Ok...so I missed my four month update, both written and pictures. LOL It just kinda blew by and I didn't acknowledge it for some reason. I'm not going to let this one blow by because I want to document my progress so I can see how far I've come.
I've had a pretty easy road to date. Not entirely boring, but I'll take it! My D is low, so I've added VitaLady's D to my vitamins. And hopefully once it becomes spring around here being in the sun will help as well. My biggest issue is probably hemorrhoids of the internal variety. I have to be super conscious of my water intake as that seems to be what flares them up the most. Not fun! When it happens, even my soft ds poops feel like glass. *sigh* but that's the worst of it!
I'm not a carb watcher, and although I may hate myself for it in the long run, I really don't monitor them. I've never been a huge sweet eater, so most of my carbs come with protein (except for the sweet tea I have to have a couple times a week). The worst food possible for me gas-wise is Chipotle. Holy hell their burrito in a bowl about killed me and my family the other night. They are off the list on a permanent basis! Other than that, I really haven't met a food I can't handle.
And like everyone else, my hair fell out in clumps starting last month. Sweet Jesus, I thought I was going to be bald at the rate it came out. It's still falling out but not as noticeable as it was so hopefully it's stopping. And of course while the hair on my head is falling out, every other hair on my body is growing just fine. *sigh*
Weight and size-wise...I started my journey at 299 - I'm sure I was over that but the scale only went up that far. I dieted down to 280, which is where I was the day of surgery. I'm currently at 209, and according to the math, I've lost 61% of my excess weight. I was a tight 24 and some 26s on the bottom, 22/24 on the top and a 44C. I'm now a 16 petite (in regular sizes!) on the bottom, and an XL on the top and a 38C, although the girls have shrunk like you would not believe. I have tried bra shopping at many a bra shopping place and no bras fit me like Lane Bryant. I will be sooo sad when I can no longer fit their bras.
In fact, I really adore and miss the ease of shopping at only one store. I never in a million years thought I'd say that as shopping at regular size stores has been on my goal list since the first weight watchers go-round a million years ago, but it was comforting to know what size to get and be comfortable in my own skin there. Shopping in regular size stores is...overwhelming. So many different size variations, and fits and cuts and I feel totally self conscious like they are staring at me wondering what the fat girl is doing in the skinny girl section. I'm just at a really awkward stage right now.
I also tried alcohol for the first time recently. I did not find that it affected me any differently than it did before - I got drunk at the same rate, and didn't sober up quickly the way I'd read about so I probably drank more than I probably should have thinking I'd sober up quickly. LOL It was fun though, and definitely won't be a routine thing, especially this early out, but it was fun to sit in the sun and enjoy a margarita.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
My first big wow...
I thought I'd share this with ya'll because I thought it was really cool. There is a mom who works at my son's school that we've been involved in the kid's sports with for years. I hadn't seen her since I had surgery. Pre-surgery, she'd always recognize me when I'd pick up my son; she'd have him to the office before I'd even come in the door. Well last week, I popped in to get him and she asked who I was there for. Now, I've seen this woman for years so I was taken aback. I told her and then she asked who I was in relation to him. I was like, "ummm his mom?" And she was all suspicious and was like "really? you've lost a lot of weight! Can I see your ID?" She made me go back to my car and get my ID! Finally she called him and let me have my baby, and was totally complimentary and asked me what I was doing (she's all of a size 6 at best) and I told her that I'd had surgery and she said it was certainly working for me. It was really awesome! My best wow by far for sure.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Three months out :)
So today I'm three months out and I have to say that things are now really smooth sailing! This month I made a list as I thought of how far I've come so I have something to write about. :)
I'm really excited where I am with the journey, not so much from a weight loss perspective, but just in how I feel over all. I no longer have that "truck ran me over" exhaustion feeling, I am no longer sore or swollen (I stayed swollen for probably 8 weeks in my abdomen area). My energy level is really picked up but I find that if I don't get in proper amounts of protein I get tired really easily. I am not up to the 90 grams. I average about 50 or so, which I know isn't great but I'm working on it. I've also started slowly adding back in the gym to tone things up as I lose and it's waaay easier to exercise at 226 then it was when I was in the 280s!!
So some things that I've noticed...
My burper is no longer broken. After surgery I always felt like I couldn't burp and air was just trapped in there. I imagine it was because things were so swollen but I finally feel like I can burp again and it's a relief!
The dark patches of skin I had under my arms and around my neck and waist are fading rapidly. It just kinda has rolled up and fallen off. LOL not complaining! I just wish my boobs wouldn't have followed suit. *sigh*
My hair appears to be intact so far. I noticed some increased shedding this week and I imagine my non-stellar protein amounts have something to do with it. I've had major surgery several times and haven't ever lost hair so I think it's the protein thing.
I've been doing ok on my supplements. I ran out of my ADEKs (which I know are not the grown up vitamins I should be taking any way) for about a week but I'm back on track with them now. I go for my labs soon and I'll make some decisions about how to proceed then. I take two multi's a day, and then two doses of two pills of the sam's calcium. I had to stop taking the calcium for two days though, because it either caused or exacerbated some constipation issues I was having. Holy hell, what I wouldn't have given for a nice soft poo a couple of weeks ago! I have upped my fluids and started taking a stool softener at night. Things seem to be easing up some but man, it was rough going for a couple of days there. I was seriously looking in to whether or not they did anus transplants. LOL
I went through a stage around 10 weeks where I decided I was going to over eat. It was so frustrating! I'd want to eat more, but I just couldn't. So then I'd end up regurgitating the last bite I took for a while and be miserable. It took me about a week or so to get it back in to my big fat head that I couldn't eat like a preop! It was good practice, though, in that I've really got it down to when I'm starting to get full and stop eating. I also now have days where my pouch feels like the size of a thimble, and other days it's normal. I haven't puked ever, even though a couple of times I may have felt better if I did.
Weight-wise, I'm down 52 lbs. According to the labrat people, that's 46% of my excess weight gone. My surgeon has a goal weight of 165 set for me. I'm not sure if I'll get there or not but I have hope that since I've lost this much so far that I'll continue to lose over the next 6 months or so. Or I could be really lucky and blow by the 165 and end up at 145, which is my own personal secret stretch goal weight (and probably wishful thinking).
Size-wise, I started at a tight 22/24. I was probably a 26 on the bottom but was squeezing in to a 24 lol. I just bought my first pair of jeans not from a plus size section. I was able to fit in to 18's from Old Navy. WHOO HOOO!!! That was a big wow for me. I haven't bought any new clothes except for those jeans and two tshirts from there as well. I'm going to have to do something about the clothing situation soon, though, because I'm starting to swim in my clothes and it looks kind of ridiculous. I didn't mind them being loose, but this week they were so loose I was actually walking on them because they were so long. I'm starting to notice bones where I couldn't feel them before, like where my rib cage starts, or my hip bones. I can also see shadows of where my collar bones live but they haven't come to play yet.
That's me in a nutshell!
I'm really excited where I am with the journey, not so much from a weight loss perspective, but just in how I feel over all. I no longer have that "truck ran me over" exhaustion feeling, I am no longer sore or swollen (I stayed swollen for probably 8 weeks in my abdomen area). My energy level is really picked up but I find that if I don't get in proper amounts of protein I get tired really easily. I am not up to the 90 grams. I average about 50 or so, which I know isn't great but I'm working on it. I've also started slowly adding back in the gym to tone things up as I lose and it's waaay easier to exercise at 226 then it was when I was in the 280s!!
So some things that I've noticed...
My burper is no longer broken. After surgery I always felt like I couldn't burp and air was just trapped in there. I imagine it was because things were so swollen but I finally feel like I can burp again and it's a relief!
The dark patches of skin I had under my arms and around my neck and waist are fading rapidly. It just kinda has rolled up and fallen off. LOL not complaining! I just wish my boobs wouldn't have followed suit. *sigh*
My hair appears to be intact so far. I noticed some increased shedding this week and I imagine my non-stellar protein amounts have something to do with it. I've had major surgery several times and haven't ever lost hair so I think it's the protein thing.
I've been doing ok on my supplements. I ran out of my ADEKs (which I know are not the grown up vitamins I should be taking any way) for about a week but I'm back on track with them now. I go for my labs soon and I'll make some decisions about how to proceed then. I take two multi's a day, and then two doses of two pills of the sam's calcium. I had to stop taking the calcium for two days though, because it either caused or exacerbated some constipation issues I was having. Holy hell, what I wouldn't have given for a nice soft poo a couple of weeks ago! I have upped my fluids and started taking a stool softener at night. Things seem to be easing up some but man, it was rough going for a couple of days there. I was seriously looking in to whether or not they did anus transplants. LOL
I went through a stage around 10 weeks where I decided I was going to over eat. It was so frustrating! I'd want to eat more, but I just couldn't. So then I'd end up regurgitating the last bite I took for a while and be miserable. It took me about a week or so to get it back in to my big fat head that I couldn't eat like a preop! It was good practice, though, in that I've really got it down to when I'm starting to get full and stop eating. I also now have days where my pouch feels like the size of a thimble, and other days it's normal. I haven't puked ever, even though a couple of times I may have felt better if I did.
Weight-wise, I'm down 52 lbs. According to the labrat people, that's 46% of my excess weight gone. My surgeon has a goal weight of 165 set for me. I'm not sure if I'll get there or not but I have hope that since I've lost this much so far that I'll continue to lose over the next 6 months or so. Or I could be really lucky and blow by the 165 and end up at 145, which is my own personal secret stretch goal weight (and probably wishful thinking).
Size-wise, I started at a tight 22/24. I was probably a 26 on the bottom but was squeezing in to a 24 lol. I just bought my first pair of jeans not from a plus size section. I was able to fit in to 18's from Old Navy. WHOO HOOO!!! That was a big wow for me. I haven't bought any new clothes except for those jeans and two tshirts from there as well. I'm going to have to do something about the clothing situation soon, though, because I'm starting to swim in my clothes and it looks kind of ridiculous. I didn't mind them being loose, but this week they were so loose I was actually walking on them because they were so long. I'm starting to notice bones where I couldn't feel them before, like where my rib cage starts, or my hip bones. I can also see shadows of where my collar bones live but they haven't come to play yet.
That's me in a nutshell!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Two Months Out
Well things have been pretty uneventful here lately. I finally got over being sick but it took a good month. I'm not sure if I really had a bad bug or if my weakened immune system post-surgery took me down.
I can now sleep on my side with arms down, instead of having to keep them above my head; I was too big to do this before - it's like my arms didn't fit next to me on my side or something.
I can now shop in old navy and I fit in to their 2XL but the next time I pick something up I will pick up XL or L. I also tried on a pair of size 20 jeans (the biggest they have) and they fit with room so I think I'm in an 18 there. SUCH a relief to be not totally dependent on Lane Bryant!!! I picked up a shirt there (my first post surgery purchase) and paid $7. I've NEVER paid less than double that for a LB shirt. And people are just going to have to get used to my baggy clothes. I have tried to shop at Goodwill but can't get past the whole "other people have worn these" thing. For when I do decide to buy, I think it was LaShelle who said that she likes to buy things skin tight so she can fit in them longer and I think I will be a fan of that!
I've found that sugar makes me feel pretty crappy. I posted recently about testing my carb limits and found that carbs from bread or the like are ok, but anything sugar just makes me feel like crap. Good thing I wasn't a sugar person to begin with but there are still somethings I like to have but have to weigh heavily with feeling like crap - like a tasty peppermint mocha that I have waited a whole year for.
The worst part of the surgery so far is the morning poos. I'm just not in the right frame of mind to poo so early! LOL That, and it's the oddest most disconcerting feeling to have this empty sucking hungry feeling while on the top half while the bottom half of me is attempting to empty itself.
All of my anxiety issues are resolved. I've been seeing someone to talk through it and it's helped. I'm taking my husband with me the next time I go to talk through some things. Nothing major but major weight loss when both partners are heavy can be a blow to the one not losing so I want to get in front of any issues.
I can now sleep on my side with arms down, instead of having to keep them above my head; I was too big to do this before - it's like my arms didn't fit next to me on my side or something.
I can now shop in old navy and I fit in to their 2XL but the next time I pick something up I will pick up XL or L. I also tried on a pair of size 20 jeans (the biggest they have) and they fit with room so I think I'm in an 18 there. SUCH a relief to be not totally dependent on Lane Bryant!!! I picked up a shirt there (my first post surgery purchase) and paid $7. I've NEVER paid less than double that for a LB shirt. And people are just going to have to get used to my baggy clothes. I have tried to shop at Goodwill but can't get past the whole "other people have worn these" thing. For when I do decide to buy, I think it was LaShelle who said that she likes to buy things skin tight so she can fit in them longer and I think I will be a fan of that!
I've found that sugar makes me feel pretty crappy. I posted recently about testing my carb limits and found that carbs from bread or the like are ok, but anything sugar just makes me feel like crap. Good thing I wasn't a sugar person to begin with but there are still somethings I like to have but have to weigh heavily with feeling like crap - like a tasty peppermint mocha that I have waited a whole year for.
The worst part of the surgery so far is the morning poos. I'm just not in the right frame of mind to poo so early! LOL That, and it's the oddest most disconcerting feeling to have this empty sucking hungry feeling while on the top half while the bottom half of me is attempting to empty itself.
All of my anxiety issues are resolved. I've been seeing someone to talk through it and it's helped. I'm taking my husband with me the next time I go to talk through some things. Nothing major but major weight loss when both partners are heavy can be a blow to the one not losing so I want to get in front of any issues.
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