Week 6 - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Week 6 and I am feeling GREAT!!!!!!!!!!

I've lost 33 lbs, I have so much energy and my health is improving wonderfully. No dumping, no feeling sick this week, but good old gas stayed true to being a part of my daily life.

I discoverd that relaxing while eating and chewing food slowly is the essence of successful food intake and disgestion, which = Less / No Dumping.

I also attended my first Bariatric Surgery Support Group this week. I met and spoke with women who offered a wealth of knowledge and information.

In the weeks to come, hopefully you will find my blog more informative and enjoyable.

I appreciate you...

Week 5 - I Am So Excited!

Week 5 and I am so excited, I have lost 31 pounds. I experienced many highs and lows this week. I have come to realize that regardless to how much effort I put into trying to avoid dumping, this is a package deal and dumping is a part of it.

My diet has grown to included whatever I can tolerate, as long as it's low in fat, consist of protein and is not high in sugar.

I find myself playing it safe by sticking to foods on the recommended list. I'm becoming conditioned. I try to avoid eating out as much as possible when necessary, (but you will hear about the Rib-Attack I experienced this week.)

Dr. Daly gave me clearance to stop drinking protein drinks, as long as I am managing to eat at least 50 grams of protein a day. PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He also recommended that I increase my exercise, so I will be going back to the gym this coming week, and last week I went dancing a couple of nights (Chicago Sytle Stepping). I just love stepping!

My sugaar levels have been up and down...but this is partly due to stress and a family crisis. I am still taking my meds, but at a fraction of what I've been taking in the past.

Each day, I am getting more and more excited about becoming to small for some of my clothing. I am taking more clothes of the hangers in my closet, and putting them in bins and bags that will be leaving my house soon. (((SMILING)))...as I realize I will never wear them again...and will have to buy new ones soon!

Week 4 ~ Slow down and Eat Slower

COMING SOON: More detailed and insightful information about Gastric Bypass Surgery

Currently, I am only giving you information about my experience, but it is my goal to give you collective and comprehensive information from what I am learnig from other weight loss surgery patients.

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It's week 4, I now weight 204 lbs, with a total weight loss of 28 pounds. I guess I made an error in my video this week, because I said I lost 29 pounds...just jumping the gun a little. LOL

This week the most important thing I had to work on was taking smaller bites, and eating slower. On several occasions, I got food caught in my lower throat/chest area. It's a very uncomfortable feeling, and the food is basically stuck until it can slide down the throat without drinking. If the food doesn't move quickly enough a sip or two of a drink has to do to avoid Dumping.

I visit Dr. Daly tomorrow and will have to get clarification on Dumping. I don't think I've experience dumping yet, but I am not really sure, because everyone's body is different and perhaps my mini-sessions are more than an occasional upset stomach...or reaction to a food.

I'm feeling great. I'm not gettig tired and you will see on the footage that I have figured out a way to enjoy...or at least drink my protein drinks more often.

Please feel free to ask me questions, send emails or share inforamtion with me. Don't forget to tell your friends about my blog, if they are considering Weight Loss Surgery.

Peace, Happiness & Hope,

Julay

Week 3 – One Step at a Time

Last week I believe I did a little too much, before going back to work. I shopped for items to redecorate my bedroom including drapes, straighten up the house, and pulled out my winter clothes so that I would have sweaters to wear to work.

My week day is a long one. My work hours are from 10:00am to 7:00pm. So Monday when I went back to work, I was up early and ready to go. Arrived at work happy and excited to see some of my coworkers and chatted briefly about how I was doing.

I’ve always considered myself a powerhouse, and push myself to my limits. Monday I was going about the day as if I was 100% back in business. Then I started to slow down. I took a 45 minute nap in my car during my lunch hour and still tried to convince myself that the day was progressing nicely and until it hit me. By 5pm I felt like crap and it took all that was in me to muster up enough energy to make it to the 7pm hour.

My drive to and from work is only about 15 minutes, so when I arrived home all I could do was take off my shoes and lay across the bed.

So after speaking with my surgeon’s office; Tuesday until next week Friday I will be on a part-time work schedule of 4 hours a day. This was a great lesson in learning to pace myself and take it one step at a time.

My daughter just called while I was typing this blog entry, to tell me that she is so excited about her new exercise class and can’t wait until I am feeling better, so that I can go to her new kick boxing class with her...crunches, ab workout, stretching, kicking, etc…that allows you to burn 800 – 900 calorie in an hour class……Good Golly Miss Molly!!!!!!!!!!! As excited as she is, we both realize that I won’t probably be able to attend the class with her until around January.

Thank the Lord!!!!!!!!!

Week 2 -There's Nothing To It But To Do It

It’s week 2...I have lost 22 pounds.

I really excited, yet a little apprehensive. The weight is dropping quickly, I'm able to start eating solid foods sooner than I expected and my jeans were actually falling off my behind as I walked through the mall the other day.

Wow this is so easy!!!

NO, its not!

It’s a sacrifice.

A denial of things once loved, for thing now authorized and required. One day I will be able to eat in confidence that I will not become ill and experience dumping, because by then I will have eaten that particular food many times before. But for now, everything that passes my lips has an invisible sign, BEWARE THIS MAY CAUSE DUMPING!

I want to say Thank You to my Sistahs.

So many women emailed me and asked questions. Several women spoke with me and shared their stories about having weight loss surgery, as well as offering advice and encouragement.

Life is full of journeys; time brings us wisdom and women helping women births empowerment. Thank you again for your emails, phone conversations and coming to my blog.

One Love ~ Julay

Week 1 - Getting Over the Hurdles

October 7th marks one week from the date of my surgery. It was a good week, but a good week with challenges. The day of surgery I weighed 220, when I came home I weighed 232, now I am 218; losing a total of 14 pounds within my first week after surgery.

For me week one had its emotional challenges; the weather was gloomy and rainy most of the week. I wasn’t able to leave the house much and although I was not hungry, I found myself thinking more and more about food, cooking and how to redesign my food choices for my new life style. There were times when I became fixated on the fact that I would be living off a liquid diet for the next 30 days and food; any type of food became the object of my desire. The same food commercials I’ve probably seen thousands of times and never paid too much attention to now had my undivided attention.


Week one provided a wake up call for me, because even being overweight with diabetes I didn’t realize how much FOOD played a major emotional part in my life until now. Crazy, but true. I am now in a position to evaluate my life from a different prospective.

I am very, very excited about my decision to have weight loss surgery; but with this decision come a multitude of choices and new decisions. I have been given a second chance to take control of my health and Do The Right Thing so to speak. My longing for the taste of foods as I once new them doesn’t have to change, as much as my decision to make healthier choices, because ultimately making poor choices will causes me discomfort and sickness from eating foods I should not be eating, and know I should not be eating.

So with these choices taste really becomes the focus more so than the food; if that makes sense.

I followed my doctor’s orders to the best of my ability making sure that I was doing my daily walks, breathing exercises, taking vitamins and again eating only the foods recommended.

In my research this week I found that one of the major side effects from this surgery is flatulence; gas. Man oh man; have I put new meaning into Blowing It Out. This is serious! There are chair pads for gastric bypass patients; Disposable Flatulence Deodorizer pads (http://www.flat-d.com/gastric-bypass1.html) for this reason alone. OMG!!!

Looking back; week one helped me to formulate new ideas, meet challenges and face fears. I believe I am blessed to have an opportunity to alter the way things were going with my health. God and science are responsible, and for this I am thankful to both God and science.

(This full body shot was taken last month; Labor Day weekend 2009.)

Day 6 Is It Classy to Suck a Bone?

This morning was a good morning. I felt more like myself and I wasn’t in too much pain getting out of bed.

I took 1 tablespoon of pain medication and started my day off by walking around the house for 10 minutes; swept the entry way into my livingroon, but wasn’t able to bend down to sweep the collection into the dust pan. Macaroni wasn’t here, but I could hear his voice in my head telling me to stop it and go sit down. You know what they say about a woman’s work ~ It's never done. That's so true, illness or no illness.

I made 2 cups of hot green tea, poured out 2 ounces for me to drink and then refrigerated the remainder so that I can microwave and drink later.

I really enjoyed my shower this morning. Having that wonderful warm water run all over my body soathing my soreness was pure pleasure.

For the past few days I really wanted to wash my hair, but the weather was pretty cool and I didn't want to get sick since I knew I wouldn't be able to hold the blow dryer. So this morining I was able shampoo my hair and throughly remove blue spray left in my hair from surgery.

Of course my bandages were soaked, so I removed the layer of wet hospital tape and gauze pads over my incisions, but left the hospital tape on that was protecting my stitches. If you are thinking about or preparing to have weight loss surgery, keep in mind you may gain weight, I did; 10lbs. My abdomen is much larger and extremely blotted now. I’m not sure exactly why, but this is probably from gas. My belly is definitely much larger and firmer than it was prior to surgery.

I know that it’s really important to moisturize your skin, but I believe this to be especially true after weight loss surgery because it can help with the elasticity of the skin. With all the weight I am expecting to lose, I want to do everything in my power to help decrease the amount of excess skin I have. As I continue to lose weight I will exfoliate to promote new skin growth, excercise and dedicate time to spend in the sauna and steam room.

I had so much gas today and going to the bathroom was an adventure. There really isn’t a #1 or #2. When I thought I have to go #1, it was #2, when I thought it was#2 it was #1 and most of the time there's no distinction because it both #1 and #2.

Overall, I had a really good day. I was able to move around without too much pain, I took less pain medication, and I didn't feel sleepy. The one thing I will say is Boy, Oh Boy was I hungry!!! I missed the taste of seasoned food, and paid too much attention to the food commercials on television. The one thought that continued to run across my mind was having a barbeque rib bone to suck on. I can taste it now.