ShoppGirl

Today was one week since I started out walking and I have been slowly increasing. I hit 10K steps just now. I did a few short indoor walks and a 43 minute outdoor walk (twice around the block) before it started pouring) it has added up to 4.64 miles according to my watch!! I basically decided that everytime my alarm goes off to take my vitamins I would walk back and forth from one end of the house to the other for 5 minutes at least. Ooh and I dropped two pounds today!!

Some of the companies offer samples too. I know bariatric advantage offered samples if their multivitamin and the calcium chews back when I got my sleeve and bariatric pal sells a sample pack of their chews on this site.

I just figured out another way to at least get you started. After talking to a nurse at my surgeons office I am still at risk for blood clots so she wants me walking more short walks instead of one long walk per day so I decided that in addition to my nightly walk that everytime my alarm goes off for me to take my vitamin (except for the 9PM) I am going to take a 5 minute walk back and forth from one end of the house to the other. You don’t really need any special change or clothes and it’s air conditioned so probably no sweat or anything. i just did it and it was .26 mile so even just that 5 minutes (4 times a day) will be a mile a day. If that physically too much start with two minutes and work your way up. Any little bit is better than nothing and once you start you will feel like doing more I assure you. It feels so good it’s addicting.

I am one month post op from a revision to SADI. I was telling my friend that After my sleeve I never did exercise and that I really do need to but everytime I do the treadmill I get so boared with it that it never sticks and I want to walk around the neighborhood because I feel like it may be a little more entertaining so I can stick to it but I had a trauma in my past that made that super hard for me. I have lived In my house for 20 some years and not walked around the neighborhood once without my husband with me. Well, I am incredibly lucky to have a really good friend who said she needs to get more exercise too and she committed to walking together…well via technology anyways. She lives an hour away so Every night for the past 6 nights we have figured out a time that works for both of our locations weather wise and we walk at that same time and talk on the phone. Even the preparation was more fun with someone else doing it to. We both ordered our walking shoes and talked about what we were going to wear and she has her Fanny pack and I bought a running belt to hold our phones and we got the small pepper spray that straps onto your hand. It helped me tremendously the first couple of nights to get me past the anxiety of doing it at all and now it just makes it so much more fun. The person on the other end of the phone doesn’t even really have to be exercising either. Just someone willing to talk to you at a set time to keep you motivated. As soon as we get home we end the call so we can jump in the shower and get dinner ready. Otherwise we would be on the phone all night. It’s worked so well for me. Also my Apple Watch has helped. To be able to have it log my exercise and use my heart rate and steps and let me know how many calories I am burning and how many miles and steps each day And to look back and watch as I am doing a little more each day. The morning after that first night I woke up feeling so incredibly proud of myself and each night since I sleep better, I wake up feeling refreshed. It’s amazing the way it makes me feel. I can’t believe I did do this sooner. It feels incredible.

I did the chewables for the first month then switched to my capsules. I also did the powder chewable calcium for the first month as opposed to the “calcium chews” which are more like a starburst candy. I was a revision to SADI and they did not operate on my stomach so i wouldn’t have had any problem swallowing it, but I figured it’s one less thing to possibly get stuck on the way down.

So tonight is night 6’of my nightly walks. Well today I was told to split it into more shorter walks so i did one around the house this morning and a little longer one tonight. It’s going well I’m up to like 8K steps so far today which is probably like 7,500 more than before. 😂 My goal is 10K a day by the end of month three. I wanted it to be month two but the nurse said I need to wait till 6 weeks to walk too fast and to increase slowly after that so it may happen before 3 month but I want to promise long and deliver short. It’s pretty funny watching my trends though on my fitness watch. I pretty much sit still except when I do exercise. I was thinking maybe every three hours when my warm goes off to take my vitamins I may start walking around the house for 5 minutes. Just because that’s better for my heart and it will increase my steps.

Have you tried the protein waters yet? Some people like them better than the shakes. Also, if you have a recliner, some people find that mkre comfortable for sleep for a while.

Double check with your team before incorporating any weights. My team said no intense exercise till 6 weeks and 8’weeks for any weights. I am a month out and called today and asked if it was okay to go up to an hour walking around the neighborhood (which I actually did last night but then read about waiting until six weeks and got scared). She said one hour collectively is fine but she would rather see me break that into two or three shorter walks so today I did 15 minutes in the morning and planned to do 30 tonight but I judged it wrong and it was 45. It’s a leisurely walk though. Not at all fast so I think it’s fine. in terms of the drinking an eating, some peoples pouches are more inflamed and it takes a little longer for the swelling to go down. You will be able to drink and eat bigger sips and bites eventually. Never the same as before but bigger. It can feel like a bit of a full time job to get In all the vitamins, protein and fluids for a while but it gets easier. As long as you are not drinking or eating past when you feel full, it sounds like you are doing fine!! And tell your husband he is awesome too for walking with you!! Mine encourages me, and like tonight he made my Salmon on the grill while I was gone but he never offered to actually go with me.

I’m sure this is pretty basic anatomy but I don’t understand much of it so don’t laugh but I think I may be confused. I had the SADI so I know that my post op body malabsorbs a pretty good deal of fat. I also know that we do need a certain amount of fat for our bodies to function properly. Meaning I probably will need to consume like twice as much as my body needs to actually get enough to fuel my body, right? (Maybe not twice as much but for sake of this let’s say twice). Okay so I also had gallbladder removal along with my SADI which wasn’t at all expected but apparently I had gall stones and the organ was already looking bad so with anticipated weight loss destroying it further it would need to come out eventually anyways so he went ahead and did it. Well with gallbladder removal you aren’t supposed to have a lot of fat because your body can’t process it as well. My fear is that if I eat twice as much fat so my body gets the half if that it needs to function that my liver and stuff still have to process all of it and that will be bad for my liver and whatever else. Is that the case? When we eat and the food goes through our intestines and only part of the fat absorbs, do our organs still process ALL of the fat or does it only process the HALF that has been absorbed. I was thinking it has to process it all and really worried about how this is going to work but if it only processes the portion I “absorb” then I’m pretty much like anyone else who has their gallbladder removed I guess. I just have to live on what my body can handle without a gallbladder. What makes sense when I really think about it is whatever is not absorbed doesn’t go through the organs but I am just making sure that I understand.

I was wrong. Baritastic does let me enter a recipe and just log the portion that I eat I just wasn’t looking in the right place. Thank you all for your suggestions, though. I really do appreciate this community for always being so eager to help with anything. ❤️

I have been doing really good with the Baritastic App logging everything until now. I made homemade Turkey Meatballs with Peppers and onions and marinara for dinner but I have no clue how to log it. It made 16 meatballs and I’m early out so I plan to eat one but the only way I knke to do it is to say like 1oz Turkey, and literally reduce all the ingredients down dividing by 16 but that’s pretty hard and how do you enter 1/16 of an egg lol. I know that there has to be an easier way to do it then that. If not, any other app suggestions so that I can add entire meals and then just enter the portion that I ate?

Hummm. I’m really hoping they do will go away for us both. I would’ve thought with weight loss they would be less obvious too but mine is still pretty noticeable. Ooh well, I guess in the whole scheme of things it’s not the end of the world if it’s just cosmetic. I’m really sorry to hear that you got the foamies. Fingers crossed I’ve never had that. I hope you can avoid it from now on. Sounds like it’s not fun at all.

I will definitely ask about that. Thanks.

@summerseeker your post reminded me to make sure if you do order a mixed drink to ask for it weak at least the first few times you go out. Just until you know how your body handles it. Sometimes if the bartender likes you they think they are being nice or doing you a favor by making your drink stronger or they just pour heavy for everyone but for us that could be a bad thing.

Does such a thing exist? I don’t really want to just wear bicycle shorts but I have always had bigger inner thighs (even when I was thin) and this is of course way worse at my current weight. I found “Chamoise Butt’r” which is a cream you put on to prevent chafing which is AMAZING but it still doesn’t stop me from looking and feeling awkward needing to pull my shorts down in the middle every few steps. Has anyone found any shorts that are better for extended sizes?

My book for soft foods say 1/2 to 3/4 cups of food but to stop when you feel full. Which I’m guessing you guys are getting sick of my saying but they didn’t operate on my stomach so I don’t feel full on these small servings. I made an omelette though with 3 eggs, 1/2 cup veggies and 1/3 cup shredded reduced fat cheese and I put it in the measuring cup to see and half fit in the cup. That is actually a lot more food than I thought and I’m kinda scared to eat that much before I’m healed.

Well your not totally off base if your okay with the bypass. It’s a little more aggressive so it carries with it a little more risk than the sleeve. The reason they do the sleeve I believe is because it’s a bit safer and it is adequate for many people to lose and keep it off but there are some (like me) with regain that need a revision and some that need revision because of GERD and other complications. I would ask the surgeon what percentage of patients need revision because of inadequate loss and/or regain and what percentage for GERD. I believe I read somewhere that it’s 26% need revision but I would definitely not swear to it and I am not sure if that was just for weight or for complications too. I think even if you do end up having to wait it is a good call to get all of your questions answered and feel confident in your decision that it is what’s best for you.

When I had the sleeve I tried it at home first. I figured if it was gonna make me feel bad I would rather it happen at home than when I was out.

Well I showed the NP (nurse practitioner) last week and she said she isn’t concerned yet because I still have swelling but the steri strip was still on it and it didn’t look as bad as it does now (to me at least). I have another appointment Monday so I will show her again. It is on my right side and that’s where I get pain when I get it. It’s not really bad pain it’s just not like the left side where I have no pain. So I really don’t know. I am hoping that maybe the stitches are just too tight and when they dissolve it may go back to normal.

Well if your not healed enough don’t do it too soon and when you do start, start out way less time and speed than before. I started with 30 minutes but it was slow and I just went down to the end of the street and back a couple of times so that if it hurt I could stop sooner. Even last night I did an hour but I just went around the block a few times so if I was ready to quit earlier I wouldn’t be far from home. Glad to hear you finally got a good nights sleep though. Lack of sleep can definitely take a toll on you and it makes me feel pretty bad all day.

Tonight I did a full hour walking. I did like 2.7 miles or something like that. It wasn’t speed walking or anything but that’s 2.7 miles more than i Was doing 4 days ago.

I forget who it was that said that they have an incision that’s dented in but their surgeon said it will work its way out but has it? Mine is still dented and it’s almost been a month. 😢

Thanks. I’m actually looking for shorts that are to be seen but just something basic to walk around the neighborhood for exercise. I broke down and bought some bike shorts to wear until I find something I like better and I guess they aren’t awful. I just don’t feel super confident in them.

Btw you magic quiche looks good. 😊

I have actually been sleeping better. I think it’s because of the exercise BUt, my sleep schedule is off. I stay up later and sleep in ever since the surgery. If I wake up early I have to take a nap. If you are prone to tossing and turning a lot during the night I could see where you may be moving in a few at that hurts a bit and wakes you up though??