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Mu three month post-op checkup was yesterday. My team is amazing! I feel so supported by them and very thankful that I made that phone call for an appointment last year. The changes that I have been through in just a year are quite profound. More confidence, ease of body movement, better mental health. And oh, the joy of getting rid of size 24 clothing and not shopping in the plus size sections anymore!

I was reading about people who stick around the forums after reaching their weight loss goals. Some of them are here for 5 or 10 years or more. I aspire to be one of those that stays around to share my story. I'm not some guru, and I'm not any more special than anyone else, and I certainly don't have the magic keys to success. The reason I want to stick around is because of the people that have shared their own journeys. You have all helped me immensely, even though we are all on different plans and start at different places. And I don't believe we ever really get to an ending on these journeys. Yeah, we may reach a goal related to weight, size, BMI, BP, A1C, cholesterol, etc., but we have to stay vigilant. I believe interacting on these forums long term can help guard that vigilance and reinforce what we learn along the way.

I just returned my first post-op vacay. I was gone for a week to two different areas. The first place was a wilderness area on the Atlantic ocean, and then I visited an historic city for a few days.

On my most active day, I was able to hike 11 miles, and I accomplished my first solo backpacking trip. All of the other days, including the city, were 6-8 miles of walking.

One issue that came up for me was my mobile phone. I have become reliant on it for tracking macros, calories, and water intake. However, in the wilderness area, I did not have access to mobile data nor wifi, and the app that I use for tracking will not work if it is offline. I am sure that I met my water goals, but I doubt that I was able to reach my protein goals.

My second issue that came up with the mobile phone was, well, I broke it while in the city! So, in the span of 8 days, I was only able to track my intake for 1. It remains frustrating, as I haven't replaced my phone yet.

I will need to get some kind of paper logbook/backup option for travelling in the future. I am going to search the forums and start a post to find out what others use as an alternative to electronic journalling. 

Please excuse me, for I must shout this from the rooftops...

I DID THREE COMPLETE CHIN-UPS AT THE GYM YESTERDAY!

I have never done any chin-ups in my entire life. EVER.

9 weeks post-op. I tried deli sliced turkey today, and it was dee-li-shus! I've been nervous about trying real meat too soon, and I'm glad that I waited. I've read a lot of stories about people vomiting after eating meat after surgery.

As far as that goes, I've actually not experienced foamies, vomiting, dumping or any other upper GI issues. A little pain if I drink too much water too fast. And constipation, but I figured out that was because I was eating too much dairy. Keeping it to one serving of dairy a day seems to be the key for my body.

Getting ready to go walk the dog, and then come home to go to bed. Y'all take care out there!

I met with the nutritionist and surgeon last week and have received a surgery date of December 27. It's about a month later than I thought it would be, but I'm trying to make the best of it and not be too disappointed. My doctor's office only does 2 days of liquids prior to surgery, so while it does mean I will be on liquids for Christmas, I will have Christmas Eve without any restrictions (which is our bigger celebration day anyway). And I still get the surgery done on this year's deductible, which will help a little financially. So until then I am just working on establishing an exercise routine and healthy eating, but I don't have an additional weight loss goal that I need to meet. I'm sure the time will fly, but it feels so far away when I had been crossing my fingers for mid-November.

9 weeks post-op. I tried deli sliced turkey today, and it was dee-li-shus! I've been nervous about trying real meat too soon, and I'm glad that I waited.

I've not experienced foamies, vomiting, dumping or any other upper GI issues. A little pain if I drink too much water too fast. And constipation, but I figured out it was because I was eating too much dairy. Keeping it to one serving of dairy a day seems to be the key for my body.

Getting ready to go walk the dog, and then come home to go to bed. Y'all take care!

Tomorrow will be 7 weeks since surgery. Yesterday i found that I was able to finally drink more than a sip at a time. I am SO grateful! I have always loved drinking water and it has been my primary beverage for most of my life; losing the ability to drink a lot of it was my first post-surgical regret. Being able to drink more than a tiny sip at a time makes me feel so much more normal.

I'm eating around 500-700 calories a day, and have hit my second stall. I have begun to only weigh myself once a week. I've made to the gym twice since surgery, but I've been walking my pup and walking at work up to 3 miles a day on average.

I've also been using resistance bands and stretching. I'm not quite ready for twisty yoga stuff yet. Or jogging. I did do a 10+ mile bicycle ride last weekend with a friend to a coffee shop where I had a cold decaf coffee with half and half. That was another activity that made me feel kinda normal.

I'm still drinking one protein drink a day, trying to hit my goal of at least 60 grams a day. Today I got 72 in thanks to a cold G Zero with 10 grams.

My abdomen is still a bit sore in general. The way I understand it, the inside is not fully healed until 3 months after surgery. That means sometime around November 1st. This is when I will go on the forever way of eating according to my provider's plan. I look forward to that day.

Oh! And I should mention that I learned about a chain restaurant that is in about 30 or so states. It is called Clean Eatz, and they have a menu that is friendly to we bariatric patients. My support group last night talked about getting pizza and flatbreads from there. I checked it out and it looks like it's both eat-in and takeaway. This is the first place I'm going when I feel ready to eat out again

I got a little bag of samples when I saw the nutritionist last week. Turns out I much prefer the Celebrate 45 Tropical Twist vitamins to the Bariatric Fusion orange flavor, so I've placed an order for those and the sweet treat assortment of calcium soft chews, which were almost dangerously tasty. The Unjury chicken soup was better than the other brand I tried, but not enough to buy it. And their vanilla shake was vile. I just can't do artificial sweeteners, and probably not vanilla unless I add something to it to mask the flavor. The aftertaste was so strong and I had a vague impression of drinking baby formula. So far the only ones I've really liked have been the orange and peach flavored Syntrax Nectar Naturals, so I'm going to get two vegan fruit flavored options in case I have trouble with whey after.