So I've been looking at bathing suits today and longing for a swim in a nice cool pool on this hot day! Unfortunately, my stomach isn't completely healed yet so it'll probably be a couple more weeks before I can go swimming but that doesn't stop me from looking at bathing suits. And while I was looking I realized that if I do well with the weight loss this Summer I may be able to actually but a SwimSUIT instead of a SwimDress for the first time in...let me think, at least 10 years and I think it's more like 15!!! This is so exciting! I can't wait! I think I'm going to go and download the Gyms May Aerobics Schedule! We're planning a vacation at the end of July and it would be so nice if I could keep losing a pound a day until then (which is what I have been doing for the past 3 weeks) then I would be down to 242 pounds by the time we go on vacation! Oh boy, I'm definitely going to work hard!
I won't say that the past few weeks have been easy because they have most definitely not been and the next few months aren't going to be fun either but if I lose the weight that has plagued me since I was a child then it will be worth it! I have around 3 1/2 more weeks of Phase 2 before I can finally start eating soft foods in Phase 3 so I'm looking forward to that. =)
Right now my 3 meals a day that I can have consist of 1 1/2 ounces of either:
Cottage Cheese (small curd)
Scrambled Egg w/ Sprinkle Cheese and a Tbs. of Skim Milk to make it moist
Egg Salad with Low Fat Mayo or Miracle Whip and a little Mustard
Dried Beans boiled down and drained and of course, mashed
This would be so much easier if I could eat mashed potatoes!
It says that I can have pureed chicken and turkey and such but when I tried the chicken a couple of times I just didn't care for it pureed so I tend to stick to the above. You could also have creamy peanut butter but I've never been a fan.
I am going to get some of that fake Crab they have at the supermarket next time I go and a spritz bottle of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and see if that tastes good pureed though. I've always loved that stuff with melted butter over it! YUM!
Friday, April 27, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Starting Weight: 344 Pounds
Pounds Lost: 27
Today it has been officially 3 weeks since my surgery and I've almost lost 30 pounds! I can't wait to reach 300 pounds and I'm looking forward to my 1 month follow up this coming Tuesday. I'm sick of walking and hopefully they'll say that I can start aerobics again or at least some type of walk/run program. One of my goals for when I lose weight is to run a marathon or triathlon so I need to be able to do more than walk to get started on fulfilling that goal!
This is the first time I've weighed less than 320 in a long time and I've very excited about it!
Pounds Lost: 27
Today it has been officially 3 weeks since my surgery and I've almost lost 30 pounds! I can't wait to reach 300 pounds and I'm looking forward to my 1 month follow up this coming Tuesday. I'm sick of walking and hopefully they'll say that I can start aerobics again or at least some type of walk/run program. One of my goals for when I lose weight is to run a marathon or triathlon so I need to be able to do more than walk to get started on fulfilling that goal!
This is the first time I've weighed less than 320 in a long time and I've very excited about it!
Monday, April 23, 2012
Monday, 4/23/12
Starting Weight: 344 Pounds
Pounds Lost: 25 Pounds
So I tried to go back to work yesterday. I talked to my Doctor last week and I knew that they needed help at work so I told him that I was ready to go back...big mistake. I was in so much pain by 8:00pm I was in tears. My right side hurt, my lower, and upper back hurt; It got to where I couldn't even bend over. Standing relieved the pressure but I couldn't stand the entire time. Yes, I know people do but not normally the 300 pound people.
I'm the same girl that wanted to get up and walk 2 hours after my gastric bypass! I've always considered myself to have a high pain threshold so last night was a bad night. I even felt it necessary to ask a friend to give me a ride home and I've never done that before! I'm the type of person who hates asking others for favors, it's just my nature. I like being self-sufficient. So this morning I called the Doctor and asked them about it and they pointed out that even though I sit in an office chair most of the day that I still had surgery on my stomach and that angle puts pressure on the stomach and blah blah blah...so they faxed my work for me to stay out another week. And now, even though I feel better today I'm afraid of the same thing happening again if I tried to go back to work so I think I'll give it a couple of days and see how I feel. At this point I'm out of sick days and using my vacation pay though so I really need to go back to work if I want to take a vacation this year...and I do.
On another note I finally got around to trying New Life's Protein Hot Chocolates and Oh My Goddess they are so good! Definitely going to get a few more packs of this stuff. I've FINALLY found something good from New Life...not to say that everything else has been terrible that I've tried but it has been a little blah. The chocolate and cappuccino protein drinks were OK but so far not much else has been.
Pounds Lost: 25 Pounds
So I tried to go back to work yesterday. I talked to my Doctor last week and I knew that they needed help at work so I told him that I was ready to go back...big mistake. I was in so much pain by 8:00pm I was in tears. My right side hurt, my lower, and upper back hurt; It got to where I couldn't even bend over. Standing relieved the pressure but I couldn't stand the entire time. Yes, I know people do but not normally the 300 pound people.
I'm the same girl that wanted to get up and walk 2 hours after my gastric bypass! I've always considered myself to have a high pain threshold so last night was a bad night. I even felt it necessary to ask a friend to give me a ride home and I've never done that before! I'm the type of person who hates asking others for favors, it's just my nature. I like being self-sufficient. So this morning I called the Doctor and asked them about it and they pointed out that even though I sit in an office chair most of the day that I still had surgery on my stomach and that angle puts pressure on the stomach and blah blah blah...so they faxed my work for me to stay out another week. And now, even though I feel better today I'm afraid of the same thing happening again if I tried to go back to work so I think I'll give it a couple of days and see how I feel. At this point I'm out of sick days and using my vacation pay though so I really need to go back to work if I want to take a vacation this year...and I do.
On another note I finally got around to trying New Life's Protein Hot Chocolates and Oh My Goddess they are so good! Definitely going to get a few more packs of this stuff. I've FINALLY found something good from New Life...not to say that everything else has been terrible that I've tried but it has been a little blah. The chocolate and cappuccino protein drinks were OK but so far not much else has been.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Phase 2 continued
So I tried Pureed Chicken yesterday, I added a little cheese, some refried beans, and a drop of hot sauce to try to pretend that I was having Mexican...it didn't work. Pureed meats are just not very good...who would have thought! =P
On the other hand today, I had 1/2 a scrambled egg with a sprinkle of cheese and a little skim milk to make it moist enough that I didn't have to puree it for breakfast today and that was pretty good. For lunch I had a little low fat cottage cheese and that was good so I think I'm just going to stick to those 2 meals for the next 4 weeks...everyone likes consistancy. Right?
On another note I'm relying far to much on apple juice in between meals considering phase 2 focuses on protein. So I need to start drinking more of New Life's Protein Drinks, so far the 2 I like are the chocolate and cappuchino. I also need to look into buying a bottle of Sugar Free Chocolate DaVinci Gourmet Syrup to add to the Protein Shakes. The information packet that I received from New Life suggests that they're pretty good.
On the plus side the recipes included in the packet for tuna salad and chicken salad look pretty good so I'll have to try those for a little variety.
On the other hand today, I had 1/2 a scrambled egg with a sprinkle of cheese and a little skim milk to make it moist enough that I didn't have to puree it for breakfast today and that was pretty good. For lunch I had a little low fat cottage cheese and that was good so I think I'm just going to stick to those 2 meals for the next 4 weeks...everyone likes consistancy. Right?
On another note I'm relying far to much on apple juice in between meals considering phase 2 focuses on protein. So I need to start drinking more of New Life's Protein Drinks, so far the 2 I like are the chocolate and cappuchino. I also need to look into buying a bottle of Sugar Free Chocolate DaVinci Gourmet Syrup to add to the Protein Shakes. The information packet that I received from New Life suggests that they're pretty good.
On the plus side the recipes included in the packet for tuna salad and chicken salad look pretty good so I'll have to try those for a little variety.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Phase 2 of Gastric Bypass Diet
Weight: 324 pounds
Weight Loss: 20 pounds
Date of Surgery: April 4th, 2012
Phase 2 of the Gastric Bypass Diet started yesterday and I can already tell I'm going to have a little more difficulty with it. More because I'm lazy though than anything! LOL, pureeing foods, measuring portions, yikes, more effort than I want to spend for 4 weeks. But oh well, this is where you tell me to suck it up and get with the program! :-P
Here's the rules for Phase 2 of the Diet:
Weight Loss: 20 pounds
Date of Surgery: April 4th, 2012
Phase 2 of the Gastric Bypass Diet started yesterday and I can already tell I'm going to have a little more difficulty with it. More because I'm lazy though than anything! LOL, pureeing foods, measuring portions, yikes, more effort than I want to spend for 4 weeks. But oh well, this is where you tell me to suck it up and get with the program! :-P
Here's the rules for Phase 2 of the Diet:
Week 2 post-op – Week 6 post-op
You may
advance yourself at your 2 week anniversary.
Food List
This phase contains protein sources only. It does not include vegetables, fruit
or pudding. Your primary focus is to eat
protein. Puree everything to a cottage
cheese consistency.
(No Veggies! *GASP*)
1. All
Phase I foods allowed
2. Pureed
moist protein – any meat (excluding red meat)
- chicken, fish, shrimp, crab, other seafood,
pork, ham, turkey (including ground turkey)
3. tofu*
and soy products, such as Morning Star Farms and Bocca Burgers
4. Scrambled
eggs (make sure eggs are moist)
5. Refried
beans and dried beans* (pinto, garbanzo, white, northern, etc) (well, at least there's this. I'm thinking about pureeing some chicken and refried beans for dinner tonight)
6. Small
curd cottage cheese*
7.
Low carb yogurt*: choose a brand with less than 12g of carbohydrates
8.
Creamy peanut butter*
- Protein
puddings from Premier Surgical Associate’s store*. Sugar-free or reduced fat pudding is not
recommended due to low protein content.
* You do not have to puree these
foods, but ensure they are moist.
Eating Rules
- Serving
size for this phase: 1 ½ oz. (volume) three times per day. Measure your food using 3 tablespoons.
- Eat
3 meals per day, no snacking.
Protein shakes count as a liquid, not a snack.
- Avoid
high carbohydrate foods (especially starches)
- Do
not drink liquids 30 minutes before a meal or 30 minutes after a meal
- Meal
time should not exceed 20 minutes to avoid overeating. Only eat to the point of fullness. If you are full before you eat 1 ½ oz,
do not continue to eat or finish the meal at another time. This will only create bad habits.
- Soups
are considered having liquid with your meals. High protein soups (bean soup, lentil
soup) are allowed on phase II if you drain the liquid and process through
a food processor. Avoid vegetable
soup and soups with beef and noodles/pasta.
TIPS
ü Be
creative! Any recipe is acceptable as
long as it does not contain starches, fruits, or vegetables.
ü Puree
meals in advance and freeze leftovers in ice cube trays. (this is an awesome idea!)
3. Start
keeping a food journal on phase 2 (you will get one in the starter pack).
4. Record
all food and beverage intake and the amount of protein, carbs, calories, etc
within these foods and beverages. This
will help you identify the amount of nutrients you are getting through your
food so you will become less reliant on protein shakes, etc.
5. Record anytime you experience
nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or other symptom.
6.
Bring your
journal to your 1 month follow-up appointment to review with the dietitian.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Current Weight:328 pounds
Weight Lost: 16 pounds
Needless to say I am feeling pretty happy about losing 16 pounds in a week. My routine has pretty much continued with the addition of a banana flavored sugar free Popsicle today. It's odd though, I would have imagined that I would be craving Steak with A1 Sauce and Potatoes, or Chicken Alfredo, or a Hot Fudge Cake for that matter but instead the thing I found myself lying in bed last night wanting more than anything was a Market Fresh Turkey and Bacon Sandwich from Arby's! Except for the bacon those aren't even that high in calories! But boy oh boy, I want one! Just gotta think happy thoughts I guess. :-P
Weight Lost: 16 pounds
Needless to say I am feeling pretty happy about losing 16 pounds in a week. My routine has pretty much continued with the addition of a banana flavored sugar free Popsicle today. It's odd though, I would have imagined that I would be craving Steak with A1 Sauce and Potatoes, or Chicken Alfredo, or a Hot Fudge Cake for that matter but instead the thing I found myself lying in bed last night wanting more than anything was a Market Fresh Turkey and Bacon Sandwich from Arby's! Except for the bacon those aren't even that high in calories! But boy oh boy, I want one! Just gotta think happy thoughts I guess. :-P
Monday, April 9, 2012
Starchy Food List
One of the food types that we have to limit after Gastric Bypass Surgery is Starchy Foods for several months (can't remember the exact amount of time right now but I think it's at least a year) and I found a couple of wonderful lists of starchy foods on these websites today.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/starchy-foods-list.html
http://nutritiondata.self.com/
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/HG72/hg72_2002.pdf
The other big one is Sugary Foods but I don't think we need a list for that one. =D
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/starchy-foods-list.html
http://nutritiondata.self.com/
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/HG72/hg72_2002.pdf
The other big one is Sugary Foods but I don't think we need a list for that one. =D
April 4, 2012
Weight: 331 pounds
Weight Loss: 13 pounds
Today has been a difficult day for me. I'm afraid I did too much over the weekend so I'm hurting more today than I was which means even more bed rest! =) With the occasional walk around the house because my butt goes numb. =P I seem to have found a good combination of fluids now so I don't feel weak like I did the first day I was out of the hospital. So my fluid intake is a combination of chicken broth and apple juice and water. The Doctors said I could also drink G2's and Crystal Lights but this combination works for me since I've always been a big apple juice fan. Yesterday, was Easter so of course I craved Deviled Eggs all day but luckily my fear of having the dumping or clumping after effects of eating real food has kept me on the straight and narrow. I won't say that these first few days have been easy but I keep telling myself that if I just have to get through a few days of pain before my great new life begins then it will be well worth it.
I found pretty quickly that I am more limited in movement that I thought I would be at first, even the process of bending down to pick something up from the floor, feed my pets, or take them for a walk has been trying so I'm letting my family help me out today and just trying to concentrate on recovering. =D
Oh! There goes my 15 minute alarm telling me it's time for fluids. I just had broth so I think I'll drink my apple juice diluted with water this time.
LOL, Yum, yum!
Almost forgot, today my Incentive Spirometer level has been up to 2500 and when I started in the hospital it was just around 500 so, yay! If you're wondering, they also want you to use an Incentive Spirometer every couple of hours after surgery to get your lungs working well again and lessen the risk of contracting pneumonia. Here's what it looks like:
Weight Loss: 13 pounds
Today has been a difficult day for me. I'm afraid I did too much over the weekend so I'm hurting more today than I was which means even more bed rest! =) With the occasional walk around the house because my butt goes numb. =P I seem to have found a good combination of fluids now so I don't feel weak like I did the first day I was out of the hospital. So my fluid intake is a combination of chicken broth and apple juice and water. The Doctors said I could also drink G2's and Crystal Lights but this combination works for me since I've always been a big apple juice fan. Yesterday, was Easter so of course I craved Deviled Eggs all day but luckily my fear of having the dumping or clumping after effects of eating real food has kept me on the straight and narrow. I won't say that these first few days have been easy but I keep telling myself that if I just have to get through a few days of pain before my great new life begins then it will be well worth it.
I found pretty quickly that I am more limited in movement that I thought I would be at first, even the process of bending down to pick something up from the floor, feed my pets, or take them for a walk has been trying so I'm letting my family help me out today and just trying to concentrate on recovering. =D
LOL, Yum, yum!
Almost forgot, today my Incentive Spirometer level has been up to 2500 and when I started in the hospital it was just around 500 so, yay! If you're wondering, they also want you to use an Incentive Spirometer every couple of hours after surgery to get your lungs working well again and lessen the risk of contracting pneumonia. Here's what it looks like:
Sunday, April 8, 2012
April 4th, 2012
Hello,
Today is my second day home and the pain is a little less than it was yesterday so I'm happy. According to my scale I'm down 12 pounds too so that's a nice surprise! I'm still really tired though, I've only been up a little over 2 hours and I think that I'll go back to bed for awhile now. I'm sure that'll change after a few days. Like they said in the hospital, don't fight it, our bodies use sleep to heal.
Talk to you later =)
Today is my second day home and the pain is a little less than it was yesterday so I'm happy. According to my scale I'm down 12 pounds too so that's a nice surprise! I'm still really tired though, I've only been up a little over 2 hours and I think that I'll go back to bed for awhile now. I'm sure that'll change after a few days. Like they said in the hospital, don't fight it, our bodies use sleep to heal.
Talk to you later =)
Saturday, April 7, 2012
First Day Home!
Yay! I'm home and relaxing today, the pain is less and less everyday so hopefully it won't be long before I'm pain free =)
As for Wednesday, I arrived at the hospital at 10:00 am and was taken back to the surgery waiting area where they hooked me up to an iv and basically let me lay in bed and watch TV until it was my turn to go back. Everyone was wonderful to me during the whole process! Unfortunately, my heart did get out of rhythm during the surgery so I had to stay in recovery for a few hours and my oxygen levels went down every time I dozed off so they needed me to stay awake and keep coughing to get all of the anesthesia out...trust me, after having surgery on your stomach it is not easy to make yourself cough repeatedly!
LOL, I felt bad for the nurses assigned to me in Recovery though because they couldn't give me a lot of pain meds because the pain meds make you sleepy and since my oxygen levels kept going down when I slept they couldn't give me much so I was probably a little bit of a trying patient because I was in pain and on top of everything else I kept begging them to let me get out of bed because I knew that walking would wake me up and hopefully get me out of recovery sooner but walking while you're still in the Recovery phase of the process is apparently a no no.
So by around 6:45pm my heart was back to normal and they took me up to my room; the rest of that night was basically a blur, I remember seeing my mother, sister, and niece, and my aunt stopped by for a while but other than that I just remember trying to get them to let me walk which they FINALLY did around 8pm or 9pm or so...time kind of went together that night. My mother had to set me straight a few times because it seemed like it was taking so long when actually only a few minutes had passed.
Thursday was better though, the nurses kept bragging on how good I was doing and that they wished other patients were as easy as me. LOL, they were referring to the fact that I wouldn't stay in bed! They wanted us to get up at least every 2 hours but a few times I was up walking every hour or so just b/c I couldn't stand staying in the hospital bed. Plus, they said I was nice and didn't complain a lot and actually kept up with my fluid intake and outtake. It was good to be praised! =) (especially since this was my first hospital stay)
As for Wednesday, I arrived at the hospital at 10:00 am and was taken back to the surgery waiting area where they hooked me up to an iv and basically let me lay in bed and watch TV until it was my turn to go back. Everyone was wonderful to me during the whole process! Unfortunately, my heart did get out of rhythm during the surgery so I had to stay in recovery for a few hours and my oxygen levels went down every time I dozed off so they needed me to stay awake and keep coughing to get all of the anesthesia out...trust me, after having surgery on your stomach it is not easy to make yourself cough repeatedly!
LOL, I felt bad for the nurses assigned to me in Recovery though because they couldn't give me a lot of pain meds because the pain meds make you sleepy and since my oxygen levels kept going down when I slept they couldn't give me much so I was probably a little bit of a trying patient because I was in pain and on top of everything else I kept begging them to let me get out of bed because I knew that walking would wake me up and hopefully get me out of recovery sooner but walking while you're still in the Recovery phase of the process is apparently a no no.
So by around 6:45pm my heart was back to normal and they took me up to my room; the rest of that night was basically a blur, I remember seeing my mother, sister, and niece, and my aunt stopped by for a while but other than that I just remember trying to get them to let me walk which they FINALLY did around 8pm or 9pm or so...time kind of went together that night. My mother had to set me straight a few times because it seemed like it was taking so long when actually only a few minutes had passed.
Thursday was better though, the nurses kept bragging on how good I was doing and that they wished other patients were as easy as me. LOL, they were referring to the fact that I wouldn't stay in bed! They wanted us to get up at least every 2 hours but a few times I was up walking every hour or so just b/c I couldn't stand staying in the hospital bed. Plus, they said I was nice and didn't complain a lot and actually kept up with my fluid intake and outtake. It was good to be praised! =) (especially since this was my first hospital stay)
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Tomorrow's the big day!
Oh boy, it's finally here! Less than 24 hours from now I'll be in the hospital. Today, I'm double checking that I have everything ready to go. There's only a couple of items left on my shopping list: a kitchen timer to set every 15 minutes to remind me to sip my 1-2 ounces of fluids afterwards, and a new bottle of iron supplements as well.
Other than that, I'm pretty much set I've packed my multi-vitamin, probiotics, and vitamin B-1 along with my overnight bag: pajama bottoms, a robe, slippers (since they'll have you walking as soon as you can in order to lessen the chance of blood clots forming in your legs), my Kindle Fire with 5 new books downloaded (absolute MUST!), and I also dowloaded a food diary and counter app. for when I have to record the fluids both going into me for the next 2 weeks and the one's coming out of me as well. Pack the timer(still got to make that stop) Plus, I've been revewing the pre-op procedures to make sure I haven't missed anything:
Don't shave the day before: Check
Don't eat after midnight: Check
No Tylenol or similiar medicines: Check
Check In is at 9:30 am
Operation should be around 11:45 am
Other than that, I'm pretty much set I've packed my multi-vitamin, probiotics, and vitamin B-1 along with my overnight bag: pajama bottoms, a robe, slippers (since they'll have you walking as soon as you can in order to lessen the chance of blood clots forming in your legs), my Kindle Fire with 5 new books downloaded (absolute MUST!), and I also dowloaded a food diary and counter app. for when I have to record the fluids both going into me for the next 2 weeks and the one's coming out of me as well. Pack the timer(still got to make that stop) Plus, I've been revewing the pre-op procedures to make sure I haven't missed anything:
Don't shave the day before: Check
Don't eat after midnight: Check
No Tylenol or similiar medicines: Check
Check In is at 9:30 am
Operation should be around 11:45 am
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