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Hi everyone,

If anyone is reading this and wants to know whats going on in my life please take a look at my facebook page for the blog. I have switched to posting on the facebook instead of blogger as it is far more convienint for people to keep up with me that way! Here is the link... Quarter-Life RNY

Motivational Monday 8.31

Happy Monday everyone!

I have officially hit the 5 month post op mark today. A quick reflection of how far I have come. At my high weight I was 241 lbs. On day of surgery I weighed 230 lbs. Today I weigh 165.6 lbs for a total loss of 75.4 lbs. My goal I set when I had surgery was to lose 100 lbs and I am currently 24.6 lbs away from my goal! This last weekend I fit into a size 10 dress for a wedding and I am currently wearing a size 11/12 jeans. I am so happy with my progress so far and so excited for what the future brings. I started school last week and that has been awesome so far. I haven't started back to do any creative writing so far but blogging is helping my mind a lot. I have posted quite a few blog posts in the last week so that was really great to stay on top of.  

Okay enough about me.... Let's get our motivation on. 

This week I wanted to devote my Motivational Monday post to someone in the WLS community that has really helped me through my journey. Mellie May is a fellow RNY-er who put her journey on Youtube. I started watching her videos before surgery and have continued to follow her. I personally have only done one video on youtube because the camera scares me a bit but she is so inspiring with her confidence. She is funny and honest and her videos made my journey so much easier. The biggest thing for me was watching her videos and seeing the friendships she gained and all the experiences that she got to have due to her surgery. I still watch her and hope that down the road I start to have just as much fun as she is. One major thing she has taught me through her videos is to unapologetically just be myself. Be the girl I have hidden all these years because I was afraid of what others would think. She is so real and brave it blows me away and inspires me!

She recently made a great video about is gastric bypass surgery right for you? This is a great video and if you are thinking about having weight loss surgery watch this.

I just honestly can not thank this lady enough. She has helped me more than she can know. I look forward to continuing to watch her. It is just so awesome to see someone who is so beautiful on the inside and out who really cares about helping others through their journey. If you are contemplating surgery I really encourage you to go to her channel and watch some of her videos. Here is the link- Mellie May's Youtube Channel. She also has a facebook page which I follow her on that you can find here- Mellie May's FaceBook

Thirsty Thursday

Hello everyone!

By "Thirsty Thursday" I mean drinking my rehydrate and spark of course. No alcohol for this girl just yet! Ha...

Yesterday I had a pretty crazy day and ended up not getting my mile in as I planned to do every day this week. I will also not be doing it today. After my long day on Tuesday I started to experience some pain in my stomach at the end of the day at work. Wednesday I woke up at 3 am in terrible pain. I thought maybe my stomach was binding up because I have been trying to increase my protein so I took some colace and still no relief. I was miserable so I called my doctor and told them that I was feeling almost worse stomach pain than I did right after surgery. They wanted me to come in so I called my mom up and she drove me to the hospital. When I got there they checked for a hernia and said it didn't seem as if that was the issue but they were going to draw blood and do some labs and have me try and drink some water since I hadn't ate or drank so far due to the pain. I had my blood drawn and once again started to pass out but they were able to wake me up before I went all the way out. They told me from now on they want me to have my blood drawn in a recliner or in a room with a bed so that they can make sure I am safe. I then tried to drink water which made the pain worse. They started me on an IV to get some fluids and had me go for a CT. They got the results back on that and said that they did not see anything abnormal so it just seems like it could be related to constipation, possibly a torn muscle from my run, and a little bit of dehydration. The doc told me to keep it easy the next couple days and eat light. I felt a little better from the fluids but I was still feeling miserable with the stomach pain. I ate a little mashed potatoes and drank some water and tried to sleep it off. I woke up this morning and I am feeling much better and I hope it stays that way. I am doing my best to stay hydrated and eat light. The doctor told me that things will feel different for me so it could even have just been a little viral infection but if it feels like its painful or not right its always good to reach out to them.

I have homework due today so I spent my morning doing that and I didn't want to risk another run so soon. If I am feeling good tomorrow I think I will start out slow again with a walk instead. I am thankful that the pain is gone and it wasn't something horrible like a hernia or my gallbladder or a kink in my intestines. I am glad that this is really the first incident I have had since surgery that has been bad and it may not have even been related to the surgery. Hopefully smooth sailing from here on out. The doctor also commented that I am no longer obese according to my BMI so that is awesome!

I also got home to some goodies in the mail! My distributor kit for advocare and my order came! Thank goodness because I was running low on spark. I also ordered some rehydrate which will be super helpful right now since I am trying to make sure I stay extra hydrated. I got chocolate peanut better meal replacement shakes as well which will be great while I try and eat light for the next couple of days. I am super excited to try them because I have heard they are really good and taste like Reese's. I will let you know what I think once I try them. I can't wait to order more products and try them since I already have several on my list that I think are going to be super helpful to me to continue to stay healthy, keep losing weight, and start building some muscle! If anyone is interested in trying spark the flavors I currently have are watermelon, green apple, mango strawberry, fruit punch, grape, and pink lemonade. If you want to try rehydrate (like gatorade but even BETTER) I have peach and key lime cherry. If you want to try one of my chocolate PB meal replacement shakes let me know. Also if you want to know anything about these products or any other advocare products message me on either my personal facebook, blog facebook, or call or text me!

Well off to school for the day....Vacation from work starts for me in two days! So excited to relax and get have some fun and go to minnesota for a long weekend next weekend. It's gonna be a great time.

Transformation Tuesday

Back to school...back to school...

Today was my first day back at college. My class was amazing and I met some super nice people! I am so excited for the changes happening in my life right now! 

This morning I woke up and got my run in. My mile was down to 14 min 47 seconds. Almost 2 minutes shaved off! I know I pushed myself because for the first time ever I threw up from running. Lame but hey it's progress. I also probably would have got it exactly 2 minutes shorter if I wouldn't have started gagging at the end.

I ate a good breakfast and got my spark in. I got dressed and headed to school. I then ate my packed lunch at work before working. Planning is everything!

Transformation Tuesday....

Would you look at that difference? From my high weight to today...I can't even believe it myself. Looking at the girl on the left I don't even recognize her. I looked sick and unhappy and didn't feel like myself at all. The person I am now becoming is the me that has always been hiding inside. 

My first day style....

My packed lunch and spark...

In honor of back to school here is a clip from one of my favorite movies...

Make it a great day!

Motivational Monday 8.24

Good morning Sunshine's!

Monday's kinda suck right? I decided that I am going to start doing a weekly post to help shake my Monday up. I am calling it "Motivational Monday". This weekly post is gonna be all about things that motivate and inspire me. This could be a person, a cause, music, a video, or anything really. 

Today many of you have kiddos starting school or maybe like myself you are starting as well. My first class for going back college starts today online and my first on campus class starts tomorrow. I am so excited! Since I decided to make this journey back to school for creative writing it is pretty fitting that the person I want to talk about this Monday is J.K. Rowling. She is my inspiration and really the reason I got so into reading as a child. She came from nothing to having more than she ever imagined all because she pursued her passion. When she failed she didn't stop. She believed in herself so much that when she was told no she didn't take no for an answer. I can hope that one day I will be like her but at the end of the day it's all about the work you put in and your drive to succeed and never giving up no matter what everyone says. Here is a video of a speech she made that really explains it all.

So I got up today....not as early as I would have liked but I didn't throw the towel in. I had my spark, got dressed, laced up my shoes, and got my ass into gear by going for a run. I have slacked in exercising lately but NO MORE. No excuses. I went for a mile and ran as much as I could. Being free of a lot of weight now means the problem that is keeping me from running the whole time is thankfully no longer my legs. My problem now is my lungs. I want to work on building my lungs up so my goal this week since I am working 2nd shift for a week is to wake up every morning and run at least a mile and try and get my time down every day. My one mile today took an 16 min and 37 seconds even with running part of it. I did start slow and stopped to tie my shoes but dang that sucks. Gotta start somewhere though right? Eventually I would like to be able to run the whole mile and do it in under 10 minutes.

Goals, goals, goals....Life is all about goals. Set them people. If you don't then you are dooming yourself to the same fate every stinking day. This week is all about setting goals for myself and developing a routine to insure success. Let's rock this week!


I also created a Spotify playlist to keep me motivated while exercising this week. I am going to try and do a weekly playlist going forward as well. Check out this weeks!

Before and after- Almost 5 months post op!

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to quick drop an updated before and after picture! The left is my high weight of 241 lbs last september. The right is yesterday when I went to the cubs game now at 167 lbs! Also my advocare site is now up and running so if you are interested in knowing about any of the products or want to place an order let me know or you can place via this link -JaLisa's Advocare Page. I live by spark for my energy! If you have any questions about my surgery as well please feel free to message or email me. I am almost a week from my 5 month post op anniversary! 

Change Is In The Air

2 Months without a blog post. I failed at coming back into this on a regular basis. This time I really will though. I promise. Some major things have been going on and I have some big announcements. The number biggest one which has yet to be shared on the interwebz is....I am going back to school. After the passing of my grandma I had an epiphany. I have decided to return to school to get my 2 year degree in hopes of transferring to the University of Iowa to major in English on the creative writing track. I am beyond excited about this change. Writing is where my passion has always been and for whatever reason I never thought I could make a career of it. That is now my goal. I am very interested in screenwriting and would also love to write novels but really there are so many things I can do. A goal I want to share with you in hopes that you all will see it come to fruition is that I would really love to write for Hellogiggles. If you don't know what it is be sure to check it out at hellogiggles.com.   With me going back to school this brings many other changes as I will no longer be a manager at my job and will be returning to a regular full time person. This was a hard decision as I love managing. It simply came down to needing to dedicate as much time as possible to school in order to succeed. Luckily my team and managers have been super supportive and I get to stay in the same department. I start school NEXT WEEK and it will also be my last week as a supervisor.

Another change that recently came about is that I am going to start selling Advocare. This just came due to my love of spark and how much it has helped me with my energy after surgery! I was asked by my coworker that I bought my spark from if I would be interested in selling and now I am going to. If anyone has any questions about Advocare let me know or check out my Advocare page HERE!  Also if anyone else has used Advocare products post op gastric bypass please let me know as I want to get others input.

So you probably want to know where I am at weight wise. Lets refresh on my beginning stats for those of you who may just be joining. I am 5'3" and my highest weight was 241 lbs. The goal I set for myself is to lose 100 lbs from my high weight so I am currently shooting for 141 lbs. If I can get lower I will be super happy. My current weight is....167.4 lbs! I am currently 27.4 lbs from my goal! At my high weight I was wearing a 20 or 18 in pants and a XXL in shirts. I currently wear a 14 in jeans that are baggy so I think I need 12's and I wear a large shirt. I purchased a size 10 dress for a wedding next weekend so fingers crossed it will fit as it was just a little snug when I tried it on 3 weeks ago.  I have not measured recently but will do so soon so that I can tell you how many inches I have lost.

I am so excited for the changes that are coming. I hope that you will continue to follow me and I hope that more people will join me in following my journey. Good things are coming I promise! More posts, more videos, and just overall more fun! Also....is anyone interested in a possible live broadcast????? I am thinking about all the doors that are opening to me and I am just beyond happy. My life has changed so much since surgery and everything just seems to be falling into place right where it should. Thanks a million to everyone who supports me along the way!