Not sure if that is the greatest description though. 

I have been stuck for three weeks going back and forth between 7 lbs, up, down, up, down, and now I think I have broken through that barrier.  I know, I know, fingers crossed.

The hubby still doesn't think that I'll go through with it.  Don't get me wrong he says he's proud of me, but he says that I haven't gone through with stuff in the past so.... I am going to prove him wrong!

I just wish this week was over already.

More 4th of July

Amazing

My visiting teacher's family invited us over for fireworks tonight.  Their daughters friends family had won a pile of fireworks at a golf tournament.

One word:  Amazing!

I love my camera, it isn't much but it takes some great photos at night and of fireworks, so ENJOY:

Robert and Debbie in the sweethearts chair and their neighbor Kippy

Now that is what I call "double-fisting"

The wee ones!

Kent and K settled in for the show

The rest of these speak for themselves!

 

Happy 4th of July!

The day started with a nice pancake breakfast at the church.  K was supposed to participate in the flag ceremony with the scouts but didn't want to.   He told me after that even though I'm not American I should "lip-sync" the words!

We decided that we wanted to do something different this year and I searched the internet for fun 4th activities to do, and honestly, didn't come up with much that sounded fun.  I decided that I needed to expand our search and came upon Black Chasm Cavern.

We left shortly after the pancake breakfast for the scenic drive from Orangevale to Jackson, California.  What a pretty drive and you pass through all these little old towns that were founded in the gold rush era.  Quite fascinating in and of themselves, that will be another excursion, maybe without the guys, to go in all those little antique shops and not to mention the amazing kitchen store in Jackson.

The cavern itself was absolutely amazing.  So far they have found 15 rooms, but can only tour through three of them.  It is a nationally protected cave because this one little tiny room that you can only see from a distance which has every type of stalagmite, stalactite, helictite formations.

They say helictite formations are only found in 5% of all caves in the world and there are some that appear only here in Black Chasm.

This formation here was at the bottom room that we could go to (there were 12 more rooms beyond this).  K named it the Walrus tooth!

He was trying to smile through the flash!

Helictite

This one on the right here was so cool, it was a little hole in the cavern and inside were these amazing helictite formations

More helictite formations

 Looking down, way, way, way down, at the bottom here, is a small pool, it reflects the roof which is a blue gray rock which I can't remember the name of.  It was amazing.  When the picture is full size you can see it better.  Someone repels down every six months to change the light bulb.

Pretty Stalactite formation on the roof of the room that we were in.  There is a lot of damage to them, because the miners back in the 1800's used to bring people down to show them and they would take a piece back to the top as a souvenir.  The admission was a pinch of gold.

The two guys in my life!