Before & During Photos

I am almost at my 6 month Bandiversary (August 10th) and took some progress photos. The before photos were taken in early January 2010 just before my pre-op diet started at 209 pounds. When I published them on my blog I had cut off my head but decided to include my heads (sort of a BG thing). The progress photos were taken last week and show 34 pounds lost. I also took my measurements and am extremely happy that my "beer gut" has deflated 6". My measurements are in a chart at the bottom of my blog. I am still at high risk for diabetes, heart disease and stroke but each pound lost gets me closer to a healthy future. And, I feel so damn good. The biggest change I've noticed is losing back fat. Plus, I am standing straighter than before and you can see my eyes in pictures. They no longer disappear behind my fat cheeks. Onward to the last 21 pounds. The first pics are my clothing shots. OMG, my face was so fat! The first picture is July 2010 and the second is July 2009. What a difference a year makes. 

Stats:

Before & Durings:
Now for the bathing suit shots, for your viewing pleasure, I used the same bathing suit but since it now gives me severe baggy butt syndrome, I gave it to a friend.

          January 2010--------------July 2010

        January 2010--------------July 2010

         January 2010------------July 2010

       Another frontal shot in my other bathing suit:

 

BYOC and Teardrops on My Guitar

Since it is raining torrentially for the next couple of hours, here is my BYOC.

1. If your heart had a singing voice, whose would it be? I sing along with almost any song which is one reason I love to travel in the car all by myself. I turn up my favourite songs and sing right along with Andrea Bocelli, Avril Lavigne, Barbra Streisand, Il Divo, Faith Hill or Lady Gaga. And I love Taylor Swift, the reason I put her song, Teardrops on My Guitar in my title (and my son wants to marry her!). I even sing the background singers part too. I'm a regular one woman band.

2. What is your most disgusting habit? I'm perfect. Nuff said. I would never bite my fingernails or fart or burp. And I never swear. I want to set a good example, so remember if you ever get the urge to burst out with expletives (@#^$(*@%), just say to yourself, "What would Sandy do?"

3. Carmen and I were talking about Chicago and our fears...for those of you going (and those of you not you can answer as if you were going)...what is your biggest fear? Initially I thought all the same thoughts—no one would talk to me, no one would like me, what's the old lady doing with all these younguns... But then I got to know most of you even more by reading your blogs and have no worries at all. So I'll sit in the back corner away from everyone and if you feel left out, ignored, disliked, come see me and we will start our own party. The problem is I can't imagine that ever happening. I am looking forward to seeing everyone step out of their comfort zone. And I figure it has to be less revealing than some of those pictures you all posted of your post-op stomachs (I just couldn't bring myself to do that!). If you can do that, you can do anything. I am also bringing my laptop with me so maybe we should blog every hour of the weekend, to keep the others who aren't able to come, up to date on our activities. We'll be like Mary Tyler Moore in the big city of Chicago! 

4. This isn't so much a question but a challenge. Name one thing you will do for just one day next week in the name of health and commit to it on your blog and to us. There is something funny I have discovered watching everyone set goals. I don't do well when I say I will do something. For example the summer weightloss challenge. If I had joined in on that I would have gained weight. I have no idea why when I set a goal I fail but that is what happens. But to be fair, I will be going back to the gym again this week and trying not to eat too much junkfood. Will the Blog police come after me if I don't meet that goal?

5. Whose blog or comment stuck with you the most this week? I have to say my own post about loving all you guys. It was a lightbulb moment when I realized that I could actually lose weight and I was doing this because of the support from around the world. Thanks for all the comments. I would not be this far without being able to read the stories that you blog about.This isn't a diet, it's an adventure and it is so much fun! So thank you, all my booggers!

I am leaving with some pictures of me when I was little. It's nice to see where we came from. So pull out all those old photo albums and start scanning (for those of us who grew up in the non-digital world).

8 years old (1962)

13 years old (1967). I loved to bake and it was Canada's 100th birthday. This is two years after I was on the amphetamine diet which buzzed off a bunch of pounds. Sadly, they all came back.

15 years old (1969). The curls were Dippity-Doo'd straight.

That's all folks! And the sun just came out.
Sandy

Word for Today is F**K

Today I said the F-word so many times, my brain was tired. It started by telling my acting manager that this place was F***ing insane. Then I walked by the guy who will be acting manager in two weeks and told him he could just F*** off and so could the other guy. Then I left and went for a two hour drive and cried the rest of the afternoon. They are all a bunch of F***ing assholes. When the manager is away, what gives these guys the right to change everything without consulting the people (me) who do the work!! I guess I should have gone on their morning coffee walks for their double doubles (that's a reference to a trip to Tim Horton's our local coffee/donut shop where coffee means double cream, double sugar). Maybe then I would have been "in the loop". I was so upset tonight that I had to take an anti-anxiety pill. This is me on an anti-anxiety med and the F-word is still coming out. Don't worry, I won't lose my job. I am unionized and work for the government. There are at least 5 other deadbeats ahead of me that should go and they can't get rid of them. Just wanted to vent. I tried stroking the cat but I think after 4 hours he is a bit tired of being stroked and started to scratch and bite me.

I wanted to add a few pictures I scanned. This is from 1996 but I am still shocked how big I look. I think it was Gen who mentioned she has a skinny camera. I want it, so she better watch out in Chicago or it will go missing in my purse. This photo was taken with one of those old cameras that used film.

This next one is me in 1969 just before joining TOPS (Take off Pounds Sensibly). I was 15. We had to squat in front of a pig cutout if we gained weight. Lost about 40 pounds though and was the division winner for a teenager. I wrote a post about that experience. The first one in colour, I think I weighed about 176 pounds and one in black and white with my banner in the 130's, in 1972.

And here is one of me as a newlywed in 1981. This would have been the smallest I had ever been, just around 130 pounds.

I'll be posting more as I get them scanned in. I find it helpful to look back. Because sometimes, I now see that I didn't look that bad.

Tomorrow I will find a better Word of the Day. May need more drugs.

Big, Fat Cow

Name Calling, Words. It is amazing the effect a single word can have on us. After writing the section on the word obese, I realized how gut-wrenching that word can be. Add an adjective (such as severe, mobidly or super) and it becomes even more of a label. I know a few years ago, jokingly someone started using weight challenged but it still doesn’t change the discrimination we are subjected to as we go through life. In contrast, take the word “skinny”. We can add severely skinny or super skinny and our brains think model, but have you ever heard of someone being described as mobidly skinny. Makes you want to go out and buy a coffin to keep close by.

Another personal word for me is “cow”. Makes one think of farmland, milk, bells (in Switzerland) and mooing. Add the adjectives big, fat and apply it to a person and you get a memory that sticks to me years later. As a kid of about 10, the mother of my best friend angrily called me a “big, fat cow”. To this day, I see her rage and hatred and the beginning of my confusion with weight. Even without the name calling, the looks of disgust we have all felt bore a hole right through to our hearts.

I am a good person, smart and intelligent. But I can be brought to my knees when someone implies I am fat. Or gives me that look of disgust. Ok so I am fat, add adjective-obese in fact. Like many of the blogger’s I follow, I avoided having my picture taken for many years. A few years ago, I started putting together a slideshow of my family and had few recent pictures of me. After that I made a promise to not avoid the camera. I still delete a lot of the really bad pictures but now know I have a history of myself. The one thing I must remember is not to wear sleeveless although I have been able to use Photoshop to my advantage in a lot of pictures. Even removed some wrinkle in one! This is my first posting of a real picture of me. Untouched. My face showing. For all the world to see. And I don’t think I look anything like the big, fat cow above! Her ears are bigger than mine.