6 Month Bandiversary

6 months. SIX MONTHS!!!! A half year ago I underwent the most frightening thing I have yet to go through (yes, including childbirth). Today where am I? Let's see. I am off of the medications I was taking (Metformin & high blood pressure meds). I am 57 lbs lighter. I am 4-6 clothing sizes smaller than I was. Along with the excess weight I have lost so far I have lost a good portion of my boobs, but I am dealing with that. I FEEL and look so much better!!! I tried on a pair of size 16 jeans at Kohl's at 12:30 a.m. on Black Friday and they buttoned, zipped AND I was able to breathe in them. They do still provide a lovely little muffin top, but it will go away soon. I bought those suckers and told my husband to wrap them up for me for Christmas because that is all I want is to fit into them comfortably!

I am attaching 2 photos. The first photo is me at my highest weight 3 weeks before surgery and the second is me yesterday.

This is me at 275 (being silly at a baseball game with my P.I.C.):

And this was me yesterday (with my purple .22):
I am rocking the http://www.danielmeyerblog.com/ t-shirt in a size large, thank you very much...and it is roomy! BTW, please check out our friend Dan's website. He is a former co-worker of my husband's (Air Force) who has a very rare lung disease caused by his exposure to the burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are working hard to get information about his condition out so that we can get those who are ignoring these troops being affected by this to do something about it so that no one else has to suffer. If you wouldn't mind sharing with others, it would be greatly appreciated. He is a great guy who deserves to have a long life with his beautiful wife and family.

I still have 53 lbs to lose to be at my goal weight. I still have 6 months before I hit my 1 year mark. I got this!! My next goal is to be comfortably in a size 16 by Christmas, and then I want to be at 210 by New Years (2012 will be a GREAT year for me...especially when I reach onederland for the first time in 6 yrs!). Seeing how much has happened in the first six months makes me very excited to see what I am able to accomplish in the next six months.

I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving! I was unable to eat 1/4 of what I usually eat on this holiday but still enjoyed myself all the same! :-D

Finally!!

After fighting them for 4 weeks, I broke through the 220's!! I weighed in today at 218....it has been 4 1/2 years since I weighed that. What an exciting achievement!! I have dropped 5 lbs in the past 2 weeks by actually eating like I am supposed to, imagine that. I totally forgot about my appt on Thursday with the surgeon's office, so I won't be getting another fill before Thanksgiving. The next time they could get me in is on December 8th (yes, they are THAT busy) so I will be going though my b-day with no fill as well....but Christmas will be limiting :-)

I am going to venture out and try on some size 16 jeans this weekend. I would have thought that having lost 57 lbs I would have lost more sizes than I have, but I guess I didn't have it in my head that I had been actually wearing 20W-22W's (W=an addition 1/2 size). I would still try to squeeze into my 18's and, if they buttoned, they fit in my head, no matter how bad they looked on me. I have some 18's that are huge on me and some that are still muffin top providing, so it will be interesting to see what happens. I told my mom that all I want for my birthday/Christmas is a pair of size 16's that fit perfectly....14's would be even more perfect but I know I need to work towards those. LOL. It is funny, when I weighed 180-190 I fit into 14's but they were really tight....but some people I know who weigh more than that can fit into 12's or 10's. Guess that just shows how different labels and bodies are. Can't wait for that next size down though!!

Have a fantabulous weekend!!!

Trashin' My Dress

So it isn't my "official" Trash the Dress session that I did yesterday, but it was a great practice run!! I plan to do my official TTD pics when I hit my goal weight in the summer. Then I can do some great water shots in my dress as well...FUN!!

My husband and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on Thursday (11/10) and I have wanted to do a TTD session for years, but I finally fit into my wedding dress again and was ready to go. So, with 11/11/11 being a big wedding day here (and my anniversary the day before) I figured, why not! I want to wear my wedding dress again on 11/11/11! ;-)

Yesterday we went out to Nelson's Landing to get some pictures because none of us had ever been there before. It is GREAT out there!! If you live in Vegas and haven't ever gone, you need to go. If you visit Vegas, it is about 30 miles south of town and is so cool!!! Totally worth the trip and it will only take you about 3 hrs total with driving and walking around. It was a big mining town back in the day and is the perfect backdrop for some original photos with the old buildings, mines, cars, trucks, buses and the plane!

My mom's boyfriend played photographer and my sister will be doing editing on them because she is a freaking artist when it comes to editing photos. I have a couple of the unedited photos to give you a sneak peak and a better understanding of what we did. When I have the others I will put them on here for you to see!! Enjoy!!

24 Weeks....and 1 day (With Pics!)

Sorry this is late, I was busy all day yesterday with my mini Trash the Dress session. It was SO fun!! I will post about that next :-)

24 weeks since surgery, WOW!! Don't I say that every month? I can't believe I am almost 6 months out. I need to adjust my eating habits again because I have been fighting the same 2 lbs for the past few weeks. Sucks to be drawn back into bad eating, but at least I recognize it and am trying to get back on track. I need to straighten up if I hope to be down 100 lbs by the 1 year mark!! So below are my 24 week photos (sorry they are so dark!!) compared to last month. I notice small changes here and there, but mostly that my waist seems to be bigger than last month. I don't know if it is because the shirt isn't skin tight anymore or if it because (I noticed) my hips are finally getting smaller so it doesn't look as dramatic. Not sure, all I know is my butt is finally getting smaller (which makes me happy), but my boobs are continuing to get smaller (which makes me sad). Oh well, I will take the losses I get!! Hope you have a great weekend!

Bad Bad Blogger

I know, I know. I suck at this currently. Please bear with me, there has been a LOT going on in my life lately. My hubby was supposed to be starting his new job but it has been pushed back until January because of Obama and his campaigning move of pulling the troops out of Iraq. The contractors who are currently in Iraq need to be relocated and unfortunately, until that is all done, my husband will be sitting on the sidelines and wait to start his new job. To call is stressful is an understatement. My income is not enough to keep us afloat, but fortunately I have my business to bring more money to the household as well. I can say, however, that with as much stress as I have been going through, I have NOT turned to food to comfort me. That is a HUGE accomplishment for me!!

The gym has been a really good outlet and helps me to clear my head. I think being able to completely exhaust myself helps too...then I can sleep at night :-) I hit my 2nd 10% goal last week AND crossed the line of having less to lose than I have already lost. It is exciting to have started the downhill battle. My next 10% goal is 200 lbs but I am going to combine it with hitting "onederland" and shoot for 199 by the end of January. I have not weighed that since 2006. I can't believe it has been so long...it seems like it was just a year ago! I have set little goals for the end of the year too. My 6 month mark will happen this month and I want to be down at least 60 lbs. I want to be fitting into a 16 by Christmas. I know for these to happen I need to keep eating like I have been the past 2 weeks and keep up the work at the gym. And I WON'T be disappointed in myself if I don't hit these goals. I really need to pound that in my head. But I will be certainly pushing to get to them :-)

I hope to blog a little more frequent, but in case I don't again this weekend, I will be posting for sure next Friday for my 24 week pictures!