Category: <span>My Story</span>

Six months since my weight loss surgerycalendar 1990453 1920
Published Thu, 25th Feb 2021

Six months since my weight loss surgery

It’s exactly 26 weeks (or six months) today since I had my gastric bypass. And my progress so far has been fantastic!

I’ve lost nearly 37 kg (nearly 6 stones) in weight, and have dropped a couple of clothing sizes – from 4XL to 2XL. But I suppose the most important thing for me is that my health has improved.

New found love of execise

The pain I used to feel when moving around or exercising has all but gone. In fact, I now actively seek out opportunities to exercise, sometimes even twice a day. I love the goal of trying to get at least 30 active zone minutes every day on my Fitbit.

My only problem now is that my body is so used to me walking that my heart rate doesn’t get high enough – even when I walk as fast as I can – to get the active zone minutes. So I have to actively seek out steps or hills to climb – or switch to cycling – to get the heart rate up!

I never thought I’d be so keen to exercise!

I’m even contemplating joining a gym once the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and they re-open. I think I need to do something to exercise and tone my upper body. Perhaps maybe do some weights or resistance training and build up a bit of muscle.

Food addicition tamed

One important thing that the surgery has done is to place a blocker in front of my urges to binge eat. The smaller stomach pouch means that I physically can’t eat mountains of food.

In fact, we ordered in a takeaway last night, and I was full before we’d even finished the shared starter! I could only manage a bite of my main course before I had to stop eating. That’s great, because it forces me to moderate my eating. It makes me stop, whereas before I would have continued eating and eating.

The surgery has helped break my obsession with eating. I don’t get the same cravings for food. I still enjoy eating, but I don’t feel the compulsion to overeat or to seek out fatty or sugery foods! And I don’t think about food half as much as I used to in the past.

My Story Surgery

Addiction Exercise Progress

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Dealing with cold hands and feetCold 2722002 1920
Published Tue, 9th Feb 2021

Dealing with cold hands and feet

The temperature outside is hovering at just above zero, there’s a bitterly cold wind blowing through the trees, and a light dusting of snow on the ground.

Inside it’s actually fairly warm. It’s a respectable 21 degrees in my home office (i.e. the box room), which should feel quite comfortable – but I still feel freezing cold.

I’ve felt the cold a lot since surgery, especially when I’m sitting at the desk and not moving around very much. But I can’t have the central heating on all day, because that would cost a fortune.

It’s my extremities that seem to feel the cold the most – especially my hands and feet – so I’m trying a few different things to keep warm:

  • Wearing warmer clothes – I’ve always got a pair of thick socks on – even in bed at night. Also during the day I’m pretty much always wearing one of a selection of fleece-lined hoodies.
  • Warmer slippers – to help keep my feet warm in the house during the day.
  • Hot water bottle – that sits at the foot of the bed at night and keeps my feet warm, and sometimes sits on my lap during they day when I’m working.
  • Hand warmers – I have some single-use disposable hand warmers that stay hot for about 8 hours. They are great to slip into the hoodie or coat pockets.

I also try to get outside for a brisk walk every lunchtime, to get the blood flowing and warm me up. And that certainly works – at least for a short while – until I resume my sedentary posture in the home office again.

I did contemplate keeping my woolly hat on indoors to conserve heat, but I suspect colleagues might laugh at me during video-conferencing calls!

Do you feel the cold as well after you weight loss surgery? Do you have any good tips to share for keeping warm? I’d love to hear them!

My Story Surgery

Cold Feeling Cold

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Progress over Christmas and New YearAbundance 1868573 1920
Published Thu, 7th Jan 2021

Progress over Christmas and New Year

My weight loss progress over the last two weeks has not been great. I’ve only lost 0.4kg (about 1 pound) in weight over that time.

It’s not a massive surprise to me, as I know my diet hasn’t been very healthy. I guess it’s the first time since surgery that I’ve been pushing the boundaries with the food I’ve been eating. My diet has been a lot richer, and contained a lot more sugar and fat. I’ve eaten (and enjoyed) a lot of cheese, bread, crisps, chocolate and icecream.

I’ve also not been tracking my foods, so I have no idea what kind of calorie intake I’ve had. I’ve still lost weight over the time, so it can’t have been terrible, but the rate of loss is much slower than I’ve been used to.

I guess the main lesson I’ve learned is:

It is absolutely possible to sabotage weight loss after bariatric surgery!

  • Just because I’ve had a gastric bypass it does not guarantee a weight loss
  • I cannot eat whatever I want, and still expect to lose weight
  • To achieve my goals I still need to eat sensibly and healthily

So with that in mind, I’m going back to my healthy eating. And that also includes beginning to track everything I eat in the MyFitnessPal app.

My Story Surgery

Food Progress Weight

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Goodbye to 2020Agenda 4205694 1920
Published Sat, 2nd Jan 2021

Goodbye to 2020

As I reflect on the past year, it’s with mixed feelings.

For many people it’s been a horrible desperate year. The COVID-19 virus has impacted everyone, through sickness, loss of a livelihood, or impacts on physical or mental health. Many have lost loved ones and haven’t even been able to attend their funeral. Many saw their work for the whole year disappear overnight. Others have stuggled with anxiety, stress, and depression about the uncertain future.

I suppose I’ve been luckier than most. I’ve not been sick with COVID-19, and thankfully all my family are safe and well. I’ve managed to keep working and earning throughout the year, albeit from home. And although I have suffered from anxiety and sleep problems, it has been managed successfully with medication and the support of my GP.

I also feed incredibly lucky to have had my bariatric surgery this year.

The surgery was originally planned for March, but was posponed when the HSE took over the running of the private hospitals during the first wave of infections. Luckily the COVID infection rates dropped, and private hospitals were able to resume performing their elective procedures.

My gastric bypass finally took place in late August, and since then I’ve been getting used to life with my smaller stomach.

In a way it’s actually been easier to deal with everything that came after surgery during the COVID lockdown. Because I’ve been working from home and there’s been no social occasions out in restaurants, I’ve eaten almost all my meals this year at home. I’ve been able to control my portions, eat healthily foods, and track all the macro-ingredients to ensure I’ve been getting enough protein and nutrients in my diet.

I haven’t had to scan through menus desperately looking for a healthy option. I haven’t had to field questions about why I’m eating so slowly or why I haven’t finished all the food on the plate. I’ve been able to get used to the new way of eating at home, in a safe and supportive environment.

I’m also lucky and extremely grateful that extended family and friends have been so positive in their support of my weight loss surgery over the last year.

I’ve ended the year a lot lighter and healthier than how I began it, and that’s the major positive outcome for me of the year 2020!

And of course I plan to continue losing weight and focusing on my health throughout the coming year in 2021.

My Story Surgery

2020 COVID-19 Health Mental Health Progress Surgery Weight Loss

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I visited my dietician todayVegetables 1085063 1920
Published Wed, 2nd Dec 2020

I visited my dietician today

I had an appointment this morning with my bariatric dietician. It was part of my follow-up plan for the 3 month point after surgery.

Weight loss progress

My first action was to jump on the scales, and they reflected what I already knew that I’ve lost around 25 kg since surgery. That puts my at around a 15% body weight loss, which apparently is what they would expect at this point.

Food and diet

We talked about a variety of things, including my current diet, what supplements I was taking, and if I had experienced any side-effects since surgery such as bloating, reflux or dumping syndrome.

She asked me to describe a typical day and what I ate for each meal – including snacks. Her main goal in that was to assess whether I was getting enough protein in my diet – and also to check I was eating a reasonable amount of fruit and vegetables.

I mentioned that I was eating protein bars – in particular Fulfil bars – and she seemed happy about that, as they contribute 20g of protein and are low sugar.

I do need to eat more fruit and veg, so that can be a goal for me.

Exercise

We also touched upon exercise, and the dietician suggested that I look at introducing some resistance or strength improving exercises.

I already walk the dogs every day and cycle a couple of time a week, but they are both cardio exercises. I should also be doing strength training, to help guard against muscle loss as I lose weight, and to also help speed up my metabolism.

She did say that I shouldn’t just launch into using weights if I haven’t done it before, as I could injure myself. So instead she said to get an assessment done by a physio or specialist trainer, and get them to put together a proper tailored strength training program for me.

Next visit

I’m due to back to see the dietician around about the 6 months mark – so that’ll be the end of February. I’ll get my bloods done again in advance of that, and they will also check again on my weight loss progress.

My Story Surgery

Dietician Exercise Food Strength Training

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Three months after my gastric bypassNumber 437920 1920
Published Thu, 26th Nov 2020

Three months after my gastric bypass

It’s 3 months since I had my gastric bypass surgery and, although it’s been hard work, I have zero regrets!

Negatives

It’s been a tough 3 months to go through. In the first days after surgery I was in a lot of pain, but that passed relatively quickly. And since then it’s all been about getting to grips with the new reality of what and how I can eat.

It’s quite a journey to go on. First of all there’s the issues with portion control. I was used to piling the food onto the plate and finishing every last morsel. And so it’s been difficult getting my head around how little I can now eat. Even now, after 3 months, I will often put too much on the plate, and then have anxiety about having to leave some of the food uneaten.

I’m also still trying to get used to a change my food tastes. I don’t get cravings for sweet things so much any more, which is good but slightly unnerving. I seem to much prefer savory foods.

There are also some food that I just can’t seem to tolerate any more. For example, I used to eat a lot of eggs – particularly omelets and scrambled eggs – but I can’t stomach them any more. They’ve been the biggest cause of me needing to vomit my food back up. So for now I’m avoiding them.

Positives

However, it’s not all bad news. I did say that I have zero regrets, and there’s a reason for that!

I’ve made fantastic progress in losing weight over the last 3 months. In total I’ve lost 25.3 kg – or 4 stones (56 lbs) in weight. That’s such huge weight loss in a short period, and I’m really thankful for it. But beyond the numbers, the weight loss has improved my quality of life by so much.

I’m in a lot less pain overall, and simple things like getting dressed on a morning, or standing up, are so much easier.

I can fit into a whole range of clothes that were previously too small. I’ve been picking brand new shirts (with their tags still on them) out of the wardrobe and finding that they now fit. So it’s like getting free new clothes!

And I just feel a lot healthier overall. My blood pressure has gone down, as well as my resting heart rate. And I’ve also been able to reduce the amount of medication I take.

Next steps

Next week I am due to see the dietician again as part of the regular follow-up appointments with my bariatric team. I had blood tests taken a couple of weeks ago, and hopefully they show that all the levels are within normal ranges.

My Story Surgery

Progress

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