Progress!

So last week after taking things up some notches I reaped the benefits a lot! I lost 2.8 lbs in ONE week! I didn't think that would happen, I was hoping for ONE pound. I'll take it, but I won't keep hopes up to keep up that fast loss. Most of my inch shrinkage was from waist & love handle/back fat area, so that's good. The butt & thighs did shrink measurably, so I'll take it. It just stinks that they are always slower, stubborn butt!

Anyway, I think I'm doing well with everything. I've considered trying some light chest work, but I'm still nervous, I might do a little this week & yea I'm talking like 5 lb presses to start lol. My muscle repair bugs me a little from time to time, but it's not bad. Eventually the needed scar tissue will be there & things will be normal feeling. I can lay on my stomach now, but it's not comfortable with the boobs though. So I can bend backwards some, yay!

I've been REALLY really bored with my hair lately & DYING to change it up. I just can't settle on it, ever, I don't know why that's just how I am. So I'm going to start getting lighter & Tuesday will be a major highlighting session, like 2.5 hours she said, oy! I never thought of actually going there because it's an old gas station that a woman bought & made a hair shop, but a girl I see around regularly had her hair all done anew (highlights, new cut, looked good) so I asked her where & she told me she went there. So I went in there & she suggested starting with lots of highlights (to lighten it all over, it's too dark to just do whatever). I think when it gets light enough I'll go back to RED, I'm thinking bright red for the heck of it (but that's a ways away probably).

Other thoughts... My self-confidence has been going nuts lately I've noticed. I feel so GREAT because of the boobs! I really didn't think they'd make me feel so different, but really they do! Then you have the whole fact that I can (non-grudgingly) have naked sex now because there's no kangaroo pouch of skin. I look in the mirror, naked, a lot and like it :) It's NICE! Now I just need to get to my former lean self & hubby watch out haha!

Doing good

This morning I finished the first week of the Couch to 5K program. Today I added on 10 extra minutes of the intervals (so 4 extra jogging minutes), then I walked fast for 20 minutes & did a full hour (counting warm up & cool down) on the treadmill. I'm starting to be reminded what it feels like to be breathing harder & the heart racing and all. I am glad this program slowly steps it up. Mentally I don't feel really ready to work as hard as possible, I'm guessing that I just haven't built up that kind of momentum yet. I will get it back though!

Tomorrow I think I'll do P90X shoulders & arms in the morning, and probably some elliptical (again) around noon, then Friday I get to rest & have a cheat meal again. I don't think I will be blogging daily about workouts here, maybe weekly with stat updates or progress updates in general. I won't even THINK about doing anything that engages the abs much until I ask Doc in September (4 months post-op then) if I can. I don't want pain from tearing anything internal! When I get the go ahead with that I'll start trying push-ups and stuff again, for now I don't want to use the chest muscles lol.

8 weeks post-op today

Okay so today I did P90X legs & back. I didn't even feel like trying pull-ups or pull-downs, instead I grabbed 10 lb weights & did a few different variations of bent-over rows. It all felt VERY good, I'll probably be really sore from it. I only grabbed 5 lb weights when we did calf-raises squats & the calf sequence, everything else was body weight. On the 3 way lunges I didn't even think of picking up a leg after a lunge for a kick (don't need to engage the abs more).

With the binder weaning I go about 6 hours with it off, put it on for a couple hours (helps swelling), then have it off the rest of the day & night. I'm not wearing it much, I probably wouldn't wear it if I wasn't working out, but I need to work out to get my fitness back & to drop some fat. I can't magically maintain a hot figure, I'm not lucky like that. Eating clean is now routine & pretty easy, but I am fighting bad food urges here & there. Hopefully I will see progress with scale &/or measurements on Friday when I check it all again.

Time is really flying now! I can't believe it's been 8 weeks already!

Better :)

Okay so even though I stayed up past my bedtime to watch a weekly show, it didn't affect my workout. My vow is to get better every time, so I decided to add on to the first week Couch to 5K guide. I did 5 min walk warm-up, the 25 minutes (instead of 20) of run 60 seconds walk 90 seconds, and my walk was faster too. Then I added on a full mile walk @ 4.0 mph and did a 5 minute cooldown, VERY nice! Jogging felt better, I can stretch my torso more so my form is better. I also had on a different sports bra that's a cup size too small & the girls did not bounce, so I like it. My only discomforts were a sore hammie and my back (but that's probably because my back isn't used to it yet, it'll be fine). I sooo can not wait to get back to what I used to do, but totally love this program since it's sooo perfect at easing into it when I just can not go balls out.

As for weaning off the binder, I'm pretty much only wearing it at workout time & maybe a little later on if swelling goes up or someone makes me tug at the muscle repair for some reason or other. The numb area on the belly is weird, but a minor trade-off for the skin removed.

I have Mederma (if you go to their website there is a coupon you can print out that's good until 2012) and am using that on the TT scar a couple times a day if I remember. I'd LOVE for the scar to start fading, but it's no biggie. I've noticed I can pull up the sides of undies & cover it totally so next year I'll find a bikini that can do that. What I don't like is my love-handles (but I'm blaming that on the extra fat I'm carrying) and an area above the incision that puffs out compared to below. I think I might have heard this referred to as the "shelf" on makemeheal.com. I'm not sure if it's swelling &/or fat but I really want it gone. So I have to be in my happy weight range before September, that way at my next appointment I can address any issues & see if he can do any necessary revisions.

I love my BA, but I'm thinking I should have listened to Doc & got a lift too. It doesn't bother me anyway, I'm loving having boobs without being pregnant or fat :)

Stepping it up

I woke up early & was thinking I could TRY some P90X lifting. I figured the ones I could mostly do are Shoulders & Arms and the Legs & Back videos. I decided on trying the shoulders & arms this morning using 10's for most of it (5's for a couple harder exercises). I did 45 minutes of it & will be repeating, now it wasn't 45 mins right, the last set series of moves I'm not very fond of (not the bonus, the ones before that), so I did the in & out straight arm shoulder flys, Congdon curls, & laying down triceps extensions. I felt a little discomfort in the muscle repair, but I just slightly changed how I was doing things & it was good. So now I will be working the muscles harder.

The legs & back video I figure I will TRY throwing a resistance band over my pull up bar & doing pull downs instead of pull ups. If that incorporates the abs too much, then I will just do bent over rows or skip the back portion all together, but that's a couple days away anyway.

So, anyway, that felt great & I think I'll try to get in some elliptical time later on today if possible. Oh and my boobs are huge! That's all I got lol.

Run like your butt is on fire!

LOL well maybe not, but I did jog some. I was sooo giddy to be able to jog!!! But it wasn't the form I could do before, I had to take smaller steps because I can't bend my torso like I used to. I'm hoping it stretches out as I run more. GOSH I want to be running 3 miles easily again, but I'll be smart and work my way up there slooooowly *sigh* So this morning was Couch to 5K week 1 day 1 which is a 5 minute walking warm-up then jog 60 seconds, walk 90 seconds repeat for 20 minutes (so you jog for 8 minutes total). Well, I did that and added on a 10 minute 4 mph walk, then a 5 minute cool down. My runs were 6 mph & walks were 3.4 - 3.6mph. It's supposed to be the same intervals each running day this week, which is good to get used to the motions again. I know my cardiovascular system can handle it, but my muscle repair? Probably not yet. Anyway I'm ready to lose this lower body JUNK & stop looking pear-shaped [though it's way less pear-shaped before I got boobs & my waistline is awesome].

Anyway, another day down, moving on!

Yay!

For the first time since the day of surgery I got on the scale. I decided to weigh myself yesterday after I tried on some pre-op jeans & I could get my butt in them ha. Soooo.... I'm not saying the # but it's the same weight as the day of surgery! I'd put $$$ on the amount of skin removed not weighing as much as the implants, so somehow I've done alright (I'm thinking the post-op elevated metabolism saved me there). Now 10 lbs to go to get back in my happy weight range, which I can do easily I think, in say about 10 weeks. I'm not in a rush now that I can fit some old normal pants. My butt doesn't fit into my fave old bikini, so when it does (probably in 10 lbs ha) I'll take pics in that even if the scar is hanging out. No need to buy a new bikini this year.

So today I'm taking a rest day & dinner will be my cheat meal, yay :) Then tomorrow I start jogging!

Binder weaning

Yesterday I had it off for like 5 hrs total ~ 1 hr post workout, 1 hr later on, then a 3 hour block. Then I had it on for ~ 2.5 hrs & took it off until morning. I think it made me swell some (below belly button) and it seemed I woke up with some swelling too, so I don't think I'll have it off for longer than that a day for a while. Today I'll probably have it off for a 4 hr chunk of time instead of it being broke up, will see.

This morning's workout 15 minutes elliptical then 3 x 12 (all 7.5 lbs): 1 arm shoulder presses, bicep curls, 2 arm tricep kickbacks. 2 sets of - 5 lb in & out straight arm shoulder flys, 7.5 lb hammer curls, 7.5 lb overhead tricep extensions. I wanted to do a 3rd set of that last bit, but my back started protesting (I do it all standing). Then I did another 15 minutes elliptical. I'm guessing my shoulders & tris will feel that some, but my bis probably won't, working my way back up slowly.

So I did it finally! I made it a whole 6 days of working out & today will be followed with eating clean, then tomorrow I can cheat some. I figure I will get up at usual pre-workout time, check my weight & measurements, and if they're above a certain # I've set, then I will do a walk (not even a fast one) to burn a little bit but not cause any lower body tiredness. I WILL eat clean until my cheat meal (which will be pizza, with a sundae after, mmm hmmm). I'm not exactly looking forward to seeing my stats, but they're somewhat a starting point & I'm sure MUCH better then they were at the beginning of this week. So, yep.

Yayz finally :)

Last night I slept without the binder & honestly it felt good to go to sleep without it. I did wake up at times with some random soreness, but nothing bad enough for me to throw it on. I haven't been wearing it tight for real compression since days after I got the 2nd drain out, just fyi, I've been tightening it when I have MR soreness &/or swelling. Of course after every workout I have it off for 30 mins to an hour, so yea. I think it won't be so hard to get used to not wearing it, the weirdness is in clothes [more specifically PANTS] being on the belly above the incision without the binder. So I'll have to get used to that. Oh and Kelly mine usually creases too between the top & middle panels, it's sorta at the natural waistline, a wee bit annoying.

Anyhow, I have absolutely NO lower body soreness from yesterday's workout. Sometime either yesterday or the day before I figured I'd try to add a mile @ 4 mph to the 2 I did the other day. I figured if my body protests I'll stop earlier, no biggie. Well I did it. So I did 3 miles in 45 minutes of walking [4.0 mph 2% incline] + the 10 minutes of warm-up & cool down which added on over another half mile. So yep, I definitely feel ready to start jogging now! Couch to 5K will be starting on Saturday :)

I got past a hump in # days eating clean yesterday, so I am finally feeling like I can do this more again. I added in a 6th meal yesterday (though it was hard & I was forgetting to eat). I think I got more calories, at least a little bit anyway. One more workout for the week and I've finally made it a solid week, yay!

Binder, how I love thee

I was thinking I never took a pic in it, so I figured I would before today's workout. I was going to sleep without it last night, but DD #2 kept getting out of her bed & knocking on our door. I was passing out tired, so I just crawled in her bed with her & to be safe I put my security blanket around my belly. So there went the initial weaning haha. I wash it often, so I do go without it & it doesn't feel odd at all (but I can't imagine trying to wear jeans, haven't tried yet). Soon, soon lol.

This morning I did 10 mins elliptical then 3x15 [all body weight only] wide stance squats & feet parallel calf raises. Then 3 sets of: 15 lunges (each leg), 15 toes out calf raises, then 15 toes in calf raises then another 10 mins elliptical. That elliptical sure gets the heart racing, shew! The lower body work all felt pretty easy, so will change it again next time. Before the workout I felt like any bloat from bad foods is all gone (so felt nice & smaller) so hopefully that'll help me in staying on track. I do know right now I'm not eating enough & it's hard to try to eat more, so I will try!

Got it!

Finally got to a 4 mph walk @ 2% incline for 30 mins (plus the 5 minute warm-up and cool down). It felt just a hair below jogging actually. At first I thought it'd be too fast, but I hung in there for the 2 miles and boy did I sweat! Core swelling does happen during workouts, but it's not huge & a lot like I look pregnant or anything after, I can deal with it. I'm sure there are times when it'll be worse than now anyway. Even though I'm going to start cutting down on my binder wearing I will keep it on during the workouts for quite a while, I'm sure it helps the swelling.

I'm fighting some sort of cold brought on by the weather I think (or allergies, whatever). It sucks! The congestion is icky not to mention coughing hurting the abs. I'm trying to not cough as much as possible, so I'm drinking more water (drink whenever I have to cough). I hope it's gone by next week when I start trying to jog and such.

Anyhow, my upper abs are sore but I'm not sure what it's from - elliptical yesterday, just doing upper body weights in general, or the coughing, or some combo of it all. It's not too much soreness, so I know I'm okay to keep working out (good that I'm baby-stepping it). I also don't know what I weigh or any measurements (besides my current boob measurement lol), so I'm thinking after a week of eating clean I'll check some measurements & depending on those I'll see if I want to see the scale weight or not. It won't do any good to see something that might upset me & make me want to sit on my chubby butt & eat sugar ha, so we shall see =)

Workouts...

Okay so again last week I had a few good days in & I petered off. I think my issue is in not working HARD like I'm used to, I'm trying to get past that.

Yesterday I did the treadmill - 5 mins 3 mph warm-up, 30 mins 3.8 mph, 5 mins 3 mph cool down. It was pretty good. After my walk yesterday I decided I would try the elliptical on weight days [starting this week] & I also decided that I'll start the Couch to 5K running program next week. It's 9 weeks long of 3 days a week jogging/walking intervals to get you up to a 5K. I figured that I can probably start working on that & it's starting slow enough to where I won't accidentally overdo things because I decided to run too long or whatnot. So in between the jogging days I'll be doing elliptical & weights.

Today I got on the elliptical for the first time since before surgery. It feels just as easy as walking (movement wise), I didn't go as fast as I used to. But boy WOW did it feel great! It got my heart pumping & the sweat flowing so fast compared to walking! So I did 15 mins elliptical then weights, then 15 more mins elliptical. Lifting was as follows [5 lb dumbbells again]: 3 sets of - in & out straight arm shoulder flys [16 reps], in & out bicep curls. 3 sets [15 reps] of a 4 count movement like a combination bent-over row & triceps kickback, as in - row, kickback, down, down repeat. It was good. I will need to up weight soon though.

I think with being able to do the elliptical & such it'll be easier for me to stay on track because the workout felt like an accomplishment again, finally!

So, the appointment

It went well, Doc says the hair follicle is no biggie & to just call if it gets worse. He said to start weaning off the abdominal binder thingy now (which I'm scared to do cuz I'm so used to it), but I will somehow. AND I don't need an appointment until September which will be when they take after pics I guess (unless something comes up before then, but still), so... Guess I'm doing good finally, shew. Just wish I had more movement & felt like I could workout hard. I need to get my eating in check but it's so hard! Anyway, YAY at things being good :)

You know, I was never told about implant massage & never thought of asking. Well, I did think of asking, I just forgot every time I was at the office. Anyway I found this link from makemeheal.com's message boards & figured I need to make myself do this, ugh. It seems like it'll be helpful, but it says this should've been started a LONG time ago, crap. Boobie massage

Another day :)

So I'm totally happy with my results, I figured I'd put up a side by side of before & 6 weeks for the TT. I've been looking at the pics more & looking at ME more and totally LOVING it! One of the HUGE things I noticed yesterday was that my waistline never has gone in totally with my lower ribs, so I have some seriously awesome curves now. And the boobs, although they feel huge & I'm not used to them yet, they look great & we did pick the right size for me.

Anyway, my one problematic area the front of the TT incision along the line [had been a small hole with a hair coming out], well it grew [under the skin where I could feel a bump like a big zit or ingrown] & I squeezed ickiness out. So yesterday I called a nurse & she said it sounds like I have an infected hair follicle, so tomorrow morning I'm going to see Doc to make sure it's nothing more than that. I'm not so worried because I've been taking care of it as much as I can & it's just not closing up & healing on its own since I've been watching it. Since I'm going to see him I'm not so worried. Then I already have another appointment set up on the 21st, so I'll follow whatever instructions he gives me & see him 1.5 weeks later.

Today's walk I added 10 mins for a warmup and cooldown, and the 30 mins @ 3.6 mph. It didn't seem too fast this time or hard to do so tomorrow will be faster :) I'm not breathing hard on these workouts, just sweating. I'm not ready to push that hard, but I'm glad to be doing something!

6 weeks post-op today

Well I went through all sorts of emotions yesterday, not going into all of that. Anyway I did take pics this morning & put them up at that private album. Seeing the pics was what I needed to feel good! I am healing great & can't wait =) My 30's will be the best, I'm so glad I did this!

Walk was 30 mins @ 3.6 mph (2% incline) and that felt fast & hard to maintain, so I think I'll stay at this speed for another day before moving up. Then I did [5 lb weights] 3 sets 15 reps each of: upright rows, regular bicep curls, & tricep kickbacks [using my bench for a knee & one hand]. I hope muscle memory kicks in fast! It felt good and I am definitely not upping weight for a while. My lowerbody is a little sore from yesterday but not much thankfully. With everything going on I can't be too sore since I have to take care of everyone.

Feeling good!

Where I've been...

Thunderstorms last Tuesday night/Wednesday morning rendered the satellite internet useless. I waited 2 days before calling the company (to see if persisting weather conditions were causing it to not work) but I couldn't take it anymore. So they wanted to CHARGE US $125 to send someone out to fix our satellite with it being messed up because of WEATHER, something you can't control. ANYWAY, it's finally working now and Hubby is talking to them to not make us pay, it's ridiculous. We've contacted the cable company that people one mile away have & they will come out within 2 weeks to see if they can get it to us (yay for rural areas, pfft), so we're hoping for that because I'm tired as all HECK of satellite!

Hubby's surgery I let the stress of that stop my workout attempts, but I got back on the horse on Saturday & have been getting a little better every day. I'm up to 3.4 mph @ 2.0% incline for the 30 mins, won't be changing the incline for a long while. Also, Doc said I could do light weights, so today after walking I did 3 sets of [all body weight only]: 15 squats, 20 walking lunges (10 per leg), 15 calf raises. It really got the sweat rolling & dang did it feel GOOD to use muscles even if it's just for a little bit. Oh we used the warranty again & got the elliptical fixed up, so that'll be waiting. I'm not going to get on that until I'm up to an hour on the tready. I don't want to overdo it, I want to take it baby steps for a while since I've just dealt with so much.

I noticed when my swelling is up I hunch, and when it's down I'm pretty much straight, not totally like I used to be though, will get there eventually. My implants have dropped quite a bit, overall I'm happy with how I'm looking.

There are some bumps of concern along the incision in the pube area LOL, since the hair goes all the way up to the incision (since it is so low there). Well the hairs at the top are pulled at odd angles now so I'm getting ingrown hairs (I think that's what's happening) and I'm dealing with that. I'm tired of bandaging crap up but there are little holes & I'm paranoid of infection or anything, so yeah. Overall things are good!

Lalalala....

I might take new pics next Tuesday morning, not sure. I'm expecting TOM anytime so you all know how much that affects everything.

Hubby is having surgery on his toe tomorrow. No comment.

This morning I added 5 mins at the same pace, so 25 mins, 1.25 miles. I'm trying not to get frustrated. I know I'm not ready to do anything hard but it stinks starting so slow! I'll try to stay positive & keep going though. I have some "ab" (or muscle rep[air) soreness here & there, but I can guarantee it's not from walking. It's pretty much the same things here & there, I'm healing it'll take some time to feel normal, dang it. My arse has grown & I want to work it off HARD but I must go sloooow *sigh*! One day, one day I'll be back to the ol me, but better. I'm SO GLAD I do not have that skin anymore that I can deal with this!