Happy Hump Day ladies,

I went to a weight loss surgery support group last night. It was interesting to hear about the successes and challenges. There were three other "pre-ops". One of the women at group who was 9 months post-op had hit a weight loss "stall" and was having issues with her body using her muscle tissue for energy because she was working out over an hour every day and not eating enough healthy carbs (veggies and fruit) for the body to use those as fuel. The doctors and nutritionists tell wls patients to "eat protein first", but sometimes, especially when newly post-op, your new stomach doesn't have room for much else after the recommended amount of protein is eaten. But by 9 months, she should have at least some room in her stomach to increase her healthy carb intake, and she may have to reduce the amount she exercises. I guess too much of a calorie deficit (between eating and exercise) causes the body to not only hold on to weight and, if not enough healthy carbs are consumed, cause the body to start to use/burn muscle tissue for energy rather than fat. I don't understand the why's of it all. I'll ask my niece the bariatric nutritionist next time I talk with her.

Tonight, I'm working with the personal trainer and then taking Santa to the dog park.

I've been finalizing my plans for my road trip to Washington and Oregon next month. I've got the car rented, the first three nights of lodging booked, and I'm working out with a friend to see if she can fly into Portland rather than me having to drive 2-3 hours out of the way to pick her up.

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Ceejay - Great job on the exercising, and good for you for doing well on the eating plan. I don't eat hot dogs much anymore. How do you like the Yoga DVD?

Laura - I'm glad you liked the movie "Boyhood". From your description it sounds very nice. Interesting that they were able to use the same actors for the children as they grew up. Definite contrast to "Catching Fire" (the second Hunger Games movie). Good for you for attending a workshop on advanced directives. I have to fill out a form and get it on file with the doctor/hospital before my surgery. They also recommend that patients have their will made out. Those serious complications are extremely rare, but any surgery has risks, and it's better to be safe.

Susie - Glad you're having a quiet day. I don't like super physical "team building" competitions. I hope you have fun playing corn hole. The company I used to work at everyone was younger than me and wanted to do PaintBall or Xtreme Obstacle courses. I suggested bocce ball or going to a music festival. Good luck at TOPS.

Terra - How are you doing with walking? How is the quilt coming along?

Hi Shad, Annie and Happy!!

Well, gotta get back to it!

Much love to all,

MY SISTER FRIENDS....

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT, LOVE, PRAYERS, GOOD VIBES, THOUGHTS AND ALL THINGS CROSSED!!!!

I GOT THE JOB AT WELLS FARGO, START SEPTEMBER 8, AND MORE MONEY AND BETTER BENEFITS THAN HUMANA.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOVE AND HUGS

Congratulations, Annie!! I am over the moon happy for you!!! I know you will do great in your new position!! I'm so proud of you, girlfriend! Enjoy these next three weeks with the kids and grandkids.

Congratulations Annie. Well done. It's been a stressful time for you but now it is time to relax a little and enjoy the next chapter of your life. You go Girl!!!!!

Can't stop now. On a roll in the garden. Time to get those plants in the ground and start thinking about the next medium sized project while working on the pros and cons of the next big project.

Laura ~ Yeah its alot challenging to walk outside then it is to walk to my Leslie Sansone dvd thats for sure.

Susie ~ My trip to walmart was good. Im glad how I broke up my walking to get my 5 miles in too.

Annie ~ The walking is going good, I just got back at it since gaining some weight back. Im currently looking for work. Congrats on the new job, Thats great.

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I woke up this morning at 5:00 AM, As always I got my morning duties done and I've already done my morning walking outside. I have to start watching for the bus at 11 AM and then I'll come back home at 3:30 pm. I'll be sure to get my evening walking using my Leslie Sansone DVD tonight though and thats all I plan to do for the day.

Quick check in for me this morning.

I worked out with a personal trainer last night. He really pushed me, but I was sure not to do anything that would hurt my back. He and I agreed that if any move caused pain or if the weight to be lifted was too much, I would tell him right away. And he made sure to correct my form so I could avoid injury.

This morning I woke up with a migraine, but I took some Excedrin and I'm doing better. Good thing too because with vacation coming up in 3 weeks, I can't afford to miss any more work...my vacation days are stretched pretty thin as it is.

Today after work, assuming the migraine doesn't come back, I am going to go to the gym to ride the bike for 1/2 hour and then go to a weight loss surgery support group.

Tomorrow after work, D and I are going out to dinner and a movie. Not sure what movie we'll see. I'm not even sure what's playing now.

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Annie - Congratulations again! I am so very happy for you! I knew that you'd get a great job offer, and you got to enjoy some very precious time with the grandbabes. Love ya, sweet sista!

Terra - Well done on getting your morning walk in. I'm learning that while exercise is very important, what we eat is even more important when it comes to losing weight. This is something all the Worldly Chicks tried telling me months and years ago, but I was in denial. Now I'm finding I can work out like a fiend, but if I don't eat healthy and watch the calorie intake, the weight doesn't come off very easily (if at all).

Shad - Will we get to see photos of the garden? Are these medium-sized and big projects sort of DIY on the house or landscaping or are they income generating (i.e., work)?

to Ceejay, Laura, Susie and Happy!

I'm going to post this now and try and check back in later.

Much love to all,

Morning all.

Annie – Big congrats to you on the new job!!!! So, SO happy for you girl!! Enjoy the next three weeks!

Michelle – Glad the migraine eased up a bit. Hope it doesn’t come back and you can get your workout in tonight. You’re so right, what you’re eating is definitely the bigger part of the weight loss equation. Not that long now before your vacation. I’d really like to get back to the Pacific NW and see more. It’s so beautiful out there.

Terra – I agree with Michelle – exercise is very important, but eating is a huge factor in weight loss. Need to watch both!!

Shad – I’ve got plenty of garden projects, c’mon over!

Susie – I hope you enjoy the offsite outing today. Even though you’re not into the physical games, at least it’ll be nice to get away from the office. Fingers crossed for a good TOPS weigh-in tonight.

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I took doggy for a walk after work yesterday (bf was mowing/edging/weedwacking).

After that I went to the library program about advance directives. A man from an area hospice led us through an advance directive form called Five Wishes. I agree it’s definitely way better to have one of these types of forms completed than to have nothing at all. However, I also feel based on the questions and comments from the other attendees that it’s not always all that easy for the person you select as your “Health Care Agent” to actually make sure your preferences are executed. It sounds like once some sort of life support measure is started, such as a respirator that breathes for you, it’s awfully difficult to stop that treatment if that's the wish – you might even have to move the person to another medical facility to achieve this. One very interesting statement was made – for medical staff and facilities, who’ve been trained to keep people alive, a death means failure, so they will often keep doing everything they can to not have a death. Very interesting.

I have my WW meeting in a little bit.

Nothing planned for tonight. I’m really into my book – “Gone Girl” so I will probably want to try to finish it.

Gotta run! TTFN.

Had a 0.8 gain at my WW meeting. Well-deserved.

I've been mulling over cancelling my ww membership for a while now and actually did it just now. I just don't have the right attitude about it to justify the monthly cost - even with my employer footing part of the cost. But...I'm NOT giving up. I can do everything I do on ww elsewhere and plan to. I think I'll do better not feeling guilty over not wanting to count points (vs calories), not using etools, not reading the weekly brochure, etc. I've been successful losing weight on my own, so I know I can do this.

Next up- cancelling my LA Fitness membership....

Laura - Sorry to hear about your gain. But it sounds like your head is in the right place and your making good choices for you now. I am enjoying using MyFitnessPal to count calories (and proteins and carbs) as opposed to counting points like I used to (or like I used to NOT do). Everyone has to find what works for them. Kudos to you for doing that.

Just lost my post ugh

Wanted to say congratulations to Annie on her new job. Doing a happy dance for you

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Got my hair cut today.
Dreading tomorrow night's concert. Once I get there I'll be okay. Just hate all this driving.

Getting ready to go to the uncle's this afternoon. Don't really want to go. I'm tired. Concert is tonight.

Ceejay - Safe travels to the uncle's. I hope you have good weather in both directions. Enjoy the concert.

Hi ladies,

I didn't get to the gym yesterday because I had to pick up some prescriptions that I was nearly out of and the line was really long. By the time I left the pharmacy, there just wasn't time to go to the gym, change, workout and then get to the weight loss surgery support group. I'm SO glad I went to this support group. I almost didn't go because it's roughly 1/2 hour drive to get there.

At a meeting last night, the leader (a bariatric RN) asked people to do a short writing exercise. The pre-ops were asked to write a few things that they hoped would happen as a result of having weight loss surgery (most of ours were related to improved health and quality of life, as well as living longer). The post-ops were asked to write the lessons they have learned since surgery (which mostly centered on the physical, emotional, social and relationship changes). It was very insightful!

Then the leader shared this post she found online of "lessons learned" from a man who is 20 years post-op.
Please don't think that by sharing this I am, in no way, encouraging ANYONE to have weight loss surgery. It's major surgery and it's a very personal and individual decision and DEFINITELY not for everyone. I just thought you might be interested in reading this.
http://wlsappeals.com/2094/walters_b...rgery-patient/

One other thing happened yesterday. I had a bit of an epiphany...or at least a realization. I've been engaging in compulsive eating behavior and trying to pass it off as "food funerals", which is the term used by some weight loss surgery patients that refers to eating a favorite food once more (or twice more or x number of times more) before surgery because I may never be able to eat it again and even if I could certainly not in the same portion size as now. Anyway, I had a really good chat with a friend who happens to be a health coach today and I realized that the "food funerals" of nearly nightly Taco Bell runs and McDonald's ice cream runs are truly examples of "compulsive eating". It's the kind of eating that got me to my highest weight. It's the kind of eating that sabotages all my weight loss efforts because a part of me wants to keep this armor of fat. It's the kind of eating that is DELAYING my surgery when I truly want to have the surgery ASAP and get on the road to better health. It's the kind of eating that weight loss surgery will not permit. I have to build a new relationship with food for the rest of my life because I can no longer use food to "numb out" my feelings or use fat as a shield or a protective wall that I can "hide" inside. Dang, sometimes epiphanies can be rough.

But this epiphany is definitely helping me to make more conscious and less compulsive decisions about what to eat.

Thanks for letting me ramble on.

I hope you all are doing well and have a fun weekend ahead.

Much love and many hugs to all,

Michelle ~ Yeah I know both are important but thanks for reminding me. By the way I forgot to answer your question about my quilt, Its coming along nicely. I'll post another pic soon.

Laura ~ Yeah I agree with Michelle also.

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Today I woke up at 8:30 am and as always I got my morning duties done. Im currently watching the Selena movie while posting on here and on two other forums,reading my facebook news feed and reading and replying to emails. Im gonna jump in the shower at 11 am cause at noon I need to start watching for my bus cause my friend Wilma and I are going to the movies today. I'll get back home between 4:30 and 5 pm. I'll be sure to do my 2 mile walk tonight and then tomorrow morning I'll be sure to make myself get up so I can walk outside. Usually when my alarm goes off at 5 am I usually just turn it off and I got back to sleep but I really need to stop doing that, I need to just make myself get up at 5 so I can be awake and ready to walk outside at 7 am. So I'll definitely work on that.

Afternoon all.* I’m at work, but feeling under the weather.* On top of that my eyes feel irritated.* I just used some rewetting drops, but if that doesn’t help, I’ll just take out my contacts.*

Terra – What movie are you seeing?* Looking forward to another quilt photo.

Michelle – Sorry you didn’t get to work out last night.* Good you did make it to the surgery support group.* I think it’s wonderful you’re going to those meetings.* The more you know, the better prepared you’ll be.* I thought I posted a comment on fb re your epiphany, but didn’t see it theretoday.* Way easier said than done, but you can hopefully ask the question “is this worth it?” when faced with the compulsion to make a bad food choice.* Re what works for me – I wish I listened to myself more often – two stints of gym memberships later, I know that didn’t work for me.* Going back to my park district group fitness classes will work better. *

Ceejay – Enjoy the concert*tonight!

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Nothing much to report.* Beautiful day outside – I hope the weather holds for the weekend.**Tonightmight be a fest near my old neighborhood.**Tomorrow*will be jazzercise class.* I have a hair appointment in the early afternoon. BF and I are going to an outdoor concert with another couple in the evening.* Sunday we’re going out to eat with bf’s mom to an iconic fried chicken restaurant.* Full weekend.* Not quite the way I like it, but that’s the way it came out on the calendar.*

I need to take some vacation time.* If I knew my boss’s boss was going to blow off his review of our department budget this entire week, I would have definitely taken a day or two this week while my boss was out/on vacation.* Next week probably won’t work out that well for any time off.* I’m definitely going to take some time the following week.*

Okay, the eyedrops didn’t do it – I’m taking off these contact lenses.* Everyone have a great weekend.* TTFN.*