4 Months Postop

May 16, 2011

Today is Monday and this Friday I will be 4 months post op.  I haven't weighed in a while, but I weigh about 189.  I'm staying off the scale as much as possible in the month of May; I was weighing too often and starting to play those mind games with myself.  This is much better.  I will go back to weekly weigh ins next month, but I will put the scale away in between...otherwise that thing calls my name every time I walk past it.  Any who, I'm down 72 pounds including the 11 I lost pre-op.  I'm in regular sized clothes (size 14, some 12s).

I concentrate on eating protein and vegetables almost exclusively.  I believe this is why I fill up so fast and have lost so well.  Some days I only eat a few bites per meal and getting the protein down is uncomfortable - but that's just the way it goes sometimes.  I like it.  After eating BIG FOOD for 40 years, it's novel and exciting to eat like a bird.  I know if I was eating yogurt, cottage cheese, crackers, and other slider foods, I would be able to eat a TON of that kind of thing.  So I stick to my surgeon's rules 90% of the time:

1. Eat solid food with a concentration on protein, then veggies
2. No drinking with meals, nor shortly before/after meals
3. No liquid calories at all
4. Eat till you are full

Beef is very easy for me; chicken is difficult.  I do not eat breakfast because it tends to make me ill at the busy time of my work day.  I choose not to resort to yogurt or other slider foods which would be easier to eat that early.  If I can't get the solid protein down, then I eat the amount I can and that's it.  It's working for me.  I lose an average of 3.5 pounds per week.  I'm sure it will slow down, especially now that I'm nearing a more normal, if still overweight, size.  My goal weight is still 120, although I could live with anything under 140.  My surgeon's goal is 157, which I was for years and is still a bit chunky for me.  I'm only 5'3" tall.

I walked regularly for 45 min about 4 times a week for 2 months.  In the last 2 weeks, I've added jogging intervals to my walks, increased the time to 60 minutes, and the frequency to 5 days a week.  I do intervals....30 seconds of jogging, then a one minute walk...repeat for an hour!  I feel great!  All of my bloodwork is perfect, including my liver function.

I do seem to get stomach aches when I haven't eaten for several hours.  I think it may be a hunger queue...or maybe acid?  I plan to call my surgeon about it this week.  I have an appt on July 29, about 10 weeks away.  I hope to be in the 150s at that appt but that may be a bit ambitious.  But I'll work towards it anyway!

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