Waters Weight

LaRue and Remi

2012-02-27T20:21:00.001-08:00

Well, I've introduce Edith (my belly) on the blog ...

Now it's time to introduce LaRue and Remi. My left and right arm flabby, flappy, flaps.

Now, I am very pleased with the progress LaRue and Remi have made during this journey. Even post surgery, last summer, Remi was HUGE!!

I love the bug bite, Remi!

Now that Remi and LaRue have deflated some, they look a little ... Um, weird? Wrinkly? Choppy? I dunno. I do have fond feelings for my dear L&R, but like Edith, I look forward to the day that they get sliced off.

Some photos of my dear sweeties:

It's a love-hate relationship, really.

Go Team Waters!

Winners

2012-02-21T18:54:00.002-08:00

Thank you SO much to all of you who "liked" our photo on Facebook!! In less than 24 hours, we had over 900 likes and won!! Currently, our photo has 1600+ likes! Our minds are officially blown!

We got our shirts in the mail the other day and snapped some quick pics today.

If you have not checked out the Fit2Fat2Fit blog, you MUST!!

Go Team Waters!

Then and Now...

2012-02-02T22:50:00.001-08:00

Tyson and I entered a contest on Facebook! It ends tomorrow at 8am, but if you read this before then, click on the link and like our photo. Heck, like it no matter when you read this! I'm loving seeing how many supporters we have!!

Click HERE to like our FB picture

In the last year, we've lost a combined total of 375 lbs!!! WOW!!! And we're still going!

And just for the fun of it, I tried on my old pants tonight:

Yeah, ignore our many cat toys on the floor. The cats are crazy!! They tried on the pants too!

ONE-derland!!!

2012-01-16T16:46:00.000-08:00

Guess who is super handsome AND weighs 198 lbs?!?!

THIS GUY:

2011 Year in Review

2012-01-16T15:44:00.000-08:00

Yeah, it's a bit into January, but heck, better late than never, eh?? Here is a recap of what we were up to in 2011 ...

2011
JANUARY:
We started the year out knee-deep in appointments and preparations for surgery. Our new insurance kicked in and it was full steam ahead to meet all the requirements that BCBS asked of us for surgery. We wasted no time and had our nutrition eval and psych eval done by January 3rd.

I can't remember if I talked about it on here, but I failed the psych eval. The Psychologist diagnosed me with PTSD. He decided to let me get surgery after all on the condition that I would do trauma therapy. Not wanting this to get in my way of surgery, I went to therapy twice a week and finished my requirements before the end of the month. I don't believe my issues were completely solved, but I felt good about what he taught me and I certainly felt stronger to cope with my issues.

FEBRUARY:
We were approved for surgery on Feb 2 and were scheduled for February 18th. We started the 1000 calorie diet for the two weeks before surgery. It. Was. TOUGH!!! But it payed off and I lost 22 lbs in the 2 weeks and Tyson lost 25! Our surgeries went well, with just a few glitches. We spent the rest of month recovering.

MARCH:
We spent this month trying to get back into the swing of things. We started back to work, but were constantly tired and feeling sick. Food tasted horrible and energy was NO WHERE to be found. I was starting to wonder if we had made a bad choice having surgery. On the bright side, Tyson turned 31 and I turned 29 this month.

APRIL:
Our energy came back! Our social calendar started to pick up and we actually WANTED to go out with friends and family. Looking at the calendar, several dates were filled with things to do. I haven't been this social since I was a teenager. We also bought our first BRAND NEW car!! We are real adults now! :)

MAY:
Tyson hit 100 lbs lost this month!! He is rocking the diet! Our social calendar continues to grow, but what we are most proud of is that we both did the Susan G Koman Walk for a Cure 5K. I wanted die afterwards, but we did it!! I set a goal to RUN it next year.

JUNE:
I hit 100 lbs lost this month! YAY! We are feeling so much better and are both in the 2oo's now. NEVER again will our weight start with a 3. Those days are LONG gone. Our favorite time of the year is this month ... OREMFEST! We love getting together with Tyson's family and celebrating the city of Orem. The booths, the parade, and of course the FIREWORKS!!! Love it! We weren't able to eat what we used to eat, but we still had a blast and got our non-carbonated, sugar free Texas Twister drinks. Mmmm! We also finally sold my old care to a junker this month.

JULY:
This month can be summarized with one word: PARTIES! Between all the family birthdays and holidays, we partied it up like every day! It was so much fun to be active and happy to be out at these activities.

AUGUST:
We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary! I can't believe we have been married 4 years already! Life sure has changed since then. We also took a quick vacay to Bear Lake! I soaked up as much sun as possible. We also went to Lagoon (a local theme park). We fit on all the rides! Unfortunately, we are old now and our tummies did not enjoy the rides. Every single one made me dizzy and sick. But we fit on all the rides!! :) Tyson also hit 150 lbs lost this month.

SEPTEMBER:
Our Utes began playing this month! YAY for college football! Our boys demolished our arch-rivals, BYU. We had a pretty quite month otherwise. I hit 150 lbs lost this month though. woot!

OCTOBER:
Weight loss has really slowed down for us as we move towards healthier weights. This was a challenging month with all the candy around, but we resisted as best as we could. We continued to watch our Utes play and I had a consult for LASIK! (Which I scheduled for 01/2012) We also participated in the Walk from Obesity 1 mile walk.

NOVEMBER:
Another quite month. Thanksgiving was awesome though. We were able to have a lovely, HEALTHY dinner with my family. We also cooked our own Thanksgiving dinner a few days later for Tyson's mom and step-dad. Tyson was so proud to have made his own turkey. We even brined it himself. He is really becoming quite the chef! I love that man.

DECEMBER:
Holy cow this was a busy month for us. We did not have one spare weekend all month. It was crazy, but amazingly fun. I got extensions in my hair also! My poor hair is so thin, I had to get them to help with volume. They even added a bit of length!

It was hard to stay on plan with all the treats, parties, dinners, ect. I'll admit, I gave in way more than I should have. I did my best, but I failed quite a lot. I felt horrible and guilty. I was no where near as bad as years past, but no where near as good as I wanted to be. The good news is that I maintained my weight. I didn't lose, but I didn't gain. Thank goodness. I'm ready to put this year behind me and focus on the new year and the new us!

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-24T09:41:00.001-08:00

We hope you all have a very, merry Christmas!! Stay safe!!

Go Team Waters!

November Weigh In

2011-11-27T20:01:00.001-08:00

Well, I'm sorry I missed October, but I'm here to post our November weights! Since our weight loss has slowed so much, it's much more interesting if I just post our weights and pictures once a month. This will take the pressure off me (again lol) and hopefully I'll post more often, since I won't feel guilty for not posting the weigh ins.

Let's start with what Tyson has been up to. I'm bias, but I think this dude is amazing. He never ceases to amaze me. Tys has decided to go back to school and wrap up his BA degree. He applied to the University of Utah and got accepted again. Go Utes!!! He'll start back in the summer 2012.

He also has decided to teach himself to cook. Alton Brown is a favorite of ours and Tyson decided to use his technique to make our 2nd Thanksgiving dinner. (We ate with my family on the actual Thanksgiving and Tyson's mom and step dad on Saturday) Tyson bought a natural turkey, brined it himself and then cooked it to perfection. It was awesome!

He has done great with his weight loss, but he's near a healthy weight for his frame, so of course the scale is slow moving. Here are his two weigh in pictures:

Way to go, Mr Waters!

I'm not sure what to post about me! Work has kept me pretty busy and there isn't much exciting to post. I am still wrestling with my self image. I see picture of myself and I feel that I look good in them. I also am fitting into smaller clothes. Hello size 20! But I still feel so huge. I'm still plus sized. I'm still dangerously obese. Ugh. But I can't deny how healthy I feel! I have so much more energy. I enjoy shopping again! When I sit down, I can easily cross my legs. I love that. With my allergies, I get a yearly fall sinus infection and this year was no exception. But I got over it so much faster than years past. Life is very different.

Groupon offered discounted art lessons this week and Tyson bought them for me! I'm excited, but I think I'll wait and take the lessons when he starts night school this summer.

Here are my weigh in pictures (I took a few more than Tyson did):

So 19 lbs in two months. Not too bad. I know I need to step it up in the exercise department. Until then, I can't complain about how slow my weight loss is going.

So there is our weigh in!

Go Team Waters!

You know you are a bad blogger when...

2011-11-09T13:58:00.000-08:00

I can't even remember the last time I blogged!! Sorry team! I promise a post about our weight will coming soon!

Until then, I leave you with these photos:

Go Team Waters!!

Walk From Obesity

2011-10-23T21:01:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday, Tyson and I participated in the annual Walk From Obesity! It was held in conjunction with the South Jordan marathon. The walk was just one mile. We originally were going to do the 5K, but we were on a time crunch that day.

It was a touch on the cold side, so I wore my Utes hoodie under my walk shirt. Tyson didn't have any workout pants that weren't 5 sizes too big, so he walked in jeans. (we have since updated his wardrobe.) I had to represent my Utes with my hoodie and boy shorts.

Our Camelbak is like the best thing EVER!

Us with our surgeon, Dr Simper. I love that his son totally photobombed us! And for reals, I love Dr Simper's 'stache. It's like the most amazing thing ever.

Go Team Waters!!

Ute Fans!

2011-09-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

Well, it's our favorite time of year! FOOTBALL SEASON!!! Our team of choice? The Utah Utes of course!

We were blessed to be able to go to the first game of the season against Montana State (thanks Mom and Dad!!) and we won!

Our Utes have made us proud so far this season. We lost against USC, but we fought hard. This past Sat was our rivalry week and we played against BYU. The odds were not in our favor, but we kicked butt!

We didn't go to the game, but we cheered from home and wore our gear! (even to our friend's wedding reception! No worries, it was casual dress. They got married last month and Sat was party time!)

It's hard to believe that this was us just last season:

Go Team Waters!!

9/5 - 9/18/11: Weigh In!

2011-09-20T21:41:00.001-07:00

Well weight loss certainly has slowed down. :( I know it's totally normal and I am SO glad we are at least still going down.

I just wish I could snap my fingers and be where I want to be weight-wise and health-wise. Since I can't do that, I'm doing everything I can to keep my head in the right place. I started seeing a therapist last month. She had weight loss surgery herself a few years ago. I need to go see her again. It helps having someone to talk to (besides Tyson) who truly understands.

Speaking of Tyson, he continues to rock it. His weight loss has slowed also, but he is still looking fine!

Lookin great in his new dress clothes:

Hottie Utes Man:

Tys dropped another 3 lbs:

I hit a milestone this week and reached 250 lbs! I'm mostly excited about this because it means I officially am not lying on my driver's license!!

I don't even recognize the person in this picture. Did I really look like that?? So puffy and swollen?

Btw, my eyes are NOT hazel. For some reason they made me put that when I was 16. My eyes are dark green!

Go Team Waters!!

8/22 - 9/4/11: Weigh In!

2011-09-04T19:10:00.001-07:00

Two more weeks down and more weight "got rid of". (see pic a few posts back for that reference)

In the last two weeks, I lost 4 lbs the first week 5 lbs this week! Not too shabby! That puts my weight this week at 252! (sorry, no weekly pictures this week, we're having too much fun!)

Tyson lost SIX lbs the first week and then plateaued out and stayed the same this week. (I think he purposely stalled out to let me catch up with him! Haha jk). His weight this week is 231 lbs. Way to go, honey!

Go Team Waters!!

Who I Am

2011-09-03T05:47:00.001-07:00

I love this. It totally is how I feel right now:

Go Team Waters!!

7/18 - 8/21/2011: Weigh In

2011-08-21T18:22:00.001-07:00

What what? No weigh in for 4 weeks!! Whoops! And guess what? I wasn't even good at getting our "weekly pictures" this time. I made two and Tyson made one. LOL, I think we were too busy having fun this summer!!! (see previous posts!)

Tyson weighs in this week at 237 lbs, which means he lost 15 lbs this last month!!! Woot woot! Rock it!

I weighed in at 260 lbs which means I've lost 19 lbs!!! Ahh--yeah!! i'm only 10 lbs away from not lying on my driver's license! YAY! The best part about my 2nd weigh in pic?? That shirt from Old Navy is only a size 1X!! Yep! I am almost into "regular" ON clothes!!

Go Team Waters!!

Lagoon!

2011-08-21T18:20:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Tyson's yearly work trip to Lagoon! We thought it'd be a blast to go see if we'd fit into the rides finally. Boy were we wrong!! Yes, we did fit into the rides!! HOWEVER, we are way too old for amusement parks!! We hit up two or three roller coasters and were okay, dizzy, but okay. Then we tried the Colossus. Oh man. That did us in. My equilibrium never recovered after that. Plus, it was over 90 degrees and we were just making ourselves miserable. I did my best to keep a happy face, but I really just wanted to go home to my AC'ed apartment! Thankfully, Tyson agreed and after 6 hours of at least getting some good walking in, we were done. We really did have fun with Tyson's co-workers though! Maybe we'll try again next year and wear our swimsuits??

Look at this face!:

Drenched:

Go Team Waters!!

The Great Food Truck Race

2011-08-21T18:16:00.001-07:00

Remember how I never blogged about The Great Food Truck Race? Yeah, well that episode airs tonight. HAHA. I know you have no clue what I am talking about. Back in April, The Great Food Truck Race rolled into Salt Lake City. We LOVED this show last season and were thrilled to be part of it this time around. Even with our diet restrictions, we were able to sample food from all the trucks that came here. (my camera got wiped out, so most of the pics saved were from Tyson's camera)

The local news even interviewed us!

Anyway, so the episode airs TONIGHT on the Food Network!! Don't have cable?? Click on the link below and our episode should be posted by tomorrow. It's episode #2!!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/the-great-food-truck-race/lets-get-rolling/index.html

Go Team Waters!!

Bear Lake

2011-08-21T18:10:00.001-07:00

The second week in August was our family reunion trip to Bear Lake. The drive up was great until we hit this:

We tried to stay happy:

But then I got bored:

FINALLY we got through and were on our way! We spend most of our time at the beach, soaking up the sun!! I did not even step a foot into the cold water though! HAHA!

Here's a pic of us, with our amazing tent behind us (the green one):

And here's Tyson in our super comfy bed. The first night was FREEZING! But after re-arranging our bedding and borrowing extra blankets, we were cozy the next night:

Oops ... forgot the sunscreen on my knees ... and BTW, a bird totally pooped on me! That's good luck ... right?!?

A week later, and my sun burnt knee did a weird blistery thing. Gross!

Amazing sunset:

Bear Lake is always an amazing trip. Tyson's family is so much fun and I love his Aunts and Uncles so much.

Go Team Waters!!

4th Wedding Anniversary

2011-08-21T18:02:00.001-07:00

August 3rd marked our FOURTH wedding anniversary. I love that it seems longer and shorter at the same time.

How lucky am I? I know it's corny, but I truly married my best friend. Tyson is the one person in the whole world who understands me. He loves me, faults and all. I could not have asked for a better man to share my life with.

Through thick and thin (literally!!!), Tyson has been such an example to me of how to deal with the world head on and triumph. He works so hard every day to make our life the best it can be. He has supported me and held my hand through every minute of this weight loss roller coaster.

Cheers to 4 years, my love, and many more to come!

PS: Tyson totally surprised me and sent flowers to me at work!!!!

Go Team Waters!!

Changing the blog format a tad ...

2011-08-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, can I be real for a minute? I am getting bored of blogging about weight loss. HAHA. I know. First I slack off on blogging about our weight loss and then I say that I am tired of it! I am not going to stop blogging about our weight loss...don't worry! I just want to blog about some of my other interests also! I still want to try and get our weekly update in also. I just want to branch out a bit and talk about other things that interest me. Like music, art, awesome things on the internet, and my new hobby of blogging. It might result in more (interesting) blog posts! It's like a win-win situation!

To kick things off ... I want to share this video. I am pretty much obsessed with Foster The People right now. And guess what? WEEZER covered them!!! Holy dream come true! I wish I had been there to see it in person.

Portion Distortion

2011-08-21T17:11:00.001-07:00

6/27 - 7/17/11: Three Week Update

2011-07-17T21:21:00.001-07:00

Um, yeah. So July has seriously slipped away from me! We've been so busy, that blogging kind of got pushed to the back burner. Sorry team!

Where to start ... Oh yeah, our 4 month post surgery follow up! Nothing too exciting to report there. We are still right on track for where the doc wants us to be 4 months out. We don't have to go back until our 8 month mark now! We got some more blood work done though. Tyson's came back that he is still vitamin A and D deficient, which make sense, since he didn't really remember to double up on his ADEK vitamins like he was told at our 2 month appt. Tys has since then made some changes in his routine and is doing much better at taking the vitamins. I am still a tiny bit D deficient, but not by much. It's hard to imagine that taking TWO multi-vitamins, a calcium chew that has D in it, and 4000 units of D a day is STILL not enough. Now I'm taking 6000 units of D a day. Oy! Also, my calcium was a touch high. So the doc had me back in to redraw my calcium and also test my thyroid. If my thyroid is fine, then it's no big deal that my calcium is high. I'm still waiting to hear ... so fingers crossed that the thyroid is normal!

Then came the 4th of July weekend. What a busy, busy time for us! On the 2nd, Tys and I spent the day down in Utah County. Tyson's little cousin got baptized, so we went to that, and then it was time to pick up our Color Me Mine bowls! They turned out very cute!

Then it was time for Stadium of Fire fireworks. We usually go to the Provo Temple to watch them, but this year we took a tip from Tyson's uncle and tried out a different spot. It wasn't as good as the temple, as there were a lot of trees blocking our view, but it was fun to try out some place new.

On the third, we met up with Tyson's dad who was in town and did dinner and a movie. Transformers 3 in 3D IMAX. It was awesome! I really love the concept of the Transformer movies. 3 was WAY better than 2, but still not quite as good as 1.

Finally on the 4th, we met up with my side of the family. My little cousin is here for the summer visiting from England. We wanted to show him how the American's do it, so we did the big BBQ and of course went all out on the fireworks. Tys and I decided that since aerials were legal this year in Utah, we'd try a few out. Here's a video from my favorite one, called Grand Canyon! The video is a touch blurry, because they were exploding so close to us, that I couldn't focus! I love my dad's "wow!" at the end of the video:

Later that week, Tyson had Friday off work, since he had to work on Saturday, and he got to go fishing with his dad and brother. It was good for him to spend some quality time with the two. I hear they had a blast, even though they got rained on. Tyson caught two fish, but ended coming home with 8 fillets ... figure that one out! So if you have any great recipes for us, let me know as we still have half of them left in the freezer.

On Monday, we got to spend one last dinner with Tyson's dad before he headed back to Washington. We all met up at Tyson's other brother's house, because he and his wife had just gotten back from a super amazing trip to Armenia/Paris/London. We got to check out their pictures and had some good grub. Family time is the best!

Wednesday, the 14th brought this month's support group. We were supposed to have an open discussion with one of the surgeon's, but he got help up in surgery. Sad! I was pretty bummed out, because the gal in charge of group had to wing it and tried to lecture us on portion control. So I know portion control is important ... trust me, I get it, but BORING! I'm sick of hearing about it! haha. I was really looking forward to hearing the open questions. I get the most out of support group when I hear what the others are going through. We (the patients) went off on our own tangents a few times, so I did a little bit of that. Overall though, I love support group. I really do get so much out of it. They offer a 2nd support group that is more psychologically based and it's conducted by a therapist. I really think I might check that group out also. My emotions are starting to be a little bit more of a roller-coaster than I'd like. (Which they warned me about pre-surgery).

I am starting to enjoy working out more now. A few times we've gone for long walks around our neighborhood. I've really enjoyed getting the fresh air and tan on my shoulders! Can I be TMI for a minute and show the most amazing sports bra ever?! It was the best find at Target EVER!!! And don't you worry, that logo shows right through when I wear a white tank over it. LOVE IT!!

I might be behind on blogging, but we still of course, took our weekly pics:

In three weeks, Tyson has lost 13 lbs!! Woot Woot! Um, he's sitting at 252 today. WHAT?! Like, that's skinny, dude! I love the pic of him from 7/10. For reals, my husband is smoking hot! I forgot to mention that over the 4th, we both went through our closets and tossed a TON of clothes that are just too big. We both got rid of 2 garbage sacks full each! Tyson found some really awesome band shirts pushed to the back of his closet and I love that he can actually wear them now. So fun!

My plateau with the scale continues and in the three weeks, I lost 8 lbs. I know that is still a great number, but like I said earlier, my emotions are getting to me right now, so I am awfully disappointed in myself. I am really hoping the therapy sessions will bring me out of this funk I am in. Also, my sleeping habits are lacking. I need to get more rest, which I know effects weight loss. But I have a bright spot this week ... COLLAR BONES!!! Yes, I do in fact have them! I popped them out to say hello in this week's monthly pics:

Well, off to tackle yet another busy week. We have Pioneer Day Weekend this weekend ... which means ... MORE FIREWORKS!!! YAY!!

Go Team Waters!!

6/20 - 6/26/11 Weekly Update

2011-06-26T20:30:00.001-07:00

What a week!

On Monday, Tyson and I tried out the water aerobics class at our gym. I loved it! The instructor is a young gal and I loved her too. Her class had the perfect mix of humor/fun and yet you felt like you got a good work out.

On Tuesday, we took our rings in to be resized. Tyson went from a 12 to a 9.5 and I went from 10 to an 8! So crazy! It's nice that our rings fit well again. My rings seem so small now!

Then we had some issues with our vehicles. Tyson's Buick acted up and was in the shop Thursday and Friday. An exhaust valve was sticking or something. Random car problems are so annoying! I also finally got rid of my old car. They came Friday to tow it away to a junker place. As the tow truck turned the corner, I burst into tears. I had that car ten years! So many memories. Anyway ... My new car rocks, so I hope I stop missing the junker soon.

On Saturday we double dated with Tyson's mom and stepdad. We went to Color Me Mine. I really had a blast and was impressed with how our stuff turned out. I branched out and freehanded mine. I liked it!

Tyson rocked the weigh in this week with another 4 lbs. I'm so proud of him!!

I had a little stumble with just one pound lost, but I'm looking forward to pushing myself harder this next week.

Go Team Waters!!

6/6 - 6/19/11 Two Week Update

2011-06-21T19:39:00.001-07:00

Well, the last two weeks certainly slipped away from me! But the good news is that I’ll write all about them in this here post! Hooray!

The week of 6/6– 6/12 was pretty packed for us with appointments and family time. We also had our June support group on the 8th. It was kind of interesting. The topic was exercising. Tyson and I had really been wanting to join a gym so, it was motivating to hear what the personal trainer had to say. We decided to go tour 24 Hour Fitness and fell in love with it. One location is a little bit further away from our apartment, but has a fun water aerobics class and both hip hop and Zumba classes! We did our research and bought our memberships at Costco. Hello $12.50 per month!!

Saturday, June 11th was the happiest day of the year … not only is it my dad’s birthday, but it’s OREMFEST!!!!! I look forward to Orem’s Summer Fest every year. Of course this year was different, because we couldn’t eat the grilled corn on the cob or other junk foods we’d normally eat, but it was also different in a good way, because we had more energy! I decided to “splurge” and get a sugar-free, carbonation-free Texas Twister drink. It wasn’t AS good as a regular Texas Twister, but it was still delish! Also, as tradition states, I got my temporary tattoo. This year I went with henna! All in all, we had a blast watching the parade and fireworks. Only 350-something more days until the next Oremfest!!

Thursday, June 16th, we decided to take some “us” time and went and got a couples massage. Oh how I wish I could get these more often! It was both relaxing and stressful though. I need to stop being self-conscious, but I felt awkward. Of course it didn’t help that the guy doing my massage was super hot. But both my guy and Tyson’s girl were really nice and put me at ease. I could really feel my back loosen after that.

Saturday, June 18th was another busy day with socializing and running around town. I met up with my friend at Color Me Mine to do some art therapy. A gal there snapped this pic of us, and it’s the first time I’ve seen a pic of myself that I thought I really look thinner. I’m my worst critic, so this was a big deal for me.

We spent the rest of the night running around from a work BBQ of mine and a wedding where my cousin married a guy a I grew up with. So I knew both sides of the wedding party! Fun!

Weight loss has been good to us the last two weeks. Tyson lost 4 lbs the first week and another 4 lbs the second week, bringing his grand total to 125 lbs lost so far!! I’m so proud of how far he’s come! Everyone just gets so excited to see him, because he looks sooooo great!

I lost 5 lbs the first week, and 3 lbs the second. YEAH! I’ve dropped 109 lbs total now.

PS: Special shout out to my friend Chris, who, I found out reads our blog! He recently dropped over 100 lbs of his own! Way to go!

Go Team Waters!!

5/30 - 6/5/11 Weekly Updated

2011-06-05T21:11:00.001-07:00

Seriously?! It has been another week already?!

This week we got a bee in our bonnets and wanted to decorate our apartment. Yeah, we've lived here for three years and never really had the energy (or money) to do much. We took a trip to Ikea and I fell in love with everything there!! And it's all so cheap!! Totally got our money's worth.

We got a bookshelf for our back door entryway. Tyson also hung a hook for me to hang my purse on!

We got this AWESOME Picasso print. If you know us, you know we are animal lovers in this family, so this was perfect!

We also got a new stand for our TV, but poor Tyson hasn't had enough time in the weekend to do it all. So he said he'd put it together this week.

I've mentioned in previous posts that we were expected to have some hair loss. This is in full swing for both of us. It's so far like normal Spring shedding, only worse. I am just glad it's not happening in patches...yet!

Tyson has done amazing this week. He really has been so helpful in helping make our apartment cute. Poor thing had sore muscles today from caring all the Ikea boxes up to the apartment by himself! Of course, weight-wise he rocked it yet again. Another six pounds bits the dust!! Doesn't he look hot in this knit hat?!

Big news in my world. I finally hit the 299 mark, and two days later, my 100 lb loss mark! I may or may not have done the Dougie. :-) My total for this week was 5 lbs. Thank goodness our plateau didn't last long this time. I had Tyson take my weekly pic full body to show that I'm getting brave enough to bare some leg! Get ready for some Aimee picture overload:

Go Team Waters!!

5/23 - 5/29/11 Weekly Update

2011-05-29T20:39:00.001-07:00

How do these weeks fly by so fast? This week was fun for us. We went to the zoo yesterday! We did get tired at the end of walking up and down the hills, but other than sore feet, we enjoyed every minute of it. We just love animals so much!!

Love birds:

Tyson drinking from the infamous lion fountain:

This cute orangutan kept trying to share her stick:

Giraffes are our absolute favorites:

This owl was adorable:

I wanted to take this sand cat home:

To add to our perfect animal day, we got to go see our friend's cat's litter of two week old kittens:

As far as weight loss goes, we hit a plateau. Tyson lost 1 lbs and I lost 1/2 lb. I get it, plateaus happen and this is normal at least we didn't gain! I'm just bummed because I'm still stuck at 302. :-( I just want to hit those goals I mentioned last week! We'll tweak our diets and exercise this week and fingers crossed this plateau crumbles and we get on our way again. Sorry, no weekly pics this week!

Go Team Waters!!

4/16 - 4/22/11 Weekly Update

2011-05-22T20:45:00.001-07:00

Well another week has flown by! Tyson and I both shifted our work schedules to an earlier start time, so we spent the week adjusting our sleep schedules. We are both night owls, but I've really enjoyed getting to bed earlier.

Tyson's ankle pain came back and he went back to the doc on Tuesday. He pushed his doctor to do some lab work and it did come back that his uric acid was high. This means he has gout. It sucks, but at least he has answers now and medicine to take to hopefully "cure" it.

Our week in food has been good also. Tyson has found that he enjoying cooking! He made coleslaw from scratch this week! He said it tasted amazing. (I am Miss Picky and don't like coleslaw). I'm glad to have him home at night again so we can make dinner together again.

I had set a goal present that when I got to 300 lbs, we could get a Wii Fit. Luckily for us, my parents never use theirs and donated it to us! We set it up this weekend and had a blast doing the exercises. I'm not quite to 300, but I decided to let myself have it 2 lbs early. Haha.

It's our 6th anniversary of when we met (and started dating a week later) tomorrow, so we celebrated by going to Joe's Crab Shack. We enjoyed it, but I think I like Red Lobster a bit better. The waitress didn't have a steady hand and this pic turned out blurry, but we did a glory shot to make up for it. (and no we did not eat the corn or potatoes that boiled with the crabs)

And now onto the weekly weigh ins! Tyson had a stellar week and dropped 7 lbs yet again!! He seems to average losing a pound a day. He is now at 284 and has really left his 300 lb days in the dust.

Not to toot my own horn, but toot toot!! I lost 6 lbs myself! It's weird that we keep losing the same #s each week. (Tyson 7 and me 6). I love it! I am SO close to 300. And only 5 more until I've lost my first 100.

Go Team Waters!!

5/2 - 5/15 Two Week Update

2011-05-16T20:11:00.001-07:00

So sorry that I skipped last week's blog. My iPhone crashed and wiped out everything. Sad! So we didn't record our weight last week, and so we'll do a two week weigh in.

Three months ago, we could barely walk around the grocery store. Last week we walked our first 5K. Tyson and I participated in the Susan G Komen Walk for a Cure. Not going to lie, it was difficult, but we did it!! I'm so proud of both of us. And we raised money for a good cause! Next year, we'll run it!

We've continued to grow stronger and healthier. We're tolerating food well and everything is looking great. We did get our lab results back and we are a little deficient. Tyson has to increase his Vit A and D and I have to increase my Potassium and Vit D. All our other labs are perfect.

Onto the weigh ins! Of course our numbers are for the TWO weeks combined.

Tyson dropped 8 lbs weighing in at 291!

I dropped 7 lbs and weighed in at 308! I'm getting so close to the 200's!

Well onto another week!

Go Team Waters!!

4/25 - 5/1 Weekly Update

2011-05-01T22:24:00.001-07:00

This is a week of celebration! Tyson weighed in at 299!! What a HUGE accomplishment!!! I could not be more proud of him. He's just TWO lbs away from having lost 100 lbs!

Let's just jump right into Tyson's weekly pictures while we are at it:

Skinny boy! He always takes my breath away. He's such a hottie!! Weighing in at 299 means he lost another 7 lbs this week!

I weighed in at 315, which means I dropped another 6 lbs! That's a total of 82 lbs in 3 months. I am so glad I have Tyson to keep me inspired and motivated.

On Tuesday we had our two month post op follow up. We found we are right on track with what is "normal" at this stage. Our tummy aches and all that a while back was all to be expected. Good to know! Our surgeon was concerned with my Charlie Horses and with my fingers locking and decided to run blood work on both of us to see what deficiencies we have. We should get those results this week and will make some vitamin adjustments.

Tyson's ankle has healed amazingly and he stopped wearing his boot at the beginning of the week. Thank goodness he's not in pain anymore!

On Friday I had a very sharp pain in my right side that started Thursday night. I called the surgeon's office and they scared me that it was my appendix. So back to the doctor for more blood work and tests. Thank goodness it all came back normal and my pain went away that night.

Saturday was an amazing day for us and deserves it's own post, so watch for that tomorrow-ish!

Again, go Team Waters!!! Another awesome week!

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4/18 - 4/24 Weekly Update

2011-04-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

(grrr ... I had the whole post written up and Blogger Mobile deleted it! :( here we go again ...)

Well we had quite another week! It all started with Tyson's ankle hurting him on Sunday. He didn't twist it or step wrong; he has no idea what he did to it! So I made him wear an old walking boot of mine to work on Monday. By that night, he could hardly walk at all. So on Tuesday, he went to the doc and it was confirmed he had a bad sprain. They fitted him with a better boot and instructions to wear it for two weeks. Good thing the Susan G. Komen walk we signed up for was still two and a half weeks away at that time.

I packed my schedule this week with social activities. Two months ago, I would have never wanted to do this much at night after work, but it keeps me busy while Tys is at work. On Monday, I went and got my hair done. I am still growing it out, since the possibility of losing my hair is just around the corner. ( I think I talked about this in a previous post) Since I wasn't changing the length up much, I decided to get bangs!! Before losing weight, I used to sweat a lot. Even when I wasn't doing anything, my forehead would sweat some and I could never have bangs. I am excited to report ... I now sweat less, making bangs possible! Wahoo!

(mugshot!)

Something else exciting for us happened this week ... we paid off all our surgery bills!!! It was annoying, because we got got bills from everyone! The pathologist, the anesthesiologists, the xray techs, the hospital, the surgeons ... some charged us the deductable, the max out of pocket, and then the rest charged the 10% BCBS wouldn't cover. So we had a million bills to pay! But it's all done and we are finish! Yay!

Food-wise, this week went well. We have had less belly aches after eating, which is nice. We still get a little achy after eating denser meats like steak, ham, and chicken, but it's not nearly as bad as before. I even had some hard boiled eggs in a salad on Friday and tolerated them well! Things are looking up!

Earlier this week, Tyson snapped a mirror shot of himself in his new shirt. I loved the pic so much that it inspired me to make "then and now" shots. (They aren't "before and afters", because we aren't done yet) We see ourselves every day and it's hard to see how far we've come and I thought this was a perfect way for us to see the proof:

And finally we had our weekly weigh in. Tyson is powering full steam ahead and weighed in at 306!!! That is a loss of 7 lbs this week and 91 total! He'll be in the 200's soon and at a 100 lbs lost. I am so proud of his progress!

I didn't do too shabby myself!! I weighed in at 321, which is a 6 lbs loss for the week and 76 lbs total. Go Team Waters!!

4/11 - 4/17 Weekly Update

2011-04-17T19:10:00.001-07:00

What a week!! Tyson had to teach a training class and so his work schedule changed those three days. It was nice having him home on a week night! We took advantage of this schedule and cooked dinner together Monday night. We made spaghetti squash and meatballs. It was sooo yummy and was a nice change from the randomness we have been eating. Veggies are so nice on the tummy. It's too bad that they are only supposed to be 30% of our diet.

Tuesday I had to go to the dentist. I love our dentist, but I HATE going to the dentist. It was nice to get my tooth sanded down though. You wouldn't know this, because I STILL haven't blogged the rest of out hospital stay, but the second time I was intubated, they kept me intubated through the next day. Sometime during that time, my front tooth got chipped a bit. Not many people could even tell, but I could see it in pictures and it also felt scratchy on my lip and tongue. Anyway, now it's sanded down and all is well again.

Wednesday was support group and it was awesome that Tyson could come this month. The speaker was our surgeon's practice partner who actually assisted with our surgeries. He spoke about hunger and satiety and then took time to answer any random questions. I asked why I keep getting charlie horses and my fingers get locked straight. I guess I am potassium deficient! I'll have to ask our surgeon more about it next week at our 2 month follow up appt. I really enjoy support group, because I feel less of a weirdo. Everyone else there just gets it too.

Thursday and Friday I spent dealing with more tummy issues. I thought I had the stomach flu! (TMI, sorry!) but it has passed now thank goodness!

Saturday was "go go go!!" day. We woke up early and ran errands all morning into the afternoon and then saw both sides of the family that night. We both commented that three months ago, a day like that would have killed us. It is always amazing to realize how much more energy we have and we aren't even that far into our journey. We can make it up the stairs to our apartment without getting as winded as before! Also, seatbelts in cars are starting to fit again! The belts in the new car are longer and fit well, so it's now a requirement we wear them at all times. (not to mention it'll beep at us if we don't. Ha!). I hated that we didn't/couldn't wear our belts before. It's nice to feel safer now.

Sorry for the lack of weekly photos this week. We just needed a break. But we did weigh in! Tyson weighed in at 313 which brings his grand total to 84 lbs lost! He really is rocking it! I weighed in at 327, which means I finally hit 70 lbs lost! Wahoo!!

One last note, tomorrow is our two month anniversary since surgery! Time sure is flying!

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4/10/11 - Weekly Update

2011-04-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

Well I'm late to post this week's update again. This past week brought us more of the same same same. We both had a good energy level, but just no desire to eat.

The only time we enjoy eating is when we make our weekly trip to Red Lobster. We've found we enjoy and tolerate crab the best. I still like shrimp and lobster, but Tyson doesn't like how dense they are and just prefers the crab. (it sure is a lot cheaper when you only have to order one dish!)

We have good news and bad news this week. Let's start with the good:

We both decided that we were going to replace my 98 Sentra this year, and on Saturday we test drove the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. We just wanted to try them out and had NO intention on buying. Of course car shopping is all about "now" and we ended up with a brand new CR-V. We both loooooove driving it! It's so smooth and sleek.

Bad (but not so bad) news is that our weight loss numbers were low again this week. And by low, I mean they were average, healthy losses. Tyson lost 3 lbs and I lost 2. Again, I find myself with this irrational thought that I need to lose 10 lbs a week. I don't know what to do about this irrationality, but I just keep reading all the comments on this blog and Facebook, and I remember that I am my own worse critic. One day, I'll have a clearer head and see what everyone else does.

On to this week's pictures:

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3/28 - 4/3 Weekly Update

2011-04-04T18:40:00.000-07:00

This week started out rocky for us. On Monday, Tyson just had no energy and an overall horrible, icky feeling and ended up coming home early from work. On Tuesday, I had the same feeling and after my long meeting, I just couldn't get through the rest of the day. So I headed home too. But Wednesday was a new day and we found ourselves feeling more energy and more focused.

Due to the lack of energy at the start of the week, my walking schedule was all off course and I had a harder time shedding the pounds. Luckily by the end of the week, things picked up and I lost 6 for the week.

Yesterday, I was digging through my closet and found a cute pair of old jeans. I tried them on to see how much further I have to go until they fit. Guess what... They fit now!! Yay! I'm officially retiring my "huge" pants and I will NEVER wear them again. I can't throw them away though. I have to keep them to remind me how far I've come. Also, I need them to hold up in the "final" pic, right?? Haha.

On to this week's pictures:

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Weekly Update

2011-03-27T18:50:00.001-07:00

This week has been a bit of a challenge to us. Everything and anything we ate hurt our stomachs. Eating has become a chore and something we just truly dread. It has gotten so bad that I become nauseous just thinking of food. I am going to call our doctor tomorrow and see how much longer this is supposed to go on.

I hate side effects like this, but as always Tyson is strong and reminds me that this too shall pass. We just have to remember what our ultimate goal is and strive for that.

Speaking of my love, check out this super cute pic I snapped of him and our furballs. Look how skinny his face looks!!!!

I started walking more regularly this week and hit two milestones. On Monday, I hit 50 lbs lost and on Friday, I hit 60! 60 is where I've seemed to settle for the weekend. Walking sure has made all the difference. Right now I am working on endurance and hope to add strength training into my work outs soon.

Here's our weekly pics:

Weekly Update

2011-03-20T19:45:00.001-07:00

This week was all about trying to figure out what foods we can actually eat and feel good. Mostly when we eat we feel sick during and after. Then because we feel so sick, we don't want to eat our next meals, but we can't skip, so we are just miserable. Obviously this will get better with time, but that doesn't help us right now.

Seafood seems to agree with us most. Last week we went to Red Lobster and split a lobsterfest dish. It was sooooo yummy. We also hung out with our friends, the Miners, this weekend and had grilled shrimp and scallops.

We hit our one month mark on Friday and it's hard to believe how fast the time is flying. We keep getting down on ourselves because we feel like we should be losing more. Then we take a step back and laugh at how ridiculous we sound. We both lost 5 lbs this week! That is amazing! I am glad we are doing this together so that we can remind each other that we are on the right track.

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The Bills...

2011-03-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

The bills are starting to roll in. Here is my bill just for the hospital stay and supplies:

Thankfully our responsibility is $250. Tyson's hospital stay was about $34,000 and again we only owed $250. Thank goodness for amazing insurance.

Bring on the doctor bills and our deductibles!

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The kitchen sink of a WLS patient

2011-03-13T18:43:00.001-07:00

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Weekly update

2011-03-13T18:42:00.001-07:00

Well we survived our first week back at work. There was no easing into it either, we both just jumped right into working full 8 hour days. Overall, felt just fine. I got tired very easy, but I made it through the days.

I also went to my appointment with the Pulmonologist on Wednesday. I got a chest x-ray, my blood oxygen drawn, and a variety of tests done where I had to blow into these tubes. It seems my collapsed lung is no longer an issue and I'm breathing at 89%, which seemed to please the doc!

I went to my first support group on Wednesday also. It was pretty good. They talked about getting enough protein and water each day and also about expecting the hair loss between 3 - 6 months. I loved looking at all the water bottles in the room.

One of these days I'll blog about the hospital stay, but again, in the meantime, here are our weekly update pictures:

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The First Post-Surgery Weigh in...

2011-03-03T20:34:00.001-08:00

I have so much more of our hospital stay to update you on, but I wanted to sneak in today's weigh in results:

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The Surgeries ...

2011-03-01T14:01:00.000-08:00

So surgery day has come and gone. It did not go how I planned at all! I mean at first it did...

We got picked up by my parents at 7:15 AM so we could make out 7:30 check in time. Tyson's mom and step-dad arrived basically at the same time. We went up to the 4th floor and check in with the nurse who took us to a small room with a bed. I got out of my pj's and into a fun paper gown that had a paw print on it and said "Bair Paws." Not sure why, but it was cute. They came and took some blood & put on my wrist band and and then it was time to go! Tyson got to walk with me to the surgical floor where they started my IV and then asked him to take my glasses and go back up to the waiting area.

Obviously the day gets blurry after that. I guess about an hour into my surgery, they came and told Tyson I was done and he could come see me. That was weird, because surgery was supposed to be about 2.5 hours. When he got to the recovery room, no one was there and they said I was still in surgery! Duh!

They also told me when I came to that Tyson hadn't even gone back yet, which was also a lie, he was in fact in surgery at that point, maybe even done! Mis-communication is so awesome!

So I have flashes of what the rest of the day is like. I think they wheeled Tyson past my room at one point and I got to say hi as he was in the doorway. I remember being so thirsty and they would only let me have a tiny thimble-like glass off water twice an hour. But they'd let me swab my mouth with that gross sponge. Of course I just tried to drink water off of it ... and snuck and ice chip here and there when no one was looking. Nurses kept coming in, asking me to state my full name and why I was there, and then they'd fiddle with my IV or take my temperature. I remember my parents bringing in some flowers and Tyson's parents showing me these cute owls that they got us. I remember finding out that Tyson's gallbladder had cholesterol around it and they decided to take it out after all ... which made me happy! But mostly I remember how much it hurt more than I though it would. When I'd take a breath, it felt like my lungs were getting smashed. I didn't feel like I had a fever, but the nurses said I did. By the end of the night, my mom felt like she really needed to stay overnight. I, of course, didn't think that was necessary, but there was no convincing her otherwise.

At some point, maybe 10 or 11 PM, the nurses got really worried about my 105 temp and called my surgeon. He ordered a CT scan and I was taken down to that. They told me the stuff I'd have to drink is gross and they are sorry, but I needed to drink it all. It tasted great to me! I even asked for more! I think I just liked being able to drink something more than a sacrament cup size!

Apparently the CT showed that I was in fact leaking. The surgeon got there within half an hour and I was being wheeled down to surgery again at 1AM!! I kept half crying and saying I didn't want another surgery, and part of me couldn't even fathom that this was actually happening! I had never even though there would be a complication. But there I was again, on the OR table ...

I guess what happened is that when they got in me, despite losing 20 lbs prior to surgery, my liver was still rather large. They had to clamp it to my esophagus and they think that might have bruised it ... then when I started drinking water, it burst. Who knows, but it got fixed with the 2nd surgery and they even used the same holes they used earlier in the day, so I have no additional cuts!

So the Waters had 3 surgeries in one day! (4 if you include Tyson's gallbladder removal as it's own surgery) We like to go all out over here!

Small update...

2011-02-24T16:34:00.001-08:00

I know this little blog of mine is in need of updating! And trust me, we have quite a story to share. Unfortunately I am out of energy and don't want to type it all on my phone.

Just know Tyson and I are both home (at my parents's place) recovering and all is well. I just need some time to get back on my feet.

If we are Facebook friends, there are plenty of updates there.

(waiting to go into surgery)

(a date in the ICU!!)

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The Day...

2011-02-18T05:52:00.000-08:00

Well today is the day! I don't have time to write much, but I had to brag! When I weighed in at my surgical consult, I weighed 397.

Today I weigh:

Tyson weighed in at 394 and today he weights...

...
...
...

369!!!! Wahoo!!! Starvation works! (lol Jk don't try that at home). Well we are off to the hospital!!

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Last Pre-Surgery Class...

2011-02-16T19:58:00.000-08:00

What a day today has been! First of all, I finally am getting some comments on here!! Thanks dudes!! I appreciate the love!

This morning we got up bright and early to get to the hospital at 7:30 AM. We are night owls, so this was insanely early for us. We got all checked in and Tyson went off for a gallbladder ultrasound and I got my labs drawn. I'm not sure I had any blood left after 6 viles were taken! And then of course I had to give urine. Oh joy. Giving urine is hard enough when you are a girl ... but it's 50 times harder when you are obese. I won't give you the gruesome details, but just be glad you were NOT a fly on the wall in that bathroom.

(Quick story alert: While I was getting my labs drawn, another lab tech brought another patient back. As the patient was coming back she said: "I need to hurry. I have breasts waiting for me!" Well all turned to look and she said: "What? I'm a mammography tech!" HAHA it was so funny. Maybe you had to be there?)

After Tyson got his labs drawn, we headed to the surgeon's office for our final pre-surgery class. It was nice to finally get our surgery "bible" and learn the final details about Friday. We got a lot of our questions answered and learned some new stuff. (Um hello?! I am going to have a drainage tube for the two days in the hospital!!!! EWWW!!! nooo!! sigh) We also got our "before" pictures taken today. It's neat to think these will be my last pictures at this weight ... EVER!!!

There were two other people in our class today. One was a girl who is getting lapband next week. She seemed about my age and was really friendly. The other was a dude in his 60's? He was ... interesting. He showed up late, which held up our class. Then he failed like half the questions on this quiz we had to take about the surgeries. Most of the time during the lecture I saw him staring out the window. I think he even fell asleep! I don't get that. Tyson and I worked really hard to make this surgery happen, and we were all about learning more and asking questions. How could you just act like this all was lame? Who knows. I wish him well, but I'm glad he's not my husband!!

Well, it's finally sinking in that this is happening in less than 36 hours. So weird!!! I have had a lot of random bouts of scared today. I'll get sick to my tummy and tears form in my eyes. But then I remember I'm not alone, and we're doing this to have the life we deserve. It's going to be so great!!!!

2 more sleeps!!!!!!!

Pre-Surgery Blessings ...

2011-02-13T19:09:00.000-08:00

Tonight was a really special night for us. My parents graciously offered up their home so that we could invite my siblings and Tyson's mom, step-dad, brother, and sister-in-law up to help give Tyson and I each a blessing. It was really awesome to have both sides of the family come together to help us like that.

Of course, I am an awkward person and don't love the spotlight on me, but it was nice that Tyson was in that spotlight with me. We have a lot of people who love us and are willing to do whatever it takes to help us succeed not only in our weight loss goals, but our lifelong goals.

Thank you to all who helped out tonight. It really means more to me than I can say. I love you all.

In other news ... 5 more days!!!!!

The Date is Set ...

2011-02-05T09:39:00.000-08:00

So on Wednesday, I was sitting in the vet's office (nothing serious, just routine shots for Chloe), and my phone rang. I didn't want to be rude and answer it, but I also didn't want to miss this call from the surgeon's office!

Luckily the vet was running behind and it all worked out.

The gal from the doc's office asked me if I was aware that our insurance had approved us. Um, yes, I was! She then asked if we'd want surgery on February 14th!! Of course I wanted that! His and her's surgeries for Valentines Day! (So cute, I know!) But, I admitted that we hadn't been on the 1,000 calorie diet quite yet. See, all obese peeps have what is called fatty liver disease. This excess fat in our liver makes it larger and then it gets in the way of the stomach during surgery. By going on a 1,000 calorie a day diet, we can shrink our livers up to 30%. This diet would be a shock to our system, so we had been weening our way down to it, but we weren't quite all the way there yet.

So she asked if we could start the diet the next day and she'd schedule us for the 16th. I thought that sounded great, but suddenly she was concerned that it was too busy of a day already for our surgeon. But she scheduled us anyway and said she'd talk to him about it the next day.

I sent Tyson a quick text about it and then the vet walked into the exam room. So, I had to spill the beans to some one, and he got to hear it first! I love our vet. He is such a kind and careing man, and truely loves our two kittens (Gator more than Chloe, but Gator is such a stud!) He was excited for us and even drew a picture of a stomach and had me explain the DS to him.

When I got back from the vet, there was still no word from Tyson. So I called my family. And then his. Then I got impatient and posted it on Facebook. Several minutes after he was scheduled to get off work, there was STILL no text back! So I called. HAHA. He hadn't even checked his texts all day! So the whole world, including our vet, knew before Tyson. Aww!

Anyway, so the next day, I got a call back from the surgeon's office and sure enough, it was too busy of a day for us to get it on the 16th. But the 18th was available. We'll take it! And I liked that it was over the weekend, because it gives me more time off work! (not Tyson sadly, who has to work the weekend after our recovery)

My HR called me yesterday to say that I am all set to have FMLA from 2/18 - 3/6 and return to work on 3/7. That seems like such a long time!! I'm excited to have a break from work though.

I can't believe that in 13 short days we will be changing our lives. Starting our lives really. I am so much more excited than I am scared. My best friend, my honey, my Tyson is doing this with me! How can I be scared, when we are in it together?

13 more days!!!!

The Approval...

2011-02-01T15:18:00.001-08:00

I just couldn't wait any longer! I called BCBS and ....

WE'RE APPROVED!!!! Both of us! Yay!!!

Now we have to wait for the surgeon's office to call and schedule surgery.

Today is a good day!

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New Year's Resolutions...

2011-01-30T22:26:00.000-08:00

Better late than never, right? I came across the picture below and instantly fell in love with its message.

I am fully aware that a big part of the weight loss journey is freeing your mind from the things that weigh it down. So when I saw this pic, I knew that it put into words what I wanted to work on this year.

I'm actively working on the first two ... and I hope to have the last three down by the end of the year.

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The Process...

2011-01-25T19:58:00.000-08:00

Back in November, I decided to call the surgeon's office and see if I could set up the surgical consult. My logic was that if I had a date to look forward to (even if it was just the consult) then it would make the time go by faster.

I was told that I had to wait for our insurance cards before I could make our appointment. I assume this is because they didn't want me making an appointment that may or may not be covered by our insurance.

In early December I was checking our mail and was thrilled to find a letter from BCBS Anthem. Of course this letter contained our brand new, shiny insurance cards! It was a Saturday and on the Monday I called the surgeon's office to set our consult.

The secretary asked me if I had mailed them our information packet yet. ... uh? No. So that night I forced Tyson to fill out his information packet (which was like 8 pages long and asked you to write a page essay on what our weight was doing to destroy our lives). We were cranky and exhausted from the day's work, but we pressed forward and got them done. I mailed them out the next morning. I was told to wait until we hear back from the surgeon's office.

In the mean time, since we had our cards and I knew we were in their system, I called BCBS to triple check that our benefits were going to be what we thought they would be. I called, documented the agent's name, the time I called, and the tracking number for my call. They said that we'd be covered at 90% with a $300 deductible and a $2000 out of pocket max. Sweet! I asked what was required of us to get the surgery approved and the agent said "basically nothing. (your husband's employer) bought a good plan and basically they will cover anything".

Well a few days later we received letters from the surgeon's office saying that we needed to have a nutrition eval and a psych eval in order for our insurance to cover us. What? I knew that this was mandatory for other people, but our insurance is excellent! They surely wouldn't make us jump through those hoops, right??

I called BCBS again to make sure ... documented the time, the date, the agent's name and the tracking number. Oh sure ... they DO want us to get the nutrition/psych eval before they will approve it. Well, I wish they had said that before hand!

No biggie. I called the surgeon's office and asked how I go about setting up these evals. The nutrition eval was not going to be covered by insurance regardless, so we set that appt for the last week in December. Then we called the psychologist and he scheduled us for our eval for ... get this ... MONDAY, JANUARY 3rd! I mean how awesome is that?

We go to the nutrition consult, blab on for an hour about different diets we've tried, different work outs, what worked what didn't and also what we need to expect after surgery. Easy peasy. We paid the girl in cash (thank you Christmas money!) and off we went.

Next up was the psych eval. Oy. We had to sit and basically say the same things to him. What we've tried, what has worked what didn't... and then of course we went further into what our weight has done to us physically, mentally, and emotionally. Then we were ushered into another room and give three packets each. These questions were insane. My favorites were "T of F, I have been on the cover of magazines recently" and "T or F, I flew across the Atlantic Ocean 40 times last year." (One can only dream...) Also, a side note, we paid for our psych evals out of pocket and also had them bill our insurance company. They said that they would not give our evals to the surgeon's office until they were paid! There was NO WAY I was going to sit around for several weeks until BCBS paid them! I'll pay now and you can reimburse me later thank you very much!

Nutrition eval? Check!
Psych eval? Check!

Then came the blessed call ... our surgical consult was scheduled for January 13th. I had butterflies waiting to meet our surgeon. We had never officially met him, because his partner did the seminar last year. We had walked past him in the hall when we were leaving our nutrition consult and I felt so star struck! I had seen youtube videos of him and heard so many good things about it! And here he was in the flesh! Cute old man, with an awesome comb-over hair do and a mustache to make all men jealous. I was ready to put my life in his hands.

The surgical consult started with Tys, me, and two other gals getting surgery back in the seminar room. The nurse came in and went over some information about the surgery and then doc came in and gave more information and answered questions. Being in the medical credentialing field, I had to ask the hard questions. I made him tell us about his malpractice cases! HAHA. He did a great job and in over 30 years of practice only had 3 claims that were significant (none of those cases were deaths). Pretty darn good if you ask me.

Then Tys and I got lead to an examining room and doc came in to talk to us alone. He made me lay on a table and he felt my belly, and then Tyson's. Everything seemed good and he recommended us for surgery...but not before saying the one line that confused me more than ever. "Have you considered duodenal switch?" He thought that given my larger size, I might benefit form the more invasive surgery that had much better results. This caused my head to spin. He said that he just wanted me to think about and that I'd be just fine with RNY, but that he really just wanted to give me something to think of.

So we left the office confused. I had researched for 7 months about RNY bypass. Now all the sudden I had to decide if I wanted a different procedure. At first I just decided to pretend he didn't say anything and move forward with the RNY. But I couldn't shake from my mind that if I was going to do a major surgery, why would I not just do the one with the better results. So I called some friends, I researched online, and I turned to the surgical office's website that has message boards. I magically found another husband/wife pair that did the DS ten months ago and sent them an email. They were incredibly helpful and up front with us with the positives and negatives of their surgical experience. (the same doc did their surgery).

In the end, we decided to change to DS. It is scary, but I feel good about it. Now we are playing the waiting game. The surgeon's office should be sending our paperwork to BCBS this week (if they haven't already) and then we wait for them to give the okay! They said on average, they take 2 weeks to approve and then surgery is set for fairly soon thereafter. I am really hoping this happens in February! I've waited for like forever and I just am getting so impatient to move on with our new lives!

Fingers crossed that we hear back soon!

The Try-outs ... take 2

2011-01-09T14:28:00.000-08:00

It's worth mentioning that we tried out for Biggest Loser again last summer.

We were back and forth on whether we wanted to try out again, because at this point we had already attended the seminar for the weight loss surgery and we were pretty set that that was route we needed to take in life.

One night, Tyson was in the front room and I was in the bedroom and I heard him say something like "what the heck??" I asked "what?" and didn't get a response. I again asked "what" ... no response. Finally he said something like "check your email"

In our emails, we both received VIP pass invitations directly from the casting director for Biggest Loser. We were soooo excited. We knew that this meant this season was for us! We had it on good authority it was going to be a couples season this time, and we knew this was our time!

It wasn't our time. We didn't make it (again). We didn't even get a call back!

Although we didn't make it, it was a pretty inspiring day as we got to meet Koli, the at-home winner from season #9. He would have been the over-all winner, but was voted by America to not make it to the final 3.

Looking back, and even at the end of that day, I knew that we were supposed to be there that day to meet Koli. As we were exiting from our round table interview with the casting directors, Koli was standing in the back giving some inspirational thoughts to a small group of people. We casually joined in and I shot this video:

After that, he stood there and fielded questions from us for a good twenty minutes. He answered everything from weight loss advice and tips to behind the scenes gossip about Biggest Loser. He even tried to get Ashley on the phone when I mentioned how much I loved her! Sadly she didn't answer, but it was crazy he even tried to call her!

(Us with our fav casting director, Barb)

(Us with Koli)

The "Weighting" Game

2010-12-30T19:09:00.000-08:00

Since we had some time to kill while waiting for our insurance to change over, I decided to try and take baby steps towards this lifestyle change we were wanting.

I had already done something big back in March ... I gave up soda cold turkey. I am proud to say that it is 12/30/10 and I have not had a drop of carbonation since then. I've really become addicted to water. My water bottle has become permanently attached to me and I take it every where. I easily drink 100 - 200 oz a day.

Something that is funny, but also helped my snacking, is that I learned what gelatin was made from!! This totally grossed me out and I started reading labels and cutting out those snacks.

I also used this time to research more about surgery and the surgeon we had decided to use.

Finally November came and it was time to pick our new insurance!! I couldn't believe it was finally here!! Next we had to decide how much to put on our Flex spending cards. Tyson knew the new insurance would have a $2000 max out of pocket, and we knew that there was $500 classes that the surgeon required, so $2500 sounded about right.

It was all coming together!

The Back Up Plan

2010-12-30T18:46:00.000-08:00

So we didn't make Biggest Loser, but we still needed help to lose this weight. A few friends of ours had had gastric bypass and for the first time in my life, I started to think this might be the answer for us too.

I had never looked down on my friends who had turned to weight loss surgery, but I had always had a mental block that it wasn't for me. Of course I had the mentality that it would be the "easy way out". I had gotten myself in this big, fat mess and I thought I should be able to get out of it on my own. No matter how much I thought that, my efforts to lose it on my own didn't work out.

My very first best friend in the world, Becca, was coming into town and she had had RNY gastric bypass like two years ago. I asked her if we could meet up and discuss her situation and how it worked out for her. She was extremely gracious and willing to talk to me about it. She even brought me a few books to read.

Our other friend, Genevieve, also had gastric bypass about 8 years ago. Her surgeon had since retired, but her brother had used another surgeon in his same practice. I also learned that another friend had used this same physician. So I decided to call the practice and see what information they could give us. The receptionist said that they had a free seminar where a nurse and one of their surgeons would come and speak about the requirements, the different options, and answer any general questions we'd have. I signed us both up right away.

On May 18, 2010 we went to the hospital and attended the seminar. Having read those books Becca brought and doing my research both online and by asking my friends about their stories, I had a LOT of questions. Unfortunately the seminar was right after work and I was a tad grumpy going into it. I felt like no one else attending had prepared. Or maybe they were just really dumb people. Or maybe I was just grumpy. LOL. I just felt like they were asking questions that were better suited for a one on one consult, rather than a general seminar. I didn't feel like any of them had done any research at all. I felt satisfied that my questions were answered, but just annoyed with the other patients.

During the seminar, I learned that I did not qualify for Lap Band. I hadn't wanted that anyway, but it was interesting to hear that I couldn't get it even if I wanted it. My BMI was too high, and also I have acid reflux and Lap Band potentially makes that worse. Gastric Bypass on the other hand practically cures reflux!

So it was decided, I wanted to get RNY gastric bypass and Tyson wanted it also. The next step was to decide how to pay for a $20,000 surgery. Our current insurance said "no way jose". Luckily we were on the "lower" plan and the "higher" plan, BCBS, DID cover it!!

So now all we have to do is wait until November, open enrollment time, and sign up for the better insurance!! November is soooo far away when it's only May!!

The Try-outs ... take 1

2010-11-21T08:01:00.000-08:00

So where were we? Ah yes ... we had decided that we HAD to be on Biggest Loser.

I told everyone I knew that we were going to be trying out. I think I figured that the more people who knew, the less likely we'd be to back out. I was amazed at how many people really came out of the woodwork to support us.

Tyson's mom and brother really went above and beyond. They heard that a local radio station was giving away "front of the line" passes to the person who wrote in the best essay on why they or their loved one deserved to be at the front. Together they wrote a touching essay and submitted it that night. The next morning, I was driving to work when the radio station started reading the essay! We won! I don't know how I got to work that morning, because my eyes were filled with grateful tears. Not having to stand in line for hours in the cold was going to be such a blessing.

On the morning of March 20, 2010, we got up and headed downtown. I was amazed at how long the line stretched around the building. I never imagined so many people were going to show up! We walked ourselves to the front of the line with big smiles on our faces.

A local paper took the picture below. You can see Tyson in his green shirt and me to the left with Edith conveniently hiding behind Tys.

(picture courtesy of KSL.com)

Much to our surprise there were about 50 other "front of the line" winners also. Most from other radio stations, but a few got personal invites from the Biggest Loser staff! For some reason they decided that the winners should go to the back of the building and enter there. Of course the skinny dude in charge was marching us around the block to the back ... and he was running! Well it felt like it. I don't know why he thought speed walking was a great idea for us. It was really rather sad/funny how out of breath we all were by the time we reached the back. Not being the fastest walker, we fell about 15 people behind in line, but that's ok. It was still WAY better than waiting in line for hours.

Finally it was our turn to head back to the interview room. They had two tables set up and they split our group into smaller groups of 10 or so at each table. The casting director, Barb, was in charge of our table. First we went around and introduced ourselves and where we were from. Next we said what our jobs were. And then we went around and said how much we wanted to lose. I had the highest number. Lastly, she asked who at the table were parents. Everyone raised their hands except Tyson and I. They were all doing this for their kids. We were doing it so we could HAVE kids.

I thought our roundtable went well. We only had 8 minutes to impress and I thought the fact that Barb kept us back for a few seconds to talk to us about our applications was a good sign. I knew for a fact that we were going to at least get a call back.

They told us to keep our phones close because if we were going to get a call back, it'd be that night by 8PM. We left the building nervous but excited. We called our couple best friends and Tyson's brother and his then gf (now his wife!). We all 6 met up to have dinner and play games to keep our mind off the impending call back.

8 o'clock came and went and we did not receive our phone call. I didn't understand! We did really well at the auditions! We were ourselves! And I made Barb laugh!

All hope was not lost. There is a second way to audition. All you had to do is make an amazing video. We got to work that night with our video. We worked really hard the next week filming clips and doing incredibly embarrassing things to make our video real, funny, and a glimpse into our day t0 day lives.

(a little secret ... shhhh ... you can see our submission video HERE)

Tyson FedEx'ed our video off and then the waiting game started again. I found a few of the casting directors, including our Barb, on Facebook and Twitter and followed them all. Every day they'd say that they spent the whole day watching videos. I couldn't stand how long it was taking! Finally came the day that they said all videos had been watched. If you didn't received a call ... you weren't going to. We didn't received our call ... again.

Time to come up with a back up plan ...

The History

2010-11-20T08:17:00.000-08:00

Hows about we do a little Aimee history lesson real quick ...

Well, obviously, I am obese. Technically the term is malignantly obese. Yikes, that sucks to type.
I've been thick my whole life. Chubby baby ... chubby toddler ... chubby pre-teen ... chubby teen. Well, you get the idea. Not fat, but thick and chubby. But of course I thought I was the Goodyear Blimp. I WAS bigger than my friends though. That was a fact.

(Baby me ... sorry it's blurry ... it's a pic of a pic of a pic ...)

The other day my BFF posted the picture below on Facebook. At first I was like "what the heck am I doing??" and then I realized "OMG!!! Look how skinny I was!!!!" My tummy was thick, but FLAT! My face was full, but NO double chin! My arms were big, but not HUGE. Sigh ... if only I could go back to my 16 year old self and see what I see now.

Well, I finished high school, went off to college and gained the Freshmen 50. Wait, you say it's only supposed to be 15? Hmmmm ... I didn't get that memo.

(The first appearance of Edith ... my belly)

So life goes on ... girl meets boy ... girl does every desperate trick in the book to not let this boy go, because he is different from all the other boys. Two years of desperate tricks later, I grow up, act normal, and ta-da! He proposes!

(oh Edith! How large you've become!)

Well, six months later, this is what a chubby girl's wedding picture looks like:

(Edith looks amazing in white ...)

Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't just sit back and not do anything about my weight over the years. In my early 20's I got into a kick of going to the gym. It became habit and I really saw the results. In the pic of me in the garden on the rocks, you can see my arms are toned. But for some reason, Edith just kept growing. Of course I wasn't super watching what I ate, but I wasn't snacking very much and at that point I had given up soda for a year.

I dropped the ball when I met Tyson though. He lived an hour away and suddenly the gym wasn't in my schedule.

Just after we got married we worked with a nutrition and exercise consultant. It was a very strict lifestyle and we did see great results. But for us, it wasn't realistic and 6 months later, we stopped going. On the advice of a friend, I went to see her therapist, because she specialized in food addictions. Well ... too bad she mostly worked with anorexics and bulimics, because her advice always frustrated me and just never seemed to work. I stopped seeing her too.

Last year we went to Weight Watchers. LOVE IT! Loved the people, loved the classes, loved the freedom to eat what I wanted. We saw minimal results though. Sigh. And at this point, I am getting too big to barely walk around the grocery store, let alone work out for 30 minutes.

Being overweight is like being in quicksand. I know it is different for everyone, but for me, it felt like the more I tried, the more I sank into the deep dark pit.

I need help ...

The Start

2010-11-20T08:03:00.000-08:00

I am getting gastric bypass surgery in a few months.

Growing up, when I'd hear some one say that sentence, I'd immediately think that they were some kind of loser. And not a good kind of loser, like "I'm the Biggest Loser" kind of loser, but a real "I can't lose this weight I put on" kind of loser. I mean if you are dumb enough to keep gaining weight and putting yourself in this situation, shouldn't you be SMART enough to get your self out of it?

Flash forward to 2010. It was in March and Tyson and I were watching Biggest Loser on NBC. We have watched the last few seasons together since we've been married and we quite enjoyed the inspiring story lines. Wellllll, I mostly scream at the TV. I don't like the way Jillian yells at them. I don't like how they sob that they "only" lost 4 lbs. I don't like this, I don't like that. Whine, whine, complain, complain. Then we see a news flash go across the bottom of the screen that Biggest Loser is coming here, to Salt Lake City, to do interviews for the next season! Are you serious?? We'd be PERFECT for this show!! I want to do it!

Lightening bolt ... all my complaining about the show is because I'm jealous of them. I'd love to leave the stress of real life and my job and my duties as a wife behind for a few months so that I could concentrate on my weight. I'd love to have the trainers, the equipment, and everything else that they have on the show. I just wish it didn't have to be on TV ... you know, in front of millions of people. Oh well.

So I chat with Tys for a bit and convince him that standing in line for hours and hours in the March cold will be a good thing and that we must do it. He agreed.

So it was written on the calendar ... March 20, 2010 ... Biggest Loser Tryouts ... 6 AM.