New Hip and Further Weight Loss

I had my hip replacement surgery on May 7th and I am really happy with my progress.  I came home from the hospital a day early ( only in 3 nights in the hospital) and my Physiotherapist says that I continue to be ahead of schedule in terms of my progress.

I went shopping with my Mom at our local farmers market at the two week mark and with the aid of a walker was able to walk the entire market, something that I have been unable to do for a couple of years.  I am down a total of 95 pounds now and I am sure that is making things much easier.
This morning we went to the Market again and I carried a 10 pounds bag of potatoes back to the car.
I could not believe how  heavy they were and then I thought I have been carrying around almost 10 extra of those bags for years. No wonder I had such difficulty walking.

The weight loss has meant that I have had to buy a few new pieces of clothing and don't think that wasn't fun. I went into our local Penningtons (large size clothing store) last week. I told the lady I had no idea what size I was and she said about a 1X. I picked up a top and pants in those sizes and held them up. I looked at my Mom and said there is no way these are going to fit me they are way to small. Anyhooooo I tried them on and low and behold they fit. I could not believe it.  I usually hate shopping because nothing fits or if it does it doesn't look nice but that day was different.  I felt great.

We had our final Quilt Guild meeting luncheon before the summer break. I was met with lots of compliments both on the fact that had lost so much weight but also that I was getting around so well since my hip surgery.  This first photo is of me last March on our bus trip to the Lancaster Quilt Show the lower photo is of me just a couple of weeks before my hip surgery. I have lost another 10 pounds since then. I am really keen to continue. I won't say exactly how much more I want to lose but I have a way to go. I won't tell you that it is not difficult because it is. Just because I can't eat as much doesn't mean that I don't want to eat more and I still have cravings for the usual things like cookies, ice cream and candy. Don't let anyone tell you that gastric bypass is the easy way to lose weight. It is just another tool to help but it is still hard. I am now off all my diabetes meds and reduced my blood pressure medication by about half.  The hip replacement surgery has meant that I am no longer taking any Tylenol#3 and a regular Tylenol does the job. I may have to have the other hip replaced but hopefully I will have a little more recovery before I have to worry about that.

 

 

I leave you with some photos of a workshop that I took recently that taught us how to make these Quilt Blocks in an easy way. It was a great day of workshop fun. I learned a lot.  

Blooming nine patch

 

The Blooming 9 Patch class was great. The pattern came from this book.

Actually the picture on the cover is the Blooming 9 Patch.
I chose my fabrics in black red and white prints.
Things like an accurate 1/4 inch are important. That is something I have never been really good at.
I hope to have all of the blocks finished by the time we have our next class in April.

At guild the other day we had a local quilt shop owner demo some new products.
I bought one of the Clover
 Nancy Ziemans  Pin and
 Stow which was not cheap ($16)  I am not that impressed with it because the pin holder part keep sliding around while it is on your wrist.


I also bought a jelly roll,
for a real bargain. It is Moda, my sister and me (Ticklish) very pretty bright sherbert spring colours, for $31. I am making one of those 1600 strippy quilts.

Next time I will have lots of pictures for you of some of the projects in the works.

Photo Update.

I know that I promised I would update my blog more regularly and I will eventually get around to it. I have a Quilt class on Monday  "Blooming 9 Patch" I can hardly wait. But today I am cutting all my fabric and am really busy. I did however want to give you an update on my weight loss. So far I am down 70 pounds since the beginning of October. Here I am in all my Glory.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all! It is now almost three months since I have had my surgery and I have lost 55 pounds. I certainly feel my clothes much looser and I can see a difference in my face but I still don't fee a huge difference in myself.

 In this first photo I had just begun my pre-op liquid diet, which lasted a little over two weeks.

Since my surgery I try to avoid, all of the white stuff, sugar, white flour, white pasta and rice.   My portions are much smaller and I try to keep my calories down to about 800-900 and keep my protein count up to 60-90 grams per day.

I no longer take any Diabetes medication and my high blood pressure meds have been reduced.

Over Christmas I did have a few shortbread and a couple of pieces of Christmas cake but they were only treats and I do not eat them any longer.

The later photo was taken on New years day.

I have made arrangement to have my first hip replacement surgery on May 7th. I am so happy about this and am really looking forward to restoring my health.  The other hip can be replaced about 3 months later, if need be.

Our guild Kawartha Quiltmakers is preparing for a show in the spring of this year. I am looking after the demonstrations by the Members. So they will show some hand work and machine piecing if space allows.

So I will be busy working on the preparation for the Show and many other needle work projects. I am currently knitting a shawl, crocheting an afghan and I have started a cross stitch quilt top. That says nothing of the UFO's I hope to complete this year.

By my next post I hope I will have updated my list and some photos of these projects.

Today I will leave you with a photo of  a late fall sunset.