I really CAN'T eat, and my dog just WON'T.

Mitzi Bella Peairson has got to be the finickiest eater on the planet!  I find a dog food, she tries it and turns her nose up!  Thank goodness BzzAgent is sending me a new food to try for FREE as part of their new campaign for Hill's Science Diet.


Fresh chicken is the first ingredient and it has NO corn.  I'm liking how that sounds!  I want her to eat it, but her health is first and foremost...she's our baby. 

What does your dog/cat eat?  Is he/she picky? They have an awesome competitive comparison tool on hillspet.com/idealbalance to help you compare your current food to Ideal Balance^™ and then you can download the free bag rebate!

Check out BzzAgent, join and maybe get in on the campaign yourself.  BzzAgent lets you try products and services for free in exchange for your honest opinions and conversations with other people.  Word of mouth is still the best way to promote a product, and BzzAgent provides this service to a lot of companies.  I love being an agent, and have been with them since 2004.  I've gotten everything from food to small appliances and have met a lot of great people in the process.
 Visit BzzAgent here: http://www.bzzagent.com/

New from Garnier and BzzAgent!

I've got a new product coming in the mail soon from BzzAgent.  Garnier BB Cream...it's supposed to "Transform your skin from ordinary to out-of-this-world with one multi-benefit skincare solution."  It's a tinted skin perfecting cream.  I've been curious about BB creams and now I get to try it risk free!  You can find more info at Garnier.com and I may have coupons available soon.




I'll let you all in on how well it works after a bit.

 Many of you know I'm a BzzAgent.  I get new products to try and review on a random basis.  I discuss it with friends, family, and my freaky followers of facebook and twitter...hence the Bzzing part.  I love trying stuff for free, and I love talking so I'm perfect.  Check out "BzzAgent.com" if you're interested.

Getting closer every day!

I'm finally under 200 lbs! 

Took me a while, but I'm weighing in at 192.  You can be sure I did the happy dance.  I'm teetering between a 12 to a 14, and if I wasn't so "camel-toe" phobic I could have bought a very snug pair of pants in a 10 last week.  Not going to push it...I'm thrilled to be where I am. 

Clothes, hair and make-up are my new obsessions.  Shallow, I know, but cut me a little slack here, I've never really "enjoyed" any of those before.  I can find clothes off the rack in any store!  I have discovered the Pravana Blowout treatment for my hair so it's silky, straight, and shiny. My lion's mane has found the perfect tamer. Soon I'm going to be working on my new face, LOL.  I've just finished getting my teeth deep scaled, had a gum graft done and will be getting ready for my braces soon.  NO metal-mouth comments needed, LOL.

The truth about alcohol.

Heed my warning.

I was told that due to the nature of my newly redesigned intestines that alcohol consumption could afffect me much quicker.  I've had a few beers and not really noticed a difference, so I felt relatively secure in my ability to "handle my liquor".

Apparently, I was a little over-confident last night.

This picture was taken at about 8:30 pm.  The free beer for ladies didn't even start until 9.  The glassy leer in my eyes was the result of 1 beer (the PBR in front of me) and 1 shot of tequila (came with the PBR).  If only I had stopped there. (And if only I could have known how fat this pose would make me look! LOL)

One shot each of Rumpleminz and Goldschlager and bartender only knows how many free beers later, we head for the door, as partied out as I can ever remember being.  Thinking it had to be at least 1:30 in the morning, I was shocked to check my watch and discover that it was only 11:30.  In 3 short hours I had gone from sane to trashed, rode the happy train to my final destination, and jumped off the party platform into my car where I commenced to pass out next to my wonderfully much smarter (read sober) husband driving me and our friend home. 

Alcohol hits MUCH faster and harder than before surgery.  Much like food, it doesn't take much. Indulge if you will, enjoy the cheap drunk, but stay close to someone who loves you.  I did.

Major goal reached!

Ok, so I didn't exactly reach it in time.  I wanted to lose 100 lbs by my six month surgiversary.  It was six months and two days when I reached the 229 mark.  You know what?  I was dissappointed on Monday the 8th when it didn't happen, but when on Wednesday the 10th when I saw the scale confirm that I had actually lost 100 pounds...I couldn't give a rat's ass what day it was. 

Lesson learned...goals are great...but they are movable figments of our own limitations.  The end of the story was no less climactic just because there was a few extra pages in the way.  I started this journey a size 28 and as I write I am wearing a comfy size 16.  I can't ever remember wearing less than 18.  I shopped at Rue 21...for myself!

Next goal?  You know it!  Onderland!!!  I'm sitting at 224 today, so only 25 lbs to my next giddy, flailing of the arms, squeeling like a 3rd grader in arm's reach of Justin Beeber, dance like no one's watching (dear God, don't EVER let anyone see me) celebration.

On a lighter note.  Chicken and I still aren't friends, but we have had coffee together a couple times.  Beef jerky is the bomb-diggity...I know...driest meat substance on earth goes down better than the moistest poultry?  Go figure.  Rudy, my wonderful best friend, partner in this journey and love of my life whom I also married, has lost an amazing 125 lbs and has gone from a 54 pant to a 40 comfortably.  All I can say besides "Go Baby Go" is yes, it get's bigger, and yes there's much more to our love life than I ever imagined possible for a couple over 40.

I had my 6 month check-up and bloodwork done.  I'm curious about my protein and vitamin levels...but I'm not scared.  I've never felt better, so I must be doing something right.  My surgeon's PA said we consider 70% of excess weight lost in 18 months to be a success.  I've already lost 50% of mine.  Our original realistic goal weight was 160, but she thinks I may reach around 140 by the 12 month mark.  I'm not so sure on that one...things have slowed down a bit.  But I'm no longer looking at it as an impossible destination...and I'm willing to relax on the time limitation. 

I'll give myself 12 months and 2 days!

It's working!

My gastric bypass was 02/08/11.  I was 329 lbs and excited about going under.  Everyone kept asking me if I was scared, hell I was more scared of NOT having the surgery. I felt sure that at any moment, someone would come bursting into the room screaming, "Stop everything, she can't have this operation!"  I wanted my doctor to cut, and cut fast!

Then, I woke up. Holy hell. Pain. Excuse me, but who do I need to speak to about changing my mind?

My husband and mother were with me and trying to explain that the surgeon had discovered a hiatal hernia during the operation and had repaired it.  This, they soothed, was what was causing the intense pain that I was not expecting. In retrospect, it makes sense...at the time I just wanted it to stop.

Luckily, pain medications were invented.  Not a perfect system, but better than the suicidal alternative, lol. I was up and walking by nightfall.

Bring on the thirst. There's really nothing like the thirst that comes from having no liquid by mouth for 36 hours. By the day after surgery, I was ready to drink the sweat from an old man's upper lip. Before I could have a drink, I had to pass the "Blue Ice Test". 

This consisted of 3, one ounce cups of ice saturated with blue food coloring.  The ice is to be eaten slowly, each serving about 30 minutes apart.  Then the bulbs at the end of the tubes coming from my incisions were checked for blue or purple coloration in the drainage they were collecting.  As soon as I finished with a "no leaks" clearance, I was allowed my first tall frosty single ounce cup of water and told to sip it over the course of a half hour. This would be the story for the next 2 weeks.  Sip, sip, sip, walk, walk, walk.

Liquids turned to pureed foods at 2 weeks.  I could eat creamed soups, protein shakes and tuna fish from a blender. Two weeks later I graduated to soft foods and added such delicacies as cottage cheese and eggs to my diet. By the eighth week, I was allowed to try most anything, keeping in mind to avoid high carbs or fat and sugar.  My protein requirement is 85 grams a day...no big deal for a pre-surgical stomach, but a major accomplishment for my picky little pouch.

I'm 3 months out now.  I have trouble with meat, can't eat sugar without wanting to die afterward, and can only get down about a 1/4 of a cup, or 2 ounces every few hours. If I eat too fast, too much, or too anything, I throw it up.  Seriously, one bite too many can cause an hour of discomfort. My husband Rudy had his surgery 3 weeks after mine, and has many of the same issues, so we have learned to stop eating right before we think we could be full, and I've started learning how to prepare healthy meatless high-protein dishes.

The kicker?

I've lost 70 lbs...in 12 weeks. You bet you're sweet ass, I'd do it again...twice!

Prologue to a post.

I can't stand it anymore!  I just can't sit by and watch everyone else have all the personal indulgence of a blog.  These days we're encouraged to toot our own horns, and I suppose I've finally found mine.

I make no apologies to the reader in advance.  However, I will extend a warning...I tend to be brutally honest when I write.  I type faster than I think and fail to analyze the way a certain passage may be construed by the mind of the reader.  If you think it's about you, it probably is...if it pisses you off, it probably pissed me off first...and if it makes you smile, it probably cracked me up!

Come on in, have a seat.  Welcome to my mind.