I'm able to keep a full time job!!  I have been fighting my fibromyalgia pain, and really, really hungry, but I have managed to stick it out so far.  My job is still fun and I still enjoy my coworkers, so it's all good.  Hopefully in another month they will hire me on as an actual Fluortek employee, with health benefits, and then my next countdown begins, the one to surgery!!

I went to a support group today and it was not really all that great, got a free sample of a protein supplement though, and it completes my requirement of attending at least 2 support group meetings prior to surgery.  One more thing "checked off" of my list and one less obstacle between me and my goal of a gastric bypass!

I  have been working 40 hours per week, or more, and that is quite an accomplishment for me.  I get so tired, and all I want to do is sleep.  I am getting about 10 to 12 hours of sleep each night.  I think that my way of dealing with all my pain is to "sleep it off"  and that the sleep somehow restores me so that I can go again the next day.  This is tough on my family, though, since I never feel like shopping, cooking or doing errands.  I am hoping that when my body gets used to my new work routine I will go back to sleeping 8 hours a day and will have more time for my family and other responsibilities.  It has only been two months, so we'll see.  

The weight continues to come off slowly, very slowly!  Last week I was premenstrual and SO HUNGRY!!  I think I ate more in a week than I did in the previous month.  This week was period week and I was still pretty hungry, but better able to control my behavior.  Head  hunger was my enemy this week, but I fought back by drinking a lot of water and that seemed to help, or at least make me feel better.  Even if I can't eat when I want or as much as I want, I can drink water when I'm hungry and keep myself busy that way.

I'm gonna have to work on training my family about nutrition and food choices.  I asked Bob to stop and pick up lunch today, and he shows up with a yummy selection of stuff I don't eat any more.  I understand that he and the boys are not eating as I am, but it would have been nice to have something in the mix that I could eat and enjoy.  The KFC mashed potatoes and gravy and biscuits and baked beans were all a big "no no" for me, and I peeled the skin off my fried chicken and ate the meat, but wondered just how much fat was added by the KFC fryers.  

I am really noticing a big difference in how I am feeling now that I'm eating healthy.  For the first time in more than 15 years I do not have gas, bloating, and diarrhea every day!  After about a month on my healthy eating plan I am having normal, regular bowel movements.  If I eat too many carbs or sugars, I will immediately dump and feel really sick for a while.  If I eat too much fat, I have diarrhea about 3 hours or more later, along with fun cramps and gas.  Now that I know eating healthy keeps me off the toilet, I have an even greater incentive to eat the right stuff, and to enjoy my carbs and sugars in moderation.

I can still eat carbs and sugars, but they must be with a big dose of protein, and not too much.  This is great for me, since it lets me enjoy a tiny taste of whole grains, or a lightly sweetened cereal or granola, as long as protein is dominant in the food.  Now to keep reminding myself of all the reasons NOT to eat stupid crap!

Now that I'm working I don't have the time to spend on web forums or on this blog, but I know it is a good thing to keep up with what's happening on OH and also to put my thoughts down as a way to deal with and vent.  Until next time, happy spring!

 to me!!  

Happy St. Patrick's Day, and go see eggface to win a very cool prize

Here's her logo, go see eggy~
 

 Go to the website and enter to win!

http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/

You can also see some really great recipes which are yummy and tested by a WLSer!!
Great food!

I hope you have  a happy St. Patrick's Day.  My boys will be marching in their first St. Paddy's Day Parade today, in Bethlehem, PA.  They will be wearin' the green and tooting their horns and marching down the streets while wearing green t shirts and silly hats.  Yay!

I will be shopping for for ingredients to make home made meat sauce and lasagna this weekend, gonna feed my co-workers on Sunday night.  Since I work the dreaded midnight shift from 1030 PM til 7 AM, my week begins on Sunday nights at 1030, earlier this week since I'll be working overtime!

My plan, make sauce on Saturday morning, make lasagna on Sunday morning, eat lasagna on Sunday night.  I'm using extra lean meat and low fat cheeses, and then I'll avoid eating too many noodles.  This should help me to keep it high protein, low fat, and lower carb than the typical lasagna.  Sorry, I'm not ready to use veggies instead of noodles.

Hoping that my friend the heating pad will help my back to relax and stop spasming.  It would be nice to start the work week not sore!

Luck to you all!
Melissa

I refuse to give in to it and stop working.  My job is not hard.  I sit at a table in an adjustable chair.  I look at small pieces of plastic tubing.  I take and write down measurements of the tubing.  I get up, walk around, and sit back down.  I lift things that weigh less than a can of soup.  Why then, is my body screaming with pain every night when I have hours yet to work?  Simple, really, I have the bad luck to have fibromyalgia, also known as the mystery illness that nobody really knows squat about.  I have been working this job for about a month and a half now, and my pathetic muscles continue to cramp and spasm.  

The small, somewhat repetitive motions that are involved in my job should not be enough to cause anyone pain, and a normal person would find this job restful, even!  You get to sit, but not for too long, and there are a variety of tasks to perform so I can stand up and walk around fairly often.  There's no extended period of standing, and only a little computer time involved.  

I like my coworkers.  This is a big thing, since stress makes fibromyalgia pain so much worse.  I am fairly relaxed as I perform my various tasks, and I can take a break, roll my shoulders, stretch and walk around as often as I need to.  This is the ideal job for someone who can't stand to sit still for too long, or who can't stay on her feet all night.  It seems so crazy that I am having so much pain when this is a great job for me!

Every evening before work I get the heating pad out and sit with it against my back, then take a hot shower and have my husband rub my back down with Ben Gay.  Every morning when I get home I immediately get back on the heating pad to try to get my knotted muscles to relax.  I called my doctor earlier this week requesting something to take at bedtime to help the muscles relax, no call back, no prescription.  I keep thinking that my body will eventually get used to the job and the tasks that I am performing and this will stop.  There is no reason why I cannot have a full time job.  Really. Who am I trying to convince?
 

I'm still losing!  I got the chance to earn some overtime pay this past week, for the first time since I started my job back in late January.  It was nice to have the chance to earn some extra money, plus it shows that my supervisor has a certain amount of faith in me!!  I was happy to work the extra hours, but totally worn out and in a lot of pain by the end of each shift.  I am continuing to have problems with my back.  Not serious back trouble, just painful muscle spasms that won't relax.  Before work I spend time on the heating pad and get a Ben Gay massage from Bob, and after work I spend as much time on the heating pad as I can stand.

I am very happy to be working, and even more happy that things are going well, and that I have a good chance of being hired as an actual company employee, but also worried that my stupid back is going to continue to make me miserable.  I am having a hard time with the pain, and I don't want to turn down the offer of overtime because I want to be a team player.  I really need to figure out how to stretch and relax all these muscles in my back, the ones along either side of the spine, from neck to buttocks.  They are killing me!

On another front, I am this close (fingers about 1/2 inch apart) to getting hired as an actual Fluortek employee!  This means medical insurance, which means that I can get my surgery without paying for the entire thing myself!  All I have to do is keep working hard, not be late or absent, and keep learning the job.  I met with my primary care physician Friday morning to begin my 6 months of weight loss monitoring.  She is pleased with the weight i have lost so far (30 pounds in 5 months) and I will go in monthly to get weighed.  She also gave me a carbohydrate counter to help me out.

I am so glad that I am continuing to lose weight, it is very tough and I am really struggling this week.  It seems that the pain and the long hours make it much harder for me to "do the right thing."  I have gotten used to ignoring my body's constant crying out for food;  I have learned to ignore the hunger pangs coming from my belly.  What is hardest for me is the "head hunger" that tells me that I really need Mac and Cheese or Home Fries, to make me feel better and have some energy.

I am so, so very needy this week, missing my beloved carbs!  I have had a couple of questionable meals, but I have decided to look on the positive side of these choices.  Eating a double cheeseburger may be naughty, it was kinda greasy, but no fries, no soda, and the school system says ketchup is a vegetable, so??  I did break down and have a Chik Fil A chicken biscuit, but I had two servings of chicken and only one biscuit, gave the second portion of bread to the dogs! I didn't even consider those tater tots, although they called out to me in their sensuous, grease soaked voices....

March is here, and I am glad spring is almost here.  Longer days really help with my depression.  I hope spring is sunny and warm, and that my daffodils bloom like crazy.  They are up, but not quite ready to open yet.  My crocuses are also peeking up from the ground, they usually blossom first but this year the daffodils have a head start.  I wish I were able to get outside and work in the garden, I really miss digging and pulling weeds, planting seeds and flowers, and pruning.  If I were healthy I'd be out there this weekend, getting ready for spring to pop.  Hopefully, by this time next year I'll not only be slimmer, I'll also be able to get out there and garden.  It used to be my number one stress relief before the fibromyalgia took it away from me.

Be sure to check out my friend Shelly's blog, she is giving away protein this week, the good stuff! you can find her at http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/
to sign up for the giveaway.

This is a great blog with excellent recipes and "food porn" to show off just how good looking as well as yummy post WLS food can be.  Keep your fingers crossed that I might win this week's giveaway, if you don't win!!

Melissa