In my last blog posting I mentioned how my weight loss goes in cycles, and that has proved to be the case this week. After two weeks of good weight loss, this week I only lost 1 lb. -- I'm 172.8 today. I expect next week will be similar, and then hopefully the last 2 weeks of June will be another good weight loss cycle. I am 3.8 lbs. from my July 4th goal, and I think I can still make it, barring a stall.

I still have some of my old size 22/3X/2X clothes in my closet, but slowly but surely I am giving them away to Goodwill. I just filled another large bag with clothes to donate this morning and will drop them off today (and pop into the store to see if there's anything cute to buy). Some of the 1X clothes I bought in late March/April are definitely too big now ... that is a good feeling! Aside from my size 18 swimsuit (which I need because I am so darn busty), I am totally out of the plus sizes now.

My hair loss is definitely continuing, but not as bad as I had thought it would be. I have seen stories of women losing hair in handfuls, and I haven't experienced that ... I do shed hair for sure when I am washing my hair and styling it.

I have noticed time and time again that my sleeve now is just part of me ... my life is totally normal now, except I just can't eat as much food as I could before surgery. I am losing weight pretty effortlessly. I still have to battle the carb monster and not make stupid choices, but it's not nearly as hard now as it was before surgery to walk past the bakery section, or confine myself to two or three little bites of garlic bread with a meal instead of half a loaf, or to skip having lunch at fast food 3 or 4 days a week (though I do love me some Wendy's salads ... they make great salads, and they're pretty guilt free esp. since I have the half size salad, skip the cheese and have grilled chicken on the salad). A couple of times I have 'splurged' and ordered a hamburger and fries at a fast food joint, but I can only eat a few fries and really they don't feel that great in my sleeve, so it's not as tempting to eat them as it was pre-surgery. I do still love food, and I am actually glad about that, because good food is one of life's great pleasures. I just now have this wonderful, powerful tool, that helps me to enjoy the heck out of my food, in small quantities.

I have seen a lot of people losing incredible amounts of weight since being sleeved ... that's not me, but I am more than halfway to goal and not yet six months out. Next month will be my six month surgiversary and I hope to be 30-some-odd lbs. from my end goal weight. I don't exercise much (really my only exercise is gardening, which I do for several hours each weekend day and some evenings after work) so I know I would lose more if I were exercising more ... now that the weather is getting really decent, I will be bumping up my exercising more. I really do need to work on toning, as my loose skin is yucky (but not as bad as fat!).

So ... off to the garden now. I am going to be having some wonderful salads this year. I have two pet rabbits and DH and I make them a big salad every night for dinner (veg and little bits of fruit only, of course, no dressings or nuts or croutons or such) ... and every time I make a bunny salad I'm like, "Yum, I want to eat this too!" My dinners most summers are going to be salad with some grilled meat or fish ... YUM!!!!