Get ya motor running........get out on the highway!!!

Yup, I am now officially a biker chick!!!!!!! One of my big goals was to be able to feel comfortable being on the back of Si's motorbike. So on the weekend, we gave it a go. I have the gear as far as boots, helmet and jacket go, so it was pretty much okay. I was a bit scared to start with, just not sure if i should lean or not. as this was the first time ever on the back of a motorbike for me.

Anyway - we only went around town, and Si said we only got up to 60 kms, but it was neat, and we are going to go on a proper ride one weekend when it fines up a bit. I still think I would rather be "in control" though and I am definately going to have to save some money and get me a 250 cc and then learn to ride. Not much else has been happening, in fact that was probably the highlight of the weekend.

Oh, also got together with the other Palmy people who have had or are about to have Weightloss surgery. It was fantastic to catch up with everyone, and see the progress people are making. One of the things I really love about this group is the honesty that everyone brings to the table. The highs and lows of this decision. It is also interesting to hear what the people who are 2 years plus postop have to say and how they maintain their loss. I think part of it is actually the getting together and talking.

Hey Pali, you asked if the restaurant is turkish, and the answer is yes. It is owned by really good friends, and we actually ended up eating there 4 times last week. It takes me about 40 mins to eat about 3/4 of a small kebab and I am extremely full. The guys know the situation with my tummy, so they make sure that everything is low fat and low sugar.

Weighed in yesterday, and after all that Turkish I thought that I might be in for a gain, but I had lost 1.4 kgs taking me to 115.4 kgs, so if I just keep going I should be on track for my 1 year goal or if not then - the definately by Christmas.

Weekend Update

A bit late on the weekend update - but better than not posting at all.
Friday we had a busy schedule as Si had a worship workshop at the church on both Friday and Saturday. We went to dinenr at dad's place first which was also meant to have my brother, his wife and kids there, but they decided to come for lunch on Sunday instead.

The worship workshop was good, although as I am not musically inclined it was not quite up my ally. In fact i was not feeling so good at one point so I left and went home for a nana nap.

Saturday night we went to the movies to see Hancock, which I found really really good. It certainly was better than what the critics decribing.

Sunday rolled around and went to Dad's for lunch. Was really nice to catch up with them. Pretty much played our game after that.

Monday our friends here in Feilding re-opened their restaurant - Cafe Turkey. We popped along just after 5pm to see how they were doing, and then I went home and made their takeaway menus. They look fantastic!!!!!! Went back there with the proof and got dinner. I was really amazed. I managed to eat a whole small kebab over the space of about an hour. Was the yummiest thing I have had in ages.

This week is really busy at work as we have our annual conference and I am helping with some of the organisation. I am not going however as holding down the fort at the officeon Thursday & Friday.

Spot ya later.

J

Oops - AFK again.

I am really really sorry for not posting. I kinda have a reasonably boring life which entails going to work coming home, cooking diinenr, and play World of Warcraft with my hubby. I really wish there was more to write about, but that it pretty much it in a nutshell.

Here is a pic of my latest toon on WOW. Her name is Faithhealer and she is my priest in the game. She has kinda been taking up most of my spare time. Some of you who read will know here personally (those who play WOW)and the rest of you will just have to understand that yes I am addicted to this game!!!!



Other stuff that has been happening. Well I had to go to the doctors for a check up last week and to get a blood test request done. I have been having dizzy spells and my blood pressure is up so we thought it was about time we did them. So I had those results back yesterday and they are all extremely normal. So that is brill!!



I didn't really like the doctor that much. He is my new GP and I was very lucky to be able to get in. There are over 100 families in the area who cannot get into a GP as they are overcrowded. He gave me a bit of a hard time about not exercising enough, but man it is really hard to do at this time of the year. (middle of winter). Thinking back on it , he didn't actually give me any praise for losing 60kgs!!

I haven't been back to line dancing yet, although I will go as the lady who runs it (my workmate's Mum) said she will take me for a special class for the first 1/2 hour so I can try and get what feels like 3 left feet to work. So hopefully I will enjoy that more. At the moment I have a sore toenail (yes I cut it too low & now it hurts) which is driving me nuts to even wear shoes, so I am not sure how I will go with dancing.

OH, I weighed in this morning (have been slack this week) and I have lost a total of 60.2 kgs. Sitting at 116.8 kgs atm. SO YAY ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, also had the pastor of the church we are going to come around on Tuesday which was nice to get to know her more and for her to hear our story. It was interesting, when she found out I was adopted she automatically assumed that I have rejection issues, which I find really funny as I have never once felt bad about my adoption. In fact I am really proud of it.

I am going to do a course called Women to Women, which is run by someone from the church. Apparently it provides healing, insight and strategies for change. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

Anyway - had better get some work done. Thank goodness it is Friday and that I actually do have some stuff happening over the weekend, which I am not going to tell you about (Will save it for another entry so my blog isn't boring)

Ciao

Dancing Queen?

I am a dancing queen? Well I thought that I would check out Line Dancing in Feilding since I used to love it so much. However I went last night and although I still love the concept, I do not learn very fast at all, and I really need a teacher that breaks it down almost step by step. Unfortunately the teacher goes through it once quite fast and I just did not enjoy myself at all.

But on the danicng front, Si and I are going to try ballroom dancing, if his back permits. Apparently there is a very good teacher here in Palmerston North, so I will check out the prices.

Weigh day was yesterday and I had a really nice loss of 1.2 kgs which takes me to 117.2 kgs, so I should hit the magical 60 kgs lost next week.

Workwise things are hectic being beginning of the month, but going well. This year just seems to be flying!!!!!

DING DONG AVON CALLING

Yup you guessed it. I am going back to selling Avon. Mostly to make a little extra money for Christmas this year. I used to sell it when I lived in Auckland, and I think I was in the 28% profit category, which isn't too bad really. It really just takes time as the product does sell itself. I am sure between my workmates, family church people and the ladies from cards as well as my "territory" I will be able to make a little before Christmas. The only scary part is New Zealands No 1 salesperson is in my town, so I will be 'Competing" with her.

Nothing else has been happening much. NO I have not yet made it back to the gym, and as for walking, it is has been bucketing down with rain that I would look like a drowned rat if I tried.

On the weight front though, things are going in the right direction and as of Monday I was 118.4 kgs, so that is a total loss of 58.6 kgs. Not far now till I have lost 60 kgs.

Anyway - back to work, and then we I get home I am going to work on getting my Avon stuff ready. I think I will make a little introduction phamplet to include so when I pop brochures into peoples mailboxes they will be more likely to indentify with me.

Anyhow, see ya later!!!

Your avon lady.
Janine

Where to from here?

Okay I need a game plan on how to reach my goal for my 1 year anniversary of this op. I have 22 weeks to achieve this goal. What goal you say? Well for my 1 year anniversary of my op I would like to be under 100kgs. Which means that I need to lose 20 kgs in 22 weeks!! How am I going to do this? I am not 100% sure atm.

I really don’t think I am doing enough moving. And part of that is due to it being so damn cold…….I know, it is nothing but an excuse, but I really am finding it way to hard to get out of bed in the mornings. Too much WOW,(game) and it being too cold in the mornings.

So, I am going to go to the gym on the way home twice a week. That means that I have no excuses. So come next Monday night, I am going to be on the treadmill at 5PM – and I will start with just 20 mins. Then I will go again on Wednesday. The other days I am going to start taking Porsche out for walks – probably only 10 mins to start with as she is really really hard to walk. But it means that she will hopefully be a little less bored and she will get used to the lead, which then means we can increase our distance and both enjoy it.

As it is so cold I am going to put aqua on hold, as I just get way to cold and the last thing I want is to get sick. I also thought about going to the line dancing class here as I do really enjoy it, but I think it is at a stupid time…I will look more into this.

I also need to keep and eye on what I am eating, as now that I am 7 months post op I find I can eat most things, although some of them are very limited.
I must also keep on top of my vitamins as I have definitely not been good with this.

So, keep watching, this girl is aiming to be 99.9 kgs or under by 19th November and the countdown has begun. Weighdays will be on Monday’s and I promise to update it often.

Hopefully as this will be significantly more that what I am currently doing it will help with the continued weight loss.

Two Awesome NSV's.......Oh and did ya know that I am hot!!!!

Well I can officially cross three things of my goal list in the past week.
Last friday I wore full length non stretch Jeans to work, and was comfortable all day!!!!!!!!! It was so nice just to fit in! Jeans and sneakers, rather than wearing just the same old same old.

Then yesterday I was going back down to my old job in Wellington, and I knew I would be able to try the boardroom chairs for comfort, these used to be really really tight on my thighs and I used to end up with red marks where they pressed into my thighs.......and now they don't!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, i just thought of another one, I spent most of the day withmy legs crossed - sitting on those very chairs.......oooohh and another one, I wore high heels all day - although I did almost get a blister from them!!!

And with those high heels, I wore......you guess it, stockings!!!!!! Not just knee hi's but real full length stockings.

Hehe - is was also fun seeing some of the reactions to my weightloss, although some of the people have seen me a few weeks ago, alot of them hadn't, and none of them had seen the new improved hairstyle.......which I will show you soon.

Anyway - while there, one of the IT guys who is really cute, told me that "I was HOT!!!" and that I looked fabulous......awww, ain't that sweet. Well, it must be true, cos today when I went to the local cafe for lunch, i took my wallet, but I forgot my money card, ( I had put it in a different place) so I was asking the women if she could hold the items and I would pop back......and the guy next in the queue, stopped her by saying that he would shout me lunch. Now, I know he was just being kind, but I kinda like to think that part of the reason he did this for a complete stranger was that I actaully to look HOT!!!!!!! I of course will pay the favour forward!!!

Okay well, here it is, the new hairstyle......really bad pic of me, cos I took it myself with my cellphone.

AWOL - Where have I been

Yup - I have certainly been absent without leave from my journal, but I have beenhaving a blast.

Pretty much I have been hanging out with friends in Azeroth (which is the world in my game). Here is a pic of me on my little dwarf preist hanging out with my friend Maryn overlooking the Nagrand region.



I know most of you will probably be going ....What is she on????? But this is what I do in my spare time, I hang out with Simon and a whole bunch of friends in an online world and we explore, laugh, cry and quest together.

Oh don't get me wrong it is not all I do, but this is pretty much my social and entertainment calender and with the winter months upon us, it is where you will usually find me.

Hair today - gone tomorrow!!!

Yup you guess it – almost 6 months post- op and my hair starts to fall out in clumps in the shower.Well probably not clumps but it is coming out at about 20 strands per tug!!!I strong suspect that it has a lot to do with me still not managing to take my supplements correctly. So from now on, I must take my pills!!!!!!!!!

Good news on the scales this week though – especially after trying to decide what scales to use. This morning I got on my home scales after my shower and I was dressed (except jumper and boots) and it was 122.9 kgs. So when I get to work I jump on the work scales and I was 125.1 kgs!!!!!!

I decided to take off my jumper and boots and check again, and damn it my boots and jumper weighed 1.9 kgs!!!So I am now officially down to 123.2 kgs!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That means a loss of 2.1 kgs over the last couple of weeks. And now I must remember to weigh in wearing the same clothes each Monday!!!

Had a really quiet weekend, Si was not feeling the best, and for some reason no food tasted good yesterday, so I was a bit picky and I think I got up Si’s nose a bit, especially when I refused to eat the eggs he had cooked yesterday morning.

OH, another weird thing, I can eat a whole mini bag of butter popcorn. How weird is that???

Gratitude for Today

Have been doing a little bit of soul searching the last week or so. Things have felt a bit rough, not losing as much as I think I should be, and letting some bad habits get in the way as well. I also have not being doing as much exercise as this cold weather has put a damper on things.

Si is having some issues with his back and we have been to see his surgeon last week and will be off to see his surgeon again next week to see what the results of the CT scan look like.

One of my greatest resources at the moment is a website called Renewed Reflections. It is a site that provides information and support for Weightloss Surgery Patients, and although it is based in the US the information and support is great.
I get the weekly news letter and the following is from that.

If you’ve got happiness on hold until you get to the “destination”, you’re never going to have it. Happiness isn’t over there, because “there” continues to move. The key is to enjoy the little things that you see along the way and use their magic and beauty to divert you from the temptations that can lead you off the path. Enjoy nature, an original gift from a loving Father. Organize a weekly game night with friends. Take walks. Turn off the television and go putter in the garden. Look at the gifts that God has given you and turn your back on the Trojan horses of instant gratification the “world” offers up as temptations.

Learning to live a new life after weight loss surgery is all about awareness, awareness of your surroundings, and of yourself. By staying in the now and appreciating the small blessings of everyday life, you can experience an awesome sense of gratitude for the second chance that you’ve been given. Don’t beat yourself up if you occasionally slip and fall. You’re never going to be perfect, but you are going to grow wise. Keep moving forward, and enjoy the view from each new stepping stone in your life.

I really can relate to some of the above, although more so when I was living in Wellington – and I think that we all do it to a certain extent. ‘Putting Happiness on hold” is no way to live. So what am I going to do to ensure I am enjoying my life right now?

- Cards – I like going, not only do I spend time with Dad, I get to know some really cool older people, whom I know I can learn a lot from.
- Aqua Aerobics – Once a week class at aqua because I enjoy it
- Get out for dinner at least once a month.
- Go to the movies at least once a month.
- Go for weekend drives and explore the area we live in!!!!
- Show Simon where I grew up on the farm.
- Have people over for dinner more often.

I would love any suggestions that you can think of to just stop and inhale deeply, smell the roses, and enjoy the day!!!!!!!!!