52 days and counting...

Well today is officially the 52nd day of my journey. I had my much anticipated doctor visit today, they sure scheduled me to get a lot done in one day I love that they are so efficient that way! I had my ultrasound done, my psych eval, my nutritional assessment, and my very first B12 shot! So it was a very exciting day that I have been counting down to. I went in and first had my psych eval done, which I didn't know which appointment was first so when I was brought to his office he said "don't worry this will be painless" then I realized who he was LOL but since I wasn't expecting him first I didn't even have a chance to be nervous about it so I thought that was funny. He was super nice and said he didn't see any need for change in meds, as I have been taking Wellbutrin prescribed by my PCP and he didn't feel I needed any additional counseling so he said he will write my recommendation letter for my insurance so that is another check off the list towards my surgery! :) Then I had my ultrasound she said there are mainly looking for stones and general health of the gallbladder, pancreas and liver. Another check off the list! Then I met with Mike, who is my favorite person so far in this process so far he is just so awesome. I joked about is the scale going to match the one at the Estrella office (my appts today were in Tempe) and he said I'd weigh more which at first I didn't know if he was joking or not haha So by my calculations I had lost another 7 pounds! Which I was so excited about but then we sat down in his office and he said to match up with the other office take off an additional 5 pounds, so I actually lost a total of 12 pounds!! That puts me down 22 pounds so far, so I am a quarter of the way to my goal so I can be eligible for surgery! :) I am so happy I swear that just put me in the best mood all day. Then I got my B12 shot and bought some PB2 and I was all done. I had taken the day off in case my appointments ran late and since I still needed to pick up the kiddos. But I was all done in just over an hour! So I took advantage of some time to myself which never ever happens and went to Target. I got the boys Easter baskets and a bunch of goodies. I tried to not really do much candy since I want to help them be healthier too. So I got some little goldfish cartons, and some fruit snacks, some active toys like balls and a little mini plastic bat and ball and a cool Frisbee. Stuff we can play with at the park or outside. And my amazing Mom said she would go in with me to purchase a FitBit for me. Because its something I have really wanted to help me get a better idea of the activity I am getting each day and helping me know when I need to do a little extra to be more active that day. It tracks sleep, activity, calories burned, you can also enter your food and water intake. Its pretty awesome and I love technology so this is like getting the toy you really wanted on Christmas LOL She ended up getting it for me, thank you Mom!!, and I picked it up at Target today and am proudly wearing it right now! LOL Then I picked up the boys from school and we went to the dollar store, Payless (since Joshua broke his shoe this morning :\) and then to our new favorite spot the Pita Kitchen. Now we are home and getting ready to do the crafts with the supplies we picked up at the dollar store and watch a movie. But I wanted to hop it here and share my happiness from today. I plan to finally meet my goal and sign up for my gym membership as soon as my tax return comes in I can't wait, I even ordered myself a new workout outfit and cute headband\sweatband to get me extra excited! Haha Well as always thanks for reading!!

Xoxo
Emily

I am working on learning this one!!

Amen!

First support group meeting and a rough week...

Well I attended my first support group meeting last Tuesday and it was wonderful. My Mom came with for support and I felt really comfortable there. I could see myself being friends with the people there. It was nice for a change to be in a social setting around strangers and not feeling afraid of what they were thinking of me, judging me because of my size. My nutritionist was leading the group which was good because I really like him. You can tell he really cares about his job which is so nice. The topic was plateaus and why they happen and how to handle them. I haven't been on my journey long enough to have this be a huge issue yet, but what I did learn was that you have to expect them to happen so if you are prepared it won't hit you as hard. What I wanted to share from this group was he talked about the 4 main steps you need to be successful in weight loss and I thought I would take this opportunity for myself to write down how I am applying them to my journey.

Mental Training: Do you have a set of updated goals in writing and have you been keeping these in front of you, reading them every day?

I am going to concentrate on the power of positive thinking. Not telling myself negative things like you can't do this, its too hard. Instead I am saying you will do this, you are doing this and it will be in my subconscious and help me be more successful.

Short term goals

I would like to be losing 10 pounds a month minimum

Joining a gym and attending regularly.

Not spending as much time watching tv

Going for a walk every week

Long term

signing up to walk in a marathon

losing 200 pounds

Cardio training: Do you have a customized cardio schedule and have you been following it consistently?

I am committing to cardio at least 4 days a week. Currently I am using my YouTube workouts that I am enjoying. Also start going out to walk whenever I can. 

Resistance training: Have you been following your weight training program?

This was something I honestly had not even given thought to yet. So I ordered myself a resistance band off of Amazon and found another video that has workouts I am able to do. It was fun to switch it up so at this time I will alternate days of my cardio videos and my resistance video workouts. But my goal is to do both 5 days a week which would take me from a 30 minute workout to 1 hour.

Nutrition: Do you have a meal plan that you follow closely, counting your calories and have you followed it every day to the best of your abilities? You have to rate your compliance twice: Once for your food quality and once for your food quantity. Are you underestimating your food intake and overestimating your activity levels?

I honestly don't think I could be successful with this without counting my calories. I feel like I have eaten bad for so long that I wouldn't know if I am eating okay or not, its been a learning experience to really look at what the nutritional values are in the foods we eat. And I feel like I am still eating things I enjoy so I am happy. MyFitnessPal is just my favorite thing right now lol I do think I want to start actually making a calendar of what I will eat each day so I can plan better.

Well that's a little about what I learned and how I am applying it. Last week sure was a rough one, our beloved Binx passed away and that just broke my heart, I am still struggling to not cry about it everyday when I think he is going to walk into my office and then I realize he never will again. But I like to think his spirit will always be with me so that brings me comfort. The day it happened it really triggered me to want to eat, like I just kept thinking what can I eat next just trying to make myself feel better. But I didn't binge out on anything bad, might have had a couple extra snacks but they were all healthy and I only went over like 200 calories that day so I think it could have been worse. But other than that I have been pretty good. I am finding that going out to eat is harder than I thought. My nephew's birthday was at Peter Piper Pizza so I knew to prepare myself so I looked up the calories for their pizza and salads and determined I could have one slice of pepperoni pizza and a salad. It took everything in me not to just grab another slice of pizza it looked so good. I had a bite of cake but didn't have a piece of my own. So I think I was successful but I must admit it was harder than I thought it would be. My triumph of the week I think was going to walk at the park yesterday with Christina, we estimate that the park one trip around is 1\4 mile, and I walked it 4 times! (with breaks between laps) but I did it! To say I walked a mile just sounds crazy but I was so happy about it, might not sound big to some but for me trust me this was huge.

I meet with my nutritionist again on the 18th so I will do a weight loss update then since I don't feel like I can trust my scale at home anymore. Oh and I scheduled to receive a B-12 shot when I go in, this will be my first time so I will update with what my experience was like. Thanks for reading.

xoxo Emily