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My One Year Gastric Bypass Post Op Appointment

1 Year

Dr. Federico CeppaHoly Crap talk about a year that flew by and pounds that melted away, life is good. Today was my Gastric Bypass One Year post op appointment.

I can hardy believe that is has been just about 1 year since my surgery – it will officially be one year on January 23rd. It truly seems like just yesterday that I was waiting and waiting for my surgery day to get here and now it was here and gone.It’s been a crazy ride that has changed my life in so many ways and I would do it again in a heart beat if I had to.

I was so excited for this appointment to show off my weight loss and what a change my surgeon has made for me and my life. It has to be such a great feeling for the surgeons to see their patients when they are happy and successful with no issues to report, don’t ya think?

Gastric Bypass BloodworkSo a few days prior to my appointment I went to visit the vampires to have my blood drawn for my post op labs. So not my favorite thing to do at all – I am NOT a fan of giving blood, but it is all part of the deal. It is very important for those of us who have had Gastric Bypass to make sure all our vitamin levels are good and in line.

So I was a big girl and I went all by myself this time without hubby there to hold my hand – lol. I was upset though when they did not have any purple wrap for my arm after they took my blood, but I got turquoise instead and that worked. They took 6 vials – yuck!!!

So I was up early for my appointment which was for 8:30 am. I kicked myself in the butt wondering why I would have made it so darn early – today I was exhausted due to being very busy with my job the past couple days, but I am happy to report I made it on time – woo hoo.

My first stop was with the nutritionist, Amanda, and to discuss my labs and well duh nutrition. First we discussed my progress – As of my very first appointment back on 1/20/2011 when I first met to discuss having the surgery and before I started losing any weight to get approved for surgery I weighed in at 290 lbs. According to their scale in the office I weighed in at 189 lbs (mine is 2 lbs less at home and what I really go by) I have lost a total of 101 lbs!!! This is the crazy part – I have lost 67% of my excess body weight – can you believe that? unreal!!

Now going by my home scale I weighed in at 286 lbs the day of my surgery and as of my last Weigh In I was 187 lbs – so that is what I go by and for me that is a weight loss of 99 lbs and my goal is to get to 100 lbs lost from my surgery day by my 1 year surgiversary on January 23rd. I have just under a week to get there and I WILL do it!!

So next we talked about my labs. I am so happy to report that all my vitamin levels are perfect, thanks to me being very good about taking all my required vitamins each and every day. My Cholesterol was great too – Good HDL 48, Total 150, LDL 93 and Tri 43 – I could not be happier. Happy Dance in action!!

She also told me now that I am 1 year post op the weight loss will dramatically slow down and this usually happens at about the 8 month post op mark – this I already know because I have experienced it. I also have a lot less to lose now so it is now my turn vs. the surgeries turn to do the work to help speed up the process of getting to my personal weight loss goal. UGH that is where the dreaded “E word” comes in:- Exercise. That darn word always creeps in and it is something I will have to work on if I want to achieve my goal and lord knows I do.

She was happy with my success and that made me happy too – now it was off to see my surgeon….

So in walks Dr. Ceppa always smiling which I love. He says I feel as though I do not have to ask you much since I read your blog and know everything already. Too funny right? Yup when he gets the chance he reads my blog and tells me he loves how open and honest I am. Yes that is me lay it all out there and tell it as it is.

He then asks are you happy you had the surgery? Uh hello – what do you think as I sit here in my blinged out skinny jeans, I thought – Of course I am happy, but as I always say my biggest regret is not doing it sooner.

We also talked about my personal goal weight of 150 lbs and how at my 3 month post op appointment him telling me he saw me leveling out at around 170-180 lbs and I was not having it. I asked him if I made my goal weight would he give me a prize and he told me yes. Now being at 187 lbs we were talking that maybe 150 really is too low for my body type and that I may look drawn if I go that low and now that I am closer I agreed. So we changed my goal to 165 lbs.

So will I still get a prize if get there – hell yeah I will !!! He told me when I make it there if it is before my 2 year follow up to call him and I can cash in on my prize. So what will my prize be? Who knows, but whatever it may be it will make me work that much harder to get there. I like prizes, just sayin’

So just like my nutritionist he was happy with progress and the next time I will see him will be 1 year from now, unless of course I get to my goal prior to that and pick up that prize.

Stay tuned for my actual 1 year Surgiversary post where I will post more pictures of me including me wearing the outfit I wore the day I went for my surgery, that will be fun.

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My first Nutrition Appt since my Surgery

Doctor Patient Records

Doctor Patient RecordsHere I am at the start of week 6 and I finally got to see my Nutritionist. I was very excited for this visit and had my food diary in hand along with my list of questions. I was hopeful she could shed some light on why I did not lose at my 5 week weigh in.

I was really hoping that when I stepped on the scale in the office I would have at least lost 1 pound or even a 1/2 pound, but NOPE-NADA. Even their scale showed no loss since last week – URGH – really???

So there I am in with my Nutritionist Amanda – she is so pretty right? Anyway I was excited to get down to business and see if she had any insight or if I was missing something. So of course that was my first question – Why? She told me it is not abnormal for this to happen even this early on. My body is in shock and adjusting. I did just lose 19 pounds in a month which is pretty good even if I was expecting more.

She also said there will be many stalls and plateaus on my journey – it is just what happens. I have accepted it and will move on and not stress over it. I will hope to see some changes next Monday on my weigh in day and if I do not then I will panic like a crazy lady and maybe stalk my surgeon (lol).

I had her skim through my food diary to see if there may be any red flags and she said it looked good. She told me at this point in time I should be eating about 3/4 Cup of food at a sitting. I should also not be taking in more than 800 calories and about 250 per meal (I know I am under that at this point). Sugar content in a food should be less than 10 grams per serving and more than 15 is bad (I have not had anything really with much Sugar content – scares me).

I had a bunch of other questions about foods and if I was able to eat them now and if it was OK. I was excited that she told me I could have fruit – I knew I could have canned fruit in natural juices, but eating the real thing like an Apple, Peach or Nectarine was very exciting. I LOVE fruit and with summer not to far off I am excited for all the summer fruits which are my favs. So on the way home I picked up a couple nectarines at the store – I hope they taste good even though they are not in season.

I also asked about Peanut Butter and Jelly – I like myself a good PB&J every now and then. I can have Peanut Butter, but not too much of course and she said to look for the Sugar Free Jelly. I did stop at the store on my way home and I picked up a Natural Jelly that has no High Fructose Corn Syrup and only natural sugars.

We also talked about breads and being I am a starch baby and miss my bagels she suggested the Thins. OK so its not my New York Bagel, but if I had a craving that would work for me if I needed it. I did pick up some Sandwich Thins to try out – they are very thin and I thought they would be great for a PB&J or my Chicken Sandwiches to change things up.

I did touch base with her on her thoughts about Artificial Sugars and them causing you not to lose weight as I talk about in my recent post HERE. She did say that she had known that they can cause you to crave sweets and that is what can cause weight gain, BUT she was not very aware of the things I had read about them. Regardless I have cut out the Light 4C Ice Tea and switched to plain water – it can’t hurt right?

OH and I cannot forget that I had told her that after I eat sometimes I will get very cold. So cold I need to go under blankets and I shiver. I was surprised that she said this was a form of “Dumping”. So here I thought I had escaped the wrath of Dumping Syndrome and even though I have not gotten the severe dumping where I feel like I am gonna die, I do seem to get another form. When I think back to when this happened to me each time I had a bit too much to eat at one sitting. I am happy to have not gotten the “I wanna Die Dumping” because the feeling of being cold is easily helped with blankets. I hope that is the only dumping I will ever have, but again time will tell and I may not have had a food yet that has truly disagreed with me – like sugars. Fingers, Eye, Toes and Legs are crossed that I can escape it.

So I got my list of questions answered and was excited for some of the new foods she told me to try out and add in. She also assured me again that my stall was not abnormal and not to dwell on it. So I will continue doing what I am doing and I should see the weight loss pick up again. If it does not I am to contact the office and as my hubby said I may need to go in for service (lol). So here is to hoping for a good loss come my next weigh in day !!

I will meet with Amanda again at my 3 month anniversary and of course she is always available for me if I need her sooner.

I am so lucky to have such a great medical staff behind me !!!

Thanks Amanda for making me feel a bit better about my weight loss stall – I will not stress out about it – for now.