coolcatkimmie

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 Ok so signing in at least weekly has not happened, but still doing  well.  So much going on in my life right now, but so blessed to be feeling and looking great!  My oldest son has joined the Navy and my youngest turned 16, got his license and got a job, so we are super proud of them both!  I only have a couple more weeks until this semester is over and I have the summer to relax and prepare for my final semester this fall!  So ready for it to be done!  Go back for my 9 month apt next month and get back beef and pork, the last two remaining items left!  Still don't get hungry so no problems in that department.  I have only been sick a very few times in the last few months, so I'm very blessed!  The times I have been sick, I have attributed to being in a hurry and eating to fast.  I have had fun the last couple of weeks buying some cute summer dresses and also my first trip EVER to make a purchase at Victoria Secrets!  My husband surprised me today with a leather jacket with matching chaps, got the best compliment ever from the lady helping me try them on, I was seriously on cloud nine all day!!  Now to get my bike to go with the outfit!!!  Thinking a Harley would be a really Great graduation gift!!  Looking forward to a wonderful summer!  Hope all is going well!  I'll check back in when I get a chance!

Hello everyone!  I know it has been awhile, but lots going on with school, work, and family, but just know I think of my OH friends often and wonder how everyone is doing!  I am doing fabulous!!!  I feel like a million bucks!  I went in for my 6 mos appt and was down to 161 and all my labs were within normal limits.  He said I would probably lose about 10 more pounds and then it should slow down to a halt and I am perfectly fine with that!  I will have to post a pic later, I have to run to class, but actually had a few minutes to pop in and say hello!  Hope all is going well for everyone!  Heard at my group support meeting that people tend to have snacking issues around this time, but seem to be doing well in limiting my snacks.  I am going to try and make it at least a weekly routine to check in, but no promises until I'm out of school!  Have a wonderful and blessed day my friends!!!

Wow, I can't believe it has been over a month since I have been on here!  I have been really busy in the last few weeks.  Both Aaron and Jeremy are in band, one in college, the other in high school so between the two of them, I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  I am so thankful that I feel so wonderful and am able to do everything I want with the kids.  My diet is coming along.  Still going slow and trying new things.  I have only gotten sick a few times, and I think it was from eating to fast or not chewing it up well enough, because on every occasion, it was something that I had previously eaten or have eaten since and no troubles, so still just a learning game.  I started working with a personal trainer yesterday and stepped on the scale and I was down to 188.6.... I thought the scale was wrong. Since I don't weigh myself except for doctors visits or special gym days, it was a real treat to see that!  Have had to go to Goodwill and some yardsales to find clothes to fit.  My old stuff is way to big now.  I put on and wore a pair of pants that I had gotten from a yardsale when I was only a couple of weeks post op and they just fit over my butt but didn't even come close to fastening, so that was a big treat.  I try not to buy to many items in one size, because I don't know where I will level out.  Finally gave in and let my husband be part of the process instead of waiting on the big reveal when he comes home in February.  It is more fun to share a new outfit when I buy one than to make him wait til February.  Im sure it will still be a huge shock to see me in person, because he mainly just sees my face so there will still be some wow factor there.  I hope everyone is doing well!  I have missed getting on here and reading all the updates, but found that I can spend way to much time on here if I'm not careful and last month there just wasn't the time at all, but hopefully I can get back into the normal pace and keep up with all my new friends!  Hope everyone has a blessed rest of the week!

Wow a lot can happen in six weeks!!!  My computer has been on the fritz lately, as well as my phone, so no updates in a while!  But, I went to my 6 week post op appt yesterday and it was marvelous!  I was down to 205!  My friend came over tonight and did my measurements and Ive lots of inches!  The best part about it, was getting off my liquid diet!!! YAYAYAYAY!!  I still don't get hungry, but I do find that everything taste so sweet to me and I was living off of instant mashed potatoes as my mainstay for the last couple of weeks.  The first bite of solid food I had was a Ritz cracker!  It was the best one I have ever tasted.  I think it was more the crunch than anything.  I have decided that those can only come out every now and then, or I could one cracker myself into my size 22 pants again!!!  When I was at my appt, they told me about a product called BariWare.com, so I ordered a set.  It is portion control sized dish, well I should say dishes, there are two of them, but they are connected in a tray.  I am a gadget queen, so I had to order them!  But they are just on pre-order now, and the shipping cost is ridiculous, but I got them anyway, figured it would be worth it, as I have been looking for something like that and have not been able to find anything that was that perfect for me.  I got my little card that I can show to restaurants so I can get a reduced size meal.  I have started going to a body sculpting class once a week and I love it!  I have bought a couple of new items of clothing, because mine are getting very limited.  I have been working on weeding out my closet the last couple of days, I am having to emotionally detatch myself from some of my clothes.... Crazy how we can get comfortable in our clothes and not really want to change some of them.  I am in between sizes at the moment and am looking forward to buying more as time goes on, but I just dont want to buy to many in this size, because it would be a waste of money.  So I am trying to mix and match and make it look like I have more than a few outfits.  I did buy one shirt that was still just a tiggy small for me, but I liked it so it is waiting for me on further down on the losers bench.    I have decided that clothing lines should be ashamed of themselves!  Why in the world is there not a universal clothing size!  It is crazy that I can fit into some 11/12 brands and 16/18s of other brands.  But it really doesn't matter what size it is, I am just having fun trying stuff on, even if its tight and not the most attractive as of yet, it is fun knowing that in July I was in a 22 size pants and any size 11/12 14/16 was not going to go past my thighs and now I can button all of them up!!!!  I am usuing caution and just trying them on, like I said, I don't want to buy a bunch just to have to get rid of something else!!!  All is going well otherwise, except for Murphy and his laws seem to be hanging out with me lately.  Just to name a few top ones and some may have already been mentioned previously, cant remember when I wrote last, but two blown out tires, Jeremy backed into a tree, and came home to a rattlesnake on my front sidewalk after my walk last night!!!  So if anyone else has a vacation spot for Murphy, please send me the info and I'll send him!  I would suggest that you don't make it your own address!!!  LOL  I am so sleepy I need to get sign off.  I almost did't sign in, because I can literally spend hours on this site reading and absorbing, but it is midnight and I must stay on schedule, or I become a night owl and sleep all day!!!  Hope everyone is doing well!

Been a really busy week, George left again and is safely back in Iraq.  I have been at different appointments all week getting ready to start all of my dental work that I have put off for so long.  I have got some major stuff to be done and not looking forward to any of it, because I have dental phobia something terrible, but I am looking forward to one more piece of the puzzle fitting into place and my mouth being as healthy as the rest of me.  Today is George's birthday, so a great big happy birthday and I love you to him.  I did do something fun and exciting today.  It is my four week post-op day and I went and checked on getting a personal trainer at the gym.  I want to learn how to correctly do more than just the cardio machines at the gym, so I am going to get a few lessons from a trainer so I can expand my exercise regimen.  I have always loved the cardio machines and they will probably still always be my favorite, but I want to be able to mix things up and make sure that my body is getting the maximum benefits from my workouts, so that as I shed the pounds, I will be toning up as well.  One of the exciting things about going for my evaluation, is that she weighed and measured me!  I am down to 212.5.  I told her that I had not weighed but the one time at the doctor's office and she told me that she would cover it up and keep it a secret if I wanted her to, but I told her no, I was comfortable as long as when I was being weighed it was for a purpose, and as long as it wasn't at my house and I wasn't obsessing over it, it was fine.  So when I stepped on the scale and it said 212.5, I just started giggling!  That is right at 40 pounds all together pre and post op combined!!!  I went and bought a few workout outfits, and got to buy smaller sizes than what I am used to, so that was fun for once.  I am not grooving on the tighter workout shirts, but I am going to start doing a yoga class and figured it would be better to have the actual workout shirt instead of a regular tank top that is going to slide up and down as I move around!  I am very proud of my progress.  I did "block therapy" with my friend Joni tonight, and it has been a while since we have been able to walk together  because of heat and schedules, so we walked for almost an hour and a half just yapping away.  We did not keep count of how many laps we did, but time wise, I know I walk a mile in 20 minutes, so we did right at 4 miles or so.  I feel so good!  I just can't put into words how good it feels to have the energy to walk around the block for an hour and a half and still feel like a million dollars!  The weather was perfect, and it was good to get caught up on the latest news.  I can't believe it has already been four weeks since my surgery!  I go back for my next appointment on the 28th, so it will be exciting to see how much more melts away between now and then.  It is still hard to believe that in only about 2 1/2 months I have lost 40 pounds, thats like the big bag of food I buy for the dogs! I'm working my way to that under 200 pound goal!  I can't wait to check that one off!  I can almost check off the walking 30 minutes a day, but there are still some weeks where I miss a day or two, so not quite there yet!  Hopefully in the next few weeks, my gym routine will be a habit and something that I don't even think about not doing anymore!  Well I say gym, actually it should be just exercise in general, if I can't make it to the gym, but I can walk around my block, I will be just as content.  I just want to keep on moving and make it so much a part of my everyday routine that I don't even think twice about it. From now on, I think I will just write in once a week, there really are no major changes going on from day to day at this point, so think I will just choose to pick Thursdays to be my once a week blog, that way I can still keep up with it as the weeks pass by.

Not much going on the past few days.  Went to Commissary on Wed and picked up a few things try.  Still not grooving on the slimfast shakes, so trying to find other things with more protein.  Got some Fage greek yogurt and have experimented with it.  Added crystal light packets to it, and also my powdered peanut butter much better.  Plain it taste like sour cream to me, so I even put a spoon in my potato soup and it was yummy.  When I start eating more things when my diet advances, I am sure I will be able to find lots of different uses to add it into foods and smoothies.  Went down to see Aaron on Thursday and took him some food and got him some other stuff.  Went to this burrito place to eat with him, and the size of the burritos were huge!  I sipped on some broth from the chicken soup at subway next door, but we had fun just hanging out.  He wasn't feeling well and found out on friday at the clinic that he has a virus or strep, or possibly mono :(  He is feeling better, but they are still waiting on blood work to come back.  Hopefully it was just a virus, his strep came back negative. We have just been lazy and hanging out and went out with some friends last night since Jeremy had an away game.  Our time is quickly coming to an end, so I'm gonna soak up every lazy minute I can get!  George leaves on Tuesday to head back to Iraq.  I have some studying to do for a test on Monday and we are going to go to a movie or something with Jeremy, but kinda just enjoying not having any plans!

Had a different sensation hit me today!  NOT FUN!!!! I got up and ate cream of wheat for breakfast and did my usual quick pick up of the house while George took Jeremy to school.  Then when he got back we got ready and headed out to run some errands and have a fun day of sight seeing, well right before I left, I remembered I had forgotten to take my vitamin and calcium before breakfast, so I grabbed and took them and off we went.  WELL, about ten minutes down the road everything was fine and I was talking and then all the sudden a wave of nausea hit me and I broke out in a cold sweat!  I just kinda sat back and got quite and I thought it would pass.  We pulled into Toyota to have them look at the tire and see if it was under warranty, and while George was in the office talking to them, the nausea kept getting worse and worse and I started to dry heave.  I thought oh this is not going to be good, so I opened my door and realized if I did throw up, it was going to be on the pavement and that just wouldn't be nice for the next visitor, or I stood up to lean over the grass, and that did not help out my situation at all.  So I just sat down on the curb and dry heaved a few times and then George came out and it freaked him out.  I was white as a ghost and barely able to talk.  I got him  to get my water bottle and I took a few sips, actually hoping that it would go ahead and make me throw up, but instead, within a minute or two, I felt completely normal again.  So I got back in the car and we were going to go home and I felt fine so I told him to just go on to our next stop, but in mid route, the wave of nausea started again.  So I said I give up, take me home and let me lay down and see if this will go away.  So I just kept sipping my water and when we got home I laid down on the couch and fell asleep almost instantly.  When I woke up a couple of hours later, I was completely back to normal as if nothing had ever happened.  The only thing I can think of is that I did not have enough on my stomach when I took my vitamins and it made me sick.  Otherwise, nothing else was new or different.  But I recovered and though if this is what dumping syndrome feels like, I hope I never eat anything to cause it!  My calcium gummies do have some sugar in them, so maybe it could have been a combo of the empty stomach and the little bit of sugar, I don't know, they have never bothered me before and didn't bother me the rest of the day when I took them, but I made sure I had food on my stomach.  Crazy Crazy!!!  Was able to go back to WW tonight with Jeremy because his band practice is after school now and does not interfere with the meeting time.  I'm so proud of him, he has lost another 2.6 pounds.  I wasn't even tempted to say hey can I step on your scales and see how much I weigh, I'm still holding onto my no scales lifestyle and I love it!  It was so beautiful and cool here today, I stayed chilly most of the day and tonight when I did my 2 miles around the block, I had on my sweatshirt.  I keep wondering if one morning I'm going to wake up and my body temp be back to the way it was, or if I'm forever going to be one of those ladies that has a jacket with her at all times.  LOLOL.... still so crazy for me!!!

Another good lazy kinda day.  Got up and did some light cleaning and went to visit a friend in the hospital from an appendectomy.  Came home and decided to make my slimfast pudding!  I mixed it up with the slimfast and enough skim milk to equal out the 2 cups needed for the directions and then I blended it and poured it into four popcicle containers and put them in the freezer to make pudding pops, and the rest I left as just regular pudding.  I started watching a movie with George and Jeremy, but fell asleep in my chair, but man when I got up, my pudding pops were so good.  George and Jeremy even liked them.  They are creamy like a fudgecicle, but a little richer, but very satisfying and a good way to get in the extra protein and vitamins.  I also had instant potatoes tonight.... Yum.  It was like eating potato soup, I still have to keep things on the runny side, so it just hit the spot.  If I wasn't such a stickler for rules, I would have melted some cheese to go with it, but that is definitely not on my list, so none for me!!!!  It was nice to get in the different textures today.  I felt like I ate more regularly today.  I still never really get hungry, so I just go through the motions to make sure I'm getting in what I need to, but Im glad that what I am eating has all tasted very good to me.  The only thing that is not my favorite it the slimfast shakes, they are ok, just seems like it takes forever to drink a full one.Gonna check to see if I can find the smaller cans around here like I bought Aaron down south.  If so, I think that would be better, because I could drink two a day and they would both be completely cold when I drank them instead of the first half being cold and the second not so much.  And I just can't stand the thought of drinking some and putting it back in the fridge, that just one of those things for me.  I don't mind any of my other drinks going back in the fridge, but just not those!  I was looking at my calves today, and they look smaller.  Don't know if they are, but they look that way to me and my rings are getting loose, so I feel like I have completely lost all of my extra fluid that your body tends to hold on to when you can't drink that much and it makes you retain it.  I am able to take regular size drinks of water now, and pretty much drink that all day.  I can still only take a couple of drinks of juice at a time becaue it does that insta-full thing on me, but I love water and it has never been a problem for me to drink it.  I haven't had any soda yet,  I just don't crave it or anything, so I figure if I have been off of it this long, I might as well stay off of it.  I did have coffee at church yesterday morning, because I was about to freeze in Sunday School, but figure one cup a week won't get me hooked back on caffeine. My tea and coffee here at the house is decaf, so only if I'm out and about do I get the caffinated stuff.  I made my friend taste my tea the other day to make sure it was unsweet.  I am still scared of having a dumping syndrome episode, so I take every precaution when I'm out, not to put myself at risk accidently.

Today was the first time I got irritated because I couldn't do something physically.  Jeremy and I took home his friend and on the way home, a guy beside us motioned that our tire was low.  So we pulled into the next gas station and sure enough, it was not just low but flat. I have been changing my own tires since I started driving, because it was a requirement from my Dad that I know how to change a tire before I pulled out of the driveway for the first time.... Didn't go over so well that day, because I was all dolled up and ready for a date and he made me do it before I left, but it has been one of those things I have never had to call and ask anyone to help me with in the last 25 years either, so Im so glad he made me change my perfectly good inflated tire, just so I would know how!!!  But today, I knew I would not be able to get it done without pulling and straining and Jeremy had never done it, so I didn't feel the safest with teaching him at that moment.  Oh and did I mention is started pouring down rain!!!  So needless to say, I was irritated at not being able to do something all by myself, but thats just me.  So I bought a can of fix a flat and made it to where my husband was so him and Jeremy could change it.  AAArrrgggg.  Anyway after that was taken care of, we finally made it to our friends house where we were having a huge cook out.  I still can't believe how the wonderful smells and everyone eating all that wonderful food didn't just drive me insane, but it didn't.  I just sipped on my juice and water and ate my pudding and yogurt while I was chatting with all my friends.  It feels so good to be able to do stuff without food being the center of my enjoyment.  Before surgery, I would have grazed on the food all afternoon as we were yapping, but for it not to even be a factor still just blows my mind.  I'm sure it will change as time goes on, but I am perfectly content with this feeling for now.  Had SF chocolate pudding for the first time tonight, it was really yummy.  Going to try to make it with my slimfast tomorrrow and see how it taste.  Figure it is a good way to get in my slimfast and for it to be a little more appetizing.

Well today has been the ultimate LAZY day.  I have been in bed all day, not because I felt bad or anything, I have just enjoyed staying in my pjs all day not having any running around to do at all.  It has rained off and on all day, which we desperately needed.  Aaron did not come home, because they had so many weather advisories, so I told him not to even chance driving in.  He said they were supposed to get 6 feet of rain from the tropical storm.  The problem I found with being lazy today is that I havent gotten in very many calories today.  I have drank plenty, but just didn't feel hungry at all.  I tried to drink a slim fast, but got only got some of it down.  It just didn't taste good to me today.  I'm going to go fix me some soup now, that sounds pretty good.  I think that I just got worn out the last two days in the heat and needed a day of rest.  Looking forward to the long weekend and hanging with friends.  Hope everyone is doing well!  September losers your time is here!  Get ready!  We are here for support when you need us!