Karen R.

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Hi, there.  It's been awhile since I updated my blog.  Things have been going well overall.  I just returned from two weeks in the States (the Chicago suburbs to be exact).  While I was there, I did some plastic surgery consults.  I'd originally planned five.  The docs were:

Dr. Lisa Peters (Oak Park)

Dr. Otto Placik (Arlington Heights)

D. Brian Braithwaite (Chicago)

Dr. Stefan Szczerba (Rosemont)

Dr. Lawrence Zachary (Chicago)

I wound up canceling with Dr. Zachary and when I showed up for my appointment with Dr. Szczerba, I was told he'd gotten held up in surgery.  I was leaving the following day.  So in the end, I only met with three.  

For a city the size of Chicago, there are surprisingly few plastic surgeons who have experience with body contouring for weight loss patients.  Dr. Zachary is the one with the greatest reputation in this area and based on what I could find online, I have no doubt he's quite capable.  However, I had a fairly in depth conversation with his nurse prior to my appointment (she was lovely, by the way!), during which she gave me some ballpark prices for various procedures.  The quote came in at more than double what I was hearing from the first three docs with whom I met.  I couldn't justify spending that kind of money.  So in the end, I decided not to meet with him.  I'm hoping that wasn't a mistake.

Here are my impressions of the three docs I met with.  Let me first say, I believe I could work comfortably with any or all of these doctors.  All were very professional, all are board certified plastic surgeons, all have very nice offices and good portfolios.  My final decision will no doubt be informed by price, but certain intangibles will come into play as well.  I went in to these consults thinking I wanted a lower body lift, breast augmentation (not bigger--just higher!), and brachioplasty.  I came out of them feeling differently.

Dr. Lisa Peters - I wanted to consult with a woman if at all possible.  I found it really interesting that Dr. Peters was the doctor who kept me covered up the most and touched me the least.  I appreciated her restraint.  She was very efficient when it came to examining me and discussing what I could expect during and after surgery.  The consult moved quickly.  I didn't feel rushed, but I did feel as if she had a kind of script she was keeping to (which makes sense, given how many consultations she must do).  She said I was really small for someone post WLS (a sentiment echoed by the other docs--apparently, it's more common for WLS patients to count on plastic surgery as a way of taking off the last stubborn pounds, than for someone reaching goal by diet/working out alone), and that should make things easier.

Dr. Peters thought I would get a good result from an abdominoplasty (rather than a lower body lift).  She said I may want to do a breast implant in addition to the augmentation, as it would give me a rounder shape.  She told me I always see how the augmentation worked out and if I wasn't happy, I could do the implant as a follow-up procedure.  While she warned me that work on my arms would result in rather substantial scars, she didn't try to talk me out of the procedure.  With these three procedures in mind, she said she couldn't do everything in one operation.  She said she would do the procedures in an out-patient surgical center.  The prices she quoted me were $7,350 for the abdominoplasty and $12,364 for the arms/breast ($19,794 total).  She estimated it would take 3.5 hours for the abdominoplasty and 6.5 hours for the combined procedures (arms/breasts).  

Dr. Brian Braithwaite - Of the three doctors I met with, I felt the greatest personal connection with Dr. Braithwaite.  He was very low-keyed, very friendly.  We chatted about things besides the procedures I wanted to have done.  Dr. Braithwaite took more time with me than the other docs and seemed most willing to linger.  He was also unwilling at first to give me an estimate.  He said he wanted to think about the procedures we'd discussed before committing to anything.  I received the estimate via email the following day.

Dr. Braithwaite said he wouldn't recommend doing my arms.  He thought they looked fine as they were and that any improvement I'd gain wouldn't be worth the scars.  He said he would do the breast augmentation in the same manner as Dr. Peters, but he didn't suggest adding an implant.  He thought the lower body lift would also give me the benefit of tightening up my outer thighs and behind.  He said the only fat he could see on my body was on my outer thighs.  One thing he suggested I consider would be to take that fat and have it inserted in my butt at some time in the future.  The one downside to the lower body lift would be that it would flatten my butt more than it already was and this would help counteract that.

One of the main reasons he wanted to ponder my estimate overnight was that he wanted to think about whether he was comfortable doing both procedures at the same time.  In the end, he wasn't.  He said he would do the work in an out-patient surgical center in the Loop.  The lower body lift was quoted at $11,140 and was estimated to take 5 hours to complete.  The breast augmentation was quoted at $5,470 and estimated to take 2.5 hours ($16,610 total).

Dr. Otto Placik - Dr. Placik has more credentials and awards than the others (I'm basing that on what was hung on the walls of his office).  His practice seemed more "upscale" (for want of a better word).  There were more employees and the vibe seemed busier.  He's a charming guy and his approach with the consult was much more technical than the others.  He's the only doc who marked me up and took measurements.  He agreed with Dr. Braithwaite that doing my arms wasn't a good idea.  He had the same POV on the type of the breast augmentation I needed as the others.  He mentioned the possibility of doing an implant along with the augmentation, but thought we should start with simply doing the augmentation.

One thing that was different about Dr. Placik was the relationship his practice had with a local nursing home.  He would do the procedures at the outpatient surgical center at Northwest Community Hospital (which is where his suburban office is located).  The nursing home is across the street.  After surgery, patients can convalesce there (for $350/night).  

Dr. Placik differed in another way as well--he was willing to do everything at once.  His quote was $26,925 for everything.  He estimated he could do the lower body lift and breast augmentation in 6.5 hours.

I'm torn as to what I should do.  Dr. Placik was very impressive and he'll do what I want all at once.  But his quote is more than $10,000 over Dr. Braithwaite's quote.  Personally, I like Dr. Braithwaite best.  But I don't think his portfolio with post WLS patients is as extensive as Dr. Placik.

What to do, what to do, what to do...

Watch this space.

Hi, all.

Well my surgiversary came and went this past Monday without my marking it in any way.  Why?  First of all, I wanted to have updated photos to share.  I brought my camera to work that day to ask a friend to take pics, only she wound up being out in the afternoon and the photo session never happened. 

I continued to carry the camera in my gym bag all week, thinking 'Today will be the day I ask her to do it.'  But it's been mental around the office and there was never a good time. 

At the same time, part of me wanted to be able to say I was at goal.  On the one hand, this isn't a big deal to me.  I dropped to 126 lbs. on April 2nd and have, since then, bumped my calories up to 1,400/day.  Why?  I'm working out six times a week now and was finding my energy was lagging.  I figured, 'I'm a pound from goal.  It's gonna happen.  It doesn't really matter if it happens in a week, a month, or several months.  One way or another, I'm going to hit 125 lb.'  I'm still not really worried.  But seeing as I didn't post on my actual surgiversary, it kind of felt fitting I should have an "occasion" for posting updated pics.  Unfortunately, I'm still maintaining at 126.  So I'm holding off posting for now.

Overall, I'm doing great.  My energy is good (the added calories have helped).  I like the way my upper body looks.  My shoulders are really defined and lean--and I have guns!  My bicep and triceps are coming along nicely.  Mark typically has me do multiple sets of deadlifts at an "easy" weight (usually around 95 lbs.).  I've lifted as much as 110 lbs., but usually am only able to do that for two short sets (maybe six reps at a time).  I love that I'm strong.  I can't even tell you!

In the meantime, yoga has become increasingly important to me.  We have a wonderful Belgian woman who teaches a free class at the university every Monday.  I found out she also teaches classes at various compounds.  So I've been taking additional classes with her on Wednesday and Saturday.  I love it!  The class at the university is more a basic introduction to yoga.  But the other classes (particularly the one on Saturday) are ashtanga style, so it's all about flow.  You get a nice workout!  I also feel very peaceful and focused afterwards and my flexibility has increased tenfold.  I can't believe how much I look forward to it.

My diet has fallen into a pattern:  for breakfast, I almost always have some small carb (half an English muffin with PBJ, an autumn scone [these are so bloody good!]) and my skim latte.  For lunch, I bring a protein that's prepared ahead of time or can be warmed in the microwave (frozen black bean burger and cheese, leftover salmon or chicken over a salad, a turkey and cheese sandwich on a sandwich thin).  For dinner--if I've been working out--I will often just have a protein bar (Quest Cookie Dough are just so damned ridiculously tasty!--I'm going to the U.S. next week and coming back with seven boxes of them).  On the weekends, I cook, but I tend to keep it simple.  Tonight, I'm going to have ribeye and baby asparagus.  I always allow myself some kind of dessert.  Usually, it's some kind of diet cookie, but I'll also have the occasional scoop of diet ice cream.  I have a second latte in the afternoon as a pick-me-up.  My morning snack is almost always jerky.  I typically eat 80-110g of protein a day.  My carb goal is 140g.  I keep fats under 47g and added sugar under 45g. 

I know my carb count is higher than what many people recommend.  But I've lost just fine having it a bit higher (Admittedly, 140g is higher than what it was for a long time.  I'd had my goal set at 120g for months), and I believe this is a rate I can maintain.  It doesn't really feel like a diet now.  I like being this thin.  I plan to keep my calories right around where they are (at 1,400/day) and see where this takes me.  I want to see what 120 lbs. looks like on me, even though friends are beginning to become more vocal about my "thinness." 

A very good friend of mine, who is really, really tiny herself, has begun telling me, "Enough is enough."  She points out that when I have my plastic surgery, I'll drop more weight still.  That's true.  And lord knows I have a ton of excess skin (or so it seems).  But according to what I've read, you don't lose as much as you think you might like/want to.  I plan on having a lower body lift, brachioplasty, breast augmentation (I don't want them bigger, I just want them higher!) and possibly an inner thigh lift.  That's a lot of places from which skin can be removed.  But even with all that, I'm guessing perhaps only 3-5 lbs. will be taken away.  In the end, I should be somewhere between 115 and 120 lbs.  That doesn't seem painfully thin for a person who is 5'4".  I realize because of my low fat percentage/high muscle percentage, I'm more compact than someone else might be at that weight.  Still, I don't think I'm being unreasonable.

Even though I admit, I don't see myself properly when I look in the mirror.

I've had the urge to write a blog post the last several days, but I've had trouble figuring out what exactly I want to say.

I'm in a good place overall, despite the fact that my weight loss has slowed dramatically.  I'm six pounds from goal, but haven't lost any weight since February 10th.  I got down to 131 for two days, rebounded up to about 133 and then have bounced between those two figures for the last three weeks.  I'm eating pretty well, though not as strictly as I was in months previous.  I'm typically somewhere between 1,000 and 1,200 calories/day and I'm exercising 4-5 times a week.  I'm at the stage where friends say, "You're not going to lose any more, are you?"  My own doc today said, "Your weight should be just about perfect for you now.  You're not planning to lose any more, I assume."  I explained I'm close, but not quite there.

It's weird.  I'm not teeny tiny.  Honestly.  I know I don't see myself clearly all the time, but I also don't think I'm delusional.  I still weigh over 130 and I'm only 5'4".  It makes me realize how terribly skinny those in the media must be.  You read about weights in the teens for women my height.  I look at pics of them and think they look good, not anorexic (as a rule).  Does the camera add that much weight or is my perception that far off?  I'm not entirely sure.

I think part of it is the way the excess skin affects my shape.  It's not horrible.  I'm not one of those people whose panni is down to her thighs.  But I don't really have a waist (or at least one that nips in).  My arms never used to bug me, but since the first of the year, Mark has been working my upper body hard.  The fat has dropped away and now the extra skin is very noticeable.  My thighs are the same way.  I took pics for a plastic surgery consult and I was surprised to see I have extra skin on my back too.  I don't see it in clothes.

Plastic surgery is the next big "project."  I've already got a quote from Dr. Sauceda in Mexico and when I'm home in May, I plan to talk to docs in the Chicagoland area.  I want to have my surgery the first week of December and take the rest of the month to recover (I'd normally come back to the States for the holidays anyway).  It's crazy to think I've got another major surgery in nine months, but I'm ready for it.  I want to get everything "resolved."  Though even I as I type that, I know this is a lifetime kind of thing.  My weight loss will never truly be over.  I'm okay with that.

In the meantime, my biggest delight is how strong I am.  I love how fit I've gotten!  Mark had me doing pull-ups the other night.  Me.  DOING PULL-UPS.  Wheeeeee!  The session before that, I was deadlifting with this massive barbell.  I say to Mark, "How much am I lifting?"  He glances over casually and says, "A hundred pounds, give or take."  One hundred pounds?!  I'm lifting one hundred pounds?  :-D  I asked him what a reasonable goal for something like that would be.  "Should I be trying to lift my own body weight?" I asked.  He thought about it for a minute and then said, "Yeah.  That's totally doable."

I turn 53 next month.  I've never been this fit.  Never.

I love it.

You know what else I love?  Winning my department's fitness challenge.  Despite February being a pretty mild month for me when it came to diet and exercise (see my last blog post), I still came out on top.  The prize?  A massage at the Four Seasons.  Score!  I'm going on Saturday (and I'm adding on a facial out of my own pocket!).

February is almost over and I realized I hadn't written a blog post in 2014.  Quelle horror!  So I thought I should check in and share where I am in my journey.

I'm currently hovering around 131/132.  I got down as low as 131, then rebounded up as high as 134.  I've been at 132 most of this week and figure it's only a matter of time before I'm nudging that magical line between the 130's and 120's.  I haven't been pushing myself as hard as I probably should.  My calories have been between 1,000 and 1,200 most days.  Mark, my trainer, threw his back out earlier this month (poor guy--it turns out he has a degenerating disk), which meant my sessions with him were cancelled for a week.  I substituted other classes (largely Pilates).  But he pushes me harder than anyone, so I know I got off easy.  As it turns out, we had to cancel last Thursday's session as well because he was going to be out of town (the Stones are playing in Abu Dhabi and Mark had tickets) and I was in the States for a week mid-month (three more sessions cancelled).  So all told, February has not been as physically active for me as it would be under normal circumstances.

But I got some excellent, excellent news!  Mark periodically (every four to six weeks) measures my progress.  He weighs me, uses the tape measure on all the pertinent points and does skin fold tests using calipers to measure body fat.  When we first started working out in August, my body fat percentage based on these measurements was 40%.  That didn't surprise me.  I might have lost 50+ pounds at that point, but I was still clearly obese.  I figured that number would improve the more I worked out and the closer I got to goal.

Only it didn't really, at least not at the pace I'd hoped for.  When we measured at the beginning of 2014, I'd lost over 100 pounds, my BMI was 23.3 and was only 11 lbs to goal.  Yet my body fat percentage was at 30%, barely in the acceptable range.  That didn't make sense to me.  I asked Mark what he thought was going on.  He said he didn't think I was getting in enough calories to promote fat burning and that instead I was burning muscle.  That horrified me.  It also didn't seem logical.  I could see muscle definition in my arms and legs (admittedly, not much in my trunk, where I have a fair bit of excess skin).  I wasn't convinced, particularly when I read how inaccurate caliper measurements could be.  So I decided to investigate other options.

I got lucky.  I needed to go home to the Chicagoland area for a week and discovered a gym on the north side (Quads on Broadway near Sheridan) that did Dexascans for a reasonable price ($100/scan).  I set up an appointment.  The scan itself took about five minutes; the appointment as a whole ran less than 30.  As it turns out, I'm doing great!  My overall body fat is 22.7%.  This figure takes into account areas like my brain (which has fat cells).  If you only focus on the trunk and limbs, the number drops down to 21.9%.  The Dexascan is considered the most accurate method for measuring body fat, so I feel confident the numbers are correct.  I'm in the top five percentile for my age! 

I ROCK!  ;-D

What's even better is the fat is evenly distributed, which means I'm symmetrical (apparently not everyone is) and I don't have a whopping deposit of it in my torso (despite my middle looking like a collapsed souffle).  I can't tell you how thrilled I am.

I plan to continue my quest for 125 pounds.  I don't think I want to lose more than that.  I'm already wearing size 2 and my measurements are 34"-28"-34".  I want to focus on getting that middle number down, but otherwise, I'm satisfied.  If/when (and likely it will be when) I have plastic surgery, I'll no doubt lose a bit more weight, which will bring me down to the low 120's.  Any more weight loss will make me look drawn.  I don't want to suddenly look older than I should.  If I can maintain between 120-125lbs., I'll be very pleased with myself.

So now I need to investigate plastic surgeons.  My goal is to do consultations with doctors in May when I'm in Chicago again and then have the surgery itself in December, when I'm home for the holidays.  I think I'd like to use a Chicago area surgeon, but I'm also going to look into Dr. Sauceda in Monterrey.  I'll be paying this out of pocket and cost is definitely a factor.  But what also makes the Monterrey option attractive is the aftercare.  I'm single and while I could no doubt come home from the hospital in Chicago and stay with my sister's family, I don't want them to have to become responsible for looking after me.  I don't want to be a burden.  I like that with Dr. Sauceda's practice, the initial recovery would be under his staff's supervision.

I think I need a lower body lift, inner thigh lift and possible a brachioplasty.  I'd been saying my arms don't bother me, but the thinner and more defined I get in the upper body (and Mark has been working my arms and shoulders HARD--I have guns now!), the more the extra skin becomes apparent.  I don't know that I would try and have everything done at once, but I may see if the lower body and thigh work can be done at the same time.

I'll keep you posted (Ha!  Blog posts!).  I feel as if one hurdle has been cleared (even though I'm not yet at goal) while a whole row of them are lined up in front of me.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Seeing that 2013 is now in nearly everyone's rear view mirror, I thought it might be a good idea to do a then and now post. 

I've been really lucky.  My surgery went exceptionally well.  I've had no complications and my results are just about where I want/need them to be.  I'm not at goal yet; I'm hoping to reach that benchmark in February (which will be 10 months post-op).  But my clothing size and measurements are beyond what I could have hoped for prior to weight loss surgery.

So, without further ado, here are Karen's stats, January 2013 vs. January 2014:

Weight:  237 lbs.-->137 lbs.

Pants/Jeans:  size 20--> size 4 to size 0 (I have only one pair of jeans in that latter size, but what the heck!)

Tops:  size 20-->size 6 to size 0 (again, I have one sweater in an XS, which I'm equating to a 0)

Bust:  45"-->34"

Waist:  45"-->28.5"

Hips:  47.5"-->34.5"

Thigh:  25.5"-->17.5"

Bicep:  14"-->10"

I have no complaints about this surgery.  My only regret is not doing it about 20 years sooner.  Thanks to everyone on OH for sharing their knowledge and experience.  I wish us all a terrific new year.

I'm pleased by my weight loss pace this month.  I look at months as beginning on the 14th (as my surgery date was April 14th) and ending on the 13th.  I'm at the halfway point for my eighth month post-surgery and I'm down five pounds.  Not too shabby.  :-)  I may not make my goal of being in the 130s before heading out for Chicago on December 18th.  It's possible (I'm now at 144 lbs.), but by no means assured.  Still, even if it doesn't happen, it's likely I'll drop a pound or two while home, as I tend to lose weight when I travel.  One way or another, I should be in the neighborhood by the beginning of 2014.

Woo hoo!

But man...that extra skin is beginning to make itself known, particularly on the lower half of my body.  My behind, thighs and belly are obviously affected.  I'm droopy and crepe-y in the extreme.  The good news is my upper arms aren't as big a problem.  Yes, my inner arms look a little crepe-y when held in certain positions, but I don't think it's that noticeable.  I'm pretty sure I can get away without any plastics there.  But I definitely plan on having a little done elsewhere.

Time to start saving money!  At this time next year, I hope to go under the knife.

I'm seven months out now and down 89 lbs.  I still have 23 lbs. to go, but the journey is very different now than it was a few months ago.

My weight loss has obviously been slowing.  I went from the massive weight dumps of the first few weeks, to a steady three pound a week loss over several months, to a loss of one to two pounds weekly to long stretches of nothing followed by two to three pounds melting away in just a few days.  I feel like there's a kind of stutter-step rhythm to the process now.  It can be frustrating, but overall I'm pretty Zen about it.  If I do what I'm supposed to do, all will be well.

Knock on wood, I've had no hair loss, which I'm thrilled about (particularly as I'm bleaching my hair these days--I'd worried that would aggravate things).  But I've begun noticing the notorious extra skin becoming more and more evident.  I've got it on my inner arms (where it's really more crepe-like than bat-wing-y), my inner thighs (where it's kind of a mix of both crepe texture and droop) and my stomach (definite droop).  I'd already decided I would start saving for plastics after the holidays.  My goal is to do my initial consult when I come to the States in May, with the aim of having surgery over Christmas break 2014.  I'm hoping to reach goal by March, so I should be in good shape.  I don't know exactly what I'll have done, but I don't plan on doing anything to my arms.  They're not really all that bad and I saw my friend's arms when she had surgery on them after her weight loss.  I didn't like the scar line (it reminded me too much of suicide scars--weird, I know).  I'm guess I'll focus primarily on my torso (tummy tuck?  lower body lift?  breast lift?).  Now I just need to find a good surgeon in the Chicago area.

I'm reaching the stage where concerned friends are asking me how much weight I still hope to lose.  One kind soul asked last week how I was doing (his tone suggesting worry), saying, "You're skin and bones."  The following day, a female friend said (again, very sweetly), "I can see you've lost a lot of weight...maybe even too much."  These are two good people who are honestly concerned about me.  I don't have a problem with negative Nellies (thank God!) or people jealous of my success.  I think it's just a question of perception.  I've been big for a very long time.  These two friends have never seen me at a lower weight.  I imagine it must seem odd to them.  But the reality is I'm 5'4" and weigh 148 lbs.  My waist is 29".  I am most assuredly not skin and bones.  I weight 10 lbs. more than I did in college when everyone kept telling me that if I just lost 10 more pounds, I'd look amazing.  I know I have a ways to go.  I hope I continue to feel as good as I have to this point.

Fingers crossed.  :-)

Ugh.  Well that's two days of my life I'll never get back.

I've struggled with constipation even before my surgery.  Normally, it's nothing more than a mild discomfort.  I had one rather painful (and ill-timed--I had to leave a conference because of it) bout back in June, but really, by and large, the situation has been manageable.  I just had to take some meds and in 12 hours (or so) all is well.

Until this weekend.

I was feeling a bit blocked midweek.  I'd seen my doctor (one of my docs) for a follow-up visit on Tuesday and she'd asked me a battery of questions--one of them:  do I get constipated?  I told her yes and she wrote me a prescription for Dulcolax, which isn't available over the counter in Qatar.  So on Wednesday night, thinking I should probably do something about the situation, I popped a pill and went to bed.

I woke up Thursday morning with some rumbling in my tummy, but nothing overly alarming.  So I got dressed and went to work.  I wasn't there an hour before that rumbling turned into the need to go.  Only I couldn't.  I'd cramp and cramp and cramp, yet when I went into the bathroom, nothing would happen.

I dealt with this for a couple of hours before telling my boss I needed to go home.  The urge to go to the bathroom was growing, as was the discomfort.

But going home didn't solve anything.  I spent two hours straight in the bathroom Thursday afternoon with little to show for it.  The cramping was literally twisting my lower body in knots and was exhausting me.  I was practically crying because of the discomfort.

This continued into the evening.  I couldn't sit.  Every time I walked, the cramping got worse.  The only way I could be comfortable at all was by lying on my side.  I went online (standing, stooping over my laptop) to see how Dulcolax supposedly works.  It's a stimulus laxative--it's supposed to coax movement in the bowels.  Well...that was certainly happening.  But it wasn't enough to get me to actually push past the blockage.  So I took some Miralax, thinking perhaps I needed to soften things up (I can't believe I'm writing about this...), and went to bed.  The following morning I felt a little better.  But I still didn't have a BM and the longer I was up, the more painful it got. 

I don't know if I can describe how uncomfortable I was.  It was far worse than any post-surgery pain.  The lower half of my body felt swollen and inflamed, and the cramping was basically non-stop.

I waited until 5:00pm and took another dose of Miralax.  Finally, at just past 8:00pm, I went into the bathroom and had success.  That made all the difference in the world.  This morning I feel like a new woman.  But man--that is nasty!  I wouldn't wish that kind of pain on my worst enemy.

On a positive note, I've lost two pounds as a result of this ordeal.  I can think of easier ways to do it.

I got home yesterday from 10 days in South Africa.  What an awesome country and trip!  I spent five days in Cape Town and five in Franschhoek, about an hour outside the city.  I shopped till I dropped (more on that in a moment), traveled to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, saw the whales (both on land and on the ocean) off of Hermanus, did a day safari at Aquilla, and overall, had a tremendous time.  The people were so friendly and kind, and the scenery was outstanding.

I also had a few weight loss related surprises I thought I'd share here.  There isn't any bad news really, but I've learned I have some limitations I'll need to get used to:

- First some super good news--I lost six pounds in 11 days.  I have no idea how that happened.  I ate more freely than I had since surgery, and as Franschhoek is located in South Africa's wine country, enjoyed at least one glass of the good stuff a day.  This only goes to show what I wrote in an earlier blog post--my body responds very well to change.  When I travel, I lose.  Prior to this, my weight was only coming off at a rate of a pound or two a week.

- My clothes size is dropping like crazy.  I bought new jeans a week before I left (October 4th).  They're already loose (and they're supposedly "skinny" jeans).  I'm also now convinced that the British size 12s I've been wearing may in fact correspond to American size 8, which just about blows my mind.  I'd thought that size correlation was specific to Warehouse, a store I've come to love.  But when I was in Cape Town, I went shopping at Top Shop, which also claims their size 12s are equal to American size 8s.  They fit easily.  In fact...

- I fell in love with a black, quilted faux leather t-shirt I saw at Top Shop.  Being consistent, I brought a size 12 into the dressing room with me.  It was too big.  Now please understand--when I began this journey, my bust measured 47".  I wore a 40 DD bra, which was very nearly too small for me.  So to put on something that is equal to a size 8 and find it too large is just...mental.  But the British size 10/American size 6 fit really well.  So it wasn't that the t-shirt was oddly cut.  I can't get over it...

- This same sort of thing was repeated at a small boutique in Franschhoek.  I tried on a really cute dress meant to be worn over leggings.  Looking at myself in the mirror, I called out to the salesperson, "Is 32 the smallest size this comes in?"  It was.  And I bought it.  How is that even possible?!

- On the downside, I can no longer do wine tasting tours.  I've done this in various places in the States and was lucky enough to spend a day last fall touring Hunter Valley in Australia.  I went to three wineries over three hours in Franschhoek and got plastered.  Thankfully, I was on a private tour with a really, really nice guide (who wanted to talk about WLS--she's interested in getting it done!), who looked out for me.  She got me home safely and I slept it off.  Mostly.  I felt a little bit drunk the entire day.

- I also cannot manage prix fixe meals any more.  I figured if I just took a few bites of each course, I'd be okay.  Uh-uh.  I had a terrific meal at one of the wine estates in Franschhoek.  But even only eating a little of bit of everything was too much.  I was so uncomfortable by the time I was done and it made me spend more time in the bathroom than I would have liked to the following morning.

- I'm stronger than I used to be!  I suspected this of course, given all the working out I've been doing.  But I saw evidence of it in action.  I love to ride and took lessons as a kid.  These past few years, I haven't had much of an opportunity to go, but when I would take advantage (usually when visiting my mom in Wisconsin), I couldn't climb into the saddle from the ground; I'd need to use a mounting block.  Now, I've always had short legs, so mounting a horse has never been easy for me.  But that wasn't the real problem.  I was just so much out of shape that my legs couldn't propel me that high.  No longer!  I climbed aboard a lovely Arabian mare and toured the mountains surrounding Franschhoek.  We rode for two hours--which I really felt afterwards!  But it was a great afternoon.  I felt very proud of myself.  :-)

All in all, a very successful trip.  I missed my dog and cat though, so in many ways, it's good to be home.  I just can't believe I've got to go to work on Sunday!

I don't know whether to label this an NSV or just to chuckle at my own idiocy.

I went shopping yesterday in preparation for my trip next weekend.  I'm going to South Africa for 10 days, five days in Cape Town and five in Franschhoek, which is in the wine country just outside of Cape Town.  I cannot wait for this trip!  I told one of my coworkers I have senioritis.  I'm having trouble concentrating at work I'm so looking forward to it.

The last time I bought clothes was in early August during Eid.  I hate shopping here.  We have very modern malls with all kinds of chain stores (mostly UK brands like Next, Karen Millen, Warehouse, Mango, etc.), so the problem isn't choice.  The issue is parking and cost.  Nearly everything is 20-30% more here than it would be in the U.S. or UK, and parking is just mental!  I got to the city's second largest mall at 11:00am yesterday and, after weaving my way through rush hour thick parking lot traffic, the only parking I could find was uncovered on the perimeter of the lot.  Uncovered is an issue here because even though temps are moderating, it's still getting up close to 100 degrees during the day.  This wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was my only one.

Oddly, the mall itself didn't feel all that crowded.  As I shopped, I was often one of only a couple of shoppers in the store.  My plan was to buy two pairs of jeans to tide me over, one black and one blue.  I'm trying not to buy too many clothes at any point in my journey, because I know I'll only get a couple of months wear out of them.  The UK sized 14 jeans (Which the tag said was comparable to a U.S. size 10--I think that's malarkey.  As far as I could tell, they fit like size 12) I bought in August are already loose enough to pull off without lowering the zipper.  I wanted to get something to make me look less droopy-drawered.

Something I hadn't accounted for in this weight loss journey is my vanity.  In the past, when I'd bought clothes, I often simply bought what fit.  There aren't many "big girl" stores over here and when I'd shop outside the country, if I wasn't in the U.S., I often struggled to find clothes in my size. 

I'm currently a size 10, maybe a size 12 in the bust.  These days, the world is my oyster!  And what is more, a lot of the clothes I tried on looked...you know...kind of cute. :-)  My good intentions about buying just a couple of pairs of jeans went out the window with frightening speed. 

I went in to Pull and Bear (definitely a store that targets teens and twenty-somethings) and bought three t-shirts.  That wasn't too bad, as their prices are among the more reasonable I've found.  But Warehouse...oh, Warehouse!  I really like their clothes.  I bought two pairs of jeans there and I couldn't even tell you how many tops and sweaters (Cape Town is cool-ish.  I'll have opportunity to wear them.).  And then, on my way out to the car, I picked up my black jeans and two more tops at Marks and Spencers.  I didn't try on the tops; they were more impulse buys. 

When I got home, I pulled on one of them and found it tight across the bust.  Not bad, but enough that I'd need to wait a bit before wearing it out.  I checked the tag and saw I'd mistakenly bought a UK sized 10.  I muttered to myself, "Delusions of grandeur!"  And yet...with the way I've been losing, I guess I'll be able to wear that by the end of November.

I wonder if I can hold off shopping again until I go home at Christmas...  ;-)