It’s summertime! Which means that life is a lot easier – my schedule is free, healthy fruits and veggies are plentiful, and I have nothing but time to work on this goal. Success is practically guaranteed – all I need to do is follow through with my actions. My re-assessment meeting with my surgeon was on Friday, June 8th, which just so happened to also be my last day of school before summer vacation, making Fridays the perfect day to weigh-in. So throughout the summer, I’ll be giving Friday progress updates called Successful Summer Weigh-Ins.
This week I was motivated in a way that I haven’t been in a really long time. I guess hearing the surgeon tell me that he’d kick me out of the bariatric program if I didn’t complete the goal in a timely manner will do that to me. What I’ve come to realize is that following the plan and making this into a lifestyle is really easy when this is the main focus of my days. That’s what I love about summer – I can concentrate on me.
I’m glad I had this time off for this first week back because I instilled quite a few changes:
- I started taking all my vitamins again – I’d gotten really lazy about this, but I need to develop this as part of my life because I’ll be much healthier after surgery if I do.
- I’ve been weighing and measuring every single thing that goes in my mouth, no exceptions. My main problem is portion sizes, so it’s important to get back to basics with those.
- I’ve changed my daily routine so that the first real thing I do when I wake up (after all the bathroom business) is make my bed, get dressed, and take Sofi for a walk while the coffee is brewing. It’s a great way to begin the day. I also tackle one housekeeping thing each day so that I don’t have to do a marathon cleaning session on the weekends.
- A huge change has been in the way that I’ve been shopping for food. When school is in and time is tighter, I shop for the entire week on Sunday. Now that I have plenty of time and no schedule to follow, I’ve been shopping for just a few days at a time. This works well because I don’t have too much food in the house at any one time and the fruits/veggies are fresher.
- I work my day around my workouts, rather than the other way around. Swimming, bike riding, and walking have really become activities that I look forward to – hobbies that I enjoy as much as reading or blogging – so I make sure that anything else I need to do fits into my workout plans.
- I’m getting more sleep. This is huge for me. I still get to stay up late, which I love, but since I don’t have to wake up at 5:30am, I can get enough rest. I wake up feeling so ready to tackle the day.
{Okay, Bella, that’s all good and well, but what we really want to know is how you did on the scale}. Right?!
Today I weighed in at 306.6, which means I lost 8.4 pounds this week, meaning I have 26 lbs to go to reach my pre-surgery goal. What an awesome start!! 26 lbs seems like nothing. And granted, I am still over 300 lbs, which is frightening and embarrassing, but dropping 8.4 in one week is amazing to me.
What’s even more amazing is how easy it was to do it. I just didn’t allow myself to consider that snacks were an option, because they weren’t. I told myself that I was going to eat as close to 400 calories per meal as I could, and stick as closely as I could to 1200 per day. I also made sure that I exercised for over an hour each day, except Wednesday, which I took as a rest day. The power of the mind is incredible. This goes to show that if I stick to the guidelines Kaiser’s laid out for me, I will be successful.
I’ve been here many times before – jazzed because I had a great weigh in, and then something in my mind goes haywire and I get cocky and I let things slip. Not this time. I know that my problem is consistency, so that’s going to be my focus throughout this summer while I reach for my goal (and beyond that, obviously). I have it in me to have great weeks every week, and now I’m all about showing it, rather than just writing it.
Until next week. I hope the scale treats you well this week, too.
FABULOUS!!! That is awesome Bella and it’s only going to get better through the summer, what a great start!!!
Nice job! I’m so jealous of your summers!
Wow! Fantastic! You’re almost a 1/3 of the way there! You’ll be getting your surgery in no time.
Congratulations Bella on a great first week! Keep up the momentum. Have a great weekend.
Great job! Also, I’ve always wondered – do you draw the little cartoon Bellas? They’re so cute and look so much like you!
Oh, I love little Bellina, too! I had a graphic artist named Meghan Murphy create it for me from several photos I sent her. She’s really talented!
You are truly inspiring, my friend. I’ve been in a funk lately with eating and my weight. This post reminded me that I have the power to do anything. You go girl!!
I’m glad the post helped you!
Congratulations! Your summer is off to an AMAZING start!