Wii Fit!

Hey Y'all!
Well, once again I am behind in my blogging. Not much happening in the weight loss department. I think that I am almost to goal, hovering around 138 (down to 137.5 the other day!). I'm actually relieved, as the weight had come off so fast I wondered if it would actually stop. I'm happy in a size 4 or 6 and feel good over all.

We recently added Wii Fitness to our collection, and I love it! If you need a jump start on your exercise routine, and have a Wii, you will want to get Wii Fitness! It sets up a profile for your Mii, and weighs you, tells you your BMI, measures your center of balance, body control and the like and tells you your Wii Fitness Age. So far I'm at about 42, which is 8 years under my real age, so that's good! My weight and BMI are NORMAL! Yes! In addition to the body test, there are 4 areas you can exercise in. They are Aerobics, Strength Training, Yoga and Balance. All are fun and the time flies. Wii Fitness tracks your time for you, increases exercises for difficulty and adds new exercises as you progress. The best part of it is that my 11 year old overweight couch potato boy LOVES it and has been exercising (almost) daily for at least an hour - sweating it out and loving it. I am so happy!

Life is settling into summer here in NC. We're finished with school and of course Josh is thrilled about that! We had a hot spell here in NC last week, and we actually had to turn the AC on as we had guests from Florida and we didn't want them to be hot?! It's cooled back down to normal now and I'm glad because I hate the AC. I'm growing some lovely herbs on my deck, and still need to plant some veggies.

The last weekend of May we took a short trip to Michigan and the guys went fishing for walleye on Lake Erie. They caught about 27 and we got to bring them home, and are really enjoying fresh fish. My brother in law in Michigan had one of those Food Saver vacuum things, and we used that to seal up the fish and freeze them. It works really well, as every bit that I've thawed and cooked tastes fresh fresh fresh! Last night we cooked chicken, shrimp and some of the walleye in kebobs along with corn on the cob, potatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, red and yellow bell peppers. Grilled them and oooh were they good.

Well, that's it for now! Hope you are getting in the summer mood. Get out there and sweat!

138 - only 2 pounds from my goal!

Time just flies by! I reached 138 last week and forgot to blog about it!!! Just entering the 130's is a miracle. I was speaking with my mom and she said she didn't know when I was ever in the 130's... since I was 175 in the 5th grade, I guess I was probably 7 or 8 the last time I was here!

I made a trip to the Goodwill in Asheville. Yeah! I love thrift store shopping! It is a valuable tool in the weightloss journey - so don't be too proud to go there! I find wonderful jeans and pants and tops for a fraction of what I'd have to pay in a regular store. Even beats the clearance prices! And may I brag and say that I bought several size 4 pants?! It's just too amazing.

Other than that, there is nothing really new going on. I have planted my herbs and they are growing nicely...used some lovely freshly cut cilantro in my chicken soup yesterday! Yum! I've been making lots of soap and lotion bars to sell at our local farmers markets. Gets us up and out of the house early on Saturdays.

We're headed for a trip to Michigan next week. I'm looking forward to seeing my brother and sister in law. They haven't seen me since before surgery, so it should be fun to see their reaction!

Hope you're losing and enjoying life!!!

Dealing with the hair loss

Many folks who are researching weightloss surgery ask questions about hair loss. I know the feeling, as I was worried about it too! I have pretty good hair, and when you're overweight, the thought of losing your one redeeming quality can be quite frightening.

Hair loss does seem to be a pretty common problem with any bypass surgery. Basically, your body thinks you are starving, and it shuts down anything that it feels is not absolutely necessary. Hair being one of those things! What is wrong with our bodies?! Don't they know how important hair is!!! Anyway, the follicles seem to go into a hibernation mode, and you do lose some and it's slow growing back in. Some people lose more than others. It can help to get in your protein, wash your hair with Head and Shoulders and some people take zinc - although it is known to upset your stomach.

I tried the zinc, and it did not sit well with me. I do use the Head and Shoulders Intensive shampoo. My hair started really coming out at about 4 months. I thought I'd go bald for sure! But now at almost 10 months, the loss has slowed tremendously. However, what used to be a pretty good ponytail became a rat tail instead. I could see that my hair looked kind of stringy in the front, and finally looked backwards in a mirror and saw that it was REALLY stringy in the back. (Asked my husband why he didn't tell me how raggedy it looked...mmmm he hadn't really noticed. Men.)

So, today I went and got my hair cut short. I haven't had it short in many years, as my man likes long hair. However, my friend Peggy got hers cut off really short a couple of weeks ago, and it looked so good - well - Louie said I could cut it off as long as I grow it back when it thickens up again.

I'm happy with the cut, might even add some layers after I play with it for a couple of weeks. All in all I would tell anyone who is looking into the Mini Gastric Bypass - don't let the hair issue hold you back. It's a temporary problem! I've not had anyone say, "Wow! Your hair sure looks thin!" But lots of people have said, "Wow! YOU sure look thin!" Go for it, you'll be happy you did!!

It's time to get the shorts out

Well, thank goodness that shorts season is finally here, and even better, thank goodness that long shorts are in style! They are great for covering these saggy thighs. A small price to pay for all the other benefits of losing 113 lbs! I had all those years of huge cellulite covered legs, and I dont' care if these are saggy - they are so much thinner!

Here are a couple of pics from today.

We had a great time with our friends Mike and Peggy and their grandson Austin, visiting a town near us called Sylva, NC. They had their annual Greening Up the Mountains day, with lots of vendors and such. It was a great day to put on my shorts for the first time as a normal weight person, and I enjoyed it!!

I met with some friends this week that I've known since high school - Hi Cliff and Ray!!! I've never been this thin (since about 8 years old!) so it was probably different for them to see me like this!

Well, nothing new for now - just thought I'd check in and post some new pics!

Have a blessed day!

Spring has Sprung

Looks like I've been neglectful of my blog! Apologies! I bought my first pair of shorts in preparation for warmer weather! Guess what? Size 6!!! I can't stand it!!! Now I do want to say that I bought some of the new LONG shorts. They come just about to my knees....I'm making sure to cover the saggy skin on these skinny thighs! It's so funny, when I was trying shorts on, the legs were actually too big in some of them. These are so not my legs of old!

Spring has sprung here in the mountains, and it's been beautiful. The flowering trees here are so incredible! However, we've been having a Blackberry Freeze (I think?) and it got chilly again. It was down in the 20's overnight last week, and we had to cover up the blueberry bushes we just planted. The high today was only around 60....so those shorts I bought are still in the bag. Hopefully we'll warm up this week and I can try them on and show off my Casper the Ghost legs....gotta get back to using that lotion with the self tanner in it!

In case you're tracking, I'm down to 144 - that's 112 pounds gone. I am now within Dr. P's goal for me. He said anywhere between 135 and 145. I have chose 136 as my personal goal, but if I never lost another pound I would be completely happy at 144. The weight loss has slowed down...it took about 2 weeks to go from 146 to 144. I'm actually thrilled with that, as this has been one fast ride for me. I've had several different people tell me that they guessed my weight at 100-110 pounds....so I guess I don't really ever want to see that weight. I'd look like a skeleton!

My eating has not changed lately. Still snacking my way through life. That's what it feels like - snacking. I just eat a little bit, but every 2 hours or so. I'm trying to get a much protein in as possible, so nuts, cheese, a little turkey, peanut butter, whatever. It's easy to reach for crackers or pretzels, but the protein is the better choice. I also try to focus on drinking enough. I can drink more than I could 3 months ago...but still nothing like before surgery. I have regular meals too! But they also feel like snacking, since I can't eat too much.

My husband and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary this month, and then he had his birthday and joined me in the 50's club. I told him I was sorry that he had to wait 19 years to get a skinny wife - but he said it was worth the wait! We went out to a nice dinner for our anniversary. We split of course! We even split some tiramisu for dessert. It was funny - I was thinking about how in the past I would have been HOPING that he wouldn't want much of it! This time, I was hoping he would eat most of it - which he did. I'm a cheap date now!

Life is good. Hope you're enjoying yours!

Moving into uncharted territory!

I have made it into the 140's! May not seem like a big deal to some, but it is to me! I have never weighed less than 150 since I was about 9 or 10 years old. So, you can see that it would be pretty exciting!

We had a nice Easter. I actually wore a dress (hose and heels too!) to church and my husband loved it! Wonderful service, moving communion, celebrating the Savior and his great gift to us - Resurrection Sunday! We had a wonderful dinner, just Louie, Josh and me. I cooked a ham, and we had baked sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, green bean casserole and raw veggies. It was perfect! Afterwards, we spent the afternoon just hanging out together, listening and watching Christian music videos. (And yes, I did have a few jelly beans and M'Ms.)

I'm just 11.5 lbs from my goal, so it's pretty exhilarating overall. I asked my surgeon's office how my body will know when to stop losing. They said that it just knows - weird, huh? They did say that sometimes you will lose a little too much, but then you'll rebound a bit and normalize out. As long as your labs are good, you're ok. And my labs were fine so far, so yeah!

Life is good (eternal life is better!)

My next 50 years

I will reach a wonderful milestone this Thursday. 50 years ago, on March 6, 1958, I entered the world. I really can't believe it. It seems like I just turned 30 - then 40 - oh well...time marches on! I spoke to my mom tonight, and she said, "I can't believe you're so old!" Thanks Mom. The funny thing is that I was a normal weight baby, at 7lbs. Now, on the verge of 50, I am a what is considered a "normal" bmi for the first time since I was probably 5 years old.

So I'm turning 50. Not much gray in the hair yet - thanks Dad, those were some good genes. However, now that I've lost so much weight, I can tell that my fat was keeping the wrinkles in my face at bay. I don't have many, but more than I had in my fat face. That's ok - I'll take the wrinkles.

You see, there could be worse ways to turn 50. I could still weigh 256 lbs, or more! I could still have Type II Diabetes, and maybe would be on the way to insulin dependence. I could be snoring like a bear all night, waking up with my sleep apnea, and feeling forever tired. I could be buying some new size 22 Women's clothes, instead of a size 8. I could be looking at my swollen legs and feet and hands. I could be dreading walking up and down the stairs in my home. I could be feeling defeated about still being morbidly obese.

Instead, I feel great! I'm down 103 lbs, and loving it! I found some "before" bathing suit pictures last weekend. AAAAAAAH! Looking at them shows me how far I've come. I really feel like a new woman! I'm enjoying getting to know my smaller self.

So, my next 50 years are going to be great. I hope to be thin for all of them. I hope to be healthy and live an abundant life. I hope to see my baby boy grow up, get married and give me some grandchildren. I hope my big son and his wife will give me some grandchildren before that! I hope to climb many mountains, hike many hikes, go horseback riding, go white water rafting and have fun! I hope to grow old and gray with my sweet husband. I hope to live to 103...I tell my son that I will, and moms need to keep their promises.

Life at 50 is wide open. I don't feel old, I feel ready! I can't wait to see what my next 50 years bring!