One Year Post Pilates

I'm about to come up on my anniversary of starting pilates classes, one year ago this November. Doing those classes has been one of the hardest parts of this whole journey because for a long time the pilates classes were CRAZY HARD for me. Much pain and soreness.


I'm still not a super pilates guru or super skinny yet, but I can do much much more in the classes then I could a year ago...and most of all I still really enjoy going. A move called 'leg changes', though...still my worst enemy.

November 2013- 77lbs lost

November 2014 (and 1 year of pilates) - 100 lbs lost

For extra comparison, Thanksgiving of 2012...

18 months later

100lbs lost and holding. 

(Second guessing my choice to wear a flowy shirt for this picture. You can't see my 6 pack. Kidding, kidding )

Pre-surgery. March 2013. 

I've been holding at 100 lbs for over two months now. I feel like there's more weight to lose but I'd *like* to think some of the weight comes from muscle gain. I've been going to pilates 3 times a week, most recently to a class that is both spinning and pilates together. I think they should just rename the class it OUCH!  And surprisingly...I can hold my own when spinning. I was expecting to pass out dead at the first class.

Life is so wonderfully busy right now. Our family is active and involved...in the community, our church, kid activities. I wonder what this season might have looked like if I didn't have the energy I do now. If I had never lost all the weight or learned to sleep. And honestly there some days where it seems so far behind me that I don't even remember.

Until I go to a restaurant and eat just an appetizer, or fully enjoy riding a roller coaster with my kids at the zoo. Then I remember.

The Illusive 100lb Disney Picture

Right before my family left our first ever trip to Disney World, I hit 99lb loss on the scales. So it was my goal to snap that awesome 100lb pic while we were on our trip...standing in front of Cinderella's castle or with Mickey some other awesome location.

The thing about a trip to Disney with kids though, of course, is that it's busy and hot and there are a million things happening all at once. So I forgot all about that 100lb picture.

But when filing through the thousands of pics on my phone and camera, I found one that I think will work.  Still not a skinny lady to be seen in this pic, and definitely one with some flappy arm skin issues...but there it is. 100lbs gone.

The best photo comparison I could find was from summer vacation 3 years ago at the Outer Banks.

The difference in these two vacations aside from the obvious difference in size, was stamina and energy. We planned our Disney days to be jam packed full so we could get the most seen and done and then take rest days off in between.  So it was go go go from ride to show to attraction to ride. We hardly ever stopped.

And I do believe that it was my husband and kids trying desperately to keep up with ME, not the other way around. I could not have accomplished that a few years ago. As much as I wanted to, no way.

Truth be told, I am no longer at 100 lbs because I gained about 4lbs on vacation...from eating mickey ice cream, chips in the car and having a glass of wine every single night. But I'm not sweating it. I'll get back there very soon.

The point it that I hit 100lbs, had an amazing trip and it indeed felt magical.

1 Year Progress Pictures

My one-year anniversary kind of came and went the other day without me much noticing. In fact I didn't even realize it until the following day. I guess that might be because it doesn't feel like my life revolves around it as much anymore. Sometimes I simply forget what life was like a year ago right now with the 2oz portions of instant mashed potatoes.

I can eat normal foods in small portions, do normal amounts of exercise and activities and well....I feel normal. I feel like the mom that I always thought I was inside my own head.

And no I'm not skinny yet but I'm still working on it and if I'm never truly 'skinny' again I don't really care. I feel no longer trapped by my own body at at the end of the day, that's all I really wanted.

 March 2014

89 lbs lost (dang I really wanted that 90 by the 1 year mark!)

March 2013

Mama's Protein Power Breakfast

I've been having the same breakfast almost every day for a while now and it's delicious, full of protein and totally dietician approved. Extra bonus...very portable and easy to eat in the car.

I fry up one egg, then toss in some cheese and turkey sausage crumbles (which were a recent addition as of this week, when I found this baggy of pre-cooked crumbles calling my name). While the egg is cooking I throw a taco-sized tortilla on the flame to heat up a bit.

Yummy looking scramble, rolled up into a taco. Then I wrap is up in foil.

While inside the foil something magic happens, the already warm tortilla softens a bit and becomes nice and chewy.

I wrap it in foil even when I'm eating it at home, and let it sit and steam itself for a couple of minutes.

Start to finish it takes 5 minutes to make. The rest of my family has started requesting these for breakfast as well, especially if hot sauce is involved.

This size is about max capacity for me so I feel very full after (and sometimes can't finish every bite). The protein gives me a nice morning and boost and well, it's yummy! 

A Year Difference

 Charley's 4th birthday.

Charley's 5th birthday, 82 lbs lighter.

Newflash: I'm Still a Foodie

It's 1:30 in the afternoon and I'm sitting down to my little afternoon rest before going to pick the first grader up at school. Today has been fairly normal...chores, pilates, school drop off and mid-day preschool pickup. Like many days, there's been a lot of food happenings. I made egg burritos for the kids and hubby for breakfast, packed my daughter a cute well balanced bento lunch, and made the boys some grilled ham and cheese sandwiches at lunchtime. In addition I've been working on a baby welcome meal to be delivered later which included slow roasting some pork, making a pan of mac and cheese, mixing up and salad and baking cookies.

So today has been a little more food work than the average day, but certainly nothing too uncommon. It's not uncommon for me to make three meals a day since someone is usually always home in my house, or for me to be making a meal to share with someone at church or save in the freezer for later. I make cute lunchboxes, bake bread, and stir big bubbling cauldrons of marinara to freeze. I order and pick up the donut holes for church and manage the coffee supplies and volunteers. We are the bread baking rotation for our church's communion, and I often can be found posting food pictures and recipes on Facebook.

My husband and I like to buy strange food at the Asian market, try new restaurants and recipes and order organic meats from local farms. We grow herbs in our garden and make delicious things with it. We grow cabernet franc grapes on an arbor in our yard and make our own wine from it. We watch cooking shows on the Food Network.

In short, we are foodies. It's part of our lifestyle and part of our identity as a family. My husband is the bigger foodie and better cook than myself, but over the years our tastes have grown very similar and he's taught me many of his kitchen skills.

Our six year old is even a little foodie in training who likes Sriracha on her eggs and almost had a heart attack when she got a waffle maker for Christmas.

So when I began to research bariatric surgery and what it would mean for my future lifestyle, there were some things that I was unwavering on. I didn't want to eat diet food for the rest of my life, or not be able to enjoy cooking for my family. Things crossed my mind like...will I be able to eat at restaurants, will I be able to eat spicy food, can I still drink wine?

And now as I am rounding out the first year of this journey, I am happy to say that I feel like a totally normal person. I eat completely normal food at my 1 cup portion. Because sleeve patient experience far less dumping sydrome than bypass patients (mostly due to the removal of the pyloris), the only restriction I have on fattening foods is that higher calories could impede my weight loss. But I can have it...little by little, if I want to.

I was telling my husband just last night how nice it is to finally truly enjoy REAL foods without fear or hesitation. There were many many years where I consumed a lot of 'fake' foods...no fat, no sugar, lots of prepared and diet meals. And sure, during that time I was skinnier but I was certainly not healthier. I think everyone is starting to finally starting to come around to the idea that the low-fat diet fads of the 90's were simply not good for our bodies, and I know for sure it wasn't good for mine. And frankly, I still got fat didn't I?

There were many decision that lead me toward having this surgery, and one of them was that I knew I needed to be able to eat real foods and still lose weight at the same time. Of course going toward the path of surgery is certainly NOT everyone's answer for making that happen, but for me it has been.

I know that in an ideal world, I would have been able to have self-control and moderation with these real food and not gained so much weight in the first place. I know many people who successfully live that way. But well, I didn't...and that ship has already sailed.

But coming back around, heading toward the land of the skinny...I find it refreshing to get here without diet coke or fat free cheese or those fake potato chips that have warnings about anal leakage.

I feel normal and healthy and like I'm very much still a foodie.

9 Months- 80lbs and Holding

I realize that I have been a bad blogger both here and on my Mommy blog...I haven't written anything since Thanksgiving! I could have written about surviving Christmas, my first ever episode of dumping syndrome (it was cheese fries in case you're wondering), or how I handled the meat extravaganza that was Fogo de Chao...but I didn't. I've been busy having an awesome holiday with my family, and for that I can't apologize.

Much like my post about Thanksgiving, part of the reason this holiday was so great was because I feel like I had so much more energy and endurance for handling all of the activities and preparations. I also suffered from far far less blood sugar sluggishness brought on by holiday junk food and alcohol, even though I enjoyed my fair share.

I hit 80lbs right before Christmas and have stayed there. Partially because of all the nacho cheese and wine, and partially because I think my weight loss is starting to slow down, at least according to my surgeon. I feel like I have much more to lose but even so I have to be pretty happy with these results so far.

Early January, 2014

My 30th birthday, 2010. 

I thought you guys might be starting to get tired of my same boring 'before' picture, so I'm digging for the worst pictures I can find of myself. Truly awful. You're welcome.

Part of the reason I *think* the scale is slowing is because I *think* I might be gaining muscle mass from doing private pilates training twice a week. I don't know much about exercise but it certainly feels that way. Things are tightening and shrinking but the scale stays the same. My friends and doctor tell me that this is a good thing!

It's pretty dang expensive to go to the pilates studio but so far it seems totally worth every penny. The place I go has the scary looking tables with straps and springs and it is HARD.

This is picture of me yesterday during my workout. Okay not really....add about 75 lbs, dark hair and LOTS more sweat and grunting. Plus I'm not cool enough to levitate like this. But even though it's HARD (I can't not capitalize that), it's enjoyable too and I really like my trainer. And I have sore muscles in places that I didn't know I had muscles.

I'm improving little by little and the trainer always cheers on with something like 'you would not have been able to do that a month ago!' and I have to laugh a little because I know I would not have been able to to ANY OF IT two years ago. I wouldn't have lasted five minutes in that place.

And for that I'm pretty grateful. A new year with a new body and new possibilities. It feels good.