7 weeks post- op

7 weeks post-op, 40 pounds less and 2 sizes. I have gone from a size 18 in jeans (fitting very well and a tight in the waist) to a 14 stretch. In 7 weeks i have lost 40 pounds. I feel I have lost less weight than I was supposed to. 7 weeks is 49 days and i'm supposed to be loosing 1 pound a day. My doctor did tell me though that during the first 3 months there is this stopping process after loosing a significant amount of weight. No one knows why it happens, it just does.

However, I cant help but feel frustrated with the fact that I haven't lost 49 pounds. Although that would be  highly optimistic, It would also mean that i would have already lost 50 pounds, and I have as a goal to loose 100 pounds. My parents are a bit skeptical about me loosing 100 pounds or even having lost 40 pounds in such a short amount of time. My mother is worried it might have some consequences but my doctor ( the surgeon and my general doctor) says everything is fine. I am having general check-ups regularly so that he has a control of what is going on in my body.

For now, my general doctor has changed my vitamins. Instead of drinking Flinstone's vitamins with extra calcium, iron and vitamin D (I am highly iron and vitamin D deficient), I am drinking liquid vitamins, the kind you buy in GNC or the Vitamin Shoppe (it is disgusting!!!). Despite the fact that the bottle says "tastes great", it does not taste great. In fact it tastes similar to how a pill tastes when you happen to leave it a little longer in your mouth than your supposed to, which is not very pleasant. Aside from that, im still trying to assimilate food. I DO NOT eat rice, potatoes, yuca, yellow or green plantains, red meats,  (for those of you who know Dominican people, know these are essential to our regular diets) DEFINITELY NO SWEETS (although sometimes its really hard because I do have a soft spot for them), bacon (not even turkey or at least not yet), and bread (although the cooking books that I bought for Weight Loss Surgery patients says I can eat bread after 6-8 weeks, it depends on your nutritionist). It has definitely been hard. It has not been easy to block everything I have learned with my mother cooking dominican cuisine and having to learn this whole way of cooking.

As for what I am eating now...Well, protein is very important in my diet so I eat a lot of turkey, chicken, mainly ground because the turkey soaks the flavors of spices more and it makes eating the same foods less dreadful. I know there are some various options that I can eat because there is a wide range of poultry dishes I can do however, i have yet to lear hoe to modify them and still make them taste good. The side dishes are mainly salad and or vegetables. I also eat a lot of cheese, cottage, cheddar, mozzarella, all low fat, they still taste great. Today for example, I was going to try and doing a modified vegetable lasagna, without the pasta, instead of ground beef use ground turkey and vegetable tomato sauce, low fat, and low fat mozzarella. So, you learn how to play with the dishes and at the same time you learn how much you can and cannot eat. I am still working up to eating 8oz of food. Currently, I can only maybe eat 5 or 6 oz max.

The exercise is going well, although my exercise machine came broken and as a result I had to return it and keep going to my school gym, which is very good. I still haven't bought another exercise machine because I have noticed that all the good ones are very expensive so instead, I decided to keep going to my school gym and get signed up for planet fitness and go there.

On the personal side, lately my family has noticed that I am extremely sensitive. Apparently, I am getting overly dramatic and I'm crying all the time which is weird in me. If you know me personally you will know this is weird and odd and not normal, at least not or me. I am not a overly sensitive person and yet I am very irritable and touchy, to say the least. Also, again, I am a female, so guys if you are reading this, I apologize in advance for the next few lines. Ladies, my periods have become longer. My last two periods were of 8 and 12 days and they were painful. I could barely wear jeans, I was extremely bloated and had a very heavy flow. As a result, next week I will be attending a doctor's appointment to get a prescription for the pill. My doctor said he would do a hormone check to see which is more adequate for me. Also, next week is all about GIRDLES. But not just any kind of girdles, Colombian Post-surgical girdles. Stay tuned.