shannn

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Well, school started and I got slack about updating. I've lost 46 pounds now. I keep seeing  the Sara Rue Jenny Craig commercial where she talks about losing 50 pounds. She took 30 weeks to lost 50 pounds and I've lost close to that amount in 10 weeks (2 weeks preop + 8 weeks postop) And~~ the best part~~for the first time in my life, I feel completely confident that that weight will STAY off!! I lost about 40 pounds on JC 2 years ago and I regained it plus 10 more. I've finally taken charge of my weight!

Not that things are perfect. I'm still throwing up some (although not as much). I was so happy that I finally got some Chinese chicken with vegetables (my favorite!) to stay down last week. The trick seems to be to eat more slowly and really listen when my body tells me I'm full. I'm consistently getting 50'ish ounces of water + at least one protein shake. I'd like to get to 64 ounces of water on top of the shakes and some days I do, but not always yet. I've started on vitalday's full regimin although taking all those pills is really making me burp all the time!!! 

I'm still having trouble coming up with protein rich recipes to feed myself and my family. I didn't have any idea how difficult it would be to plan things that were carb free. Everything seems to have carbs in it!

I get lots of compliments lately. It's nice, although I'm still not able to see much of a difference. I just still have so far to go that it doesn't seem like I've gotten very far at all. Although 46 pounds is nothing to make fun of! I've lost the equivalent of my 6 year old in weight!! HOW is that possible?

So, I'm five weeks out today. I've lost 33.5 pounds including the weight from my pre-op diet. I had my one month appointment last Thursday and she made sure to tell me that I was on the lower end of the weight loss percentages. Of course, I immediately assumed that I would be the one person who wouldn't rock her DS..... I look at the lab rat data and most people who started where I did lost 30'ish pounds in their first month and I lost 20. Oh well *sigh*

The nutritionist gave me the next phase of my diet. I know a lot of the guidelines they give us are really RNY so I thought I'd share them here and hopefully get some input from y'all.

1) 3 meals per day, no snacks (protein drinks count as a liquid not a snack)
2) Meal size: 3 oz maximum
3) Meal time should not exceed 20 minutes to avoid overeating. Eat only to the point of fullness and do not continue to eat or finish the meal at a later time.
4) Fluid load by drinking 4-8 oz prior to a meal to help prevent overeating.
5) 60-75 grams of protein per day and less than 30 grams of fat
6) 64 oz fluid per day

Right now I'm eating 500-600 calories a day so I can't imagine that I need to be worrying about overeating.

My biggest problem is still eating too much/ too fast and the food coming back. I'm getting better but I know it's a psychological thing/my eyes too big for my stomach.

 Things are going okay. My doctor wants me to still be on liquids (a change from my education class), but I've ventured to a few solids here and there. I've mostly had soup, ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, scrambled eggs, those kinds of things. I was really bad this weekend (we were camping) and took a few bites of a s'more. (lost 3 pounds over the weekend anyway). If something doesn't agree with me, I know immediately and it comes right back (or if I eat one bite too many the same thing happens).

I've lost 30 pounds total so far (11 pre op on the liquid diet). I'm 4 weeks out today! It seems amazing that it's been 4 weeks. I have my 1 month checkup on Thursday. I meet with the nurse practitioner and with the dietitian at that time. It took me 5 months on Jenny Craig to lose about 40 pounds so this does seem amazing.

I'm not in love with my DS yet, but I'm getting close. It's hard not to be able to eat when others are eating. I had forgotten how much of eating is social time as well. And I'm an emotional eater. With my mom not doing well at all, part of me just wants to stuff my face!

So, it's my 3 week update. I weigh 274, which means I've lost 12 pounds since surgery and 23 pounds all together. I have been really down on myself since most of the lab rats near my weight lost 25-30 pounds in their first month. Of course, I've got another week and half before I get to my one month date, but I'm not very hopeful that I'll lose that much more. I keep telling myself to quit being stupid. If I was doing Weight Watchers, I'd be thrilled with 12 pounds in 3 weeks....4 pounds a week! But of course with Weight Watchers I'd be eating some real food too!!

So far, I can't imagine that my malabsorption is doing much at all. I'm not eating anything to speak of. I'm having 2 protein shakes a day and filling up my water bottle 2 times. (64 ounces) Then I'm having 2 or 3 tablespoons of other things as I get hungry. I've thown up a bunch of stuff...I think because I eat too much. 2 tablespoons seems like you've just started a meal!!! I've successfully eaten ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, fried egg with cheese in it, Wendy's chilli. I've thrown up Wendy's chilli, eggs, chinese food (pureed) and plenty of other things. Honestly, sometimes eating seems more trouble than it's worth.

But I want to eat. I want to eat like I used to. I want to drown my emotions in food. My mom's cancer has gotten much worse and it's stealing her from me. She's not herself and it's killing me. All I want to do is go to some restaurant and stuff my face. But I've taken that comfort away haven't I? This is what is meant by buyer's remorse, I'm afraid.

Not a very cheery update. Guess the hormone dump has started because I am WAY down right now. I'm hating my life and every facet of it. It takes everything in me to pretend when people are around that I'm not miserable.

My freaking' doctor decided to change his protocol. After saying that I could advance to purees, he's decided that DS patients need to spend 4 weeks on liquids. I was doing fine on purees and it really pissed me off because it's cook book medicine. She didn't look at how I'm doing just some arbitrary new rule. Honestly I don't think I'm going to listen.

They gave me the results of my preop labs.

BUN nitrogen. 17
Creatinine. .64
Sodium. 134
Potassium. 4.1
Chloride. 99
Carbon dioxide. 24
Calcium. 9.6
Iron total. 80
Iron binding. 482
Vitamin A. 58
Vitamin E. 11.2
White blood cell. 9.1
Red blood cell. 4.77
Hemoglobin. 14.8
Hematocrit. 42.9
Vitamin B12. 362
Vitamin D. 36
Vitamin B1. 148
Vitamin K. 738

So I'm one week out from my surgery.

The lows
- I gained 5 pounds in the hospital. I know... It was water weight but it's still frustrating when you've lived through that accursed preop diet.
-My formally palatable chewable vitamins now taste like ground up donkey ass and make me gag.
- I'm trying to wean myself off the hydrocodone so I can drive but it still hurts to walk across the room. I'm sure not walking for miles like some postops. My recliner has my ass print firmly ingrained in it.

The highs!
- I lost the 5 pounds plus another 5 for a minus 10 pound first week loss! Again I know the first 5 were water weight and don't really count but I'll take it.
-I'm off all of my BP meds and my highest reading so far has been 128/78. I'd say that I no longer have high blood pressure!
- I'm off 2 of my 3 diabetes meds and I've only had to take metformin 2x since surgery. My highest blood sugar reading has been 217 with most of my readings in the 120s. I'm not out of the woods yet but I sure do see the light!

It's fun to have some of my own news to share.