Tuesday, October 14, 2014

I quit my job...

Yes, it is true. I am officially unemployed better yet I am structually unemployed. Basically, I was unhappy at my old job. I don't want to sling dirt on my blog but I loved (most of) my coworkers, loved the students, but not upper management. 

Working for a small business with no established guidelines is hard. Working without a policies and procedures means your boss can change their mind at any given time. This makes it a hard environment to work in. I have learned that the small business environment isn't for me or maybe just the one I was in. My boss was continually placing extra work on me since my coworkers were not doing their jobs properly, he would not hold anyone accountable except for me. I ended up having such a heavy work load that it was just unfair since some of my coworkers were hanging out and coming and going as they please. There were some shady business practices going on and with the type of work I was doing I decided to walk away with my head held high and my integrity intact. I will not lower myself, my values, or my morals to help someone make money. I refuse to do this. I would rather go back to retail than commit a crime or falsify legal documents. It wasn't a healthy environment. I was physically sick from work and stress. My husband and I talked and decided I needed to leave for my sanity and health. It was an abusive environment. So I moved on.

To better things…..drum roll please…. I have returned to college! The past 8 weeks in school have not been a cake walk! I have had to relearn how to study and do course work. I am struggling a little in my Spanish class but all the others are going amazing! I have my amazing husband the thank for this opportunity. He has given me the chance to stay home and just concentrate on school for now. I am already looking forward to taking more classes next semester. I have not declared a major and I'm still very confused as to what I want to be when I grow up.

I have thought about going into teaching, I can work the same schedule as my DH. Then I thought about going into nursing. I love helping people. The only issue is both of those programs are severally impacted at our local schools, I have a slim chance of getting into the programs BUT I want to try. I know I will succeed. I know I can do anything once I set my mind to it. Hence the reason I am structurally unemployed. My skills don't match the market that I want to work in.

On the weight front. I am okay…well ugh. I gained weight due to the stress of my job (sugar monster=Liz) and the fact that I am an emotional eater. I still need to work on this. I am trying, I am a work in progress. I lost about 12 pounds once I quit my job. I didn't do nothing different except stop eating all of the junk food that make its way into my office! I would be stressed and hunt for chocolate or cookies. 

At my lowest weight I hit 165 pounds (I'm 5'10"). I was a size 8 and with the loose skin I have I felt too small. From resuming poor eating habits I ended up gaining weight back to 225! YIKES! What was I doing? As of today I am 206. I have been 206 for a few weeks and I am slowly working off the regain. I am in size 14's and happy but I want to be back in my size 10's and weigh around 175-185. That was my comfortable zone. I will get back there. 

I need to clean up my poor eating habits by cutting out drinks with high calories, snacks, carbs, and journaling my food. I also need to resume exercise. I forgot the last time I went to the gym. I am so disappointed in myself but I will correct this.

Sorry for the long blog. I am going to try and update more. I know I always say this but now I have the time :)

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Dog Sitting

I want a puppy!


Yes, more specifically a French Bulldog but I know we are not in the place right now to accept a new member into our family. We might be relocating out of state and I don't want to deal with the quarantine process when moving AND we are never home, we work too much. It would be unfair to the puppy!

BUT

I have volunteered us to puppy-sit over spring break. His name is Antonio and he is a 5 month old dachshund. As funny as it sounds having him here will most likely cure my puppy craving! :)

Monday, March 10, 2014

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Today is the day...

Back to the basics…


Yep! Today is the day. I have decided I need to get back to the basics after Weight Loss Surgery. I have let too many carbs sneak in, sweets, and larger portions. Since it has been almost 4 years after my WLS I have had some pounds creep back on and now they need to go!!!!


My plan is to drink protein shakes. I finally found one I absolutely LOVE. I will share it later! Coffee is okay with a little creamer and sweetener, lots of water and crystal light, and broths. No sugar, no breads, and no white carbs! After a few days I will try and add back in lean proteins and veggies while controlling the portion size.

I don't know how long I will stay on liquids but it is time to get back on track. I have noticed I feel tired and sleepy more. I might even be a little more grumpy.

No exercise and bad eating = feeling like ick

Time to get up and moving!!!!

Monday, February 24, 2014

The return of music monday

We spent spring break 2013 in Hawaii - pre-honeymoon. It was amazing. My husband D, had lived there for 11 years. He finished his Masters degree at UH and then taught for a school in Hawaii before moving to San Diego. He wanted to take me to Hawaii to show me the place he loves so much. One day I hope and pray that we will end up back there to live. I see how much he loves it and how being in Hawaii completes him.

During our trip we did so many amazing things! One thing that has stuck in my mind was our tour of the Kamaka Ukulele factory. A free tour I might add! http://www.kamakahawaii.com We basically stumbled into the tour. He was driving around showing me the different areas of the island and said he thought there was somewhere I would love to go since I'm a massive Pearl Jam fan (Eddie Vedder plays a Kamaka Ukulele). We stopped in and learned there was a tour. We met Fred Kamaka, the son of the original owner. Fred and Sam, his brother run Kamaka and it is an amazing place. When we were there D bought me a CD of this Ukulele player that he had seen years ago when he was at UH.

His name is Jake Shimabukuro http://jakeshimabukuro.com and he is AMAZING. We saw him last week in concert in San Diego. He has made me fall in love with this tiny delicate instrument so much that I am going to take some lessons. D bought me a "starter" ukulele this past weekend. Maybe one day I can get a Kamaka of my own!





Where have I been…..

As I sit in Starbucks waiting for the 30K service to be completed on the car, I realize I am a bad blogger. I can make every excuse known to man but really I have no valid reason for not blogging except this hasn't been my priority. It has been 2 years.

Lets recap the past 2 years-

* I got married! Yes!!! July 06, 2013, I married the love of my life. We met at a WLS support group he had surgery also. It's nice to have him be able to understand what I am going through when I get tummy aches and don't feel good. He understands me and I would like to think I understand him.

* I started a new job. An office job, Monday to Friday. I have a love/hate relationship with my job. The biggest gripe I have right now is that I sit on my butt for 9 hours at a desk everyday. I am not moving enough. It is a stressful job and I am a stress eater. I sometimes feel that for me to be healthy I need to move on and find something different.

* I hit my all time lowest weight post WLS - 160 pounds. I felt too small. People said I was too small but more importantly I felt small. Which in return lead me to let bad foods back in. I have made BAD food choices and have had some regain. A significant amount. I am the only one responsible for this.

* Regain! Yes it happens. I have slacked, ate bad food, not exercised. I will not make excuses. I am the one that as of this morning weighed in at 214. I am in a size 14 pant and happy with the success I have had but I want to lose some of this regain so I can be happy again with the way I look and feel.

* I also want to be at a healthier weight so when my husband and I start a family I can have a healthy and fit pregnancy.We might be relocating at the end of this school year so we are waiting to see what happens before we start a family.

* No more pain. After Operation Peek-a-boo I have been almost pain free. My surgeon removed some adhesions and moved around stuff and I feel better. I still suffer from nausea and have to take zofran at times but it is manageable.

* Labs- I have Anemia. Severe Anemia. My iron storage was at 4. I had a doctor tell me they could barely even measure the amount in a standard test since it was so low. I went through 6 weeks of Iron Infusions to get the numbers up. I am scheduled to get some more labs drawn this month to see how my levels are holding up. I was so tired and grumpy. I let myself get so bad because I didn't have health insurance for awhile and then when I did get insurance with my employer I couldn't see any of my trusted doctors. They were out of my network and their network sucked. Once I got married I dumped the old insurance and jumped on my husbands (which was the network I has my WLS with). With his insurance I could return to my network of trusted doctors. My doctor had me in getting iron infusions straight away. I feel better.

I need to blog for me. This was a tool for me to check in and keep myself on track. I have decided to get some of this regain off of me. I am going back to the basics. Lets just hope I can find a protein shake I like!!!!


Friday, December 23, 2011

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Where have I been?

Where have I been?

Yeah! Hi Blog. Did you miss me?

I can honestly say that operation peek-a-boo was a success. Apparently all that was found were adhesions. Adhesions hurt!

So now that I feel somewhat better I have had less of a need to vent..hehe not really I feel better physically but I'm stressed to the max!

HOLIDAYS + my store closing = STRESSED LIZ