4 MONTHS

Well, I have been very bad about updating my blog.  There have been so many things keeping me busy lately.  I wish I had about 4 more hours in each day.  Maybe I should write Congress about adding more time to each day :)

Okay, back to the topic, "4 MONTHS" It has been 4 months since I had my RNY gastric bypass surgery.  About 95% of this surgery has been VERY positive.  I have lost 83.5 lbs.  I have gone from 241.5 lbs to 158 lbs.  I have gone from a size 18/20 in pants to a size 6.  My pants size is smaller than my shoe size! WOW!!!  I have gone form a 1x or XXL shirt to a small or medium petite shirt.  I no longer have diabetes. My cholesterol level is now normal (130) my blood pressure is fantastic 114/68 and my sitting pulse rate is 50.  My Dr. says I am disgustingly healthy.  You won't hear any complaints from me there!  I'll take it.

Wow, has life changed. I have to say that things have been good for me. I have had no real complications and the weight is just falling off. There have been mild bumps in the road. Little pouch pains here and there and some stupid food choices on my part, but the tool is doing it's job and lets me know when I made a bad choice.

For the most part I do not dump. I can eat small amounts of sugar and I am just fine. I am glad for this, as I never wanted to deprive myself of treats, rather I needed something to keep me in check, and the pouch does that. Although, I had a grilled chicken sandwich from burger king and it made me feel yucky. I tossed the buns and only ate the chicken, but it had sauce on it and I think the sauce made me feel icky. Tool at work!

I have reached and passed my surgeon’s goal weight and feel really good about that. I am still riding my bike, exercising and enjoying this new, healthy life style.

I have to say the hardest part of this has been the changes this surgery has brought about in my marriage. DH and I are doing really good, and I am very grateful for a husband, who is open, and can talk to me and tell me how he feels. It is not every couple who can communicate so openly. I truly have my soul mate and I consider myself very lucky to have found that special person to spend my life with.

Would I do this again? Hell yes! Daily if that is what it took to feel this good and have my life back.

Here I am this morning.

Here is a picture story of my progress. Thank you to my DH for putting this together for me.  I am stupid in photo editing and have no clue how to do something like this But here I am starting with pre-op and my most recent taken this morning.

WEATHER OR WHETHER

On to cycling.  Yes!  One of my favorite subjects.  We have been out riding despite the WEATHER and plan on riding WHETHER the WEATHER cooperates or not!  Well as long as it is above 32 degrees and there is no snow or ice on the road :) 

I heard someone say today that this has been the coldest October on record since 1915.  I can believe that.  It has not been a very nice October in Minnesota for the WEATHER.

Since the weather has cooled down we have only been able to get about 100 miles in per week.  We were doing 150-200 miles per week in the warmer summer months.  Oh well, part of the price we pay for living in such a beautiful state.  Though San Diego is looking better and better :)

Yesterday ride was great!  WE did out Lake Minnetonka route and we put in a pretty good pace for speed.  I think we averaged 19.2 mph over 33 miles.  That’s pretty good when you consider the wind was gusting to over 20 mph at times, with a good steady 15 mph wind.  That wind can really war on you especially after about 15 miles of head wind.  Good thing half of the ride was with a tail wind.  I’m sure that helped keep the average speed up.

The seasons are changing and we will continue to ride WHETHER the WEATHER cooperates or not.  We still have our trainers and hours of Coach Troy on his DVD series of spinnervals.  We just picked up Coach Troy's most recent Spinnerval release.  It is a virtual ride with Coach Troy in the fall colors of MD.  I'm a little anxious to give it a try but still not looking forward to saying good-bye to the roads for the season. 

 I really miss the club rides too. This next year Steve and I are going to be ride leaders for our bike club www.biketcbc.org.  That should be lots of fun and will give us something to focus our training on over the winter months.  I would like to be able to come out of the winter months at the speed I am at now with the ability to climb hills better.  If I accomplish my speed and climbing goals in my training then I will only get better on the hills and faster on my average speeds.

 Well, stay healthy and happy!

 Hugs to all!~

Linda