30 is the new WONDERFUL!

So I said I would and I am.  I hit 30 this morning! Woot Woot!  I think it might even be 32 at the Dr.s so only because you asked I am possting the dreaded before pic and the ones taken tonight.  I am about the most unphotogentic person on earth so here goes nothing....... (look closely you might see a weight listed too)

312lbs taken the night before the liver shrink.  Note:  I am not pregnant!

And taken literally 5 minutes ago:

281lbs as of this am!

So there it is,  not sure when I will post pics again, probably in another month.

Long time, no talk....

I have been slacking on writing the blog this week.  Quite honestly I have been just in a wonderful mood and enjoying life.  Listening to lots of good music with anything by Maroon 5, Sting and The Police topping the list of most played right now.  The weight started falling off again, but I am not really sure how much I have lost now.  Let me explain.  When I started I was over the weight limit on our home scale.  I went by how much my Dr.'s scale read the day before all of this started.  But now I think my home scale is 2lbs higher than the Dr.  SO, if that is true then I think I have lost 29lbs. I go back next Friday so we will see!

I have decided to do monthly pics.  So the first set will post on the 29th.  Pete took a pic of me the night before the live shrink diet.  I had no clue he was taking it and surprisingly enough, we were at Texas De Brazil.  I think I might on that day say my original weight and put up a new goal.  Right now the goals are set by every 10lbs, but I might move up to something bigger.

So, new good thing for the week:  True Lemon and True Lime.  They carry it in the Baking sections of Whole Foods and the new giant Kroger on Broad.  It is crystallized lemon or lime and chopped into sugar size crystals.  I put 2 packets of lime or lemon and 2 packets of Truvia in 8oz of water and it is really really good.  Tastes almost like the real thing. 

Well no one is here and I just downloaded more Maroon 5 on iTunes, time to rock out.  P.S. Does anyone else agree Adam Levine of Maroon 5 is absolutely yummy!?  My extreme R. Patz crush might be fading.....

The fat on my ass moves as sllllooooowwww as ....

MOLASSES right now! So I realize that a few posts back I said this would happen.  I understand it is normal, I understand it happens to most people, but I don't care.  I want this weight gone!  I am not eating  portion sizes fit for Fievel Mouskewitze to not see the scale go down.  So today I added in exercise, I walked on the treadmill and I actually enjoyed it.  I am hoping to wake up and see the scale move in the morning.  So in order to keep me motivated I am going to write a few good things that happened this week:
* I can wear a dress that didn't fit before I lost weight and it is sort of loose!
* Instead of my belly touching the steering wheel, it now sits about 2 inches back from it!  I can see my feet when I drive!
* My knee and ankles no longer hurt!
So I am going to try and focus on these things.  When I get P.O.'d I am going to remember how it was before these great things happened.  I am also going to just keep doing what I am doing, because eventually my body will have to just give up!

Now I need your help!  Tell me some of your favorite songs to workout to.  High energy, good beats, etc.  Right now and in the past these are/were a few of my favorites:
*Katy Perry,  California Gurls
*Guns and Roses,  Paradise City
*Train, Hey Soul Sister
*Eminem, Love the Way You Lie
*Lady Gaga, Alejandro and Bad Romance
*My Chemical Romance,  House of Wolves, Cancer and Mama
* Nike, Mixed Terrain Treadmill Training, various artists
*Green Day, most of their older stuff

I really need music that keeps you going, so put your favs it in the comment section. Thanks!

The aspect of an idiot.......

Yesterday I ended up unexpectedly at the surgeons office.  My largest incision opened up and it troubled me to see a hole in my stomach so I called.  I find it funny still, that the nurse asked me after telling her the incision was open, "Do you want to come in"?  Nahhh, I think it's normal to see inside myself, rather cool too.  I mean come on!  So I went in and apparently it really is no big deal! Just have to keep a bandage on it.  So far on their scale I have lost 25lbs!  Can I get a woot woot!  I was glad to see the loss on their scale because my scale is not being so friendly.  It has not done anything but go up 2lbs, but there are lots of things making that happen, so no worries and none of them are things I can do anything about.  Their scale means more to me anyways because I was weighed on it the day before the liver shrink diet so it's accurate. 


Now to the idiot part.  While sitting for an hour in the waiting room waiting to be seen.  It got very crowded, I mean not a seat left.  Let me explain to you my surgeon does all types of surgeries but it is apparent by his clientele that WLS is his bread and butter.  So a rather larger lady sits down beside me and across from me is another large lady.  I am just sitting there day dreaming and the lady across from me, lets call her "Patty" starts asking the lady next to me a bunch of questions.
"You had your surgery yet?" asks Patty (how rude, I mean what if she just had gallstones!)
"No, just here for my consult" says nice shy woman
"I had mine, lost 51lbs since May." say Patty proudly
"Well I can't decide rather to get the bypass or the band"  says the nice lady.  Both Patty and I jump in and assure her to get the band. So the lady asks me when I got mine, and I told her.  Told her about the surgery ect.
Patty's dumb ass looks at me and says and I quote, "You puked yet?" OK, WTF!  I am like, "no".
"I puke at least twice a day." Says Patty almost proudly.
"Why, do you eat too fast?" I ask
"Yeah, I eat too fast, and I try lots of things.  Like the other night my family had steak, so I decided to try a little piece. Girl it got so stuck they had to call the volunteer Firefighters to come give me the heimlich."


OK, dumb ass the first thing they tell you in the seminar, NO STEAK, NO BREAD!   Well at this point I am still fascinated as to why Patty pukes.  So I ask Pukey Patty, "How come you throw up, I mean I know you eat too fast, but what happens."  She says, "I eat too fast, then there is no room for any food to go anywhere, so it gets stuck.  So I drink some water to try and get it down but the water can't go anywhere so I just throw it up!"  She then proceeds to tell me how she eats WHATEVER she wants, that she refuses to starve to death.  So she mashes up spaghetti and eats it, yogurt (a no no once on whole foods), sandwiches, cereal etc, etc.  How she ate half a giant cookie last night, and ate the other half for breakfast.  This woman was an idiot and she was sitting there telling these people this who have yet to have the surgery!  After all this Pukey Patty says how mad she is that she just can't lose her stomach (while grabbing it and shaking it), she carries all her weight there and it just will not go away.  OK people have you seen me? I have an appendage hanging off the front of me called my stomach, it is the biggest source of my weight, so yeah I get it Pukey Patty.  But not 5 minutes earlier you told me you lost 51 pounds since May.  She then says well my stomach used to be out here and she mimics the space.  I said, well it seems you are in fact then losing your stomach, I guess things just take time.  Thank God they called my  name next, this woman drove me nuts! There was also a lady out there (Pukey Patty's seatmate) talking about how she knew she had gained weight because, last week such and such was in the hospital and all she could keep down was M&M's!  I mean come on, when was the last time your stomach hurt and you said to yourself, "Eureka, I think M&M's will work"!  And also how many M&M's did you have to eat to actually gain weight?  Thank God they called me name next, these women drove me nuts!

The rest of the visit went well, I go back in 2 weeks and I get my first fill into my band on Sept. 16th.  I am slightly worried, because I believe right now I have no restriction.  Meaning most of the swelling is gone and my band is not tight at all, allowing for anything to go down, also allowing me to get hungry.  Now I am going to not try and test my theory.  I feel that right now, even giving me a taste of food would possible send me right back to where I was before.  You know the seen in Twilight where Edward tells Bella, "You're like a drug to me.  Like my own personal brand of heroin."  I could easily say that to a New York strip.  So I will continue to do my best until the 16th of Sept. and JUST SAY NO!!!!!!!!

Momma said there would be days like this, well no honestly she didn't....

You know in the grand scheme of things, I hate a test. I never "tested well" in school. I hate the whole scenario, sit down, look at this cold white piece of paper, use a #2 pencil (boring!) and concentrate on one thing for a given time until you finish it. Then hope you did it right. I in general never got it right. I make it through life on common sense and just the right amount of street smarts (yes, I live in Wyndham and I said I have street smarts). I mean don't drop me off downtown and expect me to go rollin' witha homeys (a small homage there to Clueless), but basically I know when to shut my mouth, etc.

So as a child growing up I kinda thought to myself the tests would stop at some point, I am learning as a 30 something mom, the damn things still exists! It is not unusual for me to leave a Dr.'s appointment or therapy appointment for Finn without one of those answer sheets and a test booklet. Hell, I am often asked to be a test pusher and pass a test onto his school teacher too. I sit there and fill it out cautiously. I wonder what ramification, will each little bubble I fill with #2 lead have on my son. While I am sure answering "yes" to his ability to brush his teeth unassisted will be a gold star, and painfully aware that marking "never or seldom" to another question will inevitably ruin any future he has, or at least that is how it feels. Today I had to go get the results to one of those test, and man no matter how many times I hear the same thing over and over, or even set myself up to hear it again, it still sucks. So while today I heard that my little boy has the social abilities of a 20 month old, and his other abilities are "scattered", he is autistic and moody and probably a gamut of other things. I also heard he is handsome, and loving and physically beautiful! So in honor of this little boy who tries so hard I am going to tell you what he can do:
*He can run like the wind and smile so handsomely while doing it, that he puts Superman to shame!
*He can name every Thomas train they make, even if it is in a black and white coloring book!
*He can love his friends so much and never even know what a being a bully is!
*He can make his momma laugh, cry and scream all in a matter of 5 minutes!
*He can remember to bring you a sticker home from school because he knows you like them!
* He can eat an entire oreo in one bite and still try and carry on a conversation with you!
*He can memorize an entire book, and sweetly sit and read it to his sister.
*He can tell you that he "loves" your hair and "it's bewtiful" even when you just wake up and half of its smashed to your face and the other half is sticking straight up.

He can do a lot more too, those are just a few of my favorites.

So no matter his label or what the little bubbles on the answer sheet say, think about the things he can do above. And while I might say "tonight is margarita night, it's been a Finn on 10 day" remember I love him more than anything in this world, I will protect him fearlessly and applaud him the loudest, discipline him sternly and spoil him rotten!

Today is about more than some diet, today is about just living life and loving!

It's a good thing......

Hi everyone! I am feeling better and more like myself everyday. Total weight loss is 23lbs so I am excited! The soft and mushy food stage is going very well. I really feel like it is almost like eating any type of food. I can eat most things as long as they are cooking to a soft consistency. So all in all things are well.

Hard challenge of the last few days, going to Wendy's with Mom and Finn. I got a small chili and ate half of it, but it was a little hard watching them eat chicken nuggets and cheeseburgers. Tonight Pete and I are heading out to a movie and dinner, so that should be nice.

I wanted to post a few of my favorite new things. I figured if I like them then maybe you all will too!

First is a drink called FUZE. 10 calories per serving or less (depends on flavor), 1g of sugar. They are a nice change from water and since I can't have carbonation anymore they help with not getting bored with tea and water. BJ's has a coupon this month on them too! http://www.drinkfuze.com/

Second is my very favorite thing! Welch's 100% juice freezies. These look like flavor ice (remember the plastic tubes of juice you freeze and turn into a pop)? But they are soooo much better. I love Welch's concord grape juice. These are icy wonderful tubes of the juice! Yay! I am trying to find them on the web, but no luck. I found them again at BJ's. They come thawed and in the section with Crystal light and drink mixes. Oh and they are 40 to 45 calories a pop depending on flavor!

Third, Fruit2O flavored water. Love this stuff, especially Lemon and Grape flavored. http://www.fruit2o.com look under special offers for a coupon.

Fourth, is Unjury Protein. If you drink protein shakes daily, these are wonderful. The flavors are chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, unflavored and chicken soup flavored. I have tried all of them except chicken soup. They do not have the horrible protein smell or after taste. They really are good! http://unjury.com/ Plus this a Virginia based company, which I love! Ordering from them is super fast, I always get my stuff in one day!

and lastly, Special K crackers. These are wonderful! http://www.specialk.com/crackers/multi-grain I like the savory ones dipped in cottage cheese. Yum! 17 crackers is 90 calories and 2gs of fat.

Happy Sunday! I hope everyone enjoys the day!

****Amber Alert*******

I am issuing an Amber Alert, because I finally lost my kids. Now mind you, if you find them, keep 'em they are yours, because baby I ain't carrying them around no more! I FINALLY WEIGH THE SAME AS I DID BEFORE I GOT PREGGO WITH EITHER BAMBINO!!!!! I just took a shot of protein shake in my medicine cup for that one!

Today I am down 18lbs. That is crazy! 18lbs in 20 days! 8lbs of that in 6 days! I do not expect for this to keep on, but I will take it while I can! I do hear stories that TOMORROW (yes, damn right tomorrow) when I eat a little food again, I might gain a few. It will be temporary and it comes from that pesky liver again. It sucks up everything bad for you like fat, cholesterol and sodium and holds on to it, until you assure it there ain't no more holdin' on! Also, tomorrow I get to drive again! Ahhhhhhh haaaaaaaa (did the Heavens just part over your head too?) My big trip? Taking Finn to the sitters and running to the bank.

Only problems today is my left shoulder and side are killing me! This happened in the hospital and for a few days after due to the gas they pump into your abdominal cavity in order to do surgery. It kinda feels like that, but more like when you get a stitch in your side. So I just wish it would go away. Other than that, today is great. More energy (no naps so far!) and I made some Healthy Choice chicken noodle soup for lunch and was able to eat a few of the noodles and most of the carrots. It was crazy to get actual bulk food again. You see, I had been worried that I had some kind of crazy non- working, manufacturer reject band, because I have been so hungry for the last few days. But seeing that about 1/2 cup of soup with a few piece of real food filled me up, makes me believe the people at Lap-Band are in fact not trying to screw me over!

So I thought it might be time for a update.

So far I have lost 16lbs. 10lbs on the liver shrinking diet and 6lbs since the surgery.

How am I feeling?
Quite honestly kinda like crap. I have zero energy. But I am sure that is because I am having trouble getting in the amount of liquid/food the Dr.s want me to. That situation is getting better everyday though and I am able to eat/drink more and more. Peter has reminded me on several occasions that I need to drink more protein. So I am adding protein to my instant breakfast shakes now. Hoping that too will help.
By night walking up the staircase makes me dizzy and just feel weird. I made Sophie some scrambled eggs and a hot dog last night (I know horrible dinner, but it is what I could do) and I swear it almost laid me out! That being said, the dinners my friends have brought to us have been life savers. Poor Peter is running like a mad man to try and be both Liz and Pete. I think he might be ready to just be Pete again!

I have also heard that once I start food, I should expect to possibly gain or not lose weight for a few days. That is because your liver is like a sponge and it sucks up everything it can. Being that I already have a fatty liver (reason for the biopsy) I guess mine really likes to suck!

Also, I never ever thought it would be this hard. I mean I new it would be hard, but I never knew I would miss chewing food, cooking and everything to do with food. I know the most of it is psychological, so I am working through it. I am craving meat. Ham, Fish, Beef, Chicken any of it!!! I am a full believer if you crave something for a long time it is because your body needs it. So maybe I need some iron? Only a few more weeks!

Stay tuned there should be another post this afternoon!

The so inappropriate woman....

So I decided to tell you guys the story of going under the anaesthesia. It is funny I think, but highly non-PC. So be forewarned.

So Haggen-Daz man is wheeling me in the OR and we are chatting about Micheal Jackson and his love of the milk. We get in the room and I have already had the "party juice", so Liz who is already not so PC, goes even further into the realm. I make sure to tell everyone that some highly inappropriate things will probably come out of my mouth. They assure me it will be alright and that they basically love talking to drunk/drugged patients. So they tell me to slide off the hospital bed I am on, to the extremely narrow board like bed with the arms coming off the sides. All I can think of is lethal injections. I swear it looked just like in the movies, I was waiting for them to open a curtain and every person I was ever mean to in High School would be sitting there! So I realize I need to get these thoughts out of my head. I tell them how it is really screwy that the table is so narrow, I mean my skinniest of my friends would have had some side hang. I told them BARIATRIC surgery should equal a big OR table. They just laughed.

Then they velcroed down my arms on the boards coming off the sides of the table. Haggen-Daz asked me if I would like to sit up some and I said "yes". So (and here is the inappropriate part) he starts to automatically lift the entire table up so that my head is being raised. All I could think about was Jesus on the Cross. So I started singing "Jesus Christ Super Star" and proclaiming myself Jesus Christ reincarnated. I know so inappropriate. The next thing I knew Haggen-Daz said he was giving me some fresh air, and I was out. I don't remember counting or anything! I am just sure they were all glad I shut up. I think I might need to go to church now!