Weekly Weigh In With Some Disappointment

Hello everyone! I just realized that I forgot to do a weigh in last week.  I am kind of upset to say that I have not lost any weight since my last weigh in post.  On the flip side, I haven't gained any weight either.  I am just frustrated because it's early on in my post-op and I feel like I shouldn't be plateauing already.  I have been doing 90 minute hot yoga classes 3 times a week and I have not been eating out or anything.  I'm hoping that I've gained a little bit of muscle and lost fat.

I have my 2 week follow up to my first fill next Tuesday.  I think I will get a little bit more put in.  I find myself getting hungry after about 2 hours.  I have definitely noticed that I eat less at each meal, so that is good but I find that I am getting hungry about 2 hours after I eat.    

In my last post, I stated that I was going to do my measurements one a month.  I think that I will actually do my measurements next week to see if I'm getting results in that area.  That will give me about 2 weeks of my hot yoga workout.  Hopefully I see some inches lost.  That will make me feel better.

See you next week!

My First Adjustment and My New Favorite Workout

I had my first adjustment today.  I can't believe that it has already been 5 weeks since my surgery.  I am pretty excited to have more restriction in the band now.  I have a friend that had the Lap-Band surgery in September and she said that she started losing more weight after she got her first adjustment.

The adjustment didn't take very long.  I was in and out of the office in 10 minutes.  I laid down and the nurse felt for my port.  She found it quickly and then numbed the area.  After talking for a couple of minutes about how much I was able to eat, she decided to put in 3 cc's.  The weirdest part is the feeling of her moving the port around while she tries to get the needle in.  It didn't hurt, it was just a lot of pressure.  After the adjustment was done, she had me drink some water to make sure there wasn't any problem with it going down.

Today I was on a liquid diet and tomorrow I can eat mushy foods.  After that I can move to a normal diet.  The nurse recommends that you have a protein shake every morning because most patients feel "tighter" in the band first thing in the morning.  We will see how that goes tomorrow.

Now, in my last post, I said that I was going to start T25 but I actually have a different workout that I started.  My friend is a manager at a yoga studio and she convinced me to give Bikram yoga a try.  Now, I am not a person that likes the heat.  I actually HATE the heat.  I have always said that there was no way I could do it and I would die in the heat.  Well, I finally tried it and I LOVED it!  I am going to start out by going 3 days a week and I will work up from there... or I might add in a different work out.  We will see!

I think that I will check in weekly just to post a weight update and talk about anything that is going on.  I will post new measurements monthly.  Thanks for checking out my blog!  

One Month Post-Op Update

It's been one month since my surgery.  Things are going well.  I have my first fill on the 21st.  I'm anxious to have that done so that I can start seeing a real difference in my appetite.  I am already eating less but I still get hungry often because there is no fluid in my band.  I will make a post after I get my fill to let you know how it goes.  Anyway, on to the one month numbers.

Weight - 188.4 --- -10.2 pounds

Measurements:

Upper Chest --- 43 inches --- -1 inch

Bust --- 46 inches --- -1 inch

Midriff --- 39 1/2 inches --- -2 1/2 inches

Upper Arms --- 14 1/2 inches --- Same

Waist --- 39 inches --- -1 1/2 inches

Upper Hip --- 45 inches --- -1 inch

Lower Hip --- 47 1/2 inches --- -1/2 inch

Upper Thighs --- 28 inches --- -1/2 inch each thigh (1 inch total)

Mid Thighs --- 27 1/2 inches --- 1/2 inch each thigh (1 inch total)
Calves --- 15 1/2 inches --- -1/2 inch each calf (1 inch total)

Total Inches lost - 10 1/2 inches

I definitely have a LONG way to go to reach my goal, but this is definitely a start.  I was surprised with the total amount of inches lost because I haven't started a workout routine yet.  I plan to get one started on Monday the 20th.  I had LASIK eye surgery a week ago so I wanted to give that time to heal before I did anything too crazy.  I plan to start the program T25.  It was created by Shaun T - the same guy that created Insanity.  I've started the program before and I am excited to get started again.  

I will post again on Tuesday about my first fill!  

The First 2 1/2 Weeks

It has been about 2 1/2 weeks since my surgery.  Let me tell you, it has definitely been an interesting couple of weeks!  This is going to be quite a "novel" but I have a lot to talk about!  I'm going to break down this post into two different sections.  Let's start from the beginning....

The Post-surgery Diet

When it comes to pain, I have a pretty high tolerance so I don't have many complaints in that area.  I have had a few surgeries so I knew what to expect in that aspect.  Honestly, the hardest part for me was the diet.  After the surgery, you aren't able to eat solid foods for 28 days.  Going into the surgery I wasn't too worried about it because I was just so excited to get the surgery and start my new life and weight loss journey.  This mentality changed after I had the surgery!  

The first 3 days consisted of clear liquids only.  This included things like Jell-O, water, Gatorade, broth and popsicles.  This wasn't bad on the day of surgery.  Mostly because I was out of it and didn't care much about eating.  Once I got to the third day, I was starving!  I knew it was necessary to promote the proper healing, but it was hard.  On day 4 and 5 I was able to add skim milk.  I had NO IDEA that skim milk could taste so good!  It was a little helpful to get some protein each day.  I couldn't wait for day 6!

Starting on day 6 and going through day 9, I was able to go to "full liquids."  This included strained soups, smoothies, yogurt drinks, smooth yogurts, puddings and protein drinks.  Being able to add these things helped a lot, but after a couple of days I felt like I was starving again.  Christmas couldn't come soon enough!

Sure, I LOVE Christmas every other year, but this year was even better.  I was able to add in pureed foods!  My Christmas dinner consisted of DELICIOUS mashed potatoes and gravy.  I wasn't able to eat very much (which is good) but I enjoyed every bite!  The pureed diet was from day 10 through day 14.  It was wonderful and I definitely lost the "starving" feeling.  Next came the "healing diet....."

The healing diet is the final phase of the post-surgery diet.  This diet is pretty much anything that you can puree into the consistency of applesauce.  I am currently on day 19 and I haven't had a problem finding things to eat.  I am able to eat scrambled eggs, cottage, cheese and cooked squash.  There are other items on the list but these are the staples for me right now.  I am also able to have a lot of soups if I am able to puree any big pieces.  There are definitely a lot more options but I still can't wait to move to solid foods.


The Complications

I didn't have any problems during the surgery or with anesthesia.  My problem was actually with one of my incisions.  I have five incisions total.  Four of them are small (no bigger than an inch) and have healed as expected.  The fifth incision is the "port incision."  This incision is larger than the others because the doctor has to be able to get the port in.  After the surgery, I had steri strips on the incisions and they were covered with bandages and a waterproof covering.  The doctor and his nurse said that I could take the bandages off after one week.  

The day came for me to take off my bandages.  I started with the four small incisions because honestly, the biggest one made me nervous.  I could tell it was pretty bruised underneath the bandages.  The first four incisions were fine.  I'm considered a "slow healer" so they weren't scabbed over yet or anything but they were closed up.  I moved to the scary one.  I got about halfway through taking off the bandage when I realized something was not right.  It was gooey and it didn't look the the incision was closed up at all.  WARNING:  I'm posting a picture of what it looked like.  Skip the picture if you are squeamish.

I am very lucky and I have an amazing nurse that welcomes text messages at any time.  I sent her the picture and she had me meet her at the office after hours to look at it.  Luckily, it just looked a lot worse than it was.  It wasn't infected so that was good.  She cleaned it with hydrogen peroxide and put a new steri strip on.  She said that I should leave it on for another week and she would take the bandage off at my 2 week follow up.

Well, a few days later, I noticed that the new bandage was looking quite gross and gooey.  Even more gooey than when I originally took the bandage off. Once again, I sent a picture to the nurse and she told me to just take off the bandage since it was so gross.  It was not a pretty site.  I have a picture but it doesn't do it justice... but I will post it anyway.

And here is a picture the next day...after it aired out.

 Gross right!?  Well, I went in for my 2 week appointment shortly after.  The doctor didn't think it was too bad but he put me on oral antibiotics just in case.  It has finally scabbed over but it still looks pretty bad.  It's still tender but it the redness around it seems to be getting better.  This is what it looks like now....

I have a follow up appointment on the 7th so that my doctor can look at it to see if he has any concerns.  I'm hoping that it is on the way to being better, but it's annoying for now.

I'm SO sorry about the novel!  Like I said at the beginning, I had a lot to say!  My plan is for my next post to be my one month follow up.  I'll update my weight and measurements.  See you on the 16th!

Getting to Know Me

Hello.  Let me introduce myself.  My name is Ashlee.  I have struggled with weight for most of my adult life.  I noticed that the weight really started packing on after I quit smoking in November of 2008.  Once I lost one "oral fixation" I turned to another and it was food.  I mindlessly became a snacking machine and didn't realize how much weight I was gaining.  In 2010, I gave birth to my beautiful daughter.  Immediately after having her, I was able to drop the weight I had gained with her but shortly after I was diagnosed with postpartum depression.  Once I started taking my anti-depressants, I noticed once again that my weight started increasing.  Most recently I have been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.  One of the main side effects of this condition is weight gain.

Now, let me say, I have tried just about every diet and weight loss gimmick you could think of.  If the weight loss didn't happen as quickly as I would like, I would simply give up and go back to my old ways.  Even though I know that it is best to lose 1-2 pounds a week, I would get so frustrated if I didn't lose 10 pounds in 1 day.  I would say my biggest struggle in the weight loss process is the diet.  Generally, I don't mind exercising.  I usually able to find a workout that I like but that doesn't do anything if I can't get my eating under control.

How did I decide to get the Lap-Band?  One night (in August 2013) I was watching 'Say Yes to the Dress' and one of the girls on the episode I was watching had lost 100 pounds after she got the Lap-Band.  I talked to my husband and he was very supportive and said that if I felt it was something I needed to do that he would be there for me 100%.  I was intrigued, so I got on the internet and did some research.  After learning more about it I decided that it was something I wanted to get more information on.  

I found the top Lap-Band surgeon in my state and got in touch with them.  They let me know what I would need to do in order to get the procedure authorized through my insurance.  Like most insurance companies, my insurance provider required 6 months of supervised weight loss, a psychiatric evaluation, a nutritional evaluation, and a physical from my doctor.  Luckily, I already had 6 months of supervised weight loss so I didn't take long to get everything in order.  I sent my paperwork to my doctor and they sent it to my insurance.  Within in a week, my doctors office called me and let me know that my insurance DENIED my request to have the surgery covered.  I was devastated!  Luckily, my doctor was aware of (and had worked with) a company that specializes in insurance appeals.  This company compiled a case for me and sent everything to my insurance company.  It took a while, but on December 6th, my doctors office called and let me know that I was APPROVED!!!  It was the best feeling ever!  A short 10 days later, on the 16th, I had my surgery.

Ok, now that you know a little bit about me, let's move on to my pre-surgery stats and pictures!

Beginning weight - 198.6

Measurements:

Upper Chest --- 44 inches

Bust --- 47 inches

Midriff --- 41 inches

Upper Arms --- 14 1/2 inches

Waist --- 40 1/2 inches

Upper Hip --- 46 inches

Lower Hip --- 48 inches

Upper Thighs ---28 1/2 inches

Mid Thighs --- 28 inches
Calves --- 16 inches