Patience

Hello world! I really planned to post a blog mid week but just couldn't get my thoughts together to do it. So here is my weekly update.

Well this week has been very relaxing. I've spent a lot of time swimming with the kids. I feel the best when I'm in the pool. Nothing hurts, I don't feel weak, and I just feel GOOD. I have been getting dizzy a lot this week especially when I bend down, stand up quickly or turn around fast. I realized that my blood pressure is low. I've been on blood pressure medication for 2 years as a preventative measure for high blood pressure (my BP was on the high end of normal). But now, with the weightloss, I'm pretty sure I no longer need the BP medication and that is why I'm experiencing symptoms of Hypotension. I have my first follow-up appointment with the doctor on Thursday so hopefully he'll take me off that medication, as well as the meds I'm on for acid reflux.

This week has also been a week of education - learning what I can and can't eat. I had my first dealing with "Dumping Syndrome" on Monday. Dumping Syndrome results in nausea, vomiting, bloating, cramping, diarrhea, dizziness and fatigue if I eat something too fast, too much sugar or has other ingredients that now do not agree with me. On Monday, I tried a scrambled egg. It felt okay. But then throughout the day, anything I ate just seemed to sit in my new pouch and not digest properly, leading me to be sick on Monday night. So I'll wait to try the eggs for another week or so. Throughout the week I tried other new things that worked and some didn't, but I didn't get sick again. The HARDEST part I'm finding is learning to eat SLOOOOOOOW. If I put the second mouthful of food in my mouth too soon, it feels like the food is stuck in my esophagus and is quite painful.

Stelios made some tzatziki with plain greek yogurt the other day and I had some of that with melba toast. I really thought I had won the lottery! It was so nice to eat something with some zing! Melba toast really fills the craving for crunchy snacks. The next day I made some guacamole and again, it was so nice to eat something different! Each day that I eat something new, it excites me so much! Oh, the new adventures of the road to skinny!

This is the guacamole and melba toast I had for lunch one day. I couldn't actually eat all 4 pieces of the melba toast - only 2.

This has become one of my favourite snacks. It's sugar-free chocolate pudding with a tsp of peanut butter. My weakness has always been Reese Peanut Butter cups/bites, etc. So my dietician said I should try this "recipe" and see if it fills the craving for the junk. And it TOTALLY does. SO YUMMY!

This was my supper one day - mashed potato and finely chopped piece of chicken breast cooked in creamy mushroom soup. It was so nice eating mashed potato for the first time in a long time!

And finally, this is my FAVOURITE snack of all time. This was actually my favourite snack before surgery and thankfully I can still eat it - just MUCH less of it. And it's actually quite healthy.

So we are warned when having this surgery that some people may lose weight quickly and some will lose slowly at first. Unfortunately, I'm falling in the slowly category. But it is teaching me patience. I KNOW that the weight is going to start falling off soon, but I'm just anxious for it to happen faster. At times I feel like I deserve it because of all I've had to go through. But it's okay. I realize that my body is adjusting and trying to figure out what the heck just happened to it! It's in shock. And I am learning to embrace the losses, even if they are small. At least it's better than gaining or staying the same. So this past week I only lost 3 pounds, but 3 down is better than 3 up!!!! Yay!

Total Loss: 43 lbs