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!

Another 2 lbs down!

I'm down another 2 lbs. It is really going slowly but at least it is going down. I can really see the weight loss in my face, stomach, and back. I know I've lost weight around my hips too because I'm down a size, but I'm not noticing it as much. I had such big goals to be down a total of 50 lbs by the end of May but I just don't think it will happen.  I'm down 31 right now.

Just another weekend

I'm not going to weigh myself for a few more days so no weight update today. Yesterday was a really lazy day for us, but today I've stayed busy cleaning the kids' rooms and purging their closets and toys. Then I topped it off by purging my closet too. I got rid of all my clothes that are too big. I'll probably have more to get rid of by the first of summer. I even picked up a swimsuit while I was out this evening. It was a size smaller than my last one and fits great, maybe even a little loose. I get a feeling I'll get to buy a smaller one later this summer!!

6 weeks out

It's been 6 weeks since my surgery. As of yesterday I have lost 29 lbs! I had an appointment with my surgeon yesterday. He said my weight loss is great. I'm averaging about 2 lbs a week for the last 3 weeks.  I do need to work on getting more exercise though. My blood pressure is looking better and so is my blood sugar. Neither were that high to begin with but they're even better now.

I started cleaning out my closet yesterday. I found several pairs of pants that are just way too big now. I also found a pair that had been too small that fit me perfectly now! I love it!