14 Months later, surgery on 10/10/16

[LittleLizzieLilliput 919]

On 10/10/2016 I had my Vertical Gastric Sleeve. OH MAN has it been a crazy 14 months!! It's hard to even think back on this time without wonder. It seems so long ago and yet just yesterday. I went from dying to flying, it's truly unbelievable to me. I wanted to take this time to kind of lay out what my 14 months looked like and where I am at now.

I started this journey 4 years ago and this was me then:

I start on this journey doing a full liquid diet for 16 months. I lost 200 lbs.

I then gained back about 60. And then I started getting sick, very sick. I ended up in the hospital, was told I needed to do the VGS or look at dying in the next few years. So VGS it was!! lol!

I was not a voluntary patient, it was thrust upon me and I was scared, I didn't want to permanently change my relationship with food but I also knew that choosing food was choosing death. So of course I had the surgery.

The first few months were rough, as most of you know our stomachs are like testy newborns and there are a lot of growing pains and learning curves. By about 3 months I was on solid food and starting to try different things.

By 6 months I was moving beyond just Protein and safe foods to some adventurous spices, I was starting to exercise to a much higher degree. I was now walking 4-7 miles a day and feeling AMAZING!

By 9 months out I was moving into a size 12, SIZE 12!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG! I remember being so astounded. I started going out on dates, I started feeling like I might be getting a life I never even dreamed was a possibility for me.

By around 10 months I started experiencing some crazy hormone symptoms. Now, I had already dealt with some hormone related issues but by this point I wasn't getting my period, I was having the bizarre mood swings, I was crying one day, then up like crazy the next. I also started having a lot of issues with my diabetes meds. My weight loss was not making my diabetes go away, in fact, it is now getting harder to control. So I spent most of July, August and Sept going from specialist to specialist. I was switching my meds and basically felt like I was a walking drug trial. But then by the end of September everything smoothed out hormone wise. I was put on a birth control that regulated my estrogen. I guess my weight loss was flooding my system with hormones and then when it would drop off my body would respond like I was in menopause. What a nightmare! lol! At this point I am also close to being put on insulin. Unfortunately when my gallbladder went bad it damaged my pancreas to the point it won't ever recover. I dealt with that blow, adjusted my life again to deal with this and just moved on.

Reverse back to July of this year and that is when I took my first Yoga class. This also changed the direction of my journey. I began doing a C1 (like Yoga 101) class daily. By September I was feeling like a pro and starting to take some of the harder classes. Flash-forward to today and I do daily advanced Yoga (I call it Bootcamp Yoga, it's a mix between Yoga and Cross Fit I think). I can plank for 5 minutes, I can do 200 crunches, I do squats and lunges, I do like 40 pushups, I run, I do handstands, I cartwheel, jump-rope, etc. I am in the BEST physical condition of my life and I expect it to just continue. In fact, I jokingly/not jokingly say I'm aiming towards American Ninja Warrior. I want to be that strong and badass.

Today I am 14 months post op, I am in a size 10 about to move on from there, I am toning my body like crazy, still dropping about 1/2 a day if I go hard on my exercise. My daily food diary is so simple yet perfect for me:

• Breakfast
  • 6 pieces of precooked, then microwaved, Hormel Black Label bacon (sometimes, when I'm really hungry I'll put 8 slices on that sucker and make it a dagwood sandwich, lol)
  • 1 slice American cheese
  • 1 Blueberry or Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin
• lunch
  • grilled chicken - 4 ozs
  • grilled Zuccini/other veggie
• snack
  • Omega-3 mixed dried fruit and nuts 1/4 cub
• dinner
  • KFC grilled chicken, leg and thigh
  • grilled veggies/sometimes I have some mashed potatoes
  • Usually have a reasonable dessert of some kind. I find it's important.
• Vitamins
  • I do Vitagene, which is where they send me Vitamins based on my blood work, DNA, and other stuff. LOVE them, eat them after dinner though usually people have a Breakfast

I am still quite diabetic, they are unsure if I'm type 1 or type 2, but if that's my biggest health worry??? I'm happy!!

I do have some down sides, I get Dumping Syndrome. My doc kind of implied it's because of poor food choices but after 9 months of tracking I can now say this - there is almost NO through line to determine cause. It can happen when I just have Protein or if I drink Water too fast, it can happen with sugars or if I eat grilled veggies. The most common factor is time. It seems to most frequently happen in the evenings. And I do get quite sick to the point I have to go hid and do this breathing/huffing thing and then often sleep between 30 minutes and 6 hours. Because of this I stick very closely to the routine I listed above. But that is a life issue I have no problem dealing with.

This is me today, or, actually, this weekend. lol! I feel like a brand new person. This journey is hard, I had regrets, I had tears, some days I wished I'd never done it, other days I wished I'd had it done 20 years ago. I sometimes feel like I wasted half my life and other days I feel like I gained a whole new life. This journey is one of ups and downs and every single hill and valley has been a wondrous experience.

[mylighthouse 782]

Thank you for sharing this. You're doing awesome and you look great!

[Luisajfc 402]

Wow that’s An amazing story. Kudos for you and your desire for success. Congrats girl.

[James Marusek 5,244]

Congratulations.

[ProudGrammy 8,322]

full liquid diet for 16 months. I lost 200 lbs.

hey bud

amazing story with a wonderful out come, hard work for the rest of your life!

you will continue as a success story.

nice of you to share your eating habits and exercise and day to day

new lifestyle.

some OP have problems with 2 week liquids, - can't imagine 16 months!!

keep on doing what you've been doing in t h e past, it's working for you!

kathy

congrats

[LittleLizzieLilliput 919]

4 hours ago, proudgrammy said:

full liquid diet for 16 months. I lost 200 lbs.

hey bud

amazing story with a wonderful out come, hard work for the rest of your life!

you will continue as a success story.

nice of you to share your eating habits and exercise and day to day

new lifestyle.

some OP have problems with 2 week liquids, - can't imagine 16 months!!

keep on doing what you've been doing in t h e past, it's working for you!

kathy

congrats

Yes, it took a level of determination and commitment, 16 months full liquid, that I didn't know I had. It's how I knew I could do well with the surgery and post op protocols because of it as well. Thank you so much for the kind words! I tell you this, 16 months on a liquid diet was WAY harder than getting the VGS, and way more mentally exhausting. It's like living life in black & white. Hard to explain but thank you again for acknowledging that, it was truly one of the most difficult things I've ever done.

[BooBee66 104]

Thanks for the encouragement

Sent from my LG-M153 using BariatricPal mobile app

[Kcoley 17]

You look awesome and this give us newbies hope❤️❤️❤️