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Friday, January 27, 2017

Hibernation syndrome

Starting at about week three after surgery I think it was, all I wanted to do was sleep and sit in my chair and do Pinterest or play games on my phone all in between me sleeping. I did not want to go anywhere I did not want to answer my phone or texts.  I didn't really get that something was going on with me other then just having major surgery.  But my Markie said to me one day that for the last couple of weeks I had been really quite and all I do is play games and go on Pinterest.  When he said that I started paying attention more to my body. And he was so right, I was even not showering every day, some of the days I didn't even brush my teeth. (Hey, I never went more then one day LOL)  but still that's gross.  A lot of people get depressed.  That is one thing I can say that I was not, which is strange for my other symptoms. Some get very emotional. I was really kinda happy but just wanted to do nothing. The hibernation syndrome happens to at least half of the patients. And I wish I knew about it ahead of time, so I could of prepared myself. I didn't know of this until yesterday.
You see, our bodies start to notice that we are not taking in enough calories. Our body is missing food and thinks this is a famine and struggles to conserve our energy. So our body makes us tired and or depressed, so we don't have the motivation to do anything. This stage can last several weeks. And boy my has. I have felt darn good yesterday and today, so I am hoping its over. Time will tell.  Its kinda been a drag having this go on, trying to figure out the new food and eating thing not to mention recovering from surgery.
When our bodies decide to get out of this stage our body has to say to itself "gee this famine is lasting a bit to long. If I keep conserving my energy with inactivity, I will starve to death. I'd better use my last store of energy ( the remaining fat and muscles in our body ) to hunt up some food."

At this point our body will switch from getting energy from food, to getting energy from our fat (and muscle too if we don't eat enough protein) and that is what we want.  Once our body goes through this stage then the real Kim will come back. LOL  
It's so strange how our bodies work. I told Markie today that I feel like my body is loosing weight now.  And maybe this hibernation thing is why I only lost 5 lbs last month. Especially with learning how to eat right.  I do hope its over, I really want to go back to being me. Like I said, yesterday and today have been good, great actually, so maybe I made it through.


Friday, January 20, 2017

Two Months

Had my two month check up. The first thing I said to my nutritionist was "I don't think I have lost anything, can that even happen? LOL  She said Yes, you are just standing on the landing of the stairs. That is how the weight loss will happen for you now. I will be on the landing, and then there will be a weight drop, then back on the landing.
So off to be weighed.   FIVE Lbs.  WHAT!!!!!!!  I may have said I didn't think I lost anything, but it didn't mean I wanted it to be right. So my nutritionist and I sat down to talk.  I had many questions about food choices and how I have been feeling etc. And the main thing I found out is I am not eating right. Which totally makes sense to me now, and why I am feeling hunger pains. She told me if I am feeling real hunger pains, then I am starving to death. She told me that I no matter what I am eating, I need to eat the protein first, or some of it. Lets say we made tacos, the protein in taco's is the meat and the cheese right. Well I just ate the taco, I can only eat one. I found out that the protein part needs to go in first, then I can eat the taco. I wrote her today to ask her "why"? why do I need to do that, its just not making sense to me. This is what she wrote.

You are stacking your food of your meal to use the new anatomy of your stomach (long and narrow) to serve your better. It keeps the small amount of food you are eating in your stomach longer and stacking it up so it reaches the upper stretch receptors at the top of your stomach. These stretch receptors at the top have the job of letting your brain know that the food is full and has reached the top. “You are comfortably topped off.”  When you put a solid form of protein 1st, it lands on the bottom of the stomach where you have different stretch receptors near the exit valve which the weight send a different message to your brain - “food has started to arrive and it has weight”.   Solid protein is a more complex food that takes time to process and is able to exit the stomach s-l-o-w-l-y over time.  Then other food that you eat after the bottom protein food will stack up on top of this 1st protein so as it can’t leave until the solid protein has slowly exited. Hence, your small amount of food total for your feeding gives impression that you have had a more enduring and complete meal. In other words, you are essentially sort of telling your brain that you have a “full” meal which is truly small sized.   If a person who does not have a sleeve but eats a solid protein food as part of their meal but not necessarily1st will fill more satisfied. But a non-sleeve stomach will rearrange it around.

So, today I did it right, and lo and be hold I feel better.  So now maybe I will get my energy back and can start back to exercising. Like I have said before, this process sure has a huge learning curve. I am still happy I took this step and I am down 35 lbs.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Sick of getting sick

 I wish I could get this eating thing figured out. It is really starting to upset me. I have not figured out why or when it happens. Last night once again I had to leave Markie and Dontae at the dinner table while I got in my recliner till this sickness passed. Now this morning, I had one piece of toast and a protein shake (only half) and here I sit. So this morning, I can't go to church.
What I do know is I can't eat to fast, I can't take to big of bites, and I have to chew really well, all that's a no no, and I will feel sick quite quickly.
 When I say I feel sick, what I mean is my tummy hurts, I feel like I have a big rock stuck  right between my boobs, that is lodged, so much gas that I have to burp and burp and nauseous. And then usually ends with a headache. So during this time, I can't do anything. 
I hate it. I go into the Dr. on Wednesday and I am going to talk it through with them, so hopefully together we can figure out what I am doing wrong. 
At first I struggled with even writing the blog, but I thought, this is the whole purpose of writing it. To educate people on the gastric sleeve surgery. And with me, this is part of it. Today after this episode goes bye bye maybe I will feel like making some cards. Ha, I doubt it, then its lunch time. LOL Oh well, I will conquer this, you just wait.

Monday, January 2, 2017

2017

I have been cleared to do exercise, so today starts the day. My fitness instructor turned me onto this "TRX"
It uses your own body weight. I am actually able to do squats, even with my bad knee. All with the way you hold your body, it allows for all your weight not to be put on my knees. BTW since loosing 30 lbs. my knee is doing so much better. That was one of my goals with this sleeve operation. To put off surgery. So hopefully when more weight is off I can put off surgery for a long time, years maybe.
2017 is a good time for all of us to get healthy.  Come on friends, we can do this!!!!