Weight Loss & MRI

I am now almost a year post op and I am proud of how far I have come in that time. Still cannot believe how much weight I have lost. Back in August last year I was wearing a size 28 and now currently wearing a size 16. Though I did buy a size 14 skirt a few weeks ago that would not fit at all and I tried it on the other day and it fit perfectly. My current goal weight is 168lbs / 12st which is exactly half of what I used to weigh and I've only got another 12.5lbs to lose. Recently I've been thinking I might lose a little more but I'll make a decision on that once I get to my current goal.

		Current Weight	Difference
		180.5lbs / 12st 12.5lbs
Starting Weight	324lbs / 23st 2lbs		143.5lbs  / 10st 3.5lbs
Highest Weight	336lbs / 24st		155.5lbs / 11st 1.5lbs
Surgery Weight	297.6lbs / 21st 3lbs		116.5lbs / 8st 4.5lbs

July 2016                 August 2015

I have been struggling recently due to having gallstones. During the ultrasound to confirm the gallstones they found a cyst on my liver so I had to have an MRI scan a few weeks ago. I have not yet had the results of the MRI but I got a call from the Bariatric Nurse earlier this week to say that they think it is just a cyst but they need me to have another MRI with a different contrast dye to confirm this. Even though the Nurse said they think it is nothing untoward and this second scan is just to confirm it I am now convinced the second scan is because it is something sinister. Fair to say I am worrying and my low mood is starting to creep back in. I've also been going dizzy nearly everyday. My GP has checked my blood pressure and I have checked it myself a couple of times and it is always normal. So the only other thing it could be is delayed dumping. I'm going to keep an eye on it and try to work out what is causing it. I'm due to see the consultant in a couple of weeks to discuss my MRI and I plan on mentioning it to them as well.


On a happier note thanks to all the weight I have lost I am now able to do so much more. I can go on walks without needing to use my inhaler or worry whether there will be anywhere for me to sit when I need a break. I used to stay indoors most of the time, only venturing out if I absolutely had to. Now my husband and I go into town most weekends or we will go to a local park for a walk. I find it easier to eat in public as I no longer think people are looking at me while eating. I used to hate having my photo taken and would purposely hid behind others in group shots or turn away if the camera was pointed at me. Don't get me wrong I'm still not entirely keen on having my picture taken. Here are a few I've taken over the last couple of months.

I recently got new glasses and had my hair cut and coloured

Husband and I on Withernsea seafront

My sister Laura and I

Enjoying my first alcoholic drink since the surgery

Weight Loss Milestone

Really happy to say I have now lost a total of 9st / 126lbs from my highest weight. I have also started to notice the difference. When I look in the mirror I can tell I've not got as many chins and I can see the outline of my collar bones. Having gone from  size 28/30 I'm now a size 18/20 depending on the fit and my feet have gone from a size 7 to a 5/6. I still struggle to believe that I have lost 9st but I am so glad that I have. I no longer get pain in my lower back when walking, I can walk further but my asthma still limits me when going uphill, I don't use my inhaler as much throughout the day, the best of all is being able to walk into any clothes shop and be able to find something that fits. Today I've sorted through some of my clothes and I've got a bag for charity, a bag for eBay and a bag for the bin. So the next free listing day on eBay I will be selling loads of clothes. My husband and I have been to a couple of gigs recently and I treated myself to souvenir tshirts in a large but they are rather tight so I'm going to slim into them. I'm not going to lie, I was bit disappointed when they didn't fit but it gives me something to aim for.

Feb 2016

August 2015

Week 3 Weigh In

This week I’ve lost 3.5lbs, which takes me up to 113lbs / 8st 1lb from my highest weight and 74.6lbs / 5st 4lbs from my surgery weight. So happy I’ve got to the 8st mark, at the moment my target is to get to 10st lost, once I’m down to that I will decide how much more I want to lose.

 

Last week I went to the gym twice however so far this week I’ve only been once and it was really busy so I only did 25minutes. I attempted to go after work last night but there was not a single machine free so I left. I’m going to try and go Saturday that is if the in-laws don’t descend on us. 

 

Got a call from the mother in law the other day asking if they could drop the dogs off at ours for a couple of hours while they have lunch with someone. As much as I love having the dogs I don’t see why they have to bring them if it’s only going to be for a couple of hours. I’d understand it if they were going to be out all day. Anyway I’ve told her I’ve got to go out at 11am so if they haven’t arrived by then I won’t be in.

 

I made the Hairy Bikers Borscht for tea last night. It will do for my first attempt but it definitely needs a bit of work. Going out for tea tonight with work, no one’s booked anything so can’t even check a menu to see if there is anything I can eat.

2nd Weigh In & Exercise

2^nd weigh this week and I maintained. Bit disappointed I haven’t lost anything but I think I know what it was. This past week I have been eating bread a bit more than I would usually so this week I am going to cut back on the bread and hopefully this will get me back in the losing zone. Since Christmas I’ve also had a thing for anything sweet. I’ve been eating two or three sugar free sweets every night so I’m also going to cut these out. You know before Christmas I hadn’t had any sweets/chocolate since August then on Christmas day I decided to ‘treat’ myself to 2 chocolates and since that fateful day I don’t think there has been a day that I haven’t had at least 1 sweet.

 

I’m also going to try moving a bit more. I’m an administrator so from 9-5 every day I am sat in at my desk and don’t really get up much. So I am going to make more of an effort to move more, whether that be making excuses to get away from my desk i.e. taking the post or making drinks for everyone. A friend of mine is going to start attending Zumba in February and she’s asked if I would like to join her. I’ve said yes. The only thing that puts me off is the fact that it is on a Sunday but I’ve said I’ll go with her and I’m not going to back out now. Also I’ve done Zumba in the past and I really enjoyed it – not sure why I stopped going.

 

I’ve taken the plunge and signed up for the gym. With my NHS discount its £28 a month and I’m not tied into a contract just have to give a months’ notice to cancel. On Wednesday I went and did 20 minutes on the treadmill, 10 minutes on the bike, 5 minutes on the cross trainer (and decided I didn’t like it) and finished off with 5 minutes on the treadmill. Then I went into the pool and did a couple of lengths and realised that having not been swimming for over 7 years that I need a lot of practice. Finished off the visit with 20 minutes in the hot tub.

 

I went back to the gym on Thursday and it was really busy so I only did 15 minutes on the treadmill, 5 minutes on the rowing machine and 5 minutes on the bike. Then I managed to do a few more lengths than I managed on Wednesday.

I'm proud of the fact I've made an effort to do something rather than sitting on my fat arse every night after work.

 

My husband has got Saturday off work, which is very unusual and so far we haven’t made any decisions on what to do. I asked him if there was any he fancied doing and got no reply so guess it’s up to me to decide.

My current goal is to lose 20lbs by May. So over the next 14 weeks I need to lose an average of 1.5lbs. I think that is an achievable target for me.

Weight Loss & Clothes

Had my first weigh in at Slimming World last night and I’ve lost 2.5lbs. I was just about to say that it takes me to 8st 0.5lb in total but just double checked my calculations and I’ve got it wrong – bit disappointing – it actually takes me to 7st 10.5lbs/108.5 in total.  Anyhu I am happy with 2.5lbs but considering the fact that I’ve had a bypass I had hoped for a bigger loss. But a loss is a loss so I’m somewhat happy.

Here are two outfits I have decided to keep from Simply Be

Scoop Neck Vest

Jersey Tube Skirt

Mono Print Cami

Jersey Tube Skirt

I'm loving both of these tops and the skirt. Whats even better is the fact that the skirt is a size 20. As much as I am loving buying new smaller clothes I am trying to limit how much I'm getting as thing only seem to be fitting for a few weeks before they start getting baggy. I should probably start getting rid of my bigger clothes as they are starting to look rather baggy.

New Clothes & PCOS

When I got home from work yesterday I had received an order from Very. I tried everything on and got my husband to take some pics so I could see what the outfits looked like. Also had to send the pics to a couple of friends for their opinion, as I don’t always trust my own.

Out of everything I’ve decided to keep two dresses, 2 skirts and a cardigan. I’ve got a load of stuff to send back as I ordered a few different sizes to see what looked best.

South Jersey Skater Dress

South Textured Printed Dress

Ruffle Cold Shoulder Top

South Ribbed Pencil Skirt

I’m still awaiting an order fromSimply Be to arrive so I will have another ‘fashion show’ when they arrive.

This morning I saw my GP about my PCOS. As I have lost a lot of weight they have sent me to have my bloods done to check my hormone levels as the last time I had them done was when I was first diagnosed back in 2008. On the positive side my GP said that as I have had two periods in the space of four months, compared to my usual one every two years, it appears my weight loss has improved my PCOS. My GP did say that if I had been actively trying to conceive for 6 months with no results they would refer to a fertility specialist. However I’m not ready to try just yet and the Bariatric Team advise you not to get pregnant for at least 1 year to 18 months after the surgery. But at least now I know that thanks to my weight loss I will have a better chance of conceiving naturally, whereas before the op I’d convinced myself that the chance of me having children were zero.

After I had my bloods done I popped into the outpatient department and jumped on the scales as they are the ones I would usually use. According to the outpatient scales since the op in September I’ve lost 72lb / 5st 2lb and from my highest weight in September 2014 I’ve lost 110lb / 7st 12lb.

Tonight’s tea is going to be tomato and butternut squash pasta from this month’s Slimming World magazine (except I won’t be putting any cheese on top) and some leftover homemade spicy pulled pork.

Four Month Post Op Update

Yes I know I’ve not written anything at all since my last post. I have thought about it a couple of times but never got round to getting anything down.

It has been four months since I had my gastric bypass and in that time I have lost 68lbs / 4st 12lb. Since my highest weight back in September 2014 I’ve lost 107lbs / 7st 9lbs. I’ve gone from wearing a size 28 (probably should have been in a 30) to a size 22. Also gone down a shoe size. Before the op I also took my measurements and have lost a total of 51 inches. I’ve got another 31lbs / 2st 3lb to get to the minimum the Bariatric Team want me to lose, which I’m aiming to lose by March.

I was in hospital for two nights and was in quite a lot of pain, more than I was expecting. For the first few weeks I managed ok but struggled with the medications. All my medication was either liquid of dispersible except one tablet that I had to cut up into four pieces. Even though the liquid medication was sugar free it was extremely sweet which started to put me off food and the dispersible medication smelt and tasted revolting. The bariatric team allowed me a take some of the medication that was available in small tablets rather than the liquid/dispersible versions.

At around 8/10 weeks once I started introducing more solid foods I started to become sick almost every day and one day I couldn’t keep water down. Numerous conversations with the dietician advising me to take a step back to the puree stage for a few days then start reintroducing solid foods again. After a couple of weeks I realised that I could not tolerate meat or melted cheese. So I cut meat and melted cheese out of my diet and things started to look up. My husband was working Christmas Day and as he works in a carvery he didn’t want the usual Christmas Dinner so instead I made a duck noodle soup and vegetable spring rolls. I had been craving meat for a while at this point so I decided to try a little bit of the duck meat. To my amazement the tiny piece that I ate stayed down – YAY. I was so happy that I could finally eat meat even if it was only a tiny amount. Since Christmas Day I have managed to eat duck, chicken, mince and sausage – without the skin.

Last night I even managed a very small salad of spinach, watercress, lettuce, tomato and red onion with a yoghurt, mint and chilli dressing and three small falafels.

Over Christmas I was a little naughty and had a couple of chocolates but I suffered the consequences – dizziness and loose stools. So I’m probably not going to be having any more chocolate any time soon.

I’m starting to feel more myself again. I’ve got a lot more energy than I used to, I no longer get pain in my lower back when walking, I can walk further though my asthma still limits me when it comes to inclines.

When I last saw the dietician in December she asked me if I had thought about what I wanted to weigh and to be honest I have never really thought about it. I had thought that I’d be happy to get back into a size 16, which is what I was when I met my husband back in 2007. But now that I am in a 22 and am closer to my goal of a size 16 I’ve started thinking that maybe I would like to be smaller than that. Once I’ve lost this next 31lbs I’m going to see how I feel and set myself another goal.

Also on Monday I re-joined Slimming World. Yes I know I’ve had surgery so I shouldn’t need to go but I’ve made the decision to go as I know too many people that have gained a lot of the weight lost with bariatric surgery and I don’t want to join them. I’m also going to have a look at joining a local gym to increase my exercise but think I’ll go in for a taster session before signing up.

I don’t know if anyone actually reads my blog and I’m not bothered if nobody does. But if anyone out there wants to know more I’m happy to answer any questions.