Miss Mary Mac

Nothing too new to report — still happy in my new body, feeling “normal” again.   It’s weird to be eating a little more but no one can survive on that little amount of food forever!  Hoping to break the 150 barrier soon. Most of my life I’ve referred to my little sister Kate as the “tiny” one… I still do.   Last night, we were walking and I had to ask what size her jeans were — I imagined she was a 4 or 6.  She is size 10 – same as me!  I think the look of shock on my face was apparent.  I still don’t see me as the “tiny” one but she is — how weird to be able to borrow her clothes!

Sorry that my posts here have gotten so sporadic — I’ll still do my monthly updates, new products or milestones – but for the most part, life is great.  Still haven’t had anything get stuck, only 1 dumping episide and that was way back in the first month so I still avoid too much sugar, although I’ve had a little pieces of cake for birthdays with no issue. Nothing seems to bother me and everything tastes so much better.   Looking forward to my 1 year surgiversary!

OH! I forgot to mention — in the picture above, I am wearing an OLD bridesmaid dress that I wore in the early 80’s — before I gained most of my weight – and the dress is actually a little too big.  Was sure fun finding it though and being able to put it on again for a laugh.

Quick overview as of Feb 24:

- Lost 95 pounds
- 85.5″ inches smaller from neck to ankle
- Size Lg/Med tops
- Size 10 jeans – not tight!

This morning I hit 157.6 — and 157 is my doctor office “goal weight” for me.  Not a bad achievement in under 9 months for sure but I would still like to lose another 15.   I’m not doing much different these days — eating about 1000 calories a day, keeping the carbs under 60g and the protein 90-120g.  I am back walking on the treadmill after taking a few weeks off over the holidays and its like starting all over! Feeling great and loving life!

Hello 150’s!  Now it’s only 159.6 but hey, its under 160 right?  I am only about 3 pounds from my Doctor’s goal and 20 from my personal goal so the end is definately in sight.   It’s getting a little harder lately just because everything tastes good again.

My friend Kim has her surgery this morning – another Lap RNY success story! She’s up and doing great and the doctor said it was routine — always great news. Yay Kim!

Here is a picture before they wheeled her in    (That’s her hubby who is very supportive!)

This won’t seem like a big deal to most, but I actually went to my Christmas party this year — even though  none of my friends could go.  I knew the people there, but not well — and I didn’t care!   No way in hell I would have gone last year – even if all of my friends were there.   I had fun too    We went to Dave & Busters and played lots of games — I hit the jackpot and won tons of tickets so I had a little shopping spree

Here is another bonus — on the way home I stopped at Clothes Mentor — and though I’d try on some new jeans a size smaller for the heck of it… and guess what?  I am now wearing size 10!  Now, they are tight (which wouldn’t have bothered me in high school!) but I can zip them and they are comfy!  Life is good   Maybe a new butt picture is in order … we’ll see.

8 months flew right by… its hard to believe!  Things now just feel so normal.  I love my protein shakes, I still enjoy tracking my food/fluids/exercise on DailyPlate and I know exactly what I’m doing every day.   I could probably do fine without tracking at this point because it all feels natural.

Something I noticed this month — I crave GOOD food.  I still like to have a little snack in bed, but now its greek yogurt instead of donuts. I’d rather order grilled meats instead of breaded and deep fried.  I get “full” and it feels great. 

8 Month Overview

- Down 84 pounds and 69? inches
- Size 10 jeans, – Size large top
- Walking 2-3 miles
- Dating again! (I’m getting good at it! LOL)

So, my scale has started acting very funky.   This Monday for my weekly weigh-in post, I stepped on the scale and lost 5 pounds overnight – something had to be wrong.  I stepped on it, and gained 7 pounds.   I weighed myself about 20 times and it was never the same number — and it was an 11 pound spread!

I am going to start weighing myself at work in the gym.  Last week, I weighed myself in the morning, naked at home.  I weighed myself at work today wearing clothes and in the afternoon..and I was still a pound less.  Who knows…   in any case I think I lost another pound or so which means I’m still on track

Today is a quickie since tomorrow is my SEVEN month Surgi-versary! I’ll do a full recap then… this week I am down 2 pounds. I am easily getting 900-1000 calories a day now and trying very hard not to eat anything after 7p – hard habit to break! My 7 month post will probably be a day or two late since I have a date tomorrow and hopefully won’t have time to post *wink* — lovin’ life!

I am a very lazy breakfast eater so I love finding quick and easy to-go items I can bring to work. My newest creation is sooo yummy and filling!Even without added protein this is only 13g net carbs and 16g protein! Beats plain oatmeal anyday!

No Cook Oatmeal — basically you just combine the things you see above and put in the fridge overnight.  Ready to go in the morning!  I just plop some in a little 4oz tupperware and bring to work. You eat it cold so no need to find a microwave either!

Full Recipe and Nutrition info here

I love wow moments that don’t involve the scale!  I had one today…  I went to talk to my boss about a project and HIS boss was in the room.  I walked in and he said “Wow! I won’t even recognize you soon – you look great!” — This probably doesn’t sound like a big deal, but this is a guy who doesn’t say much very often and is French, so he’s not known for being too personal – so this one really meant a lot to me & made my day.

It sure is nice to hear this once in awhile from someone other than my family and friends who are always proud of me

Last Friday I had my 6 month checkup where we decided to up my calories and carbs a bit … and I’m happy to say, this week I actually lost 2.6 pounds! This morning, I even broke into a new “decade” and weigh in the 160’s! I started having some whole grain oatmeal for breakfast with 1/2 scoop of BSN Cinnamon Roll protein – and its yum. The carbs don’t seem to trigger anything, but its comforting food that keeps me full until lunch.

I also got my labwork back from last weeks FOURTEEN VIAL extraction and I’ll try to make some sense of then umbers and post about that later today. The one thing I do know is that my A1C is down to 6.1% now which is amazing!!!

So, last week was a slow one — this week I tried something new. I upped my caloried, carbs and fat — and I lost 1.4 pounds!

I had my 6 month checkup on Friday (a few weeks early) and they were very pleased with my progress so far. When I mention I had only lost 5 pounds in the last month, they thought upping my calories a bit would help so I tried it out.

I changed my DailyPlay to 1000 Calories and am going to aim for 60g Carbs or less instead of 40g like I was doing. Cross your fingers!

Yep – today is 5 months since my surgery and I’m still doing great and not regretting a single thing! The best part about today? I stepped on the scale this morning and at 174.6 pounds – I am considered OVERWEIGHT. I am no longer Super Obese, Morbidly Obese or even just Obese — I’m overweight — which feels like something to celebrate but I’ll save the big celebration for when I hit “NORMAL”

The rate of loss is slowing down but it hasn’t stopped and thats to be expected as you get closer to your goal weight. According to the BMI chart here, I should hit 100lbs gone sometime in January – we’ll see!

 5 Month Overview:

I finally bit the bullet and got a digital camera. Hopefully this will be the end of my crappy, blurry pictures of food and other things!  Not only was it on sale, I chose pink so the proceeds went to breast cancer research.

My little rescue-mutt, Louie was happy to pose for the first ever pictures on my new camera. These are small so they fit on the page — the detail is amazing! Now I just have to work on the “redeye” from the flash. This is going to be fun!

I spend too much time searching for new protein and ideas. I ran into this gem about 2 weeks ago and finally decided to order and give it a try. It is sooo yummy!! It only costs $10 a pound and they have free shipping so if you’re a coffee lover, its worth a try. The stats are much better than CLICK at about half the price. It tastes similar to Inspire Cappuccino but more flavor and half the price — kind of a no brainer! Definately one of my new favorites. Calories 103, Fat 0g, Carbs 1g, Protein 25g

You can order it here: http://www.allthewhey.com – if you enter the code “freeship” on the checkout form, you’ll get free shipping. I also added a note about samples and they sent me 4 random flavors for free! I loved Vanilla Caramel, Wild Berry and Peaches & Cream – but haven’t tried the unflavored yet. Enjoy!

I wasn’t expecting much this week since I was out of town and didn’t track a single thing I ate or drank for 4 days — but somehow, I still lost 1.6 pounds. I am now 1 pound from weighing less than my Dad! Was a great weekend — my family kept calling me “skinny mini” which was silly but made me feel pretty dang good

This picture was taken about 3 weeks ago on my 4 month anniversary – 60 lbs down at the time – and I didn’t have to photoshop out 3 necks!

I found this link the other day and it was amazingly accurate. It lets you punch in your starting weight and how much excess you want to lose (I entered 100%). It then tells you your goal weight and gives you a graph of your estimate weight loss progress.

My chart said 68 pounds at 5 months — and I’m at 67 pounds in 4.5 months — very close!  See what yours looks like here.

According to this, my goal weight should be 134 and I’ll reach that at 12-14 months out — we’ll see!

Just a quick little addition to my new protein find posted below.  

1. The unflavored mix I made actually mixed right into HOT coffee… without clumps!  I poured about 1/3 scoop in my fresh coffee, slowly while stirring, then added my sugar-free hazelnut creamer and you’re never know the protein was there — this makes me a happy camper!

2. The Banana Bash was awesome when made into a shake with 1/2 banana, 4oz soy milk, 4oz water and some ice cubes.

3. The Chocolate-Coconut was decadent mixed into Greek Yogurt — I liked the flavor even better than the BSN version of Chocolate-Coconut. This would be amazing frozen or with a few chopped walnuts for dessert.

I also liked the Peaches & Cream and Orange Creamsickle – I mixed then both with half soy milk, half water and ice…. no other doctoring.  I’ll definately be ordering from this company again. I love how easily they all mix and they don’t get foamy.

I found a new site last week while surfing and just had to place an order with them — well today, it arrived and it feels like Christmas! The company is called True Protein and they let you create your own protein mix, choose the sweetener and additives you want — or buy pre-mixed blends. Here is a link to the custom probtein mixer thingie: http://www.trueprotein.com/custom_product.aspx

I am a big fan of making my own stuff – so of course I went CUSTOM!  I decided my first mix would be 70% Whey Protein Isolate Microfiltrated and 30% Whey Protein Ultra-Filtration.  I added Cherry flavored with Splenda and the Vitamin + Enzyme package.  I also added a scoop and plastic jug and for 1 pound, it was only $9.63.

My second custom order, I created 100% Whey Protein Isolate Ultra-Filtration with no flavor, no sweetener – just plain. I wanted to find one that really is “unflavored”. This is the same stuff a few of the pricier “unflavored” powders advertise but at 1/3rd the cost since this was only $8.79 per pound. I added on some vitamins, the jug and scoop so total was $10.39 for that pound. 

** Next time, I won’t need to order the jugs or scoops as I’ll have empties

I also ordered a ton of samples! Each sample pack contains 1.5-2 scoops and check out the flavors I got: Banana Bash, Chocolate Banana, Chocolate Coconut, Chocolate Orange, Chocolate Peanut-Butter Cup, Coconut Banana, Orange Creamsicle, Peaches and Cream, Peanut Butter & Jelly and Watermelon Wave. They have over 30 flavors but I was trying to stick to 10 – it was hard.

ORDERING:
I wrote the support team and found out some other great information!
** When you order, if you put in the notes that you want your order shipped by USPS instead of UPS – they will refund the difference. Tell them Carl approved it
** If you use the discount code MYM647 you get 5% off your order and 10% off if your order is over 16 pounds – yikes! Feel free to use my code to save some money.

I thought it would be fun to share my protein shake addiction with you — so here is a picture of my lazy susan kitchen storage – with the top shelf full of all my fun protein shakes and syrups — now that I have it narrowed down to my favorites, I’m working on drinking some up and making room for other fun stuff

P.S. That little fuzzy face in the bottom pictures is Louie – my little rescue mutt – I think he’s a yorkie/maltese mix - he looks like Benji.

Today is my 4 month surgi-versary. I can’t believe how fast the time has flown! This week I hit the half-way to goal mark which is pretty amazing. I also got some great lab results back – life is great! In four months: - Weight – down 63 pounds - Inches - 49 1/2″ inches have melted! - A1C – 11.5% (highest) down to 6.5% - I can walk 2 miles and not die! - I can cross my legs and its comfy! - I’ve had lots of mini-victories

Note: If you wonder what I’m measuring for the inches — think just about everything from neck to ankle, upper arm, thigh, calf, feet, chest, waist, hips — even my foot has shrunk which explains why my walking shoes are too big!

I was so close to “half-way” that I just had to weigh myself more often this week — and this morning, I am exactly half-way to goal — and just 2 days before my 4 month surgi-versary! What a fun feeling… I know the second half will be a lot slower but I’m ready! 62.6 Lost – 62.4 to go!

P.S. – I hope the picture doesn’t offend anyone, I thought it was funny I’ll have to figure out where it is and try a minnow-shot someday.

I had been told by doctors for many years that I was “pre” diabetic – but they never told me what to do about it. In November 2007 I was in bad shape. I finally had a doctor tell me I was full-blown diabetic — my A1C was 11.5% – my blood sugars were close to 400 on a regular basis. No wonder I felt like CRAP.

He immediately put me on several medications – and after a few months, doubled most of them and added some more. It just wasn’t working.  After 9 months or so, they added insulin – daily shots into my stomach on top of all the medications.  After all this, we got my A1c down to 7.5% but it had to be under 7.  I was trying hard to lose weight, and exercise..but it wasn’t working.  Between diabetes and PCOS I had a double whammy of insulin resistance which made it nearly impossible to lose weight on my own. My doctor suggested weight loss surgery. I cried.

When I mentioned it to my Dad (who is a doctor) and HE too approved — I was shocked. He said he’d been reading about it and they had made great progress with the surgery and it could be done laproscopically. In some countries, they are performing it as a “cure” for diabetes on people who are not even overweight. This set me on journey.

Fast forward: 4 months Post-Op — I got my labs back on Friday and my A1C was 6.5% and my cholesterol was great! HDL 31 and LDL 91. I need to try and raise the HDL but I am soooo thankful that this surgery saved my life. I feel happier and healthier than I did 20 years ago and it will only get better!

———-What are A1C? LDL? HDL?

A1C – This is a test that measures your average blood sugar over 2-3 months. There are varying opinions, but generally anything over 6.5% is considered pre-diabetes

Cholesterol – If your HDL/LDL total under 200 you’re in good shape. Over 200 and you’re borderline high risk, and over 240 is high risk.  I’m in the desirable range now but that wasn’t the case 4 months ago.

LDL Cholesterol – This is the bad cholesterol that builds up on the walls of your arteries and can form plaque.  Optimal range is under 100mg/DL.   (Mine is 93 now).  If you are over 130 you’re borderline high, 160 is high and over 190 is very high.

HDL Cholesterol – This is the good cholesterol which is said to protect against heart attacks and should be over 40 for men and 50 for women. The best way to raise it is to avoid tobacco (done!), eat healthy (done!), maintain a healthy weight (working on it) and exercise (getting better!)  My HDL is only 31 so I hope by exercising more and continuing to eat well and lose weight it will go up on its own.