I made it!!!

Yesterday was Day45.  I made it.  But it was very difficult, especially this last week.  I almost gave up several times this last week.

I received a text message on the morning of March 10 that my Opa, my very best friend in the world, was in the hospital and wasn't doing well.  See, Opa was diagnosed with cancer Dec 16, 2016, and it had spread.  But he had been fighting it fiercely.  

But the message I got had me getting my children situated and hopping in my vehicle and on my way to the hospital in less than an hour.

I spent the entire day there with much of my family.  My Opa was on pain medications much of the time.  I was grateful to have a little bit of time alone with him while he was lucid to tell him things that he already knew but I felt I just had to say.  And to hear him tell me he loved me too one last time.

I lost my Opa on Saturday evening.  I was with him when he went to heaven.  I had prayed with him just a short time earlier.  First I had prayed God would give us a miracle.  Then I prayed God would take my Opa's pain away.  I miss him terribly, but it was worse to see him suffering so.

It was a very rough week between his passing and his funeral.  I battle with depression on a regular basis as it is, but losing him sent me into a deeper than normal depression and I had difficulty with functioning as normal.  He was my person, my one to call, the one who I could talk to about anything in the world.

I stuck with my Whole45 plan because I knew Opa would want me to.  My health was important to him.  It was something we often discussed.  We would compete when he was gone for the winter to see who would lose the most weight, or who would have the most bragging rights for exercising, or who had been to the gym the most often.

So...

I kept with the plan and pushed through.  I made it all 45 days.  Since Jan 1, when I started pushing my weight loss efforts, I've lost a total of 15 pounds. 

I've had some great NSVs (non-scale victories) too! 

• I don't have heartburn all the time. 
• My hemoglobin is usually around 12.5, the minimum for donating blood.  At my last blood donation it was over 14!
• I tried on a dress for the funeral on Saturday that I've never worn - it fit.  It was a size SMALLER than I normally wear!!
• My blood pressure, which is usually normal, is even lower.
• My black yoga pants are falling down :)
• I sleep better at night.
• I have less cravings.

As of today I can add back in my grains, dairy, and beans.  Scrappy has been talking about pizza all week so he's had me craving it, so we ordered Papa Murphy's.  Unfortunately I overdid it :(   I should know with pizza.  I don't eat it very often because it's one of my foods-without-brakes.  Fortunately it doesn't happen with frozen pizza - I'm not much of a fan of frozen pizza.  And I have a plan to get back on track tomorrow morning.

My plan now is to try to stay on Whole30-plus-dairy-grains-and-beans-with-an-occasional-treat until after my surgery.  I think it would be hard to be on plan while I'm recovering from my surgery because cooking would be difficult.  I'm also hoping to get my bicycle out soon because I want to start riding it more.  Monkey likes his bike helmet now, so hopefully I can get him to ride in the bike trailer this year!