2 Weeks down, the rest of my life to go

It has now been two weeks since my gastric bypass and I have lost 28 lbs since then (bringing my total since August to 83 lbs). I actually lost 3 lbs between yesterday and today. I am up to the point of eating pureed food....yum. It actually isn't too bad. The first "real" food I had was canned tuna w/ low fat mayo. Man did that taste good (but could have used some relish). Tonight, I had some canned chicken and fat free refried beans mixed together. It was good, but I ate a bit too much so was in terrible pain for a while. BTW - the too much was 1/2 cup..I can't even fit a 1/2 cup in my stomach now.

I am gradually adjusting more and more, but I am still having trouble with my sleep schedule and energy level. After not being able to sleep last night, I finally slept from about 2am-8am. I still went to work, but was getting really run down so I was only there for 5 hours. Monday I pulled the full 8 1/2, but Tuesday I just couldn't do it. Of course, work is a bit extra stressful since the lead for the other project left and so I now have two major projects to watch over, and two interns to help out, plus my own coding, oh, and I should start my promotion input as well....so yeah....too much going on at work for my first week back after surgery :-/

I hope to be able to get back to water aerobics next week, but I need to wait for my surgery scars to finish healing up, and the two larger ones are taking longer than I would like. I think it is partially because of their location because of how much that area of my stomach flexes and stretches when I move around, plus they were the largest to begin with. The others are mostly healed already.

While the 28lbs is great progress, I have a long way to go, and I really need to get more exercise in. With it being so freaking hot outside, that is difficult especially since I can't to go to water aerobics. I need to order a bike (that will support my weight) but I keep putting it off because that is about $500 plus, I probably wouldn't use it that much until it starts to get a bit cooler. I am still carrying around too much insulation to be comfortable outside in this heat.

So I guess that is all that is going on right now. I will try to keep writing on a regular basis to chronicle my journey. Oh, and for the past couple of days, I have been wearing polo shirts that haven't fit me in probably close to 2 years! WIN!

10 Days out

I am now 10 days out from surgery. I am getting really tired of the liquid diet of course. Starting Monday/Tuesday I can start eating pureed food (fun fun). Our Blender is going to get a real workout then. Due to a combination of how little I can consume, plus the malnutrition component of the surgery, and what I have to eat, I am losing about 1-2 lbs / day right now. I know this pace won't keep up, but it would be nice. I have now lost 22 lbs since the day before surgery, and ~ 75 in total since August 2010. I have a long road ahead of me, but I hope I can continue to progress as I have been so far. August 3rd will be my first real appointment back at the doctor's office since the surgery (I had to stop in last Friday to have my drain removed) I am still having some discomfort when I am trying to sleep, so that hasn't been working out well, but the last time I used any of the pain killers was Wednesday night before going to sleep, so I am making progress there. Monday morning I will be back to the daily grind, so I guess I should enjoy this weekend as much as I can.

Oh, I might start using Google+ more than Facebook because I like the ability to share different posts with the different "circles" of people. If you need an invite, let me know. I still plan on tweeting and blogging too. I guess that is all for now.

Post Gastric Bypass Life

Many of you who know me know that I had a gastric bypass surgery last week. More specifically, i had the Roux En-Y gastric bypass. The portion of my stomach still in use is approximately the size of a large egg. I am still in the diet adjusting phase post-op (and will be for approximately 6 weeks) and am still sore from surgery, but I am starting to adjust already.

What was the surgery like? Well, I couldn't tell you for sure, but my surgeon apparently did a good job, because I have been able to move a lot easier than all of my family expected the day of surgery in the hospital and since then as well. I have still have pain and last night was the first night I slept in bed rather than in a recliner, but I am getting better every day.

So, what can I currently eat? Not much. The first 48 hours after release I was on a clear liquid diet (fun times). Now I am on a "full liquid" diet for 10 days total. No Sugar Added Carnation Instant Breakfast was what I had yesterday morning. Small curd low fat cottage cheese, sugar free jello and pudding, vitamin water zero, power aid zero, and protein supplements. This morning, I had 1 scoop of strawberry flavored GNC Whey protein with 4 oz of water. Tasted very similar to strawberry Quick I guess.

I plan on blogging more through this experience to document my weight loss, my challenges, and any good ideas I come across. For now, I am going to relax some more.