One Year Out!

Last year at this time I was lying in a hospital room after making one of the best decisions of my life. I got a gastric sleeve, I paid someone to cut out 80% of my stomach.... and it's been a whirlwind ever since!

There have been some setbacks, like getting my gallbladder out and a quick bout of pancreatitis, but generally it has been a great year.


The Stats:

HW: 484
SW: 458
CW: 304

Total lost: 180lbs

It's been a very long summer of stalls. I've lost a pound here and there, but nothing significant. It feels like every time I get closer to under 300, I fail miserably! 4 flipping pounds to go... I can't wait to see that 2-- on the scale!

I'm frustrated that I didn't reach my goal of 200lbs off by a year out, but I suppose 180lbs is nothing to laugh at! I've still got a long way to go and need to really buckle down to get there.

Although I can't eat much (quantity wise), I've found that I can pretty much eat anything. It's been a real struggle to figure out exactly what I should be eating. How much protein vs fat vs carbs? How many calories are too many vs how many calories are too little and will send my body into starvation mode? It's a work in progress for sure!

So back onto the warpath... Fighting my obesity, fighting to get to where I want to be, fighting to love who I am! First pit stop: Any weight with a 2 in front of it!

6.5ish Months!

Well, its been quite the month!

First the numbers (Even tho this is a bit over a month)

HW: 484
SW: 458
CW: 344


140lbs down from high weight!
114lbs down from surgery weight!


This month has been full of emergency room visits, hospital stays, and surgeries! BLAH!

Last blog I talked about what I thought was gallbladder attacks, and it turns out I was right! On February 24th, I went into the ER early in the AM because I had been having a gallbladder attack for over 4 hours. After spending my whole day there, it was confirmed that I needed my gallbladder out, but that it wasn't necessarily an emergency case, so I was referred to a surgeon's office where I was scheduled and had my gallbladder out on March 4th! Besides pain and general lethargy, all went well with that surgery!

About one week later is when all went wrong. I woke up feeling odd, but had a ton of stuff to do that day, as I had the day off work and was supposed to be packing for our upcoming road trip. The pain in my gallbladder area grew to my whole abdomen and finally into my back and shoulders throughout the day. By 10pm I wasn't able to keep anything down and was in so much pain I was in tears, so off to the ER again! I have never been in that much pain, I don't ever want to be in that much pain again. Altho it took a while to diagnose, they did provide me with very amazing drugs to take away the pain and help me sleep. They finally came back with the diagnosis of pancreatitis! So back to surgery to get an ERCP (Scope that goes down my throat into my liver/pancreas) and clean out the stones and sludge that my silly gallbladder decided to leave me. They also put in two stents.

Fast forward about 36 hours and I'm out of the hospital, bags are packed, and I headed off to Florida to catch up with my lovely friends to start vacation on the beach! Recovery went well even tho I was in pain from time to time. But the surgeon said to relax on the beach, and that's exactly what I did!

This past Tuesday I had to get an x-ray to make sure my pancreatic stent had worked its way out of my body. Come to find out it did not, so back to the operating room I go. The bright spot in this story is that during a second x-ray today right before surgery, the stent was not found, so it is believed to have vacated on its own!! WOOO HOOO!!!

Here's to staying FAR FAR away from the hospital for a while now!



Overall, my weight loss has suffered from being sick so much! Yes, I am still losing. Yes, I should be grateful for how much I've lost. BUT I WANT TO LOSE MORE AND FASTER!  I have started training with a good friend, and need to step up my own cardio! I feel stronger, and for sure feel better in the grand scheme of things!


Hopefully next blog I'll get a little deeper in the mental aspect of this surgery. It really hasn't been an easy journey, but then again, I wasn't expecting it to be! I've still got a long way to go but I know I'll get there eventually!

5 Months Post-Op!

5 months down! Where does the time go?

First the numbers:

HW: 484

SW: 458

CW: 365

119lbs down from high weight and 93lbs since surgery!

The weight seems to be slowing down and just creeping off! I had been closer to 20lbs per month, but now it's 17!

My Surgeon wants me at 340 by the time I see him for my 6 month appointment. So 25lbs to go in about a month or so.. (My appointment isn't scheduled yet) It will be hard to get there, but hopefully I can step up the workouts some and mix in a protein shake every once in a while to help me out (now to find a protein shake I enjoy and Sleeven Spielberg actually tolerates)!

Everything is going really well! Some days are better than others, but I feel great! I definitely have more energy, and a lot more strength and stamina!

My only issue still seems to be my gallbladder. I haven't gone to see the doctor about it yet as it only happens once every couple weeks or so, even tho I probably should have gone somewhere this week when it happened since the attack lasted over two hours! I was close to hitting up an ER, but then it stopped! So I guess my next big attack I'll go get it checked out.. Can't keep up with these surprise attacks! 

Besides bread, rice, and pasta, the only food restriction I still have is red meat! Only one more month until I get it back. I've broke the rule a couple times, but generally I have followed it. Can't wait to be off that restriction! I haven't really found avoiding bread, rice, pasta to be an issue at all! I've had a bite or two of bread.. But not rice or pasta... I fill up so quickly on everything else that it doesn't seem to bother me that I'm not eating it!

The mental aspect of having this surgery is something you can't ever really prepare yourself for. I still can look at any food and in my mind, want to devour a huge portion of it. Somewhere in my brain, it hasn't fully connected that I just can't eat that much. The worst part is when I make something that I have had before, lets say 2 eggs scrambled with a little cheese sprinkled on top. Most days I can eat it no problem and be nice and full. Some days I can eat only half and be overly full... It's like my stomach can't make up its mind. Watching people eat isn't a struggle of what they eat, more of how much.. I am full after around a 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of food... But my mind wants more. And I can't seem to explain even to myself why more food would satisfy my brain even tho my stomach is already satisfied! Makes no sense right?!?

Also, I still crave crappy things. I still look at a cookie and try to convince myself it will be fine... And yes, I have had a few cookies and other things that I probably shouldn't have. It's not because those things in moderation will kill my diet... It's because I can only hold so much food.. If I put crap in my stomach, I have no room for protein, which is what I really need!

I just need to stay the course and keep on moving! I've got lots of goals to hit still and I have a timeline I want to do it in!

4 months Post-Op!

4 months already?!? Wow, the time flies when you're losing weight!

First, the numbers!

HW: 484lbs

SW: 458lbs

CW: 380lbs

104 down from high weight.. So I'm pretty happy with that! It seems like I lose really well for a week, 5-10lbs, then take a break for several days. So I can't say I'm really slowing down at all, just not completely consistent from week to week!

The holidays came and went, and yes, I did partake in the celebrations! I had a couple bites of the cheesecake at Thanksgiving, a had a few Christmas cookies... I even had a drink on New Years Eve. I haven't found anything that has upset my stomach except for the one bite if food too much. Ugh... It's the worst feeling!

I have somewhat developed two concerns:

My hair is falling out! I end up pulling out a handful every time I shower and I am always removing stray hairs from my clothing. This is a fairly common problem. My body (and those of other weight loss surgery patients) has gone thru a very traumatizing time. Not only a drastic diet change, but surgery and rapid weight loss. My body's only method of coping is to shed my hair! I'm not happy about it, but I'm hopeful that it will slow or stop here in the near future! Just praying for no balding and not too much thinning!

My other concern is my gallbladder. I can't tell you the science behind it, but 30% of WLS patients end up having their gallbladder removed. I am completely self diagnosing this, as I know the signs to look for and have experienced what I believe was a gallbladder attack, but until I go get blood work done, I won't know for sure! As of right not, I'm just trying to not think of it until I am forced to do something.

Besides that, things are really good! I'm not going to lie, I am so looking forward to having red meat. I've had bites here and there, but I'm trying to keep within the rules as much as possible! Chicken and turkey tend to get old tho. I had some salmon last night that was awesome, so I guess I need to switch it up sometimes!

Current goal is to be to 340 or below by mid March when I go down to Pensacola.. That will be my 6 month mark and my next visit to Dr Snow for an official weigh in!  So here's to dropping 40+ in the next two months! 

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!