Feeling better after adding new foods.

I went to my facebook bariatric group and asked about my concerns about my eating being too focused on just protein and water. I was given some good suggestions and after going shopping and buying foods that are good for me, I am feeling much better:

Clearer in mind, less angry, less feeling like being cheated out of life. Calmer. And I dropped 4 pounds over the weekend, which was totally unexpected.

I even had a poo that was normal with no bleeding. Praise the Lord!

I swam today for 20 minutes at a good hard clip, swimming freestyle laps and plan a walk for later. I am going to walk 20 minutes, rather than the 45 minute death march that I had been doing.

I had been so worried that I would mess up my progress that I had forgotten that the main success of the sleeve is that even though we still eat, we eat much less. So I was able to eat a bit of cereal with some unsweetened cashew milk and a sprinkle of stevia and be ok.

I was able to have a Fiber one brownie and be ok.

I think that this increased fiber is why I had a decent experience in the bathroom without bleeding. 

Feeling Better After Changing Diet

I had been so down. I was eating pure protein for the past two weeks. About 100 g of pure protein. Now, keep in mind that I am not like your average Joe. I have diverticulosis, which is potholes in the colon, too much protein can kill me.

Yesterday I added the following to my diet at about 6 pm:

1. some fruit from a can (no syrup)
2. some raisin bran cereal with a little milk (I am dairy sensitive, but decided to chance it).
3. a couple of pork rinds (my first time eating them ever) with some spinach dip.

This morning I had the first natural poo that I have had since my surgery. The first one unassisted by miralax or stool softeners.

I had been so fried for the past week or so. Miserable, tired, cranky and my diverticular pain was back.

Yesterday I swam 30 minutes of hard freestyle laps and burned about 525 cals, but had only taken in 328 cals of pure protein for the day. I felt like I was going to die.

Eating some carbs, even thought they probably were not optimal really helped me. I took in a total of 884 cals and expended 525 on the swim.

And I was down today on the scale.

I decided to skip the morning protein shake and try to see how I do getting my protein from food, which is what my doctor recommended on Monday. She also told me to balance out my eating, but I was too afraid to stray from  the pure protein. She was the one who suggested the raisin bran.

So, this morning, instead of egg beaters (which have so much crap in them) I had Egglands Best Egg Whites with a sprinkle of cheese and some diced ham and about an hour before that, I had a fiber one bar and right now I am having COFFEE. Black coffee.

I decided to skip the morning protein shake and try to see how I do getting my protein from food, which is what my doctor recommended on Monday. She also told me to balance out my eating, but I was too afraid to stray from  the pure protein. She was the one who suggested the raisin bran.

What?

I hear Angels singing.

Scale Obsessed

I have gone into the scale obsessed mode. I have been on the scale so many times in the past two weeks that I can't even count them. Many, many times per day in the morning. If I pee, then I get undressed and get on the scale. Same with other bodily functions.

So I made a little chart to plot my weight on a weekly basis. I took it all the way back to my highest weight and then went forward to my pre-surgery diet and up to today. I made lines to indicate each month and also circled period dates.

It showed me - in a much better way than my phone app could -- the progression that I have gone through since I started thinking about surgery. I feel like I am able to now put the scale aside until each Monday and just let it be.

I am not going to lose 20 pounds in a month. That was a one time thing, I think. It would be nice, but it's not reality. 

I did have a couple marks where I got the whole period thing wrong and had to cross it out. I got confused from my app as to what indicated a period and a little flower icon that I guess indicates ovulation.

I am perimenopausal, so periods are very random. I am also going back to drinking my water with no crystal light in it. I need to get back to plain water. My tastes might not be back to normal, but I need to just get off of the sweet chemicals. I hate eating/drinking things with artificial sweeteners.

On the exercise front, I have gotten to the point where I can pound out a good 2-3 mile walk in a half hour. I am still short of breath on the hills, but I am making them now without stopping, which is nice.

A big day, my final weigh in.

Today at 3:30 PM I have to be at the hospital for my final weigh in on the six month insurance mandated diet of 1400 calories.

By the way, 22 days to go until my VSG surgery! But if I flub this weigh in, they will make me do another month of dieting!

It has been a long time since I started this, it started in July after my GI surgeon told me that he needed me to investigate the sleeve, because I needed to lose 100 pounds before having a bowel resection to help my recurrent bouts of diverticulitis.

So here I am at the final test. And this week has been hard. I have stayed within my calorie range, but I lost my mobility again when I hurt my back snow blowing. I was unable to walk upright for four days and only just able to walk for the last two. No swimming, no shopping, no exercise.

My eating has been ok, but the medicine that they put me on is very constipating. Constipation and a weigh in do not exactly go hand in hand. On Thursday I was up to 270 from 261 and it was all colon weight.

Since then I have been pushing fluids and eating foods that will "move the mail".

So, say a prayer, if you are so inclined and I will come back after my appointment and let you know how I did.

Can I weigh in wearing a bathing suit, I wonder?

Update: After my short swim (recuperating from a back ache) I shaved. My Legs. I mean, it's WINTER, but I shaved my legs. That had to take off an ounce or two. 

UPDATE:  I weighed in at 261, which is the lowest that I have weighed in YEARS. I was thrilled! It was at least four pounds less than I thought it would be. The staff was super supportive and cheered me on. Happy!

My week so far.

I weighed in at the beginning of the week and had a startling gain, which made me question everything. I wanted to put it off as just water weight from a sneak attack period or the fact that the weigh in took place in the evening and I had been eating all day.

But I had to come to terms with the fact that my eating had really sucked lately. Every since the week before Halloween. Darn these holidays.

So I have mentally kicked my own butt and gotten back in the game. My dietician told me to eat fruits and veggies instead of sweets and that is what I have been doing. I am also really working much harder on keeping myself to 1400 calories than ever before. I have not made it every day, but I am way closer.

Tuesday I blew it, Wednesday I was under 1400, Thursday I was at 1500 and Friday I was on target again. Today I am doing well.

I have been packing my lunch daily, even if I am staying home. It helps me eat better during the long part of the day. I also bought some PB2 - google that stuff. Man, it is good when dipped into with baby carrots.

I know it's not a Reese cup. But it satisfies.

Not me. Do some squats today!

I have started doing some squats in the day - only 20 in the am and 20 in the pm, but I can REALLY feel the burn.

I am not doing squats that go very low, but I am getting my butt down parallel to knee level. My swim was interesting, because I could really feel the thigh burn. I felt stronger even though it hurt a bit.

My sleep is better, I am loving the CPAP. It has really worked for me. Sure, things bug me about it, but overall, I am not having headaches, I am sleeping better and I am sure that there is a lot less stress on my heart. I have dreams now that do not haunt me into the morning.

So that is where I am today.

Consult, EKG & Chest X-Ray -- DONE.

A-OK

Today was my appointment with the surgeon. I am six weeks into the five month long insurance diet (twenty weeks). That leaves 14 weeks yet to come.

I went in and was weighed. Since it was my pre-poop weight, I was 272. That was a little disappointing, but they said not to worry, since it all helps the insurance process.

We talked about my reasons for surgery and I was told how things would go from here, what supplements they require and such. I was given orders for four tests, an EKG, a chest x-ray, a physiological exam and an endoscopy. I was also given orders to see a nutritionist at month four of the diet.

My endoscopy is scheduled for Halloween, which is eleven days from now, and I took the other orders down and got the ekg, which literally took two minutes, and the chest x-ray, which took a little longer.

I STILL have not gotten the hint to my brain that on days when I am out I have to take a lunch with me. I was STARVING by the end of the appointments and wanted to swim, so I stopped out to a Sheetz station and got a plain turkey and cheese sandwich, a packet of mustard and a banana and ate that in the car. I took most of the bread off, leaving just the meat, cheese and mustard.

I am glad that I ate before I swam. I did a good thirty minutes of laps in the pool and got home just in time for the kids. Tomorrow I am waiting here in the morning for the dishwasher repair guy, so I will try to get some housework done. Then I will swim.

I think I would like to get one of those cute bento boxes and use that for my snacks when I am out. I think I would like that.

The doctor was pleased that I had already done the sleep study and some of the other things. I would say things are progressing nicely. If I can just keep the diverticulitis from flaring during this time before surgery, I will be a happy camper.

Weigh In (insurance required diet) & Oreos are Satan.

Last night was the LifeStyle Class, which is the dietetic/exercise supervised diet that my insurance requires before bariatric surgery. I was nervous, because I knew I had fallen off the wagon several times.

I weighed in five pounds less than my first weigh in, but I skipped wearing a bra and took off my shoes AND my bluetooth ear piece. Yeah, I am just a little obsessive. I started out at 280 pounds and am down to 269 pounds.

Yeah ME! 

The focus of the LifeStyle class was on good snacking and on getting exercise every day, even if it's just moving more: taking the steps rather than an elevator, parking further away from stores or work and moving more at home.

The support group meeting afterward was about exercise. It's kind of weird, for a support group, because we sit in an auditorium and they do not introduce the members to each other. It's all about whatever program is going on for that week.

Personally, I would rather talk with the members and get some idea of how they have done since surgery. I guess I will look into whether or not there is another support group (other than Facebook groups) in our area.

But this meeting was excellent. Molly was the speaker and she is an exercise guru who is really fun. During her presentation, she had us get up five times to do three exercises (a set each). By the end of the presentation, we had done 50 arm lifts, 100 leg kicks and 100 side bends without really even feeling it. I want to take her class. It's once a week at the hospital.

So that's it for now. Down five pounds. I am going to try to stop eating the darned Oreo cookies, or maybe step down to regulars ones from the double stuff. I  had originally been eating mega stuff vanilla Oreo and although those are definitely the better ones, it's just too caloric.

Here's the breakdown - strictly calories, in case anyone else is interested:

Vanilla Oreo Cookies Regular Filling:  63 calories each
Double stuff  Vanilla Oreo Cookies      75 calories each
Vanilla Oreo Cookies Mega Stuff:        90 calories each

Now if we assume that the cookie portion (which I don't like) is the same in each cookie, we can extrapolate that the "stuff" portion is roughly 20 calories (or less) in each cookie.

The Algebra of the Filling:

Total Calories in Mega Stuff cookies = M

Total Calories in Regular cookies = R

Total Calories in Doublestuff cookies = D

Amount of "double filling" = X

Amount of "regular filling" = Y

M - R = X

D - R =  Y

You didn't know there would be math, did you?

90 - 63 =  27 (X)

75 - 63 =  12 (Y)

We don't really know how much stuff they put in a double stuff, so I am going to assume that it is between 12 and 27 calories and call it twenty.

You know what, I can deal with 20 calories. I am going to ditch the cookie and just eat the stuff with my coffee. 

I had been eating eight double stuff, which is 600 calories, roughly half of my allowance for the day. If I just have the filling of one, which is all that I crave with my black coffee (they just go together somehow) then that is 20 calories.

I am hoping to just break the whole damned habit. I never liked the cookies until my husband suggested that I dunk them. One addiction at a time...

Is Your Dog Fat?

My dog is so fat.

Why do dogs get fat? Improper feeding, lack of exercise. Just like us.

Harmony Four Months Ago

We got our dog from a breeder who had bred Harmony too much and wanted to get rid of her. Getting her off of her high calorie food was hard, transitioning her to a senior dog food and controlling her eating (no scraps or human food) was a long process.

Hmmm...sounds kind of like me: too much breeding (6 kids), eating crappy food...

Well, since I have needed a walking buddy, I got out the leash and Harmony and I were hardly able to walk ten minutes two weeks or so, ago. That was all just flat walking. No hills.

 Then it ended up being fifteen. And I added a hill.

Harmony pulls when we walk. But she pulls from behind. Walking her is like towing a flat bottomed boat down the side walk, fully loaded.

Then I set the alarm on my phone for 15 minutes. I wanted to walk 15 minutes before heading home.

That went pretty well, so I pushed the bar. I set the alarm to thirty minutes before we turn back.

Today we hit a milestone. For a brief and shining moment, Harmony was pulled out ahead of me!

Good Girl!!

 If you have a fat dog, you might have a fat YOU. I can't think of a better, more loyal workout partner.

Taking the Dog for a Drag.

Harmony

Harmony is old. She has bad hips and is nearly blind. Poor thing. She is also obese. She was a rescue from a breeding kennel where they tried breeding her until she was eight and when she wouldn't "take" they finally got rid of her. She has been ours for about two years.

Poor thing was on puppy chow forever, which really packed on the weight. Now we have transitioned her to an elder dog food and I walk with her several times a week. I wish I could say every day, but I am not there yet.

Usually, in the mornings, I let her out to pee. I don't leash her, because she pees and then comes right back. This morning she went trotting up the road and there I was in bare feet facing a stone driveway with Harmony out in the road.

I went after her and called her back and waved to the cars to stop the traffic. No more off leash time for Harmony.

Here is the thing, she is walking better now. She is still very slow and most times I have to encourage her to keep going. Today we walked the longest, thirty minutes. She was tired, I was tired. I am not much of a walker. More of a swimmer. Swimming is effortless for me. Weightless.

Walking burns a lot less calories than swimming, but I can't help but think that if walking is THIS hard for me, then I should be doing it more often.

I had thought of getting another dog, maybe with two it would encourage Harmony to move more. But maybe with two, Harmony would end up staying home and would not get any exercise. One is enough.

Harmony and I are both out of shape, but together maybe we can get things going better.

This is the way I feel after a walk.