Monkey Off My Chest

This is how much I've lost since March. Exactly one six year old Tessa.

Now you see it...

Now you see it, but in the form of a monkey girl.... 

Once I past 50lbs, I've started to notice my posture and stance is changing, maybe even the way I walk. I'm sure that the chiropractor will say that's a very good thing, but it also makes me feel kind of physically disoriented sometimes. I'm assuming that's because it's happened so fast that I haven't adjusted. Either way, my back feels much better than it used to!

Vacation, aka "I Can Eat Anything Syndrome"

Last week and the week before we were on vacation. Two seperate road trips, to be exact. One lasting about 17 hours each way, and one only 3.5 hours each way. No matter how it adds up that was a lot of time in the car, a lot of snacking, and a lot of fast food.

The good thing is that I'm far enough out from surgery that I can pretty much eat anything.

The bad thing is that I can pretty much eat anything. Like...

Yes I had chips. And ice cream. And chicken nuggets. But the solace that I find is that it was all in very small amounts. It took me three separate snack attacks to finish this big-grab sized bag of chips. And when I got chicken nuggets, it was only a four piece order. High fat food, but small amounts.

I actually found chicken nuggets to be a good source of road-protein when my options were limited. Which was partially due to a leaky cooler that soaked all of my cheese. Squishy wet cheese, bleck.

But life happens right? I think that's the point. Life will continue to happen and I will be equipped with my own inner portion control and at the same time able to enjoy treats.

Now, many patients who have had bypass are not able to eat a lot of high fat foods and experience what is called 'dumping syndrome.' Thankfully, that is not common in sleeve patients. And thankfully even despite my road food adventures, I have yet to experience dumping.

What it WILL do of course is slow down my weight loss. In two week I only lost about 3 lbs, and honestly had I been home and on a normal diet it would have been more. But I'm happy with that. I didn't gain anything. Today I am holding at 52 lbs lost.

Oh and I shouldn't forget the nightly glass of wine in Colorado and lime-aritas at the lake. They may have added to my calorie count as well. But vacation is over and in my mind it was welllllll worth it.

12 Weeks Progress Picture

 March 2013

June 2013 (12 weeks post op)

48 pounds gone. I was REALLY wanting to say 50lb by the time I hit 12 weeks. Oh well, still obviously very happy. I should stop raining on my own parade huh?...hey, it's a lifelong struggle. 

We are getting ready to go on a 16 hour road trip and I have all my vitamins and some protein shakes. Now that I can eat all normal food (except steak and squishy bread), I'll need to watch myself on the road. More apples and less gas station pringles. Okay there may be a FEW pringles involved. 

I won't weigh myself for over 10 days which will be kind of nice actually, being that I currently do it twice a day. I can just focus on eating well and having a good time...and here's hoping that I like the scale reading on the flip side.

Regiment

In the time since surgery, I've been going through phases with my vitamins. For a while I was very regimented and after some time had past I became less so.

Since I am getting very little nutrition from food, my dietician at the bariatric center really enforces vitamins vitamins vitamins. Oh and protein. Protein is your friend.

So it's not good for me to slip.

It's a poor excuse but I think part of it was having so many bottles to deal with and many of them cannot be taken together so I have to remember when is okay. I wrote on the top of the bottles which helps some, but I also invested in one of these bad boys...

What you see here is my daily regiment:
breakfast- a multi vitamin, vitamin D, and a sublingual (aka under the tongue) B12
mid-day- 6 caramel chews of Calcium Citrate. I slipped one in their just to remind me. Even though they are super delicious, this has been the hardest one to remember.
dinner- another multi and a fish oil pill
bed- another vitamin D and iron

Now, the multi and calcium cannot be taken at the same time. And the iron and multi cannot be taken at the same time. The fish oil and D can be taken whenever. And I can't lie, I was accidently chewing up the sublingual B12 for over a month. Sublingual....what do I speak Greek?

The way I keep it all straight is simple...the Bariatric Center gave me a huge binder of info in which it is all very CLEARLY mapped out for me. If in doubt, check the binder. The binder is your friend too.

So far my new pill popping container has been helpful. I think it was money well spent.

Uncharted Territory

I am currently down about 46 pounds and am venturing into uncharted waters weight wise. What I mean by that is that I have weighed a lot LESS than this and clearly a lot MORE than this but I've never weighed my current weight unless I was pregnant.

I've never been in this size or at this weight as a non-pregnant person.

See? Skinnier than now and a little pregnant....

And a little heftier after that baby was born....

 

And well, it just kind of stayed there for a long time. That baby is now four years old and I've still got the 'baby weight' hanging around.

Last time I weighed what I do RIGHT NOW, I was carrying extra cargo....

I cannot get this pic to rotate to save my life, sorry!

Sad but true that this is the way it's gone for me. I think it's unfair to totally blame my weight gain on pregnancies, but they certainly didn't help. I guess it's fair to say that they helped me gain weight a lot more easily and quickly than I otherwise would have. 

After Tessa's birth, I was able to easily lose everything that I had gained, especially while nursing. With Charley though, something weird happened with my body. Maybe the hormones of having and nursing two babies in 2 years? But I had a LOT more trouble afterward not only with losing weight but with control of blood sugar, sleep apnea and fatigue and even menstrual cycles. 

My body just kinda freaked out. 

And about the time I was back on track, I shattered my foot and have to have surgery which lead to about a year of recovery before I was back to full usage and excercise. 

Excuse after excuse? Maybe. But I was definitely stuck, there's no denying that. 

And when you're stuck, I guess the best thing to do is to look at the most logical ways to get yourself unstuck. And that's why I decided on surgery. Because I know my body SO well and I knew what I was capable and not capable of doing. And so far I'm nothing but happy with my decision.

Sumer Stylin' and Clothes Pilin'

This week I finally hit a 40lb loss and also got a few more pieces of EXTRA LARGE size clothing. Yes all caps, it's from the regular section of the store, not the plus sized section. Not to mention only $14.99 AND the leggings are XL sized as well.

I felt super comfy and cute in this outfit which is more than I can say for alot of my shorts and capris right now. They are all either too big or too small with my weird deflated lower belly roll.

In the words of the wise Homer Simpson....I won't look like a freak, I'll just wear a muu muu.

But I have to be happy when I look at pictures from almost exactly a year ago when we were in NYC, also wearing a dress.

I really truly have loved that black and white dress but today I threw it in our garage sale pile, along with everything else in size 2X or 22. I'm sure it will find a good home with somebody who love it but for me...it's time to move on.

8 Week Progress Pics

On the left is my pre-surgery pic. The right is 8 weeks post op, minus 38 lbs and one full pants size.

I've been feeling pretty darn good lately. I guess I haven't blogged much because there isn't much to report. I've gotten used to my new stomach size and can eat almost all regular food now. The trick of course is still not eating tons of junk because even in small amounts...calories are calories.

My only other hardship at the moment is when our days get really busy and I forget to drink adequate protein. I'd say I hit it about 5 out of 7 days. Not bad odds, but still I'm not a fan of the idea of my hair falling out so I could probably do better.

I was reallly realllllly hoping to hit 40 lbs in 8 weeks but my dang menstrual cycle seems to have kept me on hold the past week. It would seem that even surgery can't change some biological truths, like menstrual bloat. 

Overall I'm feeling happy with the decision and progress. I'm starting to forget what life was like before my new stomach, and now it's just part of  my every day life. We've been making some new recipes and such which I promise to post more of.

In the meantime, I'll direct you to my favorite bariatric foodie blog. I love her 'bite' recipes: www.theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com