04/29/10: Not What I Expected

Are you experiencing deja vu yet?

I never expected my little ol' blog about what I never expected to elicit such a response.  Good heavens alive!  I was sooo not expecting that.

Love it!

Meanwhile...here it is, 2:12 pm as I type, eating my first food for the day.  Just not hungry and the smoothie was..umm...not..."proper" today (love you, Husband!).  So I opted against it since I'm never hungry before 11am anyway and I just didn't feel like drinking something...not..."proper"...just for the sake of drinking something.  And figured without my smoothie I'd be hungry around 11, as usual...but here it is...2:15, now, and I was finally hungry...until I took about three bites...of chicken salad...then I was full.

Insane.  I have it sitting in front of me...hoping I'll get more in. 

Not complaining.  Not at all.  Not griping, and not bragging either.  Just surprised.  Very pleasantly.
So...in other news...hmmm.  It's gorgeous outside!  I have no work to do at work.  I have a class next week so I won't get any work until I get back.  So it's hard to be at work with nothing to do when it's so very gorgeous outside!

What else.  All bruising in ma bell-eh is gone!  I can't see any remnants of swelling anymore either. 

What else.  I'm tired of chicken salad.  At least the stuff we have.  It was soo good for awhile and now I want to make my own.  I can't wait for this stuff to be gone.

Should I buy a Bodybugg or a Gowear Fit?  Or should I buy a heart rate monitor?  They make one for swimming now.  So I could get that one and then a regular one, too, for everytime else - or maybe even a Gowear - I think I like that one better than the Bodybugg.  I think they would just be cool gadgets to have and might help me break plateaus when they do happen.  But I don't know that they are necessary.  What do you guys think?  I don't think they are necessary, I think, ultimately, using an online thing like Fitday (what I use) can tell me what's what...but I'm on the fence.  I mean...I want the gadget...I think...so what do you all think about the things...and what do you use, if you do?...and do you recommend anything or nothing or what you have?  If you recommend what you have, then what do you have?

What else.

I feel like me again.  No more insurance crap.  No more will I get banded/won't I get banded.  No more when-if-when.  No more waiting.  It's on with it. 

See...I'm kind of a nut.  Just ask my husband.  He'll tell you.  He says I made him a nut.  I think he just made me nuttier.  He's a nut, too.  He knows it, it's ok.  So together, we're nuts.  Well. My nutty self wasn't coming through in my blog cause I was so will I/won't I?  When?  But now...well...I DID!  And it was on 4/12/10 at 7:30am (at least I was taken into the OR around 7:20 and since I fell asleep, I don't really know when, so I'm presuming somewhere around 7:30 was when it started) .  But I tell you what.  I feel like me again.  The me that is, not that me that is chasing something.  So nutty!  But you know what I'm talking about...that whole stress thing...it's gone...I'm no longer stressed about the band...and it's nice.

Can I please eat some food!??!

Now what do I do?  Not enough protein...worrisome...I can drink water...I can eat...it does go down...not running into problems there...just don't want it...but that means...not enough protein...or calories...but protein is the bother.  I got plenty of stored calories.  I need the protein...don't want to lose muscle...want to gain muscle...and so I need protein.  It's like a drug.  I need it.  The rest of it...I got.  Calories galore.  Still plenty to pick and choose from.

Maybe I'll go shopping tonight.  I got a few gift cards, one of which might be expiring soon....and Husband is going to a baseball game with his buddy-ol'-pal...so I gots an evening to myself.  What do you do with such things?  I don't remember.  I want to walk.  Miles.  2, maybe 3.  I walked 1 last night.  It was nice, although chilly.  How is it chilly...in HOUSTON....in APRIL?  We should be getting humid already...and we aren't.  We are still in the 50's and even 40's at night.  Insane.  Like my eating...or my lack thereof...

This is probably enough nothing for the day.  Hope you're having a good Thursday!!!

Added at 3:35pm: Awww...someone just walked by my little cubby-hole and said "you are looking really good!"  I beamed AND blushed and I couldn't make the beaming smile go away.  And then she knew she did good.  AWWW!

04/28/10: Not what I expected

I feel like I'm taunting bandster hell to come and get me but I gotta blog this anyway.  I so totally did not expect any sort of restriction at this stage.

I thought I'd have surgery and get a little fill and that little fill, whatever it worked out to, would be enough to make a change but not enough to make a change.

I expected to still be able to eat.  Reasonably.  But eat.  I thought, if I put 4oz on my plate, I'll eat those 4oz and want more.  I thought, honestly, I'd be shooting for 6oz on my plate and I might be sated early on but towards the end of my month 1, it wouldn't work so well.  And I thought that towards the end of month one, I'd want 8oz.

I don't know that I had specific numbers tied to anything.  But I know that I expected the 4oz I knew I was to shoot for would probably not be enough.

I can't finish 4oz!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's insane!!!!!!!!!!

And it seems to be a 'you get 8-10oz for the day' thing, not 4oz per meal. 

So smoothie in the morning.  It's a slider.  It'll get in there although it does give a full feeling, to me, and keeps me satisfied for 4-5 hours.

Lunch = 4oz chicken or turkey salad.  Mon, for example, I could barely eat 1.5oz.  Yesterday, I wanted all 4.

Dinner = I'm actually putting 5oz on my plate.  Monday, when I barely touched lunch, I had 3oz pork, 1oz macaroni & cheese and 1oz broccoli.  I ate it all.  But I'd barely touched lunch.  And that was only 5oz and I was stuffed.  Not expecting that cause I was expecting bandster hell to be set in by now, right?  Then we have last night.  I served 3oz of chicken, 1oz of rice and 1oz of broccoli.  But I did eat my lunch.  I ate 1.5oz of chicken, 1 bite of the rice and .5oz of broccol.  I weighed what was left on my plate when I was stuffed and there was still 2.5oz there.  I ate 2.5oz for dinner and I was stuffed.

Again, worried about calories and protein, I turned to my Greek Yogurt - a slider - to get some protein in, later in the evening.

Yesterday ended up at 970 calories.  I am actually shooting for 1200...but I just can't seem to get there.  I so totally did not expect that!  Not now, anyway!

And then, it turns out, my hubby has been making the smoothies recently and I thought he was putting in two scoops of protein which would mean 52g of protein for the whole thing, aside from what we get from the Greek yogurt.  He gets 2/3 of what we make and I get 1/3.  Putting my recipe in sparkpeople, I should be getting 21g of protein with my smoothie.  But he was only putting in 1 scoop which means I've been way under on the protein.  So today we put the extra protein in.  And I was stuffed far quicker than I have been.  I have settled on 6oz of my smoothie and since I can drink it slow...it works.  I want the protein.  I'll take the rest of the good stuff that's in there, too.

This is really odd to me.  I mean, somehow, in reading all the blogs, I just expected bandster hell to start up pretty fast and play tricks on me.  Now, true, I can eat most anything I want.  My only no-no I've found so far is ribeye steak - but I have never eaten a solid diet of that, anyway.  So this is actually, truly nice to me.  I can eat anything I want, I am, this week anyway, choosing good things cooked healthily and I am just flat-out barely eating any of it.  I expected this time to be I can eat anything I want and I can eat a lot of it, too - maybe less than before, but still more than someone with true restriction.

And I have to admit this is what I want.  I don't want to get to the point where I am never hungry or where I am so restricted I have few options or where I have to drink to get protein (although somehow, I'm there).  I don't want to lose options.  I want to keep my options but have hunger at bay.  Surely this will fade and I'll see why I need another fill.  But so long as I'm like this, eating 3-4oz at a meal and feeling stuffed on that - and not having hunger return for 4-5 hours...I want to stay like this.

I have two weeks exactly until my first fill.  I will be so very curious to see what unfolds over the next two weeks.  I am losing.  I am settling on a Sunday weigh-in day and so won't update on what I've lost for the week until I weigh-in and take my measurements.  But every day this week, the scale has fallen.

And water.  Man.  Water is HARD!  I now have a rule that I have to drink one of my magic water bottles before I can have lunch.  Another through the afternoon.  Finish a third before I can have dinner.  But my desire for water is just not there.  And it's not that I want a soda or anything with sugar and/or calories or just anything else.  I just don't want it.  And that's bad!  So I'm doing this 'make myself drink by not letting myself have food until X happens' thing to try and get the water.  At least my water needs are falling, too.  :)  But I'm not getting what I need, that much I know.

On the other hand, I know that my bodily functions have swung way past normal again back to gushing.  So maybe I don't need the water.  :)

Kidding.  I know...I know...I need the water.

In other news...I finally felt like I was up to poking around the belly yesterday to actually feel the port for the first time.  I don't know what I was so scared of, I have been completely pain free since end of last week, only wanting Tylenol after working outside all day on Saturday.  So I felt around and felt it.  It's in there.  :)  Now I know exactly where it is.  I was taking a bath at the time of this exploration so I called my sweet hubby and he comes in. I grab his hand and put it there and he pokes around and pulls his hand back real quick while running out of the bathroom going "ewww....weird".  It was pretty cute.  But it's in there!  I was happy!

I knew it was in there.  Had no doubts.  I leaned forward Mon evening to open the gas tank and it got stuck on my ribs and kind of grinded around to get away from them.  So that wasn't so pleasant...and now that I know it does that, I can lean forward differently.

And that's what I know.  Hope y'all are having a good day!

04/27/10: Is this normal?

I am two weeks out from surgery.  I started with 1cc fill.  I would presume the swelling is less today than it was the day off surgery so I would suspect that 1cc is doing less work today than it was two weeks ago.  So how is it...that I am eating less food as time goes on?

This is insane.  I would think that 4oz would get harder and harder to satisfy me.  Instead, I'm finding that, like yesterday, I can barely even eat 2oz for lunch.  2oz.  Of food.  Altogether.  That's it.  And I was stuffed.  Put the fork down, can't eat another bite, will be in pain if I do, stuffed.  HOW?  Is this normal?

It's insane!

I'll take it.  But is this the band?  Is it hormones?  Is it my brain?  It's insane, whatever it is!

You know what I think one aspect of it might be?  I've really worked on the water for the last two days - last two being Sunday and then Monday.  And with my hydration levels returning to normal...my appetite is decreasing.  But is water really enough to make 2oz filling?  Crazy talk, I tell ya, crazy talk!

Here is what the band looked like about 40 minutes or so after surgery.  I am absolutely going crazy wanting to know what it looks like right now.  I believe that when they do the fills...they will start with an image and see where I am...and then fill accordingly to get me back to this.  You can see from this image that my surgeon was telling no lies when he said all he could give me was 1cc.  I could not imagine have 3cc's to start with if this is what I looked like, then, with 1cc.  I love this image.  I was not sure I cared to post this cause I did not think it really mattered.  But moreso than the images I posted imediately after surgery with the actual band around my actual stomach - this image really is stuck in my mind.  Anyway.  I believe that's how fills will work because that's what my nurse practitioner told me.  But who knows; I'll find out in a couple weeks.  I hope I can get copies of the before and after photos at the time of the fill - how awesome would that be for a scrapbook?

I'm a nut.  You're surprised?  We know this.  It isn't likely to change or even get better. 

Dinner proved to be just as interesting as lunch.  I ate about 4oz's total.  I also have been having a little cup of Horizon Organic Vanilla cream yogurt late in the evening with a bit of granola sprinkled in.  About 2oz of yogurt and 1oz of granola.  I actually had to make myself eat this because I was worried about the calorie count...but even more importantly, the protein count.  Because of my choices for the day and the amounts I was eating, I only got 44g of protein.  Not bad...but not great.  Not bad if you are going by the standard - get 60g a day.  Not good if you are doing what I am doing - calculating personal needs based on weight.  Currently - I need 85g.  So about half...not great at all. 

But surprisingly, even with only ~900 calories for the day - my energy was crazy high.  My husband could not get me to sit down!  It was kind of bizarre.  It was refreshing!!  It felt like me.  Up until around about the last year, or so, last year being last year - 2009 (as you know), I always had crazy high energy.  Run circles around my friends type energy.  The only place I typically ran into similar energy levels was with my family.  My almost 85 year old grandmother runs circles around a lot of 40 year olds.  I miss my energy.  I am loving that it's coming back already.  I know this isn't probably the time when it will set in and last - I know I'm still healing.  But to have a glimpse of it is just nice.  And I know that when I lose more weight, the energy will return for good.  And that will be nice!!!

So, one would expect, after eating only ~900 calories and running in circles last night that the scale might respond.  It did.  Down 2.5 from yesterday.  I think a downhill slide is on.  Don't know how long it will last - but I think it's on.  I do know that I'm in that part of my cycle where I don't eat much.  And I think coupling that time of my cycle with the band with how I'm feeling...it's just working out to a good place.  I know the water intake is helping.  I know the body functions are just about normal.  Not quite ready to declare it...but I know it's improving ten-fold.  I know that healing is being done and things are getting going.  And it all just feels good!  And I will take it for however long it lasts.  And I will hope and pray that I am cleared for weightlifting when I have my appt on May 12th!

Have a great day, y'all!

04/26/10: Odd sorts!!!

Woohoo!

NSV's!  My firsts!  And one is scale related but it's a so-not scale victory!  It's odd!

First.  A shirt I got from Kinzie about a month ago...I'm wearing it right now.  It's the pink one.  It was snug around the hips when I posted the photo of me in it.  IT'S SO NOT NOW!!!!  Woohoo!!!!!

Second.  And this one happened first so I shoulda said it first but I'm a nut like that.  I got on the scale yesterday.  I think I have a weird take on the scale.  And since you know me and all - I can't just get right to the point, I gotta give the background and the buildup before I tell you the good news.

I have a spreadsheet - I shared it previously and will again when it has more to tell.  In my spreadsheet I am tracking my weight, chest, waist, hips, thighs, calves, biceps and forearms.  I have my little columns with my little mathematical cells telling me how many inches lost altogether and then in this week, as well as weight lost altogether.  And there are conditional formatting rules applied so that when certain magic numbers are reach, the cell highlights with my fave color.  In case I forget, ya know.  :)

So the scale.  I weigh myself every day.  And I do so for comedy.  It's hilarious to me, really.  I can not eat anything at all for an entire day and I'll gain 2 pounds.  Next day, I'll eat an entire cow and I'll lose 6 pounds.  What do you do with news like that besides laugh?  So I laugh!  It does tell me, in general, that on my being good days, I was good and on my being bad days, I was bad.  It does give me feedback that I have learned to decipher through the comedy.  I honestly don't get down on myself when the scale goes up a pound or two because I have learned through the years with scales some of the why's and I can generally pinpoint what I did or did not do - like TOM issues vs. bad eating days.

Anywho.  It's comedy.  I weigh everyday.  I love a good morning laugh!  And it appears I am developing a weigh-in day - which appears to be Sundays.  And that is developing because Sundays are the days that I take my measurements.  Every week.  Week in week out.  Through the insurance requirements when not much was happening it was more of a monthly thing but since starting the pre-op diet and forward to now, it's been a weekly thing.

So now the measurements are getting interesting, too.  Like put a smile on my face kind of interesting!

And so here's the NSV related to a scale...

I got on the scale on Sunday...first thing in the morning...for my daily comedy routine...and it was down 1 pound for the week but up two since the previous Sunday.  So I will record it as up two.  I gained two pounds for the week.  Not bad considering I am eating normally and all that...I expected a more than 2 pound gain, really.

And then I take all my measurements.  In the week when I gained two pounds - I lost four inches!!!!

And even more significantly, while I lost a half inch around the waist - significance there - the previous Sunday, I was up a half inch, presumed sweeling, from the Sunday before.  So I lost what I consider the half inche from swelling - not to say the swelling is gone...

But other than that, the inches came off the hips, thighs and biceps!  Areas not related to surgery!  Real loss type areas.

In other news...we worked outside almost all weekend.  We cleaned the teak furniture and got it all re-oiled.  It looks absolutely gorgeous when it's clean and freshly oiled!  I did very little moving and predominantly sat on my duff just rubbing on the oil.  By very little moving, I mean when I was working on a chair, I would move it around to get to the bottom and the sides.  But I was sliding it on grass...

When we were done Saturday night, we jumped in the pool, quickly, as it's still chilly at 80 degrees.  Who am I? that I'm calling 80 degree water chilly.  I'm from California, where at the height of summer in late August pool water is barely 80!  Now, it's APRIL and the water is 80 on it's way up to 92 friggin degrees and I'm calling 80 chilly!  What happened to me?

But not being able to tolerate 80 for very long, and knowing that, we started the hot tub heating and crawled into that when it got to 92.  Vegged and felt great for awhile.  Then grilled shrimps and potatoes and pearl onions and cooked some jalapeno poppers in the oven.  Our poppers - best you'll ever have.  Got the recipe from a neighbor.  Get a jalapeno, cut the top off, slice the pepper in half.  We clean the bejesus out of them - all seeds, all membrane - so they are not even remotely spicy.  The filling is one thing of cream cheese, 1 thing of Jimmy Dean Maple sausage and one small can of mild green chilis.  Mix that all together and stuff the jalapeno.  Then, if that's not enough, wrap in a half a slice of bacon and stick a toothpick in.  Cook in the oven at 375 for about 35-40 minutes - until bacon is cooked to your liking, basically.

We had a friend over helping us with all the work we did on the furniture.  He asked for these - and because of his work, we couldn't say no.  They are so good and such a treat...but they are quite a bit of work to make because of the cleaning involved.  If you make these - WEAR GLOVES!!!  We wear two on each hand of a disposable nitrile glove.

After dinner was cooked, eaten and cleaned, we sat down on the couch and watched "The Informant".  Good movie.  Funny.  Whacky.  Twisted!

Sunday, we did the second coat of teak oil on the furniture.  Looks soooo good!  Got the yard cleaned up and everything put back in it's rightful place.  I went to a support group meeting of people in my area that have found each other through LBT.  It was a great meeting that lasted a lot longer than I had anticipated.  Four really amazing women with great stories and great success!  1 lady - 1 year and 1 month out - has lost 130 pounds and is 13 pounds from goal weight.  Is working right now for insurance approval for a tummy tuck.  2 ladies - 9 months out - 1 has lost 94 pounds, 1 has lost 62 pounds.  Had surgery within two days of each other with the same surgeon and have been friends through this entire process.  And finally, 1 lady - 6 months out - has lost 65 pounds.  Great women, great stories - and I learned a lot from them yesterday!  The hostess made it fun and she cooked two of her favorite high protein meals - meatballs (she adds extra protein to these) and a feta and artichoke crustless quiche; unfortunately, I didn't try either of these as I was not hungry at all.  She also bought a sampling of protein bars so that we could try a bite and see what we liked before we waisted money on bars we might not like; in this case, I tried one, but I just don't see myself getting into protein bars for a variety of reasons.  We also tried a protein smoothie which I didn't care for, two people were "eh" about it, and one person liked.  The fifth didn't try it.  It was a good meeting and I'm happy to know these ladies!  And the house where we met - a whopping 2.4 miles from me!  Who can say no to that?

Then I ran home and we went out to dinner with our friend/neighbor and her daughter.  Had a fantabulous dinner and time and it was nice to catch up.  We always have shared a Sunday meal with this friend/neighbor and with all the pre-op and then even post-op stuff, we haven't had dinner together for months.  It will be nice to get this going again!  In the past, I cooked Sunday dinner and then she would reciprocate with a Thurs dinner.  I want evenings at home during the week so that workouts/swims can happen so I don't know that we'll go back to Thurs dinners...but it would be nice to get Sunday going again and maybe we can alternate or something.

And that was my weekend.  A fantabulous weekend in which only 2 Tylenol were taken (Sat evening after all that work and heat).

And the last thing I'll say - I know my goal for this week is to get water water water.  I have not been getting nearly enough water since surgery and I suspect it's actually the core reason for some of how I'm still feeling.  I am definitely getting back to normal - 1-2 BM's every day since Thurs...so things are moving again - woohoo.  But I know that I need water water water.  So we'll see how this week goes!

Have a great week, y'all!

04/16/10: Still moving....

Good Morning, y'all!

What a difference a day makes!

I took the Lortab once yesterday and it made me feel horribly!  I won't be taking it again.  On the same token, I took my liquid Tylenol yesterday, too (not at the same time) and while it worked, it also didn't.  You see...somehow...I lost track of time...and it's now the TOM.  And neither the Lortab or the Tylenol were making my cramps go away.  And turns out, the cramps were my major issue!

Last night my sweet hubby went back to CVS for, like, the ga-zillionth time.  This time he picked up children's zyrtec and a pill breaker and a pill crusher and a dissolvable sleep aid.

The zyrtec cause I'm not supposed to be taking pills.  I know, at least I believe, that most of y'all get past the healing stage and tend to move back to pills right?  The children's zyrtec is the same dosage but it's expensive and it comes with 12.  I actually think 12 will get me through the rest of my personal allergy season just fine and I won't need to take zyrtec again until next spring.  I know those pills are so tiny that it shouldn't be an issue but I've literally been feeling that pill, which I broke in half, stick there before it goes through 20 minutes or so later.  I'm sure it's swelling and that this won't last, but by the time the swelling is really gone, I won't need zyrtec anyway.

The pill breaker and the pill crusher - self-explanatory.

The dissolvable sleep aid..well..they don't make Tylenol PM in a liquid - at least not that we can find.  And who needs it anyway?  I have the liquid tylenol.  I need that other magic ingredient and it's sold as Unisom which also makes a dissolvable tablet.

So armed with a sleep aid and tylenol I thought I was set.

All day I'd had the start of cramps rumbling away in the lady region and I was baffled.  And then I went to the bathroom and...oops...the calendar snuck up on me.  Well dangit.  The only thing I've ever found that works wonders on my cramps is Midol.  And those pills are way too big if I can barely get zyrtec down.  Dangit.  And then I start to put together, a lot of what I was still feeling was that, not surgery.  Crazy.  So this was when we decided we needed the pill-breaker-upper.

Armed with the pill-breaker-upper I went crazy on the Midol.  Got the two pills to many smaller pieces, much smaller than a half a zyrtec.  I took the midol when my time window had expired on the tylenol I'd taken earlier in the evening.

Now let me say, I took that Tylenol and I was aware that I felt better but I still hurt and I still didn't feel well.

When I could, I took the Midol.  And it kicked in.  Pretty quickly, I might add, since it was already broken down a bit.  :)

And dangit if I didn't feel absolutely fine!  The cramps were gone, the acheyness was gone, the lethargy was gone, I felt fine!

That lasted until bedtime when it was time for another dose (min 4 hours) and I crushed that one to see the difference.  Yeah.  Use the breaker-upper if there's a choice.  I mixed the crushed Midol into apple sauce and it was doable but it wasn't preferable.

I am sure I would have slept the night through last night, too, except for those gall-derned cramps woke me up at 5.  So I got up and took more Midol and once back asleep, slept like a baby!

I slept sooooo well last night!

Now it's time for another dose - I HATE CRAMPS! - but after drinking my breakfast I feel like I can't possibly get another thing in my belly.  I'm trying to walk and to get things to settle so that I can drink enough juice to get the pieces in.

Dang cramps.  I HATE CRAMPS!

Other than that, I really am feeling a zillion times better.  I have not had anything since the last midol I took at 5 this morning and while there is a tenderness around the port area, I feel fine.  And the tenderness around the port area is only a problem when I sneeze or cough - so thank God for zyrtec!!!

I'm glad to be done with the Lortab - I think I feel a zillion times better just because of that!

In other news I lost another two pounds yesterday.  I now weigh what I weighed the day I married my husband.  20 more pounds and he'll start seeing me lighter than I've ever been since we've been together.

I actually want to respond to yesterday's comments, so here is:

Most importantly, thank you to you all for letting me know you are thinking of me.  I really appreciate that!

I am definitely working on the water.  sip sip sip at all times.  I love those water bottles (that I found through Amy W.) cause otherwise I'd have no idea what I'm getting in right now!

I completely agree with the heating pad.  That thing has been my best friend!  I drag it from room to room with me!!

Yeah, ambien would have been nice.  The unisom helped a lot last night, I think.

Fat Bastard - you might be ok with a weds surgery and back to work the following mon.  Today is day 4 (not counting surgery day) and I feel like a whole new person.  The only thing I can say, and this is just my experience, is that the quicker you get off the Lortab and onto regular Tylenol, the quicker you will start to feel more normal.  The Lortab messes with everything.  I took one dose yesterday and I wish I hadn't.  It works about as well as good ol' Tylenol.  I would make sure you get some liquid tylenol and switch to that when you can.  I took the Lortab on Monday and Tuesday and then Wednesday I did Tylenol during the day and Lortab just before bed.  Yesterday, (I know this isn't the case with you and sorry for TMI, but it's part of the story) with my cramps kicking in and being afraid to take the midol (before we got the pill-chopper-upper, I thought Lortab would take care of it all.  It didn't.  It didn't touch the pain and it just made me feel druggy and woozy.  Once that wore off, I went back to Tylenol and that made a world of difference.  So...if you have to do five days like that, that's the best I can say - get off the Lortab as quickly as you feel comfortable doing.  The incisions don't hurt a bit, it's just tenderness in the port area.  And so long as I don't twist suddenly or cough or sneeze, I am generally not even aware of it.

Other thing I can say is the eating.  Make sure you are getting protein and you will feel better faster.  Inclination is to not eat cause you just don't feel like it.  But when I have forced myself to get my protein, I've felt better for the day.  That and walking.  Get up and move.  But don't do too much.  There is a fine line between getting enough of a walk and too much of a walk.  Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

I am glad I have 7 days, though.  If you can, I would try for that.

03/23/10: Part 1 of "The Plan"

I am going to follow Band_Groupie's style and do this in a multiple series format. After yesterday's blog in which I blasted my surgeon as being idiotic, it really drove home for me what my plan is. I haven't necessarily sat down and said "hey, Lori, what's your plan going to be?" nor have I ever typed out or jotted down anything that could be resembled as a plan by anyone else. It's all in the pea brain. And I figure it needs to get out.

I have a plan for my diet and reasoning's for why. I have a plan for my exercise and reasoning's for why. I have a plan for my sleep, skin care, hair care, and even my bodily functions. So this will be a multi-part series covering one or more of the various topics I've managed to inadvertently develop plans for.

I will say that I seriously appreciate the blog world. I would not have inadvertently done anything if I hadn't been reading and learning all along. I appreciate everyone who has gone before me and shed light on their experiences. I appreciate everyone who ever offers a lick of support. I just appreciate it all!

I also want to say today - I am sorry for bringing up politics yesterday. I won't do it again. I crossed a line and no one here should be surprised by opening a blog about the band and weight loss and reading about politics instead. This truly is about the band and living with the band and that does not involve politics. I am sorry.

Ok

Part 1 of "The Plan"

Diet. I call it diet because what you put in your mouth is a diet. Diet is defined as "food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health" by http://www.dictionary.com/. That is what I mean by diet. It's what we consume for the sake of nutrition. It is not what I am doing to lose weight. It is not what I am doing to build muscle. It is not what I am doing to do anything other than to live.

As you read yesterday, my surgeon believes that I should maintain a diet of incredibly limited foods with incredibly limited nutrients. But here's the catch. He also said:

"This diet is designed for those of you who will not be doing any exercise. If all you want to do is eat your way to a slimmer person, this diet is for you. If you are going to do minimal exercise, which would include walking and running, then this diet is for you. However, if you are going to weight lift at all, you cannot live on this diet alone. You must eat carbs."

He never said anything else about carbs and what I should eat. Most people in that room are not going to lift weights. Most people in that room are not going to do anything other than walk and try to maintain a life style less sedentary than they currently are living. I am not them.

I am going to weight lift. I am going to swim. I am also going to walk. And as I get smaller, I will probably revert back to trying to run/jog, too. But the key, for me, is I am going to lift weights. This does not mean I should go crazy on carbs. But it also means, for me, that I should make sure I'm getting a reasonable source of complex carbs with at least one meal. Yay for my smoothie!

So he's not all nuts. Just mostly. I don't think most people in that room were aware of blogspot or even LBT and they do not know the whole wide world open to them and all the info it contains. I wanted to shout out "go see how real people live with this. It doesn't have to be like that". But back in Oct, back before I found blogs and real life - I thought he was interesting. And most there last week were meeting this surgeon for the first time. I could see it in their eyes - they thought he was onto something. I mean, really, you mix surgery with a good ol' fashioned diet - and you don't have to exercise - and you'll lose all the weight you want?  What fat person wouldn't go for that?  There are a number of heavy people that are heavy because they don't like exercise. There are an equal number of heavy people that do like heavy exercise - but for whatever reason, they don't do it regularly. (That would be me.) And then there are those that like it and do it, too. But in the heavy world, the BMI over 40 because of flab world, I believe those are few and far between. And here is this surgeon saying 'it's ok to not exercise - I'll help you lose weight with just the food you eat.'

Now, I can't do that. It's a diet. It's a diet not with the intent of consuming necessary nutrients and sustenance. It's a diet for that dreaded sake of losing weight. And I will not "diet to lose weight".

A lot of you...A LOT...have played into the evolution of Lori's plan.

And the plan goes like this...

When I want to eat Hooter's chicken wings...I will. I will say about this that I will allow myself one visit a month. If it doesn't happen - great. It's not mandatory. But it's an option. It doesn't have to be Hooters - but if it's fried, it's greasy and it's generally on that forbidden "bad food" list, I will not be eating much of it at all - once or so a month, if at all.

My life is about options. I like options. That's really the heart of my plan. And that's really why I hate diets. No options on good ol' fashioned diets!

If I want to eat a half a sandwich on wheat toast with turkey and muenster cheese with a smidge of mayo...I will.

If I want to eat sushi for dinner as part of a celebration...I will.

I will chew and chew and chew and take my time and maybe only eat four pieces. But I will give myself that option.

I am counting on the band to tell me when I'm full. I am also counting on will power to make the wiser choice most of the time.

I have will power. I have a lot of it. I actually got fat because of will power. I will now take that same will power and use it wisely.

I already have been. Prior to this pre-op diet anyway.  I have to laugh.  I say that - but I couldn't really be doing what I wanted to do on the unweightloss program for fear that I would lose too much.  So I was, on the unweightloss program, still working to counteract my progress.  But it's interesting what doing that on purpose does to the mindset.  It took will power to make me successfully fail.  That was surprisingly difficult.  It's a relief to finally be into the realm of I can do what I want to do this right.  If this danged pre-op diet weren't standing in my way at the moment I would be thrilled.  And that's a double-edged sword.  I have to do this pre-op diet and this pre-op diet will help me lose weight.  But it's not conducive to my weight lifting so I am opting to stick with just walking until I am healed from surgery.  I could start weight lifting now but I'd be famished as I'm not getting real nutrients.  I could start weight lifting now but I'd actually screw up my cycle by not being able to finish the whole 6 week program before the interruption surgery would create.  So, weird as it is (in my head), I am still not starting the weight lifting.  It will be six weeks after surgery that I'll be let loose on my program.  In the meantime, I've got walking and when it's warmer and consistently nicer, I'll have my pool.

Side note - one thing I learned last week.  I can swim from the get-go.  Day of surgery if I wanted.  They use dermabond so the wounds would be completely sealed from the water.  On the same token that I'm allowed to shower from the get-go, I can swim, too.  Now, they said, I probably won't want to the day of surgery.  But the next day it might be surprisingly helpful with the gas.  But on the day of, if I wanted to get in the hot tub - it's an option.  And the hot tub would help a lot, they said, with the gas.  Yay for dermabond!!!!!  Honestly, I don't know that I'd swim swim.  I think I'd probably actually go for aquaroebics on the second day.  But that would be awesome!

Anyway, back to the diet.

So my "diet" of choice is one centered on options. And I can give myself those options because I will be lifting weights and swimming. That's tomorrow's blog.

So there you have it. Tomorrow's blog will explain the weightlifting program for weight loss that will kill plateaus before they start. Most people hate this idea, but weight bearing exercise is as important, if not more, than aerobic exercise. You don't have to bulk up...but when you run or dance or whatever, you take the fluids and O2 away from the muscles. Benefits in that - but not beneficial for muscle - the source of metabolism. You really need both.

03/01/10: Thoughts...random and otherwise

We had a whirlwind weekend in which we drove up to Austin Saturday morning and back to Houston Sunday morning.  It's about a 3.5 hour drive to where we were headed and I wouldn't recommend such crazy turn-arounds.  But it is what it is and at least we were able to see the IL's and spend some time with them.

It was a crazy turn-around because I had a Dr. appt Friday afternoon.  That led to us being back on "our side of town" at rush hour.  Our side of town adds another hour from work to that drive to Austin.  Funnily enough, as we drove to "our side of town" from work to the Dr. appt, from the Dr. appt to the grocery store, and then from the grocery store to home...the drivers were insanely crazy.  I remarked to my sweet hubby just before arriving at home..."I'm glad we aren't on the road tonight" after just one more person tried to back into us. 

Anywho, that Dr. appt translated into leaving Sat morning.  And we did leave Sat morning.  And we had a fantastic visit.  And then we had to leave them earlier than we would usually do on Sun morning.

Why? 

I had someone contact me on LBT saying that some people that live in my area would be getting together for coffee at a Starbucks that is about 5 miles from my house.  I love the blog world for all the support that is out here and I think having some real life support would be great, too!  It was/is a chance for me to turn the cyber world into real life.  So I jumped.  Hence the quick turn-around.

Unfortunately, I did not get to stay very long.  I was only there for about 40 minutes but it was enough to get introduced, exchange contact information and chat and learn a little, too.  It was fantastic!  I met 3 women who are all banded.  One is at a year out and the other two were both banded 7 months ago.  They are all successful and have a lot to teach and share.  It truly was great to meet them!

Anyway...it was a great meeting and I'm glad to know people outside of the cyber world.  I look forward to getting to know them better and meeting up with them more in the future!

I had two very interesting things happen this weekend.

1) I drank beer.  I drank multiple beers.  They were good and they were the perfect accompaniment to the edge-of-the-seat hockey game yesterday.  Today...I am up 3 pounds from yesterday and I am bloated beyond all get out.  It seems to me these are the first beers I've had in months...oddly, without trying to, I just up and switched to solidly drinking wine, when I drank - which is maybe 2-3 times a week.  I love beer...and I love all kinds of different beers...but I don't love beer that much anymore.  Especially not if it's going to make me become bloated and gain 3 pounds.  Interesting.

2) I had two NSV's.  The scale isn't necessarily moving...but...all weekend...whenever my sweet wonderful hubby saw any glimpses of me...he'd attack.  I noticed on Thurs...scale not moving...but things are lining up better with the body.  What does that mean, you ask?  Good question.  My back roll is GONE!  I had one that was sitting right where the butt-shelf starts.  And it's gone.  And when I look even more...the shelf is...kind of...blending better, I guess is how I'd put that.  Well.  I was jumping up and down with glee when my sweet wonderful hubby walked in the bathroom.  And he wanted to know why the smile - so I pointed it out.  He just about jumped out of his skin with glee - and proceeded to attack.  :)  Saturday night...I was crawling into bed with just my t-shirt, as is normal.  And he saw a glimpse of I don't know what - and attacked. Sunday morning - attack.  Friday night there was an attack, too.  Sunday there were multiple conversations about said attacks.  It's refreshing.  He never lost interest in me...never wanted to not attack me...but the...desire was just not as strong.  It's refreshing.  He told me yesterday that I just look better.  Some plumpness is disappearing.  And then two hours later, standing in my kitchen with a friend/colleague, she says "you look really good".  She'd told another friend/colleague to tell me this a week ago (and he didn't) and so was surprised that I was surprised.  But I told her it was just 15 pounds at this point.  And she said - the plumpness is just disappearing.

I haven't started my weightlifting.  I haven't started my swimming.  But in the past few weeks I have been working on water water water and protein protein protein.  The protein, for the past 2-3 weeks has been higher than the carbs.  And apparently, now that the muscles aren't starving the metabolism is reacting.  Interesting!

So in other news, it's Monday.  It's a new week.  This week is an exciting week for me.  See if you can guess the correct answer for why.

1) I get to get a massage on Tues
2) That massage is followed by our first trip to the Houston Rodeo.  (Houston's Rodeo is the largest in the world.)
3) I am letting myself try out the pre-op diet so I can see what to expect.
4) I have my final weigh-in on Thurs morning at 8:30am.

Let me know what you think.  :)

My pre-op diet is boring.  Who's isn't?  I get to drink protein shakes for breakfast and lunch and I get a 6-8 oz portion of lean protein for dinner with fresh veggies if I like.  I can opt to skip dinner and just do another protein shake, too.  I can add fruit to my protein shakes but I cannot have bananas.  I can eat whatever veggies I want but I cannot have carrots or potatoes.  So there you have it.  Boring.  I think I want to go get a jug of the chocolate protein powder I am using.  I have found that I don't dislike the protein powder I have.  I prefer it with the fruit but it's ok on it's own.  I have a creamy vanilla option or unflavored.  Like I said...I will probably add a chocolate jug, too.  I got myself the Isopure zero carb whey protein.  2 scoops (if you want that much) in 12 oz of water has 52g of protein.  That's A LOT!  I'm fine with one scoop in 6 oz of water!  This morning I added my normal fruit save bananas.  Normal fruit is strawberries, mango, pineapple.  I also added my Greek yogurt.  I actually think I won't add the Greek yogurt tomorrow and will see how that is.

Speaking of yogurt.  In all my world travels I have found that Icelandic yogurt is the best.  Icelandic yogurt is just like Nordic yogurt.  It's thicker, creamier, and tastier.  Even more "er" than the Greek yogurt.  I've not seen it at all here in the States...but my MIL found some in Austin.  She didn't know what it was, just knew she wanted to try it and thinks it's the best.  I'm so jealous!  Whole Foods bought some land from my husband's employer and they are literally building a grocery store in his parking lot.  That will make it very easy for us to get to Whole Foods and I'm thinking they might have it there.  I hope so!

I was talking to my friend/colleague yesterday and somehow yogurt came up.  She makes her own and is going to give me a starter.  I'll be curious to see how that turns out!

And that's all I know!

Finally...I did all kinds of craftwork for my Christmas presents last year and I didn't manage to take pictures of anything.  I regretted that immediately after getting them all wrapped and starting to give them away.  This weekend, at the MIL's house, I managed to take pictures of what I gave her.  So here is a glimpse of what I did.  (the craftwork consisted of glass etching and knitting.  this is just one of the many things I etched - but was the most etching I did.)

I hope everyone has a fantastic week.  I sure plan to!