doreen967
5 Month Update
Aug 08, 2011
It is amazing how the time flies these days. Last Wednesday was my 5 month anniversary from surgery and I could not be happier. I have lost 96 lbs total (84 since surgery) which is amazing! Every day people are commenting on how great I look and say I am like a new person. I am officially half way to my goal weight of 180 lbs (I am 6’0”) and only 4 lbs away from being in the 100 lb club. I am now at my lowest weight since my 20’s and it feels incredible.
Beside my weight loss, everything else in my life has been falling apart, so my stress level should be through the roof, but somehow I feel so much better about things and seem to be taking everything in stride nowadays. I am certain the weight loss has a lot to do with that. Even if everything in my life falls to pieces, somehow I feel like it is God’s way of saying, new you…time to start a new life. I will be fine!
I had to break down and buy a few outfits a few weeks ago. My mom got tired of seeing me with all my clothes sagging on me and she took me shopping. I am going to the Outer Banks in a few months and need a new swim suit. I normally dread shopping for swim suits because I always hate everything at I leave feeling nothing less than nauseated. I grabbed 2 suits in size 20 thinking they would be tight (I started off at 30/32 before surgery) and when I tried them on I was shocked that they fit, and actually looked pretty good. I was so happy I bought them both since they were half off. As far as pants and tops, I am wearing size 20 or 22 depending on the brand. Since I thought I was in 24s, it was a really great shopping day. I have a mountain of clothes to bring to Goodwill and my closet is getting more and more empty. I have gone from not having anything to fit because everything is too small to the same problem because everything is too big.
I went to the surgeon for my follow up a few weeks ago. All my labs looked really good except for my Vitamin D which was a little low. I was low on Vit D before the surgery, so this was no shock. I have added over the counter Vitamin D to my daily vitamins and kept everything else the same. I have also switched from chewables to pills last a few weeks ago, which has been an adjustment. They are much less expensive but you have to take them more frequently and getting so many pills into my little pouch 1st thing in the morning has been uncomfortable at times.
I am still struggling with pains in my tummy at times when it is empty, but the carafate seems to help. I was trying to just eat a small high protein snack instead when it started hurting, but the pain would come back a little while later. I hope I am not going to end up with an ulcer. Hopefully the carafate will prevent that from happening. When the pain gets bad, I get back on the normal dosing schedule, and it seems to get better in a day or two. Then I just go back to taking it only as needed. I will discuss this again with the surgeon next time I see him in October.
Other than the occasional tummy pain, I have had no other issues whatsoever. I still feel that weight loss surgery is the best thing I could have done for myself and I have no regrets. I am getting more and more of my life back with each pound lost and unless you have lost out on as much life as many of us have, I don’t know if anyone else could ever completely understand how much that is worth. I can’t wait to see where I am at after 1 year. This is incredible!!
