GOAL!!! Long w/Pics! Before, will post after in another
So yesterday morning I got on my scale and was shocked to weight 129.8lbs. I was having a PMS eating moment the night before and had not stayed so true to my intake the prior day. My original goal was 125 (and I may still get there) but I changed my goal to 130 recently and I am happy with that decision. I have NEVER actually reached a weight loss goal before now...EVER!!
I am wearing a size 4 pant & small tops. I was wearing 20W pants and 2X tops when I started my journey. I was wearing a 44DD bra and now wear a 34C. I may need a B but I need to get measured. My consult weight was 230. I had Cigna PPO and had a 6 month class requirement (it was later shortened to 3 classes after I finished my 5th class) so I was able to get my surgery scheduled in July 2012.
I started my 2 week liquid diet at 224.2lbs (seen below) and was 209.5 on 7/24/12 before my surgery. My surgery was fine, I was informed when I woke up that I had a very fatty liver and also had a small hiatal hernia repaired. That repair has really helped with the issues I was having with food coming up, I even had a prior Edoscopy that missed it. Once I came out of my drug coma around 10pm (put under around 1:30pm for surgery), I started to walk the halls, just a couple of laps to start. I would take a nap and then walk more and more. I think I was up to about 30 laps by the time I went home at 4pm the next day (had to wait for the hubby to get off work and pick me up).
I drank 1 Isopure Clear each day for the first 7 days after surgery and I walked around the neighborhood in the morning. It was July in Texas, so I got off my pain meds the next day so I could drive to the local Super Target or fancy Kroger and would walk around in there for about 30 -60 minutes a day.
I could have easily gone back to work the week after my surgery but I look at wrecked cars outside and it was 112 degrees, so I went ahead and took off the full 2 weeks. It was nice to be able to nap when I needed it and get used to my eating and drinking schedule. My surgery was on a Tuesday, if I had a desk job, I would have easily been able to go back to work that following Monday, but I would have been tired. Speaking of being tired, it took me about a month to not be so tired anymore. Luckily it was slow when I did go back to work, so I was able to ease into things. I drive around all day for my job so I had to learn to take my food and shakes with me.
Weeks 2 & 3 were full liquids and I could not tolerate cold water for about a month (I can now gulp ice cold water again). I hated warm or room temp water normally but that is what I could do for the first month.
Week 4 mushies and I think by Week 5 started more regular soft foods (I can't find my book right now since I have not used it in so long now).
Once I went back for my 6 week follow up, I was released for full exercise and I hit the gym. I did the elliptical and built up to 1 hour and weight training 4 days a week. I did shoulders and back one day, chest & arms one day and legs the other. I gradually added in pushups most days and abs. I had to have my Left Knee ACL done 12/28/12 since I had already met my out of pocket, it did not cost me much at all. This has slowed down my working out considerably. I am just now really able to do as much as I was before knee surgery. I think it really is 90% diet and 10% exercise. But the exercise makes me feel good and I noticed my mood dropped after my knee surgery. Now that I am below my goal, I am going to focus more on working out to see if I can get some nice abs (even under the sags). I do have muscles and I need to build my rear back up, it has suffered some extra sagging since I had the knee surgery.
Do I have sagging skin? Yes, is it bad, not really but I have noticed it is getting better all the time. Will I have plastics? Right now financially, it is not an option. But I will wait until I have maintained my weight for 2 years and then see where I am. Do I look great in clothes? YES! Will I look great in a bikini? NO, but I am 41 and not sure I need to wear one anyway! My arms are probably the thing I hate the most. I can wear sleeveless but not my fav, I think it is more noticable to me and not really anyone else. I look great in shorts, not Daisy Dukes, but regular shorts. Are my boobs sagging? Yes, but they were before, I get the minimizer bras from Soma and love them. The one I get is usually 2 $59 or $69, I have been through 3 sizes, I always get a light colored one and dark colored one. I wear an Enell Size 0 bra when I work out to hold them perfectly still. I have a co-worker that had surgery 3 weeks ago so I just pass them onto her. I also gave her all of my clothes except that pair of jeans in my first photo.
Emotions, out of control during the liquid diet before surgery. I had to break up with food, at the time this was the worst 2 weeks of my entire life! My whole social life revolved around eating and drinking. My biggest excitement was planning where I was going to eat. Now sometimes, I like to eat before I go somewhere and just drink tea and enjoy the company of my friends & family. I also loved to drink wine. I have had it a couple of times but even vodka has calories & I would much rather eat my calories than drink them. I think my husband is a little sad by this, but I will cut loose everyone once in a while. He has a designated driver now and so do my friends. I am just as much fun sober anyway! :) At least that is what everyone tells me!
Is there anything I cannot eat? NO, that is good and that is bad. I can tolorate rice, bread, pasta ,pizza, cakes, pies...do I eat them everyday? No but I can plan to have something like that and I log it. That is usually once or twice a month only because I choose not need eat those things daily. The only thing that made me a little nautious was a bite of pecan pie. But so far that is it. I stick to my plan 90% of the time. So what plan do I follow? Well, I think that Frisco and Elina are right on with the 600-800c a day, but honestly, I usually end up around 850 most days. I shoot for 40g carbs but some days I have a little more. I try for 80 - 100g of protein daily. I was not always the best about my water intake and it is a daily struggle for me. If I go to the gym, I take a bottle of water with me and drink the entire thing while I am on the elliptical. I still drink 1 -2 and sometimes 3 protein shakes a day. I love Synthrax Mint Cookie, I mix it with a Folgers Morning Cafe K Cup every morning. That is my favorite. I also mix my shakes with Unsweetened Coconut Milk (so creamy), Sugar Free Liquid Coffee Mate or jus****er. I love Unjury Chicken Soup and Unjury Chocolate Splendor (I can do that one with water or Fage 0% Greek Yogurt). I eat a lot of tuna, Kroger Reduced Fat Turkey Meatballs, Turkey Pepperoni, chicken breast, fish and I still eat small amounts of steak, but it has to be really good like from Costco since I have to chew it for so long. I enjoy food more now, because I have to savor it. If something does not taste really good, not worth it to eat it now.
I log everyting, the good, the bad and the ugly everyday on MyFitnessPal. I wear a FitBit Ultra (they have a new one now) and it is synched to MFP. My goal is 10K steps a day, I make it most days.
I take Celebrate Chewable Multivitamins in Strawberry Pineapple 2xs/day, Opurity (from Unjury) Calcium Citrate 2/2xs daily, Natures Bounty D3 -5000iu once daily, Celebrate Iron Berry Flavor once daily. Celebrate B 12 Sublingual. Now that I have reached goal, I am going to switch to less expensive vitamins once I finish up what I have. I purchased some Trader Joe's High Potency Chewables $14.99/90 tablets includes Iron. Going back to a Caramel Calcium and will get Natures Bounty Subligual B 12. I know people have different opinions on vitamins, but I decided that since I was paying for a surgery I would spend money on my vitamins. I know that you don't have to, but I wanted vitamins designed for people that had WLS. I am rarely ever sick. I did catch a stomach virus at Christmas but it cleared up fast and I am just getting over my first cold since surgery. My husband gave that one to me. I started my vitamins the day I got home after surgery. I bought some expensive liquid ones at Total Nutrition and they were too gross, at my NUTs suggestion I took Centrium Silver Chewables and then once I finished that I was able to tolerate the liquid ones, I am cheap, so I finished them, but will never ever get those again! I also never could finish the liquid Calcium, it may never get used.
Did my taste change after surgery, that is a big fat YES...I found that I can tolerate things I never really cared for before. Olives, I try once a year, because I really want to like them, but I never did...now, like them, not love them, but don't gag and really find myself wanting them on things. I love orange and yellow bell peppers raw! I love love love hummus. Sabra is good but Trader Joes is my favorite. Thank goodness we have one in FW now. I just keep my thermal bag in my trunk just in case I am working in the area, because you don't want to go there on the weekends!
Did my hair fall out? Yes, if you look at my profile, you will see where I cut it all off. But honestly, it was already starting to grow back in by the time I did it. My hairdresser says that I have a lot of new hair. I loved it short but I am going to grow it a little longer for now, but I may end up cutting it back off again anyway.
Any regrets? Sure, the first week I had severe buyers remorse, I could not feel my restriction. I found out from OH Forums, you really don't until you start real foods. You have to measure and weigh everything. I always have. If you go out to eat, look up the menu before you go and have a plan.
I was an emotional mess for a couple of weeks as my body's fat cells released all of my hormones. You know, crying over commercials. I would only watch recorded TV so I could fast forward through the food commercials. Now they don't bother me and I love to watch the Food Network. Only now, it does not trigger me to go eat. I can watch for entertainment value and get some ideas for Sleeve Friendly recipes.
This was not a decision that I took lightly. I had to change insurance the year before I went to see my surgeon since one plan we had at work did not cover WLS. It was a more expensive plan and I had a lot of out of pocket costs. I wanted a Lap Band, thank God my surgeon talked me out of it. I had struggled for years on WW, Medifast, Jenny Craig, Atkins. I worked out very hard and never could control my hunger. I felt like a failure and gave up. My husband was not on board at first, but knew that I need to do something drastic and supported me in his own way.
I did not keep it a secret and still don't, but I did not post it on FB, if someone comments on my weight, I always PM them and tell them. Turns out I have about 4 friends that had DS that I did not realize. I want to help others. There were a few people I had a hard time telling but now everyone has been great. I have only gotten the nasty type reply from one person, but I don't see her very often and she is one of those marathon running types that is obsessed with her weight and thinks I took the easy way out, I really don't care. I met my goal!
During my pre-op time I did have Sleep Apnea and was offically diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. It runs in my family, my material grandmother is insulin dependent (never more than 20lbs overweight) and my mother is also. Even though I am at a healthy weight, my fasting blood sugar is still borderline, so even with my weight loss, genetics may win that one.
I can now walk everywhere without pain. I can actually go shopping all day long and outlast my 10 year old. I am not longer touching the steering wheel with my belly. I can walk past people in small spaces and not hit them with my butt. I can clean my house without getting too tired. People are nicer to me, sad but true. I feel better about myself and I put out a more positive vibe. I am not worried about if people just see my fat and not me. I don't get winded walking up a small flight of stairs.
I saw my pledge sister yesterday and she was commenting on how fast I lost the weight, but when you figure it out, I am 8.5 months out this month and I have lost 79.7lbs since my surgery in July that is an average of 9.4/month. I think the difference is now I am steadily losing and not losing and then gaining and having to re-lose over and over. It has slowed since the knee surgery but I expected that. I also knew that I would not lose as fast as some. My PA at the surgeon's office says I lost fast. Ok, and no I still don't see the tiny person I am. Even though I weight 129.8, I do look smaller because I have a lot of muscle mass, I always have. So 125 may not look good one me, I may find out, I may not. I want to look more like an athletic fitness type than a skinny thin person.
I get on OH daily, though, I wonder if it is a full moon because there seems to be a little bit of drama right now. I have not seen that too much since I have been around here. I come here for the kick in the butt I need from time to time. Some people can't handle that though, but I need some tough love when I am a whiny mess! My PM doesn't always work right on this computer, so if you PM me, please don't be offended if I don't answer, feel free to email me [email protected]
Here are some photos, a word of caution, please take before photos, but look at them even if you are depressed and don't want to or you will have to live with ones like this!!
Thank you for giving such a comprehensive overview. I am scheduled for VSG in May. We have similar starting weights/heights. I am hoping to do as well as you. Also, you are right about what you write re: cap sleeves. I went to a "what not to wear" seminar and cap sleeves call attention to the arms at the place we specifically do not want. Short or elbow length or even sleeveless is actually better. My biggest fear is loose skin. I work out know and have been told by my Dr. that I'm muscular and it's not as a big a risk as it is in my mind. Not to be weird, but are minor batwings your only loose skin?. I"m kinda worried about my back and tummy as I have seen some amazing pics. I do work out 3 times a week- I do water, cycle and eliptical working with weights 1-2 times, esp arm and back.
