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Well it's been a super long time since I've posted in here and a lot has changed! I became a mother- to what I like to think of as the most amazing cutest 7 week old little boy ever :-)- something I never thought possible before surgery ( due to having a severe case of pcos) however during the process of being pregnant I lost the basics and the drive and stopped focusing on what I had focused years of my life on since surgery- being fit and eating healthy. So once again my journey has began again 20 lbs heavier- granted this May not seem like much it's quite a bit for me. Starting tomorrow I'm beginning the 5 day pouch test- in hopes of getting back to the basics and testing my pouch. I've began working out again and have hopes of getting back up to running 5+ miles at a time. It will be once again a hard- slow process but I have faith in myself and great hopes for the future!!!

Hi Everyone! It's been a LONG time since I've posted/been on obesity help. First of all I'm so sorry I've been away for so long! Life... has taken its course. Like my physical body life has changed for me in many ways. I'm no longer engaged, and have not been for about 6 months plus now. Things happen, but it's all for the best, and I'm happy with where life has taken me. Currently I'm weighing in at 140. I feel good about how I look, and still have goals with where I want to be body wise. I never once dreamed that I would be as small as I am.
I'll throw some pictures up to update on what I look like.
Surgery has given me another chance at life. I don't regret it, however I don't deny that I wish I would have never gotten to the point of medically actually needing it.
The dating world is weird, especially after losing as much as I've lot...
158 lbs of losing, that's more than even me!

I have videos on youtube if anyone wants to check them out. The most recent is a showing skin one.
youtube user name: AmburReichard

Hope all is well with my obesityhelp friends, and best of luck to everyone out there!

I had my "9 month" visit with my surgeon on 7-19. (Even though I was 10 months out)....
I told him about the occasional pain that I would get in my abdomen which would be a moving pain. When I first got it about 4-5 months ago I called the surgeons office and talked to his PA, she said since I was not having any issues with my stools, and everything was regular that I shouldn't worry about it.... So I didn't. She passed it off as possible gas. However Monday I ended up missing work because the pain was unbearable. The pain would generally originate around my belly button and move all over my abdomen, and would mostly worsen when I extended my body, so the best positon for me was laying down fetal position. I brought it up at the very end of our appointment, just to ask him if I should take something to help with the rolling gas. He however said that it did not sound like gas.
That day I had an ultra sound to check on my gallbladder, luckily I had no stones! So yay to havig a gallbladder still! However reguardless I was going to have surgery to find out if I had an internal hernia. When they went it they found pockets to where a couple internal hernias would form, they also found built up scar tissue. They fixed both.
So here I am! Nauseous, from the anesthia/pain meds. (Which I refuse to take) I almost barfed from whatever I've been taking. Then again since the beginning I've been nauseous!

I'm doing good, sore but good, and should be able to return to work in 1-2 days!

I told myself before I had surgery...... "I just want to have surgery and be done with this waiting game"............
I told myself as soon as I had surgery......"I just want to be 200 lbs and be happy"
I told myself as soon as I was 199.9 lbs............"I just want to be at my goal weight and maintaining"
......................................................
I tell myself at 154-157 lbs that I ..................... AM IRRITATED!

I'm completely happy with my weight. My goal? 140? 150? I have no idea.............. All I know is I'm happy being a size 8/10 pant and wearing a size M/L shirt........

BUT

Every time I get on the scale............
And see "Hey I'm 154"......... and then a few days later..........."OH CRAP I'm 157"........ I freak!


Then...... I sit there and criticize everything I've stuck in my mouth those past few days.......
And some days I NEED TO! Others I don't.

When I first started this journey it was so easy to say NO TO EVERYTHING.........

And now, it's much harder. I'm not saying Ive lost my willpower or my drive..... 
However I am saying that sometimes I lose sight of it.

I ask myself......How do I regain sight of it in those dark trying times?

................
That's a question only I can answer, because I need to find something that works for me!

I'm so deathly scared of going back, and having those people who criticized me say "I knew she'd gain it back"

.................
Maybe I shouldn't worry about what they think......(we all say we don't care but a part of us does)
.............
But..........Even though I know I somewhat do, I also know that this needs to be for me! ... That I need to work on this for me!

I really do hope and pray that I can learn from my mistakes of the past, and live my life not forgetting, but learning........







On a completely different off note.........
I GOT ENGAGED!




TO THE MOST AMAZING MAN



WHO LOVES AND SPOILS ME ROTTEN, EVEN PRIOR TO KNOWING I WAS CONTEMPLATING SURGERY



AND I COULDNT BE ANY HAPPIER

I feel AMAZING! I know I always say that, but it's true. I do feel amazing, and don't get me wrong, I have my bad days, but when I have those days I look at the positive.. and this is where it gets me! SMILING!
I'm so proud of myself! I've been listening/watching/feeling my body and what it wants/needs! It's a great feeling to know your full without having to feel OMGOSH unbutton my pants and stick out my gut full!
I'm stoked on so many things! Looking back I don't remember if I ever posted that I had won the Ultimate Scale down! Go me! YAY! Starting in May they have the down town run around in my city. There are two races, 2.2, and 5. My goal is the 5 one. I can easily run 2.2 miles without stopping in about 20 mins... WOW, did I just say that? I never thought those words would come out of my mouth! .....
Running.. I LOVE IT! I do it for FUN! So where am I weight wise!? 156 lbs! OH YES! I think in my previous blog I put 154, where I ment to put 158. I have no idea where my mind was then! Reguardless.... My goal is now 140 lbs! I'm 31 weeks out! 123 lbs since surgery... and 144 lbs since my highest weight!

So pictures! Here we go!

Hey Everyone! It's been a long time since I've wrote a blog on here! At least it feels like it! So where am I life wise? First of all I'm living in a dream world life wise! Why you ask? It's all because I feel amazing about myself. Yes this surgery has changed what I look like physically.... but it's also c hanged my whole life! I don't find myself as moody as I was prior, instead I find myself happy to do those small things that use to annoy the crap out of me. It's funny that even though your changing physicaly that you also change emotionally. I'm much more confident in everything I do. I really do mean everything! My job, my workouts, my eating habbits, my social life.
I never want to forget the person that I was, because I AM THAT PERSON! I just changed my outlook on life, my habbits, but that 298lb girl IS STILL ME, she's just a thinner 154 lbs woman with more confidence.

I'm 7 months post op, where am I now? I'm still working out as hard core as I did in the beginning, but it's not because
"I HAVE TO" .... its.... because I WANT TO! I absolutly ENJOY IT! Every single minute of it..... well........there are times where I push myself so hard I feel myself getting mad and wanting to stop, but once I push through and get to my goal I feel like I have climbed mount everest! 
Food wise how am I doing? AMAZING, not all the time, oh trust me not all the time. The way I look at my relationship with food is the exact same way I look at my relationship with God. I'm never going to be perfect, and that's ok, because the goal is to work on it, just like I work on my personal relationship with god, and some things I succeed in and others I need to work on. I feel just like my relationship with God that this will be a life long relationship with food, and having weekly goals will help keep me on track. What's my goal this week? Portion sizes! Yes, I know portion size right? Just because I can only eat a certain amount doesnt mean that I can't over eat! I've realized that and have started working on making sure to stop when enough is enough.

How do I percieve myself? People tell me I'm "tiny"... I disagree, I believe I'm average and still feel like I have some chunk to me, but I know I'm not fat anymore. I have no idea when I went from believing I was still a BIG girl to realizing that I wasn't big, but I was average!?! Reguardless I'm so happy to feel that!  I'm finally in a normal BMI range! You hear that world... I"M IN THE NATIONAL STANDARD!

I actually FEEL ATTRACTIVE! Like people actually want to look at me!
Compliments are still hard for me to take, but It's amazing to get some!

So everyone, this is my life........
A life I wouldn't trade for ANY OTHER....... a life where I'm my achiever of goals.....just put some hard work into it... and I'll get there with time!

Woo hoo! I'm almost 6 months out! 9 more days! I can't believe it! I never would have expected to be this close to my goal weight at barely 6 months out! At first my goal weight was 165, but due to being so close to it (166 as of today), I decided to move it down to 150. And maybe 145! OH! And today i was able to fit into a size 10 pants! Woo hoo!
Anyway, I havent done an update in a long time! So this is where I am!
Life is amazing! Seriously amazing! I'm stoked! I wouldnt have thought I could be this happy in a long time! And its all thanks to this amazing tool!
:)
Life is GOOD!

It's week 22! I'm uber happy with where I am, and where I will go! Heres a vid!

I knew it would be, oh man did I know it would be. I understood my feelings would be everywhere, that I would have to take vitamines, have trouble with certain foods, eating would be completely different, and my habbits would have to change.
I never thought that I would get to the point of being concerned if my calories go over or get close to 1000 a day!
I had an issue last week......
First of all I keep a food diary, so I know how much protein I'm getting and how many calories I'm consuming on a daily basis.
I had called my nutritionist asking her how many calories I should be consuming a day at 4 months out. Her reply was 600-at the most 800. Ok, that's cool, I can do that.
At the gym I scared a friend of mine, lately I had been having these "head rushes" where my vision would go black, the room would spin, and everything would seem distorted. This gen occured when I would stand up. I took it to moving to fast. It had been happening on and off nothing to major. Monday this week it happened again, but it wouldn't stop. I'd sit down, think I was good, then stand up and bam again, there it would be, it did this for about 5 mins.
I called my surgeons office on the way home from the gym that day. My blood work came out amazing, nothing there, she asked questions about how much I weighed, how many calories I was eating, protein etc. I told her all, minimum of 60 protein, 600-800 (rarely 800) daily on calories. I then told her I worked out gen a minimum of an hour and a half a day, with possibily a day off break. She said it sounds like my blood pressure and that I need my calories to be upped. I called my dietician, told her the same story, she was very skeptical about my working out. Apparently most wls patients that they've had stop working out around this time out  (which is sad to hear). I then had to stop her and tell her very seriously that I infact do work out that much. RIght away she told me oh, then you need 1000-1200 calories a day.
Food diary, easy.
Working out, piece of cake.
Healthy food choices, alright done!
Upping my calories freaks me out! I know it's something I have to do, I just feel so abnormaly weird about it. I know I shouldn't. Medically they told me to up them, and that's good right? That I work out enough to need more calories, but my mind makes it so hard. I feel almost as if I'm having 1000 a day now what's it going to be like in 12 months?
The hardest part of this journey is the mental part of everything...........
I know we all have to work through it,
but I realize that I have a problem....... and It's something I def. have to work through.

So I've officially made it into a size 12 pants! Woo Hoo right? The last time I can remember being in this size of pants was 8 years ago, possibly 9. From what I've read pant sizes vary 20 lbs. I'm on the higher side of the 12's, but hey I'll take what I can get! There's a tiny muffin top going on, but nothing that's not manageable!
I'm wanting to make it to 180, but truthfully, I'm more stoked about 170. That's the last weight I can remember feeling ok about when I was younger. Not good but ok! Granted I do know that its not always greener when you get to where you think you'll be! I'm sure I'll want more once I get there........ but goals right? I/we all need goals!
Ugh I think I'm getting a cold! Sneezing, sniffling....... it's a pain!
Life's going good...... things are going good..... food intake awesome, exercise awesome, food diary awesome!
So yay right?!