Howdy y'all!

I'm so sorry I haven't been keeping up on here, things have been a whirlwind! Here I am 6 months post op and some days I can't believe the number on the scale. Guys, I found a journal I kept in high school, maybe junior-ish year and I had noted my weight in the nurse's office from beginning of school weigh in at 256lbs...as I sit and write this, this past week I weighed in at 255.7lbs. I haven't been this light since high school...we are talking uhm....maybe 16 years old, maybe 17? That boggles my mind.

My surgeon's goal for me is 193, mine is probably closer to 140-150 if I can get my lazy ass off the couch. It is now summer in Texas and guys, I HATE Texas in the summer, it's like living in hellfires. My dog hates it, I hate it, it's a bad time all around. So now that I've enjoyed being lazy for 6 months(not counting some hiking we did this past spring) it's time to nut up and get my **** together. I am paying money for my Fitbit premium and I have a Wii fit game I really enjoy just lately we have been so slammed at work and so, SO shortstaffed I feel like I live at work and just come home to sleep...My days off are usually spent overwhelmed with how far behind I am with housework, schoolwork(started vet tech school back in February when I had hope), house is filthy, schoolwork hasn't been touched for almost 2 months(I'm doing an online only program) and I am always so tired. But that changes now. Boundaries for how late I stay at work will be set(the clinic closes at 6pm, most techs and doctors leave between 6:30-7pm, for the past I don't know how many weeks the receptionists have had to stay till close to 9pm to finish tasks that we just don't have the time/staff to get to while we are open. So if any of you have been nasty to your vet(and I'm sure some of you have been because people lately have sucked hard ass) you should probably by your vet clinic people food or alcohol...but that's a rant for another day.

ANYWAY, back to the matter at hand, my crappy eating and lack of movement. I'm on the band wagon of the "I can have whatever I want in moderation" group but I'm sick of stalling so frequently and my crap food choices so first order of business is to trash the sugar. I know, it's BAD, I know, I quit it prior to surgery and it inched its' way back into my life...time to kill it for good...it isn't even the same "high" I got before surgery it is basically just a habit, my brain tricks me into thinking this time it will be tastier, like it was before that it will make my exhaustion ease some and guess what? It doesn't. It lies. I eat it and I'm still miserable. Step 1: kick sugar to the curb...again. Step 2: Develop some sort of exercise routine that I can enjoy enough to make into a habit, key word is ENJOY. I ENJOY hiking-but preferably in drizzly 40-50 degrees and certainly not in 95 degrees...also, I am inherently lazy even though I KNOW exercise makes me feel good if it is something I enjoy doing. It's gonna be trial and error, but I need to get into shape, going on vacation in the North Carolina mountains in September and I remember what the elevation is like and I am NOT where I need to be to fully enjoy the trails I wanna go on. 

I digress from most of this, I'm sure some of you are here to see what the last 6 months have been like and if I have regrets etc. The first 2 weeks after surgery physically wasn't the worst thing ever, did it suck? Absolutely, especially when I found out the hard way that while I LOVE my adjustable bed it was to high off the ground for me to get in and out without having to stretch my body...imagine me trying desperately to get my feet to get the floor and sliding while laying on my back but that doesn't work because that stretches my abdomen---and it HURT, well it burned/stung/something and it made me cry a little. Lesson learned, my happy ass slept on my MUCH lower couch for the 2 weeks and I learned to pull myself up to sitting positions from laying down or standing from sitting with nothing but my arms. Each day was gradually better, went to work 2 weeks post op, sitting up straight(not reclining or on an angle but like sitting with decent posture) put tension on my abdomen and work for the 2 days I worked before I had off for Christimas(previously asked off) were exhausting as was my commute to and from work which is an hour each way. However, after coming back from Christmas break(a 5 day reprieve) it was much better and I didn't have much if any problems after that. I don't know if my surgeon is extremely skilled at getting the gas out after they were done with the surgery but I had zero gas pain, just the incisions pulling and burning. No nausea except a little when waking up from surgery and maybe a couple of days post op. 

Biggest struggles so far: eating the best choices with my work schedule, with my hair loss that was inevitable I did incorporate protein shakes to help make sure I am getting the minimum amount--I shoot for 2 shakes a day, sometimes I make that sometimes not. Water intake. This has been the single hardest thing for me, as someone that routinely drank 100+oz a day and enjoyed flavored waters to struggle to get in around 44oz has been a huge bummer. Exacerbated by that is my stomach is not a morning stomach and has been known to be extra nauseous when I give it water in the morning and it hasn't woken up enough-granted that is me in a nutshell since I am not a fan of mornings but still, really annoying...especially when it tolerates my Java Monster just fine(yes, I drink one a few times a week, just no bubbles). Most flavors of water taste like fake fruit chemicals and I can't really tolerate them for the most part but I did find a couple of products to help minimize dehydration: Hoist which is a premade flavored beverage that touts itself as "IV level hydration" and was apparently made for soliders on the battlefield. I also found Banana Bag powder, basically it is what you would find in a banana bag for iv fluids. The WHO has recognized it as being used for dehydration, decently priced, I stumbled on it on Amazon and loved I could try it by only buying 5 packets or 15 or 30. It is not the tastiest thing, I would say expect it to taste like a VERY salty lemon lime gatorade--MILD hints of the lemon lime. Luckily it is made to be mixed in only 8-10oz of water so it isn't a huge chore to drink it. I look forward to trying it to keep my dehydration migraines at bay when I do hike later this year because those are quite possibly the worst things ever...I KNOW to get rid of it I have to drink but a lot of times at that point I hurt so bad I'm not even thirsty...yuck. 

Anyway, I have rambled enough, i plan on getting on the forums more to hopefully kickstart my restart on food and exercise and hopefully help others with their journeys. 

Until next time-could be a couple of days, could be a solid 6 months,

Amanda