6 MONTHS SINCE SURGERY - LABS

I am now at 6 months post op from my BPD-DS surgery.  I am not sure of my weight today.  I was last on the scale 4 days ago and was holding at 103 pounds gone. Weight loss has seriously sloooowed down.

On Tuesday they took 10 vials of blood for my 6 month labs.  The results so far are all excellent. My potassium supplement is working and my Folic Acid went way up, so the added B vits are working, too. I have stuck with my chewables and am not having any stomach upsets as long as I am careful to drink lots of water with the potassium.

Eating is getting easier.  I am much better at judging my capacity, though tonight we went out to celebrate my new job and I ate about 2 bites too many.  I knew it and ate it anyway.  Sigh.  I need to listen to myself and not be so concerned with "wasting" food in restaurants.  Anyway, it was delicious pancetta wrapped shrimp which was char grilled and taking 1 shrimp home would have been a better choice than the upset stomach I have now had for 2 hours!

My new job keeps me very busy and so it is going to be more of a challenge to eat during the day.  I am sure I will get a new routine  down with time.  I do think I will need to eat my solid breakfast at home and drink my protein drink at work.

Exercise is going well.  Still 3-4 trips to the gym and at least one bike outing each week.

PLAYING WITH FIRE

All of us who have battled weight have our demons, our bad habits and our weaknesses.  While I have always enjoyed what is generally a very healthy diet, I ate more than my body could metabolize.  Too much 9 grain bread is going to cause weight gain just as sure as too many trips to Baskin & Robbins. 

My weaknesses have always been carbs.  Carbs both complex like multi-grain and brown rice and simple like things made with sugar.  When researching weight loss surgeries, I was very well informed about what a successful post-op diet would require.  High protein and very low carb.  I have done that eating plan before and know it works for me.

Having those guidelines to live by also makes it easier to plan and make good choices when dining out.  It is really simple once you wrap your head around it.  No breads, no rice, pasta, potatoes,  no flour, no sugar, etc. If you want to really get crazy with it you can read labels and cut out all kinds of things with added sugars or a little breading but I have been successful sticking with the big items and not sweating the teaspoon of catsup or the breading on a chicken cutlet.

Having said all that, and knowing that most people who have done the BPD-DS surgery cannot tolerate simple carbs without great gastric distress - I have been trying little bits and bites of carbs to see what will happen.  At first it was simple curiosity: what will happen if I eat some popcorn?  A bite of the cheesecake everyone is sharing after dinner? Or a piece of toast?  A few peanut M&Ms? How about some frozen yogurt?

Well, turns out the toast just didn't taste good, the popcorn was actually ok if I just ate a cup or two, the Peanut M&Ms and the single bite of cheesecake caused no problems but the froyo (the no added sugar kind) did give me a problem. So, apparently, I am going to be one of those DSers who can eat some sugar and some carbs and not blow up or spend "quality time" in the bathroom.

I do not subscribe to this belief!  So I will have to be very careful...

Uh oh.

I suppose it is inevitable that I was going to try stuff that is "off limits." After all, I have sipped some wine and had a cocktail  (I am supposed to be avoiding alcohol for a year.)  The issue is now that I know I am not going to explode if I eat a little bit of some of these foods, it is going to take the kind of discipline that I know I have but is so easy to let slide, to keep on the good path and not derail my commitment.

I still read some forums about weight loss surgery and I know that people backslide and gain weight - even with the serious changes my surgery wrought on my body - it can be circumvented by seriously bad eating.

It is up to me.

SHOPPING FOR THE SMALLER ME

"My clothes were hanging off me, but clothes shopping was overwhelming now. How was I supposed to go into a store with four stories full of clothing that I could fit into? All my previous shopping experiences had taken place within in the confines of a 16-by-16 foot store with limited selection."

I ran across that quote from a woman who had weight loss surgery and has written a book about it.  I wish I had kept the link along with the quote - because now I can't find it.  Anyhow - I totally relate.

I have always loved clothes and have complained for years that the designers and stores must hate us fat people because if there is an ugly fabric to be found - that is what they make our clothes with.  And the embellishments!  They stick rhinestones and puffy paint and all kinds of crap on the awful printed shirts.  The theory being it takes attention away from the size?  Big + shiny is not a good combination, in my opinion.

Then I got too fat to buy clothes in the stores and had to resort to online shopping.  You would think getting too big for Lane Bryant might curb one's appetite - but it didn't. At least there was more variety to be found and I could sort through the dozens of websites and find simple, classic clothing.  Sometimes the clothes arrived and the fabrics were terrible.  (I had a couple of shirts that felt like paper products.)  I had to learn which brands had consistent sizing and put up with shipping and return costs, but all in all I have maintained a decent wardrobe. 

I have always been complimented on my style and appearance;  told repeatedly that I don't "look that big" which I always attributed to my careful wardrobe.  I wouldn't wear things when they got too tight and the online clothes were inexpensive enough for me to update frequently. 

Now I am in a position to change things up a lot.  I still have about 25 pounds to my goal weight and I will continue to have major problem areas which will need camouflage.  When I went out to "real" stores a couple of weeks ago I was overwhelmed by the selection and prices and unhappy to find that most of the clothes were too small, still.  Sizing has gone nuts in the last 20 years!

I did find a few things to buy and reverted right back to my "preppy" style.  For instance, today (it is 80 flippin' degrees here)  I am wearing navy capri's and flats and an orange and white striped boatneck tee.  Yesterday I wore black pants, a black and white stripped tee, a black cardigan and black & white flats.  I bought 4 classic cotton shirts in blue, red & white stripe, white and yellow.

I am now in the smallest size offered in my favorite online store, and the prices are so much less than in the mall, so I am ordering a bunch of tee shirts to wear with cardigans and capri's to get through the Spring and then take another foray into the mall.

My sisters sigh over the fact that I wear red and black and the occasional other color - and I always have. I felt a little defensive when I was showing off my new outfits because I feel like I have other colors, too - but they are right.  I wear classic styles and classic colors for the most part and will likely stick with them for my new wardrobe.

Do you have your signature style?  Or do you mix it up and follow trends?

102 POUNDS LOST



100 pounds of fat - kinda gross shown this way...

 Finally made it past the 100 pound mark - have I talked enough about it? Sorry.  These numbers start carrying so much importance.  When I was young and trying to look hot my best I always thought 125 was a magic number.  I made it and maintained it for only a few weeks and, surprise!, nothing magical happened.  The scale moved back to my more comfortable 130 and that was where I continued to work hard to stay.

Now my goal is to be at 150.  I think I can do that by summer based on the rate of weight loss I am currently experiencing.

I know 150 sounds like a lot.  I was present when someone I know was weighed at 150 and I gave her a little cheer.  She looked at me like I was crazy!  I explained that was my goal weight.  She understood but still acted like I was undershooting by a lot.

This weekend was a weird one.  I had two meals which were of my normal tiny portions but felt sick after.  Sunday I mostly snacked all day because I felt hungry but couldn't eat more than a few bites at a time.  I made an effort to get my vitamins in this weekend, but didn't make my protein requirements (meaning I was under 90-120g.)  Today, Monday, I am already feeling better and have gotten 50g before noon! 

Day by day.

BEFORE AND NOW PHOTOS

I say before and now because I have not reached goal weight - still have about 30 pounds to go!

Spring 2012

                                                                        
                                                                           Spring 2013

STALLED ON THE BRINK

For two weeks I have been waiting for those 2 pounds to drop.  When that happens,  I

will have lost 100 pounds since I started my BPD-DS journey.

It has come to this.  I have stalled.  It always happens.  It happens to most people on weight loss plans.  Our bodies settle in, find equilibrium or whatever it is called.  That and I am probably eating too many carbs. 

I love fruit and have gone from eating very small amounts of grapefruit or berries a couple of times a week to munching on grapes and mango and even some kiwi. Sigh.

I also bought some whole wheat bread for my daughter when she was home and ate 2 pieces of it, toasted, with peanut butter and honey.  Now the bread has been sent to live in the freezer until the next time she comes home.

Further transgressions came in the form of Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds from Sprouts.  Even though I only had 5-8 per day, they are now banished. I bought them after I tasted a sample, then I checked out the nutritional info on the website and there is more added sugar than I expected considering the taste and that it is made with dark chocolate.  A deceptive little treat.

The last sin against my low carb diet is - I made risotto.  And it was good.  I could only eat about half a cup of it, including the added chicken and arugula - but we are talking white rice here. 

So for the past two weeks all I have lost is more hair! 

I have learned my lesson - back to logging all my meals and snacks on Sparkpeople. I'll hit the scale again next week.

STOP FRETTING OVER FAT - SUGAR IS THE KILLER

Dr. Nancy Appleton, author of Suicide by Sugar, actually lists 146 reasons why sugar is ruining your health. Here are just a few of them:

(1) Sugar is a cancer cell's favorite food. Even without having cancer, we all have a few cancer cells floating around.

(2) Sugar creates glucose spikes that force the pancreas to produce insulin more often and beyond it's normal capacity. This wears the pancreas down, limiting insulin production that leads to diabetes. Type II diabetes is insulin resistance, which is preceded by metabolic syndrome at least partly attributable to high sugar intake.

(3) A depleted pancreas can't provide sufficient proteolytic enzymes to bust open cancer cell walls and render them defenseless from the immune system's killer cells.

(4) Processed sugar and fructose are stripped of all mineral content and wind up leeching minerals from our bodies, including our teeth. They also inhibit mineral absorption, including magnesium. Magnesium is a commonly deficient and vitally important for over 300 metabolic processes.

(5) Sugar is addictive. It stimulates central nervous system neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin, giving you a pleasant buzz to crave more and promote overeating of processed foods.

(6) Many nutritional experts attribute the rise of obesity and cardiac problems to higher refined carbohydrate and sugar consumption. And the condensed fructose in HFCS is absorbed first by the liver, which cannot metabolize it all and has to store accumulated fructose as fat creating fatty liver.

Obesity, diabetes, and heart disease became epidemic after low and no fat diets were introduced while sugar and HFCS were increased in processed foods and beverages.

Chobani Blueberry Greek Yogurt

When manufacturers took out the fat from many of our foods, they added sugar to make up for the flavor and texture that was lost.  For example, (and this is a great illustration) read the labels on the non-fat yogurts we all think are so healthy.  They are full of sugar!  Just try to find a flavored yogurt on the market that has little or no sugar...

And honey?  That's sugar, don't let the name of the sugar fool you.  There are now dozens of names for sugars.  Read the Carb portion of the label to get the totals,  the ingredient list can be misleading.