Woot Woot!

Five pounds lost in three days.

Five.

FIVE.

FIVE gloriously wonderful pounds!

Happy Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Yes, I Know....Muscle Weighs More Than Fat

I'm going to preface this entry by saying that I'm feeling uber-bitch-tastic today. I'm a crab. So take that into consideration when you read by rant below.....

Muscle weighs more than fat they say and although I know this, I'm still annoyed. I weigh daily and track my weight using an iPod application called "Lose It!" I feel like I've been stuck around the same few pounds for weeks on end and it's getting to me. Here's a cut & paste from my Lose It spreadsheet. It begins with today's weight and goes back one day for each weight thereafter. The last weight listed is from April 8.

258 257 257 257 258 258 260 259 260 260 261 257 257 257 260 260 260 261 261 261 262 263 263 263 263 263 265 265

So I've lost 7 pounds since April 8th, and today is May 5th. I went through my weight for the last couple months and I've lost about 10-12 pounds per month. That seems low to me.

One drastic change in my life that's happened recently is that I quit my job as a preschool teacher to stay home with my own two kids and do home daycare for other families. I thought it would be hard but so far I'm loving it!! When working outside the home I didn't get back at night until about 6:30 and then sometimes it was hard to go to the gym because I hadn't seen my own kids all day. But now, by 5:00 or 5:30 I'm free...and I have no guilt about leaving my kids home with daddy or at the gym daycare while I work out. So I've been putting in a lot more time working out and going much more frequently. I'm also doing more toning and I can feel my muscles under my skin. It's possible that my loss rate has slowed because of the increased level of exercise. I'm holding onto that.

Just Seven Short Months Ago.....

Just seven months ago I took this picture with my phone. The hubby and I were celebrating our anniversary.

Today my parents watched the kiddos and we went out on a date. :) I took this picture with my phone this afternoon. What a difference 118 pounds makes......

I'm Alive....and Still Getting Skinnier!

Long time no post.

I watched a YouTube WLS Vlog once where the vlogger commented that as she loses more weight, she vlogs less because she's out living her life. I'm finding that the same thing is true for myself. Instead of being a hermit I'm busy, busy, busy. Even when I'm home I'm usually cleaning my ass off. Yes, you read that right. I've become a housekeeping nazi. And I LOVE IT. I work all day and then I come in the door and clean, clean, clean. I cook (what??) clean and clean some more. I'm pretty sure my house hasn't been this clean since right before we moved in.

So anyway - my blogging, as well as my vlogging, have become more infrequent. But it's a good thing because I've traded my lazy hermit lifestyle for a busy & exciting one.

Weight Update:

Today I weighed in at 265. WOOT!! My starting weight was 379, so I am down 114 pounds. For awhile my loss really slowed but I kicked it up at the gym and cut back on some of my calories and now it's heading down at a steady pace again. My BMI has gone from 59 to 39 and I have less weight left to lose than the amount I've already lost. That feels fabulous. :) I am not exactly sure what my surgeon will suggest for a goal weight but I know that at 168 my BMI will be 24.8 - and that's the most I can weigh to have a BMI that is considered 'normal.' Who knows if that is even attainable for me without plastic surgery but we'll see. I would be ecstatic just to be 199!

Non-Scale Victory

I LOVE Sarah McLachlan. In 2007 my husband bought me tickets to her "Afterglow" concert for Valentine's Day. The concert was in the fall and it was amazing. I bought a tour shirt that I knew I couldn't wear because it was 4 sizes too small. But alas, it was the largest size they sold. Yesterday, I wore it for the first time. :) :)

New pics to come soon!

xoxo

Therese

Nutrition Info for Latte Shake

Hola friends! After my last post someone asked me to blog about the nutritional info in the protein shake I drink every morning. You can find the ingredients in the blog immediately before this one. Here are the nutritional stats, as per my handy dandy Lose It program on my ipod:

Calories: 264

Fat: 6.9g

Carbs: 26g

Fiber: 0

Sugars: 24.8g

Protein: 26.2g (woo hoo!)

Reminder: I make mine with skim milk and I use 10 ounces instead of 8. I also use only 3/4 of a serving of the protein powder because, for me, the calories and protein content are too high otherwise. I generally make it with Vanilla powder but I do like it with Chocolate as well. If I have it in the evening I use decaf instead of regular coffee and it tastes just as good.

I made a video on my YouTube channel about the recipe and you can view it here. (Fast forward to about 2 minutes in to avoid some of the useless chatter at the beginning. haha)

Vanilla Latte Video

As for me, I'm still holding at 290 pounds - no loss for about 4 or 5 days but that's okay. I've been working out a lot more lately and even had a session at the gym with a personal trainer. Muscle weighs more than fat so I'm okay with losing inches and staying the same on the scale for a while.

'Til Next Time,

xoxoxoxo

Therese

3 Months Post-Op

Last week I had my 3 month post-op appointment with my surgeon's office. Everything was fine and I was cleared for the next food phase, which now includes steak and citrus. As soon as I left the doctor I was at the grocery store in line for a mandarin orange. I'd been craving one since Christmas and it was delicious to finally sink my teeth into one!

My surgeon requires mini support group meetings with each milestone check-up, so at this appointment I also had an hour long meeting with two other patients who were also three months post-op. Both made comments about eating 6 or 8 tiny meals throughout the day and only being able to tolerate, at most, 1/2 a cup of food. My paranoia rose immediately. Here I am eating between 3/4 to 1 cup at each meal - OH NO, I thought, WHAT AM I DOING WRONG? Holy cow I must be stretching my pouch!!! I spoke up and asked the nurse leading the class and she said that I was fine. I was told to eat three meals a day with no snacks and that's what I've been doing. I generally have a protein shake for breakfast, then I eat solid food for lunch and dinner. I consume around 800 - 1100 calories a day and I track my food, water, vitamins, weight and exercise in my ipod every single day. On the weekends my calorie count falls because I sleep in and I just can't get in enough food during my waking hours. (haha! Who'd have thought??) I do make sure I get my protein minimum of at least 60grams and no more than 80grams. Generally I fall between 59-68 grams of protein per day. Anyway, she assured me I wasn't eating too much - that I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing. Whew!

Today's Menu:

Meal 1:

Protein "Latte" Shake

3/4 scoop of GNC Vanilla Whey Powder

2 tsps Nescafe Instant Gourmet Dark Roast Coffee

2 TBSP sugar free french vanilla creamer

10 0z of skim milk

(I have this every morning and I looove it!)

Meal 2:

2 oz of turkey sausage

1/2 cup of sauerkraut (sp?)

mandarin orange

2 Hershey Kisses

Meal 3:

Morningstar 'Veggie' Buffalo Wings (4)

2 TBSP light Ranch dressing for dip

3/4 oz of pepperjack cheese

Exercise:

16 minutes on the treadmill

12 minutes on the stationary bike

Water: 69 ounces

Vitamins: all 3 doses of calcium, 3 doses of iron, thiamine, b-12, multi-vitamin x2

Weight: 290

As the saying goes....

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

And this little gem. YIKES!!

Thank you God for WLS!!