Shrinking Jen

Updated Picture

2008-10-21T14:31:00.001-07:00

Christian and me at his first preschool fieldtrip

2008-10-21T11:27:00.001-07:00

Pics of San Diego

2008-10-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

Overweight

2008-10-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

Many of you have requested that I update my blog. I apologize that it has taken so long. I have now lost 101 lbs. I feel great. Like myself again. I have officially lost all of my baby weight, plus more. I am also no longer in the 200 range. The best part is that I am no longer obese. I am now overweight!!! I just need to lose 31 more lbs to be considered "normal." My weight loss has slowed down quite a bit. I was warned that once my body got to the weight it was used to, it would take a while to get past that. I am finally getting past that. I still meet with my personal trainer twice a week. That has helped to keep me focused.

So, why has it taken so long for me to update my blog? I have been very busy with school and work. Also, Christian and I took a vacation and went to San Diego. We had so much fun! We went to Sea World, San Diego Zoo, and the beach. It was a blast, and much needed!!!! I will post some pics of him with Shamu (which was his favorite part).

4 month update

2008-08-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

Even though I am a slacker, I thought I would give a four month update. At 4 months I had officially lost 79 lbs. I have felt a little bit of a slow down on the lbs, but I am still losing inches. I have invested in a personal trainer. That was a good investment. He keeps me motivated.

Here is an updated comparison of my journey!

I know, I know

2008-06-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

I am bad at this. I am doing great, though! I hit my 70 lbs lost on my three month anniversary! It was great! Anyway, I posted my pics different. I look at my pre-op pictures and see an unhealthy person. I will NEVER let myself get to that point again.

I still bite off more than I can chew...

2008-06-07T11:02:00.001-07:00

but at least it is not food anymore! I am 8 months (February) from getting my degree, and I have already decided I will start school up again in March. I am going to go to Massage Therapy school. I figured it would be a good side job for me that I could do out of my home. I am excited. Once I receive that, I will go back for my Masters. So, I still have a few years to go.

I lost 5 more lbs this week! I only have to lose one more lb and I would have never qualified for the surgery, even if I had health conditions. My goal is to lose about 20 more lbs by Christian's birthday. That is a lot, but I am going to try my hardest.

60!

2008-06-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

Yep, that is right! I reached 60 lbs lost this week! I will hit my 11 week mark on Monday! I feel so good! It is funny that it took losing 60 lbs, but people are really starting to notice. I am also officially under ( I actually was 8 lbs ago) my weight when I had Christian. This means, I am currently losing baby weight. In thirty lbs I will be back to losing "eating too much" weight.

What have I been up to? We went to Lagoon this weekend. It was my company day. Christian loved all of the rides. He thought it was the best.

Slacking Jen...

2008-05-22T12:27:00.001-07:00

...Should be the name of my blog. What can I say, life has been busy. Well, it has almost been a month since I posted. What has happened since then? I hit my 50 lb loss! Actually, now I have lost 55 lbs! It was an exciting moment for me! All I have to do now is lose one pound so my "pounds to go" on my tracker is two digits instead of three. I still need to take and post my two month pictures. I will tonight!

Other than that, everything is going great. Christian and I are going to go ride Thomas the Train this weekend. We are looking forward to that. I will have to post pictures of it later.

Have a good day!!!

It's Sunday again!

2008-05-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

I know some of you may wonder why I only post once a week. So, I decided to give an update on my life. Christian is a couple months away from being two years old. I never thought I would have a child, but God blessed me with the best one ever! He is VERY active. I am going to have to get him involved in every sport there is just to wear him out. He has such personality. He already wants to do everything on his own. He is always happy unless he is hungry or tired. He truly is the love of my life.

I am still working at American Express. I accepted an internship as an Instructional Designer that started the day I returned to work from my surgery. I love it! The people I work with are great!

School, school, school....I am so close to being done with my bachelors. On February 18th, 2009 I will be done!!! I will receive my Bachelors in Science Information Systems and Technology with an emphasis in Visual Communications. Mainly the degree prepares me to be an Instructional Designer. I am doubling up at two schools just to get done.

Well, that is an update on my life...Now the exciting news! The weigh-in. This week was awesome! I lost 7 lbs! As you can see from my football field, I am 3 lbs away from losing 50 lbs!!! I also lost 7 inches on my body. I am loving life!

Scale day

2008-04-27T21:48:00.000-07:00

Another week has gone by. This morning I woke up and got on the scale. I was hoping for at least two pounds. I was ecstatic when it showed I had lost 6 lbs this week. I have officially lost the first 40 lbs, and I did it in six weeks!!! I have lost an average of 6 1/2 lbs per week! I lost another 4 inches off my body. I wore a shirt today that I have not been able to wear in a while. LIFE IS GREAT!!!

Slacking

2008-04-20T06:42:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I have been slacking. In my defense, the reason it has been a week since my last post is because I have been enjoying life. I go to work, I go to school, and the rest of the time Christian and I try to play, play, play.

Yesterday I went to Red Butte Gardens to weed and pull out dead plants. It was a lot of work, but worth it. That was the first time I have been there and I plan on joining and taking Christian a lot this summer.

Well, today was weigh-in day. My weight loss has definitely slowed down, but I am still losing inches. I lost 4 more lbs and 5 inches! I am happy with it. People are telling me that they can see the difference.

I am going to go now so I can get ready to enjoy the day. Christian and I are going to go play...

Sunday Weigh in

2008-04-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day! In fact, the entire weekend was wonderful. Except for nap time and meals, Christian and I were outside the entire time! Playing, walking to the store, and playing some more! Christian has the bruises and cuts to prove it! He is all boy! He skinned his chin and the only reason he cried was because I made him stop playing so I could clean it off.

We were at my parents yesterday. We played so hard that I was hot! That is when I found the best treat in the world! Sugar free fudgesicles!!! Only 40 calories! It tasted so good. I am going to buy myself a box after work.

Now to the exciting part! I weighed myself yesterday morning. I have lost 4 more lbs and 8 1/2 inches! YEA ME!!! My clothes are finally starting to look baggy. I will be ecstatic once I have lost 69 more lbs... I am just glad that the plateau is over. I think I owe a lot of it to Aunt Flow. She came to visit today. This is the first period in years that I did not give in to pigging out. Before my surgery I would have eaten everything under the sun.

I am a true advocate for the surgery. I have so much energy now. Christian and I have so much more fun (if that is possible). I enjoy exercising. I enjoy moving all of the time instead of sitting around.

By the way... I will be posting my before and one month pictures by the end of this week...

Food Diary- Sunday

2008-04-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

B- 4 veggie egg bites = 4 Tablespoons
S- 1 veggie egg bite
L- Yogurt
S- 4 cashews
D- 1/4 c hamburger

Food Diary- Saturday

2008-04-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

B- 2 T cream of wheat
S- 9 cashews
L- Spinach and shrimp salad
S- 1 oz cheese
D- 1/2 smart one- salisbury steak and asparagus

Tomorrow!

2008-04-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

Well, tomorrow is the big day! It is time to weigh myself!!! I am so nervous. I have been so good about not weighing myself this week. I have noticed my bum is getting smaller... As soon as Christian goes to bed I am going to workout as hard as I can. I feel like I am on the Biggest Loser and it is my last chance workout!!!

I have had one bad side effect from the surgery. When you don't get many grains and sugars, things don't "come out" as easily. In fact, (even though this might be TMI) up until two days ago, I had only one BM. That was three days after surgery. That means that my body was storing everything else. My doctor was not worried about it at my two week appointment. He said the laxative companies are the ones that said we had to "go" every day. The fact was, I went from eating 2500+ calories a day to under 650 calories a day. I did start getting uncomfortable so I called back and they told me to drink some milk of magnesia. I did, and felt better. You never know, that may have helped with my weight loss.

Food diary- Friday

2008-04-12T17:31:00.000-07:00

B- Proteinex 2 Tablespoons
S- Beef Jerky- 1/4 cup
L- chicken and veggie stir fry- 1/4 cup
S- .66 oz cashews
D- 1/4 cup spinach and shrimp salad
S- 2 Tablespoons Proteinex

Food diary- Thursday

2008-04-12T17:28:00.000-07:00

B- 2 Tablespoons of Proteinex
L- 1/4 c fresh spinach, kidney beans, hard boiled eggs, and parmesean cheese topped with a little ranch
D- Chili with cheese and 1/8th of a whole wheat pita

Mid week update

2008-04-10T09:25:00.001-07:00

I know it has been a few days since I have posted. Life has been busy! I have been doing very well with eating. I have found out that protein bars make me dump. They are too sweet! For those that do not know what "dumping" is, let me explain. Sometimes when you eat certain foods, or drink while you eat, your pouch moves the food into the intestines way too quick! This can cause nauseau, vomiting, and lots of other fun things. It can last anywhere from one hour to eight hours depending on the severity. It is not fun so I will definitely not be trying protein bars again for a while.

After the surgery, the plan is to get at least 60 grams of protein a day. When you hardly eat, this is really hard to accomplish! I have barely reached half that goal on some days. So I read about Proteinex18. It is a liquid protein (that tastes like cough medicine). Every two tablespoons=18 grams of protein! I finally got the shipment yesterday. I read on some website that mixing it with some Crystal Light is the way to go. I can hardly taste the Proteinex. I will finally be able to get my protein in!

Food Diary- Wednesday

2008-04-10T09:24:00.000-07:00

B- 1/4 c Kashi cereal
L- Chili
S- Atkins snack bar
D- 1/4 c Cobb salad

Food Diary- Tuesday

2008-04-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

B- 2 oz yogurt
S- 1 oz cashews
L- 2 oz Chicken Vegetable soup
S- Balance 100 bar
D- 1/8 cup steak and 1/5 cup of steamed veggies

Food Diary- Monday

2008-04-10T09:17:00.000-07:00

B- 1 Carnation Breakfast drink- Sugar free of course!
S- 1 oz of Colby Jack Cheese
L- 2 oz roast beef and mushrooms
S- 0.10 oz slivered almonds and 1/2 oz of cashews
D- 2 oz Chili

Food diary- Sunday

2008-04-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

Breakfast- 2 1/2 slices of bacon
Snack- 1 oz slice of cheese
Lunch- 1/2 hot dog and 1 tablespoon of canned peas and carrots
Snack- 1.5 oz roast beef and 2 baby carrots
Dinner- 1.5 oz roast beef and 2 baby carrots

40 minutes treadmill
20 minutes weights

Better than nothing...

2008-04-06T06:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I weighed myself this morning and I lost one pound. I am hoping this is the start of leaving my one week plateau. I know it won't last forever, and before I know it I will be plateauing again. We will see what the scale says next Sunday!

So,Thursday I received my order of Turbo Jams dvd's. It is too hard to get to a gym with Christian, school, and work. I did Turbo Jams after I had Christian and I really enjoyed it. Friday morning I woke up at 4:30 am and did the 20 minute video. I felt great and made it through the whole thing. Yesterday I thought I would go for the 30 minute video, and I would wear the weighted gloves the set came with. I could only make it through 10-15 minutes of the video. I thought I was going to die! I guess I tried to do too much too soon. So, I finished my workout by walking one mile on the treadmill. I am going back to the 20 minute video today, and I will walk one mile.

Food diary- Saturday

2008-04-06T06:55:00.000-07:00

Breakfast- 1 soft poached egg
Lunch- 1 turkey meatball
Snack- 1 oz slivered almonds
Dinner- 1 turkey meatball

The Surgery

2008-04-05T12:08:00.001-07:00

I did a lot of research before I got the surgery. There are a lot of forums out there that allow WLS (weight loss surgery) patients use to support each other. One of the most common questions- Is the surgery painful? How long does it take you to recover?

The day of my surgery I was still wondering how I was going to feel. Would I regret it? Is it going to work? What if I am the one person it does not work for? Once I woke up from the surgery, I was obviously just tired. I was hooked up to a pain pump, so that helped. The only painful part for me were the incisions. The surgery is laparoscopic, so I had five small incisions. I also had the drain which added one more tiny incision, but they don't take out the drain until you are ready to go home. That night I just slept until about midnight. I got up, went for a walk, and felt SO much better. I got up every couple of hours and strutted my stuff around the nurses station.

The next morning, my doctor came to see me and told me I was doing great. I tried breakfast (1 oz chicken broth, 1 oz jell-o). It made me a nauseous so I hardly ate anything. Lunch and dinner (same food) went a lot better.

I was released at 6:30 pm as soon as I finished my dinner. They took out my staples and drain tube, and I was on my way.

Why the blog?

2008-04-05T11:43:00.000-07:00

I started this blog so I can let people know about my journey. I had gastric bypass surgery on 3/17/08. I started thinking about having the surgery in October of 2007. It was a hard decision. I have battled with weight my entire life. After I had my son (July 31, 2006), I lost total control of my weight. I put everything else first, and did not take care of myself. I am finally ready to change that. My son will always come first, but I am committed to changing my habits so he can grow up with better habits. He eats everything I do, and I have found out he LOVES cottage cheese!

I have almost hit my three week anniversary. I have lost 25 lbs. I have plateaued this week, but my doctor said it is completely normal. My body needs to recover from the shock of eating only 2 oz of food three times a day. I only weigh myself on Sundays, so I will see what the scale says tomorrow.

I still have 125 lbs until I am at goal, but I already feel so much better. The most exciting part of this so far was at work yesterday. I work in a four story building. Prior to the surgery, I would walk up one flight of stairs and then I would be out of breath for five minutes. People used to ask me if I was okay. It was so embarrasing. Yesterday at work, I climbed two flights of stairs and I felt great! I wasn't out of breath at all! It reminded me that this was all worth it.