7-30-10 Still plugging away!!!

Well here I am just finishing up my 7th month out of surgery! I have hit another plateau. I have lost 102 lbs since surgery for a total of 151 lbs! I am feeling very good, so healthy, just amazing to feel alive again!

I am still exercising as I can. Going to the fitness center here in town (Anytime Fitness). I have been very slowly working my way up. I sure can tell that I have been out of shape for over 20 yrs! But.... little by little gaining muscle, and endurance! I am toning, strengthening, and building resistance! It really does feel great to be healthier.

I am still being hyper sensitive about what I eat also. I eat my proteins, fruits and vegetables! I eat no breads, no pastas! I just want to be SO careful to only put the best quality foods into my system! I want to be my very healthiest on the inside... as well as the outside!

Here is just another humorous little tid-bit. This is the first summer that the heat has not been a problem for me! In fact... I am actually freezing most of the time! I carry a sweat shirt in the van with me, and wear it many days! Also.... I end up wearing a sweatshirt here in the house too. With the A/C going for everyone else, I am just too cold, but that is just fine with me. This is the very first time the summer heat hasn't kept me at home, or seated in the van, while the others are out doing something!

It has been so fun to be able to shop now as well. I can go into a store, and just find something that catches my eye (yep, usually it's purple)! I have gone from the biggest size I could buy practically, to a basic Medium! A size 14. I can hardly believe it myself! I haven't worn a 14 since, well... don't even remember! As I lose even more, it may even end up being a 10 or 12!!! A new fun thing for me now.... buying skirts! I have worn dresses for YEARS! Now I have bought a couple of skirts... and even 2 jean skirts!!!

I am also still going to all of my surgery support groups, and the weekly dietary groups. I just want to make sure that this is front and center in my life! I just don't want to lose sight of where I am, or where I am going! Yes, I have 22 lbs yet to lose to get to my personal goal weight, but really.... that is when the test will start... keeping the weight off! This truly has to be a way of life!

Well... once again, I want to thank each one of you. Those of you who send your support, who follow me here, those of you who stop me in the stores... thank you so very much for your encouragement! It really does mean everything to me! It is very nice to know I have so many people rooting for me, cheering for me, so happy I am healthy again! Thank you!!!!

All now... until next time.... love to each in your own corners of the world!
Love... Eydie =)

More Comparison Pix

This is what one year can do. In fact... just less than one year! The bottom picture is taken June 28, 2009. This is one of my high school friends, Cheryl. We have reconnected through facebook, and I have really enjoyed our time together again. Her 2 boys are the same age as my 2 kids!
The top picture is taken this year... on June 19, 2010. Wow... when I look at these pix... I just can't hardly believe that this is really me. Was I really that big...and have I really lost this much weight????

7-3-10 151 lbs lost!!!

Well.... my Dear Family and Friends... my Team! I am still on my weight loss journey here! I can honestly say, it is going great! Yes, it is a full-time job... it has to be a constant way of life... forever front and center in my mind! I keep a food journal every single day (this is day #209 since surgery, and I am on my 4th book). I read labels, and keep track and think about every single thing that I eat!
I am feeling very good! I know so much of it is not only the fact that I've lost 151 lbs now (102 in the 6.5 months since surgery)... but because I am eating real foods! No junk is going into my body at all, and I know that helps tremendously!
I was to the doctor again on Thursday for my 6 month labs. Everything came back wonderfully!!! My blood sugar numbers, cholestrol, trigliceroids, the whole thing... everything is NORMAL!!! It is just amazing! Can hardly believe that just 7 month ago, I was in a completely different situation!!! I was taking 2 kinds of insulin, 4 times a day, my numbers on every single issue were completely out of whack!!! A few weeks before surgery, I was seeing the doctor and nutritionist, and I was actually crying because I was afraid I would die before I could have the surgery!!! I don't know if I have written that here before or not, but I know I haven't told that to very many people!!! I was SO unhealthy, and SO afraid that I wouldn't make it to surgery, to get the help that I needed! Yes, my kids and some family was afraid I would die on the table, die due to the surgery, but I knew I would die if I didn't have it!!! The surgery hasn't completely cured me... but it has given me the tools I surely needed to help myself!!! I know that the success or failure of this is up to me, and there is NO WAY, that I am going to let some kind of junk food hinder my health now!!! NOTHING tastes as good as I now feel!!!!
I am having fun with some new clothes as well. Kind of interesting, finding the kind of styles that I like. For SO many years... I haven't had any style... I have just had to wear clothes that fit, usually the basic tent type dresses! I was just lucky to find something that fit, and even luckier if I could find it in purple! :-) But now, I have been given a few things, and some are maybe a little "form-fitting" or maybe have a "waist". Seems pretty odd to me! I don't want to dress in kids stuff, or try to wear teen type clothes, but I can have fun things!! So this part of the journey has been fun and freightening at the same time!
I am enjoying part of the "giving back" now also! The clinic has called me a few times now, and I have gone to visit a couple of patients that are having trouble with their journey. Just trying to help them... motivate them... encourage them, etc! Just like all of you here have helped me in so many different ways! My team at the clinic is now encouraging me to go on-line to get my dietary technical degree? Not sure yet what that all will entail, but it is called DTR and I can do on-line schooling for that, then I can teach classes, etc. I am very excited to see where that will lead me! Right now I am attending nutrition classes every Wednesday, and then the support groups are Thursday evenings, 2 times a month. I am able to help out with the Nutrition classes, and I really enjoy that!
Well... my Dear Team.... thank you for your continued support here! I truly appreciate all of your enthusiasm along the way in my journey. Love ya all!!!
Eydie :-)

June 15, 2010 -145 lost & counting!

Still losing!!! I have now lost 145 lbs total! That is -96 since December 7, 2009. I am still feeling amazing! It seems I just don't stop long enough to get to my computer as often now! I don't nap anymore. I am able to go all day long with the kids, running errands as I need to... work on the house, etc! Yes, I do feel tired at night... but still tend to go to bed too late! (as right now it is pushing 1:30 in the morning). But... the tired, is a good feeling! I have my 2 kids that I need to keep up with! Ha... I have always said that Benjamin was 10 steps ahead of me, but now... he's only 5 ahead of me, and I am catching up!! =)
I am still going to the Anytime Fitness Center here in town! I am really actually enjoying it. It seems the strength training and stretching part of that is improving the most! As for the walking, the speed and distance is improving too! Just all the way around, I am feeling great! It's been 6 months now, but it has really gone fast, and I have learned SOOO much. So much about healthy eating, so much about myself, good things to a better life! It hasn't been easy, but it really has been good for me!
Thank you again... each one for your fabulous support! I really do appreciate each one of you so much!
Until next time... love to all! Eydie

140 pound difference!!!!

This is an incredible journey! One I am on with each one of you! It is a tough road... but the ride is well worth it!!! With each mile I go, the better I feel!!!
Thank you everyone!!! Hope you all have a beautiful, and wonderful weekend!!!
Love, Eydie =)

Comparing pix!!! Seeing the difference!

Ahhh.... the proof is in the pictures!
The first picture is me at my highest weight. I want to cry when I look at this picture now! I am usually happy, but I was tired here, and you can tell... I really am NOT happy at all!
The second picture was taken December 7, 2009... the day I had my gastric bypass surgery! My dad and I. I had already lost 49 pounds!
The third picture was taken in May when they were here! I have now lost 91 pounds since surgery. 140 pounds from the beginning!
Thank you each one for your part in helping me to succeed!!!
Love you all.. Eydie

6-3-10

I just have to post this picture! My Sis-In-Law Lora sent me this Happy Face T-shirt from The Bahamas! She said it would be great from exercising in.. and yes... it does work great! Thank You!!!
I have now lost 140 pounds! WOW.... yes, I am SOOOO excited! I do have a little bit left to lose, really don't know just how much yet, but still on the downward slope! I have not set a goal yet, as I want to just wait and see how I feel. I am 5'7" and my papers say the low end is 120 lbs, and the high end is 150 lbs. So... will wait and see when I get close to that... but I do think 120 would be too low?!?!
Anyway.... I am still working out at the Anytime Fitness Center here in town. I am starting to really feel a difference now. Doing the walking and the bike. But also the resistance and strength training too, and it is helping the muscles, toning and getting stronger. I had been doing some things here at home, but guess I just didn't have the right equipment.. or just wasn't doing it right... or long enough... or... whatever! But... it seems to be helping so that is the main thing.
It sure feels good too, having better health, more energy, etc. Able to work more around the house, feel better with the activities of the kids too. Not tired all the time! I used to say my kids were always 10 steps ahead of me. Well, now they are only 5 ahead of me, and I am catching up! =)
Well, all for tonight. Hope this finds you all doing good in your little corner of the world! Thanks again for your love and care and encouragement! It means the world to me!!!!
Love to all! Eydie