A December Overview

Well this month has been kind of a crazy one!  For a (mostly) stay at home Mom, I have been SO busy.  The first week of December was pretty slow - just normal day to day stuff.  But then each week got busier and busier.  I had the awesome privilege of singing a few Christmas gigs this month.  I miss it SO MUCH.  It was so nice to sing and actually have enough breath to sing a whole sentence without running out of air.  When I was at my heaviest, it was really hard to get a good tone, good breath support and just feel comfortable standing up to sing.  Now, I feel like a rock star! haha  Not quite, but you know what I mean!

I also participated in my very first bake exchange.  I know - kinda ironic since I shouldn't be eating baked goods.  But I did it more to have goodies in the house in case we had company.  While I was making my cookies for the exchange, I did what most HONEST bakers do, and licked the bowl when I was done.  And to my frightening surprise, the sugar didn't affect me at all.  I was kinda hoping that I'd end up in the bathroom with diarrhea or something (which is common for WLSers to experience with too  much sugar).  But unfortunately, this was not the case.  I hate to say it, but sugar and I are friends.  Sugar still likes me.  I wish it weren't the case.  But true.  Anyway, I still enjoyed a few cookies and was smart about making sure I got the exercize I needed to not gain any weight from my night of treats.  

(My friend Becca, in the middle hosted the bake exchange and my friend Barb came too!)

In our Weightloss Support Group, one of our Administrators/Leaders has kind of named us all as Team Awesome.  If there is a group of us running in a marathon, or participating in something we wouldn't have done before weightloss, we are part of Team Awesome!  This is a way of encouraging ourselves and helping us to realize that we really have done an awesome job in attaining the goal of good health.  Carrie encouraged us all at our December meeting to take a Team Awesome sign home with us and take a picture of ourselves with it whenever we do something that we wouldn't have done before weightloss, something that is a Non Scale Victory (NSV).

 Well, on December 14th we took the kids to one of my new favorite restaurants (mainly because it caters to people who have had weightloss surgery by allowing us to order from the children's menu).  It was my third time going to this restaurant and I STILL had a bit of anxiety when I walked in a saw all the booths.  To this day, I still look for tables with movable chairs in fear that I won't fit in a booth.  Well, when we were seated at our BOOTH, I was just sitting there and nonchalantly put my foot up on the seat, hugging my leg to my chest.  I just about died! Not only could I sit in the booth with room to spare, but I could also get my leg up.  I know this is not a huge deal to people who have been able to do this their whole life, but to someone who has been crippled by heaviness their whole life, this is a whole new world!

Another opportunity for me to use my Team Awesome sign was a couple of weeks ago when we got some snow.  I haven't really been able to play with my kids in the snow since having children.  I HAVE done it, but it always hurt and was so burdensome because I was out of breath after 2 minutes.  So this day I got my snow gear on (that is miles too big for me!) and went outside in the snow with my kids.  There wasn't much snow at all, but the fact that I could get out with tons of energy and not hurt at all meant SO MUCH to me.  I just LOVE being able to do things with my family that I couldn't do before.  Watch out Calgary Stampede this summer!!!

On December 17th I started a new temporary job that kinda just fell into my lap.  I'm setting up the Telecommunications Networking and Point of Sale Systems for a new Target store in the city.  It's really interesting.  The first day I kept saying "Thank you God for helping me lose the weight so that I can move around this building without pain."  6 months ago there is NO WAY I would have been able to do this job.  But I now have the stamina and energy to do what needs to be done and to lift the heavy equipment that comes with the job.  I feel like I have a new lease on life!

December usually sees many gained pounds with people.  Lots of yummy desserts, cookies, turkey dinners, etc.  Well I've actually had the most brutal cold I've ever had for the past week and it's kinda turned me off from eating.  But even before the cold came on I was able to stay focused and not eat improperly.  Yes, I had some goodies, but where I would have eaten 'til I made myself sick before, I was able this time to eat enough just to enjoy it and move on.  Here is our Christmas Eve family picture last Christmas and our picture this Christmas Eve:

When I first had the surgery I was hoping to have 60lbs off for Christmas and then when I saw how fast the weight was coming off, I realized I might be able to get 100lbs off for Christmas.  I reached that goal last month.  I just logged my weightloss for the past couple of weeks for my sake, but since I last truly blogged, I've lost 13 pounds.  This past week I lost 3 lbs.  I am now down 118 altogether.  It's still a bit of a shock to me how much I've lost in such a short amount of time.  But I'm thankful for every single pound lost.  I am thankful that I can be more active with my children.  I'm thankful that I can be more playful with my husband (and I don't only mean sexually - I mean just being silly, wrestling, sitting on his lap to cuddle, etc.)  And I'm thankful that I can sing songs about my Heavenly Father and feel like I can convey the message in the song without the distraction of poor breathing.  I am SO blessed.  And this Christmas, as I celebrate the ultimate gift of Jesus Christ, I also celebrate the life He has given back to me in good health.  Thank you Jesus!


Total Loss: 118lbs