Tag: gastric bypass

Four Months

Today is the fourth monthiversary of my Gastric Bypass surgery. That means it’s a bonus weigh in day. Are you excited? I am!

I needed to lose more than three pounds in order for the 10’s column to change. Did I make it? Will I have to wait until Wednesday?

I lost 3.2 pounds.

Oh, hell yes! The 10’s column just barely changed! I just ate a bite of chicken. I bet if I weighed myself again it would go up again, but there ain’t no way I’m doing that! Wanna hear something truly absurd? The next time the 10’s column goes down… the 100’s column goes down too.

That’s going to be a shock. Seriously. If things keep going the way they’re going that could happen in maybe three weeks or so. I am not banking on it. I have to level off at some point, right? Still… that would be Earth Alteringly awesome.

All of the other numbers I am tracking had their 10’s columns drop too. My BMI went down 0.4 points. My weight lost since surgery (approximately) is now 121.6 and my weight lost since the first appointment is now 142.2.

The last week or two have seen an increasing number of difficult meals. I think I am starting to get arrogant in my eating habits and maybe not paying attention to the details closely enough. I am trying to cut back on the amount of food at each meal, in the hopes that it will in turn make it less likely for me to feel any stomach issues. Yesterday was free of issues, and I’m eating breakfast as I type this and not having any problems yet today. Here’s hoping all remains positive on that front.

Over all though, I feel so good. I can’t put it into words. I feel great.

Next weigh in is the usual Wednesday weekly weigh in. The numbers will be small but hopefully they will continue moving in the right direction.

To sum up… WOOHOO! Four Months!

8.9 Ounces

I just finished dinner. It took about an hour and a half to get through 8.9 ounces of food. I managed it all and was pretty excited about it.

Then I realized that I ate the biggest dinner in ages on the night before weigh in day.

D’OH!

It’s going to take a massive loss to drop my 10’s column again. I don’t expect that, but next week… oh yeah, watch those digits fall, babie!

Fingers crossed for keeping up the weight loss pace tomorrow. Even if the pace slows, I just hope to keep moving in the right direction. We’ll see in the morning.

Bad Stomach Night

Well, that just sucked.

I don’t know what happened exactly, but I must have been a little too cocky with my dinner tonight and I got bitch slapped with the worst case of post-gastric-bypass nausea yet. It hit me almost two hours ago and I am still not feeling 100% again. I didn’t throw up, but I was close. It was a pretty awful experience all around.

I only ate a small amount of dinner, but I am done for the night. I will have some protein shake to top myself off once things have finished settling down, but consider me on a liquid diet again for the next 12 hours or so.

The worst part about tonight’s ordeal? I am actually feeling hungry right now. Nope, no way. Time to play it super safe until all is well again.

Yikes!

Three Months

Today’s a big day for me. Three months ago today I had my Gastric Bypass surgery. Three months. One quarter of a year. Let’s check in, shall we?

When I left the hospital on May 5th I was given four prescriptions. One was a pain killer and I never even opened the bottle. Another was a pain killer that I took for the first few days but (with the doctor’s approval) I stopped taking because it was making me really light headed. Another was an anti-nausea med and I never opened the bottle. The fourth and final med was an antacid. I took that one. They gave me two refills and I filled them both. This morning, I took the last pill from the last refill. I am officially done with post-surgical medication. From now on I will just be taking vitamins by the fist full. Happy no more prescriptions day!

I weighed myself this morning and I am a little ticked off about it. Wednesday is my “official” weigh in day, but I waited one extra day this week so that I could celebrate the monthiversary. Last week I weighed in a day early, so it has been nine days since I stepped on the scale. I lost 7.4 pounds. That is awesome. Seven and four tenths pounds. Epic. I was actually a little nervous that the number was going to be lower than normal. Since my last nutritionist appointment I have been eating more with each meal, and I have been having occasional snacks. I figured with the intake increasing a little, the weight loss would be down. Nope. This week’s results are really great.

If the numbers looked good, why am I a little ticked off? Well I’ll tell you. My total weight lost since the first check in is up to a gigantic 119.6 pounds. Wow. Just… Wow. My total weight lost since (four days before) the surgery is… ugh… 99 pounds on the nose. Ninety-nine. So close. So very close to 100 pounds. Ugh. You know what this means? It means I am going to have to weigh myself every day until I hit 100. Maybe every other day. I don’t know. I am definitely not going to be able to wait until next Wednesday to weigh in again. I am going to need to have that third digit.

Overall, the update is about the same as last time. I feel great. My back is starting to act up a little. I need to do some back strengthening exercises to combat that. My legs are feeling tired more often these days too. I need to do some more exercise there as well. My arms are looking flabby. It is definitely time to start lifting weights. I have a weight set and a weight bench and all that goes with it, but I haven’t set any of it up yet and I am still not sure what to do with it when it is set up. Google and YouTube will point me toward something, I am sure. I just have to do it.

Here’s hoping that month four feels as good as month three. I am really looking forward to it. Happy days, folks. Happy days.

12 Weeks

My Gastric Bypass surgery was 12 weeks ago today. I still feel great. I still weigh a ton, but it’s about half a ton less than it was 12 weeks ago. I will take that.

I am still eating tiny meals. Weirdly, over the last couple of days I have found myself feeling hungry after these tiny meals. That hasn’t really happened before. Is that a part of the recovery process? Is that my brain revolting? I don’t know. I have an appointment with the nutritionist tomorrow. I will likely bring up that topic then.

My clothes are all way to big for me now, even the clothes I’ve bought post-surgery. That’s a new experience for me. I’m still doing at least 30 minutes of exercise each day, and I am still doing a full 30 minutes in one shot. Most days I am doing more like 45-60 minutes of exercise. I do the 30 minute walk in the morning and then ride the bike for 15 minutes at lunch. Not every day, but when I can fit it into the schedule. I’m also trotting up and down the cellar stairs all day long and that adds to the fun. In other words, my energy level is kinda through the roof. I’m pretty curious how that will continue to change if I continue to lose weight at this rate. Will I be training for the marathon 12 weeks from now? Could be.

I still screw up now and then. Not often, but there have been a couple of nausea events. Nothing world rocking, but definitely unpleasant. I am often taking too much food in each bite (including the bite of scrambled eggs that I just shoveled into my maw before typing this sentence). I am still probably going too fast, though I still keep a stop-watch running to force myself to wait 30 seconds between bites. I have drastically cut down on the amount of puree/soft foods I’ve been eating, but there are still some things in the diet (see the scrambled eggs reference above). Mostly I am eating real food now. Still almost all protein, but I’ve snuck some fruits and veggies in here and there. I need to do more of that, but I also need to check in with the nutritionist tomorrow before I go too crazy.

Still no bread/rice/crackers/pasta/quinoa. Jen had some French bread with dinner a couple of nights ago and I was so jealous. Maybe that restraint will be removed tomorrow? Will Wednesdays become Prince Spaghetti day again? Here’s hoping.

Happy 12 weeks, everyone. Here’s to a successful week 13. I’ll let you know.

Fun with Gatorade

I am trying something new today with the diet thing. Normally I keep track of liquids by drinking an ounce at a time. I have a little stack of one ounce cups and I just fill a cup, drink it, repeat. I write down every time I pour out an ounce, and when I am done I add the total to my spreadsheet.

Not today. Today I took a 20oz bottle of G2 (lower sugar Gatorade) and noted the time I opened it on my spreadsheet (7:58am). I have left that row on the sheet incomplete as I will just keep drinking from the bottle until it is empty. Then I’ll add the 20 ounces and the stop time. Makes sense, right? Sure, except that I have eaten two meals after opening the bottle of G2. So the spreadsheet is no longer technically in chronological order.

I don’t think I will do this again. The bottle is half empty now, but I just finished lunch (4.4 oz of chicken) and I can’t drink again for another hour. I took two Calcium Citrate pills at 12:30 or so. I have to take two more around dinner time. I don’t want to still be drinking this bottle of G2* and have to track all four Calcium pills on the same row. I want to see distinct entries for each vitamin dose.

Hmmm… maybe I’ll just close the open row and put it at 10 ounces. Yeah, I’ll do that. I don’t want to overcomplicate this stuff.

Drink up, kids!

*I just read the label of the bottle of G2 and realized the actual name is G/2, as in “G over 2″**. It’s a math problem. It says it has 1/2 the sugar of original Gatorade… Hence, G/2. I get it! I actually prefer G Free because that is supposed to have zero sugar, but G/2, or G2, or whatever doesn’t have enough sugar to make me feel sick so I think it’s okay.

I’m guessing this is one of the longest blog posts about Gatorade in the history of the internets.

**(Rush fans from the 80’s might get this reference) If you’re not wearing your 3D glasses you’ll only be seeing this in one half D! Count Floyd, 1984 or so.

Another Week Down

The pill caddy has been filled once again. If you could only see the fascinated looks on all of your faces. Gold! Another week down with only the rest of my life left to go.

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One prescription anti-acid and four separate vitamin supplements.

T-Shirts

I did something silly yesterday that I wasn’t going to write about but now feel like I want to share.

I have a drawer in my dresser where I stash t-shirts that used to fit me but don’t anymore, but I don’t want to get rid of for whatever reason. Yesterday, for the first time since the Gastric Bypass, I opened that drawer. There are shirts in there that were gifts that never really fit right and are basically new. There are shirts in there that date back forever including Rush tour t-shirts from 2004 and 2007.

I tried a few of them on. Some fit okay. Miraculously. Some still have a little ways to go. In true nerd fashion I walked over to Jen’s office to show off and get opinions on how things looked.

I am guessing I will need to buy a couple of work-appropriate collared shirts soon, but for casualwear (hehe) I might be all set.

I feel silly and weird and I am kind of enjoying it.

Hungry

This is a new one for me in this new post-gastric bypass world. I had 5.4 ounces of salmon for dinner. Jen made it. She used the air fryer. It was perfect. Five ounces is generally my max for a meal. Today I chased the salmon with a little 3.5 ounce cup of sugar free pudding. That’s 8.9 ounces of food. That in and of itself is unheard of, post-op, but it gets worse, and the worse is what I am actually writing about…

I’m still hungry.

No, n-n-n-n-no. This will not do. My new stomach pouch is tiny. Five ounces should be enough. I don’t want more. I don’t need more. Why the hell is my brain screwing with me and telling me that I am hungry? My daily protein goal is 60 grams. I broke 100 today (barely). Why am I feeling anything other than pleasantly full?

Stupid brain. Stupid, stupid brain.

Weigh In Day

As of today I am nine weeks post weight loss surgery. That means today is weigh in day. How’d it go? It went really well. I lost seven pounds in the last week. That’s a pound a day, on average, if you’re keeping track. File under: Holy Shit Burgers.

The 10’s column in my current weight changed again. That is such a magical sight. Last week the 10’s column was a six. Today it’s a five. Brilliant.

Now I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but over the last five weeks I have averaged about 5.5 pounds lost each week. If I do that again next week, my total weight loss since the first check in on January 19th will top 100 pounds. Again, I am not getting ahead of myself. That is just some intellectual thing that the analytical part of my brain sussed out. It is not me getting excited or looking ahead or getting over confident or any of that crap. It’s just a number.

However, if that happens next week… there may be a marching band roaring up and down my street all day. Just saying.

  • Weight Loss Since (a few days before) the Surgery: 76.6 pounds
  • Weight Loss Since the First Check In: 97.2 pounds

Holy shit, dudes. Holy. Shit.