"You look great! Your hair is different!"

So I've discovered that walking through my office takes longer than it used to. I'm actually walking faster these days (a few of my friends have pointed this out to me), but at least twice a day, someone will stop me and mention my weight loss. So I'm learning to "schedule" time for these run-ins. It's very nice...the accolades just keep me plugging along! Every once in awhile, I will run into someone I haven't seen in awhile and if I don't know them very well, I'll get "the look,"  although now they realize something is different. Today I saw a girl I know who works in a different building & department and she said, "You look great! Your hair is different!" While that's true (just got my hair done), I know she was seeing much more - weight loss, sure, but also a new confidence.

On another note, I survived a 90-minute zumba class tonight! Holy crap. I told the instructor the only reason I did it was because I can't do half of the steps! I feel like I stand there with my mouth open, trying desperately to make my body do what it's supposed to do, but I have absolutely no hand/eye coordination and apparently no rhythm. And I swear endorphins have the opposite affect on me - instead of releasing joy, they make me an emotional wreck! There was an older lady in the class tonight, the mom of another participant, and I almost lost it completely because she made me think of my mom. Oh, how we would have loved to do zumba with mom! Now THAT would have been a good laugh. Then after class, I got super stressed out and started crying about something that shouldn't have pushed me over the edge. Then again, I didn't eat before zumba and maybe all I needed was some food in the 20 percent of the stomach I have left! :)

Zumba

Seems like just when I set a goal to be under a certain weight by New Year's Day, my weight loss has completely stalled. Ugh. I've lost 71 pounds total, but haven't lost anything in over a week! And I've even been to three Zumba classes! Not fair! I know stalls are normal, but I'm getting discouraged, so I hope the scale budges this week.

On my way, slowly...

So my weight loss is slowing down and I've decided I need to kick up my workouts a notch or two. I am pleased with the results (68 pounds so far!), don't get me wrong, but I want to lose 20 more pounds by New Year's Day. So it's time to "stop working out like an old lady," as my doctor told me. Don't tell my sister, but I might have to try Zumba now. Eeek! Here's photographic evidence of my weight loss. Notice I still don't like being photographed from the waist down! Ha.

I did a 5K and lived to tell about it!

Me & my sister Jill at the race.

This year, like the last 4 or 5 years, we walked in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. This was the first year walking without mom...that was pretty tough. It was less emotional than I thought, though, because we had so many of our friends and family walking with us. We did 1980s-themed shirts this year, so some of us went all out. My Madonna hairdo looked a lot better before I left the house. But, more importantly, walking a 5K was much easier this year than it had been in years past without an extra 63 pounds. I still complained the entire way and wasn't sure I would make it, but I did. Woo hoo! Next year, someone suggested that we run. I don't see that happening, but I might walk a little faster. :)

Spanx mishap

Thankfully, this was not MY Spanx mishap. I only wish I was as funny as Melissa McCarthy. She handled this a lot better than I would have!

A sign?

I just learned that Charlie's Steakhouse in Pflugerville is going out of business after 40 years. I have literally been eating there my entire life. Growing up, it was pretty much the only place to eat in our sleepy little town. I have vivid memories of everyone turning to look at you as you entered the dark restaurant. I used to hate that. Later, they added windows and I remember not liking them at first because it changed the ambiance. The bathroom has been the same since they opened - the uneven floor, the retro flower prints on the walls and the icky reusable towel hand dryer thing that goes around and around in a circle and I never understood how it was clean just by rotating it through the wall unit. Many of the waitresses have worked there for 20 or 30 years and know you by name.

I haven't been in awhile, for obvious reasons, but it was one of the last places I ate prior to surgery. Best Chicken Fried Steak ever. I'll also remember the Broiled Catfish platter, the vegetable beef soup that grandpa used to order with mostly juice so he could soak his bread in it, the enchilada plate with extra onions my mom would order, the hamburger steak (omg, yum), and the lunch or dinner specials that came with pudding for dessert. Most of all, I'll remember that they had the best iced tea anywhere, served in the smallest glasses. And the crackers they served with hot sauce. I will be sad when they close their doors...there are a lot of fond memories of eating there with my grandparents and the rest of my family.

I laughed at my first thought: "Geez, I lose 60 pounds and it forces them out of business!" I guess this is just one more sign that I am leaving my old life behind and moving on to a new, healthier one, right?

Just call me Sally O'Malley

"I'm 50! FIVE-OH! And I like to kick, stretch and kick!"

Unlike Sally O'Malley, though, I'm not 50 years old just yet. But I have now officially hit the 50 pounds lost mark since surgery three months ago! And if you count the 9 pounds before surgery that I lost, that's almost 60! Holy cow. I think it hit me today -- I am halfway to my goal of losing at least 100 pounds! That makes me wanna kick, stretch and kick! And I couldn't do all that 50 pounds ago! :)