amylynns

Just updated my ticker, but it's not showing up yet.....2 pounds away from being in the 160's. Holy crap! 11 pounds from goal. WHAT????

@Luna222---That sucks your PA is such a winch!! And then to top it off, you went to HS with her?? Oh my goodness!! I really do like my PA, although she is a very tiny, petite lady, she's very supportive and tough when she needs to be. She is 7 months pregnant now though, and has a VERY large baby belly!! So cute though, she was huffing and puffing and apologizing for it, LOL. Now she knows what us big girls felt like when we couldn't breath! I've gone to just about every support group meeting. (we have them once a month) I really do get a lot of good feedback from people and now that I'm 6 months out, I feel like I can really help those either in the before surgery stage, or early stages. My surgeon was actually at the last one, LOVED seeing him!! And I was answering a lot of his questions, so he kept coming back to me, asking my point of view on things when the newbies would ask questions. I just looked at next month's topic: Dressing for your new body! Just what I need, although I'm getting better, with my daughter's insistence, LOL!

@ShonIsLove---amazing before and after pictures!!!! You look amazing girl!!! I wish I knew how to make the before/after pictures all in one shot like that?? Although the only full body shot I took of myself before is the morning of surgery.

So we were on our way to the hospital at 7:15 this morning for my scope test and we're about 10 minutes from being there and I get a call from my Dr.'s office. She said they had to cancel the appointment!? What!!?? Didn't really say why, but told me to call back when I had my schedule in front of me to re-schedule. So we turned around and came back. I stopped at home to put on work clothes and trudged into work. Darn it! I was really looking forward to just dozing all day!! I called right away at 8:30 to re-schedule and no one has called me back yet. What the heck? I hope my Dr. is alright.

I'm surprised they don't run your labs first? I had to have mine done at least a week before my appointment so they'd for sure be back to go over. I'm loving my collarbone too!! And my hip bones! And the first thing I do every morning when I'm still laying in bed is feel my belly, or what used to be my belly. It's SO flat when I'm laying down, LOL! Still a bit jiggly when I'm standing up though. My goodness, I got new black dress pants. I'm SO used to buying them so they're kind of baggy, but my daughter would NOT let me buy the baggier ones when we were shopping. So my new ones are "form fitting." Well, my honey could NOT keep his hands off me all day at work yesterday, LOL!! ( we work together) He kept telling me how hot I was, loved it!!

Oh, I guess it did rotate it, hehee.. Ok, so first I had an appointment with a new family Dr. because mine left. I'm still in physical therapy for my back/hip and my PT lady wanted some additional imaging done to see why I'm not progressing more than I am. So anyway--I think I'm really going to like my new Dr. though. Guess she's technically a Nurse Practitioner.. So anyway, she ordered an MRI of my back/hip, so we'll see if that shows anything. I'm doubting it will, but I am getting really tired of being in pain everyday with this stupid hip! So then my 2 daughters and one of my sons did some shopping between appointments. I bought some new work pants, size 11, Whoa!! I haven't been in this size since before I had my first daughter and she's 21 now! Crazy!!! Also finally measured my feet at the shoe store. I've gone from an 11 to a 9.5 Crazy!! Ok, so my 6 month check up. The office ladies were astounded by what I looked like! It was so fun seeing them all! My labs all looked great they said, yay! I haven't gotten a copy of them yet, but will check on line for myself, LOL. That's good news cuz I have to admit I'm not 100% great about taking all of my Vitamins everyday! I have lost 77 pounds. They always tell me what percentage of my body weight I've lost. I've yet to figure out how they figure this though? Seems off to me? They said I've lost 85% of my body weight. I really should ask one of these times how they figure it!? LOL! I told her I'm still having reflux even when I faithfully take the omeprazole and Pepcid though. And I'm really frustrated with that because with the bypass, I was told the reflux would be gone. So they're going to do a scope tomorrow. My actual surgeon will do this procedure, which is nice because I haven't seen him forever! And I like him! I also told her about this area in my abdomen that's been really sore the last week. I'm figuring it's just scar tissue, but not sure why it's all of a sudden been sore. She mashed around on it for a while, while making me be in a stomach crunch position, OUCH!!! Holy buckets, it's still sore where she was mashing! She said it could be a hernia. Great. So they're going to do a CT, but it'll be a week or so from now, waiting to hear when for sure. So other than that, I think it went well! I have a mammogram today, so that should be interesting since all I have to scan is some deflated tissue hanging off my chest!

I had my 6 month check up yesterday. I'll be back in a bit to report how that went but wanted to post a silly picture with my daughter and I from yesterday. Someone thought we were sistets, haha!! Dang! Why can't I figure out how to rotate my pictures!? Oh, I guess it did rotate it, hehe.

@misstvb--Super cute!! I forgot about JC Penney!

I love that dress too! I couldn't pull off the skinny straps though, my darn big chest requires too big of a bra, LOL! I can't believe my cup size hasn't gone down??! I went from a 40DDD to a 34DDD. I've tried a DD cup, but my left side is significantly larger and it just won't squeeze into it well. I have a lot of breast tissue, but yet it's totally deflated, does that make sense? So bummed on my boobs. I think I'm going to start saving some $$ so maybe next year I could get a bit of a reduction and for sure a lift. We're going to Hawaii in June and I REALLY wanted to be able to wear some cute sun dresses and tanks, but I don't think I can pull them off. UGH...we'll see!

I get a lot of my clothes from Maurices. I used to love their plus size clothing, they have a big selection and it's not old lady stuff. But now I can wear the regular size stuff, so even more choices!! And Kohls, their plus size stuff sucks for the most part, but now that I can wear the regular size, I like their dress clothes for work. I have to go shopping this weekend!! I only have one pair of jeans (size 11) that come close to fitting me, and they're getting too big in the waist, but my big ol' thighs still fit in them. But my dress pants are too big. I had a pair of "new" black ones on yesterday that I had hiked up to almost my boobs and still had a belt on with them. Luckily the blouse I had on was pretty loose so no one could see my waistline that high, LOL! I had a "new" pair of brown dress pants too, and they're obscenely too big too. I'll try the consignment shops, but I don't usually have the best luck there. Otherwise, I hope to hit some good sales!

@PinkPolkadot619--Great plan! I love all your Protein, I have yet to get THAT much in! :-) I also find during my PMS time I am physically hungrier! It's the only time I "Feel" hunger actually. So I've given up and figured maybe my body needs extra calories during that time. For 2 months I've let my hunger during that time take the lead, and I just make sure I'm eating healthy options when I'm hungry.. So things with a lot of protein.... I have also dropped 3 pounds right after my period for these last 2months. SO, it must be ok for my body to have those extra calories. Overall, right now, I average 800-900 calories a day. During my PMS days, it was more around 1,000 calories. So even just that little increase really helped. If I don't give in and eat something healthy, I end up eating junk. It might be worth trying for a month and see how your body reacts to it?

@Glyndalin--Thanks for sharing your food plan! Do you order the Bariwise stuff on line or are you able to get it at a store? I wonder how "processed" the Bariwise items are considered? I try and stay away from as much processed foods as I can, but I don't know that it's considered processed? My scale dropped another 3 pounds, yay! 77 pounds gone, 12 to go! Holy buckets, I can't even believe it! And my work pants I just got a few weeks ago are already too big. Gleeps! Too big to even use a belt with. I checked the consignment shops while we were there unloading my fat clothes, but didn't see anything I cared for. My shoes are needing to be replaced too. I'm curious if some of my back/hip issues are from walking weird, trying to hold my shoes on my feet because they're too big, LOL! I hate buying shoes. I need comfort, but just hate to spend money on shoes!

My hair loss never got to the point where it was noticeable to anyone but me. It lasted about a month and once I increased my Protein significantly it really slowed down alot.

I think you'll really notice an improvement Beni. I'm enjoying beef jerkey and greek yogurts to help increase mine. I just can't get enough in at my 3 meals.

@Bronxmerci--You look great girl!! Wish I could wear a hot outfit like that!!

@Beni--That's exactly how I was feeling about a month ago. I increased my Protein and I've had a significant improvement! How much protein do you get? I still haven't been able to get in as much as the Dr. wants me to (60-80g) but I'm getting in the high 50's at least, which has REALLY helped my energy level. And when I increase my protein, it boosts the losing too. My pattern for losing seems to be, I stay the same for about 2 weeks, then I'll drop 2-3 pounds. So I'm slowing down on the losing, but I try to stay positive knowing every couple weeks, I'll drop a little. Now if I could just get my tailbone/ hip crap under control. I'm on week 6 of physical therapy. I have some improvement, but still a lot of pain. My PT was going to contact my family Dr. this week and see about getting some more imaging done. So odd that I lose 74 pounds and now my back/ hip hurts?!