In Just Five Months...

It is Amazing how your life can change is just a few short months...

In the past five months I have gone from a Happy, Blessed Girl with a Wonderful Family and Friends




To a Happy Blessed Girl with A Wonderful Family and Friends...



I never expected Weight Loss Surgery to "Fix" me. I was already "Good".

I would be a liar if I said I am still the same girl, not entirely... Sure, my family and friends still love me,but now, I am growing to truly love and care for myself.

I am Grateful for this Change...

Happy 5 Month Surgi-Versary!!!

What's Lost Can Be Found

Lost: Adj. No longer in one's possession; no longer in evidence...

Checked a little further in the Dictionary and found that is says that when you "Possess" something you have "Custody" of it.

When I hear the word "Lost" in reference to my weight loss journey it doesn't sit right. To me, when you Lose something it means it has simply is no longer in your custody.

Custody can be returned, which means that possessions lost can be found.

I decided I needed a better word to describe my journey, so I checked the Thesaurus and I came up with a word I like even better.

Shed

Shed: to repel, as rain; to cast off by natural causes, as a snakes skin;
to get rid of;

Rid: to release or free from...

When a Snake "sheds" its skin, it is gone forever NEVER to return...

Shed, Rid, both words refer to permanent situations and now my word of choice.

I am NEVER going back

Girl VS Dinosaur = Victory!!!

If you ask me "What is the greatest Victory of your life?" I would say Definitely when I gave birth to my second son Eric without a second C-Section! I was so excited that my body worked exactly like it should and I felt WONDERFUL afterwards.

Yesterday I had my four month check up with my surgeon. He was so very encouraging and uplifting and he informed me that according to their records I have now lost 75lbs! Yikes!!! I try not to focus on the numbers but that is a BIG number! It's a good thing!

I felt up for an adventure and since Eric and I are on Spring break I decided to surprise him with a trip to the Dinosaurs in Cabazon about an hour away from our home, but the one who got a surprise was me!.

Today, without a doubt I had the second greatest Victory of my life!

You may recall these dinosaurs from movies like Pee Wee's Big Adventure and may have driven by them a time or two. They are HUGE!(See me down there?)But I didn't know you could go inside them until today.




Before my surgery, walking was very difficult, I would try to park as close as possible and cringe at the thought of climbing stairs (Thats where I got the name of my blog)But now I am doing much better with walking and am amazed at how much easier it is for me to get around.

When we reached the part of the Dinosaur park where we could climb into the T-Rex I made a little sigh...

This is how high the thing is from my point of view...




I thought to myself... Can I do this???

So I climbed one set of stairs, and then another...



Then... I reached a narrow and tall spiral staircase.




"No way" I thought and Eric was getting a little nervous at this point cause he doesn't like heights so it would have been easy to turn back he would have not cared at all, but I felt good, not winded so I decided to Go For It and Eric reluctantly joined me. Me encouraging him? this is new territory.

Victory!!!!!I did it!!!When I got to the top of that tiny staircase I got that same amazing feeling like when I delivered Eric. My body worked exactly like it should and COULD!!! I almost cried with joy




Actually, we both did it and it ROCKED!!!!!

Happy Four Month Surgi-Versary How I Feel

Four Months have gone by since my Weight Loss Surgery and I am still getting asked quite often

How Do You Feel?

Well, Here's the ABC'S of how I feel...

I feel Amazed! It is working! I am losing weight!

I feel Blessed! God opened the doors for this journey and I give him all the praise

I feel Confident! In the Choice I made for me

I feel Daring! Not too daring, but much more daring than I was before

I feel Energized! I hardly nap which is an amazing thing to me

I feel Fashionable! Just wait! I will be dangerous!

I feel Grateful! For this journey

I feel Happy! I guess I look Happy too cause People are always telling me I look Happy

I feel Inspired! God had provided me with amazing examples of women who follow their plan and have success I can do this!

I feel Joyful! I was going to say I feel Jiggly (which is so true!) but I am being positive here

I feel Knowledgable! And very educated. I fully understand my program.

I feel Love! I am surrounded by such wonderful people! Thank you for loving your Troysie

I feel Muscles! Soreness, but when the muscles ache you know they are working

I feel New! And Improved!

I feel Optimistic! bring on the future!

I feel Progress! This month I have really noticed a difference and I am Pleased

I feel like a Queen! I am still a Princess, but I needed a "Q" word

I feel Rested! I sleep so well it is amazing

I feel Short! I am feeling all of my 5'1/2"

I feel Thankful! For my health insurance Kaiser, They ROCK!!!

I feel Understood! By my Support group family since they have "been there"

I feel Very! Tons of words can go along with this but they are already on this list

I feel Womanly! and Feminine

I feel X-Tremely! Again all of the above

I feel Zeal! Vim, Vigor, Fervent, Passion, Glee!

It's a Good Thing!

Casualty of Weight Loss

I guess you could say I am a wedding ring collector. I got married with band that matched Steve's and one year later I got a band with Diamonds and that's all she wrote. I love to wear different weddings rings.

BUT NOW!!!

Due to my weight loss, my wedding ring selection is narrowing, I have taken to wearing a smaller ring in front of a larger one just to keep them on but today's loss opened my eyes to the stark reality that not just my top and bottom half, but All of me is shrinking.

16 years ago when I was pregnant with Eric, Steve got me a cheapie plain thin gold band. I really like wearing it to work in the Cafeteria cause Diamonds and cooking, serving and cleaning just don't mix.

I put my band on this morinig when my hands were warm and during the course of my workday I noticed it was gone. Wahhh!!! I searched but no luck. It has gone to wedding ring heaven.

On one hand I am so excited to reach a point in my weight loss journey where even my fingers are shrinking, but it is just a bummer that your jewelry and clothes don't shrink with you.

On the Bright Side, My Wedding Anniversary is just a couple of months away Hmmmmmm... Stevie I know what I want!!!!

Three Months Already???

Happy Three Month Surgi-versry!!!

I guess in the world of Weight Loss Surgery this is a milestone. Soooo, At three months post-op I am feeling great! I feel well adjusted to my new lifestyle and I feel confident in my portions and food choices. I am so very blessed that I have no cravings outside of my food plan. Made Lentil soup which is entirely on my plan for the whole family and they loved it. Yeah Me!!!

My heart for exercise is coming along quite nicely. I go to my gym regularly and I am up to three miles on my at home walking video. I feel really good about this accomplishment and glad I pushed through my knee pain from when I started walking.

Milestones of this month...

I have now lost more weight than I ever have in my life. This is the reason I chose to have the surgery, I knew I needed a stronger tool than my willpower to get me past my mark of 30lbs which is the most I have ever lost on any kind of diet before. When I would reach that mark I would mentally hit a stumbling block and that would be it. Now, I have a tool that keeps me going and focused. I feel strong and confident.

I am a weight I have not been to in 14 years. You are never happy with your weight, remember in High School when you thought you were "Fat" I know lots and lots of people who would LOVE to be that "Fat" again. I remember 14 years ago feeling so dreadfully overweight and now I think "Is that a shoulder-bone I am feeling" I am grateful to be able to be here again. I will cherish this time and forever remember.

I got into my "Mini-Goal" jeans. I am such a stealer, My friend comes up with great words and I steal them. She invented surgi-versary and I copied her mini-goal pants idea too. This was super exciting cause when I bought the jeans they were a giant NO-Way Jose! and now I can put them on straight from the dryer and be comfortable. Being 4 sizes smaller is a wonderful place to be.

Put these on just for fun. Seriously had to dig for my original wedding ring in the "Really OLD jewelry" section of my box. Steve even recognized it.Eric wants to give them to his wife someday.




All in all, this month has brought on noticable changes... All good!!! This was a fun month.

Blessed and Grateful I am...

Reflection Time

This weeks question on the 21 Days To Loving Yourself Challenge I am involved in is Reflection before and after.

One of the things that keeps me focused and reflecting on how blessed I am are the little things I love on my desk. This is what I look at every day.




#1 My girlfriend Susan gave me this cute blingy frame, she told me to put a pic of me each month in it and keep the others in the frame. I can't believe there are two pictures in the frame already and in just a few days I will take another. Troysie has always been happy, but now she shines...

#2 The mini frame was recently given to me by my Aunt Linda, it is a pic of her and my mother as her maid of honor on Linda's wedding day. I love so much that history has repeated itself, they were dear friends and now I am dear friends with her daughters.

#3 A Flower Pokemon, no I don't know the name but Eric does. Eric gave it to me Mother's Day years ago.

#4 Stuffed Animals. I have collected Woodstocks for years, since High School! I LOVE this one my brother recently gave me cause it plays the Peanuts song. I will push its tummy and dance to the tune. I know I am random... The other is Wammy my Little Lamb. She is a bit of a devotional cause I am one of the Lords beloved Sheep and seriously, she screamed at me from the bin in Build A Bear for me to take her home.(Eric was there and he will confirm it) She goes with me on trips and always makes me smile.

#5 My friend Judy gave me this cute Cupcake jar and I love putting fun little stuff in it like a little Lovebug my Stevie gave me, cause we are little Lovebugs.

#6 the Pen Holder is the first object I ever Tole Painted, I look at it and say "I did that?" It is pretty.

#7 Now Extra points if you know what is in the little basket behind my pic?





My "Homies" Cholos!!! They are something I have collected for years in honor of my Mexican Heritage and well, if you grew up in Azusa in the 80's like I did you know why these make me smile...

It may look like clutter to some, but to me, it is love and I smile with gratitude every day for my simple blessed life.