Another day

Well last night and this morning my stomach wasnt doing well. I think I had a 24 hour bug. Low fever and bathroom issues. That went away about noon. Had to have Aprille go to store and get me liquid tylenol and liquid immodium. Green mint yuck! I dont think it was surgery related. So I ate sort of bland today thinking I didnt want to mess things up. I will let you know in the morning what I weigh .Im looking forward to next week when I dont have to crush pills anymore. Thats big because they taste sooooo bad crushed. I am getting alot of comments like wow you can really tell you lost weight. Love hearing it. I know I feel better and less full figured. The bloat is gone. Night all.

Dr. Apt today

Well I thought I was seeing the doctor but saw the nurse practioner instead. Sh e said I was doing great and everything looked good. I should be able to swallow pills next week and not have to crush them anymore. I also will slow down in weight loss to just 1 to 2 pounds a week. BUMMER! I was enjoying it drop off. I made an appointmant for 4 weeks from now and they said I will get a fill most likely. So I will be eating less after that. They were very happy with my progress and my blood preasure was 130/76 which for me is fabulous. I will let you know when more weight drops but dont expect mass amounts anymore. boo hoo. Later, Denise

Check back tomorrow

Hi, I have a doctors apointment in the morning with the surgeon who did my lapband . So I will update you tomorrow. Till then.......

another pound

MORNING!!!!!! Good news another pound down. 19 total. Unbelievable. I better behave today and keep it moving in the right direction. I guess the brisk walk hepled alot. I will let you know how I do today later this evening. I am doin the happy dance over another pound gone. I might do a cart wheel at 20lbs. Doubt it though. Later guys......

Busy day.

Well its been a busy day. I woke up and weighed myself and FINALLY beat the plateau. Lost a smidge over a pound. Scale read 215.8. YEAAAAAA! I have been stuck on 216, 217 for days. It kept fluctuating between there. I now 215. whew!Thats because yesterday I was too busy to eat and it did me good. Today unfortunatly I ate maybe more then I should have so now Im afraid to weigh in the morning. But another great thing happened to me today.....I signed with a real estate company and now I am a Century 21 agent. Im so excited about it. Hopefully I will be so busy between 2 jobs I will forget to eat often. I also went for aBRISK and I do mean brisk walk with my neighbor lady for 30 minutes and I did good. Kept up and didnt complain once.So I will let you know tomorrow if I did any damage on the scale....hope not. goodnite

to finish up today......

Well today I learned that if Im not home to watch the clock as to when its time to eat......I dont eat as often. I was out and about and was too busy to eat. I wasnt hungry till lunch and I have not been hungry yet. All is well. No problems from the surgery. I just asked my neighbor/friend if I could walk with her on her daily walk and she said yes so now I should get more excerise . COOL! Well , check in with me tomorrow and see whats new. TOODLES

MAINTAINING

Crap, I have hit a snag. Stuck on the same weight for another day. Better then gaining but goes to show when you add food even a small amount it shows on the scale. I will let you know what the day brings. More protein less everything else. Later......

All systems go!

Just incase I had too much info on bathroom issues yesterday and you were worried, everything is in working order as of today. ALL SYSTEMS GO! Not too much to report other then I feel more energetic then ever. I got up at 5:30 and thought I would take a nap later if I was tired. I laid down around 11 with the intent of a nap and could not sleep at all. I got up and spring cleaned, fixed things, moved things and kept going till 3 when I had to get ready to go get my yearly mamogram. I cant believe all the enrgy I have. I ate 3/4 cup of chicken and peas for lunch and again at dinner and a couple pickles and a few strawberries through out the day. Had a pretty good day food wise. I wont bore you with every detail but I am eating tons less and healthy on top of it. I will report back tomorrow with more details. Good nite all.

Doctors visit.

Well let me tell you, its been a great day. I went to see Dr. Dick my regular doctor this morning at 10am. The nurses where excited to check out my results of how I am doing. I was also not worried to get on the scale like I used to be. I was retaining some water but was 232 lbs on March 2nd when I went to his office last and today, 21 days later I was down 14 lbs. 218 lbs on his scale with clothes on. He also took me off 4 of my pills for the next month to see how I do. He doesnt think I will have gerd anymore and also took me off a water pill and potassium pill and my Lipitor pill. YEEEEEHAAAAAAA. That was as exciting as losing the weight. that means I only take 3 pills a day now instead of 7. Money in the bank and healthy too. I went out to lunch with Jill ate did well and the whole day I feel great and am so happy that I made this decision to do the surgery. I did have one question for him. Only pooped once this week, is that ok? He said you will. Your not eating like you used to so it will be farther in between going. Hope that wasnt too much info for you but Im into full disclosure. haha Well that it for today. 4oz Chicken and tblsp mashers again for dinner. Till tomorrow . See ya =)

I did good.

Well I had the breakfast drink like I said at 7:30 this morning. At 10am I must have had something but cant remember what it was. hummmmm. At 12:30 I took a Stoffers meatloaf/ mashers dinner which weighed 9 oz and nuked it and ate half which would be my 4.5 oz. Yummy. Again at 2pm I ate the other half, still yummy. I went for a 40 minute walk around the neighborhood. Now at 5:30 I had dinner 4oz of baked salmon and a tblsp of fake mashers. Also yummy. The meatloaf and salmon were smashable with my fork and the mashers helped them be soft too. So I think they would qualify as soft foods. Later sometime before I go to bed I will have a sugarfree jello or SF popcycle and thats it. Thats 6 meals a day averageing 4-5 oz each meal . Not hungry either. Just miss chewing and flavors. But I work around those and make them happen . Another day done. I see my regular doctor in the morning so I will see what he says about my progress and let you know. Wish me luck on the scale in the morning. Toodles

Bummer....

Morning, Bummer is I stayed the same. Thats not bad though because now it reminds me to leave the cream cheese or dips alone. Im back on 4 oz Sugar free Carnation this morning, watching the clock, back on schedule. I will also walk today and NOT CHEAT!!!!! Damn dip n chip. haha Be back later for progress of my day. Sunny out. That helps to have no excuses not to WALK!

Got through a Saturday and all is well.

Hi, well another pound today....gone! I weighed in this morning at 216. Love the pound a day thing. Hopefully 200 by Easter or April 6th if i keep up a pound a day. Maybe more walking will make it Easter. I did real well today. Not timing my meals on the clock so I think I ate one less meal maybe and I am advanceing a bit. I think I might be pushing a tid bit of chewing but all is well and Im not getting sick or feeling bad. I feel great. Tried a chewable multi vitamin that they say I have to be on the rest of my life. YUCK. Horible, blah!!!! I also took off my tape strip bandages off of my incisions. Im a rebel at heart so I always have to do what Im not supose to. They look fine. Just bruising. I dont think you will even see them a year from now. I am not hungry at all. Its truly amazing. I had my Sugar Free pudding and pop cycles, blended soup with a couple lumps thrown in later so I could pretend to chew and I did have a couple potato chips in dip , and I do mean a couple while my visitors were here. I sogged them up and chewed them well and swallowed. God they were yummy. No side affects from my couple rebel moments. Im still right on the money. I realized today that I can actually take more then sips again. Right after surgery things must be swollen and you just sip. I thought oh God I will never be able to chug again. But now 5 days later I can actually take more liquids in then I could in the last 4 days since surgery. This is working out quite well. Also I have had trouble burping since surgery. All I can do is baby burps. But my belly is smaller and so should the burps be maybe. You have to know I come from a LONG line of belchers. But then I think there is no carbonation or food in my gut to burb big. Lady burps are nice but I do believe a month from now I will be able to burp again like the old days. Dont get me wrong....I would give up a belch in exchange for 16lb weight loss anyday. Well I will be back to blog again tomorrow. Good nite all :)

Ist day out in the world at a restaraunt

Hi, Well today I ventured out with Aprille, to a favorite place we go on Saturdays. Lunch at Dunton House in Arlington Heights. Well after much thought about my ordering [last nite, this morning, lots of planning] I ordered a cup of Egg lemmon soup which is cream of chicken rice with lemon flavor and asked the waitress to blend it in the blender which she was happy to do. YUMMY!!!! I ate half of the cup, 1 packet of saltines which is 2 crackers. I broke them into little pieces and sogged them up and chewed till they were soggy crumbs. Good ol salt, I miss you. Then I reached over and stole 1 small soft strawberry and chewed the crap out of it till it was pulverized. Oh yea, had a few sips of water. blah! Swallowed that sucker and hoped for the best......Lucky me, I was full. Didnt get sick and survived my first outing. Then I did some errands which consisted of alot of walking which I was a tad sore in the belly area afterwards. I had to stop at food store for snacks because Im having visitors tomorrow. I bought snacks for them and I saw something I could not resist. Sugar free 60 calorie DULCE de LECHE pudding. I once again said what the hell. I went home and had a cup of it as one of my meals. Im still on track with 6 meals a day . 4 down 2 to go and another day of meals under my narrowing belt. Im down another pound to 217 and so far today I had 4 oz Carnation Instant Breakfast drink, 1 popcycle, lunch like I said, and 1 cup of yummy sugar free pudding. I will most likely have another popcycle and pudding cup to wrap up the day. till tomorrow ..... Hope Im down another pound after all my cheats.

another pound!!!!!

Good morning, Another pound off. Thats 6 in 3 days or 15 since the New Year. I forgot to mention, the first month after surgery you must crush any pills you take or open the capsule because you cant swallow whole pills for 1 month. Mix them in applesauce or water. Also I am going to give you the amounts of protein in the meal replacement drinks so in case you want to try losing weight that way you can . Im sure you can buy protein powder at any store for less then I paid through the doctors office. The important part is how much protein is in there. It really does fill you up. I also made mine with skim milk and added fresh or frozen fruit which makes it thick like a smoothie.Tastes pretty good. Also you can buy sugar free ice cream toppings and add flavor that way. I made strawberry, rasberry, banana, chocolate and there are recipes to make peanut butter chocolate , pina collada, chocolate mint, ect. I suggest you buy vanilla because you have alot more recipe options with that flavor. The powder I paid through the nose for is called BARIATRIC ADVANTAGE. The important part is how much stuff is in it so try to get as close to this amount when you go to the store. 2 oz serving....27 grams proein, 160 calories, 1.5 fat, 1 sat fat, 290 mg sodium, 200 potassium, 7 carbs, 5 fibers, 1 sugar, Vitamins A, B6, B12, D and K. Plus other stuff like calcium, riboflavin, iodine zinc and chronium.2 scoops in 8 oz of water or skim milk and it tastes good and fills you up. You really are not hungry. Blend it though. A spoon wont get it.Well I am on track doing great. No pain or anything.I can already see it in my face that the fullness is going down. YEEEE HAAAAA! It my mind that thinks I want something but my belly isnt wanting anything. My mind told me yesterday I wanted a fritto so I sucked on one and spit it out. I was happy I had salty fritto taste but no calories from it. Mind over matter but what ever works. Little games you play to get through the day.Im on my second part of my instant breakfast drink and I dont even care if I have it . Im not hungry at all. Well thats it for now. Going to get a walk in today so I can lose faster. Sunday is first day of spring and I want to get going before summer is here. Have a great day and think SPRING!

What I ate today.

7am ish 4 oz chocolate sugar free Carnation Instant Breakfast, skim milk. 10 am ish the other 4 ounces. Noon 4 ounces cream of potato[campbells] soup with a bit of cheddar cheese melted into it. Had to be blended by the way. 2 pm ish cup of sugar free jello. 5pm the rest of potato soup with melted cheese again. 7pm ish 1 sugarfree orange popcycle. I cant believe I wasnt hungry all day. Also sipped zero calorie vitamin water all day. I feel great. I guess if you could eat this small amount and dont cheat then you dont need the surgery. I feel fine, no hunger and will see what tomorrow brings. ;)

Doctors website if interested

Dr Kane did my surgery and good news , he is a great dr. and easy on the eyes. Cutie pa tutie. His dad was a pioneer in developing the surgery and I think Dr James Kane jr. did a great job with me. Did I mention his eyes? Oh yea, focus Denise. I might be chubby but Im not blind. haha His web site is http://www.suburbansurgicalcare.com/index.html Lots of info but I really recomend the seminars for more direct information. It got me this far. They also follow up with meeting and seminars after the surgery to keep you on track.

Good morning

Well its 2nd day after surgery I weighed 219 this morning. thats 14 lbs since January 1st. In between those dates you follow up with some dieting and protien shakes .blah blah, but I was 224 the morning of surgery and I am down 5 lbs in 2 days. GO me! I was only in the hospital 24 hours. 5 tiny bandaids on my upper abdomin and thats it. They have you on a liquid diets of sugar free jello and sugar free pop cycles in the hospital but the day you come home you can add blended cream soups, Carnation Instant Breakfast sugar free of course to you meals. You eat 1/4 to 1/2 cup and you are full. You can eat every 2 hours averaging 6 small meals a day. eventually I will get down to 3 meals a day. It is amazing that Im not hungry. You are supose to sip water or 0 calorie drinks in between meals. No caffine, carbonation or lumpy food for now until stomach heals. Next week I get to add yogurt, cottage cheese and semi lumpy foods. 3rd week is awesome and 4th week anything goes. Look out world Im back. You just have to chew the hell out of it and it will be all good. No more swallowing barely chewed food but that ok. I can live with that as long as I can eat anything by chewing it well. By Easter I will be tasteing mashers and gravy. You can take that to the bank. haha. bye for now!

In the beginning

Hi, I decided to srart this transformation January 1, 2010. I went to a lapband seminar at the Doctors building where I sat and listened to alot of information and questions and answers. They said it wasnt an easy way out like some people say but it is a very good aid in helping you lose the weight. I have needed an assist and do believe this is the one that will work for me. I started off the year 5'6'' and 233 lbs. I never told people what I weighed before this because I didnt think it would ever change. But since I decided to do this I have been telling everyone because I know there will be a drastic change in numbers over the next few months and years. I had to attend alot of doctors appointments and take alot of tests to get to the surgery. But I pushed through all of it rather quickly because I was on a mission and wanted this bad! So March 16th surgery has come and gone and I am on the road to a healthy happier thinner me.......check back on my progress and watch what happens.