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Gastric Sleeve Surgery - An Unexpected Journey

A blog by joatsaint in General

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About this blog

The things I learned pre and post surgery

Entries in this blog

Shrinkage! - How Big's Your Meat?

I was truly surprised to see the calorie difference between 4oz. of 93% hamburger and 85% hamburger. Almost 110 calories per 4oz.!   Even though the 93% costs about $1 per lb more, I've noticed that, after cooking, the amount of cooked hamburger is almost the same between the two. There's so much shrinkage, that they are pretty much the same in cost in the end. So I think I'll spend the extra dollar per pound and save 110 calories.       I thought it might be enlightening to grab some com

Sh*t's Gettin Real Up In Here - Knocking On Twoderland's Door

Let the countdown begin. Weighed in at 305 or less 2 days in a row - so it's official, 305 lbs. (I don't officially call it until I've been at a weight for at least 2 days!). Weighed in at 304.8 this morning, 305.8 at 5pm., let's see if it happens two days in a row again!   Just a matter of days until I'm below 300 lbs - 1st time I'll be that low in almost 4 years. Hard to believe I'm losing weight. Been too many years hoping the dream would come true, and this actually happening to me are too

Bad Scale! Bad Bad Scale!

Dealing With Stalls   Just be patient. I know it's frustrating when the scale doesn't move. I'm on week 11 and I've had at least 3 different weeks where the scale doesn't move for 7 days, then I'll mysteriously be down 2 - 3 pounds overnight. Your body is just acclimating to the lower calorie intake and sometimes it is holding onto every calorie, trying to replace the glycogen stores in the muscles.   I don't have a formula for getting the scale moving again, but I do try to mix things up to

Post-Op 14 Days - Puree Diet

Just got back from my 2 week checkup. Down 21 lbs from my pre-surgery start weight. Doc put me on the puree diet and told me to walk at least 1 hr a day 4 - 5 times a week. That's going to be difficult because of all the rain coming up for the next week.   I'm doing pretty well with cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup and peanut butter. But I've tested a tiny bite of chicken, hamburger and Vienna sausages, seems like anything along those lines is still too tough for my stomach. Almost

Post-Op 21 Days - Sick and Tired

Well, it's been 21 days since my surgery. I'm having trouble getting in enough walking. My feet and hips get seriously sore after 20 minutes of walking. I'm not sure that I've fully gotten over my cold because I feel very weak and tired every day. I've noticed that I don't sleep as much anymore. Previously, I'd sleep between 8 and 10 hours but now I sleep about 7 and wake up and can't get back to sleep.   I've been stuck at the same weight for the past 5 days. I've been watching my calorie int

Post-Op 28 Days - Passin Gas or Can You Smell What the Rock is Cookin?

Gastronomically, things are crazy. I've been passing gas (and I don't mean gas as in gas station!) every night. I wake up at 1:30am or 4:30am belching and farting like crazy. I've passed so much gas I'm afraid to turn on the lights - I might set off a spark and cause an explosion.   I can lay on my left side and feel okay. If I switch to my right, I can feel and hear gurgling in my stomach. Don't understand that. But it all stops right after I wake up for work, I guess that's a small blessing

5 Weeks Post-OP Still Teaching Myself to Eat Slowly

Even this far out from surgery, I still have problems eating slowly - especially if it is something that goes down easily like peanut butter. By accident I found a way to train myself to eat slower.   It's chicken! My stomach doesn't seem to like ground up chicken and I can feel the gurgles and gas building after a bite or two. So I figure, why not use that to my advantage? So I'll be eating more chicken. Knowing that I have to stop eating after a bite is going to force me to lay the spoon dow

My Favorite Mexican Food

One of my favorite Mexican foods. I've been eating this stuff for about 4 weeks straight.   I got all the ingredients at Walmart. It cost about $4 for 2 days worth of meals (4 - 6 meals in my case). It's very filling and sticks with me.   1 lb of chicken breast. 1 pkg of Taco Bell Taco seasoning. (I tried other name brand taco mixes and the store brands, Taco Bell tastes the best and is just as cheap. There is a Taco Bell chipolte version as well, but I liked the regular version the best

Confession Time: The Spaghetti Monster Almost Got ME!

I found one of my trigger foods. It's spaghetti or more specifically pasta. My mom made some homemade spaghetti on Sunday (homemade as in, homemade from a jar, you know, the same line of thought as Olive Garden treats you like family). Really, Olive Garden treats you like family, I don't recall my mom ever presenting a bill at the end of a meal. But I digress.   Any way, I took the leftovers home with me. For supper, I ate my normal portion, and a few minutes later wanted another portion - ev

Messed Up Bad

At work on Wednesday they fed us lunch and I couldn't resist the free food. I had a single serving of pototo chips (160 calories) and 1/2 of a big cookie that came with the meal. If I hadn't already eaten earlier I wouldn't have felt so bad about it.   So I tried to make up for it by walking an extra mile the same day.   Sometimes the temptation is there, it's hard to make the best food choices, but I don't think I went too far overboard. I woke up 2 lbs lighter this morning.   You have a

NSV - Peeing Like A Man

Well, this is embarrassing to admit, but for the past 2 years I've had to sit down to pee. At some point my gut and the fat pooch above my junk got too big and it was a real hassle (and messy) to use the urinals. So it was just easier and cleaner to sit on the toilet.   So it was a happy surprise when I realized yesterday that I could use the urinals again. My job requires a dress shirt.   I hated having to drop trou, tuck my shirt tale back in, and fight with my belt every time I went to th

I Got My Head Shrunk

Visiting the psychiatrist was on of my pre-requs for getting Sleeve surgery. I was pretty nervous about the interview. Who wouldn't be? Knowing that the whole approval process could come to a screeching halt based on the opinion of one guy who only spends 15 - 20 minutes with me.   From talking to a fellow sleever, I knew that there was going to be a 500 question multiple choice questionnaire. I could tell right off that it was a personality test. The questions covered the whole gambit - from

Night Man Coming

My 1st week post-op I was having a disturbing dream over and over. I was in a post-apocalyptic world, taking psych eval tests to determine if I would fit into a new group that was forming to rebuild society.   And I had a very frustrating recurring dream about uploading video files to a website, but it was taking forever for the files to convert and upload!   After thinking on it, I think it was my mind's way of dealing with the pain from surgery and the frustration of how long it was takin

How My Feelings About Food Have Changed

Just a few notes on some of the changes I've noticed in myself over the last 9 weeks post-op.   1. I eat when I'm hungry now, don't really look forward to the "full" feeling or have a "taste" for anything in particular anymore - lovin' it. I use to get these overwhelming cravings for a certain taste (especially Whataburgers), they're gone now.   2. I do enjoy what I eat and sometimes I still catch myself trying to eat just one more bite, but I know I'll be feeling sick if I do. It takes time

Weighing After A Poop? You Are NOT Alone! :-)

Do You Weigh After a Poop?   Started by joatsaint     joatsaint   Posted Today, 4:31 PM Is anyone as crazy as me? I jump on the scale pre and post poop to see the difference. It doesn't count on my "official" weight loss chart or anything. Or am I just being too OCD?       johnlatte     Posted Today, 4:33 PM yes, that's a bit ocd     sarahr     Posted Today, 4:37 PM I did a few times when it was umm substantial LOL Gross   But no difference. DO you see a differ

Junk Food Companies Are Engineering Foods That Create Cravings!

I thought this was another great article on how on one hand, we're being scolded and treated as outcasts for being fat, and at the same time, food companies are engineering foods that are designed to create cravings and make us fatter. I am all for taking personal responsibility, but at some point you have to realize they are targeting us and creating products that overwhelm our natural eating stopping point and creating a craving for unhealthy foods. The only way to strike back at these compan

Are You a Half-Fast Loser?

Fast loser, slow loser, I am a half-fast loser! On average, I lose about 3 lbs each week. But on the other hand, I'm eating good and haven't really had to exercise hard. I walk 5 days a week and am working my way up to 5 miles per day. I've managed to get to 5 miles only 2 times since I've started. Knee and hip pain sometimes interfere with my walking.   How I wanted to be one of those posters who could say they lost 100 lbs in 6 months, but it doesn't look like it's in the cards for me. But I

Premier Protein Drinks Review - Chocolate

I almost finished my first one without stopping, it was so good. The chocolate shakes deserve 2 thumbs up in a Z formation!   Very good taste, no grittiness. I like them better than the EAS chocolate carb control shakes. Although I do wish both brands were a little thicker.   I've tried Muscle Milk, EAS, Pure Soy and Premier Protein chocolate shakes and Premier Protein has been the best for flavor and smoothness. Very yummy, almost as good as chocolate milk.   Price wise, they are a little

How To Protect Your Food From Co-workers

I don't know about you, but the 2 most important work rules I know of are:   1. Don't take another man's tools without asking first. 2. Don't F with another man's food.   Violating either rule can put you in dire jeopardy of losing blood, skin, hair or at the very least, finding a nasty surprise in your lunch kit the next day.   But my current workplace is a bit looser about those rules - being that it's mainly ladies and has more of a community atmosphere compared to the construction sit

SQUIRREL! or How I Made It Into Guinness

Guinness World Records called me today. It was out of the blue and I thought it was my shameful little secret. But apparently being startled by a squirrel can help you become a Guinness record breaker.   I was in the kitchen messing around and heard some scratches in the utility room. Upon opening the door, I was confronted by a dastardly squirrel. Being a normal (sort of) person, I figured if I stepped towards him, he'd head for the hills. But no, he charged me!   Squirrels aren't supposed

Ultimate Revenge on a Telemarketer or How I Gave It Back to a Telemarketing Sociopath

First, let me say honestly and with all my heart – I hate telemarketers.   I believe that anyone that is a telemarketer is an undiagnosed sociopath and should kill themselves.   Seriously, if you are a telemarketer – KILL YOURSELF! Really, I’m not joking…KILL YOURSELF, NOW… I’ll wait.   Now, this may sound like a conversation right out of sitcom, but it happened to me.   A telemarketing firm was trying to gather information about our company to include us in some kind of “green” business

Porn Mags for Women or How to Get Your Woman to Add to Your Porn Stash

We've all seen them, all those women's magazines clogging the checkout counters. With titles like, "How to find His Pleasure Spot," "10 New Tricks to Keep Your Man," "Good Girls Bend at the Waist, Bad Girls Bend at the Knees." Now I'm all for women boning up on how to please their man. But where is the equal treatment for men's magazines?   If those same headlines were in a man's magazine, the thing would be shamefully hidden, deep behind the counter in liquor stores, with a piece of cardboard

Wanna See My Holes?

Ok, get your minds out of the gutter! This is just to show anyone that cares what the scars from surgery can look like at 8 weeks. The biggest scar is where they pulled the stomach leftovers out during surgery and it's about 2 inches long, the rest could be covered with a dime.   You'd think after 12 years of experience, my doctor could put the scars in a more creative layout! At least he could have tried to make a happy face or something.

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