Feeling & looking good but still in STALL HELL.

Week 4 of the dreaded weightloss stall and the scale says I'm still stuck at 226 lbs. I'm walking 3 days a week, eating less than 1000 a day or less and my body weight is still stuck at the same place now for a month. THIS IS CRAZY TOWN.  I do however feel smaller all over.  I lost another inch on my hips and tummy and my arms. My face is becoming more slender and refined.  I feel more energy and less pain.  The Bio-identical Hormones have helped my girly problems so far and the doctor is watching me closely.

A size 18 woman's is becoming loose on me.  I'm almost into a size 16.  That means MORE MORE LANE GIANT!  No more big girl stores. When I get frustrated, I stop and acknowledge where I was compared to 23 weeks ago.  I was wearing a size 28, and a 3X.  That is a huge difference my friends.  I am still thick, but curvy and proportionate.  I'm even forming an actual "Waistline" again. Yay!

Shopping online for fun inexpensive things to wear has replaced my comfort and reward eating.  I am starting to wear COLOR!  Black was my signature color always, but I am adding color these days.  I have started a crazy wild shoe fetish.  So much so, I may have to design some shoes of my own. : )

Taking walks on the San Francisco Bay on my lunch hour has replaced my stress eating.  I am back on the Carb Cycling: The Turbo Cycle to help break this stall. Chris Powell has testing this on hundreds of his clients and it has proven to work.  Heidi (his wife) has some helpful tips here. What I am doing looks like this:

Carb Cycling: The Turbo Cycle
If you want to shed those extra pounds extra fast, the Turbo Cycle is for you. Of the four carb cycles, this cycle takes off weight the fastest. Unlike the Easy and Classic cycles, which alternate low and high-carb days, the Turbo Cycle pits two low-carb days against every high-carb day. That means you’ll burn fat two days in a row before your body’s furnace (metabolism) is re-stoked on your high-carb day, and you’ll lose weight really, really fast!

Even though the Turbo Cycle has an extra low-carb day as compared to the Easy and Classic cycles, it is not a severely calorie-restricted cycle that will crash your metabolism. As with the other cycles, women should not consume fewer than 1,200 calories a day, and men should not consume fewer than 1,500 calories a day. And since you’ll have two low-carb days in a row, you may feel less energetic on the second low-carb day. But this is okay. These low-carb days are powerful weight-loss accelerators!

Here’s what a Turbo Cycle week looks like:
    Monday: Low carb day
    Tuesday: Low carb day
    Wednesday: High carb day
    Thursday: Low carb day
    Friday: Low carb day
    Saturday: High carb day
    Sunday: Reward day

As with the other cycles, you can stay with the Turbo Cycle as long as you want, or you can change cycles. This program is tailor-made to you and you alone!

For more information on the Turbo Cycle or any other cycle, check out our book, Choose More, Lose More for Life.

My low carb days I keep my carbs under 20 carbs a day.  High carb days I eat up to 60 carbs per day.  It's actually easy to do this eating lifestyle because you eat high protein and veggies most of the time and you don't feel deprived because you eat carbs on the high carb days and get Sunday to eat a Reward food you may be craving.  Hope this works.

My biggest problem is drinking enough water.  I don't.  I need too.  It's like a chore and it doesn't feel good in my tiny tummy.  Drinking lots of water is uncomfortable because you can only do small gulps.  You have to take it slow and when you are working and super busy, remembering to drink water is not on your mind.  I am setting up timer reminders to take sips every 30 mins. throughout the day.  I will try ANYTHING to break this stall. I am patient.  The holidays are almost here and I am going to be the Bad Girl BBQ Chef this season.  I do a lot of cooking, but not much eating. :  )

I'll be Deep Frying the Turkey at my place this year!

My birthday is on December 13th, 

I hope I am  at least 219 lbs. by then.

"Let Them Eat Cake" but I'll have some wine please"...

The scale has not moved, I am still at a stall at 226 lbs., but I have lost 2 1/2 more inches since last week.  I had my VSG surgery 5 months ago yesterday and I have lost a total of 32 1/2 inches all over my body so far.  This is why it's good to measure yourself and not just rely on the scale.  I have been walking 2.5 miles on my lunch hour 3 days a week.  I think that is helping.  I started taking Turmeric supplements and I feel much better in my joints. I can seriously feel the difference when I don't take it.

For my fellow females out there, (Boys may want to click away for this part : o)  I must report that if you are over 40 and possibly approaching or are in Perimenopause, a large amount of weight-loss has been known to speed up menopause.  I am there and my body is doing it's "LAST FINALE" before my dusty uterus and ovaries take their last bow.  BLOODY HELL, are my girly parts in protest. 

This Halloween weekend, I am a vampires dream come true.  My cycle has been sporadic since I had VSG surgery and I was really hoping it would just go away for good.  I almost went to the ER yesterday because I thought I was bleeding to death. I lost so much blood in a 24 hour period (pun intended) that I was lightheaded and almost blacked out.  My doctor told me to take 800 mgs. of Motrin and if it got worse, she would prescribe something to help slow it down.  I had my hormones tested and had an Ultrasound on my uterus 2 weeks ago.  I'll get the results on Tuesday.  In the meantime, I'm fucking starting on Bio-Identical Progesterone tonight.

This is why alcohol was invented, for life phases like this.  Spod-Dee-O-Dee, Motrin & a Multi vitamin for me this entire weekend is on my agenda.  If I'm going to feel like shit, I am going to at least have a good reason.  Empty calories I know, but my mental and emotional health are important too.  Laughter and hanging with goofy friends dressed up like Gawd Knows What should fix what's ailing me.

I have a long list of Halloween parties to attend this fun weekend ahead.  I have a fabulous Marie Antoinette costume to wear, I'm baking some alcohol cakes.  Marie will, "LET EVERYONE EAT CAKE," but in my current state, maybe going as something scary would be more appropriate.

My "Bloody Mary" costume may be better.

The Fresh Celery Head Piece makes the outfit.

I'm still on track my friends.  Hoping to break this 
weight loss stall and get to 219 soon.

I ended up going as Marie Antoinette!

Halloween 2015 - "LET THEM EAT CAKE!" 

I baked a couple Rum cakes.

I almost lost my head.  

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Ready to dance & sing....

I did get on the scale this morning and nothing has changed.  I'm still at 226 lbs.  55 pounds down so far.  I ain't complaining.  I did something really stupid this week.  My cat is dead, I'm lonesome as hell, and found myself filling out a Match.com profile. What the hell?  I know, I didn't actually sign up or anything.  It was up for a few days.

My inbox was crazy packed full of guys winking at me and emailing me.  I felt flattered, but I totally chickened out and tried to take it down from the site, which I think is impossible.  Internet dating is worse than a serious job interview while waiting in line at the DMV and then having a root canal afterwards. 

For someone who has been known to glue 450 shiny toy pinwheels and 30 garden ornament squirrels to her car, you can imagine how great I come off on a first date with a stranger I met online.  How could someone as weird as me meet a guy online?   I may not be ready to go on a actual "Date" yet, but I am ready to dance me some blues with a cute boy.  Maybe tonight?

I'm going out to catch Suzanne & her Highwater Blues band show in North Beach tonight!

She got me up on stage to sing a few songs with her
at THE OLDEST BLUES HOUSE IN SAN FRANCISCO - The Saloon!

She had me singing the blues and we had the house dancing a boogie!
I have to get me a nice iPad set-up like she has here in the photo.

I WENT AND HAD A TOTAL BLAST!

Left to right we have Michael Lyons, Mark Yee, Me & the fabulous Suzanne Rose.

50 pounds down so far ~ Week 16!

Hi yall,

I missed posting last Friday, I was out of town.  Here are the latest photos of me. I'm in less pain.  I have more energy and people were really noticing the weight-loss.  You can start to really see it in my face.

The face is slimming down.

Grilled Breakfast Pizzas - Cowgirl Style!

14 weeks Post Op VSG...

Getting over a cold this week.  No changes to report.  I didn't walk at all.  Just taking it slow and trying to get rest.  No appetite that is for sure.  I'm looking forward to getting organized and have some fun over the Labor Day weekend.

Losing weight in my body is also making me want to get rid of other stuff too, - I'M BECOMING A MINIMALIST!  Or at least I want to be.  I feel freer not owning a bunch of stuff.  I am keeping the quality, and recycling and discarding the quantity.  I'm downsizing and preparing for a relocation in the near future.

Everything I own is in a 10' x 20' storage unit up the street.  There is stuff in there I haven't seen since 2008.  I need my own space to go through all this stuff, so I'm looking for new digs.  I love where I live, but the space is way too small.  I want to get a treadmill to workout at home in the evenings when the weather is yucky out.  I need a creative space to work on my art projects.  I must be able to park my vintage VW Bus Art Car in an enclosed safe, weather-free space.  

2016 is going to be a NEW YEAR BIG TIME!

Week 13... 45lbs. Total Loss so far!

I got on the scale this morning and I weigh 236lbs. 2 more pounds lost this week!  

That means I have lost a total of 45lbs total so far. I have been walking on my lunch hour, an average of 3 days a week. I love this free APP I downloaded in iTunes for my iPhone 6 -  it's called Pacer.  

It's a pedometer that works on your phone.  It monitors every step I take in a day.  You just need to make sure you keep your cell phone ON YOU so it will count your steps.  I put my goals into the program and it set up how many steps I would need to do a day to get to my 145 pound goal.  I need to walk 10,000 steps a day.  I went way over that yesterday.  Since I have started walking, I am losing more inches everywhere.  I have lost a total of 23 1/4 inches!

I miss coffee, especially when I get up for work daily at 5:30am.  I tried some this morning with extra milk in it, but no - my tummy got sour instantly.  I just thought I would give it another try.  I'll stick with CLICK Espresso Protein Drink's in the morning.  I put ice in it and it better than a Mocha Frappuccino and I get the caffeine I need to get my eyes open while I drive into the office and see the sunrise.