Life's been rather hectic lately. *insert crazy, frazzled face*

Started my new job on Monday. I went from working nights three days a week to five days of daytime 8 hour shifts. Quite a change. Now, I'm trying to come up with a plan for eating on this new schedule.

I have veered off track on my food lately. I know I am eating too much and I am not tracking enough. I don't find that acceptable (and I know Dr. PeopleSkills won't when I see him on Thursday), but I was so overwhelmed by my old job and the upcoming new job. Things just got out of control.

My plan is to test things out for a week or two and see if I can settle into something for an eating schedule. Things are going to be hectic for a bit while I learn to be a "Day Walker". By the end of the two weeks, I want to have a routine down for meal times. Then, I'll really focus on getting my food intake under control and written down. I'm going to keep an eye on the intake anyway, but, as long as I don't binge, I'm not going to make that my main problem to solve just yet. I'm prioritizing, rather than trying to take it all on at one time.

Once I get those two issues rolling, I'm going to work on increasing my exercise. I took a walk today on my lunch break and it felt so good. I will keep that up. Problem is, by the time I get home, I'm really tired. That's due to the new job and flipping nights to days. It will sort out soon. Once it does, I hope to start doing my cardio exercise DVDs, even if only for a few minutes at first. I'm aiming for at least a trial run at the DVDs by the first weekend in July. Gives me time to get some energy back and not enough time to get lazy and "forget" that I'd planned to up my exercise.

Between my new job and my honey's tonsillectomy on Thursday, life's running at a fast and furious clip. That's taxing but, I look at it this way: I am running right along with it, mostly keeping up, which is better than watching it from the couch like I did before.

Downside to losing over 100 pounds very quickly: Skin doesn't retract as fast as the weight loss and loose skin can get caught in stuff. I just pinched my saggy upper arm skin between my high work desk and the arm of my computer chair! Sweet mother, that hurt!

...and it's rather funny to me too. Just another experience I wouldn't have had if life had gone a little differently and I wouldn't have had the surgery.

6 Month Post-Op Appt Ramble

My six month surg-iversary was on Friday, June 15. Yay! :)

Had a visit with my Internal Med guy, Dr. H, for my 6 month follow up. He was happy with my weight loss progress. By his record--which I argue with--I have lost 75 pounds since surgery. I maintain it is 83 pounds! Discrepancies aside, that's still pretty good for a 6 month loss.

My cholesterol and other such important labs were good. I'm to continue as usual with vitamins and eating well.

My thyroid was off (meaning, I'm not getting enough med), but, honestly, that's not surprising. I take that when I take my anxiety med in the morning. I've missed several doses of the anxiety med because it makes me drowsy and I remembered to take it too late. If I did take it late, I'd be very tired and that's hard when working in an emergency room, even as non-patient care staff.

I switch to a regular, 9-5 office job on Monday. At that time, I think I'll be in a better place to schedule pills and meals. Well, I hope so, since that was the whole reason I took the job.

I'm still tired all the time, but that's due to having only 1,000 calories a day (per nutritionist, and just for now) and because I keep missing those anxiety meds. I'm having tired withdrawal symptoms, as Dr. H explained to me at our last appointment.

Per that previous conversation, we opted to move me off of my current anxiety med, Paxil, to a new one (don't remember the name). I take both for the next week and then drop Paxil completely. It will be soooo nice not having that pill add to my constant feeling of tired!

Prior to and after my surgery, no one told me how much weight I should lose in what time frame. I never knew if I was on the right track, going too slow, going too fast, etc. Dr. H actually told me what he expects of me in the next six months. I'm happy about that. I like having a goal/plan.

He said that my weight loss will slow, which it already has, now that I am further away from my surgery and getting more calories than I was initially. He said walking is excellent, but my metabolism is going to need a boost at this point, so I should do some cardio exercise 2x a week.

Also, he said that another 75 (83!) pound loss by the one-year surg-iversary is not expected, nor a healthy goal. He feels a 25 pound loss in that time frame (6 more months) would be safe and attainable. That's approximately 1 pound a week. I plan to try to do 2 pounds a week, but, over all, I'm going to be happy as long as I make the 25 lb mark. Anything greater is a bonus!

"Maybe the most any of us can expect of ourselves isn't perfection but progress." ~ Michelle Burford

So far, my car has broken down and I accidentally sliced off part of my left pinky fingernail while shaving my legs (my lack of coordination is legendary). I'm kind of afraid to touch or do anything today for fear of what else might happen.

On a happier note, I am just two days away from my six month post op surg-iversary! Goodness, six months sounds so much longer than it has felt.

I'm still learning about myself emotionally, how to handle my Frankensteined system, and discovering long hidden body parts (guess what! I found a collar bone the other day and felt a hip bone last week!). I think most of that will be a life long process and I welcome it. Bet life gets boring if you figure it all out.

Six months ago, I wouldn't have even imagined that, today, I would be less than two weeks from starting a new job--and a daytime job at that. I wouldn't have had any idea that I would lose 83 pounds between then and now. Finally, surprise!, I can--and enjoy--walking two miles, when I hated walking to the mail box six months ago.

Life really is a roller coaster. Who knows what is around the next bend? I'm looking forward to finding out when I get there.

You may or may not remember that I have a less than wonderful relationship with my dad. He's been absent for most of my life and, when he is around, he has moments of massive tactlessness, both alcohol related and non-alcohol related.

We played phone tag early this year for a bit. I eventually decided to call my effort "good enough" and gave up. I wasn't upset that we hadn't connected, truthfully.

Well, that changed on Sunday.

My mom asked me to come pick her up from the VFW that her boyfriend goes to. She was leaving her vehicle with him to have it fixed, so she needed a ride home.

I know my dad goes to that same VFW, so I jokingly said to her on the phone, "is Dad going to be there? Can we get a warning system in place, just in case?" Stupid me, I jinxed myself!

I walked in the building and there was my dad. It was the first time I have been face-to-face with him in about 7 years. Yippee.

Okay, it could have been so much worse, I'll admit it. Since I didn't know he was going to be there, there was no build up of dread about how awkward it was going to be. He wasn't drunk, though working his way there. Also, I had my mom there as a buffer.

Before I arrived, Dad must have asked my mom about me and what I've been up to. From what I heard when I walked in, it was obvious that she'd just told him about my GBP surgery.

That actually surprised me, because I thought that her boyfriend, who is now a friend of my dad's, would have told him before. Mom's boyfriend came to see me in the hospital, for goodness sakes. I know he and Dad talk about me occasionally because that's when Dad whines that I don't ever call him and Mom's boyfriend nags me about it.

Dad asked me questions about my life and about my surgery. He did say he was proud of me for making the decision. Thumbs up to him for such a statement. Of course, he also asked me in the middle of a tavern what my highest weight was. He's had several wives. He should know better than to ask a woman that, in public no less! lol He followed it up with saying that, if I am lucky, I'll lose as much as he did...totally serious, while patting his big beer belly. <--God had a sense of humor when He chose my father.

Mom had to leave to go pack for a business trip, so we didn't stay more than a half hour or 45 minutes. That suited me fine. Kept the visit with Dad short, minimizing weirdness.

No doubt, he'll redouble his efforts to get together with my S.O. and me for dinner now. I'm okay with that though, because there won't have been a 7 year gap since I'd seen him last. The longer I go without seeing him, the weirder it is to interact with him.

In other news...

I broke my plateau! I weighed myself on Thursday night and showed a 0.8 lb loss, but I didn't really feel that was breaking anything, since I can gain that by drinking a liter of water. However, I weighed myself tonight and I have lost 4.2 more pounds.

That puts my current weight at 214.3 pounds. Appox 83 pounds lost since my surgery on December 15, 2011, and a grand total of about 103 pounds lost since April 2011. That's right, I hit the 100 pound loss mark!!

Funny enough, I didn't even realize that until a friend on MFP pointed it out. I was more focused on the fact that I finally started losing weight--any weight--again.

I wonder if I weigh less than my S.O. yet on our scale. . . I'll have to find out.