Done with School, Found a Wedding Dress, and Weekly Weigh In!!

Hi everyone!
Sorry I haven't been on in over week… it was CRAZY swamped with all my final papers and projects for school. I had 6 major papers due in the last two weeks, and needless to say I had very little time to exercise other than taking my dog for a walk because still had to work full time, go to class, and get those papers done! I am proud to say that I am now completely done with graduate coursework and on to practicum in the fall (where I am a supervised therapist on campus for a semester) then internship in the spring (where I am a supervised therapist off-campus)!! This is so exciting because my graduate counseling program is longer than most (3 years) and I am finally down the first 2 years, and NO MORE HUGE PAPERS or COURSEWORK! While I absolutely LOVE my graduate program, it has been a huge source of stress over the last two years and been a big blockade to my fitness/weight loss progress… this is because I also had to work full time to support myself. I cannot tell you just how relieved and happy I am that I now have the time to focus on myself, losing weight, and exercising! I don't do practicum until the fall, so I have the summer off which is a first in a long time. I am just nannying this summer, wedding planning, swimming, walking, hiking, journaling, reading, and taking care of ME! Hooray!

Out celebrating the end of coursework and my best friend's birthday with my fiancé :)

I had a 6 week check in group appointment with my nutritionist last week, and it went really well. I wasn't thrilled at first about it being a "group" appointment, but actually was glad in the end because the other two women in the appointment had also switched from the lap band to the gastric sleeve and were also 6 weeks out. It was helpful to talk with the nutritionist and other women about what has been working well for each of us, what hasn't, how much we have been eating so far, etc. I have been getting a lot more "physically" hungry lately, and my nutritionist said I should stop drinking so many protein shakes and eating so much greek yogurt, and switch to high protein foods with more texture. This should keep me fuller longer. I was happy for the other two women there and the progress they have made, but the competitive person in me was glad to see that I had lost the most weight of the three of us. Of course, each of us started at a different weight, and are different people and have our own journeys etc., but nonetheless, it made me feel good. One of the women was a lot like me in the sense that with lap band she had lost about 100 pounds, but then put it back on and then some before switching to the sleeve. This once again reinforces that I am not alone in that I failed with the lap band, and am happy to be going through this journey with others. 

I have been super stoked about doing more wedding planning now that coursework is over, and I had sort of been dreading looking for a dress. I say this because most dresses need 6 to 12 weeks to come in, so I was going to have to buy one now and hope it fit by my wedding in August.  I went to David's Bridal yesterday with my maid of honor, cousins, and friend… and said YES to the dress!! I couldn't believe it… I had seriously had nightmares all week that the dresses wouldn't fit me or they wouldn't have my size, and I walked out with the most gorgeous dress. This is the dress that has been my favorite on the David's Bridal Website, but when I got to the shop, they told me it was a discontinued dress and that they did not have any more of them. I was bummed, but decided to go ahead and try on other dresses. After I tried on my first dress, the woman helping me rushed over and said that she had found one last dress of the kind I wanted… in a size 18! It was perfect! I tried it on, and it fit like a glove. She put a tiara and veil on me and I was so happy I cried. It is my perfect dress, and has a corset back so can be adjusted as I lose weight before the wedding/be taken in need be. It was on sale too as it was the last of its kind. Hooray!

I said yes to the dress!!

Crying and emotional after putting on a tiara and veil to go with the dress

My cousins, maid of honor, and friend!

Gorgeous tiara!

I woke up late today and was in a bit of a rush so did not take a picture of the scale as I normally do, but weighed in at 258.6 lbs this morning!! I am happy with this number, especially because I did not have/make the time in the last two weeks to seriously workout because finishing grad school papers and projects. In addition to my usual monday through friday nanny job, I am also spending the night at a kiddo who I used to nanny for's house for the week to watch him while his pilot mother is flying to Tel Aviv. This is challenging for working out, because if I want to workout or go to the gym he has to come with me (he is 14 years old and in trouble for having girls over already!) and he is hard to convince. This just means that I am going to try to get in a good solid walk with the baby during my day nanny job to get some exercise in!

Will get a picture of weigh in tomorrow morning.

Hope you all had a great mother's day and weekend!

Warmly

Caroline