So here it is, the big update… its been 50 days since my op :O which is a shock as it feels like it was only a few days ago but its been a good few weeks indeed. well what can i say I've slowly worked onto normal food now, I'm basically on normal food with a few limitations like, no steak, no hard foods, and a few beware foods that are good for you but have some sort of chemical or something in them so they can give my stomach a few problems … like celery (which is good as i hate it and my mum always puts it in with a salad so it give me an excuse to pick it out)
But other than that its nice not to have to live on small amounts of soup, you don't realize how much you want food like chewy food till you are on a soup diet :( that was hard. Things have got easier as time has gone on but i have to say the depression that i suffered with way before my op, i have days where I'm in suck a sad low mood, i fear that its come back or on its way. where they cut my stomach away this also stops some of the natural vitamins that come from your body to process, this could also be a reason why i can sometimes feel low, i need to make sure I'm having a high protein and vegetables in my diet which i think I'm also slacking. i could defiantly consume more better foods.
Once thing i want to make clear though is that the hunger is still in my head! if your thinking about having this op don't think that it will cut of that signal to the brain and say you are full as it doesn't or not for me anyway. i can eat only a small amount (ruffly about a 2 years portion) and i can tell when my stomach can't handle anymore as you get that same feeling to anyone else that you feel uncomfortable but in my head its saying you can eat more where its used to eating a lot, lot more so i always feel like I'm full to the top as my brain has a habit of over riding my stomach, which yes you guessed it can lead with a massive sick moment, and a very sad Sam hugging the toilet bowl.
Good things, very small list but there is a few. i have lost a little bit of weight which as given me a little bit of confidence back. Allowing me to go to the gym, which the pre-op me would never even dare to go anywhere near anyone in those tight exercising outfits and low i try and do 3 trips to the gym a week where i do a hour in the gym and then a hour in the swimming pool. The other thing is that now i have had the op i know i can't eat a lot so it gives me a chance to just concentrate on the rest of my life because food did used to take over my life, i would be waiting for the next meal or eating what i could just to keep me full, which normally meant a lot of chocolate or crisps that i could eat quickly, which is a good thing now, i no longer have a sweet tooth, i will quite happily eat something savory so ye I'm free from my addiction of food :)
looks, I've been told i do look different, i have noticed that in places where i was biggest it has gone soft where my stomach used to be quite hard, like i always looked blotted now its more of a jelly consistency with skin?? lol so its an interaction that its slowly going. i just thought it would to a lot quicker than this though. i lost my first stone after my op very quickly, most likely where i was only on liquids but now i find that its slowed down and i weigh myself every week and I've lost 1-2 pound which can be quite hard. i just want it to all go and i can feel normal, i just thought it would fall of me a lot quicker than it has. but I've gone from 24 stone + to being 21.3 so I've done well (i did a liver shrinking diet before the op and lost a stone) so ye not bad :) going from a size 26 in clothes to a size 24 ruffly ... i think, even just loosing this amount though has meant that i could go shopping in normal shops, ( i didn't have to go all out and go to a big persons shop) like primark were it was touch and go whether i could find something that fit in the men's department and now i can buy a few bits in the girls department now :)
My next goal is to become more active. before my op when i was at my worst i was very low and i stopped all my clubs and kinda cut my self off from my close friends leaving me alone and at the time that's what i wanted, now i feel low as i don't have a lot of friends to talk too, if you have this op done you will need the support of friends and family around you to help keep you happy. Where your going throw a massive change, its easy to get your self very low along with it :) keep motivated, with your eye on the price and it will eventually come to you :)
