7 Months and Lotsa Updates

Mar 14, 2009

I had to count to figure out how far out I was.  As of March 11th, I am 7 months post op. Talk about taxing my brain.    First off, I feel GREAT.  Ah, but what a journey to feel that way... thanks to my own stupidity.

My gp discovered that I had high blood pressure.  Yes, high.  (160/110)  And I was still collapsing and feeling exhausted and weak.  I was having periods of tachycardia, then almost bradycardia, which I think is somewhat normal for post surgical weight loss patients.  I had to wear a stupid heart monitor and record the symptomatic events (which for some reason irritated me).  However, before the heart monitor was even placed on, everything clicked into place.

I took myself off my birth control pill and within 7-8 days, my blood pressure was back to normal.  Even if I exercise or am having some kind of melt down, my blood pressure stays pretty low and steady.  So, the mystery of my high blood pressure was solved.  I was only on the pill for about 3 months, so eh, whatcha gonna do?

Then, I recorded my food intake and plugged it into a handy website called the Daily Plate.  I was consuming between 400-500 calories per day.  I called my nutritionist who told me that I need a good 1200 calories if I am exercising.  Ooops!  So, over the next week, I concentrated on upping my calories and PROTEIN, which I was admittedly lacking.  And I began to feel so much better!!  My dizzy spells were few and far between and I went for 15 vigorous minutes on my bike and did NOT collapse!!  I have to say, though... increasing calories and protein has been one hell of a struggle.  After 20 years of dieting, I find it extremely difficult NOT restricting my food intake.  It's part of my DNA.  All that dieting had more of an emotional effect than I had ever anticipated.

I have to say, I sound like the world's dumbest human.  Starving myself?  I'm a nurse who knows better and I have researched the hell out of this surgery and knew in the back of my mind that I wasn't consuming enough.  That's why in the past month, I've only lost 4 lbs.  I gained, then lost, gained and lost.  It was a horrible circle that I created out of fear and ignorance.  I've lost a grand total of 105 lbs, but thanks to me, I caused a stall that I'm still struggling like the devil to break. 

However, I did buy a Wii.  Holy smokes!!  The boxing feature is a sweat inducing, heart pounding event that makes my arms burn.  It's noteworthy to mention that I knocked my husband out on our first try.  Oh, it's so fun!! I wish every weight loss patient had a Wii.  Between my bike and the Wii, I'm getting exercise.  I think next week I'm going to attempt to return to the gym and do some swimming and weights.  I have to make sure I have a high protein, high calorie meal before exercising, though.   Besides, I want to keep KOing my husband on the Wii.  Gotta have stamina and strength for that!!

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