Week 13 Weight Stagnation

Over the last two and a half weeks my weight has only dropped by a few hundred grams.  This has been a bit frustrating and a bit disheartening.

But I am not actually surprised when I think of what has been going on over the last few weeks.  And I think I know what the problem is.  Sugar.  Good old empty calories.

For the past few weeks I have been craving sugar and I have have been satisfying this craving with all sorts of sweet treats.  Now for me this is quite unusual as I do not have a sweet tooth.  In fact I am all about the savoury foods.

But none the less I have been snacking on sweet biscuits, cake, and the odd bit of chocolate.  And all those empty calories is what I think has halted my weight loss.  That and the fact that I have not done any exercise for the past few weeks.
This just goes to show that the sleeve is a tool for weight loss not the ultimate solution.  If you eat junk and do no exercise then you will not loose weight.  Full stop.

So tomorrow is a new day and I am determined to make sure I am not filling up on empty calories or sugary foods.
Now doesn't that sound just like something you would say when on a diet....

Well the reality is that even with a sleeve it matters what you put in your mouth.

I really appreciate any comments you take the time to leave. Feel free to ask questions.
If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.

Week 12 Weigh In

So it is week 12 and I am now 98 kg  I am now below 100 kg for the first time in nearly 4 years.

Woo Hoo!

My weight has stagnated a bit this past week and I have been feeling a bit despondent about it.  I feel like I should be loosing weight quicker but none the less it is still a great feeling to be nearly 20 kg lighter that when I started this journey.
I think that I need to remind myself that if I had lost that much weight any other way I would be over the moon.  Plus I know that it is not always healthy to loose weight really fast.

Anyway here are some up to date photos of where I am at.

There is even a glimmer of light between those thighs

I really appreciate any comments you take the time to leave. Feel free to ask questions.
If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.

Downsizing My Clothes

This week I had to face the fact that there are some things I can no longer wear.

Not that this is a bad thing.  In fact it is something to be celebrated.

Thankfully I have clothes in a range of sizes that I can downsize into as I have put on weight gradually over the last 5 years.  So I have been trying on things that are in my wardrobe trying to work out what I can no longer wear, what I can wear a bit longer, what I can wear that looks good and what I will be able to wear in the near future.
I have a pile of clothes that are destined for the op shop and the pile is not very big at this stage but it is growing as I go through each draw and cupboard.  When going through my clothes I kept thinking I should keep some of these clothes in case I need them again in the future.  But then I realised that I will never be this size again and by the time next summer rolls around there is no way I will be able to wear anything I was wearing in the summer just gone.  So I really need to be more ruthless and just get rid of all my summer things.

I work from home but go into the office once a month and during my last visit to the office my boss commented that my clothes were looking way too big for me.  She was right.  I had found that my work pants were really baggy and my shirt was billowing.

The benefit of working from home is that I am not having to go out and buy lots of new clothes as I loose weight.  I can get away with wearing baggy things that are too big most of the time and then the few things I have that do fit well are worn when I go out and work in the office.

So far I have not had to buy anything new and I hope to keep this up as long as I can since it will be a waste of money to buy things I may not wear very long.  The few things I think I will have to buy before anything else are new underwear and bras.  Having my knickers fall down or having breasts going unsupported are not experiences that I fancy inflicting on myself or the world at large.

I am looking forward to buying new clothes in the future and I cannot wait to have a much greater range to choose from.  Something tells me this is one of those things that all fat people look forward too when they loose weight.

I will hold out as long as possible but I am excited about shopping in the future.

I really appreciate any comments you take the time to leave. Feel free to ask questions.
If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.

Back On Real Food

This week I started back on a full range of foods following my final dietitian appointment.

It has been quite an adjustment and I have discovered there are some foods that just do not sit well in my stomach.

Things that are really starchy and soft like soft bread and cake like texture go in to my stomach and seem to set like a big lump making me feel really uncomfortable.  Then there are things like protein that make me feel full really fast.

Everyday is a new food experience and I am just taking things one day at a time trying to work out what works and what does not.

I am struggling to eat enough and remembering to eat my snacks if proving to be a bit of challenge.

Hopefully things will get easier over time.

I really appreciate any comments you take the time to leave. Feel free to ask questions.
If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.

Learning To Chew

Tonight I discovered what happens when you try and progress though the post op phases too fast and do not follow the rules about chewing your food properly.

I made Hubby some spaghetti bolognese and I made sure it was full of veggies so that when I pureed it I would be getting some veg rater than just meat and carbs.
I included zucchini, carrot, mushrooms, capsicum, spinach and eggplant along with onion, garlic, mince and tomatoes.
Once it was cooked I dished up my portion into a Pyrex jug and blended it with a stick blender.

When we sat down to eat I got a few mouthfuls in and discovered a piece of mushroom that was still whole.  I figured that since it was just a piece of mushroom I could just chew it up until it was a puree texture.  But even though I knew what I needed to do my mouth just had a mind of it's own.  All those years of just gulping down food ad taught my mouth to just chew chew swallow and my new stomach was having none of it.
I felt like I had swallowed an entire mushroom whole not just a small piece that had been partly chewed.  It was really uncomfortable and felt like it was sitting on top of the opening of my stomach.  I won't say that I was in pain but it was close.  I walked around a bit pleading with my body to just accept the mushroom but my body was having none of it.  When my mouth started to fill with saliva I knew it was time to rush to the bathroom sink.
I made it in time to promptly bring up the 3 mouthfuls and the offending mushroom.  With such a little stomach there was not much to get rid of so it was over pretty quickly.  It did not however stop the tears that always happen to accompany an episode of vomiting for me.

So if you have had just had your sleeve or are thinking of getting one done then just remember that at this stage you need to make sure your food is well pureed.  Then when you are ready to eat solids again you need to follow the rule your mother used to tell you of "chew each mouthful 20 times" (or was that just my mum?) and then and only then should you swallow your food..

I really appreciate any comments you take the time to leave.  Feel free to ask questions.

If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.

Crunchy Crunchy Mmmmmm

Today I was allowed cruskits and oh how nice it was to bite into something.

It seems really strange that one of the things I missed the most was texture.  But what I have missed the most is variety of flavour.  Having to eat or in my case drink the same thing day after day at every meal really made me think about how lucky we are to have the ability to eat a huge range of food to choose from every day.  It made me really think about people in those countries where eating the same thing day after day is a way of life.
Everything tastes so good right now but I am still over estimating how much I can eat.  I only managed 1 and a bit of the cruskits above.  Hubby is loving all the bits I don't eat.

I really appreciate any comments you take the time to leave.  Feel free to ask questions.

If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.

First Week Back At Work

This week has been pretty uneventful but I have been back at work and I seem to be coping ok.

I was worried that I would not have enough mental stamina to get me through the day this first week back.
I have noticed that my brain seems to be a bit slow off the mark but I get there in the end.

My boss knows what I have had done but no one else knows and I plan to keep it that way.  She has been really supportive and has been checking in with me each day to see how I am doing which is nice.

I have been taking a multi vitamin for the last few days so I hope that will give me a bit more pep in my step. I know I should have been taking then all along but I kind of forgot.  Oh well better late than never.

I have been sleeping a lot more than normal but I know this is pretty normal for when you are recovering from surgery.

I really appreciate any comments you take the time to leave.  Feel free to ask questions.

If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.