THE MOST AWESOME TOOL IMO....

 JOURNALING and keeping track .... whether on paper ... in a document ... or in a picture....

Whether one journals in writing or on a computerized tracking system or on a spreadsheet or on a notepad or in a word/office document  or in simple daily notes or index cards it is an awesome everyday tool and so much more awesome IMO on this weight loss/maintenance journey .... 

I find journaling especially most useful during maintenance ... the stage where I am at 5 years and 6 months out....

I created a goofy tool for myself .... A DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNAL ... I certainly did ... and I have tracked my journey A Picture A Day since I was able to recover from surgery and post op complications that landed me in a longer recovery period than most ... at 3 months post op I was still barely able to move around much ... but time/healing/endurance all played into a final recovery and me just taking it and running with it from there .... at 5 years and 6 months out I have been maintaining 5-6 pounds under my ideal goal weight seamlessly ....

I have fun with this goofy tool ... because I just love love love taking pictures.... and 'A PICTURE A DAY KEEPS THE POUNDS AND THE INCHES AWAY'

I took a picture of my breakfast yesterday morning .... I had turkey/low fat mozzarella rolls and a red delicious apple .... it was deelish and I enjoyed it ... and I did not get through even eating half of it before getting totally stuffed.... I had the other half of it and my apple for lunch ... dinner was AWESOME stuffed peppers with seafood courtesy of DH ... it was delicious...
 

I took a picture of my lunch that I will have today before wrapping and putting it in my lunchbox.... it is an AWESOME Morning Glory Portobello Mushroom Veggie Cheese Burger on a Wheat Thin... I had a few bites of protein brownies and coffee for breakfast and it was YUM....

Water... Tea... non-carbonated SF drinks in between .... oh and my morning coffee 1/2 regular 1/2 decaf and I am good to go.... 

 

I then took a picture of me today for my journal .... realizing that I wore this outfit back in 2008 at my lowest weight post WLS I did a search in my journal for the picture I had taken back then and I found it!!! and I made a collage .... of my before RNY.. at lowest my lowest gaunt faced weight post WLS in 2008 and TODAY this day ... at my maintenance weight  5 pounds below ideal goal... 5 years and 6 months after .... I LOVE MY JOURNEY!!!! I love being able to get up and run 5-6 miles without even getting winded - hardly....

 

There is nothing wrong in sharing/or looking at BEFORE and TODAY ... it is an AWESOME empowerment tool ... PLEASE JUMP IN AND SHARE.... YOUR before and afters and awesome tips and tricks that have helped you along the way........ 

ME BEFORE....
 
AND ME TODAY...
 

Thanks for allowing me to share....

Obstacles can't stop you. Problems can't stop you. Most of all other people can't stop you. Only you can stop you.   Jeffrey Gitomer 

You look cute as always.  And I think your dedication to this jornaling thing is great, I can't do it because its too much like work and I am far too lazy for anything like that.  Even things I like to do become a burden after awhile.  I honestly just want to kill someone today, the day started off bad and its just getting progressively worse.  I have already spend an hour on the phone with the cable company only to hear the manager is going into a meeting can he call you back.  Uggh. 

I hear you .... if it feels like work it becomes tedious I guess ... the good thing is I have fun with it and I am used to tracking/journaling/flow sheets/input/output monitoring and such ... I guess it comes as second nature to some of us in certain fields I guess ...LOL ....

I find it fun ... plus I love keeping track ... I could balance my books with my eyes closed... I have to keep track of the inventory in our shops too ... just the other day when I had to run home overseas for a long weekend we had stuff walk ... in-house job too gotta love it ... but that is another story....

The cable and certain other utility companies can drive anyone insane ... I deal with them online whenever I can ... and don't get me on the subject of the electric company LOL....

Hope your day gets better... mine is starting to get crazy too... here is a picture for you ... hope to make you smile ... I told you I take a picture of almost every/anything LOL ... CHECK OUT WHAT OR SHOULD I SAY WHO WAS IN MY PURSE ...YUP! MY DWARF FERRET CHIQUITITA ...and did not want to come out no matter how hard I pulled on her leash LOL.... we were back in from her walk outside...

 

OMG thats so cute, I love the ferrets, they are just adorable!

I am a database programmer, so spreadsheet and pivot tables are part of my life, but I like to create them, I love a challenge, once its done I don't update them I give them away and go on to create something else new.  I guess I get bored easily hence the reason I cannot journal or do anything on a regular basis, I am already bored with summer and cannot wait for it to end.  I am sick and tired of summer clothes etc.  I guess it's just me.

This is great!  I hadn't even thought about taking pictures daily.  I used to when my babies were growing up because it happened so fast.  I guess that concept really does apply here too!  Thanks for the idea.

Now - how did you get your blog to post on the forum?  That is awesome.

It is an awesome tool and fun too ... Have fun with it ... or with whatever you find that will work for you..

I posted on the forum first and then while in edit mode I copied and created a new post on the blog and just pasted it there... I have done it both ways depends on where I post first ... 

 I really like it when you post your meal or Brownies with I coulnt not make they tated awful, but you really give me some idea of what to eat and i really enjoy your post so keep on going i will sure read you. 

Thank you!!!  Sorry the brownies did not work for you..... mine are delicious but then I do not like protein shakes however I did them post op when I had to ... I use designer whey as it is the only one that works best for me when making the protein cake shake that was shared on here by someone else months ago and got rave reviews ... it is that same recipe that I tweaked by just adding an egg and a bit of baking powder ... some people like it moist and add more milk or water and other add more Splenda ... I do not have a sweet tooth so 2 packets of Splenda do the job for me .... as with everything else I tried it several times until I got it right ... 

Growing up in Panama I HATED fish of any type ... our parents fed us fish all the time and we just hated it  ... it is like staple - pescado or marisco of any type we hated -- through my young adult life I hated fish and now I just LOVE IT ... goes to show you ... I hate the cardboard-y taste that I find in protein shakes ... so I made smoothies with mine by adding ice and cinnamon and made it work for me ... I will not eat protein bars because of the less than optimal nutrition content in some and the sugar alcohols that make me itch ... so I came up with my own tweaked version that I am pretty sure is nothing new under the sun and it works for me...

We all have to find what works best for us and do that ... I bet you come up with some awesome ideas of your own too ... and please do share ... I used to copy and try so many recipes shared on here ... some worked ... some did not...

I remember Val's ricotta fluff ... and to this day I still make it ... DELICIOUS!! 

I would probably gross people out in OH if i posted pic's of my meals i eat. an example one day i was eating my fiber cereal with milk and coffee then 10 minutes later i was eating mustard covered sardines.. you'd think i was pregnant, NO im not... but i always eat weirdly...each wasnt much, im like you only eat have of what i put on my plate.... its the weird combinations i end up eating, tonight i am eating a salad of lettuce, mushrooms, red and green peppers saltine crackers and avacado and FF thousand island dressing, thats my whole meal..I may eat a couple of fig bars later..wish more people would post a pic of their meals here..Tomorrow is wheat spagetti with homemade tomato sauce with tomatoes from the garden....Peace\/ Wendy

 Wendy, I love sardines and canned herring on tomato sauce too .... and I too have weird taste .. no chances of being preggo here though ... my only deliveries for years have been through parcel post LOL...

I love love love an avocado stuffed with sardines and topped with jalapeño slices and hot spicy mustard .... TO DIE FOR! .... I love the same combo stuffed with tuna topped with jalapeño slices and spicy mustard also ... Now herring in tomato sauce is one of my favorite snacks ... I have to watch the sodium content through but I found a brand that I just love...

Now for your dinner tonight it seems you made and awesome salad but WHERE oh WHERE is your source of protein sista? Did you get all your protein in during the day? Remember our bodies use protein to maintain tissues and build new cells and also to synthesize new proteins ... PROTEIN makes it possible for us to perform basic bodily functions and like the origin of its name PROTEIN FIRST!!!

Thanks for responding and sharing ...