down 100 lbs

Just wanted to post on the Obesity Help forum and needed to get my pictures online. I'm finally under 200 lbs. (they call it "onederland" on the forum) and 100 lbs. down! Here are my pics:

(you can click on the picture to enlarge)

beginning of July

July 1st Faith's Wizard of Oz production was still in full swing. Isn't she an adorable munchkin?

I was volunteering, watching over the kids backstage and getting them into their positions. Christian LOVED being behind the scenes. He's still obsessed with getting pictures of everything and was honored to pet and get his photo taken with the dog playing Toto.

He also loved meeting the beautiful "Glinda" who had kids playing munchkins, as well.

He was fascinated with the makeup process for the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion (pictured here).

On the 2nd the kids made coasters at Home Depot.

And that afternoon my mom & dad, Tony's mom & dad, Tammy, Tina, Christian and I got to watch the play. We all loved it! Buddy was mesmerized the whole time and afterward couldn't wait to see it again. We got some pictures with the stars:

We love dressing up for holidays, so on the 3rd we all wore red, white and blue to church. (Christian's pants are navy even though they look black in the picture)

We enjoyed Grandma and Grandpa Braegger's patriotic light display when we visited that evening.

On the 4th we went to the Kaysville celebration and enjoyed the inflatables and booths while most everyone else was busy watching the parade.

Grandpa Braegger had given the kids a little spending money and Buddy couldn't resist this coon skin hat! We also got pizza, slushies,

and Brazilian lemonade. Faith spent her money on getting sparkle strands and a feather put in her hair.

Someone brought their pet corn snake and it was really cool.

Christian even got to hold it!

Faith had a matinee performance that day, so we hurried home (except because of all the holiday traffic it was a slow nailbitier!) to get her costumed up and back to Davis High. Faith wanted her own picture with Toto,

and with the Munchkin crew.

Tony and Christian got to go to the show this time and afterward Buddy informed me that he needed a new picture with Dorothy because in the other one you couldn't see her sparkly, red shoes!

After the play, we went over to Braegger's for their annual Independence Day BBQ. Tony fired off some parachute fireworks just before dinner.

After hamburgers and potato salad, we waited for dark. Then there was an awesome firework display put on by Tammy, Larry and Tony.

When we got home the kids did some sparklers because Tammy got burned by one when she was young and can't stand the things. It was a wonderful holiday!

On the 5th of July, our chicks finally started to hatch! You can see one chick out and another with cracks all around the shell:

I don't know what kind of bird they are, but here is the mama getting ready to scream at me if I come too close. The daddy bird is also near by and standing guard.

While going through Faith's memory box, we came across this darling burp cloth made by Tyler (Faith's cousin, Tina's middle boy) when he was in high school home ec! He programmed the embroidery machine and serged the edge. What a sweetie!

Here are some pictures from the 5th that Buddy took in the car on our way to Faith's final show.

And the chicks on the 5th, two hatched, two to go!

A beautiful sunset that night!

Joy, Jordan, Lily and Sierra got to see Wizard of Oz that night and wanted a picture with Faith. Afterward I pointed out that they could get a picture with a cast member if they wanted, and they said "No, we already did!" Apparently Faith was the star of the show for them :)

On July 6th, after realizing that Buddy had been way too quiet for awhile, I found that he had been painting his own nails to look like his sister's--alternating red, white and blue! And darned if he didn't do a good job with it, too. He'd also gotten creative with some torso marker tatooing.

The kids had an idea to make toys for Dusty and ended up creating these adorable pompom mice with jingle bells on the tails. These kids sure know their way around crafts and a hot glue gun!

On the 9th we splurged on some snow crab legs--a definite family favorite. Buddy loves playing with the shells almost as much as eating the meat!

And these are our chicks on the 9th. All hatched!

Four months post weight loss surgery--progress report

I know I'm three months behind on my blog and have lots to catch up on (especially July, we did lots of fun stuff!), but I've had several people ask for an update on my weight loss since my surgery so I thought it was time for a progress report. 

On May 12, 2011 I went in for my pre-op appointment at my doctor's office and they took this "before" picture (294 lbs.):

My doctor is Christina Richards at The Bariatric Medicine Institute in Salt Lake. I looked into gastric bypass surgery fifteen years ago, but was very worried about the death rate, complications, lifetime malabsorbtion of vitamins, expense, and gaining the weight back because of changes to metabolism during pregnancy. Since I'm done having kids, last year I did some research on weight loss surgery and found that my insurance now covers it at 90%, the death rate is even lower than just getting your gallbladder out, and there are several new surgical options. I decided on the vertical sleeve gastrectomy where they cut away over 85% of the stomach, but leave the pylorus valve intact and don't do any rerouting of the intestines. This procedure makes it so I can't eat very much at one sitting, but I do digest all the calories and fat I eat, and absorb all the vitamins and nutrients.

For the week before my surgery (so starting on May 16th) I had to be on a liquid diet. I could only have protein shakes, water, Crystal Light, and sugar-free Jell-O. It was rough, but I lost 16 lbs! I had a lot of people ask if I had an amazing "last meal". We always eat at my mom and dad's on Sunday evening, and my mom had previously asked if I had a request for something special. I told her just to pick something since she knows what I like and I have too many favorites (hence the being morbidly obese). Unfortunately, my dad decided to make pot roast and mashed potatoes instead of whatever my mom suggested, neither of which I care for (especially since it was some cut of roast that I especially hate because it's in thick, tough slices instead of falling apart). I was emotional anyway and decided to just have broccoli for dinner and pout about it (and cried when I got home). So, no, I really didn't have the last meal I hoped for, but I am so, so grateful to my parents for feeding us every week and it is nearly always absolutely delicious. I still sometimes daydream of an awesome last meal, something like a fabulous Vegas buffet!

On the morning of the 23rd, Tammy came over to watch Christian (and took Faith out of school early to do fun stuff) and my mom took me to Salt Lake Regional Medical Center. I had a fairly long wait for my surgery because of problems with the patient ahead of me, but my mom is excellent company! Everything went well with my operation and I was in my recovery room by about 5:30 pm or so. I didn't have much pain, but the hospital was short on nursing staff so I was very irritated that I couldn't get unhooked from all the machines every hour to walk the halls like my surgeon recommended. I also didn't get much sleep because every time I started to drift off, the oxygen sensor machine's alarm would go off. Apparently the pain meds made me so sleepy that I wouldn't breathe deeply enough.

I was very glad when they finally decided to release me the next afternoon, and Tony and the kids came to pick me up. I did extremely well recovering, especially when I took at least a small percentage of the pain medication that I was prescribed (I HATE feeling drugged and kept trying to go off the Lortab too early). By the 31st I was off the pain meds entirely and feeling pretty normal again. After the surgery I had to be on a liquid diet for two weeks, then two weeks of soft foods (like yogurt, cottage cheese, cream soups, baby food). When I was ready for my first real food, it was a celebration and Tony brought home snow crab legs! I love them and they have never tasted better.

By June 6th I was feeling great and went on lots of excursions with Tammy and the kids (see past blog entries). Here I am at the Ancient History Museum at Thanksgiving Point (264 lbs.):

In mid-July Faith and I went to the Utah Shakespeare Festival (which you can find out about in future blog entries). This was taken July 14th (245 lbs.):

This one is from July 22nd (241 lbs.):

And I was feeling fabulous about my weight loss until I saw this pic my dad snapped of me at the hot tub in Park City on August 5th (232 lbs.):

(I think that this is proof that wearing a swimsuit makes you look at least fifty pounds fatter. Being in a sitting position and being photographed from that angle certainly don't help things, too.)

Here I am petting a baby camel at the Davis County Fair on August 20th (225 lbs.):

At my niece, Alaura's baptism on September 3rd (220 lbs.):

Holding my new nephew, Brandt, on September 13th (217 lbs.):

I finally decided to take some actual progress pics on September 16th (216 lbs.):

And an official "4 month" anniversary photo on September 23rd (212 lbs.):

Graphing

I started at 296 and was 212 at four months (I was technically 294 when the "Before" pic was taken, but was 296 just a few days before that).

My surgery has been a great tool for losing weight, but it has still been quite difficult. Weight loss surgery is not the "easy way out" that some people say. It doesn't keep me from eating unhealthy foods, snacking all day like I used to, or emotional eating--I have to battle those on my own. It does keep me from overeating at meals. I am proud of how I have changed my diet :)   I have cut out sugar, flour, potatoes, and rice from my diet. I eat only three meals and one snack per day. My meals consist of about four ounces of food, except my breakfast which is almost always a super low-carb protein shake. I always eat my protein first (at least two ounces) then vegetables, then fruit. My snack is usually string cheese, nuts, or fruit.

I'm not doing enough high intensity exercise (at least according to me and my trainer) but I am walking and doing some Just Dance 2 on the Wii with my kids. My doctor says that my weight loss is at the top of the charts and is excellent with my current exercise. Still, my goal is to start today with some aerobic stepping with weights!

It feels awesome that so many people have started noticing and commenting on how great I look. It has been an amazing journey so far and I can't wait to see the progress I make over the next six months! My goal weight is 150 lbs. (I think I saw that number on the scale one time when I starved myself when I was 16 years old) so I have lost 84 lbs. and have 62 to go.