36 pounds!! Yay!

I am feeling GREAT! In this past week, my weight loss has picked back up again, and I'm losing about a pound a day/every two days. I exercised 3 times, which is not up to my goal yet, but it's getting there. The most exciting thing is the clothes! I cleaned out my closet last weekend, and some this week as well, of clothes that are just too big to wear anymore. Once I try something on that doesn't fit, I put it either in my pile for consignment, or Good Will. Last weekend, I also started trying on pants in my next size down, and they fit! It seemed like with shirts I was able to move down sizes much sooner, than I was in pants. I also have some shoes that are getting too big to wear as well. I have this pair of brown high heeled flip flops, and my feet slid right down to the very front when I put them on!! So I guess I'm shrinking everywhere! ;)

I've gotten SO many compliments at school this week about my weight loss. I see the people on my hall much more than I see the K-3rd grade teachers, so naturally when those teachers haven't seen me everyday, I look more different to them. One of the pairs of pants I was able to wear this week, I haven't worn since 2005, when I lost the weight with Weight Watchers. They were very slimming, and I felt fabulous and confident. I just couldn't be happier right now with my decision to have the surgery. The hardest parts are behind me, and things are going very well!!

Food-wise, I only had one problem this week, so I'm getting more and more used to what I can and can't have. I've really been eating the same things lately, I guess because I like the taste and they go down well. Some of my main staples are cream of wheat with sweet and low and cinnamon (and sometimes I add pear or peach baby food like my mom used to make :) for breakfast, for lunch or snack I like one piece of Melba toast with 2 slices of deli turkey breast and an ounce of cheese, and for dinner I've been having some chili with cheese, soup, or mini meatballs with spaghetti sauce. That 'sort of' helps my Italian craving. :) The only 'out to eat' foods I've been craving are Italian and Mexican, so I'm trying to see how I can make those flavors at home. I just think that those things out to eat are going to have too much fat and calories, even if I only eat a small amount. Last night at school we had a Book Bop fundraiser for our book fair, and I served pizza for an hour. One of my friends asked me if it bothered me to serve that, knowing I couldn't eat it, and I could honestly say it didn't. I wasn't hungry, and another thought that crossed my mind was how the bread from the crust would form into a ball of dough in my stomach, and that was enough to curb my feelings from craving it. That's not to say that I don't crave foods I can't eat once in a while, but luckily those times are few and far between. Normally before a school event, I'd go out to eat with my friends, and last night it was kind of cool how food just wasn't important. I didn't eat dinner until 8:00 when I got home, and since I wasn't hungry, food wasn't something I had to think about all night. On the way home, I picked up Subway--a 6 in. turkey and cheese on whole wheat, with lettuce, tomato and light mayo. Last Sunday at Erica's heart walk, I had a little bit of a sub, and it went down well, so I thought I'd try it again. I had about 3 inches of it, but I only ate half of the bread on that 3 in. I also had 5 Baked Lay's with it, and everything tasted great! Spencer is loving that I'm not eating much. He has a radar for when I'm nearing the end of my meal, and then he'll come sit by me and finish off the leftovers. :) He's so smart. My favorite dessert now is no sugar added fudgsicles. I can eat them right after my meal, and I usually have one after dinner. Another treat that I really like is sugar free caramel Nips. It is hard caramel, that after you suck on for a while, becomes soft. I've had no problems with those, probably because I take so long to finish one. So this week has been great, with hardly no food problems.

I'm due to take another round of photos today, since I do them every 2 weeks. I'll post those sometime tonight or tomorrow, and you can see my progress over the last 6 weeks. Now that I've hit the 6 week mark, there are some recipes in my post weight loss surgery cookbooks that I can try, so I'm going to plan to make a few of those this week.

I have an appointment with my surgeon on Monday, which I'm sure will go well. My next food advancement will be near the end of November, at 3 months. At that point, I will be able to add most foods back into my diet. Chris and I are thinking about taking a driving trip to D.C., Baltimore, New York, and possibly Boston over Thanksgiving, so that is something I'm looking forward to. Also my family is going to Dallas over New Year's to visit my Uncle Ron and Aunt Maria Rosa. I love to travel, so I'm so excited about these trips coming up!! :) We're talking about possibly going to Europe next year, before we try to get pregnant again as well. I LOVE to organize and plan trips, so I am so happy to put my focus into those things right now.

Thank you to everyone for all of your positive comments and support! :) Have a lovely day!