Friday, November 30, 2012

Slow and Steady

Let me catch you up. Since my last post I had my three week check up with my surgeon  At that time I had lost 14 pounds. With the Gastric Sleeve you are supposed to lose an average of 3 pounds a week. The first two weeks after surgery I was on a totally liquid diet. Now I am supposed to be eating soft foods.  It has been difficult eating because I have to have 60 to 80 grams of protein so I spend most of my day drinking protein shakes. After that I'm not very hungry. Also, I don't have much of an appetite and when I do eat food just doesn't taste the same. According to my doctor that will improve. Since my surgeon's office is two hours away my husband went with me to my appointment and we went out to eat before going home. This was the first time I had gone out to eat since my surgery. I ordered soup, grilled salmon and a baked potato. I ate a few spoonfuls of soup and almost two ounces of fish so I was impressed with myself, but the waitress kept asking me if anything was wrong. Obviously I took a lot of food home.

I started walking about a week after surgery and returned to yoga after a couple of weeks. The first 3 to 4 weeks I was really tired so I'd get home and take a two hour nap every day. Right after Thanksgiving I spent four days in bed with a cold. That's when I figured I wasn't getting enough vitamins because I never get sick. I was also having a lot of dizziness so I went to see my general practitioner the other day. He took me off of my blood pressure medicine. It's been less than five weeks since my surgery and I am no longer on medication! He also checked my blood count and everything looked really good.

I an continuing to lose weight too. Since my surgery, five weeks ago, I have lost 26 pounds. I'm sure my weight loss will slow down as I add more my food to my diet, but at this point I am only eating about 700 calories a day.

I feel confident that I made the best decision of my life. 

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

THANKSgiving

I am not even two weeks out and I feel so much better than I did just a couple of days ago. I've been walking, I had a few outings with family and friends, AND I am losing weight! Prior to the surgery, I had lost 19 pounds and it only took me eight months. Yes, I struggled to get every ounce off and keep it off and I did by making healthy food choices and by exercising (yoga or walking) six days a week. So here we are eleven days since my surgery and I've lost and additional 11 pounds. I know that my weight loss will be quicker in the beginning and will eventually level off, but I would like to pat my ego's back and say, "way to go"

I was going back through reading a post I had made last March announcing my decision to have this surgery. I had almost 70 comments, and the majority of them were positive. I did have 2 or 3 people say it wasn't safe or that I could lose the weight without surgery, but the over all theme of those comments was great decision, good luck, and we support you. I don't require the support of others, in fact I have a rebellious streak that makes me want to do whatever it is I feel like needs to be done regardless of people being on my side, but it nice to have friends and family stand behind you when take a leap of faith like this.

One of my biggest supporters, other than my husband, has been a friend of mine who had this surgery almost a year and a half ago. She had done an amazing job losing 90 pounds and now she had made a commitment to work out at a gym. I'm not really sure I would have gone into this venture with as much confidence as I have if it hadn't been for her. She told me what she did that worked, what didn't work, and what she should have done. I am so grateful to her and my other supporters; thank you all.

The flowers are from my friends at Ahimsa Yoga

Saturday, November 3, 2012

The Ugly Truth



After having gastric surgery just over a week ago my stomach can't digest whole foods. In fact, for the first two weeks I can only have liquids. That in itself isn't that bad, but what you need to know is that I need to be getting 60 to 80 grams of protein every day.
After nine days, I have yet to drink anywhere near enough protein. One day I did drink 50 grams of protein, but that was only one day. From the moment I wake up until I go to sleep, I am drinking, drinking, drinking.
I've worn myself out drinking Total Lean Protein, my protein drink of choice. There are 25 grams of protein in a 14 ounce bottle of Total Lean Protein. That's not bad compared to other protein drinks.
Now if I could guzzle down a bottle, then drinking 3 or 4 bottles a day wouldn't be so bad, but my stomach only hold about 2 ounces at this point. So I drink 2 ounces every 30 minutes or so and then I feel like I'm floating. Of course I can't drink all protein all day. I have to change it up with some Vitamin Water, low fat chicken broth, or a sugar free popsicle every now and then.
Do you know how many hours it takes to drink one bottle, 25 grams of protein? Three or more, but at least three hours. So if I drank that blasted protein drink & nothing else every thirty minutes it would take me nine hours to drink 75 grams, the minimum I need, of protein.
Oh, and did I mention what the consequences are of not getting enough protein? No, I didn't, but I'm sure you can imagine some of them. Let me share the one consequence that drives me to drink this crap all day, it's hair loss. Many people experience a significant loss of hair 3 to 4 months after weight loss surgery.
Guess what folks? I am not going to be one of those people. So yes, the ugly truth of recovering from gastric surgery, for me, is to drink protein until I can't stand it because I WILL NOT LOSE MY HAIR!
Thank you for letting me share

Friday, November 2, 2012

Things Change

                                     


Last week at this time I was in an operating room. 
Guess what I did today?


 

                                     

I couldn't have won a marathon, but I did go out and walk today. I know this is a small accomplishment, but it is an accomplishment non-the-less. I loved walking before my surgery and I am sure I will love walking again. I didn't love it today. My bra kept rubbing on one of my scars  and I felt like I had to hold my belly the whole time or my intestines were going to fall out on the ground. Okay it wasn't that bad, but I did feel a little uneasy.  I walked at a fairly slow pace and only walked about a half a mile, but I WALKED!!!!