From 106.8 to 105.6 kgs in one week

I started at Jetts Gym last week and it is showing up already. By Saturday I had gone down 0.9 kgs and today all up I have lost 1.2 kgs. That is something that I find, since the LGS, is that you get an almost instant response when you change the amount of exercise or the food that you eat. Before I could eat too much and it wouldn't show up for ages or if I exercised regularly my measurements might change but my weight wouldn't. It would be very discouraging. Now it shows almost in 24 hours.

I was getting discouraged because I had gained weight but by using a closed Facebook page for people who have had or about to have WLS I am talking (on the page) with others in the same position. It is helping. The other thing that made me a little happier was looking at a picture from May 2013 and a recent one. There is a massive change in how I looked then and now.

I am second from the right and in my mind now  I feel I was the size of a bear

I am not small in this photo but am definitely much smaller than in the photo above by a minimum of 30+ kilos.

I still have a way to go but now I am back on course with cardio and weight training at the gym I think it will go back to a steady decrease. Weight loss surgery isn't the easy option it is the helpful option. In giving you at least 30-35kgs weight loss at the start, because you become very limited in what your body can tolerate, it often gets you to a weight that you can exercise again without injuring

 your legs or back. As the weight goes off and you become more pain free you actually want to get out there again. I no longer get remarks (offensive) from strangers going past me in cars. Hey, at least I am out there exercising while they sit on their butts, in a car, to go a short distance.

As you lose weight you become more confident again. You may not accept treatment from others that was always unacceptable (but you put up with it because of your weight and confidence issues) and this can change how you react to them now. I am not in a relationship and haven't been for a long time. You become invisible to most men over a certain weight. My thought is that the person inside that weight is the same as the person without that extra weight. I remain intelligent, strong, creative and I enjoy a sense of humour in others/myself. There are those that will only acknowledge you when you are a normal weight. Saying that, others who only know you as the fat person seem to become threatened if you become the much smaller (and more usual) weight. Crazy, isn't it? Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I am still working through the mental part of losing weight and I feel that will be ongoing. I like that I have got this far and I have got back the desire to continue this journey. I think that after 2 years you become a little more lax in what you do in your life. You can eat more than you could at the start and unless you figure out why you want to eat at any particular time you can slip back into the habits that put the weight on the first time. So, yes, I do enjoy tasty food. Solution: tiny tastes and only very occasionally will stop weight going back on especially if you are hitting that gym or footpath. Trigger foods such as bread and biscuits. Solution: don't have them in your house. If you have them for your children put them into tins and out of your eye line. You may be able to catch yourself in time if you have to search for them.

As my mother is diagnosed coeliac we changed our food habits to gluten free for the household and it improved our health. There is so much gluten (wheat, rye, barley and some oats) and sugar in processed foods nowadays. We bake and cook from scratch with gluten free products as needed. We also grow foods, for our table, in containers. It is not all our food but enough to have really tasty food on our plates each day. Try it and notice the difference. Fresh picked beans, tomatoes, silver beet, strawberries, and soon bok choy, beetroots and spinach we put in recently. It helps to keep your food spending down too. I have had people stare into my trolley and ask how can I have so much for so little. Most of what I buy is what they call outside aisle spending. This has minimal processing; meat, vegetables, fruit, milk, butter, GF flour etc. These are always cheaper and unless you eat ginormous amounts you can either lose or maintain a good weight. These next images were Googled to show what I mean by outside aisle spending.

 This week's Intentions:

• Use the gym daily for the rest of the week
• Journal what is happening mentally to me in this weightloss journey I am on
• Listen to my body, check if I am hungry or bored when I want to eat
• Give myself joyful times to show I love myself where I am today
• Celebrate good changes in my life, look at not so good parts and change them for the better.
• Get back to Camp Nanowrimo writing today and every day. I have 17 days left and 18500 words to go to reach 25,000 wds for the month of April
• Enjoy my writing groups and attend Saturday's one. 

What are the reasons you overeat or under exercise? What solutions can you put in place to create changes in your life? Remember one day at a time. Every day you wake up is another day to create the change you want to happen.

Back to the gym, weight loss ensues 0.6 Kgs down

A friend (and my brother) managed to get a gym membership, on a special, of $29 down and a weekly amount. I got mine for $10.95 a week because they went ahead of me so I won both ways. I have mainly done treadmill and horizontal cycling with a few arm exercises with weights. Tomorrow when I go in the morning I should get a free 30 minutes with a trainer. I will get them to run through the weight machines with me and give me number of reps, etc. I have put myself down for a nutritionist time next Monday as well (free this time). I have been twice so far as the other 2 days were busy ones with a long walking time involved as well.

I am already feeling more comfortable in my body. It may be a psychological effect but I don't care. A few muscles are letting me know that I am doing something different but it doesn't stop me moving freely so that is ok. I found last time I was doing this that after 90 minutes of exercise I would feel happier. When I got back home the housework was done quicker as well. Wednesday I swear I was up and moving at 8 am and it was after 3 pm before I sat down. Beds, dishes, a large load of ironing, the small amount of lawn mowing we have, some extra gardening (putting in seedlings we got last week). picking up everything from the floor (chairs etc) so my daughter did the vacuuming were all done after 90 minutes at the gym.

The nights are getting cooler here and early morning needs an extra layer if you are out exercising. They say if you sleep in a cooler environment you use a few more calories keeping warm. Me, I like to be warmer or achy muscles will wake me up. Since I have lost weight I don't wake up to turn over so my sleep is more restful and relaxing. I am also not being smothered by my boobs trying to cover my face. I find that I still snore less sleeping on my side. I do deam quite vividly and often remember that dream now. Do you ever think you are dreaming so vividly that you are not sure if you have rested much overnight?

Overhead lights are not great to photograph under but this is a baseline facial one that I hope will show a difference in my next post. This is one of my meals earlier in the week. I managed to leave some of the potato and corn on my plate. I did not have pudding that night. I have not got myself fully out of the habit of a 10 pm snack yet but maybe I can by having a small amount around 9pm. Tonight I did eat just a bit more than I should at teatime.What I find happens now is my body then insists on a short doze. I wake up regurgitating some food almost. Note to self: eat a smaller amount at meal time. The beauty of having a LGS is your body will let you know when you have had too much and you won't like the way it does that. Listen to your body and you won't have that problem. There is eye hunger when you want to eat all you see, then there is a small volume that you can fill and no more. 

It is more than a lap band so it takes longer to lose as much weight .I don't think that is a bad thing though. We get to our very large size because we love food and eat more than we use. Yes , I know there are people that have medical reasons and I have a few of those. I didn't eat take aways but I did eat like a labourer and not work like one. I enjoyed a few lollies and the occasional homemade biscuit or cake. My recent gain in weight was through not enough consistent exercise. I have a monetary reason to continue to use the gym because I have a limited income and I am spending $22.00 of it each fortnight to be able to use the gym whenever I want. It will be good over winter too as it is only a few minutes away from our place, walking. It is a place that you can use 24/7 as you have a card that only allows paid up members to enter at any time. If I keep losing like I have already this week I have another incentive. The third incentive is I will reshape my body and have less saggy skin and more muscles. Muscles give a higher metabolic rate than fat as well.

Creatively I am doing Camp Nanowrimo to help me complete a book I have had on the go for a while. I have added over 6000 words and will do more tomorrow. Knitting wise I was doing strips for a blanket. The wool I was using was thinner than the pattern says so I am making it into a scarf instead. The KIP group decided that for World Knitting Day we would knit scarves, beanies, gloves and other items for the Auckland City Mission that they can hand out to people in need this winter. Any made beforehand can go on the table at the start of the day as well.

This Week's Intentions:

• Lose 1 kg or more
• Go to the gym at least 5 times
• Write 10,000 words + on MG novel
• Alter eating habits after tea to lessen the amount
• Do more Autumn cleaning and assess winter wardrobe needs
• Tidy up the garden

What are you doing this week to improve your life?