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Since I work about 12+ hours a day, I am always grateful for assistance with the housework. I was quite thrilled the other day to come home to find out that my mother completed two loads of wash for me. However, it quickly turned to dread when I discovered that my black dress pants that I wear to work were put into the dryer. Now, let me fill you in a little bit about my dress pants. We usually have a battle in the morning with zipping them up. I lay on the bed, wiggle around, and feel the pain throb on my finger as I try to get that zipper up. I would NEVER put them in the dryer as the heat from the dryer is not my friend! So I had to break down and wiggle my butt into Spanx and thought I had won the battle with my pants. Well...sort of... It was still a challenge. This is what I usually deal with and what I have been dealing with for quite some time. I was banded on March 4, took 2 weeks off from work, and during the first week back at work, I avoided my black pants since I was still sore in my stomach area. So here it is...Friday, March 30, and I have run out of options for clothing. There in my closet, looking ever so quiet (and a bit afraid of the battle that may ensue) are my black pants. Ugh! I am going to hate this beginning to a Friday morning I thought to myself. Well, here it goes. I decided not to go with the Spanx as sometimes it is not all that comfortable for sitting too long and I knew I had a meeting to attend that day. Obviously, I had been weighing myself since March 4 and thought, hmmmm... let's see if 20 pounds has made a difference in my world. (I have 130 more to lose...not real sure if 20 really made difference yet.) I put both legs in those pants, pulled them up, and got ready for the wrestling match on the bed. Much to my surprise, they zipped. I don't mean just zipped up....I mean they zipped without a 10 minute worm dance on my bed! I was thrilled! Beyond thrilled! These pants haven't seen a dryer for quite sometime so I just know it was thrilled too! No one at work has noticed the weight loss and I really don't expect anyone to notice until I buy new clothes and lose around 40 lbs. But my pants and I knew better that particular day. We were winning together! As I shut off the light in my bedroom, I thought I heard a small voice say, "I'm next" from the pair of pants (Size 16) that I wore several years ago when I lost 70 lbs. Yes...my friend...you are next! Just stay in that drawer a little bit longer. I am working on getting you out and about as soon as I can...and I promise we won't have a battle!

I've been feeling really good about my progress lately, not just the weight loss, but also my physical abilities and what i can now accomplish. I had taken the day off from work yesterday and decided to reward myself. I went to the movies and saw GI Joe 2. I know I shouldn't have bought the popcorn, but I did and just got the smallest size. The sales girl tried to get me to buy the size bigger (she was just doing her job) and although I would have loved it, I refused because I knew I couldn't eat that much and didn't want to take it home with me only to finish it off later. Then she asked the bigger question, do you want butter on that? I said yes (even though I know how bad it is), but I didn't ask her to put some in the middle as I would have before surgery. Ohhhhh....how yummy it was. Half way through the movie and I had only eaten half the bag. I put it down to stop myself from getting sick. I later picked it back up and ate a little more. I had to put it back down again because it was making me feel sick. The movie was almost over and I had the urge to use the bathroom. So glad I was able to finish the movie before rushing out, although I could have waited for this movie to come out on DVD. Not worth the money, even though I did see it in 3D. On my way home, I decided that I was going to make this a "cheat" day for myself. I stopped at my favorite Teriyaki place and got some spicy chicken teriyaki. I also stopped at the local produce stand and got some fruits for the week and vegitables for the soup I planned to make for the weekend. By the time I got home, I was hungry, so I started eating some of the chicken. I didn't touch the rice because I know I shouldn't be eating it, even though this is my cheat day. I probably ate about 4 or 5 pieces of the chicken and had to stop. That chicken ended up being 3 meals for me. Yes, I did eat it again for dinner and the rest of it this morning for breakfast. So, what I'm finding that even though I want to try to eat some of the things that I used to before surgery, I'm still applying some of the teachings my nutritionist taught me, by habit and not from guilt of what I'm eating. I also weighed myself this morning and I'm down 3 pounds, which made me not feel so bad about eating things that aren't so good for me yesterday. I did realize that even though the popcorn tasted amazing, I probably will try it without the butter next time I go to the movies (I don't do it very often). I also realized that the teriyaki that I used to love doesn't taste as good now. Lastly, I know that it's okay to treat myself once in a while and knowing that I still can apply what I've learned to my choices, I still can do it without feeling guilty providing that it's on a rare occasion. Today, I am back on my schedule of making good choices (minus the teriyaki breakfast). By the way, I did eat my normal breakfast for lunch. I'm feeling good, possitive and happy and can't wait to see/feel the changes that will happen through out the next year. =)

I chose to have my surgery at this time as with Christ, he died and rose again and all was anew! This is my approach to my weight loss surgery...I want to rid my body of all this excess weight and let only positive people in my life, no naysayers or gossipist...so this is the blog where the old Lori dies and the new Lori is born anew. I have a large family..I am the 7th of 8 girls. I can tell you that being in a family of this size and nature that we all dont get along, this is a vow to my new me....no more negativity and only positive. I have a wonderful husband and a beautiful daughter, her boyfriend is such a pain in the a$$ and I have chosen to not deal with him and with that I will be in need of constant prayer! Life is too short to have to deal with jealousy and hateful people. Thanks for listening!

This is amazing!! Needed a good laugh on Monday

I learned from our nutritionist that The premier protein shake says 30 gr protein but actually your body only keeps 11.88 gr per shake the rest is expelled through your system. taking these you would have to have 6 a day to get your proteins. Wish I could drink this one. Sure would be a whole lot easier to drink as I really like them. The powdered shakes are really making me nauseated right now

Awesome! "Connect the cuts?" lol!!!!!!!!

good job on the couch to 5k. Stick with it and you'll be running full speed in no time.

I post this here so I can refer back to it often. 1) Where you are in life isn’t a measure of your full potential. It’s a measure of how you’ve played life’s cards SO FAR. 2) It’s never too late to play your hand a different way. 3) If you challenge YOURSELF every day, you’ll have more experience when LIFE challenges YOU. 4) Just like muscles need to be broken down to get stronger, sometimes we need to be broken down mentally and emotionally to get stronger in their respective senses as well. 5) Sometimes the people that you thought were good in your life were actually the people stepping on your head. 6) Surrounding yourself with positive and uplifting people, thoughts, pictures, quotes, experiences, etc. is the way to FEEL like you are living a positive and uplifting life. The same is true for the opposite. 7) HUGE personal successes start with a LOT of smaller efforts that build a solid foundation for that success. 8) When you don’t believe in yourself, other people don’t believe in you either. When you DO believe in yourself, people get blown away by everything you accomplish. 9) Some of the same people that see you turn your life around for the better will try to bring you back down to their level in order to feel good at the level they are STILL at. 10) When those people start to succeed in bringing you down, FIGHT HARDER! KEEP your goals, and know that you STILL have MORE potential to unleash! 11) NEVER GIVE UP! When you give up, you are saying, “I’m not worth it.” 12) KNOW that you ARE worth it! 13) Life isn’t easy or fair. The people that fare the best are the ones that adapt in difficult situations. Teach yourself to adapt! Get creative! 14) The same routine yields the same results. If you’re unhappy, CHANGE something. 15) Patience! 16) “When you were in high school, college, etc…” < Stop living in the past! Live in the present! 17) Stop making excuses! Admit you’re flawed like the rest of the world, and figure out a way to be the BEST version of yourself. 18) The best version of YOURSELF? What is that? Figure it out. Experiment. Stop looking to others for easy answers to YOUR complicated personal battles. 19) Be proud of yourself! 20) Taking pride, and being a self-absorbed tool bag are NOT the same. So relax, and talk about your accomplishments a little. It’s OK! You might even inspire someone else! 21) Stop worrying about failure, and “what ifs.” Focus on what you WILL do instead. When you decide to do something, you find a way to do it. When you worry about failing, you find a way to do IT too. 22) Taking care of YOU should be a PRIORITY. It doesn’t make you selfish. It means you have self-respect. Besides, everyone knows you can’t be fully present for others when you’re not for yourself. Win-win. 23) Take out the trash. You’re not a dumpster, so get rid of the garbage in your life. (Whatever that garbage is- people, food, habits…etc.) 24) Allow yourself to be human and have “bad days.” You’re not a superhero. Get over it. 25) When you DO have bad days, find a way to re-inspire yourself. Even if it’s just by making a list of things you’ve learned in life and sharing it in on the internet 26)Patience! 27)Remove the Drama from your life!