Stream of consciousness

I know it's been an insanely long amount of time since my last blog. Don't think I haven't missed writing, because I have! But I've been working a lot and just haven't had the time. Even on weekends, I've been so happy to just chill out and not have to do anything. You know what I mean.

So I'm just gonna let things tumble out of my brain and hopefully I won't confuse you too much!

- My current weight is 263 and I've lost 181 pounds total. 63 more pounds to my goal. At this point, I know I can so totally reach that. It may not come off as quickly as I'd like, but it will come off.

- Since I'm freezing all the time, I've come to discover that Snuggies rock. Did I really just write that?

- I'm eating chicken! I started off about a month ago with popcorn chicken. Fried, yes, but also moist. It went down ok so I eat a little bit at a time every now and then. I'm slowly leaning into it and my next step will be to try baked or grilled. I also had some roasted turkey lunchmeat this week and it was ok. The first time I tried to eat this stuff, it made my stomach hurt a bit but I kept at it. I miss chicken a lot and am determined to get it back into my diet.

- The jeans I bought for my Nashville trip are getting baggy already. When I weighed 444 lbs., it would take losing at least 50 for me to tell a difference in my clothes. At this weight, my guess is it takes about 20 because that's how much I've lost since early Dec. when I bought those jeans (25, actually). Guess I better ease up on the shopping....

- I want another cat. Another black cat, specifically.

- I'm going to talk to Tim about a tattoo this weekend. When I reached my 175-lb. milestone, I'm like "Ok. Go get the tattoo. Just go get it." I've decided I want my maiden name (Brannan) in a nice, Celtic-looking font. I'm behind on my 50-lb. rewards so I may do something else as well, not sure yet (maybe get a cat!).

- My ears are completely healed, so my jealousy over the little starving African child's perfect ears has waned. In fact, I may try to put different earrings in this weekend. I bought peace signs when I was in Ohio. WOOT!

- I could do with a Bo fix. Sigh. I think it's worse when you see him than if you go long periods NOT seeing him. Bocaine. Getting a small hit just makes you want another one.

- I have pretty much given up on protein powder. Vanilla and fruit-flavored varieties are ok when you mix them with fruit and blend it all up but as a whole, I've lost my ability to choke them down. They were palatable to me at first but maybe that's because I was so starved for flavor of any kind! Anyway, I've skipped to bars. Look for low-sugar, low-carb, high-protein varieties. Atkins bars rock, for example, and can be found at Costco in Canada - Walmart in the States.

- I've cut out my Friday workouts. Ya know, when I haven't seen my husband all week long and I know he's home on Fridays waiting for me, the last place I want to go is the gym. Sorry, but that's my life and I'm not accepting a guilt trip about it (hear that, ex-trainer?). I go Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Seems to be working out ok (see weight loss above).

- My face feels so small to me now. Odd thing, but putting on moisturizer or makeup, I feel my face and just go "Hmm. Jawline is higher."

- My 6-month, post-op bloodwork came back pretty much perfect. Sugar, cholesterol, total protein levels, etc., all awesome. Yay me! I now am taking no prescription medication of any kind. Just vitamins that all gastric bypass patients have to take for the rest of their lives. Losing weight has cured me. Seriously.

- My anniversary blog is coming up soon. One year ago on Feb. 7, my birthday, I started this journey and decided to create a blog to chronicle it. Look for my First Birthday Blog later on in the week!