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My Weight Loss Journey After VSG

Entries in this blog

 

Week 11 Surgiversary -- Size 16 Jeans -- WOOT?!?

I have been a bit down in the dumps lately because the past few weeks' weight loss has been really slow. But this week was great -- over 3.5 lbs. lost! I am now down to 192.2, very close to being in the 180s and so excited about that!   I had a NSV today, too. About a month ago I went shopping for some new jeans, since my size 22's were getting pretty loose. I was really happy to find out I could fit into size 18WP jeans, even though they were a little snug. I bought two pairs of jeans. I am very short and the jeans were still a couple of inches too long, so I needed to get them hemmed (I can't sew at all!). I had a lot going on the past few weekends, so kept putting off taking the jeans to get hemmed, but today I finally did it, because the size 22s are so loose they are going to fall off any day now, and just *have* to go. So I went to the seamstress to get the jeans hemmed, and put on the size 18s for the seamstress to measure, and I was quite gratified to notice that they were looser than I remembered when I bought them. The seamstress made me stand on a little dias so she could get the length right and I was facing a large full-length mirror. At that point I noticed the new size 18's were actually already pretty darn loose in the legs, and comfortably loose around the torso. I started wondering if maybe I was getting close to fitting into a size 16WP. So, after I finished with the seamstress, I headed on over to Macy's and decided to try on some new jeans. I picked up a pair of Levi's size 16 short, the Macy's house brand of jeans, and a pair of size 16 capris. When I got to the fitting room, I picked up the Levi's first and was aghast because the size 16s looked really, really small. I didn't think I could even get them up over my thighs ... but I did. I even got them buttoned and zipped up, to my amazement. OK, I have to admit, they were tight, and I wouldn't have felt really comfortable wearing them, so off they went. I nearly bought them just to measure my weight loss progress, but decided to hold off for a few weeks and come back and try again in a month or so. The Macy's jeans, however, fit perfectly and so did the capris. I took my new size 16 jeans to the seamstress and had her swap out one of the size 18 jeans (which I will hem using that magic hem stuff I bought from Walgreens). So, I am officially able to wear size 16! Woo hoo!   I ended up buying a couple of new bras this weekend too -- the balconette style from Lane Bryant, size 42DDD. I was pleasantly surprised at the nice shaping they provide. My girls are hangin' low, so to speak, so they need a strong support and shaping bra!   Now I will be brutally honest -- I look like total crap with clothes off. I have horrendous cottage cheese thighs right now -- not just the normal cellulite area, but everywhere down to my knees, front and back -- ick. And as I mentioned, I pretty much have the breasts of an 80 year old woman. And I still have a big old gut and butt. And, I am sporting a rather nasty wattle on my chin, making me look years older. Every day I put bio-oil on my chin hoping to moisturize and firm the loose skin, but it doesn't seem to be working that great. My body is definitely smaller than it was, but by no means is it a body I would be willing to parade a bathing suit around in!   But, all in all, I am totally thrilled with my sleeve and feeling better and more confident every day. I am really looking forward to the summer, when hopefully I will be down in the normal size clothes range, and will look and feel even better. I talked to my husband and we are going to try the couch to 5K program this spring, and sign up for a local 5K race this summer. That will be a HUGE NSV for me, to finish a 5K!   I am really excited about the future!
Kris

Kris

0
 

10 Weeks Out -- Slow Weight Loss

I'm now 10 weeks out after surgery and as of my last weigh-in am 195.8 I've lost about 31 lbs. since surgery; a bit over 3 lbs. a week on average, although the average is very misleading since I lost so much weight the first couple weeks after surgery.   I have really been slacking lately and am in a funky place emotionally and in my head. I'm not eating as well as I could and not exercising at all. My weight loss has really slowed down the past couple of weeks; I'm not in a stall but this week I didn't even lose 1 lb. I have this weird weight loss entitlement feeling going on ... like I had surgery, so the pounds just should be falling off no matter what I put in my mouth or what I do with my body. I know this is a horrible attitude to have and I've got to work to change it.   I think it started a few weeks ago. A dear friend of mine has an aunt who had VSG a bit over a year ago, and she's lost over 90 lbs in a year, and according to my friend she never exercises and she doesn't particularly watch what she eats. When I heard that, I think I used that as an excuse to slack off ... like I will lose weight no matter what I do or don't do. I know, however, that this is the prime weight loss time -- right now -- and if I don't get at least to midway to goal soon I am going to have a really really tough time getting to goal.   The flip side to this devil may care attitude is the unspoken and very scary fear that maybe I will fail at this ... I've failed at every other attempt at weight loss I've tried for the past 15 years ... I don't know if I have confidence to succeed. Maybe subconsciously I think I deserve to be fat the rest of my life and am sabotaging myself. I clearly still have food and self esteem issues to work through!   OK, to switch to a more positive note, I had to go shopping today. My bras are all way too big now and aren't giving me decent support. I didn't even know what size the girls are now, so I went to Lane Bryant and got a fitting, and the lady told me I was a 40G. My last fitting before surgery I was a 44H (but only had one bra in that size; most of my bras were a 44DDD or a 46DDD, depending on whether my weight was in the 220s or in the 230s. I'm a little suspicious and disbelieving at the fitting, and unfortunately the store didn't have any bras in my size, so I couldn't try on the new size to see if it was right. I am going to order a couple of bras online and hope they fit OK.   In the mall near the Lane Bryant store is another plus size store, CJ Banks. I popped in there to see what they had and found several cute tops. I tried on a size 1X and 2X, and definitely the 2X tops were too big ... yay! So, I bought a couple of 1X tops. I am hopeful once I get a new bra I will look a little better too ... I am looking pretty saggy and pathetic in the chest area using the current bras. I still wear my old size 22 clothes a lot (I donated most of the summer clothes to Goodwill already) and they are definitely too big ... I veer between being highly annoyed at how loose everything is to realizing how cool it is that everything is so loose.   I hope my next post is going to say I am below 195 ... that will be cool. I am looking forward to being in the 180s -- I hope to get there sometime in April. Because once I am in the 180s, it's not too far to be back in the 170s, a place I am really really wanting to get to again.   Back in my late 20's, when I started gaining a lot of weight, I remember being in the 170s and being fairly worried about my weight, but not seeing myself as really huge. I could still squeeze into "normal size" clothes (albeit a tight size 14P). And I remember my health was really good -- normal blood pressure, normal blood tests, everything normal. Even though I was a good 40 lbs. over my lowest maintained weight, I still saw myself as plump rather than fat (actually, I was definitely obese at that weight, but didn't "feel" obese). And so a big part of me really, really wants to be in the 170s again, and sees that as a happy place ... like if only I can get there and stay there, and not gain weight, I will be totally fine. I am still not fully sold on the concept that I will ever actually get to my goal weight of 125. I have always had reservations about that number. According to the BMI charts, 125 lbs. puts me at the top of the normal range for my height. However, I haven't been that low since jr. high school! In my 20s, when I was very active and looked/felt my best, I was always in the low-mid 130s ... I wore a size 8P and felt good about that. I am deeply skeptical that I will ever get to the 130s, not to mention the 120s!   Well, I really am rambling on this post ... hope next week brings some good weight loss news!
Kris

Kris

1
 

8th Week Surgiversary -- Time is Flying!

Tomorrow will be my 2 month surgiversary. It seems a little unreal that it was only 2 months ago that I was in Mexico having this life-altering procedure! It feels like another lifetime ago. And truthfully it really was another life ... two months ago today was my last day on earth with a full size stomach.   But, as long ago as my surgery now seems, each day I still learn lessons about the capacity of my new sleeve -- it seems it is takng me an extra long time to realize I can't eat half or even a third of what I used to be able to eat at every meal. Case in point: today the hubster and I went out to lunch; he was feeling a little under the weather and when we are feeling unwell our go-to place is to a local Pho (Vietnamese soup) restaurant (Pho Tai). At this restaurant they serve two sizes of Pho -- small (which is actually way bigger than our normal bowls at home) and large (which is a freaking huge tureen-size bowl -- I think it holds about a quart, no lie). Pre-sleeve, both DH and I would each order a small bowl of pho and eat about 2/3-3/4 of it. I keep forgetting how SMALL my new sleeve is. The hub ordered a cha gio (fried spring roll, totally delish) and at my suggestion ordered a large bowl of brisket pho (and we asked for an extra small empty bowl for me so we could share -- why I asked him to order a large bowl I really don't know). I had two small bites of the roll before DH took the rest (he's a greedy bugger, and it KILLS me he has never had a weight problem!) and then the soup came. I decanted into the empty bowl what I thought was a good sleeve size portion of broth, a couple small slices of beef, and a few rice noodles -- somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 cup altogether. I ate about half of that and was stuffed. DH tried his best to eat the large size bowl but it was far more than he could handle. Next time we are going to share a small bowl. Even with the large size bowl of pho, the whole lunch today was about $12 including tip -- what a bargain! We are saving some serious money now on eating out and groceries now that I have been sleeved.   Tonight for dinner I tried Barilla pasta for the first time since being sleeved. I cooked up a package of Trader Joe's turkey bolognese sauce (love that stuff!) and made about a cup of pasta (WAY too much pasta -- but at least I have leftovers for dinner tomorrow night). I served up a 1/4 cup portion and that was OK. I got really full quickly, but I'm now nearly an hour after dinner and not feeling any major discomfort (I'm still full, but not sick or anything like that). I know some people have a hard time with pasta; I think I am handlng it fine. I worry a bit about the carbs so this won't be a regular part of my diet.   I'm definitely not eating as low carb as many people post sleeve. I do try to eat protein first but almost every meal has some type of carb along with the protein, whether a bite of toasted sandwich thin, a few crackers with tuna, a bite of noodle with meat, etc. I guess I am eating more like a normal person as far as protein-carbs go, but of course just in much smaller portions. I do keep track of my calories and most days I eat around 800 calories -- some days fewer, some days a little more. I do assume I would lose a little more weight each week if I went ultra-low carb, but I figure as long as I am staying within the calorie range my surgeon suggested (which I am), I can have a balance of protein and carbs.   On Friday I had my weekly weigh-in and the scale said I am down another 2 lbs., to 197.4. I gave my mom my old scale (hers went kaput) a few weeks ago, but I knew my old scale tended a couple of lbs. higher than my new scale, so my best guess is I've lost 29 or 30 lbs. since surgery. I'm down about 33 lbs. from my high weight (the day I booked my surgery; December 1, 2010). Before surgery I had hoped to lose 35-40 lbs. within the first two months of surgery, so am not that close to what I thought I would/could lose, but never in my life could I come close to losing so much weight in such a short period of time. I think my body has settled into a routine of losing 2 lbs. a week, and I hope that continues for a long time!   I think I should note some other physical changes that have occurred since surgery. The first major change is I have not had a menstrual cycle in two months. I got my period the day I was released from the hospital after being sleeved (Jan. 10th), and then the next month had some very very light spotting, and then nothing this month. YAY!!! Another reason I love my sleeve! I hope this continues a long time. I loathe my monthly curse so am loving this time w/o it!   Another change -- Since surgery I have developed the beginnings of turkey neck and it is AWFUL. My face is definitely getting smaller but the skin is crepey and horrible on the lower part of my chin and neck. I bought some BIo-Oil last weekend and have been using that in lieu of my regular Olay moisturizer routine, hoping that the oil would smooth my skin more ... but so far it is not to be. I hope my skin catches up soon but I am worried that I will have a wattle the rest of my life. Eeek!!! I am only 43!!!!   And another change -- I am definitely getting gray smudges under my eyes. I never had this pre-sleeve. I now try to cover them with makeup but even I notice the change. People have said several times that I look really tired, even when I haven't felt tired; and I think it's because of the change around my eyes. I hope this is temporary. I have had a very stressful month at work (hopefully the worst is behind me) and just got back from a cross-country business trip (3 hour time change, so I definitely had some jet lag) and had some trouble sleeping on several occasions, so I'm not sure if this is diet-related or stress/work-related.   Today I started cleaning out my closet and drawers of excess clothes I know I'll never wear again (primarily summer clothes -- by summer I know I will definitely be too small to wear size 22 shorts/capris/shirts, yay!). I filled two huge tote bins and took them to the local Goodwill to donate. My closet was stuffed full of clothes -- about half of which I rarely or never wore/wear, so this was a very fun experience. In a few weeks I will take another round of clothes to donate. I should have a nearly empty closet within a month or two! Wow! I know I won't be buying a lot of clothes while I am actively losing weight so I will probably have a nearly empty closet most of this year, until I get down near goal.  
Kris

Kris

3
 

Week 7 Surgiversary -- Made it to ONEderland!

First of all I want to say howdy to everyone who has read and commented on my previous blog entries. I am still figuring out my way around this site and didn't realize people had commented before until I was poking around my profile and saw comments. Thanks for the comments! I heart my fellow sleevers and sleevers-to-be!   So ... today I posted on the Success Stories topic that I have finally achieved my first big VSG goal -- to be below 200 lbs. I weighed in this morning at 199.4 lbs. on my new scale, despite having been on the road all week and eating out virtually every meal. I am THRILLED to have made this goal ... it took a bit longer than I had hoped but I am a small woman (5'1") and my body doesn't need as many calories as taller folks. I have been pretty steadily losing two lbs. a week for the past few weeks and as long as I keep up at that rate I am totally fine and happy. I still have just shy of 75 lbs. to lose for my final goal, so I will be on this journey for quite a while. My birthday is in mid November and I will be absolutely thrilled if I am within the vicinity of goal by then.   Another major excitement -- clothes shopping. My size 22 WP clothes are really loose so I went shopping and was so excited to be out of sizes that start with the number 2! Today I just bought a couple of pairs of size 18 Lee relaxed fit jeans. They are a bit snug, so I figure I will be able to wear them at least a good 3 months before they get as loose as my size 22s are right now, and then moving down to the next size (hope to hold out buying more jeans until I can fit in a size 14 P).   And this is embarrassing to admit, but today was the first day in a LONG time that I put on makeup -- foundation, blush, eyeliner, lipstick. I was happy with the scale and wanted to look as good as possible to celebrate. Honestly, I never bothered with makeup because I thought there was no point ... a made up face couldn't distract from such a big round body. But now that I am losing weight and getting close to the realm of normal sizes, I am taking more care with my appearance. I went to the store and splurged and bought a couple of new lipsticks today since I haven't worn lipstick in quite a while, and some translucent pink nail polish.   I will say that first month post surgery was not fun at all, but now that I am nearly 2 months out, and feeling really good and losing weight more successfully than I have in decades, I am SO, SO GLAD I got the sleeve. I have confidence that I will continue losing weight ... not at a really fast pace, but slow and steady is terrific for me (hopefully my skin will shrink more easily with a more gradual weight loss). I am really getting the hang of being OK with really small portions of food, and I have never overeaten to the point of throwing up, which makes me happy, I also tolerate most foods really well. I definitely limit my carb intake and avoid bread, which fills my sleeve up too fast, and avoid sweets and empty calories.   Speaking of sweets, my taste buds seem to have changed (I know this happens with a lot of people who get sleeved). I am a lot more sensitive to sweetness than I was pre-sleeve -- things that were pleasantly sweet pre-surgery are now too sweet to me and I don't like it. I have had almost nothing sweet at all to eat since being sleeved, and although I am briefly tempted by sweets when they are right in front of me, I usually have no trouble passing them by (or if eating some dessert, just limiting it to one small bite (which satisfies any sweet cravings I have).   I love my sleeve!!!!
Kris

Kris

1
 

Fifth Week Surgiversary -- The Scales of (In)Justice

So I got a new scale this week. My old scale would change weight depending on whether I started with my left foot or right foot.. I got a brand new & supposedly highly accurate scale and it was delivered from Amazon on Tuesday. Well, shock of all shocks, it showed I weight 2.8 lbs. more than the old scale. I was SOOOO mad! The next day the weight was confirmed, and then yesterday ... OMG ... it said I had gained two lbs. I was about ready to send the dang scale back to where it came from. And then I had this dilemma about whether to change my starting weight on my weight loss ticker to be 2 lbs. heavier ... and did that for a day or two ... but then things got better today and so I changed my ticker back to what it had been before the new scale. I got on the new scale this morning and it said 203.4 lbs. Yay! My old scale said 203.0 (which it has been saying pretty much all week). It's just so weird how my old scale seems far more consistent than the new scale! So, for the week I am calling a loss of 2 lbs. (since my weight last week was from the old scale, and I have NO idea what the new scale would have said last week). I am SOOO close to ONEderland ... 3.5 lbs. and I will be there. That will probably be two weeks away, I'm guessing. So barring some miraculous big weight drop this weekend, I will have just barely missed my goal to be at ONEderland by Valentine's Day. But still, to be down 21 lbs. from a few weeks ago is pretty good. I think I'm right about average weight loss for my BMI. I also have decided to stop the daily weigh-ins. They only make me crazy. Friday is my designated weekly weigh in day (since I was sleeved on a Friday). I will peek on Val-Day to see how close/far I am from my first goal but try not to weigh again until Friday. I had pizza for the first time since being sleeved last night .... oh wow it was good. Pepperoni and bacon. I had about 2/3 a slice, something like that. No crust. I was stuffed. It is still very hard, though, to have food in front of me that I want so badly to eat, but can only eat a small amount of, and can only eat slowly. But on the other hand it is very gratifying to be totally full on such a small amount of food. There was one slice of pizza left over from dinner and I had that for lunch today and it was also good. Actually I had it for lunch and an afternoon snack since I could only eat half at lunch. I tried a bite of crust but don't think my sleeve is ready for that yet as I was rather uncomfortable afterwards. Tonight is date night ... going out to our fave local Thai restaurant. I'll have chicken satay and maybe order some coriander chicken to eat this weekend. I know I'll only probably be able to eat one skewer of chicken satay but I am SO looking forward to that! Breakfast was an egg (well about 2/3 an egg) on a sandwich thin (about half of that) and that was very filling and kept me full until lunchtime. I like that breakfast a lot. Let's see ... what else ... I went to the gym after work on Wed and walked 45 minutes on the treadmill. It's hard to exercise in the evening because I am still pretty tired when I get home from work. Will go to the gym tomorrow morning and get the weekend off to a good start.
Kris

Kris

0
 

Fourth Week Surgiversary -- Carbs & Fluids Issues

So I am now in my fourth week post-op, On Monday I am officially through with the mushies stage and can start solids. I actually have been happy with mushies and might continue longer especially if I have a hard time with solid meats. Weight loss -- another disappointing week. 2.5 lbs. down from last week and all of that was in the first few days of the week. For the last four days or so I've been bouncing around from a low of 204.0 to a high of 205.5. Exasperating. I am SO CLOSE to ONEderland and feeling like it's not going to happen. I wanted to be there by Valentine's Day but at the rate I've been going it's not going to happen until the middle of February. Two things I know I am not doing right are 1) not getting enough fluids each day and 2) more carbs than I should be eating. I'm mad at myself about both. Oh, add 3) not exercising regularly. As far as fluids goes, most days I am getting around 40 - 44 oz fluids and I know that is not enough! I just have to really buckle down on this and force myself to drink more -- drink almost constantly. I am pretty sure at least part of the reason why I haven't lost more is because I'm not taking in enough fluids. Re 2) carbs -- I have been using club crackers and baked lentil crackers as a mushy delivery system from bowl/plate to mouth -- usually less than a full serving but adds another 80 - 100 calories to each meal when I eat them (but to be fair ... the meat side is usually about 150 calories or less anyway, so most days I am getting 600 calories or less total, even with the crackers. Yes, I am rationalizing!) I also caved and bought some carby snacks from Costco (baked Lays snack bag collection and Riceworks Spicy Chili brown rice crackers). I have had one bag of baked Lays and then yesterday caved and opened the bag of the Riceworks crackers and had a good full serving of those. I KNOW this is bad for my weight loss .... I think it might be a little PMSing. And honestly, I have missed carbs and I this is a bad, slippery slope I'm on! Re 3) exercise, I only exercised once this week (last Sun) but as soon as I finish this blog post I am going with DH to the local fitness center (where we have a membership that we have paid every month for a long time but haven't used in nearly as long) and hop on the treadmill. I'm going to start out taking it easy and hopefully build up back to where I was last spring (when we stopped going). DH and I will have to start going regularly after work a couple of nights a week. If I can exercise 3 days a week for a consistent period of time I'll be happy and then try to gradually bump it up. On the bright side, I did officially get to 20 lbs. weight loss since surgery, and am pretty sure I will be there (or hopefully a little better) on my one month surgiversary. I have about 80 lbs. to lose to get to goal weight ... from where I am today it seems SO far away. I was really hoping to lose 25 lbs. in my first month but it looks like that just is not to be. I am envious of fast losers. And a little mad at myself that I am not doing everything right to help myself get there. Oh -- also it's been quite the challenge to eat meals with DH. Last night we went to our neighborhood Mexican restaurant and I ordered my own dinner (knowing I would only make a small dent in it) -- mole enchiladas filled with ground beef and refried beans on the side. Man it was good, and everything mushed up very nicely, but it was ridiculous looking at the platter when I was done with my 4-5 bites (it was like this tiny divot of food missing out of an otherwise full plate). DH said, "They're going to think you don't like it," but I asked for a to-go box and filled it up and will be eating the same meal for the next 3 days I think. Luckily for me, I don't mind eating leftovers repeatedly! When we are at home, it's just SO WEIRD to eat such a tiny amount and at a snail's pace while DH eats at a normal/fast pace ... I end up abandoning half my dinner at the time he's done, and then waiting an hour or so, and then finishing it off on my own. I am still glad I got this surgery -- 20 lbs. lost in a month is by far the most I've ever lost in such a short time. And I do hope I can maintain a 2.5 lb. weight loss each month from here on out -- that will work out to about 10 lbs. lost per month and at that rate I will be at or near goal by late summer. Gotta go to the gym!
Kris

Kris

0
 

Three Weeks Post-Op

Well, I survived the liquids stage and on Friday 1/28 started on the mushies stage. I am SO HAPPY to be onto mushies now! I have learned that my new sleeve has more than enough restriction ... a 1/8 cup sized serving is all I can do in a 30 minute time frame ... in order to get enough calories I serve myself a 1/4 cup portion, eat half, take a break, and eat the other half ... takes about an hour or so. I have to remind myself to chew the food to smithereens and that is very different than how I ate before ... as well as put the spoon/fork down between bites and actually pause a bit between bites (never did that in my pre-op days!).   I have a feeling I'll be able to stay on mushies for at least 10 days with no trouble. I actually don't mind the consistency of food whizzed thru a blender so it doesn't bother me. I'm just thrilled to be able to CHEW again! It has been a challenge to not drink during mealtimes. I am so used to drinking while I eat that it's a tough habit to break. I find it hard to get all my liquids too. It's something I really need to concentrate on.       My first couple of days on mushies were very good scale-wise. I had a tremendous weight loss the first week (nearly 12 lbs, I recall) -- then the second week had a 3 day stall and only lost 3 lbs. Week 3 was even worse -- only a 2.5 lb. weight loss. I was beginning to despair of ever losing 20 - 25 lbs my first month, which was my goal. But since Friday I have dropped a couple of lbs. already and that is exciting. I now only have to lose 1 lb. to be equal to a 20 lb. weight loss since my last pre-op weigh-in and I still have a week to go before my month is up, so barring a horrible stall I should be able to meet my goal for my first month. My second goal is to be below 200 lbs. by Valentines Day -- that's achievable too, I think. I am at 205.5 lbs. today so still have 15 days to go to lose over 5.5 lbs.   I also noticed my energy level seems to be improving. It's the weekend so I slept in yesterday and today and that probably helped. I took a good walk today -- first in a couple of weeks, I'm ashamed to admit (but honestly at night after getting home from work, my energy level has been pretty low). I felt like I was walking at a pretty good clip, too, but not too fast. I am starting to notice it's easier to exercise ... I'm down over 25 lbs. since the beginning of December -- hard to believe!   My clothes are definitely getting looser. That is cool. Nearly my entire wardrobe is size 22W (2X - 3X -- I have consistently been that size for YEARS). I am hoping just to wear my clothes until they are literally ready to fall off and then hopefully will be able to skip right past size 20W and into size 18W (1X). I've got some good coupons for Macy's and Kohl's and hope to buy a few things in February to tide me over until the spring clothes start coming out in March and April.   When I look in the mirror I don't see much of a change. I know the scale and my clothes are telling me I've lost weight, but I can't see it really. I bumped into a friend I used to work with at Costco yesterday and she didn't comment that I looked like I've lost weight, so I think it's not really that apparent yet. Hopefully in a couple of months it will be really noticeable.   I have another couple of mini-goals that will come after getting to ONEderland. 1) Weigh less than my mom (she has been doing South Beach for a month and has lost nearly as much weight as me -- amazing!) by March 15th; and 2) weigh less than my non-overweight hubby by April 15th. Let's see how I do!
Kris

Kris

3
 

2nd Week Surgiversary

Well, today marks my 2nd week surgiversary. I weighed in today at 210.0 -- loss of 3 lbs. from last week and 14.5 lbs. since surgery. I was stalled for 3 days this week and have to say this week overall was MUCH worse than last week, even considering I had a cold most of last week! A big part of it was going back to work. I think I went back to work too soon. I should have taken two full weeks off. I was only able to work about 5 hours each day until today. Today I worked at home and was able to do nearly a full day -- 7 hours. I was practically ready to have a meltdown the past couple of days. My energy was just so low, and I don't know if it was hormones or what but I was SO emotional, and not wanting to see or be around people. Today I actually have not been around people and that was probably a good thing and probably why I don't feel quite as exhausted today as I have been feeling the past few days. TGIF! -- I have two days off to rest (well, tomorrow will be a little busy, but definitely I am doing nothing on Sunday). I am able to drink more fluids every day. I am thirsty quite often and have upped my crystal light intake. I find I don't care for the taste (non-taste) of water so all my water is being gotten through the other beverages I've been consuming. Today I am sure I will get a full 64+ oz in and that is a good feeling. I am sure part of my stall was I just wasn't drinking enough fluids and/or getting enough protein in. I will be SO GLAD to be through the liquids stage ... a week from today I get to start on mushies. I already have a list of things I want to eat in the mushy stage: Trader Joe's masala lentil dip, mashed up smoked oysters, refried beans, mushed up baked beans, mashed potatoes & gravy, egg drop soup, and pureed thicker soups. Now I just know as appealing as all those things sound right now (when I can't have them), I am sure I will quickly tire of mushies, too. But at least it is more variety, and variety is something I really am lacking at this stage in the process. I am still struggling to get more than 400 calories a day in. At least half of that comes through my daily protein shake. One reason I think I have had such low energy is that I've had such a limited amount of calories overall, and not enough protein. I think I was so keen on having VSG that I really didn't give any thought at all to what it would actually be like after the operation. The first week was no walk in the park but the second week .... oy. In a way maybe it's good I didn't know how rough it would be. I am sure if I had taken the week off from work it would not have been quite as bad. Anyway, I am thankful I haven't had any really bad side effects from the surgery. My incisions seem to be healing up pretty well. The adhesive surgical tapes started falling off my incisions yesterday and the incisions look pink and like they are healing up well. I am not trying to force any of the tapes off, just letting them fall off naturally like the dr. said. I am starting to notice changes in how my clothes and underwear are fitting. I definitely am seeing a bit of looseness in my underwear and my bras. I still think my abdomen is still somewhat distended as the waistbands on my clothes aren't noticeably looser, but the legs and arms of my clothes do feel a bit looser. That is a nice feeling. A few more lbs. down and I think my clothes will definitely be on the loose side. i have a few items in the next size down but am hoping to delay buying any new clothes until I can fit into size 18s ... probably not for another month or two. Speaking of clothes, one thing I really, really am looking forward to is cleaning out my closet and getting rid of clothes I can no longer wear. I had accumulated A LOT of clothes over the years and it will be great fun to get rid of them and have a tidy closet that's not crammed with clothes. I think the big closet cleanout will be sometime in March. I will have a better idea in a few weeks, I'm sure.
Kris

Kris

1
 

Last Day of Recuperation at Home

I took a week and a half off from work to have surgery and recuperate. Tomorrow is my first day back to work. Part of me is excited (it gets a little boring at times to be at home) and part is dreading it (my energy level today is OK, but this morning by the time I was done showering, dressing, and making the bed I was ready to rest a while! Tomorrow, no such luck. I might try to get up earlier just in case I need to rest a while before going to work, so I won't be late getting in. I promise myself if I really can't do a full day of work I will take part of the day off until I am ready for a full day. But I will enjoy seeing people at work again, and getting back into the groove.   I had my first walk yesterday ... just up to the local park and back, probably just shy of a mile. It was a little too much ... I really noticed my abdominal muscles and my incisions once I got home. But it did feel good to move a bit. Today I will take another walk, but just half as long as yesterday.   I have to say that is one characteristic I really notice in myself. I tend to try to overdo things when I ought to be content to under-do (or more accurately, do the appropriate amount). Could've taken 2 weeks off, but no, I wanted to be macho and get back to work earlier .... I could've walked 10 minutes, but no, I had to go 20 minutes right out the gate. Dumb. It is really something I need to work on. Better to under-commit and deliver easily than overcommit and feel like crap getting it done .... I always find a way to get it done, but usually it costs me ... sigh. I wonder if this is because I have low self esteem and have to overcommit to people to "prove" to them that I am worthy. Enough truth in that observation to sting, for sure. It's something to think about. I know my weight issues are not stand-alone, they are part of a complex web of emotions and self-talk and self-perception. While I am on my weight loss journey I also want/need to be on an honest self-exploration journey too. I don't want to end up at my weight loss goal only to find myself overweight again a few years later, and that will happen if I don't deal with my emotional/mental issues as well as dealing with what I put in my mouth and how I move my body.   Well, on more cheerful news, the scale told me this morning I am down to 211. I am so happy about that! I had surgery 11 days ago and have lost 13.5 lbs. -- a little more than 1 lb. lost a day. I don't think this is sustainable for long but for now it feels really good. When I look in the mirror I don't see much change, but because I am so big it will take a while to see change.   I can't wait to get to ONEderland and hope/expect that will be sometime in February (if it happens in January, I will be over the moon with joy -- but with only 2 weeks left in January I would have to keep losing nearly 1 lb. a day in order to hit that, and I don't want my hopes dashed if I have a stall, which is very common around the 2nd or 3rd week after surgery). So my mini-goal is ONEderland by Valentine's Day. I am sure I can meet this goal!
Kris

Kris

0
 

1 Week Surgiversary -- 11.5 lbs. Gone!!!!

Today is my one week surgiversary and I am down 11.5 lbs. since my final weigh-in the day before surgery. Unbelievable! I am so thrilled!   My first mini-goal is to get to ONEderland by Valentine's Day and I think that is very achievable.   My energy level is still pretty low, on account of me getting a cold (most likely picked it up while traveling home from Mexico). But other than that I think I am healing up pretty normally.
Kris

Kris

1
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