Connie_S
Two Month Since Surgery
Aug 23, 2009
Tomorrow will be my 2 month anniversary since surgery and it's been interesting in so many ways. At long last, I seem to be loosing weight pretty steadily - somewhere around 3-4 lbs/week. I'm afraid to be too happy about that though, because I keep expecting it to come to a standstill again for a couple of weeks like it did earlier. That nearly killed me. As of this morning, I am down to 320, which is a loss of 47 pounds since starting the liquid diet, and 33 pounds since surgery. I am right at the door of my first major goal: a loss of 50 pounds! Hope to see that next week.
I still have trouble walking every day and sometimes I just cannot do 30 minutes. I walk as much as 20 minutes most days, but the arthritis in my knees and hips remains a huge deterent. But, I do get up at 5am through the week now, so that if I can manage to walk, I have time to do 30 minutes, wash my hair, get dressed, and fix myself an egg. I need 2 freaking hours to do all that before I go to work in the mornings. That's a bummer.
I have not experienced that burst of energy so many people talk about related to the surgery and am doubting now that I every will. I have much less nausea now than before, and am convinced it's all about how much I am chewing, how fast I am eating, and/or how many ounces of water I have dissolved my protein supplement in. I pretty much use no less than 4oz of water to mix my shakes in now, and I haven't been made nauseous by them in over a week. What a relief! It's really really hard to take 20 minutes to eat one egg. It gets totally cold before I'm done, but it takes that to keep from being nauseated by it.
My hair still looks good, but then I haven't hit the 3 month mark yet. I am finding a strand or two in my hands when I wash my hair - which is new for me - but they say when it starts, it comes out in globs. I really hope I won't have that problem because my hair is thin anyway. My program coordinator tells me it generally falls out between the 3rd and 6th month. This is a huge reason for my diligence with the protein shakes. It's also the reason I take 5mg of Bioten/day and have since about 2 weeks prior to surgery. My program coordinator also tells me, people seem to loose the most weight between the 6th and 9th month. I don't understand it - but hey, as long as I loose it, I'll be a happy camper.
Eating is such a mystery too. Even now, it feels strange to find that just a few bites over a period of 20 minutes is sometimes more than enough. Saturday, I fixed myself about 4 ounces of baked fish. Nothing else, because the first rule of the program is "Protein First" and 4 ounces of anything is all I can manage. I think I must have cooked it a minute too long and it got a little more dry than I can tolerate. (I have to have very moist food or I cannot handle it!) I ate it and thought it was doing ok, until the last bite. I had not had any indication that I was getting overfull, but after swallowing that last bite I started hurting. No nausea, just pain in the epigastric region. I could feel my pouch churning, started belching, and my mouth started filling with a thick clear mucous drainage. I tried to swallow, but it wouldn't go down, so I started spitting it out. I tried to vomit, but could get nothing up. I struggled that way for 2 hours. Finally, it settled down and I just had to lie down and sleep for another 2 hours. I was totally exausted.
Sunday, I fixed lunch for my family. I fixed a giant pizza and some lowfat turkey smoked sausage (bratworst style) sliced and cooked with peppers and onions. 2 ounces of the turkey sausage had 6 g of fat. I added about a tablespoon of canola oil to the pan to start it. I ate 5 round slices of the sausage (less than 2 ounces)and about 3 bites of the peppers and onions. And it made me sick. Not seriously nauseated, but queasy enough I had to go lie down. It's such a "who knows" game.
There are 4 things I never seem to have any problem with: skim milk, fruit, lowfat cheese, and airpopped popcorn. I don't get much fruit because it's "protein first" and I am only supposed to eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. My 2 snacks are the protein shakes. I try to have 1 egg and 1/4 slice of lowfat cheese for breakfast, then some kind of meat for lunch and dinner. Sometimes I will have fruit before bedtime. And oh my gosh it tastes like heaven! The rare cup of popcorn and the occassional pretzel are pretty much the only carbs I am eating. When I finally get to my third month, I am supposed to be able to eat raw veggies. I have been craving salad since the liquid diet. I just hope I will be able to eat it.
Oh well, it's an interesting time in my life. I really hope I can say I have lost 60 pounds when I get to month marker # 3. And I'm pulling for 120 pounds at 6 months. But I know now that may be asking a lot from my body. It doesn't seem to care that so many others loose 120 pounds in 6 months. And for that reason, I am working really hard to try to stay off the scales every day. I'm trying to wean my focus from the scales to the plethora of wonderful things that are happening to my body as the weight comes down. Things like: I'm wearing a size less in clothes. I'm wearing clothes I haven't worn in over 8 years! The other day one person at work who hadn't seen me in a while said "girl, you are loosing weight! How are you doing it??" And another one said he did not recognize me at first glance when he saw me! My blood pressure is normal, I am able to walk at least some now! I can stand at my sink long enough to do the dishes. I can stay on my feet long enough to get groceries or go browsing in wal-mart. It's no longer agony to stand in the shower and bathe now for 20 minutes. And hey! I can even reach all the parts of my body easily! It's been so long since I could do that! For most people, these are things they take for granted. For me, these are things the fat robbed me of and I am slowly reclaiming! So, my goal is to weigh monthly; however, I notice I only made it a week this time! Even that is progress!!
I'll check in again next month! Take care everyone!! connie
