cprzeslak
September 13, 2006Happy 1-year anniversary to me!So much has happened since my last entry... I weighed in this morning at Dr. Frezza's office. My weight is 232.4 lbs bringing my current total loss up to 106 lbs.We've finally moved away from Carlsbad and are living in Lubbock for the next year or two or three... lol. Until we finish school that is. Thank goodness we didn't accept the jobs in Clovis! Lubbock is wonderful! It'll be even better once I start a new job... now if I could just decide where I want to work... I'll probably start out in the "beyond" section at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Hopefully Barnes & Noble will offer me the part time position that I interviewed for this morning to work in the Starbuck's cafe. It was like the mother ship calling me home...Not a whole lot of weight loss going on these last few months, but a whole lot of stress sure has. I still look at it this way... at least I'm not gaining. I thank the Lord for that every day =) The weight is still coming off, just a lot more slowly. It would come off faster if I'd make myself go to the gym once in a while... especially since we have a free 24 hour gym here in the apartment complex and there's never anybody in there either! I'm hoping I can make myself start some sort of routine once I've started working... I just need to re-motivate myself again.Wish me luck! ;)June 14, 2006Weight 243 (Current total: 95.5 Lbs.)We both turned down job offers in Clovis because we didn't like the city, it felt small and dirty which is what we're trying to move away from. At the moment we are both interviewing in Colorado which is exactly where we wanted to be all along. =)My vacation was relaxing, we all had a great time. Though it was too short, as always!The wedding cake, to quote the bride, was exactly like it was in her dream. Whew! What a relief =)May 12, 20068 months post-surgeryWeight 248 (Current total: 90.5 Lbs.)Well, I'm not losing weight as quickly as I'd hoped I would still be at this point, but I'm losing weight none the less. Any weight off is always better than any weight put on right? Unfortunately, I'm not getting to the gym anymore. There is just too much going on right now... I'm working 50-60 hours every week, I'm stressing about making my friends wedding cake, I'm getting ready for my vacation in 4 days, and I think LeAnda and I just got new jobs in Clovis, so we may be moving very shortly! But, not much going on! LOL We're going to be making a trip to Clovis on Sunday to see if we like the town, then we'll decide if we're going to accept the positions or not.I think the hair loss is slowing down a bit because I'm getting more protein. Also, the bruising has pretty much stopped since I started taking the iron again... so good news... I'm not anemic anymore!April 13, 20067 Months post-surgeryWeight 255 (Current total: 83.5 Lbs)Things have slowed down a bit. Probably because my job doesn't let me get to the gym as often as I'd like. My goal was to go to the gym 5-6 days a week. When I COULD go, I was only going 3 days a week. I haven't been to the gym in nearly 3 weeks now. Can you tell I'm getting tired of my job? I've got my resume out there and I've applied at a few places, but it's hard to find a job that pays as much as I'm making now in this small town. It's sad to say, but I'm even willing to take a cut in pay in trade for happiness and well-being. It'll happen soon enough. No anybody in the beautiful state of Colorado who's looking for a great graphic artist? If so, send them my email address ;)I recently had my 6 month follow-up. It went well, though I didn't see the doctor this time. But the nurses told me that I am right on track, which is hard for me to believe for some reason. But then again.... I always think I'm doing a crappy job at this. I guess I will always have low self esteem. Oh well... guess it's time for me to get used to it! LOLAs for the slowing down in weight loss, I'm not too discouraged yet. Like I always say... "I don't care, as long as the numbers aren't going up." It's ok if they go down slowly here and there, as long as I'm not gaining.I still feel great. My spouse and I are going to get tennis rackets and some fuzzy balls and start playing tennis for exercise on the weekends. I used to love playing tennis in high school and I've wanted to get back into it for years. I think I'm finally feeling good enough to try it. We'll see how that goes!Next month I'll be making a trip to Michigan to visit my family and friends. My grandparents know that I had the surgery, but they haven't seen any pictures of me. (Mainly because I threatened my family not to send them any.) I haven't even told my best friend that I had the surgery. She and I have both alway been morbidly obese as long as I can remember. I can't wait to surprise her with the new me! I'm even looking forward to seeing if I fit in the seats on the plane better. It was always so embarassing to have to ask for the seat belt extender, and to have to explain to the stranger sitting next to me why the arm had to stay in the upright position so it wouldn't be sitting on my hip. Hopefully that situation is better...I'll let you all know how things turn out ;)TTFNJanuary 24, 20064 Months post-surgeryI'm so sorry that there is so much time between my updates, but I've come to realize that, as you lose weight and get healthier... you also feel better. You also get more active! Therefore, I don't spend as much time on the computer.At this point, I've lost a total of 64.5 pounds. I haven't done any measuring lately so I can't give you the "inches lost" numbers. I used to keep track of those through "Curves" (women's gym) but I'm going to Gold's Gym now, and they don't measure me. I still like them better than Curves though! Much more to offer if you're trying to find a great place to work out ;) Let me say this first... I haven't felt this good in so many years. I can't even begin to tell you how much happier I am since I've been losing weight. I've always been so depressed because I was"morbidly obese". I even hate those words. I've always been harder on myself than anyone else was. I come down on myself pretty hard when it comes to my shortcomings, and my weight has always been my biggest problem.Unfortunately, my weight loss is slowing down but it's my own fault... I'm not sticking to the diet that was provided. I'm basically eating whatever foods I like as long as it has a decent protein content. And because I eat too fast, I eat a little bit more than I should. Generally, I'm eating small meals about every 3-4 hours. But again, I don't know if I'm just being to hard on myself or if I'm really screwing this up. I'm eating about a cup of food per meal. I know that you're supposed to limit your intake to a half cup of food for a meal, so I look at it as "I've stretched my stomach to twice the size it's supposed to be already and it's only been 4 months." I kick myself like this all the time. But then again... I have days where I look at it this way, "I'm happy as long as the numbers continue to go down." I know that I should be losing at least 3 or 4 lbs a week, but I'll settle for 2 lbs as long as I'm losing and not gaining.I don't have many food problems, but I never really did after the surgery. I'm still lactose intolerant. I still having dumping syndrome symptoms when I consume sugar (burping, sinus drainage, gas and very soft bowel movement within 2 hours is my dumping syndrome) I even have dumping syndrome when I drink an Atkins shake for breakfast, but I've decided to drink them every morning for the protein. It's worth is since I'm losing my hair. I was really thin on top before the surgery, I can't afford to lose any more than I have to!I had my 4 month follow-up appointment on the 11th. All went well. I was nervous that Dr. Frezza was going to "read me the riot act" for not sticking to the diet plan more closely, but he was wonderful. He was pleased with my weight loss. So I decided to schedule my next follow-up appointment. I go back in April.I'll let you know how it goes after that!11/14/05 UpdateWell... I am at the 2 month point and I have certainly had my ups and downs! I still struggle with eating the right foods and I'm sure that I have stretched my stomach some, but I still feel that I am on the right course.I've lost 43 Lbs and a total of 28 inches from my body, not to mention 2.9% of my body fat.9/23/05 UpdateI have had my one-week follow-up visit and had lost 21 lbs. in 12 days! I'm feeling great at this point, everything seems to be coming back to normal. Incisions are healing just fine after a short scare of infection around the drain tube, but that's clearing up just fine also.Can I just say how happy I am to be a loser! LOLNow if I could just fix it so I'd never have to go back to work... ;)9/16/05You're not going to believe this! On Thursday 9/8/05 I just happened to call my surgeon's office to see how he was doing and when they might possibly be able to reschedule my surgery date only to find out that I was still on for the following Monday! And they also told me that my pre-op appointment was scheduled for the next day! They never told me about my pre-op appointment, and their office is 3 hours away, which meant that I had to take an extra day off of work. And Friday's our busiest day of the week where I work too, so needless to say, my manager was very unhappy with me.But the surgery went well with hardly any complications. The only problem I had was that I was quite swollen from being pumped full of IV fluids to keep my hydrated after my hospital release. (They know how hard it is to get enough fluids during the first couple of weeks post-op) But I also think that they blew the vein in my left hand because I have bruising under the surface about half way up my forearm following the vein that they put the IV in. My hand was so swollen that I could hardly bend it at the wrist.But all is well now! Now comes the hard part of sticking to a clear liquid diet for 2 weeks! Ya know... you just never have any idea how bombarded our society is with food until you go on a clear liquid diet. There is food everywhere on television, whether it's commercials for Taco Bell and Pizza Hut or it's a family on a sitcom sitting down to a lovely dinner. I've become a channel surfer because of that. ;)I'd like to thank everyone for your kind words of support and for all of the prayers. Without all of you, I couldn't have made it through these trying times. =° ) Thanks again.9/6/05 UpdateCraaaaaaaaap!Pardon my language, but my surgery has been postponed indefinitely because my surgeon was in an accident.Don't get me wrong, I am very concerned for his wellbeing...But still... craaaaaaap!I am so ready for the surgery part to be over with so I can be on the losing side.I'll give another update when I get a new surgery date. Keep your fingers crossed and prayers couldn't hurt either! (For my surgeon to have a speedy recovery and be well soon.)