I had a really bad Friday last week. Some things happened at work that left me feeling less than appreciated by my team. Then at lunch, my car was hit while it was parked and I was in a store. Whomever did it didn't leave a note and the damage is probably $500-600. My deductible is $500, so I'll just have to live with it. The icing on the cake was one of Michael's Christmas gifts arrived incomplete. I spent 42 minutes on hold to find out the missing piece was on back order. Would've been nice if someone would have called, emailed or put a note in the package. But I guess as the consumer that was just too much to expect. I completely lost it and started crying at my office. I rarely cry, but crying at the office? Ugh! I'll never live it down.

I spent the weekend trying to shake off the crap. And did pretty good. Monday, I went into work for a little bit to get some things done. I came home just before noon, Michael and I went to lunch and decided to go look at cars for me. I can't buy anything until my PS is paid off in February or March, but I thought I'd start researching.

Christmas was perfectly low key. My mom and stepdad came over for presents and brunch and were gone by 1pm. The rest of the day, Michael and I spent hanging out, napping and watching favorite movies.

Today was back to work. I had a panic attack driving in because I knew today was the first time I may have to see some of the people that witnessed my meltdown over the botched Christmas gift on Friday. Fortunately, no one showed up, so I panicked for nothing. And will likely get to repeat the same panic tomorrow, Friday and Monday until everyone is back in the office next Wednesday.

Things were fine at the office. I worked until about 3:30 getting a head start on some projects for January and February. Then, I left to go home, change and go spend some of my Christmas gift cards. Driving home, I felt horrible. I was trembling and having heart palpitations. Even though I'd had a properly balanced lunch, I wrote it off as a blood sugar incident. When I got home I had some turkey pepperoni and cheese. Everything seemed to balance out. I changed clothes and headed for the mall.

I bought two pairs of Lucky jeans. One pair was included in the 1/2 off sale they have going on. I can't believe I can wear a size 2 Lucky jeans. It's so completely bizarre and foreign to me. I bought two fleece jackets to keep in the cars for when we go into a restaurant and it's cold. And I bought two pairs of shoes at the big DSW clearance. We had dinner while we were out and then stopped at the grocery store on the way home. And when we got home, I was trembling again. So, I don't know if this is a nutritional issue or if I'm just freaking out. It occurred to me earlier today that this Friday would have been my dad's 60th birthday.

I hate feeling like I don't have control over my body. It takes me back to the pre-op days when I'd gain weight at the drop of a hat and could never take it off. I hate being the person that wishes life away, but I just need to get past this week.

On Friday afternoon, my 2 year post-op lab results were in the mail. Everything is within range with the exception of my Iron Serum. That is actually high. My reading is 149. The range is 35-145, so I'm barely over and it's so rare for a post-op to have high iron, I'm not going to knock it.

Since I know I'll get questions on it, here's my vitamin regimen:
Daily: 2 Citracal Creamy Bites, 4 Optisource chewable multi-vitamins, 4 Phytomega Omega-3 capsules. I take a pill and wait an hour with my entire regimen to allow for maximum absorption.
Twice monthly: 1 cc B-12 injection into my deltoid.

One year ago today, I arrived at my goal weight of 144. I'd had a 9 week stall at 147, went to London for 9 days on vacation and voila! got back to the states at goal!

I know we're all fearful of figuring out the maintaining thing. I was no different. I'm not the best example because I kept losing, but here I am one year later weighing 133.

The one thing that is key for me is exercise. Not being able to exercise after my PS, I was up to 138. I'm on the way back down now and look forward to hovering between 130-132 again. I started the couch to 5K with Loralea and Julie last week to help me get back down in my normal range and on the road to a marathon.

So, the purpose of my post is to just let everyone know it's possible. I'm not, nor will I ever claim to be, a model patient, but I've figured out what works for me. For you newbies...track your food, exercise and weight loss so you can recognize trends to learn what works for your new body and if you realize you're starting to slip, re-implement that plan. We've all been blessed with an awesome tool, let's never forget that.

I had an appointment with my PCP and a follow-up with my plastic surgeon on Friday. My PCP visit was to have my blood work done and get a referral for a bone density scan. It was the first time he'd seen me since my plastics and he was stunned at how well everything turned out. I had to fill 5 vials of blood, so that wasn't fun. Hopefully all of my levels are good. I should have my lab report back on Wednesday.

My follow-up with my PS was excellent. He's really happy with everything - as am I. He expressed desire to use my before and afters on his web site. I'm a little nervous about that, but I signed the release. When I was looking for surgeons, I could never find any before pictures of someone who looked like me, so maybe it will help someone else get an idea of the results they can expect. I finally remembered to ask how much tissue he removed. He took 3.5 lbs. off of me. I also found out that he did some lipo on my butt to help my contour...that explains the big bruises I had on my butt.

My weight had been at 137 for a couple weeks. I wasn't happy about it at all but kept trying to tell myself it was going to take a few weeks of getting back in the exercise routine to get my metabolism back up and the weight back down. I really wasn't happy about 137 when I took into account having 3.5 lbs. cut off. That meant I was up 8.5 lbs. from my morning of PS weight. Thankfully, I got on the scale this morning and weighed 133, so I'm getting there.

Last night was my company holiday party. The last time I attended a company holiday party was 3 weeks post-RNY, so there were many colleagues' spouses that expected I still weighed in the neighborhood of 225 lbs. The reactions were bizarre because I'm so used to this body being old news. The only downside of the party is my breasts are still very tender from PS and for some reason people think they need to give you bear hugs at an event like that. I kept trying to figure out a way to ask people to be gentle, but it was hopeless.

I still have moments of obsession - like wondering if I can get down to 126.5 so I can officially be half the woman I used to be or thinking about Victoria Beckham and her 23" waist and wondering what exercises I could do to take another 4" off - but I'm trying to appreciate how far I've come and how great I feel. I was thinking about it the other day and Tuesday will be one year since I hit my goal weight of 144, so I'll have a year of positive history behind me. I just need to keep doing what I'm doing and hopefully I can be a long-term success.