6 Month Sleevaversary!!!!!!!

Hello readers!




I know it’s been a little while since I’ve written. Today is my six month sleevaversary! Six months ago today I was in the hospital getting my new tiny tummy. Wow it’s gone by fast. I’m a little disappointed that I haven’t lost as much as I had wanted to by this time. But still I’ve lost almost 70lbs and that’s not too shabby. My original goal was to be down to my goal weight by Christmas. That’s not going to happen now but I am hoping to be there by the end of February.

My doctor is very happy with my progress. He says I’m doing just right. At this point I tend to take in somewhere between 600-700 calories a day on average. I do my best to never go over 800 calories. I am trying to increase my protein intake though. I thought I had found a correlation between the amount of protein I took in and the amount of weight I lost. But now it’s looking like I was wrong. But I still think it’s a good idea to take in a little more.

I work out three days a week with Coach. Right now my routine has become 15 minutes on the elliptical and then an hour on the bike. I have a bad knee so I have to do things that are low impact. I originally was lifting weights but then my doctor told me not to. He said that weights will increase my muscle and so I will be heavier. For right now while I am still trying to get to my goal weight he just wants me to do the cardio. Once I hit my goal weight I’ll start adding the weights back in. I want to increase my workouts to four days a week but it’s really hard to find the time. I work full time and I have a part time job that I do on nights and weekends so that makes my free time a little sparse.

I have developed a weird pattern to loosing. I will go for one or two weeks without losing anything and then I will just drop two or three pounds. Then I’ll go another two weeks without losing again. My doctor said that is fine. He said as long as I’m still losing its ok. My body is just fighting to keep the weight. It doesn’t want to lose. He said that if I start going for longer periods without losing he will have me shock my system by doing one week on the pre-op diet and then three on the normal 800 calorie diet, then back to one week on the pre-op diet. You get the picture.

One thing that is concerning me a little bit is that my three month blood work came back a little strange. My doctor told me at my 6 month appointment that my copper levels were high. This is something that he never sees happen as a result of the surgery. I am due to go back for more blood work at the beginning of December. At that time, if my copper levels are high again he wants me to go see a specialist. If they are normal then the first reading was just a fluke. But if they are high it could be indicating a problem. I looked it up and apparently high copper is caused by something called Wilson’s disease. It is a genetic disease that means your body doesn’t filter copper out of your system like it is supposed to. If it is not discovered and treated the copper builds up and causes liver failure, neurological problems, tumors and all kinds of fun stuff. But it is treatable with medication to remove the copper. This WAS NOT caused by the surgery. If I have it, it will be a blessing that I had the surgery because if I hadn’t, no one would have checked my copper levels until I started experiencing symptoms. And it’s still possible that it was a fluke and that everything is fine. It’s making me a little nervous but I’m trying to be positive and just wait until the results come in.

I’m also a little worried that I have stretched out my sleeve a little. When I first had surgery I could barely eat 4 oz of soup and when I bought salad at the salad bar at work, it usually came out to 2.50$ (they charge you by the weight of the salad) and I could not always finish that. Now I have found that I can eat all four ounces and sometimes I can eat 6, or even 8 of soup. I have also found that my salads are now costing closer to 3.50$ and I usually do eat it all. I read that your stomach is swollen at first and that after the swelling goes down we would be able to eat more but my doctor said “stop it, you are stretching it” so I’m not sure. I’m trying to watch and be careful about how much I’m eating. I realized that I have not gotten sick after eating since sometime in September. Which I thought was a good thing. I thought I was adjusting to eating the right amounts. I didn’t get sick after I ate often (maybe once a week, or maybe twice) and not always because I ate too much, sometimes I ate too fast or didn’t chew well enough. I was also getting sick a lot less then the Aunt. She said she felt bulimic she was throwing up so much. So I thought I was just learning to eat the right amount. Now I’m a little worried that I just stretched my sleeve. I REALLY don’t want to stretch my sleeve!!!!!!! So I’m trying to be much more careful of how much I eat and to slow down a bit too.



So this is my status at my six month sleevaversary. Here are my stats



-67lbs

-8 inches at my hips

-7 inches at my waist

Size 16, bordering on 14 I think.



I want to lose another 30-40lbs. I’ll be happy with 30 because then I will be at the adult weight I maintained the longest but if I can lose 40 I’ll be at my lowest adult weight again. I’d also like to get back into a size 10 or 8 pant. I used to wear either size depending on the style. If I could get into a 6 I would be ecstatic because that is what I used to be up top and if I could actually be proportional for a change I would be in heaven. So those are my goals. I think I can get to my goal by March 1st. What do you all think?

Just in case anyone out there reading is new to the sleeve or my story I will tell you that I would not trade a minute of the last six months. Even on those bad tummy days when I was stuck with my head in the toilet or right surgery when the gas pain kept me up all night. It was all worth it! I would do it all again if I had to make the choice knowing what I know now. I feel so much better! I feel healthier and more energized, I feel more self confident and happy. Food doesn’t rule my life or haunt my nightmares. It was the best decision I ever made!