Two Month Post Op Visit-Numbers, Numbers, and More Numbers

Today, I had my two month post-surgery office visit to Dr. Hoehn's office. One of the things I liked about the program at the Kansas City Bariatric Center when I compared it to other programs was their level of post-operative follow up care. For the first year, I'll have five post-op visits, including blood and lab work. Some of the other programs that I researched didn't have near that level of follow up, and since this is a relatively new procedure in the bariatric field, I thought it was important to have a doctor who wasn't going to forget who I was as soon as my check cleared.

I got to my appointment about 3:20, and was taken back about 3:40. First thing, I hopped on the scale. It's positively bizarre for me to be excited about getting on a scale, but there I was, on a scale, with a big smile on my face. As of today, I have lost a total of 63 pounds since July 7. That's 30 pounds just since my last doctor's appointment two months ago.

Next, one of the nurses took my blood pressure; 116/76. Perfect. Then, Dr. Hoehn's Physician's Assistant Tim came in to talk to me about my labs and how I was doing. My labs looked fantastic; my cholesterol is 139 which is down substantially from my pre-op numbers. Blood glucose, protein, calcium, B complex, everything looked great. We talked briefly about how I was feeling, and how important it was to get the vitamins in every day. He wants to see me again in four months, and that was it.

It occured to me as I drove home that there are a lot of numbers that define what we see as "good" and "bad". Numbers on a scale, a blood pressure cuff, a lab report; all of these numbers used to be pretty scary to me. I remember the first time I got lab results back, and my doctor had "concerns" about my numbers. I remember thinking, "This is the beginning of the rest of my life; bad numbers and concerned doctors."

I'm really glad I was wrong. :)

Who is this Girl??

I realized that I forgot to post my weight loss for the last week. As of today, I have lost 60 pounds. 60 pounds. I cannot even wrap my head around that number.

When I hit 50 pounds down a month or so ago, I began thinking about a way to commemorate the milestone. In the past, I celebrated accomplishments with food so I thought about a non-food celebration for a long time.

Some of the other bloggers I read have gone on trips, bought new clothes, learned to salsas dance or even gone sky-diving. All of those are great, but they just don't feel like me. So, I went with something a little more personal. And a LOT more permanent.

Yep, I got a tattoo. It says Strength, and its the first of three words that will eventually make a circle. I will get the other two words when I hit the second and third 50. I LOVE IT! I found a wonderful tattoo artist named Alli at Irezumi Tattoos here in Kansas City, and she did an amazing job. It didn't hurt nearly as much I had anticipated; the first 20 seconds or so were rough but then it was just annoying.

So, I've got ink. Hee.

Catching Up

It's been a week since I last posted, and I've got a lot to report!

Things are going pretty well. I'm still losing but it's slowed down to a more sustainable pace. I feel my energy level going up every day, and I've become pretty comfortable with food choices.

What I'm Eating:

I've definitely developed a routine in terms of daily eats.

Breakfast: high fiber oatmeal or an egg scrambled with a piece of turkey. I eat about 1/3 of the oatmeal and all of the egg.

Lunch: two ounces of turkey, a piece of babybel cheese and a slice of tomato. Or, sometimes I have a small amount of tuna or chicken salad.

Snack: Muscle Milk Lite for protein.

Dinner: Salmon or boca burger, or a piece of fish, or a scrambled egg.

Snack: two cucumber rounds with roasted red pepper hummus.

I have been eating out more but still manage to make pretty good choices. Half of a half of a turkey sandwich, or an egg white omelette usually does the trick.

What I'm Doing:

I have been shaking it up a bit exercise-wise. Still walking, and I must say, I'm kicking ass. I can do a lap in about a minutes, so thats about 20 minutes for 2 miles. Then, on cardio days, I do the eliptical for 10 minutes or a mile, whichever comes first.

Yesterday, I did the weight circuit for the first time. It took me forever to get through it because I wrote down the settings and weights for all of the machines. Hopefully, it will go a bit quicker next time. I am definitely feeling the workoout today; my ass is sore, and my arms are killing me. I realized that I have the upper body strength of a baby duck. So, I'm starting slow, just about 30 pounds on each machine. Hopefully, it will get easier.

What I'm Wearing:

The clothing situation is starting to get interesting. Things are definitely looser; I was walking into work the other day with my hands full, and almost lost my pants. Same thing almost happened at the gym. Stretchy skirts and dresses work well; they're big, but they still look okay.

Now for the good part. I had a flip flop blowout this weekend so I went by Old Navy to get a new pair. As usual, I walked in and headed straight for the flip flop wall, not pausing to look at any clothes. Now, this is where my friends and followers who haven't had weight issues might get a bit confused. Old Navy didn't carry my size, so I never really bought clothes there. Sure, a men's sized sweatshirt here or a men's sized teeshirt there, but I didn't even look in the women's section.

After I got my flip flops, I started to head to the registers when a pair of jeans caught my eye; they were dark blue, and super cute. Suddenly, I heard my mom's voice in my head, "Jennifer, you need to buy some new pants! Just go try some on; you're smaller than you think." See, I've hesitated to try anything new since I started losing. I just didn't want to be disappointed.

This time, though, I grabbed a pair of jeans in the biggest size they carry, and marched purposefully to the fitting room. I charged into a room. I threw the jeans down, took off my cargo pants, and shoved my feet in to the new jeans, all in about three seconds. I slid them over my thighs; hmm, they weren't tight. Over the hips; whoa, they went right up. No jumping or squeezing or wiggling. Then, miracles of miracles, I zipped and buttoned them right up. BUTTONED THEM RIGHT UP. I stared at myself in the mirror, and then the biggest, brightest, happiest smile I've had on my face in a very long time spread across my cheeks. I had on a pair of jeans from a normal store. A pair of jeans without a W on the tag. Normal jeans. It was then that I realized that THEY WERE TOO BIG. Not only was in a normal pair of jeans, but I was in a normal pair of jeans that WERE TOO FREAKING BIG!!!

So, it was at this point that I went into a semi-delirious state or ecstacy. I got a cart (A CART) and just starting throwing stuff in it and taking it to the fitting room. I started with another pair of jeans in a size smaller; they fit! Then I thought, maybe its a fluke, just these particular jeans. So I grabbed one pair in all six styles, and they all fit! It all fit! Sweaters, tshirts, coats, skirts, khakis all fit! I went crazy; there were tshirts and fleece jackets and jammy pants aflyin'!

Don't worry; I came out of my fugue before I got the charge card out. I put everything back, except the jeans. Of course, those went home with me. I need to get them altered; they're too long. And when I do, I am going to rock those jeans bigger and badder than Springsteen on the cover of Born in the USA.

Three Month Progress Pictures

Yesterday, I took a set of three month progress pictures. I cannot BELIEVE how quickly the time has flown by!

Again, I don't see that much of a difference, but that's okay. My psychologist says that's completely normal; a lot of people report that they don't see much of a difference until one day, they look in the mirror and are amazed at what they see. He calls it turning a corner. He also suggested laying off the pictures and the mirrors, and concentrating more on how I'm feeling as opposed to how I'm looking.

Anyway, here you go. The first pictures are from the day I began the pre-op liquid diet, the second from a month ago, and the third from yesterday.

Adventures in Dining Out

So as more time goes by, I find myself eating out in restaurants more and more; pre-surgery, I was really worried about missing out on celebrations, get togethers and such. However, just like everthing else, I've done my research, read a lot of other people's experiences, and I've been able to adapt pretty well.

For examples, this morning after church with friends, we headed to a lovely little bistro for brunch, Cafe Europa. Now, in the past, "brunch" has meant a two hour baccanalia buffet with everything from biscuits and gravy to fried chicken. Oh, and bloody marys.

Today, I ordered a spinach and goat cheese frittata, made with egg whites, and got some fruit instead of potatoes. It was delicious, and full of protein, and very satisfying. And, I took more than half home for dinner. Best of all, the meal wasn't about the food; it was about three friends, sitting around a table and enjoying each others' company.

Here's what was left over:

Now, it hasn't all been puppies and rainbows in terms of navigating restaurants. Here are a few things I've noticed:

1. Waiters FREAK OUT if you don't want anything to drink. Usually, they will still fill my water glass when I'm not looking. Drinking with meals tends to fill up the pouch with water, so there's not enough room for protein foods so we're encouraged not to drink anything 30 minutes before, during or after a meal. Today at brunch, the waitress got all discombobulated when I asked the hostess to take my water glass when she seated us.

2. Pretty much without fail, every waiter or waitress has asked me a least once during ameal if there was anything wrong with my food. When you only consume about a third of your food, people assume you don't like it, no matter HOW MUCH YOU TELL THAT YOU DO. At a Japanese restaurant last week, after the waitress asked me three times if my chicken teriyaki was okay and I told her it was delicious but I was full, she went back into the kitchen and brought out the chef to aske me what the problem was. I think that they got a little pissed at me.

3. If you forget your boxed up leftovers on the table, as I frequently do, the waitresses will chase you to the car with it. Especially after you've told them repeatedly that the food was delicious.

4. Eggs don't reheat well.

That's about it for now. I'm sure I'll have plenty of other observations along the way.

Oh, and just for fun, here's a picture from Friday night at First Fridays in the Crossroads. It's a great art crawl that happens every first Friday of the month in the gallery district here. A group of us met for a cocktail (or a water, in my case) at Hamburger Mary's; unfortunately, one drink turned into a lot of drinks and we didn't make it out to see any art. But, we did have a GREAT time. http://www.crossroadskc.com/

Six Week Update

Yesterday was my six week surgiversary. As of today, I am 54 pounds down. To give you perspective, here are some things that weigh around 54 pounds:

1. A 4 year old dalmation
2. A second grader
3. Three full bags of groceries
4. 1 and a half sets of golf clubs
5. A bushel AND a peck of apples
6. Two Trek 33 mountain bikes

Imagine any one of those things strapped to your ass. In addition to playing hell finding a good fitting pair of pants, life in general would be pretty sucky.

I started working out in earnest last week; I was finally released for exercise more strenuous than walking. I've been power walking two miles a day; I can do two miles in about 20 minutes. I just starting doing a mile on the eliptical on Monday. So, I think that has contributed greatly to the bump this week. It is incredible how much easier exercise is with 54 pounds off.

BTW, I really love the gym I joined; Matt Ross Community Center. It's super affordable, close to home, never overly crowded and everyone is very normal. No roided out gym weirdos, or Workout Barbie wannabes: just normal folks, getting their workout on. Like me. :)