Michelle S.

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6/8/10 - so yesterday was one month after I had my daughter, Saralynn.   All is great with her (she's eating, sleeping, pooping, crying, fidgeting, etc).   As for me - yup, I'm sleep deprived & a bit cranky at times...but doing ok.  Luckily, I have the entire summer off for maternity leave - which i appreciate so much!
As for my weight gain / loss - i went from 161 lbs to 193 lbs.  A week after delivery I lost 14 lbs and as of today I'm down to 171 lbs, so I need to loose around 10 lbs to get down to my starting weight.  I've tried on my size 12's...and they fit, but snugly.   I've gotten lazy while i'm home & wear a lot of sweatpants & loose t-shirts.  Hopefully by the end of the summer I'll have lost those extra 10 lbs + a few more.

The other thing that is going on with me post pregnancy is the hormone switch that happened to all of us post-WLS.  In the last few days I've noticed both hair loss & zits.  My OB reassured me it's temporary, but i can tell you I hated this stage after WLS and I'm hating it now!  I dont care so much about the hair loss (since I have so much...although it does clog up my drain), but the zits - YUCK!   Luckily, I still have the Neutrogena Stress Acne medicine in my bathroom.  Fingers crossed it works as nicely as it did last time.

05/12/2010 - On May 7th, my daughter, Saralynn arrived (and she decided to hold out an extra week & 1/2 late).
She is perfect!
Weight:  6 lbs, 11.9 oz
Length: 20 inches
After 5 days in the hospital, and let me tell you - the food at Hackensack Univ Hospital is GOOD....I jumped on the scale this morning.   I am now 177 (the day of delivery I was up to 193, and back last summer prior pregnancy I was around 160).   Not a bad loss so far.  I'll follow my OB's instructions of no excersizing for at least a month, and hope by this summer to be back down to my size 10's.  We shall see - right now just having the tummy out of the way so i can sleep comfy is happiness enough! 

5/03/2010 - i realize it's been a LONG time since i updated my blog, but since I've got pregnant since last summer I wasn't sure what to write.  I still attend my monthly support group meetings at Hackensack Univ Hospital (and in fact, I plan on delivering in the same hospital that i attend the meetings).   I've tried to stick to a healthy eating pattern this entire pregnancy & except for the last 2 weeks (which I'll admit - I'll been eating EVERYTHING IN SITE), I've done pretty well.   I stayed away from white carbs, breads, pasta, rice & all high sugary foods.  I also stuck to DECAF when it came to iced coffee (I'm a diehard Starbuck GRANDE DECAF SUGAR FREE HAZELNUT SOY ICED COFFEE 5 days a week).  On the weekend I'm usually too lazy to drive to Stbux when DD is a block away, so I get a SMALL DECAF HAZELNUT ICED COFFEE WITH 2 SPLENDA'S & CREAM (they dont have Soy Milk & since I got preggie I've hated the taste of skim milk.  Also all flavors at DD is sugar free, but not as sweet as Stbux which is why I need to add the 2 splendas).  I also continue to read Eggface's blog & try out her recipes, which are really great!   In fact, my family now ask me to bring one of her casseroles to any dinner event!

So far I' ve gained just under 30 lbs in total, which is really not THAT much.  My nutrionist told me that since my BMI was at approx 26 prior to getting preggie, I should aim for 20-25 lbs total weight gain.   Oh well.

Once the baby arrives, I'll be back blogging on how hard (or how easy...which is what I hope!) it is to loose the weight.

Dec 29, 2009 - so, I am now approx 5 1/2 months preggie (23 weeks).  In the beginning I had a lot of "all day sickness", not just "morning sickness", so I was constantly loosing & gaining the same 7-8 lbs.  Then when I entered my 2nd trimester, I started to feel a lot better...and started eating.   I was down to 161 lbs, and now I'm at 178 lbs...which is approx a gain of 17 lbs total.   My nutritionist told me that I should expect around a 20-25 lb gain...so as long as I don't go nuts in the last trimester - I'm on track.
      
Before being preggie although I might not have been the ideal weight according to doctor charts (I'm 5'4 1/2), I felt I looked really good.  I was at a comfy size 10.   I gave away all of my clothes btwn size 16-22...but did keep size 12 & 14's. Around week 15, I moved from my size 10's to my size 12's & then around week 18, I moved into size 14's (but with a baggy butt).   Just this past week I had to admit that the size 14's are just too snug around my waist - so I am now wearing pregnancy jeans (which is pretty ironic that I'm back to wearing elastic waist pants - LOL)

Nov 17, 2009 - Back when I went for my 1 year checkup earlier this year, I spoke with my surgeon about getting pregnant & then spoke with my OB to get on a prenatal vitamin regimen.  The only main switch was exchanging the daily multi vitamin 2x/day for a once a day prenatal with DHA. I also take an add'l 400 mg of Folic Acid.

Well, in july it happened...and today I am pleased to announce that I'm 4 1/2 mths preggie (17th week)

In the first trimester, I felt pretty icky (basically all day "morning sickness"), so kept fluctuating up & down over 5 lbs.  In the last few weeks I've been feeling a heck of a lot better, so I've been eating more.  I am trying really hard to stick to protien based food, but my sweet tooth is kicking in.  I dont "DUMP", so i'll admit that I sneak some chocolates (ie: 3 musketeer minitures) in here & there.  Two usually calms the cravings.

I've been told with the WLS, my goal is to gain approx 25 lbs total......so far I've gained approx 10 lbs from when I stopped logging in my weight loss (today I'm 170.5 lbs), so feel that I'm on track.

here is me & hubby getting ready to announce to my family the good news.  I'm wearing a t-shirt that hubby made for me the night stating the sex of the baby (due to my age - I took the CVS Test to make sure there were no genetic disorders & one of the awesome outcomes is that I can find out the gender almost 6 weeks before everyone else via u/s)

	02/24/08	04/30/09	07/25/09	Total Loss
	263.5 lbs	165.5 lbs	162 lbs	101.5 lbs
neck	15	13	12 1/2	-2 1/2
upper arms (x2)	16 1/2	12 1/2	12	-9
full chest	52	38 1/2	38	-14
under chest	43	33 1/2	32 1/2	-10 1/2
waist	45	34	33 3/4	-11 1/4
hips	55	43 1/2	43 1/2	-11 1/2
thighs (x2)	33	27	27	-12
calves (x2)	17 3/4	15 3/4	15 3/4	-4
ankles (x2)	9 3/4	9 1/4	9	-1 1/2
Total inches lost				-76 1/4

I've been up & down the same 5 lbs for the last 6 months and always seem to go back down to 164.0....which is 99.5 lbs from my starting weight.   I didnt bother weighing myself this weekend since I was hosting a BBQ party, but this morning I stepped on the scale and VIOLA!


100 lbs loss feels AWESOME!


 
         me at 263.5 lbs            me at 163.5 lbs
                    
 

05/19/09 - if you're like me....your a bit wiggly & giggly & droopy all over.  I'm actually not THAT bad in most places, but my top half is def not like a 20 y/o.... if you get what I mean.

You prob remember that last Nov I attended a wedding on St John.  Since I waited until the last minute to buy a bathing suit, I wasn't expecting much of a selection...and the one I found thru LandsEnd.com was ok.  Nothing fab, but it was ok...and it fit (I was a size 14)

This season I've hit Lord & Taylor's, Bloomingdale's, Macy's, etc - nothing seems to fit me properly. All make me look uber-droopy. Then I went online & saw the selection that Lands End had.  Kinda pretty....then I read something - Land's End is hosted in SEARS!  Now way!   So, this past weekend I schlepped over to the mall & walked past the icky Sears bathing suit selection & into the Lands End dept (again...I had NO IDEA it was even there).

OMG - the suits are sooooooooooooooooooooooo cute....and reasonably priced!

I found a tankini I liked so much in pink that I picked it also up in green....and matching skirts too!  They were out of my size in the green bottoms, so they ordered it online for me (free of charge).

Click on the links below to order these outfits (in Seaglass Green & Deep Pink):

for the tops: Beach Living Ikat Print V-Neck Halter Swim Top

for the bottoms: Beach Living #2 Leg Wide Waistband Tummy Control Swim Bottom

for the skirts: Beach Living Tummy Control SwimMini

Oh, and here is the suit I picked up last year - it's now even cuter now that I found a black skirt (the Beach Living Tummy Control SwimMini)!

I cant seem to find the pattern for the top or bottom, but the main difference from this suit vs. the ones I picked up this year - is that this top has a Criss Cross back (for DD support, which I still needed back last Nov), while the tie top of the newer suits are made for a D support.  You'll notice online almost all style tops can be purchased either way.

Seriously, check out LANDS END...I promise that you will be surprised & pleased!

Oh, just to throw so weight numbers around: the last 2 weeks I was gaining & went as high as 172.5 lbs.  As of this Saturday I've been back down to 167lbs   Not really sure what happened, but considering I didnt eat anything different or change my excersize pattern - I guess that is just what happens.

	02/24/08	02/02/09	04/28/09	Total Loss
	263.5 lbs	170.5 lbs	165.5 lbs	-98 lbs
neck	15	12 3/4	13	-2
upper arms (x2)	16 1/2	13	12 1/2	-8
full chest	52	39 1/2	38 1/2	-13 1/2
under chest	43	34	33 1/2	-9 1/2
waist	45	34	34	-11
hips	55	44	43 1/2	-11 1/2
thighs (x2)	33	26	27	-12
calves (x2)	17 3/4	15	15 3/4	-4
ankles (x2)	9 3/4	9	9	-1 1/2
Total inches lost				-73

so here is something weird...even though I've lost 5 lbs since the last time I was measured (which was 2 1/2 mths ago), and I've lost inches in some places - I've also added some inches in other places...such as my neck, my thighs & calves.  I dunno.  I'm now a comfy size 12 and just hit MACY's on a sale day & stocked up on shorts & skorts. 
If anyone is interested, CHARTER CLUB fits me perfect. So does LEE JEANS.  Not sure why...but they just do.

Here's something else weird.
This past weekend my husband & I ran a 12k run.  It just about killed me, but I did complete it in a little over 2.5 hrs.  I've weighed myself every single day since saturday & today's scale scared the crap out of me.  I've gained 4 lbs since Saturday, where I was still 165.5 lbs. 
Today's weight is 169.5 lbs!

04/27/09 - I am so proud of myself.  This past Saturday my husband & I competed in the annual HIGH ROCK CHALLENGE, which is a 10k run thru the Staten Island Greenbelt. Along the way - all kinds of "obstacles" are thrown at us, such as: scaling up a rock mountain, climbing over a 15' cargo net, pulling ourselves up a rope hill on a dolly, shimming along a 2 ft high drainage with rushing water, all while running along a muddy terrain (and let me tell you as the day progressed, it got muddier!) a little over 2 1/2 hrs later we arrived at the finish line & were BEYOND EXHAUSTED...but were damn proud of ourselves that we finished the course!

Later on in the day, the organizer of the race - who happens to be a friend of mine told me that they added an extra 1.3 miles to the race - so instead of 10k, I actually completed a 12k run!!!   Ask me if this was even a possibility last April & my answer would have been HELL NO!