New Pics

Big News!

(p.s. this was written on Friday and posted on Saturday)

I have lost 60.4 pounds, and I am now....drum roll...under 200!!! WOW--I haven't been under 200 lbs. since high school. Also, today marks exactly 3 months since my surgery, so what a milestone to hit on this date! I am very happy with my results, and can't believe I've lost so much in such a short period of time.

Food-wise, I still don't have much of an appetite. I had some problems after eating a small portion of a bbq chicken sandwich and a few baked fries. I felt pretty sick for about 5 hours, and eventually it all came out. Also, last night I started feeling some pressure in my stomach, and it's still going this morning. I'm wondering if it could be from my CPAP breathing machine. Last night when I wasn't feeling too good before I went to bed, I put the mask on, and it felt like it was just pumping more air into my body. I decided to sleep without it, and I woke up this morning with a little bit of the pressure still, but I'm not too tired. Maybe I should try a little longer time without the CPAP, and see if that helps.

I've exercised twice so far this week, and I plan on going later on today when I feel a little better. Spencer has been wonderful by coaxing us to go. :) Thanks Spence, for watching out for your mommy! :) I'm excited about our trip next week, and I know there will be a lot of walking which will be great for exercise.

I got some very exciting news earlier in the week. I was voted Teacher of the Year at my school for the 2010-2011 school year!!!!! Teacher of the Year is voted on by all of the teachers, so it is such an honor to be chosen by my peers. So, what happens now, is that I will move on to the county level and I will prepare some information so I can be considered for Wake County Teacher of the Year. Regardless if I win at the next level or not, I will get to attend a banquet and be honored for winning the award at my school. I love my job, and it's so nice to be recognized for the hard work I put in.

So, it's been a week of ups and downs, as always, but I feel like I ended up on top again. I guess it's all about the way you look at things. :)

It's been a good week

I've not had much to report, other than it's been a good week for me. My pain went away on Tuesday, so I was relieved about that. I have lost 57 pounds, and I am now wearing the smallest jeans I owned from before with Weight Watchers--which meant lots of new shopping last week. :) Food-wise, I've had no major problems. My appetite hasn't been that big, so I'm just trying to make sure I get all of my protein in.

I joined a forum called Thinner Times, for people who've had some type of weight loss surgery. On the site, there was a link to a place where you could enter information about your weight loss so far, and it would make a line graph of your expected weight loss. Based on my numbers, it said that I am projected to lose 100 pounds, if I keep at the same rate I am now, by early next spring. That is amazing! It said I could be at my goal, which is to be around 130, by next summer. That sounds like a great plan, and we'll see how everything progresses. :)

I got some bloodwork back from the doctor's visit last week. Two numbers really stood out to me. My cholesterol in May of this year was 248, and now it's 166! (Below 200 is desirable) My triglycerides were 245, and now they are 90. (Less than 150 is considered normal) So besides the scale and my measurements, those are two awesome results that show the surgery has added many years onto my life.

Well, if anything new comes up, I'll post this week. Until then, take care!

Picture Update

It's so amazing that I can never really see the changes when I'm looking at the pictures on my camera, or even after I've uploaded them, but when you put them side by side with my pre-surgery pics, they are very evident. :)

One thing the nutritionist said I could try again is carbonated drinks. He said half of the people handle it fine, and the other half have problems. I took two sips of a Coke Zero yesterday, and I handled it fine, but I didn't like the taste at all. It tasted almost like a club soda--not even sweet. I used to LOVE Coke Zeros. Oh well...at least I know I'm not missing anything. I've tried pasta since they gave me the all clear, which is one of the things I've missed most, and it's been great. I haven't felt sick after I've eaten in well over two weeks, so I think I'm finally learning to eat slowly, and when to stop. I had some Mrs. Grasses soup yesterday, and today I had a little microwavable spaghetti and meatballs. Tonight for dinner I made some homemade baked potato soup and beer bread. They were both great--I had about 3/4 cup of the soup, and 1/3 of a slice of the bread. I'm really fine with just having a 'taste' of something and having it satisfy me. We got these gourmet apples on Wednesday night from some guests we had over for dinner. One of them was a Reese's caramel apple, and the other was an apple pie apple. Tonight after dinner, I had a tiny bite of the apple pie one, and then a no sugar added fudgesicle. Just that little bite was all I needed.

Earlier today I told Chris that eating has become somewhat of a chore lately. I need to break out of my rut and try some different foods. Every three hours I stand in front of the fridge/pantry, thinking "I'm not hungry...but I have to eat. I guess I'll have ______". I guess it's a good problem to have. :)

Well, that was two posts in two days. Like I said, I will probably post more now that I'm tracked out. Nighty night! :)

An Eventful Week

Since the last time I have blogged, I have met the 50 pound milestone (!!, 52.4 as of this morning), I am at the lowest weight I've been since the end of high school, I have tracked out, I had to make a visit to the doctor for some pain I was having, and I have advanced to the last phase of my diet--all solid foods. If I thought last week's blog was long, I better settle down for a longer one this week. :)

I'll start with the pain I had been feeling. Wednesday night we had some friends over for dinner. Around 8:30, when we were sitting down and they were having dessert, I started having a feeling of pain in my lower left side. It felt like maybe it was gas, or possibly from something I had eaten. It wasn't very intense pain, but it was still uncomfortable. Overnight, I would wake up lying on my left side, and have to lay flat again. On Thursday morning, the pain was still there and it felt like a constant throbbing. I really couldn't take off from school, because I had an economy fair with another teacher's class, and it would have been really hard for a sub to do. That morning I googled 'left side pain lower abdomen, gastric bypass' and started reading some articles about what this could be. I started to worry more when I saw on some weight loss forums that this could be an obstructed bowel, urinary tract infection, kidney problem, diverticulosis, etc. Some posts said that you should contact your doctor immediately, because people had really serious complications from pain like this, and others said it was just gas or constipation, and you'd be fine. So, I decided to call the head nurse of the bariatric program at Duke and get her advice. She told me to come in and see Dr. Sudan, my surgeon. He had a surgery on Thursday, but said he could see me Friday morning. She said he would really need to see me in person and take some tests to see what was causing this.

Throughout the day Thursday, I felt a lot of pain, probably because I was moving around so much at school. My anxiety started kicking in, because on Friday, my track out day, we were having North Carolina Day for our grade level which I had put in a lot of work for, and we had been planning for a couple of months. I really wanted to be there to see it all come together. Also, that night, I was supposed to be having the first part of a round robin staff social at my house as well. Well, after the nurse told me to come in the next day, I talked with my principal, and he took care of everything. He got Kelly to sub for my class, and got a sub for hers (since Kelly would know more what to do and could help out with NC Day...I felt much better that she would be there--Thanks Kel!! :) and told me we should postpone the social until I was feeling better. I really appreciate him so much for taking the anxiety away, and helping make those decisions for me. I never actually had any panic, but I just really wanted everything to work out well for everyone. (after I sent out the email that we were postponing the social, a lot of teachers were happy about it, since they said they weren't able to attend last night :)

Okay, that was a lot of background, so let me get to the actual doctor's visit. After I explained to him what I had been feeling, and he checked out my lower abdomen, he said he didn't think I had any of those more serious complications, because my pain level was only at a 3 or 4 on the pain scale. If I was having a bowel obstruction or kidney problems (like a stone) I'd be hunched over and in a lot more pain. He said it could be constipation, and told me to take a laxative when I got home, or it could be my ovaries since my cycle is waking up. He also said I could be taking stool softeners daily, if constipation ended up being the problem. If the pain gets worse, he told me to come in and he would order a CT scan. He took a urine sample and checked for an infection (and pregnancy, but that was negative). Also, since I was going to see him in a week for my 3 month visit he took the bloodwork too to check my vitamin levels, my blood sugar, and cholesterol. (I really love that about Duke, how they make everything easier for you!) He also set up to have Patrick, the nutritionist, come talk to me as well, so I wouldn't have to come back to see him. The nurse called yesterday afternoon and said that I didn't have a urine infection. I took the laxative last night, and it did work, but I am still having the same pain in that area this morning. I'm not as worried about it now, as before, and I guess I will need to just keep an eye on things and if it gets worse, call the office. Luckily I'm tracked out now, so I don't have to worry about missing school.

My session with Patrick was really good! He said I am now "cleared" for all of the foods that had previously been on the "foods to avoid" list: nuts, peanut butter, tougher meats like steak, pasta, rice, raw veggies and fruits, and so many more!! I feel like this will really open my options for meals, but I also have a little trepidation moving forward. I am glad to be eating nuts now, since they are such a good source of protein and non-perishable. It is so hard to take refrigerator items with me when I'm going to be out, without packing a cooler. I still need to add these new foods one at a time, as before, so I can make sure I don't have a problem with anything. Patrick said that I am cleared to eat basically anything, but of course I have to still watch any intake of high fat/high sugar foods. He asked if I'd had dumping syndrome, and I was proud to tell him no. I told him about some of the times I'd felt a little sick after I ate, and he said that was completely normal. He reassured me that there is such a long learning curve with eating post surgery. It takes a long time to figure out which foods you can eat, how you can eat them and what other foods you can tolerate them with. Sometimes it feels so long ago that I had the surgery, but when he talks about this still being a long learning process, it makes me feel better. I feel like I should be an expert by now, but it's going to take a long while to feel completely confident about what I'm eating. Chris asked him if I was on track with my weight loss, and he said I was measuring at a 36% loss of my excess weight so far. Duke's average is losing 71% of your excess weight loss after gastric bypass. Patrick said I was right where I was supposed to be--and I can't believe I've already lost 36% of my excess weight to lose!!!! That felt really good. Even when the scale isn't showing the loss, so many other factors can indicate that I'm doing well. When I showed him our weight loss calendar (we write our weights down daily) he recommended that I weigh less often--at least every other day. With the fluctuations I can have, due to water retention, and my cycle, he said weighing every day is not getting a true indication of my loss. So, as hard as that will be, I will start trying to do that.....tomorrow. ;)

I have passed my lowest weight with Weight Watchers, which is a great accomplishment!! I took some pictures last week, but Chris hasn't had a chance yet to compile them, so I'll try to get those up tomorrow. I am tracked out now, even though I have two workdays next week, and I'm so excited for some Christmas shopping and getting ready for our trip to NYC over Thanksgiving!! I LOVE this time of year, and I've had fun doing a little shopping already for Christmas gifts.

...Well, I had just taken a little break in writing because my mom called, and now I want to go get moving for the day, so I will write more later. Now that I'm tracked out, I may even blog twice a week! ;) Stay tuned...

I heart carbs :)

Since I'm at the beach this morning, I can't weigh. From Friday, I was about 49 pounds down, so I may have hit the big 50 now. :) I guess I'll find out tomorrow morning. I've felt really good about my weight loss this week, despite the fact that things have slowed down a little. When I think about it, it's AMAZING that I have lost almost 50 pounds in 2 months!!! When I did this with Weight Watchers, it took a year for me to lose that. I am wearing the smallest size clothes that I've had in my closet since I lost the weight with WW, so it's going to be time to go shopping soon. I've had some strange things going on with my cycle this week, which I won't go into detail about, but it indicates that things are working, and maybe that's why my weight loss has been slower these past two weeks.

Carbs have been challenging for me this past week. As I put my foods into my Lose It app on my phone I've noticed that my protein, although within the recommended range, has been less than my carb intake. When I see the nutritionist on November 15 I want to ask him about the amount of carbs I should be consuming. I know that carbs are in everything, even things that are high in protein, so I may be fine since I'm getting the correct amount of protein everyday. Duke hospital has been very specific about the amount of water and protein that I'm supposed to be taking, so I would think they would have told me about the amount of carbs I should be intaking too, if they thought a certain amount would be too much. Pre-surgery, carbs were a big part of my diet. The foods I miss the most right now are pasta and rice, which I haven't had any of yet. As I have slowly entered back into my diet the carbs that are allowed, I notice that I tend to gravitate towards those foods more. I'm just so sick of meat and cheese. Chris and I talked about this on the way down to the beach, and he said I should go to the grocery store and go on a "new protein food" mission, to get some variety. I think that's a good idea. I had to throw out a bunch of meat and seafood from our freezer, when I had accidentally left the door cracked all night and it had all thawed. Therefore, the variety of meats in the house this past week has been limited, since I can't pull something out of the freezer. When I admitted that I feel I've been eating too many carbs, Chris said that it's good that I'm recognizing it and trying to change it. Honestly, carbs go down easier on my stomach than protein. I don't have to chew them as long, and since protein makes you fuller faster (which is why the doctor wants you to eat it first) I have to be more careful about eating my protein than I do just straight carbs. Since I'm still not hungry, the biggest thing I have been watching is not falling back into old habits of snacking when I get home. In the past, I would eat out of boredom, while watching TV in the afternoon after school. I've found myself thinking about doing that...getting some crackers and cheese, or Baked Lays, but then I stop myself and think that the next time I'm "supposed" to eat is dinner time. I've been proud of myself that I've been able to control that I don't do that, where in the past I wasn't able to do that. That's where the doctor's advice rings so true--Surgery is a tool to help you get to your goal weight, but you also have to committ to eating more healthy and exercising too, because the surgery isn't a cure all by itself.

With exercising, I went 3 times last week. Since Chris was sick at the beginning of the week, he didn't want to get up and go early, so I was going to try to go after school by myself. I didn't go Monday, but I did go Tuesday afternoon. Spencer and I got caught in the rain, which was actually kind of fun. :) Wednesday morning, we were going to go, but we were both just too tired, and I didn't go that afternoon. Erica and Nick came over Wednesday night for dinner, and I just didn't have enough time to go for my walk, with everything I had to do after school. Thursday and Friday I committed to getting up early, and we did go both days. I think in a week's time, 3 times will be my minimum and I'm hoping for 5 times in a week. I'm proud of myself for getting up Thursday and Friday again. Chris had really been fighting me, but of course once I turned on the bright lights in the bedroom, he got up too. I'm so glad he's doing it with me, because as I noticed when he was sick, it was SUPER hard for me to want to do it on my own. I really hope as exercise becomes a permanent part of my routine, I'll become one of those people who just HAS to go. It hasn't happened yet, but I'm praying it will. :)

(It's so funny that when I sit down to write a blog, I don't think I'll have much to say, but then things just start pouring out of me.)

Going out to eat is really not even something I care to do anymore. Chris called me on Tuesday night and said, "Hey...let's go out to eat tonight." In the past, I would have been glad about that, and immediately thought about where I wanted to go. Places like Chili's, Ragazzi's, California Pizza Kitchen, Mexican, and Chinese were regulars of ours, and when he suggested that this time, I honestly didn't care at all. We ended up going to Chili's, and took advantage of their 2 for $20 promotion. You get an appetizer, 2 entrees, and a dessert for $20. We did have a good time just talking and enjoying each other's company, but the food wasn't the main event for me anymore. I had about 4 chips with the skillet queso, 1 hamburger patty from my mini-burger bites (1/4 of a hamburger patty) with 4 fries, and a tiny bite of the brownie sundae. I felt fine after it all because I had chewed slowly, and made sure I stopped when I was full. I have been glad that I can have a tiny bite of some desserts now. I'm probably not "supposed" to have any, but honestly one bite has been just enough for me to taste it, and I haven't felt any symptoms of dumping syndrome or anything like that. When I tell people I had a tiny bite of a sweet, they seem surprised, and I sort of feel like I've been "bad". But, I'm just trying to be careful, and take things slowly as I enter those kinds of foods back into my diet.

Part of my personality is trying to be perfect, and the one thing I've never been able to do that with is my diet and exercise. It's really the only area that I haven't wanted to be perfect with, which is part of the reason I struggle with it so much. When I was growing up, I used to lie about what I ate, or hide things from others about my eating habits. As I've grown older, I've become more honest, but especially now after my surgery I feel like as I am honest about what I'm eating, I'm being judged by other people. I know that I am judgemental towards other people too, so I try not to be upset by this, but like anything in life, until you've experienced it yourself you can't truly understand what people are going through. I realize that since I've been open about my journey I get the good and the bad that comes with that. The good being that I have an awesome support system and I'm getting so many compliments, and the bad is that I feel like people are watching every little thing I eat and judging my habits. This perception is my reality now, so I just have to try my best, and not let my anxiety overcome me.

This trip to the beach this weekend, was much better than last time. When we came over labor day, 2 weeks after my surgery, it rained the whole time and I was on the liquid diet. This time, we've enjoyed spending time on the beach and time with Chris's family. We brought food with us, and did go out for seafood last night, but that was fine. I got broiled scallops, mashed potatoes and green beans, and I felt good after everything I ate. I really haven't felt sick at all last week, after I've eaten, so I think I'm finally figuring out the amounts I can have, that I need to eat slowly, and how to adjust if I start feeling queasy.

Well, I'm going to have to wrap this up, since I need to start packing to get home. Chris and I have to clean the house today for my staff party next Friday, and I have many orders to work on when I get home. I need to take my next round of pictures, so after I do that I'll post the before and after. :)