Turtle Lynn

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Only 3 lbs away from my lowest Band weight of 187 lbs!!!!!!!!!  I am getting there!!!! 

I will be 11 weeks out tomorrow and am just 2.5 lbs shy of having lost 50% of my excess weight. . .how amazing is that?!?!?!?!  (237-140=97 lbs, 1/2 of 97 is 48.5 and I am 46.5 lbs lost now!!!!!  This sooooooooo blows my mind. 

Also, my 14 jeans and jean shorts were falling down my butt this weekend, I think I am actually going to have to go get some 12's!!!! 

I found a pair of black jeans, which we all know, for some reason black jeans run smaller than blue jeans. . .anyway, they were so tight when I lost weight before I could only wear them for 5 minutes before I envisioned the button flying off and busting the mirror. . . .long story short. . . .they are LOOSE on me now!!!!!!  I am so happy I found them and tried them on, I can't believe, again, 14's with no stretch in them and they are loose and were actually starting the downward slide lol. 

I am sooooooooooooooo LOVING my RNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As far as my blood work goes, my D is low, so I was told to start taking in extra Vitamin D. 

My "good" cholesterol is low, so I have to exercise to bring that up.

My Hemoglobin A1c is down to 7% from 9% (which is a big drop!) and I am only 1% point away from being in the "normal" range now for diabetes. 

My triglycerides are normal, on the low side even, and I am off my meds for them.

My cholesterol is down to 120 from the 200's. . .still on med's for that for now. 

My hemoglobin and hematocrit just barely met minimum, so I was told to start taking 2 iron tabs a day. . . .blech.  They make me burp, yuck! 

I get my official 3-month blood work next month when I see my surgeon, this was just some generalized testing my PCP did to see where I was with most things, and she wanted to check my Vitamin D and Calcium. 

Calcium is a little low, but still in the normal range, so she is okay with that. 

 
........I guess I'm NOT a WLS failure, the RNY is working for me!  

Yeah, that was kind of random, but even though I was successful temporarily with the Band I still felt like such a failure, like geez, I can't even get weight loss surgery, right!

I am 4.5 lbs away from my lowest Band weight, 187 lbs. . .and I am not yet 3 months out from RNY. . .this blows my mind!!!!!  I am shrinking out of clothes left and right. . .ummm yeah,  bras too, let me tell you how bad THAT sucks. . .waaaahhhhhhhh. . . ......okay, done whining.  Depending on the cut, I am in either a 38D or 36DD bra, down from a 44DD pre-surgery.....that's a BIG drop!!!!! 

I am in XL shirts, even some 16/18 shirts, and mostly size 14 jeans, yup, I said it, JEANS. . .not the stretchy kind either!  In skinny/stretchy jeans I am in a Juniors 15-17....O-M-G JUNIORS!!!!   Aaaaand my favorite pair of Juniors 17s that I wore religiously when I was this weight previously are TOO BIG and I can't keep them up. . .(please refer to prior posting about me having a pancake butt and needing to buy one off of Ebay )..........sooooooo it looks like I need to find a NEW favorite pair. . okay, maybe I have, they are a 15 in Juniors, light gray skinnies, and cute as can be.. . I uhhhh sort of stole them from my 15-yo daughter lol (ssshhhhhh!)

I go back in September for my 3-month visit with my surgeon.  He likes you to have lost at least 25% of your excess weight at that point. . .wow, really?!!?!?  Cuz I thought I was losing SLOW and here I'm almost at the 50% of excess weight lost in 10 weeks!!!!!!!  Not looking a gift horse (or RNY) in the mouth, just VERY grateful that I am doing something right and am not a WLS failure.  

Now, am I worrying about the future and maintenance. . .yup, sure am, because THAT was the hard part last time, but this time around I have a tool that is actually working, so say a prayer,  do a happy dance, cross your fingers and toes and hit me with some fairy dust  that I will be able to maintain my success, and not fail my tool in the future when I am out of the "honeymoon" phase!

 
I am quite happy with that!  Still sorting through clothes left and right.  It's really funny when I forget and grab a 2x or 3x shirt and it just hangs on me. . . . what a difference 8 weeks has made!  

Of course, I still have a bunch of Larges I can't yet get in to, but I am in an XL right now, which is better than the 2x-3x's I was wearing.  I'm back in my 14 jeans and still some 16s; can't wait to get back into the 12's and REALLY looking forward to buying 10's!!!!!!!!

I don't know about anyone else, but I get sooooooo starving hungry, stomach grumbling, feel like I wanna chew my arm off and than eat a few bites of something and I'm done.  Half the time I don't even want to finish what I started eating.  I am actually BORED with food, which I NEVER thought I would feel, let alone have the words come out of my mouth!!!!!!  

I mean, come on, with my first surgery (LapBand 6 yrs ago) I was pushing 290 lbs. . .you don't get that way from NOT eating. This time around I was up to 237 preop and gaining.  Eating soooooooo many high calorie meals it was unreal.  A pint of Ben and Jerry's several times a week, sometimes 2 a night to "put out the fire" from my reflux and now, I don't always finish 1/4 cup or a 1/2 cup of food. . . .Really?  Did he do a lobotomy on me too while he was in there?!?!?  

It really makes me think about how big a part our hormones play in making us "hungry" and how they seem so harmless yet can totally wreak havoc on our bodies.  I have a pouch now so all that ghrelin that was being produced is just hanging out in my unused stomach, and it is not giving me the unsatible hunger feelings that I used to have.  I used to tell people I ate so much because my "off switch was broken".  I had a satiety defect.  I didn't get "full" signals until I had so overeaten I made myself physically sick.  

I get now why the sleeve would work with just being restrictive as the stomach and the ghrelin producers are gone.  They don't have those "feed me or I'm going to die" hunger pangs either anymore.  

This surgery has opened my eyes about so many different things.  I know a lot about WLS, all of the different types.  I made it a point to know and research and learn about them.  But, some things you just cannot know until you experience them as I have with the LapBand and now the RNY.  I wish I had been more assertive and proactive in my own health care 6 years ago and had the RNY than.  That would have been 6 years I could have had with my diabetes in remission and not doing daily damage to my body. It's one of those hindsight things.  . . .just like I had to be an advocate for my children's health care, I had to learn how to be a strong advocate for my own healthcare.  Funny how much easier it was to fight for my kids than myself.  

Wow, I really went off on a bunny trail there lol. . . . .just following where ever my mind takes me.  I know, it's a convoluted mess in there, but it is all relevant 

 
. . . .went well overall.  It was for both Diabetes and Bariatrics.  Though I found out that I have shrunk!!!!!  I used to be 5'4 and 1/2 and apparently now am only 5'3" something. . .whaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!?  The  Dietitian told me that was normal, that our spines compress as we get older.  Great, now I'm short AND old. . .yay me lol.  

The other good news is that I was down to 196.8 at 1:00 in the afternoon with jeans on, wooooo hooooo!!!!  She said I'm probably 194 becuase of the jeans and shirt I was wearing.  Okay, that totally made me happy!!!!!  

I will be 8 weeks out tomorrow and have been averaging 500-700 calories a day.  She wants me to work up to 73 gm of protein a day and up to 1,000 calories.  Funny how that seems like such a challeng now where preop that would have been a snack (the calories, NOT the protein lol).  She said my goal is to eventually get to 105 gm of protein per day for lifetime. . . .wow does that seem like it is going to be hard!!!!  She wants me to add in another protein shake. . .uggghhhhh. . . .I can't drink NOW unless I'm thirsty. . .more drinking?  Really? (insert whine here)

She was very happy with my blood sugars and no I can't come off my daily shots yet but she is optimistic that eventually, as I continue to lose, that my diabetes will go into remission.  I sure do hope she is right!  

My goal weight was an issue.  According to the machine she put me on and her calculations, my optimal body weight for maximum health is 148.  My surgeon said 150.  They both say 130-135 (which is what I wanted) is too low.  That was a shock.  After some kicking of my feet and pouting, I agreed to readjust my goal weight to 140 to make them happy.  But, that was with the knowledge that we can all re-evaluate when I get there.  Not "if" I get there, but "when" I get there.  Wow!  They are that sure of me. . . .what a great feeling that was!!!!!

On the plus side, I am giving away all of my "big" clothes and have gotten out a bunch of my "skinny" clothes.  Some of which I can't even get into yet!  I can't wait to be small enough to fit into the clothes I never got to wear before!!!! It's kind of cool to have a bunch of clothes in my closet that are too small now but that I KNOW I will be getting into soon. . .it's like I get to go shopping in my closet every day!!!!!  

The shoes are next, but that just means I get to buy new shoes, and there surely isn't ANYTHING wrong with that!!!!!! 

 
. . .I am down 41 lbs now and am getting told that I am "skinny" and "so little" and I am not seeing it.  I hate body dysmorphia!!!!!  I wish I was seeing what everyone else is!!!

 
. . . .(drum roll please)........ 199.5 today!!!!!!!!!  

I am exactly 6 weeks postop today and down 37.5 pounds. . . .woooooooooooo hoooooooooo!!!!  

. . . .to get weighed again and I am down to 200 lbs even, yay!

I am hoping to be in Onederland this week!!!!  I am back into my 14's and they are falling off of my butt. . .I think I may have mentioned, I need to order me a butt because mine is flat as can be, I got no junk in my trunk to keep my drawers up!!!


As you can tell, I am quite excited by this. . .I am down a total of 37 lbs and am 6 weeks postop tomorrow.  I also went to GNC and found some shakes called Total Lean Shakes, the guy gave me a taste of the ready to go(RTG) ones and the chocolate and vanilla bean were really good so I bought a 4-pack of each.  They were buy one get one half off, so $12 for 8 RTG shakes. . .not a bad deal.  They are healthier than the Ensure high protein and the muscle milk I have been drinking, so I think I am switching over to their brand though I am still waiting for my Click and Chike packets to arrive so I can have protein coffee!!!!! 

I'm going to try the Syntrax Nectar too, I keep seeing the Protein Iced Tea and and the Protein Lemonade mentioned so I think I'm gonna give them a try.

My only current issue is that I don't really have much of an appetite.  It is making it very difficult to drink, eat and get my vitamins in when I just am not hungry. . . . . .I am not complaining, only taking note of changes.  I would rather deal with this as opposed to wanting to eat everything that doesn't get out of my way fast enough lol. 

 . . . .until I'm back in Onederland. . .It is so hard to believe that I lost another 3.5 lbs already this week!  

Also, I find that I am getting full MUCH faster now.  Maybe my stomach nerves that were cut with the surgery grew back?  I could eat more 2 weeks ago than I can now.  I was able to eat 1 egg with 1 slice of cheese melted on it and be full for hours; now I can only eat 1/2 of an egg and am stuffed for hours!!!!  That's the only thing I can figure, either that or my pouch woke up and is yelling "hey you, stop feeding me" lol.  

Speaking of a pouch waking up, yesterday I was supposed to start exercising with my Aunt. . . .it didn't happen. . .why?  Because I dumped on Taco Bell's beef fiesta salad toppings. . .just the ground beef, cheese, salsa and sour cream, and I only had a few tablespoons of it and that was all she wrote.  

The worst part was I had to go to my 2nd job while in mid-dump phase. . . .sooooooooooooo not fun or recommended.  I was sick as a dog at work for the next few hours. . .uggghhhh.  NOT something I want to repeat.  See what happens when you're in a rush and don't prepare your food ahead of time???  I thought I was making a good choice. . .protein and a few veggies. . .not so much.  Their meat must be really fatty!!!!!

Oooooohhhh and I can almost see my collarbones!  There are shadows there, so I know it won't be too much longer till I can actually SEE them. . .that's one of my first goals. . . have collarbones clearly visible!  

Wooooo Hooo!!!  I will be 5 weeks out tomorrow and only 6 more pounds to go and I am back in Onederland. . . .I lost 3 more lbs since last week. . .I am soooooooo excited!!!! 

Had a big family reunion/BBQ yesterday and for the first time EVER, I was not even tempted by the carrot cake, brownies, rice crispy treats, peanut butter pie or any of the other sweets.

I ended up eating maybe 2 tsp of macaroni salad (kind of had too, my aunt made it and was hovering while I fixed my plate lol). . .half of a hot dog (plain, no roll) and 1 deviled egg and was totally fine, not hungry at all.  I cut everything up and spread it out all over my plate to make it look like I had more than I actually did.  I didn't even finish all of it and again, was totally fine, not hungry at all, and I had been starving when I got there.  What a change from even last year!!!!  I love my RNY!!!!

Later in the day I did have a super small piece of SF jello cake. . .it was out of this world, I can't believe it was sugar free it was so good!  There was also a SF pretzel salad but I'm not really into that so much. 

I made 2 huge veggie trays with onion dip and ranch dip and pasta salad, and that all went over really well, though I didn't eat any of the pasta salad or the veggies.  I was afraid the veggies were too dense and didn't want to get stuck on anything, and I don't need the carbs from the noodles in the pasta salad though I guess I could have picked out a few cheese chunks lol.
 
Everyone liked my outfit and said how good I looked, which of course really made me feel good.  They all said my weight loss was really noticeable. 

Next year I will get in the pool. . . .I was a little too self-conscious this year. . .my family doesn't care, but I wasn't comfortable and that's MY hangup, so next year I will be bathing suit ready as my aunt and uncle have this gorgeous, huge inground pool.  The kids had a blast in it though, which was great!

6 more pounds. . .6 more pounds. . . .Onederland I missed you, but I will be there soon!!!! 

 
. . . . .I will definitely take that!  Can't wait to see how much I lose this coming month 

Getting hungry a lot more often. . .just have to make sure when I eat it's protein first!!  I'm using the Sparkpeople app on my phone to track my calories, carbs and protein intake.  It's working out well so far!

Haven't started exercising yet. . .going to be doing that next week.  Not looking forward to exercising, but definitely looking forward to shrinking quicker 

Going to try and post a before and now pic. . .since I'm a "lightweight", you can see the weight I've lost already, yay!  Not to mention I'm down 3 clothing sizes now.