biologygrrrl

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Well, as of last Wednesday, I was 3 months out. I have lost 45 pounds as of today, and am mostly happy. Like many others, I wish I were losing a little faster, but as long as I can get near goal I don't care how long it takes.

I have found that so far each month of my journey has had a theme:

Month 1: Frustration
I had no surgery complications or anything, but that first month really sucked. I had a bad case of buyers remorse while I was in an 18 day stall. I had trouble with all the dairy you end up eating while on full liquids. The puree stage (which I dreamed about when I was on liquids) ended up being WORSE than liquids. All protein supplements tasted like rancid milk. I was exhausted all the time. I think the majority of people here can relate. The first 4 weeks blows.

Month 2: Protein, protein, protein
My life this month revolved around protein. I gave up trying to find a "tasty" supplement and instead tried to get in my 60g+ through food. Kind of hard to do when you can only eat 1-2 oz at a time. I was in a state of mild panic most of this month because I knew I was lacking in protein. I didn't even bother with vitamins at this point, the protein battle so consumed me. I would have massive guilt if anything non-protein passed my lips. At the end of this month, I met with my surgeon and he laid down the law: Get 60g protein per day thru supplements. Any additional protein thru food after that was just bonus. My nut said my meals should be 4 oz with 2 oz being protein and 2 oz being "good" carbs. Needless to say I spent a day or two angry, frustrated and rebellious. I mean, how on earth could I get in that much protein thru supplements when I couldn't stand the taste or smell of them???

Month 3: The battle of Carbs
I quickly resolved my 60g protein thru suppements battle when I found that I could handle protein mixed in my coffee creamer, and that blue raspberry Isopure is my best friend. Now I get 24g per day in my coffee and 40g perday from the Isopure - 64g! I have been averaging 80-100g protein per day! I could have never imagined this in Month 1. Ahhhh, but now that the protein battle has passed, a new one takes it's place: CARBS. I love carbs, they have always been my downfall pre-op. At the beginning of Month 3 I conducted the great ice cream experiement. It was a dangerous experiment - like the WLS version of the Philadelphia Experiment. It could have seriously exploded in my face. BUT - I took the risk and discovered that not just ice cream, but ALL sugary food now leaves a very bad chemical taste in my mouth.

That victory aside, I still am prone to giving into the wiles of crackers, popcorn and potatoes. Plain ol protein day in and day out has been getting very boring. By the end of Month 3, however, I start noticing the tickers of other people here on OH who had their VSG about the same time as me and had similar starting weights. They have lost 60, 70, even 80 pounds already! I had only just broken the 40 pound mark. I am only losing 1-2 pounds a week. What is WRONG with me??? Could it be the carbs? Since I cannot eat eggs and the thought of eating chicken or tuna or whatever for breakfast turns my stomach, I had been eating a protein bar every day. They average about 25g carbs each, but also have lots of undesirable ingredients like sugar alcohols and even HFCS!!! I decided a week ago NO MORE PROTEIN BARS. I made up a batch of low-carb protein mini muffins off the Eggface website instead and have those with my protein coffee instead. As a result - I lost 3 pounds this week. Not the 5 pounds I am hoping to attain, but much better than 1 pound! I am still battling other carbs, though, and it is a daily struggle.

Looking to the future - Month 4: Drink it up and sweat it out!
This next month I want to tackle water and the gym. I am only getting in about 40 ounces of fluids a day, and that's only if you count the 12oz of coffee I'm having. I know I need more. I also want to go back to the gym. I actually exercised MORE pre-op than I do now. I was going 4 days a week. Now I haven't gone to a class in about a month. I am always tired and find a million excuses to not go. I want to change this, just not sure how I will motivate myself. I believe that between these 2 things I could pump up that weekly loss to 4-5 pounds though, that should be motivation enough. Wish me luck!

I have discovered that ice cream tastes like crap - and this is a good thing!!! My BIGGEST diet downfall has always been ice cream. I remember 2 summers ago DH and I would get LARGE DQ Blizzards 2 or 3 times a week all summer long! No wonder I packed on 20 pounds that year!

When I chose the VSG, my biggest fear was that I wouldn't be able to resist ice cream and that I would severly hamper my weight loss or cause regain. This was the one and only reason I even briefly entertained the notion of having a malabsorptive procedure like the RNY or DS.

Well, I diligently avoided ice cream in all shapes or forms the first 2 months post-op, then a slew of events occurred where ice cream was involved. Now, I know that ice cream was my main weakness pre-op, but now with the lack of hunger etc, I figured a couple bites wouldn't be the end of me.

So in the past 3 weeks, I have sampled all of my old favorites and have discovered the following:

#1. DQ mint chocolate Dilly Bar: the chocolate coating tasted like wax, and the ice cream had a really odd flavor, kind of like it had absorbed the flavors of other things from sitting in the freezer too long. Into the trash it went after 2 bites - Yuck!

#2. Haagen Dazs Coffee Ice Cream: this was my ALL TIME favorite ice cream pre-op. My wedding anniversary was October 6th and DH bought me one of those little single serve cups of ice cream from the store as a treat. I thought I would be in heaven for a few bites. NOPE! It tasted AWFUL! I can't even describe it, it was so bad.

#3. DQ Blizzard choco cherry love flavor: 3 or 4 bites and I was running to the bathroom. 'Nuff said. Starting to wonder if ALL ice cream will taste like crap and/or give me massive diarrhea.

#4. Edy's Peppermint Ice Cream special limited edition seasonal flavor: next to Haagen Dazs coffee, this was my second favorite. It only comes out around the holidays. One year the store ran out early and didn't reorder, and in the years after that I would be so paranoid that they would run out that I would buy 3 or more containers at a time and hoard them. Well, while shopping at Walmart last week I saw that it was back. I debated on getting it considering the bad experiences I had above, but part of me HAD to know. So, as a last experiment I had a small dish (maybe 1/3 of a cup) the other night. It was probably the worst so far! It had a horrid undertaste that reminded me of peanut butter. Peanut butter and peppermint just do NOT go together. And to top it off, after those 5 bites or so, off to the bathroom I went.

Well, that does it for me. I have COMPLETELY lost my taste for ice cream - YAY! I am truly glad I tried all my old favorites, while that was a risky move now I will not crave ANY of them. I feel like an addict who finally gets that monkey off their back! 

Well, I'm 7 weeks out and down 30 pounds! I also went down one jeans size, which feels good. Now I am where I was about a year and a half ago.

I do kind of wish i was losing more, but I know I haven't been perfect with getting in all the protein and water so I figure the slow loss is sort of my punishment. Every day I do a little better, or at least try to, though. I suppose the carbs I have been eating aren't helping either, especially those cupcakes from my twins' 4th birthday party. I do not regret them one bit though, it's things like their birthday cupcakes which made me decide to have a VSG rather than a RNY. I wanted to be able to enjoy things like that with my kids, sparingly of course.

Regardless - 30 pounds is still pretty awesome - I'll take it!

Well, it's 3 weeks now, and I am feeling better (purees has been a nightmare though). I can see how much more energy I have now compared to a week ago, but I still tire out easily. I am down almost 22 pounds, but I have been in a stall since last Thursday. I had read quite a few posts from people in a stall early out, and I had hoped it wouldn't happen to me, but here I sit. It sucks. Even though I know WHY we stall early on, it still sucks. I can't wait to see the scale move again!

Food wise things are slow going. I can only eat about one ounce of food at each meal, and that is consumed over 30 minutes. I get full very fast. I still haven't found a protein supplement that I can stomach, so I am always short on my protein. Fluids have been a challenge, too. I never was much of a drinker - pre-op all I would drink in one day was a cup of coffee and MAYBE one glass of water or Crystal Light. Now I am averaging only 16 oz of beverages a day. I KNOW I need to get in more just like I KNOW I need to get in more protein. I'm just taking one day at a time an doing my best.

I have met some wonderful people on here and I just want to say THANK YOU for all your support and enouragement! This is a great board!

Well, I got my sleeve 2.5 weeks ago. Although I have lost 20 pounds (YAY!) I am pretty miserable right now. First the awful liquid diet, now I'm on purees but can't seem to eat anything (everything tastes gross), and all the various protein supplements I have tried all gross me out to the point of puking. I'm also having major problems getting enough liquids. I'm also having trouble getting all my vitamins and supplements down. Overall, I am beginning to wonder if I did the right thing.

I worry:
Will it get better?
Am I going to get manourished?
Is all my hair going to fall out?
Will I ever be able to eat a meal in under 30 minutes?
Will I ever be able to eat more than 3 bites without feeling full?
Am I ever going to be able to get in 70g of protein without using the horrid supplements?

I worry if I did the right thing. I wonder if this is really better than being  fat. Most of all, I worry that I will only lose the oft-quoted 70% of excess weight lost - that wouldnt even get me under 200! All this money (I'm self pay) and anguish and not even be able to get out of plus size clothes would really suck.

I'm hoping for some light at the end of the tunnel. I'm hoping that it will all get better and I will be able to eat "normal" (i.e. more than 2 bites) amounts, get in all my liquids yet still observe the no drinking rule, get all my vitamins in AND drink a protein shake that I might actually like. But consideirng that it seems like I'm not doing anything right right now, I'm afraid I will fail at this too. :(