On the left, 327+, May 2005. On the right, 235-, October 2005.

On the left, 270, August 2005. On the right, 235, October 2005.

I took this pic today--and it really hit me--WOW. I've never seen myself in an outfit with a smooth tummy line--there's ALWAYS been stomach fat bulging out of my shirt. Believe me, the fat roll is still there, but now, apparantly it's small enough that my clothes camoflage it! whoo-hoo!

On the May Boards, we did a weight loss roll call. Since I have been feeling so down about my loss (especially when compared to that stupid weight loss tracker they have on this site-rrrr!), I thought I'd add up all the losses and how many days out everyone was and see what the average was for the May Board. Well, with 26 people participating, the average loss was 86 pounds in 155 days. I'm 145 days out and at 91 pounds! In fact, I had the third highest loss per day (.63lbs/day) and the 6th highest weight loss (-91). Well, that certainly cheered me up!

9 pounds to go and 16 days left to meet my Halloween goal of -100. I'm a week away from my 5 month anniversary--it seems like it's been so much longer than that. It's really hard to believe ONLY five months have passed since I've had surgery.

I decided not to go home (to family) for Thanksgiving this year. One--the cost/hassle of going home is pretty high, I wouldn't get to spend a lot of time at home, and with divorced parents, rushing from one side of the family to the other (and fairly so I don't favor one parent over the other) is just a lot to do in a weekend. Second, I really want to have a big "reveal." I haven't told anyone on my mom's side of the family (except for my Mom/Stepdad) that I've had surgery or have lost weight. They are going to be shocked when they see me at Christmas--I hope fitting into a size 16 cute outfit. My dad's side of the family is much smaller and word got out (thanks dad, for keeping your mouth shut, huh?) rather quickly, but they will still be pretty surprised as they last saw me in August, when I was only down 50 pounds.

I've been struggling with a small plateau, but I think it's finally broken--I got my period on Friday and my weight immediately dropped 2 pounds.

Yesterday, my friend and I met and went to her gym, which was nice, and a good change of pace from Curves. We spent a half hour on the elliptical (a crazy new one that makes you feel like you are marching almost on the high hill interval), then spent another half hour lifting--we did bicep, tricep, shoulder, and abs. I'm a little sore in the arms from that, but my legs recovered well from the elliptical. Yesterday, I also walked to work and home-- about 2.5 miles total.

My friend asked me yesterday what was the biggest change I've noticed (other than weight loss) because of my surgery. I said that she should've asked me what stayed the same after surgery, because I've changed so much! I used to think I was lazy--sitting on my butt all day, looking for ways to avoid getting up and moving. Now, I just get and go all the time. I would NEVER have walked to work before surgery--not when there was a bus to take me home. Now, I walk just because it makes me feel better about my day and it's just a good transition from home to work--clears your head.

It's tough to think that I've already lost over 90 pounds, but still have 70 more to go to hit my goal weight...I just wonder to myself--how did I ever allow myself to get that big? What's happened has happened, and now I can only strive to continue to push towards my goal and make it happen.

My best friend is coming to town in about 25 days--she's two inches taller than me and has put on a bit of weight since her wedding--she confessed to weighing an all-time high of 210 last time we talked. Now, I now I won't be able to lose 25 pounds in the next 25 days, but I bet I'm going to be darn close to her weight by the time she sees me--I wonder what she's going to say to that?

I've noticed that a lot of my friends/family have three distinct emotions about my weight loss--they are happy for me, because they know how long and hard I've struggled with my weight; they are jealous of me, because they can't believe how quickly I'm changing; and they are mad/angry at themselves for not having the "willpower" or stick-to-it-iveness to lose their own excess weight. It's interesting to watch the emotional tug-of-war.

My dad is going in for his first informational session with a surgeon in his area tomorrow. He's thought about it on and off, since I mentioned surgery first to him several years ago, but I think seeing the results first hand has given him the extra shove he needed to make a committment. He's also getting older and starting to experience some of the problems of being overweight--high blood pressure, high cholesteral, sleep apnea, etc. And his father is struggling even more with all those, plus heart issues and diabetes...and I think my dad just KNOWS he doesn't want to be in his father's footsteps in 20 years. It's weird--but I am more nervous about my dad getting surgery than I was about me getting it--I would feel so awful and guilty and the undescribable horror if something went wrong during his surgery. I've encouraged him to listen to the doctor and make his OWN decision, not just follow me. But, I think I will be praying to any higher power that will listen to me that he makes it through ok.

I need to get some work done before Monday rolls around, so I'm going to sign off for now.