Fat Woman With A Band

It’s the first year anniversary of my hysterectomy. And the day in which I went into instant menopause.

I didn’t really feel any different for about two months after surgery. Then all the symptoms that many women are familiar with hit at once – the most prominent being sleeplessness, hot flashes, and mood swings. As I had the hysterectomy because of uterine cancer, I could not take hormone replacement therapy. My doctor did prescribe a couple of pills to help with the insomnia and the hot flashes. The pill for the hot flashes didn’t work, so I stopped taking it. The insomnia aid was a low dose anti-depressant. I gradually weaned myself off of those in the last two months as I didn’t want to take them any longer. Happily, my sleep pattern hasn’t been noticeably affected.

As for how menopause affects weight, according to the Mayo Clinic fluctuating hormones do not necessarily result in weight gain. Woman just tend to gain weight as they age; actually the article says woman gain one pound a year after perimenopause (leading up to menopause). As if! I gained a pound a day! I know, I know … another exaggeration, but still a pound!

I can’t report that I feel the same now as I did before surgery. I do feel a lot better than I did six months ago. Some of that has to do with the weight loss and increased mobility of course. But I think some of it just has to do with my body adjusting. The hot flashes are not as severe or as numerous as they were. The mood swings, unfortunately, still occur with more frequency than I’d like.

So body adjusting o.k., now I just need the mind to follow along.

As some of you may have noticed my website looked a little strange for a couple of days. Happily as you’re reading this post, it’s now working tickety-boo. What this experience has demonstrated, again, is that I’m not an island.

The long and short of it is that I could not have figured out how to resurrect the site by myself. I asked a long-suffering friend to bail be out, yet again. He spent hours cleaning up the site and reinstalling all my posts. I’m very grateful. It was his help and advice that got this blog going again. And, I have to give kudos to the webhosting support desk, also. They are very responsive, and their help is appreciated.

And with my weight loss I’m doing a lot of the work, but can’t do it without support. The support of my family, my partner, my friends, the people at the clinic, and the Y. There’s also the support I get from visiting and participating in the myslimband.com community website, and the lapbandtalk.com website.

I may be losing weight for me – it’s all about me, remember – but the support is the grease keeps the pounds slipping away.

Now, where is the blog that makes wine recommendations? There’s a blog-saver I’d like to thank.

island

All alone by notsogoodphotography

I get so much out of being with friends and loved ones. Yet when I’m in trouble, usually emotionally and sometimes even physically I tend to withdraw. There’s probably some psychological reason for that – maybe one of you can enlighten me – and though I know I can almost always feel better after talking, I still withdraw.

I attended a support group at the clinic this week and I was reminded yet again how the happiness hormones kick in after just talking and interacting with others. I wasn’t in a particular bad headspace before the meeting, just having an average day. At the meeting I met eight women who were in different stages after lapband surgery. I knew one woman as we are attending the same nutrition class, but I had never met any of the others, or the facilitator.

Obviously we had a few similarities:

• female
• overweight
• had laparoscopic band surgery
• had lost weight
• had been overweight a long time.

All the other women had children, and by coincidence three of the women were nurses.

The facilitator led the discussion, and most of the women shared their experiences – how they felt, what worked for them, etc.  And even though we ranged in age from early thirties to late sixties (a guess as no one asked about ages and I’m really bad at guessing age), we each had similar experiences and feelings around being overweight and living with the band.

The topic which had the most diverse opinions and experiences was “who had we told we were banded.” Many of the participants had told only the closest family. I, of course, have told just about everyone. Though I’m being a bit disingenuous as I’ve told only those people who, as the nutritionist says, “are interest-ready.” I think as I lose more weight more people will ask what’s going on, and I may share even more then.

I’m going to come looking for you the next time I feel stranded.

100 bottles of beer on the wall

Photo by jonnyramone20

Take one down and pass it around, 99 bottles of beer on the wall.

This drinking song is my ear worm this morning. Because … because … I’ve only got 99 more pounds to lose. Yeah! Or as my niece would say, yeah?

I don’t weigh myself every day or even every week, as one thing that would make me crazy on past diets was the scale. I’d have a really great week, where I’d exercised prodigiously, and ate wisely as prescribed, and I’d gain weight. And another week I’d have meals out and my exercise schedule would have been trashed, and I’d show a weight loss. See – crazy making.

As this week’s session on exercise at the clinic, there was a very long group discussion on weighing oneself, and on scales. Most people weighed themselves at least once a week, and I think one person said they weighed themselves daily. There was also a discussion about when do you weigh yourself, is it better to weigh yourself in the morning, or at some other point during the day.

The facilitator suggested weighing yourself in the morning just after your first trip to the bathroom. She also suggested that as our body weight fluctuates quite a bit each day, that weighing ourselves each day and getting a weekly average is also optimum. I’ll continue with stepping on the scale in the morning, but I’ll also stick to my schedule which is about every two weeks. That’ll do just fine.

My current loss rate is about 2.8lbs per week. That is more than recommended as a slower rate is best, at about 1/2 to 2 lbs per week. But, for heavier people, and Helen’s a heavy girl, bigger weight loss happens at the start of the diet, before settling down. At this weight loss rate I’d be at goal in 7 months, but realistically I’ll be at goal in about 14 months.

99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer – take one down and pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall.

My breath smells like shit.

Really, I’m so sorry. If I could fix it, I would immediately. I’m working on it, but it’ll take some time. Longer than I’d like, and probably much longer than you’d like.

I asked for professional advice, and I’m going to follow it. I’ve got four, five, maybe even six different things I’m doing to help combat it.

It’s just, well you know, when you’re losing weight it’s one of the unfortunate side effects. And I’m pretty sure I’ve always been prone to it – maybe because I’ve been fat for so long, or maybe it’s just me.

I’m doing what I can about keeping my teeth clean – flossing,  brushing, and regular checkups. I don’t think it’s because I’ve got tooth decay or gum disease. I think it’s all digestion, or maybe lack of digestion, related.

I think it’s undigested food that just doesn’t move out of my body fast enough. The food sticks in my digestive tract, and I exhaust the smell of it. Phew! Yucky!

So, here’s what I’m doing:

1. In the lemon and hot water drink I have each morning, I’m adding a tablespoon of bran.
2. After I brush my teeth I’m rinsing with a chlorophyll & water mixture rather than conventional alcohol-based mouth wash.
3. I’m taking a digestive enzyme supplement.
4. I’m chewing on chlorophyll laced gum between meals – when I can stand it, as I’m not a gum chewer.
5. I’m keeping an eye on my fiber intake. The more, the merrier.

I’m going to try one more thing, and that’s brushing my tongue.

Oops, gotta put that on my shopping list. New toothbrush.