WLS Wagon: May 2012

[myyellowstang]

Still waiting for my BodyMedia Fit to come from Costco. I'm an impatient one - and I'm used to Amazon's super fast 2-3 day shipping. But Amazon didn't offer the 12 month subscription at the same price... so Costco it was. Can't wait!

The tracking number they gave me shows as invalid on the FedEx page, which leads me to believe that it is packaged and labeled, but not dropped off with FedEx for delivery yet. Ugh.

I posted my eats and exercise on the other thread I started just for that. I need accountability. I have so much knowledge, but lack willpower. I need everyone to kick my ass for a little bit and keep me honest.

It's Monday. And I'm going to hit Operation Ten Pounds pretty hard and heavy, for real this time.

It's become WAY too easy to justify a little of this and a little of that - and I find it turning into more and more of it. I made garlic toast last night to go with my "tomato salad" (just tomatoes,s&p, and ranch) and ended up eating 3 pieces of it before I turned in for the night. That's excessive. And it's becoming a habit.

It makes me wonder WHY I'm so strong about avoiding added sugars, but give myself permission to eat all these other things instead... I know the fear of the sugar demons taking back control is a big one - but isn't that what I am allowing myself to do with other food? Relinquish control?

So, all good food planned today and I'm going to work HARD to avoid bad choices. No one ever died from sitting with head hunger. Head hunger is not an emergency. I will live.

[Maryposa]

Originally Posted by myyellowstang

My experience was that it took FOREVER (it seemed) to change when I was in the larger sizes, but once I got down to the smaller sizes (10 and below) I was changing almost 2 sizes a month. I went from 8 to 4 in the blink of an eye - a matter of maybe 10 pounds.

Yup... have you heard/seen the paper towel analogy? Totally true for me too.

[myyellowstang]

I have not seen the paper towel analogy!

[mbroda]

Originally Posted by emily1965

You see over at the bottom right of your screen where the "quote" button is? Right next to it is a button that has a " and a + You go along clicking that button on each post you want to quote, then when you have clicked on all of them that you want to post, just click on the "post reply" button and all of the quotes that you clicked on pop up in the message screen. BTW, if you are doing the multi quote, you leave the regular quote completely alone.

OMG thank you

[mbroda]

Originally Posted by awlass

Hey guys. I had my rny on the 15th. I'll be released from the hospital in a few hours. no complications and im already on pureed foods. I feel great!
New day, new life!

Awlass...sounds like you are doing so great! I was so thirsty right after surgery but I did like room temp or warmer liquid. keep it up lady

[quote=emily1965;15661586]I've really cracked down on myself and I'm happy to report that the Prednisone gain is gone, but I haven't re lost the bonus weight loss I had when I was sick and dehydrated in the 10 days before I started the prednisone. I'm at 176 today and eating super clean, hoping to at least to be not the 160's by my plastic surgery consult on June 2nd.
/QUOTE]
Good for you on losing and upping your yoga, I envy you the private lessons. I want to try it, but am a bit shy about going into a class.

Originally Posted by ANGELFIRE80

to everyone. Just checking in...no weight loss to speak of. I am just maintaining these days...TOM is around the corner, so I feel a little swollen not to mention my lack of water drinking lately.

I am SO ready for my mom to feel better. We had an issue with her coming out of her anesthesia/pain meds yesterday...she was rather lethargic, didn't recognize me it was very scary! Her breathing was very shallow...they actually had to administer Narcan (or something like that) to reverse the effects and call in pulmonary. She is having to sleep with a bipap (which she hates!). I just hope things start looking up soon!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Angel--hope Mom is feeling better

Mary--How are you feeling after your fender bender?

Heather and HT--you can add me to the grazing list. I find myself taking bites when I am cooking and/or putting food away and then not being able to eat a meal--not good for getting in protein

Such a busy weekend here. Did I tell you all that I am a huge dater now??? I swear it is either all or nothing. Not sure what exactly I want in a relationship right now. Had date #3 with a guy Friday and he wanted me to say i wouldn't go out with anyone else--I couldn't do it. I feel like that is way too soon ya know

Mary--are you still dating your friend???

[myyellowstang]

Originally Posted by mbroda

Good for you on losing and upping your yoga, I envy you the private lessons. I want to try it, but am a bit shy about going into a class.

Heather and HT--you can add me to the grazing list. I find myself taking bites when I am cooking and/or putting food away and then not being able to eat a meal--not good for getting in protein

Two comments.

1. Yoga. Just do it. Seriously. You are so focused on your own stuff you don't notice anyone else's. And if you DO notice anyone else's it's to make sure you are in the right pose. Just start with a basic flow class and let the instructor know you are a beginner. It. Is. Awesomeness. I let weight and nerves stop me from going for years. I missed out.

2. Yes. Nibbles during meals. I so need a game plan to combat this. Because when dinner is done, even if I can't eat right then I still feel the need to have "dinner" on a plate even if I ate it's equivalent in tastings. Anyone have suggestions? I've heard gum, but I'm *TRYING* to cut back on that as it contributes immensly to my gas issues. I can go through a pack or two a day if I have it on me.

[Healthy and Happy]

I take digestive enzymes for gas, works great. I usually need one with anything dairy, flax, or really starchy. They are NOW brand Super Enzymes.

[Jesse]

I've been trying some recipes from the World According to Eggface. So far my family LOVED the meatloaf (just made it the regular shape because I didn't have mini loaf pans) Linzer Cookie Protein Shake, and Black Bean Soup (super easy). Cheesy Onion Egg Bites were pretty good- not like WOW what is the heaven in my mouth, but decent for a take along breakfast. We're going to try Riccotta pancakes soon.

[Savannah]

Hello everyone,

checking in to say hi & to report I'm going to read & ride the exercise bike !!
Monday was off to an anxious start for me. Not sure where it came from I woke up out of a sound sleep @ 4 am & then after I got to work I was feeling
anxious & grouchy not sure where it came from though, but I'm glad it's gone.

[Hot Tamale]

Hi All - No time to do more than a drive-by. I am soooo stressed about work right now - I have about 2 hours of work to do that I brought home - and I HATE to bring work home. All this stressing has me stress eating - I slip back so easily into this coping mechanism. If I am eating I can't work...so I keep finding things to eat! Actually, I have been doing really good with it, but the grazing and eating too many times a day has to stop! I will be back to my regular stress levels come Thursday evening...I will try to white-knuckle most of this week and avoid the high-carby stuff for sure.

Hope you're all figuring out ways to make things work for you, too. Figuring out our weaknesses is the first step in addressing them.

I didn't walk today (I know, shocker!), but I kinda knew I couldn't and I actually think my knees especially could use the rest. I will walk/work out tomorrow, however. I actually wish I could do it every day (and usually do) because I do feel really good when I'm done - and sometimes even when I am doing it! Now that's progress.

Hugs to all of you, especially our recovering girls! How are you doing? Updates, please!

[awlass]

Im doing much better today.
I think i drank about 20 oz water today.. major progress.

I made a big mistake with food. I ate some fish last night, and 2 small pieces of chicken breast this morning. my surgery angel was concerned and asked me to check with the nurses at the surgeons office, because i was confused about what i could eat (i was told, if it doesnt hurt, its ok... i guess doc meant about whatever "purees" dont hurt... haha) and they sent me a packet showing me to stay with purees/mashed for 6 weeks... oops !!!

no harm no foul.. im feeling so much better now though. lots more energy!

gotta love my refried beans!!! i feel that for the next 5 weeks i will live on nothing but refried beans, lentils, poached eggs, and cottage cheese.. totally doable i think

[Chrissykin]

Originally Posted by awlass

Im doing much better today.
I think i drank about 20 oz water today.. major progress.

I made a big mistake with food. I ate some fish last night, and 2 small pieces of chicken breast this morning. my surgery angel was concerned and asked me to check with the nurses at the surgeons office, because i was confused about what i could eat (i was told, if it doesnt hurt, its ok... i guess doc meant about whatever "purees" dont hurt... haha) and they sent me a packet showing me to stay with purees/mashed for 6 weeks... oops !!!

no harm no foul.. im feeling so much better now though. lots more energy!

gotta love my refried beans!!! i feel that for the next 5 weeks i will live on nothing but refried beans, lentils, poached eggs, and cottage cheese.. totally doable i think

I am glad your feeling better. You are on your way!

I called my insurance yesterday and everything is submitted. She routed everything over to the approval dept. while we were on the phone. I don't know what happens if you don't call? I guess you wait until they get to your paperwork for them to transfer over to the approval dept. I didn't understand that part. Now the waiting begins. She said to check back Thursday to see if they approved or not.

[myyellowstang]

Originally Posted by Healthy and Happy

I take digestive enzymes for gas, works great. I usually need one with anything dairy, flax, or really starchy. They are NOW brand Super Enzymes.

Interesting. I have some papaya enzyme that I take when I have a stuck food incident, but never realized they could be used for more than that. Off to google.

Originally Posted by Jesse

I've been trying some recipes from the World According to Eggface. So far my family LOVED the meatloaf (just made it the regular shape because I didn't have mini loaf pans) Linzer Cookie Protein Shake, and Black Bean Soup (super easy). Cheesy Onion Egg Bites were pretty good- not like WOW what is the heaven in my mouth, but decent for a take along breakfast. We're going to try Riccotta pancakes soon.

I've tried some of her stuff too. A lot of it doesn't turn out as good as it looks (like the squash/zucchini stuff), but quite a bit of it does. And some of it is just too darn time consuming, but yummy. Last night I made her stuffed zucchini boats. It took me FOREVER! Halved the zukes, scooped them out, cooked down the guts with chopped ham and spices. Then I spooned a little ff cottage cheese in each boat and topped with the guts and some grape tomato halves. Covered with foil and baked for 30 minutes, the uncovered and baked for 15, then sprinkled with a pinch of cheese and broiled for 5. So total prep and cooking was pushing two hours for 5 zucchini (10 boats). Since she just cooks for 1 or 2 her labor time is probably considerably less.

They were good though, and I'll have leftovers all week long!

Originally Posted by awlass

Im doing much better today.
I think i drank about 20 oz water today.. major progress.

I made a big mistake with food. I ate some fish last night, and 2 small pieces of chicken breast this morning. my surgery angel was concerned and asked me to check with the nurses at the surgeons office, because i was confused about what i could eat (i was told, if it doesnt hurt, its ok... i guess doc meant about whatever "purees" dont hurt... haha) and they sent me a packet showing me to stay with purees/mashed for 6 weeks... oops !!!

no harm no foul.. im feeling so much better now though. lots more energy!

gotta love my refried beans!!! i feel that for the next 5 weeks i will live on nothing but refried beans, lentils, poached eggs, and cottage cheese.. totally doable i think

Your water intake really concerns me. You need to try to increase that significantly or you really risk dehydration and hospitalization. In the immediate post op period water is much more important than food. You'll be fine if you don't eat much, but if you don't drink much your body starts to shut down.

My fave puree was ff refried beans, a spoon of salsa, a pinch of cheese and a squish of avocado. It sounds like a lot, but really it was like 2 ounces of food. Also I loved greek yogurt. And cream of wheat (at that point in the game the carbs are incidental).

So let's focus on how you can get that water in... Do you have a bottle with you at all times? Drinking constantly? 20 ounces is a decent start, but you NEED to get at minimum 64 oz of water - or 4 regular sized bottled waters.

[Chrissykin]

I got approved

Now I have to wait for the surgeons office to get the letter and we will schedule.

[Izzybeff]

Originally Posted by Chrissykin

I got approved

Now I have to wait for the surgeons office to get the letter and we will schedule.

Congrats!

[Healthy and Happy]

woohoo!!!

[emily1965]

Originally Posted by Chrissykin

I got approved

Now I have to wait for the surgeons office to get the letter and we will schedule.

Woohoo!!! Congrats!

[Maryposa]

Congrats, Liz!

[Chrissykin]

Thanks everyone.

I am a little irritated in that my ins will mail the approval to the surgeon. I talked to the coordinator today and she said the second week in July is filling so now it looks like the third week of July.

Who mails anything in this day and age?

[Savannah]

Originally Posted by Chrissykin

I got approved

Now I have to wait for the surgeons office to get the letter and we will schedule.

Congrats on getting approval!!!

[Savannah]

Originally Posted by Hot Tamale

Hi All - No time to do more than a drive-by. I am soooo stressed about work right now - I have about 2 hours of work to do that I brought home - and I HATE to bring work home. All this stressing has me stress eating - I slip back so easily into this coping mechanism. If I am eating I can't work...so I keep finding things to eat! Actually, I have been doing really good with it, but the grazing and eating too many times a day has to stop! I will be back to my regular stress levels come Thursday evening...I will try to white-knuckle most of this week and avoid the high-carby stuff for sure.

Hope you're all figuring out ways to make things work for you, too. Figuring out our weaknesses is the first step in addressing them.

I didn't walk today (I know, shocker!), but I kinda knew I couldn't and I actually think my knees especially could use the rest. I will walk/work out tomorrow, however. I actually wish I could do it every day (and usually do) because I do feel really good when I'm done - and sometimes even when I am doing it! Now that's progress.

Hugs to all of you, especially our recovering girls! How are you doing? Updates, please!

HT-- I can hardly believe you didn't walk gotta take care of those knees though!! So sorry to hear you are so stressed from work. Me too I unfortunately reach for the food too! I have actually been noticing a big increase in my anxiety level! so yesterday I did turn to some not so good choices, but trying to be gentle with myself instead of realy beating myself up.
(easier said than done though I'm afraid) today had been super clean & dealing with the anxiety! Hang in there!!

Originally Posted by awlass

Im doing much better today.
I think i drank about 20 oz water today.. major progress.

I made a big mistake with food. I ate some fish last night, and 2 small pieces of chicken breast this morning. my surgery angel was concerned and asked me to check with the nurses at the surgeons office, because i was confused about what i could eat (i was told, if it doesnt hurt, its ok... i guess doc meant about whatever "purees" dont hurt... haha) and they sent me a packet showing me to stay with purees/mashed for 6 weeks... oops !!!

no harm no foul.. im feeling so much better now though. lots more energy!

gotta love my refried beans!!! i feel that for the next 5 weeks i will live on nothing but refried beans, lentils, poached eggs, and cottage cheese.. totally doable i think

oh Awlass oops happens your purees sound good!! Hope you can increase those fluids too! I used a measured water bottle & that helped me like Heather said you don't want to get dehydrated!!

[emily1965]

Awlass.....get those fluids up. I've known people that used a 1 oz med cup and made sure they drank 1 oz every 15 minutes. Do whatever you have to do to get it down. It is THE most important thing right now.

[myyellowstang]

Originally Posted by emily1965

Awlass.....get those fluids up. I've known people that used a 1 oz med cup and made sure they drank 1 oz every 15 minutes. Do whatever you have to do to get it down. It is THE most important thing right now.

This. THE most important thing. How's it going today?

[myyellowstang]

I had an awesome run yesterday. Awesome. I was *grumble*grumble*grumble* not wanna all the way to the gym, but once I changed and got started it was all good. Sweaty and runny - made me feel all better. I did a walk/run cycle for 3.2 miles since it'd been a little while since I ran, but I didn't want to completely slack off so I increased my speed. Walking was a 4.5 and running was a 6.0 (although I pushed it to a 6.5 for a couple of minutes - thought I was going to die!). I ate well until dinner when I had to cook up a loaf of cheese bread that needed to be used up. I ate a couple slices, which would have been fine except it was baked with pepperoni and cheese in the dough. So I had too many calories of bread with a side of roasted squash for dinner. And a 100 calorie sf fudgecicle for dessert. I topped out at about 1800 calories for the day, which is fine but I wish I had made better dinner choices. Today's another day and a whole new set of choices.

Was planning on running again after work today, but had some issues with my daughter come up and it looks like we have to have a come to Jesus meeting with her tonight. I'm not looking forward to it.

[Melodye]

Hello all. I have been doing good. I am still on liquids til next week.Then I get to progress to soft or pureed.I stay full all the time with drinking 60 grams of protein shake and drinking my 60 ounces of fluids. I have been walking for my exercise. Doctor said I could go back to my water aerobics tomorrow, just for me to take it easy. I was surprised.
I have a question , DId any of you have trouble going to the bathroom while you were still on liquids? I haven't had a BM since last friday.For the last 3 days I have taken MIralax but it hasn't worked.

My weight is coming down everyday. Since leaving the hospital I have lost 16 pounds since my pre-op appointment.

Hope everyone is doing ok. I just wanted to drop by and see what was happening with everyone.

[myyellowstang]

I did. If you think about it you haven't had solids in a while, so there's probably not really anything solid to come out... I think I was 5-7 days before I had a bowel movement and even then it wasn't much of anything.

[Hot Tamale]

Sorry Guys, just another drive-by from me...

Melodye - I did - and still do have bathroom issues - especially when I was where you are now. I added benefiber and then stool softeners... Glad to hear you're doing so well with your liquids & take exercise a step at a time. Do not do too much too soon. Trust me, you have the rest of your life to do that!

Heather congrats on the run. I worked out yesterday, but not today. I have a HUGE deadline to meet - part of the reason for such a short post today from me... I will make up for it tomorrow and this weekend...

Eating is pretty good considering the stress I'm feeling. Not eating crap (passed on brownies, a dunkin donuts muffin as big as my head, and bunches of candy), but eating too many times... Also, water is okay, but could be better. By this time tomorrow most of the stress will be over with - I am looking forward to that!

You all take care and make the best choices you can to be/stay where you want to be!

Hugs!!!!!!!!

[Savannah]

Hi everyone!

Melodye-- I didn't have any issues with BR except from being on liguids for so long I had liquid BM"s for what seemed like forever sorry for TMI
Your loss is fantastic WTG!! fiber stuff makes going worse for me it seems since surgery. I just drink "like a fishy" heard that somewhere!! I also drink a powerade zero & the magnesium in it helps me go!!!

Awlass-- how goes the fluids today? if you like it try some powerade zero it has several flavors. I also used a med cup in the beginning & took 1/2 every 5 min
working myself up for the 1st week after surgery . now I pretty much drink like I used too.

Heather-- glad you enjoyed your run! Have fun with the kid sometimes I dread those meetings with the kid!!

HT-- Hang in there hopefully you will be relieved of the stress soon!

Everybody have a good evening!

[myyellowstang]

My BodyMedia Fit Link came in yesterday. I am already in love with it. Right now it tells me that I have burned 810 calories so far today. I told it via my phone app that I have comsumed 233 calories. It says I have had 6 minutes of "moderate" activity (I take the stairs at work and no minutes of vigorous activity. I've taken 440 steps (yup, about right since I've been at my desk all morning!).

I have a 580 calorie defecit for the day so far. This is the coolest thing. I just open up my phone app, push the button on my armband to link them and I can see real time data on my phone app.

I've got more to post but I have a phone conference in two minutes. Hopefully it will not be a long one!

[Savannah]

Heather,

Yay that contraption sounds really neat!! I keep forgetting to set my pedometer in the mornings, but so far today 1.5 miles just at work. Tired today from Benadryl for freakin' allergies I should get paid by the weather station my knee & back are killing me I predict rain

Hope you all have a nice evening!