8 Month Post-Op Update

I saw Dr. Bypass this morning. I am down 75 pounds, which is great. Only 5 pounds lost in the past two months though. The doctor said that this is what I can now expect as far as weight loss goes now because it is slowing down. I need to really make sure that I am eating the right portions and I am increasing my exercise. It is now going to be more work for me.

This is the point that they start to lose their patients. The doctor said that people start getting too comfortable with their eating and have figured out what they can get away with at this point. I do not want to be one of those who wind up packing the pound back on, so I am going to start writing all of my food consumption into a journal.

I always hated keeping a food diary, but I am committed to doing this. Perhaps I can see patterns on paper that I don't notice in real life. I know Weight Watchers and Nutrisystem wanted you to track yuor food intake and I never was able to do it consistently. Okay, I could do it, but I suppose I chose not to do it consistently.

My hair is not falling out as badly as it was two months ago. I guess that is because the weight loss has slowed down too.

I haven't thrown up lately, which is another good thing, so I guess I am doing something right. I did get a little sick last night because I ate some rice. I really wanted the rice and it just seemed to sit in my chest. I stretched out on the bed for a while and it made me feel better.

4 Month Post-Op Update

Had my fourth month post-op visit with my surgeon, Doctor Bypass. I lost 57 official pounds and 63 unoffical pounds. Woo-Hoo! I am doing very well in terms of weight loss. In fact, I am ahead of the curve. What does that mean?

Well, first they tell you what you are supposed to weigh (yeah, I laughed my ass off at that number too). Then they subtract that from what you weigh now. They take that number and tell you that you will lose 70% of that from the surgery over 18 months. This is the prediction of your weight loss. In 4 months I have already lost 50% of the weight they are expecting me to lose. I will most likely lose more than the expectd 70%.

A lot of this has to do with the exercising that I am doing and I am doing a moderate amount. I joined a gym and I try to go three times a week, but I must admit that I usually only go twice a week. I am taking aerobic classes like kickboxing and body sculpting. Not easy classes and sometimes I can't last the whole hour, but I do what I can. I also lift weighs there and use the cross training machine.

On days that I don't go to the gym, I make the most out of my standing time. I make sure that I am always moving. When I am standing at the photo copier at work, I am moving my feet doing the "grapevine" move that we do at the gym. When I am home waiting for the dogs to come in from outside, I am doing kick backs with my legs. A few minutes here and there adds up over the course of a day. Try it!

Cream Of Wheat & Other Breakfasts

Yes, I was able to eat Cream of Wheat without a hitch. I couldn't eat a whole packet. When I was full, I just shared the rest with the two dogs. Of course, Cream of Wheat tastes like crap. It definitely needs something to make it more palatable. I swirled in a teaspoon of peanut butter and Splenda which made it much better.

Oatmeal went down fine too. One day I had mini pancakes from Aunt Jemima. I think the serving size is 13 minis. I was able to eat 3 of them. I dipped them in sugar fre syrup and they tasted all right. Pancakes were never my favorite thing though, but variety is nice.

My breakfast staple has been ricotta cheese with a little tomato sauce in it or egg beaters. I made some chicken salad the other day too. This consisted of canned chicken, a smidge of mayo, black pepper, and onion powder. It went down okay too.

Official Weigh in

Met with Dr. Bypass for my one month post surgical weigh-in. I'm down 23 official pounds, and 29 unofficial pounds, if you are keeping score.

My BMI decreased by 3 points.

My fat mass has decreased by 17 points. I really do not know what this means exactly. I didn't see this on the paperwork he gave me until I was home. I will ask him next month what that is all about.

Percentage of Excess body weight lost since surgery is 14.36%

He was very pleased with my results. I am definitely on the right path. Sometimes people who have had the surgery are already not doing well with eating and bad habits creep in. I was pleased.

I told him that I have been pretty tired by 2:30 and that I feel like I need a nap. He said this is very normal and that I should nap if I feel tired. Hey, that's why I'm still not back at work, right? This will probably continue for another 6 weeks. Oh, joy!

He gave me a list of vitamins, some I have already been taking and some I haven't. Here it is:

Centrum Multivitamin Chewable Tablet one per day
Centrum Mineral Supplements Chewable Tablet one per day
Vitamin B-12 that dissolves under the tongue
Complete B Complex one per day
Iron Supplement one or two per day
Calcium, Magnesium & Vitamin D tablet one per day

I have been taking a Flinstone's chewable vitamin twice per day since the surgery. These vitamins taste horrible. I will try the Centrum to see if they are better. (probably not).

I have been taking a liquid B-12 since the surgery. When that bottle is done I will switch to the pill.

I have not been taking a Complete B Complex, but I bought some today already.

I have been taking an iron supplement since the surgery. I was deficient in this prior to the surgery anyway.

I have not been taking the Calcium, Magnesium & Vitamin D tablet, but I bought some today. I was taking Caltrate prior to the surgery because I was deficient in this too.

In two weeks I will get a blood test to check all the levels of vitamins and minerals in my body to see how I'm doing.

My next check-up is January 12th.

Moist & Mushy Food

I have just completed my second day of eating moist & mushy food. Yesterday I ate fate free ricotta cheese with some tomato sauce for breakfast. Lunch was 1/2 an egg salad sandwich. We were at the mall and AR wanted to eat at Johhny Rockets, that s style diner. I ordered the egg salad sandwich. I took two bites of the sandwich and then just ate the rest of the egg from the 1/2 I started eating. I wrapped up the other half and took it home. Dinner was egg drop soup.

Today I ate 2 ounces of plain fat free yogurt....not the most tasty. I added a packet of stevia and pumpkin pie spice to get it down, and then it tasted okay. I also ate 2 ounces of pureed peaches. I bought some baby food, which I don't think I really need now, but its good to have on hand. I made chicken salad for lunch and ate a few ounces of that. I ate once slice of mini pumpernickel bread too. The bread was hard to eat. I think I will stay away from that for a while. For dinner I had Progresso Chicken Gumbo soup with 2 ounces of ricotta cheese. It was tasty.

So far so good on the moist and mushy. I think I will try cream of wheat tomorrow morning.

Offical Weigh In

Saw Dr. Bypass this morning. It has been 19 days since my surgery. I lost 14 official pounds. I say "official" because when I came home from the hospital, I had gained SIX pounds, so I lost those too, but my weight loss goes according to Dr. Bypass' scale and last official weigh-in, so he doesn't count those 6 pounds. Fair enough, but I will keep the tally in my head anyway :)

I can exercise only as far as walking right now. After 4 weeks I can start a more vigorous work out. The hospital offers an exercise program specifically for people who have had weight loss surgery. I will check them out some time this week to see what they are all about. In the meantime, I shall be walking.

Monday I can start adding moist and mushy foods to my diet. I am looking forward to it. This clear liquid diet is kind of boring, but I can't say that I'm hungry, so its definitely working. I asked the doctor why I'm not hungry and he basically said that they don't know why! It has something to do with hormones, but it is a great side effecft of the surgery. Yee Hah! It sure is.

Diabetes Gone in Five Days

I've been recording my blood sugar levels since I've been home from the hospital. Other than the first day, my readings have been normal. Fasting overnight it has been 86. After "eating" it has been 95-101 consistently. I have not been taking any oral diabetes medication since I've been released from the hospital, as per doctor instructions.

I saw Dr. Fink today and he was elated with my results. He only wants to test randomly periodically, but that these results were likely to stay. I am pleased, but once I start eating more solids I will test regularly for a while to satisfy myself. Blood pressure is still high so I am staying on the Atenolol for now. I am hoping that with a significant weight loss that I will not have to take this medication for long.

As for weight loss...I am going to wait until Wednesday to reveal that because that is the day I meet with Dr. Bypass. I want to use his scale as the true barometer. However, I will say that the day after I came home I hoped on the scale just to see and there was a 6 pound gain! After three days of no eating, I gained weight. I know it was because of all the fluids I was getting, but It was disappointing. I will share that the extra weight plus more is already gone, but the official count will be later this week.

Wendy's

Kind if a weird experience today. Went out with my family for a ride to a new WalMart. We bought some Christmas decorations. As we were walking to the car, my daughter was crying because she was hungry. It was past lunch time, about 2 pm. AR suggested we go to Wendy's because there was one nearby. I said, "Sure, no problem. I'll just sip on my pomegranate Crystal Lite." Which only made AR feel bad, so I told him to go ahead, because it wouldn't bother me.

We went to the drive through. Wendy's doesn't have soup, so there really wasn't anything for me there. Besides, I had my pomegranate Crystal Lite. My daughter had the ham and cheese sandwich and AR ordered the taco salad. We pulled over to eat. I removed the bread from her sandwich and rolled up the ham slices and she happily ate. I held the salad bowl while AR added in the tortilla pieces, taco meat and sour cream. It smelled wonderful.

Seriously, it smelled better than anything I had ever smelled in my life. The thing is, I wasn't hungry. I just sipped a little and watched them eat. It didn't bother me that they were eating and I wasn't. So even though it smelled great, I wasn't hungry. It is strange to sit and watch your family eat though. I keep telling AR that he wolfs down his food. I don't know why he eats so fast. I never noticed that before, but then, I have never been so focused on them during dinner either.

ONE Christmas present was purchased today. Ugh! I am not in the mood for holiday shopping this year either.