More Protein

I've been told and I've read that if your weight loss has stalled that you need more protein. I thought I was getting enough, but I'll try just about anything at this point. For two weeks I am going to have two protein shakes per day. Each shake when combined with my soy milk packs 29g of protein. Two of them a day is 58g. They said I need to have between 50-60g per day. If after two weeks I'm still the same weight, it isn't the protein. I'll try longer than that if I can continue to stomach the shakes because they do taste awful. Fortunately this morning when I went to make my shake the plain soy was in the back and the chocolate soy was in the front. I was a little tired and lazy and just grabbed the chocolate. Mixed with my powder it is awesome!!! I'm hoping I don't get sick of it and give up. So here is to at least two weeks of plenty of extra protein in my diet! Stay tuned for hopefully a weight loss for the first time in almost 5 months!!!!

Pictures from the Day

Things to Realize

Something I need to realize is that I didn't put this weight on over night. I can't lose all of my excess weight in a few months. I have a wedding to go to next weekend that is a black tie formal affair. I borrowed a dress from a friend that is the same size as my wedding dress. It's a little big :) I am 10 pounds lighter than I was when I got married 4 years ago. I am shopping at normal clothing stores, and I can move without much difficulty. I actually went for a little hike today with my husband to see some beautiful waterfalls. No way I could have done that last year!

Another thing I need to realize is that weight loss is a journey, not a goal. Every pound counts and every milestone keeps me going. Each time I feel stuck, it gets me more determined. Each week I evaluate what I ate and what my activity level was. I try to see if there is a way to change it up without making myself go insane. Currently my running has slowed way down. I'm down to power walking 3 times a day for about 3+ miles total. Not a ton, but its better than nothing. I wanted to run because I could. But if I'm getting exercise from walking and it doesn't kill me, I'm sticking with that for now.

What else is there to realize on this day of enlightenment? I knew this wasn't going to be easy. I knew that I wasn't going to be a supermodel within 4 months of the surgery. I am fully ready to work my butt off for the rest of my life in order to get to a healthy weight and maintain it.

I realize that I can do this and I will be successful.

Plateau

The dreaded weight loss plateau. Ugh. I've been sitting at the same weight for nearly 3 months. I fluctuate the same 2-4 pounds every week. My exercise has increased and my food intake has been better every week. I am finally getting consistently over 1000 calories per day. My protein intake is up as well. I'm just not sure what I'm supposed to do at this point. It is super frustrating to sit at the same weight no matter how hard I am working. I have to stay positive and realize that I won't be stuck at this weight forever and that I can't give up. Apparently it is quite common for people to hit the 45% plateau and that is exactly where I am. I have lost 45% of my excess body weight and the projected weight loss for the sleeve is up to 60% loss. The band and bypass are around 50%. So it appears that in 6 months time I reached a milestone that many don't reach until their first year is over. I have to keep plugging along and not give up. I am restarting the Couch to 5K program and hopes that I can improve my overall running time. I also hope that by doing the program from start to finish I might have better results. I stopped the program at about week 7 or so when I felt comfortable enough to run farther than the program suggested. Mistake? Maybe. Stay tuned :)

Crusade to normal clothing!

It has been a few years since I've been able to shop in a regular clothing store that didn't have two sides to it. You know the stores I'm talking about right? The ones that say, "Fat chicks to the right and skinny to the left," as you walk through the door? Yeah, once upon a time I walked into one of them and the employee greeted me to let me know I was on the wrong side of the store. This particular store used to separate the sides between casual and dressy. She politely explained that plus sizes were now on the other side of the store. Yeah, you can guess how much that made my day. I'm sure she was being nice, but not a way to win over the customers. Anyhow, I went shopping last weekend with a friend and she dragged me into a store she shops at. I've never shopped there because it isn't a plus sized store and their clothing wouldn't flatter my figure at all. Anyhow, apparently this store goes up to a size 18. And apparently there is a difference between a size 18 and an 18W. See, I'm learning a lot. At one of my plus sized stores I'm a size 14/16. In this store I am a size 16/18 depending on the clothing and how I want it to fit me. Wasn't I surprised to try on a dress that was a size XL. No, not 1X because that is a plus size only type deal. This was a size XL and in their world it was a 16. Hey, isn't that the size I was when I got married? Heck yeah. I was a little heftier than I wanted to be on my wedding day but who isn't? I was tickled that the dress fit and looked pretty good. I was even more tickled to learn that the dress was on sale for $7.99!!!! I ended up getting the dress and 4 other tops for the bargain price of $36 and change! Whoooorah!!! Anyhow, here is the dress. The picture quality is never great and you can't see any of the detail on the dress. It wraps across my chest and has a cute ruffle down one side. So, no more plus size only stores for me!!! That is one heck of a milestone to hit :)

Another Race!

I'm coming off of another race. The Chicken Farmer 5K was this past saturday. I finished with a time of 44 minutes and 33 seconds. I have another race in just 3 short weeks and hope to be even faster! I'm not even 6 months out from my surgery and I can't even explain how awesome I feel that I can even do what I'm doing. My weight is down to 235 still. I am holding this weight as a plateau. But someone explained to me that a plateau is a good place because my body is trying to adjust to itself. I'm sure the weight loss will begin soon enough! Thanks to everyone for all of their support so far.

Update

It has been a few weeks but here is a small update. I had to take a break from running and exercising. Why? Apparently I really wasn't doing well enough on my eating to be doing the type of exercise I was doing. Memorial day weekend was a rough one for me. I ended up passing out and losing consciousness twice. One of the times I hit the floor pretty hard and split my lip as well as did a nasty number on my right hip. A visit to the Dr's revealed that I need to eat. A lot more. I'm doing my best and tracking everything that goes into my mouth. I now see how little I've been eating. Most days I can get over 1,000 calories, but not every day. That just isn't enough to be burning 500 or so during my workouts. I've been back on the vegetarian side again because it is far easier to get higher amounts of protein in dairy and eggs. Until I fully figure out a more stable eating plan, this is how it is going to be. Today was my first day back on the treadmill. I had to do something because I have a 5k in 7 days! I did an interval session for 5k at 2 minutes walking and 1 minute jogging. I finished the workout at 45 minutes and 11 seconds. Not bad for taking almost 2 weeks off. I'm hoping that next Saturday I can get my 5k done in a reasonable time. I'm also hoping that I can get these calories under control and eat more food! Until next time....