Early Mornings

So, I work at Curves, and I work the early morning shift. 99% of me is not a morning person, so when I first took this job, it was difficult for me, but the money has really helped my hubby and I stay afloat. (This money will now be used as the money to pay my medical bills.)
Now, I love getting up in the morning and coming here to be with the ladies! Yes, it is still hard to get out of bed most mornings, but as soon as I am out of my bed, I look forward to coming to work, and spending time with wonderful women who help inspire me!

First Workout After Surgery

So, yesterday I did my first workout since I had my gall bladder out. It felt SO GOOD!!!! I can't even tell you how much better I feel knowing that my body is free from the toxic organ that was pulling me down. It can only get better from here! I have more energy, and I am sleeping better! My workout felt fabulous! There is a machine that I skipped, just because it has you twist from side to side, and I don't want to reopen any of the incisions! It just feels good to know that I won't feel flabby for much longer! ;)

I Finally Weighed.....

So, I hadn't weighed since my surgery until today, and I didn't gain anything! Wahoo! I was so nervous where I couldn't work out that I was going to gain at least 5 lbs! I didn't gain a thing! now that I am all cleared to work out again, I should be able to continue on my path to losing!
I know that the way I ate after the surgery had a lot to do with my weight staying the same rather than gaining. I have found my love of water again, and I feel good again! I'm so excited to see the results that are to come now that I feel good again!

These Sound Tasty!

Healthy Snickerdoodle Recipe

Ingredients

1.5c all purpose flour
1.5c whole wheat flour
1c light butter
1.5c Splenda granular
0.25c Splenda granular (for rolling dough)
1tbsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
.5c egg substitute
1tbsp vanilla
1tbsp ground cinnamon (for rolling dough)

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2) Combine flour, 1.5c Splenda, baking powder and baking soda in one bowl

3) In another bowl, combine margarine, egg and vanilla extract mixing well with a wire whisk

4) Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix gently to combine

5) In a smaller bowl, combine the remaining 4 tablespoons Splenda and cinnamon

6) Shape dough into 1" balls and roll each ball in cinnamon mixture

7) Place cookies on cookie sheets (parchment paper) and flatten each with the bottom of a glass dipped in flour

8) Bake for 5-7 minutes

9) Cool on wire racks

makes 3 dozen cookies

adapted from Splenda cookbooklet

Number of Servings: 36

I'm going to try these out probably tonight! I will let you know if they are as tasty as they sound!

Follow Up Appointment

So, yesterday was my follow up appointment with the surgeon! Everything is all good, and I am so happy that they told me I can work out again! I'm so excited! I just can't do any heavy lifting, so I will have to take it easy on the Curves machines. But, ZUMBA IS A MUST! I'm so sick of feeling the flab come back from being inactive for a week and a half! It's workout time!

Surgery

5/23/11
So, I need to apologize in advance for how long this post is going to be, but I feel I need to share my adventures of this past week.
Saturday night, we had stopped by a BBQ for some friends, and then we met up with some other friends at Jack and Jill's Bowling in American Fork. They have the best french fries in existance! So, Caleb and I ordered some and split it, because I hadn't been eating as much greasy food lately. Shortly after eating them, I started to feel some pain. It started out dull, but as the night went on and we started watching a movie, the pain woulldn't go away. Since we were in American Fork already, I stopped by my parents house to ask my dad for a blessing.
After the blessing, I kept having the feeling that I would need to go to the hospital. For those of you who don't know, we don't have medical insurance, so on the whole drive there, I kept thinking "How on earth are we going to pay for this?"
We were admitted to the ER quickly, and got into my room. I had a fabulous doctor, who had acutally admitted my dad to the hospital once. As Dr. Shelton started to poke my stomach to see if there was isolated pain anywhere, he poked up near my right rib, and I yelped out in pain I had never felt in my life. He sent me in for an ultra sound, ("Oh no! More Money!" was my first thought.) and was dizzily wheeled over for it. When they turned on the sound, I was almost hoping to hear a little extra heart beat with mine, but there wasn't one.
Once my results came in, Dr. Shelton informed me that I had gall bladder disease. I started crying I was so emotional. He also told me they would be admitting me to the hospital. (CRAP!! These bills are really going to be high.) I stayed at the hospital with my mom, while Caleb and my dad went to the Ellison house to sleep. I was calling people about it by 6am, and had been slowly letting everyone know via Facebook, that I would most likely be looking at surgery. The surgeon called me about 8am, talking to me about my options.
My gall bladder needed to come out either way, it was just a matter of when. I kept thinking and feeling like the sooner the better, because I don't want to have to pay for an extra day in the hospital. I went in for surgery around 9am, and was back in my room about 11am. I had some great friends stop by, and I was trying to get some more sleep, but this machine kept beeping at me, saying I wasn't breathing deep enough. I was being checked out of the hospital by 3pm, and as soon as I got to my parents bed, I was out until 6:30. It was just so nice to sleep. Caleb was able to run home and grab us some clothes so that we could stay at my parents house for that first night.
I really have felt better since they removed my gall bladder, and it's just my surgery scars that hurt now. I won't be back to work until Monday, so it's a mandatory vacation, because I need to heal. I am so grateful for my bosses and my employees who are picking up the slack while I am gone.
I also need to give the biggest shout out to my mom, who has been by my side through all of this, along with my husband. I am so blessed to have such a caring family, who is helping me heal and get better. My favorite thing about today was that I got to finally shower! It felt so good!
6/1/11
Recovery has been hard for me. I am a very independent creature by nature, so having to so completely rely on someone has been hard for me. I can't lift anything heavier than a milk jug for the next 5 weeks, which also means that I can't do my Curves workout now that I am back to work! I am going nuts! I feel myself getting fatter, because I haven't been active. I haven't been eating too terribly, because I don't want to upset my stomach, so I have been trying to stay low fat as the doctor has ordered, but also trying to keep my portion sizes small, but enough that I am filling myself. I feel like my stomach a shrunk since surgery. I'm just not nearly as hungry as I was before.
The great thing is that because I have babied myself until yesterday, I don't really hurt anymore! :) I only hurt when I have been sitting a long time, and my pants have pushed on my belly button, then it will twinge a little, but nothing severe.
I am a lucky and blessed person to be recovering as well as I have! We will see what my surgeon says today when I go to see him!

Stress

So, I have been under a lot of stress at my full time job lately, and the drama that is associated with working with a bunch of women who love to talk,(that's how hairdressers are!) is starting to get to me. I've noticed that I haven't been sleeping as well, because I am constantly thinking about work, and not getting enough sleep is not doing me any favors when it comes to working out and wanting to eat healthy and always make dinner. Yesterday was my day off, and I still spent most of the day thinking about work.
We also might be moving again shortly. (We just moved in the end of October into an apartment) because our landlords who live upstairs are expecting a new little boy, and they also have a 1 year old girl. The wife would like to have her husband start working from home, but they would need our apartment to do that. So, we are at a loss for what to do.
All I can say right now, is that I NEED A VACATION TO CLEAR MY HEAD!!!!!!!! A real one, where I can turn off my phone and no one will care!