Weighing In

I weighed in at 252.6 this morning. I am down 10 pounds for this month. I still have ten more days before I am officially 7 months post-op. I have lost 141 pounds in total!!!

Here are my most current stats:

• I have lost 35.8% of my overall body weight (from my surgery weight).
• I have lost 60.6% of my weight to reach goal.
• I have decreased my BMI by 22 points!
• I am 61.6 pounds until reaching an "overweight" BMI.
• I am 93.6 pounds until my goal!

My vacation is exactly THIRTY days away! I am so ready for it. When we go to Cozumel, they have a Mayan excursion you can take. It is for seven hours, and includes a great deal of walking and climbing. At 393 pounds before surgery, I would have never taken this before. I am so looking forward to doing this!

There was another excursion that involved a "zip line" which I wanted to do. I will do this next time. My weight is still too high for me to feel comfortable doing that. The next time I post a zip line picture you will see ME on it. (Give me another fifty pounds, and I will certainly be doing this!) Does that not look AWESOME???!!!

The other thing this "zip line" makes me think of is "the trolley." The trolley was something we had at 4-H Camp growing up. You had a "seat you sat on, but it is the same idea of the zip line. I went to 4-H Camp for nine years. I was always too big to ride it. I am looking forward to being able to do the zip line in the future. Having surgery was the first step in my life of not letting my weight hold me back (physically and emotionally) from doing things.

Weight and Other People's Pantries

I weighed in at 257.6 this morning. I am down 1.2 pounds! I worked out on the elliptical for ONE HOUR this morning! This is a personal record for me. The longest I have gone before was for fifty minutes. That has probably been at least four weeks ago. I burned 671 calories! The workout felt so good.

Now, onto the subject of other people's pantries. I have babysat for this family for right at three years. They are all normal "healthy" weights. My eyes really have been opened since having surgery to not only how I view food, but how I see that food impacts the lives of others. I am at their house at least once a week, but up to 7-8 times a month. I feel that I have gotten to know them pretty well. Here are a few things I noticed about them...

1. They have food that stays in their pantry for a long time. I'm talking "bad" type foods. Cookies...that will take them a month to consume (if they don't end up throwing them out because they are bad).
2. They eat fruit as a snack often.
3. Although the dad is a Chief Advertising Executive for a major fast food company, they maybe have it two times a month....if that.
4. They always have leftovers in their fridge. They seem very discerning about when they are full, and don't go back and get more just because it is there.
5. Physical activity is a part of their lives, but not a huge part. They exercise maybe two-three times a week.

It is just interesting to see the little things that can be done to help you achieve/maintain your goals. There are many things about myself that have changed since I had the DS.

1. I rarely have fast food. (Maybe 1-2 times a month. Usually that is chili from Wendy's or grilled chicken with no bun.)
2. Although I didn't exercise for the first 4 1/2 months, I am now a consistant exerciser.
3. When I buy food it lasts a whole lot longer. Granted my stomach size is much reduced, I could still eat a whole lot of something over the course of the day. I just don't do that.
4. Coke...I have not had a Coke since surgery. This is a huge deal to me. I was majorly addicted to Cokes. (I once calculated that based on the Cokes that I consumed each day, I had the potential to gain 54 pounds a year. How scary is that? What is even worse, after calculating that, it didn't make me stop drinking them.)

Surgery was not a major fix. Yes, it is a major help. I have to do my part. I really am trying.

120-159

I have looked on several different websites, and this seems to be the "range" for my height as far a proper weight. (The range depending on if you have a small, medium, or large frame.) I had originally picked in my head 130 as my goal weight. I am going to my PCP tomorrow, and want to talk with her about what she thinks my goal weight should be. I have not been below 200 pounds since before seventh grade, so many of these numbers I feel I could be comfortable with. I just am scared about being on the "high" end of the range. I know this is a long way off, but I do want to think about it some. I have also heard that your body finds a range on its own, and that is where your goal weight will be.