Small Update

                              Sept, 2012                                                                Dec, 2012

   

Just a short update to finish 2012 off with.  I went for my final visit to the clinic today and am not scheduled back for a routine check-up until I hit the 2-year post surgery date now.  I'm still under a surgeon's care though for the ulcer, have an endo. coming up in Jan. to see if it is gone and continue to take the meds in the meantime.  Of course I am to contact the clinic immediately if I have any problems or concerns and have been given some instructions for my dr. re: vitamins and regular bloodwork.  They have added B1 to my cocktail; she said to take a bottle's worth, 1 a day. Otherwise I'm fine.  Weight wise I'm holding my own, making slow, steady progress now.  I'm 100% happy with my size but will continue to work on my exercise which mainly consists of walking and playing Wii Fit and Just Dance on the Wii.

The above pictures show 3 months apart, and only 5 lbs apart.  I'm at 107 lbs total loss now.  BUT the pictures above show a 5" decrease in my waist and a 4" decrease in my hips.  The loss of the tummy bulge is very noticeable in the pictures.  I'm a definite size 12 now.  Sometimes I walk by a mirror or glass window and surprise myself with how slim I look; I don't recognize myself sometimes :=) 

For shock value lets do the before and after now:

                                     

September, 2011                                                          December, 2012

107 pounds lost

Merry Christmas!!

100 Pound Post!

Well, here I am for the 100 lb post. Actually 102 lbs as of last Monday!  I had a few more health problems this month but they have all been resolved now.  And I feel like a million bucks!!!  Here is a brief update I posted on my other blog.  Skip the next paragraph if you read my book blog.

Health crisis.  The previous week I'd had exploratory surgery on my abdomen and they didn't find anything, PTL, but that meant was I was still in excruciating pain. Went back to see surgeon on Thurs. He was pretty confident the surgery ruled out anything serious and that I probably had an ulcer so booked me for a gastroscopy which I had on Friday.  I have a terrible gag reflex, so that was totally not fun, but I was overjoyed when they called out that they had found a "big ulcer".  Yeah!  I know what's wrong with me!  Yeah! It's big!  That explains the unbearable pain.  So I was put on very strong ulcer meds the day before the gastro and now that it is Sun. the pain is starting to diminish.  Prognosis is that the meds will completely heal me.  Thank God! 

So without any further ado.  Here are my current before and after photos:

                    Sept.  2011                                                                Sept. 2012 ~ 102lbs lost

And here's my hubby having a little fun with the camera afterwards {blush}

Going Smoothly

Things are going good!  I've been back for my one month check-up and they are very happy with my recovery and results.  I'm all healed and have no issues.  At my appointment I saw the nurse and then the nutritionist and it took about 40mins. all together. 

Last week I switched to the "Pured Foods" diet which was actually a nightmare.  I didn't think it would be a problem but when I actually tried to eat baby foods it made me nauseous and gag.  Pureed chicken and veg., it just did not go over well with me at all!  I managed to make it 4 days; I was supposed to do it for a whole week, but I just couldn't so I skipped to the next diet which is "Minced Foods".  Oh, sooooo much better!  The nutritionist said this was ok, that a number of people have trouble with the pureed diet and they are in the midst of re-writing the programs diet stages.  They won't be eliminating pureed but they will be adjusting it.  So he said to make sure I stayed on minced until the appropriate time to go on the next diet.  So that means I'm on this one for just over a week.  On Wednesday, I will move on to the last one week diet "Soft Foods".

My favourite thing to eat right now is 5 pieces of cubed chicken, then cut up into tiny pieces and dipped into a tablespoon of "just peanuts" peanut butter. Yum!  And the nutritionist told me about Greek yogourt, which I'd never heard of before.  It is very high in protein, a cup of it is equal to a third of my days worth of protein!  It's a lot thicker than regular yogourt but I love it.  Just have to be careful of the calories.  But then one individual container is a meal for me!

If you visit the actual blog, you will have noticed that my weight loss ticker has been moving up even though I haven't posted for a few weeks.  I've now lost 53lbs. and feeling great about myself.  I don't have a lot of clothes that fit right now.  This seems to be a size I skipped right over on my journey of weight gain LOL.  But I have a small selection that I barely even remember wearing before. 

I know it's time to put up some pictures ... This is a big step for me.  I'm getting my hair trimmed today and then I'm going to take a photo and compare it to my before picture and if I'm pleased with the comparison I will post the Before and Now pics.  I think that posting pics at every 50lbs would be a good interval anyway.

Oh, and more good news.  Since my last post I went for my yearly with my gyn. and she was very pleased that I'd had the operation and with the results, the weight loss but also the new mobility.  I have a female condition that makes me a candidate for uterine cancer, so I have to take hormone pills to help keep me safe from that.  Of course, I'm checked every year, but she said that once I've lost 120lbs all together we'll try taking me off the pills.  I don't have the condition because I'm overweight, it's just that being overweight exacerbates it.  So I'm off the hypertension pills and have a perfectly normal bp now and the future sees me getting off another pill.  These are part of the health benefits that I first and foremost had the surgery for.

That's all for today.  If you are lurking out there, my stats say there are people out :-), and have any questions you'd like to ask me just leave a comment or email me and I can make your question a topic for a future post.

Time for a Diet Upgrade & Weigh-In

Wed. was the beginning of my new diet, "Full Fluids".  This one will, once again, last two weeks but it is the final 2week diet after this I will go through a series of 1 week diets as I adjust my body to accepting solid foods again.  This diet basically adds just a few new items to what I am already eating but they are big ticket items that make me feel like I'm actually "eating" again.

I can now have hot cereal such as oatmeal or cream of wheat, made very thin; low fat, artificial sweetened yogourt with no chunks in it; and low fat, cream soups made with skim (0%) milk, strained.  I can also have low fat artificial sweetened puddings if I want but I never used to eat them so I don't see the point in eating them now just for the sake of it.  I've also stopped eating the jello, too, now, since I don't like it.  I must continue with the three Boosts a day and of course, the vitamin supplements which are for life.  In case you've forgotten I'm taking Calcium +D, twice a day and a pre-natal supplement once a day (this is because they have twice as many nutrients than a regular one a day multi-vitamin.  Even men who've had the operation take the pre-natal for life.)

Of course, I'm in heaven with the new food!  I love cream of wheat and am glad to have real fibre back in my diet.  Yogourt is one of my favourite foods and the cream soups are a hot meal, finally!  Suitable ones I can eat are hard to find though.  Tomato soup is fine.  But others even when they say low fat often have the milk products already added, in the canned versions. So I can't have these since they are made with cream (not skim milk).  So far we've only found Knorr packaged soups which you add your own milk to and only in Cream of Broccoli.  But we'll keep looking around and try some health food stores too because this is definitely a food I want to eat for life.

Other good news!  I did a weigh in on Tuesday in preparation for the new diet and have now lost 43lbs but more important than the numbers I have also gone down 2 clothes sizes.  Clothes I was wearing before I started the Opti-Fast (Oct. 8) are all too big for me now!  I'm reaching to the back (well middle) of my closet and wearing clothes I haven't worn in years.  I'm losing it all in my abdomen and my friend says you can see it in my face.  I can see my toes when I look down!  That's a new sensation.  But even more importantly my mobility has improved exponentially.  I can bend over, touch the ground, tie my shoes, put on my pants, generally move around with so much ease now where before I started this program I had serious mobility issues that were just getting worse.  I feel healthier.

As far as surgery recuperation: all my incisions are now exposed and healing nicely.  Some have little scabs, a few are already healed.  I'm still tender on the outside and a somewhat sore on the inside.  Sleeping is still an issue but nowhere near as painful as before.  I can sleep on my side now, once I slowly get into position but still wake a few times a night.  But as I said it is nowhere near as bad so I'm just grateful it is improving and figure another week should do it.

Walking is going fine.  I'm back to going to Daily Mass, so I walk to church and back every morning plus I walk downtown whenever I need to.  I'm walking wherever I have to go, if possible and we are parking at the back of parking lots, trying to just make life naturally more active.  Plus several times a week, I'm going out for a walk around the neighbourhood going a little further when I feel I can.  I feel I'm doing fine at this stage.  I'm still slow because my insides are sore but I can walk, just not fast.

Be back again either in 2 weeks when the diet changes to "Pureed Foods" or after Dec. 6, my one month check up at the clinic, whichever comes first.  You do the math, too early in the morning for me and I have to go get ready for church.

First Visit to the Clinic After Surgery

So today marks the one week point after I got out of the hospital and the day of my first follow up appointment at the Bariatric Clinic.  I saw a nurse and the appointment was about 20 mins. long.  Everything is going well.  My blood pressure is normal.  Yeah!  My sutures have healed nicely, some of the steri-strips have fallen off by themselves and she told me I could start working them off in the shower now as long as I wasn't tugging.  I'm still very tender on the inside but each day I feel better than before.  I'm finished with the injections, thankfully.  I really did not like giving them to myself but I did what I had to.  I have so much energy now, it is unbelievable, I just wish I felt 100%, but as the nurse said each day, I'll feel better and better.  I'm supposed to start a walking routine now, just small to start with and take it at an easy pace until I'm walking about 1/2 an hour 3-4 times a week.  So I went out to the corner and back today and felt great but very sore! 

I did a weigh-in today and have lost another 6 pounds (or the first 6 pounds post-op).  The nurse said this weigh-in isn't very correct though because we are pumped full of so much liquid during the operation that it will take the first month to fully pee it out and walk off the air also pumped into our system.  Though I am not having a bad time with gas.  She said the first month weigh-in will show us a more reliable figure and that's when my next appointment is, on Dec. 6. 

I have one more week to go on this current diet that I described in the last post, then I will get to add more items to my diet as I move onto the next diet called Full Liquids for another two weeks. I'll post about that when I start it but I'm really looking forward to adding cream soups!

Annoying things:  it's hard to sleep since I sleep on my side, it feels like everything is pulling on my stitches and I try to stay on my back but keep waking up every few hours as I toss and turn; my mouth always tastes yucky, as if I haven't brushed my teeth in a few days.  I think this is because of the lack of solid foods which help to naturally brush your teeth and keep them clean.  So I've started sucking mints since I'm already a bit OCD about brushing my teeth.  That's it really to the downside.  I'm not enjoying this diet much and really can't wait till next Wed. for the change.  The Boost's are not exactly the most delicious things in the world, either.

So all together now, since I've been apart of the program, just over 1 week after surgery, I am 40 lbs lighter than when I first went in to get weighed at the orientation meeting!  So far, so good!

Update

Just a quick update.  I'm leaving in the morning at the crack of dawn to head back home from this visit with my sister and her family.  A final weigh-in this morning brings my total weight loss while here to 13 pounds.  I'm feeling good.  Had a few more rough days but mostly I'm used to this liquid diet and it's filling me up.  I just have to keep myself entertained so I don't think about food.  I'm kind of wanting my husband to notice a difference when he sees me come off the plane, but in reality, I don't think he will since I don't really see it, even though I can feel it and clothes are getting looser and fitting better.  Today I also took my first shot of liquid Vitamin K.  This I had to mix with a bit of orange juice and I have another to take 2 days before surgery.  The K is to help improve blood clotting, so there won't be any unnecessary bleeding during the operation.  So one more week to go on this Liver Shrinking Diet and then it's time for the operation!

Phase 1 Under Weigh!

and losing weight already!  On October 8th I started the Liver-Shrinking Diet.  Everyone in the program must go on this diet and we were told it would be from 2-4 weeks depending on the individual but most people go for 2 weeks.  Well, I was given 3 weeks by my surgeon and when I was in the waiting room one day, the largest man I've seen so far in the program, I overheard that he had been given 6 weeks.  So obviously this varies.  So what does the Liver-Shrinking Diet consist of?

Four packets of Optifast 900 meal replacement powdered drink.  Here in Ontario (maybe Canada?) this is available by prescription only and is a quick weight loss supplement.  Each packet is 250 calories, so my diet is a total of 1000 calories a day.  This comes in chocolate or vanilla, I chose vanilla so I can mix it with my flavoured waters and we are allowed to add Crystal Light to it also, though I haven't done so as I'm not fond of it but we'll see what happens as the 3 weeks progresses.  My drug plan does not cover this, so I had to pay out of pocket for the 6 cases which cost somewhere around $250 (my dh paid so I'm not sure of the exact).

Along with the 4 let's call them shakes, I must drink 2L of water, I am finding I am drinking about 3L, so no problem.  I'm also allowed sugar-free Popsicles, jell-o and decaf. coffee or tea with artificial sweetener (but without milk, yuck).  None of those things are appealing to me, in fact I hate jell-o and will never eat it.  Popsicles/freezies I would if it were summer but it's too cool now.  I like coffee with milk, no sug but I don't drink tea.

So how is it going?  Fabulous actually!!  Surprisingly way better than I thought.  The shakes are extremely filling.  I am hungry for my breakfast one but never feel any hunger pains all day long and actually feel stuffed after finishing one.  It's monotonous but I stay away from other people eating and especially mealtimes so I don't have to smell the food.  I'm drinking my water very easily.  2L of bottled water has been natural for me for years so not a problem and as I said above I'm drinking even more as I find the shakes make me thirsty.  The second evening of the diet I felt quite strange, as if I was drunk.  I felt wobbly, light-headed and was extremely talkative.  But felt myself again the next morning.  Yesterday I did a totally out of character thing, we went to Timmie's drive-through and I wasn't going to get anything of course but I thought why the heck not try some black tea with artificial sweeteners , de-caf of course with 4 packages of sweetener.  I thought if it was really sweet tasting I might be able to handle it and guess what, I loved it!  So I'm going to broaden my tea drinking experimentation's while on this journey.  This is just one of the things I had hoped to gain from this surgery, learning to like new & healthy foods.  Herbal tea, here I come!

So anyway, this morning I found my sister's scale.  (Oh btw, I flew to Edmonton to visit my sister and family on Saturday and am having a 2 week vacay to keep me occupied while I do this)  And I thought why not? I'll weight myself this one time, because I am not in the habit, nor am I going to get back into the habit of weighing myself all the time.  I got on the scales and am 7 lbs lighter than when the dr. weighed me a week before I came out here to write down all my beginning stats.  That blew me away!  I'll weigh myself again the day before I head back home.

One last thing, explaining why I'm undergoing this diet.  The main purpose is to shrink my liver.  All overweight people have enlarged livers and fatty deposits surrounding the liver.  This varies in degree from person to person.  Now because the surgeon will be operating on our stomach and the liver is right beside the stomach they want the liver as small as possible so that it is not getting in the way of the operation they are performing.  Also, this diet is obviously going to cause weight loss as well and the the less obese a person is the safer any surgery is going to be in any case. 

I'll be back later. probably as I reach the 2 week point of this diet to let you know if all is still going well.