Boy it’s been a long time since I’ve been here!  My home computer died and I finally replaced it.  Got myself a cute lil’ HP pavilion entertainment edition laptop.  I’m pleased with it – my credit card is not pleased but I am.  When I have to travel for work it will be nice to be able to take along an exercise DVD and play it on my laptop to get in some exercise at the hotel.  I despise exercise machines and with my laptop, I could pop in a Walk Away the Pounds DVD and follow it up with some pilates.  Cool, huh? 

So let’s see – what’s been going on with me….  Guess I’ll start with the weight loss front.  I was two years out last May.  Times really flies doesn’t it?  Seems just like yesterday I was dying to get my drain out!  Anyway, not too much to report on the weight loss front.  My all-time low was 157.5 but I had the typical small regain that everyone says happens at about two years.  I understand that a 10 to 15 pound regain is typical but thankfully, my regain was only about 8 to 10 pounds and my weight fluctuates between 163 and 168.  When Auntie Flo comes for her monthly visit, I pack on a “huge” amount of water weight - I look about six months pregnant, have awful back pain, feel like I about to split my slacks, even my thighs look bigger during this time.  A week after, I’m back to normal but it sucks to have to deal with that two weeks out of every month!  I suppose it’s always been that way but I was too big to notice the extra bloating when I was preop.  Anyway, bottom line – I am still struggling to get the last 30 or so pounds off and get to 135 (I’m 5’2”).  At this point, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that this may be it as far as weight loss goes until I start having plastics.  I’d love to get back below 160, but it is so freakin hard – many of you longer-term post-ops already know that. 

I have switched from Weight Watchers Core plan to flex points.  Without going into all the weight watchers details, suffice it to say that I am way too greedy to be on Core.  With Core, you don’t count anything but just “eat until your satisfied” from a specified list of permissible foods.  It’s like the honors system.  Well, unfortunately, there is nothing honorable about the way I could eat if left to my own devices; I could be “satisfied” grazing all day long.  So back to flex points.  It’s a better way to keep me honest.  I am not the best or most consistent food tracker in the world, but I am working on getting better with tracking all of my points.  I do the online version of weight watchers since I can’t really stomach meetings right now.  

I still struggle with pretzels, peanut butter, peanuts, crackers, and sugar free cookies.  I try not to have those things everyday, but I feel like I have them too often nonetheless.  When I do buy them, I only get a single-serving pack at the store because I do not trust myself to portion out a larger bag.  It goes back to my being way too greedy.  I still struggle with weekend grazing and “splurging.”  So bottom line, my eating could be a lot better than what it is, but it could also be a lot worse.  On the positive side, I am still completely “sugar-free, bread-free, red-meat free, and pork-free” for over two years now.  And I honestly don’t miss any of it!  I am still practically white rice and white pasta free – I can count on two hands the number of times I have had any over the past 2+ years.  I have oatmeal every work day (usually for lunch and usually with ½ cup fresh raspberries – YUM!!!!!), I have a protein shake for breakfast every work day, and I get in 80 ounces of water every work day – I say every “work day” because it can get ugly on weekends.  Also on the positive side, I take my vitamins and supplements every day – weekends included – and I generally eat pretty well.  It’s just frustrating to still be “dieting” yet not losing any weight but simply maintaining.  On the exercise front, exercise is going really well.  Diet.. meh – exercise… oh yeah!  I can do kick boxing, step aerobics, pilates, cardio dance with complex choreography, weight lifting, Leslie Sansone’s 5 mile walk DVD, her DVD’s with jogging intervals… all without a second thought.  God is so amazing! 

Let’s see what else.  I told my older sister for the 100^th time to stop asking me about my clothing size.  She’s always been the smallest sister but now that I am the smallest, she’s about to flip out.  *rolls eyes*  I’m still chronically single with no dates in site.  My car is being retarded – to the tune of about a grand in necessary repairs.  Oh well, it is ten years and at least I do not have a car payment.  I still have not updated my pics but I’ll get around to it… eventually.  School is about to restart and yes, it still sucks.  Thankfully I finish in May.  My mother has been in the hospital a couple of times this summer with various health issues, but she’s doing okay now relatively speaking.  My boss is still an idiot who would not know the truth or an actual day’s work if she fell over it.  I’m still trying to pay off that last credit card so I can buy a house in February or March.  I have not been in for any plastics consults yet.  I cannot get anything done until summer ’08 the earliest, so why get myself all excited now?  I did get my two front teeth bonded.  One was chipped and the other all uneven but they look pretty good now.  The dentist billed them as multi-surface fillings, so my dental insurance covered most of it.  

I guess that’s all the news that’s fit to print.  Thanks to all for the lovely notes!  Jesus loves you and wants to be your Savior today!  Until next time....