Facebook

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!

Find the Beauty...

Find the beauty in the world around you.

 

Losing Weight And A Loss

I am back...FOR REAL this time. Life got the best of me lately but I have no excuses anymore so I will be blogging consistently---at least once a week from now on. I promise. If I fall out again please hunt me down and slap me or just email and say hellooooo where are you?

Some exciting news--- I am officially down 52.6 lbs from my high weight. I am now at 188.4. The day I saw my weight in the 100's I did a happy dance. I haven't been this low in weight in years. My overall goal I have now set is too lose 100 lbs from my highest weight so my long term goal is 141 lbs. I have not been exercising at all but I plan to start at least 5 days a week.

I am struggling with energy and have found a few things that help. Spark which I just ordered some of and I get it on Tuesday. So excited! I used to drink this so I am glad that I can still have it. 15 calories, 4g carb, NO SUGAR! The other thing I have drank now and then is Monster Rehab. I really like the new peach tea and Green tea flavors. 10 calories, 3g carb, 2g sugar.

I really need to exercise as my stress has been through the roof lately. Unfortunately my Grandma passed away 3 weeks ago. I was very close with her and it has been a rough time for me and my family. My Grandma was an incredible woman and my heart aches everyday without her. My Grandma was extremely supportive of my surgery and had been there cheering me on every step of the way. When she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer back in January the first thing she said to me was "You are not going to put off your surgery because of this". She was always thinking of everyone else. I am glad that she got to see me get as far in my journey as I am and know that I am on the right path.

When you lose someone you love it completely shatters you to the core. It makes you question everything in your life. I am already going through major emotions with my weight loss and "Finding Myself". Now even more I am questioning what I want in life.  Life is so short and I am realizing that now. One thing that I have been thinking and dreaming a lot about is why did I ever stop writing? Creative writing was my passion growing up and I live in the state where the number one university for creative writing in the US is located. Even with the blog I feel like I have put off blogging because I am scared of writing. I don't know why. I don't know if its a fear of failing or what it is.

The crazy thing about life is when you aren't looking the time just slips away from you. I have been out of high school for 8 years now. The last real vacation I took was 5 years ago. The last relationship I had was 4 years ago. I am turning 25 in less than a month. While the list of things I have accomplished is amazing there are so many more things I want in life. I keep feeling like my dreams and the signs I am getting are my grandma telling me "It's not too late but start now". The quarter-life crisis is major right now...

#iloveallofmechallenge Day 4

DAY FOUR: A picture or video of you doing or talking about something you're passionate about!

- a certain political/social movement, a hobby, your children... Anything that ignites passion in your soul.

Okay so the thing I am passionate about is travel. I feel we learn so much from experiencing other people and cultures. On the few travels I have had I really found myself. I have so much more traveling I want to do and it seems not enough time or money to do it but I will work my hardest to make it happen.

Some of my travels....

California 2014

Mexico 2010

Spain 2007

#iloveallofmechallenge Day 3

DAY THREE: A picture of yourself as a child!

- along with your childhood photo post a short letter you wrote to your child self... Encouraging them and telling them how much you love them.

Your life will never be as easy as it is as a child. I envy you. You will be in a rush to mature and be grown up but you shouldn't because growing up isn't as fun as at looks. Life is so much easier when you are a child before you realize what it really means to be a grown up. You are innocent and naive and have no idea how mean people or the world can be. Once you do start to learn that you will begin to see how strong you are. You will survive. You will make it through the losses, the heartbreak, the good and bad days. You will grow because of it. No matter what society tells you continue to believe you are smart, funny, beautiful, and everything else you want to be. Believing it is half the battle. Most of all always remember when times get tough they will always get better. It may take awhile but I promise things get better. I love you for bringing me to the person I am now.

#iloveallofmechallenge day 2!

Day two of the challenge!

DAY TWO: A photo or video of you doing something to take care of yourself.

-Be it a hot bath, eating a delicious treat, getting a massage, watching your favorite show, taking a jog... Record yourself doing something for YOURSELF and yourself ONLY!

Snuggling with my puppy! I was sick today so all I did was sleep and snuggle with Boyd. I am not sure if I have the stomach bug or if I ate something yesterday that made me sick 😕 My new tummy does not like being sick at all. Still feeling pretty nauseous but really hoping it goes away soon. Hey I stuck with posting even though I wasn't feeling well though. Hope you all had much better days than I had.

#iloveallofmechallenge Day 1

Hey again,

So here is the challenge that I was talking about in my last video. Looks like I will be posting for 14 days straight!

Its called the I Love All Of Me Challenge. Here is the link to the FB page for it... https://www.facebook.com/groups/379428962241095/ 

Major props to the person who came up with this challenge. I think its very fitting for the journey I am currently going through! Here are the challenges:


The Love Yourself Challenge!

-This isn't just for selfies...

It's for self expression!! So get creative and write about the photos you take! Allow yourself to be vulnerable... I think you will all be surprised at the positive response.

Only 2 weeks smile emoticon

Tag friends to challenge them!


STARTING TOMORROW!

The Love Yourself Challenge:

DAY ONE: A photo of you in your natural habitat!

-no makeup, no filter, the clothes you wear around the house... Try to capture a day in the life of you in the most creative way possible!


DAY TWO: A photo or video of you doing something to take care of yourself.

-Be it a hot bath, eating a delicious treat, getting a massage, watching your favorite show, taking a jog... Record yourself doing something for YOURSELF and yourself ONLY!


DAY THREE: A picture of yourself as a child!

- along with your childhood photo post a short letter you wrote to your child self... Encouraging them and telling them how much you love them.


DAY FOUR: A picture or video of you doing or talking about something you're passionate about!

- a certain political/social movement, a hobby, your children... Anything that ignites passion in your soul.


DAY FIVE: Post an artsy selfie of yourself!

-try to post a selfie that captures your mood during day 5...GET CREATIVE!! Doodle on your photo...use word art...play with lighting! Anything!


DAY SIX: A picture with someone who influences you!

- and a short paragraph explaining why!


DAY SEVEN: A picture with a stranger!

(One of the biggest ways we can learn to love ourselves is to learn to love others and vise versa)

-obviously be safe with this one... Take a picture with a friendly stranger you meet in public and write a short a paragraph describing the things you liked about them... If you can't GO OUT and meet a stranger.... Message a person on Facebook that you've never connected with before and write about them!


DAY EIGHT: A picture of your favorite physical attribute!

-what part of your human suit do you enjoy the most!


DAY NINE: A picture of your least favorite physical attribute!

-write a short paragraph explaining why.

(Notice how others respond to your insecurities... You may find that you aren't alone)


DAY TEN: A picture or video showing off a talent or weird quirk you possess.

-anything from singing, dancing, raising one eyebrow, double jointed, playing an instrument, ETC!


DAY ELEVEN: A video or picture pointing out three things who make you confident in who you are.

(nothing about your physical body) -video is better!


DAY TWELVE: A picture tagging someone else on your friends list that you really admire.

-write them a sweet love letter! (Bonus points if it's someone you rarely talk to or hardly know)


DAY THIRTEEN: A picture with something you HAVE to do on the daily that you don't enjoy...

And write down at least one way that you can shift your attitude towards this task.

(Work, cleaning, showering, changing diapers, ETC)


DAY FOURTEEN: A picture smiling as big as you can along with an encouraging love letter to your CURRENT self.

Include a new goal for yourself!


And be sure to include:

‪#‎iloveallofmechallenge‬

Soooo...Day one!

A photo of you in your natural habitat!

-no makeup, no filter, the clothes you wear around the house... Try to capture a day in the life of you in the most creative way possible!

No make up/no filter. Just chilling in my recliner in my lounge clothes. Not necessary the most "creative" way to capture myself but I did what I could with having to take the picture myself.

Last but not least....I had my one month post op visit today and all went well. No fainting during the blood draw this time. I didn't even get light headed. My doctors were very pleased with my 22 lb weight loss and said generally at this time they are looking for a 5% loss of excess weight and I have had a 10% loss of my excess weight. Yay!

Out Of My Comfort Zone

Hi all,

So a few apologies....I am sorry I haven't posted again. I am sorry that the below is so long. I decided to do a video this time. It's long and I totally understand if you don't have time to watch! I am going to start doing some video blogs to better reach out to people who are in the weight loss surgery community. If you have time watch it sorry for being awkward. This is totally out of my comfort zone but I am sure I will get used to video's eventually. It has been one month though and I am down 22 lb. since surgery. I filmed this last night and it took 2 hours to upload! Yesterday was my one month post op. Enjoy!

I'm back!

So I fell out of blogging for the past week. I have been too tired and just relaxing and watching TV.

The surgery went great. I was all on track to go home on Wednesday as planned but the narcotics started to make me nauseous so they kept me another night and switched me to Tylenol. My nurses were great and made me feel very comfortable. I finally went home Thursday afternoon and stopped taking the Tylenol on Friday because I was down to a dull ache for pain.

I had my 1 week post op appointment yesterday and it was good and bad. I was walking quickly to get to the appointment because the hospital was busy and people were walking right on my heels and would not go around me. They took me in to draw my blood right away and as normal I got light headed but this time I was not able to breath through it. I passed out for the first time ever in my life and several nurses came in and they put smelling salts under my nose to wake me back up. When I woke up I started convulsing and I guess I had some sort of seizure. It was very scary but luckily I was okay. They put me in a recliner all the way back and wheeled me into another room and put a wet washcloth on my head for me to calm down. They took my vitals and everything was fine and I wasn't dehydrated so it seems it was just a combination of over exerting myself and then getting stuck with a needle right away.

I think my body is just sick of needles. I had to have 4 different IV's in the hospital because my veins kept blowing. They were giving me a shot to prevent blood clots every 12 hours and they drew blood every day. I am hoping that at my next appointment in 3 weeks I don't have an issue with the blood draw again.

I have lost 12 pounds since surgery which is great! I am very excited for what is to come. I am starting to get my energy back and I start taking my vitamins tomorrow so that will help a lot. I just wanted to do a quick update since I am feeling better and I am sure I will be posting more now. This is my first post on my phone so I am sorry if it looks strange.

I will leave you with a quote that I find fitting now that my reconfigured insides are currently healing....

It is Here!

Hey everyone,

Yesterday I had planned to post the process to get approved for surgery. I was tired and went to bed so I will have to post that after surgery because its here. Just hours away! I slept horrible last night. Tossed and turned and woke up what seemed like every 30 minutes. It was like trying to sleep on christmas eve when you are a child. I don't think it will really set in that its here until I am there. I am now getting ready listening to music. 

I find it kind of ironic that my favorite band Death Cab For Cutie released their new album today on my surgery date. The new CD is called Kintsugi. Kintsugi as described on wikipedia "The Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise." To me this really hits home. I feel like right now I am starting to "put the pieces back together" so to say. With my blog and in my life I am being an open book and telling my story rather than trying to hide my history.

One of my favorite songs on the album is Little Wanderer. Take a listen below.

Time to get moving. I will see you on the other side of surgery!

How Did I Get Here?

2 days...well almost one since its late! 

Today the anxiety about my surgery started to set in. I have that feeling like before you go on vacation when you are trying to make sure everything is in order and you don't forget anything. Today while spending all day cleaning my house like a mad woman I had a lot of time to reflect on how I got to the point of having this surgery. It's been a long journey so this is going to be a long post!

When I was very young I was at an average weight but I have basically be overweight since puberty. A specific thing that always sticks in my head when talking about my weight struggles is remembering going into middle school. Going into 6th grade I weighed 115 pounds. I was 4 ft something and I was pretty pudgy. I specifically remember the boy I had a crush on finding out that I liked him and saying he would never like me because I looked like an oompa loompa. Although that was devastating as a preteen I did in fact go on with my life. I participated in sports in middle school and although still larger than most girls my age I was healthier for a short time. 

When I got to High School I had no interest in participating in sports anymore. Two a day practices did not seem appealing to me and by that time I was in a new school and my best friend had gone off to a different school leaving me by myself with very few people I knew in what felt like an enormous school. By this time I had gained some height so I was more "Curvy" but I was still overweight. High school was a major struggle for me and I had a hard time adjusting. I started not remembering walking from class to class and when my mom took me to the doctor concerned about it I found out that what I was experiencing where panic attacks and I was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder. I was given depression medication but when you take depression medication and you are depressed it makes you depressed. All I wanted to do was sleep and I was missing school. I finally stopped taking the pills after a couple weeks of hating how they made me feel. I realized this was something I was going to have to push through on my own and find ways to cope with it. 

Lunch time was a major trigger for my social anxiety. A large amount of people in one room and having to stand in the line and pick things out while people where right behind you was not happening for me. I took lunch to school with me almost every day. I probably ate cafeteria food less than a dozen times in my 4 years there. Eating in front of people used to give me anxiety. Mostly due to having braces and having to rip my sandwich into smaller pieces and worrying that something would be in my teeth. Sometimes I would go sit in the hallway by my locker and quickly eat my food. Once I was a junior I was allowed off campus during lunch hours. I  would leave for lunch almost every day hitting up fast food. 

I didn't have much interest in exercising. I wouldn't want to walk out side for fear of what others would think. This anxiety was amplified by the few occasions that I did walk outside I once had a car full of kids drive by and yell "Fat Ass" at me. I was a victim of bullying at school and somehow it seemed most of it occurred in gym class. When I was a junior I had a couple of freshman in my gym class that made fun of me every day and when I went to the principal he basically broke it down to me being an upperclassman and that freshman picking on me shouldn't be an issue. The changing in a room with a bunch of other girls bothered me as well. We weren't allowed to use the bathroom stalls to change and if we did the teacher would bang on the door and tell us to get out. I got into the habit of going to a different bathroom before gym and changing my clothes there and same with after. I grew to despise gym. 

I still struggle with my social anxiety and although I don't black out and I rarely have panic attacks anymore I have found that most of my problem with eating is that I use it as a way to cope with my social anxiety. Food is a way to take my mind off my anxiety and feel good. I also struggle with food in the normal ways that people do. Its really a emotional and social thing. You eat when you are happy, when you are sad, when you are anxious, when you are bored, when you are out with friends, when you go to the movies, when you are celebrating, and when you are grieving. If you think of food like a drug (which it basically can be if you are a food addict) Its worse than any other drug really. With Alcohol or drugs they aren't always around you and you don't have to do them. With food no matter what you have to eat. It is everywhere you go. You can not live with out it. Can you eat healthier? Yes! But it is hard when great options don't always surround you. \

As for my eating up until I started my diet for insurance qualification- I got into a really bad habit of eating fast food. I bought my house when I was 20. I have never been a good cook. Ultimately my eating of fast food boils down to convenience. I also like to eat out at restaurants with my family. Either way it solved feeding myself without having to cook which I am not good at. 

At my previous job I ate junk all the time because I was constantly back and forth from work to sleep and working tons of hours. I developed acid reflux. I didn't even know I had it at the time but I would feel I was being stabbed in the stomach and be hunched over unable to walk feeling like I was going to be sick. This also may have been from going hours without eating because I would be so busy at work I would forget. I really did not listen to my body at all when I was working that job. I was on my feet all day and didn't gain much weight even though I was not eating healthy. I was exhausted from being physically active at work so I didn't exercise. 

Once I started working at my current job I went to a sedentary desk job. I still was not exercising and I was still not eating the healthiest but I wasn't eating fast food all the time anymore due to work having a cafeteria. I gained 60 pounds my first year at the job. I was tired all the time and finally started listening to my body and went to the doctor for help. She ran tests and nothing was wrong as far as my thyroid or anything. She referred me to a gastroenteroligist for my stomach pains who determined I had acid reflux. She also suggested I look into some sort of diet program to try and lose some of the weight I had gained. 

I joined Farrell's extreme body shaping. I followed their diet and gave it my all but at the end of the 10 weeks I had only lost 5 lbs. I was upset but signed up for a year membership anyway thinking maybe it would just take longer for me.

I went in for my annual exam and my gynecologist was also concerned about my weight gain and small loss during Farrell's. She ran tests on me and found out that I had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. She encouraged me to try and continue to lose weight as this can go away with weight loss. I was terrified as PCOS can cause you can have trouble getting pregnant or to be infertile because of it and I want kids some day. She referred me to try Ideal Protein. 

Ideal protein is a medically supervised diet. I did this for 3 months and lost 25 pounds. Ideal protein was expensive and cost about $100 a week for food. I eventually stopped because I felt like I was starving myself and I couldn't think. I felt like I couldn't concentrate at work and all I wanted to do was sleep. I wasn't allowed to do anything but light exercise the first couple of weeks on that diet but once I was able to go back to Farrell's while on the diet I felt like I was going to pass out. I quit ideal protein in February. I stopped going to Farrell's on a regular basis because I was frustrated at the lack of results. 

By July I had gained 75 pounds. This put me even higher than when I started Farrells. I went back to my doctor and she was very concerned. She once again ran tests and nothing was out of whack with my thyroid or anything else. I had been researching weight loss surgery at this point and brought it up to her. She agreed that at this point that was something that I could look into. She also offered up a new pill that was an appetite suppressant that would cost $100 a month. 

By this time I had already spent a lot of money on Farrell's and ideal protein and not seen the results I wanted. I told her that since my weight has been a struggle my whole adult life I really wanted to do what was best for the long term. So we decided on the weight loss surgery and she referred me to the hospital in the area that did the procedure. So that is how I got to deciding to have weight loss surgery. 

More on the process to get approved and be having surgery....I will post that tomorrow!

My First Post!

Hi Everyone!

Those of you who know me personally know I have been wanting to start this blog for some time but I have been struggling with the name. I finally figured it out and Quarter-Life RNY it is. 

To explain the name...

Most of you know me personally are not familiar with the weight loss surgery community and the terminology so I will explain the name! I chose quarter-life because I am 24 and I will not only be talking about my gastric bypass journey but will also be using this blog to talk about the struggles of a twenty something trying to find themselves AKA my Quarter-life Crisis. I also hope to help others who are going through the same process as I am or thinking about doing so. Especially those in the Quarter-life years. This leads to the RNY. RNY stands for Roux en-Y. Roux en Y Gastric Bypass surgery is the type of weight loss surgery I am having. 

Now for those of you who don't personally know me or maybe some of you that do more about myself...

My name is JaLisa. I am a 24 year old (almost 25!) who is about to have gastric bypass surgery on March 31st 2015. Yikes only 3 days away! I have undergone a long process to get here and I plan to go over the process from the beginning to now. I will be posting over the next couple of days to get up to speed on where I am now. 

Some other things I want to cover in my first couple of posts in the next days before surgery are some questions I have been frequently asked such as how do you qualify for the surgery?, How did I get to where I am now, What are my goals for post op, etc. 

Anyway I will keep my first post short and sweet! If you have any questions please feel free to ask and I will try and include them in my upcoming posts.

Thanks for reading

-JaLisa