Under 150!

The progress pics:

December 2016

March 2017

August 2017

Latest FB profile pic:

The stats:

• Seven months, two weeks since surgery
• Total weight loss: 69 lbs.
• 33 pounds to goal

Physically I feel great.  Psychologically, I feel a little like an imposter.  I mean, I look at myself in the mirror and barely recognize me.  On the other hand, I feel attractive again for the first time in years, and have noticed men noticing me.  (Not that my husband has anything to worry about on that score, but you know, after all these years, it’s nice to be noticed.)  More than one person at work has commented on how “skinny” I am becoming.  They’re going to think I’ll blow away in a stiff wind when I reach my goal weight.

Speaking of “skinny”, virtually every item of clothing that I wore prior to surgery has now been removed from my closet.  Some of the first round of clothing I bought at the thrift store to see me through this transformation is also on its way out the door.  I need to go through the stuff in the dresser again. Some of it — such as the exercise clothing — still fits, but I know there are tees and other casualwear that does not.

I really wish I had taken measurements before we started.  Oh well. Here’s the progress in inches lost since March.

	March 18, 2017	May 7, 2017	August 10, 2017
Bust	43	42	39.25
Waist	40	39	36
Hip	45	43	41
Thigh	25	24	22
Calf	17	16.5	15.5
Upper arm	14	13	12
Neck	14.5	14.25	14

I’ve started to have some loose skin: a little on the underside of my upper arms and on the inside of my thighs.  Some sag around the lower belly, too, but that could be stubborn fat deposits.  I think it will all eventually regain elasticity and snap back.  Exercise and improved muscle tone should help, too.

I still have trouble with meat, unless it has been boiled/processed to a fare-thee-well in a canned soup. Fish is okay, especially shellfish. Diced ham is good in a salad. So I eat a lot of vegetables and salads and fruit and soup.  And shellfish.  And of course, the protein shakes, multivitamin, iron, and calcium supplements.

I go back to the nutritionist and the surgeon for a follow-up on Monday. I hope they are as pleased with my progress as I am.

50+ lbs down!

Yesterday morning, I weighed in at 165.6 lbs.  That’s a total loss so far of 51.4 lbs.

Nov 2014

Measurements in inches:

	March 18, 2017	May 7, 2017
Bust	43	42
Waist	40	39
Hip	45	43
Thigh	25	24
Calf	17	16.5
Upper arm	14	13
Neck	14.5	14.25

I had to buy new bras last week.  Because my bra size will continue to change, I bought several inexpensive ones at Target.  They’re comfy, but I don’t expect them to last more than the few months I’ll need to wear them.  Today I went through my closet and tried on every piece of clothing hanging there. About half went into the donate pile, including nearly all my pants and jeans. Of the remaining half, I expect most of it will be too big by the end of May.  I have enough dress clothes to wear to work and just enough casual clothes for everything else.  But it’s time to start thinking about digging through the racks at the thrift store.

Next weekend I’ll go through the dresser and try on all the T-shirts and leggings and other casual comfies stored there.

As far as food goes, I’ve involuntarily become nearly vegetarian.  I’m unable to tolerate most meats except fish or shellfish, so my protein comes mainly in the form of shakes and bars.  My nutritionist said the intolerance will probably resolve itself within the next several months, and it’s okay to use the protein shakes, etc., in the meantime.  She also suggested that I try eating dark meat chicken instead of white meat because the white meat tends to be too dry.  And she liked that I eat fruits and vegetables for snacks.  Much better than my pre-surgery snacks of chips or chocolate or donuts (although I did confess to the occasional small bag of Fritos or a single Rolo).

Book review: American Gods by Neil Gaiman

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

2003 Review

Neil Gaiman is one of the most original writers currently publishing. He defies category: how does one classify an author whose work ranges from SF to horror to social commentary to parable and back, all within the pages of one book? His style is reminiscent of Clive Barker and Harlan Ellison, perhaps with a touch of Lovecraft thrown in for seasoning.

AMERICAN GODS tells the story of the war brewing between the “old” gods of the United States — the piskies and brownies and vrokolaks brought over from the Old Country by immigrant believers — and the “new” gods of technology and progress worshipped by the descendants of those immigrants. One human, an ex-con called Shadow, is enlisted by a man calling himself Wednesday to help unite the old gods in resisting the new. Shadow, at loose ends after the sudden loss of his wife, agrees to work for Wednesday, and is plunged headlong into intrigue and strangeness, where people are not who they appear, time does not track, and even the dead do not stay in their graves.

A haunting tone poem of a novel. Highly recommended.

2017 Re-read

Although I had been intending to re-read this book for years, the impending debut of the Starz series (April 30!) finally got this book down from the shelf and into my hands in mid-April.

It’s funny how time can distort the memory of a once-read novel. I remembered this story as being mostly a road trip with Shadow and Wednesday. While there is definitely a great deal of travel involved, I had completely forgotten the events that take place in sleepy, quiet, wintry Lakeside. I had also forgotten the outcome of Wednesday’s machinations, and how truly noble Shadow turns out to be.

Now I’m prepared for the TV show. It better not be awful.

(Side observation: I expect researching this novel is what eventually led Gaiman to write Norse Mythology.)

View all my reviews

Read as part of the Spring Into Horror read-a-thon.  This is the only book I managed to finish during the time frame.  Join us next time!

Also read for the 2017 Award Winning SF/F Challenge.  You can still join in on that one.

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Weight Loss Progress

And it just keeps coming off.  As of the time of this writing (several days before the blog entry will be published), I’m down 44 lbs.

These two pictures were taken quite some time apart, as you can tell by the length of my hair.  The blue photo was taken at the beginning of my last major attempt at weight loss, in November 2014, so about two years before surgery.  The pink photo was taken March 31, 2017.  (Yes, I should have done photos right before surgery, but I didn’t.  We’ll have to make do with these and whatever candid or yarn-project-modeling photos I can find that were taken shortly before surgery.)

Nov 2014

March 2017

Front view.  I can see the beginnings of a waist again.  That makes me happy.  I still have the shirt and cropped pants I’m wearing in the blue photos.  I’ll do my best to wear them the next time we take a set of progress photos.

In clothing news, all but one of the items that had been banished to the upstairs closet because they didn’t fit have been retrieved.  Because now they fit.  The one item that doesn’t fit is a velvet dress suitable for holiday parties and dress-up occasions.  It’s still too tight.  Unfortunately, it’s doubtful that it will fit at the time the holiday parties and dress-up occasions roll around again, but at that time, it will be too loose.  Maybe I’ll ask my husband to take me out to a fancy dinner when it fits again, just to wear it one last time.  I’ve started weeding out the clothes that are now too large and too much trouble to have altered; they’re being sorted into piles to go to Goodwill, to bariatric support group clothing swaps, and to the business-appropriate clothing drive for women in shelters.

 

Measurements

As of March 18, 2017:

• Bust 43″
• Waist 40″
• Hip 45″
• Thigh 25″
• Calf 17″
• Upper arm 14″
• Neck 14.5″

Before anyone freaks out about the bust/waist/hip ratio, I always had a fairly straight figure.  Not too many curves,which is why dress mannequins never worked for me when I sewed my own clothes.  If I remember correctly, my measurements in my early 20s were approximately 33/27/35.  When I gained weight, most of it was gained in the belly, and there were times when my waist measurement exceeded my bust measurement.  Believe me, this is progress.