Happy Surgeversary!

I can't believe it has been one month since my surgery! I didn't meet my 30 day goal but I am within 2 lbs. I am very happy with that :-) I seem to have hit a stall as I have been the same weight since Monday. I read on a few different message boards that 95% of people experience a stall around weeks 3, 4 & 5. Once they break it, they continue to lose a lot of weight. Your body just has to re-adjust to eating soft foods from liquids and adjust to life with only 25% of it's stomach. I am just eagerly awaiting the break!!!

I celebrated my surgeversary with a bowl at Chipotle. I got a vegetarian bowl with no rice and extra beans. If you get vegetarian they give you guacamole so that was totally worth skipping the meat. I didn't think the meat would go down very well right now anyway. I also figured I could eat on my bowl for a few days. And boy was I right. It may take a week to finish it. I probably won't eat on it for a week but there is enough there to last that long. I just needed something other than tuna, cottage cheese, chicken salad or an egg. It tasted so good. We will see how well it progresses.

Learning To Like Cottage Cheese

I'll get to the loss first this time. I am down another 2.5lbs!!! Yesterday it was 3lbs but since today is my weigh in day I have to count 2.5. It gets frustrating sometimes because it flutuates so much. I know I shouldn't weigh everyday but right now it's really hard not to. I am coming up on my one-month surgeversary so I have 3days to lose 2 lbs. Not sure if I will meet my goal but I am really happy about where I am.

Yesterday at church I had a couple of people ask me if I was losing weight. So people are starting to notice :-) I was able to button my jeans without the aid of the belly band and they didn't even feel tight. I couldn't do that a week ago. We've tried to take some family walks, but with the weather and wind it's been a little tough. We got three in last week which is a good start.

Since I have to have so much protein I am learning to like some foods I wasn't all that sure I could ever like. Cottage cheese for instance. Never liked it before but after I found out it has 14 grams per 1/2 cup it suddenly tastes really good. I usually eat it twice a day. Eggs are something else I have learned to like. Not a big fan before but now I have to be. I also eat a lot of beans, chicken salad and tuna salad. It's almost like you don't want to waste any bites on anything that isn't pure protein because you have to have so much.

My love for feta cheese has reappeared too. I used to eat it a lot and haven't had any in a long time. I couldn't stay out of it. It's small little crumbles so it's really easy to eat. I've been experimenting with some mediteranian salads with feta, olives, tomatoes and either tuna or cottage cheese and mediteranian dressing. It's pretty good! You have to jazz things up a bit to keep from getting bored.

I am getting really worried about losing my hair. That is a side effect from losing weight so fast and I just don't have much to spare. That is why I am trying to eat so much protein, taking biotin and multi-vitamins. Please pray for me! I know it seems like a vain thing to ask for, especially since I chose to have this surgery and I am losing wieght just like I wanted to, but I just can't spare much hair. I really appreciate any prayers!

PS - I tried a Starbucks skinny hazelnut latte the other day. And really enjoyed it. I was only able to drink 1/2 of a tall so I stuck it in the fridge and reheated it the next day. Didn't finish it the next day but now I know if I get a latte I can get two servings out of one. That's kind of exciting. It doesn't make me feel as guilty ordering one.

Hope you all have a very blessed day!

Finally, Soft Foods

Today I finally got to eat some soft foods. I had my heart set on Pintos and Cheese from Taco Bell, so that's where I went. While I was there I also ordered an individual mashed potatoes and gravy, it's also a KFC, for later. I decided I would eat 1/2 pintos and cheese and half mashed potatoes because the smell of the grave was unbelievable!

I got home and took the first bite of the pintos and cheese. All that anticipation wrapped up in one bite. It tasted pretty good but hurt going down and it didn't take long until I was full. I was a little disappointed it didn't taste better, but I guess my taste buds have to re-develop after a month off from food. I am not sure what's on the menu for tonight but looking forward to my next try of food.

I keep going back and forth on the whole coffee thing. I keep thinking I am going to like it but the only coffee I have liked so far is McDonalds. So I think I have settled on a new 50lbs lost reward until I am enjoying coffee a little more. I have been wanting to get a really nice grill pan that you use on your stove-top to grill things indoors. I decided yesterday that would be my reward. Since I will be cooking healthier it will make it a lot easier than waiting for Brooks to get home to start grilling stuff. I found a really nice one for a great deal on Amazon.com. I really want a Keurig I guess it will be best if I wait until I am at least liking coffee a better. Maybe that's what I will ask Santa Claus for (hint, hint).

I always wait until the end of the post to share the really good news but I am down 26.5lbs. I just may meet my goal of losing it before my one-month surgeversary next Thursday. I really wanted to meet it before Easter so I could get my pedi before Easter service, but my original goal was at one month so I will be very happy either way! I've been doing some research on Quinoa and Polenta and found out that I can have both of those. So I will now be doing some recipe research on both to find new ways of fixing them and I hope to share some of those recipes soon.

Coffee

Well I tired coffee again this morning. I stopped at McD's to get Shelby a sausage McMuffin and I thought I would try it again. I ordered a small coffee with two creams and a splenda and it was really, really good. I should've asked for decaf because now I am a little shakey but other than that I am good.

I was thinking and praying about it this morning and thought maybe a Keurig would be a good really thing afterall. Since it only brews one cup at a time I will be a lot less tempted to drink anymore than that. Plus it takes me forever to even drink one cup so that's all I will want anyway. In fact I didn't even finish the small cup I ordered this morning.

So I guess my 50lbs lost Keurig reward is back on :-)

Oh and by the way Shelby slept all night last night. Prayers were answered in a mighty way!!!!

Bad Day

I had a really bad day today :-( My kids have mis-behaved for 3 days now, Shelby is still not sleeping good, I haven't had food in four weeks and I am beyond tired. I finally broke down and cried and poor Shelby got so worried. She kept saying "Sowwie Mama". And then she would said "Ok?" She even ran into the office, where Ally was, and started grunting and pointing my way and saying mama to Ally. I felt really bad about crying after that. She's very senitive.

I tried coffee for the first time tonight. I went and got a Skinny Latte at Starbucks because I was just so very sick of the regular shakes I was drinking. I took small sips on the way home and it just didn't really even taste very good. Then when I got home I put a scoop of my un-flavored protein powder in it to add some more protein. Don't ever do that!!!! ICK, ICK, ICK. Ruined my latte :-( Like I said it really didn't even taste good anyway.

I've kind of had mixed feelings about coffee. I go back and forth on whether or not to start drinking it again. I know that sounds really weird but before I started my liquid fast I was drinking coffee like it was going out of style. I had almost become dependent on it. It made my day better and made me feel a little more energetic. I really don't want to become dependent on it again. In some ways I am an all or nothing gal and drinking coffee may be a bad thing to do. I don't know??? I am going to continue to pray about it see where it goes. I love coffee but just want to love it in moderation and I am not sure if I am there yet. Also I could save mega bucks by not visiting Starbucks so often. I guess I may need to re-think my 50lbs lost reward??? (see previous post)

I am so hopeful that I have a better day tomorrow and that Shelby Grace will start sleeping again. I can't make it on so little sleep when I am already weak from surgery and no food. I would appreciate your prayers :-)

2 Weeks Down

It's been two weeks since I had my surgery. My mom went home yesterday :-( She was so much help. She took care of the girlies, cooked dinner for everyone, made sure I had soup and my shakes and kept up the dishes and the laundry. I know she probably wore herself plum out, but I never would've made it without her. And thanks to Marmie and Papa for taking the girls the first week. That was soooo much help to all of us!

Since she left all of those things were left up to me. I didn't get a whole lot done yesterday, but what I did get done just wore me out. I was very, very tired by the end of the day. I guess my strength will have to build back up.

I haven't had a bite to eat in four weeks now and it's starting to really get to me. We had a cookout at church Sunday and that was terribly painful. I left early because I just couldn't take the smell anymore. Just 7 more days and I can start soft foods. I am excited and nervous at the same time. Retraining myself will be very hard I think. Teaching myself to take much smaller bites and to quit when I am full will be major work. I think once I am eating some regular foods I will gain more strength. I am sooooo sick of protein shakes so I am looking forward to getting some protein from my food,

Now for the really great news! I made you wait until the end ;-) I have now lost 22.5 lbs!!!!!! 7.5 lbs away from my first goal of 30 lbs. I have decided to reward myself with a deluxe pedicure for the first 30 lbs. And if I can get Brooks to agree I will reward myself with a Keurig coffemaker at 50 lbs and a spa day when I reach my full goal.

I am really trying to keep myself busy this week. I don't want food to be the only thing I think about as I wait to eat some soft foods next week.

10 Days Later

Hello Friends!

It's been awhile. I haven't much felt like sitting at the computer and blogging the last 10 days. I am still recovering from surgery, as I am sure you know. I have had some good days, some OK days and just a couple of not so good days. Overall I think I have done pretty well. When I weighed this morning I was 20 lbs down from the first day of my liquid fast. And 8 of those I lost twice. When I came home from the hospital I had gained 8 lbs. But I knew it was all water since they pumped an extra IV bag of fluid in me before I went home because I was dehydrated. Imagine that. No water in almost 36 hrs makes for some dehydration. The care I received at the hospital was unbelievable. They have the most amazing nurses there.

I am still on liguids and am very tired of protein shakes already! Since I am able to only drink little bits at a time we have to half each shake. Which means I am drinking four a day. They recommend 60 grams of protein a day and since I am still on liquids all of it has to come from shakes. A little less then 2 wks and I can start soft foods.

I am super excited where I am headed and what's on the horizon for me. Hopefully I will be updating more often the better I feel.