February 3, 2022
It's been a very long time since I posted on this page and a lot
has happened in my life since then.
My son got married September 29, 2018,
My son got married September 29, 2018,
they had a baby girl on November 14, 2019 and they named
her Marie after my Mom. I was so happy when they told me they
were pregnant, but when they told me they were naming her Marie,
well, that really got to me.
Marie is now over 2 yrs old and she is the light of our lives.
She is smart, sweet, adorable, talkative and so darn cute!
And she is going to be a big sister in June.
Marie is now over 2 yrs old and she is the light of our lives.
She is smart, sweet, adorable, talkative and so darn cute!
And she is going to be a big sister in June.
Jaryd and Sara are expecting a little boy and everyone is thrilled.
And even more good news, our daughter Kelsie, is engaged and will
And even more good news, our daughter Kelsie, is engaged and will
be getting married in May. Brad is a wonderful guy and absolutely perfect for her. We absolutely love him!!! The plans are full steam ahead and
I've been working on a few crafty projects for the wedding, which I
will eventually post on my main blog.
Covid has been a big struggle for me, as I know it has been for so many
Covid has been a big struggle for me, as I know it has been for so many
of us. I have a kidney disorder called Primary Membranous Nephropathy,
which effects the filtration of protein from my blood and puts it out in the urine.
Normally a person puts out no protein and I was putting out huge amounts.
I finally have it pretty well under control, but this means that I am immuno suppressed from the medication I have to take. One day, I may be able to come off that medication, but for now, it's what I have to do.
So I've been more cautious than most, as far as going out to stores, etc.
I had to quit the gym, because my doctor really didn't want me in that environment.
I had to quit the gym, because my doctor really didn't want me in that environment.
I made sure to have all my vaccinations as soon as I could, I always wear a mask when I am out and social distance as much as possible. We only see a small group of people we know are vaccinated and follow precautions. It's been tough now being able to be out and about as much as I'd like.
As with many, I put on the Covid 19-20 meaning I gained at least 20 lb during covid. My weight has been a continued struggle, but I'm on the way back down again. The first of the year I started a diet and since then I've lost about
15 lbs. I'm proud of that, but I won't say it's been easy.
As I've said before, having the surgery isn't a fix, quick or long term.
It's a tool and it surely has helped. My struggle is eating the right foods, I
As I've said before, having the surgery isn't a fix, quick or long term.
It's a tool and it surely has helped. My struggle is eating the right foods, I
sometimes just want to have sweets or chips or a piece of pizza when I really don't need it. I tend to be a grazer, especially at night. I've been using a program called "Lose It" where I track calories. Remembering to put what I eat into that
tracker makes me mindful of what and how much I'm eating and that is
a great help.
Weight control will never be easy for me, but I'm working on it and I still have a ways to go to get down to my "good" weight.
I'm in a good state of mind right now for losing weight and I'm sure I'll continue on this tough journey.
If you are someone that struggles with your weight and are considering having weight loss surgery, talk to your doctor and find out if you are a candidate for it. Do what they tell you and go with it. I will never regret having my surgery, it was a huge help with my weight loss. Like I said, not a quick fix at all, but a great tool.
If you are someone that struggles with your weight and are considering having weight loss surgery, talk to your doctor and find out if you are a candidate for it. Do what they tell you and go with it. I will never regret having my surgery, it was a huge help with my weight loss. Like I said, not a quick fix at all, but a great tool.
It will always be a struggle, but change always is and changing eating habits is hard, but it is soooooo worth it in the end.
If you have any questions about my journey or what it's like having the surgery and trying to stay on track after recovery, feel free to e-mail me at
mamamaynard55@hotmail.com
I'd be glad to "talk" with you.
mamamaynard55@hotmail.com
I'd be glad to "talk" with you.
Now I will leave you with a few pictures.
Me with Jaryd at his wedding.
September 29, 2018
Me with newborn Marie.
November, 2019
Me with Marie January 2022
Our beautiful daughter, Kelsie and her fiance, Brad.
November 2021
I'm sorry people, I type this all out in one font and color and when it post is does whatever it wants. Sorry for the mishmash!
September 13, 2018
I know, I know, it's been ages since I updated y'all!
Sorry about that. I keep meaning to write here, but I just never
seem to get to it.
So much has happened since I posted last on this page,
some good and some not so good.
Let's go with the not so good first.
I'm sorry to say that on May 4th we lost my
sweet Mom. She had gone to the hospital one night because
of a coughing fit that wouldn't go away and was discovered to have
a bit of pneumonia as well as quite bad fibrosis in her
lower lungs. She really hadn't exhibited any symptoms of this,
but it seemed once it kicked in and started giving her problems, she
just couldn't recover from the breathing problems.
That was on a Saturday, on Monday there were plans for her
to go home. On Tuesday, early in the day the plans were made
for her to go to rehab at Brothers of Mercy on Wednesday,
but by the evening they were changing that for her to stay
a little bit longer in the hospital.
By Thursday her breathing had gotten worse and congestive
heart failure had kicked in. The doctor had asked me how much
we wanted done for Mom, we were right there with her and she told him
herself that she just wanted to be kept comfortable.
So she went on palliative care.
That day she had more than 20 visitors, everyone in the family
that could come did so. She was in her element, believe it or not.
She was happy to have so many of her loved ones around her,
and she was clear minded, when someone wanted to know where
Dave was that week, no one else knew, but Mom did. She told them
where he was.
Unfortunately after that day, she declined and wasn't lucid any longer.
I spent as much time as I could with her, as did my brothers and sisters in
law. Dave spent a couple nights at the hospital and I joined him in that
on Wednesday and Thursday. Early Friday morning she left us for a better
place. We are so glad that she didn't suffer and passed fairly quickly.
I miss her every day and think of her all the time.
I still want to call her to share things with her, or go
to visit her. It's a difficult adjustment, but I am doing okay.
I was very fortunate to have her for so long.
Mom was 93 years old when we lost her
and she had a very healthy and happy life.
I'm sure I will miss her always, but I just try to remember
all the happy times and the wonderful person that she was.
I know where she is and I'm confident that one day I will
see her again.
Okay, enough of the not so good news,
on to the good stuff.
In just 2 weeks and 2 days, our son, Jaryd
will be married to his lovely fiance, Sara.
I certainly won't be losing a son, I'll be gaining a
wonderful daughter.
We have been working on a lot of things for the wedding,
if you follow my main blog, you have seen some of what we have
been working on. If you haven't seen those posts, take a look,
there will be more coming after the wedding too.
As for my weight loss,
it's going slow. I have hit a plateau and can't seem to get
off of it. When Mom died, I 'ate my grief' and gained about
5 pounds. But I got back on track and lost them by the time I had
my appointment at the surgeons in August.
Now I am back to about the same as I was in my last post,
I hover around 205 and can't seem to get much lower than that.
I know I will eventually, but it isn't easy.
I know there are people who think having this surgery
is an easy fix, but I tell you, it isn't.
I still struggle with losing that extra weight,
but I'm so glad I had the surgery. I feel that I've done
very well with it, as hard as it is at times.
I have lost about 80 pounds total and would like that to
hit 100 eventually,
but all in all, I feel great.
I have a lot more energy than I did before,
my blood sugar is still under control,
my cholesterol is still good
and I feel like I look a lot better too.
I'll try to post a picture after the wedding, so y'all can see
the difference in how I look.
I know I keep saying I'll post pictures and I keep forgetting,
hopefully this time I'll remember.
Okay, kids, I'm going to sign off for now
and hopefully I won't take so long to post next time.
If you have any questions about my surgery, what it's like or how
it's done, feel free to e-mail me,
I'd be glad to answer any questions that I can.
E-mail me at mamamaynard55@hotmail.com
Now, have a better than average day!
January 11. 2018
Holy Stromboli Batman!!!
It's been a couple months since I posted anything!
I don't really have an excuse, except that I just didn't do it.
But here I am to give y'all an update.
Well, I didn't make my goal of under 200 by 2018,
but that's okay. I'm still working on it.
I've lost some, but not what I had hoped to.
This morning I weighed in at 205.3 which means that now
I have lost a total of 77.1 pounds.
I'm good with that, almost 9 pounds since my last post.
It has definitely slowed down a bit, they told me it would.
I also had the holidays to deal with, I'm still eating small amounts,
but what those small amounts are makes a big difference.
Can't expect to lose weight when I pick on foods that are
bad for me. That cookie here or that little piece of candy there
can make a big difference.
Now I'm getting back on track with the new year.
The gym is still in my schedule 3 or 4 times a week and
I'm meeting with my trainer next week to get a new
routine, I'm feeling like what I'm doing just isn't quite enough
on a daily basis.
My health insurance, Independent Health, has a benifit
that if I go to the gym at least 50 times in 6 months, they will reimburse me
$100 for my membership etc. Unfortunately there was a problem
with my membership when I first started and for a few months
not a single visit was logged in. Once I found out there was a problem,
they fixed it and worked on getting the 50 visits.
I'm happy to say that with pushing it a little in the last week and
a half in 2017 I made it over 50 visits.
No doubt that I'll make it from here on out.
I'll be going for an appointment at the surgeons office
in a couple weeks and I think they will be happy
with my progress too.
I'm very happy with where I am right now,
I feel good, I think I look so much better, I'm stronger and love
working out at the gym and I have more confidence.
The only thing that I have a problem with is
my skin. I have a considerable amount of
extra skin and it's pretty unsightly. I'd love to be able
to have it removed, but it's a very expensive procedure to have
done. Insurance will only cover it if the extra skin is causing
a health problem, which so far it isn't.
I wouldn't be ready for it yet anyway, I still have weight to
lose and we'll see what happens then.
I'll just go on trying not to let it show,
having the ugly extra skin is way better than
having the extra weight, by far!
So I'm not really complaining,
but I just didn't realize how ugly it would be.
Gotta take the bad with the good though.
And it's a new year!
I usually am not one to make new years resolutions,
but this year I've set myself some goals for 2018.
I actually did set a goal last year and I followed through
on that, I'm hoping to follow through on these too.
1) Lose the rest of the weight I need to lose. I'm thinking about
25 more pounds to go.
2) Be kinder to myself. I think we, especially women, are very hard on
ourselves. We can be very kind to others, but we are not kind to
ourselves. We put ourselves down and criticize what we do
and who we are. We talk negative about and to ourselves
and say things we'd never say to any other person.
I want to stop that behavior and recognize the good things about
myself and what I do.
3) Be more creative, especially in my art journal.
Those of you who really know me well, know that I am
a fairly creative person. I love creating things and try to share
that with others, through cards and gifts and on my blog.
I would like to be more creative, learning new things
and putting them into practice for myself.
That's why I'd like to expand what I do in my
art journal. I haven't done much in it so far, so it
won't be hard to expand that, but I want to try new
techniques and new ideas.
4) Declutter! My good friend challenged a group of us
to clean out, declutter and reorganize. This is just what I want
to do. Clean out, throw things away, donate thing, sell things, share
with others and get organized.
So far I've finished a couple spaces in my kitchen that I hadn't
touched when I reorganized that room. I still want to reorganize a litte
bit more, but that will come in good time.
I have cleaned up my desk and work space in the office.
I'm in the middle of doing the linen closets which is a BIG job.
I finished one little storage cabinet in the bathroom, the vanity, under the
sink and the drawers and the medicine cabinet.
I'm 75% done with all the bathroom storage now.
Dave wants to declutter his closet which is in the guest room.
It's where he stores all his sweaters, suits, sports coats and
we have who knows what else in there.
My next project will be that closet with him and the storage
in the drawers in that room.
Not sure what will come after that, but there isn't a room or space that
will be safe from my decluttering.
The other thing going on is our sons wedding.
Things are moving along great.
Dave went with the kids to pick out their suits
for the wedding the other day. They are all
going to look so handsome!
Sara and I have been working on the
'Save the Dates'
They will be totally designed soon, then
we'll just have to put them together.
I'll be making the invitations, so I'll be working on
those too.
We're doing a lot with paper flowers, so they will be in
the making soon also.
Sounds like I'll be keeping busy, eh?
I'm loving it!
Everything is coming together nicely,
but still so much to plan and do.
I'm not worried, it will all get done and
come together beautifully.
Well, there you have it!
Sorry it's been so long since I updated y'all about my weight
loss and how things are going with me.
I'll try not to wait so long until I post again.
Until I post again,
Say something nice to yourself!
October 26, 2017
Today I had my appointment at the surgeons office.
It's been 4 1/2 months since my surgery and everything is looking good.
They are happy with my progress and I will be going back in
about 3 months for another check up, then at 1 yr.
Today I weighed in at 214.2 pounds
this means I've lost 68.2 pounds so far.
I still have a ways to go, but it's happening
slowly, but surely.
14.2 pounds till my next goal is reached,
which is under 200 by 2018.
Right now I'm not sure about that goal,
the weight loss has slowed down and also with
going to the gym, I'm gaining muscle, and that's heavier than
fat. But the muscle is surely better than fat.
I met with my trainer and she gave me a new program to
work with. I'm still working on strengthening, but
I'm concentrating on my balance also.
My balance gets so bad sometimes, that you'd think
I was drunk by the way I walk.
I can see a difference already when I do my
balancing exercises and I notice that when I'm tired
my balance gets worse.
I'm still going to the gym 4 or 5 times a week,
well when I'm in town that is. Seems that
when I'm out of town, I'm never in places that
have a Fitness 19, so I do miss some work outs
when I'm traveling. But I do what I can where I am.
Hard for me to believe that I'm enjoying going to the gym
as much as I am.
I'm always happy when I can increase the weights that I'm
working with. Best of all, I feel good doing the work outs.
Today when I went in, I did some push ups,
they aren't in my current program, but I wanted to see how
I did with them. Of course they are modified push ups for this
old lady, but they are what I have been doing all along.
When I was at the doctors for my first PT evaluation, I think I did
17 modified push ups and today I did around 30 before I stopped.
I'd say that isn't too shabby, at least I'm happy with it.
I'll have another PT eval in June at my 1 yr check up,
we'll see how I do then.
So, all in all, I think I'm doing pretty well,
I'm happy with my progress and just have to continue to do what
I'm doing.
I don't know what my over all goal is for my weight, when
I asked about it last visit, they told me that my BMI should be 25 or less.
I just checked the chart again and for my height, it says that I should
weigh 159 pounds and I know that is way lower than
I should be. If I weighed 159, I'd be very, very thin, too thin.
I guess I'll know when I get there, that it's a good weight,
at least I hope so.
Okay, enough rambling for now.
Thanks for checking in.
See you soon.
September 28, 2017
Just thought I'd pop in to give a little update.
I've been doing a bit of traveling the last couple weeks,
visiting friends and my sweet 94 yr old Aunt Marilyn.
(As of tomorrow 9/29/17 she will be 94)
I was afraid that with all the eating out, I wasn't doing well
with my eating.
BUT, guess what?!?!
I still lost and now I have
REACHED MY 62 BY 62 GOAL!!!!
How cool is that and I still have until
November 7th before I'll be 62.
Now to set another goal.
I'm thinking I want to be under 200 by the
end of 2017.
That would mean 20 more pounds off in the next
3 months. The weight loss has slowed down a bit,
but I'm going to shoot for it.
Out of the 200s by 2018!
That's my new goal.
Thanks for all the support and lovely comments that I get
from y'all on facebook and in person.
It really does help.
Here's a picture from our visit to Aunt Marilyn's.
She didn't know we were coming, we just showed up
at the restaurant while she was out to dinner with our
friend Monica. She was so surprised that she forgot what
she wanted to order for her dinner.
September 12,2017
Wow! I didn't realize it had been so long since I gave an update here.
Things have been pretty busy around here and I couldn't even tell you why.
Just life happening I guess.
I have some news for y'all, if you don't already know it,
my son, Jaryd is engaged! He and Sara announced their wedding date last week,
they will be getting married on September 29, 2018.
So there is a lot to do in the next year.
Things to plan, things to make, lots of decisions to make,
but I'm glad I've already had my surgery and I'm going to be looking
good for their wedding.
I had an appointment with my primary doc today and he's thrilled with my
progress. When I walked in and the girl did all my preliminary stuff,
weight, height, blood pressure etc. it was so funny. She went over to the computer
looked at it, looked at the scale again, looked at the computer and then looked at me
and said "You've lost a considerable amount of weight!"
I just smiled and said, yes I have.
I am proud to say that I have now lost 60 pounds!
Only 2 more to go by November 7th to hit my goal! I think I've got this one!
He was so happy to take diabetes off my list of "problems"
I was a little worried about my cholesterol, but he said it is fine, it just doesn't
look good because it's higher than it was when I was on the medication,
but that in reality it isn't too high at all. We'll keep an eye on it, but not to worry.
My eating has been pretty good. I've added quite a bit to my diet and yesterday
I had some lettuce in a wrap for the first time. It's been well over 3 months now and
I've been adding things back bit by bit and the doc told me last time that I don't have to wait
for 4 months before I eat some lettuce, so I though a little bit would be good.
Not going to try eating too much, but a little bit is a start.
I haven't had too much that isn't agreeing with me, so that is good.
There have been a couple times I think I've maybe eaten a little too fast, but
otherwise it's going very well.
I also had the chance to do something that has been on my bucket list for a little while.
I am very scared of heights, I don't like even standing up on a chair to reach something,
but I do it, I don't like looking out windows that are very high up, so I don't do it.
I'm not crazy about ferris wheels, so I'm glad that isn't something that I need to do.
But I sometimes like to challenge myself and I wanted to go zip lining.
this past Sunday I had that chance and I DID IT! and I loved it and I'm still
alive to tell about it. My daughter, Kelsie, asked me if I'd like to go with her boyfriend's
family and I jumped at the chance. It was amazing! And if I hadn't lost weight, I wouldn't have
been able to do it. There is a height limit of 6'3" and 250 pounds.
I sure don't have to worry about that height limit, I'm only a bit over 5'7"
but that weight limit would have kept me away before, but since I lost
the weight, I can do it. The door was open and I walked through it.
I'm sure there are other things that I will find I can do now that I couldn't do
before. I'm looking forward to it.
I also met again with my trainer and she gave me a whole new program to work on.
Everything is new and different and I'm loving it.
I asked her for some things to help with my balance, that is one of my major problems
right now. I believe it's due to my fibromyalgia, but did talk to my doctor today about it.
He thinks doing the exercise and strengthening my core will help with it.
We'll see how that goes, I'm hoping it will improve over the next couple months
She also gave me some other great exercises for strengthening upper and lower body.
Guess I'll just get stronger and stronger.
I know there are parts of me that will always be there and I won't be happy about,
for instance, what I call my wings. Those flabby upper arms that we women
of a certain age tend to have, just aren't gonna go away, but that's okay,
I'll do my best with them and deal with the rest.
I just want to be as healthy as I can and I'm well on the road.
I'm glad you popped in today to see how I'm doing,
I appreciate it and all the support y'all have been giving me.
See you next time!
August 22, 2017
Hi and welcome back to My Weight Loss Journey.
It's been a while since I posted, I can't believe how quickly this summer
is going by. It will be over before we know it.
It's been pretty busy around here.
Last week, Dave and I took a trip to Cape May, NJ for a few days
of relaxation and fun visiting our friends. We had a great time.
Then when we came home, we had to get ready for the start
of his 40th class reunion weekend.
We hosted a dinner for a dozen classmates and friends on Friday evening.
It was wonderful to have the time with them,
then on Saturday we went to Canalside and Riverworks.
I haven't walked that much in a long time, but I did fine.
3.5 miles doesn't sound like a lot of walking for some,
but for me it's a huge thing. I did need to use my cane, as my balance
isn't all that great, but I did it and I'm proud of it.
Saturday evening was the class reunion at Banchetti's.
They had a Buffalo theme to the food and although it was
all very good, it was a tough evening for me.
This is the first time I've had any problem with eating.
The problem was that everything was so good and I couldn't eat
much. They had pizza, beef on weck, meatballs, rigatoni, salad,
wings and thick fudgy brownies with chocolate frosting.
I had a slice of pizza, but could only eat the cheese and pepperoni
off the top, can't eat that crust at all yet, 1/2 a meatball, of course they were
huge, 2 wings and a little bit of beef.
I really wanted to have a big ole slice of that pizza and it bothered me
that I couldn't, wanted to have my beef on weck, but couldn't have the roll,
wanted some salad, but can't eat lettuce yet, would have loved more wings,
but just can't eat that much and boy would I have loved to eat one of those
brownies! It bothered me to see all that yummy food and not be able to eat
more of it, but after I ate and sat for a while, I was okay with it.
The other problem I had was that I'm supposed to eat a couple hours later
and couldn't do that, there were chips and dip available, but that's not the kind
of thing I should have been eating. I did have 4 or 5 chips through out the evening,
but that's not a real snack.
I made it through okay and had my protein shake when I got home and a little
bite to eat.
On Sunday morning our whole group met for breakfast, Dave and I shared a
souvlaki breakfast. He ate most of it and I ate a few pieces of the beef souvlaki,
it was very tasty and just what I needed. We're getting used to either ordering one
meal and sharing it, or getting something small, but that doesn't always work,
so I do bring home a lot of leftovers.
I've been very bad along the way about taking pictures to show y'all.
Here is a picture that our friend, Jane, took at the beach in Cape May,
not my best, but not bad either.
July 25, 2017
Just a quick update today.
I saw Dr. Posner yesterday for my 2nd post op check up
and he was thrilled with my progress.
He gave me the go ahead to get back to the gym full force.
Well within reason, as he put it; "Don't do anything stupid,
if you think a 50 yr old shouldn't be doing it, don't do it. Keep in
mind that you are in your early 60s and don't do anything crazy."
Yep, I'll keep that in mind, I'm going to ramp it up this week and when
I get back to where I was before the surgery, I'll have another session with
Alysia, my trainer, to go to the next level.
I happened to run into her today at the gym and she thought I looked
great. I told her I'd be in contact soon.
Dr. Posner also gave me permission to eat some more of the foods
that I've been wanting to eat. Still can't have lettuce, which is what I
miss the most, but I can have raw spinach, so that's a good compromise.
I just love that man, if anyone local is looking to have weight loss surgery,
I'd wholeheartedly recommend him.
When we were done he said to me stand up, please.
When I did he just smiled and said "I want a hug"
He also told me that I should call anytime I need him, big or small
questions or concerns, day or night and that goes for the rest of my life.
Then he told Dave, if there were any concerns and I didn't call, that he should
get the phone dial it and make me call.
I've only had one thing that I needed to call for and the gal that answered the phone
couldn't give me an answer, she took all the info and
someone called me back within about an hour or so.
So that's my story.
Things are great and I'm happy with how everything is going.
See ya soon!
July 20, 2017
Time for another update.
I've been doing really well and am very happy with my progress.
I'm eating quite a few foods now, but still not a lot of veggies.
I go to the doctor on Monday and I'm hoping he will clear me to
add some more veggies and fruits back into my diet.
I started back to the gym last night, I still can't go back to all I was
doing before the surgery, but I wanted to get back into it a little
before he okay'd me to get back to all I was doing before.
So I started out with a few exercises and the treadmill.
It sure felt good to be back to it.
Eating has kind of been an adventure.
I have found a few things to be true.
In general, restaurants are very accommodating.
They have made special dishes for me, eliminating the foods that I
can't have, they have let me order children's meals even though I'm over
12 yrs old and of course they let me order senior meals, but I'm old enough
for that anyway.
Last weekend I was at a 4 day scrapbooking retreat and they were wonderful
about my meals. I let Tracy know what I could eat and they were absolutely
wonderful about serving me what I could have and keeping my leftovers for me
to have as a snack later.
I've also found that there are a lot of people out there
who have had this surgery, some successfully and some not so much.
But they are all supportive and are willing to talk about their experiences.
I have found that people have different feelings about their surgery, but
overall they are glad they did it.
The one comment I did find to not be true was that the one woman I
met, who has lost 170 lbs in the last 2 yrs said
"You'll never feel like your thinner."
Really? I feel thinner and like I look better already.
She did show us a before picture and said she can see it in the picture,
but until she had been shown pictures side by side, she didn't notice it.
I, personally, haven't found that to be true.
I can see a difference, I can feel a difference and my clothes are
certainly different.
Yesterday I said something to my sister in law that I never thought
I'd ever say.
"Sometimes I forget to eat and have to remind myself to do it"
I don't feel hungry too often, but I know when I need to eat,
I'm supposed to have 3 meals and 3 snacks every day and sometimes
it can be difficult to get it all in, but I'm trying very hard to get it right.
I'm still working on how much to cook and how much to put on my plate.
But it's coming along.
Now for the big news,
I'm now at 240 lbs.
which means I have lost 42.4 lbs.
I'm very happy with that in my 7th week post op.
I'll be back with some pictures soon.
Have a better than average day!
July 4, 2017
Happy 4th everyone!
It's been a couple really good days for me.
Yesterday I was at BJ's for a few things and found some cute
skorts, a pair of capri leggings and an adorable summer dress.
They don't have changing rooms there, I had to wait till I got home to try them on.
Well the long and short if it is, the skorts fit as well as the leggings.
Unfortunately, the dress fits, but doesn't look right on me.
Blast this low waist of mine!
Then today, there was a 50% off sale at Savers and I went to take a look there.
I found some jeans, a couple tops and 2 pair of capris,
and a bonus, I found 5 pair of slacks for my Mom.
Ended up paying just under $22.00 for all of it.
I think for 10 pieces of clothing, that's a pretty good deal!
It was nice to find some cute clothes that are smaller sizes that I'm used to.
I am now down 35.4 pounds.
June 25, 2017
Today I went to a bridal shower and so enjoyed it.
At first I thought I wouldn't be going, since I couldn't eat the food there,
but still had to eat while I was at the shower.
I didn't let it hold me back though, I just packed up a little bit of
my home made ham salad and some yogurt and took it in a little
insulated lunch bag. I sat with a group of cousins who know what I've
been going through and it worked out fine.
When they went up and got food at the buffet, I pulled out my ham
salad and ate what I needed to eat. No one cared and I had what I needed to have.
And honestly, although the food looked good, it didn't bother me that they
were eating it and I wasn't.
Weeellllll, maybe the cupcake did a little, but not much. LOL.
Tonight I told Dave I want him to take me out for dinner on Tuesday.
I'll be able to have soft foods, so I want to celebrate by eating something I
can sink my teeth into. We'll probably go somewhere that we can get a
nice burger. This pureed food doesn't taste bad at all, but I miss having something
to really sink my teeth into.
I'm feeling good, pretty much my usual self, but like I did with my hip replacement,
I'm expecting to be recovered quicker than I probably should.
I tire a little quicker than I think I should and hate having to sit down to rest,
then I have to remind myself that it hasn't been all that long since I had
a major organ mostly removed and a hernia repaired.
Slow down Kristie! Slow down!
On a little different subject, I went this evening to the home of a lovely lady
that I met in a Facebook group. She taught us how to make soap.
The pure, good for you kind, made with lye and olive oil.
It was really very interesting and I think I might just give it a try myself.
And something that made me smile:
I had to start a pile for clothes that I have shrunk out of now.
I have some jeans that if I tried to wear them, would actually fall off.
I haven't gone through my closet yet, but the pile for Saver's has been started.
YIPPEEE!!!
June 21, 2017
2 weeks and 1 day post surgery today.
Not a lot to tell y'all, but a few things.
First of all, I forgot to include in my last post that I am no longer on any
diabetic medication. No longer a diabetic, just as I hoped.
My blood glucose levels have been running around 100 - 110!
I am no longer on any cholesterol medication, we'll see how it looks when I
have my blood work done again.
The doctor was right and the weight loss has slowed down,
but I'm happy to say that I'm under 250 lbs now.
Haven't been there for a long time.
This week I'm on to courser pureed foods and I'm doing well
with that. You know you can puree all kinds of things.
To date I've had pureed chicken salad, hot dogs with hot dog sauce,
meatballs and sauce, tacos, in fact had Mighty Taco the other day.
Well the inside of the Mighty anyway with no lettuce or tomato, but none the less,
it was Mighty! Egg salad, started to have some cucumber salad then realized that it was
a raw veggie and I wasn't supposed to have that. Oh and white hots, that was good too.
Next week, I can move on to soft foods and I can't wait to actually sink my teeth into something
good. There are still things I can't eat for a while, but it will for sure be so much better
once I can have relatively normal food.
I feel pretty much my normal self, but I do tire a little easier than usual, but I sit down for a bit
and I'm fine again. I just need to be careful not to over do things.
Weight loss thus far 33.3 lb.
Have a ways to go, but this is good!
June 13, 2017
Well, my friends, it's been a week since my surgery and I'm feeling pretty good.
I had my first follow up visit with Dr. P yesterday and he was very happy with
my progress. I've moved on to a thin pureed diet now.
There are a lot of things I won't be able to have for a bit, but there are a lot of
things I CAN have and that's what I'm concentrating on.
I've had a visitor every day since Friday, my family and friends are the best.
Yesterday I turned wrong or something and hurt my back, but it's much better today
and although I can't do a ton of moving around, I probably wouldn't have done too much anyway.
Yesterday evening we went out shopping with Kelsie, I rode in the wheelchair, I knew
all that walking would just be too much for me, especially with a sore back.
We also went out to dinner to My Tomato Pie.
I had vegetable minestrone soup, I told the waiter that I'd had stomach surgery and
couldn't have any solids, so could he try to avoid the veggies when he ladled it up.
He did a great job and only left a tablespoon or so of veggies in my soup.
So many places will be accommodating when they can.
And the chicken ceasar salad and the chicken wings the others were eating didn't
bother me at all.
I'm feeling good, but I tire easily, of course I did have most of a major organ removed last
week, so should expect this. I tend to think I can recover faster than I should, but I'm being really good and doing what I'm supposed to do.
I was just lounging around in some "hang around the house" PJs today, so that's what
Dave took my 1 week post op pictures in.
June 10, 2017
Hello everyone!
Quite a bit going on with me.
In this post I'm going to go for full disclosure.
I had the sleeve gastrectomy on Tuesday.
Here are a couple pictures before the surgery, while we were waiting to go up.
sign for a hernia repair if needed, so he repaired it.
He told Dave he's very surprised that I didn't have a big problem with reflux, I had none.
Guess I was just fortunate not to have any problems.
I wasn't bargaining that into the deal and that surgery causes quite a bit of muscle
pain especially in the upper back, neck and shoulders, and boy did I have muscle pain.
When the doctor came in he asked me if I felt like he was sitting on my shoulders
and that is exactly what it was like. As though he'd been there for quite a while in fact.
They told me it would last a few days and lessen gradually and it has. I am still having some
pain around my ribs and back, but that may be from the fibromyalgia, this is very typical for me.
Everything went well in the hospital, the staff was great, I really have no complaints at all
about my care. They knew exactly what I was going through, what to offer me and how
to be supportive.
The day of surgery I slept most of the day, as is pretty typical for me after anesthesia.
That stuff really knocks me out and takes a while to get out of my system.
Even the next day I had trouble keeping my eyes open, but when I could, I started
drinking those sips of water.
I enjoyed a dinner of nice fresh cool water.
YUMMY!
This was what I had until just a little before I was released.
Of course I did have an IV to be sure I was hydrated and to give me a little
IV Tylenol now and then. I didn't even know they had IV Tylenol.
On Wednesday when the PA came in and asked me if I wanted to go home,
she was surprised when I said yes. Apparently, a good majority of people don't want
to leave right away, they feel they need another day of recovery in the hospital.
NOT me! I wanted to get home to my own bed and get some really restful sleep
and get started on my new life.
"I want to go home"
So, they got me a liquid lunch to be sure I could tolerate more than water.
I couldn't believe all they brought me, I guess it was for a variety of things, but since
my stomach can only hold a couple tablespoons of food at a time, it seemed like a little overkill.
I tried chicken broth, orange jello and apple juice 1/2 and 1/2 with water.
Everything was good, just hated to waste what was left, guess I better get used to that.
That night I slept long and good.
On Thursday, I started really keeping track of what I was taking in.
The goal is to have 4-6 oz of fluid every hour and 1/2 of that is to be
protein shake. I actually, really like the protein shake, I got
salted caramel flavored powder and mix it with skimmed milk and it really is
quite tasty. Good thing, because I'll be drinking these for a while.
I've added in a popsicle here and there, sugar free of course and that
helps with a little variety. There are some other things I can add in, like Crystal
Light Lemonade, but somehow I don't see that mixing well with the shakes.
I may have a little soup later too.
On Thursday I also got to take a shower and then Dave and I could both see my incisions.
I thought I looked like a victim of a knife weilding attacker, he said I looked like one
of the bodies on the autopsy table on NCIS.
I told you this was full disclosure, so here is a picture of what my belly looks like now.
I know this is ugly, I mean, whose fat belly is pretty?
That big scar is from when I was 16 and had my gall bladder out,
but those little ones are from this surgery.
I can barely feel that they are there, even touching them doesn't hurt,
except that one up at the top, which is where I believe they put the
scope in, but even that doesn't hurt unless it's pressed on.
My solution is to not press on it. They used glue to close up the wounds
so not sutures, you can see where the glue is around the incisions.
That will gradually fall off and I'm all stuck back together.
Why am I showing all this?
Because if there is anyone out there who may be thinking about having
this surgery, you'll know that it really isn't that difficult, the incisions are not
huge and the pain from the gastric surgery, at least for me was non-existant.
Like I said before the hernia repair is what causes muscle pain, but it's not that bad
and it is only a few days. Nothing like what I've had with my other surgeries.
Something that is huge with this process is having support and I've been so lucky
to have family and friends who are very supportive.
I have had a LOT of messages, texts and calls to check on me,
some from people I never expected them from.
Here are a couple things that were up on facebook for me this week.
282.4 lbs.
Weight day of surgery
264 lbs.
Weight this morning when I got up
255.3 lbs.
Total weight lost to this point
27.1 lbs.
My only problem with this whole process?
I thought my summer clothes were going to work for the summer and
they aren't going to. Maybe some of them, but I'm going to have to do a little
bargain shopping in the next month or so.
Summer hasn't even started yet!
Thanks for checking in on me and being with me on my journey!
See you again soon!
June 5, 2017
Well friends, the time is here! Tomorrow morning I will be having my surgery.
Today I ate a good breakfast and after that could only have clear liquids.
I picked up some onion soup at a local restaurant and strained it for my dinner.
Gave the onion part to Dave and at the broth.
Also, that strawberry jello was a good filler and last but not least
I drank a LOT of water. Once midnight hits, there won't be any more to drink.
They called this morning and someone had cancelled their surgery and now I have to
be there at 5:30 a.m.!
There are times I'm not sleeping yet at that time. LOL, but I figure I'll be sleeping all day
so I'll deal with it.
I had Dave take some pictures of me tonight and I'm going to share them with y'all here.
It really bothers me to look at them, I'm disgusted with the size I've become and sometimes
wonder how I could let that happen. But the really important thing is that I'm doing something about it now. I've already lost about 20 pounds, so that is a good start.
June 2, 2017
Today the mail brought a letter from my insurance company.
Notification that I'm authorized to have my surgery as a medical necessity.
I'm not a fan of insurance companies, but this time they got it right.
Also am working on getting the vitamins and protein powder that I need
for after surgery. Having a tough time with the calcium citrate, has to be liquid
or dissolvable, can't find it anywhere. I'll be hitting up Amazon after I'm done writing this.
There were a few things I wanted to have before my surgery, so today I went and
had some pizza. Well I have to tell you, my body has changed so much since
I've been on this diet that it didn't react very well to that pizza.
The other thing I want to have is some White Rabbit Frozen Yogurt.
I have to say, I've continued to stay on my diet for the most part even in this
last couple weeks and according to my scales, I've now lost about 20 pounds.
A couple more days and things will be taking a huge change
and I'm ready for it.
Hope you'll follow along on my journey with me.
May 30. 2017
One week from today I will have my surgery. It's hard to believe it's this close.
Everything is in order, I had all my pre-op testing done, saw my primary doc for
clearance and had my last weigh in and teaching appointment.
Consent is signed and I know what's coming before and after the
surgery. What I can and can't have is pretty strict after the surgery,
but I know I can do it.
This week is a tough one,
Anticipation is always a hard thing,
anticipation about having the surgery,
anticipation about how I'll feel after surgery,
anticipation about sticking to the strict liquid diet and yet getting enough
fluids and protein when I can only have a tiny amount at a time,
anticipation about the things I will no longer be eating,
anticipation about keeping to a good diet this week,
anticipation about enjoying a few things just one last time,
anticipation about what I will look and feel like after the weight is off,
anticipation about everything to do with this whole process.
I know I can do this and that I have a lot of support from my family and friends,
but when it comes down to it,
no one can do it for me, I have to do this myself
and I WILL.
I'm still feeling just as strongly that this is the right thing to do.
I WILL succeed!
May 22, 2017
Things are moving along pretty well now.
I got a message from my primary that he was good with me discontinuing my
Jardiance and that he wanted to see me sooner than the appointment they gave me.
He wants to see me on Wednesday at 7:30 a.m., oh how I hate mornings!
But I'll be there at 7:30 to see him.
I am pretty aggravated though, I knew something would crop up that wouldn't
make this whole journey go smoothly without a hitch.
Something got screwed up and the pre-op testing didn't get scheduled.
It really should be done before I go for my clearance physical, but it got scheduled
for the morning of my last weigh in, the day AFTER my clearance physical.
They say it will be fine and my primary can see the results later and then write his
clearance note. I sure hope he's okay with that.
Of course my pre-op tests are at 7:30 a.m. too,
then I have an appointment scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
Luckily they said I could just go up to the clinic right after my tests and they would
fit me in, so I wouldn't have to leave and go back again.
Sure hope I don't end up sitting there for ages waiting.
I know it will be worth it in the long run, but little things like this aggravate me.
Mother's day was great. My kids took me to dinner at MoMo's Mongolian Buffet,
then to White Rabbit where I indulged in my guilty pleasure of a frozen yogurt
sundae. The buffet was perfect for my diet, all protein and veggies for me.
The White Rabbit, on the other hand, wasn't on the diet, but I went right back on it
once it was finished. I've been doing pretty good with it and keeping up with my
work outs at the gym and hopefully that will show when I go for that last weigh in
on Thursday.
I'm pretty proud of how I'm doing at the gym.
I've increased everything that I do.
Longer walks at a higher speed on the treadmill,
more reps of each exercise that I do and I feel better than I have in a long time.
The fibro isn't giving me as much trouble as it has in the past.
I do hate the idea of not being able to work out for several weeks,
I feel like I'm going to be back to square one.
On the other hand, if I hadn't been working out all this time, I'd be even
farther behind.
That's it for today, I'll post about my appointments later in the week.
May 15, 2017
Today was my appointment with the surgeon and it went very well.
I really like him, he has a wonderful and caring manner.
He explained in detail the choices I had and we talked about why each one
was a good option and it's drawbacks.
I have decided that I will get the Sleeve Gastrectomy.
Here is a picture showing basically, how they do the surgery.
They remove a large part of the stomach and leave just the long tube like area.
I feel this was the better choice for me and he was fine with that.
I am now scheduled for surgery on June 6, 2017
Now to just get everything else lined up.
I will be going for my last "teaching" appointment and weigh in a week from
Thursday, the 25th. So far I've lost 16 lbs, so I'm on my way.
I still have to get my pre-op testing scheduled and I have to see my
primary doctor, Dr. Pusatier for clearance.
Dr. Posner's office wanted it done next week, but they said they
couldn't get me in until June 1st. Hopefully this won't be a problem.
Some other good news is that Dr. Posner wants me to stop taking one of my
diabetes medications. My morning blood sugars have been very good, but in the
afternoon I'm having quite a problem with low blood sugars, which is good and bad.
It's good that it's all under control, but not good that my blood sugar is too low.
This means that I have to eat/drink something with sugar and eat some carbs, which totally
defeats the purpose of the diet.
So off the medication I'll go and see how my body deals with that. I'm thinking
I will do just fine and before I know it I'll be off my medication totally.
I certainly hope that's how it will work out.
When I first started this journey back in February, I was hoping for a June
surgery date, but things haven't gone as fast as I expected so didn't expect
them to be able to do it that soon.
Things just got very real!
I am pretty excited that I'm on the schedule.
I do wish I didn't need to do this, but I know what my life has been like
thus far and I know who I am and I know this is what I need to do and
I'm okay with it.
I'll keep y'all updated as things move along.
____________________________________________________
May 10, 2017
We just arrived home this afternoon from a trip to see my
Aunt Marilyn, in Charlotte, NC.
I was a little worried about exercise and eating out all the time,
but it all worked out fine.
In Charlotte we had a hotel that had a very nice fitness room with treadmills
and the weights that I needed for the program I'm following at Fitness 19.
Eating out wasn't too bad. I didn't stick to the diet completely, but I was pretty
good about it. Aunt Marilyn always has us take her to Walmart to do some shopping
and it's her tradition to treat us to Subway. I had a chopped salad there and it was really
delicious. You can choose whatever you'd like to have them put into your salad,
including meat, I chose teriyaki chicken and sweet onion dressing.
I did have one day that I was sooooo bad. We went to the Waffle House and I had a
pecan waffle, then for dinner we went to one of our favorite restaurants and had
country fried steak, BUT I did substitute mashed cauliflower for the potato, so at least I
made that good choice.
Once we went to Charleston, the hotel didn't have a fitness room, but I'll tell you,
I think I got a great workout anyway. The day we arrived, we walked for at least
4 hours around the city. I do love that city, it is definitely our favorite city to return
to and visit over and over. Dave is always looking for things to shoot, Charleston has,
by far, brought him more beautiful pictures than anywhere else.
After 4 hrs of walking, I had about had it for the day, but I still had to walk back to the
car. Luckily it wasn't too far from where we were. The next day I was pretty sore, but it was
sure worth it, to get the work out and to see the city.
We spent a few days in Charleston and were so good, we did NOT buy several pounds of
pralines to bring home. We both knew we wouldn't be able to resist eating them if they
were in the car with us, so we just didn't buy them.
Yesterday we drove back up to Charlotte, spent a little time with Aunt Marilyn and our friend
Monica and had dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant 3 Amigos.
Dave and I shared a dinner and I didn't over indulge.
We started on our way home and stayed at a Sleep Inn, which was really very nice,
and guess what? They had a fitness room! So there I was at 11:00 at night in the fitness
room. This one only had treadmills and an elliptical, so I didn't get to do my whole program,
but I extended the time on the treadmill and added in a little time on the elliptical,
I didn't have weights, but I did fit in my push ups using part of the treadmill as a bar.
Necessity is the mother of invention and when you need to improvise, that's what you do.
It's hard to believe that I'm this person, looking for ways to work out while I'm away on
vacation, but I am. And it paid off, when I got home I weighed myself and I'm down
2 more pounds, and that was later in the day too. We'll see in the a.m. what the scale
has to say
Tonight I went to the gym with Kelsie and it was good to get back to my usual
routine. I've increased the number of reps on some of my exercises and the length of time
I'm on the treadmill too. I'm really happy with how I'm doing.
I had an appointment with the doctor on Monday and I hope he's happy
with it too and will give me a date for my surgery.
I just need to stick with the diet and exercise and try not to overindulge on
Mother's Day. I'm sure I'll do fine.
May 1, 2017
Most of my life I have struggled with my weight.
When I was younger, as many teens and young women do,
I thought I was fat and very unattractive.
Little did I know at that time in my life,
I was the weight I'd like to be now.
Over the years my weight has been a yo yo.
I lose, I gain, I lose, I gain.
Now here I am at the age of 61 about
100 pounds over weight.
YES!
That's right, about 100 pounds over weight!
I have type II diabetes and take medication to control that.
I have pretty severe sleep apnea which I have had for
at least 12 yrs now, I use a CPAP at night to control that.
I have fibromyalgia, which gives me a lot of trouble with my muscles,
although I do consider myself lucky, as I don't usually have as much pain
as many people do, but I do have a lot of muscle stiffness and cramping.
I have arthritis and have had both my hips replaced
and have pain in many of my joints.
I take blood pressure medication because of my diabetes.
At times I have shortness of breath, especially when walking up the stairs.
I can't walk distances like I used to and I'm unable to travel as
much as I'd like to, because I just can't do all that walking, especially when
there are a lot of inclines, like there are in Italy and some other areas
that I love to visit.
I'm not saying ALL of this is caused by my weight, but if it isn't,
my weight sure isn't helping the situation.
BUT
that is all changing!
I have decided to have weight loss surgery.
Let me tell you the story of why I made this decision.
I have 2 really amazing children.
Jaryd is 24 yrs old
Kelsie is 27 yrs old.
In October Kelsie started a new job and met a really wonderful man.
They became friends and started dating on the first of the year.
It quickly became evident to me that this was something pretty serious.
In turn, that made me realize that Kelsie could make me a Grandparent
in the not too distant future. No pressure on them, but one day, hopefully, it will happen.
Then I became friend with Jason, Kelsie's boyfriend, on facebook.
I was scrolling through his facebook page and looking at old pictures and post and
I found a post that he had put up last summer on his birthday.
This post talked about how he had decided that he needed to get himself back
in shape so he would be happy in his own skin.
He worked out, he set goals and no matter how much work it was
he kept at it. He was finally at a point that he was happy with
the way he was feeling and looking.
At the end of the post was the part that really struck me and inspired me to
make this life changing decision.
Jason wrote:
"I just want people to know you are the only one who can change your life. Your life is yours and only yours. So make the most of it. Love you some you."
To me these words spoke volumes and made me realize that I had to
make a decision to do something.
And I made that decision.
I had tried for years to lose weight and I did just that, many times.
The problem came with keeping it off and I knew that I wasn't capable of
losing it and keeping it off on my own.
I have several friends who have gone through weight loss surgery and
in the past I never thought it would be an option that I would take.
But here I was looking at my age, the fact that I could be a grandma
in the next few years and I might not live to see my grandchildren grow up.
I want to be here to see them born, go to school, go to proms and start dating,
go to college or into a career and one day see them get married.
It was like a slap in the face and I had to do something about it.
It didn't take me long and I had made my decision,
I talked to my husband about it and he was totally on board with me.
I sent a message to my doctor and I was given the name and phone
number of the doctor that he would recommend and the ball was rolling.
My husband, Dave, has been by my side all the way,
we attended an informational meeting as soon as we could.
I was shocked that I was the only person that brought my support person
with me.
After the meeting we were offered the chance to go have our first weigh in and
I jumped at the chance to get started.
My first appointment took over 3 hours.
I saw a nurse practitioner for a history and physical,
a dietitian about diet and following the South Beach Diet
and a physical therapist to check on my physical fitness.
I learned a lot that day about what I needed to do to be ready for the surgery.
I needed to lose 14 pounds,
I needed to start following the South Beach Diet,
I needed to start eating 3 meals and 3 snacks every day,
I needed to write down what I ate every single day,
I needed to exercise and write down how much exercise I was getting,
I needed to be prepared mentally and emotionally,
I needed to dedicated to doing this.
I also learned that my physical fitness was very good for my age,
that I could do more modified push ups than I thought I could,
that the PT had to stop me at 25 squats because it was far more than
she expected me to be able to do,
that I was far ahead of anyone she'd seen there in a very long time,
as far as fitness, but I could do better.
I started dieting and recording what I ate,
I exercised and recorded that and I was slowly,
but surely losing weight.
The biggest struggle was getting in as much exercise as I needed.
Somehow, exercising at home has never been an easy thing for me.
I went to physical therapy for my fibromyalgia for about 10 yrs and
did a lot of different exercises, but it was a struggle to always follow through.
Then I joined Fitness 19 and that really did the trick.
Who would have ever thought that I'd be upset on a day that I couldn't
get to the gym to exercise, but that's what's happened with me.
I had a wonderful trainer, named Alycia, that set up a program for me
and I'm really loving it.
On April 24th I had a visit at the doctors office and I found that I've lost
12 of the 14 pounds that I need to lose. I'll be going to see the surgeon on
May 15th and hopefully I will be setting up a date to have my surgery.
I'm still not totally decided which surgery I'll have, but I'm leaning
strongly toward the Gastric Sleeve.
Once I've made a final decision, I'll explain a little more about that to y'all.
The one thing that was a surprise to me that day was that I was
reprimanded for not eating enough. LOL Here I was trying to lose
the weight and I was told to eat more often.
I MUST eat 3 meals and 3 snacks a day!
Okay, just have to adjust that diet a little more.
The reason for this is that after the surgery, I will need to be eating pretty often
to get enough protein and liquid into me to heal properly and be well nourished.
The doctor wants to see that I'm going to be able to do this.
Yes! I can do it and I will.
I had to go buy myself new jeans the other day, mine are just too big on me now.
Just that 12 pounds has made a big difference.
I'm hoping that I will be okay with clothes for the summer, but I look forward to the
day when I can buy some much smaller sized clothes.
I told Kelsie, that I will never buy another cotton knit top!
There are some things that I just relate to being a plus sized woman,
and those cotton knit tops is one of them.
I'm already feeling better because of the exercise program,
my muscles are feeling better, not so much stiffness and cramping
going on. Unfortunately, we're going on vacation to visit an aunt and there
are no Fitness 19s in her area, I'm hoping where ever we stay will have some
kind of a work out room.
Tonight we were out to dinner with friends and I found that what I eat has a different
effect on me than it used to. One of my favorite things to eat out is a nice fish fry, and I've been
very good with my diet, so I decided that I would have that fish fry.
Well, that wasn't the best idea.
Didn't set so well on my stomach, guess I'm just not used to the fried food like I used to be.
Now I'm right back to the diet and I don't think I'll be going too far off again.
I do need to have Dave take a picture of me and I'll post it here, no matter how unflattering it
is. I intend to have a picture taken every week or so throughout this whole journey and
post them here. I hope you will follow along with me on my weight loss journey.
I can use the support.
Thanks!
I know, I know, it's been ages since I updated y'all!
Sorry about that. I keep meaning to write here, but I just never
seem to get to it.
So much has happened since I posted last on this page,
some good and some not so good.
Let's go with the not so good first.
I'm sorry to say that on May 4th we lost my
sweet Mom. She had gone to the hospital one night because
of a coughing fit that wouldn't go away and was discovered to have
a bit of pneumonia as well as quite bad fibrosis in her
lower lungs. She really hadn't exhibited any symptoms of this,
but it seemed once it kicked in and started giving her problems, she
just couldn't recover from the breathing problems.
That was on a Saturday, on Monday there were plans for her
to go home. On Tuesday, early in the day the plans were made
for her to go to rehab at Brothers of Mercy on Wednesday,
but by the evening they were changing that for her to stay
a little bit longer in the hospital.
By Thursday her breathing had gotten worse and congestive
heart failure had kicked in. The doctor had asked me how much
we wanted done for Mom, we were right there with her and she told him
herself that she just wanted to be kept comfortable.
So she went on palliative care.
That day she had more than 20 visitors, everyone in the family
that could come did so. She was in her element, believe it or not.
She was happy to have so many of her loved ones around her,
and she was clear minded, when someone wanted to know where
Dave was that week, no one else knew, but Mom did. She told them
where he was.
Unfortunately after that day, she declined and wasn't lucid any longer.
I spent as much time as I could with her, as did my brothers and sisters in
law. Dave spent a couple nights at the hospital and I joined him in that
on Wednesday and Thursday. Early Friday morning she left us for a better
place. We are so glad that she didn't suffer and passed fairly quickly.
I miss her every day and think of her all the time.
I still want to call her to share things with her, or go
to visit her. It's a difficult adjustment, but I am doing okay.
I was very fortunate to have her for so long.
Mom was 93 years old when we lost her
and she had a very healthy and happy life.
I'm sure I will miss her always, but I just try to remember
all the happy times and the wonderful person that she was.
I know where she is and I'm confident that one day I will
see her again.
Okay, enough of the not so good news,
on to the good stuff.
In just 2 weeks and 2 days, our son, Jaryd
will be married to his lovely fiance, Sara.
I certainly won't be losing a son, I'll be gaining a
wonderful daughter.
We have been working on a lot of things for the wedding,
if you follow my main blog, you have seen some of what we have
been working on. If you haven't seen those posts, take a look,
there will be more coming after the wedding too.
As for my weight loss,
it's going slow. I have hit a plateau and can't seem to get
off of it. When Mom died, I 'ate my grief' and gained about
5 pounds. But I got back on track and lost them by the time I had
my appointment at the surgeons in August.
Now I am back to about the same as I was in my last post,
I hover around 205 and can't seem to get much lower than that.
I know I will eventually, but it isn't easy.
I know there are people who think having this surgery
is an easy fix, but I tell you, it isn't.
I still struggle with losing that extra weight,
but I'm so glad I had the surgery. I feel that I've done
very well with it, as hard as it is at times.
I have lost about 80 pounds total and would like that to
hit 100 eventually,
but all in all, I feel great.
I have a lot more energy than I did before,
my blood sugar is still under control,
my cholesterol is still good
and I feel like I look a lot better too.
I'll try to post a picture after the wedding, so y'all can see
the difference in how I look.
I know I keep saying I'll post pictures and I keep forgetting,
hopefully this time I'll remember.
Okay, kids, I'm going to sign off for now
and hopefully I won't take so long to post next time.
If you have any questions about my surgery, what it's like or how
it's done, feel free to e-mail me,
I'd be glad to answer any questions that I can.
E-mail me at mamamaynard55@hotmail.com
Now, have a better than average day!
January 11. 2018
Holy Stromboli Batman!!!
It's been a couple months since I posted anything!
I don't really have an excuse, except that I just didn't do it.
But here I am to give y'all an update.
Well, I didn't make my goal of under 200 by 2018,
but that's okay. I'm still working on it.
I've lost some, but not what I had hoped to.
This morning I weighed in at 205.3 which means that now
I have lost a total of 77.1 pounds.
I'm good with that, almost 9 pounds since my last post.
It has definitely slowed down a bit, they told me it would.
I also had the holidays to deal with, I'm still eating small amounts,
but what those small amounts are makes a big difference.
Can't expect to lose weight when I pick on foods that are
bad for me. That cookie here or that little piece of candy there
can make a big difference.
Now I'm getting back on track with the new year.
The gym is still in my schedule 3 or 4 times a week and
I'm meeting with my trainer next week to get a new
routine, I'm feeling like what I'm doing just isn't quite enough
on a daily basis.
My health insurance, Independent Health, has a benifit
that if I go to the gym at least 50 times in 6 months, they will reimburse me
$100 for my membership etc. Unfortunately there was a problem
with my membership when I first started and for a few months
not a single visit was logged in. Once I found out there was a problem,
they fixed it and worked on getting the 50 visits.
I'm happy to say that with pushing it a little in the last week and
a half in 2017 I made it over 50 visits.
No doubt that I'll make it from here on out.
I'll be going for an appointment at the surgeons office
in a couple weeks and I think they will be happy
with my progress too.
I'm very happy with where I am right now,
I feel good, I think I look so much better, I'm stronger and love
working out at the gym and I have more confidence.
The only thing that I have a problem with is
my skin. I have a considerable amount of
extra skin and it's pretty unsightly. I'd love to be able
to have it removed, but it's a very expensive procedure to have
done. Insurance will only cover it if the extra skin is causing
a health problem, which so far it isn't.
I wouldn't be ready for it yet anyway, I still have weight to
lose and we'll see what happens then.
I'll just go on trying not to let it show,
having the ugly extra skin is way better than
having the extra weight, by far!
So I'm not really complaining,
but I just didn't realize how ugly it would be.
Gotta take the bad with the good though.
And it's a new year!
I usually am not one to make new years resolutions,
but this year I've set myself some goals for 2018.
I actually did set a goal last year and I followed through
on that, I'm hoping to follow through on these too.
1) Lose the rest of the weight I need to lose. I'm thinking about
25 more pounds to go.
2) Be kinder to myself. I think we, especially women, are very hard on
ourselves. We can be very kind to others, but we are not kind to
ourselves. We put ourselves down and criticize what we do
and who we are. We talk negative about and to ourselves
and say things we'd never say to any other person.
I want to stop that behavior and recognize the good things about
myself and what I do.
3) Be more creative, especially in my art journal.
Those of you who really know me well, know that I am
a fairly creative person. I love creating things and try to share
that with others, through cards and gifts and on my blog.
I would like to be more creative, learning new things
and putting them into practice for myself.
That's why I'd like to expand what I do in my
art journal. I haven't done much in it so far, so it
won't be hard to expand that, but I want to try new
techniques and new ideas.
4) Declutter! My good friend challenged a group of us
to clean out, declutter and reorganize. This is just what I want
to do. Clean out, throw things away, donate thing, sell things, share
with others and get organized.
So far I've finished a couple spaces in my kitchen that I hadn't
touched when I reorganized that room. I still want to reorganize a litte
bit more, but that will come in good time.
I have cleaned up my desk and work space in the office.
I'm in the middle of doing the linen closets which is a BIG job.
I finished one little storage cabinet in the bathroom, the vanity, under the
sink and the drawers and the medicine cabinet.
I'm 75% done with all the bathroom storage now.
Dave wants to declutter his closet which is in the guest room.
It's where he stores all his sweaters, suits, sports coats and
we have who knows what else in there.
My next project will be that closet with him and the storage
in the drawers in that room.
Not sure what will come after that, but there isn't a room or space that
will be safe from my decluttering.
The other thing going on is our sons wedding.
Things are moving along great.
Dave went with the kids to pick out their suits
for the wedding the other day. They are all
going to look so handsome!
Sara and I have been working on the
'Save the Dates'
They will be totally designed soon, then
we'll just have to put them together.
I'll be making the invitations, so I'll be working on
those too.
We're doing a lot with paper flowers, so they will be in
the making soon also.
Sounds like I'll be keeping busy, eh?
I'm loving it!
Everything is coming together nicely,
but still so much to plan and do.
I'm not worried, it will all get done and
come together beautifully.
Well, there you have it!
Sorry it's been so long since I updated y'all about my weight
loss and how things are going with me.
I'll try not to wait so long until I post again.
Until I post again,
Say something nice to yourself!
October 26, 2017
Today I had my appointment at the surgeons office.
It's been 4 1/2 months since my surgery and everything is looking good.
They are happy with my progress and I will be going back in
about 3 months for another check up, then at 1 yr.
Today I weighed in at 214.2 pounds
this means I've lost 68.2 pounds so far.
I still have a ways to go, but it's happening
slowly, but surely.
14.2 pounds till my next goal is reached,
which is under 200 by 2018.
Right now I'm not sure about that goal,
the weight loss has slowed down and also with
going to the gym, I'm gaining muscle, and that's heavier than
fat. But the muscle is surely better than fat.
I met with my trainer and she gave me a new program to
work with. I'm still working on strengthening, but
I'm concentrating on my balance also.
My balance gets so bad sometimes, that you'd think
I was drunk by the way I walk.
I can see a difference already when I do my
balancing exercises and I notice that when I'm tired
my balance gets worse.
I'm still going to the gym 4 or 5 times a week,
well when I'm in town that is. Seems that
when I'm out of town, I'm never in places that
have a Fitness 19, so I do miss some work outs
when I'm traveling. But I do what I can where I am.
Hard for me to believe that I'm enjoying going to the gym
as much as I am.
I'm always happy when I can increase the weights that I'm
working with. Best of all, I feel good doing the work outs.
Today when I went in, I did some push ups,
they aren't in my current program, but I wanted to see how
I did with them. Of course they are modified push ups for this
old lady, but they are what I have been doing all along.
When I was at the doctors for my first PT evaluation, I think I did
17 modified push ups and today I did around 30 before I stopped.
I'd say that isn't too shabby, at least I'm happy with it.
I'll have another PT eval in June at my 1 yr check up,
we'll see how I do then.
So, all in all, I think I'm doing pretty well,
I'm happy with my progress and just have to continue to do what
I'm doing.
I don't know what my over all goal is for my weight, when
I asked about it last visit, they told me that my BMI should be 25 or less.
I just checked the chart again and for my height, it says that I should
weigh 159 pounds and I know that is way lower than
I should be. If I weighed 159, I'd be very, very thin, too thin.
I guess I'll know when I get there, that it's a good weight,
at least I hope so.
Okay, enough rambling for now.
Thanks for checking in.
See you soon.
September 28, 2017
Just thought I'd pop in to give a little update.
I've been doing a bit of traveling the last couple weeks,
visiting friends and my sweet 94 yr old Aunt Marilyn.
(As of tomorrow 9/29/17 she will be 94)
I was afraid that with all the eating out, I wasn't doing well
with my eating.
BUT, guess what?!?!
I still lost and now I have
REACHED MY 62 BY 62 GOAL!!!!
How cool is that and I still have until
November 7th before I'll be 62.
Now to set another goal.
I'm thinking I want to be under 200 by the
end of 2017.
That would mean 20 more pounds off in the next
3 months. The weight loss has slowed down a bit,
but I'm going to shoot for it.
Out of the 200s by 2018!
That's my new goal.
Thanks for all the support and lovely comments that I get
from y'all on facebook and in person.
It really does help.
Here's a picture from our visit to Aunt Marilyn's.
She didn't know we were coming, we just showed up
at the restaurant while she was out to dinner with our
friend Monica. She was so surprised that she forgot what
she wanted to order for her dinner.
September 12,2017
Wow! I didn't realize it had been so long since I gave an update here.
Things have been pretty busy around here and I couldn't even tell you why.
Just life happening I guess.
I have some news for y'all, if you don't already know it,
my son, Jaryd is engaged! He and Sara announced their wedding date last week,
they will be getting married on September 29, 2018.
So there is a lot to do in the next year.
Things to plan, things to make, lots of decisions to make,
but I'm glad I've already had my surgery and I'm going to be looking
good for their wedding.
I had an appointment with my primary doc today and he's thrilled with my
progress. When I walked in and the girl did all my preliminary stuff,
weight, height, blood pressure etc. it was so funny. She went over to the computer
looked at it, looked at the scale again, looked at the computer and then looked at me
and said "You've lost a considerable amount of weight!"
I just smiled and said, yes I have.
I am proud to say that I have now lost 60 pounds!
Only 2 more to go by November 7th to hit my goal! I think I've got this one!
He was so happy to take diabetes off my list of "problems"
I was a little worried about my cholesterol, but he said it is fine, it just doesn't
look good because it's higher than it was when I was on the medication,
but that in reality it isn't too high at all. We'll keep an eye on it, but not to worry.
My eating has been pretty good. I've added quite a bit to my diet and yesterday
I had some lettuce in a wrap for the first time. It's been well over 3 months now and
I've been adding things back bit by bit and the doc told me last time that I don't have to wait
for 4 months before I eat some lettuce, so I though a little bit would be good.
Not going to try eating too much, but a little bit is a start.
I haven't had too much that isn't agreeing with me, so that is good.
There have been a couple times I think I've maybe eaten a little too fast, but
otherwise it's going very well.
I also had the chance to do something that has been on my bucket list for a little while.
I am very scared of heights, I don't like even standing up on a chair to reach something,
but I do it, I don't like looking out windows that are very high up, so I don't do it.
I'm not crazy about ferris wheels, so I'm glad that isn't something that I need to do.
But I sometimes like to challenge myself and I wanted to go zip lining.
this past Sunday I had that chance and I DID IT! and I loved it and I'm still
alive to tell about it. My daughter, Kelsie, asked me if I'd like to go with her boyfriend's
family and I jumped at the chance. It was amazing! And if I hadn't lost weight, I wouldn't have
been able to do it. There is a height limit of 6'3" and 250 pounds.
I sure don't have to worry about that height limit, I'm only a bit over 5'7"
but that weight limit would have kept me away before, but since I lost
the weight, I can do it. The door was open and I walked through it.
I'm sure there are other things that I will find I can do now that I couldn't do
before. I'm looking forward to it.
I also met again with my trainer and she gave me a whole new program to work on.
Everything is new and different and I'm loving it.
I asked her for some things to help with my balance, that is one of my major problems
right now. I believe it's due to my fibromyalgia, but did talk to my doctor today about it.
He thinks doing the exercise and strengthening my core will help with it.
We'll see how that goes, I'm hoping it will improve over the next couple months
She also gave me some other great exercises for strengthening upper and lower body.
Guess I'll just get stronger and stronger.
I know there are parts of me that will always be there and I won't be happy about,
for instance, what I call my wings. Those flabby upper arms that we women
of a certain age tend to have, just aren't gonna go away, but that's okay,
I'll do my best with them and deal with the rest.
I just want to be as healthy as I can and I'm well on the road.
I'm glad you popped in today to see how I'm doing,
I appreciate it and all the support y'all have been giving me.
See you next time!
August 22, 2017
Hi and welcome back to My Weight Loss Journey.
It's been a while since I posted, I can't believe how quickly this summer
is going by. It will be over before we know it.
It's been pretty busy around here.
Last week, Dave and I took a trip to Cape May, NJ for a few days
of relaxation and fun visiting our friends. We had a great time.
Then when we came home, we had to get ready for the start
of his 40th class reunion weekend.
We hosted a dinner for a dozen classmates and friends on Friday evening.
It was wonderful to have the time with them,
then on Saturday we went to Canalside and Riverworks.
I haven't walked that much in a long time, but I did fine.
3.5 miles doesn't sound like a lot of walking for some,
but for me it's a huge thing. I did need to use my cane, as my balance
isn't all that great, but I did it and I'm proud of it.
Saturday evening was the class reunion at Banchetti's.
They had a Buffalo theme to the food and although it was
all very good, it was a tough evening for me.
This is the first time I've had any problem with eating.
The problem was that everything was so good and I couldn't eat
much. They had pizza, beef on weck, meatballs, rigatoni, salad,
wings and thick fudgy brownies with chocolate frosting.
I had a slice of pizza, but could only eat the cheese and pepperoni
off the top, can't eat that crust at all yet, 1/2 a meatball, of course they were
huge, 2 wings and a little bit of beef.
I really wanted to have a big ole slice of that pizza and it bothered me
that I couldn't, wanted to have my beef on weck, but couldn't have the roll,
wanted some salad, but can't eat lettuce yet, would have loved more wings,
but just can't eat that much and boy would I have loved to eat one of those
brownies! It bothered me to see all that yummy food and not be able to eat
more of it, but after I ate and sat for a while, I was okay with it.
The other problem I had was that I'm supposed to eat a couple hours later
and couldn't do that, there were chips and dip available, but that's not the kind
of thing I should have been eating. I did have 4 or 5 chips through out the evening,
but that's not a real snack.
I made it through okay and had my protein shake when I got home and a little
bite to eat.
On Sunday morning our whole group met for breakfast, Dave and I shared a
souvlaki breakfast. He ate most of it and I ate a few pieces of the beef souvlaki,
it was very tasty and just what I needed. We're getting used to either ordering one
meal and sharing it, or getting something small, but that doesn't always work,
so I do bring home a lot of leftovers.
I've been very bad along the way about taking pictures to show y'all.
Here is a picture that our friend, Jane, took at the beach in Cape May,
not my best, but not bad either.
Here's what I looked like the day before my surgery.
Quite a difference I'd say!
That top is long gone as well as the jeans!
I'm moving along with my weight loss.
As of this morning I have lost 54 pounds.
Still have a ways to go, but I'm feeling great and very
happy with my progress.
People ask me what my goal is and I have to say
I don't have a clue. I have never been thin, so I don't know what
my weight should be. I guess I'll know it when I get there,
but I'm thinking I'm about 1/2 way there now.
I've cleaned out my closet and given my clothes away.
I have some things that I bought and fit into for the summer months,
but don't have a single pair of nice slacks.
I have gone to Savers and found some jeans, but I don't know how long they
will fit. I'm in such a transition right now that we couldn't even buy a dress
for me to wear to the reunion until the week before, so we were sure that it
would fit for the party.
This is a good problem to have and I'll deal with it, just
wish I knew what size I'd be wearing next summer so I could get in
on some of the great end of season sales.
I have hit some goals already though.
I no longer am on any diabetes medications,
cholesterol medication or arthritis medications.
I have been working out at the gym 4-5 days a week and
will be seeing my trainer soon to get some new things to work on.
And I set a goal for myself of 62 by 62.
I will be 62 in November and want to have 62 pounds off by then.
I think it's doable and probably well before I'm 62 for that matter.
Thanks for stopping by to see how I'm doing.
July 25, 2017
Just a quick update today.
I saw Dr. Posner yesterday for my 2nd post op check up
and he was thrilled with my progress.
He gave me the go ahead to get back to the gym full force.
Well within reason, as he put it; "Don't do anything stupid,
if you think a 50 yr old shouldn't be doing it, don't do it. Keep in
mind that you are in your early 60s and don't do anything crazy."
Yep, I'll keep that in mind, I'm going to ramp it up this week and when
I get back to where I was before the surgery, I'll have another session with
Alysia, my trainer, to go to the next level.
I happened to run into her today at the gym and she thought I looked
great. I told her I'd be in contact soon.
Dr. Posner also gave me permission to eat some more of the foods
that I've been wanting to eat. Still can't have lettuce, which is what I
miss the most, but I can have raw spinach, so that's a good compromise.
I just love that man, if anyone local is looking to have weight loss surgery,
I'd wholeheartedly recommend him.
When we were done he said to me stand up, please.
When I did he just smiled and said "I want a hug"
He also told me that I should call anytime I need him, big or small
questions or concerns, day or night and that goes for the rest of my life.
Then he told Dave, if there were any concerns and I didn't call, that he should
get the phone dial it and make me call.
I've only had one thing that I needed to call for and the gal that answered the phone
couldn't give me an answer, she took all the info and
someone called me back within about an hour or so.
So that's my story.
Things are great and I'm happy with how everything is going.
See ya soon!
July 20, 2017
Time for another update.
I've been doing really well and am very happy with my progress.
I'm eating quite a few foods now, but still not a lot of veggies.
I go to the doctor on Monday and I'm hoping he will clear me to
add some more veggies and fruits back into my diet.
I started back to the gym last night, I still can't go back to all I was
doing before the surgery, but I wanted to get back into it a little
before he okay'd me to get back to all I was doing before.
So I started out with a few exercises and the treadmill.
It sure felt good to be back to it.
Eating has kind of been an adventure.
I have found a few things to be true.
In general, restaurants are very accommodating.
They have made special dishes for me, eliminating the foods that I
can't have, they have let me order children's meals even though I'm over
12 yrs old and of course they let me order senior meals, but I'm old enough
for that anyway.
Last weekend I was at a 4 day scrapbooking retreat and they were wonderful
about my meals. I let Tracy know what I could eat and they were absolutely
wonderful about serving me what I could have and keeping my leftovers for me
to have as a snack later.
I've also found that there are a lot of people out there
who have had this surgery, some successfully and some not so much.
But they are all supportive and are willing to talk about their experiences.
I have found that people have different feelings about their surgery, but
overall they are glad they did it.
The one comment I did find to not be true was that the one woman I
met, who has lost 170 lbs in the last 2 yrs said
"You'll never feel like your thinner."
Really? I feel thinner and like I look better already.
She did show us a before picture and said she can see it in the picture,
but until she had been shown pictures side by side, she didn't notice it.
I, personally, haven't found that to be true.
I can see a difference, I can feel a difference and my clothes are
certainly different.
Yesterday I said something to my sister in law that I never thought
I'd ever say.
"Sometimes I forget to eat and have to remind myself to do it"
I don't feel hungry too often, but I know when I need to eat,
I'm supposed to have 3 meals and 3 snacks every day and sometimes
it can be difficult to get it all in, but I'm trying very hard to get it right.
I'm still working on how much to cook and how much to put on my plate.
But it's coming along.
Now for the big news,
I'm now at 240 lbs.
which means I have lost 42.4 lbs.
I'm very happy with that in my 7th week post op.
I'll be back with some pictures soon.
Have a better than average day!
July 4, 2017
Happy 4th everyone!
It's been a couple really good days for me.
Yesterday I was at BJ's for a few things and found some cute
skorts, a pair of capri leggings and an adorable summer dress.
They don't have changing rooms there, I had to wait till I got home to try them on.
Well the long and short if it is, the skorts fit as well as the leggings.
Unfortunately, the dress fits, but doesn't look right on me.
Blast this low waist of mine!
Then today, there was a 50% off sale at Savers and I went to take a look there.
I found some jeans, a couple tops and 2 pair of capris,
and a bonus, I found 5 pair of slacks for my Mom.
Ended up paying just under $22.00 for all of it.
I think for 10 pieces of clothing, that's a pretty good deal!
It was nice to find some cute clothes that are smaller sizes that I'm used to.
I am now down 35.4 pounds.
June 25, 2017
Today I went to a bridal shower and so enjoyed it.
At first I thought I wouldn't be going, since I couldn't eat the food there,
but still had to eat while I was at the shower.
I didn't let it hold me back though, I just packed up a little bit of
my home made ham salad and some yogurt and took it in a little
insulated lunch bag. I sat with a group of cousins who know what I've
been going through and it worked out fine.
When they went up and got food at the buffet, I pulled out my ham
salad and ate what I needed to eat. No one cared and I had what I needed to have.
And honestly, although the food looked good, it didn't bother me that they
were eating it and I wasn't.
Weeellllll, maybe the cupcake did a little, but not much. LOL.
Tonight I told Dave I want him to take me out for dinner on Tuesday.
I'll be able to have soft foods, so I want to celebrate by eating something I
can sink my teeth into. We'll probably go somewhere that we can get a
nice burger. This pureed food doesn't taste bad at all, but I miss having something
to really sink my teeth into.
I'm feeling good, pretty much my usual self, but like I did with my hip replacement,
I'm expecting to be recovered quicker than I probably should.
I tire a little quicker than I think I should and hate having to sit down to rest,
then I have to remind myself that it hasn't been all that long since I had
a major organ mostly removed and a hernia repaired.
Slow down Kristie! Slow down!
On a little different subject, I went this evening to the home of a lovely lady
that I met in a Facebook group. She taught us how to make soap.
The pure, good for you kind, made with lye and olive oil.
It was really very interesting and I think I might just give it a try myself.
And something that made me smile:
I had to start a pile for clothes that I have shrunk out of now.
I have some jeans that if I tried to wear them, would actually fall off.
I haven't gone through my closet yet, but the pile for Saver's has been started.
YIPPEEE!!!
June 21, 2017
2 weeks and 1 day post surgery today.
Not a lot to tell y'all, but a few things.
First of all, I forgot to include in my last post that I am no longer on any
diabetic medication. No longer a diabetic, just as I hoped.
My blood glucose levels have been running around 100 - 110!
I am no longer on any cholesterol medication, we'll see how it looks when I
have my blood work done again.
The doctor was right and the weight loss has slowed down,
but I'm happy to say that I'm under 250 lbs now.
Haven't been there for a long time.
This week I'm on to courser pureed foods and I'm doing well
with that. You know you can puree all kinds of things.
To date I've had pureed chicken salad, hot dogs with hot dog sauce,
meatballs and sauce, tacos, in fact had Mighty Taco the other day.
Well the inside of the Mighty anyway with no lettuce or tomato, but none the less,
it was Mighty! Egg salad, started to have some cucumber salad then realized that it was
a raw veggie and I wasn't supposed to have that. Oh and white hots, that was good too.
Next week, I can move on to soft foods and I can't wait to actually sink my teeth into something
good. There are still things I can't eat for a while, but it will for sure be so much better
once I can have relatively normal food.
I feel pretty much my normal self, but I do tire a little easier than usual, but I sit down for a bit
and I'm fine again. I just need to be careful not to over do things.
Weight loss thus far 33.3 lb.
Have a ways to go, but this is good!
June 13, 2017
Well, my friends, it's been a week since my surgery and I'm feeling pretty good.
I had my first follow up visit with Dr. P yesterday and he was very happy with
my progress. I've moved on to a thin pureed diet now.
There are a lot of things I won't be able to have for a bit, but there are a lot of
things I CAN have and that's what I'm concentrating on.
I've had a visitor every day since Friday, my family and friends are the best.
Yesterday I turned wrong or something and hurt my back, but it's much better today
and although I can't do a ton of moving around, I probably wouldn't have done too much anyway.
Yesterday evening we went out shopping with Kelsie, I rode in the wheelchair, I knew
all that walking would just be too much for me, especially with a sore back.
We also went out to dinner to My Tomato Pie.
I had vegetable minestrone soup, I told the waiter that I'd had stomach surgery and
couldn't have any solids, so could he try to avoid the veggies when he ladled it up.
He did a great job and only left a tablespoon or so of veggies in my soup.
So many places will be accommodating when they can.
And the chicken ceasar salad and the chicken wings the others were eating didn't
bother me at all.
I'm feeling good, but I tire easily, of course I did have most of a major organ removed last
week, so should expect this. I tend to think I can recover faster than I should, but I'm being really good and doing what I'm supposed to do.
I was just lounging around in some "hang around the house" PJs today, so that's what
Dave took my 1 week post op pictures in.
The picture on the right was taken in May while we were on vacation.
My face is where I see the biggest change so far.
Happy Me!
I've lost 10 lbs since surgery. Dr. P says it won't continue at this rate, but it's sure a good start.
Probably should have cropped the picture to match, but hopefully you can see a difference.
Tonight I made tacos for dinner. Dave ate his usual tacos and I
pureed the taco meat with a bit of cheese and it really was pretty darn tasty.
Also had a little bit of yogurt and I was done.
Tomorrow, I'll be trying some chicken salad and apple sauce for dinner.
I'm not saying this is easy, but I think I'm doing okay with it.
I'll tell ya, I'm lucky to also have such a supportive and wonderful husband,
he's been my rock through this whole process so far.
I know I can count on him,
as well as so many fabulous family and friends.
Thanks for stopping in to see my progress.
I'll update again soon.June 10, 2017
Hello everyone!
Quite a bit going on with me.
In this post I'm going to go for full disclosure.
I had the sleeve gastrectomy on Tuesday.
Here are a couple pictures before the surgery, while we were waiting to go up.
When they weighed me before surgery I weighed
264 lbs.
I will put a summary later in this post of my weight history.
Ready and waiting to go, let's get this party started!
Got a surprise when I woke up and Dave
told me that Dr. P. found a hiatal hernia when he got in there. Luckily, he has everyonesign for a hernia repair if needed, so he repaired it.
He told Dave he's very surprised that I didn't have a big problem with reflux, I had none.
Guess I was just fortunate not to have any problems.
I wasn't bargaining that into the deal and that surgery causes quite a bit of muscle
pain especially in the upper back, neck and shoulders, and boy did I have muscle pain.
When the doctor came in he asked me if I felt like he was sitting on my shoulders
and that is exactly what it was like. As though he'd been there for quite a while in fact.
They told me it would last a few days and lessen gradually and it has. I am still having some
pain around my ribs and back, but that may be from the fibromyalgia, this is very typical for me.
Everything went well in the hospital, the staff was great, I really have no complaints at all
about my care. They knew exactly what I was going through, what to offer me and how
to be supportive.
The day of surgery I slept most of the day, as is pretty typical for me after anesthesia.
That stuff really knocks me out and takes a while to get out of my system.
Even the next day I had trouble keeping my eyes open, but when I could, I started
drinking those sips of water.
I enjoyed a dinner of nice fresh cool water.
This was what I had until just a little before I was released.
Of course I did have an IV to be sure I was hydrated and to give me a little
IV Tylenol now and then. I didn't even know they had IV Tylenol.
On Wednesday when the PA came in and asked me if I wanted to go home,
she was surprised when I said yes. Apparently, a good majority of people don't want
to leave right away, they feel they need another day of recovery in the hospital.
NOT me! I wanted to get home to my own bed and get some really restful sleep
and get started on my new life.
So, they got me a liquid lunch to be sure I could tolerate more than water.
I couldn't believe all they brought me, I guess it was for a variety of things, but since
my stomach can only hold a couple tablespoons of food at a time, it seemed like a little overkill.
I tried chicken broth, orange jello and apple juice 1/2 and 1/2 with water.
Everything was good, just hated to waste what was left, guess I better get used to that.
"Just waiting for my escort!"
Then they let me come home and when I got here I took a nice 3 hour nap.
A nice long nap that really was restful in my own sweet bed.That night I slept long and good.
On Thursday, I started really keeping track of what I was taking in.
The goal is to have 4-6 oz of fluid every hour and 1/2 of that is to be
protein shake. I actually, really like the protein shake, I got
salted caramel flavored powder and mix it with skimmed milk and it really is
quite tasty. Good thing, because I'll be drinking these for a while.
I've added in a popsicle here and there, sugar free of course and that
helps with a little variety. There are some other things I can add in, like Crystal
Light Lemonade, but somehow I don't see that mixing well with the shakes.
I may have a little soup later too.
On Thursday I also got to take a shower and then Dave and I could both see my incisions.
I thought I looked like a victim of a knife weilding attacker, he said I looked like one
of the bodies on the autopsy table on NCIS.
I told you this was full disclosure, so here is a picture of what my belly looks like now.
That big scar is from when I was 16 and had my gall bladder out,
but those little ones are from this surgery.
I can barely feel that they are there, even touching them doesn't hurt,
except that one up at the top, which is where I believe they put the
scope in, but even that doesn't hurt unless it's pressed on.
My solution is to not press on it. They used glue to close up the wounds
so not sutures, you can see where the glue is around the incisions.
That will gradually fall off and I'm all stuck back together.
Why am I showing all this?
Because if there is anyone out there who may be thinking about having
this surgery, you'll know that it really isn't that difficult, the incisions are not
huge and the pain from the gastric surgery, at least for me was non-existant.
Like I said before the hernia repair is what causes muscle pain, but it's not that bad
and it is only a few days. Nothing like what I've had with my other surgeries.
Something that is huge with this process is having support and I've been so lucky
to have family and friends who are very supportive.
I have had a LOT of messages, texts and calls to check on me,
some from people I never expected them from.
Here are a couple things that were up on facebook for me this week.
My friend Becky posted this picture to my page to share the beauty of
her flowers with me. They are lovely.
My sister in law Susie posted this cute little meme to let me know
she was thinking about me and behind me all the way.
I'm very happy with my progress so far, here are my numbers so far.
My original weight when I started this journey at my first weigh in was282.4 lbs.
Weight day of surgery
264 lbs.
Weight this morning when I got up
255.3 lbs.
Total weight lost to this point
27.1 lbs.
My only problem with this whole process?
I thought my summer clothes were going to work for the summer and
they aren't going to. Maybe some of them, but I'm going to have to do a little
bargain shopping in the next month or so.
Summer hasn't even started yet!
Thanks for checking in on me and being with me on my journey!
See you again soon!
June 5, 2017
Well friends, the time is here! Tomorrow morning I will be having my surgery.
Today I ate a good breakfast and after that could only have clear liquids.
I picked up some onion soup at a local restaurant and strained it for my dinner.
Gave the onion part to Dave and at the broth.
Also, that strawberry jello was a good filler and last but not least
I drank a LOT of water. Once midnight hits, there won't be any more to drink.
They called this morning and someone had cancelled their surgery and now I have to
be there at 5:30 a.m.!
There are times I'm not sleeping yet at that time. LOL, but I figure I'll be sleeping all day
so I'll deal with it.
I had Dave take some pictures of me tonight and I'm going to share them with y'all here.
It really bothers me to look at them, I'm disgusted with the size I've become and sometimes
wonder how I could let that happen. But the really important thing is that I'm doing something about it now. I've already lost about 20 pounds, so that is a good start.
This picture shows the jeans that I was wearing when I decided to take this journey.
The weight I've lost in the last couple months has made a big difference, those jeans
no longer would stay up.
This is a favorite top and my jeans that sort of fit me.
I pulled the top back so it wasn't flowing out to cover the awful belly.
Either way, I really hate the way I look.
I'll be glad to get rid of those jeans and even though I love that top,
I'll be glad to see it go.
And lastly, Dave said we needed to get a rear shot too.
I know there are a lot of people who I'm friends with online who have never
really seen me before. At least not ALL of me. Well now you have,
but before you know it, there will be less of me.
I know there are a lot of people sending out good thoughts and prayers for me
and I'm very grateful for that.
I do have the bestest family and friends. There are so many who are giving me
support, love, best wishes and prayers.
I'll be updating on a regular basis with more pictures as I shrink.
I know I'm going to be fine and do well on this journey.
Now off to bed, so I can go tomorrow morning and start my
New Life.
June 2, 2017
Today the mail brought a letter from my insurance company.
Notification that I'm authorized to have my surgery as a medical necessity.
I'm not a fan of insurance companies, but this time they got it right.
Also am working on getting the vitamins and protein powder that I need
for after surgery. Having a tough time with the calcium citrate, has to be liquid
or dissolvable, can't find it anywhere. I'll be hitting up Amazon after I'm done writing this.
There were a few things I wanted to have before my surgery, so today I went and
had some pizza. Well I have to tell you, my body has changed so much since
I've been on this diet that it didn't react very well to that pizza.
The other thing I want to have is some White Rabbit Frozen Yogurt.
I have to say, I've continued to stay on my diet for the most part even in this
last couple weeks and according to my scales, I've now lost about 20 pounds.
A couple more days and things will be taking a huge change
and I'm ready for it.
Hope you'll follow along on my journey with me.
May 30. 2017
One week from today I will have my surgery. It's hard to believe it's this close.
Everything is in order, I had all my pre-op testing done, saw my primary doc for
clearance and had my last weigh in and teaching appointment.
Consent is signed and I know what's coming before and after the
surgery. What I can and can't have is pretty strict after the surgery,
but I know I can do it.
This week is a tough one,
Anticipation is always a hard thing,
anticipation about having the surgery,
anticipation about how I'll feel after surgery,
anticipation about sticking to the strict liquid diet and yet getting enough
fluids and protein when I can only have a tiny amount at a time,
anticipation about the things I will no longer be eating,
anticipation about keeping to a good diet this week,
anticipation about enjoying a few things just one last time,
anticipation about what I will look and feel like after the weight is off,
anticipation about everything to do with this whole process.
I know I can do this and that I have a lot of support from my family and friends,
but when it comes down to it,
no one can do it for me, I have to do this myself
and I WILL.
I'm still feeling just as strongly that this is the right thing to do.
I WILL succeed!
May 22, 2017
Things are moving along pretty well now.
I got a message from my primary that he was good with me discontinuing my
Jardiance and that he wanted to see me sooner than the appointment they gave me.
He wants to see me on Wednesday at 7:30 a.m., oh how I hate mornings!
But I'll be there at 7:30 to see him.
I am pretty aggravated though, I knew something would crop up that wouldn't
make this whole journey go smoothly without a hitch.
Something got screwed up and the pre-op testing didn't get scheduled.
It really should be done before I go for my clearance physical, but it got scheduled
for the morning of my last weigh in, the day AFTER my clearance physical.
They say it will be fine and my primary can see the results later and then write his
clearance note. I sure hope he's okay with that.
Of course my pre-op tests are at 7:30 a.m. too,
then I have an appointment scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
Luckily they said I could just go up to the clinic right after my tests and they would
fit me in, so I wouldn't have to leave and go back again.
Sure hope I don't end up sitting there for ages waiting.
I know it will be worth it in the long run, but little things like this aggravate me.
Mother's day was great. My kids took me to dinner at MoMo's Mongolian Buffet,
then to White Rabbit where I indulged in my guilty pleasure of a frozen yogurt
sundae. The buffet was perfect for my diet, all protein and veggies for me.
The White Rabbit, on the other hand, wasn't on the diet, but I went right back on it
once it was finished. I've been doing pretty good with it and keeping up with my
work outs at the gym and hopefully that will show when I go for that last weigh in
on Thursday.
I'm pretty proud of how I'm doing at the gym.
I've increased everything that I do.
Longer walks at a higher speed on the treadmill,
more reps of each exercise that I do and I feel better than I have in a long time.
The fibro isn't giving me as much trouble as it has in the past.
I do hate the idea of not being able to work out for several weeks,
I feel like I'm going to be back to square one.
On the other hand, if I hadn't been working out all this time, I'd be even
farther behind.
That's it for today, I'll post about my appointments later in the week.
May 15, 2017
Today was my appointment with the surgeon and it went very well.
I really like him, he has a wonderful and caring manner.
He explained in detail the choices I had and we talked about why each one
was a good option and it's drawbacks.
I have decided that I will get the Sleeve Gastrectomy.
Here is a picture showing basically, how they do the surgery.
They remove a large part of the stomach and leave just the long tube like area.
I feel this was the better choice for me and he was fine with that.
I am now scheduled for surgery on June 6, 2017
Now to just get everything else lined up.
I will be going for my last "teaching" appointment and weigh in a week from
Thursday, the 25th. So far I've lost 16 lbs, so I'm on my way.
I still have to get my pre-op testing scheduled and I have to see my
primary doctor, Dr. Pusatier for clearance.
Dr. Posner's office wanted it done next week, but they said they
couldn't get me in until June 1st. Hopefully this won't be a problem.
Some other good news is that Dr. Posner wants me to stop taking one of my
diabetes medications. My morning blood sugars have been very good, but in the
afternoon I'm having quite a problem with low blood sugars, which is good and bad.
It's good that it's all under control, but not good that my blood sugar is too low.
This means that I have to eat/drink something with sugar and eat some carbs, which totally
defeats the purpose of the diet.
So off the medication I'll go and see how my body deals with that. I'm thinking
I will do just fine and before I know it I'll be off my medication totally.
I certainly hope that's how it will work out.
When I first started this journey back in February, I was hoping for a June
surgery date, but things haven't gone as fast as I expected so didn't expect
them to be able to do it that soon.
Things just got very real!
I am pretty excited that I'm on the schedule.
I do wish I didn't need to do this, but I know what my life has been like
thus far and I know who I am and I know this is what I need to do and
I'm okay with it.
I'll keep y'all updated as things move along.
____________________________________________________
May 10, 2017
We just arrived home this afternoon from a trip to see my
Aunt Marilyn, in Charlotte, NC.
I was a little worried about exercise and eating out all the time,
but it all worked out fine.
In Charlotte we had a hotel that had a very nice fitness room with treadmills
and the weights that I needed for the program I'm following at Fitness 19.
Eating out wasn't too bad. I didn't stick to the diet completely, but I was pretty
good about it. Aunt Marilyn always has us take her to Walmart to do some shopping
and it's her tradition to treat us to Subway. I had a chopped salad there and it was really
delicious. You can choose whatever you'd like to have them put into your salad,
including meat, I chose teriyaki chicken and sweet onion dressing.
I did have one day that I was sooooo bad. We went to the Waffle House and I had a
pecan waffle, then for dinner we went to one of our favorite restaurants and had
country fried steak, BUT I did substitute mashed cauliflower for the potato, so at least I
made that good choice.
Once we went to Charleston, the hotel didn't have a fitness room, but I'll tell you,
I think I got a great workout anyway. The day we arrived, we walked for at least
4 hours around the city. I do love that city, it is definitely our favorite city to return
to and visit over and over. Dave is always looking for things to shoot, Charleston has,
by far, brought him more beautiful pictures than anywhere else.
After 4 hrs of walking, I had about had it for the day, but I still had to walk back to the
car. Luckily it wasn't too far from where we were. The next day I was pretty sore, but it was
sure worth it, to get the work out and to see the city.
We spent a few days in Charleston and were so good, we did NOT buy several pounds of
pralines to bring home. We both knew we wouldn't be able to resist eating them if they
were in the car with us, so we just didn't buy them.
Yesterday we drove back up to Charlotte, spent a little time with Aunt Marilyn and our friend
Monica and had dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant 3 Amigos.
Dave and I shared a dinner and I didn't over indulge.
We started on our way home and stayed at a Sleep Inn, which was really very nice,
and guess what? They had a fitness room! So there I was at 11:00 at night in the fitness
room. This one only had treadmills and an elliptical, so I didn't get to do my whole program,
but I extended the time on the treadmill and added in a little time on the elliptical,
I didn't have weights, but I did fit in my push ups using part of the treadmill as a bar.
Necessity is the mother of invention and when you need to improvise, that's what you do.
It's hard to believe that I'm this person, looking for ways to work out while I'm away on
vacation, but I am. And it paid off, when I got home I weighed myself and I'm down
2 more pounds, and that was later in the day too. We'll see in the a.m. what the scale
has to say
Tonight I went to the gym with Kelsie and it was good to get back to my usual
routine. I've increased the number of reps on some of my exercises and the length of time
I'm on the treadmill too. I'm really happy with how I'm doing.
I had an appointment with the doctor on Monday and I hope he's happy
with it too and will give me a date for my surgery.
I just need to stick with the diet and exercise and try not to overindulge on
Mother's Day. I'm sure I'll do fine.
May 1, 2017
Most of my life I have struggled with my weight.
When I was younger, as many teens and young women do,
I thought I was fat and very unattractive.
Little did I know at that time in my life,
I was the weight I'd like to be now.
Over the years my weight has been a yo yo.
I lose, I gain, I lose, I gain.
Now here I am at the age of 61 about
100 pounds over weight.
YES!
That's right, about 100 pounds over weight!
I have type II diabetes and take medication to control that.
I have pretty severe sleep apnea which I have had for
at least 12 yrs now, I use a CPAP at night to control that.
I have fibromyalgia, which gives me a lot of trouble with my muscles,
although I do consider myself lucky, as I don't usually have as much pain
as many people do, but I do have a lot of muscle stiffness and cramping.
I have arthritis and have had both my hips replaced
and have pain in many of my joints.
I take blood pressure medication because of my diabetes.
At times I have shortness of breath, especially when walking up the stairs.
I can't walk distances like I used to and I'm unable to travel as
much as I'd like to, because I just can't do all that walking, especially when
there are a lot of inclines, like there are in Italy and some other areas
that I love to visit.
I'm not saying ALL of this is caused by my weight, but if it isn't,
my weight sure isn't helping the situation.
BUT
that is all changing!
I have decided to have weight loss surgery.
Let me tell you the story of why I made this decision.
I have 2 really amazing children.
Jaryd is 24 yrs old
Kelsie is 27 yrs old.
In October Kelsie started a new job and met a really wonderful man.
They became friends and started dating on the first of the year.
It quickly became evident to me that this was something pretty serious.
In turn, that made me realize that Kelsie could make me a Grandparent
in the not too distant future. No pressure on them, but one day, hopefully, it will happen.
Then I became friend with Jason, Kelsie's boyfriend, on facebook.
I was scrolling through his facebook page and looking at old pictures and post and
I found a post that he had put up last summer on his birthday.
This post talked about how he had decided that he needed to get himself back
in shape so he would be happy in his own skin.
He worked out, he set goals and no matter how much work it was
he kept at it. He was finally at a point that he was happy with
the way he was feeling and looking.
At the end of the post was the part that really struck me and inspired me to
make this life changing decision.
Jason wrote:
"I just want people to know you are the only one who can change your life. Your life is yours and only yours. So make the most of it. Love you some you."
To me these words spoke volumes and made me realize that I had to
make a decision to do something.
And I made that decision.
I had tried for years to lose weight and I did just that, many times.
The problem came with keeping it off and I knew that I wasn't capable of
losing it and keeping it off on my own.
I have several friends who have gone through weight loss surgery and
in the past I never thought it would be an option that I would take.
But here I was looking at my age, the fact that I could be a grandma
in the next few years and I might not live to see my grandchildren grow up.
I want to be here to see them born, go to school, go to proms and start dating,
go to college or into a career and one day see them get married.
It was like a slap in the face and I had to do something about it.
It didn't take me long and I had made my decision,
I talked to my husband about it and he was totally on board with me.
I sent a message to my doctor and I was given the name and phone
number of the doctor that he would recommend and the ball was rolling.
My husband, Dave, has been by my side all the way,
we attended an informational meeting as soon as we could.
I was shocked that I was the only person that brought my support person
with me.
After the meeting we were offered the chance to go have our first weigh in and
I jumped at the chance to get started.
My first appointment took over 3 hours.
I saw a nurse practitioner for a history and physical,
a dietitian about diet and following the South Beach Diet
and a physical therapist to check on my physical fitness.
I learned a lot that day about what I needed to do to be ready for the surgery.
I needed to lose 14 pounds,
I needed to start following the South Beach Diet,
I needed to start eating 3 meals and 3 snacks every day,
I needed to write down what I ate every single day,
I needed to exercise and write down how much exercise I was getting,
I needed to be prepared mentally and emotionally,
I needed to dedicated to doing this.
I also learned that my physical fitness was very good for my age,
that I could do more modified push ups than I thought I could,
that the PT had to stop me at 25 squats because it was far more than
she expected me to be able to do,
that I was far ahead of anyone she'd seen there in a very long time,
as far as fitness, but I could do better.
I started dieting and recording what I ate,
I exercised and recorded that and I was slowly,
but surely losing weight.
The biggest struggle was getting in as much exercise as I needed.
Somehow, exercising at home has never been an easy thing for me.
I went to physical therapy for my fibromyalgia for about 10 yrs and
did a lot of different exercises, but it was a struggle to always follow through.
Then I joined Fitness 19 and that really did the trick.
Who would have ever thought that I'd be upset on a day that I couldn't
get to the gym to exercise, but that's what's happened with me.
I had a wonderful trainer, named Alycia, that set up a program for me
and I'm really loving it.
On April 24th I had a visit at the doctors office and I found that I've lost
12 of the 14 pounds that I need to lose. I'll be going to see the surgeon on
May 15th and hopefully I will be setting up a date to have my surgery.
I'm still not totally decided which surgery I'll have, but I'm leaning
strongly toward the Gastric Sleeve.
Once I've made a final decision, I'll explain a little more about that to y'all.
The one thing that was a surprise to me that day was that I was
reprimanded for not eating enough. LOL Here I was trying to lose
the weight and I was told to eat more often.
I MUST eat 3 meals and 3 snacks a day!
Okay, just have to adjust that diet a little more.
The reason for this is that after the surgery, I will need to be eating pretty often
to get enough protein and liquid into me to heal properly and be well nourished.
The doctor wants to see that I'm going to be able to do this.
Yes! I can do it and I will.
I had to go buy myself new jeans the other day, mine are just too big on me now.
Just that 12 pounds has made a big difference.
I'm hoping that I will be okay with clothes for the summer, but I look forward to the
day when I can buy some much smaller sized clothes.
I told Kelsie, that I will never buy another cotton knit top!
There are some things that I just relate to being a plus sized woman,
and those cotton knit tops is one of them.
I'm already feeling better because of the exercise program,
my muscles are feeling better, not so much stiffness and cramping
going on. Unfortunately, we're going on vacation to visit an aunt and there
are no Fitness 19s in her area, I'm hoping where ever we stay will have some
kind of a work out room.
Tonight we were out to dinner with friends and I found that what I eat has a different
effect on me than it used to. One of my favorite things to eat out is a nice fish fry, and I've been
very good with my diet, so I decided that I would have that fish fry.
Well, that wasn't the best idea.
Didn't set so well on my stomach, guess I'm just not used to the fried food like I used to be.
Now I'm right back to the diet and I don't think I'll be going too far off again.
I do need to have Dave take a picture of me and I'll post it here, no matter how unflattering it
is. I intend to have a picture taken every week or so throughout this whole journey and
post them here. I hope you will follow along with me on my weight loss journey.
I can use the support.
Thanks!
9 comments:
You have got this my friend! I am so proud of you.
You go girl!! What an intuitive comment that Jason wrote!! Prayers for you as you journey along!!
You're an inspiration! I'm so glad you're taking steps for YOU! <3
kristie, I am so proud of you!!! This is a serious decision, no one understands better than I!! Of course you know Mom, Cheryl and I are more than willing help, talk or listen any time. It's not an easy task this journey, but I feel 110% that it was the right choice for me.
You've got this! And you've got my support! Whatever you need. XOXO
wow, i'm so inspired. I know you can do this...how do I know? Just from knowing you and reading how dedicated and driven you are. Good luck, will be looking forward to seeing the pics and hear the progress. I hope you decide to include some food tips (like the taking it easy on the fish fry :)
So excited for you, and I look forward to following your journey!!!
Thank you for sharing your journey with us! You're awesome 💕
All the best on your journey! You have the courage, dedication, and support to make this happen!!
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