Well exactly 14 days ago I changed my life forever. I still haven't had any of the, "what have I done," moments, but I have been in absolutely excruciating pain since Thursday of last week. I can happily report that I am officially down 20 lbs from the start of my pre-op diet on 8/27. After gaining 6 lbs from surgery and feeling as if the bloating wouldn't ever go away I am really excited that I am starting to see results quickly. And yes I know, I do not want to see them too quickly to avoid a plethora of issues.

I have started using this handy dandy app called My Fitness Pal, (www.myfitnesspal.com) which allows me to track everything I put in my mouth and also the amount of physical activity I do. It tells me how many calories I have left to consume for the day and also breaks down my nutrition for the day letting me know exactly how much protein, fat, fiber, etc. I've consumed. I've seen similar apps that get to be a pain in the butt with entering what you eat, but this app has a scanner part where you can actually take a pic of the items bar code and it adds it to your list. Very cool and very easy. I know that many different weight loss programs preach writing a food journal to keep track of how much you are consuming and I have found it to be a great tool in making sure you aren't over indulging. I am notoriously not very good at keeping a food journal but so far for the past 7 days I've done it and I can admit I am kind of addicted to it.

Right after surgery I jinxed myself by saying I hadn't experienced any of the gas pain that some of the others on LBT (www.lapbandtalk.com) had mentioned. Well guess what has been keeping me company during the wee hours of the morning...gas pain. It started last Wednesday night in the middle of my back between my shoulder blades. Walking, Advil/Tylenol, burping, and Gas-X strips had helped make it possible for me to sleep Wednesday night. I stayed home from work on Thursday and Friday for the same reason. I started on Thursday walking around the park by my help disburse the gas pain. Needless to say by Saturday I was up to 2 miles and was still having gas issues in the evening. Sunday I did not have any pain and thought that perhaps I was finally getting a handle on this issue. NOPE! I woke up this morning at 0300 feeling like I was going to throw up the pain was so bad. After going to work with the heating pad attached to my back, the pain didn't let up and actually was making it difficult to breathe. I contacted my surgeon's office and told them that I was doing everything they had told me to do and the pain was getting worse and unlike before it wasn't letting up this time. My nurse told me that perhaps it was gallstones, since I was also describing those symptoms. Well after a very long visit to the ER and after several rounds of costly tests, I was sent home from the ER with no news. All of my tests came back normal, so I am back to square one with this gas pain. I really am starting to feel like a big baby always whining about this pain, but from what I have been told is pain very similar to a heart attack. And it is also frustrating that I can't manage to make it go away and stay away. My next step is to eat even slower than I already am and see if possibly my food choices are contributing to this issue.

Now that I am finally able to eat more real food as my co-workers call it, I sat down last night and wrote out a menu so I could figure out what I was eating at each meal so I didn't just wonder around aimlessly. I've also picked up two lap-band cook books, one is Bandwagon Cookery by Jean McMillan who is the author of the Lap Band Bible, Bandwagon. Her book is very funny reading all the pointers on how to eat well with the band, I am 95 pages in and haven't made it to her recipes yet but from what I've flipped through they seem to be good. The other is Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery by Patt Levine. I actually prefer her recipes so far from what I've read. She also has a nifty guideline on each page that lets you know how much you should consume depending on what stage you are in on your diet. And the other thing I liked is that all of her recipes have been taste tested blended in case you are in the liquid stages. Very helpful information. I attended a birthday party on Saturday and managed to watch what I ate, made sure to not stuff my face with anything awful and put everything that I ate on my food journal. I was proud of myself at being able to control my choices. Thinking about what I would have eaten a few months ago astounds me, I would have gone bonkers and really stuffed my face, then wondered the next day why my pants were even tighter.

So that is the low down on the past week. I am hoping that the weight continues to come off, I continue to log my food, and that I continue to exercise on a daily basis. Oh yeah, and the pain STOPS! My one month anniversary from starting the pre-op diet is on Thursday, so I will update you all then on my final weight loss for my 1st month.

Until tomorrow,

Amanda