Well it's been 10 months now since my lap-band surgery. I'm doing well. The shoulder pain subsided. I just went for a fill yesterday. They only do about .3 cc's at a time because my band is very sensitive. I'm now up to 3.6 cc's in my 10 cc band. Not much but it is working for me. I'm now down to 240 lbs. This past week I've had 3 people at work that I haven't seen in a while tell me that they didn't even recognize me. It is a big change. Down 125 lbs from my highest weight. I am having an issue though. It's like my brain hasn't quite caught up with my body yet. I went on a little mini vaca with my husband and daughter on Memorial Day weekend to Eureka Springs, AR (fourth trip.. love this little town). As I was shopping I would look at something and think this won't fit me. And yet it is the size I'm wearing and it does fit. Also, we were walking the historic downtown with a couple of thousand other people and when I would walk up or down stairs I would wait until someone had passed me. This is what I used to do because I was afraid I wouldn't fit on the stairs with someone else trying to pass. Now, even though I probably would have fit back then, I know I would now and yet I find myself things my 360 lb self would do. Will I ever get past this?? Ugg!!!!
Ok here is another thing that is bothering me. I have had many people make comments about now that I've lost weight I'm going to have guys flirting me or tell my husband that he needs to watch out bc I might leave him. WHAT? That is ridiculous! Ok I have heard of people who had lost a lot of weight and lost friendships, relationships, marriages.. When I got married 14 years ago I weighed about 180 lbs. My husband loved me then and at my biggest. Same goes for me. Those comments really get under my skin.
So this is where I am now. Experiencing alot of emotional and psychological changes other than just physical changes at this point.
This is an interesting journey. I'm still glad I bought the ticket and took the ride.
Believe
Well it has been three months since my last blog (6 months from surgery) and I'm happy to say I've lost another 30 lbs for a total of 90 lbs lost!! Current weight- 274. Whoo-hoo!! I think this is the first time ever that I've lost weight during the holidays. I've been averaging a loss of 10 lbs a month. Very happy with that. I've been getting very small fills. In fact I've only got 3 cc's in my 10 cc band. I still don't have alot of restriction but I count my calories, exercise and follow the rules. We've had a very cold winter so instead of doing my walking outside I've been doing low impact cardio workouts. My two favorite being Shapely Girl and the Biggest Loser Power Walk. I'm looking forward to warm weather and today I signed up for the Blue and You fitness challenge. This is something I did last year and it's basically just making a commitment to exercise 3 days a week for at least 30 minutes. Now what I'm really excited about is that I signed up for my first 5K!! It is May 3rd and I have the option to walk but I would love to run as much as possible. I know I can easily walk 3 miles but I haven't even attempted to run. I have wanted to try running but I don't want anyone seeing me. I know this is something I need to get over but when I go to the walking trails the only people I see running are already really fit and skinny. Ugh!! Well time to get over it because starting this week (wait it's snowing) ok next week I'm going to start training for this 5K.
So besides all that my band seems to being doing well. I have had some pain in my left shoulder for about 3 months now. At first I thought I had injured it but then I realized that the way the pain would come and go, hurt when I would bend over for any length of time (cleaning) and when first laying down in bed that it seemed to be a nerve issue. I did some research and found that it is not uncommon for bandsters to have this pain. It is caused by a nerve- phrenic nerve- that runs through the diaphragm. It hurts everyday but luckily not ALL day so I can handle that. Other than that I haven't had any problems really. There is nothing I have found that I can't eat (but alot I choose not to!!)
Oh yeah, I had a pretty sweet NSV this morning. I was chatting with a co-worker this morning and looked down and realized that I had my legs crossed. Wow! It's been a long time since I could do that.
Well I thought I'd do a little update since it has been awhile. I'm 3 months out from my surgery on Aug 9th. I'm currently weighing in at 304 lbs. That is 60 lbs down from before my pre-op diet. I feel great and couldn't be happier with the results. A couple of weeks ago I slacked off on my exercising and didn't do anything for an entire week. I didn't feel good but that's really not an excuse. To get me back on track I bought a dry erase board to log my daily exercise. It's also to keep up with how many reps I do with my weights so I can start increasing those gradually. I also purchased a fit bit which I love. It keeps up with how many steps I take, miles walked, calories burned... you get the picture. I have it linked to my fitness pal so it will take off calories burned. It's really handy and very motivating.
Well my one big goal was to be under 300 lbs by Christmas but it looks like I might hit that goal by Thanksgiving. I've had a ton of NSV's so I'm going to list a few of those here.
1. Going shopping from my closet - I've had a lot of cute shirts just sitting in my closet bc they were too small. Now they fit!!
2. Bought some pants from a regular dept store- I actually bought some pants from Kohl's a couple of weeks ago. I haven't been able to shop anywhere but Lane Bryant in years!!
3. Seat belt doesn't pinch me and stays clasped now- I was having an issue with my hips/thighs being too wide so the seat beat in my vehicle wouldn't latch properly and would come undone while I was driving down the road. Fits great now!
4. No more Meraligia Paresthetica!! This is a big one bc it was causing me so much pain. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a nerve on your outer thigh that gets pinched bc of extra weight. It causes numbess, pain and burning. It got so bad for me that I would wake up at night and the pain would be so intense it would take about 20 minutes of slowly moving my leg around until I could get up. It always happened if I ended up on my back. I'm having ZERO issues with this now.
5. NO fast food. Fast food was my weakness and probably one of the main reasons I weighed so much. I haven't had a burger and fries in over 4 months and when I think about it doesn't even sound good. If we do grab fast food I pick subway or chick-fil-a (cool chicken wrap with no dressing is amazing).
6. Decrease in blood pressure meds. I was able to go on a lower dose of BP meds which also happens to save me $50 a month ($60 rx is now a $10 rx).
7. No more kidney pain/frequent UTI's. The last several years I've had kidney pain and stones, and frequent UTI's. I drank a lot of diet soda and little water. Now I drink a lot of water and no soda.
8. I really do have a collar bone. I know this is silly to some but this is my favorite NSV. It's so weird to feel it after not being able to for so long that I find I touch it alot without thinking. Yes I'm weird but I'm totally ok with that.
These are just a few but there are many more. It amazes me that so much has changed already even though I have a long way to go. I can't wait to see what the next four months will bring!!!
Believe
So my last entry I was on my pre-op diet and now as of today I've had my band for 4 weeks! My first week post-op I did have some moments of 'what did I do to myself', but luckliy that passed. It has definitely been a learning experience and will continue to be one I'm sure. It's hard work but it's rewarding to see the pounds falling off. I'm up to walking about 2 1/2 miles 3-5 time per week. I'm eating 800 calories a day. I will say that I am looking forward to a fill. My appetite was non-existent at first but it has come back with a vengence. At this point I am having to use will power but that's ok because I know it's part of the process. I love the fact that I can eat a small portion and feel satisfied. I can finish my meal feeling good about myself instead of feeling guilty that I ate to much. It is an adjustment because I still get the 'head hunger'. For example, I made tacos the other night and that is one food I would stuff myself on. Instead of having a taco in a flour tortilla I made a small salad with shredded lettuce and had some refried beans on the side. Although I was satisfied my head was wanting to stuff myself silly on tacos. This is where I would fail at losing weight before the surgery. Before the surgery I would have gave in and stuffed myself on tacos. Now I know I can't unless I want to be sick or risk hurting my band. Oh yeah on a side note lettuce does not agree with me at all!! I will try it again sometime but it will be awhile.
Ok back to the head hunger. I think the more I live this new healthy lifestyle the cravings and longings to pig out on my favorite foods will deminish. I think it will be like when I quit smoking almost 6 months ago. I remember even 2 months after I quit I would get these strong cravings for a cigarette. This has gotten better over time and will continue to get better.
Now to the most frustrating part of this entire process (for me anyway)... the dreaded SCALE. I am just not getting along with my scale. I weighed 350 the morning of my surgery and 2 weeks out I weighed 329. Now it's been 2 weeks later and I'm still at 329, but in the last two weeks my clothes have continued to get loosier and I can tell I'm losing weight. The scale just isn't saying so. This is really frustrating. I tell myself I'm not going to weigh but I do it anyway. I think I might need to remove the scale from the bathroom and hide it for awhile. Yep, sounds like a good plan! I think as long as I'm counting my calories (thank you My Fitness Pal!), getting exercise in and can tell I'm losing then I don't need a stupid scale. It just brings me down to see the numbers staying the same.
Ok one last thing. I haven't had anything sweet in at least 6 weeks but tonight I'm going to make some Chocolate Chip Cannoli Cups from a website I found called emilybites.com. She has some fabulous looking recipes that aren't loaded with fat, calories and carbs. Oh yeah, did I mention it is 63 calories per cannoli cup? Yummmm.. chocolate here I come!!
Believe
Well I survived my first weekend with the pre-op diet. YAY!! I started on Thursday and it wasn't too bad. Friday I felt awful. I had a headache all day and no energy. Saturday was better. Still had a headache on and off but I was able to take a nap since I was off. My husband was off this weekend. He went to the store and I told him to get whatever he wanted for him and my daughter for their lunches and dinner. He came back with frozen pizzas, chips, cheez-its.. Really? I guess my first mistake was to send him shopping on his own. Lol! Sunday we went to the zoo. We stopped to eat lunch. I took some strawberry protein powder and lemonade crystal light powder. I mixed this with water in my shaker bottle. My husband and daughter had nachos and pizza. I drank my lunch. I did good though! No cheating!! We probably walked around for 4-5 hours so I got some exercise in. I had heard that the first 3 days are the hardest on the pre-op diet. I agree! This is getting easier and I feel better.
I have pre-op testing and meet with a dietician Friday at the hospital and then a nutrition class at my surgeon's clinic. Here's to a four day work week!!
11 days until surgery!! I'm ready!!
Believe
I can't believe it's three weeks from today until my surgery! I have an RN case manager who told me to get as strong as possible before surgery (not like I just lay around and do nothing all day anyway.. lol) so I've been walking and hiking as much as possible. Amazingly the weather is cooperating. This is the mildest summer we've had since I can remember. Much better than the 110 degree days with 100% humidity we had this time last year. So this has been a blessing.
My pre-op diet starts Thursday so I plan on having one last hurrah. Yep, going to get some beer drinking in this weekend. Lol! I haven't really drank much since I quit smoking (for obvious reasons) which is good because I am quite fond of it especially when I get together with friends and family. My husband is off and I have friends coming from out of town so I am going to enjoy it one last time!!
I also spent a very busy day at work trying to get a head start on paperwork/reports that I need to have done before my surgery. I'm going to be taking a week off work. I think this should be plenty of time. Luckily I have a pretty easy job..as in not physically demanding.. and some great co-workers who are very supportive.
Ok, time to start the weekend
Believe
Well I have 5 weeks from today until my surgery on Aug 9th. Can't hardly wait!! Right now I'm focusing on exercise. I have an RN case manager and she said to increase physical activity to be as strong as possible for surgery. I'm doing alot of walking and went hiking the past two nights. It's interesting that I can do more now than 5 years ago and 100 pounds lighter. 5 years ago when I couldn't walk that far on the local walking trail or hiking made me feel like I was going to die I just blamed it on being fat. Maybe I was in denial of how bad my smoking was affecting my health. Now I weigh 100 pounds more and I'm am able to do so much more than I thought possible since quitting smoking over 3 months ago. Of course the bigger you are the more calories you burn and I'm a pretty big girl so I do find myself hungry and stomach growling not long after exercise. I'm worried that during my pre-op diet when I will only be getting 800-900 calories a day that it is going to be very difficult to exercise and that I just won't have the energy. I guess I will do as much as possible now in case this does become a problem. But what about after the surgery? I'll be consuming less calories than that and I'll need to find the energy to exercise. This is something I've been worried about. I will probably just have to suck it up and do it no matter how I feel!!
Believe
@BrandyE77Ok I'm just waiting for a call to find out my surgery date. Exciting!! I started this journey back in October 2012 when I accidently found out that my insurance covered wls. I started researching surgeons in my area and attended a seminar in November. December 2012 I met with my PCP to start my six month physician supervised weight loss program which I just completed on June 24th. YAY!! Did I lose weight? No. Do I feel bad about that? No. I will explain.. I actually started losing weight slowly by cutting back on portion size and counting calories. In March I decided to quit smoking after 22 years of being a smoker. I gained about 10 pounds. I beat myself up about it at the time. Also, I really got into excercising since I could actually BREATH. I have excercised more in the past 6 months than I have in the past 6 years. I should mention that I did have two steriod shots in the past 6 months for sciatica. I have since lost the weight I gained from when I quit smoking, but that puts me back to where I started. I decided not to get upset about it because although I didn't lose any weight I made two major lifestyle changes and I feel wonderful about that!!
So I've jumped through all the hoops.. seminar, 6 months supervised by PCP, 6 month nurse coach, psych eval, labs, support group meeting, viewed EMMI. Now just waiting on insurance approval which my nurse coach said usually takes 2 weeks. I can't wait!! I am so ready for this!!
Believe
