Meltdown Challenge

One of the schools I work at is having a Meltdown Challenge for the next 3 months. The focus is to lose body fat and make healthier choices. I had my body fat percentage calculated this morning along with a couple of other things. I'll have to come back later and update that information because I can't recall it right off hand.

Each week we get points for making goals, meeting them, turning in our food tracker, and other things like that. Thankfully we can just use myfitnesspal to document our intake. I've already been doing that, although I've slacked off quite a bit in recent weeks. I made three goals for this week: 1. Drink at least 40 oz of water daily. 2. Cook and eat dinner at home 4 nights a week. 3. Walk at least 10,000 steps 5 out of 7 days this week. These are things I really need to start focusing on again right now.

I think the timing of this challenge is perfect. I really hope that it will not only encourage me to lose the last 15 lbs I want to lose, but to also help me get my body healthier by reducing my body fat.

Getting close to 1 year!

Wow! I knew I hadn't blogged in awhile but I didn't realize it had been almost 5 months! I guess life gets in the way even when we have the best of intentions. Of course, life gets in the way of a lot of things including weight loss. Right now I'm stuck on the side lines because of an injured SI joint, and not exercising or always eating like I should. However, I do feel the gastric sleeve surgery is continuing to help me. I still can't overeat and I'm not gaining weight. I just can't get these last 15 pounds off either!

I have a little less than 2 months until my 1 year anniversary of the surgery. I really want to get as much of that extra off by then. It's hard to get back in that mindset I had in those months after surgery. Other than the smaller portions, I'm finding that not much is different. I can eat almost all the same things. It's all a head game at this point. I'm the one who has to want to make the changes. I have to want to exercise. I have to want to eat right. I do want those things, and now I just have to do them.

Now for the most recent update on my progress. I'm down a total of 75 pounds! I am wearing size medium tops and dresses and size 12 pants. I look at this side-by-side comparison and I'm amazed at the changes I see. I am so much happier and I don't regret having the surgery at all. Even if I didn't lose another pound I am much healthier than I've been in a long time. I only need to lose 8 more pounds to get to a normal BMI. I am so excited!

So for now maybe I need to start blogging more and be held a little more accountable. It's easy to get comfortable where I am. I need that challenge to prove I can reach my ultimate goal!

Another month gone by

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted. I've now lost 6 more lbs. I'm a little disappointed that the weight loss has slowed down but at least I'm still losing. I'm now fully into a size 14 and still wearing some size large dresses. Here's new pictures from today:

Little summer slump

Between the heat and the kids I've not found as much time to walk over the last couple of weeks. Thankfully the weight continues to come off and I'm sitting at 55 lbs down right now. I'm hoping to lose another 10 lbs before school starts back.

I have a few inservice days to attend and present at over the next two weeks and I desperately needed some clothes that fit. I went to the mall and got a few shirts, a pair of capris, and two dresses. All the shirts and dresses were size large, and the capris were a size 14! I'm still amazed to look at clothes so much smaller than I was wearing before surgery. Today I have on slimmer fitting shorts and a close fitting shirt. They actually look nice! I love it!

Getting more exercise

The kids are at day camp for the next two weeks so I'm trying to take advantage of the extra time alone to get more exercise. One day last week I managed to take one of the kids and walk two miles. Yesterday I took the dog and walked 3 miles. Today I met up with a friend and actually walked 4 miles! It felt really good but now I'm starting to feel some familiar aches and pains around my upper thighs and hips. I hope it's just from adjusting to different terrain (usually walk on asphalt) and the longer walk. I do not want to start having all that constant hip pain again. I guess I'll see how  I feel in the morning and decide if tomorrow will be a shorter walk around the neighborhood instead of a long walk on the trail.

Overall I do feel so much better. I'm amazed to think I was carrying around 50 extra pounds everywhere I went. It's nice to be able to walk longer distances and not be totally exhausted after. I actually ran two errands after walking and had over 12,000 steps in by 11 am this morning.

I also decided to take my measurements for the first time in 6 weeks today. I was amazed to find I've lost 17.5 inches total from my neck, hips, waist, arms, and thighs. Of that, 5 inches came from my hips! I guess all the walking I've been doing since the first of May has really paid off. I didn't take my measurements before I started this journey so I'm curious to know how many inches I've lost since the end of February.

Survived vacation!

We were gone for a total of 9 days and I was so worried that the extra calories that kept sneaking their way into my diet would add up. Thankfully we walked a lot around Disney and I actually logged a 4 lb weight loss this morning!

3 months today!

Today marks 3 months since my surgery! I'm happy to report that I'm now 44.4 lbs down! That's .6 lbs short of my halfway goal. I am so excited and I feel so good. My blood pressure yesterday was actually 98/66! I had to go clothes shopping because everything is falling off of me. I was able to shop in the regular sizes for the first time in over 9 years and I'm down at least 2 sizes! I went from a 2XL in tops to some larges, and a 20W on bottom to a regular 16. Here are a few of my pics from the last year so you can see the progress all in one post. The first is from May 2011 at about my heaviest. The second is from December 2011, and the last is from this morning.

3 Month Check-up

I saw the surgeon for my 3 month check up today, although I'm not officially 3 months out until the 28th. As of yesterday, I've lost 42 lbs! The surgeon was pleased with my progress, but of course he told me to expect it to slow down and reminded me I'll hit plateaus. I'm hoping to avoid that as much as possible this summer by adding more exercise and activity while I'm off work for the summer.

I found this picture the other day and thought I'd share (excuse the blurriness). It's from December 2011 and probably one of the last pictures of me at my heaviest. I plan to share my half-way to goal pic next week.

Making progress!

I'm not sure what's happened since I last posted but I've lost another 10 lbs in the last 3 weeks. I still have another 2 weeks until I'm officially 3 months out from surgery, and I hope to be able to say I've lost a total of 45 lbs by then! I've been a lot more active the last few weeks. Work keeps me going and then I adopted a boxer a week ago. Clancy loves our daily walks and I think he keeps me more motivated to keep walking.

A little over 8 weeks out

I weighed myself this morning and I've lost another 1.6 lbs since Saturday! It's a constant battle to get more exercise. The surgeon wants me to get 45 minutes a day of exercise in but I'm doing good to find 30 minutes a day. However, I did buy a FitBit a couple of weeks ago and I really feel like it keeps me more motivated to be active. 

When I first had surgery I had this high expectation that I could lose 60 lbs in the 3 months between surgery and the end of May. I've lost a little over 30 lbs in almost 2 months now. I'm still really happy about it and try to remind myself of how great that is. Yes, I'm disappointed because I really thought I could lose more. Instead of getting down on myself, I'm trying to use it as motivation to work even harder over this next month. Maybe I can lose another 10 lbs before the end of May!