Orchids&Dragons

Icecream, I slipped and fell mouth first into it. I'd been gradually getting further from plan for a few weeks... Not enough protein, not enough water... Things with more than the 3 grams of sugar than I'm supposed to have per serving. .. and then pumkin spice icecream. It's not the end of the world, but I don't want it to be the norm either. So I'm putting my self back on track. 

3.something more pounds and I'll drop down under 200!!! Icecream's not going to hold me back! 

Today was a weighing/measuring day, and I've discovered that I've lost 10 inches in my waist since the beginning of August!  This is great news, as I carry most of my weight in my belly, which is no good.  I'm glad I am measuring because I can see results even though I'm going through a stall.

The woods near my house

The woods near my house

For my Surgiversary I rewarded myself with a facial peel at Sephora (gratis for beauty insiders) with a friend.

Highly recommend it!

Then hanging out briefly at a bar/restaurant where I had lots of water, two chicken wings and met a guy...

I lived through the third week (and a half) stall, and I'm past it and losing pounds again. Given the stresses of the last two weeks, losing instead of gaining is a miracle in itself. Or maybe not. It isn't like I can really stress eat, at this stage. I've found that I fail myself in other ways, though: shorting myself on liquids or proteins or -- just the one dose, so far -- vitamins, when the pressure gets to be too much. I'm working on that: I know I can't afford to lose too much muscle mass, so I have to keep my protein up; I spent a day with a splitting headache after falling short on liquids, so that was a decent object lesson; and I know how important vitamins are, too. I'm just ... really crap at self-care, but I'm actively working on getting better.

I way overdid it at a vigil/protest last week (long walk, long time standing, and I really did know better but also didn't want to "let anyone down" by bowing out early to take care of myself 🙄) and re-damaged an old stress fracture in my foot, so my activity level has dropped badly. Getting in the pool will go a long way toward fixing that, and I'll be cleared for swimming next Tuesday. (I may sneak into the pool on Monday. My incisions are fully closed, and my doctor said that if that's the case, I should be good to go.) In the meantime, I am trying to take good care of my foot so it heals up quickly. Weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise, they say, so I'm not really losing that much ground, now. It's fine. I can take the time to heal.

I can finally drink room temperature water again, at least some of the time! I still strongly prefer hot tea. But carrying a water bottle might not be a total waste of time, anymore, which would be amazing for my hydration levels on days when I'm at work or school.

So. Past my first month, not doing perfectly, but certainly chugging along.

CENTURY CLUB! I hit 100 lbs. lost today!!!!!

Absolutely refusing to buy new clothing these days. I love the wardobe I bought at 4 months post op & spent a small fortune also, so I'm tailoring everything to my new size...

I hope everyone has had a great summer and i hope you go into this holiday season from a better place than the year before.

This last week was my 30th wedding anniversary and i am happy to think that i will have many more to come. In the not so distant past i was not so sure i would live to see this one and 35 or 40 was beyond my expectations. Anything could still happen but at least i have stopped digging in my effort to get of the hole i found myself in.

I have made 3 life changing decisions in the last few decades.

1. asking my wife to marry me - being a child of divorced parents colors your expectations about getting and staying married.

2. saying yes when my wife asked if i wanted children - This was a lie at the time. having a child was THE most terrifying thing i could think of. Today there is nothing i would not do for my daughter and i feel a love  i did not know could exist inside a person.

3. accepting that i could not control my weight by myself and getting this surgery to save my own life. Putting myself first as a way to be there for them is not a concept that I lived by before.

If you ever wonder is it worth it yes it is cause i was worth it and they are worth it.

Never give up folks

Whatever you are working towards you have the rest of your life to get there.

This place can be positive or negative depending on your outlook. I've noticed that when I remain active here by following the struggles or joys of others and, most important, leaving a comment, I'm helping myself probably more than the person for whom I'm leaving a comment. It takes courage initially to post your first question or topic. What if no one responds? What if I make a fool of myself because I put words together like a monkey with a keyboard? 

I forgot what my intended message was here. I guess it's something like the penny jar one finds in a store. Take a penny for yourself when you need it, leave a penny for someone else in case they need it.

Thank you to all the kind people out there who've left a penny for me. Here's my penny for someone else. Please take it if you need it. (This penny is a metaphor,  ).

This place can be positive or negative depending on your outlook. I've noticed that when I remain active here by following the struggles or joys of others and, most important, leaving a comment, I'm helping myself probably more than the person for whom I'm leaving a comment. It takes courage initially to post your first question or topic. What if no one responds? What if I make a fool of myself because I put words together like a monkey with a keyboard? 

I forgot what my intended message was here. I guess it's something like the penny jar one finds in a store. Take a penny for yourself when you need it, leave a penny for someone else in case they need it.

Thank you to all the kind people out there who've left a penny for me. Here's my penny for someone else. Please take it if you need it. (This penny is a metaphor,  ).

Packing hospital bag, taking special shower, and just relaxing before tomorrow's surgery!

10/29/2018 to join the loser's bench!

This place can be positive or negative depending on your outlook. I've noticed that when I remain active here by following the struggles or joys of others and, most important, leaving a comment, I'm helping myself probably more than the person for whom I'm leaving a comment. It takes courage initially to post your first question or topic. What if no one responds? What if I make a fool of myself because I put words together like a monkey with a keyboard? 

I forgot what my intended message was here. I guess it's something like the penny jar one finds in a store. Take a penny for yourself when you need it, leave a penny for someone else in case they need it.

Thank you to all the kind people out there who've left a penny for me. Here's my penny for someone else. Please take it if you need it. (This penny is a metaphor,  ).

A small NSV: I had a meeting on the third floor of a building without an elevator today, and I was only breathing a little faster (as opposed to being totally winded) when I got to the top.

I'm going to hit my stall now. I can tell, because 1) almost everybody stalls when they start moving on to real foods, in addition to the liquids, and 2) I'm at 302 pounds, lol, and the scale knows I want to see the 2 in the first digit.

I'm fine. It's not going to freak me out or really even upset me. Honestly, I could stand the reconfiguration of inches that always comes with a stall, for me.

I'm posting here in between bites of refried beans, which (knock on wood) seem to be going pretty well for me, so far. I'm so happy. Between ricotta (with a little sauce and a little seasoning) and refried beans (with a very small amount of low-fat cheese melted in), I can live without chewable foods for a pretty long time. (I'm also eating yogurt and ricotta cheese.) I do want to upgrade to the ricotta bake, because it has better protein and might cut down the number of protein shakes I need in a day. It's probably a bit more firm than ricotta alone, so I held off at first, but I think it's time, don't you? Plus, my spouse can put it over pasta and enjoy it with me.

I'm eating 2.5 ounces of ricotta in a serving and maybe that much in beans? (this is my first attempt, but that's how much I served myself) I can eat 4 ounces of Greek yogurt in half an hour, which feels like a lot before the 2 week anniversary of my surgery. But I still haven't really figured out my body's "full" signal. I felt a little sick and stopped eating, one time, which made me think I'd overdone it. Other times, I just take tiny bites, sometimes a few minutes apart, for half an hour. And then I refrigerate or throw out what's left, because that was the guidance the nutritionists gave me. But other people talk about a sore shoulder or something as their signal, and I haven't found that yet.

I guess it'll come with time and practice.

I'm going to hit my stall now. I can tell, because 1) almost everybody stalls when they start moving on to real foods, in addition to the liquids, and 2) I'm at 302 pounds, lol, and the scale knows I want to see the 2 in the first digit.

I'm fine. It's not going to freak me out or really even upset me. Honestly, I could stand the reconfiguration of inches that always comes with a stall, for me.

I'm posting here in between bites of refried beans, which (knock on wood) seem to be going pretty well for me, so far. I'm so happy. Between ricotta (with a little sauce and a little seasoning) and refried beans (with a very small amount of low-fat cheese melted in), I can live without chewable foods for a pretty long time. (I'm also eating yogurt and ricotta cheese.) I do want to upgrade to the ricotta bake, because it has better protein and might cut down the number of protein shakes I need in a day. It's probably a bit more firm than ricotta alone, so I held off at first, but I think it's time, don't you? Plus, my spouse can put it over pasta and enjoy it with me.

I'm eating 2.5 ounces of ricotta in a serving and maybe that much in beans? (this is my first attempt, but that's how much I served myself) I can eat 4 ounces of Greek yogurt in half an hour, which feels like a lot before the 2 week anniversary of my surgery. But I still haven't really figured out my body's "full" signal. I felt a little sick and stopped eating, one time, which made me think I'd overdone it. Other times, I just take tiny bites, sometimes a few minutes apart, for half an hour. And then I refrigerate or throw out what's left, because that was the guidance the nutritionists gave me. But other people talk about a sore shoulder or something as their signal, and I haven't found that yet.

I guess it'll come with time and practice.

I'm now down just over 75 pounds down since my first visit with the surgeon on June 29, 2018! Woot!

I can’t find where to put my pre and post surgery information. I am not in the pre op stage. I am 3 weeks post op and I can’t even share that information because it won’t let me. 

Need help, one navigate this site so I can enter my surgery and weight information. Two I’m having questions about my 2nd week post op! Love some help

Need help, one navigate this site so I can enter my surgery and weight information. Two I’m having questions about my 2nd week post op! Love some help

First autumn since the surgery. Less body fat = freezing (what’s left of) my ass off. 

I'm off of these boards for a while. My stepfather (my dad's husband) just passed away last night, and I only just lost Dad last year, and ... I kind of need to be focusing on that, you know? I'll see you all later.

Going to my 2nd of 6 NUT appointments this week.  I'm worried that I'm losing too much weight too quickly that I might get disqualified from surgery if I keep this pace.  At the same time, I'm using this logic to behave badly with food.  I'm logging all my meals as I'm required to do for the 6 months, but I think I have a lot of new questions for the nutritionist...

The slider queen is on vacay!

The slider queen is on vacay!