Week 5

Rough week.... between the problems I had with my bowels and not eating it was like a train wreak. However I have finally started to see the weight dropping. I still haven't been able to get to the gym as I am not eating I don't want to burn all of my calories and then have to eat more. Also I am starting to feel a little better, my energy is coming back and I don't feel so tired all the time. It helps that I noticed my clothes are loose fitting, I have gone a size down in underwear and I am on the last hook of my bra. 

This week of course was thanksgiving, I had to be careful with what I ate and how much. I tried to use 1 small plate and instead of eating each course with the group I just put everything on one plate so I could make sure it was no more than a cup (that seems to be all I can handle at a time). I went on a Quad ride with a friend and the bouncing around effected me just a touch but nothing that made it unpleasant.

Also it was my first time out to a restaurant with friends, which was harder than I thought. It is hard for me to judge how much I am eating without measuring. So I over ate a little and felt sick.

I am down 17 pounds in 5 weeks... woot woot

Week 4

Okay so this post is going to be a little graphic. This week started out the same as any, I was trying to get my calorie intake up, on Wednesday after school I tried to have a bowel movement. It took 12 hours to pass and was probably the most pain I have ever felt. By Thursday I have to go to emergency, I was told I had an impacted colon and large intestine, I will spare you the gory details. I spent the night and part of the day in the hospital. I got home and was still in a large amount of pain for the rest of the day. I am hoping that I am back on track now. I have weened myself of of the meds and I am only taking them as needed. My food intake is slowly increasing and I am hoping that I can start back at the gym (I am supposed to wait until I can get my calories up to 1200).

I had my first real outing with my friends, a birthday party. It was a little more difficult then I thought. I had to really watch because I couldn't eat any of the normal things. No chips, no alcohol, no carbs and I noticed that raw veggies are hard on my stomach. Next week is Thanksgiving, and it makes me so sad because I will have to be very picky about what I eat since I can still only manage about 1 cup a food at a time.

After four weeks of pain and discomfort I am praying and hoping things will go better. It really can only get better from here. I am not even looking at weight or inches right now, I am trying to get my body healthy again before I move on.  It is more important for me to be healthy and not damage anything then to be thinner, I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

It is hard to go through this when there were almost no blogs that followed the details of peoples journeys. I am hoping that I can blog this all the way till the end so that other people can be prepared for what may happen. If things don't get better I may have to consider having my balloon removed, hopefully that is not the case.

Until Next Week
Tara

Week 3

I am still struggling day to day, vomiting in the evenings is turning out to be a normal activity. I am trying new food all the time, I have found that onions upset my stomach. I am consuming just about 700-900 calories a day and sadly I don't seem to be losing any weight. All the blogs I have read seem to show people losing a ton of weight the first month, I am hoping my body is just slow. I will admit the first 2 weeks I wasn't moving around a lot but by the end of last week and this week I am going to school full time working part time, I am taking my dog for regular walks and I am hoping that next week I can start back at the Gym.

Most of the struggles that I have seem to be mental which I knew would be the problem. My mind tells me I want more food than I have room for. I feel hungry a lot but I fill up super easy as well. If I even eat the smallest amount too much I am sick. I am taking a seniors multi vitamin which I am hoping will help with my energy level. On the plus side I am sleeping way better and can manage on my side for small amounts of time, however I can not lay on my stomach at all.

So I sent my nutritionist an email as I don't seem to be losing weight as fast as I should be. I am only consuming 700-900 calories a day and still throwing up in the evening. She said I need to start consuming a min off 1200 cals ASAP. I almost laughed, I am barley able to keep down what I'm eating now. Dave and I are going to work out some high protein and nutrient dense foods to help. Also she said I should hold off on the gym for a few days as my calorie intake is dangerously low.

Tonight I did my best to get as many calories into my body as I could. Its not as easy as it sounds. I feel bloated and sick. I am trying to eat as much protein as I can and make healthy calorie dense choices. On my second night of eating more I felt ok. Still crazy bloated, the problem was on the 3rd day I woke up feeling horrible. My stomach was hard as rock, I couldn't even take in water without feeling uncomfortable.  Hopefully this feeling will go away soon and I can just get on with this journey.

Week 2

Day 8
I went out to the park with Dave and Emma I managed about an hour of walking till I started to feel some pain and cramping. However once I was able to get back to the car and sit for a bit the cramps and pain went away.

As for food today I tried some scrambled egg with a few few mushrooms, which went fine. For lunch I tried watered down cream of broccoli soup which was too heavy for me. Trying different foods sucks, the pain and discomfort bite the big ones.


Day 9
Today I had minced pork with some veggies. I ended up eating to much which made me very sick. I had extreme cramps and a horrible feeling pressure. I ended up throwing up some of my dinner which helped get rid of the pressure but didn't help with the pain. Thankfully I had pain meds which I took and seemed to help.

Day 10
Today is going much better. I had a meal replacement for breakfast and for lunch I had left over minced pork and veggies (a much smaller amount), I got hungry again around 3pm so I had a Yoplait drink which helped. For dinner I had another meal replacement drink, I am going to try to make my lunches the more solid of food as I find if I had anything heavy in my stomach before I go to bed I feel sick.

Day 15

The last few days I have slowly moved into solid foods. It hasn't been wonderful, i pretty much end up throwing up every night. If I even eat a teaspoon too much it all comes up. Liquid goes down fine butI find the meal replacement isnt filling me up as much any longer and I am still hungry afterward. Having said that you would think I would be down more weight this week but I have only lost another 1.6 pounds which is just under the 2 pounds a week I am hoping for. I will take my measurement tonight maybe the inches side of things will look better.

One Week Down

Day 7

Omg, I finally slept. I woke up feeling not to bad. The acid reflux was not as bad as it usually is. I was able to sleep on my side for short amounts of times last night, hopefully that is a positive sign. Now that
the first week is over and I made it through relatively well. I knew there would be some rough times, however I didn't think the worst was going to be the acid reflux and the sleeping. After a week I am feeling pretty good and looking forward to the next chapter, Pureed food. I start back at work tomorrow, I am a little nervous as I have no energy what's so ever. I have been doing nothing but sleeping for the last week.

On a side note I did try some pureed sweet potato yesterday, about 4 teaspoons. Either it was too heavy or too much cause I ended up feeling over full and bloated. I also tried to get out of the house for a little while. I went to the Bank and then came home and rested for about an hour, then I tried to go for a short walk with my dog for about 20 minutes. It must have been too much because during the walk, I kept have moments of discomfort then extreme nausea.

Today I was allowed to move into the pureed stage,  I cut up an apple and a nectarine and then I pureed it and I also tried some watered down mushroom soup, I did fine with both.

I also went back to work today, I worked 4 hours, only managed about 45 minutes of walking, the rest of the time I had to spend in my office. I cut back my hours a little for next week since I didn't think I would be able to manage working 7 hour shifts. My guess is if you have an office job you could probably manage going back to work and working the full shifts, however since I work retail and have to be on my feet most of the time, there is no way I would be able to put in 40 hours next week.

Today I measured and weighed myself, I am down 7.4 pounds and 3.5 inches.

Day 6 with My Gastric Balloon

Day 6

Okay I know this seems small but its driving me crazy, I am not getting any sleep as I can't seem to lay on my side. I toss and turn all night, the moment my body lays on its side I am sick with acid reflux and I feel like I am going to throw up. As usual I woke up with a wicked case of acid reflux, which this morning did not seem to go away even after I took my acid reflux meds. After a few hours I decided to take the anti nausea meds as I couldn't seem to feel better at all. I am tired all the time but I am sure once I can get a little solid food in me I will get some energy.

My goal today is to get down 8 cups of liquid. I am hoping to move to pureed food with in the next 2 days or so.

So far today I have had 1 meal replacement and almost a full bottle of Yoplait and the acid reflux pain seems to be subsiding a little.

Once a week I will take my measurements and post them, I do weight myself everyday but I am going to only post that once a week as well. I also realized that I didn't take a before picture so I will do that today.

Day 5 with my Gastric Balloon

Day 5 - Tuesday 

Woke up with extreme acid reflux feeling, it does tend to ease once I get a little food in me stomach. For breakfast I had a meal replacement drink, it took me about an hour to get the can down. I find I  always hungry but the good thing is such small amounts fill me up. For lunch I had some puréed soup watered down, it may have been either to much or too heavy as I ended up with severe cramps. Now on a side note I am supposed to wait 2 more days before I try to eat anything like that. I also have constipation cramps as I haven't had a bowel movement in 5 days. 

I am finding it hard to read my body, I don't know the difference between the pains my body is having. So I have to try different things and relearn the signs. I do have meds for pain, cramping, acid reflux and nausea. The acid reflux one I have to take every morning, I can't imagine the pain I would feel with out it. The others I'm am trying to take only as needed but as I can't tell the difference between the pains I am trying to deal with it naturally.