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.