XL, XL Read all about it!

Tank tops,pajamas, capris not plus size ! Oops oh my!

So the other day started out like any other Saturday. Lazing about for most the morning, making breakfast, a little exercise then my ritual weekend trip to Ross and T. J. Maxx because I love DEALS!!
On my quest for cute and shall I say reasonably priced home goods I detoured to the intimates section where I perused the holiday Pjs. Sad and a little sulky, because clearly I wasn't in the Plus Size section and I was looking at pajamas. I came across a super cute set. Black and white polka dotted cami/capri set with sheer straps and little chiffon flowers on the breast. Umm...I'm pretty sure those PJs were made with me in mind.
 I looked at the size (XL) I shook my head in defeat and reluctantly put the Pjs back on the rack.  There's no way  would fit them. The capris would be like biker shorts and the cami would be some "smedium", unflattering belly shirt! Why do I even bother I thought. * Yes I know a little pity party! Sometimes when you're in the thick of it. It's hard to see how far you've come. Im down from 341 to 270!!!  However, the scale hadn't moved for almost 2 weeks. I was a bit discouraged. Alas I looked at the price tag. Designer PJs for $16.99!!! " Well I could just buy them and put them in my "2 months from now pile." So decidedly I put those cutesy Pjs in my cart and made my way to the home goods section. As I was shying away from the clothing department a cape coat caught my eye. After my mini pity party and my baby pep talk I decided to try on the coat to see how much weight I would have to lose in order to fit it 20lbs? 30lbs? To my surprise I slid the XL coat on easily and buttoned it without strain. In disbelief I re-checked the size and thought this must be an irregular cut. So onward I went in search of another XL garment to see if maybe I was losing it or I really fit an XL.  I picked out a cute purple Calvin Klein dress XL and took it into the fitting room. It wasn't the most flattering cut of dress but it fit! I couldn't believe it. I've heard the saying "it takes a while for your weight perception of yourself to catch up with the reality of your weightloss" I used to laugh and think "there's no way you can't see yourself in the mirror. But its TRUE! Every morning I wake up get dressed and think "Eh not much change".
Later on that night I felt bold, so I took the tags off my XL pjs  which looked more like a Large and stepped into the capris, eyes closed and breath held. They slid on with ease. I opened my eyes in disbelief. Surely the cami wouldn't fit. Over my head it went and it was a bit loose around my mid section!!!  If ever I learned to do a cartwheel that would have been the time to show off but instead I did " the guns"~

 I thought I was delusional but  minutes later  there was a knock at my door. My little sister came over, who hadn't seen me in a few days and said "you're getting skinny as shit sister!" " WTF is happening? " Sister! Look at you !!!" "You're skinnier than when I saw you last time" She said in disbelief as she ran her hands up and down my abdomen and my sides where my love handles aren't sooo prevalent anymore. " 15 more lbs and you wont even have love handles! Shit you barely have them now" I thought about her statement and took a long look in the mirror. My arms lay flat at my sides.  Barely a bulge.  Maybe she's right. Tank tops and clothes I bought in Thailand a year ago are baggy. One of my tunics has become a full on dress. I take pictures few days to document the weight loss because clearly what I see in the mirror cant be trusted. I have mixed feelings about it all. I'm happy to be losing weight, but it's hard for me transitioning from being Plus size which I've been most of my adult life to a regular size.  No longer am I trying to hide behind my clothes. It's strange territory. I'm not complaining by any means. It's just a lot of change and it's a little scary.I'm on the edge of something exciting. I'm out of my comfort zone. Almost 3 months post op and my life has changed so much.  Im healthier, and a great deal more confident. 100 more pounds to go people! This journey is taking me on unexpected emotional twists and turns. Cornelius and my ever shrinking Muffin Top are along for the ride.  An XL! Ahhh I want to scream it from my balcony. Instead I tell all of you, meanwhile, me and my polka dotted Pjs do a happy dance~
                                                                Until next time band fans...

I'm in this kind of mood: Corrine Bailey Rae  Put Your Records On

All the cards

9/22/11 : 341 lbs and 10/16/11: 302 lbs

Last Thursday was my third follow up visit with Dr. K. I'm finally stitch-free! Woohoo!
The removal was a little painful. I also asked a few questions about this irritating pain below my port incision. After thinking about how to translate it into English, Dr. K's resident took out her trusty post-it pad and wrote. " Port will irritate soft abdomen tissue. Okay? ^^" I gave her the thumbs up and she added "sore maybe 2 more weeks" and smiled. So I guess the adjeoshi from my train debacle last week didn't unhinge anything.
As thy were cleaning incisions Dr. K said they were looking good and I probably will have minimal scarring if any at all! SWEET! I was nervous about my fill so I asked Dr. K how many CCs he was going to put in today. He said  " Why dont you hop on the scale so we can see" . Reluctant to hop on the scale because I figured I'd been on soft foods for little under a week and I thought that I wouldn't see much change from last visit. Down 1.5 kgs. Woop woop!  I smiled . The doc and his assistant put my new weight into the comp.  "Om my got!" the nurse said. "Ship pal kilo" I heard . I've lost 18kgs since surgery? My Korean isn't flawless, but did I hear her right? I did the math in my head 39lbs. Say what????? The nurses told me they weighed me the day of surgery ad I was a whopping 155kgs which is roughly 341lbs.  So I started thinking back to the weight I'd already lost coming to Korea. The number baffles me. So I put my clothes back on and as I came back into the room the whole surgical staff applauded me. Talk about a supportive surgical team! Koreans love for others to be skinny. As I went to pay my $7 co-pay my nurse told the staff at the front desk about my weight loss and they grabbed my hands saying congratulations and began to clap. Geesh! This is better than the Biggest Loser.  I thought to myself.  I made an appointment to get my first fill the following week under Dr. K's advice. The staff wished me luck this week in getting under 300lbs and waved goodbye. Feeling pretty good, I stepped into the elevator where I saw a surgical tech from my surgery day. " Oh you are looking to good these days! Your shape will be very GOOD in some months I think!" I smiled and said thank you as a nosey purple haired adjumma  tapped me on my shoulder and told me how very pretty I was. When it rains, it pours people! If I had been having a bad day my trip to Dr. K's surely turned it around.


I walked down the street in disbelief. Had I really lost 39 lbs? And why didn't I see what everyone else saw? I mean sure a few of my clothes felt a little loose but 39 lbs? I thought I should see a more significant change. I went home shrugged off the feeling and went about my day trying not to think about it. Why was I disappointed? I had lost the weight  of a small toddler in a mater of mere weeks. I guess those are some of the WLS emotional ups and downs.
 Today I looked at a smaller pair of jeggings I'd bought when I was stateside 10 months back gauging whether or not I could shimmy into them. I figured What the hell! Couldn't hurt to try. I put on my jeggings with ease and with room to spare!  I smiled and took out my favorite teal tank top. As I looked in to the mirror, my once snug tank top had become something like a tunic. So I tired a rope belt under my breast, gave myself one good look in the mirror and thought Now I see it! My first NSV ( Non-scale Victory) Fitting into my skinny jeans!

Doing the cabbage patch Muffin Top, Cornelius, and I are sharing Gwen Stefani's "Yummy:

Until next time...

And then there was Cornelius

So I've thought about what to name my band. At first I thought to name it "Felicia" but pronounced Fa-lish-a a sassy black woman with an obvious attitude problem. Who doesn't love sassy black women. But then I thought I'm sassy enough for the both of us. For inspiration I took a minute an listened to Lou Bega's Mambo #5 Song, *shame* on YouTube.  Monica, Erica, Rita, Tina, Sandra, Mary, Jessica... Nope!
Right after that the Ting Tings'  That's not my Name  loaded. So I took it as a sign and I did some real soul searching... then I thought wouldn't it be funny if my band was male. Not just any male, but an ornery,cranky, old, no nonsense fella named Cornelius and it just seemed to fit.
Henceforth I will refer to my band by the name Cornelius.
So it's me, my muffin top and Cornelius against the world! The three Musketeers of Weightloss. * i know Im taking it a bit far but what the hell!

To all of subscribed my muffin top lovers and by ALL, I mean my only one, don't think I've started dating a a cranky octagenarian named Cornelius when you see future posts entitled "My fight with Corni "or " My weightloss love letters to Corni". It's just my band!  Until next time..