3 Months Post-Op!

Happy 3 month surgiversary! These past 3 months have had its ups and downs, but I'm still really happy with my decision to go then with surgery! 

In this past month, I've started back at the gym with a personal trainer two times a week. My body hasn't been this sore in a very long time! Biofreeze has become my best friend! I do need to workout more on my own, but it's been great getting back into the gym! I feel like I have more energy, especially the days I work out. Waking up before 5am to get to the gym by 5:45am is still awful no matter what! Yikes! 

Food has been mostly good! I still haven't found anything that doesn't agree with me! I'm excited that I've started adding some raw veggies again (Hello salads!). Eating out has been a breeze now that I can eat veggies, even tho before it wasn't bad since everyone seems to have some form of plain white meat (or eggs) that I can have! 

The only issue I have run into is overeating... But I guess overeating is a general term in my case! 1 bite too many and my mouth will over produce saliva and I get nauseous... 2 bites too many and it's not staying down! Luckily it's only happened twice, but it's the worst! 

And the weight is doing great! My next appointment with the surgeon is in 11 days (Dec 22nd) and I'm suppose to be down to 390! 

Well... 
HW: 484 
SW: 458 
CW: 397 

WOOOHOOO!! I'm down 87lbs total and finally out of the 400's! I'm pretty excited about that! Now to work hard these next 11 days to get down under the surgeon's goal for me!

Weeks 5-6

WEEK 5-6


HW: 484
SW: 458
CW: 428

Yeah... Ya got that right!

THE STALL IS BROKEN!!! Woo hoo!!!

At some point during week 5, the stall finally broke! How exciting! I ended up losing 10lbs during week 5, and for week 6 I'm down 6!

It has turned everything around mentally to know that all this is now paying off. It so frustrating to eat so little and work hard on getting proper nutrition to not see anything reflected on the scale. Even if it's slow but steady, I'll be happy!

Next week (by that I mean on Monday), I have to work on getting to the gym BEFORE work! That means packing my lunch and gym bag before bed, 5am alarm, and to the gym by 5:45! That will be tough considering I'm currently not getting to sleep before 1am!  But, I've gotta do what I've gotta do! The morning is wasted time as I'm not playing with the pups, I sleep in until the last possible minute to get up! I feel like using that time to get my workout in will free up my evenings to actually spend time with the pups, the many hockey events coming up, or the other millions of things that I need to get done!

Food is pretty much all the same; an egg for breakfast, lots of chicken and add in some yogurt or cottage cheese for snacks!  I'm considering removing all dairy from my diet, but I'll make the decision once I have less restrictions on food (around 2-3 months out). I'm eating around 600-800 calories a day. Somedays I find it hard to consume enough calories, other days I have to fight hunger!

I finally got to see my stomach at my last doctors appointment, it's amazing what they can do via surgery now! My stomach, aka "Sleevie Wonder", is just a little guy now! Long gone are the days of just grabbing whatever I want to eat. Some days I do miss the freedom, but I know it's what's best and will keep getting better and better the further out I am!

Here's my stomach in action... I had a couple gulps of barium that shows up as the black stuff moving thru my stomach. It shows up on the video in my esophagus (throat) and then squeezed into my  "sleeve"!

One Month Post-Op

I can't believe it's been a whole month! I feel as tho surgery was only a couple of weeks ago. I am grateful that I haven't had any complications or side effects. I continue to get in more than enough water, and food has been going really well! My incisions are mostly healed and I've been cleared to do anything and everything!

As far as food goes, I now have a list of food I can't have instead of a list of stuff I can!

Food/drinks I can't have :
  - raw vegetables
  - bread, rice, pasta
  - red meat
  - citrus
  - alcohol
  - any carbonation

Also, as part of this surgery, I am not supposed to drink within 30 minutes of having food. So I stop drinking water 30 minutes before and can continue 30 minutes after my last bite. This has been the hardest thing to learn. I think almost everyone is used to grabbing a drink with every meal. I did it the other day while we were out to eat at Jimmy Johns for the first time and all I ordered was turkey and cheese (no bread or anything else). Out of habit, I asked for a water cup. Five or six bites into my meal I realized my tummy was kind of gurgling and it wasn't settling well (which is odd because I've had turkey and cheese before). It took me a second to realize I was drinking also! Oops!

Weight.. Yeah... That's the only issue

HW: 484
SW: 458
CW: 442-446

Yep... you read that right! I haven't lost anything since 10 days after the surgery. I have been bouncing back and forth between 4lbs. Stalls are the absolute worst.


We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog to bring you a brief and complete mental breakdown:

I'm so beyond frustrated! How am I eating between 600-800 calories a day, and not losing weight? I get my macros (protein-fat-carbs) at what I think are amazing levels! I'm using the 10:1 ratio for meals (10 calories or less for every 1g of protein) WHY AM I NOT LOSING WEIGHT?!? Every time I step on the scale it's like a roller coaster ride... I go up two pounds one day then down two pounds the next! And when I do go down, I think I have broken this stall, only to be right back to where I stated a couple days later. It's beyond frustrating. I told myself I wouldn't rant and I wouldn't regret this surgery... But how do you not regret $13K that doesn't seem to be helping?





Ok.. I'm back! Sorry, I have my moments where I can't handle it anymore! I had so many goals for myself, yet I haven't reached one so far. Yes, I've been told my body can stall, and my body just needs to catch up with the rapid weight loss (37lbs in about 20 days). Here I am, 1 month post-op and all I have is around 16lbs (since surgery) to show for it.


I go see the surgeon on October 20th for my next door check up. I am hoping maybe he can give me some tips. I need to get to the gym more often. I used to go six days a week, now not going has become a hard habit to fix.

I'm hopeful that the weight loss will kick in soon! For my mental well being, it better!

Surgery thru Week 2!

I think my worst fears have been confirmed... Not being able to drink enough that you go into dehydration. Thank God that didn't happen to me! Surgery went outstandingly well. I woke up with a couple complications from surgery (dry heaves and high blood pressure),  but that all worked itself out once I got some medicine in me and slept off the anesthesia! In fact, we were on the road driving home by 1pm the next day! I did enjoy my stay in the hospital, but it still never compares to your own couch/bed.

WEEK 1

Any post-op complications that I worried about have been non existent! I have been able to consume enough water and protein to keep me on track! I took pain medicine the first night home but that was just to sleep well.  The first week I was still restricted to clear liquids, so water and isopure were my saving graces. I finally found some flavors of Isopure that aren't the worst thing ever to drink, and that helped! I thought jello and popsicles would be my favorite and I never really had them, just got bored with them, broth also. At the doctors office for my one week check up, I weighed in 12lbs down from surgery. I was happy enough with that!

WEEK 2

At this point I was cleared for full liquids. This added milk, protein shakes and cream soups. I still haven't found a protein shake that I'm found of and at this point, I don't think I will. Everything was still going down just fine, I swear I can gulp water, no more if that "sip sip sip" (and that excites me)! My incisions are practically healed now and I sleep very comfortably in any positions, including on my stomach. 

As far as weight loss goes, it wasn't as great. Within 2 days of my appointment I was down 4 more lbs, and that's where I stayed. I was warned by many people of the dreaded "stall". My body was getting used to the lack of calories and slipped into starvation mode. I hopefully have it figured out how, but I swore off the scale for a few days because it got frustrating seeing the same number day after day! 

I guess I could give you guys my stats. It's just a number, a high number tho. But as the weeks go on, these are numbers I will never see again. This is my reality, and I can either keep it to myself and be embarrassed, or tell everyone and be proud of how well I'm doing! So...

HW (highest weight) : 484

SW (surgery weight) : 458 (I had lost 21lbs during pre-op diet)

CW (current weight) : 442

Thanks for all the support and everyone checking in on me! I can honestly say that everything is going fabulously! 

The New Journey

Four years ago if you would have asked me if I would ever regain the 185lbs that I put my all into losing, I would have just laughed at you! I wasn't content with where I was yet, but it felt amazing and I loved what I was able to do and all that the journey brought me!

Well, over the past 4 years, the weight has been creeping back on. I hurt my knee and in turn replaced the gym with awful eating habits and drinking. Once my knee was healed, I still made excuses to not go work out and the after I gained a good amount back, I was embarrassed to be at the gym!

I'm embarrassed to even admit that, although the weight gain is completely evident by just looking at me. None of the people that I have met recently even know the crazy gym rat I used to be, and that makes me kind of sad. I am not looking for anyone's sympathy nor do I want opinions or criticisms. All I am asking for is support, but if you don't feel like supporting this, that's ok too!

This coming Wednesday, September 9th, I will be undergoing surgery for a Gastric Sleeve. This procedure will remove approx. 85% of my stomach and greatly restrict what I can consume. This is't some gimmick or quick fix miracle cure. This isn't a decision that I have made lightly or without  thorough research. I am going into this with the knowledge that this is only a tool. Although it will restrict my intake, I will still have free will with what I put in my mouth and must choose to make healthy food and lifestyle choices and work my ass off at the gym again! I know the dangers of the surgery, which are minimal in the grand scheme of major surgeries!

From the very beginning of this process (about 2 months ago), I have not wanted to hide it. I feel like there is a stigma surrounding weight loss surgeries and that some people are ashamed to admit they had it. I on the other hand, am a pretty open book about everything. I want people to understand what I'm going thru and hopefully be able to support and not criticize it.

Today I got my final clearance and surgery will be preformed in St. Louis at Mercy Hospital Jefferson (technically Festus, MO) by Dr Jay Snow! I have full confidence in him and I am looking forward to surgery day! I am currently in the midst of a 10 day clear liquid diet. Yeah, it's as much fun as it sounds, haha!  The diet helps shrink the liver, which lies directly on top of the stomach and in larger people can be tough to work around!

The countdown stands at 5 days until the next big journey in my life starts! I'm super excited to get it done and hope most of my friends will be able to stand by me thru this! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me! I will try to update the blog once a week to keep everyone updated in my progress!

Big News Coming!

Soo.. yeah! Looks like I've neglected this for 2 1/2 years... kinda like I've neglected anything that resembles bettering myself and losing weight.

But there is big news coming! I just have to figure out how I want to tell everyone... not that anyone really reads this anymore.



I've been gone for too long, think it's time I bring it back!

Is everyone ready for a comeback story?