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How I can lose five pounds overnight???

I got on my scale this morning and was completely floored to see a five pound overnight weight loss. Yay me!

One more pound and I can get my century card. Eleven more pounds and I'm officially in one-derland!

Just some musings I wanted  to get down and a 'snapshot' of where I am right now...

Someone posted that they felt they'd lost their identity after having WLS and losing weight. Funny, but I feel like I lost my identity when I let myself get so heavy. Seems like the fat was hiding more than my small frame. I rarely went out, was rarely asked to go anywhere, and I lived for my next meal.

At four months out and 91 pounds down, I feel like I'm awakening from a long, dark dream. I smile almost all the time, have energy and my 'sparkle' is back - according to my family. 

Is my life perfect? No. Will I be pefect when I reach my goal? No, nor do I strive to be perfect. The beauty is in the imperfections.

My only 'regret': My life still revolves around food and eating. I look forward to the day when eating and food choices are so ingrained that it's 'normal' to me. I don't 'live for the next meal' anymore. It's more like, ugh! I've got to eat AGAIN???

I forget my vitamins on occasion. I forget to eat sometimes. I make poor food choices on occasion. I always meet and usually exceed my water and protein minimums. In other words, I'm human. I strive to be better every day.

I'm wearing a size 18 pant and an XL or 18/20 top. My butt sticks out from the rest of my backside now and my breasts go out further than my belly. My thunder thighs are slimming down nicely and Sis said, "You're going to be one of those awful women with thin thighs, aren't you?" Tee Hee - yes I am!

I already see where I'm probably going to need plastic surgery in my belly, thighs and arms. There's lots of skin jiggle in the legs and arms. My belly is looking like crepe paper.

My second chin, which is slowly disappearing, is also showing some crepe paper skin. It looks really funny. I hope I don't need to have a face lift, too.

My breasts are still in D cups; not seeing any shrinkage there yet, but I was a well-developed girl, before the fat. However, the bust diameter has definitely gone down. I'm almost using the last hook of some new (and very snug) bras that I bought right after surgery.

I'm seeing my ex this Sunday for the first time since the week I got home from the hospital. I can't wait to see his reaction. My ex has never seen me at this weight; I weighed more than my surgery weight when we met.

This should be interesting...

Last night, I went to a concert with some friends and rocked out to a great band. I spent two hours on my feet bopping to the music and I never broke a sweat or needed to sit down! Yay me! On top of that, I had more energy than all of my friends combined.

I didn't realize just how significant last night was until I woke up this morning and went WOW! When I was much younger, I used to work two jobs and lived at the dance clubs when I wasn't working. I felt so much more like my old self.

My Fobi ROCKS!

Last month I bought two new pairs of pants in size 22 and I was tickled pink. Well, they're already too loose on me, so I went to Old Navy to find a pair of jeans. Imagine my surprise when I fit into a size 18 jean! Yay me! I've not been a size 18 since high school, y'all. This is a big deal for me. Momster was in tears.

Sis used to be a size 18 and still has her old clothes, so I'm going to get some new pieces for my wardrobe for free. This is the first time I've ever been able to get hand-me-downs from my sister. Woo! As a bonus, she's lost weight, too, so I get all the clothes she bought on her way down. I LOVE free!

I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I am going to be smaller than I've ever been in my life. I'm smaller than before I had the twins in 1991. Man, I'm so psyched! I'm amazed at how thin my arms are, that I don't have back boobs anymore and that, for the first time in my adult life, my ass sticks out as far as my tummy. Lord this is one crazy ride!

I saw my nutritionist yesterday and got some good news: I lost 13.6 lbs in the past month. Yay me! My new 'small' pants are loose now and I've had them just over a month. I'm gonna wear them until they're seriously too big before I get a smaller size. Losing this weight is hard on the budget!

I see my surgeon tomorrow on a followup of the roux syndrome. I take my meds and I'm ok, I don't take my meds and I'm green around the edges and don't have much of an appetite. I'm getting my protein in with shakes and meat, and a lot of chili. I'm good with my vitamins but not perfect, I get most of them in every day, but I'll forget one on occasion. - I always strive to be better.

I'm just over three months out and weigh 229 on my scale. Tomorrow I see the nutritionist and her scales weigh heavier than mine. I hope it's good news. I'm really starting to see changes in my face and body. All of my clothes are too big, including my new 'small' pants which I've had for all of a month.

My blood pressure is NORMAL! Yay!

I'm getting in my vitamins, drinking all of my fluids and meeting my protein requirements most days. The hard part for me is finding things to eat on a consistent basis and timing my vitamins with my foods. It's a struggle and when I'm at work I forget to eat.

Today, my therapist got me in contact with another bariatric patient of hers and I'm looking forward to having a local female WLS friend who has a couple of years under her belt. Right now we've exchanged emails but I look forward to meeting her and hope we can be friends.

Excercise is still not organized. I bought a Gazelle and put it together but need to rearrange my room in order to make space for it. I'm working on going through my clothes and my old shoes to toss out the stuff I can't/won't wear again and it's made havoc of my room. I figure it'll all be sorted out next weekend.

To make matters more difficult, I pulled a muscle in my left hip and walking is rather painful but I'm trying to stand more, walk further and be more active. My PCP told me to take things easy, so I've not been on my Gazelle since I bought it, but I will soon. On a positive note, recently, I've had more energy and more pep to my step and I'm loving it. I can't imagine being more energetic but I hear I'll have even more energy as I get smaller.

My nausea/roux syndrome is being controlled by meds but I get nauseous if I miss a dose. I'll be glad when I don't have to take those meds anymore.

I've had a few drinks - four on my birthday and had six last Saturday. Here's what I've found: I get tipsy fast and sober up even faster (but I don't get DRUNK) and drinking alcohol constipates me for the next day or two. Because of these things, I've decided that I don't need to drink much or often, if ever.

It's funny and sad to think that the last time I was my current weight was in 1991. Sometimes I get sad about having let myself get so big, but I'm glad that the experience made me who I am today.

It is amazing how time flies! Three months seems so short when looking back, but is so far off when looking ahead.

My scale has me weighing in at 236, that's a total of 30 lost from my surgery-day pre-op weight. Now, I weighed 319 a few days after surgery and left the hospital weighing 309 AND my initial consult weight was 297... So, which weight do I choose to use? I'm going to take the 319, because I weighed a whole lot more than that before I ever decided to seriously pursue surgery on my insurance. OK! Now that's been decided, I've lost... 83 pounds! Yay me!

I swore I'd not be one of "those" folks who weighed themselves every day, so I'm ashamed to say I've become one of "THEM"! Lord, help me! That being said, it's more of a morning routine to see where I am and I'm not happy or sad about the number on the scale - I don't let the scale dictate my mood. OK, I take that back... I am VERY HAPPY that the number on the scale is experiencing a very nice downward trend and that it's NOT reading in the 300s anymore. The rest is gravy. :D

I am drinking at least 64 oz of water/water substitute a day plus milk, at least 24 oz a day, so am staying hydrated. I always take my multi and am fairly regular with the other items, usually only forgetting one or two items a couple times a week; for the most part, I'm getting all the vites. It's getting the timing right that I'm really having to figure out. 

Eating is more hit or miss. Now that I'm back to work, I'll get caught up in what I'm doing and completely forget to eat. By the time I remember I have to eat, it's time to eat again. Some day's I get so behind, that all my protein is coming from milk. I changed up my diet a few days ago to see if I could get in more protein and get all my vitamins in without some sort of conflict. So far, the change has been working well. As a side benefit, I've been pooping and farting more, too. Fun, fun.

I've gone down two sizes and am now wearing a size 22 pant comfortably and can wear 1X shirts a little snugly or 2X shirts very loosely. I'll be having to move to a new, tighter bra hook on all of my new bras soon, too. I chopped off about 8" of hair and am really enjoying playing with my short 'do.  

I'm starting to see some crepe-paper skin on my neck/wattle area and on my belly and my fat is a lot 'squishier' than it used to be. I'll be taking some pics tonight to post. Hopefully, I'll see a difference.

I just returned from a visit with my surgeon and was diagnosed with Roux Syndrome (links below). From what I've read, it's a break in the peristalsis movement through the digestive tract, causing a backup of the system.

My symptoms are a lack of hunger, pervasive nausea for the last few weeks and some regular bouts of dry heaves - most of this happening when I wake up and before I've had anything to eat or drink - not even meds. I was using the scoplamine patches, which helped until I developed a rash to them, and taking the phenegrin for the last few days. Needless to say, I've been borderline comatose and the back of my neck looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. (Wonders if I've been assimilated but don't know it...) Fortunately, Doc says it's a temporary condition.

Now, I told my surgeon as I'll tell you: Preop, I experienced something which felt very similar and would happen with much less frequency, always after eating excessive amounts of super sweet/fat foods, and always within 10-30 minutes of eating. Sounds like a hypoglycemic dumping episode, doesn't it?

So I'm wondering this: Instead of having Roux Syndrome, could I be having a dumping episode from low blood sugars when I wake up?

My blood pressure is down and reading normal - Yay!

Doc says I should have lost more weight at this point. At that point, I showed that my edema was back and was given a new fluid pill. We'll see if it helps. I'm not letting it get me down - I am losing weight, losing inches, sleeping better and I have much more energy.

Anyway, Roux Syndrome was a new one for me so I thought I'd share with the rest of y'all.

http://books.google.com/books?id=yDhVYz6BovkC&pg=PT707&lpg=P T707&dq=%22roux+syndrome%22&source=web&ots=XGzN_P9AWj&sig=sZ NfEI-IfX5iQsalEKO8P3dHN-8#PPT707,M1

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=Pub Med&list_uids=8070915&dopt=AbstractPlus

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/11220041 2/ABSTRACT?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

http://books.google.com/books?id=v0hDy8ALBnkC&pg=PA20&lpg=PA 20&dq=%22roux+syndrome%22&source=web&ots=TuxFhqT563&sig=8-Rn N5dGz9RSYfWcxgy5b1PRD5M#PPA20,M1

I worked for over a year to get approval for surgery; even switched surgeries and surgeons. Yet when I got the call saying I was approved and to schedule my surgery, I was as nervous as a virgin on prom night. 

Having the affirmation of insurance approval to justify all of the self-evaluation and hard work to this point hit home hard - basically, a large corporation is saying that I am worthy of this investment. Little ol' ME, worthy  of the attention, the time, the money, the EFFORT of so many people?  Again, I asked myself if this was what I really wanted, even if the worst complications possible happened, and I still said yes. I then realized that all of the effort and hard work to this point has just been to get the surgery and take that next step of the journey - the place where the real work begins. (Let me tell you, it IS real work.)

So, it's a new year and another birthday has passed. I'm filled with hope for myself in the coming year for the first time in a long while. A dear friend said he considers me a very independent woman and thought that because I was so independent that I didn't get my feelings hurt easily. That got me to thinking, I really don't reveal myself to a lot of people; revealing yourself means you have to allow people to be close to you and that's a very hard thing. Perhaps that's what I need to work on most, discovering the real me and allowing other people to see who I really am.

Like so many others post, I'm not losing as fast as I'd like, but I AM losing and working to integrate the rules into my life. I'm just under three months out and my experiences are what I expected in many ways and very different in others. I've not had an issue with taking my vitamins, drinking all of my fluids or (until recently) all of my protein. My nutritionist has released me to eat more varieties of foods, including salads, but I barely have room to get in what I have to get in. It's so easy to get into a rut with food - I've got to branch out and cook more. 

I need to get more formal exercise. I've increased my activity and have more energy, but I've not gotten to a gym yet and I am not comfortable walking in the general public. I used to walk everywhere and got propositioned, yelled at, insulted, rocks thrown at me and I refuse to go through any of that again. Now that I'm back at work and getting a steady paycheck again, I'm calling to make my appointment with the trainer this week and joining a 24/7 gym. I plan on going after work and walking the treadmill for at least 15 minutes a day, five days a week and work my way up from there. That's my contract with myself.

For the last few weeks, I've been having some very bad nausea and dry heaves at least once a week. This week, it was twice in a row. It happens in the morning when I use the bathroom and before I eat or drink anything. Sometimes, I'll get a really bad case of nausea at work, but there aren't any dry heaves involved. To this point, I've not thrown up, just the heaving which is always ick. I have an appointment today to see my surgeon. When I saw my nut on Tuesday, I told her about the nausea and she said to mention it to Dr. P when I saw him for my three-month in a couple of weeks. When two consecutive days I got sick, I called and got fit in. This is DEFINITELY not something that is in the realm of normal. I had something like this happen on a few occasions when I was pre-op and ALWAYS after eating too much of something super-sickly sweet. This time around, I've not ingested anything for at least eight hours when it happens and it's happening with much more frequency. Strangely enough, I'm beginning to suggest low blood sugar might be the culprit and will ask Dr. P.

I survived the holidays. I won the war but lost a few battles and learned more about myself in the process. Let's just say I won't be baking home made sweets for gifts anymore - it'll be quiche or zucchini bread and the like. 

As of today, I've lost 23 lbs from the day of surgery and am at 243. I still retain a lot of fluid for about a week before my period. Unfortunately, this month I was late so I held fluid for about two weeks. I was a bit down about not losing any weight during that period, but I realized I wasn't gaining and it had to be fluid. Yesterday, I started peeing like crazy and woke up this morning five pounds lighter. My head was trying to play games but I out smarted myself. That being said, I will be discussing the possibility of a fluid pill with my surgeon when I see him in January. 

I'm eating solid foods - no more liquid or puree! Yay me! The majority of my diet consists of meat and dairy. I love the Fage yogurt from Trader Joe's!

Here's my personal recipe for preparing Fage:

2 Splenda packets
3 dashes of cinnamon
1 7oz 2% Total Fage yogurt (you can sub 0% Fage)
Smuckers SF preserves (I like seedless strawberry and blueberry)

Mix the splenda, cinnamon and Fage together and set aside.

Remove lid off of preserves and microwave jar for 2-3 minutes. Once preserves are liquid, measure 3 Tbsp of liquid preserves into Fage mixture and blend well. 

This is great right after making but has better consistency if you let it chill. Really helps with my sweet tooth and it's 17g protein. Yum!

I have just recently been cleared to eat veggies and fruits. I chowed down on some pineapple and it was so yummy! I am able to eat my 60g of protein and am getting in at least 70 oz of water every day. Some days I'm just under, other days I'm way over. Right now, there's not a lot of room for the protein and the vegetables, so I'm trying to find high protein recipes with veggies.

Melissa F's crustless mini quiches are AWESOME! Some days I can only eat one, some I can tuck away a little more. Needless to say, the dog is eating a lot better since I had surgery!

I've discovered Luna protein bars at Trader Joe's, too. I've not cleared them with the nut yet, but they are within my guidelines and make an excellent healthy treat when I just gotta have something chocolate/sweet. I prefer the Chocolate Peppermint Stick flavor, but the S'mores isn't that bad - just doesn't taste like a s'more. I've also got the Iced Oatmeal Raisin that I'll take with me to work for a munchie/snack/meal thing. 

Returning to work has been the hardest part of this adventure so far. I get busy doing my job and lose track of time. Next thing I know, I'm an hour overdue for my meal and my stomach is yelling at me. This is the start of my third week back and I'm starting to get a hang of things and not just grabbing my old standbys.

Finances have been tight. I went eight weeks without a paycheck and short term disability is only going to pay me for two weeks. I'm fortunate that I had a very short Christmas list. Needless to say, getting the gym membership has been postponed until I get paid again. I know $20 a month isn't much, but if you don't have it to spend...

I'm a little depressed, but I think it's because I'm still in limbo. With all the changes that I'm making to myself - no matter how slow it seems to be going while in the midst of change - I don't want to commit myself to much of anything long-term. I've got to take the time to focus on myself and learn how to be SELF centered, listening to that little internal compass, relearning how to be comfortable in my skin. 

Family and friends are already calling me 'skinny' although I'm far from it. Mom calls me the Incredible Shrinking Woman. In a year, I'll agree with her. Right now... I'm happy that I have anything on the minus side to report.