Week 18...I am alive!!

Sorry if anyone thought I was not doing well. Life has gotten crazy busy since my last post.  I am finishing up grad school (a month away!!), teaching full time, and being active in church. Life is starting to look like it might slow down a bit (hopefully I don't jinx it).  I am planning on getting back on the blogging wagon and writing a post at least once a week.

Big news!! As of yesterday I have lost a total of 83.5 pounds!!

I have continued to eat high protein, sugar free, low fat foods.  Mini turkey meatloaves and zucchini spaghetti are staples in the Little household now. I drink at least 64 ounces of water a day, and have an average of 70 grams of protein a day.  Bringing my snacks, protein drinks, and water has become second nature to me now.  I never leave house without something.  I also have at least two sweaters in my classroom for when I get too cold, and I have one in my car in case I get caught without one.  After surgery, because I am not eating a lot of calories, I am pretty much constantly cold. With the winter months still ahead I am really going to be wearing some layers and will be bundled up for sure!

Below is my picture before surgery, and then under that are my recent pictures (I didn't take any in my time away from the blog unfortunately). I took a picture in my "blog uniform", and I also took a picture in clothes that actually fit me correctly now.  It feels great to have more energy! I have been trying the past couple of weeks to keep my exercising up, but last week I was under the weather so it was put on the back burner.  This week I am getting back on it.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I will be writing to you again next week.

Weeks 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Yikes I have not been keeping up with this very well now that life is back in full swing with teaching, grad school, church, etc. My apologizes.

I have still been taking my pictures though! Every Saturday.  I start out having every intention of blogging and then...something gets in the way.  I will try and do better though.  Several people have asked me in person and online when my next post would be and I do not want to let you all down.

So, here are my pictures in order of post-op 7 to post-op week 10.

From week 6 to 7 I lost 1.5 pounds.  Week 7 to week 8 post-op I lost 4.3 pounds.  Week 8 to week 9 I lost 3.2 pounds.  This past week, post-op week 9 to post-op week 10 I lost another 4.2 pounds.  Total lost you ask?? 59.8 pounds since my heaviest weight (Early June).  Since surgery (July 12th), 10 weeks ago, I have lost 44.8 pounds.  Here is my pre surgery picture and my latest side by side. I was blown away and had a huge smile on my face at the same time! 

Talk about a big difference right?!?!

So since my last blog I have made pizza. You read that right...pizza that I can eat! That would be pizza that is low carb, high protein, low to no fat.  You make it out of whole wheat low carb tortilla and put non-fat cheese, turkey pepperoni, mushrooms on top...mhhmmmmm makes me smile just thinking about it.  

I also made turkey cheeseburger mini meatloaves (delish!!!!).

This past week I made mini chocolate protein muffins.  They have sugar-free caramel gooeyness inside.  For a bypass patient, this is like heaven.  It is just sweet enough to satisfy a craving, but not too sweet to make me want to get sick.

Most, if not all, of the recipes I used came from http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/

She has wonderful recipes that anyone, not just bariatric patients, will enjoy.  Definitely worth a look.

Thanks again for all of the wonderful support I have been getting both online and in person.  It means so much to me and keeps me focused and on track.

5th and 6th Weeks!

Ok guys, it has been a busy, but fun!, two weeks.  During my 5th week post-op I spent time with my sister and her family in Virginia and then went down to Wilmington, my hometown, to celebrate my nephew's third birthday.  It was lots of fun!  I will be honest, I did not post last Saturday 1) because we traveled back to Greensboro that day and I was exhausted, but mostly 2) because I had actually gained weight and was a little disappointed in that.  However, I know that transitioning to eating solid food can cause that as well as retaining some water.  Even though it wasn't rational, I didn't want to talk about it just yet last week.  By Monday I had every intention of writing my blog, but teacher workdays started then and life got pretty darn crazy! This is my picture from last week.

So I kept at it this week, didn't change anything.  I still had my 4-5 meals a day and drank my needed water.  I went from having a bare classroom to a classroom ready to go for my new second grade kiddos on Monday.  I have planned, worked, had lots of meetings, cleaned, etc.  Each night I had no problem falling asleep.  I will say though, I have more energy than I used to have.  I am tired when I get home, but I can still do things.  Before, I would come home each day so exhausted I was virtually worthless.  Non-scale victory! WooHoo!!

On to the scale victory though! Are you ready?? I lost TEN AND A HALF POUNDS this week!! :-) That is the most I have lost in one week!  That totally made up for the 2.9 pounds I had gained the week before.  So my new total is 46.6 pounds lost total, 31.6 post surgery (July 12th).  I am feeling great and not looking back!  The teachers at work have been very supportive and encouraging as well.  People have commented on how they can tell a difference and how proud they are of me.  I can't tell you all again how much that means to me.  There are so many people out there who do not get the kind of support and encouragement as I have been receiving, so I just wanted to say again Thank you and I love you all. This week's picture:

I had surgery 4 weeks ago today!

Well this week I lost a total of six pounds.  That is 24 pounds since surgery exactly 4 weeks ago and 39 pounds total!! I am so excited!! This week I have started to notice things are fitting differently and can tell a difference some in my face.

I went to my 4 week post-op nutritionist meeting and that went very well.  I actually was able to tell her about a blog she didn't know about! She had never heard of The World According to Eggface.  For those of you that do not know, Michelle is the author and had gastric bypass (same as me) eight years ago and has had excellent success.  She has always loved to cook and posts all of her food and recipes on her blog.  She is very detailed- down to the brand of ingredient at times.  Naturally I love that!  I love knowing what other people are using.  The nutritionist was excited to see this blog and wrote down some of the recipes to try herself!  She said she would be mentioning it to others patients as well.

New foods I have been able to eat this week: thinly sliced deli turkey, low fat cheese, grilled tilapia, turkey hot dogs (I did have to cut the skin off because it wouldn't digest as easily).  I am looking forward to making lentils tomorrow for our Sunday dinner.  Tomorrow night will be the first night in a while I have been eating the same thing everyone else in my house will be eating.  Exciting!! I will be on this stage of eating for another month or so.  My stomach and body still need time to heal.  Basically though, I can eat lean meats, cooked veggies, greek yogurt: high protein, low fat foods.  When I start cooking more I will be posting some of the things and recipes I find.  There is a yummy spaghetti squash turkey bacon breakfast casserole I am wanting to try for easy school breakfasts. Yes....I said school....I start teacher workdays on Monday the 18th and kids come Monday the 25th.

So what do you think? Can you tell a difference?  Is there anything you are wanting to know that I am not writing about?  Let me know so I can make sure to include it in my weekly posts.  :-)

Again, thanks for all the encouragement and support from everyone.  I am feeling great!

Week Three and Things are Well

So in the third week post op things have been going well.  I have continued walking this week and have made it up to 55 minutes in a workout.  The cool air has been a blessing as well. :-)

Wednesday I had my 2 week check-in with my doctor and everything is going well.  My incisions are all healed up.  It is crazy how I can't even tell where some of them were!  They are so small and healing so well.  I am very pleased.  I don't need to go back to the doctor until I am three months out- so in October.  Everyone in the office of Bariatric Specialists of NC in Alamance was so pleased and excited about my results.  Wednesday I had lost 1.2 pounds since Saturday for a total of 17.4 pounds since July 12th!

I was also able to go ahead and get my vitamins to start taking (for the rest of my life).  I have a multivitamin for bariatric patients. The ones I have seen before you have to take multiple in a day, however, this brand is newer I believe and you only need to take one.  Bonus!: It tastes similar to fruity pebbles or Flinstone's vitamins, and definitely not chalky like others I have had. I have to take Vitamin D once a week, it is a prescription strength because I had low Vitamin D before surgery.  I also take a B-Complex vitamin which is a chewable, and a B-12 sublingual vitamin which dissolves under the tongue.  Two hours after taking my multivitamin I can take my calcium I need.  These calcium chews are sugar-free (of course) and taste just like a caramel chew. Today was the first day I was able to take them all, and they were all quite pleasant and I know I will be able to keep up this regimen.

So, as of today I had lost another 0.6 pounds.  So, total this week I lost 1.8 pounds.  Not exactly what I was expecting, but I know this comes and goes.  I am following guidelines and rules precisely- making sure I am getting in my fluids and my protein.  I am working out, and trying to stay active without pushing it too much.  Hopefully next week will be a better week.  However, I am telling my self that as long as that number keeps going down, or staying the same, all is well.  That number will not go up!  Plus, 33 pounds since the end of the school year is nothing to be upset about!

Today I was able to start on soft foods.  Can we say HOORAY?!!! For breakfast I had a soft scrambled egg and some string cheese.  For lunch, I had turkey roll ups. It is crazy how long it takes me to eat! I have to make sure I chew everything up very well because it doesn't get broken up like it used to before surgery.  Also, I need to make sure I am not eating too fast because that can cause dumping syndrome as well.  Dumping Syndrome is where my food dumps too quickly into my lower intestines and causes flu like symptoms.  This is something I most definitely want to avoid.

I am starting to tell a difference in my clothing some. The jean capris I have been wearing in the pictures I post I can tell are baggy in some areas, and I have having to adjust my shirts a lot more than I used to because they are falling around. I still can not SEE it yet, but I am hoping this upcoming week I will be able to see the difference.  People around me have mentioned how they can tell looking at this area, or that.  So, fingers crossed! Here is my latest picture. What do you all think? Can you tell a difference compared to my first picture?

2 weeks out

Well, I am two weeks out today. I can hardly believe it. This week has been great. Wednesday I went to my first support group meeting post operation and met some really great women. We discussed foods we are able to eat and things we did better with than others. Some of us had already had surgery, and other will be having surgery within the next month. It was nice to be on this side of things and be able to provide others with advice and assurance pre-surgery. 

Today was a big day for me! I got to use UTENSILS!! Not a big deal for most people, but I've been inca liquid diet for a month. Eating with a spoon is a big deal, ok?? I had protein fortified cream of wheat, cottage cheese, fat free refried beans, and sugar free pudding today (all 2 oz, or 1/4 cup each). In order to make my protein goal for the day I also had two protein shakes. Of course I still had plenty of water as well. 

This morning, I started the day out by walking with my sister around my parents neighborhood. We walked 1.71 miles in 34 minutes so that is about 20 min for 1 miles. However, it is the first time I have exercised since surgery and it was really muggy outside! 

This week I have lost six pounds. That is a total of 16 pounds since surgery and 31 pounds total! I am so excited even though I can't tell much of a difference in my appearance-I know that number is going down! 

Thank you again to family, friends, and followers who have given me support, called to check on me, provided advice, and have been excellent cheerleaders. I am truly one blessed girl. 

One Week Out!

Well, it has officially been one week since my gastric bypass surgery.  It is hard to believe that a week ago I was in surgery right now, it seems like so much has happened since then.  I have gotten out more and am feeling pretty good so far!  I have pain on my left side of my stomach that started yesterday.  I ran a cart into my stomach by accident while we were out, so I think it is bruising from that possibly.  It could also be that I can no longer handle lactose from milk (pretty common in bariatric patients), so I am not using milk for a couple of days and then will try it again to see what happens.

I weighed myself again this morning to find out that I have lost a total of ten pounds since last Saturday! That is a total of 25 pounds gone and NOT coming back!  Below is my weekly picture- not much visibly different yet (at least to me), but soon there will be.

First outing!

Well, today was my first outing and it was a success! My mom drove my mother-in-law and I around town.  They had lunch at Panera Bread and I did very well just sitting there and drinking my water every 15 minutes (which by the way, is very annoying to do while out shopping. I had to carry a water bottle and little cup with me everywhere!). We then went to Target, Petsmart, and Harris Teeter to get groceries for everyone else.  I was quite exhausted after all of that, but it was nice to get out and walk around for a bit.

Also, my Withings Smart Body Analyzer scale came in today! I have lost eight pounds since last Friday. EIGHT POUNDS! That puts me at 22 pounds down since my heaviest.  The majority of that since I have started my liver reduction diet before surgery.  I am so excited!

I use a Withings activity tracker as well and they both sync wirelessly to my smartphone and online so I can see charts, and track my progress.  The activity tracker monitors steps taken, calories burned, elevation, heart rate, sleep, and of course tells time.  I love it! If you want to take a look at what I am using here is a link for you to check out. Withings Site

I am definitely a lot less sore today.  Here is to hoping my recovery keeps getting better and better! Thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes.  It means so much to have such wonderful supporters in my friends and family.

The Idea- The Beginning of the New Me

Man the past two weeks have been a whirlwind! I went from waiting to hear that insurance approved my gastric bypass surgery, to going on a shortened liver reduction diet because my surgery date was nine days later, to surgery and the hospital stay, to now recovering a home. I am so glad I chose to do this though, and would do it again if I had to. So before I get ahead of myself, let me start at the beginning (it is a very good place to start).

Back in December my husband and I decided we wanted to have bariatric surgery (weight loss surgery).  I personally have struggled with my weight my entire life.  I have tried Weight Watchers, personal trainers, various protein bars, different work outs, no carbs, and the list goes on.  I would have success, some greater than others, but would always end up gaining whatever weight I had lost back.  This is called yo-yo dieting- where your weight just goes back and forth a lot (similar to a yo-yo).  This is not a good thing because your body will have less energy, less muscle, and can actually increase your risk for disease such as diabetes and heart disease.  So right before Christmas time my husband and I went to an information session (that was actually right smack in the middle of their Christmas party...whoops?) at Bariatric Specialists of NC in Alamance.  We were able to speak to someone about what to expect from bariatric surgery and actually had an hour and a half to talk to Dr. Tyner (who actually did my surgery) about what surgery he thinks would be best, what we were thinking, and what the next steps were.  We knew insurance requires six months of documented visits with your doctor before they approve surgery, so we decided I would have the surgery first so I could get it over the summer and not have to miss teaching for two weeks in order to fully recover.  Plus, I don't like waiting and just wanted to honestly get it done first.  

So, during the 6 months of appointments I had a sleep study done to make sure I didn't have sleep apnea, a full blood work panel done to check for any deficiencies I might have, a psychiatrist visit to make sure I can handle this big life change, a visit to a nutritionist to describe the different stages of food I will be eating after surgery and what changes I could start making before hand, as well as the regular monthly appointments at Bariatric Specialists of NC in Alamance (their main office is in Cary) where I was weighed and spoke to Dr. Tyner's PA about food choices I made that month, workouts I can try, good sources of protein, etc. At my last appointment, I was told to wait for insurance contact me letting me know I was approved and then I could schedule my surgery.

I got the approval in the mail on the Wednesday, July 2nd so I called right away. My insurance approval was not showing up in the system, so they needed to call me back later.  Thursday morning, I go back and forth between several managers and schedulers to find out that my doctor is booked up through August 17th. My first work day is August 18th- that wouldn't work.  Long story short, there were some other patients that needed surgery soon as well and Dr. Tyner was willing to go in on a Saturday to do all of our surgeries.  How awesome is that?! Instead of a 14 day liver reduction diet though, I only had nine days, including that Thursday, before my surgery date.  A liver reduction diet is important because doctors use a tool to lift your liver during surgery and they need the liver as lean as possible so the tool can lift it.  Usually a liver reduction diet consists of the first week having three protein shakes a day and two other protein sources such as bars or crisps.  The second week is five shakes a day and all the while working up to 40 minutes of a workout four times a week.  So, because my surgery was so soon, I went straight to five shakes a day, only water or Crystal Light to drink, and working out 40 minutes five of the nine days . The protein shakes are actually tasty and kept me full, so those nine days were not that bad.  

The night before surgery my parents and grandmother came up and we stayed in a hotel in Raleigh where my surgery was going to take place. My surgery was first thing in the morning; 7:15 am, and I needed to be there at 5:15 am to get prepped, etc.  So instead of waking up at 3 to make it to Raleigh on time, we felt a hotel stay was the best.  I was surprised I was actually able to sleep that night! I had some nerves and excitement, but went to bed by midnight and was up at 4:30 to shower no problem.  

Starting at midnight the morning of surgery I was not allowed to eat or drink anything.  This continued after surgery as well.  The staff at Rex Hospital were amazing. They all took great care of me and made sure I had everything I needed.  Surgery went very well, my liver was just perfect according to my doctor, and while he was doing my surgery he noticed I had a hiatal hernia and fixed that as well.  Two-for-one surgery...woo! After I woke up from surgery and was in my room I was able to keep my mouth from drying out by using a sponge to get water in my mouth and making sure to spit it all out.  

The morning after surgery I was taken down to have an upper GI to make sure everything is working the way it should when I swallow and everything was great.  We had to get a go ahead to start my clear liquid diet though, so it wasn't until about 12:30 that afternoon that I was able to start drinking water.  I started drinking one ounce every 30 minutes for about an hour an half to make sure I wouldn't get nauseous or sick.  Then I was able to increase the frequency and drink one ounce every 15 minutes.  For those of you that have not had bariatric surgery one ounce of liquid would not fill you up in the slightest. However, after about four ounces, I was so full I had to take a break. During that afternoon I moved from just having water to having clear broth and sugar-free jello as well. I walked laps in the hallways, each time increasing my steps taken.  This allowed everything to move around, my stomach to stretch, and helps prevent blood clots.  During the surgery they pump air into your stomach to allow some time for healing and also to make sure there are no leaks and everything is working the way it should.  Due to the air, bariatric patients have a lot of gas they need to get out.  Gas pains can be painful, let me just tell you that right now.  Mixed with the hiatal hernia and my sore stomach it was no walk in the park, but was manageable with the pain medicine they gave me.  Once I spoke with the doctor on call and got approval I was discharged that evening around 6:00 pm.  We had about an hour drive to get to my house which wasn't the most pleasant because of bumps in the road, etc.  However, I was glad to be back in my home.

Since being at home, I did have a slight breakdown that first night, Sunday, because I was in so much pain from the car ride, gas pains, I was coughing (from the breathing tube down my throat), and I was worried I wouldn't be able to sleep.  Saturday night I dozed on and off because nurses kept coming in and checking everything out, blood pressure, IV fluids, etc.  My wonderful family was there for me though and calmed me down, gave me pain medicine, and once I laid down, I was out in about five minutes.  I woke up once in the night and my husband gave me more pain medicine and back to sleep I went.  Sleep did me a world of good! 

Monday I woke up feeling better, but my shoulders and back were sore, which was new.  Gas apparently moves all around and can move up into your shoulders even- I never knew that! I continued to walk around my house to keep gas moving in the right direction and was still sipping one ounce every fifteen minutes of water, clear broth, or watered down apple juice for kids until around 1:00 pm when I started going to the suggested two ounces every fifteen minutes.  Man, let me just tell you, that jump was crazy.  Just like I had to do with the one ounce, I took a break after about an hour drinking every 15 minutes because I was so full and bloated.  I also started drinking clear liquid protein every so often to make sure I am not only staying hydrated, but getting the protein I need to stay strong.  It is not the best stuff in the world, but it does make sipping two ounces easy.  When I say clear liquid protein think of a sports drink and add a lot of whey in there and that is what it is.  There are different flavors, but the majority of what I taste is whey. I went to bed that night having taken some pain medicine and again fell right to sleep.  I woke up twice that night- once to go to the bathroom and get more pain medicine, and once from gas pains up and around my chest.  I got up and walked around my bedroom for a few minutes and the gas settled down so I could go back to sleep.

Now we are all caught up! Thank you for hanging in there if you have read all this.  It has been quite the experience and I have had several people ask me about it so I decided to be as thorough as I could.  As I have been writing this I have been sipping on two ounces of water and alternating with two ounces of apple juice.  I have an Excel sheet up that I have all the times typed out and I can easily record what I had at that time.  This is useful to see how many ounces of liquid I had in a day (32-64 ounces is preferred...trying to work up to that 64) and also how much protein I have had in a day (regularly I would want to aim for 60-80 grams of protein...but right now, I am just taking what I can get just like the doctor suggested). 

I did take a picture in the hospital waiting room just before my surgery.  I plan on taking pictures in doorways so I can always see how much I have lost.  I did lose ten pounds on the liver reduction diet prior to this picture being taken.  However, this will be a great starting place for my weekly progress in pictures.  

I am excited for what is in store for me in the future.  :-)  I know I have made the best decision for me and my family.  I want to be able to play with kids whenever we have them, I want to live a healthier life, and this is the tool I have decided to use to help me reach my goals.  I will still need to exercise (after I am healed), and make good choices in the food I eat, but this tool certainly helps me a lot.