joatsaint

You Go Girl! Keep Pimpin that Sleeve!

******************************************************************************************************************* Update:5/23/2013 Man, reading these old blog entries is strange. It's only been 5 months and I'd forgotten almost everything that happened pre-surgery. After these few months post-op, it just seems that I've "always" been living this way and my previous lifestyle never happened. I feel like I've "always" eaten such small portions and could walk away from food. I've "always" gotten out and walked around. I've "always" had a positive attitude and energy. Anyone else feel this way? ******************************************************************************************************************* Being my first blog entry, I plan on keeping it short and sweet. I'm about 3 weeks pre surgery. Had my psych eval, NUT counciling, chest x-ray, liver/kidney ultarsound, blood work and EDG. I am going in this Sat. for the pre-surgery diet counciling. Expected surgery date is 12/27/2012. I am on the "fast track" for surgery. Got the insurance approval in just 2 weeks. So far my out of pocket expences have been about $3000.00, that includes the doctor's office visit and tests at the hospital and gas going back and forth (my docotor and hospital are 2 hours away.)

I tried a chocolate flavor of MM. I thought it was okay, just too many carbs for my taste. I prefer the EAS carb control shakes, cheaper and lower in carbs. If I want caffeine, I just take a caffeine tablet.

Congrats! Keep Pimpin that Sleeve!

It is for me to gain weight for no reason. For the past month, twice I've picked up between 3 and 4 pounds, then lose it (plus a pound or so) over the following 2 weeks.

Way to go! Keep Pimpin that Sleeve!

I was eating nuts after week 5. They have some good things about them, but are very high in calories and can be a slider food. Just be careful of eating too many - as far as the calories go. I love sunflower seeds and can easily eat a sleeve of them - 1 1/4 oz.. That's about 300 calories.

I listen to podcasts when I'm walking. I download them on my phone and carry a $1 pair of earbuds. It really helps keep my mind off the monotony of the walking. I also found that walking in a parking garage helps keep things from getting boring. All the curves and ramps and dodging the cars :-) keeps my mind busy. Plus going up and down the ramps adds a little diversity to the walk. I was always bored to tears on treadmills and stationary bikes, even when I was able to watch TV while doing it. I was always watching the clock.

I discovered Crystal Light lemonade about 10 years ago and have never looked back. Before surgery I had about 1 20oz coke a week, but post-op, I haven't been tempted to drink any soda.

Congrats! Eat your ice chips and walk, walk, walk - like an Egyptian, like a duck, or whatever.

Almost every type of bariatric surgery is done laproscopically today. Some doctors can do it in one incision - through the belly button and others still use the old method of making 5 incisions or ports into the abdomen. The 5 port method is what I had. Doing it laproscopically means that they don't have to open you up and recovery time is minimal - you're usually out of the hospital in 2 days. Older methods had the doctor making an incision across the abdomen and opening the patient up. Recovery time was much longer and the surgery was much more risky. I saw a new bariatric surgery being tested recently - no incisions. They go in through the patients mouth and snake the tools down the throat into the stomach.

I've tried chocolate, carbs, chips, bread, Pasta - only pasta seems to make me hungrier as I eat more. Use to be that bread and chips did that too. Not anymore! **happy dance** Keep Pimpin that Sleeve!

sugar free Popsicles sugar free Jell-O comfy clothes, pillows and an inclined place (like a Lazyboy chair) to lay or sit and sleep. Cream of mushroom soup! (I lived off the stuff for about 2 weeks, till I was released to start soft foods) Oh, and the most important! DVD's of your favorite TV series - The Sopranos, The Wire, Red Dwarf, Rome, Spartacus, Game of Thrones...

Sorry, but I don't want to wind up on internet, like the guy in pic I used in this post! :-P If I am going to have embarrassing photos of me on the web, it's gonna be a photo of me going commando while getting out of a low slung sports car. Yeah Baby!

Today was one of those scary days were it seemed like I just never got enough to eat. I have days like this on occasion and don’t really know what triggers them. I haven’t strayed from eating “good” foods, so I don’t think it has anything to do with the foods that trigger my hunger monster. But, the amount of food I have been able to eat is really starting to scare me. With everything I’ve eaten, I definitely feel full, but the feeling doesn't seem to last but an hour or so. So to combat those feeling of “I’m going to obsess about eating until I’ve eaten something,” I keep plenty of lean protein in the house. Grilled chicken breast, grilled pork loin and plenty of low sugar sauces. I don’t keep any temptations in the house to ward against days like this. Maybe I need a WLS voodoo doll with pictures of bad food and pins stuck through them. I really started thinking about how and what I've been eating. And I have read the warning stories about people regaining their weight after surgery and it is a really scary feeling. I would never forgive myself for having gone through all this just to gain all the weight back. So, I've set some limits on myself. Not so strict as to feel deprived, but not so loose as to let myself get out of control. I will eat healthy food first. Protein/vegs/fiber every day. I will let myself try a dessert, but never eat more than a bite or two. (And by bite, I don’t mean “as much of the cookie as will fit into my mouth at one time” bite. :-P) I will not bring unhealthy food into the house. If I want something that bad, I’ll have to get off my butt and drive to the store. Most times, the craving does not overrule my need to stay camped out in front of the TV in my underwear or by the time I DO get there, the “craving” has worn off. I will make my own lunches to bring to work. That way, I can’t rationalize going out to eat and making food bad choices, convincing myself that eating healthy food costs too much. I’m trying to be realistic and know that I’m not always going to be faithful. But having the rules reminds me to stop and think before making a food choice. It’s a tool, just like WLS. Knowing that I am allowed to eat SOME bad stuff removes the stress of “I can’t ever have that again!” Knowing that I CAN eat a little of anything puts the power back in my hands and puts the responsibility on my shoulders to CHOOSE to eat the right way. It is empowering to feel like I am allowed to eat anything I want, but it’s my CHOICE to pick a different food option. I like this new lifestyle and after 5 months of hating to get out and walk, I am beginning to WANT to go on daily walks. Although I don’t necessarily like them, I do like seeing the scale drop and my energy level go up! Keep Pimpin that Sleeve!

My motivation was the prevention of blood clots after surgery. The 1st week I was walking to prevent blood clots and from there on, my walking kinda took on a life of its own. :-P

Excellent! Now I don't feel so alone.

Silly me, here I was thinking the zipper thing was a new fad in jeans!

Way to go! But next time please include pics of the buns you "walked off" for proof! :-P Keep Pimpin that Sleeve!

My #1 is, I wish I knew how much control the sleeve would give me over that little voice. The one that almost constantly told me I was hungry. Just that one thing would have convinced me to have the surgery years ago. Everything else from the surgery is just gravy!

Ok, I might get blackballed and lose my MAN CARD for admitting this, but here goes. I was cleaning out the closet, looking for smaller pants to wear. I started rummaging for something that would fit, found a nice pair to try on. They were a PERFECT fit, better than any pants I've put on. Looked good in the mirror too! All that walking is shaping my butt up! Did I really say that last line? Up till recently, you could lean me up against a flat wall and there’d be no gaps anywhere from the top of my back to my calves. My butt was so flat… How flat was it? It was often mistaken for an end table when I lay on the floor. I looked at the tags only to find that they weren’t men’s pants at all - but a ladies size 16 that got left behind from a previous girlfriend! They must’ve mistakenly gotten mixed in with the tons of other pants and shirts that were put in the “I’ll be able to wear that again someday,” wishful thinking pile. For the MAN Committee, I know you have no knowledge of this, but, a 16 is the 1X Women's Plus Size according to Overstock.com. And I DID have to look that up; it didn’t come from memory or previous experience wearing women’s clothing! (So MAN Committee, please take that into account when voting.) This means that I now have the body of a woman with voluptuous hips! P.S. Blackball or not, I'm KEEPING the pants!! Keep Pimpin that sleeve!

I am glad to be of some help. We all go through a lot of things without realizing that there is probably a lot of people experiencing something similar and not realizing we all have common issues. So I try to share my experiences in a humorous way and let everyone know that they are not alone in this...ummm.. No! I refuse to use that word! trek? No., odyssey? No., safari? No., migration? No., expedition? No. Oh, man I hate this word, but there just doesn't seem to be an adequate adjective to describe the process? No., we are going through. Ok, just this once I'll say it - So I try to share my experiences in a humerus way and let everyone know that they are not alone in this...journey. Oh, God! I think I felt something important break inside me. P.S. If anyone knows a different, suitable word I can use to replace "journey", please let me know. I think we should band (or sleeve) together and lobby Congress to banish "journey" from the English language and officially replace it with the new word. Or maybe not, we'd probably just run the new word into the ground sooner or later.

My pain was in the base of my rib cage, where the hernia was repaired. It felt like that "chest burster" from Alien was trying to get out. :-P Had lots of noise in my stomach and gas pains in my shoulder.

No, you are definitely not alone. I too am a slow loser - and worse, I magically gain back a few pounds without even trying. But overall, the scale slowly moves down. I try to be satisfied with that. I think we don't hear more about slow losers because it's not really as exciting as those lucky enough to be dropping 20+ pounds per month. But I do think we are the majority.

I rolled up a comforter to prop myself up. I had to sleep propped up and on my back for the 1st week. I wasn't able to lay on my side till about day 10, until then, I felt a pulling sensation inside each time I tried to lay on my side. Was finally able to lay flat and on my side the 2nd week.