Sharen L.

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My current diet consists of Maxpro protein powder.  I love the banana flavor!  I mix one scoop of PP with 3/4 cup of rice milk and that equals 30 grams of protein!  I drink that twice a day to get in my 60 grams of protein.  The other parts of the day I eat cucumber slices and cooked fresh veggies, and fresh fruit of coarse!  I have a vita mix that i use to blend more coarse fruit or veggies.  I drink lots of purified water and herbal ice tea.  I do not use sugar in my tea.  I do make my own rice milk, and add about 1-2 TBSP of regular brown sugar to that.  I love the regular puffed corn / butter flavor! tastes like popcorn without the hulls!  I eat a lot of natural peanut butter on thin organic corn cakes! YUM!  I eat organic meat,  and some beans.  
For a while I fought the new way of eating... I finally figured out it was poison to me!  I feel so much better eating this way!  I love to eat Kiwi, peaches, mango, apples-baked.  My favorite veggie are cucumbers dipped in bleu cheese dressing!

I have been feeling really good! I walk my dog to the park every day, about 1.5 miles. I have a lot of energy! I am able to do a lot of things that I haven't been able to do before. I praise God daily for giving me my life back! I was having some low blood sugar issues about a month ago...I ended up using some chocolate to get my #'s up. Ever since, I have craved something sweet...I have gotten all of the sugary stuff out of my house. I could and should be weighing less right now...I just finished updating my calendar on the computer thru the end of the year. My plan is to start working out at the local wellness center asap. I have had a sinus headache/cold this week and haven't been able to do anything. I feel better today! So I am going to go workout today! The hard part about this WLS is that I cannot tolerate meat, I tend to eat too fast and I am not chewing as much as I should. So, a lot of foods make me sick or uncomfortable! Carbs and sweets and snacks like chips are well tolerated...so it is hard to not eat them! BUT, I have noticed that they also steal my energy...and stop my weight loss... and I don't like that at all! I don't want to revert back to my old life...so right here ~ right now ~ I am pledging to myself and to my God... that I am not going to eat sweets or chips that have empty calories. If I do ~ it will be only very special holidays and only a minimal amount.

I have been working out every day just like normal, but all of a sudden my weight in starting to come off again! My plateaus usually last 2-3 weeks in a row, so it is wonderful when the weight loss decides to start up again! I had this huge...garage sale last weekend and yesterday, I made over $1,000 and got rid of a lot of treasures! It is amazing how your taste in home decor and clothes change after you start to lose weight! Praise the Lord! My husband was SO HAPPY to see the stuff go. When I was obese I just collected stuff...it was my hobby! I didn't have the energy to do anything with it, so it got stashed here and there all over the house.

Well, I am almost half way to my goal! I am 3 1/2 months out from WLS. That is really exciting! I am exercising everyday without fail...even in the rain! My dog Mia (me-a) keeps me on track. Everytime I put my shoes on she thinks it's time for our walk. When my husband and I walk, I can actually keep up with him! He is 6 ft tall and his stride is a lot longer than mine. He brags a lot about me to other people, and that is something new! He tells everyone that he can't keep up with me. I am so glad I decided to have this WLS done. It has truly saved my life, my marriage, and my kids are even happier! I am still having trouble in regards to my water intake, I just forget to drink! It is hard to balance food intake with the water intake. Everyday is a new day, one that I can strive to drink more water!

I am 11 weeks out from WLS and have lost a little over 65 lbs. I had some issues with food, so I have gone back to softer foods and I am doing fine. I just don't think that my pouch is ready for more coarse foods yet. Maybe I am not chewing it all up very well...in any case I am feeling a lot better since I am not getting sick from eaing. I eat a lot of cottage cheese with pineapple, oatmeal with milk sweetened with splenda, string cheese, soups and chili. The tomato basil soup at Applebees is really good! That is about the only meal I have eaten out with any success. Wendy's chili is pretty good also. I thank God every day, that I was able to have WLS ~ without any complications. It has saved my life! I was so ~ miserable prior to WLS. I was a prisioner inside my home, afraid to leave...I was afraid I would fall again, if I fell I knew I wouldn't be able to get up by myself. What a scarey feeling to know that you are so vulnerable and have almost no control over how your body will react...and how you have to have faith that God will protect you, even when you can't protect yourself. I couldn't even step up on the curb, it was too high and hurt me too much. A few days ago I walked all the way around a walking path, that winds around a lake. It is over 2 miles, it is really pretty at night ~ it has lights lit up on the bridge that goes out over the water. It is so peaceful... Even a few months ago, i could only walk about 50 feet and then i would have to sit down to catch my breath.

It is almost two months out from my WLS. I have lost a total of 59.8 lbs.  My life has changed so much!  I can tie my own shoes!  I have gone from a size 12 underware down to a size 9!  That is a miracle in itself! lol! I am walking 1-2 miles a day.  I have gone from tight 3X clothing to a loose 2X.  If it weren't for my excess skin that has traveled downward, I would be in a smaller pant size.  My weight loss has slowed down a bit, but seems to be picking up again.  I am just so happy to be able to get around without it being a major ordeal.  I can go up and down steps one foot at time.  I can get in and out of our hot tub without much effort, before WLS I had a lot of trouble...actually I had to quit using it because I couldn't physically get in and out without help. I have gone from a size 10 shoe to a 9 1/2.  I have gone from a sports bra to a regular bra.  I had to buy a sports bra and cut the back side it in the middle so I could add about 8 inches of really wide elastic.  That was really humiliating! But, you do what you have do!  I thank God every day that I am not in that situation anymore! 

I have lost a total 39.5 lbs since my surgery on June 29th 2007.  My Dr. was really pretty happy about it...which made my day!  He admired my incisions and said they all looked great...and had healed just like they were suppose to!  My husband it really proud of me, which means a lot to me.  I tried my swimming suit on and it fits so much better...it use to be an aerobic workout to just get it on! lol!  It is still hard to get use to eating to live and not living to eat like I use to.  I am only walking 3/4 of mile.  I want to get that up to at least 2 miles.  It will come!

It may sound wierd...but I was almost afraid to leave the house.  I did really well!  My sister, Susie conspired with my daughter, Trish to  get me out of the house.  We went to a few resale shops where they had grocery carts I could hang on to while I walked.  We were out running around for six hours.  I felt better as the day went on.  I weighed myself today...I am at 254 lbs.  As long as the scale is going down, I am a happy camper!!

I weighed 276 lbs. going into surgery.  10 days later I am down to 269 lbs.  That was kind of depressing, but I have had extreme post-op pain due to my fibromyalgia...so I haven't done very much walking! At times it hurt so bad...just to breathe!  I couldn't even think about walking outside.  We live on one level in our house, so I did do walking inside the house.
When they took the JP drain tube out, they noticed that I had an infection in that opening.  The nurse packed it  and told me to remove it the next day.  They started me on some pretty strong antibiotics.  I have been taking them since this last Tuesday evening.  The opening is really starting to look a lot better  
I have really been praying that God would speed the healing so I didn't have to go in to get it packed...when they mentioned a visiting nurse coming in to pack it twice a day   if the infection didn't go away...that really got my attention !!!  I thank God for all of my big and little answers to prayer.  I don't know how people live without God...he is definitely my most precious friend ~ one I can call on at anytime of the day...and he is just there waiting to help me.

Well...I am in Chicago!  That makes it pretty real!  My doctors office called, the hospital was missing four different blood labs, so I had to go straight to the hospital.  I was so afraid they were calling to reschedule me again!  My husband has been so unusually sweet to me today!  We just got back from shopping at the IKEA store...that was a lot of fun!  My husband stopped and got me chicken broth from Panera Bread Co..  It had carrots, celery and onion in it so he strained it for me...using a hotel washcloth!  That was pretty cute to watch!