It's been an even longer time...

Wow...

So I decided to make a fancy new Facebook page and keep with the times and I linked it to my blog.  When I went to my blog, I realized I hadn't written a post since 2010!  Almost 3 years have passed!  Let me tell you a lot has changed!

At the beginning of 2012, I had ballooned back up to 287lbs.  In April of 2012, I underwent a sleeve gastrectomy gastric restrictive procedure.  It has been almost a year and a half and I down to 138lbs and am feeling great!  I lift weights, not just any weights, heavy weights...I bench press 135lbs (1 rep max). I mean, I enjoy picking up heavy things, thoroughly.  I run....and I run....and I run some more.  Right now I am training for the IMT Des Moines Marathon half-marathon which takes place in October 2013.  I'm also looking forward to doing the Adel Sweet Corn Festival 5k on Aug 10th.  Actually, at this moment, I am looking forward to just getting back out on the road and running period.  I broke a toe last weekend and have been stuck in sandals, unable to wear tennis shoes, for the past week.  Nothing drives a runner more crazy than to not be able to run and drive down the road seeing other people out running.  I feel like a wild cat pacing, waiting for it's prey!

As far as diet is concerned, I am still doing my best to not prepare "processed" foods for my family or consume "processed" foods myself either.  We have a couple boxes of Hamburger Helper in the cupboard for emergencies but they've been in there a while.  My fridge is usually bursting with veggies or fruits, cheeses, greek yogurt and the like.  My family's favorite meal seems to be when I make stir fry because you can put just about anything in it and it always tastes good.  My biggest thing right now is high fructose corn syrup.  I refuse to buy food that has it added which excludes just about any "processed" food.  I always read the labels and try to explain to my kids that they shouldn't eat things that contain words you can't pronounce or that look like someone's science experiment.  My husband and I journeyed to Whole Foods for the first time this last week and I was bound and determined to find something in that store that couldn't possibly live up to the standard that people thought it did.  Needless to say, Whole Foods won.  I checked the ketchup, the bbq sauce and everything I could think of but did not find anything containing anything I wouldn't feed to my children (yet).  We also tried grass-fed ground beef for the first time this last week.  Thanks to my friend, Shanen Ebersole of Ebersole Farms, we grilled up some super burgers and I am pretty sure those were the best tasting burgers I have had in as long as I can remember.  So juicy and flavorful!  I cannot wait to see her again and grab some more grass-fed beef, YUM!

My family and I spent the whole afternoon today working out in the yard and my back is killing me, so I am going to do some relaxing the rest of the evening and will plan to visit my soapbox again real soon.  I promise this time!!