Orchids&Dragons

so this is me at or near my max weight and today, 1 year after surgery.
i opted to show the loose skin because everyone asks will i have loose skin and the answer is yep.
put on jeans and a nice shirt and all is hidden from the world  

Finally figured out how to update my username, now I can ha e the name I always intended. How it doesn't cause too much grief, especially those who expected me to be BlackTealael   lol  hahahahahahahaha

Thinking about walking 1.5 miles to gym and 1.5 miled back in addition to working out, thinking about just laying on the floor. The joys of Sundays.

Yesterday I had a close friend warn me about not working out "too much". I work with a personal trainer 2x/week and I get about a total of 75 - 90 min of exercise 3 days a week. All in all I think I should be doing MORE. I wasn't sure how to react other than thanking them for their concern but my doctor approved my workout plan. This person has been very supportive, has given me 4 bags of smaller sized clothing to help me on my journey. I try not to talk about my workouts in general as people don't want to really hear about it if they aren't also working out. It is interesting how those that support you the most also don't really understand what is required to make this program work.   

I wonder if I'll be dissatisfied when I get to goal?

WOOT!!  First day back in the gym since injury and it felt great and despite my fears the arm feels good and i am very happy right now

Soooo hungry today thanks to my experimental overdose on stevia to promote malabsorption/laxative effect. Worked like crazy and everything I ate for like the prior 24 hours came out, probably everything from yesterday as well.
Won't be doing that again.
Just small amounts for regularity. TMI much...
Anyway when I logged everything here's what I had:
B: Coffee with protein shake & Blended protein shake with half banana and one strawberry
L: Salmon salad (pâté style) with one crisp cracker
S: Boiled egg & nuts
S: chilly cow froyo bar 
D: salmon salad (again), protein chips & a half cup of watermelon
Plus water, tea, coffee
Next time I'll skip the extra shake don't even need the extra protein...

This week my diet was relaxed as i ate a slice of cake, a slice of pie, a tortilla chip (lol) and a few pieces of fruit. so the scale decided to move again. After a month. No rhyme or reason to stalls I swear. If I was perfect on plan , no change....
 

So the doc wants another week before i try lifting again and then only light weights for another week after that.
i don't know how much of this slow healing process is me just being an old **** or if my post op diet is slowing things down or hell maybe Tricep tear just takes along time to heal.
I do know i dont want to do any damage to it again. Not being able to do much of anything with your right arm is a pain in the ass if your right handed.
well me and the wife and daughter are off to Reno for a family reunion this weekend so that means lots of vegan food (daughter)  sigh 
i will weigh in real early in the morning and post my Saturday  update if i lost any weight this week.
need 4 more pounds before August 1- will have my 1 year follow up with surgeon in first week of August 
Hope everyone has a great weekend and i'll be back monday to rant and rave against the evils of added sugar and processed carbs.  

I've noticed that another bad behavior has crept back into my life. I've started not giving a full half hour between food and drink. Today I put the kibosh on that. It's back to waiting the appropriate amount of time. On the other hand, I've been really good about getting a minimum of 64oz of liquid in per day. Often, I am above the minimum. Post-op food lifestyle is a constant balancing act and the trick is catching things when they start to go out of balance.

LOL! I've lost so much weight that I can feel the muscles at the base of my neck. Fat no longer covers that area. Whodathunkit!?

Major NSV 
Went to the movies with my children and refilled the popcorn bucket for them multi times and didn't touch a drop!
I stuck with coffee 

I maintained my initial 140 lb. weight loss for 10 years.  In 2004, my thyroid went crazy,  had a toxic nodule that was misdiagnosed and I over time have regained a significant amount of weight.  I would counsel and warn anyone that if your thyroid gets out of order,  PAY ATTENTION!!!  It causes your metabolism to slow down, you are tired all the time, so loose a lot of exercises that you would otherwise be doing.  You will gain weight if you do not get your thyroid back in control.  Find a good endocrinologist and go to them.  Be vigilant in your diet.  Eat what you know is good for you, no comfort foods because you are feeling down.  It will benefit you in a 100 ways if you will do this!

Staying in the hospital stinks. Was there for some unidentified intestinal issue. I was miserable.  Couldn't eat or drinks.  Was on fluids and 2 broad spectrum antibiotics. Had to speak with the infectious disease doctor twice while I was there. When I was released from the hospital we still had no answers and I was up 7 lbs due to all the fluids. Within a couple of days I was back to my starting weight. Whew! I took the whole week off of work. I was wiped out. Still feel that way today but can't afford any more time off right now. I missed the forums, but everything was an effort so I didn't open my laptop once last week! I see my doctors on Thursday so we shall see when I can work out again. I want to tell everyone how fast you can become dehydrated post-surgery. Drink, drink, drink!

First day of puree diet!  I blended together four small pre-cooked meatballs with a couple tablespoons of marinara sauce and some Italian seasoning, and it was better than I expected.  I also mashed some canned carrots, but I could only eat about six or seven bites of the meatballs before I could feel myself getting full.

NSV: yesterday a business man came into to see one of the bosses. He gave me a candy bar first and then the paperwork. I said I would be sure to give to supervisor. he says no candy is for you. I said its ok, he was , NO ITS FOR YOU. I said thank you , that I had had weight surgery so I tend to stay away from candy. He looked at me up and down and said you don't need surgery (probably didn't understand what I had said).  It's nice knowing that I look fit enough to where I would not need one, lol. Working out 25 out of 31 days definitely helps!

Happy to set month 3 behind me!!  Onward and downward :-)

so for 2nd time since WLS i have managed to hurt myself. Pulled the tricep muscle right at the top of the elbow and now even the dam coffee cup hurts.
Doc has me out of gym for 10 days and then back slowly  if i dont want to screw it up again.
 

I just noticed - 6 month anniversary in two days, and I have lost exactly 1/3 of my starting body weight!
And have lovely visible arm muscles (never before) and feel good thigh muscles. Butt muscles though? Need work!!

My "baby" turns 14 today. This year I give her the gift of a mother who can do things with her now that I couldn't before. 

One day post-op... wow I was really hurting yesterday.  I dry heaved three times, so don’t try to sip water and walk around back-to-back.  I’m doing better now, there’s a lot less pain and I’m able to sip without throwing it up.  Surprisingly, I’ve had no problem sleeping, but I don’t know if that had anything to do with any residual anesthesia in my system.  Luckily I’ll be discharged within the next hour.

Today in Topics "What your Doctor didn't tell you"
Brrr…! Remember the days when you were the hottest one in the room, and all you wanted was to stop sweating? Those may be in the past. Part of the slowed metabolism can be due to your body’s new mechanism to save energy, which means turning down the thermostat. Another possibly surprising side effect of weight loss is that having less cushioning (body fat), so sitting in chairs or lying in bed can be less comfortable.
man o' man do i know this one