Mary W.

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I weighed myself today and I am down to 133 and a size 4 pants.  My body water percentage went up a percentage, and my muscle mass went down.  Darn....I haven't done my weight training consistently for a couple of weeks due to being sick.  Gotta get back to it.  My body fat percentage is around the same.  

But the real news is the call I received from my surgeon's office yesterday.  They said a Southeast Michigan magazine called, Health & Leisure is featuring my surgeon in an upcoming issue.  They wanted to know if I would be willing to be part of the article as a successful patient.  I am so excited about this!  Just goes to show that hard work and dedication always produce results beyond expectations.  I hope it comes to fruition!  Of course, if it does, I will let everyone know.  

Just got on my body comp scale today.  I have reached a major milestone.  I am officially, "normal" weight.  I weigh 136 with the following body composition numbers:

Body fat %:  28.8 (stabilized)
Body water %: 49.3 (up quite a bit)
Muscle mass:  92.4 (can't figure out why this number seems to vary so much)
BMR:  1310 (stabilizing but a bit lower)
Metabolic Age:  33 (down from over 50)
Bone Mass:  5.0 (this has not varied)

What I can't figure out is why I still keep losing so much weight.  I'm still losing about a pound a week.  Isn't that alot for someone that doesn't weigh that much?  I am not trying to lose any more weight, but I don't eat unhealthy food either.  I even had to scale back my workouts this past month because of work.  People keep telling me that I need to stop losing weight.  I don't think so only because the numbers don't indicate that I am too thin.

However, I am now out of my size 8's.  I even went into a Talbots and am wearing a 4 on the top and a 6 on the bottom.  

I have a consultation with a Plastic Surgeon on Tuesday.  I can't wait!!!  Obviously, since I'm not done losing, I can't plan any surgery.  But at least she can tell me what she thinks I can benefit from the most and how much it will cost.

Wow!  I'm really surprised that I lost 7 pounds in October!  I'm still losing alot it seems.  I am now comfortably fitting into size 8's.  The 10's are too big and the 12's are out of the question.  

I've also lost some inches in the past month.  

	2-Mar	13-Apr	29-May	29-Jun	20-Aug	1-Oct	1-Nov
Neck	15.50	14.25	13.00	13.00	12.75	12.75	12.50
chest	48.00	47.50	41.00	40.00	38.00		35.75
Waist	46.00	41.00	34.50	33.75	32.00	29.50	29.00
Hips	55.00	49.50	43.50	42.50	40.50	38.00	36.00
Biceps	17.25	15.50	14.00	13.00	12.25		11.75
Thighs	32.00	29.00	23.75	24.75	24.00		22.50
Calves	19.50	18.50	17.25	16.50	16.00		15.50
forearm		9.50	10.50	10.00			9.25
ankle				9.50	9.00		9.00

My brother saw me for the first time since surgery and he couldn't stop talking about how amazed he was.  He said he wouldn't even know it was me if we passed each other on the street.  

COSTCO WOW MOMENT
So, the other day I was at Costco.  The membership card has the member's picture on it.  I forgot about that, and had not changed my photo.  I have gotten a new driver's license.  Thankfully, I keep both the old one and the new one in my purse.  Because when I was checking out at Costco, the cashier looked at my picture on my card and said, "I don't want to be rude, but whose card is this."  Of course, it was MY CARD, but she didn't recognize my picture.  I told her "thank you!" and told her to wait a second while I looked in my purse to show her my old and new driver's licenses.  She was amazed!  How fun!

HIGH SCHOOL REUNION
I have been so excited for month's to attend my high school reunion.  I was so looking forward to it.  It was yesterday, and I had SUCH A GOOD TIME.  Everyone was telling me that I haven't changed at all (I wasn't heavy in high schoo.  In fact, I was a cheerleader).  I had on the most awesome dress ever (see my photos).  I got it from my friend and it fit perfectly and was exactly what I wanted when I was looking for something to purchase earlier.  I had my hair done with a hair extension wig and my makeup done.  All the guys were GA GA.  I was in "seventh heaven".  Check out my photos to see more.

So I had my 6 month post op appointment with my surgeon on October 1.  Please note, that its been 7 months since my surgery.  Just had to wait an additional month for my followup appointments because of work.  I was so very happy with the results of my appointment because my body fat percentage went way down and my muscle mass went way up!  Here are the results:

Weight:  147
Body Fat %:  28.9 (was 39.3 as of 8/4/07)
Muscle Mass:  104.5 (was 90.4 as of 8/4/07)

Just goes to show how incredibly valuable my weight training with my trainer has been.  I've also lost some more inches.  My surgeon only takes measurements for neck, waist and hips.

Neck:  12.75 (no change)
Waist:  29.?? (was at 30)
Hips:  38 (was at 40.5)


I am officially wearing a size 8.  Unfortunately, the suits I bought in a 12 a couple months ago are too big.  I may have worn them once or twice. 

My friend and I are meeting on Saturday to go shopping for the class reunion.  And I am meeting with my other friend on Friday to see the sequin dress she has that I might wear.  

Geez....I really need to update my avatar and put in a new picture.  The most recent picture of me is 30 pounds ago. 

My class reunion is on October 20.  So I have been looking through all the clothes catalogs I receive to get ideas for what I may want to wear.  I want to wait until about 2 weeks prior to the reunion so I know for sure what size I will wear.  I'm really excited about going.  Had I been at the weight I was at before this journey started, I wouldn't even think about going.  I would be too embarrassed.  I wasn't heavy in high school (although I thought I was).  I really want to wear my prom dress, which would be perfect, except that it is white.  I can't find any professionals to dye it and I've hear horror stories about people doing it themselves.  I think it would be so kewl to wear it, though, and it fits perfectly.  Its a perfect style too because it was classic when I had it made.  Oh well.  

I am so excited about seeing my girlfriends. We are still close, but don't get the opportunity to see each other very often.  None of them have seen me since before surgery.  Its always so interesting to see the shock on peoples' faces.  Sometimes its so extreme that its embarrassing. 

Got my new clothes today.  Whooo Hoo....am in a size 8 and a small top since I can't even remember when. 

Well, I've been having a busy summer, which explains my tardiness in updating.  There is just so much that I can't even remember everything.  I suppose the most important things to touch on are my measurements and new body composition numbers.  

As of August 4 (I know--I should have more recent info), my body composition is as follows:

Weight:  156.4 (highest weight was 234 and surgery weight was 218)
Body Fat %:  39.3 (highest was 52 and surgery % was 49.9)
Muscle Mass:  90.4 (this varies alot for some reason. At surgery it was 101.8 but on 7/2/07 it was 103.5)

Measurements: (as of 8/20)

Neck:  12.75 (15.5 as of 1/16/07)
Bicep: 12.25 (17.25 as of 1/16/07)
Forearm: 9.5 (11.5 as of 1/16/07)
Chest: 38 (48 as of 1/16/07)
Waist: 30 (46 as of 1/16/07)
Hips: 40.5 (54 as of 1/16/07)
Thigh: 24 (32 as of 1/16/07)  my waist is now smaller than thigh used to be.
Calf: 16 (19.5 as of 1/16/07)
Ankle: 9 

There have been many WOW moments.  Primarily the extreme reactions from people---and I mean extreme!  People are truly amazed at my transformation.  Many people use the same words---"You are just widdling down to nothing".  

The size 12 clothes I bought in my last post are already loose.  The 10's fit well.  I just got done buying a new round of clothes for Fall.  I bought those in a size 8.  I literally have NOTHING to wear for fall.  Not even a winter coat.  

I guess I need to upload a new picture since the most recent is about 25 pounds ago (35 if you go by the guessing game picture scale).  But that is just a guess because I haven't weighed myself in over a month.  I think I will just wait until my next post-op appointment on October 1.

I have been keeping up with going to my trainer.  I really enjoy that!

A couple of different times I have felt bumps that turned out to be bones that I didn't know about.  How funny!  One was my knee and one was my shoulder.

Well, my class reunion is coming up at the end of October.  FitDay calculates my weight at 125 by then.  I don't think that is realistic, though.  
We'll see.

HAIR LOSS:   I thought I was going to be lucky and not lose any hair because at 3 months I didn't have a problem.  Then sometime in my fourth month, I started seeing some long strands on my shirt.  Then it got more progressive to seeing alot of hair in my brush.  I just went and had my hair styles for a hair extension piece and I think my hairdresser got all the rest out, because it stopped now.  Who knows, maybe it will start again.  

CONTINUING WEIGHT LOSS:  One thing I have noticed for many months is one week a month I will lose many inches.  Not sure about the weight this past month yet, but it has been steady.  I can tell in my clothes when the inches drop off.  I will drop down to the next lowest size each month.  I read a profile on here once where the person listed what size she wore at each weight.  She was my same height so I recorded it.  In the 150's I noted that I will wear size 10's and 12's.  I have and am now in the 10's.  So the 140's will be size 10's and 8's....maybe even 6's (I don't have the notes in front of me right now).  My husband has never seen me this size.  I am a new person to him.  He constantly calls me "skinny woman".  I"ll take that comment with a smile, but would rather have him say "sexy woman."   Although, all the attention I am getting from other men is enough to indicate that.  I truly don't like that aspect.  Don't ask me why.  I'm just weird that way.

Stay tuned....

Officially cannot wear any more of my suits.  They are too big and look like it.  In fact, the photo of me on my profile wearing the black suit before and after is so big the pants just fall to the floor.    I don't want to spend money on expensive replacements so ordered some inexpensive suits and dress pants from metrostyle.com.  I am now wearing between a 10 and a 12 depending on the style.  So I ordered some clothes in a 12 and some in a 10.  They should arrive some time next week.

CEDAR POINT
Well, just got back from a week long trip to Cedar Point.  DH and I stayed in Camper Village in our RV.  I LOVE that RV.  Its so much fun being at Cedar Point in the RV.  Its the best way to go.  Needless to say, I didn't get enough nutrition while I was there.  Just too busy having fun.  I got TONS of exercise though.  I wear my pedometer and average about 20,000 steps per day.  I think I calculated 2,068 steps is one mile for me.  We spent alot of time at Soak City in the adult pool and went on one of the tube rides.  We met alot of interesting "drunk" people in that pool.  I finally got over my fear of going on Top Thrill Dragster and LOVED it!!!  I was so proud of myself.  I was so depressed about not being able to get over the needless fear of that ride.  I had conquered all the others and even that one once.  But I did it.  Its such a tremendous feeling of accomplishment!  I also did another Guessing Game.  They guessed the same weight this time as last time (165), but I was actually about 10 pounds lighter this time on their scale.  The last time, their scale showed 182 and this time it showed 171.  Their scale is off, though, because the last time I was at the doctor I weighed 168 and have lost more since then.  I can tell in my clothes.  Of course, it could just be muscle mass gain and fat mass loss. 

NEW DH JOB
Huge sorrow      DH got a new job that is going to require him to be out of town for 4 days out of every week.  I am so sad!  Its such a deep gut-wrenching pain to be without him.  I hope I will get used to it, but doubt I will.  I just don't want to fall into a depression.  More importantly, I don't want to be codependent either!  I will do my best.  I just hope my efforts are good enough to keep me out of the doldrums.  I need to pray for strength. 

MUSCLE MASS
So the last time I weighed was at my last post op visit on July 2nd.  I was 168.  But what was even more encouraging to me was how my body fat percentage fell and my muscle mass increased.  My body fat percentage went from 42.4% on June 6th to 38% on July 2nd (that's only 3% from the goal my post op doctor set for my fat percentage).  My muscle mass FINALLY is starting to go back up after falling for awhile.  But I concentrated really hard on getting alot of protein and doing my weight training more consistently.  I accomplished both.  So my muscle mass went from 95.6 to 103!   My measurements on 6/29 were as follows:

Neck:  13" (down 2.5" from 1/16)
Bicep: 13" (down 4.25" from 1/16)
Forearm: 10" (down 1.5" from 1/16)
Chest: 40" (down 8" from 1/16)
Waist:  32" (down 14" from 1/16)
Hips: 42" (down 12" from 1/16)
Thigh: 24.75 (down 7.25" from 1/16)
Calf: 16.5 (down 3" from 1/16)
Ankle: 9.5 (n/a)

NEW CLOTHES
Had to go buy clothes.  I was completely out of casual clothes (shorts, shirts).  I HATE shopping, so I really had to force myself.  I am now wearing a size 10 pants (some in size 12 depending on the style).  I am wearing a medium shirt.  And my shoe size is a 7....down from an 8.  I tell ya....it still amazes me how big my shoes have gotten.  I still really need some new bras, but I have some old ones that fit.  As of today, I also need some new suits for work.  They are now, really getting too baggy.  I just can't pull it off anymore. 

I've been slacking with regard to keeping my FitDay diary up to date.  I need to get back on track with that.  I bought a new recipe book, "Recipes for Life After Weight-Loss Surgery: Delicious Dishes for Nourishing the New You (Healthy Living Cookbooks)".   I made a couple of dishes from the book, which has nice pictures of most of the recipes.  However, I'm not too sure they are going to be as tasty as the book, "Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery."