Joanne G.

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The pool has warmed up and I'm getting more exercise.  Luckily I have a friend who's excited to exercise right now with me, so we're doing a lot of walking and have started this new strengthening home dvd that we're doing twice a week (it's so hard).  I swam last night and really worked my legs and arms.  The pool is so awesome!  We're so lucky to have it and I know it's the best kind of exercise.

And the scale is showing my efforts - I'm now 256.0 lbs. (-38.0lbs since surgery 4/14/08).  I'm feeling much better about my progress.  I really can't wait for my clothes to be just too baggy on me that I have to go shopping.  I'm still wearing a lot of the same clothes I had (part because I needed to go up to a size 26, but just refused and kept trying to squeeze into most of my size 24 pants).  I am fitting a lot of size 22 pants I had in my closet that I haven't worn in a couple of years.  This Saturday, we're having a yard sale and I'm gonna get rid of all of my fall/winter clothes, jackets, sweats and just clothes that I don't ever want to see again.  Seeing those empty hangers will just burn a whole in my pocket  until I can shop.

Going to the beach next week and I feel much better about than I would have at my pre-op weight.  It'll be my first trip without having the clam chowder bread bowl - I'll have to find some yummy replacement.  I know it's hard, but get that exercise in, you'll feel really good.

Well I've lost another 1.5 lbs this week - down a total of 34 since surgery 7 wks out.  I'm exercising a little more often, but not enough.  I need some warmer weather to heat up my pool.

My oldest son is staying with my mom this week and I'm home the next 2 days off of work and plan on spoiling my youngest son a little.  I really miss ice cream  but can't wait to buy new clothes soon 

I went to our support group last night - my first....our special guest speaker was a local plastic surgeon that showed us before and after slides and talked a little about the different surgeries she does....wasn't that informative, but made me think about what could go wrong and that I could end up with my body looking really weird (i guess no weirder than the sagging skin will be).  Plastic surgery FREAKS me out 

I haven't been good about keeping a food journal and still feel like I don't know what I'm eating...my surgeon doesn't believe in protein shakes, but I have been eating Costco Turkey Burgers - 35g protein per patty.  Anyone have any tips for me?

After having a stall for nearly 2 weeks, I'm finally see the scale move again.  I couldn't understand it and was sure that I must be doing something wrong, but then I started reading posts here at OH and found that several people stall and I even read about the "dreaded 3 week stall" which I had never heard of.  So if your weight loss seems to have stalled, be patient and put the scale away.  It's normal.  I obviously couldn't have kept losing the lb. a day that I was.  So now, I'm ready to see some more weight drop so I can finally start wearing a smaller size.  Even though I've lost 33 lbs., I'm still wearing the same clothes, though much more comfortably.  I'm also wearing a pair of pants today that were just way too tight a couple of weeks ago.  

I'm booked on a cruise for September and can't wait to see how I've changed by then. 

A few nights ago, after I wrote that I hadn't had any problems, I got home after a baseball game and ate a couple bites of leftover shredded beef that my husband had out.  The night I cooked it, I ate a little, even though I wasn't eating solid foods yet, and it went down fine and it was so good, but this time I must have not chewed enough or ate the second bite too fast but I started hurting immediately.  I had a lot of pressure and I was afraid I was going to  , but I didn't.  Although it wasn't sugar, it must've been dumping, because my mouth was watering and I was sweating and it took about 10 minutes or so to go away.  Then I was fine again, but that was terrible.   This is really going to take some getting used to.  Remember to eat slow, s l o w , s   l   o   w!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!!

I have lost 23lbs. in three weeks as of my post op appointment this morning.  Everything has been so easy for me, sometimes I wonder if they really did anything to my stomach in surgery.  I do get full, but it passes and then I feel like I can eat more...so I really have to be disciplined.

I'm on to vitamins and solid foods starting today.  So far I've eaten a banana and a few almonds.  I did try a couple of bites of shredded beef that I cooked for my family a few days ago because it looked so good and last night I had a very small taste of my son's bbq chicken.  Both went down just fine.  The only real pain or pressure I've felt so far was one morning when I was eating my mashed up hard boiled egg too fast and I had to stop and wait.  Otherwise, everything's been really good.   I'm going to my mom's this saturday for Mother's Day and there will be lots of food, so hopefully I'll get some meat in if nothing else.

My instructions say to not eat much at dinner and to get a well balanced meal, it needs to be split up throughout the week!  I'll try fruit for breakfast, protein for lunch and veggies for dinner.  It'll be weird trying to figure it out.  We are saving a lot of $$$ not eating out though.

And EXERCISE - it's time to step it up.  I've only been walking, but now I've gotta get in some cardio. 

Thanks to all of you for your support and your kind messages.  Good luck to you all.

I'm not sure how much I've lost since I last updated, but the shirt I'm wearing today fits a lot better than the last time I wore it.  I'm going to go and look for a new scale today so I don't have to wait for my dr. appointments to weigh.

I tried to change my profile picture and couldn't figure it out.  I removed it, then uploaded a new picture, but it still shows the old one here. (any ideas?)

I also added my pre-surgery pictures which were taken the morning of my surgery on April 14th.  If I knew that I looked like that in those pants, I would've thrown them out a long time ago.  I know I've gained a lot of weight the last 2 years, but I really never believed I looked like I do in those pictures.  I thank God for blessing me with this surgery at this time in my life.  Just knowing that I'll never look like that again makes me so happy!

Don't forget to check out my home-based business online travel store website www.gomezgetaways.com

My first post-op was this am.  I'm down 13 lbs. from my pre-op appointment.  I guess I'll stick to my pre-op app't weight as my starting weight since that's what my medical office will be using.  So, down 13 - off to a great start.

AND....I can have soft foods now!!!  I called yesterday and asked if I could eat and they told me to wait until my app't today so they could give me my list of foods.  So far, I've eaten half a banana.  And it was yummy.

Yesterday was my first day out of the house.  I took my sons to school and went to a school meeting later in the afternoon.  So I had to actually do my hair and put makeup on for the first time.  My sister had her baby boy yesterday, but I didn't get to go see him.  Then I took kids to baseball practice, did some walking and I was worn out.

Before my post-op appointment today, I went to Target and walked around, then after my app't went to the grocery store.  I'm back at work today and I'm tired, but doing ok.

TONIGHT------Mashed Potato    

Well, the morning of surgery I weighed in a lb. lighter than I did at my consultation (289.6).  I had surgery on Monday at Clovis Community Hospital.  Dr. Boone was so great as well as everyone there.  Everything went perfectly.  My husband and family that were there started to worry because the surgery was taking longer than expected.  Dr. Boone let them know afterward that it took a little longer to clean up and get around some scar tissue I have from a previous surgery.  But he said it went very well.  I didn't sleep at all that night in the hospital, but the next morning things progressed quickly and I was discharged around 3pm.

So I've been home since tuesday just relaxing and taking it easy.  I'm so grateful to my mom for coming and staying here with us this whole week.  She's been such a blessing.  She has taken care of my family for me and doesn't want me to do anything.  I told her yesterday that I was going to walk across the street to get the mail and she didn't want me to.  So I told her that if she doesn't let me walk that I'm going to call my dr. and tell him.  She laughed.

I've only had a little pain on and off.  Have only had to take the pain pills once or twice a day.  Ususally I get up in the wee hours of the morning and can't get comfortable to go back to sleep, so I take a pill and that helps.   The liquid diet is going fine.  I haven't been hungry at all.  Thanks to all of you who have sent me well wishes and such nice messages.  The support really helps.

I go back for my follow up next Tuesday.  Can't wait to see the results....

Yesterday was my pre-op appointment.  I saw my surgeon, Dr. Boone, and he said about half the patients stay 1 night in hospital and the other half 2 nights, but he thinks I'll have no problem and only need to stay the one night.  He graded my quiz, a multiplication open-book test, and I passed.  I asked about my instructions, which were to just eat light the rest of the week prior to my surgery on Monday, to only have liquids all day Sunday, the day before, and to not have anything at all after midnight because my surgery is at 7:30am.  The office girl gave me my prescriptions to get filled ahead of time so I'll already have them when I get home.

The hospital also called me yesterday and I let them know that I was expecting to be sent over there after my pre-op for testing.  The surgical nurse did my medical history over the phone to get that out of the way and when I was done at Dr. Boone's office, I went over to the hospital to pre-register, have an EKG, a chest x-ray, labwork and urine sample.  I was there a long time, but now everything's done.  

I went to the store and bought a nightgown to wear in the hospital, I should probably get a robe too for my walks around the hospital floor.

Dr. Boone is so awesome!  I'm so glad I did the research and found him.  After I left his office, I got in my car and just prayed.  I am so grateful and full of excitement that I have the opportunity to do this.  Everyone's asking me if I'm nervous and I'm not at all.  Way too excited.....5 more days!!!    


My 8 year old son did so great at his baseball game last night, the coach gave him the game ball and everyone was praising him.  He was so happy that he finally got a great hit, got a double and got 2 rbi's out of it.  He had been struggling just to get on base before.  I'm so proud!!