domestic_goddess
2 Weeks Post-Op
Sep 23, 2008
I absolutely cannot believe it's been two weeks since I had my surgery! I've really been settling into my new lifestyle. It sure is nice to have the time off work to devote to getting myself healthy and establishing really good habits. I weighed myself this morning and I am 267.4. On surgery day I was 281.5, so I lost 14 pounds in 14 days. I'm very happy about that! my BMI is now 39.5, so I'm no longer "morbidly obese," I'm just plain ol' "obese." I had my post-op appointment at OHSU yesterday. I got my "ok" to move to soft foods (FINALLY)! I've been exercising everyday. Walking, elliptical trainer, swimming... Just trying to keep myself active. I haven't really seen or felt difference in my body yet, but I figure I might start noticing when I lose another 20 or 30 pounds. I have 117 pounds to go to hit my goal. One of my shorter-term goals, though, is to lose 100 pounds by my birthday, January 1st. I'm going to have to work hard, but I can do it. There's not much else to report, but I'll be posting regularly about my progress!
September 18th, 2008
Sep 18, 2008
So, I've been pretty bad... I've been weighing myself! 
On my one-week mark I weighed and I was at 271.6! On surgery day I was 281.6, meaning I lost 10 pounds in the first week! Wow! I'm amazing. Truly.
It's funny because there's a lot that you read about regarding the surgery and the process afterwards that do help prepare you, but there are some things that have caught me by surprise since having my surgery. I never really thought about the fact that my strong desire for my favorite foods, my cravings, don't go away. They're still there, just like they were before, only the main factors keeping me from eating them are knowing that if I do I might create a leak in my new pouch, and it'll probably make me ill. I'm still very tempted. Also, I've been finding myself a bit blue lately. I was trying to figure out why and I realized it's because I'm grieving the "loss" of food. Not that I'm not eating any food, but now food is no longer a source of pleasure. I can't take a big bite of yummy, cheesy pizza and experience that satisfying "full" feeling I'm so used to. I can't grab a few of my famous, delicious peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and gobble them down. Not that I'll never be able to eat those things again, but I just won't be able to eat them the same way or for the same reasons I used to. It's a little tough to grasp that. My husband really doesn't understand and can't be there for me in this issue... he's one of those guys that can't, for the life of him, put ON weight and he doesn't really "crave" foods, but doesn't have a problem sitting down and eating most of a pizza or a giant bowl of ice cream. He just doesn't feel like he's missed out on anything if he doesn't eat it. Why are we so different? Why has food been so integral in my everyday life? Why am I so attached? I guess that's why they recommend therapy as part of the WLS process. It's definitely as much mental as it is physical.
Anyway, that's a glimpse into what I'm going through lately. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I've had the surgery. I'm committed to keeping up with the changes required to make this work, there's just a lot more to the success of this surgery than what you see on the surface. I'll be updating more after my two-week mark!
On my one-week mark I weighed and I was at 271.6! On surgery day I was 281.6, meaning I lost 10 pounds in the first week! Wow! I'm amazing. Truly.
It's funny because there's a lot that you read about regarding the surgery and the process afterwards that do help prepare you, but there are some things that have caught me by surprise since having my surgery. I never really thought about the fact that my strong desire for my favorite foods, my cravings, don't go away. They're still there, just like they were before, only the main factors keeping me from eating them are knowing that if I do I might create a leak in my new pouch, and it'll probably make me ill. I'm still very tempted. Also, I've been finding myself a bit blue lately. I was trying to figure out why and I realized it's because I'm grieving the "loss" of food. Not that I'm not eating any food, but now food is no longer a source of pleasure. I can't take a big bite of yummy, cheesy pizza and experience that satisfying "full" feeling I'm so used to. I can't grab a few of my famous, delicious peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and gobble them down. Not that I'll never be able to eat those things again, but I just won't be able to eat them the same way or for the same reasons I used to. It's a little tough to grasp that. My husband really doesn't understand and can't be there for me in this issue... he's one of those guys that can't, for the life of him, put ON weight and he doesn't really "crave" foods, but doesn't have a problem sitting down and eating most of a pizza or a giant bowl of ice cream. He just doesn't feel like he's missed out on anything if he doesn't eat it. Why are we so different? Why has food been so integral in my everyday life? Why am I so attached? I guess that's why they recommend therapy as part of the WLS process. It's definitely as much mental as it is physical.
Anyway, that's a glimpse into what I'm going through lately. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I've had the surgery. I'm committed to keeping up with the changes required to make this work, there's just a lot more to the success of this surgery than what you see on the surface. I'll be updating more after my two-week mark!
I'm Baaaaack!
Sep 12, 2008
Well, I made it! I had no complications and the surgeon was able to do my surgery laparscopically, as planned. I did have a pretty good amount of pain right after surgery and the day after. I was hitting my morphine button relatively regulary, which helped and the pain has been decreasing everyday. The stay at the hospital was pretty good, but I was more than ready to come home! Got back to my house at 1:30 PM or so yesterday, Sept 11th.
The strangest thing to me, that I guess I never read about before surgery, is that I often have a rumbling/gurgling in my tummy when I eat. I researched it online and found out that it's perfectly normal, but I'm finding myself being a bit paranoid about anything that's happening inside me. I want to ensure I'm not going to have any leaks over the next couple of weeks. It takes me forever to eat! I don't actually feel physical hunger and during my pre-op dieting I got a pretty good handle on my "compulsive" eating, so I keep forgetting to eat my measely 4 ounces of food. I'll get the hang of it, though. I did weigh myself, this morning and saw that, in addition to the one more pound I lost prior to surgery, I was down three pounds since surgery, which is great considering I'm still very swollen and holding a lot of fluid. That makes a total of 14 pounds since my highest pre-op weight. I'm going to really try not to weigh myself again until my two week appointment with my surgeon. I kind of want it to be a surprise!
I'm very motivated! I'm keeping a log of everything I'm eating and drinking. I'm making sure to move/exercise everyday even though it's still a bit low-going. I can't wait to see my results progress!
The strangest thing to me, that I guess I never read about before surgery, is that I often have a rumbling/gurgling in my tummy when I eat. I researched it online and found out that it's perfectly normal, but I'm finding myself being a bit paranoid about anything that's happening inside me. I want to ensure I'm not going to have any leaks over the next couple of weeks. It takes me forever to eat! I don't actually feel physical hunger and during my pre-op dieting I got a pretty good handle on my "compulsive" eating, so I keep forgetting to eat my measely 4 ounces of food. I'll get the hang of it, though. I did weigh myself, this morning and saw that, in addition to the one more pound I lost prior to surgery, I was down three pounds since surgery, which is great considering I'm still very swollen and holding a lot of fluid. That makes a total of 14 pounds since my highest pre-op weight. I'm going to really try not to weigh myself again until my two week appointment with my surgeon. I kind of want it to be a surprise!
I'm very motivated! I'm keeping a log of everything I'm eating and drinking. I'm making sure to move/exercise everyday even though it's still a bit low-going. I can't wait to see my results progress!
September 7th, 2008
Sep 07, 2008
So, my surgery is the day after tomorrow. Strangely, I'm not really that nervous. I'm more excited and ready to get this done and start making my efforts count for something. I was actually way more nervous and had a ton of anxiety right after I got my insurance approval and surgery date. It was then that all of this became real. Up until then everything had just been talk of this notion of having surgery, but it wasn't real. I dealt with the anxiety for about a week or ten days, then I was fine. I'm off work. My last day was Thursday because my husband and I took Friday and Saturday to travel a couple hours away for his cousin's wedding. So, I have a whole month approved off. I can go back early if I want to, but... we'll see. 
Since I have a couple of days to myself, I'm working on cleaning up the house, finishing laundry, making sure everything is in order so I can go to the hospital without having to stress about anything. Also, I'm sort of "detoxing" right now until surgery. Just drinking Slimfast shakes and V8 to make sure I'm cleaning out my system as much as possible and losing any additional last-minute pounds.
Well, I need to get working. I'll probably post on Thursday the 11th or Friday the 12th to update how surgery went! Pray for me!!
Since I have a couple of days to myself, I'm working on cleaning up the house, finishing laundry, making sure everything is in order so I can go to the hospital without having to stress about anything. Also, I'm sort of "detoxing" right now until surgery. Just drinking Slimfast shakes and V8 to make sure I'm cleaning out my system as much as possible and losing any additional last-minute pounds.
Well, I need to get working. I'll probably post on Thursday the 11th or Friday the 12th to update how surgery went! Pray for me!!
The Big Day is getting closer!!
Aug 16, 2008
So, I stepped on the scale this morning and saw 285, a number I've not seen in months. That makes me down 4 pounds since my appointment with my surgeon, Very cool. I'm anxious to get out of the 280s. According to my surgeon's recommendation/urge for me to drop 15 pounds before surgery, I should end up at 274 by surgery day. I've been logging all of my food in my CalorieKing programe (highly recommended!) It's just a program downloaded onto my computer that has an immense database of basically every food ever and all of it's nutritional information. It also has a weight and measurement tracker. It'll give you pie graphs of your nutrient breakdowns and then summmarize, based on your weight, activity and food intake, how many pounds per month you're likely to lose if you keep those same figures. AMAZING! I've been using it for over 3 years, but only now am I using it consistently, everyday. In this past week I've only gone over my recommended 1,000-1,200 calories/day and those two days I hit only about 1,600 calories. That's still low enough for me to have lost something, so I'm chipping away at it. Exercise, however, is another story... I have ZERO energy because my body is not used to taking in so few calories. I am finding it hard to feel like doing anything but sleep when I get home from work. I'm going to start regularly taking supplements now. I might as well start enforing the habit before it becomes crucial.
I've been looking over so many peoples' profiles and reading their stories and looking at pictures. I'm SO MOTIVATED! I have a 30 gallon tub full of super-cuteclothes size 16 and smaller that I'm dying to dig into. I will relish in every moment of discarding my plus-size clothes. :)
That's all for today. More later, I s'pose. :)
I've been looking over so many peoples' profiles and reading their stories and looking at pictures. I'm SO MOTIVATED! I have a 30 gallon tub full of super-cuteclothes size 16 and smaller that I'm dying to dig into. I will relish in every moment of discarding my plus-size clothes. :)
That's all for today. More later, I s'pose. :)
Here we go...
Aug 14, 2008
First blog post... okay... lots of pressure.
Well, I created my profile here a few days ago because I've been scheduled for sugery for September 9th. I'm SO excited and SO nervous. My husband and I started talking about the possibility of surgery at the end of 2007. I had been fresh off of Weight Watchers and gained 4 pounds during the whole experience. Ugh! So, in February we decided to really explore this option. I made a call to my insurance company, United Healthcare, who is AMAZING, and they guided the whole process. There were many, many steps to complete (psychological tests, bloodwork, appointments, faxes, etc). After doing everything required, my hospital, OHSU, submitted for insurance approval on Thursday, July 17th. I got a call from my insurance company the following Friday, the 25th with my approval. I sobbed my eyes out.
On Monday, July 28th I was provided with my sugery date of September 9th. Time is flying by! I had my pre-op appointment and testing a couple days ago, on Monday, and my surgeon urged that I lose another 15 pounds before I have surgery, despite the 4 I lost since I was there last. He told me to stick to a high-protein, low-fat diet of about 1,000 to 1,200 calories a day. I've been committed to doing just that. I stocked up on protein shake mix, slim-fast shakes, yogurt and Lean Cuisine-type meals. I've been hungry!! But, so far it seems worth it. I can totally do this!
I've been SO motivated by looking at everyone's Before & After pictures. I tend to look for people close to my age and body type (if possible) to guess at what I might look like after shedding these pounds. I definitely want to keep up with my progress on this site to keep myself accountible and motivated. I just can't wait to have "After" pictures to post for myself!
Well, I created my profile here a few days ago because I've been scheduled for sugery for September 9th. I'm SO excited and SO nervous. My husband and I started talking about the possibility of surgery at the end of 2007. I had been fresh off of Weight Watchers and gained 4 pounds during the whole experience. Ugh! So, in February we decided to really explore this option. I made a call to my insurance company, United Healthcare, who is AMAZING, and they guided the whole process. There were many, many steps to complete (psychological tests, bloodwork, appointments, faxes, etc). After doing everything required, my hospital, OHSU, submitted for insurance approval on Thursday, July 17th. I got a call from my insurance company the following Friday, the 25th with my approval. I sobbed my eyes out.
On Monday, July 28th I was provided with my sugery date of September 9th. Time is flying by! I had my pre-op appointment and testing a couple days ago, on Monday, and my surgeon urged that I lose another 15 pounds before I have surgery, despite the 4 I lost since I was there last. He told me to stick to a high-protein, low-fat diet of about 1,000 to 1,200 calories a day. I've been committed to doing just that. I stocked up on protein shake mix, slim-fast shakes, yogurt and Lean Cuisine-type meals. I've been hungry!! But, so far it seems worth it. I can totally do this!
I've been SO motivated by looking at everyone's Before & After pictures. I tend to look for people close to my age and body type (if possible) to guess at what I might look like after shedding these pounds. I definitely want to keep up with my progress on this site to keep myself accountible and motivated. I just can't wait to have "After" pictures to post for myself!
