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I'll finish out this year having lost 45 pounds in two months. I am very glad that I had the surgery and know I will find continued success in 2011 and hope you do too!
I'm now two weeks out from having my first fill of the band. I have to admit this is not at all what I expected. I really want to feel restriction on my ability to eat and so far, it hasn't been that restricted. Most people have problems with certain types of foods like pasta, breads or chewy meats. So far, I haven't had issues with those things at all. I can definitely feel some limits on how much I can eat and how full I get, but simply put, I want more. I told Sandra the other day that I want to eat like a child. That's somewhat of an exaggeration but there's a reason I chose to go the surgical route to lose weight.
The other struggle I have now is working out. I did fantastic until I hit Christmas break from work. It is so hard to work out when you aren't at home. Then when I am home, I totally enjoy the time with Sandra and the kids and don't want to leave the house. When I go back to work next week, I'm sure I'll easily get back in the swing of things, but a lot of this depends on me. If I don't work hard to focus on eating the right types of foods, getting to the gym and stopping eating when I feel full, this all will be a waste of time. I don't plan any kind of resolution for working out or losing weight. I don't want it to be some fad that I probably fail on. I want it to be a life change. 45 pounds is a good start but I want to get another 90-100 pounds off. It's a long journey. Thanks for taking part in it.
Dec 31, 2010
Dec 28, 2010
Weight In #7
I have to admit that traveling for Christmas had me worried. It is so much harder to eat well on the road. Plus my band is definitely not filled enough so I am able to eat quite a bit. Since I wasn't home for Christmas I did my weight this morning and I'm down another 2 pounds for a total loss of 44! I am scheduled to have another fill next week which should help jump my efforts. I hope you all had a great Christmas and enjoy your New Years celebration!
Dec 17, 2010
Adjusting the Band
I've been referring to this as filling the band, but I think a more appropriate term is adjusting the band. This is a great advantage of having a band rather than a full bypass surgery. They can go back in and tighten and loosen it to adjust the size of the stomach opening so you can have more control over how much you are allowing into your stomach when eating. I went on Wednesday to have my Lap Band adjusted for the first time. The idea of it is really more intimidating than the actual procedure.
I was called back into the room and they have a cool x-ray machine that I have to stand in front of. Many doctors don't use an x-ray to do the adjustments, but my doctor feels it is the best way to make sure everything is working how it is supposed to and nothing is out of place inside my body. The doctor felt my stomach to feel where the port is since you can feel mine with even slight pressure. After marking my stomach where she thought the port was located, she held her finger on it while they did an x-ray while I was standing sideways. It confirmed that she had the right location so she stuck the needle into my stomach at the site of the port and then had to root around a little bit while applying pressure to actually get the needle into the port and injected 5 cc of fluid into it. Once she confirmed it was in the right spot, I turned so they could do the x-ray video through me from the back to the front.
While you are turning, the needle is simply hanging out of the port in your stomach. They told me it would be lodged in pretty well so there was not much chance it would fall out. Once they align the x-ray again to ensure they are seeing what they want, I had to take a decent swallow of barium. It is actually a pretty cool experience. I got to see the video of the barium passing down my esophagus and into my stomach. They pointed out where the band and port were before so I would understand what was happening. The barium shows up as black on the x-ray so I saw it flow down the esophagus and then stop at the stomach opening created by the band. It is like it hits a little wall and backs up into the esophagus, then you see it slowly continue through the small stomach opening. The main part of the esophagus is fairly large - I'd say you see about a 3/4-1" wide strip of black. Then at the stomach opening, the fluid path is a bit smaller - I'd say about half the width of the average drinking straw. After it passes through the opening, it spread through the entire stomach and turned it all black. It was so cool to see and we watched the video several times.
I am a few days after now and it is cool to really notice a difference in how much I can eat. Today for breakfast, I made some egg beaters with a little bit of sausage and cheese. I made how much I thought would be fine based on how I ate the past few weeks and I was able to only eat about half of it. The thing is that even if you are eating foods that are good for you, it is easy to eat too much and still gain weight. I like the fact that I finally feel the signals my body is giving me regarding hunger and I know when to start and stop. For lunch, I had a cup of soup and small salad for about 350 calories.
I was called back into the room and they have a cool x-ray machine that I have to stand in front of. Many doctors don't use an x-ray to do the adjustments, but my doctor feels it is the best way to make sure everything is working how it is supposed to and nothing is out of place inside my body. The doctor felt my stomach to feel where the port is since you can feel mine with even slight pressure. After marking my stomach where she thought the port was located, she held her finger on it while they did an x-ray while I was standing sideways. It confirmed that she had the right location so she stuck the needle into my stomach at the site of the port and then had to root around a little bit while applying pressure to actually get the needle into the port and injected 5 cc of fluid into it. Once she confirmed it was in the right spot, I turned so they could do the x-ray video through me from the back to the front.
While you are turning, the needle is simply hanging out of the port in your stomach. They told me it would be lodged in pretty well so there was not much chance it would fall out. Once they align the x-ray again to ensure they are seeing what they want, I had to take a decent swallow of barium. It is actually a pretty cool experience. I got to see the video of the barium passing down my esophagus and into my stomach. They pointed out where the band and port were before so I would understand what was happening. The barium shows up as black on the x-ray so I saw it flow down the esophagus and then stop at the stomach opening created by the band. It is like it hits a little wall and backs up into the esophagus, then you see it slowly continue through the small stomach opening. The main part of the esophagus is fairly large - I'd say you see about a 3/4-1" wide strip of black. Then at the stomach opening, the fluid path is a bit smaller - I'd say about half the width of the average drinking straw. After it passes through the opening, it spread through the entire stomach and turned it all black. It was so cool to see and we watched the video several times.
I am a few days after now and it is cool to really notice a difference in how much I can eat. Today for breakfast, I made some egg beaters with a little bit of sausage and cheese. I made how much I thought would be fine based on how I ate the past few weeks and I was able to only eat about half of it. The thing is that even if you are eating foods that are good for you, it is easy to eat too much and still gain weight. I like the fact that I finally feel the signals my body is giving me regarding hunger and I know when to start and stop. For lunch, I had a cup of soup and small salad for about 350 calories.
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| You can see a slight bruise where my finger is. This is where the port is located. If you are not too uncomfortable with it, I'll let you feel the port through the skin. |
Weigh In #6
I am definitely glad that I got my band filled this week. It really was too loose and I found myself able to eat a lot more than I'd like to at this point. Today, my official weight loss since November 1 is 42 pounds! I feel great and have lots of energy. There are little things that I appreciate most though...like sitting at a booth in a restaurant and not having my belly squeezing over the edge of the table. Things you never really think about until you realize you are fat. Have a great weekend and check back soon for my post about getting my first band fill!
Dec 11, 2010
What is the band?
My friend Mike asked a good question on the Weigh In #5 blog when I mentioned getting my band filled...what exactly does that mean? I don't think I've ever actually talked about it on here. The best description of the band itself is that it is like a small blood pressure cuff. The band itself is attached around the stomach near the top. What this does is create a small "pouch" at the top of my stomach. The top part is also where the receptors are located that tell you when you are full.
The way it works is that when you eat, the food is slowed down significantly in the new pouch and then slowly makes its way into the main part of the stomach. Since the pouch fills quickly, your body feels full faster. The band itself has a tube with a port at the end. The port is attached inside my stomach on the muscle just below the rib cage. It can hold up to 14cc of fluid and every now and then, they use a special syringe and go into the port through my stomach and put fluid into it. That does the same thing air does to a blood pressure cuff and makes the band tighter around my stomach, further limiting what I can eat.
The fills will happen a number of times over the next couple of years. If the band is too loose, I will eat too much and not lose weight. If it is too tight, food won't go down. Not only are you looking for the "sweet spot" where I don't feel too hungry and am not overeating though. As you loose weight, the fat stores around your stomach are lost and the band also gets more loose. I am very excited for a fill because I definitely feel I am able to eat a lot more than I want to be able to. So there is a good description of the band and what a fill is. Please comment and let me know if you have any other questions about the surgery, equipment, process or anything at all!! I'd love to post an answer.
The way it works is that when you eat, the food is slowed down significantly in the new pouch and then slowly makes its way into the main part of the stomach. Since the pouch fills quickly, your body feels full faster. The band itself has a tube with a port at the end. The port is attached inside my stomach on the muscle just below the rib cage. It can hold up to 14cc of fluid and every now and then, they use a special syringe and go into the port through my stomach and put fluid into it. That does the same thing air does to a blood pressure cuff and makes the band tighter around my stomach, further limiting what I can eat.
The fills will happen a number of times over the next couple of years. If the band is too loose, I will eat too much and not lose weight. If it is too tight, food won't go down. Not only are you looking for the "sweet spot" where I don't feel too hungry and am not overeating though. As you loose weight, the fat stores around your stomach are lost and the band also gets more loose. I am very excited for a fill because I definitely feel I am able to eat a lot more than I want to be able to. So there is a good description of the band and what a fill is. Please comment and let me know if you have any other questions about the surgery, equipment, process or anything at all!! I'd love to post an answer.
Dec 10, 2010
Weigh In #5
If you look at my history, I did skip #4 but only because I did my first month weigh in. This morning is my official day. My current weight is...284 which means I've lost 5 pounds this week for a total weight loss of 40 pounds!! That is just over 12% of my total body weight in the past five weeks. I feel like I'm on the biggest loser but without the cameras, Bob and Jillian, or the chance to win $250k. Either way, I'm feeling good. I really want to try and work hard to hit 60 pounds total by the end of the year. I was supposed to get my band filled for the first time yesterday, but the doctor's office called and moved it to next Wednesday. I'll post about that as soon as I can. Thanks for following my journey and for all the support and encouragement you offer!
Dec 9, 2010
Working Out
Tonight I felt so good. God must have totally known that I needed a little encouragement because I've gotten some amazing affirmation from three different places in less than four hours!
Working out is probably the next toughest part of this journey - the first being the mental struggle for food. I am supposed to work out five days a week and I think I've averaged four days. The working out itself is getting to be pretty easy. It's amazing how good you feel simply getting a little physical activity. I not only feel physically better, but I just feel like I'm in a better mood on days I make it to the gym. There are a few people that I'm starting to recognize who are there fairly often and I'm hoping that maybe I can start to learn a little about them and their own journey.
Like I said though, tonight was a good night...not just for the encouragement, but also for the actual workout. I love the elliptical because it doesn't make my knee hurt. I tore my MCL playing softball a few years ago. I actually tore several things in there...doesn't really matter other than me telling you that sometimes it hurts when I push it. The elliptical is much easier on it. Tonight I chose to do the cardio setting which pushes for a much higher heart rate than I usually go for. It also really burns the calories. Watching the counter go up is so much fun when you're working out. I'm not sure I would like it as much if I didn't know exactly how much it was helping me. Tonight, I went for 35 minutes on that machine and it kept me really high on the level settings in order to keep my heart rate higher. I was so proud of myself that I wanted to document it.
Working out is probably the next toughest part of this journey - the first being the mental struggle for food. I am supposed to work out five days a week and I think I've averaged four days. The working out itself is getting to be pretty easy. It's amazing how good you feel simply getting a little physical activity. I not only feel physically better, but I just feel like I'm in a better mood on days I make it to the gym. There are a few people that I'm starting to recognize who are there fairly often and I'm hoping that maybe I can start to learn a little about them and their own journey.
Like I said though, tonight was a good night...not just for the encouragement, but also for the actual workout. I love the elliptical because it doesn't make my knee hurt. I tore my MCL playing softball a few years ago. I actually tore several things in there...doesn't really matter other than me telling you that sometimes it hurts when I push it. The elliptical is much easier on it. Tonight I chose to do the cardio setting which pushes for a much higher heart rate than I usually go for. It also really burns the calories. Watching the counter go up is so much fun when you're working out. I'm not sure I would like it as much if I didn't know exactly how much it was helping me. Tonight, I went for 35 minutes on that machine and it kept me really high on the level settings in order to keep my heart rate higher. I was so proud of myself that I wanted to document it.
Dec 1, 2010
1st Month Weigh In
OK, so I asked on my Facebook page how much people thought I would lose the first month and had a few responses...25, 27, 31.5 and 34. Surgery was November 1 and today is December 1 and I have officially lost...35 pounds!! Gretchen was the closest to the actual loss so I think she could go ahead and pool some money together for me to buy new clothes! :-) Thanks everyone for your encouragement. I go to the doctor on the 9th to get my first checkup and I will probably also get a fill while I am there. We'll see how well all this goes after I am even more restricted in my food intake.