Happy Surgiversary to Me!

Mar 12, 2010

Well it's here. My 1 yr surgiversary. Well huh. I've known it was coming and I was really hoping to be in One-Derland by my 1 yr but it didn't happen. And I'm slightly disappointed that it didn't happen. But overall, it's been a wild year. I have lost 137 lbs since Valentine's Day last year or 124 lbs since surgery. Really - how can I complain about that?  Last year, I was super morbidly obese with a BMI of 55 and today, I'm a slimmer 32 & change BMI. It's been a slightly slower journey for me than some other VSG-ers I know but I can't compare myself - my friends were all in the lower 40's and in all honesty, they have followed a far more restricted diet than I have. By my choice.  But really, if I'm honest with myself (and that's the whole point of this journey, right??), I haven't followed a diet per se - this is the way I will be eating for the rest of my life and I'm ok with that. I'm happy eating what I do and living as such.  I dabbled with exercise in the first 6 months as my weight got more manageable. I became more and more active in my daily living (ie. parking further away at the stores, going up & down the stairs more at home, etc) and from about Dec 1st onwards, I have added 30+ min of exercise at least 3x a week (and now it's more like 4-5 x a week when I can).

Co-morbidities in March 2009: sleep apnea (treated with CPAP from March 2008), slightly elevate BP (120-130/90 or so), slightly high cholesterol, sciatica, light stress incontinence.

Co-morbidities today: NONE. I still need to go for my follow up sleep test but I haven't needed or used my CPAP since March 2009 right after my surgery. It cause me to have great gas and pain and the respiratory therapist at Barix monitored my O2 sats when I slept one night and felt I was safe to discontinue and by the time I got home 5 days post-op, I was no longer snoring (to my husband's shock) and so I have felt that I was at a far less risk than pre-op. Was easily seen too as my neck measurement dropped from 17-18" at surgery to 15" in less than 6 wks. 

Exercise in late spring 2009: able to walk 30 min on the treadmill at speed 3 and found that slightly challenging. 

Exercise in March 2010? I'm hitting the gym  to do at least 1 exercise class (60 min ea) a week - usually Zumba. The other days, I am doing a training regime to prepare for the Dr. Freedhoff Try-a-Tri in May. So right now, I'm riding the bike for 20-30 min @ 60-70% maxHR and then immediately hitting the treadmill to run. So I'm doing a modified C25K run - I skip the 5 min warmup as I am from the bike and I go right into the first run. I just finished week 4 (3 min run, 90 sec walk, 5 min run, 2.5 min walk and repeat) and Sunday I start week 5 which works up to a 10 min run or a 20 min run - I'm afraid to look.  But my walking is now at a speed of 3.8-4 mph and I'm running at a 4.5-4.7mph pace (compared to barely being able to keep up at 4 mph when I started "running" in late Nov/early Dec).

I had my bloodwork done last week. I haven't been very good at taking my multi-vitamins. I am not a pill taker - I find every 2-3rd one got stuck and was uncomfortable. And the chewable? Blech... So I really try and eat a balanced diet to make up for it. And I did pretty well. My vitamin D was slightly low (74-200 is considered "normal") at 54 and it's the end of winter folks. So I'm betting 75% of Canadians or more who don't take vitamins would be in that range. So I'm on 2000 iu until shorts & t-shirts weather and then Dr. F wants me to take 1000 iu until fall again. And my B12 was low. So I've on 1000 iu (or mg?)/daily. That's it.

I take NO meds - no acid reducers, PPIs, etc.  I eat 5-6 meals/snacks a day. On most days, I have breakfast around 7-7:30am, have a snack (often a cheese string/peanut butter/almonds 1oz) about 9:30-10'ish, lunch around noon, a snack around 3-3:30 when the kids get home (cheese & crackers, half a high protein pita with PB, yogurt), dinner around 7pm or so and if I'm hungry, a snack around 9pm.

Lunch/Dinner tends to be 2-2.5 oz of dense protein such as chicken or steak. Maybe 1 pc of whole wheat/grain bread with a tbsp of mayo to make a sandwich on occasion.  A treat lunch out at McD's is a cheese burger with half the bun and a few french fries. I do not drink at meals although I do find I sometimes have a TimBit without thinking while I drink my coffee from Tim's but that's not all that often - maybe 1x every 10 days or so? I have the occasional sip of pop but it's few & far between. I can honestly say I thought I'd really miss pop but in the year since my surgery, I'd be surprised to learn I'd had more than 2L of pop (mix of Gingerale, Diet Coke or Coke).  I don't really miss it like I did early out. Surprising how "social" pop is/was and I just ordered it and drank it because "you do" when you're at a restaurant.  Until late January, I had the occasional bite of vegetables at dinner - usually a few bites of broccoli, carrots, etc. I'm now able to eat more salads - so I can order a Baja Chicken when out for lunch and I eat the chicken breast and probably 1/8th of the bowl of salad which I then take home and eat for the next 2-3 meals. LOL  I find it so very filling still but it doesn't keep me full so I'm hungry within an hour.  So re-learning things like this.

Lifestyle wise - it's just unreal. I enjoy exercise and going to the gym. I think I've been really lucky to find Zumba that I really love doing (I was a dancer in my youth and I sill love doing dance!). And I've registered for the Try a Tri in late May plus a 5K run with a few other VSG friends in Toronto. I still may sneak one in sooner in April if I can coordinate my dates for my 1 yr follow up appt with Dr. Pop as a friend who lives in Detroit wants to run with me. So we'll see how that goes.

I've also decided to that maintain (well - to get to goal and stay there!), I need to make some choices to get me there and stay there and that includes exercise. I have decided to go forward and pursue my certifications so that I can teach group exercise classes. I have already complete a course that allows me to teach Zumba Gold (which is the Zumba class designed for older adults & couch potatoes!) and Drums Alive (www.drums-alive.com) however I need some more background to be more comfortable teaching in a group setting. So.... I registered to take my certification through the YMCA and I'm 1/4 of the way there - I'm finishing up my Basics tomorrow (it's a 24 hr total class), then onto Group Fitness Fundamentals (Mar 27), then Choreography in early April (Apr 10th), an apprenticeship which I'm arranging with folks at the Y who I've met and then my First Aid/CPR on Apr 18th. All set. Woo!

So that's a quick wrap up. Here's some numbers for you number crunchers.  I still have a ways to go - I have a goal of 175 before plastics (either an extended TT or lower body lift/LBL) in late 2010/early 2011 which 27 lbs more. I have a consult with Dr. B for a breast reduction booked for mid-May (and another follow up consult with Dr. S for my LBL in early May 2010). My panni is rather gross and flaps when I run/jump but having had twins while obese did wonders for my tummy. My boobs have finally started to really deflate and now I'm starting to see the oranges in tube socks comments. Ugh... My arms have bat wings but they are starting to tone up a little. I'm still going to probably need surgery on them but it's not as bad as I feared. My thighs? Well - they are worse than my bat wings but I'm not sure I'll get surgery there unless they get realllllllly bad. They're not pretty but they're not horrific at least.

HW: 339

1 mth post-op: 290 (-36 lbs)
2 mths post-op: 279 (-11 lbs)
3 mths post-op: 269 (-10 lbs)
4 mths post-op: 256 (-13 lbs)
5 mths post-op: 242 (-14 lbs)
6 mths post-op: 236 (-6 lbs)
7 mths post-op: 229 (-7 lbs)
8 mths post-op: 223 (-6 lbs)
9 mths post-op: 214 (-9 lbs)
10 mths post-op: 209 (-5 lbs)
11 mths post-op: 205 (-4 lbs)
12 mths post-op: 202 (-3 lbs)

TOTAL LOST TO DATE: 137 lbs!!

Timeline goals to aim for to see if I am on track to lose 100% EWL:

25% EWL by two months
50% EWL by six months
80% EWL by twelve months
100% EWL by eighteen months

Take surgery weight and subtract  goal weight. This will give the EWL%. Then divide the EWL by current weight to get the timelime goal.

highest weight = 339
goal weight = 160
EWL = 179

25% EWL by two months = 45 (294 pounds) MET (277 lbs)
50% EWL by six months = 90 (249 pounds) MET (at 5 mths so ahead of my 6 mth surgiversary on 9/12)
80% EWL by twelve months = 143 (196 pounds) 6 lbs to get to this goal. :(  So close!! 

As of today, I have lost 77% of my EWL!!

I so love my sleeve!!

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