Post-Op Week 40 Progress Report: New Goals and A Tiny Pony

This week’s progress was unexpectedly great.  I dropped a huge amount of weight, which I was not expecting to do given that I was retaining water all week long.  I skipped the gym this week, which happened because I wasn’t feelin’ it, and had a lot going on at work.  Instead, I did a lot of sitting on the balance ball while watching tv/working at my desk here at home.  Basically, if I was going to sit for more than 30 minutes, I made myself sit on the ball and try to stay on in an upright position.  It must have worked!  I am now only 13 pounds from my surgeon’s goal, which I am positive I can hit before school is out in June.  I am amazed that I am within striking distance of Dr. Nicholson’s expectation.  By the time my one-year follow-up appointment in July happens, I fully expect to have exceeded his expectation for my weight loss.

It should also be noted that in this picture, I am wearing smaller shorts and a smaller shirt.

When I started having my picture taken for my weekly progress reports last June, one of my goals was to wear the same outfit in every picture so that the progress was really obvious.  That, and the scientist in me wanted to keep as many factors constant as possible so that whatever progress that happened could be seen easily.

Once I got out of the 30’s I sported in my first picture and the 28’s (and then 26’s) I wore in the subsequent photos, I had to scramble to find smaller shorts.  At the time of year that I’d bought them, it was hard to find shorts in my size.  Thankfully, Old Navy still had some, so I bought some 22’s and then another pair in an 18, since I decided back then not to buy new pants/shorts until I’d lost 2 pants sizes.  I also bought the t-shirt I wear in every progress picture in 2 different sizes because I knew that my shirt size was going to change radically too.

This morning, when I was dressing for today’s photo, the 22’s I wore last week (and for the past 5 months) finally slid so far down my hips that there was no way they’d stay up without a belt so I reached into the dresser to pull out the other pair I’d bought at the same time to see if they’d fit. Lo and behold…they did!  I also pulled out the smaller t-shirt to see if it fit, and it did.

Every week that goes by, I step on the scale and don’t believe the number that I see.  But then I put on my clothes every day and notice that they don’t fit right–they’re too big or baggy or loose.  So I must be doing something right!  Whatever it is, I’m just going to keep on doing it until I get to my ultimate goal, 63 pounds from now.

I decided today that I need to set a new goal to aim for.  Not a new weight loss goal, but a new challenge to take on.  I’m 34 pounds from weighing under 200 pounds as an adult.  THAT has been something I’ve wanted since before I started this whole WLS journey.

I decided that once I got down to 200 pounds, I would find a fitness boot camp to enroll in and give a go.  There are a couple in this area that I’m looking at:  Camp Gladiator and Texas Fit Chicks.  TFC appeals to me because it’s all women and they have camps at all different times of day (not just the butt crack of dawn–not my best time!).  CG appeals to me because for one price, you can attend as many workouts as you want in a 4-week period (TFC is 3x weekly) and you can go to different locations (good for when I’m traveling).  I’ll have to research each one a little more closely to see which one would fit my needs and personality best.  But I want to participate in one of these kind of camps to mix things up a bit and to learn some new exercises.

I joined Tracy Stevenson’s Accountability group for April.  I really enjoyed the group I was a part of back in January and cycled out as I didn’t have time for the two groups that “met” again in February and March.

But I saw this today:

and realized that the time is there.  I have time.  I need to MAKE time for things like this group that are important to me.  I need to MAKE time to get to the gym, regardless of whether or not I want to go.  I NEED to go.  So I signed up for Tracy’s group and am looking forward to spending time with the lovely ladies who will be participating in it this round.  If you are looking for additional support in your weight loss journey, and are interested, you can find more information at Tracy’s blog here.

Now, for the shallow part of this entry.

I will be the first to admit that I’m a brand whore.  I’ve always been this way.  No shame in my game here.

As a fat kid, I always envied the kids at school who could wear designer brand clothes.  Their clothes always looked so nice, tailored and classic–the way I always wanted to dress but couldn’t because a) those clothes didn’t come in my size and b) I couldn’t afford to buy them anyway.  I especially loved the look of Ralph Lauren’s clothes because they had a quintessentially preppy look to them and looked like they never really went out of style.  I still do love how his clothes are designed.   And now that I can wear them, I do.  One of my new favorite dresses hanging in my closet is a navy and cream polkadot dress that I plan on rocking the hell out of this spring and summer while giving professional presentations to colleagues.  I am going to be a smoove mofo.

We were wandering around the outlet center last night and walked over to the Ralph Lauren store, where an awesome sale was going on.  I picked up a couple of polo shirts and t-shirts since I have very few short-sleeved shirts that fit me properly right now and it is starting to warm up here in Texas.  Summer will be here before we know it and I want to be sure I’m ready!

That tiny embroidered pony made me smile.  That tiny pony means more to me than just a brand.  I can wear regular sized clothes.  I can walk into a store and buy clothes off the rack and don’t have to shop online unless I really want to.

I am becoming average sized.

That tiny pony means that finally I am like everyone else.

This is the only area of my life where being average is acceptable to me.

I am okay with this.  And it feels good.

This tiny pony is more than the Polo brand to me.

This week’s challenges:  just keeping my head above water as I charge toward AP testing season.  The exam is 4 weeks away and I’ve got so much going on at work right now just trying to get the kids ready…I really don’t feel like I have done as good a job as I could have this year.  And I know why–I worked as hard as I could to make myself a priority.  I have tried to strike a balance between work and life, and more times this year, life won because I let it.  I need to work on figuring out this balance because I can’t always put myself first and expect that the quality of the work I do be the same as it’s always been.  But I have very, very high expectations of my professional self–some might say unreasonably high–but they always have been.  I just want to be awesome at what I do because I feel what I do is the most important work:  I work with children.  I work with kids and I teach them science.  I teach them to learn, and to love learning.  Most importantly, I teach them about life.  And if that’s not the most important job, I don’t know what is.

I’ll get to the gym tomorrow night and Friday night, and am planning a long walk with my husband for Saturday morning provided that the weather is nice.  We’re planning on walking the trail around the creek that is across the street from us, and then having breakfast together afterwards.  Should be a good weekend ahead…now if only it would hurry and get here!