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As of today I am 8 weeks post-op. I have exceeded my goal of reaching my pre-pregnancy weight by christmas. I broke out all of my pre-pregnancy clothes and they all fit perfectly. Soo excited, and so glad I didnt give up on myself and throw them out..accepting myself at 233lbs. As of this passed Monday I now weigh 186lbs. I was sleeved August 8th, 2013. Weighing 216 thanks to a 14 lb weight loss on pre-op diet. (230) I was an old mlae aquaintance at the gym yesterday. My first thought was oh I hope he doesnt see me. I have tried to avoid seeing people that I havent seen since gaining weight from my pregnancy (50lbs) But it dawned on my, I am the same weight now as when I made my grand entrance into a friends wedding wearing a sexy black dress and turned a few heads (including his) I kept on walking kind of in awe at how far I have come in such a short time, and also realizing, that my mind has yet to catch up wih my new body. I am still 230 lbs in my head. But Let me tell you I feel great! I still have a long way to go, But as of today I cant wait for what the future brings. I reread my past blog entries from a few months ago and I was nearly in tears. This is truely the best decision I have ever made for myself. I have had NO issues with food what so ever. I can pretty much eat anything on my approved foods list. I did stall for over 2 weeks once I hot 191lbs. Then I had my AF and afterwards 5 lbs magically. During AF I had an overwhelming urge to graze during the day. I had me very worried that my appetite had increased and I was failing. But after the 5 lb weight loss I realized it was just that TOM. I do have to watch the grazing as i have 2 kids and its very easy to pick at their leftovers, and just snacking in general. I also find that after a meal I dont stay that full for long.. Not hungry but not FULL. I started back at the gym 5 days a week. Only 20 minutes on treadmill and 20 minutes or so of weight training. I found that I was hungrier after doing so much so I decreased my gym to 3 days a week but still try to get in a walk every day. I went to the mall the other day and didnt feel weird walking in regular size stores. I hated the clothes however because they all seem like oversized shirts. Hello,, wheres the tight tuck me in at the waist clothes. So at least I wasnt tempted to spend money.. lol My hubby and I booked an all inclusive getaway without the kids for my birthday February 23rd, 2014. I hope by then I will be at or near my personal goal of 145-150lbs. When we went away on our honeymoon I was 170lbs and felt great. I can only imagine being 145lbs. My next goal for myself is 170lbs which is my wedding weight and will try on my wedding dress! If I can meet this goal by Christmas/New years I will be thrilled. FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE I HAVE FINALLY FOLLOWED THROUGH ON MY NEW YEARS RESOLUTION TO LOSE WEIGHT!!!

In my first 7 days being sleeved, the top 10 things I have learned : 1) In the world of competitive sleeping, I am a Gold Medalist. I can (& do) nap anytime, anywhere. 2) I am hanging up my stethoscope. My new fulltime job is to "sip, sip, sip". Staying hydrated is hard work. 3) The sounds coming from my new stomach are not lady like. 4) I am no longer a bashful burper. 5) Daytime TV sucks. 6) Not every belly twinge is a potential leak. I am a nurse, so I always look at the worst case health scenarios first. Hard habit to break. 7) Isopure gags me, but is tolerable if made into SF jello. 8) Old Navy makes super comfy yoga pants, even if I never assume a "Lotus" pose. 9) Clear liquid diets are doable for a few days. My favorite flavor is blue. and last, but definitely not least, as a wise forum member once advised me: 10) Never trust a shart!

So things have been going pretty well. I am getting one or two 30 min walks in every day and sticking to the diet. I was down to 229 lbs. this morning, the first time I have been under 230 for months. I was feeling very positive. I headed for Walmart for a few groceries. As I was entering the store, sitting on a bench in the entry area was a 30 something woman who appeared to be having trouble breathing. She was extremely obese, likely over 450 lbs (I can reasonable make that guess because I had an aunt who weighed that much and was about the same size). As a nurse, I was concerned for her and I asked her if she was ok. Through her difficult breaths, she indicated she would be ok and she said "I'm waiting for an electric cart. I just walked in from my car." I was stunned and felt a fear I hadn't experienced before....I could be experiencing those same symptoms if I don't take care of myself. Funny how I don't think I was ever afraid of being overweight before. It didn't interfere much with the things I do, but did I only do the things I was able to do, not everything I could do? That is a thought I am going to give much attention to as I go through this journey.

So, let me start with this. I love where I work. It's fantastic. My company is regularly voted as one of the top places to work in the US according to Forbes Magazine. In fact, we were ranked #1 a couple of years ago...twice. Perks here are outstanding: Free onsite healthcare, free gym access with a great cardio/weight room and a pool. You can take yoga and pilates classes on site. We have a hair salon on site (it's not free, but extremely convenient). There are 4 full service cafes on site, including one in the basement of my building. I can go downstairs and get a salad (when I'm back at that stage), a hot meal, deli sandwich or a hot sandwich. Some days we get fresh sushi. We have nice breakrooms on each floor that have various snacks and drinks. My employer is generous with time off and has been great to work with during my recovery period. My HR person even called to make sure I was back at work and doing OK after my scheduled time off. It's a great place to work. Most importantly, though I love my job. I don't take any of it forgranted either. It's special. I've been working here almost 15 years now. And, there is one thing that still makes me laugh. One of the "treats" we have in each break room is a weekly supply of M&Ms. Peanut and plain. There is a great person who comes weekly to refill the candy jars. It's like Pavlov's Dogs...we hear the M&Ms hit the jar and people start making their way to the breakroom. Yesterday I was in the breakroom heating up my mushy lunch and the candy lady was there filling up the jars. The first bag poured in and I said "OH, we know that noise. Watch how quickly people show up." She barely finished pouring the second bag and three people came in to dig out what they wanted. They all looked at me with my little lunch. I didn't even flinch. I'm just glad I'm not one of those people anymore I walked back to my desk and chuckled. And I savored my ability to break that habit and stick with it. Now, I just need to get back to the pool. I miss it. But, I can't go until I've seen the surgeon and he's OK with it. I see him on October 16. Fingers crossed!

Happy Thursday everyone! Today is a good day because there is a Cardinal Game and Blues Game tonight I am so happy! Anyway I have a funny story I like to share with everyone. Today I received a phone call for a job interview. I was too excited because it was more money. After I got off the phone I review my application so I can see which job I applied for and to review the job announcement. I was halfway down the page and this is when I noticed that this position was bilingual! I am not bilingual and I failed at Rosetta Stone. Immediately I called the person back and explained what happened. We both started laughing and he thanked me for being honest. I mean can you guys imagine how my interview could have been like? I am so glad I researched everything before my interview. Looking back I remember I applied for this position back in August around the time my coworker/friend house caught on fire and how I go thrown under the bus. I was so upset then that turned into anger that I started applying for any position. I was so unhappy back then but now I am better This is why I shouldn’t do anything out of anger. It’s a good thing I have a good sense of humor because I am still laughing about it. I hope I gave you guys a good laugh Thanks for Reading.

So my two week stay in lovely Florida has come to an end. I had an awesome time and will definitely be returning. Thanks to the bariatric staff at Florida a Medical Center for giving me my life back. I'll take the reigns from here. Back to kids, work, school, and my personal and social life...back to stress. I can do this! My family and friends are all so excited I'm coming home...so am I. The friends I made here are sad to see me go, but they know this party kitten will be back . THE WEIGHT IS OVER...my life begins...again.

It's been too weeks today and I'm feeling great. I started walking again. Already with just 29 lbs down I am able to walk without my legs/knee killing me, I can tell I have knees and ankles for the first time in years and people are complementing me on my weight loss. I can't really tell but apparently others can. I'm on to mushies tomorrow. I'm ready for something besides thin liquids. I'm 2 lbs away from only needing to lose 100 lbs.

Can I eat (insert food here) after Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy WLS surgery? The answer is... most likely. It's really going to depend on the person and how you have healed. I have not found any food that I could not eat, once I was back on full foods post-op. Surprisingly, the processed foods/snack foods/fast food was the easiest to digest. It was the healthy foods - boneless skinless chicken breasts, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, pineapple, apples and grapes that gave me trouble up until about the 6 month mark. At 9 months post-op, I can eat anything I want with only the occasional stomach growl. The best NSV post-op is that I have not wanted all those processed/fast foods that I craved pre-surgery. I can honestly say that I don't even think about going out for pizza or hamburgers any more. So if you're worried about not being able to eat your favorite foods post-op, you may come to realize that post-op you don't WANT to eat them ever again. :-)

Haven't posted in a while mostly because well nothing too exciting happening. Staying the course with my diet. I am still doing a morning shake everyday. I use a scoop of unflavored unjury, skim milk and ice and a couple packets of truvia then add coffee, its been something I actually look forward to. I still have yet to find any food that does not agree with me. (not always a good thing) I find that bread and potatoes fill me up to the point of being uncomfortable so I just stay away, but things like chips and crackers do go down easy so I am not letting those come into the house. I am having fun with cooking, using the recipes I find on theworldaccordingtoeggface blog. I made some lettuce wraps that turned out great the other day. My husband even liked them. We grilled steak this weekend and it was amazing! I only have to buy one steak now and we split it. My exercise is still low key, I walk 3-5 times a week with a coworker, I need to turn it up a bit and get weights in but the weather has been so nice I want to enjoy it to the bitter end! I have all winter to be inside in the gym. As of today I am down 30 pounds and I am 8 weeks out. My closet is starting to not yield much to wear. I have this gap of clothing the "too big" stuff is being thrown into a pile for friends and goodwill, and the "I will get there" clothes are still out of reach and there's not much in-between. I am down to one or 2 pairs of jeans that I can fit. I never realized how long I went wearing clothes that were too tight simply because I couldn't wrap my head around buying the next size up! I may do a big overhaul on the closet this weekend. in 2 weeks I go on a girls trip and we will be hitting some outlet malls, I won't go crazy buying stuff but need to get a few things., I like how shirts are fitting me now. I am top heavy and have lost almost 2 cup sizes, the girls are a bit lower but still look nice in a bra! LOL, I managed to find 2 old bras that I had stashed because they were too small so that has saved the pocket book. My progress remains at 1-2 pounds a week. Sometimes with an extra bonus pound in there somewhere. So I am not the fast loser I hoped I was going to be but this is the fastest I have ever lost weight in my life and kept it off! And for once there's no end in sight, no rebound with binges because I can't handle being no carb or so super food restrictive that I just crash into a bag of McDonalds like a raving lunatic! I look at food for nutrition but I also allow for what I am craving. Partly because its such a small amount. I can usually curb a craving with a sugarfree popsicle, or a couple crackers with peanut butter. I have stayed away from all the cider doughnuts that keep making their way into my office. I did have a minisnickers but kept it to just that one! Which was a feat in itself. I am keeping with the mantra of protein first, and have not had a problem sticking to it. It doesn't really require much thought anymore. I know I am still in the "honeymoon" phase, I have no real hunger just a weird feeling when I go too long between meals. I love the little blue diamond 100 calorie almond packets. I usually have one between my morning shake and lunch, I also have been making mini rollups for a quick protein snack. I take a mini dill pickle, half of a slice of deli ham and a teaspoon of low fat cream cheese, roll it up and its a perfect quick grab snack. This is becoming quite long winded(and I can't separate paragraphs for some reason) I feel good about my future feeling optimistic. So on that note I will end this

Entering week 5 of the 5:2 plan and my focus to move down. I've started feeling like a failure, having had the surgery almost two years ago and still I weigh 255 pounds. If I had it to do over again I would have kept going once I hit that first 3 month stall. I would not have settled for size 18.. now a comfy size 16 dress. I'm still satisfied with not having gained any weight. But now I am focused to keep going down. 255 pounds is not a healthy weight for my age.. heck for any age . So the focus is back on. Having had the surgery I have better eating habits (except for the night time grazing when I'm not fasting). I still eat smaller portions. I still keep carbs low. It's the head and mind battles. Well facing another day.. its Thursday and I fast today. I'm focused