30 and Flirty

Today is my 30th birthday! Wow! It's seriously hard to believe. I have to tell you I am definitely not where I wanted to be by the time I got to 30 BUT I am happy with how this are going. SO much happened this past year. It was a great way to end my 20's. My 29th birthday party was by far a blast, I found a great guy who I'm in a serious relationship with, and my wish for weight loss surgery was granted. I have lost 52 pounds so far...as of a couple weeks ago. I haven't weighed myself recently for a few reasons. 1: Thanksgiving was just last week and 2: (prepare yourself for a shocker) I haven't worked out in 3 weeks. Ugh I'm so ashamed! But I have valid reasons! First of all I had a mole removed in my back so I have 6 stitches. I sweat quite a bit when I work out especially at my back and my dr's notes said that an infection can occur within the first 24-72 hours. So there was no way I was going to even risk that. So I took that week off. Then the next week was Thanksgiving. The next week(this week) I got that horrible bug that has been going around. So not fun but I got over just in time for my birthday! That bug though might've been a blessing in disquise to get rid of what I might have put on at Thanksgiving haha.

I'm super excited about the rest of the week. Anyone who knows me know that I like to stretch out my birthday as much as I can. I mean who doesn't? I started it off last night with Lauren, Brady, and Brent(my boyfriend). They got to meet for the first time. We went to Patrizio's in Plano. It's really good! We had a great time! Tonight, Brent and I are going to Three Forks and then to see Gabriel Iglesias. If you don't know who that is, look him up. He's hilarious! I mentioned I have never been to a fancy restaurant and being the sweet guy he is made reservations at Three Forks. I'm super impressed! And to say the least excited! It's not even the place that I'm most excited about either. It's the fact that I'm going with someone who listened and then took the time to find something to do to make me happy. Tomorrow I'm going out with my family and then Saturday I'm going for a massage(gift to myself) and later my sisters have some secret plans for me. I am so blessed to have them in my life. They always take care of me. I'll make sure and post another blog with how everything went. In the mean time here are my latest pics.

I actually want to show how much has changed in the past year. I wore the outfit that I wore on my 29th birthday party, yesterday.

2011

            I just noticed Shannon and Lesa in the background too photobombing. That's awesome!                                                                                                                                                                                                                

   2012

Nifty Fifty

Well I have hit my FIFTY mark!! Since May 22, 2012 I have lost 50 pounds, 4 dress sizes, and gained so much confidence! I put myself out there alot more and even though I may still have many insecurities, which I know everyone does, I'm getting over some of mine. I think my shirt in this picture is very apropos for many reasons. First of all, it is in support for my stepmom Barbara who is a survivor! (It's a breast cancer shirt from Old Navy). Second, FIGHT because of my boxing classes. No I'm not fighting but learning the punches and how to execute them properly helps in self defense so I can fight if need be. There was a new trainer the other day at the club and she(yep a woman and she gave those male trainers a run for their money) was really impressed with the power of my punches and how well I did them. Made my night! Also I fight every day towards my goal of being healthy and strong. I fight against my mental cravings, the doubts I have in my head, and I fight to be patient because this is not an easy road and it will take time despite people thinking that surgery is the easy way out. It definitely is NOT! I fight my laziness. As much as I love my boxing and training sessions, there are days I want to go home, lounge, and read a book especially if I'm in the middle of one that I want to finish so badly. But I know that skipping out will lead to eventually stopping all together. It's happened before. I do try to go every day, it doesn't always happen but I only skip if I have other plans that prevent me from going at all. I don't even let dates prevent me from my workout. I just go out later. I've been on a few dates lately and I make sure they know that working out is priority #1. I know some of you are probably thinking I'm crazy but, well...I am lol. Thankfully they understand. So here is my 50# picture. It's pretty much the same as on the last blog but I wanted to document.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee

I'm changing my name to Hayley Ali! JK lol Maybe I was some kind of boxer in another life lol. I say this because I just joined a boxing club. It's all fitness not an actual boxing gym though. But we use hand wraps, gloves, and punching bags. I went for the first time last night and joined right up! For the past 2 months I've been going to kickboxing classes at the gym. I would go 4-6 times a week.  I enjoy them but I want something more. I've always wanted a boxing bag but never had anywhere to put it. After my surgery I even told some people that I wanted to join a boxing gym or get a real kickboxing trainer but didn't neccesarily want to compete or anything. Well I found my fit! Title Boxing Club is focused all on fitness. It was like bootcamp the first half, doing calisthenics like push ups, squat jumps, running with high knees, burpees(hands on the floor, kick legs out to a push up position, then bring legs back towards hands and jump up).

To tell you the truth those scare me haha. I'm always afraid my hands will slip and I'll fall flat on my face. But I still do them. Anyways, the second half of the class is bag work. We put on gloves (hands on wrapped which this makes me a huge dork but I feel so cool wearing the wraps) and start doing rounds of punches. A great stress reliever!! Which I definitely need! Not that I am stressed but I tend to have high emotions so when I'm feeling like I need to punch something, now I can! That kinda sounds bad but we've ALL felt that way, right? I was read somewhere that after this surgery your hormones go into overload. When you lose fat it releases hormones and so since I'm losing very quickly, my emotions are pretty high especially since I've always been a pretty emotional person. I'm going to really enjoy this place. I thought I was going to be extremely sore today but I feel pretty good. Although sometimes it takes 2 days for you to really feel how well your muscles have been worked on so ask me again tomorrow. I was filling out paperwork last night and my hands were shaking. You don't know how hard you hit even with gloves.

I've noticed alot of changes in myself these last 3 months. Obviously physically, but with my confidence and self esteem too. I told my mom this morning how before my surgery I would have never set foot in that boxing club. My self esteem being so low I would've have thought that everyone would be staring at me and thinking why is she here, or laugh, or they would think that I couldn't handle it. I still have those feelings but not nearly as much. The instructor even told me I did well and that he could tell I've done stuff like this before. That I had good execution. Made me feel great and know that I can keep up. It was still HARD but I have so much more energy now that I know I will stick with it. That's another thing I've noticed, that I'm more committed to things. My mom said that and I realized hey that's true. For the past 2 months I've been pretty religious about my workouts. Sticking with it and going everyday when before I would go only a couple times a week and then start feeling lazy and stop going all together. I hate when I miss a workout I feel like I've gained 10 pounds. Weird I know. Also I have committed to becoming a Parklane Jewelry consultant! So get ready for me to be asking you to host a party! HAHA! Don't feel obligated to have one but it I had so much fun at mine and I because I got 10 orders I get $500 in jewelry for FREE! So just something to think about. And there are some great deals for your guests.

Here are my progress pics plus my "boxing" pic with my new red gloves.

Forty, Friends, and Fabulous

I have hit my halway mark for my FIRST goal! I've lost 40 pounds! After this weekend that might not be the case though :(. But I had a good weekend and I work out like a fiend so it'll be ok.

One of my best friends came in town this weekend.  She hasn't seen me in person since before my surgery. We had a good time this weekend. We went to dinner and then met up with another friend, Brian, on Friday. Sorry B I meant to get a picture of us. As yall know I like pictures :). Saturday we met up with Ashley, Shannon, and Lauren at PF Changs. Mmmmm! Haven't had that in a long time. Still pretty amazing how little I eat now compared to how I used to eat. Carla and I shared(which I used to never do I wanted all my food) and we didn't even eat it all between the 2 of us. Sunday we met up with Melinda and Jessica. Melinda is like a 2nd mom to Carla and her step daughter, Jessica, I've been friends with since 4th grade. I always thought it was funny how Carla met Jessica before even knowing Jessica and I were friends and how they clicked as friends right away. So our friendship turned out pretty good in high school.

My sister Heather brought some pictures of my niece Bronwyn and nephew Cooper up to my office today. As I was putting one of the pictures in a frame at my desk I found a picture of me and my other sister Hillary from her wedding. Wow what a difference. I showed it to my cousin Leslie and she said she didn't even recognize me at first in the picture.  I'm also going to post a picture of me and my sisters and Lauren's wedding last October and compare it to a picture of me, Carla, and Jessica from yesterday only because I am in the middle in both pictures. I think its a good comparison.

I hope everyone has a FABULOUS week!

Compare the one above to the one below

And this one is the picture I found from 6 years ago.

Keeping up

 I am down 39 pounds! Come on you pesky little one pounder, let's round it off! Things are going pretty well.  I work out 5-6 times a week doing kickboxing. I've even recruited Hillary to go with me a couple times a week now.

I did something this weekend that I don't think I've been able to do since high school. Drum roll please...I fit into clothes from Old Navy! Clothes from the girl side! Not t-shirts from men's side like usual. Being a big girl my whole life, this is well...big! After going to weight loss camp before my sophmore year I remember trying on some shorts and how they fit really well. I didn't have to squeeze or suck in. It was a very heady feeling for someone who's never been able to go into any store and just pick something out and it fit perfect. But then of course I gained it all back and could only wear men's t-shirts and even then they weren't well fitted. That feeling I had after camp had resurfaced though. I tried on some jeans and a dress.  I didn't get the jeans because HELLO it's August and blazing outside! I'm hoping by the time I need jeans I will have gone down another size anyways. Old Navy has different styles and I only tried on one pair but these were even baggy! It was a good day!

So here's my progress picture in my Old Navy dress.  I still have a looong way to go and I'm sure I look the same in the last couple posts to some of you but to me I notice my back is smoother and I'm losing my tire hahaha.

                                                                                              

                                                     

I feel pretty, oh so pretty. Pretty, and witty, and...YEA!

I've noticed how much I really like wearing dresses lately. Even with such blindingly white legs :).  Before I was just never comfortable, which I know I've mentioned before. But I just feel so much more confident that I feel pretty now! I have lost 36 pounds now and I know it's not an insane amount and only 2 pounds more than the last post but I feel good and I'm moving forward. PLUS I got asked for my phone number by someone who I didn't meet online! Hey that's pretty huge for me. Anyways I'm not going to give any more details just incase in doesn't work out. Just the fact that he asked is HUGE! So here's my 36 pound loss photos.

7 weeks

Just want to post some before and 7 weeks after pics. Well it's more like 9 weeks because the before picture is 2 weeks preop and its been 7 weeks since surgery.

 

I have a neck!

Sparklers, Fireworks, and Waterballoons, Oh My!

Oh My is right!! I just got back from my 6 week appt and it went very well.  I haven't had any problems or pain and I've lost 34 pounds! Dr. Nick said that my ideal weight loss is 84 pounds in 12 to 18 months and I'm 5 pounds shy of HALF WAY! Now granted I know I'm not gonna lose another 30 pounds in 6 more weeks but with the amount of working out and I'm for sure getting my protein in, I should be doing well in the months to come. Knowing I was above the average weight loss for my height sure made my day! I work out about 3-4 times a week doing aerobic kickboxing. And let me tell ya its no walk in the park. Hillary and I went the morning of July 4th and half way through I asked if she hated me yet and she gave me the evil eye and said YES. haha. She was kidding of course. She hadn't done kickboxing in a while but has been doing bootcamps through Rock Star Fitness which I used to do with her. She loves working out as much as I do. Sometimes I think maybe more. As my weight comes off I have definitely noticed I have more energy and can last through my class.  Before I could barely get through. There's a girl in my kickboxing class that is SUPER FIT. I don't neccessarily want to look like her because she is TOO skinny and has too many muscles for a girl but I want the energy she has.  She just jumps around non stop going all out. But like I said I'm noticing I have more energy now(not nearly as much as her but more than I used to). I did a Zumba class last Sunday and thought this is a breeze compared to kickboxing. Don't get me wrong I still sweated my butt off but I wasn't as exhausted as I was before my surgery. So I know I can do this and get even better!

So the last weekend in June we went to my step brother Heath's house for a pre 4th family get together. We had alot fun. Surprisingly it wasn't too hot.  We cooked out and at the end of the night we shot fireworks. He lives in Terrell on some land so we had plenty of room. Well actually the guys had plenty of room to light'em and run and the rest of us were able to sit far enough back. :) We decided to make it a tradition.

For the 4th every year we go to my grandpa's house for dinner and waterballoon toss/fight. We always have a good time and it never fails I get soaked. I've posted a picture from last 4th along with this year's to show any differences of my weight loss. Honestly I think the biggest difference is the length and color of my hair lol!

Sparklers and Fireworks

This one is pretty neat. I actually took this of the fireworks being shot off.

July 4th 2011

July 4th 2012

Ryan chasing Cooper with a water balloon

The BEST waterballoon shot! My cousin Sarah

I hope everyone had a great and safe 4th!!

A new dawn, a new day, a new dress

Once a month for work my mom and I go to credit meetings. Not the most fun times of the month but I do learn quite a bit through it. I took a couple classes through the association and in August will be taking my final class to recive my CBA credit business associate. Anyways, these meetings aren't really strict but its just common knowledge to wear business causal clothing meaning no jeans. But like I said its not strict. I always found this time hard because I didn't have much dressy stuff that fit anymore. For the first time I was actually looking forward to this meeting.

Well after I bought my first maxie dress and loved it I set out for more dresses. I was ready to be dressy again and wear all my jewelry. I noticed before my surgery I wasn't as into it as I used to be. I couldn't find anything to wear that I felt was dressy enough. So a couple weekends ago I went shopping with my mom and found a really cute short dress. I rarely wore dresses especially short ones. I have really white legs and I didn't want to blind anyone :). I never wore dresses to work either. We're really casual here but occasionally I wanted to dress up. Finally was the time of our meeting and I got to wear my new dress. I know some of you propably think I'm crazy for making wearing a dress such a big deal but I have a reason. I just felt pretty! (On a side note I didn't blind anyone either. Those self tanner lotions like Jergens and Nivea are great! I'm still white but not blindingly so haha). A client of ours came in yesterday too and started crying. She had seen me a few times since my surgery because she comes in to pick up a check from us but never said anything to me. She knew I had surgery but I guess she just hadn't seen the differences yet. She's always been very sweet and she just gushed and started tearing up. To be honest it was a little awkard but it made me feel really good. Here's me and the new dress.

I hope that wasn't anticlimatic! I mean it wasn't a fancy cocktail dress or anything lol. But I think its a cute dress and I felt really pretty that day!

Holy Slim Jenn Batman!!!

What a difference a year makes! My friend Jennifer from Austin had gastric sleeve, same as me, a year ago this August. Since I just had mine a month ago and you can't tell a big difference, I wanted to share Jennifer's before and after. Show what a difference LESS than a year makes actually.She has lost 97 pounds! She's been such a great help along with her sister Jill. Jill had gastric bypass about 3 years ago. Jennifer and Jill are Carla's sisters in law and they all live in Austin. So I was able to visit them all before my surgery and get some great advice. Not only have they been so helpful they have truely been great friends. They checked on me while I was recovering and Jennifer even sent me flowers!

                                                                 Jennifer June 2011

 March 2012

June 2012

It's AMAZING!!!!! You look great Jenn!

I'M BAAAACK!!!!
Yes I am back to the blog. It's been quite a while since I've blogged. Haven't had really much of anything to blog about until recently.  On May 22, 2012 I had major surgery. Don't worry I'm fine. It was actually a surgery I was exstatic to have. I had bariatric surgery. More specific it was the gastric sleeve. Most of you may know more about gastric bypass or lapband. The gastric sleeve is a newer less complicated version. Instead of bypassing anything or putting a foreign object in your body, they cut my stomch into a slender sleeve like shape keeping it attached to my intestines. It's about the size of a very small banana, about 4 oz. So I wanted to get back to blogging so that I could share my journey with you. I'm about a month out from surgery so there's not much to catch up on. I was thinking today about how many people ask how I'm doing or ask my family memebers. I can't tell you how great that feels. So I decided to write down my journey along with progress pictures so that everyone could ride along with me.

First off I'll start by telling you about my weight background for those who don't fully know. I've always been heavy. Even in my childhood, I've been overweight. I remember seeing a picture of me in elementary school and looking like a round ball. I laugh about it now bc actually it was pretty cute in that chubby way :). I loved food from the beginning and to make matters worse I just had a slow metabolism. It didn't help either that I would sneak food to my room. LOL. Anyways from day 1 I struggled with my weight. I always said I wanted to lose but never knew how or really did anything about it. I even went to a fat camp the summer before my soophmore year of high school. I had a blast! But unfortunately I gained it back. I not only struggled with my weight but I struggled really bad with depression. I had many friends but never hung out much with them because my self esteem was horrible! I always thought people would look at me and wonder why such good looking people wanted to hang out with me. Or why I was even at places like bars and clubs. Yes that's how bad my self esteem was. I never wanted to go out just stay at home and eat my sorrows away. Well I have to tell you one day it finally hit me. This is actually pretty funny so get ready. I read Twilight and it dawned on me that I really wanted my own love story. I knew that I would never find anyone that would be happy with me until I was happy with myself. . That was my motivation. Yes Edward and Bella were my motivation haha. Crazy I know but hey I am a weirdo at heart :). So anyways I set out to lose weight. I worked out everyday, watched what I ate, cut out sodas.  I tried different things about my eating because at the time I really had no idea what was best. For a long time all I ate was vegatables. I'd get those steamable bags or I'd heat up a can of green beans. I lost about 25 pounds around 3 months. I was feeling good until one day I just wanted a Diet Dr. Pepper(my kryptonite) thinking just one won't hurt. Boy was I wrong! One led to many. After a few months of eating only veggies I got bored and started eating the same way I used to eat which was BAD. Fast food all the time. I think a year later I got my motivation back and my mom told me about a place called Slim4Life. Sounded great! I toook supplements to help with weight loss and a meal plan. And I would go to their office 3 times a week to weigh and talk about what I ate. Well like I said I LOVE food and this meal plan they gave me was extremely hard. I did well for about 3 months, not without plenty of slip ups mind you, but I lost about 30 pounds in 3 months. After a while I realized this place just wasn't for me. Not only could I not keep up with the healthy eating but the supplements made me break out really bad. So of course I went back to my regular habits along with pretty bad depression. Ever since then my weight just constantly went up. I couldn't get my motivation back(no matter how many romance novels I read). Many times I looked up to God and said I didn't want to be here. I didn't hate my life because I have a pretty damn good one with the family and friends that I have that care about me. And I could never harm myself because one I couldn't do that to the people I love and who love me and 2 I'm too chicken(which in this case is a good thing right :) gotta put a litte humor in there) But I hated myself. I didn't know what to do. I love working out and I did quite often. But you can workout til you pass out and it won't make a difference if you eat like crap. I remember the last time I looked to God and said that because not long after that did he turn around and say "No! Now get your head outta your butt because I have other plans for you!" Well I'm sure he didn't use those exact words but I'd like to think so haha. He blessed me with the greatest gift I've received thus far. I got help to get a loan to pay for surgery. For the longest time I researched about it and asked my insurance rep if they were going to cover it anytime soon. I wished for there to be a miracle and it came. I thank God every day when I look in the mirror since my surgery because I can see the results. It's been such a change! A VERY hard change but well worth it! The first couple of days after my surgery I actually dreamt of food. My mind was and is still a little bit in that mind set of wanting bad food. This surgery helps with not being able to eat that stuff anymore but it doesn't help with the mental part of it. That is the biggest challenge. I forget sometimes and still think about eating something I'm not suppose to eat but don't worry it quickly goes away. I don't forget for long. The first two weeks were pretty painful. I couldn't take any pain meds because it made me extremely sick. I think I did pretty well for no pain meds. I had a great coach! My mom helped me so much. The doctors and everyone around tell you to walk walk walk! And she made sure I did! I walked 3 times a day up and down my driveway. For those who don't know its a pretty long driveway. The first week and a half I couldn't walk a whole lot but by the end of the 2nd week I was walking pretty well without pain. I lost 26 in 2 weeks! I was so excited and seriously it was like overnight that I noticed. My tshirts fit a lot better, my face and neck were slimmer, and I could see my eyes better. I don't think I really looked at myself until the end of those 2 weeks. I did hit a stall after that 26 pound loss. But just recently I hit 30 pounds! The secret? Lots of liquids and protein! After the surgery you are suppose to sip constently so you need 64+ oz of liquid and at least 60oz of protein. Protein drinks count toward your liquid. I have a protein drink for breakfast and lunch. I'm able to have soft foods now so lately I have had ground turkey, potato soup, or eggs for dinner. I realized though that the ground turkey is still too hard and I made an omlette one night which was too hard as well. I try and stick with soup or deli meat now. And baked fish is good because its pretty soft when cooked. So that's been my journey so far. Sorry for any ramblings and the long post but I hope you enjoy! I've posted pictures of me 2 weeks before surgery and 2 weeks after surgery in the same outfit. Also a picture of me today a month out in a new dress I bout like 2 or 3 sizes smaller than what I was before surgery.  There's not a huge difference I can tell not only when I look in the mirror but how I feel. Already I don't get extremely sweaty doing normal things and I feel happier. My sister told me the other day that I smiled more and just seemed more confident. Even in the 2 pictures of me in the same outfit I had people tell me that just by my smile they could tell a difference.