Well, I’m back.  It’s been a while.  And I have to report that I’ve gained weight, and I’m at my highest EVER.

The big news:  I made a decision back in February to have Gastric Sleeve surgery -it’s scheduled for August.  Why surgery?  Well, my knees have gotten so bad that I’m in pain all the damn time – I feel like I’m killing my liver with Ibuprofen.  And I’m genuinely afraid of being unable to walk in the future.   My hope is still to weigh around 225, I just have more to lose to get there now.  But I’m hopeful that I’m making the right decision for me.

In the months before the surgery, I’m working to change how I eat to (hopefully) make things easier for me post-surgery.  I’ve started with giving up sweets and diet soda.  And I’m not sure which one is harder for me!  It’s been less than a week for the sweets, and my cravings have been CRAZY, and my period isn’t helping (c’mon menopause, just end it already!!!).  I’m doing better with giving up diet soda – but I really miss the brown, bubbly water.  In mid-April the plan is to eliminate Fast Food from my diet.  That’s going to be tough.  But it’s what I gotta do to get to where I want to be!

I also need to start moving more.  I have a damn elliptical in my house which I never use.  I live just a couple blocks from my town’s rec center – and I never go there.  So I need to get back on the elliptical and also start water walking.  I don’t want to wait to start building new habits until after surgery – I want to have them firmly established by the time I check in for surgery.

My closest friends all know about the surgery – and they are all very supportive.  It’s was weird how hard it was for me to tell them.  Still haven’t told my sister – but we aren’t very close so I’ll probably just let her know a week or so before.  I see my regular Doctor and my Endocrinologist in April, so I’ll tell them then.  I told my boss when I requested the time off.  I asked him to not tell anyone else – so far he’s kept his mouth shut, but I don’t have much faith that he can keep that up.

I also need to take care of getting things in order before surgery – decisions have to be made, and things put into place just in case things go wrong.  That’s the hardest thing for me now to make those decisions.  Thank GOD my BFF is a lawyer who used to work for a lawyer who did all the estate planning stuff, so he’s leading me through what I should have in place.

Adulting Sucks!!  ;)

♥