Welcome Back!

Well, to my hair at least!

I've noticed in the past month that my hair is actually growing both in length and thickness. I've scaled back the use of Mane & Tale to once a week.. if that. After using it daily for three months, I guess I didn't notice the way my hair felt so dry to the touch. But, about a week ago I realized I still had some left over conditioner left from the last time I dyed my hair... you know that conditioner that is ALWAYS so nice and leaves your hair so nice?!?! And, seriously ALL day I kept feeling my hair.

Instantly I realized how dry my hair has been over the past few months and I decided to change.

I'm thankful Mane & Tale has helped get my hair back. But, I'm ready to have normal hair!

For Christmas my mom bought me a Groupon for a local salon. It was for full high lights, a hair cut and a blow dry styling. I recently went to use it! I decided to go way dramatic and go lighter than I've ever gone.

I will say that the photo above does NOT to the color justice. It's a LOT lighter in person. It's WAY more brown than blonde. And, I have to admit it... I LOVE IT!

Not bad considering I just had to pay tip! I also LOVE how she cut it to frame my face! 

whoooohoo!

Holiday Wrap Up...

This Christmas I was actually able to enjoy the holidays and all that they entail. 

Last year I was only a few days post op when Christmas rolled around. So, needless to say I was in a little pain, and just watched everyone eat all my favorite foods!

This year I was able to eat those foods within reason, I was able to spend time with my family. And, enjoy the holiday!

Here's a few pictures.. 

I dressed up as an elf for the Holiday Breakfast at work. It was so much fun that I decided to do it again when we went to hub's family! 

I have to confess that my mom has been in an EXTREME baking mood lately. She made us about three dozen cookies, and then together we made some peanut butter balls together, and some peanut butter chocolate covered pretzels. I have been "grazing" on all these goodies for over a week now. While I do feel guilty at sometimes I also am happy that my new belly limits my amount. 

I weighed in today to find out that I did NOT gain any weight during Christmas. Whooohoo!

I actually lost a pound or so!

Photoshare...

Just for comparison sake, here's two pictures of me with a pair of my biggest jeans.. size 26.

Happy ONE year to me! =)

Excitement!

After losing about 50 pounds my wedding set began to feel loose. Eventually they got so big that I moved them to my middle finger, then my index finger. And, now they're even too big for my thumb. I have met with a few jewelers to discuss my options in regards to sizing. I can't remember if if I mentioned it or not but I have two wedding sets. I have the original set Phil proposed to me with and that I wore for the first few years of our marrriage. And, another set I got after things started looking up from his cancer diagnosis. It was to celebrate our new cancer free life. Well, I love them both. But I really love the second set. Unfortunately it is a channel setting and apparently they're difficult to size much. They're a 9 and I need a 6. So if I tried to have them sized the stones could easily fall out and since I do not have a job that would stand up to that I just didn't feel it was worth it. However, I remembered about my original set and decided we could see if that one could be resized. I took it to a place at the local mall and the guy quoted me at 200 dollars. I was going to just do it so I could have a ring. But, by the time I went back to him it was too late to have it done the same day. So I'd have to leave them over night. No thank you!

The next day I decided to try just one more place.. I went looking for the place my Mom's fiancee uses. But, I couldn't find it! Apparently they no longer have a shop at the mall like they used to. But, I was able to find another jeweler there who only quoted me 95 dollars! HE instantly made me feel at ease because he took out his little scope thing and examined my rings. Something the others have not done! And, he was honest and said he knew the engagement ring would be fine thru the sizing but the wedding bands stones may fall out. But, he would take all the stones out, resize it and reset them. Needless to say I agreed! I felt comfortable with him. And, it only took a few hours. 

When I got them back they fit PERFECT. And, they were all shiny! =) SO glad I can have them again!

Weight Chart!

I was just really upset because I had a program on my phone that I would track all my of my weigh in's on. Unfortunately, a few months ago my phone bit the dust and I lost all that information! =/ Luckily, I started this little graph on the skinnyr website.. And, then did a GREAT job tracking weigh in's on here.

I'm a visual learner.. so this kind of stuff really just shows how great I've done! whoohoo!

Get your own graph at skinnyr

Update Photos!

I typically take my OFFICIAL update pictures in -25 pound increments. I'm 1 lbs off from -150 but I felt like updating today! =)

I was trying out the self timer feature on my camera so I managed to half chop my head off. But, so be it!

Mane & Tale Trial

I have been complaining about hair loss for a few months now. I try not to be too negative about it all because it's only hair. But, it's hard because my hair has always been one of my favorite things about myself. I decided I'd try some new things to see what would work.

I'm taking more Biotin which I know works because I have TONS of re growth. 

And, then I switched to using this new shampoo/conditioner.

It had great reviews so I'm hoping it works!

I've been using it for almost a week now!

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!

First let me say this.. I'm very sorry if I ramble in this post I'm just so darn excited. I'm having trouble containing myself!

Anyway, I weighed in this morning like I do EVERY Sunday. Sunday's are my "OFFICIAL" weigh ins..

This brings me to 149 pounds lost.

And, leaves me with 21 until reaching my new goal of 147.

YESSSSSSS!!! =) =) =)

I seriously had to step on and off the scale to make sure it was working. 

IS THIS THING ON!?! Is it REALLY working?!

Ok. After getting the same number a few times I think I'll allow myself to get excited!

NEW UPDATE PICTURES ARE COMING TODAY!!

Hair Comparison...

Since I have so little left to lose I don't have as much to update about... But, I still want to bring blogs that MAY help someone later on... I've been thinking of ideas of stuff that I was curious about in the beginning and so on.

I know before I had my surgery the NUMBER ONE question I had was how much hair I would lose! I LOVE my hair and honestly didn't think I would lose THAT much because I had SO much. But, as much as I hate to say it... I definitely lost a LOT!

It IS starting to grow back slowly. But, I miss my hair!

In the first picture I didn't even have my surgery yet. I felt like I had a TON of hair. And, it was long. In the second I still hadn't started to lose a lot of hair. But, in the last one WOW! I did get my hair cut shorter in an attempt to make it look like I had "more hair" but, we see how that worked out!

** KEEP IN MIND EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. RESULTS MAY VARY**

Halloween Side By Side!

I was looking through my pictures for my last post and I found a picture I was like OMG!

I don't even have much to say about this. 

JUST WOW!

Halloween!

I love Halloween. It is one of my favorite things to celebrate.

So each year I plan the halloween party for my kids at work. I had a few ideas of what I wanted to be. But, in the end my ideas sucked and just didn't work out. I've beeN BEGGING my husband to get me some one piece pajamas with the footies. Now, I'm sure it's not entirely cute seeing your grown wife wearing ONE piece pajamas. But, my husband is sweet and agreed. Especially after I said I could use them as a costume! I mean, who can say no to a costume that can actually be used for MORE than just Halloween?!

Last night I went out and bought a set of Eeyore footie pajamas in a L. I thought they were cute. I picked out a pink blankie to hold and a stuffed bunny. I also found pink bows to put in my hair that matched Eeyores bow on his tail..

Well this morning I'm getting ready and I put the PJ's on... one part of my leg was cold. I was confused. I'm wearing fleece pi's... Why is ONE part of my leg cold? So I look down and find a hole in them :(

I ended up having to take them back to the store to exchange them. Since I was near work I went to another Walmart and found only TWO pairs of 1 piece PJs! I nearly walked away from them. They only had a S and a M left. There was NO way I could fit into either... but, then I was like ok... I can do this. At least TRY them!

Anyway, I FIT INTO THE MEDIUM! WHOOHOOO!

My brain sometimes plays tricks on me. But, I'm definitely getting to be "small enough" to wear those "ODD SIZES I USED TO JUST DREAM OF"

I came home and excitedly told my husband about the NSV... And realized the M was a 7-9. 

I'm totally on my way to being a smaller size.... :)

Dress Up? NSV

Yesterday I was browsing the forum VerticalSleeveTalk like I do every few days or so. And, I noticed there was a photo share posting specific to women. The theme was "Little Black Dress"

I was interested but the only picture I have of me in my "LBD" is form my honey's graduation. While I do like that picture it's not my FAVORITE. It was taken so quickly since we were basically getting kicked out of the venue and I just feel like I look stunned. 

Anyway, it wasn't until today that I remembered a few weeks ago my mom and I were out shopping for some dresses for her to take on her cruise with her. And, I ended up finding a dress I LOVED! It was black with some cream added in there. At the time I couldn't fit into the dress all the way. Well, I fit but the zipper wouldn't go all the way up. But, my mom insisted I get it because it was ONLY 10 dollars. So I did and figured I'd get into it eventually.

Tonight I figured... hmm what the heck, give it a try!

Well....

I was able to get it zipped ALL the way up by MYSELF! Which meant flipping the back to the front of me zipping it and turning it around. I will admit it took a bit of sucking and maybe even some breath holding. But, I was able to turn it around and BAM!

LOVE IT!

I wish I had some where to wear it. It IS a little tight up top which is WAY weird to me. I've lost a great bit of inches up top. Lately EVERYTHING is too big. But, apparently this dress is different.

Oh, and before I forget. This dress is a size 8.

It is cut a little big. But, STILL! It's an 8!

It's still completely crazy to me. I'm in a 12 right now. But, 8 still seems so far away.

Pictures...

I honestly thought I had already posted these pictures. But, I guess the blog monster got hungry!

Anyway, as I think I said before recently I submitted my patient story to my hospital. It really isn't much of a right up. It just says my weight before surgery, weight now, type of surgery and a brief (200 words or less) how surgery changed my life. The hospital had taken pictures of me in December to act as my official "BEFORE" picture. And, once I submitted my story the photographer got ahold of me to schedule the after and even sent me the official "BEFORE" photos.

Oh em GEE!

They're crazy. I knew I was big. I did. But, I never realized HOW big.

WOW! I'm so thankful for my surgeon... my surgery.. this life changing experience :)

It's actually funny because I've been big for most of my life. I think I was around 6 when I started to "fill out" so those who have been around me have seen me fore YEARS as an over weight person. But, when I show them THESE pictures they always say "I don't remember you like that"

I think my little brother put it best when he said "To see you now, those pictures from before look like you just have a fat suit on" 

I totally feel like I've spent the last years of my life wearing a fat suit. And, now it's gone.. and I'm able to enjoy my life the way I should! :)

Overweight?

Well, as of this morning Sunday, September 25th, 2011... I am OFFICIALLY out of the OBESE category in the BMI determination. And, I'm now just considered OVERWEIGHT!

I also said good bye to the 180's..... just BARELY. But, enough to wave a little! :)

First Day of School...

Today we FINALLY went back to school. Technically, I went back to school(work) last week. But, the students were to return on Monday. However, Irene had other plans and we were closed until today.

This is THE best first day EVER. Not only did I realize how far I've come since starting my WLS journey. But, I also had a lot of positivity from my students. And, in the outfit I chose I FELT great. Felt like a professional! LOL! I work in the kitchen a lot helping the students learn how to cook and all that fun stuff so dressing up is not something I do a lot. Normally I wear dress pants and a T shirt so I don't ruin my clothes. However, once I get to goal that will change because I realized today just how much your CLOTHES can affect your mood!

I walked into one classroom that was doing a little lesson on rules, and so all eyes were on me. One of my students was like "OH MY GOD!" and started laughing which in turn made the others laugh. And, I just left. Embarrassed honestly. But, then I realized he hadn't seen me since June. I've lost approximately 25 pounds or so since then. So later on in the day when he came to my class for electives he was hinting around by asking em little questions like "What did YOU do this Summer? How do YOU feel!? And, finally instead of playing the circle game I said I know what you're talking about, if you would like to openly talk about it we CAN, but it needs to be appropriate. (Reminder that I work with emotionally disturbed kids!) So he asked me DID YOU LOSE WEIGHT?! And, then the others chimed in. Asking if I work out more... eat better.. and all that fun stuff. It was not only a good learning experience for him, but for me too. I work with these kids on a daily basis. Sometimes without knowing I underestimate them. They DO care about us even when they claim they don't. Also I learned that its important to discuss HEALTHY habits with them!

Anyway, a picture of the new school year.

Starting the school year off in a size 13 pant. They were a little loose too. But, I couldn't talk myself into wearing the 12's that FIT but felt a tad tight. Maybe soon!

Old Time Photos

I've always wanted to have one of those photos taken where they look really old, and you get to dress up in costumes. But at my biggest I was VERY self conscious. I didn't know how the clothes were made to fit everyone. So I never bothered.

Well, when I found out my mom was able to score the house again this year. I knew I had to give those old time photos a try!

Oh my gosh! So much fun! 

Basically they give girls these little booty shorts. Tiny. I would compare them to boxers more than shorts. But, they fit. And, then you wear your bra... just move the straps down.

And, in the dressing room the girl ties the dress you pick onto you.

I was so worried that it would still be too small and that I'd have to walk out into the lobby with my back exposed. But, the dress actually tied together rather nicely and I didn't have to be exposed. SCORE!

My husband was actually the one in charge in this photo. He wanted to be a gangster. He wanted to hold a gun, he told the people what I should hold. It was just very cute. He never is very good at making decisions. So I appreciated it!

Anyway, I've left ya'll hanging long enough!

Vacation.

I ended up going on vacation Wednesday through Sunday. I knew if I didn't I would be so bummed! Especially since my youngest niece went. And, it was her VERY first time on the beach. :)

Anyway, this is more of a photo share then an actual word blog!

This is me from LAST year. I hate this picture so much. But, it shows CLEARLY how big I actually was. And, it makes me proud of where I am. 

I failed. I forgot to have my mom take a picture of me on the beach so that I could be able to do a before/after.. 1 year later thing. But, I forgot. However, here's one of me on the beach. But, my niece was sleeping on me :)

We have gone to this house for two years now. So, the first year we started this tradition of taking a picture near the end of vacation with everyone who went sitting on the fireplace edge.

Last year I was trying to hide. Not only because i hated pictures since I was so big, but also because if you can't see I was burned pretty bad. Second degree burns to be exact!

I actually wasn't trying to hide in this picture. There was just so many of us that it seems that way. But, notice that I am WHITE, not RED! :)

Here's another of just my family. My mom, her b/f, my niece, brother and his g/f. We're only missing my little brother who didn't come!

I have one more picture. But, I want that to have it's own blog post :)

Possible new BFF?

I was strolling through Walmart today, picking up some items I needed for personal use, and for work. I made it past the sports department and see this beautiful thing just STANDING THERE!

It was screaming my name. And, I would of loved nothing more than to take it home with me. However, timing isn't so great for such a large purchase at the moment! So at Walmart, ALONE it stays =/

I remember when I was younger riding bikes. And, I think I rode one when I lost about 50 pounds. 

But, this pretty little number just makes me want to hop on it and ride it around the block a billion times.

Did I really just say that?

Coming from the girl who just a few months ago would just be happy being lazy sitting on the couch?

MAN, every day my life is changing for the best. And , I love it OH so much!

I am starting to work on talking hub into buying me the bike for a present! :)

I am undecided if I want the all pink or the teal/purple version. But, I'm leaning towards the PINK! Total girly.

In this moment, I wish...

that the tags on clothing were on the OUTSIDE instead of hidden INSIDE. LOL!

Today my husband and I volunteered to take our youngest niece, Savannah (9 months old) to get her pictures taken for my mom. While we were there I decided I wanted to check in JCPenney for some new summer clothes. I'm undergrowing EVERYTHING. I swear I basically wash and re-use a few outfits over and over. And, I had a gift card for there... so it was a win-win.

Anyway! I found these really cute bermuda shorts, a really cute skort (black!) and some cute tops.

Well the bermuda shorts were a 14 but they were cut a little big and didn't fit. And, OF COURSE since they were on clearance they didn't have a 12 =/ Boo!

The skort fit and that's what I'm wearing in my latest update pictures! And, the tops... yay. I bought two tanks. Which I don't normally like anymore.  But, my brothers g/f just gave me a new perspective with my arm issues... she told me "You should be PROUD of them arms, they show how far you've came in just a short time" So while I'm not proud of them... I'm still thankful that I have lost this much weight, and I'll embrace them until I can fix them!

but, I found another REALLY adorable shirt I loved. I grabbed a Large and a Medium (more for curiosity than anything), and went into the fitting room. Of course I put the large on first. It looked HORRIBLE. I looked like my chest and stomach were just one giant ball of fat. I didn't have ANY curves at all. I took it off in disguist. Then, I put on the Medium. It fit PERFECT. It wasn't too big. It showed curves. And, BAM!

I bought my first MEDIUM!

July 09th, 2011.

Biggest to Smallest....

So I just finished up taking and posting my most recent update pictures.

But, I wanted to keep this separate... =)

Anyway, here's my most recent picture partnered with my picture at my biggest!