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2 Months Post OP Weight: 266.4 Total Weight Lost: -38.5 BMI: 42.5 So it has been too long since I have written anything. All in all everything is great! I’m down almost 40bs in 2 months and I am feeling awesome. So what have I been up to this last month? My trip to Denver was awesome! Spending time with my family was simply amazing. Although the actual travel was frustrating (both my plane there and train back were delayed), it was a great trip. I had a hard time getting all my protein and liquid in because I was not in my own environment with complete control, but I never felt hungry or weak from lack of. It was weird being on vacation and not eating out, but it didn’t take away from anything. When I got back from Denver it was time to go back to work. I was looking forward to it. I was starting to get bored. As luck would have it, the night before I was supposed to go back I got the flu! So I had to call in on my first day back. And of course, being sick made my first week back kind of miserable. It was fun seeing the reactions of my co-workers. It is always nice when people notice how different you look, even though I myself do not notice a huge difference. But I am told it is there. Joe tells me all the time that he sees a difference. My first week back to work was also my first week of eating solid food again. I was excited to have more of a variety of food. The transition was much like my transition from liquid to puree. I could not, and still really, determine when I was full. My first week I was only eating about 400 calories a day. My mind was blown. The second week of solid food I got up to about 600 calories. Now I am eating anywhere between 800-1000 calories a day. It is still weird that I can function on so little. I never feel weak or light headed. I am still hyper aware of the food in my stomach after I eat for about 30 minutes. I am still having trouble getting all the liquid in though. I think that is something that I will always struggle with. As far as protein, I am getting the lower side of the spectrum. Working on getting more protein as well. I have also started a workout program. My first day back to the gym, a personal trainer approached me and talked to me about training. I decided that personal training is something that I needed. I notice that when I work out on my own I tend to not push myself at all. If I feel fatigue I stop. And that is not going to get me any closer to my goal. So I have Team Training once a week, which is something offered at my gym. It is a small class of no more than 8, and has 5 stations of 4 exercises each. It’s a circuit training atmosphere. Last week was my intro class and tonight is actually my first real class. I am really excited. I have had two personal training sessions so far. I am really enjoying it. My trainer is awesome! She pushes me in a motivating manner. I have an exercise routine that she has given me to do at home once a day. This past week and a half I feel more energized and am very proud of myself. Unfortunately, Saturday night I started feeling a cold coming on again. But I am not going to let me slow down my work out routine. In the past I have let being sick become an excuse. Now I have so motivated I will not let anything stall my progress.

Today is my surgery day, July 22, in Tijuana Mexico with Dr. Elias Ortiz. I am very looking forward to an new beginning at 57 years old. My current weight is about 320 pounds. I will post my actual pre-operation weight after my surgery and pe-op weigh in. I am a bit anxious but very excited for my new life to come.

Well, I just re-read my last few posts, and can't help but be proud of how far I've come. I will be 10 weeks out from surgery on Tuesday, and feel pretty much normal. But a new normal, where I'm not hungry all of the time, and when I am, I get full really quickly on a small amount of food. Sometimes I even almost forget that I had surgery. But then I look at the scale, which is down more than 40 pounds, and I realize that I never would have been able to do that if I hadn't had some help. Because my old normal was scary bad, and I never want to go back to it. My old normal was that I would wake up in the morning with a growling stomach. I would usually think about what I was going to eat before I had even gotten out of bed. Before I finished breakfast, I was already planning what I would have for lunch, and before lunch was over, I would already be thinking about dinner. And the last thing I would usually do before bed would be to eat a late-night snack. Like a half a package of Oreos kind of snack. My entire day literally revolved around food. Not healthy. My new normal is that I get up in the morning, and I'm usually thirsty. I'm getting the proper amount of fluids - at least 64 ounces per day, but I think compared with the amounts that I used to drink, it's still not that much. And it's summer in Florida... So, yeah, I'm usually pretty dry when I wake up. I still can't gulp down a glass of water like I used to. But I can guzzle it pretty well. So, I usually get up and drink a glass or two of water or Crystal Light before I even think about eating. And even then, it's usually because my husband says he's hungry that I actually go to the trouble of eating some food. And when I do eat, it's usually about a half-cup of something. I can get in more if it's something like soup. But in general I don't eat that much soup anymore, because I'm trying to be proactive about eating more solid-type foods. So far, I can stomach most things if I eat them slowly enough. That continues to be a challenge for me. I am usually mindful of what I'm doing, it's a challenge more often just because of the time required in order to eat at the proper pace... I'll be trying to eat dinner before leaving for work, for instance. Or on a half-hour lunch break at work. That's when I run into trouble. I'm better off just keeping my food at my work station, and taking a bite here or there. Most night nurses don't take breaks anyway, so no one really finds that to be weird. As far as what I eat, I do find that the softer textures still go best. Grilled chicken or fish can still be a problem. I do better if it's served with some kind of sauce. Better still if it's cooked in the sauce though. For instance, we're having chicken tikka masala that was done in the slow cooker for dinner tonight. Perfect food for my tiny tummy. I've just in the past week started experimenting with fresh vegetables a little. Just a bite or two of lettuce, tomato. So far so good. Also just this week I've eaten pasta twice, and had no issues with it. And last night, I ate my first piece of un-toasted bread. Just a small one, but it went quite well, I thought. None of the "stuck" feeling that I've heard others complain about. What still isn't working, and I am so very sad about it, is spicy foods. Just can't seem to tolerate them. I ate a few bites of Buffalo chicken at work the other night. I'd just been craving the Buffalo sauce. It stayed down, but I got the sliming sensation, and it burned in my chest for a long time. I have always loved spicy foods, so I'm really hoping that this reaction goes away at some point. Other than that, though I am incredibly happy with my new normal.