May 23rd, 2018

I had my six month follow up with my surgeons office today. It went better than I could have ever dreamt. I am officially down one hundred and forty pounds from my highest weight. And all of my labs came back in a good range so I am not deficient in anything which is so important!

I haven’t updated in the last two weeks because well. . . life, but in the midst of all the chaos I have noticed how much better I feel compared to six months ago and how easily I can move in comparison to last year.

The past few weekends have been filled with projects to get our toys ready for summer. Cleaning our boat and packing and repacking the camper to get ready for summer fun; last year I would have been overly exhausted and not been able to push myself to get so much done in one weekend. Now, while I definitely get tired by the end of the day, I have the endurance and energy to keep going all day long. It’s such a nice change.

My non scale victories are so much more important to me than any number on the scale. They are my biggest motivator when I am having down days.

Some of them are:

• walking. I can walk longer distances, and not get winded or need to take a break.
• Sleeping, while I am certainly still an insomniac, I sleep much better and more sound when I do sleep.
• Sitting and being able to cross my legs and sit Indian style comfortably.
• Having more and more room between myself and the steering wheel. Sounds so strange but I used to measure myself by how close I was to the steering wheel of my vehicle.
• Being able to move and bend and stretch without feeling like a big blob.
• Wearing heels again, which I loved to do years ago, and can finally do again without being in agonizing pain at the end of the day.
• Shirts being lose and flowy that were super tight just a few months ago.
• Putting on old clothes and realizing they are way to big to wear just one more time.
• Fitting into the same size jeans I was wearing in the eighth grade!!!!

All of these things have been huge victories for me in this journey! Each time I find a new non scale victory I am reminded why I did this and that any of the bad days or moments can not erase all of the success and triumphs I’ve made in the last year of this life long journey.

While the number on the scale is important to gage progress, it is so much more important to focus on the changes in your body and health. They remind you why you took that first step and why you have to keep pushing yourself beyond every mental and physical limit you have ever had.

Today is another beautiful day on this chaotic roller coaster and I am so thankful for this incredible life!

Today’s weight: 258