Post-Vacation Ramblings

You know you were tired when you apparently go to bed just before 10PM and wake up past 9AM and it only seems like five minutes have passed. You know you were tired when you don't even remember falling asleep. You know you were tired when you've been up for a couple of hours and want to crawl back under the covers.

Weight this morning: 284.0 lbs. Total loss: 232.6 lbs.

I lost 2.6 lbs over my vacation. Pretty awesome. I guess my strategy worked. What was my strategy? Lots of protein, get in at least 64 oz of water. My first trip post-op caused me a bunch of problems because my eating was all over the place and I certainly wasn't getting enough protein or water over the 5-6 days I was gone and came home weighing 3-4 lbs heavier. I had a crazy case of diarrhea & constipation. Strange. The previous trip, I made sure I got my protein and water in, I bought a case of bottled water, I bought protein shakes, I bought Churches chicken, but I also didn't limit myself. If I wanted enchiladas, I ate them (I also made sure they were beef). If I wanted some mac & cheese, I ate it. I just always had some protein and I came home weighing 3 lbs less. This trip, pretty much the same and I came home down just under 3 lbs. Not bad.

Another thing I tried to do was to start my day off right. Since our room at the resort had a kitchenette, on our first full day in Barbados we went to the grocery store to stock up. We bought stuff for sandwiches/wraps, bottled water, snacks, etc. I brought my 32 oz water bottle and every morning I started off the day with 32 oz of water and my vitamins. Just before we left I had a wrap or some chicken or leftover fish. The rest of the day, I just made sure that whatever I was eating, I had a good amount of protein, whether it was fish or chicken or shrimp or whatever at each meal. Luckily, fish is plentiful and inexpensive in Barbados and I ate a lot of it. I think I had fish (flying fish, Marlin, Dolphin, Wahu, Mahi-mahi) at least once a day there. Lastly, at night I tried to get in another 16-32 oz of water.

It wasn't perfect, but it worked. I was still able to enjoy a drink probably once a day and I enjoyed plenty of local cuisine - cou cou, macaroni pie, rum candy, jam puffs. Good stuff and not once did anyone comment about my eating habits.

Couple more random thoughts about my trip:
(1) Flying this time was different than the last time I flew, literally a couple of weeks ago. Again, I fit in the seats and could put the tray table down, but my butt started to hurt within a 1/2 hour on the plane and ditto with my back. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why. It was quite miserable. The only comfortable position for me was to lean forward with my elbows on the tray table, that took the pressure off my butt and back. Weirdness.

(2) I swear, at some point during the trip, I dropped a clothes size. Every single item of clothing I brought was much bigger than I thought. Good grief. My shorts are baggy, yes, but they seemed ridiculous...I don't know, maybe I was fooling myself beforehand. Luckily the weather is turning cool and I will soon be retiring a good bit of my warm weather clothes because I sure as hell don't plan on wearing this stuff (or rather I sure as hell don't plan on being the same size) next summer. A pair of capris that I didn't take with me because they were too snug are now, as of last night, perfect. I wore a size XL skirt to the wedding. My 2X t-shirts are now too big.

(3) At the wedding - which was the purpose of this whole trip - all the bridesmaids sans the maid of honor were the bride's sisters. They were all tall, lean, beautiful and outgoing. The entire week, I was fascinated by them. I think all of them were probably between a size 4 and 10. Needless to say, they got a lot of attention. I won't say I felt any jealousy or anything, but I found myself wanting to be them one day. I am happy with my weight loss so far and certainly want to lose more, but seeing these women really made me want to really shoot for hitting a normal BMI, which would mean weighing like 175 lbs or possibly a few lbs less. When I look at myself in the mirror and when I look at some of the pictures I took in Barbados, I still look pretty darn big, I mean, I am, I weigh like 285 lbs. That's not a normal weight. I guess the issue is that I just want to not stand out, I don't want to be the fat girl in the group anymore. I am certainly much more closer to being just one of the girls than a year ago, but I still have another year's worth of work to go. I can tell this is one issue I will be struggling with for awhile.

(4) When I met my friend, S, at the Miami airport, he didn't, at first, recognize me. When I saw my other friend, D - the groom, in the hotel lobby, he too didn't recognize me at first and gave the standard guy response "you look good, real good". That initial blank stare of non-recognition from your friends is priceless.

(5) I did not have a single problem sitting in any chair, riding in any cramped bus, van, car or boat nor did I have any problems, walking, running or climbing.

(6) This is probably good news, but I will never be a serious drinker. Barbados is the birth place of rum, so as you can imagine, rum is everywhere, I'm surprised it didn't come out the faucets. We went out a few nights to a club or two and I didn't place any limits as to how much I'd drink, but honestly, one drink (if that) and I was done. I could feel it immediately, but then it just made me incredibly sleepy which isn't much fun at a crowded club or at dinner. Over the entire week, I think I had two rum punches, two pina coladas, some kind of fruity rum drink on the Mount Gay Rum tour and this drink called a BBC (Bailey's, bananas and something, I don't remember). That's it and I didn't finish 1/2 of it, I don't think. At the wedding reception, there was an open bar and needless to say, most people took full advantage. That night I had 1/2 of the BBC and 1/2 of a Pina colada. I drank more water than anything else, but I think I had my first full sugar Coke since surgery. Tasted funny. In Barbados, they call it "fat" Coke, Diet Coke is called "Coke Light". Most of the alcoholic drinks were pretty darn delicious, but I am just one of those folks that just can not tolerate alcohol that well and I can't seem to manufacture a desire for it, but I am more than content to know that I can have a drink on special occasions and for the most part be okay. BTW, I brought back 6 bottles of rum from Barbados and didn't keep one.

For some reason, I didn't poop at all yesterday, but boy have I since I woke up this morning. I started feeling a little queasy when my friend and I sat down for dinner at the Miami airport late Thursday night. Ugh. Although I am certainly glad I had a week's vacation, I am kinda glad to be home and to enjoy the comforts of.

I am taking it easy this weekend, need to recover and prepare myself for a very busy next couple of weeks. BP is out of town in a couple of days, she is going overseas for two weeks so that leaves me in charge...woo-hoo! Nah, it won't be too bad, just busy.