When the band says no, he means NO!

And the band is not keen on overcooked, reheated hamburger patties. Don't do it.

Today I had my first episode with things not well tolerated by my band. I've had hamburger before, but I think these patties were just too cooked and then reheated on top of that. What I need to realize is if I have a stuffy pain behind my sternum, quit while you are ahead! That sensation is that things are backing up and after the first bite, you need to stop.

We were having a party today for one of our pals who was bringing in her 7 week old baby. He's a hoot! But in true lab fashion, they planned a pot luck. I just did not want to be faced with temptation, so my plan was to eat at my desk and then go hang out for the party. So I popped my hamburger patty and slice of cheese into the microwave for a a quick reheat.

I ate a few bites and after about the 3rd bite, I started to get a pressure-pain behind my breastbone. I figured it'd just settle and go down momentarily. So I plodded onward. What was I thinking???

Now I know this pressure sensation is the logjam building.

I ate about 1/3 of the 4 oz patty before giving up. At that point, I was not feeling well at all and even spit out the last mouthful because there was no place for it to go. I had to stand up to try and relieve pressure and ended up spitting onto my lunch plate and pouring it into my trash can. I apologize in advance to the guy doing housekeeping tonight!

Vomiting post band is interesting. There is no heaving, no acid. Just a burp with a slither. After about 3 of those, I felt a bit better, but just kept standing, leaning against my chair. I was not very into the party after that, but at least I was able to stay away from the food, ha ha!

This is not a good thing to do to yourself. But I am glad it happened this one time. First off, I know that my tool is in there doing its thing. Secondly, I know that if I ever encounter that feeling again that a.) this food is something I do not tolerate and b.) STOP. I know that if that feeling persists I am actively doing damage to myself, potentially stretching out my little pouch and creating risk for future slippage issues. Did I mention STOP?

So all's well that ends well and I'm glad to have clearly learned one of the signals that the band sends me when it's not happy. Lesson learned!!!

Oh, here's a picture of me and the kiddo. You can't see it here, but he has a big baseball right over his booty! TOO CUTE!!! You can't really tell that I've lost much weight in this photo, except in my face. It's obscured by my granny work-bathrobe jacket that I was wearing so I didn't freeze to death in my meat locker-like office!

BMI update

My scale is on the move again and I wanted to see how my BMI has improved.

When I started this journey, I was morbidly obese and knocking on the door of super morbidly obese (BMI >50).

Highest = 46.3, morbidly obese

At my first surgical consult date = 45.3, morbidly obese

Today = 36.7, obese, class II

I'm only 1.8 units away from being just plain obese. That puts me on the fast train to overweight! Oh yeah!

Here are some weight loss goals:

• Goal #1--Lose 12 lbs to get to official Just Plain Obese status!
• Goal #2--get down to 175 lbs so I can be merely overweight!

To get to simply overweight, I need to lose about 43 pounds from where I am today. I can do that. It may take me 4 or 5 months, but it is totally doable. For now, though, I'll just focus on losing 12 pounds and will celebrate gleefully when I am officially in the least of the obese categories!

10 weeks and 2 fills

It's been 10.5 weeks since my surgery, though it feels much longer.  I guess that's because the recovery and getting back to normal life has been so easy.

My 2nd fill was Wednesday evening and I am down about 2 lbs since that morning.  Yay!  The scale is on the move again.  

I am enjoying the fill at this point, though some of the restriction might be due to post-procedure swelling.  That's okay, for now restriction is restriction!  

I did liquids for 24 hours after the fill and last night had my first food--a scrambled egg, 2T of shredded cheese and 1/4 cup of 2% cottage cheese.  It filled me up and my stomach was NOT growling this morning!  That's cool!  

That much food (relative term--that was nothing compared to my normal intake) was almost too much.  I know if I had a few more bites of something it would have been too much.  I was full but not uncomfortably so.  I didn't have any reflux or PBs, but I almost slimed.  I was making a lot of saliva and had to do a lot of swallowing after dinner, but nothing else happened.  

NOTE TO SELF:  if you're drooling, you'd better stop!  I'm trying to listen better to my body for signals as to when to stop.  My old signal was, damn:  plate empty.  Now I need to tune in and feel what's going on.

I'm really pleased today, though.  Whether I reach the sweet spot with 2 fills (doubtful) or if it takes several more, I think last night was a glimpse of life to come.  Being satisfied on a small amount of food and having it stick with me for hours.  Yeah, now THAT is what the band is all about!!!

Still starving, though

One thing I didn't realize prior to surgery was that every time you have a fill, you have to go back to the beginning. As in liquids for 24 hours post procedure, then a little mushies, then work your way back up to regular diet. You don't have to do it the slow way you initially do after surgery (clear liquids 24 hours, full liquids several days, mushies 2 weeks, soft stuff for 4 weeks then regular diet), but it's the same course of events but in rapid fire fashion.

I could probably go from straight liquids to regular diet if I wanted to, but I kind of like starting from scratch and using this moment as what I refer to as a "soft reset." My computer didn't crash completely, but it did start acting a little wonky. Especially when I realized I had absolutely no restriction and could pretty much eat anything. Whew! The fill came just in time.

I am embracing this opportunity to get back to the basics and the same level of dedication I had immediately after surgery. Because I don't have to think about food (basically pop open an Atkins shake or carb master yogurt), I am making myself get back into journaling my eating and checking my blood sugar multiple times a day. I just checked it and it was 123 mg/dL--yippee!

I have learned so much on this Lap Band journey. One of them is that I need my training wheels and may need them for a long time to come. That, for me, is my food journal. If I don't actively keep one, it's like out of sight out of mind. I lose track of what I'm eating, I don't measure and I over do it. So using my food journal is a must. And it might be a must for life if I want long term success.

Today, however, I am starving! I will have a soft scrambled egg and some cottage cheese for dinner, but I have been doing liquids and yogurt all day. There is not enough liquid in this world to keep my stomach from growling!

Right now I'm at 340 calories, 21g fat, 16g carbs and 42g protein for the day. By the time I add my egg and cottage cheese for dinner, I'll probably end up between 500-600 calories and close to 60g protein.

From the morning of the fill to this morning, I was down 1.2 lbs. We'll see how this keeps up!

For now, it's just dealing with the rumble. It's just part of this bandster's life!

A compliment!

Tuesday got her annual shots on Monday. Because of her extensive health problem last year (the pyometra, blood loss, transfusion and hemolytic anemia), she is susceptible to having another episode of hemolytic anemia brought on as a side effect of her vaccinations. It's something we have to look out for every year for the rest of her life. Dr. B said to keep an eye on her mucous membranes, as paleness of her gums would be indicative of a problem.

Last night Tuesday and Map got to snuggle in the bed with me. Though after an night of battling Perpendicular Dogs, that may not continue! When we got up, Tuesday yawned and her tongue was very pale. Last year, when she had hemolytic anemia, her tongue was white. That scared me to death and I couldn't get the 20 miles to the vet fast enough!

Seeing her pale tongue made me think that a trip to Franklin for a packed cell volume test was in order. Just to be on the safe side. I'd rather err and be wrong than wait and have her get really sick. I called and talked to Rebecca, one of the gals on staff. She said to just drop her off and they'd squeeze her in.

The file they have for my crew has my name as Mary on it, but I go by Denise. (thanks for making this an eternal pain in my butt, Mom and Dad!) When we went in, Rebecca did a double take and said, "Oh, I almost didn't realize it was you!" I assumed she didn't put the face with the folder name or something. Then she went on to say, "because you've lost so much weight!"

Wow! I thought she was confused about my first and middle names. Instead, she almost didn't recognize me because I look different after losing 50-odd pounds! How cool is that?

At first I thought Tuesday faked early morning paleness so she could get some more loving from her friends at Caring Hands. Instead, she found an unexpected compliment for me! I love Missus Tuesday!!! She's my special lady!