10 weeks

Gosh 10 weeks post op. It honestly doesn't seem that long. It seems just yesterday I was walking into the hospital to have the surgery done. After 10 weeks though, I feel fantastic.

Currently I am at a plateau with my weight. It has been a few days that I have been stuck at 280. This is normal. My body seems to be catching up with the weight loss. I can see changes on my body even though the weight is at a stand still. I will probably start losing again in a week. This hot weather we are having isn't helping either. I could be retaining water from exercising.

I tried Shirmp for the first time since I had surgery. It was awesome!!!! It stayed down and it tasted great!! Of course I didn't eat it fried. I boiled the shrimp and used some allowable Taco sauce to dip it in. The good thing about Shrimp is that it is high in protein and VERY low in fat. It helps because chicken has been so hard to eat lately. The talapia fish helps also.

Medications are going well still. The calcium is getting better, the daily multivitamins are doing well, and I no longer need to take the prevacid. I will be starting some B-Vitamins at my next appointment and also I will be able to start swallowing pills whole.

I have incredible ambition to do things now. Like I posted in my 9 week post, my energy is amazing. I noticed that on the weekends, I no longer want to just sit down and watch television. I am ready to go in the mornings. I actually want to get out of the house and go places, do things, get things done. I see my life becoming more organized.

I have noticed another thing. I have not had a migrane headache since I had the surgery. I used to get migranes all the time. I was thinking about this last night. I can't believe what a relief it has been not to get migranes all the time.

Someone asked me yesterday if I miss Soda, Ice cream, steaks, all the good stuff. The honest answer is yes. I explained myself though. I am never hungry. I now have to remind myself to eat. I never have hunger pains. I believe that with this surgery, my addiction to food went away. I am constantly feeling comfortably full. I think that before surgery my problem is that I always wanted to feel full so I would overeat. The things I would eat were Ice cream, candy, etc. I don't miss them like I thought I would. I think I miss the taste more than eating it. It will pass. I want to be successful in this surgery so these types of food will never be in my diet again. I am satisfied with the diet I have now.

Every week I experience something new. Everyday I say that I am glad to have had this surgery. I will continue to say this for the rest of my life. I have quality back in my life. This surgery has also taught me the discipline I needed when it came to food.

sleeping/2X shirts

I hope that everyone had a good weekend!! I actually had a fun weekend. I went to a outlet mall about 35 miles southwest of here. It is a huge outlet mall. I walked and walked and walked and I never got tired. The sun was hot but i walked in the shade most of the time. I had a lot of fun!! I actually enjoy going out and walking and having fun now!!

Part one of the title of the post is about sleeping. I haven't slept this good in years. I sleep through the night now. I feel very refreshed in the morning. I don't have weird dreams anymore. They are less violent and more understandable. I hardly toss and turn anymore. I can actually sleep on my stomach now. It doesn't hurt to sleep on my incision scar. I guess just another perk of having this surgery!!

The second part of this post is regarding 2X shirts. I finally fit into 2X shirts for the first time in almost 3 years. Before I left for the outlet mall, I decided to try on one of the 2X shirts and they actually fit!! I can start buying shirts in normal clothing stores now!! Another perk of this surgery.

I also now have ambition to clean and get things done around my home. I don't get so out of breath and tired so easily so cleaning goes a lot quicker than it used to. I can wash floors without my back hurting, knees hurting, and arms hurting. Not that I ever enjoyed cleaning, it is just a lot easier now!!

This week at some point I am going to go back and revisit the list of things that I wanted to try after I had the surgery (things i wanted to do when I lost weight). I will let you know what I have accomplished so far.

9 weeks

Today it has been 9 weeks since i had surgery. Yesterday I posted my two month pictures. I can really see a difference. It's hard to imagine that Just two months ago I was 359 pounds.

Things have been going great. The diet is well. Today I actually introduced coffee back into my liquid intake. So far so good. It will only be in the morning and it will be a half of a cup. It will be less than 8 ounces of coffee a day. If i find that drinking the coffee is not helping then i will stop immediately.

Medications are going very well. In a few weeks, I will be able to start swallowing whole pills. I will be instructed to do so on my next appointment which is August 10th. I can't wait to be able to swallow whole pills. It will save a lot of time. The only concern that I have about the whole pills is that they might fill me up and i won't be able to get any food in.

Within the last two weeks chicken has not been tasting very good to me. Just the taste, smell, and sight of it turns me off. I was worried about it so I emailed the nurse at the doctor's office and she assured me that I really shouldn't worry about it because after surgery your taste for food changes. If all foods were to cause this then I probably should worry about it and get help with it.

After nine weeks I still can honestly say that I am very happy and proud of myself for having this surgery. I couldn't have asked for a better Surgeon, Nurses, and support network. Seeing the comparison photos below, especially for the first time, makes me a little emotional. I know it sounds corny but it's true.

2 month Comparison

(Night before Surgery, May 18th 2006 359 pounds)

(2 months post-op, July 19th 2006 290 pounds)

Two Months Post-Op

Down 69 pounds!!

Walking

Finally yesterday the heat and humidity broke and I finally was able to do my walking outdoors. I was able to get quite a bit of walking in last night. The wind was cool and the sun was going down so there was no heat from the sun. It felt good to get the walk in. Next week tuesday is another 2 mile walk at the local university. I will see if i improved on my 41 minutes from last time.

8 weeks post op/2 month follow up

Hello everyone! I hope that your weekend is shaping up to be a good one. Even though it is hotter than hell outside!!

I am now 8 weeks post op. Yesterday was actually my 8 weeks and I am doing well. I weighed myself this morning and I am at 288. Medications are still going ok. I haven't had any problems with the medications for a long time. My energy level keeps going up. I don't like to sit much anymore because my back starts to hurt. I don't have much padding on my back anymore so there is less cushion to keep me comfortable sitting. I am doing great and that is all that matters at this point. I have nothing to complain about.

Last Thursday, I had my 2 month follow up with the doctor. I didn't actually get to see Dr Shapiro but I did talk with Val the nurse. She weighed me in and i am officially down 69 pounds. WAHOO!!!!! I have never lost that much weight at one time in my whole life. I don't even think that if you count up all the pounds that i have lost on all my diets that it would even come close to 69 pounds. Val gave me two packets of recipes that I can go off of to help me with my protein intake. The packets were mentioned at Wednesday's support group meeting but I will get to that in my next post. Really nothing has changed with my 2 month follow up. I have my next appointment on August 10th at 1pm. She will then start me on some B vitamins and I will also get to start swallowing pills whole. I may even get to start eating ground beef (lean beef of course).

This coming Wednesday is my actual 2 month post op. I will be taking pictures and posting them like I did at my 1 month. I now can see the difference in my body with this weight loss. Hopefully in the pictures I will be able to see it more. Let me know what you think when you see the pictures this Wednesday.

I bought some weights this past week since I am off all restrictions. I will be walking with the hand weights and using them to do some exercises with.

290

Yep, that is my current weight. I weighed in at 290 on my scale yesterday and today. My mouth dropped. Almost everyday its a new experience at a lesser weight. I can't remember the last time I weighed 290. I do remember going to Las Vegas in July of 2004 and i was 283. When I lose 7 more pounds, I will be at the same weight I was in July of 2004.

I am very, very, very close to fitting into a 2X shirt. It is still a little snug on me. I think that when i get down to 280 i will fit perfectly into a 2X shirt. This would be music to my ears because I have a TON of 2X shirts.

My energy level is incredible. I am walking faster, longer and keeping up with people i normally wouldn't have been able to before surgery. I just want to go out and do things. I know that if I keep moving and drink plenty of water and stay on the strict eating habits the weight will keep coming off. The surgeon said that my ultimate goal weight is 190, so I am 100 pounds away from that goal. This doesn't mean that I won't go below 190, realistically 190 is my goal. I would just be happy being below 200 pounds because I can't even remember the last time i was below 200. I think maybe in middle school?????????????

I will update on thursday, that is my next doctors appointment. I also have the support group meeting on the wednesday. This friday is also my 8 week post op. On top of that, next wednesday the 19th is my 2 month anniversary!!!!

7 weeks post op

Sorry for the delay in posting this time. It has been well over a week. It was a very busy holiday for me. I actually had a ton of energy while i was on vacation.

Things are going really well. I am down quite a few more pounds now. I am going to wait to post my official weight until Thursday when I have my appointment with Dr Shapiro. The one thing i can tell you is that I am feeling great.

This past holiday weekend, I visited my family back in Milwaukee, WI. I spent time with my two year old godson (newphew) and I didn't get tired once. I couldn't believe how well i kept up with him.

Before surgery when i would get on a plane, i would have to ask for a seatbelt extender. Last weekend when i got on the plane, not only did the seatbelt fit without the extender but I could also tighten it.

Experiences like these are going to keep coming. I am welcoming them with open arms. I still will say and probably will say the rest of my life, I am very glad i had this surgery!!!