April B.

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

OK so here's the thing. While I have been working out pretty intensely since I had RNY I really have not been 'running'. I have been working out with a personal trainer and doing step aerobics and kickboxing. The reason I have not really tried to run much is well because it intimidates me. Every time I have tried to run I have to stop like after sixty seconds or so. I have recently been walking and jogging a bit more to try and up my endurance. However, I never did it on a treadmill so I wasn't sure how long or how far I was actually running. Well yesterday, I go to the gym and completed an hour workout class. After wards, I am feeling pretty good still and decide, well maybe ill hop on the treadmill for a while. I did a quarter mile fast paced walk and then decided ok April its time to test yourself, so I started jogging. I jogged a quarter mile and was feeling great and decided to keep going. So then I hit a half mile and said well shoot I just keep going. I got to 3/4 of a mile and said ok April GO FOR THE MILE, so I cranked the treadmill up to full blast running speed and sprinted the last quarter mile. I was so ecstatic when that treadmill reached one full complete mile of jogging and I had not stopped ONCE!!!! I almost was in tears because I was so proud of myself. When I began this journey I set out for one of my goals: TO BE ABLE TO RUN A MILE, and I can proudly say I can!! What a WOW moment for me. Now its time to shoot for 2 miles and on, because I am gonna RUN that 5K in the spring!!

Well what a day yesterday was. I decided on a whim of nice weather and needing some quality time with my little gitl to take Jordan to Six Flags for the day. I didnt have the money to take her but its one of those decisions you make and hope you dont regret afterwards. Well let me tell you I DID NOT!! We had such a blast, as a matter of fact I have not had that much fun in quite some time! We got there as the park opened at 1030am and closed the park down at 615pm. I am not sure how Jordan made it all day without collapsing (especially in that heat) but she did, she must have been running on pure adrenline...lol

I had a few huge moments yesterday. For the first time in a VERY long time I went to an amusement park and I did not feel inhibited by my weight. I have not went in so long because I never fit on the rides and even if I did, I still exceeded the weight maximums the rides set. Well after 110 lb loss this was no longer an issue for me. So I freely and easily got in and out of every ride with Jordan that she needed or wanted me to get on with her! What FREEDOM that was. One of the reasons I choose to have Gastric Bypass is that I did not want my obesity to negatively affect my daughter. So yesterday was HUGE for me and proved to me once again, I made the most absolute best possible choice for my health and so I could be a better Mother to my lil girl.

Ok and I will admit at one moment I did cry. Jordan and I got on this fun little kiddie ride and as we were sitting there waiting for the ride to start this little girl (that looked SO much like Jordan) gets on behind us. Well she yells over to her Mom to get on the ride with her. I look over at the little girl's Mother and she was an overweight woman. I could tell from the look on her face she reluctanly agreed to get on and I felt her pain immediately. So she gets on the ride and goes to lock herself in, and I am sure her worst fears came true.....she did not fit :( She had to get off the ride. So as the ride starts to move and I am sitting there giggling and enjoying the ride with my little girl I start to cry at that bittersweet moment. Because I know that one year ago, that would have been Me, I would have been that Mom that didnt fit and had to be embarrased and get off the ride. What a blessing this RNY has been for me, my health, and my little girl!

I had a huge wow moment this weekend!

Last summer as my daughter was jumping up and down on the HUGE trampoline in my Moms back yard, she yells to me...."Mommy come jump with me" Well sadly I couldnt because I alone exceeded the weight maximum for the trampoline! It was so disheartening to tell my daughter no.

So on Sunday we went to my Moms house. Well guess who got up on that trampoline and jumped with my daughter..........ME!!! It was such an awesome moment for me. I had tears of happiness to be able to do that with my daughter and see the excitement on her face.

Also on Sat  we took advantage of the nice weather and went to the park and RAN and RAN untill she told *me* to stop she was tired...lol She said Mommy I am tired of running lets walk...lol So I picked her up and ran with her!! What an awesome feeling.

I love that my RNY  has not only made me healthier but I can be the Mother I always wanted to be!!

Just had to share my joy!! :)

Well this morning I weighed in and welcomed the 250s I was kinda going through a *mini stall* of only a pound lost here and there so with my 4 pound loss last week I weighed in at 256 this morning. I am not sure why reaching the 250s seems so huge to me......but it does. I think maybe its because all these rides at amusement parks usually say max weight 250. Maybe just the thought of *knowing* I can take my daughter this summer and I will MOST DEF be able to get on any ride with her means so much. It just for me personally has seemed like such a landmark. Losing 80 lbs so far literally blows my mind!!

As far as exercise, I have really stepped up my cardio intensity to try and burn as much fat as possible. Even before surgery I tended to be a gym rat (at times....lol). I always took this one step aerobics class called Group STEP. It is a nationally based program offered at gyms nationwide. It is super fun but very intense. They say on average you can burn over 650-700 calories per class! Well always taking the class I was always having to stop and catch my breath and take a sip of water. Or for some tracks in the class, I was doing the movements without the step because I just couldnt at around 340 lbs. Well last friday I went and did the class again, and for the 1st time, I made it through the WHOLE CLASS without stopping to come up for air once!!! I even took the 'harder' versions of some moves to up my intensity. I was so proud of myself, I could have screamed it from the mountain tops...lol

Thats all for now....so far.....gotta love my RNY

Okay sooo I have been horrilbe about updating this thing. I read on other blogs before I had surgery that after you have the surgery your life explodes and takes off and that is SO true. My best friend just said to me, 'well arent you just the social butterfly now' lol But lets see....at 3 months post-op I am literally loving life!

At around 5 weeks post-op I did have a stricture and frankly well that sucked, but honestly I just considered it a lil bump in the road!! But PLEASE dont be like me and wait to long to call your doctor! By the time I was admitted I was severly dehydrated and my labs were HORRIBLE from not being able to eat/drink or take any vitamins so I spent 4 glorious days in the hosiptal getting fixed up...lol So if you find yourself experincing symptons consistent with a Stricture call your doctor IMMED!!

Ok so what else, as of last Monday I am down 71lbs since my WLS journey began. Thats 15 before surgery and a whopping 56 lbs since! I do have to say this is absolutely one of the hardest things I have ever done but SO worth the reward. I have realized I dont tolerate Milk anymore but have switched to Soy and thats working just fine for me.

I do struggle with my protein cause I just can seem to find a shake I like. The RTD shakes leave the most disgusting taste in my mouth for days and the ones you mix up the smell of the protein GAGS me terribly. I did find one I can manage to gag down but I kinda feel yucky afterwards so I am starting to question if maybe I just cant do Whey protein and need to look for another form (On a side note...I bought some protein bars last night and I have tried two different ones, and I really like them and tolerated them well so yay!! lol)

With the loss of 71 lbs so far I have gained a much better nights sleep!! My joints dont ache anymore and exercising is so much more fun now. I have always been into excersing its just....well it sucked before because at 336lbs it was so hard and I never got results.  I am working with the MOST awesome personal trainer and feel so blessed to have found him. I have gained energy like crazy to play with my lil girl. I feel like I am such a better Mom now.....I know that may seem weird but I really taking the time to focus on ME I think helps me be the best Mom I can be for her.

Thats all for now. I am at 265 now. My next little mini goal is to get to 248 because that will mean I only have 100lbs left to lose so wish me luck!!

Ok so I had my surgery on a Monday morning and came home, that Tuesday evening. On Wednesday I woke up well......in alot of pain. I didnt realize the adjustment from the morphine pump at the hospital to the liquid pain meds was an ADJUSTMENT to say the least! The third day was really rough. I had alot of gas pains and just overall discomfort. I spent the day pretty much resting. Thursday came and I could finally take a shower wohoo! My best friend came over and helped me out cause it was hard to bend down or over and wowzers did that shower feel good!! I got dressed afterwards and we took a walk around the block. It felt so good, but it really wore me out for the rest of the night. Friday morning I woke up feeling like a different person. The gas pains were mostly gone and I was actually ok with consuming the protein shakes. Saturday my Mom took me to the grocery store so I could get stuff for the pureed stage and we were shopping over 3 hours because I inspected every label....lol Needles to say I was beat and in pain when I got home. I took some pain meds and went to sleep for the night IN MY BED...YAY. The was the last time I took any pain meds cause I woke up Sunday feeling awesome.  Went to my follow up the following thursday and came back to work that friday. I feel so blessed this process went so easy!

I know I am late in getting to this but here goes....

The bowel prep Saturday night was horrible as everyone explained but I knew it was just one last thing to get through, and of course I did. Sunday I spent running around taking care of last minute details. I acutally got a good nights sleep Sunday night and felt good when I woke up Monday morning. I had to be at INOVA in VA by 930 so we left my house at 745 to make sure we got there on time. (Gotta love DC traffic...NOT) I got to the hospital around 915 and they took me back at exactly 930. I was like WOW this is all moving so quick...hehehe. So I get back there and they immed start my IV's and take my blood the normal stuff and the nurse explained to me the 2nd operation for the day didnt happen because they got stuck in traffic so they were just kinda sitting there waiting on me!! So by 1100am I was being wheeled into surgery. Surgery took about 2 hrs and went perfectly, thanks Dr Moazzez :). In recovery I had to stay longer than normal because I wasnt breathing deep enough. But I had such horrible nausea I couldnt take a deep breath because I was so nauseated...lol They finally took the drain outta my nose that ran to my stomach and WOW that was horrible but instant relief!!! Yes of course there was pain, but not as much as i antincipated. The nausea medicine they gave me, made me sooo drowzy so when I got to my room and they nurse tried to get me up to walk me I just couldnt at that point. So after about an hour and a half of resting I called her in and said ok I am ready to walk now and so I started my strolling :) I walked several times that night and got up at 5am and they came in and took my catheter out THANK GOD, and I was really moving then!! Around 9am they came for my leak test and I went down and everything looked good so I was cleared for clear fluids...wohoo cause I was sooo thirsty!! Around 1pm Dr Moazzez came in and said everything looked good and I was doing so well with my breathing and walking as long as I kept lunch and dinner down ok I could go home that night!! I was so excited cause I sure missed my little girl!! So broth for lunch and dinner was fine and I went home around 7pm that evening. Of course the ride home wasnt comfortable but I was glad I brought the pillow to put against my tummy. I got home and got some more fluids on me and slept on the recliner for th night. I had to get up at 3am and walk because I had horrible gas pains but I went back to sleep and woke up at 730 feeling well rested and glad to be home!

Well I went for my consult with the nutrionist yesterday and my doctors office told me I had to switch my date to the 27th of Oct because Dr Moazzez was going to be at a seminar or something like that on the 13th. I was like...........WHAT

So no first off that date really wouldnt work due to my work restrictions and I didnt want to wait an ADDITIONAL two weeks!!  Then she said ok we can fit you in on the 6th. I was so excited as that was a week earilier...yipee!!  Well guess what........my office manager WAS NOT happy about that date and asked me to change my date TILL FREAKIN NOVEMBER I was such an emotional mess after that so I called my docs ofice and she told me **sorry we have no dates available in Nov**

So my date is now the 6th a full week earlier...............YAY!!!

Ok so I am jumping up and down with excitement. Wednesday is the 1st of my last three appts. I go see the nutrisionist on Wed (I am really excited about that) Then I have my psych consult on the 26th and then my preop appt on Oct 3rd. And thats it for me. Wow this is my REALITY. It is still hard to sink in, and still really hard to wrap my head around the fact that next summer is gonna be so different for me and my little girl!!

Ok so now that it is Sept 2nd I have officially started my countdown. My surgery date is gonna be here in just a little over a month. What a wide variety of emotions, I am feeling right now. I cannot wait for this day to be here to start my new life.