I had my 15th week surgiversary on Friday; my four month surgiversary is coming soon (May 7th ... I think there's an extra week since January and March were long months). Today I weighed in at 184.6. I had set an Easter Challenge goal to get to 180 by today, but missed that by, well, a lot ... I got about 80% to goal, though, so that is still OK with me.

My July 4th challenge is to get below 170 ... to 169 to be exact. That's a total loss of 15.6 lbs. in 10 weeks. That is much more in line with what I have been losing. I definitely lose more weight when I am physically active so I know if I could just bump up the exercise I would easily make that goal with room to spare. Now that it is springtime, and the weather isn't quite as dreadful as it has been the first few months of the year, I am going to try to at least get out and walk 30 minutes a day, plus have some heavy duty gardening chores on the weekends (and maybe I can sneak in some gardening after work a few nights).

On July 5th I will be going to Maui w/DH to celebrate our 15th anniversary so I am totally excited to get to this goal. I really NEED to get to this goal because right now my bod is in bad, bad shape. I still have horrible thunder thighs, big fat arms, and just overall am still quite obese (though, I am happy to note, I finally have a BMI of under 35 ... woo hoo! ... only 5 more BMI points to lose and I will no longer be considered obese!). Fifteen pounds isn't going to make that dramatic of a difference, I fully realize, but every little bit helps. I'm definitely going to have to buy swim apparel with good coverage!

So, the only other thing I think worth mentioning for this week is I am definitely starting to see some hair loss ... not gobs of hair, but definitely more shedding than I used to have. I know it will get worse before it gets better. I've been letting my hair grow out since surgery, and I don't know if that's good or bad for disguising hair loss. I am getting a little peeved at the extra attention I have to use to take care of longer hair, but I figure I will just keep going and in a few months my hair should be long enough to pull into a pony tail, and that should help.

I read that some of the saggy neck skin problem may be due to slight dehydration, and lack of moisture in the skin. I had stopped using Bio-Oil for a while but am back onto that because it definitely moisturizes more than the Olay Regenerist products I use on my face. Part of why I haven't chopped my hair short is because the longer hair does distract a little from my turkey neck.

I wore my size 16 jeans around town yesterday afternoon .... they are comfortable in the butt and legs, but around the waist still a little too snug for comfort. As soon as I got home I took off those jeans and put on my nice and comfy (loose) size 18 jeans ... that was kind of a reminder, too, that I've still got a long way to go on this weight loss journey. Just because I can pack my gut into a pair of size 16s doesn't mean it's going to feel good! I am really amazed, though, when I pick up those size 16s that I can wear them ... they seem SO SMALL compared to what I am used to! It's hard to get my head around that.

Well ... that's about all for today. DH and I are going to my mom's house for Easter ... she has made way too much food, so I will have to be extra cautious about what I try to eat. Mostly I'll be eating ham, with a few bites of other stuff. Dessert is angel food cake with sweetened strawberries and whipped cream .... not too high calorie, though i will have to take it easy with the cake!

It's exciting to think that this will be my last Easter as an obese person. Next Easter, if all goes well, I should be back into normal sizes (hopefully size 8P or, dare I even say it, size 6P ... I really can't imagine ever being that small, though!)