February 29, 2008

• You might want to pass on this entry

  Warning: Unless you want to read about my lifetime ongoing struggle with my weight,  Turn Away! 

  I was born a fat kid.  I weighed 10 lbs. 8 oz. at birth.  I was always fat growing up.  My lowest adult weight was 190 lbs.  It got as high as 320.  I was miserable.  I had high blood pressure, an enlarged heart and shortness of breath on even the slightest of exertion.  I had tried many diets over the years but kept gaining more and more weight.  My doctor had overseen quite a few of my attempts and told me that some of the problem was my hard to control thyroid.  This only made me feel slightly less awful. 
  Then one night while watching the news, I saw a report  on bariatric surgery.  The report said the procedures had changed greatly from in the early eighties.  I am a nurse and had taken care of some of those earlier patients (who died) and told my mom, “If I ever say I want to get that surgery, commit me to the mental ward.” 
  Thankfully she didn’t listen. 
  I had Roux-N-Y open agastric bypass surgery on June 7, 2001.   In the ensuing year, I lost 160 lbs.  That was half of me.  I did pretty well following the post surgery guidelines about food and exercise until this past year or so.  I quit walking my three miles 3-4 times a week when I injured my back on Thanksgiving Day, 2006.  After Physical Therapy that lasted six weeks, I found out I had cysts on my ovaries as a result of an MRI for back/hip pain.  Off to the gynie I went and after months of observation and pain, I had them removed in June of ’07.  It  took a full 12 weeks to recover from that experience.  The walking I do at work was tough enough for the first few weeks.  By then I was out of the regimen and the holidays came and went with my discovering that sugar didn’t bother me near as much as previously. 
  I have been trying to get back on track for the past few weeks.  I went to a support meeting, which I have never done before.  They gave me some great ideas which I have been trying to incorporate back into my lifestyle.  It seems to be working and so far I have lost 4 of the 20 lbs I gained back over the past year. 
  I cleaned the cupboards of all the food that is bad for me yesterday.  I have a food hording problem.  I buy it, and usually don’t end up eating it. 
  It seems wrong somehow that I had the surgery and all I think about is food.  But i have to be sure that I am getting enough protein and often enough to keep my blood sugar from plummeting.  Yet I don’t want to graze.  Then there is the water issue.  I can’t drink a half hour before or after eating because liquids create a slurry in the small stomach that goes into the small intestine that much faster which can lead to  more weight gain. 
  If any of you fellow GBers are having difficulty, you might want to read the book above.  It really helps and I keep referring to it daily.  It’s like a pep talk.
  I have a goal to RUN in a 5K race this summer.  I started to train this morning and my husband thinks I can do it, even though I have never been a runner before.  But this is my goal for both weight loss and turning 50 this year. 
  Okay, enough whining about my weight.

  • 10:35 am
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