sleevicidal_maniac
Six Months Later
Feb 26, 2013
Boy, have I learned a lot about my body, my family, my friends and myself. If you read back into my blog, you will see that this story started out a littler scarier than planned. I had a little more discomfort than anticipated and some complications that took time to overcome, but six months out, I have a whole new life.
Just by the numbers, I am pretty happy with how things have and continue to progress. As of this morning, I am down 86 pounds. My goal is 112, so I'm doing fine on getting there. I still lose weight, just at a slower pace, about 1-2 lbs per week.
I feel wonderful. I fit into awesome clothes. Almost every day, somebody tells me how great I look. I do things, I enjoy everything more. It's great.
At six months, my eating looks like this:
0630 - multivitamin, actigall
0700 - 1 scoop of protein powder with almond milk, or protein juice or cold coffee and ice - about 2-300cal
0830 - snack of fruit snacks, small piece of fruit, 100cal pack, light granola bar, some nuts - 100cal
1000 - prevacid
1100 - another small snack or a drink. Something sweet but not crazy like a zero cal sports drink or a small fruit juice. Sometimes I'll have a cup of coffee with milk and sugar. 100cal
1200 - lunch. I can still only eat protein so I make a bunch of things on the weekend to bring to work. Turkey meatballs, small hamburger patties, a fruit and cheese plate, hard boiled eggs, high quality deli meat rolled on a white cheese. I eat about 3-4 oz of food, sometimes it's too much, but I'm usually full. I still have a difficult time with carbs and veggies when eating them with other things - for example - no sandwiches. 250-350cal
1500 - another snack. I keep good items in my car, small boxes of raisins, 80cal fruit snack packs, cheese sticks, single serve packs of mixed nuts... anyway, another 100cal
1800-2000 - dinner. I eat whatever my family is having, just a little bit. I try to mix and match but usually with painful results. I just sit at the table and pick at different things for as long as I can take it and until I'm full. I'm pretty good at stopping because a few times, I ate more than I should have and it hurts like a sunuvagun. I don't weigh, measure or plan very often because my sleeve limits my intake. I doubt if I ever have more than 500cal, but I think it's typically about 3-400.
I drink water all day long. I will have a couple small drinks of fruit juice, coffee, tea, sports drinks too. I only count them if they have calories and otherwise I just keep drinking. I will still pick at things because I'm only taking in 12-1500 calories on any given day and I'm an active man, 6'1". I know it's why I'm still losing weight. I have been exercising a lot more than before the weight loss. I play basketball a few times a week, own two businesses that keep me on the go nearly seven days and when the weather breaks I'll get my kayak back in the water. Autocross season starts April 20th and that's pretty demanding as well, so I imagine I will hit my goal by my anniversary in late June.
I finish each day with a second gall bladder pill and a BP pill, but those will be gone very soon. On March 5th I have my 6-month checkup at the bariatric place so the Actigall will be done and my BP is down to 110/70 with a resting pulse around 55. I can't imagine I will be on the Lisinopril much longer either. I think I need to stay on the acid meds a little longer.
Like I said before, I still eat too much pretty often. My stomach will hurt anywhere from a few minutes to an hour. It takes that long for my stomach to pass whatever it is that I shoved down my throat. I don't throw up. I do get a backup. I think others describe it as "the foamies" where I get a soft, airy, foam coming back and sitting in my throat and occasionally making all the way into the back of my mouth. I think the Prevacid helps because it isn't acidic like vomit and it doesn't burn like reflux, just pretty uncomfortable.
I often get hiccups and, embarrassingly, I have a lot of gas. Otherwise, since my rocky start, I've really been pretty much symptom free. I am so happy. I don't stew on it too much, but I do occasionally think about what my life could have been like if I'd never been fat, been able to control things on my own or even just gotten my VSG sooner. Whatever, I'm glad I did it when I did. It may sound weird, but I'm glad that the complications came and went because they put an exclamation point on the value of improving my life and gave me a new perspective on who and what is important to me.
I had posted every few days, then once a week, then every two weeks and now I'm trying to post on milestones or anniversaries. I might not be around for a while, but I thought this was a good time to add an entry. I hope you all are doing awesome and kicking WLS-Butt!
I'll see you on the skinny side. Jason
