Onderland!

I have been of course neglecting my blog.  Two Sundays ago I hit the under 200 lb mark called onderland.  It's still very hard to imagine I am now thinner than I was the day I got out of the army. If I could find my last uniform I am pretty sure it would fit! I am actually at 192 lbs as of today!

I also went to my 6 month check up recently. Surgeon was very happy with my progress!  The program wants you to be at 50% of your excess weight loss, I was 62%! My vitamin levels were great!

A first for me, I actually went on a couple of dates. They were both pretty good. One I will not be seeing again, since he does have a scary female roommate lol.  The other one was pretty cool.  We laughed a lot and I could see a friendship happening.

Today I completed my first 5k race. It was a charity race for one of my favorite local charities, Heroes 4 Hunger. And with a name like that, you know me and my best friend had to show up in super hero garb! I decided on wonder woman since I did hit onderland! She was an awesome pink and black super girl! We were not fast, but we were not slow and did not come in last!!!  We walked most of it, but did pick up our feet at the beginning, middle and end!  We clocked in at 48 minutes and 29 seconds.  That is now our baseline and we will continue to better it!  I am a very lucky person to have her as my friend and workout partner.

Another awesome thing, I had decided to take this semester and probably next semester off from school.  I have had 3 job interviews and received 2 job offers. I will more than likely hear about the 3rd next week soon.

Life just keeps getting better and better. And the most important thing is I have become confident and will continue being confident. I am an awesome person!

Been awhile

My current weight is 211.  I have lost 128 lbs!

Favorite Shirt

Over 100 lbs Gone!

My highest weight ever documented was 350.  I think that was sometime fall 2012.  I am now down to 240!  I started the surgical weight loss program at 339, so I am 1 pound away from 100 pound loss on that front too.

The last two weeks have been incredible!  I have been on the go, go, go!  Swim lessons, family swim, aquasizing, mini vacation and MORE!  On our mini vacation, my family got to see me for the first time since weighing 290.  They were amazed at me, not only because of my weight but because of how happy and how excited I was over everything.  The biggest thing that happened to me in the last two weeks was that we went to STORYLAND!!!!!  I ran around the entire day, with the biggest smile on my face.  My cousin didn't know who was having more fun me or my son.  I went on every single ride and had no problems fitting in them!  My fitbit tracked my steps for that day and I did over 6.5 miles!  No way in hell I could have done this last year!

Another milestone hit me on July 4th.  I was sitting in a lawn chair (was not scared at all of it breaking) and had my son sitting in my lap.  That is the milestone right there.....I had a lap for my son to sit on and it was very comfortable!  I also sat around in a bathing suit for most of the day :) .

Go Kart!

Life is definitely changing since surgery.  Yesterday Andrew, papa and I went to Blackbeard's in Bangor.  It is a mini golf, aracade and go karts.  Well, I went on a go kart with my son for the first time ever.  Last time I have been would be probably 2000.  I was so scared about not fitting.  I kept asking dad if I was gonna be ok, he was like yes shut up.  I fit with no problems!  We had a blast!  My fitbit said I walked over 10,000 steps so it was a busy day!!!

BMI 38.8

I am still about 9 points away from being overweight by BMI standards....but it is down from 53.2!  A difference of 14.4!!!!!

Shopping at Old Navy...in the store!

It has been a long time, like very long time since I have shopped for myself at the brick and mortar version of Old Navy.  They do not sell their plus sized versions in the store, they are only available online.  I truly think it has been since 2002 since I have shopped there.  Well the drought ended last night! I tried on their vintage tshirts in an xxl, but I felt it was too big.  *insert girlie squeal here*  I purchased 3 vintage tees in xl, 3 tank tops in xxl and 1 blouse in xxl.  I also purchased 2 pair of size 20 capris at D.E.B.  I am so excited about having some new clothes in smaller sizes!

I also took a picture today of my lap....my belly wasn't hanging over it!  Oh and my awesome aunt purchased me a choker type necklace that I so couldn't have worn last year my larger neck size!

Life is changing!

258 The first go round

I was just sitting here thinking, man I used to hate pictures of me.  Pictures of me when I weighed 258+ the first time round.  Now I am loving them.  I can't get enough pictures of me.  What is the difference?  Is this like in high school when I thought I was fat at 140lbs?  Just randomness for the day :)  Oh and I am wearing a 1x tank top!  SQUEEEEEEEE!

11 Weeks Post Op

Life has changed drastically.  I am still amazed at little stuff.  I went to Connecticutt for an NKOTB concert, and we stopped at Ruby Tuesdays and Denny's.  First up was Ruby Tuesdays, I ordered the chicken quesadilla and salad bar.  For the salad bar I put a small scoop of pasta salad, small scoop of apple salad, 2 tomato slices, a bit of shredded cheese and a bit of bacon pieces.  I ate maybe a 1/4 of all of it and didn't even eat a whole piece of my quesadilla.  OMG, preop I probably would have made 2 trips to the salad bar, loaded up with ranch dressing with lots of bad stuff with 2 pieces of lettuce and then ate a cheeseburger with fries and probably an appetizer too.  Then Denny's the next day I ordered the sausage gravy and biscuit with hashbrown off their $2 menu and a side of bacon.  I ate a couple of my friend Amanda's bacon cheese fries and maybe a 1/4 of the entire biscuit.  I didn't touch the hashbrowns or bacon.  I am loving my pouch!!!!!

Weight dropped a lot last week about 10 lbs.  I am now at 261.  55 lbs since surgery and 78 since I started the program.

I sat comfortably in the stadium seating for the first time in a long time and even had room!  WOW!!!!!

Here I am right before the concert :)

277.5

That was my weight tonight before shower.  Let's see 316 day of surgery, 300 2 week followup and tomorrow is my 6 week follow up.  I am crossing my fingers that 23.5 lbs is a good weight loss in a month.  I personally think it is.  Since starting the program in Jan I am down 61.5 lbs!!!!!!

Even though I have lost some weight, my fibromyalgia issues have not disappeared.  I know I shouldn't have expected them to.  I am doing more since my operation, but definitely not where I want to be yet.

Red Shirt looking Better

Forgot to eat

Around 4:30 pm, I am bringing Andrew home and I realized I haven't eaten a dang thing today.  I rushed through the store got some roast beef and cheese.  Get home and was able to eat 1 roll.  I was feeling better not as bitchy.  But still feel like the post nasal drip is causing me some really ucky feelings.  Dinner I had a few piece of chicken papa made and a couple of pieces of potato salad.  Midnight meal I just fried a piece of bologna with a 1/4 of a piece of white american cheese.  This was SUPER yummy.  Today was a bad not eating day.  I need to get better.

Some Before Pictures

Day #6 Post Surgery

I have not updated my blog since surgery.  I am awful at updating this thing I swear.  I need to go through facebook and post a bunch of my statuses since then.  I have been pretty much out of it since surgery.

Surgery went well.  I went in about 9:30 and woke up probably about 3 or 3:30.  Yet again I had a rough time getting incubated, gotta love my small mouth and throat sigh.  I also had rough time waking up, I am such a bitch waking up from anathesia!  Pain wise I was pretty high, maintained about a 7 on a pain scale.  I was up and walking, I did it most of the night so I wouldn't have the gas pains.  Thank goodness the gas pains never were an issue.

My hospital stay wasn't the most pleasant.  I had a roommate that had dimentia and wow she had a rough time being there too.


I came home my 2nd day from surgery, March 21.  I was so happy!  Hydrocodone has been keeping my pain levels pretty good.  I am keeping up with getting up and moving.  I have done a few trips to Hannaford to get my walking in.  Today though I think I did too much and my body hurts.  Also one of my incisions look pretty angry.  I am going to keep an eye on it.

Food wise, I have been eating a bunch of yogurt, popsicles and a few shakes.  I am not getting all of my liquid in that I should, but I keep trying to sip sip sip.



March 19th (surgery date)  316

March 25 311

Day #10

Today was super busy, I had a policy council meeting and parent teacher conference.  I honestly haven't had much to "eat" today and I am not hungry at all.  I made concoction of a soup, french onion and cheddar cheese soup.  It wasn't good. I am having a lot of muscle cramps.  I know I am drinking a lot of water but guess I need something else.   Almost there.



Breakfast
V8 splash and unflavored protein powder

Lunch
Water

Dinner
G2 gatorade


I guess I didn't eat anything at all.

10 days down 4 to go!!!

Day #9

Not really a lot to say today.  I am mad that my friends will be eating cinnamon rolls tomorrow at policy council meeting.  Oh well, I am gonna try a cinnamon bun protein shake tomorrow.  I am hungry, really hungry.



Breakfast

cookies and cream protein shake with lactaid

Lunch

V8 fruit juice and unflavored protein powder

Dinner

broccoli cheese soup

Snack

cookies and cream protein, milk, ice cream and peanut butter

9 days down 5 to go!

Some Facts about Gastric Bypass

Today I wanted to share some facts and statistics about Gastric Bypass Surgery.

At EMMC in 2010 and 2011, operative mortality at 30 days after discharge for all procedures was 0%. The standard for safe bariatric programs is to have less than 0.5% 30-day operative mortality. 

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive & Kidney Disease (NIDDK), less than 1% of all cases of bariatric surgery result in death.

I thought this was an interesting quote from Al Roker

After gastric bypass surgery they make you go through therapy, but a realization that came to me after writing my book was that I should have gone to the support group they offered. As mentioned in my book, I knew I needed to make some very basic changes in my life ... for me.

I think the support groups will help me a lot.  I know they have already helped me in my decisions about surgery.

Bariatric Surgery Dramatically Improves Health.National data compiled from 136 scientific reports totaling bariatric surgical results of 22,094 patients¹showed that:

• 76.8% were cured of diabetes
• 86% improved diabetes
• 70% improved high cholesterol
• 61.7% were cured of high blood pressure
• 78.5% improved high blood pressure
• 85.7% were cured of sleep apnea

Better Survival Rate for Bariatric Surgery Patients. McGill University compared five-year survival of their 5,746 morbidly obese patients managed medically with 1,035 patients who underwent surgery, matched by sex, age, and duration of being obese.³The results:

• Five-year mortality of 6.17% in the no surgery group
• Five-year mortality of 0.68% in the surgical group

What is gastric bypass surgery, a lot of my friends have asked this question.

ROUX-EN-Y GASTRIC BYPASS

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery uses a combination of restriction and malabsorptionto reduce calories. During the procedure, which takes an average of 75 minutes to perform, the surgeon creates a smaller, egg-sized stomach pouch, using about 5 percent of your stomach and separating off the rest. The surgeon then attaches a Y-shaped section of the small intestine directly to the pouch. This allows food to bypass a large portion of the small intestine, which absorbs calories and nutrients. Having the smaller stomach causes patients to feel fuller sooner and eat less food. At the same time, bypassing a portion of the small intestine means the patient’s body absorbs fewer calories. Gastric bypass procedures are potentially reversible, although this is not usually performed.

inches

18 54 50 62 32



321 lbs 18 inch neck 50 under boobs 55 around belly button 62 around hips and 32 thighs. I am down from 350 from november

Day #8

Ugh!  I am having the opposite problem of the problem I have been having the last 8 weeks.  OUCH!!!  Gonna step up the water intake a notch. It's getting hard to imagine in less than a week now I will have a tiny pouch as a stomach and hopefully doped up on good drugs lol.  I have also learned that V8 juice blech.  Sorry Aunt Jo, it's nasty lol.


Breakfast
2 scoops of cookies and cream protein with lactaid

Lunch
vanilla protein and lactaid

Dinner

broccoli and cheese soup (didn't eat the big chunks of broc)

Drank a shitload of water this evening (who knew shitload was a real word, no red line underneath!)

8 days down 6 to go!!!!

Day #7

Half way mark!  Had a last minute meeting this morning, then hung out with Kristy for a bit.  I had to leave her house, cause I wasn't feeling good.  I was very nauseous, head hurt, just felt like crap lol.  I weighed myself this morning 11 pounds down since last tuesday.

Breakfast

cookies and cream protein shake with lactaid

Lunch

Pineapple smoothie with a protein scoop from Bell the Cat (wasn't impressed and it was expensive)

Dinner

Cream of Broccoli Soup (added pepper cause my smaht aunt suggested)



7 days down 7 days to go

Day #6 Kinda Shitty

Not sure if it is the liquid or the stomach infection or the actual milk I had, but yep from the title you can guess what has been up with me.  My tummy hurts pretty bad :(  I reply to friend's statuses about food and such and they all feel bad for talking about food.  I actually enjoy reading about it, since I can't partake next best thing is reading right?

Breakfast

Cookies and Cream protein shake with real milk and a spoon of pb :)

Lunch

lots of water and water with mio  (wasn't hungry)

Dinner

Cookies and cream shake with milk and ice cream  Oh so yum, yum yum.

I need to get some V8 or something tomorrow.

Oops messed up last night's count was wrong 6 days down 8 to go

Day #5

Today wasn't so bad.  Went to another meeting, do I live at meetings?  I was really starting to get a headache during the meeting wasn't sure if it was the content or wanting food lol.  I met up with my fabulous Aunt Jo.  She's been worried about the amount of protein I have been getting and honestly haven't been getting enough at all.  She purchased me a tub of muscle milk cookies and cream.  I tried it without water, first time I have tried one of these powders without lactaid and it wasn't that bad.  It went down really quick. I am too lazy to get up but it has a really good amount of grams of protein.  I haven't mentioned this in my blog because I usually already wrote it before I get my munchies.  At night right after I take my nighttime meds I get super hungry and is the biggest time I usually snack.  No different now on the liquid.  Tonight I think I am going to have some hot tea or something.

Dinner tonight was AWESOME!  Dad made some really good chicken soup and I had two bowls of broth.



Menu

Breakfast

Chocolate protein shake with lactaid
8 oz OJ

Lunch

Cookies and Cream protein powder

Dinner

2 bowls of chicken broth
1 designer whey protein 2 go drink mix lemonade


Not enough water today

5 days down 11 to go

What I am looking forward to.....

Yes I am looking forward to getting healthy, living longer blah blah blah lol  But there are a ton of superficial things I am looking forward to.


Shoes, buying lots and lots of pretty shoes!  Not wide suckers that make me look like a man.

Cutting and painting my own toe nails without it being a workout.

Sitting in a booth

Sitting in an airplane seat with no extender

Running around the playground with Andrew

Being able to buy regular clothes


There are a ton more but that's what I got at the moment lol

Day #4

Today was so so.  I was able to get Andrew dressed and off to school.  I went back to bed afterwards though lol.  I did make my first attempt at juicing while we got ready.  It was ok.  I did cucumber, carrots, strawberries, oranges and a little apple juice.  My second attempt tonight sucked though, was full of pulp and green crap and blech!  I did make a smoothie though for dinner.  I put plain yogurt, strawberries, a little apple juice and half a scoop protein powder.  It was ok, the vanilla protein powder I got made it taste yucky.  So I ordered some unflavored on amazon.  I did have a test tonight, dad and Andrew had english muffin pizzas for dinner.  I love pizza, like it's the best food in the whole wide world.  I totally stayed away from it!!!



Breakfast

My own juice concoction

Lunch

odwalla super monster protein crap (tasted like dirt)

Dinner

failed juice concoction
so so smoothie

Lots of water

4 days down 10 more to go!

Day #3

Today really wasn't so bad.  I am still hungry, still want to chew.  But I was able to actually get up and move.  I met my friend Amanda at our boy's school to get the magic bullet juicer she's letting me borrow.  Then Andrew and I went to the store and bought some veggies and fruits for my juicing explorations.  Then I had a WCAP board meeting.  I was pleasantly surprised that they had chicken soup for dinner.  I ate the broth and did sneak a couple pieces of shredded chicken.  BUT the chicken was extremely shredded, so I don't count it as a solid lol.

Day 3 Food

Breakfast
ZZZzzz again I was asleep for breakfast lol

Lunch

8 oz Orange juice
Protein shake

Snack
Yogurt

Dinner
chicken broth

Snack
Cucumbers

Lots of water

Rough Day!

Today I have felt like poop.  Head hurts, no energy, just ick.  Also I started having my prior issues with my stomach.  Probably from the cucumbers I ate last night. I have not eaten much at all today.  I woke up to get Andrew dressed then went right back to bed.  I woke up about 11:30.  Then laid on the couch and watched Gossip Girl.  Damn you Kristy, getting me into a show I said I would never watch.  I took probably two naps.

Menu

Breakfast
ZZZZzzzzzzzzzz

Lunch
Water
Yogurt

Snack
Water

Dinner
Protein Shakes
Cucumbers
1 chicken strip (yep I cheated)

Didn't write down my water intake but it was a bunch.

2 days down 12 to go.

First Day of Liquids

So the first day of my two week torture has come and almost has gone.  Day was pretty busy, had a state parent advisory board meeting in waterville.  I was able to eat my shake and yogurt while everyone else was eating some beautiful pork tenderloin roast with apple and raisin chutney, awesome cornbread and oatmeal raisin cookies.  The only thing that was triggering my anguish was the cornbread!  We went to walmart, I got a few more liquid diet supplies, soup, yogurt, and mio.

My menu for the day
Breakfast
Vanilla Whey Protein shake with lactaid 2% milk
16 oz water

Lunch
Chocolate Whey Protein shake with lactaid 2% milk
activia yogurt
16 oz water

Dinner
Half can of tomato soup
1 whole cucumber with a little salt and crushed red pepper

Total water intake 128 oz

Looking forward to tomorrow.

Chose a shake

I was in the kitchen looking for something to eat.  I went shopping so there are a lot of options.  I thought what the heck I will have a shake instead.  This brand is really not too bad.  I have tried slim fast in the past and I thought it was so incredibly nasty.  The box of premade shakes sat in my refrigerator well after their expiration date.  I don't even think I finished the first shake I tried.

When I started the weight loss surgery program, the dietitian says you have to start taking 2 multi vitamins a day and 2 calciums with vit d.  I have been slacking so much on my vitamins.  I started again today.  I wish I could take them together I think I would remember better.  But you can't take them together because of the iron not working well with the calcium.

Still nervously waiting for my surgery date :)

Playing video games doesn't make Andrew fat!

First go at Whey Protein

I have let all of my friends and family know I am about to go through the journey of bariatric weight loss surgery.  I will describe in another blog what I have gone through so far.  But tonight I wanted to share my first taste of protein shakes.

Today I went to walgreens, their selection of whey powders is quite lacking.  I picked up one of the cheapest ones to try and a shaker bottle.  The bottle is pretty cool it has a wire ball inside to break up all the chunks.  I also bought a small container of lactaid milk.  Milk has been giving me some stomach problems so I figured I would try the lactaid.

Super easy to make the shake, 8 oz's of lactaid and 1 scoop of triple chocolate powder.  Shake shake shake it up.  Then drink it.  It wasn't that bad.  I have had a lot worse.  I am skeptical of it keeping the hungers away for my first 2 weeks.

Living in the Country

When you live in the country, you hardly ever hear sirens.  Which I love cause, in Texas we heard sirens on a constant basis, late night, early morning.  So I am gonna make a tally of how many we hear out here.

So far, 1 time.  State trooper went zooming by.