Friday, April 15, 2011

What size am I?

It was a lot of fun trying on my black jeans and having them fit me after taking that picture of them not fitting me. So, yesterday I decided to buy a couple pairs of jeans in the next two sizes down so that I could gage my weight loss by fitting into the jeans.

I have been so intent on my weight loss goal of 250 by my birthday, that the interim weight loss just seem like numbers. I have lost 48 pounds as of today. I have a big benchmark coming up in 2 pounds, but I am more interested in 7.8 pound benchmark. In reality I want to see the 7.9 pound benchmark. The problem with seeing these benchmarks so close is I do not appreciate these other pounds I have lost.

My point in bringing this up is that by fitting into these jeans it will help me appreciate the little scale movements along the way.

Someone asked me the other night what size pants I wore when I started this. They were 26 stretchy. This means I could not fit into a regular size 26 so probably a 28 or 30. I do not know because no one local carries those sizes. The black jeans I was able to put on a few weeks ago were a size 26. They fit me now to where I can wear them and sit in them very comfortably. I went to Wal-Mart last night to buy some food, and walked past the women's department and saw some jeans on sale so I bought two pair. One a size 24 and one a size 22. I didn't try them on.

As I am getting ready for bed I remember the jeans. Its about midnight. I take out the size 24 jeans and try them on. Imagine my surprise when I pull them on and go to button them up to find that they button very easily. I can sit in them easily and comfortably!! I was sooooo glad that my son Roberto was still up. He was in bed, but I had to go show him. Next I went in and tried the size 22's. They were tight but I was still able to button them and zip them with not much struggle! My poor friend .. she got a long text last night after midnight. This is an exciting day. I am wearing my new jeans to work today!

I find it quite interesting that in 2006 I weighed around 250, but for some reason I felt a lot sexier then than I do now. I think it had a lot to do with my friend Eddy. I blogged before about my experience with Eddy under the BBW post. I mentioned this to my son last night, that I felt sexier in 2006 than I do now. His brilliant reply that his 17 year old brain made was, "I think its just age mom." Hmmmmm ... BRAT!!! That was only 5 years ago! Talk about a buzz killer!

This is me 5 years ago, when I thought I was sexy. I can see it in the stance.


I want to get that mindset back. I want to feel sexy like that again. I look in the mirror and I just see fat. Very fat. Yes I am glad I am not as fat as I was at Christmas last year, I don't even want to remember how fat I was then, but I am still very fat.

I am very glad to have my new friends from the support group as my friends on Facebook. But it is funny to see that most of them have started at where I am now and have lost weight. I have lost 48 pounds to be where they were when they started. Oh well.. at least I am not where I was and will never be there again.

Grocery Shopping

It has been a long time since I have been grocery shopping. When I would go grocery shopping, it was for immediate needs. Such as, we are having a BBQ and need condiments, etc. My poor boys. All their friends have moms who cook for them. My kids all know how to cook and I am not sure what they eat, but they are still living so they must be eating something. Its sad but its true.

Last night, I decide to do some grocery shopping. I bought water, eggs, milk, cheese, pepperoni, crackers, (these last three to take to work today for all of us to snack on during this stressful day when people think their taxes are due) several different kinds of fruit, and three fresh crock pot dinners. My son, Roberto, went shopping with me. He went to get the non-food items while I was getting the food. When he caught up with me, he asked, "Um.. what's all this stuff?" "Who is going to cook it?" When I got home, my son Carlos asked, "What is all this junk, and what am I suppose to eat?" How sad is this?

I know that my boys are trying to eat healthier so I hope I will be a better influence on them instead of it always being the other way around. If I send Carlos to the store to get something he always comes back with some fruit. So I wonder if he was surprised that there was a lot of fruit in the groceries?

On another note

I was contemplating on waiting until after tax season to have the sleeve gastrectomy done, but then chose to have it done right after first peak. My reasoning was .. why wait .. I could have it done now and lose 30-40 pounds by the end of tax season. Well its very possible I will be down 50 pounds by the end of tax season. I am sooooooo glad that I had the weight loss surgery when I did. I am soooooo grateful I was able to start this journey. I paid cash for this and do not regret a single cent.

My recommendation

If you are looking at having weight loss surgery, my recommendations would be: (I am, of course, not a doctor. These are just my opinions and what my research has taught me.)

Lap-Band for those of you only needing to lose 60 pounds or less. This really isn't for those of us that are morbidly obese. If you choose this route, make sure that you do the follow up visits. Make sure that you have your lap-band serviced regularly.

Sleeve Gastrectomy I would recommend this for people who are morbidly obese, but do not have medical issues relating to such high weight. This has worked great for me. I am very very satisfied with this surgery. I am able to eat what I want, but just very limited in quantity. I have not had it long enough to tell you if I have any problems with mal-absorption, but my research has told me that this type of surgery doesn't have that big of a problem with mal-absorption. There wasn't any bypass done, so everything should be fine.

Gastric Bypass I would recommend this for people who are morbidly obese, and have issues with diabetes. What I have heard is that the "dumping syndrome" that is caused by eating sugary or high carb foods is such a bad side effect that people will tend to stay away from those types of foods which will therefore help the diabetes.

We have all searched for that magic pill to help us lose weight. This has been my magic pill. I am so glad that I took it.

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