you are what you eat...

Hi Guys and Gals!  Sorry, I know it's been a little bit since I posted.

Let's catch up!  Ok, so had my last dietitian appointment last Thursday...the conversation was all about how to avoid the side effects...

I don't vomit well.  Actually, that's an understatement.  I will suffer for hours rather than vomit, I hate it that much.  You know that I really loved my children since I vomited violently for 7 months with the first pregnancy and still had two more. ( I actually lost about 30 lbs during that pregnancy.)

Anyhoo, I'm really looking to avoid side effects.  So I will pay attention.  I will eat slowly.  I will chew at least 20 times before swallowing. I will NOT drink for 30 minutes after I eat.  These will be words to live by.

Monday was the last support group I needed to attend for insurance.  It was great! There were 7 people there that had been sleeved.  Tony (you remember the trainer?) was leading the group but basically let us spend the whole hour just asking them questions.  Did I mention it was great?  The lady sitting behind me, had her sleeve done on June 30th... less than a month ago...she's lost 38 lbs!!  One of the guys was 13 months out and he had lost over 100 lbs.  One of the other guys had his sleeve done the beginning of February and ran his first 5k the middle of March.  He was not that young a guy.  Every Single One Of Them said they would do it again in a heart beat and their only regret was not doing it sooner.  Pretty eloquent, huh?

Conversation drifted over many areas from exercise, pain, what meds they were able to stop outright, losing the sleep apnea machines, and of course, our favorite subject...FOOD.  We all share the love of food. It is so reassuring to hear that while you still love food, you get satisfied with so much less.  We were talking about different types of protein and Tony made some comments about the type he uses.  He said that even though he loves junk food as much as everybody else he looks at the fact that our bodies are regenerating cells all the time.  They literally use what we eat to do that.  So we are what we eat...really!! Do you want your body building itself out of junk?

It was a very mixed group of people that had had the sleeve.  Some ate everything right up until the day they had to start their liquid diet (day 3 was the worst) and some lost more than 40 lbs pre-surgery.  They pretty much agreed that you need this time that it takes to get approved for your date to adjust to what you're going to have to do.  And everyone agreed that they knew no matter how much they lost pre-surgery, they would have gained it all back, and then some, if they hadn't been sleeved. They know because they'd done it before...many times...as I know...I've done it before, many times.

There seems to be a 3 year blip where people gain some back.  So the goal is to go a little lower in weight than you might have originally thought so you have a bit of flex in your maintenance stage.  I have that built into my goal already.

Today was a good day...I'm completely hydrated and walked over 8,000 steps.  I know, it's still not the ultimate goal of 10,000 but it is progress...and that's really all we're looking for, isn't it??  Forward progress...little steps...slowly we climb toward our goals...and when we look back...wow!!  Look how far we've come!!  ;)

The scale is didn't move this week, but that's ok...you know why?  I'm getting healthier....and the weight?  Well, it's days are numbered!

Keep moving forward whatever you goals are peeps, and keep smiling.  Thanks for traveling another week with me.  :)

~Mikki

17.75 miles...

From last Monday to yesterday I walked 17.75 miles.  A total of 43, 214 steps.  Not bad since I was on vacation after last Tuesday and we all know I tend not to do as well on vacation! :)  

I am doing better than last vacation tho...working on that water!  Walked 3.25 miles today.  Have I mentioned I love my fitbit?? It makes it more fun (a little bit) to exercise when you can track what you've done so well.

We went to the clam festival and ..... I had a doughboy....BUT! I had some haddock first so I did get protein in and I have to say while I know there probably won't be many doughboys in my future after surgery, it was freaking delicious... I had it custom made extra thin so it would be crunchy...yummmy!!  ;)   The best part? We walked enough around the festival to burn all the calories and I didn't gain any weight from it! ;)

We went to the movies to see "Sex Tape" and you'll be pleased to know that the popcorn tasted like crap...didn't eat much of it at all...and only a sip of the soda...that was yucky too.  The movie was hilarious if you like that kind of slapstick humor.  It really is true that if you stop putting crap into your body it starts wanting good stuff.  I'm still loving the flavored stevia and the sugar-free Hershey's syrup for different flavors in my protein shakes.  It's so good to know that when I'm on the liquid diet I will still have stuff I like the flavor of at least.

Thursday is my last dietitian visit...Monday is the last support group that I NEED to go to for insurance, but I really like them so I might go to more...the only thing left that is mandated is two trainer visits which don't get scheduled until I have a surgery date.  And then...it's just pre-op stuff!!  6 steps left of the 15 I started with, but all dependent now on the insurance approval.  so we wait....

How is your week going??  Sneaking in any treats? Getting your water in?  Are you walking?  Sleeping??  Can't forget to get enough sleep! Your body can't heal and help itself without that! :)  I'm loving the sun! And that helps me hydrate too!   Thanks for hanging in there with me waiting for the insurance approval!
Hang on! It's getting closer! ;)

~Mikki

Danger! Danger! Will Robinson!!

whoa... this whole hydrating thing? Kinda dangerous...all I can say is don't sneeze close to the end of your walk after hydrating all day! Barely made it to the bathroom!!

So today was it! Had the psych eval!  550 true or false questions to start...really don't want to see those little answer circles for a long time to come!  After that was complete I went upstairs to talk with the psychologist.  She was nice. Basically just went over the paperwork I had done online.  Asked me if I had any questions about anything. She did a lot of nodding.  She seemed to agree that I had my expectations where they should be.  Didn't really say a whole lot.  We ended a half hour early.  I don't know if I did the questions faster than most or just talked faster. :)

She said it would be two weeks for them to fax over the results and recommendations to the bariatric center.  From there it gets sent to my insurance along with proof of all my other steps and we wait for approval.  All that I can find on Harvard Pilgrim says that they are great about processing quickly so I hope that is true.  As soon as I have the approval then they set the date for surgery!! How exciting!!

I stayed on plan yesterday when we went out to celebrate our anniversary.  I had water to drink and some baby-back ribs and coleslaw.  No bread and no alcohol.  Not bad.  :)

Oh, did I mention I lost another pound? Down 13 so far.

That is

a bowling ball
a bald eagle
a typical 3 month old baby 
or 4 boxes of wine!!!

That's like 52 sticks of butter!!!


No wonder I can walk a couple miles easier than I could a month ago. :)

Still not dieting! ;)  I do still have to work at the hydrating thing..on going battle I guess.  Oh, just a side note...sugar free Hershey's syrup is great in protein shakes!  :)
Oh Yeah! I tried one of the chew able vitamins too and no nausea!  So here's hoping I can handle those. :)

Thanks for staying with me!

~Mikki

I didn't want to do it...

Today was one of those days.  I just didn't want to.  I had a good day multi-tasking (and by multi-tasking I mean running the dishwasher while I laid in the sun, read and drank my water).  Hey, this is a big improvement over drinking wine.  :)

So, yeah, I did not want to exercise.  The clouds rolled in and it made me not want to even more.  But then I heard Tony's voice in my head (the trainer) saying "if you let a little rain stop you what are you going to do when there is snow on the ground".  UGH!  ok, ok!

I put on some walking clothes ~ yesterday I walked in a sundress and let me tell you chubby thighs do NOT like that!!~ that included shorts and a baseball cap.  As I walk out the door...here come the sprinkles...and they pick up speed...it was like the Fates tempting me (Mikki images the 3 of them passing around their eyeball and taking bets on if I'm turning back). NO! I am not. I am going. And just because I didn't want to I added extra time.  You know what? As soon as I got around the corner, the rain stopped!  It was just testing me!!  HA! Take that you ol' bags!! ;)

Got most of my water in.  How are you doing?? Putting off anything?? hmmmmmm???

It's the beginning of the week! Let's start out strong.  Let's show the Fates we are in charge of what we do! That's right! We do what we want! (Even if we don't really want to...)

Hope you have a good night and a Happy Monday!

~Mikki

just want to share this...

People have asked me what is hardest so far?...For me that is not drinking with my meals...I'm not supposed to for 30 minutes after either (and I'm not so good at that part yet)... and then they want to know... why?  This is by far the best explanation that I have seen.

"This is my understanding how the Pyloric Valve works.

The Pyloric Valve function and how it pertains to your VSG.

The function of your Pyloric valve is the single most not talked about important part of understanding how and when you should eat and drink.

The Pyloric Valve is just that....It is a valve that is located at the bottom of your stomach/sleeve. This valve is in between your sleeve and the lower intestine. The basic definition of a valve is an apparatus that opens and closes.

When open this valve it is about the diameter of a dime. When closed it’s opening is closed down to the diameter of the head of a ballpoint pen.

Dense proteins and harder to digest foods will cause the Pyloric valve to close to hold the food in your stomach for pre-digestion...... stomach acids breaking down this “Rough” food. 

That’s why we are told to eat dense proteins first.....To close the Pyloric Valve so food stays in your stomach/sleeve longer so we have a sense of satisfaction.

It takes about 30-60 minutes for the food to clear the Pyloric Valve...... Than it’s OK to drink.

That is also where the term slider food  comes into play. A slider food does not close the Pyloric Valve and as the term is intended.....food slides right past an open Pyloric Valve.

There is a video that gets posted every so often that is supposed to explain food going past the Pyloric Valve. The guy uses a funnel and has apple sauce or something in it....and it shows the apple sauce dripping out the end of the funnel very slow. Than he pours water on top of the apple sauce to dilute it, illustrating drinking after eating.....and the diluted apple sauce runs through the funnel end faster. Than he concludes that this is how your pyloric valve works.

Well, it is a great video that only tells half the story.....remember it’s a valve...and he is only showing it in the open position....

So now the other half of the Pyloric Valve function..... You eat a dense protein like chicken that causes your Pyloric Valve to close. Say for example your sleeve has a 4oz. capacity.....and you eat 4oz. of chicken.....your sleeve is full and holding all 4 oz. of chicken for pre-digestion because your Pyloric Valve is closed. 

So now try and drink something....where is it gonna go? Up.....Up until it hits another valve of sorts..... the Esophageal Sphincter (valve) and above that is a flapper valve. The function of these two valves is to hold food, bile and stomach acids in your stomach and not backing up into your air way. This is a very high pressure system. Thats why when you eat to much or drink after eating a hard to digest food and your Pyloric is closed.....It hurts cause you pressurized your intake track. Vomiting would be a natural pressure release.

So you can see how learning and understanding how the Pyloric Valve works is important as it pertains to eating and drinking with a Gastric Sleeve.

So that was kinda like VSG and the Pyloric Valve 101

As you get further a long you will want to use the Pyloric Valve in other ways to keep food in your sleeve longer to stay satisfied longer. 

A sleeve empties faster than a stock un altered full size stomach so sometimes it’s beneficial for you to learn what foods stay in your sleeve longer to extend satisfaction.

Dense proteins are #1 in closing the Pyloric Valve. Chicken, steak, pork, fish.....in that order seems to be the way it goes for me.

Other foods that are hard to digest and help close the Pyloric Valve are foods like:

• Broccoli Stalk
• Asparagus
• Celery
• Cucumber with Skin
• Radish
• Cabbage (I’m testing this right now)
• Bell Pepper

So I hope you understand my 5 cent tour of the Pyloric Valve and how it effects the way we eat with a VSG and how important it is to work the Pyloric Valve to your benefit.

frisco"

Doesn't that make it so much easier to understand?? I thought so anyway.  I'm hoping Frisco won't mind I totally have stolen it! ;) 

I forgot to mention when I went to the dietitian last time I asked her about the shots after surgery and she said that unless the person has a condition that requires them it is not standard protocol. YAY!

I have had three separate people  tell me this week that this blog has made an impact for them and helped them to make better choices.... this makes my heart so glad!!   This was the main reason for starting the blog!! ...Also to keep me engaged and motivated...well, guess what??  You guys keep me motivated!!  I love hearing from you that you are taking steps to get happier or healthier!! <3  Keep up the good work you!! 

And thanks for coming with me on this journey! 

~Mikki 

highs and lows...

Yesterday was the 10th...that means it's been a month since I ate potato chips!!! Do I miss them? Of course I do! LOL  But, I don't really crave them at this point like I used to. Yesterday was a struggle to get water in...and I really wanted some wine...my step-dad went in for emergency surgery (he's gonna be ok) and it was a very stressful evening. He came through surgery like a champ!  Almost 2 hours quicker than they thought it would take!  We are very grateful.
I kept to the rule though, you know, the one where if I'm not fully hydrated I don't get to have wine.

Some good news was I did lose another pound so down 11 now.  Very cool considering I haven't cut any portion sizes yet.  I didn't exercise yesterday because I ran out of time with everything going on but I've been averaging over 6400 steps a day even taking that off.

Had some more slightly bad news...they rescheduled my psych eval.  Yep, it's not the 14th anymore. The doctor has been called out of state for a family emergency. Fortunately, they were able to get me back in on the 17th so not a big wait.  I'm a little disappointed but I'm also a huge believer in things happening for a reason.  The appointment on the 14th was for 4pm...I would have had to leave work early and try to drive through traffic to an unfamiliar location...maybe it's a good thing that it got moved. Now it's on a day I have off, at 10:30 in the morning.  This zen attitude would probably not be reflected if they had moved me out a month. :)

Last night was the first time in awhile I ate to over full.  Was that associated with the stress going on or was it just my regular pattern of splurging sometimes? I don't know. I do know that I didn't have wine or any of the doritos that my daughter had hanging around so...small victories, right??  You have to have somethings you can hang onto. For me right now, it's that portion sizes will take care of themselves.  Keeping to the rules when I'm stressed will ultimately help me.  At least that's what I keep telling myself.  :)

When my mom called, crying, my heart about stopped.  It just re-enforced to me that life is too short not to do what you need to do for yourself.  I don't want to look back 10 years from now in a hospital bed saying "I really should have done something about my weight" or " I really should have retired when I said I was going to" or "I really wish we had bought the RV like we talked about".  Life if happening today.  Make your plans and DO IT! Can things go wrong? Of course.  I'm just thinking I don't want my biggest thoughts someday to be "I regret I didn't do that."    There's not time? You're right.  Time is not going to make itself happen for you. You have to put that effort in yourself.  Easy for me to say? No, not really...I have doubts, I get scared, I second guess (well, not that last one so much)...but if you don't try then you really have no one to blame but  yourself, right??  I don't like blaming myself. I'm a self love kind of girl. :)  I mean what's the worst that can happen? I lose all my money and end up drunk in a camper in Mexico?? Hey! At least I'll be skinny! ;)

Follow your dreams people! And tell your loved ones you love them.  We are only here for awhile. We need to take care of ourselves and each other.

This picture was taken a few years ago...when I only had one chin...it is still about 25-30 lb heavier than my ultimate goal.  Can we get this journey moving any faster?? ;)

Thanks for staying with me! 

~Mikki 

fitbit flex...

So as some of you already know, my wonderful hubby bought me a fitbit!!  I'm still learning how to work all the features but so far it's very cool!!

It also syncs with myfitnesspal which is where I log all my food and water! Last night I tried sleep mode. OH MY!  We turned off the light to go to sleep at 11:00pm...and I stopped hitting snooze :) at 4:37am.  5 hours and 37 minutes, right?  Well, here's the thing...according to my little monitor it took me 12 minutes to go to sleep. Times awakened? 39!! So really I only got 3 hours and 48 minutes of actual sleep time.  whoa...no wonder I don't have extra energy!!  Besides carrying around an extra 80-100 lbs I am not getting any uninterrupted sleep!

Besides giving all that info, it does fun stuff like sending me little celebrations when I hit a goal...I got a badge for my first 5000 steps and a happy dance for hitting my goal of 6800 steps yesterday! I know, I know, it's still a long way from 10,000 but it's a lot better than 2,000 where I started! ;) You can also join up with friends to compete and I'm sure all kinds of other things I haven't figured out yet.

One more tool to help with the battle! I might not win every skirmish but you know I'm gonna make a hell of a dent in the war.  :)

How is everyone doing?  I must confess I didn't hit 100 oz of water each day over the long weekend. But I'm back today!!  One week until my psych eval!! woot woot!! 1 WEEK!!   I could know in 3 weeks when my date will be! Can you tell I'm excited? yep yep!

The scale is not really moving...but that means it's not moving up either so I'm ok with that. I moved down another belt hole so progress is happening.  Just a little bit at a time...10 lbs in a month? I'll take it! If I can do that even after surgery I'll consider it good. :)  But really, that's not what is about is it? It's that I can walk two miles without having to stop and pant...it's that I can bend over to tie my shoes without my face turning purple...it's knowing that I don't have to worry about buying even larger clothes....it's knowing that I'll be able to fit into the RV shower! :)  The scale? That's just a number, it's life I'm working on!

Keep up the good work people! I'm so impressed with all of you that have made changes in the last month! I love seeing it (or hearing about it).  ;)

and remember..... SQUEEZE YOUR BUTT!!

Thanks for staying with me!

~Mikki

squeeze your butt!!

Good morning people!! I know, I'm sorry I haven't posted lately.  Not a lot new to report really. So this is just checking in with all of you.

Happy 4th of July! It's a long weekend, and we all know that weekends tend to be harder to get the water in for me...how are you doing??  I'm behind..no shocker there, huh?  I have one in front of me now though so I'm working on it.

I made some protein powder infused pudding this morning.  I read about it. You mix the instant fat-free, sugar free pudding mix with the protein powder first then add the milk to the mix.  I haven't tried it yet, but I'm hoping it will be a yummy way to add protein.  I'm getting plenty right now, but trying to figure out ways to get more once I'm limited on quantity.  Plus the variety of getting some with a treat is a fun thing to look forward to.

I still haven't had any chips. Yes, this is pretty amazing.  Something that has helped is finding Nut-thins. They are nut & rice snacks.  16 crackers are only 130 calories (not that I count calories right now, but for those that do), they are wheat and gluten free and have 2g of protein. It gives me that little bit of crunch without any saturated fat. :)  Yes, I am waiting for 3 Diamond to give me sponsorship money...j/k.

I've been averaging a little over 6000 steps a day.  Not fabulous, but better than sitting on the couch. :)
How are you doing on your walking? or biking? or yoga? or whatever your routine is?   It's funny, for the first time since I started this, I've actually had two people ask me in the last week if I were really sure I wanted to do surgery.  They weren't trying to discourage me...they were honestly asking if I had completely thought through all the possible side effects and really felt there was not an other way?

My answer? Yes. I am sure. I have no doubts.  Is it scary? Sure. Am I researching as much as I can to try and make it as successful as I can? Yes.  I'm sure part of it is that I'm not much of a second guesser. When I make a decision for myself I'm usually pretty set on it.  I don't vacillate a lot. But mostly, it's that I really know I need to do something that will help me make a permanent change.  Diabetes and heart disease run in my family.  It is not a matter of if, but when something weight related is going to take me down if I don't do something.  I've been on the see-saw for the last 27 years.  Time to be good to me.

Do you take time for yourself?  I know it's hard.  We all have so little time. We have constant pulls on it from work, or family, or community.  But it is important to take time for you.  Sleep! Make sure you are getting enough. Breathe! Make sure you have a few minutes to relax your mind and body.  Hydrate! Your body needs water to flush itself and do constant repairs. And try to take a few steps toward some type of exercise. Something to get your blood flowing and your heart pumping.  You'll thank you for it later! :)

Don't forget to squeeze your butt!!

Come on July 14th!   Thanks for reading!
~Mikki