Weigh in Wednesday week 8

Starting weight: 278

Last week's weight:240.4

Today's weight: 236.8

Lost: 3.6

Total loss: 41.2

Average weekly loss: 5.15

One day I will figure out how to rotate pictures.  41 pounds gone.  Forever.  This week hasn't been good.  Only worked out once.  Food has been alright.  I think my cold is mostly gone.  And still I managed to lose weight.  That's a relief.  Thank God for this surgery.

I also wonder how many calories that other people eat in a day.  Hopefully, we will continue this progress.

This week, work out 5 times a week.  Eat 70 or more grams of protein a day.  Drink 64 ounces of liquid a day.  

And keep up with blogs.  Other people's blogs help me so much.

Weigh in Wednesday Week 7, A day late.

Starting weight: 278

Last week's weight:242.5

Today's weight: 240.4

Lost: 2.1

Total loss: 37.6

Average weekly loss: 5.4

So here is my weight from yesterday.  I was so shocked that I forgot to take a picture.  I can't believe that I didn't gain anything from vacation.  

I have had a sore throat for the last few days.  It's like as soon as I cross the state line I get stopped up.  God bless sudafed.  I haven't felt like eating at all today.  When that happens, its off to take out.  Some chicken terriayki  With 503 calories and 75 grams of protein.  That is some WLS friendly sick food.

So working out has been a no go for this week.  However, food has been good.  Protein has been good.  I work the next 3 days and I have my food all ready to go.  Hopefully I can stay on track.

Vacation fail

So the last week I've been in Orlando.  It was a wonderful trip.  We went to Universal  studios, Downtown Disney, and a glass bottom boat tour.  Lava Lamp's parents rented a house with a pool.  It was fantastic.  We walked miles every day and managed to work out 2 days while we were there.  

On the other hand, food sucked.  I started out with all the best intentions.  The problem with sharing a house with people, is they bring all sorts of crap into the place.  I'm serious.  Every  brand of junk food.  Chips, cookies, ice cream, cake, etc.  And I am weak.  Oh so weak.  In my house, Lava Lamp keeps his junk food in a cabinet over the fridge.  Out of sight, out of mind.  This place had stuff all over the counters.  

I got to learn what a slider food does to you.  It literally just slides down.  No feeling of satiety what so over.  And that's the sucky part.  I could handle eating junk food if it actually filled me up.  Eat some ice cream and hungry in an hour.  Also, watermelon is a slider food, come to find out, but excellent when you want something cold to munch on.  

I came home and I gained 5 pounds.  So not as bad as could have been.  Lava Lamp and I split dinners.  That never would have happened prior to surgery.  I have come back from weekends with the in laws and gained 15 pounds.  I'll take it.  

So now back home.  We got a bunch of salad stuff and yesterday I prepped it all.  Fancy lettuce, sliced strawberries, blue cheese, and chopped up roterrise chicken.   Add that to my Lite baby bells and some honey ham and you got my food plan for the week.  Tomorrow will be getting up at 7 am and taking my punishment with Shawn T.  And back on the 64 ounces of detox green tea. 

One week does not constitute failure.  One week is not the rest of my life.  Time to get back on the weight loss bandwagon.  

At the Lego store at down town Disney

Universal's Island of Adventure Jurassic Park

Catching the Hogwart's express

With the lucky palm tree at the glass bottom boat tours

Weigh in Wednesday Week 5

Starting weight: 278

Last week's weight:243.5

Today's weight: 242.5

Lost: 1

Total loss: 35.5

Average weekly loss: 7.1

So I added my average weekly weight loss into my stats.  I like it.  It helps realize that when I only lose one pound a week, what I have actually averaged.  Not bad.  I'm currently wearing pajama pants that I have not been able to wear in over a year.  Working out has gone well.  I'm still sticking to Shawn T.

On Sunday, Lava Lamp and I are going to Orlando for the week.  This will be a hat trick.  We are planning to take Shawn T with us.  Also we plan on walking all over Universal studios.   We are packing some food and I am bringing protein shakes.  The godsend in all of this is Lava Lamp is on board with I can and can not eat.  I know that he will help me stay on track.  There will be no weigh in Wednesday next week, but hopefully there will be mobile blog posts.  

Week 2 of T25

Week 2 of T25 started.  I'm starting to get a little better.  I'm still with Tanya the modifier 99% of the time.  I'm cool with that.  Tanya and I are good buddies.  

At my last Doctor's appointment, the dietician wants me to try do away with protein shakes.  She wants me to try to get my protein from real food.  Real food sucks.  I don't like juggling the protein.  It's so much easier when I get 40 grams of protein from a shake.  I feel better when my protein is at 90 grams rather than 70 grams.  I've started to notice more swelling in the morning.   And i really don't like eating this much meat.  My hope is that one day, I go back to my mostly eating vegan.  In order to get there, I'm going to have to do protein shakes.  I use to drink protein shakes for breakfast all the time.  It worked for me.  I don't like real food in the mornings.  I prefer to drink breakfast over eating eggs.  Which is what I've been doing.  Blah, I am really starting to hate eggs.  I'm starting to dream of my gritty vegan protein shakes.  So today, I go against medical advice and I drink a protein shake.  

A HUGE Thank You

I got a call on Saturday.  My aunt is going into surgery.  This is great news.  Let me tell you the back story.

My aunt is a saint.  She never drank, smoke, or slept around.  She was a good Christian woman in every sense of the words.  Angelic.  And then, when I was little, she got cancer.  She was down in Nashville in the hospital and coded.  To save her life she had blood transfusions.  She went through chemo and was placed in remission.  Some years later, she started to get sick.  We found out that she had hepatitis C from the blood transfusions.  This was before they started screening the blood supply.  She went through the treatments and nothing worked.  She got sicker.  

Last week she went on the liver transplant list.  If you never dealt with transplant lists, most people die on the list. 

And we got the call

We got the CALL! 

She went through surgery wonderfully.  Everything is going great.  Not out of the woods yet.  There will be a life time of anti rejection drugs.  But this is the beginning, not the end.  She will get to enjoy her grand kids and her family for a long time to come.  This world will continue to have this saint of a lady.

I'm not writing this to tell you our exciting news.  I;m writing to say thank you.  The liver came from a 20 year old.  We do not know who it was or how they died or if it was a man or a woman.  But I'd like to say thank you for signing the back of your driver license.  Thank you to the family that said yes and allowed the donation to proceed.  I know I can't comprehend the pain the family was in or the depth of their loss.  But thank you for letting your loved one be a hero and saving my aunt's life.  

I'm an organ donor.  I am on our state's directory.  At the time of my brain death, I will no longer need any of my organs.  I can't take them into the here after, so I might as well leave them here.  My family and loved ones know my wishes.  I would encourage you to do the same.

Weigh in Wednesday Week 4

Starting weight: 278

Last week's weight:247

Today's weight: 243.5

Lost: 3.5

Total loss: 34.5

So I forgot to take a picture of the scale this morning.  Oops.  So today you have to do with photos from my fitness pal and fitbit.  So far I have kept up with T25.  Occasionally, I just breathe heavily in a accusatory manner at Shaun T.  Friday is the double workout day.  I have to work a 12 hour shift on that day so I decided to go ahead to do it.  Wow.  That sucked.  So far calories have been 700-921.  Water and protein has been on target.

Beth Ann posted an awesome article.  It talks about what women look like after massive weight loss.  I think this is a good think for all of us weight loss surgery survivors to know.  I did not have my sleeve done to look like a super model.  I will never look like a super model.  Not with out extensive  plastic surgery.  And even then.  I had weight loss surgery to have a better quality of life.  To stop diabetes.  To halt my heart problems.  I know that after I've lost my 100+ pounds I will need spanx to smooth lumps and bumps and my breasts will sag.  I don't think that will make me any less of a success story.

I believe we live in a world with unrealistic expectations of people's bodies.  I will never have slender hips with out first breaking my pelvic bone.  I do believe there is a certain trend lately and I hope it takes hold.  The trend is toward being healthy and strong.  That's what I want to be.  I want to be able to pack my dog's 50 lb bag of dog food.  I want to be able to walk with out getting out of breath.  I want to be known as fit. I do not want to strut down a cat walk in my undies.  

That's all of a rant I've got for now.

T25

So it starts out innocently enough.  Oh I love Shawn T.  Only 25 minutes.  Let's order it.
A few weeks later, Lava Lamp says, "You wanna try that new work out?" And we did. The saving grace of it all is Tanya, the modifier.  Tanya shows you how to do a low impact version of the moves.  We did three of the work outs.  Yeah they sucked, but I could do it.  So Lava Lamp and I are going to give it a go.  Here are my before pictures.  I will apologize that I am not photogenic at all.  I never perfected that whole fat girl with a pretty face thing.

And here's lava lamp.  Sometimes I hate that skinny bastard

So I will let you know how it goes.  Tomorrow, I go back to work.  Boo Hiss.  The last month off of work has been wonderful.

Saturday NSV

The other day my Mom stopped by to drop off some clothes.  The women in my family have a problem.  We hoard clothes.  If I go below 150 I might have to but new clothes.  Mom and I both are on a kick to clean out.  Watching a few episodes of hoarders will make you want to simplify your belongings.  Now my mom is a snappy dresser for a 60 year old.  I hope I dress as well as her when I get older.  Here's a pic of the new duds.  The kicker is that's a large top and a size 16 skirt.  I know a lot of it has to do with how it's cut, but I'm taking the victory and running.  I started this gig at a size 24.  Woohoo

Note you can see my lovely protein shake.  A scoop of muscle tech and a scoop of vega protein powders.  

Another NSV of the week is it's been been PMS time at my house.  In case you didn't know, rapid weight loss plays hell with your period.  Hence I'm a week late and suffered through 2 weeks of PMS.  When PMS comes around it brings it's friend, the sugar munchies.  I broke on Thursday. I got ice cream.  I purchased a pack of skinny cow ice cream sandwiches.  I looked at the calorie counts for Dairy Queen.  Did you know that a mini blizzard has more than 400 calories?  Holy moly.  So I went to the 150 calorie skinny cow ice cream sandwiches.  The NSV is that for the last three nights I have had one a night.  Did you hear me?  One.  O-N-E.   Just one.  And I haven't gone over 917 calories.  WOW.  Is this what normal people do?  Have a craving and just eat one little ice cream sandwich?  Woah.  I am fond of saying that it's not a 100 calorie bag, it's a 600 calorie box.  Cause I eat it all.  I shock myself.

The next NSV of the night was Lava Lamp and I went to a gathering with some friends.  Our friend Bobby baked a whole bunch of pies and cakes.  I had one bite of Matt's cheese cake and cringed inside.  It was much too sweet.  I stopped and drank my protein shake.  When I got home, hello skinny cow.  Before my sleeve it would be your cake, my cake, EAT ALL THE CAKE!  This time it was "Eh I got some thing better at home."  I love my banana stomach.  

The difference 30 pounds make

Selfie last September

 Selfie today

My lock ness neck is back or at least trying to reappear
The difference 30 pounds makes

Weigh in Wednesday week 3

Starting weight: 278

Last week's weight:252.3

Today's weight: 247

Lost: 5.3

Total loss: 31

Woohoo.  Clearly, I only lose weight on odd weeks.  And I'm okay with that.  I'm still sore from the work out on Monday.  Lava Lamp and I plan on working out later today.  I'll let you know how that goes.  Food is still going well.  I have eaten between 700 and 900 calories.  I exceed protein and water goal everyday.  Last night I make pulled pork from a pork tenderloin and one of my coworkers barbecue sauces.  Fantastic.  This is the easiest I have ever lost weight.  This has been the easiest to stick to the rules.  I'm stoked.

I continue to have issues with insurance.  Hand to God, this is going to give me an ulcer.  For a surgery that I had to weight two separate times for insurance approval, this is a big sticking pile of poo.  The good news is, if everything goes South, they can't repo my new stomach.

Wow... I'm outta shape

So today was a slow start due to the rain.  Nothing makes you sleep better than good ol Kentucky spring thunder storms.  Every time we had a bright flash of lightening my Yorkie mix, Shakes, would jump on me right when the thunder hit.  You could say I was thunder struck.  (It's OK.  I think I'm funny.)

So today I could begin lifting weights.  After the running fiasco, I sucked up and realized that I need to lose some weight and get in shape before I attempt elite fitness.  So here we start.  I did Jackie's 30 day fast start.  Poor little Jackie does not have much of a personality, but her work out DVD is awesome.  It's pyramids so it really pushes you, but no movement is very hard.  Also, you never have to support yourself with your arms.  This is my problem with Jillian Michael's 30 day shred.  Inevitability, around week 3, I hurt my shoulder.  So I will stick with Jackie for a little longer.  At least until I can complete the DVD without breathing heavily at Jackie thinking I'm gonna puke.  

Tomorrow will be cardio day.  If the rain keeps up, I will be doing Zumba on the Wii or another exercise video.  

Stay tuned til Wednesday's weigh in...

Saturday... Weird

Today, I hung out with some friends and then Lava Lamp and I went on a hike.  We walked for an hour and a half.  It was beautiful, if not a little muggy.  I didn't have my phone, so no pictures.  I will try to do better.  

Food has been weird today.  One of the ups of living in the barbecue belt is that we have more than few barbecue joints in town.  This translates to eating some yummy chopped pork and some tasty baked beans.  All of it was nice and soft.  Went down well.  And then came the broccoli casserole.  I have eaten this stuff for 3 or 4 days with no problems.  Today, 15 minutes after I ate it, it came back up.  I will say puking after VSG is very dainty.  No pain. No muss.  Fantastic.  Afterwards, I felt fine.  Just weird.   

My calories have gone up to 800- 900.  It;s working out well.  I have to stop myself from panicking.   I think that, because I'm eating more, I'll gain weight.  I have to stop and take a deep breath.  I'm still eating far below what I burn by exercise, and well, just being fat.  The weight will come off as long as I follow the rules and keep the faith.

Tomorrow will be another meeting with friends and another walk.  

Weighing matters

I weigh every day.  I know. I know.  Every one says it's not good for you.  But I have a heart defect.  I weigh every day to make sure I'm not taking on fluid.  I weigh every day to make sure my salt intake isn't too much.  I weigh every day to make sure I'm eliminating what I put in.  I have read horror stories about VSG patients being admitted into the hospital for constipation.  I so don't like hospitals.  So I weight every day.

The trick is not getting to caught up in the number.  I face my fear every day I get on the scale.  When I don't magically lose 5 pounds over night, I take a deep breath and repeat to myself that I am not a failure.  That this will take time.  A year at least.  If not more.  Breathe in and breathe out.  The weight will come off if I follow the rules.  If I stick to the plan and do as I am told, I will lose the weight.  I have to have faith.

Weigh in Wednesday week 2

Starting weight: 278

Last week's weight:252.6

Today's weight: 252.3

Lost: 0.3

Total loss: 25.7

Not a big loss, but a loss.  I'll take it.  The good thing about keeping up with everything that goes into your mouth and how many steps I take is, that I know the weight will come off eventually.  I have eaten between 600 and 800 calories this past week.  My exercise hasn't been great, But it's been good. If I hold the course, the work will pay off.  Keep the faith.

Oh the horror

So my left lower quadrant pain is awful.  I took lortab for the first time in a week.  So excuse me if I sound high.  I called my doctor's office and I talked to Mary, my doctor's nurse.  Mary is wonderful.  Fantastic.  Mary is a "I don;t know, but I will find out" kinda lady.  Mary is going to try and fix my insurance debacles.  Mary also had  the explanation for the pain.  the stitch where they took my stomach has popped.  The pain should only last a couple of days.  Or three weeks.  What the %$#&!!!  I can't do that.  So here's to hoping that pain goes away soon.  In the mean time, I made a cottage spinach bake. Here's the recipe.

2 cups low-fat or fat-free cottage cheese
2 whole eggs
10 oz pack of frozen spinach (thawed and drained)
½ cup Parmesan cheese


DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. In large bowl, mix all ingredients together well.
3. Place evenly into 8x8 pan.
4. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until cheese bubbles on outside.
5. Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

That's all for now.  I'm gonna lay back and be stoned.

Monday Update

Yesterday, I was super sore for some odd reason.  Either trying to eat to much, slept wrong, or too much exercise.  Who knows? Either way, I spent most of Sunday with either ice or heat on my back and shoulders.  Today, it was a lazy day.  All I did was sew and hang out with friends.  Calories were 720. Protein was 81.  Water was 68 oz.  On track.  I love that my sleeve won't allow me to over eat.  Today would have been a perfect day to except defeat and eat a cake.  Instead, I made the right decisions food wise and my sleeve was not hungry.  

Today, I made some crab salad.  A package of crab meat, 1/4 cup of Greek yogurt, and half an avocado.    I ate a half a cup and Lava Lamp ate the rest.  It was yummy.  Hopefully, tomorrow my good humor will return.

What am I eating...

According to my treatment team, I need 70-80 grams of protein a day.  How does one do that?

So here's what I'm eating.
Refried beans from the Mexican restaurant.  one side orders equals 3 meals
Cottage cheese mixed with mashed potatoes.
Ricotta cheese bake. Basically, it's the cheesy part of a lasagna.  Or just the good part.   I got the recipe from eggface.  She requests that you post her link, instead of the recipe so here we go.  http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html  That link also shows other  pureed food ideas.

I'm still drinking a protein shake a day.  The good thing about my old bar tending days is being able to mix protein powders.  I have some left over medifast shakes that are orange, banana, and strawberry.   The orange and strawberry taste fantastic when added to my chocolate bulk powder.  The banana and chocolate are divine with a couple of tablespoons of PB2, peanut butter powder.  Straight chocolate tastes much better with a dash of cinnamon.  It helps to keep things interesting.

Last night I made this recipe.  I modified it from bariatric foodie recipe i found on pintrest.

Cauliflower bake.
4 cups of cauliflower, mashed
3/4 cup of Greek yogurt
1 cup of cheese, i used Colby jack
1 egg.

Mix all that together, place in a casserole dish, and add a 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese on top.  Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.  Feel free to play with the time and the heat.  I like a brown crust on top.

It was good.  Reminiscent of funeral potato casserole.  I'm keeping under 800 calories and meeting my protein and water goals.  Just got to continue to keep the faith.  I have this fear that I will do everything right and not be able to lose the weight.  Deep breathe.  Deep breathe.  Gotta keep the faith.

A lovely roller coaster day (TMI warning)

Down
This morning Lava Lamp didn't go to work due mild illness.  He woke me up at 7 and kept me up for an hour.  (He had a headache.  Men are babies when there sick.)

Up.
Buddha crawled in bed with me and we spooned.  I fell back to sleep.  A 90 pound presa canario makes a wonderful body pillow.

Down
I started the couch to 5k.  Wow. I am out of shape.  I could barely jog for the 60 seconds.  I have a feeling I will be repeating this first week.  If I just keep at it.  I kept reminding my self that what I was doing was the equivalent of a normal size person running with 2 of our 50 lb dog food bags strapped to them.

Up
Hey I actually went out and did the program

Down.
When I got back to the house, I forgot I had had surgery and downed a glass of water and then puked it back up.  So not good.

Up
I had a big girl poop.  A man I knew in the priesthood once told me, "You know what's really over estimated? Sex.  You know what's really under estimated? A good poop."  Today, I would agree with that statement.

Down
I received a letter from my precert company that they did not approve my second day in the hospital.  Appeals process here I come.  I wish insurance wasn't such a tug of war.

Up
The surgeries over with.  Nobody can repo it now!

Big Up.
I do volunteer work in the chemical dependency community.  Tonight I gave a talk a couple of towns over.  It went over splendidly.  They gave me a microphone and everything.  Woohoo.

Hello Mushies

I went to the doctor today.  He was pleased with my progress.  He said I'm on track to a BMI of 26 or 27.  That's my surgeon's goal.  I would prefer a healthy BMI, but whatever.  We will cross that bridge when we come to it.  I know I want to do a year of hardcore and then reassess later.  Herbie the hematoma bought me an extra week of leave.  It's a plus that I have a job that involves twisting, bending, carrying 50 pounds, and the like.  I need to call my FMLA company tomorrow and let them know.  The best part was he cleared me to run.  And when I say run, I mean more like really slow jog or fast walk.  I'm going to start a couch to 5 k program tomorrow and keep up with the walking.  The dietitian was impressed with my water intake.  I so don't want to be readmitted for dehydration.  The exercise specialist said to watch out doing intense work outs.  Honey, I have a heart condition.  I do not over do it.  I got this surgery so I would not end up on the cardiac floor.

And we have been cleared for mushies.  Pureed phase as my surgery binder calls it.  On the way home we stopped and got some baby bell cheese.  It was delicious.  And totally filled me up.  Lava Lamp and I stopped at the grocery store and got a bunch of groceries.  During my liquid pre op phase, I researched some recipes.  I'll report back on them.  For dinner we got Mexican.  I ate a 1/2 cup of re fried beans and a tablespoon of guacamole.  It took me 45 minutes to eat.  It was so delicious.  My food and Lava Lamp's food was under 10 bucks.  This surgery is gonna save us a ton in take away and grocery bills.  When we grocery shop, we usually get a treat for our selves while we are there.  He got his chocolate cookies.  I got a bottle of Figi water.  I like the taste, but due to cost, i drink tap.  Oh how the times a change.  So far this has been one of my better decisions in life.

Weigh in Wednesday Week 1

Starting weight: 278

Today's weight:252.6

Total loss: 25.4

Not a bad start.  I know that this year will be the easiest at losing weight.  I plan to through everything I have at.  Lava lamp and I ordered focus T25.  I should be released to full activity in another 4 weeks.  I plan to start it then.  I'm not a gym membership kinda girl.  I rarely drive and lava lamp and I share a car.  If I want to go some place, I walk.  Actually not that inconvenient because of where I live.  I don't want to walk to a gym just so I can run in place.  For the price of a membership, we got the T25.  When I have a destination in mind, it helps to motivate me to get out and walk.  Today, I walked 5 miles.  Tomorrow, it's off to the doctor.  Let's pray for getting advanced to pureed foods.

Another great blog out there is http://jessicasjourney2onederland.blogspot.com/  If you can't tell, I suck at computers and blogger has me confounded most of the time.  (How do you add a weight loss ticker? Why does my post keep ending up in the comment section?) I keep at this because I read the research in regards to having support.  Because of my lack of transportation, real live support group is out of the question.  (It's an hour away).  With that said please excuse my lack of Internet savvy.  Thank you for visiting.

Another day in paradise...

I'm officially one week out from surgery.  I walked another 10,000 steps today.  Woohoo.  It's kinda sad that only have another 2 weeks of medical leave left.  Herbie, the hematoma, is coming down nicely.
I've lost 21 pounds so far.  I wasn't going to start weight ins till Wednesday because my surgeon tanks you up with fluid before you leave the hospital.  A lot of the initial weight loss is that fluid working its way out.  However, I weigh 14 pounds less than what they weighed me at in the hospital before the surgery.  I'm thinner right now than i have been since doing the 6 months of medically supervised weight loss.
My recovery is going fantastic.  I'm still not lifting over ten pounds, but I feel awesome.  I'm down to about 4 doses of 460 mg of Tylenol a day.  Once Herbie leaves, that will be less.  3 doses of that is during the night when Herbie wakes me up.  Today, Lava lamp and I went to the fabric store to stock up.  I'm getting a little stir crazy while he's at work so I figured I'd cut and piece a quilt in the meantime.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's weigh in.

Oh and by the way, a really great blog out there is http://holleealexandria.blogspot.com.  I started reading her when I was researching weight loss surgery.  She's a fun read.

POD 6

My hematoma, Herbie, is shrinking. I started to take arnica Montana. It is an herbal supplement for bruising. Fantastic stuff. I have used less Tylenol today and haven't had any liquid lortab in a couple of days. The pain has settled into a dull soreness.  I have enjoyed my time off.  Hanging out with the dogs and reading John Greene's "The fault in our stars".  Very good book and a very quick read.  Tonight I'm going to go for another walk.  I'm trying to get in 10,000 steps a day or 5 miles.  Yesterday was the first day that i didn't get it.  Only 6,000.  I wear a fitbit.  More about that...

The six month period that i had to go to counseling (nutrition, exercise, and with a physician) enabled to find out what works for me.  I clearly do not have what it takes to get to the gym every day.  I purchased a fit bit flex after tax time and this little guy is amazing.  It shows me via dots how many steps I have taken.  Then it downloads to my computer and my phone.  It's great motivation.  I also recently got the Aria scale that interacts with the fit bit software.  My weight is downloaded to the fitbit software.  And all of the fitbit software transfers to my fitness pal.  The fitbit soft ware is great, but the food adding portion blows.  I like my fitness pal because it works better.  It allows bar code scanning and adding recipes.  Also has an extensive library that you can search.

So right now I will continue my full time job of drinking water, eating protein, walking, and relaxing.

Seriously

I have 4 dogs.  

This is Buddha. A 90 pound presa canario

This is izzy. A 50 pound pit bull. 

This is sister. Another 50 pound Pitt bull

So imagine my surprise when I was woken up when this monstor is the one that jumped on Herbie the hematoma this morning. 

My adorable 6.9 lb yorkie mix. 

Dafuq. 

Herbie is mad. 

My tummy feels tight and the pain is worse. Not bad enough to call anyone, but worse. Not fantastic like yesterday, but it is starting to calm down. Oh well. Good days and bad days. 

I lost 5 pounds between yesterday and today. Woohoo. 

Herbie the hematoma

Post op day 4

I feel really good. Today lava lamp and I went on a walk. I'm lucky to live in town with great side walks. We walked to the library and a thrift stores. A few miles with a couple of bathroom breaks. I'm walking slowly but I'm walking.  Liquids are still going down well. I'm currently ignoring the wait for 30 minutes before and after meals to drink, since I'm drinking everything. Tonight I will have some purée soup, so I will start trying to rock the rules.  

Everything is going well except for the damn hematoma at one of my stab sites. He's painful and always let's me know he's there. I can't lay on my left side. I have named him Herbie.  I go to the doctor on Thursday. Hopefully, Herbie will make himself scarce.  

Wednesday will be in weigh in day.  I have a nifty aria scale that downloads my weight to the fitbit and my fitness pal aps. I weigh everyday. The one that will count is on Wednesday. 

Now some parting shots of Herbie. 

It finally happened

I had the vertical sleeve gastrectomy on 4-8-14.   My nurses and surgeon were awesome.  My nurses really went to bat for me and personalized my treatment plan. I received Iv tordol and Iv acetaminophen. That stuff was awesome. I'm still a little sore. It's more like a really intense workout than having most of an internal organ take away from me.  

The best part of this so far is I'm not hungry. I'm drinking my water and protien shakes.  My fiancée has eaten mcdonalds, subway, and candy in front of me and I don't want any. I'm full and satisfied and it doesn't look good.  That was worth surgery.  Usually when I'm dieting I'm so hangry ( angry hunger) that I want to slap the person next to me. 

I'm back home with my puppies. Time to heal and enjoy my three weeks off.   Here are some pictures from the hospital.  

Lava lamp and I hanging out in my bed prior to surgery.  We only got 2 hours of sleep before we had to leave for the hospital. 

Post op. When I get dilaudid, I turn into Miley Cyrus. 

Tick Tick Tick

On Wednesday, I have my EGD. Then I schedule surgery. Through out my 6 months of medically supervised, one thing has become very clear. I need surgery. I still weigh 260 lbs. I decided to go with the gastric sleeve. With the problems I have had with scar tissue in the past, i was scared what the lap band would do inside of me. I have my shopping list and my list of things to do. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly. I stopped blogging because the frustration of not losing weight was to great. Hopefully, i can stick with it. If nothing else post a weekly weight sounds good. Always good to have a place to do some goal setting. Happy travels.