I am short-handed at work and have been doing the jobs of two people now for a few months. Pretty good way to recover from major surgery, eh?
A quick update on my saga is that my weight is 192lbs as of this morning. I've lost 46lbs since surgery. For me, this is nothing short of a miracle. I'm down from a size 20, to a size 14-16 in most clothes. I have a ton more energy during the day. I'm sleeping better. My blood pressure is now normal. My cholesterol is down 100 points. My triglycerides are normal, good cholesterol (HDL) stayed the same, and my bad cholesterol (LDL) came down significantly. I'm off of all my pre-surgery meds, except for birth control pills, and Protonix for GERD. I still get GERD if I don't take the meds, and not sure that's going to go away. I'm still using a CPAP at night for sleep apnea, but my Doc says its only a matter of time before I don't need it anymore.
When I look at other folks' weight loss numbers online or at my support group my 46lbs seems weak at this stage. But I'm happy with it. Little by little each month it gets better. I seem to plateau every few weeks for a while and then I start losing again. I know now that if I don't get close to 90g of protein in per day, I feel bad and don't seem to lose weight. Also, if my calories aren't up near 1000 per day, my body just shuts down and I stop losing.
I really want to lose about 54 more lbs for a total of 100lbs. I think it's possible. I'm almost half way there.
Meals are getting easier to eat, and I sure am a cheap date now. I can eat pretty much everything, just in wee tiny portions. I eat about 3oz of food per meal on average. I steer clear of bread and other pretty fluffy white carby foods which just feel like a giant ball of glue in my stomach. I'm not sure how vegetarians do this. I would die. I live on eggs, meat, yogurt, and cheese...and i like it. I also found out that corn tortillas make me insta-hurl. Don't ask....
My only real issues at this point are with taking my vitamins, taking time to exercise, learning how to handle compliments, and bad hair days.
I'm struggling with vitamins, as they make me very nauseated. It seems like the only ones I can keep down are the gummy-vites. My doctor frowned on that, but to my thinking something is better than nothing. I tried taking Zofran first (anti-nausea drug) and it didn't do diddily-squat. My deepest concern is becoming anemic. I'm going to keep trying different formulations to see if I can find one that doesn't make me upchuck.
I suck at taking time to exercise. It's my goal this month to get cranking on the strength training. I want to retain my muscle mass and lose my fat. Strength training will help a lot. It also helps with skin elasticity.
As for the compliments, they are starting to roll in. Some are heartfelt and make me smile, and quite frankly some are creepy as hell. A few ladies have asked me what I'm doing, and I've said "eating a lot less, and a very high protein diet". Which is all true, right? I also mention the paleo diet, which I try to stick to daily. Eating clean, organic, no processed crap foods. I have told a few people the whole story, but I just feel like its really nobody's business really. It's funny how some people judge me for having surgery, like its cheating or something. Little do they know the daily struggle I endure. This surgery is no walk in the park. This has been hard work and it always will be.
I almost forgot to mention bad hair days. My hair is falling out. This is common after weight loss surgery. This by far might be the scariest thing since my brother took me to see Poltergeist at age 5. I know it will grow back, and I know it's only temporary, but when I see that clump of hair in my shower drain every morning I sigh a little deeply. I'm taking Biotin every day to assist in the regrowth, but so far I see no signs of it stopping.
My life has changed and despite my whining I'm really, really glad.
PS I'm logging all my diet and exercise drama on the MyFitnessPal app if you want to friend me. My username is LeavingLardass. Original, eh?
