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When you have Gastric Bypass Surgery like I did, folks are always asking you how much you lost, how fast you lost it, etc. And of course, I want to track this stuff, too. So this section is more for my benefit than for anyone else's. My highest-ever weight was 366. A lot of my friends will be surprised at that number because while they knew I was horribly overweight, I'm 6'3" and carried much of that weight in a way that didn't cause it to seem quite that bad. Around the time I hit 366, I had people saying to me, "You need to lose weight. You must be close to 300 pounds." For several months before the surgery, I thought I still weighed close to 366 and did not step on a scale to find out otherwise. My home scale and the one in the office of my primary physician only went up to 350...so there was no easy place to find out how much I weighed. And what did it matter? Regardless of the exact total, I knew I needed to lose an awful lot. On May 24, I had my final pre-op examination at the office of the surgeon who would be performing the procedure. He has a scale that could weigh a Hummer and from it, I discovered I weighed 345 pounds. When my surgeon came in to see me a few minutes later, I said, "You are such a good doctor, I've lost 21 pounds before you even touch me." Here's how it went after he started touching me... 5/26/06: 344 lbs. Surgery day. Here we go... 5/31/06: 333 lbs. (-11, 5 days) First post-op visit to the surgeon. In the waiting room, someone who was obviously considering the surgery asked me if I was considering it. When I said, "I had it five days ago," she was delighted: Proof positive that you can be up and around soon after. My surgeon is so happy with my vital signs, I think he's going to make me his poster boy. Right now, my biggest physical problem is that I banged my shin getting out of the cab on the way to this appointment. 6/5/06: 324 lbs. (-20, 10 days) First post-op visit to my primary care physician. He listened and poked and pounded and wound up agreeing with the surgeon about how well I'm doing. He also ordered a prealbumin test which will probably reveal I'm a bit low in the protein column. I need to chug more bad-tasting phony milk shakes. (By the way, my shin has healed nicely and I ordered a new scale so I can record my weight loss without having to go to a doctor. My old one doesn't seem to work all that well.) 6/10/06: 319 lbs. (-25, 15 days) The new scale arrived and I discovered that the old one is actually more accurate as long as I'm not near its capacity...so the new one's going back to Costco. While there, I don't think I'll be stocking up on groceries. One package of anything that store carries could now last me two years. Starting to segue to some real foods...scrambled egg whites and well-blended tuna salad, eaten separately. No problem at all. 6/11/06: 317 lbs. (-27, 16 days) Had my first difficulty eating something today...tuna salad that had been hand-mixed instead of pulverized in the blender. The slightly-larger pieces seemed to muck up my breathing for about fifteen minutes. Back to broth and the bad protein drinks for a while. 6/13/06: 314 lbs. (-30, 18 days) Even pulverized tuna salad's giving me trouble now but the egg whites are fine. I'm not eating enough...first time in my life I could ever say that. I still have no sensations of hunger so I forget. It's almost like just before bedtime, I think, "Hmm...there was something I meant to do today...Oh, that's right! Eat!" 6/17/06: 310 lbs. (-34, 22 days) Today, I ate steamed fish from one of my favorite Chinese restaurants and also had some won ton soup with dumplings (only) in it. No problem with the fish or the dumplings. Oddly enough, my biggest ingestion struggle is with water. I'm used to washing my food down with it, and you're not supposed to do that. You eat or you drink but you don't do both. So I eat and then a half hour later, I drink water. I suppose I'll get accustomed to doing them one at a time. 6/20/06: 306 lbs. (-38, 25 days) I seem to have found a protein drink I can live with. Some were too sweet, some too bitter, some too chemical, etc. It finally dawned on me that I can mix protein drinks and get the best of two varieties. I'm now using Healthy 'n' Fit Bodybuilder 100% Whey Pro-Amino, which I buy at the Vitamin Shoppe. It comes in vanilla or chocolate and is flavored with Stevia. I take a full portion of this, which is alleged to contain 45 grams of protein, and add in a dash of 40-30-30 Total Balance Drink Mix, which also comes in vanilla or chocolate and which they sell at Trader Joe's. The latter contains fructose — too much for me to tolerate a whole drink made out of it — so I use it for flavor. I figure it also adds another 5 grams of protein to my drink. That's most of the protein I need for a day. 6/29/06: 300 lbs. (-44, 34 days) A little slowing of weight loss but...hey, we're still heading in the right direction. Breaking the 300 mark is encouraging. 7/03/06: 298 lbs. (-46, 38 days) Went to see my surgeon again. He's quite happy with my progress and says that he wouldn't want me to be losing it any faster. I need more protein, he said, so I've decided to try to down two protein shakes a day. I also, less wisely, decided to try a meal in the hospital cafeteria on the way out. The special was shredded barbecue chicken and that seemed like a good idea...until I got it to the table and found out how dry and tasteless it was. Three bites and I was scurrying to the men's room to divest myself of the three bites. When I came out of the stall, a male nurse who overheard my upchucking asked if I need medical attention. I told him, "No, I'm a supermodel and we always purge after dining." He chuckled and said, "Gastric bypass, right?" |
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© 2011 Mark Evanier Hosted by Dreamhost |
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