I am just about 1 year post-op!  Holy cow...where did the time go?!  This has been a very difficult and exciting year!

 

-I am officially 103 pounds down from my starting weight of 386 pounds.  I plateaued for a long time but I am starting to lose weight again.

-I have a fun little side effect from the surgery...KIDNEY STONES!  I developed a 3mm stone in the left kidney and a 7mm stone in the right.  Long, painful story short I had to have the right one broken up and removed.  I am doing a lot better now but they could always come back.  I see my Urologist again at the end of the month to see how I can prevent stones and verify that I haven't developed any new ones.

-I have an amazing new boyfriend named John.  We get along amazingly well and he is an incredible guy!

 

I guess that is about it for now.  I'll try to update more often but I am so busy with John, work, my new apartment, the holidays, etc.

Well, I am officially 6 months post-op on Tuesday.  Boy does time fly!  Here are some little factoids about what is going on now:

-I am down about 60 pounds from surgery day and 91 since I started this whole journey last year.
-I broke the 300-pound mark a few weeks ago!
-I still don't feel any different physically.
-I am now wearing a comfortable 22/24 and am starting to shrink out of those even.  I started at a 30/32.
-I can still eat a decent quantity but it is still not as much as before surgery.
-I don't dump, meaning I can still eat all the sugar I want without getting sick.  I still try to limit, though.
-I have my first ever boyfriend!!!  This surgery gave me the confidence to go out and find someone to love me and I did!

My doctor is happy with my progress but she and I both know I can be doing even better.  I don't work out as often as I should (spend too much time with Chris), eat out too much (too many dates with Chris), and snack when at work (nothing to do with Chris).  My goals right now are just to work out when I can, make healthy choices at restaurants, and snack less.

I am 4 months out and about 50 pounds down from surgery day.

Emotionally I am doing better now that I can eat anything I want.  Unfortunately, I am one of the few people that don't dump (getting sick when eating too much sugar) so I am back to my old eating habits.  I am working on changing my ways but it is hard when the main reason I had the surgery isn't there to stop me.

My big issue right now is quantity.  I am able to eat about 2 cups of food, which is about 1 cup more than I am supposed to.  I also get hungry very quickly and very often.  I have an appointment with my surgeon on the 23rd to discuss it.  I can tell you right now that there is no way I am going under the knife again so she better not be talking about revision.  I am hoping there is a pill or supplement that I can take that will help slow the digestion or keep my fuller longer.

I will update more after I see the surgeon in a few weeks.  Thanks for checking in on me.  :-)

It has been a very long two-and-a-half months.  I am down about 33 pounds from surgery day but I don't really feel any different and my depression is kicking my butt.  I am not past the regret phase yet but things are a lot better now that I can eat anything I want...but in smaller quantities.  I will do a more thorough post after my 3-month check up.  Hopefully I will finally be happy with my decision.  :-/

I have already had an official plateau!  I lost nothing for a full week.  People keep saying that I look thinner so maybe I was losing inches instead of weight.  I also joined Curves so I was probably building muscle.  Although I am bummed, there are plenty of reasons and at least I didn't gain!  This morning I weighed myself and am down .7 pounds in one day so I think I am back on track.

Psychologically I am still struggling a bit.  I bought a book online that I am hoping will help.  I am also going to my first support group meeting on Thursday.

It has been four weeks.  Four long, hard, crazy weeks.  After two weeks when I could start eating pureed foods, I felt a lot better; more human.    I have been living on blended chili, tuna, applesauce, and oatmeal.  The last few days I have been working on non-blended foods like eggs and fish.  That did not go so well.  Today I had scrambled eggs for breakfast.  They got painfully stuck.  After a few minutes, I threw them up.  I sipped water for a while and at lunch I tried to eat fish and mashed potatoes.  They, too, got stuck and came right back up.  I called the nurse and she said that eggs are notorious for getting stuck.  Once that hapens, everything is irritated and swollen which makes food harder to keep down.  Now I have to go back to liquids for a day, then purees for a day, then back to soft foods.

I had my first follow-up today.  I lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks; and 24 pounds in 2 months.  The doctor was happy with 10 pounds but I was hoping for a few more after all my hard work these last 2 weeks.  But as my mom said, if I hadn't gone through with all of the pre-op stuff and the surgery I would weigh 400 pounds by now so I should be happy.

I got my first taste of real food tonight!  Mashed Potatoes and Gravy!  It was superb, probably because it wasn't protein!!!  I finally got to use the baby spoons I got at my Surgery Shower in August.  I can also have oatmeal, yogurt, pudding, "blenderized" scrambled eggs, and smoothies; anything smooth that can be blended.