ms.sss

So today is my 6th month anniversary day! 96.9 lbs lost since my 2-wk pre-op liquid diet. My BMI in October was 43.2, this morning, I clocked in at 25.4, I,m sooooo close to the top end of the "normal" BMI range for my height. Yay me! I wrote a longer-ish update here as I didn't want to double post 😉 : btw, I also have a (beloved) spreadsheet that details inches and lbs lost by post-op week, post-op month, and calendar month. I was going to post it, but I'm not sure if its very interesting to anyone, lol. but I can post it/dm it if anyone is interested.

wow spring has sprung in full force where you are! It's a gloomy, rainy day over here so no walk today

I had the sleeve. I'll be 6 months post-op tomorrow. My daily meals change depending on what I have in the fridge, but generally, it goes like this: 1st meal: 1-2oz of some protein (usually grilled chicken, but can be anything else) + 1/4 to 1/2 cup of some veggie 2nd meal: protein powder shake w/ instant decaf and Benefibre 3rd meal: usually the same of what I had for the first meal. *I try to keep my net carbs under 20g per day. Under normal circumstances, I average about 500-600 calories a day. However, lately, I'd be lucky if I even reach 400 a day but this is because I am weaning off my PPI and I'm experiencing heartburn at times as a result so I'm not to keen on eating very much. Doc says my body is adjusting to being without it so I have to wait it out until my stomach stabilizes its acid production *crosses fingers*

That will do it.

I'm turning 47 later this year and have set up 3 consults in the coming weeks to weigh my plastics options. I've lost about 95 lbs and my arms are looking saggy. I want them to look as good as I feel You are never too old!

You will find that the eating plans prescribed vary greatly from doctor to doctor (or nutritionist to nutrition, for that matter). Like the poster said above, it's best to follow the plan outlined by your own team. With that said, when I was at the 4 week mark I was taking in probably 300-400 cals on good days.

I've used Milk of Magnesia when I haven't pooped in a while. Though once, immediately after surgery, I hadn't gone for a week or so and when the MOM didn't work, I took Senkot-S and that did the trick. Explosively, in fact. I haven't taken it since as just the MOM (or glycerin suppositories) works for me now when things get backed up.

#21 Make a Healthy Recipe I generally make at least one healthy food a day (either for myself or the fam), yesterday I made avocado toast and a side of apples for the Kid for breakfast. I didn't make anything else the rest of the day as we had lunch at the in-laws and then brought home leftovers for dinner. #22 5yr Dream Plan Retire. Travel. Write a book. B-Side: Hecks ya, I take pictures of food (food that I make at home, not what others' make). I don't get to eat it, so I take pics of it instead. So no, I don't find it annoying, but I'm sure others do. Especially Mr. and the Kid, cuz they have to wait for me to take the perfect pic of dinner before they can start eating it.

First, I need to say the obligatory "Everyone handles things differently" phrase. For some, the the presence of unsuitable foods causes anxiety and it helps a lot when these triggers are not around. For others, not so much. The handful of people who knew I had surgery would at first constantly try not to "tempt" me by not eating in front me, suggesting we pass on going out for dinner or to parties, etc. I made sure to let them know that while I appreciate their efforts (like @KCgirl061 said above), I had this surgery, not them, and it's up to me to adjust my habits/behaviours and not them. I *think* maybe because I didn't hide the food nor avoid food situations I became used to being around it early on and it just didn't bother me when I was ready to eat real food again. Maybe. With my little schpeel over, what your fam can help you with is maybe help you in and out of chairs or bed and reach for things on high shelves for the first week. And provide you company when you go for your walks. And if you can covince someone to do it, get them to wash your hair (totally indulgent and completely unnecessary, but soooo awesome regardless 😉).

#20 Phone off. I'm the opposite. I hate the phone off challenge! I mean, I'm on my phone right now typing this post. I'll need it to contact fam for tonight's dinner, and Mr., when I will have to send him to grocery to pick up something I likely forgot, check recipes, convert from imperial to metric, listen to music/TV, give my watch connectivity, Google some obscure fact, enter my food and drink into My Fitness Pal, track my activity, keep track of the whereabouts of the Kid as she goes to mall with friends* this afternoon, read the news...you get the point, Lol. My phone is staying on. *yeah, this can be considered borderline stalking, but I get a bye for being her mom. Plus she knows I'm stalking her so it's all good. 😇

Honestly, I enjoy the daily check-in aspect of it, and reading other's check ins. Also, I don't mind food challenges, and the exercise stuff I pick and choose anyway 😉

#19 Go for a walk: Did a shortened version of my daily walk as it started to rain. I normally do about 5km (which equates to roughly an hour), but I was only out for about 20 minutes until I had to turn back cuz of rain. B-Side: Weekend Plans Tonite went out for dinner and a movie with Mr & the Kid; tomorrow night is Easter Dinner at our place for my side of the family (which means a busy cooking and cleaning afternoon); Sunday is an Easter Lunch at Mr.'s parents' place for his side of the family; and Monday, since the Kid is off school, planing to go shopping with her at a shoe warehouse sale at the convention centre near the airport (yay, shoes!).

It can be done, you can do it

Yesterday, I ran. IN HEELS.

VSG. Started at 235 lbs, am just under 5'2" tall. I'll be 6 months out next week. Down 93.3 lbs since October, which means I've lost about 40% of my total (NOT excess) body weight. That's just crazy to me. 6 lbs until I get to "Normal" BMI range for my height; 21 lbs until I get to personal goal, which is roughly the mid-point of the "Normal" BMI range for me.

#18 Buy a coffee for a stranger I've done this twice* before so I'm a seasoned pro, lol. So this morning, I paid for the person's coffee who was behind me in the drive thru at Tim Hortons. *Backstory: once a few years back, there was gridlock at the drive thru line at Tim Hortons as cars were coming into the line from 3 different directions. There was one car up ahead who could not get in line because no one would let her in. By the time i got up to that part of the line, I just let her in front of me because she was waiting an awful long time! I found out when I got up to the pickup window that she paid for my coffee and breakfast sandwich as a thank you. It was a nice gesture and it totally made my day. So I told myself the next time someone lets me in line, I would do the same. So I did. And then that felt so good to do, I did it again a few months later.

FAVE. I always stand up a little straighter when I hear this song, LOL

#17 listen to your favourite album: I don't have a favourite album, I usually just listen to playlists on shuffle, or my TV that's on in the background B-side: What has changed the most/least in the past year: Most: Obvs my whole eating/cooking/exercise routine has done a complete 180. I eat better (or not at all), I cook for the fam all the time and actually love it, and *gasp* I exercise every day. This is a complete turn around from eating crap like all day long, being too lazy to cook and going out/ordering out almost every day or buying pre-packaged processed foods, and non-existent exercise. It's crazy how different I am now.

B-side: Game of Thones, natch. Top Chef, Top Chef Canada, MasterChef, MasterChef Austrailia, Giada in Italy, You Gotta Eat Here, Barefoot Contessa (...you get the picture, I LOVE cooking shows). Grey's Anatomy This is Us Survivor, Project Runway You may wonder how I have the time to watch all of this? Lol, TV is like my radio. I have the TV on all the time, either the actual TV, or on my laptop or iPad or phone. Alot of the time I'm not actually looking at the screen, just listening, while I multitask doing other things. GoT is the only show I actually watch with my full attention from beginning to end.

I had some difficulty swallowing the giant calcium and multivitamin tablets at first (I would feel nauseous then barf soon after). I could not stand the taste of them crushed, so I switched over to chewables for the the 1st three months. Then I tried again at month 3...I could get the multivitamin down but not the calcium, even cut in half. So continued with the chewable calcium until month 5. Then, hurray, I could keep the giant calcium pills down! I still have a bunch of chewables left in my stash, so I'm just going to finish them then switch permanently to the regular tablets. They are much cheaper than chewables, so that's a plus. But I will say that the calcium chewables are tasty (I had/have the Jamieson chocolate flavoured chews).

You look GREAT! Congratulations! Kudos on your nice flat stomach!

#15 Teat Yo' Self: Well, that's a coincidence. I had a 90 min massage this morning after the gym, and lo and behold today was a treat yourself day for this challenge. So.....Treat completed! B-side: i find dietary efforts to be about the same, effort-wise, for both weekends and weekdays. But I guess if I had to choose, I'd say weekends would be a smidge harder only because they are a little less predictable. Though the ever present beef jerky in my purse can always be counted on. I've also started carrying around a teeny ziplock of a single serving of protein powder for other just-in-case situations.

Yep, getting a shorter haircut also helps to disguise some of the hair loss a lot of people experience....I cut off my own lower-back-length hair to an almost-pixie back in January.

#14 Declutter I did a major purge of my closet as well as all the drawers in my bathroom last weekend (man, I had a crapton of toiletries, hair product, skin product and makeup to toss!), so I'm giving myself a bye for this declutter task. Besides, we are still in GOT binge-watching mode and have 4 more season seven episodes to re-watch before a little premiere-watching party we are having tonite with a few friends. Ugh...and I still gotta squeeze in some dinner and snacks making in there somewhere...