2014 Monthly Goals

Every year I set new year resolutions that I fully intend on following.  Every year I find myself bummed I do not succeed as well as I would have liked.  Last year I set 5 important resolutions:
1. Menu plan
2. More family activities that involve more moving.
3. Setting a schedule for my life so I dont miss important things I need to get done.
4. Accepting help and guidance from others
5. Tuning out negativity from others about my journey.

Overall I did VERY well!  I have menu planned all year although I have not been as consistent as I would like to be, we have been eating out at least 3 times a month :(  We have been doing more family fun days but they have slowly tapered off as the school year started again.  I would love to say we are just so busy with school and activities but really we have just been slacking 6 months out >.< My 3rd point is probably the least successful of them all....I have no schedule still.  I tried very hard a few months in but found myself getting lazy days here and there and finally started skipping scheduling at all.  I have found amazing people since starting my Facebook page Kat's losing it and this blog.  I love having accountability partners and sharing my struggles and successes :) My 5th point is and will probably always be a struggle for me.  I just can not get over my people pleasing and taking every comment to heart! I am trying very hard to continue to treat others kindly no matter how they treat me but I still find my mind saying "no screw them" lol.

This year I decided I would make monthly goals instead of resolutions.  Goals that are attainable for me to be successful with. They say it takes 21 days to create a habit, if that is true if I make my monthly goals and continue them over the course of the year my ultimate goal of loosing 130 lbs should be much closer.  So here are my small monthly goals for 2014:

January: Meet my 10,000 steps a day on my Fitbit.
February: Get up at 5 am on Weekdays and 7 am on Sundays
March: Start a workout tip jar $1.00 for every 60 minutes
April: Get in 60-80 grams of protein and only 2 servings of carbohydrates a day
May: Run the 10k at the River Bank Run Running for Jenny
June: Take the kids to the park to walk/ride bikes twice a week
July: No eating out all month!
August: Cook meatless Mondays
September: Complete the Warrior Dash!
October: Climb to the very top of the rock wall
November: Go no more than 2 days without a workout
December: Learn how to do a handstand

Why I am choosing the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy

I wanted to answer many questions I have received over the last few weeks as my vertical sleeve gastrectomy is so close.  I have spent the last 12 months complying with physician supervised weight loss.  Those 12 months included monthly visits with a MD, a nutritionist and a behaviorist.  I have kept a detailed food/exercise log that was picked apart every month as well as undergoing EKG's, blood tests and ultrasounds.  Finally I am on my last visit waiting to here from insurance for my approval since I have followed everything they needed me to do.   It was a long 12 months but now that it is over it seemed to fast but I know I am prepared for surgery.  The vertical sleeve gastrectomy is a procedure where the surgeon removes about 85% of your stomach leaving you a smaller "sleeve".  The "repaired" stomach holds about 2 oz.  The portion of the stomach they remove contains "hunger hormone" cells so the feeling of hunger is drastically if not completely gone after surgery.  After researching all the different types of weight loss surgery's available the gastric sleeve is much more appealing to me...no foreign band for adjustments or ulcers :)

The VSG is an overnight stay at the hospital with about 4 weeks recovery time.  Since I am a SAHM and have already had 2 c-sections I feel a bit prepared for what it will be like although many I have spoke with in the WLS community have said the recovery is much easier than a c-section. 

So...onto the many questions I have had:
1. Are you afraid you won't be able to eat?
Nope....Honestly I am almost always UNDER calories for the day.  I have been on a 1200 calorie diet for a year and I am always at about 900 for the day.  My problem that I have been working SO hard on getting under control.....eating 3-5 small meals a day!  I have a horrible habit of skipping breakfast and lunch then I am starving at dinner and eat 2x's the portions I should.  Still under calories but as my nutritionist tells me I am making my body store fat because I am starving it all day :(  I am looking forward to eating every 2-3 hours in smaller amounts.  I will still be able to eat regular food in much smaller amounts...eventually.

2. How will you ever go 4 weeks on a liquid diet?
Well....there is no getting around it!  2 weeks pre-op my dr puts you on a full liquids diet to help shrink your liver.  You dont follow it you run the chance of much more complications during surgery.  As far as the 2 weeks post opp....we are retraining our stomachs how to eat not to mention the staples holding your new stomach closed.  Following the 4 weeks liquid and 2 weeks pureed diet is incredibly important to the healing process and I will do whatever is needed to avoid complications and ensure my surgery is the tool I intend it to be!

3. Don't you think weight loss surgery is cheating?
Well here is my opinion....if choosing to have a drastic procedure to repair the major damage I have done to my stomach is cheating so be it.  If changing my diet to 2 oz meals at a time is cheating...so be it.  Just because I am having VSG does not mean I will not being working my ass off in the gym to loose the weight.  The surgery helps you loose the weight by making your stomach small but you still have to follow a diet and exercise plan or even after major weight loss it can come back.  Studies have shown about 90% of people who loose weight without surgery gain their weight back while about 20% of WLS patients regain theirs back.  I have been up and down in weight for years!  I feel the VSG is a way for me to start "fresh" repair the over stretched, abused stomach I have with a smaller one :)

4.  What about all that skin from rapid weight loss....gross.
Yeah well here is my reality....I have had 3 children!!!  My stomach already looks like a road map of the USA and to think I won't have hanging skin is incredibly naive ;p  I will do all I can as far as exercise and toning to minimize it but there is no question there will be some no matter if I had the VSG or not.  My body is 138 lbs overweight...there will be deflated parts!  I figure better deflated than full of fat LOL there are these amazing contraptions called "shape wear" we have already been friends for years...I don't see that ending :D

I am completely confident in my decision.  I know it is the best way for me to help my journey be more successful and know it is not for everyone.  It is not a way of "cheating" at the weight loss game!  I will be putting in lots of hard work like others who are on their own weight loss journeys but I will have one huge advantage...a 2 oz tummy to help control over eating and hormonal hunger issues :) 

I recently came across an awesome article about WLS.  The author asked a great question: When did doing something the hard way become a morally superior option vs. being smart about it and using whatever tools are available to you?  Let's say you have two people who both love to garden. One of them uses gardening tools and even owns a tiller to help dig up the ground before planting. They use an electric hedge trimmer too. The other one does the whole garden using a teaspoon and a pair of scissors. Their results aren't as good as the first person, but, hey, at least they didn't "take the easy way out" by using power tools......My thoughts exactly!!!

Kat's choice: Flex VS. Up

In August I was introduced into the wonderful world of fitness trackers.  I was seeing them all over the women at the YMCA and had to research just what these "bracelets" were all about.  I spent the next few days online comparing and reading reviews of all the latest fitness goodies and decided the best fit for me was the Fitbit Flex.  It was more affordable than some of the other trackers and they carried them at my Verizon store so I could buy it on my account and pay for it with my monthly cell phone bill.  I completely fell in LOVE with the flex!  I loved seeing my steps and sleep mapped out and the nutrition tracker was very easy to use.  I found it very simple to use on my iphone and my laptop.

 The Flex has about a 5 day battery life so I would generally try and charge it on my lazy Sunday afternoons when I was mostly couch bound anyways lol.  The Flex is waterproof but I never wore it in the shower or swimming.  The package contained 2 flex bands (one large, one small)with clasp, USB charging cord, USB Dongle that syncs to your pc, and the fitbit tracker/computer piece that fits into the band.  The band was secure and comfortable my only complaint....it made my wrist stink ;p  Even if it was a rest day and I was not sweating, the band seemed to trap moisture under it very well and I started obsessing about cleaning my band every time I washed my hands because it was so irritating to my skin.

The fitness tracker seemed to be working fine tracking my steps but I couldn't help but feel short changed sometimes on what it considered "very active minutes" I went out for a very vigorous walk with the dog 2 miles in 30 minutes and when I got home and sync'd it would say I was very active for 9 minutes :( It has 5 dots that light up the closer you get to your 10k steps goal. It graphs out you steps and that seemed to be pretty accurate to me.

 The food tracker was very easy to use but since I mostly purchase Meijer brand items I had to add the nutrition information myself :/ It has a meter that lets you know if you are under, over or just right for your calorie intake.

The sleep tracker was probably my favorite part, mostly because I didn't realize how horribly I sleep!! It marks when you are restless and awake for how long and how many times.  I try to get at least 7 hours a night during the school year but it rarely happens.  This particular evening I am posting I forced myself into bed at 8:30 pm instead of the usual 10 pm. Luckily I did because I was restless 20 times and awake 8 times :(  I also loved the silent alarm you can set.  I set mine for 5:15 AM and woke up nicely to the vibration on my wrist instead a violent heart attack from whatever metal band was playing on the radio.

Overall I loved my Fitbit Flex but I found it had one major flaw....The battery life.  I never got 5 whole days of battery out of it and after 30 days my first Flex would not accept a charge.  I exchanged it for another and that Flex lasted me a little over 90 days before it again would be connected properly and not charge up.  Bringing it back for the second time my Verizon rep asked if I would like to try the Jawbone Up and at the cost of losing my Fitbit friends I enjoy I accepted the exchange.

The Jawbone Up is a one piece band with no clasp. The package contained the flexable up band and a USB charging cord.  The silver cap covers the sync port that plugs in directly into your phone so unlike the Flex you do not have to use a pc at all. The Up is sold in S, M and L.  I purchased the small and it fits very comfortably and has been sturdy despise not having a clasp.  It has two light up modes a pretty colorful flower for active times and a moon for sleep. The app is very simple to use and it more detailed. You can track your food, activity, sleep, and mood.  It also has fun little "did you know" facts everyday.  Unlike the Flex it has not given me the gross smelly wrist or irritation....we shall see if it continues to.

The activity tracker seems to be accurate to my account for the day.  My kiddos has a snow day so we did not venture out until afternoon, slept in and relaxed watching movies most of the Am.  I like that it tells min in % where I am for my goals. You can log your workouts as well like today I did 45 minutes of Yoga that was not tracked because I set my Up on the counter while I did dishes and forgot to put it back on.  While it is waterproof I remove it like my jewelry.

The food tracker is probably my favorite feature of the Up!  I got so tired of sitting at the computer entering all my nutrition info for my store brand items and the Up has a scan feature :D  You can scan the bar code and it brings it up for you, no fumbiling with packages trying to make sure you don't miss something. You can also snap a pic of your food to keep a image for future use.

Also when you track your food you can also track the exact time you ate it and where you were.  Besides having a list of foods and drinks you consumed it breaks them down on the main screen on where you are % wise for the day for the main food groups. My goal is within 1000-1200 calories a day and love seeing when I get it right!

The sleep tracker is a little more appealing to me. I spent the first hour in bed facebooking with a friend haha....couldnt hide that from Up >.<  Seeing this display of my sleep patterns just looks better to me I can see that I am getting plenty of deep sleep even if I am up and down all night from the 120 oz. of water I drink every day.

I have read other review that complained about the battery life of the Jawbone Up as well so we shall see if it withstands my needs.  It is supposed to have a 10 day battery life compared to the 5 days on the Flex.  My concern is that it will continue to take a charge.  I go crazy with a dead fitness tracker!  Since tracking my activity, food and sleep has become so important to my weight loss journey I can not imagine not having this amazing tool in my belt.  I know there are many more fitness trackers out there besides these two but my vote has to go with the Jawbone Up. The Up's biggest selling point for me....I don't HAVE to use my laptop to sync my data, since I always have my Up on my wrist and iphone in my pocket I am always able to sync them up and see where I am at instead of counting blinky lights ;p