1 year on

Well it's been awhile since I blogged so about time I did :-). Aussie was a wonderful time. Highlights - being able to fit in the plane seat without putting the arm up between me and the kids, wearing a normal seatbelt, buying new clothes including a pair of boots with heels (a new experience for me), seeing Nigella in person, shopping all day and not having sore knees or back, visiting with family, loving Melbourne.

It has now been 1 year since my surgery and things are still rocking along. At my 1 year mark I weighed 92.4kg which is a loss of 61kg. I'm really enjoying my new lease on life. I am wanting to do so much now. Marie and I are going to Curves prob 2x per week, Zumba 1-2x per week and I did a 6 week Friday night bootcamp which finished recently but I hope to do another one soon. I'm even joining in with the activities at Youth Group and running around instead of just walking :). The family is due to go caving next week which should be fun.

I've decided to set a temporary goal of 80kg and see where to once I get there. ATM I am losing about 1 kg a week. I thought I had come to a bit of a plateau in April but the past 5 weeks I have lost over 5kg so am back to losing again. When I saw David (the surgeon) last week he told me I need to set a goal. I thought 80kg because it is not too far away and since I lose most of my weight from my top half I will see how things look then. I am happy where I am at ATM but am happy to keep going for now.

People are really starting to notice the weight loss now and commenting. I find it a little sad that people are now telling me how beautiful I am as it all seems a little superficial. It's a shame people look on the outside for beauty.

I was delighted recently to be able to fit some size 14 jackets. Who knows when I was last that size?

Brian and I went to support group on Sunday which I haven't done in ages. It was good to catch up with people I haven't seen for a while and also to meet new people.

I am intending to go to HEART next weekend for the day for the last time. It will be good to catch up with some old friends. Now it is my turn to be a little superficial as people won't necessarily recognise me. Speaking of that, I went to a 21st a couple of months ago for one of the girls from Kids Camp and was hanging out with 1 of the leaders I have been close with. Other leaders would come up and say hi to her and then realise who I was and be lost for words - some rather amusing faces and reactions :).

I was looking at my before photos the other week. Now I have seen these photos heaps but not for awhile. To tell the truth, I was shocked! I so do not see myself as that person any more and with God's help won't be there ever again!

Well that's it for this time around.

Milestones

Well it's been awhile since I was last here but there hasn't been too much to report as such and I have been waiting for the right time to blog again. Christmas went by well. Did get into a little bit of grazing which is not a good habit to have.

I've been keeping up with my exercise going to Curves 2-3 times per week. They have now added Zumba with Curves which is fun but they haven't settled on times yet so it's still a bit hit and miss. We are back to doing Zumba with a few from church on Thursday mornings. Whilst at Parachute Marie and I went to the Zumba and it was intense, the first real live Zumba class we had been to. I also went to the Barn Dance which was fun but hurt my knee so couldn't do Zumba the next day. I'm a lot more active even running on Saturday with the team of girls I was with at Youth Group to get back to the chapel as part of a treasure hunt :)!

Well my title says milestones so here they are: Yesterday was 9 months since my surgery. Last week I got to 50kg off and this week I got to 1/3 of my weight off. I had hoped to get to one more milestone which will be hit in the next week or two which is to be under 100kg. My current weight is 101.7kg which means I have lost 51.7kg!

We are off to Melbourne next week on the 11th and really looking forward to it. I had thought I would buy lots of clothes but I have had a change of heart and will just get a few as I'm still going down. I'm going to see Nigella as part of the food and wine festival which I am excited about (Marie isn't cause she hates Nigella lol, good thing I didn't get her a ticket). Marie and Damien turn 18 whilst over in Aus so my babies will go over as minors and come back as adults lol. sigh where did time go???

At the end of the month Marie and I are going to have our colours done and I'll probably get a style consul done too.

I've discovered I can post photos so will get some together and post them soon. Speaking of photos, recently Damien was showing some photos he had taken at Youth Group and I asked who someone was in them only to realise that it was me - ops! :)

So I'm feeling really great and according to others looking great :P ! I'm getting my hair done on Monday - not sure what exactly but am going to the hairdresser who works in conjunction with the image consultant.

That's it for now until I post the photos. Oh and I am going for my 9 month checkup on Tuesday so will probably report back then.

6 months on

Well 6 months have whizzed by oh so fast.....The conference in Palmerston North was worthwhile. I didn't go to any of the social things cause I was too tired but it was a good day at the conference. I have now had 3 lessons in style for a pear shape which was very helpful. There were 2 women who shared their cosmetic surgeries to remove excess skin stories. We were reminded of the rules for having the surgery and how to make a success of it. It was a very informative enjoyable weekend.

I had my 6 month check up on Thursday. My bloods were all good though I need to now have B12 added to my list of life time supplements. My new weight is 110.8kg which means I have now lost 42.6kg! Whilst in Palmerston North I was rather blown away to realize that I will soon be able to fit the larger size of normal clothing sizes! I bought my first pair of size 18 pants a couple of weeks ago, that was quite a buzz...

I went to support group today with Brian and met a whole lot of people that I haven't met before including 2 pre-op people. It was good to have so many come this month.

One thing that I have learnt is that I am in the honeymoon phase which lasts about 6-9 months and is the time we lose the most weight. It is the time to establish good eating habits. The surgery is not a magic cure, it still has to be worked at.

I am so pleased with all the progress made.

Marie and I joined Curves at the beginning of November and are going 3 times a week and really enjoying it. We belonged to it 5 years ago and it has changed a little for the better. We have still been doing Zumba once a week too though a couple of times at home as an extra.

Have a great Christmas everyone and we'll update progress in the New Year.

clothing

Ok well it hasn't been a month since my last blog but I thought I would share what I think is exciting. I went and bought myself a new bra on Saturday. I had tried it on a few weeks ago and knew I needed to buy it so I went back into the shop. Good thing I tried it on again because I ended up getting one that was 2 cup sizes smaller! The poor shop assistant couldn't work out how she could have been so wrong with her sizing lol! It wasn't her fault poor dear :). Also, I had to get some summer tops so went out with Marie on Sunday and bought 2 - both size 18! So now I have a size 22 butt and size 18 top! Sorta wished they were more evenly proportioned but that will hopefully happen in due course :).

I tried Vibratrain 4 times but ended up not continuing with it as it gave me a sore back and Wendy (my chiropractor boss) told me that it wasn't a good thing for me at this stage. Marie and I have joined Curves instead. We were members when it first opened 5 years ago and decided to give it a try again. It is just over the road and so we will attempt to go 3 times a week as well as our Zumba on Thursday.

Well it's been a long time since my last blog. Things have been ticking along nicely. We are involved in so much more now and so I get busy and can't necessarily think of anything to say :)!

Have been doing Zumba with some friends and Marie at church. A couple of times this week I tried out Vibratrain - now that's some sort of weird sensation and generally I am moving around a lot more and more freely.

Even though Pytha gave me all those clothes, I haven't really got much use out of many of them as they are all too big! I went to Farmers and tried on some jeans yesterday and discovered I can fit a size 22 - yay. I also took a link out of my watch yesterday. I can now fit my bum into one of those green outdoor chairs - like Brian said, it's amazing what we take for granted and laughed at my 'little' achievements :). I had to go bra shopping as well but haven't managed to get anything yet.

Yesterday at work I discovered that I have lost a 10 year old! A 10 year old girl came in to work and in the midst of our conversation I asked how much she weighed and she said 34 kg so I will now share that my weight is now 118.3kg which is a loss of 35.1 kg which means I have now lost a 10 year old :) :) :) !!! I am just over a kg heavier than I was when I was full term with Marie and Damien and just a couple of kgs heavier than I was about 7 years ago so as you can imagine I am delighted with my progress and look forward even more to the future. In a month I am due to go to the weight loss surgery conference in Palmerston North so that will probably be when I report here again. Thanks to everyone for their support!

Weeks 12, 13 and 14

Wow 3 months since my surgery, time is just zipping along. This week I went for my final chat with Donna (the counsellor) and that went well, just talked about my goals etc and how to break them down into smaller bites. I also saw Zola - the nutritionist and Carol - the nurse. All my blood tests were good and so was my blood pressure so medically I'm ticking along just nicely :)!

I mentioned about my nails and Carol said yes both nails and hair suffer due to the lack of protein and it usually starts around now so I guess my hair will start thinning a little too now (should've waited before I had my haircut lol)!

I got my hair cut and coloured Friday week ago and it so gives you a perk up. That Sunday at church I had so many people complimenting me on my weight loss it was embarrassing!

I realised I'm hardly ever throwing up now which is good. Just when I realised that I went and throw up that meal LOL. Gravy with meat and bacon in it are so not nice the second time around!!

I went to see Pytha the other day (my friend who had the lapband at Christmas) and she passed some clothes on to me which is very much appreciated as my wardrobe was looking decidedly empty.

Had our last dance lesson on Tuesday and have the ball/social tonight. I wasn't able to get a dress or anything but have got a nice new top to wear and lovely new dancing shoes. It funny how different it feels to dance in proper shoes.

I have purchased Zumba off trademe and am waiting for it to arrive. There is a group of about 6 of us from church who are keen to do it together so we will go and use the church and the big screen.

So for the past 3 weeks losses, week 12 I lost 300g, week 13 I lost 1.3kg and week 14 I lost 300g. I now weigh 124.2kg which is a grand loss of 29.2kg! Just 800g more to go and I'm at 30kg! Wow! Maybe this week :)!

Off to support group tomorrow.

Just a Couple of other Thoughts

I forgot to put on my blog today, I've been noticing for a few weeks that I can lift the skin on different parts of my body which seems weird lol! It ok now but not sure about when I lose the bulk and have the excess skin. Another downside has been my nails. I was told I could possibly lose hair because of not getting enough protein but it appears that its my nails that have been effected. I had thin nails to start with but in the past couple of weeks they have been peeling really badly which makes them sore because they not very thick. Hopefully the multi-vit I'm having will help to remedy this in due course.