Is it Spring, or is it Summer??

Spring is here!  Ok, well it feels more like summer here in central Florida.  We were at Sea World over the weekend.  Yes, we are theme park junkies!!  We have year passes for Sea World and Busch Gardens that we are going to let expire because they just cost too much to keep up every month.  Anyway, as we first started walking into the park, going toward the sting ray tank, I saw a group of beautiful flowers that I just had to take a picture of.  This is the picture.  I was reminded of the beauty, the fragile state that these flowers could be in.  I was reminded that I was just like this beautiful, fragile flower.  I could appear to be perfect with all my stems and petals shooting upward in the correct position - but I am not.  I am flawed.  I am fat.  I am a food addict.  I am a lot of things.  But in my journey I am trying to let go of the need to be perfect and just be ME.  It's ok that I am flawed, fat and addicted to food because I can do things to correct this about me.  This is my journey and I am on the road to self discovery and correcting all the wrongs that were instilled in me as a child.  There is so much hurt there from the abuse my mom suffered from my ex-stepfather to the addictions that both of my parents have battled and are still battling.  It's no wonder that I am the size I am and addicted to something.  Easter is especially hard for me because I want all the chocolate.  Those danged ole Cadbury Eggs are my biggest weakness, followed by Reese Peanut Butter Cups.  I have purposely not weighed myself because I do not want to see if I have gained any weight.  My will power is still not there.  Guess I need to work harder on it. 

Not the best picture, but me in the shade trying to get out of the heat.

Ok, enough about all that.  So we went to Sea World over the weekend and had a great time.  It was hot.  So hot, that we had to go into a couple of places to get out of the heat a few times.  I do not know why, or if it has something to do with my small pouch, but I was becoming sick to my stomach a few times in the heat.  The last few times we have been to Disney, my back has not hurt.  This time it did, but I think it was due to pms.  If not for that, I would have made it around the parks pain free.  I also didnt have patience for others.  That was all pms related  -  and I know it.  It seems like when people go on vacation, they catch a case of vacation brain.  Does anyone know what that is?  Have you ever seen it in action?  I have seen it too many times.  Some (not all) people just dont think, or care to pay attention, or have common courtesy when they are on vacation.  I know what a lot of people are thinking.  "We paid good money to come here, I will act however I want!"  I totally get that.  I paid good money too and I just dont want to be ran into, talked about, or anything else that could be ugly while I am at the theme parks.  One time at Universal's Islands of Adventure, I took my then 3 yr old into the bathroom and this dude, on the phone, came into the womens restroom, opened a stall and let it go - right there in front of women and girls.  OMG!!  He had a big ole case of VACATION BRAIN.  I pushed my son into another stall and shut the door.  About a minute later I heard this dude say, "oh, my bad!" Wash his hands and then walk out. lol  Well, I just got into a rant about vacation brain,  sorry! 

This squirrel was either trying to sneak attack us during lunch, or had a huge case of VACATION BRAIN!

I was excited to see that the Shamu show was reopened.  They had also remodeled the staging area.  Not a lot, just different colors.  But I was really sad with the show.  Before, the whales would jump straight out of the water several times.  This time they only did it once.  They no longer allow the trainers in the water since the horrible death of one last year.  I understand that, but the show left me wanting more!

I was on a nature kick while there.  I wanted to take pictures of flowers for some reason.  So I will leave this post with a few of the pictures that I took.

What a week!

Sorry there has been no real update!  I have been preparing for my finals for this week and next week.  These last few weeks of classes always takes up so much of my time.

HAPPY EASTER!!

I hope to check in soon with an update.

Happy Birthday to me!!

Today is my birthday!  I cant believe I am 38!  I do not feel like I am approaching 40.  How old is 40 suppose to feel though?  I refuse to get older.  I have said often that I stopped aging at 21. 

So, what am I doing for my birthday today?  HOMEWORK!!!  Yuck!  We celebrated over the weekend with a trip to Disney.  More on that to come later.  This morning has not been the best though.  My husband stopped up the sink in the kitchen and "forgot", so I had to unstop it.  One plus is that I took a 30 minute nap. lol  I havent done that in over a month.  Hope everyone has a great day today!

Those bad, bad, bad, evil lil things!

Oh My Gosh!!!  This is just wrong!  These little delectable bites of chocolate are just pure EVIL!  Why, why, why do I LOVE them so much?  Why do I CRAVE them like I do at Easter time?  Cadbury Cream Eggs are my downfall.  They just are.  I remember when they came out on the market (yep, I am that old).  My mom always loaded my Easter basket with all types of chocolate.  It was the one of the few times out of the year that I was allowed to eat a lot of chocolate.  Mom always watched what I ate.  She was really good with trying to get what was the new “hip” candy at that time.  She saw the little blue, red and yellow foil  wrappers that looked like eggs and thought that I would like to try them.  Shame on you mom!  Lol, I now have a full blown addiction to these little bites of EVIL.  Yes, I say addiction.  I can go into a store at Easter time and go around the Easter candy and my mouth starts to water at the thought of popping one into my pie hole.    I have never been able to walk past without buying them. 

So this year, I was doing really good.  I have already bought my son’s Easter basket stuff and walked past the Cadbury Eggs without grabbing any.  Was I tempted?  Sure!  But my weight loss is more important than these little chocolate eggs.  Wouldn’t you know it…… my neighbor brought over Cadbury Egg minis and Cadbury Carmel Egg minis.  She remembered that I love them and thought I would like some.  GGGRRRR!  Sabotage!  She knows that I have had lapband surgery!  She is still in the mindset that I can eat whatever I want.  I have tried to tell her that I cant!  I tried to give them back to her, but she left them on my coffee table.  I cant resist them.  I trembled as I opened up the little container of the crème eggs.  I unwrapped one and plopped it into my mouth.  Oh my it taste SOOOOOO good.  I know I shouldn’t have done it, but I did.  Then I did it again.  Yep, I had another.  I had to physically take them and throw them away so I would not eat them.  I do not want to go back to my old way of eating.  

So, is there anyone else out there reading this that struggles with a certain food?  If so, what is it and what have you done to overcome it?

The Village People were no where to be seen! Y - M - C - A

After two very long years, today was my first day back to the YMCA for exercise class.  The instructor was the same one I had two years ago - -  and she remembered me!  :D  I use to love going to the Y for swimming and exercise.  It just became too much to pay for though.  With me being a stay at home mom, our funds are VERY limited.  At the time, my wonderful hubby was working in auto sales and we all know how the market was back then.  Things got really tough.  We had to reduce, reduce, reduce.  One of the places we reduced was by getting rid of our membership to the Y.

It broke my heart to get rid of it because I was doing very well.  I had lost about 30 pounds at that time.  My stamina was up.  I usually HATE any type of physical activities, but I looked forward to going and getting my work out.  It made for a better , more focused day.  So last week when I mentioned to my hubby (who has a much better non-commissioned job) that I would like to go to the Y again.  He said that he would do anything to provide money for the membership.  He has been super supportive during this whole weight loss surgery thing.  He just wants to continue to be there for me in any capacity that he can. 

We went last week and signed up!!  We are now members of the Y AGAIN.  You just don’t know how ecstatic this makes me.

So this morning while our son was getting ready for school, I threw my hubby’s swim trunks to him and said, “Get ready, we are going to the Y.”  He looked at me in his half-sleep stupor and said, “Ok”.  After  we dropped munchkin off at school, we made a bee-line for the Y.  I was a little nervous when I went in.  Most were a little older than me.  Most were not there when I went 2 years ago.  Most are not my pleasantly plus size!  Running through my head were awful things like, “Are they going to think to themselves – gosh she sure is fat!”  “Look at that whale”  “Well, she needs to be here”.  I mean, myself conscious was all over the place.  My dear hubby sat with me until the class started and then he went and dunked himself into the pool.

One lady remembered me and was very helpful with what I needed to get (mat, exercise ball, etc.).  She kinda took me under her wings.  The instructor kept her eyes on me and would let me know that I was doing awesome.  She had to alter a few exercises for me since getting on the floor, on my back is quite a fete.  She told my hubby after class that I really surprised her when I did NOT stop and continued through the whole hour!  There were no breaks for this gal.  I was not really out of breath during the class.  I drank 20 ounces of water during the class.  I also broke a sweat! 

Well, this turned out longer than I expected.  I now have to go make dinner.  I have no idea what I am going to make!  Any suggestions?

Stacy

Life's a beach!

This was our scene last night at sunset at the beach.  It was the perfect end to a great weekend.  

It is so hard to be able to plan to do anything on Saturday because my hubby is at school most of the day.  We both are middle aged college students!  lol  One of his classes (Humanities) required him to visit a local museum and write a report on a piece of art that "moved" him.  We decided to go to the Salvador Dali museum. http://thedali.org/   I have never really been that big into Salvador Dali, but the museum is awesome!!  There is a gift shop and cafe on the first floor.  Oh the smells that were coming from the cafe.  Luckily I had a snack of greek yogurt before I left home, so I was not hungry.  This Lapband does not turn my sniffer off though and I felt like I was in Food Heaven!

It was really neat to take our six year old with us to the museum.  I am so glad that we are subjecting him to the arts and different cultures.  We spent a little over an hour there and walked around all of Dali's art asking my son what he thought about certain pieces.  His little mind just blows me away.  Some of the things that he came up with made us stand back and go "Hhhhmmmm, he could be right!"  He thought that the art was "super funny mom" and in actuality - it is!  My hubby found the one he wanted to write about.  It is called Portrait of My Dead Brother.  While it is very interesting, it was not my favorite.  Mine was Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea.  It is really neat because if you try to take a picture of this one, it forms into a portrait of Abraham Lincoln!  It does it if you stand about 20 meters from it too.  

After we left there we went over to the St. Petersburt Pier.  This pier has been in this same spot since 1899.  Its really neat because the shape is an inverted triangle.  There is not a lot there, but the scenery is beautiful.  There are a couple of restaurants and a few shops that are interesting.  We took our little one into one store where the owner is a paleontologist.  (Did I spell that right?!?! lol)  Most all of his artifacts are ones that he dug up himself.  He had one in there of a dinosaur that came right from St. Pete!  He was giving little shark teeth to my son left and right.  He came home with about 10 small shark teeth.  It was really neat.  We went up to the observation deck where I caught this picture of the coast line.

Sunday, well, we were going to go to church, but we just could not get the gumption to go.  So instead we went to the movies and then to the flea market.  I needed a new cutting board and we got some veggies while there.  I cant wait to figure out what to do with my onions, bell peppers and squash.  YUMMO!!  However, with flea markets - it was just plain ole HOT.  It is just too hot for spring time.  It shouldnt be this hot until summer time.  So we came home, had lunch and then decided in late afternoon to take our munchkin to the beach!!  YAY!!  

 

He loves the beach so much, and we do to.  We were there for an hour before the sun started to set. Our boy got to play in the sand and get a little wet.  It's funny because he would rather build and dig in the sand than get in the water!  It was a beautiful evening and I was able to play with my camera!  While there, we noticed a couple with a professional photographer having their pictures made everywhere.  They had just gotten married.  Of course, I had to snap away from a distance because it was such a romantic view.  My pictures came out a little dark, but overall kinda good. 

 Aaaawwwwwweeee, isnt that sweet?

So, all in all, we had a great weekend with beautiful views!  One thing I noticed about my weight loss this weekend is that I didnt tire as easily as I use to before surgery. The trek across the sand at the beach was not bad at all!!  Every day I seem to be finding things that I can do once more!  Well, let's see what the week will bring!

Stacy 

 

My first real non scale VICTORY!!!

I have yet to have a real non scale victory.  I have been up and moving around and well, just doing things on the weekends.  Since my hubby has taken a new job, and now has the weekends off, it is easier for us to go and do things together as a family.  We have been over to the Outlet mall walking around and going different places, but this past weekend was so different.

We decided at the last minute to go to Disney World.  We are annual pass holders and try to spend a good bit of time over there.  I recently came in contact with a couple from our past who we have not seen in about 6 years.  While over at Disney we decided to take a moment and go have dinner with them Saturday night.  They did not know that I had lapband surgery.  I stuck to my diet and did very well.  I told them about the surgery and they were very supportive.  We were so thankful for getting together with them.  This is a friendship that we both want to keep active!!

Ok, so anyway, back to the victory.  Sunday we got up and had breakfast at our hotel.  Hubby and son decided that they wanted to go swimming since they didnt get to go swimming the night before.  I have yet to really go swimming because of the way the bathing suites DONT fit over my flap of flat in the front where my stomach is.  So, I packed up our stuff and waited for the boys.  After they came back and we loaded the car and they had showers, we were off.  I had made noon reservations at the Rose and Crown inside Epcot.  For anyone who doesnt know, that's pretty far back into the park.  We were running a little later than what I wanted.  I kept trying to rush the boys, but, well, it just wasnt happening.  So we get through the front gates and it is 15 minutes until our reservations. 

I looked at my husband and he said, "You set the pace and we will keep up."  OK!  Usually, when we are in the parks my husband is the pep-stepper and I am slowly following.  I have to keep telling him to SLOW DOWN!  I am usually out of breath, sweaty, and in back pain.  I really thought that we were going to be late and I was going to be suffering because of it.  I know, I know, still the "fat" way of thinking! 

So off we go.  I just keep walking and walking.  I would turn my head every so often and make sure that the boys were behind me.  We reach Canada in no time.  The next country is where we need to be.  I make a bee-line right for the restaurant.  We get to the podium and I look at the girl and tell her who we are and that we have reservations.  She gives us our little vibrating thingie and tells us to have a  seat.  I look at my husband and the poor guy has sweat pouring off of him, red faced, back hurting and breathing heavy.  I felt so bad for him.  NOT!!  My non scale victory is that I was not experiencing ANYTHING!!  No hard breathing, no sweat, no nothing!  I was amazed!!  I could not believe it.  He told me that I did great and totally out-walked him. 

We decided to split our day up with Magic Kingdom.  Usually the ramp that goes up to the monorail kills my back and I get out of breath - but not on this day!  It was such an easy climb!!  We had a great time and closed the park that night.  When we left, the line for the trams to the parking lot were LONG.  We had parked in one of the furthermost parking lots.  When we saw the line, we knew it was going to be at least 15 + minutes before we even got on a tram.  So my wonderful hubby asked, "Do you want to walk to the car?"  Now in the past I would have looked at him like he had 3 eyes and 8 ears with a orange nose, but I looked at him and said, "Why not, we have walked all day!"  So off we go.  It took us 7 minutes to walk it.  Once again, he was sweaty, tired, breathing heavy, etc, but I was not!!

So that's my first real non scale victory!!  I am still floating on air about it and am just, well, amazed!!  Have you had a non scale victory you would like to share?
Stacy

A really cool blog to follow and really cool contest is : The World According to Eggface!!  What better way to shed weight than by reading about others who have succeeded!!  You go Eggface!!

Well darn, I cant figure out how to get her button thingie on here!  Maybe I will keep playing with it.  The web address is: http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/

Hello!

I guess I am going to get on this band wagon and start blogging.  Hi, my name is Stacy.  I have been obese all of my adult life.  I am sick and tired of being obese!  After trying each and every diet (ok, almost) known to mankind, I decided to take drastic measures!  I started the process for lap-band surgery back in August 2010.  On February 22, 2011 I had the procedure.  What was suppose to be an outpatient procedure turned into a 2 night stay.  My diabetes skyrocketed during surgery and I acquired a HUGE headache from the anesthesia.  They kept me until my diabetes were more controllable. 

There is more to me than just being obese and having WLS.  I am happily married to a wonderful man who loves me regardless of body size or shape.  He has been most supportive through this whole process and I couldnt have asked for anyone better to join me on the journey.  He is my soul mate!!  I am also a mommy. :)  Our son is almost seven years old.  Surgery scared him a bit because he just didnt understand what mommy was going through or why - even though we explained it to him. 

We are also a family who goes to Disney quite a bit.  My husband works really hard through the week and is a full time student.  He likes to have down time by riding rides and just spending quality time with me and our son.  I am also a full time student.  I started late in life (30's) before I went to college.  But now I have almost 2 years behind me and in 2 more I will have my Bachelors degree in Technology!!  Whoop Whoop.  It's been hard, but I can do this.  Both of my in-laws have had Alzheimers, so I decided that I needed to do something just in case my husband got it to.  I thought that I might need to take care of the family one day!  So, I became school bound. 

I started this journey at 340 pounds.  I did not try very hard to lose weight before surgery.  At the time of my surgery I weighed 328 lbs.  Today, I now weigh 302.  It has been a slow transition, but I would rather loose slow and keep it off. 

Thank you for joining me on this journey!  I welcome any input!