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Heyyy Everyone wow its been a while since ive been on here! Lets see Things have been crazy this past year. I hit my goal weight of 135lbs back in February and now im 128 lbs as of this morning. I feel like i have so much more energy than i did in the beginning of this amazing journey! I want to stay healthy and keep up on my exercise routine. I noticed that exercising and the use of a corset have helped me keep from having a lot of excess skin i mean i still have a bit but it helps alot!

So about 2 months before my surgery my loving Husband bought me a pair of pants. The size on the inside of them was indeed my size but you know how some stores sizes run much smaller than others. These came from one of those stores. So when I tried them on I couldn't even get them up past my knees. Talk about embarrassing and just making me feel like my life was over. Welp yesterday I decided I would try on those same pants (since my Husband has taken and hidden the scale I don't really have a clue what my weight is unless I go to the doctor). I figured the pants would for sure let me know just how much weight I have lost so far. Weeeeeell to my surprise they did fit and I even had to wear a belt with them because they were big in the waist.Talk about a WONDERFUL feeling. I mean when I left my house yesterday no one or nothing could've taken the smile off of my face. What made me feel even better is knowing that this is just the beginning and I have so much more weight to lose. I couldn't be happier about making the decision to have my surgery. What a life changing day yesterday was for me!!!!

So this all started about a year or so ago, its been about 5-6 years since my last serious attempt to lose weight has happened, in that time I regained all that I lost and then some. I have psoriatic arthritis, chronic fatigue, and fibromyalgia which haven't helped all this just made it harder to lose the weight. Three days of walking every morning leaves me so tired that i sleep on and off all day the fourth day. this frustrates me. so after back and forth (in my head), i finally work up the courage to talk to my husband who agrees. to come to a seminar with Dr K. super nervous and of course almost back out. lo and behold. it's amazing, and while aprehensive, i make my first appointment with Dr K and get the scoop, so i opt for the 3 month track and the month of May whirls by and i try not to talk myself into eating everything in my path and justify it by stating (again in my head) in three months I'lL never again be able to eat that, and manage to lose 1 lb. so June rolls around 2nd visit which in insurance land is 1st visit and i get my psych, and NUT visit. NUT goes well, but I have been doning. Home work and already have been researching post dos and donts. My psych tho. Yikes talked myself into a panic attack, it was awesome. But made it through. Then 3rd (2nd per ye ole ins) and yay diet pills however the up side, really helped my fatique. And bonus lost 10 lbs. so now up to my 4th (3rd via ins) visit tomorrow and will. find out if all my stuff can be sent to insurance to get a surgery date.....more to come on the slow train.

Hey Guys and Dolls, I know I am not the most frequent blogger but I am working on it. I am day 6 post op, and I am actually feeling much better. My incisions are still a little puffy and bruised but the pain is managed. When I walk my stomach is a little uncomfortable from the movement, and when I sleep on my side it is really uncomfortable. I am able to only take some ibuprofen during the day and be fine, however I do take my lortab elixir at night, especially when I was particularly active. My dog has been making the walking so much easier, in fact today I noticed I was able to comfortably increase my speed. I think I may be ready to hit the gym soon. Which is a good thing before I am worried about lose skin. Everyone keeps telling me that my age is in my favor and the fact that I am on the smaller side of people who get barbaric surgery. But, to be frank I am still worried. Mostly that I will be uglier with the lose skin then when I was overweight. Skin is not quite like elastic, which by the way I have never understood. But I did some counter push ups today and I have been googling some home remedies... Nothing too promising.

Today we had satellite internet installed after not having anything but dialup since we moved in here a year ago. But it was time to either reup the lease or move, and the only downside to this house is the lack of internet access so we decided to stay and lock ourselves in a ridiculous 24 month contract with a satellite internet company. So now I have unlimited (kinda) access to this blog instead of going to my parents or trying to type on my Droid! It's been so hot lately up here in NH! Or maybe it's not the heat that's so bad, but definitely the humidity! So I haven't been exercising as much as I should, trying to find that happy medium of keeping fit but keeping my MS happy too. I can't even explain my happiness and the change in myself since this surgery. I can now go to any store and shop any clothes, my energy is UNBELIEVABLE! What I can do now compared to a year ago, without having to stop because of my symptoms of my MS acting up is simply amazing. Actually here's a somewhat funny story that proves my improvement. Back in Jan of last year I started going to the gym with my mother, this was when I started the WLS journey too. We didn't know a lot of the equipment and there was always a lot of people at this gym and they were VERY fit and we both felt uncomfortable trying new equipment in front of these people, especially with the poor layout of the gym. But one day we were the only ones there so I got cocky and decided I was going to go try that weird gliding thing (elliptical), well the setting was set WAYYY to easy and I was pretty much at a dead run and unable to stop. I only did this for about 1 min or 2, trying to figure out how to control my legs on it. Well, the next day I ended up not being able to walk when I woke up because of how it had affected my MS pushing my body that much. So I went through the usual IV Steroids and such to slow it all down and eventually we got back to the gym (a different one this time that was SO much better). I continued to use the elliptical, but a little at a time. And I wore my ice vest and a gel neck tie to keep my body temperature down. I would get so proud that I could go a whole minute on the elliptical, then worked my way up a minute or two extra a day at a time. Now we are able to go a full 30-50 minutes depending on the temperature of the gym and how I'm feeling that day. But it's a perfect example to people who are afraid to get to the gym or to exercise that it's not about going gung ho when you get to the gym. Take it slow and start small and add a little bit at a time. I continue to push myself every day. If I'm on the elliptical or my bike at home and I hit my 30 minute mark, if I don't have a nice even whole number on my calorie count or even my mileage mark I'll say to myself, go a bit further to make this number this (like if I'm at 235 calories burned I'll push myself to a full 300 calories burned). When I take my dog Tank for a walk up the hill I walk to a new further mailbox every time. Our walks are now a little over a mile away now, totaling a full 2 mile walk, and we live on a HUGE hill! I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, because the better I feel, the more I want to do. I love being able to shop anywhere for clothes. I've started to think about doing things that I couldn't do before because of my weight. I actually have gotten a job that starts next week as a nurse again after not being able to work for 2 years. It's just a temp job through the flu season, but I've scheduled myself 32 hours a week and it's a good test to see how I handle work, doing dialysis on my hubby at nights, going to school for 2 classes this fall to finish my RN, and working part time on the ambulance. The more I lose, the more I can handle I think. I've started thinking I want to do something that I couldn't of done at 391 lbs, and I think I may try ziplining... A HUGE milestone for me today was buying scrubs for my new job. I was able to walk through the scrub store and was able to buy ANY scrub there. I was a LNA out of high school and became a LPN in 2009. So I've been wearing scrubs for a long time, and never did I have much of a choice. A 3X was too tight on me. I had started buying 4x and 5x from online stores. I had to try on tops to see what my new size was and depending on the brand, some Larges fit me, and most XL's fit well. Some of the fancier scrub tops with a sash under the bust were a bit tight and some of those I think I may of chosen a 2X if I had wanted them. But I chose one top and one bottom (a XL TOO!). Talking to my aunt last night, I realized I am 80lbs give or take away from my goal weight. My docs have said that an ideal weight is 155, but with all this extra skin when I get to 170ish it may be my ideal weight until the skin tones up. I still see myself as a very heavy person, when I see myself in a bathing suit or in the mirror, even though I know I'm wearing smaller clothes, I honestly can't see a difference from when I was 391 lbs. When I wear clothes that fit well I can, but in a bathing suit or underwear I can't see it at all. When I shop, I will hold up a shirt that will fit if I try it on, but in my mind it's telling me that it won't fit. Isn't it funny how we have to retrain our mind in all these little ways! So I wanted to share a recipe I found and tried on Spark people. It is packed full of protein and was delicious. I'll just post the link here, and I want to go post it on the recipe forum on this website for others to check out. http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=936067 Okay I typed myself out tonight. Take care all!

Well I am on day 6 post op. I have lost a total of 15 pounds and feeling pretty good. I am really tired all the time but I am sure that will change before long. School is starting next week and I am kind of bummed about that. I like having my daughter at home with me for company. I am kind of going through the gloomies. My oldest daughter moved back to Texas and it wasnt a happy moment. We had been fighting alot because of her boyfriend and I couldnt make her stay. Just some history, We moved to Colorado a year ago and its been a really hard move. I have two girls..... one is 19 the other is 12 and we moved them from where they had grown up their whole lives in Texas to the Denver area. My kids are my life and this last thing where my oldest moved had just been really hard on me. I would love to move back to Texas but I just dont see that happening anytime soon. So here I sit in Colorado with my family split apart, I am tired and honestly have no friends in the area, I am all of the sudden very unsure about my eating and if I am doing it right. I know.... I sound like a cry baby and I just need to re read things in my lap band book. I am so scared of screwing up that I am hyper sensitive . LOL I am working very hard to keep my liquids going and I have been eating jello, and I just started drinking a little bit of a protein shake, broth. I will get through my gloomies. I just needed somewhere to vent

Hello fellow sleevers So I am pleased to report that I got my approval today - the whole surgery is now paid for and I can just prepare myself now for this as it is going to happen. I even got to speak to my clinic today and they asked which time I'd prefer for surgery - I asked for the first one if possible. They said that they will put it on the file and contact me closer to the 3rd of September to advise me of the details, when to get to hospital etc. it's just the best news! Everyone was telling me not to stress but I admit, I was totally stressed out. Not that if I'd been knocked back it would have stopped me, just delayed me a bit. But this way I get to keep to my preferred schedule It's not an accident I wanted it as soon as possible in September - I want to get myself healed and losing weight so I can swim this Christmas (it's summer in December in Australia). I wanna get in that pool! I wanna play with my nieces and nephews...and to have more energy, better health and hopefully a better quality of life. So excited - wishing you all well out there! Today is a GOOD day!

Jessica Ennis.....(REALLY) ...I came across an article on yahoo this morning calling a few olypian champs fat...amongst the names was jessica.....(OH COME ON) I dont even want to think what they would say about my jelly rolls running around a track in some panty like shorts jiggling all over the place....This girl looks awsome and toned.....And some people want to know why a lot of us go to "extremes" to just look normal! Oh and another thing, I got really sick, dont know what it was, but I had (sorry to be so graphic, well I will change it up a bit) I had the "works" coming from the front and the back for two days, not eating anything because my stomach was gurgling, I had a headache, and the only thing I had to eat were a few saltine crackers and a piece of toast......and stupid me said "well there has to be a bright side to all of this...so I step on the scale and low and behold I lost 10 pounds!!!!!!! Ok but wait! So I started to feel a little better and i started to get a little hungry I ate (some) salad and a few spoonfuls of vegetable soup....not right away, but later on when I got up I went back to the scale stepped on and said "###***#$#" how the "###**^%^**" did I gain back 10 pounds from freaking salad! But today I weighed myself again just to see and I did lose about 6-7 pounds...... It is official ...the scale is nuts!

Savannah, GA is in its infamous Restaurant Week. It is a way to get people (locals) to come out and try different restaurants during the hot summer when tourism typically goes down. The premise is that there is a $30 set menu with various chef featured items. My sister-in-law (SIL) invited me to go and I thought why not? I was hoping for smaller portions and spaced out dining which would accomodate my sleeve. I got to the restaurant first and ordered a class of wine ($7). I was sipping on it slowly and managed to only finish half the glass the entire evening! For the appetizer course I had chicken and waffle sliders and split half with my SIL, who shared her fried green tomato appetizer with me. I was getting concerned because I was FULL (couldn't eat another bite full) and the wine had started to heat me up (and it was already a hot and sticky which is typically weather this time of year). I was seriously getting uncomfortable and then they bring out our dinner part of the meal (we weren't even done our apps yet!). I ordered shrimp and grits and my SIL had a mahgarita pizza (which was flipping HUGE). I had a small piece of her pizza and could barely finish it and I didn't lay a finger on my shrimp and grits (and we still had dessert to go). We brought our desert to their roof top bar (which allowed for some movement and resettling in my stomach). I gave my SIL half of my dessert and I took a small spoonful of her cheesecake. I managed to eat the cheesecake and a quarter of my small chocolate lava cake before I had to call it quits. I enjoyed sitting and chatting with my SIL for several hours (during which my other half of the glass of wine was left without touching it) and I sipped on water the rest of the evening. Altogether my meal, tip, and parking cost $57 for essential a half a glass of wine and an appetizer. Lesson learned! I would have been better off just ordering an app and glass of wine ala cart and not touching the Restaurant Week menu at all.

When I started my WLS journey, I never expected to be a blogger. If you would have told me three months ago that I would be typing out my weight loss funny moments....and some not so funny moments, I would have told you that I thought you had lost your mind. Well, I would have been wrong. The other day I checked to see how many visits I have had and I was shocked to see that in only three months, you all have read my blog 10,000 times. DANG.....that's a lot of reading. Thank you so much for the support, and I hope I can continue to make you laugh and smile throughout our journeys together. I finally understand why Sally Fields said, "You like me. You really like me." It wasn't ego....it was pure shock. Ok, now that I got done with all the sappy stuff. Stay tuned as I plan to write about my exploits from the past few days. I will explain that getting drunk isn't anything like it used to be....and I still have the ability to fall for no reason. Can't wait to write about my 20th H.S. reunion and let you all know how great it felt to be around the same size I was in H.S. So many stories....so little time. Stay tuned.