Loving myself Challenge week 1

I have found a couple of the girls sharing the weight loss journey with me online, this has been such a blessing and encouragement to me.

One of them is Tamika, she was my friends surgery buddy so ever since I met her in the hospital she has done nothing but inspire me to follow my plan daily and be as successful as she is. She has great tips and recipes and is a beautiful example of a person who has changed her life with Weight Loss Surgery.

She has invited the Weight Loss Surgery online community to join her on a 21 day "loving myself" challenge which will end just before the Love Day Valentines.

There will be a question each week to post a response to so here is this weeks...

I hope I inspire you to love yourself as I am learning to really love Troysie...

"Name 20 things you love about yourself"

In No Particular Order.

1. I Love that I LOVE all things Girly... I am A Princess

2.I love that I can grow 10 long nails at once.

3.Although I used to cry cause I wasn't dark like my mom,I love that I am blonde.

4. I love the color of my eyes.

5.I Love that I am not allergic to animals

6. I love that I look about as white as can be, but I have a multi-cultural Hispanic heritage. I just wish I spoke Spanish, that would be a real kick.

7. I love that I see the importance of antiques and vintage things and keeping my heritage story alive.

8. I love that I enjoy cooking for my family

9. I love baking

10. I love that I am a very logical person, things are just easy for me to understand.

11. I love that I can take a "Chill Pill" when needed, I am a pretty calm person.

12. I LOVE being Steve's wife

13. I love being a Mother

14. I love being a Sister

15. I love being a Cousin

16. I love being a Niece

17. I Love being a Girlfriend

18. I Love that I love Women. I love encouraging them to realize their treasure and I hope God has big plans for me in this area as a motivational speaker.

19. I love writing, inherited that love from my dad.

20. And Most of All... I Love that I am a Child of God, Being a Believer defines me and makes me the woman I love and am growing to love more and more each day.

Thought this would be hard, but it was fun, kind of a little pat on the back.

Thanks Tamika

Barbie girl

Went to a brunch at my old home church and had a blast.

The ladies ministry leader there has the amazing gift of "gleaning".

She is always getting the most awesome cast offs from businesses which she uses to benefit her ministry and the other ministries of the church.

At this brunch she had a giant box full of all things,Really Great Cosmetics and Beauty Supplies!!!(I was sure in the right place at the right time Thank You God!)

A girly girl like me wouldn't call that a Glean but a SCORE!! It was so fun to go through the stuff and bring home some goodies. I was so blessed. And...

I Got Barbie Hair!!!.

A headband with real hair extensions about five inches longer than my own hair and it matches my color perfectly.

I have always said I was Barbie plus 100lbs.

Now I can begin the live the dream. So, I think I will now take two monthly pics, one as Troysie and one as Barbie... Hee Hee Hee.

Enjoying the journey

Troysie...



Barbie...

Me, Inspiring???

My girlfriends and I went for a walk before we went for our usual coffee on our day off. It was WONDERFUL!!! I enjoyed it so much and I know we will do it again very soon.

People have been asking me tons of questions about my journey and for the most part I am a complete open book (except when it comes to how much weight I have lost which I kind of like to keep private) They told me in my pre-surgery class that people would be watching me and they are...

I want to be an example...

I want to be a success story...

I want to encourage...

I want to inspire...

Although I think of myself as very humble, it would be my honor to do these things for others and maybe even for you...

Thanks for loving me, and letting me... Inspire

Troysie

Now That's A Good Question

I was visiting my girlfriend and she asked me an excellent question.

Since you are so happy that you have had surgery do you wish you had done it years ago?

My answer may surprise you but it was a big fat "No Way!"

I was not ready for weight loss surgery 10 years ago, 8 years ago, even 3 years ago.

I had always thought that since I had not tried many different diet plans, I would eventually "Find" the one that was right for me.

Well, I did...

Weight Loss Surgery.

It is a journey I am glad I am on at THIS time in my life.

No looking back and no regrets... Ever!

Working on my Heart

My New Years Resolution (And Prayer) was to develop a heart for exercise.

So... Back to work meant back to the Gym.

I LOVE my work schedule, it leaves a perfect spot each day for a trip to my Gym Curves. I love the ladies there, they make me feel loved and cared about and I need that support now. It is just plain fun.BUT of course life gets in the way and I have not been able to go every day but I have gone three times a week since I have been back to work and I think that is a great start. I EVEN went on a Saturday morning which is normally my sleep in day.

I joined the Cities walking club which is free and gave me a cool shirt and walking goodies. The first night we walked two miles and I have to say that was a little much for me I paid the price with a very very sore knee for several days which I aggravated each time I walked thereafter. I decided to take it easy on my knee and took shorter walks which helped a great deal. I think I will be ready to try the two mile walk again really soon.

We have always laughed in our house cause our Dog Yogi gets all excited whenever Steve or Eric grabs his leash cause he knows he is going for a walk or a trip to the Dog Park however, when I grab his leash he looks at me like "I don't want to go to the Doctors" Well, even Yogi is starting to get excited when I grab his leash cause Mom is now taking him on Walkies too.

Baby Steps, Baby Steps... But I feel my heart is growing...

It's about time for an Update

Bless me father for I have been ignoring my writing, it has been two months since my last confessional blog and I know the record of this journey is suffering because of it.

I so intended to have a detailed account of my weight loss journey but alas, I have failed.

But it is a new year and time to reconcile myself...So let's just go on from here...(This is me leaving the hospital)

So How am I doing?

CRAZY GOOD!!!!

This entire experience has been incredible! I believe that because of my age, faith, and the education I received from my insurance I was SOOOOOO ready for this change. My surgery went amazingly well and I have been pain free since day two. I expected to look and feel like I did when I had a c-section but it was nothing like that at all. I have five incisions all under one inch in length on my stomach but really it looks like only three cause two are the size of pimples. I expected to feel something different because I had my Gall Bladder removed as well but still I was pain free. I guess I had stones but luckily I didn't have any symptoms that I was aware of. So all in all, my recovery has gone extremely well and my biggest problem was resting when I did not want to. I simply felt great. Everyone was amazed cause I looked and sounded like my normal self. Life is sweet.

Recovery in Month one went really well. We were so blessed initially with friends bringing meals for the guys and soups for me. I know it looked like I was eating baby food but I completely loved my Thanksgiving squash soup. I felt so blessed.

So far, I have had no problem staying within my eating plan and had only one bout of something not agreeing with me when I ate soup too quickly. I feel God has given me the strength to be free to enjoy the food I eat and still cook for my family. I have tried to make meals similar to my families that are within my plan, some have been good, some are downright Nasty so they go in the trash cause one vow I made to myself was that everything I ate would have flavor.



By month one I was feeling really great but not quite ready to go back to work. I was so grateful for Gods wonderful timing that placed my surgery date smack in the middle of school holidays thus extending my recovery leave by two weeks. Score!

When Christmas arrived I was feeling so wonderful and up to everything I love to do including all my baking. Again God gave me the strength to avoid my favorite cookies. I did try one and it sat on my stomach like a ton of bricks. I thanked the Lord for curbing my desire for sweets and I had completely NO DESIRE for chocolates of any kind. NOT EVEN SEES!!! We had a Blessed Christmas.

January brought me back to work, a few sizes smaller and much more energetic. I had such a nice long recovery period I was so ready to go.

My New Years Resolutions...

Stick to my Eating plan...

Develop a Heart for Exercise...

So far So Good!

Today is my Two Month Surgiversary! (got that word from a girlfriend and since I am a stealer, I am so using it!)