6 months out and still a loser!

I know its been forever since I've updated this blog but here goes. I have lost 67 pounds so far!! Things have slowed down as I ad more things to my diet and get down to within 20 pounds of my goal. I had a great summer and averaged 3 pounds a week but now fight for two a week. I now weigh 166 pounds. Hope to get to 150 by New Years. This is slower than the Doctor said I would do but I eat more carbs than I should and am fighting stress related cravings more and more. I have started uping my exercise to combat that and need to get more good choices and just shut my mouth more. I feel real good now and love being about to cross my legs, tie my shoes and so many other accomplishments. I'll try to come back here at least weekly nd keep you informed. Bye for now.

2 Months out!

Well I have made it two months and hit a new milestone today after a week of not much headway. I am at 196.5 or 37 pounds off! We got an elliptical machine last weekend and I have been doing 15-20 minutes on it a day. I did a couple days in the pool as well. I also have started using the livestong website's MyPlate Food diary to track my eating and exercise. It is pretty easy to do and helps me see that I am doing ok in that department.
Have noticed that it really bothers waiters when you say no to any drink including water! They keep coming back to see if I'm thirsty now. I found that if I had water in front of me I will drink it while I eat without thinking. So its easier to just not have it around. I finally say ok to water then move it to Paul when they bring it. It makes them happy. My mom in law also is constantly asking me if I have enough to eat and do I want something when we eat with them. We had spagetti the other night with zucchini and garlic bread. I passed on the bread, cut 1/2 a zuc into little pieces and topped it with sauce trying to get more meat than sauce. I put about 1/4 c of pasta on my plate and nibbled at it too. I was fine but she thought I was starving. Oh well.
Really enjoying having fresh fruit, watermelon has been great as is the bounty of berries available now. We do lots of fresh green beans, zucchini and mushrooms too.
My peach tree is starting to produce and I have added one of them to my shakes and even made some taste syrup out of one with a teaspoon of lite maple syrup and a touch of vanilla. I splurged and made french toast out of low carb, high fiber and protein bread and an egg and dipped it in the peach syrup. It was wonderful and got me through a carb craving.
Next week I will be at Gleanings for the Hungry processing peaches with 21 of my closes friends (teens and another mom). I hope to report that it was a weight loss bonus week! Back in a week!

Onederland at last!

Its been a week of runing around since I last posted but today is a celebration day for me! I finally crossed the border into onederland! (under 200 pounds). It was a busy week with Jennifer flying in late Wed night, family barbeques on Friday and Saturday nights, brunch for the Jr Highers (150) on Sunday morning and then a quick run to L.A. to drop Jen at Biola for the summer and back Monday for a 6 pm meeting at work. Wish I could chill for today but am off and running again around town, work and then dinner here tonight with Paul's folks! Glad I don't get hungry!

Getting to this weight (down 33 pounds) has been a challenge and I can't believe I feel so good. I have struggled with craving carbs of late and had some controlled slips - a corn tortilla with fajitas, a couple chips out at Mexican food, 1/4 of an english muffin. But generally the diet end is going well. I nibbled on too many green beans and brussel sprouts Sat night and couldn't eat my chicken so need to watch that.
Anyway I think that getting into the 100's will be motivation enough to keep me on the straight and narrow diet path. This also marks 1/3 of my weightloss journey!

cami

Getting better all the time.

Things are moving along for me. Nothing really new but am at 31 pounds now. Hope to hit "onederland" by the weekend! It finally got hot here and I dug out all the clothes I had in the attic. All the shirts fit and some of the pants. Some shirts are almost too big already. May do some shopping with Jen this weekend while she is here. Still relying on Milk of Magnisia for regularity (every three days.) Been extremely busy the past week and only made it to the gym one time so I don't know if its worth joining, at least until after summer and all the trips we have to make. May have to work harder at walking and now using the pool. Forgot to sip a few times and felt the pain of it. Also having more cravings for carbs. So that's about all from here. Hope I have a big update this weekend!

cami

Still a Loser!

Well its been a long week full of computer viruses, work and family activites! Sorry to be gone so long but our home computer is sick sick sick. So I come to you from work! (on a break of course!)
I have enjoyed more exercise this week and hope it helps at the scale. As of this morning I have lost 28 pounds since April 10th when I went on the preop diet. That is 21 pounds since I got out of the hospital.
On the negative front I'm still having trouble with constipation and now my Blood Pressure has been creeping up. Took BP meds last night and this morning. Kind of depressing since I've been getting lots of exercise. Paul and I took two 3 mile walks this weekend and I did 10 minutes of cardio every other morning.
On a positive note; I went through my clothes and filled a huge black bag with things that are too big. So even if the scale isn't being friendly I must be losing something somewhere!
Goals for the week are to get exercise everyday, Drink all my water, get my computer fixed and get more stuff out of my house. (kind of spring cleanings again)
Eating meat and veggies is getting very boring for me. I really crave a salad and a taco. several times I planned a great meal only to have the meat too dry and feel like I was swallowing rocks. Was encouraged by a couple at church who had gastric bypass, he has lost 255 pounds and she has lost 180. They say they have a new life together!
So I need to stop complaining and eat my protien and walk walk walk.
Hope you all had a nice weekend!

Great Day with my son today!

Today Peter and I participated in the AmGen Tour of California Bike Race! No we didn't give Lance Armstrong a run for his money but we did walk the Breakaway from Cancer Mile on the race course with many other cancer survivors and family. It was a wonderful event and we even got tshirts, hats, banners and special seating to watch the bikers come flying in for the finish. It was fun to celebrate the deliverancy the Lord gave us with Peter's childhood battle with Luekemia. He was asked to help carry the banner and lead our parade. We had a local high school marching band and flag twirlers too! I hope Peter got a feeling for the gift of life the Lord has given him. I sure did.
Tomorrow is my 1 month doctor appointment and weigh in. I haven't weighed in since Sunday and hope I'm doing ok. I did see a difference in the pictures taken today! And I took a smaller t shirt than I would have last month! So I will change my picture on this blog tonight too.
Still battling the constipation with prunes and stool softeners. Hope I lose that before my appointment. :-)

I'll let you know what happens tomorrow. I'm tired out tonight, but very happy.

Been a long week.

Its been a long week without much to say. On the eating front I've found I am still dealing with eating too fast and trying to slow down. Getting meats moist enough messed me up a couple meals this week. On the positive side still haven't found anything I can't tolerate and enjoyed a fajita dinner at home last night with family. I ate the chicken mixed with a little refried beans and a dab of cheese. nibbled on green beans, tomato cubes, olive slices and a little avacado. Even ate 1 1x1 inch chip slowly. No tortillas but after reading the package on the flour tortillas I don't think I'll ever be eating them again! 250 calories a piece and lots of fat. 5 grams of protein at least.
Looking forward to getting the gym/workout ok next week. Haven't been walking as much as I should but more than last week.
In the weight department I've lost 4 more pounds since last Friday. Still going up and down all week but I guess the downs are winning. Still dealing with the constipation issues and am eatng prunes to see if that helps.
I went to my first post op support group meeting on Tuesday. They had some good suggestions. Most there are several years out from surgery.
Goal for this week is to walk walk walk and sip sip sip.
Wish I could say I've had a great week with lots of revelations but I think this is going to be the norm for me, just plugging along.
So to sum it up here are 5 good things from this week.

1. took on att and won.
2. All my new plants are still alive!
3. packed up 2 shirts and a pair of pants - too big.
4. only took Blood Pressure meds 1 day.
5. Lost 4 pounds for a total of 20 pounds since surgery (3 weeks).