Weight loss this month zero,actually I gained a couple pounds and I am up two.  My friends on facebook can attest I have been baking things that are on the sweet indulgence side for my husband and having some myself, banana split cake, pistachio delight cake, rhubarb pie, no bake cocoa cookies.  I bought a case of Chobani yesterday and this morning was Special K, almond milk and a yogurt for breakfast with  hopes of eating right again for the next dozen days.

Exercise just weekly dance class and one kettle ball session.   Sad to say I have not run since 4/28 and should do that. 

I am currently in holding pattern on a new job, after six months off from work I am signed with a contract to hire position and can start as soon as my drug test and background check return as clean.  I expect to hear something the next couple of days.  I am looking forward to a full paycheck again, the job is right up my alley too.

Now on shopping...why is it that one day I can go into a store and find a dozen things I like and a month later the same store yield zilch? I still have items in 24 that fit fine and I bought my first 14W in a suit jacket but the slacks are too tight, but same day I also bought a 16 and 18 that fit exactly the same as the 14W jacket.  SYMS on a redline sale, $600 worth of clothes for under $100.  I used to dread shopping there at 26W but the selection is much better now for the size range I currently wear and really nice stuff.

A month ago I bought a pair of size 18 black dress slacks on clearance for $11 that fit PERFECT.   Went back to the same store a week ago, same brand, same size and the brown ones looked bad.  Seven other pair went into the dressing room pile too.  The up side is that a year ago changing pants eight times would have been so exhausting that I would have sat in the room between changes and drowned my sorrows in a 48oz iced mocha latte with whipped on the way home.   I still had an iced coffee but it was a small with half and half, Splenda and no whipped.

Bras, the Victoria Secret's measuring staff in Buffalo NY STINKS.  I was there Sunday at 2pm.   She barely measured me and told me 38DD and  I said that had to be wrong she just told me to try the 38DD and if that did not work go up or down and see what fit better instead of double checking?  I know I can not fill out DD and was expecting 40 42 or 44.  If it had not been for a lost person(found later wander outside store) I would have spoke with a manager.  Went to Marshalls and got a nice 42 D.

I also ordered four suits on Roaman's, nice thing about being on the low side of plus is a healthy stock of clearance items in 14 to 20.

Dance recital is in a week

I turned 44 last week and weigh less than I have my entire adult life.  Even though there are other types of surgeries that boast better success I would not change the type I had, I am very happy with it even though things have slowed significantly.

Well, 245 to 238 a mild 7 pounds but better than a kick in the gut and probably thanks to being sick over two weeks and I have rebounded 2 this morning with that time of month coming very soon so I don't count the gain.   I am not as obsessive about weighing as I used to be.  Other than my weekly check I usually weigh with clothes on now rather than disrobing for an accurate number.  I am also not as obsessed with visiting this site and I used to be, which is good and bad at the same time.

I used the gift card mom gave me for Christmas to buy a kettle-ball, a clearance running outfit and a new bra.  I slacked a lot on running but got back into it with a four mile stint yesterday, my redeeming grace for exercise is a weekly hip-hop class I have not missed a single week of.  After my run I stopped to buy a kettle-ball bought myself a Rock-star iced latte with 8 grams of protein, a chocolate bar of which I had 1 square of 12  for about 300 calories total. 

This is an excellent blog by a Kettle-ball instructor, I am guilty of both diet denial and calorie amnesia, funny how it really hit home, I was looking for exercise advise and got a dietary kick in the butt on not counting my calories and little cheats here and there.  http://www.alysiagadson.com/kettleblog/Entries/2009/12/4_Diet_Denial_and_Calorie_Amnesia.html

Confession -  I have hit the chip and peanut M&M's and coffee ice cream as more than a rare treat, and made no bake cocoa cookies three times.  I eat fried foods and put more butter in my dishes than is really needed and I am not getting in enough fruit and vegetables.  Probably about  a dozen servings of each which is easily several pounds.

I have not been taking my vitamins (but I did just now) like I should but I have done well with probiotics and have to say they have done wonders for my regularity no more constipation(TMI lol?).

The fear of nine month pictures shall have me working extra hard to stick to the program.

Two pounds gone this month, but effortless. I was not trying or tracking food, just doing what felt natural. 

The size 18 suit jacket I bought a month ago fits and buttons and I bought size 18 slacks to go with it. Jeans that were snug are now pretty lose and I know only two pounds is not enough to make  slacks and a jacket fit so there is still some redistribution going on.

 I have run 5k pretty consistantly at least once a week sometimes two to three times, today it was raining and only a mile and a half.

I had a wave of nausea after some chewable vitamins one day but I did not get sick, went to the movie theater and enjoyed some popcorn and a few sips of soda.  Enjoyed Hummus and Feta on whole grain bread pretty regularly.  Bread seems to no longer bother me at all and neither does a few sips of fountain soda. 

I have done well keeping Lucky Charms out of my life, I did enjoy some Cocoa Krispies last night simply because they were there and I felt like something sweet.  I really want to break this 240 mark, it is where I spent most of my life post high school pre-pregnancy.

I can't really complain about slow loss since I am not tracking my food or exercising daily.  All in all I am pretty happy with the VSG.  Hopefully I can become employed again soon. Severance pay is running out and it is time to consider a no-so-good job so long as it is work.

Four, One, One, Zero.  Another six pound month.  Slower than I would like but I will take it.

Never did pictures for month five, need to get after my daughter to do the six month ones.  The jeans I squeezed into for the month three photo are now getting loose after I wear them and almost able to be pulled over the hip without being undone.

Husband's cousin passed away suddenly from complications of a heart surgery a month ago and the local memorial service was Saturday.  I bought a size 18 blazer on clearance, the 22 slacks were on the last notch of the belt and still loose and the legs were baggy.  It would not button but it will soon and could not bring myself to waste money on a correct fit.   I couple people I had not seen in a while noticed and said I looked great and they were proud of me.

Hairdresser Friday afternoon,  I love her so I must go every two months.  The reaction from an old friend that had not seen me in a year was priceless, she said "OMG OMG You look like a different person, if she did not use your name I would not have recognized you."  She is shorter but a lightweight that is hoping to have RNY around June.

Went to Subway with my daughter for dinner Friday night, effortless maneuvering in the booth, fitting forward, fitting sideways.  She ate and I played with my new Sony over the ear ear-buds.

Went to church and had a half dozen people who saw me 12 pounds ago and said nothing tell me I looked fabulous.  Pastors wife, pastor, mother of girls I grew up with and a few others.  The look of shock on their faces when I said 120 lost was priceless. 

This was my first month with consistent exercise, although there was a lower than desired loss my fitness level has increased and I think my tummy is down and my waist is tighter.  Just finished week eight of couch to 5k and I can run 2.2 miles without stopping in about 30 minutes, eight weeks ago maintaining a jog for one minute was rough.

Went to the gym I was working out at preop and ran my couch to 5k W8D3 on the treadmill.   I had my measurements done at 347, my high was 365 and at surgery I was 321 the morning of my surgery.  They redid the measurements overall quite a few inches and I don't think she pulled as tight as the owner did.  They said my lean body mass was 117 which is just crazy talk, I know it has to be higher, there is absolutely no way on earth that 140 would be a reasonable weight for this body.

	1/8/2009	2/22/2010	Loss
Bust	55	46.5	(8.5)
Waist	55	43	(12.0)
Abdomen	66	51	(15.0)
Hip	62	56	(6.0)
Thigh	32.5	27	(5.5)
Arm	14.5	13.5	(1.0)
Weight	347	247	(100.0)

The last thing I can think to say is my complexion has made amazing strides.  Two years ago with my diabetes, anemia and thyroid I was ghostly or jaundice looking at times.  Since upping the exercise I have a nice red well circulated glow to my face.  The improved circulation has decreased the appearance of some of the wrinkles and given me an overall more even tone.

I was hoping to be closer to 200 than 250 by now, but the 240s are not so bad.  I will take it.

Seven weeks of running and feeling great! 

Another week with only a one pound loss but I don't care because the feeling of running almost two miles at a time makes me feel incredibly accomplished at the end of each session and that one pound met another goal.  Here is the chart...

Range	Meaning
less than 18.5	Underweight
18.5 - 24.9	Normal
25.0 - 29.9	Overweight
30.0 - 39.9	Obese
40.0 - 50	Extremely Obese
over 50	Super Obese

Good thing the surgery is already done with... 
 

I started my journey near and possibly over 60 bmi which is Super Super Obese as I was dieting three weeks before I got a scale.  With a BMI of 39.9 I am only obese instead of the required extremely obese of 40.0  With no comorbidities I no longer meet the requirements for my insurance company to cover my surgery.

I would need two co-morbidities to qualify which thanks to weight loss I no longer have.

Overweight here I come...

Sleeves rock.