Aryn Gets Sleeved

Today marks 3 months post sleeve surgery and I also had my 3-month post-op appointment.  I'm down 60 pounds ( yay !) and was warned to stop weighing myself so much because my rate would be slowing wayyyy  down because when you have less to lose it comes off slower, but was also encouraged to stay the course because I WILL keep losing weight if I do all that I am supposed to do.  At this point my stomach holds about as much food as I can hold in the palm of my hand.  I still struggle with eating red meats and pork, but am able to handle grilled chicken pretty well.  By my next appointment, at 6 months, my meal should be able to fit onto a small salad sized plate and then should permanently stay at that capacity.  I was really worried about vitamin deficiency and other nutrition deficits, however, my blood work showed that things were going great and everything was in the "normal" range.  My iron levels were okay, but my iron saturation ...

6 week post-op appointment, 43 pounds down Today I had a few post-op appointments for my gastric sleeve surgery.  I met with the exercise physiologist, we talked through several issues with my back--which has been doing worse lately.  She says it's typical for people to have back pain at this stage because their body is changing so much and a lot of people go to the chiropractor to get "reset".  I can't do that because of my fusion hardware and my spine stimulator implant, but I will probably call my doctor this week to see if I need to go in to see if my spine stimulator is working properly.  I can feel that my battery has shifted since I lost weight, I don't know if that would do anything to the wires in my spine space.  The plan is for me to try as much water exercise as I can and also work on adding in some strength training. I met with the dietician and the doctor as well.  Both are more than pleased with my weight loss and...

I'm 4 weeks post op now and 31 pounds down.  It's been fun to have to go through my closet to figure out what still fits and what doesn't fit.  It's funny how my mind thinks an article of clothing will be too small and then when I put it on I find that it is actually too big.  Work is going well, I think my body is adjusting to the long days, in fact on most days I seem to have more energy in the evening than I did last school year.  Food- wise I 've progressed to the "soft food" diet, which means anything I can eat with a fork (but not cut with the side of our fork like we Midwesterners are so good at).   In two more weeks I should be able to start trying small amounts of "normal" food again. 

Today I had my 2-week post-op appointment and I've lost 25 lbs since starting this in April.  What's more ... my hypertension is gone, my edema is gone, and I had been on the verge of Type-2 diabetes (didn't know until my surgery this was even an issue and they were giving me insulin), but that is ALL GONE.  I'm no longer on any medication for any of those issues.  All of that is the MOST important part of this.  The craziest thing is that now, with my new statistics... . I don't even qualify for bariatric  surgery (in theory, I obviously had it :-) ) , and that seems like a victory in of itself.  Three other victories to celebrate! 1.  I got cleared to go back to work tomorrow.  I'm functioning and my incisions are looking fine and so tomorrow I get to go back to work and FINALLY see my awesome students and colleagues. 2.  I caught myself in a full-length mirror at Trader Joe's and I was happy with my progress....

I'm not alone in my love for the movie "Finding Nemo" and Dori's perseverance and reslience...her ability to be positive and sing, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming".  That small scene captured the heart and hope of thousands of people who trudge through the day to day hassles of life as well as the those who are handling the "big stuff" as well.   This week the "just keep swimming" jingle is my head song.  Everything IS going as hoped and planned and I am so incredibly grateful for that.   At the risk of sounding ungrateful...the normality of this liquid diet and frequent stomach spasms are getting to me a bit these past couple of days.  I'm craving cottage cheese (of all things!) and next week I should be able to have it in some form (I'll have to puree it a bit) and that will be a fun celebrating moment.   There's a level of guilt that I've been feeling, it comes in waves.  I understand and have seen povert...

Before I post about other first phase staples I thought I'd share a picture that is traditionally posted on Instagram called "Face to Face Friday".  I'm just a lurker on Instagram so I thought I'd put a picture up here on my blog instead.  The first picture is my first time at the Unity Point weight loss clinic in March and the second was yesterday.  There is a 15 pound difference in the pics. Ok, back to my "staples".  I think I'm the last post I forgot to give a pic of my protein shakes.  I try to have 2 of the chocolate ones a day and one of the clear ones to get 60-80 grams of protein a day.  I also need tons of water so I use Crystal Light or just plain water to get through that goal.  Right now ice water makes my stomach spasm :-( and I love ice water so I'm hoping that is just temporary.  I can also have broths and creamed soups during this time.  I had some cream of chicken soup yesterday and it tasted amaaaaaaazing.  For a ...

I'm quickly learning what my new stomach likes and dislikes during this first phase.  I've included some pics and I'll do part two of this same topic tomorrow. First is protein, protein, protein.  There are a lot of great products and I'll share some of them with you  in the next few days.  First, I like to have one of these "Clear Protein Drinks" that I got off Amazon but I think you could get a better deal at Cosco.  It has 20 grams of protein and 0 grams of sugar.  It has a slightly funny after taste so I take sips of water frequently while I'm drinking it.  So far it takes me about 2 hours to get through 10 oz of liquid.  So I have to be thinking constantly on how to get the max nutrition in.   I've started taking calcium supplements three times a day) and a multivitamin specially made for Bariatric patients. On this liquid diet I can have pudding, cream soup or broth, and yogurt.  I bought these awesome "wee sprout" storage conta...