Country Workin', You wanna start a walking club??

Support.  A keyword in any weight loss journey.  I never realized how important support was until I embarked on this huge journey after VSG surgery. As with everyone, the second place I spend most of my time is at work. I’ve always loved my work environment but it wasn’t until recently that I realized just how great the people that I work with are. The support I was given from the very beginning when I first made the decision to have VSG was great. When I got back from surgery and they seen the change in me, seen I was happier and that I had just bloomed, their support grew to something I never expected.

One day I suggested we start a walking club. After a little bit of ribbing from a few, I soon found that most of the guys I work with were interested. Since the snow has melted and the dirt roads have dried up, we have started. After our first half an hour walk, we all felt so much better. We were laughing, smiling, feeling less stressed, had a clear head and just generally felt more focused to start our afternoon. Regardless if your job is stressful or not, there are always times when work can pile up and stress levels can rise. Our afternoon walks are now something we look forward to. We are all helping each other in that little way by going for a walk each lunch hour. That half an hour is better than nothing at all. We all know how busy we can be in the evenings and your not always able to get in any exercise.

 

The Saskatchewan country side is actually really quite beautiful and we are gifted with working in the middle of it. It is a truly relaxing experience and our walking club has become my favorite part of the day. They tell me all the time that I inspire them and they are so proud of my determination, little do they know they help me along everyday. I am very grateful for their support and I have to give a shout-out to my Landrose guys for being continually supportive and encouraging. I encourage you all if you have the type of job that you can take a little time for yourself, whether it’s a lunch break or a coffee break to get your co-workers involved and try doing something active during that time. Break-time can easily become full of calories with sugary coffees and donuts. If you get active you will feel great, clear your mind and feel re-energized for the rest of your day!

 

Whenever I walk down the dirt roads I can’t help but sing…Country roads, Take me home, to the place I belong. West Virginia, Mountain Mama, take me home, country roads.

Until next time!

Hugs & Glitter,

Chanty

Risin' up Straight to the Top! Went the Distance, Now i'm not goona stop!

This last month since my surgery has been trying, exciting, and filled with lots of learning. When I first came home from my surgery I was still healing, trying to be careful and was honestly very nervous at how my new stomach would work. I have been great so far with everything I've tried to eat, my stomach has accepted it all. Now a month later I am more comfortable in knowing the amount of food I can eat during meals and how much water I can drink. I knew it would be a learning curve but I never thought I would have that much fear about even something so basic as drinking water. I am learning to use my sleeve as the tool it is meant to be. Just like others use their metabolism, I use my sleeve.

 I still haven’t wrapped my head around the whole concept of the sleeve just yet, but I’ve been told this is normal and takes time. Every time I get on the scale and it moves down I have to keep reminding myself, that’s a few more pounds gone forever! Every time I move out of a size I have to remind myself I wont be going back to that size. That word, "forever" seems so strange in a weight loss scenario. Everyone always wants it to be forever, but it has never before been attainable. Well now that it is for me I wake up each and every morning ready to face my day. I seriously have had a perma smile on for the last month.

This last week had started out a bit trying because I experienced my first stall on the scale. I kept trucking through and started trying on all my smaller clothes and it seemed I had a new outfit to wear every day, only it didn’t come from a store it came from the back of my closet. It was a truly amazing feeling. I was out and about quite a bit this week, running into people here and there and just about all of them noticed I had lost some weight. It is truly the best compliment you can get! Talk about a confidence and mood booster! I have decided as a celebration of my One Month Post-op to post my current pictures. The picture I am comparing it to is the picture I took just before I started my 6-week pre-op diet on March 1st. I am down a total of 42.5lbs. I honestly don’t think I even know the girl in that first picture.  I know this isn’t always going to be a piece of cake (literally) but I have never felt more optimistic in my life. I’m healing, life is changing and I’m strapped in for the ride! Though the seat belt doesn’t feel so tight anymore.

I just wanted to close this latest blog post with a HUGE thank you! I have never been so speechless in all my life than I was last week when I posted my first blog post. The positive reaction and feedback regarding my journey and my blog is truly overwhelming and I can’t thank you all enough for reading and offering me your support and kind words. Thank you also to everyone who said they have always thought I was beautiful and fabulous at any size. You have no idea how much that means to me and its something I should have had confidence in long before I started loosing weight. I promise to continue being beautiful & fabulous! :) Thanks again!

Now everybody do some air punches with me to the beat of Eye of the Tiger!

Hugs & Glitter

Chanty

Wakey, Wakey, Egg's and Bakey!

 Ok so I don't know about you but I work Monday to Friday from 8 to 4. I used to find it hard to get protein in for breakfast. Sure on the weekends I liked to spiff up my breakfast, add a dash of glitter and call it a day. Well now you can have that everyday of the week! We all know eating surgery granola bars and cereals really isn't the proper way we should kick start our day but we do it for convenience. 

I found these little egg cups on Pinterest and just tweaked them a little bit. I bought these silicon mini loaf pans which are totally sent down from heaven because nothing sticks to them and you don't have I grease them! Totally brilliant. I made up 5 of these on a Sunday night and then saved them in a container in my fridge. They were so delicious and I would just heat one up on my way to work or I would heat it up once I got there. It kept me full until around lunchtime and it was low carb, fat and cal! Here are the deets: 

- 2 slices of Maple Leaf natural Selections Deli Meat

- Approx 1/2 cup of egg whites

- 2 TBSP of fat free cottage cheese

- 1 green onion

- 2 TBSP of Red or green pepper

- 2 medium sized mushrooms

- Season with some sea salt and pepper or whatever spices are our fav

I just layered the bottom of my loaf pan with the deli meat then added my cottage cheese. Sprinkled my veggies over that and then filled the rest with egg whites. Baked them on 375 for approx 35-45 minutes. You can obviously change the veggies to anything you want but here are the nutritional facts for one loaf pan according to the recipe.  

Hugs and glitter,

Chanty

I want to start by introducing myself and tell you a little bit about my story. Well I was born as a beautiful brunette, black eyed, 6 lb baby...OK sorry I wont go back that far. For as long as I can remember I have been overweight, big boned, chubby, fat and obese. However you want to call it, I've been called it all. I have always tried to carry myself with the up most of confidence. I've always tried to dress my best for my weight, look cute and put together. I've always loved fashion so this was a task that although was never easy finding clothes to fit, I loved it.

I am only 27 but I am definitely one of those people that have tried literally EVERY single diet out there. Each and every time I started a new one I was thinking this is it. This is the one that will work and I'll loose the weight and then maintain it and just be NORMAL. Normal and healthy. I'll be able to go to the gym and workout like everyone else and not feel like every single person is looking at me thinking look at what that fatty is doing here. While that may seem harsh I am not naive enough to think that people don't talk about me and my weight. A couple of years ago I tried a low carb diet. It was hard and very limiting but I was told by my doctor that my pancreas didn't produce enough insulin in order to properly break down carbohydrates, so it would be best if I lived without them. It was one of the main reasons I was constantly gaining weight while I had been eating whole grains and high fiber. As always I had lost weight on this diet and felt like I was on top of the world. I had a renewed self confidence and felt it radiating off of me. I went to the gym and felt good and while I knew I still wanted to loose alot more weight I felt better than I ever had before. I was going out with my friends more and I wasn't avoiding social functions like I normally do when I have extra weight on. I came off the diet after loosing about 50lbs and I wanted to try and maintain it for a while and maybe I could just be normal and healthy. Needless to say the weight started coming back with a vengeance. The pounds crept up so fast it seemed I was unable to stop it. While I still tried to go to the gym and avoid carbs during most of my meals, it was to no avail. I then stopped getting on the scale, I knew I was gaining weight because all of my smaller clothes were beginning to be too tight and then they just stopped fitting all together. While avoiding the scale was probably my biggest mistake throughout that whole process, I couldn't bring myself to look at it. I was so ashamed of myself and I started to with drawl from everything. I stopped going out as often as I was. I would go out sometimes out of obligation really, I truly didn't want to loose my friends, they all mean the world to me. I was so torn because I was ashamed and uncomfortable that all the people that had seen my weight loss would now be looking at me and discussing my new weight gain. This had happened to me before but somehow I could not get back on track. It progressively got worse and I felt myself pushing important people in my life away from me. I just wanted to come home and hide. I didn't take pictures, I rarely smiled and when I did, it was fake. I was hurt, ashamed and felt like I was at the end of the road with diets. I knew I was going to be this size forever. I never wanted to be weak enough to let my weight control my life, but I was. I disconnected with people that were important to me, I continued to be single, not willing to put myself out there. How could I expect anyone to love me when I didn't love myself? I started dressing more casually, not because I wanted to, after all that is not who I am, but because it was all that would fit and wouldn't show my rolls. I even stopped styling my hair in cute hairstyles. I knew I needed to change something and I know the closest people around me knew I needed a change but getting there was half the battle. My weight had now ballooned to the biggest I have ever been in my life. Ashamed didn't even describe how I felt. I truly felt disgusting. I woke up one day and I said this is NOT me. What happened to my beautiful smile? My passion for fashion? What happened to my friendships and relationships? What happened to who I was and who I am? Where is my life going? Will I ever find that true love that so many people have? Will I ever be NORMAL?

So began my journey with Weight Loss Forever to get Vertical Sleeve Surgery also known as VSG. I had been looking into weight loss surgery for about a year and had looked into the different types of surgery there are. I will admit that for a while I was in denial and never thought I would be one of those people that would get weight loss surgery. It seemed so evasive and major and I didn't think I needed that much help with my weight. Sure I looked at the before and after photos of some of the patients and couldn't believe what I was seeing. I absolutely wanted that to be me. For the people closest to me, they know I have truly never wanted anything more than to be NORMAL, healthy and active. I just wanted to be like everyone else. Be able to eat like everyone else and not gain weight so rapidly like I always did. I wanted someone to love me for me. I want to have a husband and a family of my own some day. It all seemed so far out of reach when I was at my lowest. It seemed impossible. Once I did all the necessary things to apply for VSG, I had to wait. The good thing I found that while I am overweight, I am actually quite healthy. I never had any medical problems other than being overweight. I was approved quite quickly for my surgery and I don't think I will ever forget that day that I got my approval. I felt an extreme amount of hope. Hope that my life was about to change and this time it would be a permanent change. Hope that I could finally be NORMAL. Be happy, be beautiful, be confident and love me. I started a 6-week pre-op diet and already after week 1 I had only lost 6.5lbs but I had my glow back, a little bit of my smile back. People were starting to notice I was happier and day to day it got better. I wanted to get up and pick out my clothes and put things together like I used to. I wanted to try out cute hairstyles again. My surgery date was set for April 16th and I was counting down the days until this would finally become a reality. I didn't have any nervous feelings because I was so ready to get back to who I know I'm meant to be. The day of my surgery everything went well and I had my dad right by my side the whole time. All of the wonderful people in my life who I had told about the surgery were there through emails, texts, face times and phone calls. I felt like I had so much support and I never realized how much support helps you if you just let those people in.

It has now been 3 weeks since my surgery and It has been an amazing experience so far! I can't wait until I am fully healed and I can start making clean recipes, and exercising regularly. I have lost a total of 41.5lbs since I started this journey on February 28th. I wanted to start this blog to share with everyone my journey. I plan on posting meal ideas, exercises I've tried, posts about fashion and just general inspiration. I want to update you on my progress and share pictures. I get alot of my inspiration from other people , whether its a book I've read or that really great song that just speaks to you on another level. Even if I just inspire a couple of people to go for their dreams whether its weight loss, school or a new job. I want to do that. I am here to listen to other peoples stories and meet some really great people along the way. This is only the beginning for me and I thank you for sharing this journey with me and reading my first official blog post! It's absolutely the biggest journey of my life and I will be forever grateful for my second chance at life!

Hugs & Glitter,

Chanty