Well, I was trying to wait until after the 5K before I made a new blog post.

I have been wanting to buy a fitness tracker ever since Tommie broke down and got a Fitbit One.  I had the hardest time trying to decide what to get though.  There are several of them out there on the market.  I would read reviews for them all, and of coarse there were good and bad points to each one, and my mind would change every time I would read a review.  SO – finally after a few weeks of Tommie having his and liking it, I broke down and got a Fitbit One also.  It’s sort of like a fancy pedometer.  You wear it all the time though, even to sleep and it tracks your steps and your sleep patterns, and a few other things.  It sync’s to several other accounts.  I have it sync’d to My Fitness Pal and Map My Fitness accounts.  It’s nice to see your steps each day and to strive towards a certain number.  Plus, if you add friends on there, you can compare your activity level to that of others.  It makes you think about it.  For example, last week there was a day that we didn’t get out and do our walk.  We had things to do in the evening and had planned to walk later, but then it rained and we just didn’t do it.  SO – I felt guilty and the next day I took an extra walk.  Yesterday, we were lazy and napped all morning, but then at a certain point, looking at how few steps we had for the day, we got up and got out of the house and I even took two walks later on.  We decided to go to the park and walk, which didn’t turn out ideal….did once around, then when I got home, to blow off more steam, I did an additional 2.28 miles.

It’s the little things I notice.  For example, we were walking in the park one day and I looked down to see my shoe untied.  At one point, at my heaviest, I would’ve had to find something to prop my foot up on to be able to tie my shoe.  Now it’s nice to just be able to bend down and tie it with no problem.  My tennis shoes are becoming my favorite footwear these days.  In the past my favorite was anything I could just slip on, instead of having to put on shoes that tied and find some place to prop my foot up to get them on.  Now I’m always wanting to have my tennis shoes on in case we are out somewhere and want to go walking.  I’m not one of those people that can go on long walks in flip flops.

I find when I listen to music when I walk it can really distract me and make me not think of how far I’m going.  I don’t usually listen to it when I’m walking with Tommie, since I don’t want to be rude, but when I find myself walking by myself, it’s a needed distraction.  I’m sure I can look pretty silly from time to time when the music puts a little bounce in my step and a little dance move.  Ha ha.

So – this weekend I did my first 5K.  Really – I never thought I’d do one.  My sister and my friend, Dawn, do a lot of them.  They are joggers though.  Dawn had signed up for this Glow Run and had mentioned a couple of times people joining her team.  When I mentioned it to Tommie he was up for it, so I decided to give it a try at the last minute.  (Though I decided I was just going to walk it!)  So Tommie and I signed up and joined Dawn’s team.  I liked the idea of it being at night, so it wouldn’t get too hot.  We were estimating that we’d get it walked in a little under an hour and half, so imagine our surprise and joy when we finished it in 59 minutes!!  We made it in after an hour. 🙂  We walked pretty fast the whole course and even jogged a little when we were trying to get around people.  Even stopped a few times in the “Glow Tents” to take pictures.  I was very proud of the both of us afterwards.

We signed up for our 2nd 5K also, on July 14th.  Here is our team page if you want to join the team just click on the “Join Team” button. http://jingleinjuly.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=1069179&team=5564914  So far there is just Tommie and I signed up for it, but I think my cousin, April and her husband Tommy will be joining us also.  What we liked about this one was that it was underground, so it’ll be about 68 degrees and away from the weather.  Plus the course is flat, which makes it a little easier. 🙂

My actual weight loss has been really slow lately.  I was stuck at the same for almost a month.  Last week, there were a couple days I actually got in all my water (which I have found fairly hard for me) and on those days, the scale actually moved a little!  SO – I really, really need to try to focus on that.  I’m up to about 81 lbs lost now.  I was REALLY hoping to reach 100 lbs lost by my 6 month follow up appt at the beginning of August, but I’m really starting to doubt that I’ll get there now.  At least by that deadline.  BUT I am looking forward to that appt, because they should take my measurements.  They took measurements at my pre-op appointment, so it’ll be interesting to see how many inches I have lost.  I didn’t write the number’s down, so I have no idea where I started at when it comes to that.  Will be interesting to see.

I’m going to be busy this week, the holiday shortens my week, so gives me less time to meet my deadlines.  Then my brother and sister in law and nephew will visit this month, and I’m taking off work to spend time with them.  Next month will be my six month surgery follow up appointment and our vacation to Vancouver with my stepdaughter.  So, lots going on.  Thanks for reading my updates.  Feel free to leave me a comment to say hi or whatever. 🙂

Now that my appointments are further in between and I am just doing day to day things, I haven’t really updated my blog.  I lead a pretty boring life, over all.  I know there are a few family members (and maybe friends) that would like to hear about my progress though.

It’s funny.  There are days where I look down at myself or look in the mirror and REALLY see my weight loss.  I’ll look down at my stomach and notice how much less it sticks out or how much of my lap I can now see!  I’ll notice that my thighs are so much smaller and that the skin is sagging on my thighs, arms and stomach and just feel so excited that it’s coming off.  BUT then there are other days I’ll look in the mirror and I see the same person that I was at the beginning.  The sagging double chin and the protruding stomach and I’ll think to myself – UGH!  You are so gross!  Where is the progress???  It’s funny that you can see yourself so different just from day to day.

I had to break down and buy some new underwear the other day.  Ha ha.  Tommie had mentioned how it just hangs down in the butt.  I try to hold on to the clothes i have for as long as I can, because I’m not done losing and don’t want to spend too much to buy too many new one’s….though I have some.  I have four trash bags full of clothes to give away, and I’m adding to it daily.  I haven’t went out to try to find any good thrift stores yet.  I have bought a few things out of catalogs though.

I’m down 77 lbs as of today.  I’m hoping to reach 100 lbs lost before my 6 month follow up appointment in August!  I have 23 lbs to go before I reach it.  I think I can do it.  Tommie and I have continued to keep up on our walking and when he gets me to the gym, I’m doing my strength training.  I ordered a new swimsuit, but haven’t tried it on yet.  I’m hoping to be able to go swimming some this summer!  I got a season pass to Worlds of Fun/Oceans of Fun.  Tommie doesn’t have a pass, so I’ll need to go with other people, but I have several friends with season passes.  ((Plus I’ll be going with my brother and sister in law and nephew when they visit next month))

Tommie and I have now requested off time from work for our vacation in August.  We are planning on going to Vancouver.  This will be my first time in Canada (and Tommie’s).  I think we’ll be meeting Tommie’s daughter up there also, as long as she can arrange to get off work.  I’m hoping to do a lot of outdoor activity while there.  We’re looking forward to it.  If you have ever been there and have suggestions on things to do – please, let me know!  Always good to get firsthand experience on such things! 😀

Well – that is all I have for now.  I’m sure I’ll think of more after I hit post, but oh well.  Thanks for reading. 🙂  Keep in touch!

Hi everyone!  I hope you had a nice Memorial Day weekend.  I didn’t do everything I planned on doing, but it was a nice one.

Tommie and I have been keeping up with our walking and it feels good.  It’s going to start to get harder to walk outside with it getting hotter!  We DO have our membership to the community center though.  Tommie likes walking on the treadmill, because we are able to read our books and take our minds off of what we’re doing. I enjoy walking outside and in new places.  Just the challenge of the layout of the land and seeing the people and nature. (depending on where we walk)  I’m in agreement though of Tommie’s veto on not walking in the deep woods any more.  Ticks are not pleasant to deal with!

I was in a stall the past couple of weeks.  Up and down within a few pounds.  That seems to be my pattern though and I try not to stress about it as much as I did at first.  My pattern has been lose really well one week, then stall a week or two, then lose again.  Finally today I broke through that 70 lb lost barrier!  Hopefully I’ll stay on that side of it, but we’ll see in a few days. 🙂  Feels good to lose 70 lbs in about 4 months!  I’m REALLY getting desperate on clothes though.  Most of my shirts are pretty big on me.  My pile of give away clothes are getting larger and larger.  I have a lot of pants in the size I’m wearing now, well, at least capri’s, but I had given all the shirts away years ago.  I’m going to have to go around and see if I can find anything at some local thrift stores.  I’m NOT a big shopper, and am picky on the way clothes fit.

I’m looking forward to my brother and sister in law visiting in July.  It’s been nice to have family come and see me this year. My nephew is 2 and I haven’t seen him (in person) since he was 6 months old.  It’s hard when family lives so far away!  I’ve also been planning our yearly vacation for the year.  I’m thinking we’re going to do it some time in August and I think my step-daughter is going to meet us up there.  We’re planning on going to Vancouver this year.  It will be my first time in Canada and I’m looking forward to it.

Well – that is my quick update.  Hope everyone else is doing well. 🙂  Thanks for reading!

I’ve been staying pretty busy lately.  We’ve gotten into a routine of getting home from work and either going to the gym or walking in the neighborhood.  It’s been nice to be active and have my husband just as excited about it as me.  It makes me feel not so alone, and gives us something to do together.

This past weekend we went back and tackled a trail that we had walked a couple weeks before.  Ever since we had first walked it, we talked about going back and just walking until we couldn’t any more on the trail.  We weren’t sure how far they had gone with it.  I know eventually the trail is supposed to connect all the way to Riverside.  We called my Grandma and asked if she’d be on standby to come pick us up if we needed it.  It was a trail that didn’t circle around, it just kept going.  SO anyway, we went out, and it was perfect weather and we walked and ended up getting to the end of the trail, which was right under I-29.  Once we got to the end Tommie says “Let’s walk back to the car.”  I said “All the way back?  Are you sure?”  He said he was sure, so off we headed back.  In the end, we walked 4.77 miles.  That was twice what we are used to walking.  We were pretty proud of ourselves.  We even went shopping afterwards, but didn’t last long there, after shopping we were ready to go home and crash!

Since the walk though, my back has been bothering me.  I’ve tried to just work through it and keep up with my workouts.  It’s a pain in my groin that spreads to my lower back whenever I raise my right leg.  I don’t know if I just have a pulled muscle or what.  I’m going to take a break for the next few days though and hopefully, if the weather holds out, I’d like to go try a new trail on Sunday.  We were planning on going to Parma Woods and walk the trail there.

Saturday I have photos to take in the evening.  I’m a bit nervous, and as always, feel unprepared for it.  I have never met the people I’m taking pictures for, and just hope it all goes smoothly and everyone has fun.  I had asked someone to help mentor me with my photography, but it hasn’t really worked out as of yet.  I’m always wanting to learn more about my hobby that I love!  Get better control of it.

Last week was a good weight loss week.  This week has been another stall, but that seems to be my pattern, so I should get used to it.  Have a week of losing, have another week or two of staying the same or up and down within one pound.  Guess my body is trying to catch up and deal?  One positive thing – the “smell” issue I was having…..that people said could possibly be ketosis.  It seems to of gone away.  I’m so glad, because that REALLY bothered me!  I bought some clinical strength deodorant, and I don’t know if it was that or just my body, but it seems to of normalized now.  My surgeon ordered a urine test for me, but NEVER called me on the results.  Luckily a couple days afterwards I had an appt with my family doctor and he told me the results, because it was already in the system.  He said there were ketone’s in my urine.

Well – soon I will need to start getting together info to plan our yearly vacation.  My step daughter was thinking of joining us this year on our trip.  I think we’ll plan on going to Canada.  We had planned to go there in the past, but it didn’t work out.  This will be my first time there.  (and Tommie and Adrienne’s first time also)  Looking forward to it.  I was thinking Vancouver, but have a few other places I want to research also before making final plans.  My brother and sister in law and nephew will be coming to visit in July.  I’ve taken off work to spend time with them and am looking forward to spending time with them!  I haven’t seen them since Lucas was 6 months old.  He is 2 now.

Well – that’s it for my update.  Hope everyone is doing well.

SO – Today I had my follow up with my endocrinologist.  The nurse had told me that my thyroid meds were fine and she probably wouldn’t change them, but when I went in today the Doctor told me she was taking them down to a lower dose.  They also asked if they could prick my finger while I was there.  WELL……I got some good news there.  One of the straws that broke this camel’s back, and made me choose this path of surgery was this strange rash I got on my leg.  After two biopsy’s I was told it was a VERY rare skin rash that sometimes diabetic patient’s get.  I think the name of it was Necrobiosis lipoidica.  I had been “pre diabetic” for some time before this, but not bad enough to go on medicine.  I had the Doctor retest me after getting the diagnosis on the rash.  She told me I still wasn’t diabetic, only pre.  I knew though, that it was not far in my future if I kept on this path and all the yo-yo dieting was just making it worse and I had gotten so tired of it all. To get back to my point – and the good news – today the Doctor told me that I am now no where near pre diabetic!  Yay!  One of my goals achieved!

The nurse also got a good reading for my blood pressure.  This is always a hard thing for me.  I am a very hard patient to read when it comes to blood pressure.  I guess it’s very faint.  Every person always gets a drastically different reading.  For an example…..last week I went to the Surgeon’s office.  They always just use the automatic reader, which is never any good on me.  They got 170/90.  The VERY NEXT DAY, I went to my family doctor.  The nurse took my pressure and got 130/70 and then a few minutes later, the doctor came in and checked (he always does his own reading on me) and he got 118/74.  He said he’s confident that HIS reading is the right one.  Ha ha.  I can’t remember what the nurse got today, I think 133/79 or something like that.  She did compare my weight with the weight from last week when I visited my family doctor, said I was down 8 lbs.  I think my family doctor’s scale was reading a little high, but I’ll take it!

I was in a two week stall before going to the surgeon’s office for my 3 month check up, but since then, I have been doing great on the weight loss.  I’m excited about it.  I never know when I’ll hit my next stall, but for now, I’m enjoying the steady loss.  Currently I’m down 64 lbs.  I’m trying to do good on my exercise and have started strength training twice a week.

On Saturday I put on these pants and told myself, “This is the last time I wear these!”  Half way through the day, I got tired of pulling them up, so I took them off and put them in the “get rid of” pile.  I went to my closet and took out the next pair of pants I had hanging and they were two sizes smaller.  I was like “Eh, Not so sure these are going to fit….”  I tried them on anyway, and they fit perfectly!  That was exciting.  I think that size is the lowest I have in my closet though, and it’s very scarce, since I gave most of what I had in that size away.  My co-worker who had the surgery told me to not go shopping in the store, that while I’m losing weight, I just need to go shopping at the thrift stores!  I guess we’ll see how it ends up going.

Well – Just a quick update on how I’m doing.  Feeling good, working on my endurance and tracking what I’m eating.  Thanks for following me and thanks for all the encouragement!

Well – Today I had my appointment for my 3 month check up.  There were lots of trainee’s working alongside the employees.  When I had my surgery, I had medical students along for the ride, and today, I had a nurse trainee with my nurse and then a Medical Student come in and talk with me before the Doctor and then another one came in with the doctor as well.

SO – According to scales at Doctor’s office, I have lost about 56 lbs so far.  The Doctor told me that was excellent.  I was like “Really?  Because I really had no idea how I was doing….compared.”  He said, yes, I was doing quite well and he was very proud of me.  That was nice to hear.  THEN the nutritionist came in and she always makes me feel like I’m not doing *enough*.  Ha ha.  It’s like they play good cop/bad cop. 🙂  BUT, I know I can do more, and need to do more.  I have improved on some things since my last appointment.  I have gotten into a regular exercise routine and have gotten better with taking my pills.  BUT the things I still need to work on, which will help me lose more weight, faster, is more protein shakes and more water.  I struggle with these two things so much!!  I need to look into some suggestions I’ve been given on the protein and get in at least two shakes a day and really concentrate on getting ALL my water in.  I know the “few” issues I’ve had, can all be made better by getting enough water in.

All in all though, things are good.  I’m feeling better and even though I’m having stalls from time to time (which the blasted nutritionist is telling me I shouldn’t have them often – lol), I’m steadily losing.  The physiologist has told me it’s time to add to my work out, so now I will be adding strength training twice a week to begin with.  She explained to me how to figure out where to start and how to progress, which I found interesting.  So I’ll start doing that after walking at the gym, when we go.

During one of my stalls, I was wondering if my thyroid was working against me.  I had thyroid cancer at age 19, and had it removed.  So I called the Doctor and had them do bloodwork.  I never heard back and emailed them and the nurse said the Doctor had just filed it away in my file when she got the results and was going to talk to me about it on my visit (which is next week), but she went ahead and told me that my levels seemed to be fine.  Tomorrow I have an appointment with my family doctor to check my blood pressure…(I’m hoping to at some point go off that medicine.)  I was on 2 blood pressure meds and he has me down to one, but I’d like to be on zero.  At least he gives me samples every time I’m in, because it’s expensive stuff!  Then next week I’ll meet with the endocrinologist and go over my thyroid blood results.  I was hoping at this surgeon visit, they would take measurements, but they said “No, that will be at your next appointment.  6 months.”  Next visit they will take measurements and do bloodwork.

Tommie and I have been discussing that we want to go hiking more this year.  Explore the trails around town.  So far we’ve been to several and have really enjoyed ourselves.  Really looking forward to doing more of that!  Also, in a week we will be celebrating our 15 year wedding anniversary.  Well – I wouldn’t really say “celebrating”, when I bring it up, Tommie’s response is “Meh”, but it will MARK 15 years of marriage.  Tommie mentioned me planning a vacation later in the year to Vancouver, so I will start to plan that in the near future for later in the year.  We had planned to go there once in the past, but things didn’t pan out.

I decided to bite the bullet, since I was getting more requests to take pictures for people, and pay for membership for a website that is tied into a print lab, so when I take pictures for people, I can upload them to this site and they can order prints directly for it.  I’m still in the free trial right now, but I think I’m going to just do it.  If you want to take a look at it, it’s at:  http://amysphotosessions.zenfolio.com/ .  I have my last few photo sessions loaded on there, I’m going to redo the intro write up and change a few things, but the rough draft is up.  I have a few more sessions coming up in the next few weeks.  I’ll be doing another prom session with some friends daughter and her date and then have a young man I’ll be taking pictures of next month.  I’ve never done an individual male, so it’ll be a first for me.  Hope it goes OK!  It’s also someone I’ve never met before, so…..Wish I had someone to work with me one on one with getting better at taking pictures and mastering my settings, etc.

On another note….our cat, Forrest, has been sick lately.  I feel so bad for her.  She’s been sick for several months now.  She got to where she was throwing up every day and I could tell she wasn’t feeling well, because she’d lay out in the open more and look like she wasn’t grooming herself as much.  Her bloodwork ended up being normal, but the vet said her intestinal track was most likely inflamed/irritated, and she gave her a cortisone shot.  when it wore out (when she started throwing up again), she had us bring her back for another shot.  Now we are trying to give her cortisone pills and will give her one a day.  Hopefully it will make her feel better.  One possibility is that she has intestinal cancer, but there is no use in doing what needs to be done to find out if we don’t want to do chemo, which we won’t do.  She is old, and there is no guarantee and she’d have to take her in constantly for it, which is very stressful for her.  So, for now, all we can do is try to make her comfortable with the medicine.  It might not be cancer, just her getting old.  I worry about her though, poor girl.

Well, I think that is all I have at the moment.

“I’ve reached a point in my life where it’s the little things that matter… I was always a rebel and probably could have got much farther had I changed my attitude. But when you think about it, I got pretty far without changing attitudes. I’m happier with that.”
Veronica Lake

I’ve always been a stubborn person.  My parents wrote me letters they gave to me when I graduated high school.  I still have them put away in a box somewhere, they bring tears to my eyes when I come across them and read them again.  I can really feel the love they have for me in those letters.  I also got a letter from my sister and brother.  I will always cherish those.  Love them.  One thing I remember from my letters though was my Dad saying how stubborn I have always been…..he said I was born stubborn, with the Doctors having to pull me out with the forceps, I was going to do it my way, no matter what!  Makes me laugh – because it’s true.  When I finally chose to take this path of weight loss surgery, my Grandma told me I was too stubborn to not be successful.  I hope she’s right.  I’m not sure if stubbornness has gotten me to the point I am now.

Even though I feel this is going slow (compared to others – but fast compared to the alternative of not having the surgery), I  notice the small things and that makes me smile.  Being fat is not always fun.  I’ve been lucky in my life to be surrounded by non-judgmental people who are able to look past my “outside”.  I’m surrounded by people who are supportive and loving.  That makes a big difference.

Some of the small things I have noticed lately are…….I’ve been building up my endurance with the walking I’ve been doing.  I’m not getting it in every day, but when I DO get it in, I can feel that I can get further and further without getting out of breath.  Tommie and I went hiking this weekend at the Maple Woods Natural Area.  It was really nice.  Tommie mentioned that I was out-walking him, which hasn’t happened in a long time.  Made me feel good.  I’m looking forward to more outings with him.  We later went out to eat and I noticed that I didn’t have to “squeeze” into a booth.  When you’re large, you never know if you’re going to be able to fit into a booth when you go out to eat.  If offered, I would usually chose a table with a chair.  I also notice that when I go to tie my tennis shoes, I don’t have to prop them up on the chair to get them tied.  I can just bend down and tie them with no problem.  My sister came to visit last week and my nieces were wanting to sit on my lap.  Out of habit I say “Aunt Amy doesn’t have a lap!”  But come to find out, I see it starting to peek out!  I have more of one than I did before!  Ha ha.

There are a few other things, but you get the idea.  I have a LONG way to go, but it’s these little things that I notice that make me smile on a daily basis and makes me think, “I can do this!  It’s going to be SO worth it!”  So far I’ve lost 55 lbs, and I have about 60 more lbs to my FIRST major goal.  It’s not my main goal, but it’ll be my first milestone.

It’s rainy and gloomy here today.  I like rainy days, but I just wish it was a bit warmer.  I’m ready for the weather to be steadily warm.  I’d like to enjoy the warm weather, before it gets HOT.

Well – just wanted to drop a quick line to update people.  Not much new going on.  Just chugging along. Thanks for stopping by and reading my ramblings!

Earlier this week, again, I tried on a few things that I was for sure weren’t going to fit and they did.  Ever since Easter my weight loss has kicked in and I’ve been steadily going down.  I’ve lost 10 more lbs.  I’m starting to go through my closet and getting rid of a few things.  A lot of things I’ll wear as long as I can, but I’m at a point where I’m finally able to say good-bye to several pieces of clothing.  Feels good to clean it out a bit, and not really worry about keeping it around for when I gain the weight back.  Might be TMI, but I’m also at a point where I’m going to have to clean out my underwear drawer too.  Ha ha.  They are just all hanging in the butt and I need a smaller size.

This week, my sister and her family were visiting for the kids Spring Break.  It was so good to spend time with them….even if the weather hasn’t been perfect and caused us to change plans.  Love the sound of “Aaaaaaunt Amy!”  and all the giggles 🙂  They have walked with me too, so been trying to keep that up.  I missed walking the last few days when it’s been so cold out.  Plus I was feeling a bit worn down.  Hopefully I can get back on track now.  I sure wish my immediate family all lived closer.  It’d be fun to have the girls (and boy) over more often for sleep overs and outings.  It’s too bad we didn’t get to do all the things that we had planned, because of the weather we had.  I didn’t get in the family photos Billie was wanting either, since it got so rainy and cold.

So, I’m sad that they had to go home, but I know they were ready.  Sad I also had to go back to work today. Lots to catch up on.  There will be a lot of changes at work in the coming year, with our new manager.  Hopefully it’ll be all for the best.  I think he’ll be good at straightening everything out.  Change is just never fun, but when it makes things better in the long run, that is always good.  Just hope I make it OK through it all.  I’m looking forward to later this summer, seeing my brother and his family!  I’m hoping it all works out for them to visit.

I’ve had a lot of requests for photos the next few months, so my calendar is filling up and I’m also looking forward to working with a fellow photographer to work on my photography skills.  I’m EXTREMELY hard on myself and don’t feel like I do a very good job and look forward to learning more.  I feel like I’ve lost some of my passion for my hobby the past several years and would LOVE to find it again.  I know I have some creativity somewhere deep inside me.

Well – that’s all I have for now!

Well – I made it through my first holiday, post surgery!  It wasn’t too bad.  I took a spoon full of each thing I wanted to eat and that was enough.  Also, I didn’t deny myself the dessert, BUT I only took a fork full of each I wanted to try.  Just gave myself a taste, and that too, was enough.  I think I’d be very sad if I could NEVER eat anything sweet again.  It’s just not an any time I want thing any more, it’s a special occasion thing.  We attended two holiday dinner’s over the weekend.

Last week I was stuck at the same weight for SIX days.  I was getting so frustrated! (but also was glad it wasn’t going UP)  After our Easter dinner’s though, it started going down again.  Was thankful for that.  It’s going slow, but it’s going down.  I don’t know if it’s because I’m not currently getting in a lot of calories and my body is storing or if my thyroid is working against me.  I’m down two pounds since last week now.  I emailed my endocrinologist and told them I know they didn’t want to recheck my levels until May, but I wanted to check it now to make sure it wasn’t working against me.  They were fine with that.  I’ll probably have the blood drawn next week when my sister is here, since I’ll be off work.  (In case you didn’t know:  I had thyroid cancer at age 19, so I no longer have a thyroid, so that is why I’ll always be on thyroid medicine)

Also, in the past week I have tried on some smaller clothes that I was for sure weren’t going to fit, and they DID!!  That is exciting!  I haven’t been brave enough to try on some of my old pants yet, but I might surprise myself??

Well – just wanted to make a quick update to let you know I’m still here and plugging along. 🙂

Update time!

Not really much to report.  I seem to be on my 2nd stall.  I really didn’t expect stalls this early on.  I belong to an online forum and a couple of FB groups though that have to do with Bariatric Surgery and it makes me feel “not alone”.  There are others that have been having stalls this early on also.  There are also others that have had some medical issues, which I haven’t, so I feel very lucky in that regards.

I have found some really great IPhone apps (thanks to Dennis for giving me my new phone) that have really helped me keep track of things!  I am using “Pillboxie” which is GREAT to help me keep track of all the pills/vitamins I have to take.  In the past I’ve tended to forget to take pills if I can’t take them all at one time (before bed)  The pills I’m on though, I need to spread out, so this is a great program to let me mark off when I take them and it sends me a reminder that it’s time to take them.

I’m also using “WeightRecord” to keep track of my weight every day.  I know some people think you should only weigh yourself once a week, so you’re not obsessing over it and not feeling bad if you don’t lose day to day, but yes, I AM obsessed with it. I want to know where I am.  It’s a simple program, which is what I wanted and I’m able to just enter my weight daily and it graphs it for me.

Another program I’m using is “More Water”.  This helps me keep track of how much water I’m getting in.  I just put in how many ounces as I drink and it tells me how many more I have left for my goal for the day.  So far I haven’t been able to reach my goal.  I think I’m going to go back to the Crystal Light with the caffeine in it though, because I seem to get more water in when I use them.  The one’s with caffeine in them just seem to be better flavors.  Next time I go to the store I’m going to pick those up.

To track my fitness, I’m using “Map My Fitness”.  I LOVE this app!  You can log what type of workout you’re doing.  (walking, walking-treadmill, hiking, etc) and you just “Log” it when you do your work out.  What I really love about this app, is it has GPS, so if you’re walking out in the park or somewhere else, you hit “start” and it just automatically tracks your route and speed and everything.  You just hit “Stop” when you’re done.  If you have to stop in the middle, you can hit pause.  Of coarse, with this cold weather, I’ve just been logging my treadmill walks, but did get to use the GPS tracking on a couple of walks before this last snow hit.

THEN, to pull it all together, I found a simple app called “Way of Life” where you can put in a topic and at the end of the day you can just hit a red (No), green (Yes) or blue (Skip) button.  I have on there “Drink Protein Shake”, “Take both Multi-Vitamins”, “Lost Weight” and “Exercising”  It’s nice to look at the pie chart or graph it makes and compare how many days you did and didn’t do the tasks.

Yesterday, after we got done walking, as we were leaving Tommie told me that he had been looking forward to the walking all day.  It makes me feel great that he wants to work out also, and I hope he keeps up the passion for it.  Not only for him, but also to keep me motivated.  It’s nice to have a support system set up at home.

Well – Again, not much has changed since last post.  Just seem to be at another stall in weight loss.  Been about the same weight all week.  Goes up and down a few points, but basically staying the same.  It’s really frustrating, but I’m trying and using my tools to help me.

This weekend is Easter, so that means big family dinner.  I’m going to be picking up my cousin, Alise and heading out to my Aunt Debbie’s house.  I’m going to try to have a small plate, just bites of this and that.  I’m planning on bringing my book along so I can go to another room and read while people eat.  Looking forward to taking pictures of the family and the kids hunting Easter eggs.

In a week and a half my sister and her family will arrive to visit.  I’m looking forward to seeing them and am taking 4 days off work to spend with them.  (I have like over 3 weeks of PTO saved up)  They will be active days, lots of things planned.  SO – expect plenty of family pictures coming up soon….I’ll be posting them on my FB page. 🙂

On another note.  At the beginning of the year I did this thing on FB, Pay it Forward, where the first 5 people to respond to my post, I’d send them something at some point in this year, they just had to do the same for 5 other people.  I just got my first box done and ready to send out!  Some of the people on my list, I have no idea what their likes are or what to get them, but I’ll figure it out.  I’m excited that I’m sending my first one out though!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my dribble!