Hello again!  It is now about 13 weeks since surgery and I am doing well and feel very lucky.  I don’t know about other people, but I have had good luck with just about everything I have tried to eat.   I am eating meat daily and small amounts of fruits and veggies periodically.  I still am having problems with Milk and Yogurt but those are the only things that bother me so I do not eat them.  I do use the Lactose free milk and find that I can tolerate that with no problem.  A typical day for me is 50-60 grams of Protein with 600-800 calories.  I am eating about ¾ - 1 cup of food per meal.   An example of my day is:

Pre-Breakfast – Protein Shot = 15 grams protein

Breakfast – 2 small Sausage Patties = 7 grams protein

Lunch – ½ South Beach Diet Meal = 16 grams protein

Dinner – 2 oz Pork Loin = 14 grams protein

Dinner – ¼ cup Cottage Cheese = 7 grams protein

I have lost 57 pounds since June 14 and feel amazingly well.  My feet hardly hurt anymore and my energy has come back.   My weight loss has slowed down some, but my doctor says that is to be expected.  Over the last month, I have lost 10 pounds but I am still happy about that and have not gotten too frustrated. 

  
The one down side (and this really is not a bad thing) is that most of my clothing does not fit anymore.  I am currently wearing a size 1X down from 3X.  I don’t want to invest in a new wardrobe because I still have 53 pounds to lose but most of what I have is baggy and I feel sloppy.   I have bought a few things.. but I am really trying to not spend much on clothing right now. 

Well, that is pretty much it for me right  now..   Only 3 more pounds to go and I will be below 200..   That will be a milestone for me as I have not been that low in 13 years.

 
Anyway.. thank you for reading this and I hope I have given you some encouragement. If you need it.

I’m feeling a bit frustrated today because I know I am not getting in all my protein (only about 15 grams per day) because I can’t find any Protein drinks I like.   At first, the Isopure was okay and I could get down nearly a full bottle per day….  Now I almost gag just to get down 1/3^rd of a bottle.   Sigh, doesn’t anyone make a good protein drink?

I also went to the doctors office to weigh in today (it has been a week since I last weighed)….  And was a bit frustrated to see that I only lost 2 pounds in the last 7 days.  It would appear that I may have hit a plateau.   I sure hope this does not last long.

As for food… I have had good luck with just about everything I have tried….. but I have been very careful too as I do not want to get sick or dump.  

The things I have been eating are..

Cottage Cheese

All kinds of cheeses excepted smoked cheese (makes my pouch gurgle so I figured that might not be good.  Lol)

Diatec Applesauce

Store bought shredded BBQ Pork and Beef

Pork Roast (cooked nice and tender)

Hamburger

Healthy Choice Low Fat Sausage

Shrimp

Canned Chicken
Fresh Fish

Wendy’s Chili

Lunchables (Ham and )

 
The things I cannot eat are:

Yogurt (use to love it but can’t eat now.. gives me gas pains)

Pre-Op Protein Shakes (give me gas pains)

Smoked Cheese

I did have a taste of instant mashed potatoes about a week ago and they tasted really good but my doctor does not allow them right now so I have to be good.

On the clothing side, I have lost 1 top size.  I am now into a 2x.   I have discarded my “fat” pants (the stretchy ones) and have been wearing my cotton dress pants that I bought but have never worn because they were always too tight.  It really feels nice to get out of those stretchy polyester pants I use to wear to work.  I’m sure I must of really looked like a nerd wearing them..

Well, that about does it for this time.  See you the next time!

I should of done this sooner, but I honestly never thought about it.  Anyway... now I will try to catch up the past two weeks or so...

I had my WLS surgery on July 3, 2007.  Prior to that I was on a 30-day diet of just protein shakes and protein bars... nothing else.  I was getting about 200 grams of protein a day and my energy level was OFF THE CHARTS!   I was cleaning everything.. lol  During that 30 day period I lost 14 lbs. 

I was nervous the morning of my surgery…  but I was excited as well because I knew that this surgery would give me a chance for a better life.  I am 53 yrs old and have trouble with my feet and it’s getting to the point where I cannot be on them for any length of time without them hurting.   My spirit is always willing… but my feet are not…  so this surgery should help with that situation.  The last thing I want to be is a couch potato…  I could not stand that…  I want to continue to be able to do things with my grandchildren.  I want them to remember me as a fun grandma… one that takes them to the beach, and to the movies and shopping and even Cedar Point Amusement Park.   I never had that because my grandmother passed away when I was very young so I want to be able to give that to my grandsons.  (13, 11 and 2) 

At the hospital, things when pretty quickly.  They took me to a room and started an IV then asked me about a thousand times what type of surgery I was there for…  LOL.. I guess they wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into.   Everyone was very nice… and 2 of the nurses mentioned they had family that had the same surgery and all are doing well.   After the IV was started and I signed a few forums my husband was brought in and about 45 minutes later I was wheeled off to the operating room.  

As we entered the OR I remember looking at the very narrow surgery table and thought…  “Damn, that’s small… I hope I don’t fall off!”…    

I remember getting off my nice comfy bed and scooting over on to the hard, narrow OR table…  I looked at the anesthesiologist who was standing above my head and remarked …  “I feel like a Corpse”…..    and that was the last I remember…   I don’t’ know what he gave me.. or when he gave it to me, but I was OUT in seconds. 

I think I woke up once in the Recovery room… but can’t be for sure.   Once I finally awakened enough to know what was going on, I was in my room, in my bed.  I did not have much pain and all I wanted to do was sleep.  I felt so bad for my husband that first day because I tried so hard to stay awake to be with him but couldn’t.   He sat there nearly all day with me doing nothing but mostly sleeping…   that had to be incredibly boring for him… but he would not leave.  My pain level that first day was hardly anything…  they probably kept me pretty well drugged up.   I did get up about 5 hrs after surgery and walked to the end of the hall.   By that night, I made my first full trip around the wing..  it took me about 10 min.. but I did it.  The nurses were surprised to see me up and walking that far 12 hrs after surgery.  But I knew I had to, so I pushed myself to do it.   Then I promptly went back to bed and went to sleep.  Lol 

Day 2 was the worse and I remember thinking… “what the heck did I do!”.    My left side was hurting me and that darn therapist kept coming into my room wanting me to blow into this plastic device and then he’d give me some kind of inhalant treatment.   It also hurt to lay on my side so I was getting tired of laying on my back…. I just never could get comfortable.   

By Day 3 I was feeling much better about the surgery but still was sore on the left side and my back hurt from lying in that bed.    I learned one thing while there… Hospital beds SUCK and they are about as uncomfortable as Motel 6 beds.  LOL 

I was released from the hospital the evening of July 6, 2007.  On a scale of 1-10 my pain level from surgery never went past 5 so it was nothing I could not handle. 

The 2 weeks since surgery have been pretty smooth.  It took awhile for the pain on my left side to go away (about a week).   I am eating canned chicken, fresh fish, cottage cheese, string cheese, jello, tapioca pudding and last night I tried a little bit of pork BBQ.   The only thing I have trouble with is Yogurt… it gives me gas pains. I’m not sure why since I love yogurt and have never had a problem with it before.  I have an appt today with my doctor so I will ask him about it. 

I have not weighed since Thursday, July 12 and as of that date I had lost 14 pound since surgery for a total weight loss of 28 pounds since June 11 (the day I stared the protein diet).  

Well, if you are still reading this..  that’s pretty much my story over the last  35 days.   I’ll try to be more religious at posting to my blog.   If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to msg me. 

Hugs,
Jackie