No Food, No New Years, But YES to New Clothes!

Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you all enjoyed the day! Also hope that everyone is looking forward to NYE if you do indeed celebrate it. I haven't done anything for it since I was 17... and that was probably the only year I had any sort of "adult" NYE celebration anyway... so I'll be spending yet another year doing nothing. lol. Such is the life of a parent I suppose...

Anyway, I've moved a little bit lower, though not much. 84.7kg. Weight loss seems to have stalled, but again, I don't care too much right now. It'll be good to just "sit" at a weight for a little while I think. Though, it is a little annoying when people keep asking, "how much have you lost now," and the number remains the same. TBH, I wish they'd just not ask... if they asked every month or so it'd be fine, but it seems to be every time I see them (so once a week basically). Obviously the numbers have slowed now... I can eat more than I could previously, and my body is getting closer to a normal weight, so it's not as eager to lose as it was earlier on.

I said I'd let you know what I had for Christmas, so here's what I ate as my sit-down meal:
*Half a turkey meatball
*A small bit of pork crackling
*About 1 bite of roast pork with gravy
*Attempted to chew up some roast beef, but I knew if I swallowed it, I'd spew or be really uncomfortable, so spat it out.

That's seriously all I had. Disappointing, considering the amount of time it took to prepare and then cook everything... I am really hoping that in a few years time I can at least manage a toddler portion. Cooking has become so less enjoyable now, since I can't really eat what I cook. It doesn't seem worth it when I can only have a few mouthfuls...

As I've said before, I prepared to eat less, but some days it irritates me just how little I can eat... when you cook a Christmas meal, you kind of hope to at least get a bite of everything... which is what I had thought was a realistic expectation. I think it depends on the day though - I think another day I could have probably managed to do that... but for some reason my tummy was just not cooperating on Christmas Day.

Oh well, I have leftovers in my freezer and will be able to try everything soon enough.

I guess it's time for some progress pics... someone requested some pics the other day, and I wasn't going to post them here, but I was impressed with my curves in the photo, so I wanted to share...

The before and "now" shot

That was Boxing Day I think. I also have some other pics to share... just taken today. I wanted to try on my new "uniform," for beauty school to see how it looks. I've got to wear black, and while I'm not certain, I think I'm not supposed to reveal much cleavage or any armpit... basically modestly dressed really. This is all going from my previous beauty courses, but I figure it's better to be safe. Given I've become too small for most of my clothes, I had to go pick up some black items... I'll use the shorts in the pic above, but also grabbed a $20 knit top from Portmans, and a skirt that is JUST not too big from City Chic for $20. Definitely good buys... I never end up spending so little. So here are my progress pics in those clothes...

Btw, my towels aren't always like that, I pushed them over to the side so I didn't blend in with them! lol.

Speaking of clothes, I used some Christmas money to go shopping and get some new clothes from Hell Bunny. I found a great store for them, and I'll link you: http://emeraldswamp.com.au/

It's cheaper than a lot of places, and has a few Hell Bunny items I've not seem before - including a lovely GREEN dress (which I ordered). Actually, I just had a look - I got them on sale, but the sale is now over. YAY! Well, yay that I got in while the sale was on... not yay that it's no longer on. lol.

I'll definitely update when I get them, they've been sent now so I'll hopefully see them in not too much longer. They're being delivered via courier though, so might be a bit longer than usual. Say to expect from about 4th...

ANYWAY... hope everyone had a great Christmas and enjoy any holidays you get off from here on out. 

Eating Out, Eating with Others and Eating at Christmas...

85kg today.

I seem to be stuck at this weight, and can't get BELOW it. Not that I've tried especially hard, so I'm not too bothered right now. 85kg is awesome, and so now I've lost over 22kg.

Not much has happened sleeve-wise... it seems to kinda not matter so much at this stage post-op. The only thing that is really different than everyone elses life, is that I can eat a lot less food, and sometimes that can be a pain in the rear. It's GOOD because it means less chance of gaining weight, but it can also be kind of embarrassing at times, especially when people you're eating with don't understand why you're eating next to nothing (when previously, you'd have eaten all your meal and then want more).

Last week I went shopping with DD, with intentions to see a movie and get a Santa photo. DD wanted lunch, as it was around lunch-time, but instead of the usual food court offerings, she wanted to eat at a cafe. The only real option was The Coffee Club, and so I agreed, reluctantly. I enjoy cafe foods, generally, but I hadn't attempted a cafe meal since my sleeve, so was worried about what I could eat.

In the end, I chose perhaps the cheapest savoury offering I could, and went with some bruschetta. It was topped with a tomato/red onion combo, on toasted turkish bread, with a pesto base. Yum!

It came out in 4 slices... I ate only 1 (well, less than 1 actually). For $11. (there were also a plate of chips for cheaper, but I don't really enjoy hot chips these days) *sigh* I guess wasting food is going to be something I should get used to.

This is the deliciousness that I just couldn't eat.

I gave one triangle to DD, who also had her own meal. I had suggested we share a meal, but she declined, declaring she'd definitely eat all of her food on her own and there wouldn't be any left for me.

I felt really bad leaving that food on the plate, so wrote a note on my serviette, which I left on my plate. It said something about me enjoying the meal, but having had stomach surgery I was just physically unable to eat more. I don't suspect the chef was that bothered - it's unlikely to be some amazing creation of his/her own and rather just a recipe they MUST follow... but I still felt like someone had prepared this for me and they might wonder what was wrong with it. A normal person could have eaten it all, so I offered and explanation regardless.

I also attended a family get-together recently and had to eat a sit-down meal with other people who don't know about my surgery. I had no real issues with them knowing about my sleeve, but my grandparents particularly wouldn't understand and I was worried they'd notice the pitiful amount I was eating and comment, and make me feel awkward. Luckily, probably due to seating (I was on the end, so not surrounded by others), they didn't notice and said nothing. It didn't stop me from stressing the whole way to the get-together though... I kept trying to decide whether I should load my plate up and just eat hardly any of it, or just start with nothing on it to begin with. In the end, I decided on the latter to at least not waste food.

I had about 1/2 a roast chicken thigh, a teaspoon of peas/corn (mixed, not a teaspoon each), a teaspoon of roast potato and two prawns. I'm expecting I'll only be able to eat about this much on Christmas Day as well... but despite this, I have decided to cook quite a lot of food, for variety. Any leftovers, I'll portion up and freeze, so I can enjoy them at later stages. I think a bit of roast beef, for example, will go down well as a protein-heavy lunch meal... so I'm happy that I won't be wasting anything.

I'll definitely share what I managed to eat on Christmas Day after Sunday sometime... I am expecting it to be very little indeed, though I am hoping to get at least a bite of each meat I have on offer... and maybe a mouthful of salad. I'll have...

A large ham

Herb-marinated Roast Beef and Red Wine Jus

Roast Pork with Apple Gravy

Turkey Meatballs with Red Currant Dipping Sauce

Cold Prawns

2 Salad varieties (not sure what yet)

Home-baked dinner rolls

Cheesecake for dessert

This is only for 4 people too... lol. Still, as I said, I wanted variety.



I think that if I manage a mouthful of eat, I'll be very lucky indeed!

Carb-Induced Loss, Blood Pressure Changes and Top Report Card!

So, my weight went up for a while... as it seems to do a lot lately. It gets to a lower number, then the next day, it's up again... and remains up, until eventually it gets even lower again... I dunno why. So, today, I'm 86.5kg. I was up at about 87kg for most of the week, even after getting to 86.8kg previously. It's not much anyway, so I really shouldn't even think about it.

Anyway, you know how my mantra has been "eat more, lose more?" Well, I've been thinking that was mostly about more PROTEIN... eat more PROTEIN, lose more weight. Yesterday proved otherwise though. Yesterday, I was hungry all day long. Not ravenous, but hungry enough to want to eat the entire day. The ENTIRE day I ate. Not much, because you can't eat much as a sleever... but I still ate a lot more than usual, and given it's the end of a shopping fortnight and I'm broke, it's been raining and I can't drive, I've lacked the ability to go get more food... so I've been carbing it up. I had some protein yesterday, sure, but I'd say majority of my food intake was carb-heavy.

Still, I ate so much, and I lost. I finally got below that 87kg that has been annoying me each day on the scales... from eating lots, and eating carbs. WTF? I might test this out again in future, and see if eating MORE, even if it's carby foods, helps... or if it was just a once-off.

I also recieved a compliment today - someone said I had lost HEAPS. She saw me a few weeks post-op when I had her daughter over for a sleepover. I saw her at the school's Christmas Party (for the Preps) today, and she was all, "Wow, look at you! You've lost HEAPS!" It felt really good. She knows what I've had done - I kept it no secret. I feel really bad not telling people when they mention weight loss, particularly if they're not skinny and are perhaps looking to lose weight themselves. I don't want to pretend like I've figured out the magical way to break the binging habit, or spend my whole life in a gym since last I saw them... so I tell them the truth. I think it really has both pros and cons - people tend to be less willing to congratulate you on your loss if you've had surgery, as if you don't deserve it because you did it "the easy way," or something. Luckily some people are just positive regardless.

Did I mention my change in blood pressure yet? If not...

You know how previously it had been as high as 200/120? Well, last time I checked (about a week ago now) it was 160/85. Still high-ish... but SO MUCH lower than it has been. I'm no longer a heart-attack waiting to happen. I'm so very happy with that. I'll have blood tests done soon enough to check everything else, so I'll let you know if my cholesterol has gone down (because that was an issue pre-sleeve) and also let you know if the sleeve has caused anything negative to happen too. That won't be until January sometime.

And just for a little brag - I got my daughter's report card back today... all As. I didn't even know they did that system for such young children, but it appears they do... and mine got all As. It's probably not that hard to get an A in Prep, but I don't care, I'm still gonna brag. lol.

Old Clothes, Imaginary Pregnancy and Measurements Lost

Have been feeling less than average lately, and thought I might be pregnant. First test was negative. Second test had a faint 2nd line. Third test was negative. So I'm going with negative. My period is 8-9 days late now though, so I'll have to head to the doctor if it doesn't show up soon, just to see what's going on.

It was rather worrying thinknig I was pregnant - I've spent the past few days thinking about what I'd do, how a baby could possibly fit into our lives at this point in time, etc. I also worried about the sleeve and how that'd change things - I want to make sure I don't make myself high risk if possible. I want to birth at home, and I don't want to be ordered to do a billion and one things just because I've had the sleeve... so would rather wait to fall pregnant until at least a year after I was sleeved. I also don't know how I'd manage pregnant eating with a restrictive sleeve. lol.

Anyway, yesterday I needed clothes to wear, but had been slack with the washing and didn't have much to choose from. I decided to go through a pile of old clothes at the top of my wardrobe and see how they fit. I don't actually LIKE these old clothes - they're all ugly, lol - but I still wanted to see how they fit on me. Everything I tried on fit, or was even a little baggy.

I even tried on this dress I've never worn  (a stretchy size 14) to see how it'd do. It's a bit too clingy for my liking, but it still looked better on then it would have pre-sleeve, so I took some photos to celebrate the moment. I'm wearing shapewear underneath to firm up all my flabby bits (mostly belly), but hte shapewear creates an obvious dent in my side, in the legholes. Anyway, you'll notice it in the photo, I'm just explaining what that is.

Again, apologies for my messy mirror. I never realise just how bad it is until I take a photo... lol.

I think the dress might look okay with some different shapewear that doesn't do that weird leg thing, and also with a few extra kg lost. I don't really think I'd wear it though - it's a little short for my liking (I like things to cover my unattractive knees).

This morning I decided to take some measurements to see how far I've come too...

So today I am...

Bust: 106cm

Under Bust: 91.5cm

Waist: 86cm

Hips: 111cm

So it seems my waist measurement is about the same as my weight in kg - though I'm actually 86.8kg at the moment, not a flat 86kg. I wonder if it was that way all along? My waist and weight being the same number (or close)? I might have a look... nope, it hasn't been. lol.

Anyway, my losses on those above body parts so far...

Bust - 14.5cm

Under Bust - 8.5cm

Waist - 15.5cm

Hips - 14.5cm

I'm pretty happy with those kinds of results...

Not much else to add really... just thought I'd update.