Back in the 80's

I am so happy to weigh 189 today. I am feeling great. I am running almost everyday. I polished my own toenails for the first time in a long time.i can finally reach them again :)
Now that summer is here, I plan to focus on exercising.

Goodbye Two Hundreds Forever!!!!

   Today is the day I have been waiting for! My first big goal accomplished. I weighed in at 199.6 lbs. this morning.I feel great! 39lbs. since surgery plus 12 lbs. pre-op makes a grand total of 51 lbs. so far.
   Having the gastric sleeve is a new way of life and a new way of living. All I can think is why I waited so long to have the surgery. I feel like I have an amazing future ahead of me and I can't wait to see where my journey leads me.

2 Month Update

Hey Friends!


Thanks for your support. I am doing great. I have lost 33 pounds plus 12 pounds pre- op so that is a total of 45 pounds. I have been walking/ jogging almost everyday. I feel great! People who don't know that I had the surgery are just starting to notice at work.
I am averaging about 2 1/2 lbs. a week. While I would like it to be faster on one hand, I feel like if I lose it at this pace my hair may not fall out as much. Also, maybe my skin will not sag as much. I am grateful that I haven't hit a plateau yet. I am about 6 lbs away from onederland( weird word but don't know what else it call it.
I eat everything. I haven't had any problems. It is definitely a new way of eating though. I can't believe it has been 2 months already. I obviously focus on protein first but I don't know how many carbs I should eat per day.
I feel like I should eat more fruit and vegetables but fruit has a lot of carbs. Do you guys worry about carbs? How many do you eat per day?
Overall, this has been a great experience. I am finally losing the weight and I am so excited about it. I apologize for not posting sooner and I will try to post more often.
Thanks for asking about me tz!

Gastric Sleeve Surgery

I am now rockin my new sleeve. I am 2 days post op and feeling good. The hardest thing has been chest pains from the gas. I am swallowing liquids fine. I have been doing some walking to help release the gas. I stopped the pain medicine. Obviously a little sore but not enough to take the pain medicine.
If this is the worst then it wasn't bad at all.

Cecilalane

I have been watching you tube videos about gastric sleeve surgery. Cecilia's video really spoke to me. I added the link in case you wanted to watch it too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZxbw0qg-VE

My Last Supper

 I have read a discussion on what was the last meal that you ate before your surgery.I think it is rather comical in a way that I have had my last meal several times. I have actually had 4 in my favorite restaurants.
1. Sushi at Mikimoto
2. Chicken Parmigiana at Olive Garden
3. Cheeseburger and loaded baked potato at Houston's Restaurant
4. Fried green tomato and shrimp romoulade poboy at Ye Ole College Inn (a famous local restaurant in New Orleans)
5. Randazzo's king cake
At home yesterday, my mom made chili. I ate it with a Nathan hot dog and St. Joseph bread from Dorignacs. For dessert, a little sliver of fresh pecan pie.

I think I am pretty much done. I come from a real Italian family. My mom makes dinner every Sunday and the family comes over. This is probably going to be hard to get used to after surgery. She is making Porter House steak, macaroni and cheese,salad, french bread and pecan pie ala mode.
I plan to have a small amount of steak and salad only.
This morning  I had a small amount of grits.

I know it has been typical for a lot of us to say goodbye to the food we used to eat and the way in which we ate it. I am excited though to make the transition to a new way of eating. These foods are not my friend and the enjoyment only lasts a little while. I have eaten this way for 45 years. I am so ready to begin again.
What was your last supper?

Shrinking Liver

I have read a lot of questions regarding pee-op diet and shrinking your liver. My doctor told me that you can shrink your liver enough in the 3 days before surgery. The day before surgery eat only clear liquids. I am sure this is good news for many people out there!

Inspirational Quotes

"Being content is mostly a learned discipline. First you must decide to be happy. Then you must practice being happy. It takes about 30 days to make a habit stick. But once you've accomplished it, things can shake you but won't knock you off. Start now. Being content is being in a state of peaceful happiness and you'll be surprised at all you CAN accomplish when you're at peace."


Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow, come and go like the wind. To be happy, rest like a giant tree, in the midst of them all.
__ The Budha

My Weight Bucket List

I guess this list will grow and change but I figured why not start it right?!!!!


1. I want to be picked up and twirled around
2. I want to wear a size small
3. I want to be a size 6
5. I want to get my belly button pierced( at 45 is that weird?)
6. I want to wear a belt that you can see and not covered up by a shirt
7. I want to wear a bikini
8. I want to run again without my body hurting
9. I want to climb stairs and not be out of breath
10. I want to feel younger than my age not older
11. I want weight not to be an issue anymore. I want to live my life without counting calories, points, dieting,etc.

Yippee New Milestone For Me

I am a diet cokeaholic. I drink a lot of diet coke. At least a 2 liter a day or more. Yes that was not a typo!
I have been addicted to diet coke for the last 20 years or so. When Hurricane Katrina hit, I said that I will be okay as long as I have my diet coke and good ice(a post for another day).
You will all be happy to know that I have been diet coke free since January 24th. Go me! 3 days and counting! First time that I haven't had diet coke in over 20 years. It feels good to beat another addiction. I quit smoking on July 19,2010.Hopefully, I will beat the food addiction as well!

February 15th

My surgery is scheduled for February 15th. My life will begin again.I am so excited but nervous too.

The AHA Moment

I wonder if many of us had one or many aha moments leading up to VSG. I know one in particular that stands out to me. I decided to start making a list so this post may be edited many times:
1. My Aunt had gastric bypass surgery and you will never guess who she gives all of her fat clothes to. Yeah that's right...ME. I get the fat clothes that she doesn't fit into anymore. You know what the saddest part is.... they fit me!! That sucks!

Get some Mio today!

So my first step is to wean myself off of diet coke. I drink tons of diet coke. At least a 2 liter a day. I know that isn't good but it is what it is. This morning I had a glass of diet coke.For the rest of today(it's 4:30p.m.), I drank water and iced tea. When I was at the store I picked up a bottle of mango/peach Mio. There were several flavors but this sounded good to me. I came home and tried it out. You put a squirt or two in a glass of water. It is really good. It is a water enhancer made by Kraft foods. I am really excited! It will definitely help when drinking water. Have you tried this? If so, what is your favorite flavor?

Nutrition Info on High Protein Foods

Food	Serving	Calories	Protein	Fat
Boars Honey Turkey& Oven Gold	2oz	60	13	1
Boars Havarti	1oz.	110	6	10
Boars Mozerella	1oz.	90	6	7
Boars Cheddar	1oz	110	6	9
Boars Turkey Pepperoni	1oz	70	10	3.5
Mini Baby Bell	1oz	50	6	3
Fage Yogurt	1cp	130	23	0
Chicken Breast Tenders	4oz	100	23	.5
Egg	1	70	6	5
Danactive Vanilla Probiotic	1 bottle	80	3	1.5
Best Part Skim Ricotta	¼ cp.	90	6	6
Banana	1 lg	121	1.48	.45
Sugar free popsicle	1bar	25	0	0
Cherries	1cp/1	90/3	1/0.1	0/0
Hummus	2 Tbsp	70	1	6
Fatfree milk	1cp	90	8	0
Muscle Milk Light	1	100	15	2.5
2% Lowfat Cottage Cheese	1cont.	90	10	2
Italian cheese	1oz (2Tbsp)	110	9	8

To tell or not to tell

Good morning everyone! I woke up early to get blood work done . I went to my PCP office and waited only to find out that they could not draw the blood for all the tests needed. The nurse sent me to Quest and it was packed. I will say that I still hadn't had my morning cup of Diet Coke and started getting a headache. Anyway, finally I get called back to room 5 and the nurse starts asking questions. "Which surgery are you getting? Do you really think you need that ?I mean you don't look like it". That was sweet I guess but I told her that she definitely didn't see the before pictures that I took last night.
Over the holiday my mom told my Aunt, that was a huge mistake! She hasn't shut up yet about it and that was 3 days ago.
So here's the thing. I don't think it is anyone else's business. I don't want to hear the barrage of opinions good or bad. I just don't. I keep thinking of a tactful way to handle it. What are your thoughts? Haha I will ask ya'll for your opinions though....don't you feel special?!!!

Consultation Today!

I am very excited. I just got home from my consultation. It went well.I only have 2 things to do(psych eval &blood work). I hope to have surgery on 2/14 or 2/15. Tomorrow I am going to start cutting out diet coke  and drinking more water. I am going to try and lose as much as I can before surgery. I took my measurements and my before pictures.
She gave me samples of different protein mixes. I just tried nectar sweets Fuzzy Navel. It is pretty good.
What are your favorites?
*********Update: I tried the fuzzy navel again and I don't think that I like it after all! I also don't like Muscle Milk light vanilla.

My Little Black Dress

I was searching on line for my future little black dress when I remembered that I already had one. I went into the attic and searched my skinny clothes box from days of old.Voila! I found it and it's a size 14. I can't wait to be able to fit into it again.
I also secretly hope that one day it will be too big!

The Food Siren's Call

DisneyAddict on verticalsleevetalk.com said",It's insane how much mental control we have over what we ingest now. Before... poweless to foods siren call. Now? I can do this."
This really spoke to me. I think so many of us have good intentions and then the food siren calls like the sirens of the sea. I can't wait to regain my power back.VSG here I come!

Happy New Year 2012

Happy New Year 2012!
I am so excited to start the new year. This year is going to bring a lot of new, exciting things. I have my consult on 1/3 and I start a pottery class on 1/5. I have always wanted to take a pottery class with a wheel since I saw the movie Ghost. I just wish I had a Patrick Swayze to sit behind me! :)
I know its the Weight Watchers song now but I keep hearing, " It's a new dawn, it's a new day and I'm feeling good!" in my head.
In 2010 I quit smoking
In 2011 I sold my house & my son graduated from high school
In 2012 I lost half of me (physically) and gained a new me