But things have settled down quite a bit. I think today is Scott’s 5 month anniversary since the surgery. Mine will be Dec 6th. Tomorrow I have my very delayed one month follow up appt with my surgeon to go over my blood work. I had one heck of a time getting things sorted out with my primary physician to get the blood work done so I would have to pay 200-300 bucks… but after being patient yet persistent Insurance was filed/coded correctly and I was charged a cool $32. 

I’ve come full circle meat wise. I simply needed more options for protein. So had a small piece of a hamburger one day then a day or so later had a bite of steak. It wasn’t anything I was craving or “HOLY SHIT I MISS THIS”… it just gave me something else to eat. Chicken and fish get old just like broth over and over did. 

I think I’ve had 3 sips of soda since the surgery… I just don’t want the empty calories/sugar/crap that goes along with it. Gatorade G2 is great along with the Zero Vitamin water. Scott has become lactose intolerant so that’s kinda thrown us for a loop. Poor fella. But he’s doing his best. We did switch to Almond Milk and mannnnn that is some good stuff to make your protein shakes with. I’m pretty fond of vanilla protein (lactose free) powder, 8oz of Almond milk and a table spoon of peanut butter. Yeah, it’s pretty awesome. Most recent pic… here ya go.

Keep on truckin’!

I never really believed a day like this would come. In February of this year I hit my all-time highest weight after getting back from a cruise where I overate for a week. The scale read 378. Today the scale reads 278. One hundred fucking pounds. I’m amazed and slightly speechless.

After the cruise I worked hard to lose that extra 10lbs and got back to my “standard” weight of 368. I wasn’t able to go any lower on my own, though. I started talking to a friend at work, Robert Taylor, about his experience with gastric bypass. He lost an incredible amount of weight that way, but said he’d opt for a newer procedure if he was getting it done today. He pointed me to a coworker, Madison, who had lost 114lbs with the gastric sleeve. 

Madison was really helpful and encouraged me to see his surgeon, Dr. Sonny Cavazos. He’s one of the top bariatric surgeons in Texas and director of the bariatric program at Baptist Hospital in San Antonio.

I lost a few pounds (I think about 17) on the pre-op diet, then had my gastric sleeve surgery on June 14th 2011. The older entries in this blog pick up there and cover my experience since then. 

The experience hasn’t been easy, but my partner Ryan had the same surgery and has been there with me every step of the way. We’ve had to completely change our relationship with food. It’s no longer a source of entertainment when we’re bored or an indulgent pleasure. It’s just like putting gas in the car or going to the bathroom… a required task that’s part of life. I do miss the enjoyment of certain foods, and I can still have them occasionally, but it’s like the old fortune cookie saying: eat to live, not live to eat.

The most disappointing post-surgery change for me is that I’ve developed lactose intolerance. It’s a risk I knew about going in, but it took a while to nail down as the cause of the horrible gas and diarrhea I’d been experiencing. I’m learning to live with it though, and I’ve started to be fine with soy milk and soy cheese. Again… food is for fuel, not for fun.

It’s nice that my 100 pound victory happened today because I had a low point last night. I vomited from overeating for the first time since my surgery. I had been very lucky up until last night to never miss the cues that I was full, but I let myself become overly hungry and ate too fast. Then I compounded the problem by drinking afterward. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I learned my lesson face-down in the toilet watching it come back up. Never again. Once was plenty.

The hassle of changing our eating habits and the sadness of not being able to enjoy things like pizza are easily outweighed by the happiness of buying an XL tall sized shirt that I can wear or having to poke a new hole in my belt because I’m getting smaller. I’ve lost 100lbs of fat. Yesterday my mom said “You don’t know how long I’ve been praying for you to lose weight.” I felt good replying with “God didn’t do this, mom… I did.”