Doing VSG..about Time! - Baltimore, MD

so I totally forgot about updating this.... I had surgey on Thursday Aug 30... surgery went well... I went home Saturday morning though I was offered to go home on Friday....Liek many, I had trouble taking even a few sips of liquids.... in some pain but not enough to keep pushing the pain pump the nurses were annoying me to push.... a Tylenol and peace and quiet would've been fine..... The nurses get you up often which I expected..and though I didnt always feel like it, I tried to get up once an hour to walk to nurses station and back... The pain in the butt was the other health care folks.... I had one lady trying to force a home health aide on me... another trying to say I needed a walker & bath aides ( insurance ripoffs).... when I refused to sign for those services, they'd keep coming back, most often during my sleep times.... I became VERY irritable and got nasty enough that they stopped coming.... A week or so later, I went back to ER in pain mostly from vomiting too much... in the end I was dehydrated... a few weeks later, the vomiting was not much better... I was admitted back to hospital....at this point I was also battling diarrhea... Dr basically said I was a slow healer... during my VSG surgery I had a hital hernia repair... the repair hd in the next 2 or 3 weeks came undone... my stomach was also way more swollen than it should've been at that time. Dr was considering a revision to Gastric bypass. I was NOT having that. I fought it tooth and nail. My Dr didnt agree but agreed to give me another week to try and get swelling down enough to get my esophagus from up inside the hernia where it was now lodged. After being able to hold down my liquids for a few days, I was disharged from hospital....kept on liquid diet for additional 8 weeks which gave my stomach time to heal some... I then progressed to pureed foods for 4 weeks...Honestly, I stayed more on liquids during this time because I was scared of rushing things.... I didnt have energy to walk around my house. Suddenly about 12 weeks post-op I started getting burts of energy and was ready to go back to work ( I couldve went back about 8 weeks post-op but I was in no rush) Im now 4.5 months post-op and down 71 pounds... Im 70 pounds away from my goal of 130 pounds... Im exercising 5 to 6 days a week, both cardio and weight lifting.... I cannot stress how important it is to do strength training and to begin after 4 weeks.... you dont need heavy weights at first...just enough to keep you from getting muscle atrophy... not only will you lose weight faster, you will not be skinny yet cant lift a bag of potatoes. I still dont have a GREAT appetite.... I force myself to eat many days... when I "cheat" I dont feel guilty either... I acknowledge it and wake up the next day with a new start. My goals are 600 to 800 calories per day... no more than 30 grams of carbs...90+ grams of protein... if I make that, all else is negotiable. Regrets?? NONE!!! well thats not true...I wish I had done it sooner

I got to "normal" BMI at 10 months and 1 week post-op...for me that was 160 pounds.... I have lost a lil more since then, currently weighing in at 154 pounds.... my DREAM is to weigh 140.
I have had a few plastic surgery consults and basically will need a panniculectomy ( removal of excess skin from are below belly buttom)... I do not qualify for full tummy tuck because I actually have visible abs...not quite a 6 pack, say a 4 pack with 2 of the packs hiding under some excess skin & fat. Doctor estimates I have 5-ish pounds of skin to be removed. Easy to hide with SPANX.... I have a prelim date for plastic surgery during the Xmas holidays....

so my guess is I will get down to about 145 pounds and that is AMAZING to me...

That hernia repair that didnt go so well is starting to cause me a few issues... was initially mistaken for Gall bladder failure ( MANY weight loss patients end up needing gall bladder removed so its a QUICK assumption on the part of many doctors when you have any post-op belly issues)
I have not decided what I will do about it yet..nothing is life threatening.... some intermittent pain ( like once a month) followed by a few days diarrhea...

my diet plan has changed a LOT.. Once you start working out a lot, you have to eat more foods.... funny how that works.... I am eating more yet losing weight...
I get like 1500 calories a day, 100 grams of carbs, 100 grams of proteins... I dont worry about how much sugar I get because honestly, with the small size of my stomach, once I get in my priority foods, I dont have room or desire to eat anything else..... so if a lil sugar slip in theere, so be it... and Fats are good for you so I dont worry about eating low-fat either...
like many WLS patients, I used to stay COLD all the time, when I increased my iron & fats, that problem went away as well.
I have lost more than an entire shoe size... before surgery, I was squeezing into a 10 Medium sometimes 10.5 and needing a wide width....I now wear a size 9 medium and need 8.5 in some shoes... I cannot wait to go shopping for boots.... I wear a size 6 jeans, though I will buy 8 if they are "super skinny".
I look good in a bikini, and luckily my excess skin can be hidden well in my panties/bikini bottom and I dont really have a muffin top...

I have returned to my old ways of being a shop-a-holic.... clearance racks are my new BFF....

thats pretty much it....