8 Weeks Post-op (posting a few weeks late)

Aug 05, 2013

Well – it’s been two months since surgery and what a ride it has been! To say it’s been easy is a little bit of an understatement, but I can say that it does get easier every day.

I started this journey weighing 311 lbs. With dieting in the months before surgery and a little help from my one week pre-op liquid diet, I was able to get down to 277 lbs for a total of -34 lbs prior to surgery. Since surgery two months ago, I have lost an additional 32 lbs, for a total of 66 lbs gone.

I feel like I’m a slower loser than most, but hey, I’ll take whatever I can get! I doubt I would have gotten this far on my own! I would have thrown in the towel 30 pounds ago!

The surgery itself was as I expected it to be. Recovery was about the same. Pain wasn’t horrible, however it did take me about four weeks to start feeling normal again. Naturally I was tired early on due to the lack on nutrition I was getting, but this has since gone away and I have much more energy now.

Most days I get anywhere from 600-700 calories (sometimes a little more) and I typically get in my 60-80 grams of protein. I still do one to one-and-a-half protein supplements a day to help because there’s no way I could get it in any other way.

For the first five to six weeks I was nauseated a lot, especially in the morning if I attempted to drink water (especially cold water). That has since subsided for the most part. I still have moments of nausea, but it’s nothing horrible and I think it deals more with eating too fast, which I’m trying to work on.

Yes, I’m still hungry, however most of the time I think it’s more mental than anything. And even though I feel hungry, food in general never truly sounds good to me and I find that I force myself to eat most of the time because I know I have to.

A large portion of people have moments of regret in regard to the VSG surgery. So, have I had any yet?

The honest answer would be not really. I say not really because I don’t regret it. But I find that I get frustrated sometimes at how little I can eat. (1 oz of chicken and I’m stuffed… really???) BUT then I quickly remember, this is why I had the surgery! Prior to surgery, I could eat, and eat, and eat and still have room for more! So I think it’s just trying to get over the thought that 1 to 2 ounces of food will fill me up rather quickly.

I have been out to eat several times since surgery. The first time was the worst and I wanted to cry, but I made it through. Since then I’ve been fine and always find something that fits in my plan. My husband and I are taking our nephews on a weekend vacation this coming weekend, so it will definitely be a test for me.

All-in-all, I’m really thrilled with this surgery so far and am happy to finally be getting my life back. I cannot even begin tell you how terrible it felt to be trapped in my body and feeling so helpless all the time. I was stuck in a horrible cycle of dieting and failing. I finally feel like I have a tool to help me succeed for once. I know I cannot depend fully on my newly sleeved tummy to do all the work. I have to put in quite the effort as well, and I’m prepared to do so!

*** Now 10 week updated: As of this morning I weighed in at 239.8 for a total loss of 71.2 lbs (pre and post-op). Feeling better all the time! ***

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