11 pounds in 5 days

10.04.2013

Just because I can't really believe it, above I show that I've dropped 11 pounds since Monday morning.

I know the vast majority of that has to be fluid loss as I'm averaging 40-45 oz of liquid intake per day right now. But still, give some credit to surgery for losing that much, that fast.

Today I learned I can drink more - I managed to drink most of a 17oz bottle of water in an hour with no adverse effects. My protein shakes (300 cal / 50gm protein / 10oz) still take over an hour just because I'm sipping and re-refrigerating. But I've no reason to be in a hurry with those.

Tonight there may be a trip to the store to pick up some broth. Something non-sweet and hot would be nice. Plus, I can get another walk at a store in for my daily exercise.

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New Gut: Day 3

10.03.2013

I've had more people than I would have though ask about what I can eat now. I thought I would share that here, so that maybe I can keep my story straight.

The first 2 weeks after Sleeve surgery are the most restrictive because your stomach lining has to heal, and as such you want to minimize your stomach acid. My first two days at home I ate:

• Popsicles
• Jello
• Water

Because the size of my stomach has been reduced, I aim to take in no more than an ounce per 15 minutes. I can probably try to take in more, but this was the number stressed in all the documentation and diet class. More than anything I don't want to throw up, so I keep to that limit pretty well. I've been trying to mainly drink water to keep hydrated, while the popsicles and Jello were for those time I was feeling a little nausea. Because Jerry is counting his calories, I think I took in just under 70 calories over those two days.

Today I get to add protein shakes, pudding, broth, and yogurt. None of that can have chunks of fruit or extra stuff - it still has to be liquid, and it has to be sugar free/fat free. I'm a little shocked that yogurt is on the list as I would think the enzymes would stir up the stomach.

When I got up at 7:00 this morning I mixed up my protein shake. I've heard some people are lactose intolerant after surgery, so as I poured 8oz of skim milk into my shaker cup I was a little worried. Lots of sips and 45 minutes later I had drank roughly 1/3 of the shake and was feeling ok. Looks like I can keep on shaking!

I've been lucky with not suffering many side effects from surgery. I don't seem to have these gas bubbles of pain (although I was farting a lot Tuesday). My incision sites don't hurt too bad, and the 2 spots that hurt the most are the ones that are supposed to. There have been silly little things I've noticed - my right hand was where my IV was attached, and it was pretty swollen. Last night I was finally able to close my right hand into a fist, but this morning you can still see the swelling around the knuckles. I also can't properly play Grand Theft Auto as I tend to rest my hands and controller on my gut, which seems to be the key incision locations (I actually press into my stomach with my hands/controller when playing).

When I have to search for things like that to complain about, I must be doing pretty good.

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New Gut: Day 2

10.02.2013

Surgery on Monday went without any problems. I learned afterward that I have a huge liver. If I hadn't lost those 30 lbs the doctor wanted me to lose before surgery, he said he wouldn't have been able to safely perform the surgery. There's also a high chance that this would have eventually lead to Cirrhosis.

I did well on my hospital stay. My main goal was to get up and walk since that's the best way to alleviate the laproscopic gas pain. Walking a minimum distance is also the crux of the doctor saying it's ok to go home. I learned from the nurses that 20 laps around the floor seems to be the minimum. From talking to the doctor in his office it seems most people go from 20-30 laps. I'm a super hero, so I did 50. Mainly it felt good to get up and move around, and I wasn't in too much pain - thanks in part to the morphine pump.

I got home yesterday around noon. Since then I've been concentrating on drinking water and taking naps. I still walk through the house, but not as much as I was walking in the hospital. I can feel more gas moving through my system, but that's good. After I'm up and moving around for about 20 minutes, I'm ready for a 30 minute nap.

Speaking of which, I think I may slip into the next nap phase.

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40 pounds

09.30.2013

5 more pounds in a week - that's what having protein shakes at 2 meals plus a meal of meat will do for me. This also means that since January, I managed to drop 40 pounds.

That's good, as today is surgery day. In roughly 3 hours I should be getting a Gastric Sleeve. Oddly enough, as the time has been drawing closer over the last week I've been getting less and less nervous. If you don't count having to get up a couple of times in during the night thanks to some Magnesium Citrate, I slept rather sound.

The rest of the week should be interesting. I should be back home tomorrow. At that point, everything truly is on me to see how much weight I can lose. You would think that 40 pounds is a good amount of weight to lose. Unfortunately, losing that has only gotten me back to where I started when I had success with Atkins/South Beach a few years ago (and I lost 56 pounds that time).

So, I lost 40 pounds on my own. Let's see how much surgery helps from here on out.

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Ignore the 2% Fat Percentage Increase

09.24.2013

Today was my final visit with the bariatric surgeon before surgery on Monday. I now have a time (11:00 AM) for surgery! In addition, I got them to print me a receipt from the Scale of Doom, previously visited on January 31 (see receipt above to the left). Now I can see what difference I really made in the past 7 months.

• Original Weight: 439.2
• New Weight: 410.8

An official loss of 28.4 pounds. That puts me smack dab in the middle of the requested 25-30 pounds to lose. Go me!

• Original BMI: 62.0
• New BMI: 57.8

Still fat. Actually, I'm still Super Obese (BMI over 50).

• Original Fat Mass: 258.6
• New Fat Mass: 249.8

Of that 28.4 pounds gone, roughly 9 pounds was pure fat.

• Original FFM: 180.6
• New FFM: 161.0

This is the part I don't like so much, as my lean muscle mass (muscle, bones, water) dropped 19 pounds. This is the side of the weight I want to retain that makes me strong and buff!

• Original TBW: 132.2
• New TBW: 117.8

This is the amount of water I'm carrying, so it looks like most of that lean mass that I loss was fluid. I can trick myself into accepting that for now.

Next up is all the shopping for the stuff I'll need to get ready for surgery, as well as those things I'll need right after getting back home. Luckily, Gina is familiar with the layout of Walgreens so I'm taking her on a shopping spree later tonight.

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