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I've still go a ways to go until I reach & then plan to exceed my goal weight of 160 pounds.  I'm almost 5'9 so that was a good weight for me 10 years ago when I was actually that size.  I do weigh ins every Friday & it's official I've lost from 282 to 232 so 50 pounds gone.  I haven't been at this weight in about 4 years prior to my hysterectomy.  I'm feeling great these days, I'm more active, enjoy doing more with my family, & have become somewhat of an obsessive house cleaning nut...before surgery I let lots of things that needed to be done slide, I still have an endless list but I do try to work on something around the house every day.  Anyway I'm NOT an expert, I don't have all the answers & I'm learning.  The one thing I am a vet at is trying to lose weight as I've been up & down with that my entire life.  I can not wait to lose 50 more & do another comparison but here's just a few of the things I've learned thus far not in any particular order with the exception of #1 as that's most important to me personally.

1. Take time to pray & thank God daily for all my blessings & this surgery.

2. Get out & live, stop being ashamed- I'm my own worst critic, stop being self conscious, being active & enjoying my family & pets is fun.  Be KIND to myself & stop seeing the fat girl in the mirror I'm losing & not where I was in the beginning.

3. Patience is a virtue weight loss takes time but I am losing faster than I realize.  Even if I stall what I've lost so far is amazing.

4. Don't look at the food plan as a diet or what I can't have but rather as eating healthy & making better choices for life.

5. Exercise 5-6 days a week is a MUST it relieves stress & helps me lose & feel better.  View exercise as a must do like taking a bath or brushing my teeth.

6. Do not spend a lot of $ on clothes.  I have smaller sizes on hand already from my up & down weight & I've only bought a few new shirts & work-out clothes.  Don't invest a lot of $ on clothes until goal but DO wear things that fit; fat clothes make you look fat.  My fav articles of clothing so far are shrugs & push up bras; boobs shrink but push up bras are awesome.  Shrugs hide my jiggly angel wing arms.

7. Document progress w pics & measuring tape & keep a journal for daily food intake & exercise- mine's just a plain jane notebook but seeing what I eat & having to write it down keeps me on track. Here's a post of mine from the other day documenting my loss so far http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/VSG/5256521/Pics-are-important-to-track-progress-heres-a-few-of-mine/ I know I'm still big but look at the comparison of my before to now progress...

8. Protein shakes are very important, they help with loss & help stave off hunger.  My body fortress whey protein vanilla mixed with 1 cup 1% milk & 1/2 banana is my dessert.

9. Crystal light & water are my life time soft drinks now.  There is a great debate over being able to drink diet sodas but my Doc said none ever so I'm sticking to his words & it works for me.  I don't miss Dr. Pepper anymore & I drink decaff sweetened with splenda tea now instead of sweet iced tea.

10. NEVER use the excuse that eating healthy costs more.  Fast food trips when added up over a month are very costly.  Healthy foods make me feel healthy.

11. Bask in all the glories of weight loss - fitting into the tub without my butt & thighs touching the sides, wearing normal shoes, wearing a belt, not having to wear necklace extenders, wearing smaller sized clothing...stuff I guess skinny folks who've never had a weight problem take for granted.

12. Be happy, positive & kind & smile- you get what you give in life, not from everyone but more or less if you're kind to others they will be kind to you.

13. I have to take my vitamins every day or I'll be tired.  On days when I am tired it's okay to take cat naps if I can & don't be mad at myself if I do take a nap break.

My list so far & as I mentioned not in any particular order & let me again mention I'm NO expert & realize I'm still new.  Can't wait to lose 50 more & compare that progress to now.

Thanking God every day for the blessings in my life Psalm 50

If you have children, if you have a husband, if you have furbabies; Happy Mother's Day!  Tomorrow I plan to go to church for the first time in a long time.  I live by faith but I am ashamed to admit that I was so ashamed of all the weight I'd gained that I stopped even going to church.  God doesn't care how big I was/am but after my weight being up & down even though God loves me as I am I didn't want to deal with all the stares & whispers.  Yeah, even church ladies unfortunately do that.  It is my sin that I stopped going to church but I did have a lot of health problems that made me not feel good as well; hysterectomy with complications, thyroid issues, kidney issues -all of which required hospital stays, but each and every time our preacher & close church friends were there; so it's my sin for not going back until now.  I can finally fit back in some of my older dresses now as I had a try on session yesterday morning, but there are several still that I can't wait to be able to wear again; there are also some that are too large & are being sent to the foundry-a thrift shop ran by a christian group that supports and cares for recovering drug addicts.  I will also be visiting my Mom & my Mom-in-Law tomorrow.  Last year I spent Mother's day at Children's hospital with my daughter as she had to have emergency surgery to remove her appendix, this year I'm thankful & praising God that my daughter is healthy & I'm feeling better than I've felt in years due to my prayers for being able to get surgery being answered.  This is a blessed & great year.  Happy Mother's day to everyone.

I love my Mamma, gotta love my Mamma.  At first I was thinking that my Mom-in-law was the only one to make hurtful comments but no...my precious Mom does it too.  First off this morning I was on a "Gee I'm doing great" high, as my husband was hugging me bye this morning he kept rubbing my back & I jokingly asked "are my love handles gone or something?"  "Yes" he replied in all seriousness.  So I was on a high til I went to get on my folks treadmill.  My Moms comes out with a photo album showing me a picture of me & making the comment "how much did you weigh here? because you looked good at this weight."  She does this a lot & has done so for years as my weight has been up & down all my life.  Never tells me I'm looking good now just always tells me stuff like you looked better in this pic or at this weight.  I love her.  Gotta love her, hope when I'm older I'm a bit more kind & not so judgmental towards my daughter-or at least careful with what I say.  Sorry for ranting a bit, I thank God that I've still got my parents.  Waiting for the day when I can look back on this & smile.  Oh yeah in the pic that I looked good in I weighed 200 or 215...can't wait to surpass that.  Moms also ragged me when I was skinny 135-145 too telling me I looked anorexic & like a stick figure with a bobble head & boobs.  SMH!

Spending today with my parents being mindful of all the MANY MANY blessings in my life.  Remembering what today means to my faith.  Going to see Heaven is for real this afternoon too, taking my quaker buttered popcorn flavor mini rice cakes & bottled water in to be my movie snack.  If anyone says anything I'll just flash my "I've had bariatric surgery" card at em.  Hope everyone has a blessed day & that those who believe take a moment to pray about the significance of today.  God Bless.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene John 20 11-18 ¹¹ Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹² and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.¹³ They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.¹⁵ He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.”She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”(which means “Teacher”).¹⁷ Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

A blog about boobs x_O  Aye Aye Aye, lucky for me I have several bras in all shapes & sizes.  Push ups, padded, sports -the cotton ones were my favorite to wear all the time before surgery.  I still wear my sports bras unless I'm getting all dolled up to go out somewhere.  Luckily I have push ups, I'm pushing 40 soon & the girls are shrinking and sagging.  They were so heavy before & now that I'm losing weight they are shrinking too.  Sigh...I'm used to this process as my weight has been a roller coaster ride all my life that's why I luckily have so many sizes & styles in my dresser to choose from.  I'm not complaining too much because I'm so happy losing this weight.  I love the genius that invented padded push ups though because they are magical.  No, there will not be any plastics in my future unless I happen to become wealthy.  I'm sure not against plastic surgery at all but I'll be happy with the padded push ups for a long time.

WOO-HOO got a long ways to go but I've lost 36 pounds in 35 days YEA!  Went to see my regular medical Doctor today & he took me off my HBP & cholesterol meds, I'm so happy about that.  So much has changed in a short amount of time, clothes are getting baggy, I'm feeling better than I've felt in years.  I thank GOD for this surgery every day.  My Doc reminded me to be patient during the losing process & told me it could take up to a year for me to lose the amount that I want to.  He has a family member that also had VSG and that person has lost 100 pounds.  Wish I could just wake up skinny, but hey I am waking up skinnier every day.  I'm a work in progress.

I'm a Christian, I know there are many beliefs & spiritual paths that others choose but God is my savior & that's my truth & way of life.  I don't push my beliefs on anyone I simply try & live by the words of Christ, though I still sin-not intentionally but I admit my sin.  Many don't believe, many argue about the truth of Christ & I want no part of that.  I don't pass judgement on your beliefs or non-beliefs respectfully.  Ahem, okay sounding a little preachy eh? Not trying to.  For many, many years I've asked God to help me lose weight; my weight my entire life has been up, down, up, down, up up up...I can't simply just ask for something & not do anything about it or take any physical action to help make the blessing happen.  I can't pray for the nourishment of my body before I eat junk & expect my temple to be blessed.  I'm not sure if I ever really looked at it that way before.  For about 3 years now my husband, daughter & myself pray before every meal.  I used to say thank you Lord for my McDonalds - but that wasn't nourishing my body just making it fatter.

I came across this prayer diet today & it makes complete sense; you can't eat junk & ask God to nourish your body, it's not right, it doesn't sound right, it just makes no sense.  Here's the site http://prettykeli.com/prayer-diet-weight-loss-tip/

I'm still & will remain in daily prayer for losing weight, God has already answered several huge prayers of mine to just finally get the surgery & feel so much better already are HUGE blessings.  Have a wonderful Blessed week & if we can't say thank you God for what we're about to eat if you do pray before meals then it's not something we should eat.

Former prayers-nah but it's cute

Back on March 23rd & 24th I blogged about being blue about an up-coming family event that I will be attending where a person who has been giving me a hard time about my weight for years will be at.  Today is the day, and you know what, I'm feeling positive come what may because I'm on my way to hitting that goal of mine one day.  In reflection, this lady has given me a hard time about my weight even when I was at 170-not tiny but for me a good size 12 at the time so this is just someone I may never be able to please & I'M OKAY with that.  So what if she says stuff to me about my weight I'm getting smaller every day.  I'm feeling positive also that perhaps she'll be too busy to confront me in front of several people, & if she does I'll just smile & tell her that I'm on my way to goal & how I've lost 30 so far.  Feeling optimistic about this beautiful day ahead of me.  Finding peace with the fact that I don't care if I can please everybody nor should I try but that the way I feel is what's important.

Something delicious that I just made; Tuna breakfast casserole, it was so very good I ate about a cup full of it.  My husband bought me a microwave cookbook the other day.  So this was made in the micro
Salmon or bacon crumbles would be good in it too instead of tuna - but I really like tuna so that's what I used

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 cup milk - I used 1%
2 smalls cans tuna in water drained well
1 small can of mushrooms drained
2 tablespoons of finely chopped green onion
2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley - I didn't use fresh I used the kind in a jar
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
big pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt - I omitted this
9 inch or a bit larger size glass pyrex type bowl

Beat eggs & milk together until blended, break up tuna with fork & add in.
Gently stir in remaining ingredients
Microwave uncovered on high for 12-14 minutes
when done let stand in microwave for 5-10 mins. until center becomes firm

Makes enough to serve 6 - so I'm gonna have left-overs I hope my husband will help me eat this

Sorry Wally Kitty no leftovers for you today

Yes, it's a huge character flaw & I'm not proud to admit it but I used to be late for just about everything.  I am just sitting here thinking of all the ways my life has changed so far since my recent VSG surgery for the better & realized how much time matters now, not that it didn't matter before because it did but from the moment I first wake up to get my daughter up & out the door for school I'm pretty much checking the clock most of the day.  I am thankfully & blessedly no longer a part of the corporate rat race & relish & love being a stay-at-home Mom.  I've never worked so hard in my life for no pay other than the occasional "thanks for all that you do for me Mom" - I've got a good kid who actually told me that yesterday.

As for the time aspect of things...I wake up drinking water then wait about 15-30 mins. & make a protein shake-I wait on those for 15 mins. because I like em really cold so I put it in the freezer for that amount of time.  If I'm going to eat tuna or something I drink water first then wait 30 mins. then eat slowly wait another 30-40 mins. to drink something.  Then pills, then wait, then vitamins, then wait then more vitamins.  I don't know if I've ever set my cell phone alarm so often in my life.  I'm not complaining I need this kind of structure time frame/time management to help me remember things.  I don't eat at a set time yet as I'm sadly eating on my own around my family-meaning they eat different foods than me.  My daughter loves my new healthy foods, salmon, some of the protein shakes, & even flipped out over some cauliflower cheese sticks I made on Sunday but my husband...eh not so much.  He & I were both born & bred on Southern Soul food & both our Mamma's can cook like chef angels. 

Time matters a lot more to me now than it once did, I felt as though time stood still before surgery & that my life was on hold but now I'm looking so forward to all the fun times I've yet to have.