Restriction... Restriction. RE - STRIC - TION! (fiddler on the roof.....)

I know...... I know. I've been a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad blogger.

However, I have a good reason. I've been SLAMMED with work, and I haven't had time to come up for air. In this economy, and considering I live at the economic ground-zero (metro-Detroit) this is a good thing. Actually, it's been this way for me since December of last year, but it seems to be snowballing, and I might even have to turn some work away. That means..... I get to raise my prices in January. That tends to weed out the problem clients anyway :)

I'm a graphic designer, if I haven't already mentioned it.

Wanna see a logo I did for my children's school you say? Well...... alrighty then:

I created that back in 2005, when my boys started at the school. The principal was asking for a logo at the first PTA meeting I went to, and I figured it was a good way for me to help out the school. It's a kick seeing all the kids wearing t-shirts/hoodies with the logo on it. All the teacher's have mousepads and coffee mugs with this guy. I'm pretty proud of it, but mostly because I see my little men's faces above it every so often :)

Band News

I had gotten a .5cc fill on September 9th, because I felt like I had been able to eat too much volume at any given time. So that put me from 8.5cc to 9cc.

I felt NO CHANGE. No difference. NADA

I called, and whined.

I went back on September 23rd, and asked for, AND RECEIVED, a full 1 cc fill, so now I'm at 10cc.

I think I'm **finally** understanding this sweet spot stuff!

I hadn't had a fill since November, 2009. I was doing fine, and did great until about August, and it was then that I started noticing that my weight loss was dropping off a bit, and my hunger was picking up.

And I was starting to see some of my old binging behaviors wiggling their way back in. After my second, I'm gonna eat the room (and honestly, these binges are NOT the binges of pre-band days. A binge now consists eating 2 scoops of ice cream, and a slice of toast..... promptly getting PB'd) I decided it was time to get a fill. Imagine my disappointment when I didn't feel any different.

I'm blessed that my doctor lets me do the driving a bit. His nurse does the fills, but they know the clients who "know themselves" and I guess I'm one of them :)

The doctor was in the office, and he came and gave me a big hug, and asked me for some before/after shots, and a link to my blog, for his newbies to come and see. Nice, right?? He's so wonderful...... He takes patients from all over the country. I couldn't recommend him more!

I have also noticed that I can **finally** walk away from a plate of food if I'm full. I could never do that before. I can thank my mom for that. All that catholic guilt! AAAHHH!

Anyway, I walked away from a salad the other day, part of my albondigas soup yesterday, and a bowl of cottage cheese last night! Amazing!

Alright..... I need to eat my lunch.... I'm hiding from clients on YM! right now, so they couldn't see me bloggin'

hee hee

I don't have any pictures to post today..... I'll have to take some this weekend. We're selling popcorn for boyscouts, dontcha know.

I will definitely post pics of my new office once it's done (I spent the whole weekend painting it)

Hugs,
K

Who the hell are you?

Heidi, aka: shrinking mommy asked me a question on my post with all my 20 pound picture updates:

are people not recognizing you? how are you dealing with that?


It's true..... some people aren't recognizing me.


It seems to be a mixed bag of emotions when it happens. I suppose it's completely situational.


One of my BFF's Toni and I went to bingo a few weeks ago. It's something we do together, and most of our friends don't partake. Now that there's NO SMOKING it's a much more enjoyable time, considering we used to leave just REEKING of smoke, and I'd always have a headache. All these smoking complaints from a ex-smoker. I admit it, I'm the evil ex-smoker. I can't stand the smell of smoke, it makes me sick.

Anyway, a woman we both know from our children's school was passing out the books. So this lady (her name is Geneva..... which I actually really like..... considering it's also a font.... if I were reborn, I'd want my name to be Helvetica!) is all smiles and says to Toni "how are you? how have you been? how's things??" and looks in my direction, and then back at Toni.

Snark that I am..... I say "Um....... I'm doing really well myself, thankuverymuch!"

She looked at me, smiled politely, and continued talking to Toni.

Even Toni was dumbstruck (which never happens..)

We sat down at our table, and of course, were clucking like a couple of chickens (a hen-fest, as my husband calls it)

I thought that perhaps I had upset her at school. Maybe she heard that I said something bad about her? I hadn't, but the volunteers at the elementary school are g-o-s-s-i-p-s, and tend to fill in the blanks with their own ideas/words.

Then it dawned on us. She had no clue who I was. I hadn't seen her since September of last year!

We had a good laugh, and I felt better knowing that she was cold because I was a stranger..... and not because I was an asshole :P

Back to school night...

This night is a giant cluster-fuck for me! Having triplets, in different classes, with open houses on the same night at the same time, I tend to run from class to class. There are four 5th grade classes this year, so my boys are in class with 75% of their grade. That means I also have contact with 75% of those kid's parents.

Did I mention I'm the Box Tops Coordinator for our school as well? Well... up until this year. I put a note out that I need a replacement. My work has increased 10-fold, and I just can't count up all those little suckers. You'd think a dime at a time wouldn't add up to much, right? In the past 2 years alone, our school collected over $10,000 worth! It's nice, considering that we live at ground-zero as far as the economy goes (Metro Detroit) 

Anyway, this mom Janice (J'neece) introduces herself to me. I stood there staring at her, because we'd been pretty good acquaintances up until that point. Heck, we've had PLAY DATES.

Just as I was about to tell her who I was, two of my boys came up to me with some sort of grievance, and she looked at them, and looked at me, back to them, back to me, and then the realization came over her face.

We had a good laugh, and she congratulated me on my loss.

I've noticed something else too.....

That some women that I know..... specifically, CHUBBY women that I know, have not said one word about my loss.

My husband is the one who pointed it out.

There's a few women that I'm friends with, that are a part of the 30-70 pounds overweight club. 

Something about my loss has rendered them mute. I'm not sure if they don't want to say anything because they don't want me to feel self conscious...... or because THEY feel self conscious.

There's a gaggle of them, though...... and their silence seems to be speaking volumes. I find it strange.... but I understand.

BTW...... my fill from 2 weeks ago?

I can't tell the difference. AT ALL. I'm scheduled for another fill this Thursday at 10:45  I'm currently at 9cc, I'm hoping they'll put me to 10cc. I would bet, however, that I'll be reporting 9.5cc

Exercise.......

I haven't been on the elliptical in 2 weeks. I moved it out of the room that it's in to paint the room. But we've been busy spackling, moving, getting the paint, cleaning out the room, etc., and I haven't gotten on it since. I also haven't lost a stinking pound since I got off it. MEH!

Blast from the past.......

At a wedding, in 2008 (my brother and I)

This past Saturday, with 2/3 boys

The Wonder of Walmart

I might have been at Walmart, and annoyed with shopping and my list.... but I'm starting to look like a human again!

My husband took a picture of me, while I was looking for some yogurt :)

Another 20 pounds..... another picture!

Each time I lose 20 pounds, I take a picture. I take them front and side and then superimpose them on top of previous pictures.

Here's a few.... I can finally see the difference. It's taken a long time for my brain to catch up with the rest of my body.

Here I am at 365

at 350

at 316

at 285

at 265

at 245

and at 225

Alright.... I'm not wearing makeup today, but it's raining, and my hair frizzed! I was at 221.6 last Sunday and I was about 224 today. I think I was dehydrated on Sunday, and I haven't exercised all week.... I'm turning the dining room into my office, and the elliptical needed to move temporarily out of the dining room until we get chair rail installed, and the paint done. I might have to plug it in in the entryway in order to keep up the exercise!

Staying in the past..........

Looking towards the future.....

Down 155 pounds in this picture :) Excited to lose about another 75!

Fill

I got myself a fill yesterday....... now I'm at 9cc

I have noticed no extra restriction.... not sure if that's good or bad?

I went to The Somerset Collection with my mom, and visited Teavana and LUSH two of my favorite "just for me" stores.

I'd been pining for the new lip scrub that they have at Lush, and as a present to myself, I got the Mint Julip:

It does make my lips tingle! It's so nice, you just schmear on a bit, scrub it around, and then lick it off! It's exfoliant is sugar, so keep it light!

I also got a Karma Bubble Bar, because that scent is HEAVENLY!

And...... a little some special for my hair: R&B which makes my hair smell like angels pooped in it :)

At Teavana, I got some yummy "Strawberry Lemonade Herbal Tea"....... need I say more?

A funny thing happened during a game of dice...

I went and played Bunko at a friend's house, and her mom & sister were there. They don't generally like me, because they feel I take my friend's time away from "them"... so whenever they're around, I try to make myself scare, out of respect to them for who they are to my friend (and not for the people they are...does that make sense? they give my friend such guilt over so many things, that if I can relieve her of getting guilted for spending time with me instead of them, then I do)

Anyway...... they were both SO NICE to me. I couldn't get over it.

What I didn't realize is....... they didn't RECOGNIZE me! They had no idea who I was until about 2 hours into the evening! OMG!

The next morning, my friend's mom called her and said "I didn't realize it was Karen! I didn't recognize her! I had no idea that she has such pretty eyes!"

OK..... obviously, she spent all of her time staring at my HUGE ASS to notice that I had a pair of eyes in my head. 

Smoothie Goodness.......

Whatdya Have For Breakfast Today?

Karen's Protein Smoothie

1 Cup of frozen berries (today I used a blend of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries)

1 Cup of DIET V8 Splash

2 TBSP Ground Flax

1 TBSP Walnut oil (I've also used Flax oil)

1 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder (I use this one,or this one)

Depending on your blender, put the ingredients in so that the dry ingredients are next to the blade, and the wet are furthest away. I use this blender,and love it's convenience, so I load up my cup wet to dry, and then mixie-mixie!

Nutrients (per LoseIt! for iPhone)

Fat 20

Sat Fat 1.3

Sodium 44

Carb 27

Fiber 12

Sugar 13

Protein 22

I thought I would share this, since it's great for a day when your band is extra tight, or your pouch is crabby! I had seen some smoothie recipes in a Woman's World magazine, and although I liked the premise, I didn't like a lot of the high sugar juices they suggested, so I went with my tried and true, Diet V8 Splash. I've also used Diet Cranberry or Blueberry drink from Oceanspray as well.

So..... my last post I had complained of a backslide of sorts. I had a backslide for a few days, actually. Not that I was grossly overeating, but I was eating foods I normally don't (chips, ice cream cookies, etc.)

I had gone up to 237, and although I was bummed, I knew that it wasn't all food, that I was strangely bloated for no good reason (insert good reason here: Aunt Flo arrived on Sunday.... sometimes she sends ahead a small gift of water retention, gotta love her) plus I had been taking vidocin for pain related to a sinus abcess. All nasties contributing to a 9 pound gain.

HOWEVER...... if you take a gander at my ticker, you will see that THIS week, I'm down 16 pounds!

Oh MY!!!!!

I will happily take it, understanding that I might have been a very good elliptical user this week, but that perhaps that nasty bloat was worse than I thought, and while I sat steady at 228-229 for three weeks, that perhaps I was bloating up during those last two weeks, and that with the visit of the much loved and adored Whoosh Fairy, I've KILLED my goal of 225, by clocking in at 221.6 on Sunday!

I am well on my way to getting to my next goal of 216!

My 216 story:

I remember it was the winter of 1985/1986, and I met a friend while in college (first 2 years, nursing school, last 3 years, art school) She and I had all the same nursing classes together, and we both needed to lose weight. We decided to to to Nutrisystem, and we had to weigh in. I weighed in at 216, and I was mortified that I was over 200 pounds. I put on the Freshman THIRTY.

I've waded through a few months of memory-less goals, because my goals had jumped from 262 (the lowest I'd been right after giving birth to the trio) 245 (something I vaguely remembered from college) and 216.... which you see above.

So........ FIVE POUNDS is what I need to reach my goal of 216, and I'd like to see it by October 1st!

A bigger goal is hitting 199 by January 1st. That's 22 pounds in 16 weeks which is about 1.4 pounds/week.

Recent News:

I'm going for a fill on Thursday. Although I do have tight days, I have plenty of days that I can stuff at least 2-3 cups of food in without issue. That's a lot of food. So, my mom is coming with me, so we can hit The Somerset Collection afterwards. :) It's an upscale mall that we almost never go to. So, it's a treat for us :)

More Recent News:

I'm attaching a picture of me wearing a dress that I bought in 1990. I wore this dress exactly 1 time, to a Christmas party at a place I was doing freelance graphic design for. I wore this dress only once, because it never fit again. EVER. This dress is from August Max (do they still exist??) Size 16

Until yesterday........ exactly 20 YEARS later (yes...... the style is desperately 20 years old as well! Giant shoulder pads!!!!) :

Past Memories....

And..... as a reminder of where I've come from, since it's only been recently that I can even see the difference in pictures: