My Morning Cocktail

This is how I start my mornings. I get a 16oz cup of water and all my pills and gummies. I take my pills first (Prilosec for my antiacid, Celebrex for arthritis) with  a few sips of water and I eat my gummies - two multivitamin gummies and two vitamin C gummies. Then I have my morning protein shake. Afterward I eat my calcium chew (the red square - raspberry flavor calcium citrate chew from Bariatric Advantage) and pop the sublingual B-12 tablet under my tongue. Once that's done I finish drinking my water.

It may not look very appetizing, but it's really not bad. I kind of like having a "routine" to start my morning and it helps me make sure to remember to take everything. I usually take another 1-2 of the calcium chews throughout the day (you can only absorb so much at once). Those are the most recent addition - it took me a while to find a calcium citrate supplement I liked. I recommend them, taste sort of like a laffy taffy. I do NOT like the chocolate ones, but my hubby does.

The challenge is traveling. I have to take all of this with me, which isn't so bad, but remembering your "routine" when you are totally out of your element and sleeping weird hours and super busy... well, that's harder. I also won't have my protein shakes because there's really no way to take them with me. I might try to take powder, but I haven't decided yet.

I am going to do my best to do everything right on this trip :)

I Don't Make the Decisions Here...

"Sleevie" does. That's my sleeve/tummy. It's weird, I just had a great workout (swimming) and I was soooo hungry. Nothing at home appealed to me so I picked up some tuna and some hard boiled eggs from the gym cafe to bring home with me. I dished out maybe 2-3oz of tuna on my plate and a flatbread cracker. Also 1 hard boiled egg. I was able to eat only about 1/3 the tuna and the egg. Interesting, as the amount I put on my plate would typically be what I would eat.

So apparently my tummy has shrunk a little. I wasn't able to eat that much yesterday either... apparently the stuck pork issue on Sunday and not eating hardly anything that day has shrunk my capacity a little... I'll take it!!!!! I could really use that help. I listen to Sleevie and I never eat more that what Sleevie says to eat (unless it's on accident)... so hopefully my capacity will stay smaller for a bit!

My Motivational Poster

Ian and I had a talk in the car about how we will never be vegetarians (no offense to those who are, we just couldn't do it). Ian says, "we're meant to be omnivores" and I said.... "mmm.... om nom... you know what? I'm an OM NOM- ivore! I eat all things OM NOM!!!!" We had a good laugh and later he said I should make a motivational poster and he found me the perfect photo :) This makes me LOL. ;)

In other news, 205.4 today. Finally the scale is moving. WORKOUTS mean WEIGHT LOSS???? WHO KNEW??? Hahaha of course I am kidding, I am just so thankful my back is allowing me to keep up with more exercise right now. I'm off to the gym for some swimming today!

Whew

Started off my day with Leslie Sansone... did 2 miles from one of her walking videos and then did her yoga video. Good start to my day!! I didn't eat much yesterday with food being stuck, but did manage to have two good meals in the later part of the day. Now I'm off to the chiropractor... trying to keep up on ALL the right thing for my back! I have a trip to Chicago coming up this weekend and I want to be feeling good. It doesn't help that hubby is sick and I think I'm getting it :( no no no, go away cold!
I am also going to try VERY hard to eat well on my Chicago trip. It's hard because I don't have much in the way of my own food, have a hard time actually eating anywhere near 6 times a day, and most meals are eaten out. But I will make a game of it and do my best. I do plan to enjoy a chili dog while I am out there, but other than that I will be good :) Hoping to get lots of activity too.

I really want to be 199 by May 3rd which is when my 1 year doctor appointment is scheduled... although my one year will actually be May 20th. So as long as I make it by May 20th I'll be happy, but if I could make it by May 3rd I would just be ecstatic. I KNOW I can do it if I just keep up on my exercise and watch my food choices!!

Food Stuck

I am going through a crappy morning here. I have food stuck... and I didn't even eat today yet! Last night's pork dinner must have gotten stuck in there somewhere. Now I have eaten a little too much meat before and had a "stuck" feeling for a couple of hours. But last night I never felt full or stuck, I felt like I ate the perfect amount. I never felt uncomfortable at all. When I awoke this morning I noticed I still felt full - not overly full but just felt like I had food in my stomach. That has never happened before. Then when I drank some water to take my morning pills, and went to start doing my yoga workout, I started to feel REALLY OVERLY full and uncomfortable - just from those few sips of water! It got so bad I had to stop yoga and hang out in the bathroom for an hour to get myself to throw up. I am very bad at throwing up, it takes amazing willpower to get myself to do it. I managed to, but everything that came up was all liquified.... nothing solid, and I still feel like something is stuck. I managed to go finish my yoga workout but I have yet to drink anything else, I'm scared!
I texted a fellow surgery friend and she suggested drinking a hot liquid... so right now I am brewing a cup of tea that I plan to drink VERY slowly and carefully. The hope is that it will help relax the muscles and dissolve the stuck food.... wish me luck and I will report back on how it goes!

Update: One cup of tea helped, but when I ate a yogurt it still had trouble going down. I waited awhile, had another cup of tea and tried to drink it all while it was really hot. A couple hours later I attempted to eat soup and a string cheese and it all went down fine. Felt SO GOOD to finally be able to really eat. Everything is okay now :)

10 Month Update

Well, I don't have a photo this time but my weight at 10 months post-op is 206.6 lbs. That is a loss of 103.4 lbs so far. Finally a little bit of movement. When I started my 'pouch test' type of diet last week I was back up to 210, so I am very happy with this much movement downward. I am not doing the all liquids all day this week, but I am really watching my food a lot better now.

I also want to update about the back pain situation. I am doing a lot better. I think the cause of it was me not going to the chiropractor for over 3 months. I am going again and doing better now. I also had an appointment with my doctor because I was concerned about the sudden acute pain. Luckily after a series of questions he asked me, he was able to determine that I am not experiencing any nerve pain. My pain is all what he calls mechanical pain - it's being caused by my muscles reacting to my spine problems and tightening up on me. He says chiropractic and massage are the best treatments for me. He also prescribed me a muscle relaxant to help with all of the tightness I tend to get. So far I've been using them once a day during the day, and once at night to help me sleep more comfortably. He also prescribed me a pain medication which hopefully I won't have to use often - but will be good to have on hand if I experience the type of pain I was going through last week - it was awful!

The doctor also said he wants me to do more core strengthening exercises, paritcularly swimming and yoga. I'm on it. I started with a yoga video this morning. I already had one by Leslie Sansone and hadn't really used it before. It felt GREAT.. it stretched ALL of my trouble areas and I believe the strengthening I will get from it will eventually help me a LOT. Next week I hope to start doing some swimming and also continue with the yoga.

I only managed two workouts last week and one this week but now that my pain is under control I hope to do more. I have to be VERY careful. Although the worst pain has passed, when I overdo my activities I make myself hurt really badly. Still trying to find a good balance!!!

I don't have measurements or official photos this month - at this point i think I'll wait two more months until my one year to do the official stuff :)

However here are a couple photos of me from last weekend that show my current size:

And here's a quick refresher of the old me:

I'd say I'm pretty damn happy with how far I've come.

I would like to be 199 or lower for my one year on May 20th. Lately I've lost so slow, but that is just 7.5 lbs and I have two months. I want to at least meet that goal and hopefully exceed it :)

Snowshoeing Part 2

Photos from our 2nd snowshoeing trip! Enjoy!