So last Thursday I was officially 4 months out and I made my personal goal of 60 pounds by that time - woohoo!!  And now I have hit another milestone - 169 lbs...I absolutely cannot believe it.  Nine more pounds and I will be at my high school weight.  There was only one time in my life when I weighed less than 160 and that was when I was sick and got down to 130 for like six months. 

It's bizarre to be this small again.  I was bra shopping over the weekend and got a glimpse of my back in the mirror and I absolutely can't believe how small my shoulders are now.  I finally feel like me again and it is so freakin' awesome!  Now, don't get me wrong, I still don't feel "thin," but at least I am back to feeling like myself.  And there are some times when I catch myself unexpectedly in a door reflection or something and I really *see* how small I am and at times like that I might exclaim something like "geez, I'm skinny now!"  Because even though I'm not skinny by most people's standards, I've been living in an obese body for ten years now - this shit feels skinny!!!!

So that's my Monday update.  It feels like a big one, even though I almost forgot to make it!  Today was my kids' first day of school and it was SUCH a busy day!

I can't believe it, but I will be four months out on Thursday!!!  I need to lose one more pound to be to my personal goal of 60 pounds since surgery.  I think I'll be able to do it, as I'm about to start the Couch to 5K thing with my husband, but we'll see.  As I said at three months when I was trying to reach 50 pounds down, I won't be crushed if it doesn't happen but it really would be SUCH a good feeling!

So, yeah, that puts me at 59 pounds down since the morning of surgery, weighing in at 172 pounds- wooooohoooooo!  I am so happy about my progress so far.  I was just looking at my tracking chart and even though it has felt slow at times, I have only had one week so far where I lost no weight at all, so that is pretty incredible.  I know that I am due for a stall soon, because it seems like no one makes it through this whole process without one, but I will try to cope with it and not freak out.  In the past, when on diets, I have hit stalls and just thrown up my hands like "Well, geez, just nevermind!"  I am so glad that my pouch won't allow me to do that!  It's like my little safety net for when times get hard. 

Although, I know that I have really changed my attitude about food and weight in general.  I don't crave cokes, I don't feel deprived of anything, I'm helping my husband to understand that losing weight does not have to equal being miserable.  These are things that I never thought I'd be able to say.  I'm proud of the distance I've come so far and I can't wait to see where I end up. 

Okay, so much for it slowing down - I lost 4 pounds last week!!  I haven't lost that much in a week in quite some time!  I was thinking I was going to start being a 1-2 pound a week girl, so this was awesome motivation.  I am also now solidly in size 12's, although I am going to continue to wear my sad little baggy-assed 14's because I don't have the moola to buy enough size 12's.  Although, I did go to the thrift store again this weekend and bought two more dress pants for $12, so that was cool. 

Also, for the first time people that DON'T know that I had WLS are starting to comment on my weight loss.  One woman said she thought she was going crazy for a while because every time she saw me I looked smaller, but now it was totally obvious so she felt like she could say something.  And another woman said this morning that I was becoming a skinny-mini.  Cool!  I know this means that it is really starting to show and I am so glad because I was getting a little bummed that no one outside of people that knew were saying anything. 

Here's to being closer to 150 than I am to 200!! 

I think I may just start posting an update once a month and then only update if I hit a major moment....like my next one will be getting into the 160's or size 12's, whichever comes first!!  I am now 177 pounds and have lost a total of 54 pounds in just over 3 months!  I am so happy with that progress and I am totally fine with it starting to slow down. 

I am a spreadsheet dork and I put in 2 pounds a week until my surgery anniversary and that would put me at 102 pounds...um, yeah, that's a little small.  So I put in two pounds a week for the next nine weeks and then 1 pound a week thereafter and that got me to 131 pounds at 1 year out.  That's a little smaller than I wanted to go, but that would allow a little room for a bounce at the end.  And now that I've put it in a spreadsheet it is obviously laid in stone...I will be 131 exactly by one year out.  Spreadsheets are magic.

As a side note, I now weigh less than I ever have in my adult life.  The lowest I can ever remember seeing before this is 178, so I have officially beat that number.  Woohoo!!

179lbs. babeeeeee!!!  And my size 14's are getting loose on me!  I can't believe it!  I thought I would be here for at least a month or so.  I guess my body had other plans though.  I've actually heard that the smaller you get, the faster the sizes go by.  So like, when you're a 12 and you lose just 7-10 pounds, that puts you into a 10.  Whereas when you're bigger it takes about 20 damn pounds to lose a size!!  Or at least it did me, maybe it's not that much for other people!

I am doing a lot better on the eating, I think.  I have been able to take in a lot more volume than I was a couple of weeks ago and I am just so grateful for that.  I think my PCP telling me that it was definitely not something mechanical (like a stricture) helped me to relax and push through the nausea.  I still get sick and yucky feeling after eating, but now I am able to wait 10 minutes or so and eat a little more instead of just giving up and waiting 3-4 more hours to try again.  As a result my protein intake is a LOT better and I have a lot more energy!!

Also, my PCP called me with the results of my labs while I was in Florida and it looks like I need to start taking iron or risk anemia and I also need to be extremely diligent about my B12.  I have been letting it slide here and there and she told me that I would have to go on weekly injections if it goes any lower.  It's still in the normal range right now, but it's low.  But the GREAT news from that call was that my A1c was normal!!!!  No diabetes!!!!  Woohoo!!!!!

I need to get some new mug shots...I mean progress pics...up on here.  I hope I'm able to see a big difference between last month and this one because it really feels like a HUGE difference.