Update

Mother hubbard, it's been a while since I updated! I began my new job and I absolutely love it. I love going to work, I'm not in a bad mood when I go home, and I don't find myself looking at the clock every 10 minutes. This job has proved to be very beneficial to my mental and physical health. My last job was a pretty big company and you know what that means; potluck lunches and PLENTY of people to go to lunch with. Now I work in a small company with just 3 other people and I have less lunch time, so I find myself bringing my lunch more and more, which is a lot healthier. I can see a difference in my body each day. Lately, my face has been looking slimmer and my much balleyhooed "skinny" jeans are too big! Yay! I also fit into my shoes better and can wear cuter shoes that before would make my toes look like stuffed sausages.

I also haven't updated in a while because right after I started my new job I got sick. Nothing band related, thankfully, but still SICK. I was bitten by something after T.S. Fay hit and got a staph infection. I went to the doctor, but I was allergic to the antibiotics and pain meds they gave me. Actually, I don't know which one I was allergic to since I took them at the same time, but I wasn't about to experiment and find out. I threw up so violently that the capillaries in my face broke from straining so hard that my face was bruised for days. I looked like Violet from Willy Wonka. Thankfully, I got on some better antibiotics after that and the infection went away. And on a morbid note, I lost 2 lbs from throwing up. I know, I know - bad way to lose weight, but hey - at this point I'll take what I can get. :)

I've set a mini-goal for myself to lose 20 lbs by Christmas. That will put me in Onederland! It has officially been 3 years since I weighed under 200lbs, so that will be a big accomplishment for me.

I know that I will definitely be getting a breast reduction once I've lost the majority of my weight. My insurance company has always said they'd cover the surgery once I lost weight. My breasts have always hindered me and cause a lot of neck, shoulder, and back problems. My main concern is having a tummy tuck/panniculectomy. A panniculectomy is the removal of the "pannus" or overhanging skin around the abdominal area, mainly under the belly button. I've had one as long as I can remember and it really bothers me. I end up buying pants that are too big for me so that it'll fit around my mid-section properly and it ends up being too big everywhere else. It prohibits me from exercising properly and I often get bad skin irritations under it, near my pelvic bone. Surgeons usually recommend people that have had gastric bypass or LapBand to wait 1 year after the surgery before having that done so that the major health problems with obesity can subside. Thankfully, I didn't have a lot of health problems, so I'll probably make an appointment with my doctor after the New Year to discuss my options. I'm not really concerned with having a flat stomach as much as a stomach that allows me to be active and productive.