Tag Archives: Sleeve

The 100 Workout #WLS #VSG

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92 Days until my 1 Year Surgiversary!

Like a lot of other bloggers, I have a mild obsession with Pinterest.  I love the whole idea of the site, and I love being able to gather so many great ideas in an organized manner.  I’ve gathered what is probably 100′s of ideas at this point.  Some of them I’ve been great about following through on, and others I haven’t.  I am currently in a phase of trying a “pin” everyday or every day or two.  It adds some fun to your life to try new things!

On Monday I had a telecommuting day, and I was perusing the Fitness category and came across the 100 Workout:

I’m not entirely sure of the origin, but the “pin” links you to Lauren Conrad’s website.  Since Monday was a rainy blah day, I didn’t want to have to head up to the gym, so I figured I’d give this a try.  It was a lot tougher than I originally thought it would be, but it was a fun challenge.  It took me 24 minutes and 32 seconds and according to my HRM I burn 238 calories.  Not too shabby for less than 25 minutes of work.  I will definitely work on getting my time down.  It was also great to know that I could hop on the treadmill and run 10 minutes without issue.  It’s been quite some time since I’ve run, though I’ve been killing other workouts and the elliptical.

What’s your favorite quick workout?

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

Nine Month “Surgiversary” #WLS #VSG

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93 Days until my 1 Year Surgiversary!

Nine months seems like it should be a big milestone, I guess really every three months feels big.  It is a quarter of a year after all.  If you’ve read any of the more recent posts, you know that the last month or two have been WEAK when it comes to weight loss, tracking truthfully, and letting the bad things slip in.  The last couple of months I’ve been rocking the work outs though, so I haven’t gained weight, yay!

I can eat basically anything I want now, with the exception of trying to go gluten free due to a recent allergist appointment.  It’s both a blessing and a curse that my sleeve will let me put almost anything in it.  I can handle social situations like a champ, I no longer feel like the freak eater in the bunch.  It’s only noticeable to the people who know that I had surgery that I eat any differently.  I just eat way smaller portions than most people.

Physically I feel absolutely amazing most days, my new normal is just tiny portions.  I can eat more at a time now that I could in the beginning obviously.  I can normally eat 3-4 oz of dense proteins such as chicken or steak, and 4-5 oz of things like fish (less dense proteins.)  I absolutely can not eat protein and then drink or I throw up, that lesson has been learned a couple of times now.  Soups REALLY fill me up, so I’ve been having those for lunch recently.

If you’d like to catch up on other months in my journey they are below.

One Month Surgiversary Post

Two Month Surgiversary Post

Three Month Surgiversary Post

Four Month Surgiversary Post

Five Month Surgiversary Post

Seven Month Surgiversary Post

Below are photos from surgery day and then photos from 9 months post op. (FYI If you want to see all progress photo’s here’s a link.)  There’s not much difference between the 7 Month and 9 Month photos, but the difference between the pre-op photos and 9 months is huge.  I’m still not sure what my extra skin status will be.  There are certain ways that if I bend I can see in the mirror droopy skin, I’m not sure how or when or if even if that will stretch back.  We shall see!

Photo’s from 8/22 (Day of Surgery)

Photo’s from 5/22 (Nine Months Post-Op)

 

Measurements

I forgot to take pictures before I started the pre-op diet, but I did take my measurements the day that I started the two week pre-op diet.  The numbers below include changes since 8/8, the day I started the pre-op diet.

I only take measurements from one side of my body, some choose to take measurements from both and wind up with much higher numbers.  I suppose I’m lazy about measuring!

  • Waist: -12 3/8″ (-1/2″ this month)
  • Hips: -10 5/8″ (-3/8″ this month)
  • Right Thigh: -6 3/8″ (-3/8″ this month)
  • Right Calf: -3 3/8″ (-1/2″ this month)
  • Left Bicep: -3 1/8″ (-0″ this month)
  • Neck: -2 3/4″ (-1/8″ this month)
  • Chest Under (ribcage/bra band area): 9 1/2″ (-1/4″ this month)
  • Chest Over (cup size): -9 11/16″ (-1/2″ this month)
  • Total Lost: -57 13/16″
  • Pre Op Weight Loss -12.8lbs
  • Month 1 Weight Loss -20.8lbs
  • Month 2 Weight Loss -16.6 lbs
  • Month 3 Weight Loss -12.4 lbs
  • Month 4 Weight Loss -10.2 lbs
  • Month 5 Weight Loss -10.0 lbs
  • Months 6-7 Weight Loss -17.8 lbs
  • Months 8-9 Weight Loss -6 lbs
  • Total Weight Loss -106.6 lbs (-93.8 lbs Post Op)
It’s pretty obvious that the weight loss has slowed down.  Part of that is thanks to some stalls, part of that is thanks to jelly beans, and part of that is thanks to things just slowing down because I’m getting a bit smaller.  While I’d love to continue having double digit months, I am content that the scale and measurements both keep moving down, even if its just a little bit at a time.

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

 

Perfectly Productive Sundays #WLS #VSG

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95 Days until my 1 Year Surgiversary!

Today I woke up early after a late, late night celebrating at our neighborhood block party.  It was a huge success, and everyone enjoyed all of the activities that we set up and the raffles that we had.  Food was extremely hard to track from Saturdays festivities, but luckily I can only have a bite or two of things anyways.  Thank you sleeve!

I started my day in one of my favorite weekend ways, with breakfast and Pinterest!  Today I spent some time looking up Gluten Free recipes while preparing my grocery list.

After breakfast was done, I headed out to Target, Wegmans, and Ross to pick up a few needed items and this weeks groceries.  Once I got home I got to work.  As much as I wanted the full 100 days prior to my 1 Year Surgiversary to go perfectly, food hasn’t been 100% on point.  I wanted to get that nipped in the bud ASAP, so I decided to get my kitchen super organized and prepared for the week ahead.  No excuses, 95 days left, I need to get my ‘ish together.

I made a pot of the Black Bean Soup with Chicken Sausage from Fitness Magazine that is a staple for me.  I LOVE this soup.  I will be posting the recipe for it later in the week.  I also made a pot of the old stand by Taco Soup.  I cooked up a batch of Quinoa to prepare for one of the Gluten Free recipes that I am trying later in the week that I found on Pinterest.  I prepared a dinner menu for each day of the week, taking into account which nights I have later classes at the gym.

I feel so organized and productive!  I love Sundays like this.  Off to work on the laundry and to take a bike ride to enjoy the amazing weather that we are having!

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

Donating Clothes #WLS #VSG

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97 Days until my 1 Year Surgiversary!

For most of my life, or at least adult life, I’ve had numerous sizes in my closet that I could go to as my weight went up and down thanks to dieting/working out/life style changes, what have you.  When something got to big it got put in the back of the closet.  Now when I try something on and its too big, it immediately goes into the donate pile for a trip to Salvation Army.  Here is the most recent pile-o-stuff to head over to be donated.

The pile might not seem huge, but it took up two lawn bags.  The pile includes:

  • 3 Sports Bras (they were hardly used, so I am donating them, usually I wont donate that sort of thing.)
  • 1 skirt
  • 8 pairs of slacks/jeans
  • 7 pairs of workout pants
  • 1 hoodie sweatshirt
  • 11 tank tops
  • 2 oxfords
  • 2 blouses
  • 6 cardigans or sweaters
  • 5 t-shirts

I’m sure the hubs is going to be happy to see this pile finally move off of our bedroom floor.  One of the oxford shirts was never even worn, tags are still on it!

 

Hunger? #WLS #VSG

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This was supposed to publish yesterday, but I got my dates mixed up, opps!

99 Days to Go!

A lot of post ops have either no hunger at all, or their hunger is dramatically reduced post op.  I’m not talking about head hunger here, I’m talking about true, stomach growling, feed me before I pass out hunger.  The past 3-4 weeks, I’ve been feeling more and more hunger.  Yesterday I found myself doing a lot of reading on what is causing the hunger (mainly because I was ready to eat the arm off of the next person to pop their head in my cube.)  Is it acid?  It seems like a lot of post VSG’ers find that the real cause of their increased hunger is acid related, so they either add a PPI (like Prilosec) or they increase their dosage.

If I’m 100% honest with both you and myself, my tracking has also been a bit of a joke the past 3-4 weeks.  I track 85-90% of what I eat, but that other 10-15% has been things like jelly beans, cookies, extra crackers, extra hummus, etc.  Bad for me foods, typically, but sometimes just larger quantities of the good for you foods than what I am actually tracking.  In the shift to focus on getting through the last 100 days of my first year post op in a very healthy way, I am being 100% honest in my tracking.  I think that what I will find is that my hunger isn’t actually coming back, and that perhaps its not acid, but its been the random grazing that I’ve been allowing myself to do.  I’ve slowly let some unhealthy carbs, primarily sugar, back into my diet.

The good news is that I’m not gaining weight, but the weight loss is at a serious halt.  That isn’t what I went through all of this for.   I am using this 100 days to refocus, to go back to basics if you will.  Tracking, exercising, doing the good work to get the scale moving again.  I’m going to give it a week or two to see if the hunger pangs that I’ve started to feel start going away with a refocus on perfect tracking (weighing/measuring/logging.)  If that doesn’t help, I’m going to talk to my surgeons office about upping my dose of my PPI.  Of course I’ll keep you updated!

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

100 Days Til the One Year Mark #WLS #VSG

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On my wall calendar in my office, I have marked the number of days since surgery, and also what week I am on since surgery.  It’s strange and OCD, I am sure, but I like seeing the numbers.  Each month I add on from the previous month.  It keeps me aware of how long I’ve come since surgery.  I realized about a week ago, that I am officially 100 days away from my one year Surgiversary as of today, and I wanted to do something to commemorate the next 100 days.

Part of me wants to say “I will be at goal weight by my one year Surgiversary.”  It’s only 23 pounds away to my first goal.  I might re-evaluate at that point, but for now that’s my goal.  But I’ve also learned over the last year that at times I have very little control over what the scale does, even when I am doing all of the right things to make it move.

So what will I do for the next 100 days?

  • 100 Days of blogging.  There might not be a lot in some of the posts, but I am committing to blog ever since stinking day between now and August 22nd.  Some days might just be pictures, some days might be regular posts, some days might be food journals, but there will be a post every day.
  • Track 100% on point every day for the next 100 days.  That means even if I lick the peanut butter spoon, I need to track it.  I’d say I’m about 90% with tracking already, but there are certainly bites or nibbles that I miss.
  • Some form of physical activity every single day for the next 100 days.  This doesn’t mean I have to kill myself at the gym every day, but it does mean that I have to consciously do something active every day.  Walking the dog no longer counts L
  • Comment on at least two other bloggers posts every day for the next 100 days and comment on the current activity feed on myfitnesspal at least once a day for the next 100 days.  This one might sound strange, but reading your blogs and seeing your activity on MFP helps to keep me motivated and on point.  It also helps to keep me in the realm of weight loss and doesn’t let me drift.

That’s it.  That is what I’m going to do for the next 100 days.  Will I hit goal in that time frame?  Likely not, would I be happy if I did, ABSOLUTELY.  But I also know the reality.  Things have slowed down, things are harder now.  I think the above will help to keep me on track though!

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

Thai Turkey Wraps #WLS #VSG #Recipe

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I actually made these a few weeks ago, but I absolutely loved them.  They made great left overs for lunches also.  Super yummy, super big fan of them.

Thai Turkey Wraps

I was big time craving thai food, and yeah these aren’t technically thai food, but it’s what lead to the inspiration of me making these.  Since I am also working towards incorporating more veggies into my post sleeve diet, these scored even more points.

  • 1 Pound 99% Lean Ground Turkey Breast
  • 1 Medium Onion, diced
  • 1 Medium Red Bell Pepper, diced
  • 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 2 Tbsp Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce
  • 2 Tbsp Hoison Sauce
  • 1” Chunk of Ginger Diced
  • Chinese 5 Spice, a dash or two, to personal taste
  • 1 Head Bib/Boston Lettuce (washed and separated)

Saute the onions over medium head for 5-7 minutes in the olive oil, until translucent.

Add in the Ground Turkey and crumble and cook until completely cooked.

Add in the diced peppers

Add in the remaining ingredients (minus the lettuce!)  Cook until desired consistency.

Makes 6-8 WLS Patient sized portions.  Makes 3-4 normal people portions.  The below information is based on 6 WLS Patient portions.

  • Calories: 158
  • Fat: 4
  • Fiber: 2
  • Protein: 24
  • Carbs: 8

Now for the fun part, toppings.  These aren’t included in the nutritional information, so make sure to track those.

  • Spicy Peanut Sauces
  • Sliced Scallions
  • Crushed Peanuts
  • Sliced Peppers
  • Sriracha Sauce (spicy!!)

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

Does Having WLS Mean Never Dieting Again? #WLS #VSG

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Pre-op, I knew that my life post-op would require keeping up primarily with protein.  I assumed that calories would always stay in check thanks to eating protein first and of course my smaller sleeved tummy.  I figured I’d never buy another book about dieting or weight loss since I had a built in program to follow.  I figured that my Dr. Oz watching days were over (side rant…have you ever watched Dr. Oz and wondered how the eff people could actually follow ALL of the different supplements he recommends, you’d need to first win the lottery and the second survive entirely on supplements.)  I figured I’d never see the allure of re-joining Weight Watchers ever again. Boy was I wrong.

Calorie, carb, fat, protein counting.  All part of my daily life post op.  It’s still all an experiment to find out the exact balance that works for me.  Workout minute counting, also a daily post op activity.  Do I still buy diet books, absolutely.  The most recent one thanks to Dr. Oz…again.  This one was about whether you should follow a Hunter or a Farmer diet plan.  The show was really intriguing, and thanks to instant download to the Kindle, I had it and was ready to read by the time Dr. Oz has gotten to the first commercial break.  While the book was interesting, and I learned that I am a Farmer (require more meals and higher carbs), not a Hunter (fewer meals, higher protein), it’s not likely a diet plan that would work for a post op patient.

I am probably more cognizant now than ever about actually tracking my food.  I do miss a thing or two here or there, but overall, I am focused almost daily on sticking to my plan and working out.  More so than ever actually.  It’s easy to fall off the weight loss wagon, even post op, BUT, it’s also a lot easier to get back on said wagon, at least for me, at least for right now.

My Weight Watchers membership auto renewed…THREE  times now since surgery.  It auto charges me for 3 months at a time.  Sure I can go in and cancel it, but I can’t for the life of me do it.  There have been weeks, more than I’d like to admit, that I track on both My Fitness Pal AND on WeightWatchers.com.  I love those weight watchers points.  They are so engrained in my head.  Shockingly now that I am in a lower points range, the points actually workout pretty well for me, as long as I am sticking to my actual calorie goals and plan.  Sort of shocking really; probably because I can no longer eat 3 bananas a day.  (That joke only makes sense if you’ve followed Weight Watchers and know that fruits are 0 points, and the average banana is 110 calories.)

I now have a fabulous tool to help me keep my portions in check, but I still have to do all of the work.  I still have to make decisions.  I have to choose to put smart foods in my body, I have to choose to workout daily, I have to choose to get my bum off of the sofa and do something besides watch TV.  I still enjoy researching the crap out of diets and healthy living options.  I should probably read less because so much of the information out there contradicts itself, but alas, I am my Mom at heart, which means I enjoy the researching process of making the decisions.

Do I still have to diet?  YES.

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

Doctors Goal Weight; My Goal Weight; Reality #WLS #VSG

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I think I forgot to mention in a previous post that my doctors goal weight for me.  If I did mention it, this is a bit redundant, but still worth discussing.  There’s a lot of focus on a specific goal weight, whether it be based on the BMI standards, a doctor’s goal of what he sees the average person do, or own personal preference.   Some people go based on getting into a certain size or hitting certain dreamed of body measurements.

As things have started to dramatically slowdown in the weight loss department, I’ve been giving these various goals a lot of thought.  The goal that I set for myself pre-op was to get down to 150-155.  This would put me in a healthy weight range per the BMI standards, and give me a 10-15 pound space for fluctuation.  Right now I’m about a pound or so away from no longer being obese, and hitting just the overweight category (woot!).  I am by no means thin, but I am certainly getting more and more comfortable with my body and where it is at.  I’m not entirely sure how realistic it is for me to shoot for 150-155.  I am going to have extra skin.  I have a lot of muscle mass.  My body fat percentage is only about 8% higher than where I want it to be.  I also have gargantuan calves and a large body frame.

My doctor’s goal was for me to get below 200 and to have healthy labs.  Done and done.  BMI says I should lose about other 40 or so pounds.  I can get down to 164 and technically be at a “healthy” body weight per the BMI.  That gives me absolutely no wiggle room though.  Body fat percentage to get in a healthy weight range, well that’s just a math equation that being a Poli Sci major won’t let me figure out.  (Lose 8-10% more body fat, but also maintain or increase muscle mass…carry the one…with a factor of .432827….NO IDEA.)

So what is my goal weight?  I have no idea.  I’m fairly certain that at 5’8, I could be pretty darn comfortable at about 165-175.  I’m not really going to change up what I’m doing, so my guess is, that my body will eventually hit a point where I just stop losing and it will figure out where it’s comfortable on its own.

I am shopping in “normal” stores without fail.  I typically can buy in the 12-14 size range, and the tops are a large or extra-large, depending on the top.  I’ve been lucky enough (?D?W@?@?) to not have lost my chest, so that and my arms and their evil extra skin sometimes keep me in larger tops.  My goal was to get out of Lane Bryant and the plus sized section, and I have accomplished that.  Would I love to get into a 10, or even a single digit size?  Sure, but I’m not entirely sure how likely that is.

I am officially changing my first goal weight to 175.  Once I hit that number, I will re-evaluate my goal.  I’m in a whole new territory being in onederland.  I have absolutely no idea where the end of the weight loss portion of my journey will end.

Tata for now,

Scale Warfare

 

One Day…100+ Grams of Protein from Only Food #WLS #VSG #PROTEIN

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Back during my pre-op nutrition classes the nutritionists had discussed that our ultimate goal is to one day be off of all protein supplements.  While they aren’t bad to take, ideally we would get our nutrition from actual food.  My nutritionist was completely fine with me still be on one shake a day at this point, but I was wondering if it were even possible for me to hit my normal 100+ grams of protein in a day without the use of a shake.  So I did a little experiment, and apparently it is possible.  But how you ask?

I wouldn’t say that it was easy, but it was possible, especially considering that this was one of my telecommuting days, so I was at home and had greater access to a kitchen.  I think for days that I’m busy or working, I still need a shake.