Waiting...

I've been standing in line for 3.5 hours now for my parking pass for college. 

Today's food has not been so great. 

I've had 2 coffees and half an assorted wrap. In line there isn't much choice. 

I managed to get my student card. I won't be showing that pic to often. 

Hopefully I'll be able to get my pass within the next hour. 

Lordy Its Been a While

Sure has been a long time since I've been on my blog. Good news is I'm still smoke-free. Yesterday I celebrated 11 months without a cigarette. The bad news is I put on some weight. The highest I climbed up to was 222 pounds. That's a whopping 60 pounds from my lowest in October. 

I'm finding it very hard to get back on track. I try this diet, I try that diet. I can't seem to stick anything. 

Today I decided to go back to basics, eating every 2 to 3 hours and eating no more than 3 g of sugar per meal. 

In a couple of weeks my life will be changing once again. I've decided to go back to college and earned my diploma as a social service worker. I'm hoping this will help me with managing my food as well. 

My daughter Erin has moved back home.  That's been somewhat of an adjustment as well. She moved home following statement hospital. She was diagnosed bipolar. I'm still unsure of how things are going work out. 

Back in April we took a nice drive down to Dallas. We drove 19 hours straight to get there for a hockey game. We decided to take an extra day on the way back and spend the night in St. Louis and then the next day have lunch in Chicago. 

Last week we decided to make a tour the eastern seaboard and started off in Niagara Falls driving up through to Maine, down to Boston to New York City to Washington DC to Pittsburgh and then finally back home. We really enjoyed the sites. Can't say food choices were the best but we made do with what we had. 

So here I am trying once again to shed the few pounds I put on.... okay so it wasn't a few. I'm going to try my best to start log in daily. I really need to be here. 

Until tomorrow. 

Day 3 Of Not Smoking.

Yesterday I hit my lowest weight yet, 164.5 lbs. I really can't wait to see the 150s. I think that will be a huge milestone for me.
Three days ago, on Sept. 4 2012, Dan and I quit smoking. I hope Dan sticks with it, but I feel confident I will, mostly because I'm doing it for me this time.
So far so good. I'm just grateful I have my food under control and if it wasn't for the strictness of Atkins, I think I'd be in a world of trouble.
So my total Atkins loss in about 95 days is 28.5 lbs. the grand total since surgery is 168.5 lbs. I'm ready to make THAT number go up.

Goals

Well it's been a while since I've blogged and I've reached a few goals. I started Atkins 79 days ago and I'm down 28 lbs.
I reached my first goal which was to beat my lowest weight since gaining after surgery. My lowest was 172.5 and I have beat it.
My second goal was to lose half my body weight which would have put me at 166.5 and I've beaten that. Today I weigh 165 lbs. I have 104 days to lose 10 lbs and reach my final goal of weighing 155 lbs. at that point I will start adding carbs back into my diet.

No Scale Today.

I'm refusing to get on my scale today. I was up all night and all I did was eat. I made sure to eat low carb, but I know I went over my 20 carb limit.
Today is another day. Will be strict with my carbs.

Finding Success At Last.

It's been a while since my last post. For the past 58 day's I've been on The Atkins Diet. I am still on the Induction Phase, but I'm enjoying the foods I'm eating. I'm trying to be creative with my cooking.
I decided to go on Atkins because I've had success in the past.... before the gastric bypass, and I figured the rules of surgery are similar because you can't have sugar with either food plan. Atkins is definitely stricter, but if gives me a head start kicking carbs, sugar and decreasing my appetite. I'm now back to eating smaller portions like I use to.
Since starting Atkins 58 days ago, I've lost 25lbs. I started at 193 lbs. I had really gained with my out of control eating, bad habits and with all the traveling, losing wasn't easy. I am now down to my lowest weight since the surgery.... 168 lbs.
My goal is to get to 155lbs. I still have 130 days to reach it. I think it's very do-able.
Some time in the future, I will start to increase my carb intake. Adding low carb breads, berries, nuts and higher carb meals. I'm on a 20g of carb plan right now, but I'm hoping to add 5g a week till I reach about 40g-50g.
I really think this lifestyle is sustainable long term, especially since I'm not to have sugar anyway. At some point, I hope to just go back to eating the way I'm suppose to post-op, while eating low glycemic carbs.
Since I began to follow this food plan, I have energy I could have only dreamed of. During the school year, it was normal for me to get up at 7am, make the kids' lunches, then go back to bed for 3 or 4 hours and wake up at 11am. I was always so tired. I assumed that as summer began, I would just be able to sleep in everyday. Somehow I found myself getting up at 7am and staying up when I didn't have to get up early at all. I found it odd, then it clicked.... Atkins. I also was taking Melatonin to help me sleep, with the occasional Tylenol PM when needed. I am now able to get to sleep early and stay asleep all night long. It is truly amazing.
Well, I'm going to log off now. I'm going to back a low carb cheesecake. I'm will not be denied LOL. I've sweets to much.

Another Good Day.

Well I started off eating a few small powdered doughnuts, but all was not lost. I took my vitamins,drank my water and stuck to my plan.
I have 1 hour left to do my eating so I plan to drink another bottle of water then have 2 sugar free cookies and candies as a treat. After 8pm, it's just water for me.
Tonight I also got signed up at the gym. So after I attend the Ladies Expo, I'm going to hit the gym and shock my body but good.

Checking In

Just had a boiled egg and a yogurt. When I was getting it together, I was thinking, what else? Well I thought about it and realized I don't need anything else. Remember the rule that says no more then 8oz, but ideally 6oz. I don't need a lot of food. I just need a little more often.
Will soon be working on my next bottle of water. (After my 30 mins.)

I like what I see.

Down 5.5 lbs with only 19.5 to go. I weighed in at 184.5.
I'm not letting myself think " well you were lower then that not long ago". I could easily go there and get discouraged, but I'm choosing to stay focused on losing the 25 lbs. it's a small enough number but a difficult enough goal to reach.

Why Following The Rules Pays Off.

It's not a diet, it's just following the rules of surgery.
So I did well with my rules today. Not perfect, but pretty close.
I ate most of a 5.5oz can of tuna salad. I probably ate 4oz and tossed the rest. The if-y part was I was hungry again within an hour so I had a cheese stick. A little while later I was hungry one again so I had my half burger left over from the night before. There was ketchup and relish on it, which both contain sugar. Not perfect, but close.
For dinner I had a tortilla with grilled chicken breast, fried mushrooms and onions, a little shredded cheese and lettuce.
A few hours later I was hungry again so I had a slice of meat pie.
So, not much sugar happening.
Later on, I went shopping and bought myself sugar free cookies and chocolates. At the same time, I bought the family lots of junk food. They have some really yummy looking muffins that look like coffee cakes. So good I can almost taste them.
After shopping, I took the kids for ice-cream. I asked if the had anything sugar free. Since they didn't, I didn't have any.
Later in the evening.... well after 8pm, I was tempted to have one of those yummy looking muffins. I decided to look at the product info and decided the nearly 500 calories weren't worth it.
As I got ready for bed tonight, I hopped on the scale which is completely unofficial, but I was down to 185.5. So I'm hoping for good news tomorrow.
I'll be honest, I'm really hungry right now, but I know the rules and I also know I won't starve.
Reaching my goal will taste much better then any sugary food ever could.

Got To Start Somewhere.

So my goal is to lose 25 lbs. starting at 190 lbs. Today I'm down 2, leaving me 23 lbs to go. I'm weighing in at 188 lbs.
Going to follow my rules of surgery.
Last night I didn't eat anything after 8pm and this morning I have taken my vitamins. I'm also starting my day with a cup of green tea.

Enough!

Okay, I've been eating like a pig and it's got to stop! I'm weighing in at 190 lbs. I now have 25 lbs to lose and I'm going to do it by following the basic rules that were given to me after surgery.
No more then 3g of added sugar. No drinking 30 mins after eating. Chew chew chew. Eat no more the 1C or 8oz at a meal. Three meals and 3 snacks. Eight glasses of water. Stay away from bread. Take my vitamins. NO EATING AFTER 8PM!!!! Breakfast is no earlier then 6am unless the day's schedule dictates it to be earlier. And lastly, as soon as Dan is done hooking up the gym, join and go regularly. Till then P90X 10 minute trainer daily.

April Yo-yo Continues.

Food has been so bad. Lots of bread and portions way out of control.
I started taking Raspberry Keytones recommended by Dr. Oz. It's suppose to trick your cells into thinking their thin. The results were amazing on TV. I guess we'll see.
Today's weight was 189.

Still Playing The Game.

Well, after another few days of up and down, I'm back to 186 lbs. I want to be at 170 by the first day of summer.
Seems being at work with Dan hasn't helped me any. It's the croissant at Timmy's and the chocolate bars from the store. As of today, no more.

Just eat my breakfast. Made an omelette, with veggies, bacon and cheese ( from 1 egg). Also had a yogurt and a plum. That should hold me for a while.

Playing Yo-yo Again.

Seems I've had a brain fart this past week. Yesterday I was up to 187.5 lbs. I've started back to work which always seems to help. This morning I was down a bit to 186.
Hope tomorrow is better.

Another Glorious Spring Day.

A spring day that feels like summer. It's 82* and the sun is shining. The only reason I know it's spring is because the robins are crapping all over the vehicles.
I didn't weigh myself right away this morning. I weighed in a few hours after eating a breakfast of a slice of cheese, two rice cakes with peanutbutter and a juice box. I was 183.5 lbs but I'm sure had I weighed first thing I'd have been 183 lbs, possibly less.
Besides breakfast, I've had a bowl of shrimp with cocktail sauce, a sandwich and a SF pudding.

First Day of Spring.

What a glorious day. For the past 8 days, the temps here have reached into the 70s. Unheard of for March. Today is the first day of spring and temps will soar to reach 80. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and I'm back to the weight I was before I left Mexico.
Today I weighed in at 183 lbs. I feel energized and pumped to lose the last of this weight.
I'm setting a new goal to reach 170 by the first day of summer. For the first time in a long time I feel I can really do this.

Back From Mexico~Damage Control.

We actually landed home 2 days ago. I hopped on the scale yesterday and I was 189.5 lbs.
I figured much of that would be water weight. Today I'm weighing in at 186 lbs. today is Monday, what a perfect day to get back to the swing of things.
Mexico was fun. I think I did well on a whole.

It's The Night Before.

Well it's not all bad. I'm the same weight tonight as I was this morning. Hopefully I'll be down a bit tomorrow.

I got all my work done today. All but the last minute packing is done. I'm also doing a load of laundry and will probably have another small load in the morning.
I'm ready to go.

Vacation Starts Tomorrow Night.

As soon as we cross the border into the States, our vacation will officially begin.
Today's weight is a little up. I'm at 183 which to me is still not bad considering where I came from. I've also gone down in inches which means I'll be able to fit in my shorts.