Tuesday, March 25, 2014

One year post op check up! Body Composition Analysis


My doctor, Dr. Stephen Hamn, the stomach slayer!

The pics at the doctor's office when I was approved for surgery

Statistics of the 1 year Body Composition
 Analyzer
Body Composition Analysis
1/16/13- 2 months pre-op
3/6/14- 1 year post-op
BMI (body mass index)
43.7
25
BMR (energy expanded to maintain normal function at rest)
1968 calories
1476 calories
Fat Mass
141 lbs.
47 lbs.
Fat % of total body Weight
53.70%
31.00%
Fat Free Mass
121.51 lbs.
103.51 lbs.
Total Body Water
89 lbs.
76.01 lbs.




Thursday, March 13, 2014

Non-food Presents for Motivation

We are a culture that celebrates everything with food.  Birthday and Weddings cakes are a staple.  Family BBQ's in the spring and summer.  PTA's that stock the teacher's lounge with goodies.  Its all done in kind gestures but good gravy...that's a lot of food that is not exactly nutritious.  Too keep my eye on the prize I bought myself a bracelet at the beginning of my sleeve journey.  I bought the bracelet before my surgery.  For every ten pounds lost I bought a bead.  I focused on finding a symbol of something that was an NSV (No Scale Victory) that I accomplished with those ten pounds lost.

blue stone bead- 10 lbs. lost during pre-op diet, bead is the birthstone for March, the month I had my surgery

diamond ring- first 10 lbs. lost post op, able to get my wedding rings back on, hadn't been able to wear them for years

pink flamingo- still on liquid diet, found the wonderful world of Thin Ice snowcones from Bahama Buck's

big blue stone bead- color of my first ever fitted ladies tee, my spirit shirt for my son's baseball team

50 beads- that was for my halfway point goal of losing 50 lbs

pink stone bead- color of my new tennis shoes, wore my previous pair out with all the walking I did

boot- able to wear those cute riding boots that are so popular, I was never able to get boots on my calves before that

pearl crown bead- able to get my white bath towel (not bath sheet) to wrap all the way around me and close after a shower

paint pallet- Stud Muffin and I repainted every bit of trim in our house

cross- but for the grace of God go I, my weight could have killed me easily, 100 lbs. gone

white stone square bead- for the first pair of Miss Me jeans I was able to wear, from a size 20 to a 10, love my sparkle butt jeans!

Find a way to celebrate your success without food.  What better way than jewelry?!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

One Year Surgiversary- 365 days and 119 pounds gone for good

Weekend before Surgery
One Year Post-Op


















A year ago today I had the gastric sleeve surgery.  It has been 365 days of trying to figure out who I am and deciding who I wanted to be.  I know it sounds ridiculous considering I am 30 years old and that I should have been figuring that out before now but for the prior years of adulthood I have been hiding behind my excessive weight.

Food was my drug of choice.  I used it to celebrate, fight back emotions, and in general cope with life.  As I look at the photos side by side I am amazed at the transformation.  Honestly, until today I have not looked at the pictures side by side.  It is humbling, shocking, scary, heart breaking, and joyous all at the same time.  I don't recognize the woman on the left but I don't see the woman on the right in the mirror.

In this year I have found my own sense of style in clothing that does not hide my body behind layers and larger sizes.  I have worn dangle earrings and cut my hair short.  I always felt like dangle earrings drew too much attention to my face and that super short hair made my face look fatter.  In a year I went from huffing down the hallway at school to being able to complete a 5k in less than an hour with energy to spare.  From insecure of my attractiveness to completely confident that I am worthy of my husband's flattering compliments.  I went from trying to teach from a chair to walking a trench in the carpet around my classroom.

I have learned how to channel my emotions into something other than carbs and sugar.  I have become more open about my past and my present in hopes that I might help someone else along the way.  I took a huge leap of faith and gained so much.

From the bottom of my heart I owe so much gratitude to a multitude of people.  I appreciate God opening the doors and windows through which this was possible.  For my amazing husband who did nothing but encourage me through this whole process.  To my boys who were patient in my transition to healthier eating for the whole family.  My parents have been hugely supportive from my beloved ice cream maker to encouraging words.  My extended family has been so encouraging through this change also.  My in laws have been so uplifting in this desire to change my health.  To My Jennifer, I can't say enough how grateful I am for our friendship.  My school family has done nothing but encourage me through kind words, workouts in my classroom after school, answering random health questions, and in general just flat out loving me.

I went from type 2 diabetic with high blood pressure and cholesterol to a young at heart and smokin' hot bod of a 30 something mother of two boys and wife of a Stud Muffin.  This has been one of the hardest years of my life in dealing with all the demons that made me feel like it was acceptable to hide inside my own body.  I wouldn't change it for the world.  I would wake up every single day and make the same decision to alter my body to get what I have gotten in return.  I have added years to my life and a new sense of self.  For these 365 days and 119 pounds gone I have been blessed beyond measure.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Baby Quilt

I made 5 inch blocks of blue jeans and cut out a hexagon from the centers.  I cut 5 inch blocks of chosen fabric to go between the jean blocks.  I used 4 1/2 in blocks to go in the hexagon windows that I sewed down with a quarter inch seam allowance.  Sew blocks together and quilted with X's across the fabric blocks and the tied center of hexagons with embroidery floss.  Super easy and relatively quick compared to other quilts. I made it for a sweet friend who is expecting her first grandchild in the summer.

6 years of wedded bliss...making major love history

Hard to believe it has been six years with my Stud Muffin.  In that time we went from a single mom and a bachelor into a happy family, moved into our first home, had a baby, moved into a bigger house, grown closer spiritually, closed gaps financially, endured sickness and health.  These years have FLOWN by.  I feel like we are always on the go.  So for the next few moments I am going to reflect a bit on the crazy fast road we have been on.

I knew God made Stud Muffin for me on our very first date.  Something about the way he looks at me still melts me like a popsicle on the fourth of July.  I love how we make up words to songs to make each other laugh.  I hate how he constantly has music playing, but the absence of it would break my heart.  He loved me at my heaviest weight and loves me still at my smallest.  His affections for me have not changed even though my appearance has.

He has supported me in all my dreams and is not afraid to pull the reins back when I am going too far out.  It is not that I am submissive to his authority (I struggle with the word submissive) but more so I am comfortable in his guidance even when I don't agree with his views.  I am certainly more adventurous and loud than he is.  He has more space in the closet because he has more shorts and hoodies than you can shake a stick at.  I like his repetitive sense of style.  He looks smokin' hot in a baseball cap.

I swell with pride when I see him being a father to our sons.  I love how he will hold up the baseball hit stick for the boys on a lazy afternoon while I sit in a lawn chair with Agnes at my feet.  I like how he leans on the fence at Beans' baseball games while he keeps score.

I like sharing with each other the different books we are reading on our Kindles.  I appreciate his passion for reading and history since I am definately the math and science leader of our household.  I am grateful for his willingness to help with housework.  I hate how he trims the bushes back in the
 yard.  Two words...Edward Scissorhands.


Most importantly I am yours and you are mine and I am beyond blessed by that and excited to see what the future years hold for us.  Love you always, SM.

Scrapfest 2014- Spring Edition

I have a dear sweet teacher friend that I have been friends with since 2008.  We met each other during the interview process at our former school district. Shannon and I immediately bonded over our love of scrapbooking. Every year we spend a long weekend together scrapbooking, chatting, and snacking.  It is one of my favorite times of the year.  Her eye for design and risk taking with color inspires me.  Here are some pages of a memorial album I did of my sweet friend, Robby, who was killed in Afghanistan three years ago in April.  It has taken me that long to get to where I could look at those pictures and newspaper articles without crying.  In the darkest part of my life I was able to share with him my secrets and he loved me like a sister through those hard times.  He was the first person I told that I was pregnant with Beans.  I was so afraid of the judgemental looks and harsh words.  He hugged me, kissed my forehead and said "you are strong and will get through this."  That gave me courage to tell others.  Though no one was as kind about the news as he was.  I miss his friendship and sense of humor.

Monday, March 3, 2014

The "Lady Lair" aka my craftroom

Hello, my name is Mrs. G and I am a craftaholic.

During Spring Break my mom got a few days off.  So out of her extreme love for me she helped me clean up and reorganize my "Lady Lair" (Stud Muffin's words not mine) aka my Craftroom. So here is the finished product of an entire days worth of work.


Scrapbooking Oasis!

I use the old desk coils to organize my photos when deciding on scrapbooking page layouts.
This is my carry all tote with all of my essential scrapbooking items.  The adhesive runner is my favorite and is the Scotch one that you can get at Hobby Lobby or Michael's.
I keep all my scraps in a tote under the desk for use on other pages or to hoard them till it is overwhelming and then I donate them to a friend at work who makes a lot of cards or the art teacher for her various class projects.
This is an Ott Light desk caddy and is just about the coolest thing ever.  Great for holding all my sewing notions and has the best light ever.  Big Fan on this product!
This is the slayer of fabric, the queen of thread...this is my Pfaff Hobby 1020.  She is the coolest machine.  The clear attachment is a Sew Steady and gives the feel of a drop down machine without it actually being down inside of a table.  The table itself houses my Great Grandmother's 1970's sewing machine that she bought when she retired.  It was brand new and top of the line.  I believe it sewed nothing more than some doll clothes for my mom's baby dolls if that.  Either way I open up the desk and let her do some sewing on small projects but my Pfaff is my go to quilting work horse.
Random items and signs.  They either are about crafting, being a queen, or pink.  All things near and dear to my heart.
I love patterns!  But they had gotten a little over whelming.  So now I store them in binders in sheet protectors by genre so that I can locate just the pattern I need pretty quickly.  Baskets are filled with fabric by genre: holiday, baby, quilting, tulle and other specialty fabrics.  I also have a whole basket dedicated to just ribbon.
This is my scrapbooking shelf.  Boxes contain stamps, inks, embelishments, fibers, etc.  I also keep photo boxes labeled with each kid's name of photos just of them that I print but end up not using in their scrapbooks.
Three of my favorite memorabilia items.  Shaddow boxes of both Bean's and Chum's coming home from the hospital outfits and then their newborn scrapbooks.  I also have my bouquet that my mom-in-law made for me and my tiara from SM and I's wedding.  Also a coursage from the Bad Prom Run I did with a great friend of mine.
Mom-in-law made the lids to the mismatched glass jars.  I LOVE THEM!  One has buttons, another has Scrabble tiles, and the third has ribbon scraps.  Because if they are in pretty jars its not hoarding...right?!
Paper organized by color and then a basket to help contain pages that I have already started to gather the components to make assembling scrapbook pages quicker.
Super cool Thirty-One organizer helps me keep current patterns and such in one nice and neat place.
This is the very small closet in my craftroom.  The best part is the hanging organizer has sewing projects nicely organized in each of the cubbies.  The top shelf stores batting, filler, retreat rolling totes, etc.
This is my cutting table.  It has two storage shelves which house my quilting kits that I have purchased and a few cutting notions in a basket.

Hope you enjoyed the tour of my Lady Lair!  Happy crafting!