12 Weeks Post Op RNY, already lost 45% of my Excess Weight!

Hi Guys,

I am 12 weeks, or 3 months, post op now!  So hard to believe that 3 months has gone by since my RNY gastric bypass surgery!

I went from 304 Lbs to 230.2 Lbs, since starting Optifast on January 11th, in preparation for surgery.  That's a total of 73.8 Lbs gone!  Woohoo!  I'm so happy about that.

I met with the dietician for an hour via telehealth today, for my 3 month post op visit, and it went really well. She said I am doing great, and that I've already lost 45% of my excess weight.  She said most patients don't lose 45% of their excess weight until 6 months post op, so I'm ahead of the game!
I'm so pleased as I've really been working hard; following all of the rules for eating and drinking, and getting plenty of exercise.

I joined the local pool and started swimming laps, an hour each time, in addition to bike riding and walking. 

I've gone from a size 4 or 5X to a size 1X top, and also a 1X bottom. Soon I'll be out of the X sizes and into regular sizes, and I cannot wait!  I'll be able to save so much money because the X sizes cost so much more.

Me, Christmas 2017, and last week, April 2017

 The above photo shows me, before RNY surgery, and now.  The first photo was taken this past Christmas, and the second photo was taken last week (April, 2017). 

Crocheted Baby Dory

Hi Guys,

It's been awhile since I posted something I made.  Here's a sweet little Baby Dory, after the movie, "Finding Dory". 

Crocheted Baby Dory

 I made her for a friend on Youtube, a member of the Weight Loss Community there.  She always says, "Just keep swimming" when she's stressed or tempted, and taught me that saying when I started out on Youtube. I hadn't seen the movie and watched it on Netflix and fell in love with Dory, and especially baby Dory.

Crocheted Baby Dory

 I love that the bedspread above looks like waves on water, lol.

Crocheted Baby Dory

 I found the pattern for free on Ravelry.  Here's a link if you want to make your own Baby Dory:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-dory

 The gal I made her for lives in Florida, and I was told at the post office it will take up to 10 days for Dory to arrive at her new home.  I guess they meant 10 business days, as she hasn't arrived yet.  I hope she'll get there safely.

 Luckily, Dory is used to taking long journeys, lol.

9 Weeks Post Op, down 62.4 Lbs!

Hi Guys,
Wow, can't believe it's been so long since I last posted.  I was down with pneumonia for 2 weeks and that got me way off track, blog wise.

My new eating/drinking/exercise routines have taken up a lot of my time.  I'm down 62.4 Lbs since I started Optifast, 3 weeks before surgery, and I'm thrilled about that!

Here are my stats:

                      My Weight       Weekly Lbs Lost      Total Weight Loss    Monthly       Since Surgery

Starting:
Jan. 11th, 2017:        304 
after Week 1 Opti:    298                    6                        6
after Week 2 Opti:    284.8               13.2                   19.2
after Week 3 Opti:    281                    3.8                   23                     Pre-op: 23
(same day as surgery day)         
Total 23 Lbs lost on 3 weeks of Opti Opti

Surgery Day
Feb. 1st, 2017         281                          23/0
1 weeks post op:     271.2                         9.8              32.8                                                   9.8
2 weeks post op:     265.2                          6                38.8                                                 15.8 
3 weeks post op:     262.4                          2.8             41.6                                                 18.6
4 weeks post op:     257.4                          5                46.6              Month 1: 23.6             23.6

5 weeks post op:     252.6                         4.8              51.4                                                  28.4
6 weeks post op:     248.4                         4.2              55.6                                                  32.6
7 weeks post op:     246                            2.4              58                                                     35
8 weeks post op:     244.8                         1.2              59.2              Month 2: 13.2             36.2

9 weeks post op:     241.6                         3.2              62.4                                                  39.4

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So, I'm doing great, and couldn't be happier about the weight loss! 

I also starting bike riding this week.  My first ride, on April 2nd, was 5 km.  It was nice and sunny and warm for this time of year, but it was weird riding past snowbanks, lol.

My second bike ride on April 3rd wasn't as nice. It was only 3 Celcius (37.4 Farenheit) and windy.  I was only able to do 20 minutes (2.6 km) that day, as it started to rain so I had to get home. It rained all the rest of that day and all day yesterday. Today it is not raining so I hope to go out again, if the puddles aren't too bad.

My clothes are almost all too big, and the sleeves of all of my tops, sweaters, and jackets dangle way below my fingertips, lol.  I was shocked by that, lol.  I still have a few tops that were way too tight for me to get into before surgery, that I can wear now, but even those are getting baggy.

The new leggings I bought last month still look OK, but I can pull them up to my bra now, lol.  All the rest of my pants are huge. It is such a great feeling to grow out of clothes because they are too big instead of too small! 

I'm on soft foods now, and can eat things like fake crab meat, tuna,omelets,  roasted chicken, as long as I leave the skin on while it cooks so it stays moist.  I take the skin and fat off before I eat the meat.  I can have up to 3 ounces of food at one time now, or 3/4 cups of soft foods, like yogurt. I still sometimes need a protein shake to get my protein in.  I've started using 2 tbsps of my vanilla and caramel protein shakes as tea whitener, so my tea now has 6 grams of protein, lol.  I normally drink 3 cups of herbal tea per day, so that's an easy way to sneak an extra 18 grams of protein in.  I'm supposed to get 60-80 grams of protein in, and can sometimes get 70 grams in, but usually it's a struggle just to reach 60.  I also need to drink 8 cups (about 2000 ml) of water per day, and the tea helps with that, too.

My asthma is much better, and I can walk for an hour without needing ventolin at all.  I used to need ventolin every single day and I only needed it once this week, on my windy bike ride.  I didn't need it at all on my other, longer bike ride, so I think the wind just made it so much harder to pedal that I needed it.

Another great thing is that my back doesn't ache all the time, and I'm not getting migraines every day.  I still get headaches sometimes, but they aren't debilitating.

Even though I had a rough time with lots of pain for so long, and then pneumonia, I don't regret doing this, not one bit. It's the best thing I ever did for myself.  I'm so happy now.  I'm not depressed or anxious or feeling full of shame all the time, like I was before.  I'm even slowly becoming more social and not isolating myself like I used to. 

I went to a big family gathering over the weekend, and that's something I normally would have tried to skip, as I always felt so judged about my weight.  I hated eating in front of people.  I went though, and everyone was so kind, and gave me so many compliments about how much I'd lost.  Everyone stared at the small amount of food on my plate, and some joked about it, but it took me longer to eat my 4 tablespoons of food than it took everyone else to eat their plates, plus second and third helpings, and desert!  I felt completely fine and satisfied and not like I was missing out at all. I was able to catch up with some of my younger cousins, which was really nice.

Sorry this was so long; thanks for reading!  Big hugs!