Happy New Year! I seriously meant to post here on January 1st, but I’ve been busy this week, and it just kept slipping my mind. Sorry! In terms of the new year, I have one gastric bypass related resolution, and it’s an important one:

Drink two protein shakes per day.

By drinking two shakes a day, I will be taking in 60g of protein just from them (or 50 if I use water instead of milk). For the last year I have been very good at drinking at least one shake per day, but that’s only 30g – half of my minimum daily requirement. My thinking was I’d take in half from a protein shake, then make up the other half from regular, high-protein food. But it doesn’t hasn’t always worked out, especially on days where I didn’t have anything high-protein, was busy running errands, or simply forgot to eat (yes, it happens). By doing two shakes per day, I’ll have all of my protein bases covered – anything after that is just gravy.

So far I’m doing good, though obviously we’re only four days into 2012, so there’s plenty of opportunity for me to screw up. Ha.

Weight-wise, I have no clue where I’m at – my scale broke on December 23rd, and I haven’t yet replaced it. :/ I don’t think I hit my goal, if I had to guess I’m probably still in the 163-166 lb range. But I’m close, oh so close. I know I’ll get there!

Full-length pics of me (and my husband ♥) from Christmas Day:

Every Christmas Dan and I manage to get a shot of either the two of us together, or us and the kids. Yesterday I finished processing photos from this year, and I decided to go back and check out our “us” shots from the last few years. While my weight has gone down every year, Dan’s has stayed pretty steady – maybe a 15 lb fluctuation at the most.

2008: 330 lbs.

2009: 260 lbs.

2010: 190 lbs.

And now this year.

2011: 163 lbs.

I chose to use photos of Dan and I, rather than just me, because Dan is a “steady constant”, so my differences in weight are just THAT much more apparent!

Back in my heavier days, I would sometimes purchase an article of clothing — a coat, a shirt, a pair of pants — that ran a little small for its size. Or so I told myself. There are times when this was certainly true, particularly with the brands that Target carries, but for the most part brands from plus size clothing stores were pretty consistent. Rather than use the too-small clothing as motivation to lose a little weight so it would fit better, I would simply take it back and exchange if for a larger size.

I don’t do that anymore. In the summer of 2010 I purchase three size 13 jeans and put them away for when I could get into them — which I was able to do, squeezingly so, last spring; and which I now do with comfort and a little room to spare this fall. This past summer I purchased two size 11 jeans in anticipation of being able to get into them. 150/160 lbs is my goal weight, and I plan on wearing those 11s and having a size 11 as my final jeans size. Whether I am able to wear a size 11 at 160 lbs, or if I’ll have to drop another 10 lbs to 150 to get into them, remains to be seen, since I am currently stalled in the 165-167 range.

Over these past two years I have occasionally purchased clothing that truly ran small. Two sweater hoodies and two plain sweaters come to mind. But rather than take them back for a larger size, as I would have done in the past, I held onto them and used my desire to wear them as motivation to keep up with the weight loss. And it paid off — those items now fit. Only in the case of the two plain sweaters, they’re too loose. Go figure. *eyeroll*

Recently my awesome husband purchased a fuzzy hot pink hoodie for me from Old Navy. I had added it to Pinterest (my wishlist, heh), and indicated a size large — I based this size off the fact that I own three Victoria’s Secret hoodies which are all a size large, and two of the three are quite roomy (the third is designed to fit a little shorter/snugger, and that’s okay); and the fact that ALL of my tops, with the exception of two cape-hoodie thingies (which are a size MEDIUM, whoo!), are a size large.

Go figure, the hoodie runs on the small side. My concerned husband immediately suggested that he send it back for a smaller size. I gasped and immediately dismissed the notion. As I told him, I won’t give myself permission to stay at my current weight (165-167) or, worse yet, GAIN A FEW POUNDS, by going up a size. I’ll hold onto that awesome hot pink hoodie, wear it as it is, and enjoy it when it fits a little better when I reach my final weight of 160 or even 150.

Here’s that hoodie, FYI:

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Needless to say, I hit my “half” point last week, when I weighed in at exactly 165.2 lbs. Whoo! Sadly, I’ve packed on about three pounds since then, but it is motherfucking water weight and NOTHING MORE. Grrr.

I’ve been holding steady between 168.2 lbs and 169.2 lbs, which makes me happy, since that means GOODBYE 170s (until I pack on four pounds worth of water weight prior to starting my period next week, of course).

Top: Me, August 2010, 199.2 lbs
Bottom: Me, October 2011, 169.9 lbs

What a difference 30 lbs makes, huh?

Yesterday was my six month gastric bypass anniversary. Now that I’m six months out, I have a really good understanding of what does and doesn’t work for my body. I know what happens when I get protein deficient (hair loss, major tiredness), I know what happens when I eat certain foods, and I generally know my limitations for things.

As of today I am 213 lbs., which is my lowest weight so far. To say I’m excited is an understatement! Not only am I excited to have reached a new “lowest”, but I’m also very excited to get over the three week plateau that kept me bouncing between 215 and 217. I’m now 118 lbs. down, and I’m just 53 lbs. from my goal weight. I say “just” in conjunction with needing to lose another 50+ pounds because when I first started losing weight, I had over 150 lbs. to lose! What’s interesting is that when I reach 165.5 lbs., I can honestly say that I’ve lost half of myself.

Here’s a nice before & after comparison:

And with that said, I have a protein shake to go work on!

Know thy evil: fat grams. When people asked how I was able to lose the required amount of weight (and then some – I was supposed to lose about 17 lbs and lost nearly 50 instead!) prior to having gastric bypass surgery, I told them that I followed, to the letter, the requirements given to me by my dietitian, which were as follows:

• 2000 calories per day
• 60 grams of fat per day
• no more than 3g of fat per 100 calories

Too many people think it’s all about calories. Count calories and you’ll lose weight. But while calories are important, fat grams are more important – for me and in my experience, anyway. I was horrified once I began studying nutrition labels and checking not only the calories, but the fat grams. I cannot tell you how many times the calories would be reasonable or even “wow, that’s low!” in relation to the type of food, but the fat grams were just INSANE. Nine times out of ten I reached my fat gram limit long before my calorie limit.

Here is a prime example of the evilness that is fat grams:

For comparison, so you’ll fully understand how aghast I am, my current fat gram limit per day is 24. 24, people. One tablespoon of peanut butter, which is a nice protein boost since it packs a nice 8g worth of protein, cuts out a third of my daily fat gram allotment. A smear of mayonnaise on my breadless sandwich “wrap” (fat-free beef bologna or low-fat chicken breast rolled up in a slice of American cheese), and there goes about a fourth of my daily fat gram allotment. A small drizzle of salad dressing on my leafy lettuce salad with fat-free shredded cheese? That easily cuts out another third. A few bites of beef and maybe a small slice of cake and BAM, I’m at my fat gram limit for the day, even though I may have only taken in half of the protein I need.

Fat grams suck, but I’m forcing myself to carefully study EVERY DAMN LABEL or Google the things I don’t have labels for, so I know exactly how many grams of fat I’m consuming along with those calories and protein.

And for the record? Fat-free mayonnaise and salad dressing taste fine to me. I’ll let you know how it goes with a low-fat, or better yet fat-free, peanut butter.

I’m not going to be a Saloon girl for Halloween after all. Thanks to EdenFantasys‘ ever-expanding collection of costumes, I have decided to go with being a Dirty Cop. Or a sexy cop.

I’m glad I decided to order my Halloween costume from a sex toy shop, because believe it or not, this particular sex toy shop has plenty of decent-yet-sexy costumes to choose from! From witches to angels to devils to saloon girls to pirate wenches to cops, EdenFantasys has a lot to offer in terms of costumes. Plus, a lot of these costumes are naughty enough that they could double as lingerie – particularly if you add a push-up bra and remove some of the accessories that many of the costumes come with, heh.

One thing I really like about EdenFantasys is that they always include a detailed sizing chart for all of their costumes and lingerie. The size chart provides plenty of details, too – recommended weight, cup size and measurements for every available size. But when in doubt, you should always order up a size, as costumes and lingerie tend to run a little small. That’s my $0.02, anyway.

I also love that they have plenty of products to offer besides adult products, costumes, and lingerie. Spice up your wardrobe with a sexy pair of panties, or check out some of EdenFantasys’ mood candles and massage candles to add ambiance and massages to your bedroom activities!

All too often I find myself in different to food. It bores me. Nothing tastes very delicious. It’s not good for me. It’s too much work to make. Etc, et al. So this coming week I’m going to bitch-slap myself, then get together some recipes, and then get together a grocery list so I have every last needed item on hand, so I have absolutely no excuse to not follow through with making up a bunch of high-protein, low-carb casseroles, soups and quick meals.

Tonight I was a good girl and skipped even a bite of the buttered noodles (regular – if they were egg-based noodles I would have had a bite or two, since 1. I can handle egg-based noodles and 2. egg-based noodles have more protein, whee!) I made to go along with the pan-seared chicken the kids and I had for dinner. Instead, I added a bit of Mexican-blend shredded cheese and a dollop of medium salsa to my small portion of check. The result? Totally yummy — it made eating what I find otherwise to be a bland and boring piece of meat quite tasty!

(In my opinion, cheese makes almost everything better!)

By far, the worst skin I am left with from losing all of this weight (151 lbs and counting!) is what’s left on my arms. I call them my bingo flaps. I love fall and winter because I hide them in three-quarter-length tops, long-sleeved tops, and my personal favorite, hoodies. But now that spring is here and the temperatures are warming up, t-shirt weather will soon be upon us, which means there’s no hiding them. Trust me, they’re bad. So bad, in fact, that I’ve done my best to hide them in photos. But I’m all about being honest, and letting it all hang out, so here you go:

I have the upper arms of a 331 person, and they look ridiculous on the body of a 180 lb person. Sigh.

(This summer I will be almost two years out of surgery, and I fully intend on checking with surgeons on details and pricing for the removal of those bastards!)