Meyers Homestead Hike

May 14th, 2011... In an effort to just start hiking already, we went up to Boulder and did this 5 1/2 mile hike. We wanted summer to be here and wanted to start hiking... well unfortunately it was about 40 degrees, windy, foggy, rainy... pretty much awful. But we are proud to say we did it anyway!

I was freezing before we even got started :(

Do I look cold?

The homestead:

Very pretty trail!

Some handsome hiker I picked up along the way:

My hair was getting wet by this point from all the fog and mist:

The fog descends upon us:

Some pretty flowers we saw:

We hiked about 5 1/2 miles... we think we went a little farther than we were supposed to, oops! But we had a great time and we were proud of ourselves for doing the whole hike despite the uncooperative weather. Hopefully many more hikes ahead of us this summer & fall!

Snowshoeing w/ Ian

Finally after snowshoeing with my friends (and no Ian!) a few times, Ian thought that looked like fun and he wanted to give it a try too! We went together April 30th... it was my 4th time and his first :) He ended up really liking it!

For those who are local, we were up in Rocky Mountain National Park and started at the Sprague Lake trailhead :)

(Ian all geared up and ready to go on a beautiful day!)

(The trail! No other foot/snowshoe traffic that day, just a lonely skiier)

(Happy Snowshoers)

(Ian on the trail)

(Our snowshoes- I purchased my white ones but he borrowed his from a friend)

On our way back, snow started falling all around us! It was so pretty but much colder and windier... we enjoyed it though!

We stopped for a few breaks here and there (and of course, to take photos) but we moved along pretty good and did about 2 1/2 miles in 2 hours. I am so happy Ian gave this a try and liked it! We enjoy hiking in the summer so much, and this gives us a great way to get outdoors in the winter.

Ian's Leather Jacket

Just wanted to quickly share this photo. My hubby Ian found this old leather jacket of his at his parents' house the other day. He wore this jacket a lot not too long after high school. He was absolutely THRILLED that it fits him again. He is 5 months post op and down 70 lbs.

I put the comparison together for a blog post I just wrote on the blog he and I share. Many of our readers of that blog don't read my blog, or have facebook, or really ever get a chance to see updates so I put together sort of a summary post of what we've gone through so far and the progress we've made. As a regular reader to my blog you wouldn't find any of the info to be new but definitely have a read if you'd like, and check out the blog we have going over there :) Here's the post.

24 Week Update & Hubby's Progress

Hey everybody. Firstly, I'm sorry my update is late, and that also there is no video this week. My family is going through a difficult time and we got some bad news last night. I will elaborate eventually, but I can't just yet. If you are the praying type, I would ask for your prayers for my family. Thank you and I will provide more information soon.

Also thank you for all the kind comments on the last post. I wasn't upset or angry or sad, just kind of perplexed and didn't understand why he would do that :) All is well.


As for this week's update, there have been some pros and some cons.


Cons:

- my lower back and hip pain have been especially bad this week. Possibly due to getting new athletic shoes. When your back is this weak, the simplest changes can throw everything off.

-On Monday night I tried to work out at the gym, but my body was NOT having it. I did the treadmill for 5 mins and gave up because the pain was intolerable. I switched to the ARC trainer and managed 10 mins, but then had to stop. My hip was just killing me and no amount of stretching was helping at ALL.

- Halloween candy is still around, and I'm still eating quite a bit of it. I've kind of had my fill and we are getting rid of it this weekend. Don't need any more.



Pros:

- Even though I couldn't work out as much as I would have liked, I still got some activity - a couple workouts plus a whole day of shopping.

- I cooked real recipes twice this week (actually twice in the same day!) and we ate off those for a few days this week.

- Had a decent loss this week, despite the cons mentioned above.



My weight yesterday was:

217.2 - that's a loss of 2.2 lbs this week. Still not as fast as I had been used to, but I will take it over a plateau any day :) I may not make my -100 lbs mark by the 20th like I wanted to, but I am super pleased things are moving again.



Workouts this Week:

Friday 10/29 - Swimming laps, 23 mins
Monday 11/1 - 5 mins treadmill, 10 mins ARC trainer, stretching (bad pain day)

I worked out Thurs and Fri, but those technically count toward next week's weigh in. At least I am getting a bit better now and able to work out more again. Stupid pain.. leave me alone please.



Some New Foods This Week:

I picked these up because I haven't had a muffin since before surgery. I LOVE muffins, ESPECIALLY with cream cheese. One of these is just the right size for my tummy right now. It's basically just the top of the muffin. They are frozen, so they will keep even if I don't eat them too often. You zap it in the micro for 18 seconds and it's ready to go. (Or you can thaw at room temp for 30 mins.) I put an individual pack of light cream cheese on top of it and YUM! Since it's higher carb and lower protein, I wouldn't do this every day, but it tastes GREAT for once in a while.

Not technically NEW for me, but I haven't shown a photo before. This is a protein smoothie from my gym - this one has strawberries, pineapple, 27g whey protein, skim milk and nonfat yogurt. Delicious. The one in the background is Ian's with all the same stuff but blueberries instead of pineapple. We order the kids size, but with the full amount of protein.

Double Bean Quesadilla. I made this up this week. It has refried beans, seasoned black beans (pre packaged), and cheese. Tasted good, but SO MESSY because of the sauce the black beans come in. Probably won't make it again. It did keep me full for like a gazillion years though.

Turkey Club from the food court at Super Target. I was grocery shopping and needed to eat (had been out a while already) before I did my shopping... was feeling weak. It was tasty but I had no interest in the bread and it had WAY too much bacon. I pushed most of the bacon off and ate about 2/3 of the turkey and cheese... threw the rest away. Tasty, decent price ($3) and got the job done in a pinch... but not something I'd go out of my way to plan to order.

Taco Chicken Tenders - one of my recipes this week! Chicken tenderloins (1 lb) rinsed and patted dry. Add as much taco seasoning as you like, patting it onto both sides of the chicken so it sticks. Cook it in a skillet over medium-high heat, flipping every 2 minutes til cooked through. (It took like 5-6 mins). Remove from skillet, squeeze half a lime over it all, and serve with some light sour cream. These were very tasty and very moist. A great all-protein meal. From the 4 Ingredient Diabetic Cookbook.

Pizza Burgers - another all-protein recipe I cooked this week. It's from the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook. One major tweak - we didn't bother with hamburger buns. I also purchased premade patties. What I did was sprinkle the seasonings across them all and then take each patty, roll it into a ball and reshape it. I felt it worked well and then they all come out the same size in the end :) Doesn't need to be done, but I had bought these already so I tried it, and I actually liked doing it that way. I will have to post the full recipe later - I used my own concoction of seasonings in my own amount so I didn't really follow it. I used oregano, garlic chips, garlic powder, garlic pepper, a ground pepper blend (instead of red pepper flakes), salt and some Mrs Dash onion & herb seasoning. We grilled up the burgers on the George Foreman grill, adding sliced mozzarella on top and melting it. Topped with some Classico Tomato & Basil marinara sauce and then a dash of parmesan. Delicious!!!!!!! We really enjoyed this meal. We each can eat 1 patty, so we had it two nights in a row.



Some other Tidbits...

A quick little Calcium supplement review. These are both from Celebrate. The one on the left is the chewable calcium supplement. The one on the right is the liquid supplement which includes both multivitamin AND calcium.

The chewables are pretty hard to deal with, we feel. My friend hated them so gave them to us, and we pretty much hate them too. Today I tried the liquid - not so bad! The liquid includes multivitamin AND calcium, so I could stop taking my gummy vitamins if I am taking this. You have to take it twice a day though. It tasted totally decent, kind of like a koolaid. You empty the packet into 8 oz of cold water and shake to mix. I poured it in a glass after shaking it in a bottle. Might be ordering these to try for a while as I think it will be a good way to get everything in. But at $45 per 30 day supply, and the fact we BOTH need it, that's pretty pricey. So we'll see.


My hair is still thinning a LOT... Ovation isn't really helping. I decided to get my hair cut a bit shorter to help it look fuller. I am also using a protein spray I got from my stylist, makes your hair appear a bit fuller also. Here is me and my stylist Tarah :)

And FINALLY.... My husband Ian's 5 month progress photos from Nov 3rd. He has lost 70 lbs and is feeling great!


5 Months all in a row, front view:

5 Months all in a row, side view:

Start vs. 5 Months, Front View:

Start vs 5 Months, Side View:

Start vs 5 Months, Back View:

So proud of him!! He has gone from tight 2X shirts to loose 1X shirts, ready to start getting into some larges. His pants size has gone from 54 to 44!

That's it for this week - sorry so long. I probably won't have a chance to post again until next week's update. I'm expecting a bit of a tough and taxing week. I'm trying to still take good care of myself and keep on my path, but definitely have some bigger fish to fry at the moment. Have a great week everyone.

Sure He Meant Well, But...

So an interesting thing happened when my husband and I went swimming at our gym on Friday night. We had just gotten into the lap pool and I started ducking under the lane dividers and making my way to the other side. When I looked back to see where hubby was, he was in the water but having a conversation with this other guy above the water. I listened as much as I could from so far away, enough to gather that they were discussing weight loss surgery. I heard the other guy say "it saved my life... I used to be over 400 lbs." Since I was already farther away I just went ahead and started my swim, expecting Ian would tell me about the conversation later.

I had assumed that since my husband does not wear a shirt when he swims, the guy had seen the scars on my husbands stomach and recognized them as weight loss surgery scars, and that this had prompted their discussion. Their discussion went on 10 entire minutes (which felt like FOREVER as I was swimming, lol.) I was rather curious what it was about. When we finished swimming we went to the hot tub and my husband filled me in on the conversation.

As it turns out, the guy had not noticed Ian's scars. On the contrary, he was SUGGESTING weight loss surgery to Ian and me, because he saw us walking to the pool and saw our size, and he wanted to tell us about it so we would know there is hope, and there are options out there.

Um... ouch. Can I just say, this feels like a sucker punch to me. I am glad I was off swimming and doing my own thing instead of present for the conversation. Ian did tell him we had it, that he has lost 70 lbs and I have lost 90lbs... and they had a pretty pleasant conversation. The guy used the same surgeon as us, and had gastric bypass... he hadn't heard of the sleeve and was curious so Ian explained it to him.

While I understand this guy has good intentions and just wants to spread the good word so to speak... that can be VERY offensive, whether the person has had surgery or not. As a post op, especially with as MUCH WEIGHT as we have lost... it makes me feel like... really?? We are still SO BIG that you would suggest it to us??? Both of us have BMI's low enough now that we would not even QUALIFY for weight loss surgery. (You should have a BMI above 40... mine is currently 36.4 and Ian's is 39. When we started mine was 52 and Ian's was 50.) Here I am fitting into non-plus size clothing sizes (at least on top anyway) and someone thinks I'm big enough that he should suggest it to me... that kind of blows my mind. I am pretty average now I think... not in the fact that I am normal weight... but that there are a LOT of people out there wearing size 18 and XL. I like to think I don't stick out like a sore thumb anymore as the fattest person in a room, you know?

Ian took it a lot better than I did... he saw the guy's good intentions and the fact that he was so excited about how it changed his life. Maybe if I had been present I would have seen that more too. I feel like while I'm sure the guy meant well, it just isn't his PLACE. I mean, when my DOCTOR told me I should consider weight loss surgery, I cried right there in his office. I was so sad and hurt. And then I was 310 lbs... he had every reason to suggest it and, as my DOCTOR, it was his responsibility to try and help my health. Even then I was hurt. To have a stranger come up to me on the street (or at the gym pool as it may be)... well that is just a whole different situation and seems really inappropriate to me.

In a way I am kind of glad it happened because I have actually been tempted to say something to people before. When I see VERY large people, I wish to help them, to let them know what surgery can do. But I don't... and here are my reasons why I don't. 1- Surgery is not the right answer for everybody, even the morbidly obese. You have to be ready for it, able to commit, have enough self control and discipline to make it work beyond what the surgery does for you, and to make it last.  2- some people may WANT surgery, but either don't qualify, don't have medical insurance, or don't have the ability to pay even with insurance, let alone self pay. 3- I don't feel it is my place. While yes, it COULD save someone's life, I also think it could destroy someone's life. Many obese people suffer from depression (I heard 89% as the statistic at my surgeon's seminar)... what if a comment like this causes them to hate themselves even more? What if they were to commit suicide over the fact a perfect stranger suggested WLS to them? Yes that is extreme, but it could happen. Sure it could motivate someone to try to diet again... and then 6 months later when dieting fails, they feel like a failure again. I would not want to be responsible for someone feeling ANY of those things.

My rule is this - I am not secretive about my surgery. If someone asks how I did it, I tell them. While some people go with "I eat small portions and exercise" because it is technically not a lie... I don't personally take this approach because I would never want to make anyone feel 'less than'. For example going home thinking, 'that girl lost 90 lbs just eating right and exercising, why can't I do that? I am such a failure!' I know that's how **I** have felt when someone has told me that.
On the flip side though, I don't go around talking about my surgery to everyone... if they don't ask, I don't tell. I will not go up to a stranger and just tell them I had it, or that they should consider it themselves. Nor will I tell overweight friends or family that they should have it. If someone asks because they want to know, I will gladly tell them as much information as they would like to hear. But only if they ask.

What is your take on this? How would you feel if this happened to you, both pre-op (or not even considering/never have had an op) or if it happened post-op like it did to us? What is your stance on talking about surgery?

4 Month Progress Update

Hi everyone! I'm back!! No reason to worry :) I was on vacation and just been crazy busy since I got back. I will have lots of posts coming up once I get photos from my vacation posted... took photos of a lot of the foods I ate, have lots to say about traveling post op, and also about how seeing myself in lots of new pictures was a crazy experience!

For now though, let's focus on the 4 month update!! I was 4 months post-op on September 20th. Yes, yes... I made a video!! :)

Watch it when you have time :)

My weight at 4 Months Post Op:

Whoo hoo! So happy - that makes a nice round 80 pounds lost at 4 months.

This month I lost 15 pounds, same as last month.

This month I lost 7 1/2". Total of 56 1/2" in 4 months.

What a great month! And best of all, the very next day, I saw this:

Yeah!! I'm in the 220's! A whole new decade. Very excited. Still 229 today, so it is for real :)

Now for the progress pictures! I do have the whole row here with each month side by side. It's getting a bit long so this month, in addition, I also have this month compared to last month, and this month compared to the start.

These are side by side of just last month next to this month:

The things I notice the most since last month - lost more from my face, neck and chin... and lost some of my "side fat" lol, if that's what you call it.

Now for the ones that really made me go.... WOW. The side-by-side comparisons between this month, and the very start.

I was working at Starbucks yesterday putting these comparisons together, and trying not to cry right there lol. I hadn't really seen the current right next to the start before, and it just really hit me. I can't believe how big a difference 80 pounds has made... I honestly can not imagine what the next 70 pounds is going to bring.

I'm feeling wonderful. I could not be happier that I had this surgery. I feel like I am just living my life, happily.

Also, I am late in posting these because of my vacation, but I have my husband's 3 month progress pictures from September 3rd!

This is his 3rd month compared to his 2nd month:

And this is his 3rd month compared to the start:

Ok this has been long enough! Hope you enjoyed the update and I'll be back soon with more posts!