Post-Op Check In - Month 4

02.09.2014

As it's been about a month sine there was a diet/weight-loss/post-surgery update, it seems about due.

Jan. 6 I weighed in at 330.8 lbs. A month later I have 323.0 lbs. Just under 2 lbs/week average, so my weight loss is falling off. I'm still ok with that, as I feel a whole lot better at 323 than I did a year ago at 441. I went in for my 3-month post op check-in and the surgeon is happy with my progress and how I'm handling everything. He also said I was on track to meet my weight loss goal (which I think keeps getting bigger every time I see him). With that, I'll see him in another 3 months and will get blood work done.

I'm starting to widen my variety of food. I've been sticking with protein shakes, chicken, fish, and the occasional steamed broccoli and asparagus. Now it's safe for me to take in raw vegetable, testing one at a time to see how my system handles it. So far, my system is handling it just fine and I can once again delve into the world of salads!

The post-op salad is maybe 1/3 the size of the salad I used to eat, and has a lot less meat in it. Fat-free cheese, Ranch yogurt dressing, and some melba toast along with chicken, eggs, mushrooms, and whatever bag of salad lettuce is on sale at publix. One of those bags is now good for at least 3 salads as opposed to how it used to only be good for 1.

I haven't really noticed the physical part of my weight loss past all my clothes being loose. A lot of that comes from seeing myself in the mirror every day and all of those changes being gradual. I had to renew my drivers license and saw the picture of 2010 400 lb me vs 2014 330 lb me.

When I see myself, I still see the me on the left. Now, I've almost got a jaw line. And a visible chin (above the other chin).

I also had to get a new CAC card at work. The picture on my old card was 6 months old, so it was pre-surgery and I was in the 400+ lb range. After the lady took my new picture she stopped and said "Wow, you've lost a lot of weight." Yes, yes I have. And I thanked her for noticing.

Now I have a hankering for a salad.

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Post Op Week 14

01.06.2014

After a couple of weeks of my weight loss slowing down to less than what had become the norm of 4 pounds per week, the past week saw a sudden upswing to nearly 8 pounds loss. I have no idea what I've done differently over the past week that spurred this on, but that's part of the joy of losing weight - sometimes it just happens.

I finally built up the courage to eat a real salad last week. Looking at the paperwork from the doctor's office I was allowed to finally try raw vegetables now, so it was time to revisit my old friend the salad. My salad did not require a building permit like my salads of old. This new salad was fairly dainty, in a bowl that could easily be held in my hand. For the actual salad, I mixed in some good old fashioned Iceberg Lettuce, broccoli, mushrooms, along with a little chicken and (fat free) cheese. I was nervous about how the salad would settle after I ate it, but it actually sat better than most other meals I've had.

Saturday I was out running errands and decided to be adventurous and eat out. Mexican food has been one of my safer foods of late (ironic since I've never really cared for Mexican) so I opted for Moe's as I was on that side of town. For fun, I called Jer and invited him out. He brought a date.

Lunch with Jer and Alice was nice - I think I managed to not provide too bad of an influence.

The hardest parts about eating is to not eat too fast and not eat too much. I ordered a small burrito but told myself I wasn't going to eat all of it. A small burrito from Moe's is still roughly the size of my fist. I ate about half of it.

Half was the right point to stop at.

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Post Op Week 11 + a day

12.17.2013

The above weight is a big deal for me. February my weight maxed out at 441, I emotionally bottomed out and decided that gastric surgery was the route I needed to go if I wanted to realistically live a couple more years. 6 months and 40 pounds later I had gastric sleeve surgery, with no complications, and wondered what would happen next. 11 weeks and a day after surgery, I've lost another 60 pounds - still with no complications.

100 pounds gone since February, total.

100 f'n pounds.

Yesterday this would have been a different post. My weight was 2 pounds higher. Mentally, I was all over the place - halfway to work I realized that I forgot to bring my vitamins that I've been taking 4 times a day for the past 11 weeks, so I turned around and went back home to get them. Once home, I found that I had about half the gas in the car that I needed for the day. Holiday & financial crap (nothing bad, just things to take care of) kept popping into my head. The one good thing to come out of this was that I decided it was a walking Christmas shopping day after work so I got my walking for the day in (13,000 steps!).

Today is a better post. Skip the paragraph above and I'm not bitching. Instead, I'm relishing 100 lbs lighter and I'm bitchin.

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Post Op Week 10

12.09.2013

Week 10 sees a mere 3 pound loss since last week. A combination of slacking off on some exercise thanks to the end of the week being cold and rainy, partnered with eating a little more than has been normal seems to make a difference.

Eating more was intentional as I've mainly been sticking to having 3 protein shakes + 3 "meals" (is a banana a meal?) per day and I'm ready to expand my eating horizons a little. For example, over the weekend I fixed a chicken & mushroom omelet which was quite tasty. Popchips have become my favorite snack, and even though they're not fried or baked they're still made from potatoes so I should have them less frequently than I have been.

This week I've got to try to get into a cold/inclement weather exercise routine. I went to the Wellness Center Sunday afternoon. Sunday is normally a rest day, but since I had been resting since Wednesday I didn't have much of an excuse to keep resting. I went to the Wellness Center during the perfect storm of 30-ish year-olds that like to re-arrange the benches in the free-weight area along with the 50-ish year-olds that have long chats on the machines after exercising on them. After half of my workout taking twice as long as it should have, I got frustrated and gave up for the day. Later today I'll give it another chance, even if it's just forcing myself on the treadmill.

I loathe the treadmill. It's boring. I'm getting in the habit of listening to podcasts when I go workout. When listening to music I try to keep up with the beat. Mainly, I can't keep up with the beat, but the beat also changes which really screws with me on the treadmill. Finding the right podcast(s) to listen to while doing all of this is also a little tricky as I want to listen to something interesting and I'm a little picky in the regard.

Reading the above, I seem to be complaining more than normal. I don't mean to, but maybe this will get it out of my system?

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Post Op Week 9

12.03.2013

Even though the post is a day late, the pic is from Monday morning :)

Another week and technically a little shy of another 4 pounds, but weight-wise milestones were passed this past week. 351 pounds marked 50 pounds lost since surgery, with 90 pounds lost total. 350 pounds means I can (theoretically) be weighed on the average doctor scales. Granted, I'd have to be butt naked and their scales would have to be calibrated to my scales at home, but it's a milestone!

The next milestone occurs at 347 pounds, which was my low weight in 2006 as well as the only other "low" weight I remember since 238 at my high school graduation.

A combination of actual work to do along with weather has been messing with my exercise schedule. Plus, I've been feeling tired more. I think part of the tired may be from cutting back on my Iron supplement, so I'm going to go back to the double-dose I was inadvertently taking for 2 weeks - those were a good 2 weeks.

Last night I had the closest thing to a salad as I've had in 2 months. I had gotten some shredded Iceburg lettuce for pseudo-taco filler. Last night I mixed some of the lettuce with a little chicken and cheese, along with some sour cream and salsa to give it a Mexican feel instead of going for salad dressing. The majority of the dish was lettuce so I wanted to count it as a salad. It filled up more of the bowl than I originally intended, but I didn't have any problem eating it or keeping it down. I managed to take a little longer eating it (like I'm supposed to).

Monday was supposed to be a walking + weight workout day, but a 9-hour workday along with 90 minutes of going to and from work (with all the holiday wrecks that have been unleashed) took a big enough chunk out of the day that I only got in my walk. I went 2 laps around the school, which is ~3.2 miles. Today, my legs, feet, and knees are telling me I walked a long way yesterday.

I've stopped tracking my walking/number of steps for a while. The Fitbit I've been wearing was starting to leave either a rash or a small whelp on my wrist. I'm not sure why everything was fine the first month I wore it, but lately it became an irritant. When I can remember, I stick the Fitbit in my pocket (it's just a fancy pedometer after all) but that's also how I washed and then lost my first Fitbit. I can still track my weight and blood pressure on the Fitbit website, so I've been keeping that up to track my progress from day to day.

Enough focusing on my weight for this week. Now to psyche myself up for a walk in drizzly, overcast weather.

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