This past Friday night, I broke a rule of mine…

We went out to dinner on Friday night with my in-laws to StirCrazy, which is located on the outside of one of the malls here. StirCrazy is a mix of stir-fry options or traditional Chinese (well, American style Chinese). To which I wore my jeans and one of my newer tee-shirts, but I was barely able to keep my pants up even with the belt that I “borrowed” from Josh (though I don’t think he knows, but he will now). I told Josh that after dinner, we were going to walk around the mall with the boys, since I did not go to the gym. After dinner, we loaded the boys up in the double stroller, said good bye to the in-laws and headed into the mall. Please note that we have not been in a mall in close to a year, let alone on a Friday night…let’s just say that it was interesting. As well as, I don’t remember teenagers being so rude or impatient. But that is another rant for a different time. We walked through a couple stores, some were just not contusive to have the double stroller in. I decided while we were there, I was going to look at buying a pair of jeans and I did after 4 stores. Finally at Macy’s (where I have never shopped), I found a pair of Levi jeans (yes, plus size Levi jeans, not some store plus size brand) and the best part…they are 2, yes 2, sizes smaller than the jeans that I had on. Yippee!! So to say that I was excited, is an understatement. I had broken my rule of not buying brand-new clothes before I settled on a weight, but my “fat” jeans were…well just say too fat for me. As you can see today, by my ticker at the top of the page, I am officially 50 pounds smaller in 10 weeks. I actually am 2 pounds heavier than I was as a junior in high school…those two pounds will be gone soon.

Clothing Update

I am finding that some of my clothes are getting a little too baggy and I think it is time to retire them (ie pass them along). I am able to wear a 1x shirt comfortably now. I don’t think it is going to take me long before I will need to buy some new shirts and jeans. Which brings me to my jeans…that are WAY too big now, I wore them two weekends ago and had to wear a belt that I notched a new hole in. Last week I wore a pair of pants to work and someone told me that they were too big and I should donate them in the clothing drive box on my way home. To which I wore them home, washed them, and brought them back to work and donated them :)

Over the weekend I tried on a shirt that J bought for me in high school and it actually fits, though I could loss about another 5 pounds and it would fit great! WHen I showed J that I could fit into it, he said I had to wait to wear it for a special occasion, like going on a date.

So I am going to be heading to Goodwill here soon to pick out some temporary clothes, unless someone has some to donate to me.

Six weeks and doing great!

I am officially 6 weeks post op and I fell good beyond being tired. I have developed a milk intolerance and was not getting the protein from all the milk and whey based proteins that I was consuming, which is making me tired. Last week, I went and seen my dietician and surgeon. I am down 35 pounds, lost 7 inches from my waist, my blood sugar is normal, and so is my blood pressure. Yippee!

My surgeon opened a lot more food options to me, since I will not be getting my protein from milk. I am able to have any type of fish, shell fish, lean hamburger, turkey, chicken, lean pork, turkey bacon, peanut butter and that is just the proteins. She also is allowing me to have salads, any green veggie, apples, berries, pear, bananas, grapefruit (but light on this), and cream cheese (light). She just asked for me to stay away from starch veggies, pasta, cereal, and rice till I am six months out. I am still on 2 oz per meal, but will move to 3 oz over the next couple of weeks. I have enjoyed a salad for lunch the past two days (ie the same salad and have probably another day to eat on it). I had ground hamburger with tomatoes and green beans last night for dinner (my adapted version gulosh).

Knowing that I can have more food options has set off some cravings. One craving I have had is for chicken wings. I am not able to handle regularly cooked (baked or grilled) chicken, but I can handle wings. I am not sure if it is because of the sauce or what, but it is working for me. I have tried meatloaf and pork chops, but it did not work to well. So I am trying things and I will keep tally of what is working.

Continue… Update on Surgery and first couple of days:

Sunday was a very relaxing day and we even went to Wal-mart to do a little grocery shopping. I truly think that the boys were more tired when we got home than I was. Monday was even more of a relaxing day than Sunday and Tuesday was my first post-op follow-up appointment. We took the boys to my mom’s while we went to see the dietician and the surgeon. The dietician was not much help since I was still on a clear liquid diet and I seen her before the surgeon. But I outlined the plan that I had and she was ok with it. My surgeon appointment went good too. I had lost 9 pounds since Saturday and I was moved to a full liquid diet for the next four weeks. My surgeon is excited about my progress and I go back to see her in 5 weeks, hopefully being another 40 pounds lighter.  Wednesday and Thursday are my first official days being home with the boys alone, since J had to go back to work. I have been truly amazed at how I have jumped back into my routines with little hold back. Though I am not able to pick up the boys for the next MONTH, because I am not allowed to lift more than 10 pounds, I have been figuring out creative ways to get things done. Bubba is getting better at climbing up into his highchair and figuring out how to get down from our bed. Today with it being so nice out, I took the boys to the park and let them play for about an hour and half, we came home, had lunch, and now they are taking naps. Tomorrow, we have planned to take the boys to the children’s museum for the day. And this officially ends my updates for now…it is hard to believe that the week is almost over.

For some of those questions about how I am feeling:

I have times during the day, especially after a lot of bending, that I ache and I have changed to children’s Tylenol during the day and only take my pain med right before bedtime.

I have been able to sleep on my sides and my stomach for the past couple of nights (because those are my preferred sleeping positions) with no problems.

I am able to drive (though I have not yet) and plan to return to work on Monday.

I am no longer on any diabetic meds and I have not been testing. This is really nice.

I drink water constantly and meals feel more like chores, because I am not hungry and it just takes too long to eat. Protein is the hardest thing I am getting in, just because I would prefer water over drinking a protein drink. Plus the current powder I have is cookies and crème…and it is disgusting now! So I have to figure out another powder that either has no or low sugar last.

Update on Surgery and first couple of days:

I am officially one week post-op and it is hard to believe that it has been a week. I was discharged from the hospital Saturday afternoon, which was a pretty quick stay. I have broken this post up into a couple, because they are so long…

But I want to start before the surgery…Friday morning was nerve-wrecking. We left our house at 4:30 am, picked up my mom, and arrived at the hospital at 5:20. I went to be registered and prepped for surgery a little after 6 am. My blood pressure was crazy because of my nervousness, so they gave me some medicine to help relax me and it worked well. After all my prep was done, J and my mom were brought back to where I was while I waited to be taken to surgery. It seems like they were only there for about 15 minutes before they came to get me. Since they had given me medicine to relax, I had to be wheeled to the OR. Once I got to the OR door, I got up and walked to the table, laid down, they told me to stretch out my arms and I have no clue what happened after that… The next thing I remember, was a nurse telling “Amanda, Amanda, It’s time for you to wake up.” And I opened my eyes, blinked a couple times, then went back to sleep to wake up later in my hospital room with J and my mom with me. They told me that the surgery lasted about 1 hour, but of course it never seemed that long.

Most of Friday day, I spent sleeping or walking. I was in pain; it was not my incisions that hurt, but my back and they gave me heating packs that worked great. About 4pm, J took my mom home and went to his parents for a while to visit with the boys (and to eat dinner). I spent a good amount of time reading, watching tv, and walking until J came back. Between Friday afternoon and early Saturday afternoon, I walked 3 miles.

By Saturday morning, I was finally able to have something besides ice chips and got my first breakfast…which was an ounce of apple juice and an ounce of green jello. And I enjoyed ever drop. The hard part was having to take 30 minutes to eat it…though I knew this was going to happen, my brain did not understand and I had to keep slowing myself down. Lunch included an ounce of chicken broth and an ounce of orange jello…which I did not finish all of it. By 3pm, J and I were headed to pick up the boys from J’s parents. We did spend a little too much time there and we did not make it to the pharmacy before they closed to get my pain meds. J got up bright and early on Sunday and went to get them for me, but he went to early and had to go back later.

So I will continue in the next post with what has been happening since Sunday…

Please :)

The nervousness of the surgery is beginning to creep in and I have found myself waking up at night running through the list of what I need to take to the hospital, what the boys will need while they are at the grandparents, did I get all the things I need for after the surgery, and what work items do I need to bring home for me to work on. Though these are not earth shattering things or uncommon things to that should be waking me at night and I know that God will be there with me, but my nature is to worry and over plan everything. So please be praying for me, my family, the surgeons and nurses.

This I have found to be one of the hardest posts I have written.

Not because it is a hard topic, but that it is getting personal.

A year ago, I made the decision to have bariatric surgery. Over the past year, I have been completing the requirements for the insurance company to pay for the surgery. This by no means has been easy and this was not the shortcut to close the weight that has haunted me for the past 13-14 years. Yes, I began my journey with being overweight at the end of my six grade year and did not by any means adjust to middle school. By the beginning of eight grade, I was wearing a plus size 16 and it just kept going up. When I meet my husband in high school, I was a size 20 and 217 pounds. So time continued and I gained more weight (currently at 283 pounds), became a diabetic, and now have blood pressure issues. Which, I should not be dealing with this at my age.

So on Friday, I will enter the hospital at 6am and have surgery. There are a lot of changes coming and I am not sure if we are 100% ready for them, but I am up to the challenge. In the past year, I have made several changes in my lifestyle and diet with only result being gaining weight. The other night, a friend asked “Do you think that surgery is the right choice?” For me, yes it is. It seems that the only time I am able to lose weight is while pregnant, no matter how much I exercise or reduce my calories…I absorb everything. As well, I look like all my overweight family members and we carry it the same way. I want the change!