Forsythia

I told my immediate supervisor because we are cool, but told no one else in the office. I eventually told one other person right before I had it. but 99% of my coworkers have no idea. They just thought I took a week off on vacation.

Nope. That's good.

My in-laws came to town this weekend, so before they got here, I decided to buy some new clothes. I went to the suburbs and went to the mall. Ended up getting a pair of cargo capri pants and a mint green hooded top with kangaroo pockets. The top was in a size 2x (18/20), down from a 3x(22/24), and the capris were in a 24, down from a 26. Yay for that. This weekend the scale also decided to go down, after two weeks of just mocking me and staying at 274. Down to 270 now. I am hoping to be in the 260s for my follow up visit with my nutritionist next Tuesday (because their scale weighs in at 4lbs more than mine does, And I don't want to hear them say 272 or something when mine says 268. It's all mental, I know.). I've been trying to mix up my cardio at the gym lately. Doing the treadmill on an incline, trying to walk at a 3.5 mph pace (I am a really really slow walker. My dad and my brother are also this way - and my brother is not remotely fat. I think it is just inherent to being a Diggs. LOL). Some days I will get on the Ellipitical as well. But I will always get on the bike as a sort of cardio cool down because it is much easier to keep my heart rate at a lower, but still fast burning appropriate level. Also, it has been six weeks, Tuesday when I go to the gym I am free to lift weights.

Intitially I was put back on my metformin, so I would say.. Maybe on day four, since I was on purees by then. But those of you who have ever been on metformin know that everything is loose when you are first put on it. I'm six weeks post op tomorrow and I would say that I go poo once or twice a day. But I come from a line of people who apparently excel at going poop. LOL!

I don't have a specific size goal. I think for my frame and height 135 would be my ideal size, but I will be happy with my listed goal weight of 150. I don't want to get so restrictive that all I do is exercise or count carbs or anything. I have a tendency to be a control freak about things. I don't want to stray into eating disorder territory because of a size ideal or number. No sense going from over eating to malnourishment!

Generally they only call if something is bad! My surgeon's office put my test results online. And I would get a little email telling me my test results were in and would log in to see that my results were normal or that my blood type was B+ and that I was not pregnant (LOL Duh!). My regular PCP called to tell me I was diabetic a few years back (which made me feel instantly sorry for myself and drove me to eat ice cream). She also called me earlier this year because I got my HgA1C down from 9.1% to 6.1% in three months which she told me was unheard of. I just did what I needed to do in order to have my surgery since my surgeon's cut off for HgA1C is 8% Any higher than that and you have to go through remedial classes before they operate!

Do territories count? Because I would go to the US Virgin Islands in a red hot minute. I love a beach. And I love an all inclusive vacation!

Welcome aboard, Hector!

My husband is a thin guy who comes from thin people who can eat anything they like. And he has a cabinet in the house - its super high and I can't reach it - that is straight up full of garbage. Buddy bars, candy, tortilla chips. Out of sight, out of mind. The first week I was home from the hospital he bought a cake. He was all - "the cake is for you babe". I was of course "WTF I can't eat cake! - and it is chocolate with chocolate icing.. you bought that for you!" (because I do not like chocolate cake with chocolate icing). Since that incident he has done better about hiding his stuff. My husband never had the expectation that I would be cooking for him though since I get home from work so much later than he does. But I do occasionally cook a meal which we can both eat. There are lots of leftovers these days.

I have an old navy water bottle that holds 25 oz of liquid. I take this thing everywhere. It fits neatly in my backpack. Fits in all the water bottle slots on the equipment at the gym. It's convenient. My goal is to have 25 oz down by my lunch hour (12:30 - so by noon). That way I can drink the other 25 oz by the time I go to bed (10pm-ish). So that is 50 oz of water. Plus my two 11 oz protein shakes, that puts me at 72 oz of water a day. Sadly, I often fall short of this. I'm just not that thirsty. LOL. I'm going to have to have some kind of water challenge. Right now, at 11:49am CDT I have maybe 6 oz of water left in the bottle. I've already had one of my protein shakes. So I'm ahead of the game. I'm also re-introducing fiber to my diet. Initially, when I got out of the hospital I was doing fiber supplements in my water and metformin and well, lets just say that it was a gastrointestinal disaster. I would not wish that on my worst enemy. So on my surgeon's advise, he told me to stop taking the metformin (since my blood sugar was in the low 70s or 60s even when I was on it). I also stopped the fiber, since even off the metformin I was having the same explosive issues, as it were. But this week, I've opted to reintroduce the fiber slowly. Only one scoop in my water bottle for now. Next week, a little more, and the week after that, even more. Lastly, my in-laws are coming this weekend. I wonder if they will notice I've lost over 30 lbs? I hope so. My parent's did when I saw them last month. But then again I see my parents much more frequently than my in-laws (Don't get me wrong, they are lovely people, but they are in Iowa and my parents are much closer - only 60 miles away in NW Indiana) I also hope they don't drag me to Blues Fest. Chicago loves a summer festival. But festivals are full of people. I just want to go to the gym work out, and go on about my business without having my routine disorganized too much. But, it will be nice to see them, I just find socializing exhausting at times!

I'm envious of your moisture wicking lululemon yoga pants. ~

I'm dragging my butt to the gym tonight. Come on girl. And the thing is, my new gym is full of thin broads wearing ultra high tech lululemon moisture wicking yoga pants and fancy tank tops. But I don't care. I pay my $30 a month. I'm just as entitled to work out as those broads (and the dudebros as well). The reality is that people don't care what you are doing. They are too busy working on their own issues to really even make a snide comment. If anything, people are impressed when they see you on the treadmill sweating and taking ownership of your health.

I have not had very many foods I could not eat post op (at least not that I've found so far).. I just try to make sure to try something "new" at home in case I get sick. I'm super picky, so what I usually do for work is buy lean cuisines or smart ones or atkins dinners. I may only eat half of it, but I know I don't hate them and won't get sick from them. I try to buy the ones that are more meat/veggie, like beef and broccoli or pot roast rather than the ones with Pasta.

Can I just say that Sleevie Nicks is like, the best internet handle ever.

I think the reason a lot of us gain weight is because we put ourselves last on our own to do list. We have spouses/kids/pets and not to mention full time jobs...Do don't let "life" be your excuse to fall to the back of your list. After all, how can you take care of your spouse/kids/pets and do your job if you let your own well being fall by the wayside. I'm done letting Andrea be at the bottom of the list. I gotta look out for me because I cannot assume anyone else is going to! Having said that, I go to a gym because I will not work out at home. I will sit my butt on the couch and watch reruns of Kitchen Crashers. So I know if I'm spending the money to join a gym I will go. And then I make sure to check in on facebook so people know I go.

I live in a 3rd floor two bedroom condo. I really don't have much room to work out. I have to move all the living room furniture and shoo my husband and cat out of the room. I also don't want to be that neighbor who disturbs the family below us. So I go to LA Fitness. I'm not a fan of nature, so I wouldn't work out outdoors. So the gym it is.

This might depend on your individual Doctor/Nut, but my hospital had specific guidelines for carbs, fat and Protein. A lot of people use Premier because they are low in fat, carbs and high in protein. And are decent tasting.

Never said I don't drink shakes. I drink two 30 g Premier Protein shakes a day. Sometimes I will do an Isopure tea instead of one of the shakes, which was 40 g. I get the other 30 odd grams from food.

Yeah, unjury makes a chicken Soup flavor. I used to add baby food chicken to chicken broth and blend it all up to get a soup.

My nutritionist recommends at least 60 for everyone but wants us all to get 80 to 100 grams. I get right around 96 or so grams on a good day.

Sadly, even in a 3x all my jeans are pocket free since they are all jeggings. Darned inconvenient! Jegging makers, throw in some pockets!

To be honest the first few days/week you are probably going to have a very hard time getting in all of your Protein if you are on liquids only. I used the Body Fortress shakes and after surgery they tasted terrible to me. So I would just grin and bear it and drink them despite my growing seething hatred toward it (LOL). I was not restricted to a post-op liquid diet. I went to puree for about a week then softs (and am still on softs). Try to get something like a Greek yogurt (which was something I did not like pre-op but quite like now). You can also add something like baby food chicken to chicken broth and make a heartier soup if you are on softs. And you can also get unflavored or chicken flavored protein to make soup if sweet is bugging you.

Am I the only person who was not put on an antacid post-op? To be fair I am not (as of right now) having any issues with reflux. Should I be concerned that I'm going to develp acid reflx down the road?

Wedding season is tough. But the thing is, even if you don't tell them you had a sleeve, you can just say you are cutting back on alcohol or watching carbs, or whatever. Heck you could even say you were trying to loose a couple of lbs to fit into the dress. Really you do not owe your friends an explanation about what you do and don't drink or eat either.

What kind of foods are you eating?