Day 26 Update

Hi all,


Young Reg Reagan here back for the weekly Blog update after another week at the Salt Mines!

Reg in transit for a work trip - Sydney Airport

On the weight loss/lap band stakes all is progressing well, I am back onto solids and to be honest really enjoying my food again albeit in smaller quantities. I've had only one "food recycling" event this week which involved dinner on Thursday night and some baked chicken, which I chewed each mouthful about 30 times, but for whatever reason spewed back up...... So baked chicken is off the menu for me for now :(

Most other things even toast are going down well if they are properly chewed so I am happy. The challenge comes this week when I try a piece of steak for the first time.....hopefully this is compatible with my new lap band lifestyle as I love my steak and a good BBQ!


Me and a couple of good mates at a recent BBQ (Jeff "I luv ya's all)Fennech and Wendall (where's a straw mun?) Sailor

Weight loss has slowed this week only dropping 1.1kg which I suppose is what they recommend.....and I was expecting. And I have to be happy with that cause this ain't a race! I only want to lose another 33 kg's, so 33 weeks if I can be consistent is nothing in the big scheme of things :)

Started at 140kg down to 118kg so lost 22kg of blubber that will never return!!!

Work is going well, from all angles we are exceeding budget and longer term strategies are falling in place - "I love it when a plan comes together!"

Family has been challenging with my daughter still attempting to "fly the coup" at 15 years of age...which I will not allow. She is mixing with the wrong crowd and I am really concerned about her future. Police got involved only once this week which is better than the week before! I'm lucky because I go to work and have other things to occupy my mind, but my poor wife has taken 3 weeks off work to try and work with our daughter to get her back on the rails....... the stress and drama of the whole things is really upsetting her and I need to make sure that I'm extra supportive. Hopefully we are slowly fixing this problem....only time will tell.

People are now fully aware I have dropped a bit of weight with several comments again this week........ I have not made it common knowledge I had the band done (only told a couple of close work colleagues), so just give everyone else who comments the old " cutting down on food and grog + a bit of exercise routine" which works fine. I'm a private person about some things and this is one of them. My clothes are getting loser! and I am feeling a lot more energetic and generally well. The cuts from the surgery have healed up well after almost a month, they did one big cut (only 4 cm long) and 3 smaller cuts - from what I read there is often five cuts done...... so I got lucky! here's a rough picture of the scars, sorry about the quality the pics off my mobile.

Anyway another long post from the Regman, hope everyone is winning their own life battles and making the most of their opportunities, please leave a comment I love to read them.

And Ute thanks for your kind words after my previous post ! And Cazzie as always thanks for your motivation!

Love Reg Reagan xxxx

Day 19 Update

What a busy week....... work has been flat out and fairly challenging, but I love my job so that's a good thing.

I have had a decent week on the Lap Band front, and lost another 2.5kg's, which is way down on last week but I am slowly introducing solids back into my diet so I am happy with that. I've brought food back up twice this week, both times I didn't chew well or long enough and tried to swallow too much at once..... I have to remember I am not the old Reg Reagan who scoffs food down like a mad man!! Plus the pain I get when food gets stuck and has to be brought back up is very painful, so I reckon I'll completely eliminate any "food spewing" this week because I will be taking the food nice and easy.

Been having major problems with my daughter who has ran away again..... it's a long story, but to keep it short the Police found her and brought her back, we are currently working with Counsellors to get her back on track. At 15 years old she thinks she knows everything .....and no one can tell her otherwise :( I am hopeful the counsellor will help sort out these issues.

The weather is slowly starting to warm up with about 30 degrees expected here today ...... for once in a long time I am actually looking forward to summer because by the time it really hits my weight should be down to a reason figure, and I will be able to tolerate the heat better and actually feel like going for a swim at the beach or pool.

People are starting to notice a bit of a physical change in my appearance, which is great! Last week I had about 5 or 6 comments like ........ "I can notice you're losing weight....your face is smaller" and "what are you doing to lose weight?"

One thing I am enjoying is the non scale victories, I am now on the 4th hole on my work belt, before the lap banding I just struggling to use the first hole on the belt. And this morning I put on a shirt that wouldn't fit me 2 months ago..... last time I tried it on I threw it back in the cupboard in disgust.......... this morning I was actually proud of myself for taking control of my destiny from a weight perspective and am starting to see some early successes. I will continue to keep positive, and aggressive in my efforts to get to 85 g's, and in my mind it's not a matter of if, rather a matter of when ...... the battle of the bulge is in it's early stages but progressing well!

I am hoping to drop another couple of kilo's next week, which I'd be happy with as my dietitian advised most people put on weight during this phase of the lap band journey. I have my first band adjustment or fill in the first week of September so I am looking forward to that and this is when the "real weight loss will start". Currently I am still feeling a reasonable restriction and not feeling hungry at all which is good..... I don't know how much fill I'm going to need based on how well the band is working now.

Anyway thanks for reading and have a great week......... I will do an update each Saturday it's the only day I can find the time!

Reg Reagan xxxx

Day 12 - Post Op

Hi all,

Well time is flying by in my world and I am really starting to get a feel for what my band and my body are telling me as far as how much food I can eat and when to stop.

Over the last few days I have had a couple of painful "learnings" where I have brought food back up, this happened for a couple of reasons which I can totally avoid - either I swallowed too much food at once, or was rushing and didn't chew the food properly. I can still feel a good restriction which limits my intake dramatically - I have my first "fill" scheduled for the first week in September so I am looking forward to that :)

As I am on Day 12 since the band was installed, I should really be just finishing up on the fluid stage and moving onto mushies. To be honest I was onto mushies after the first week and I am now "dabbling" in mushey food and even trying some non mushie food (prawns - boiled eggs etc) I am being highly cautious to ensure that everything gets chewed 30 times so there is no possibility of blockage or my band slipping......it's cautious as I go.

Another thing I have done is made sure I started an electronic "Food Diary" - I looked around the web and found a few good ones, but settled on CalorieKing which is made by Australians and has all the usual Aussie foods by default, and if they aren't there you can add your own custom foods. It's free to start an account and easy to use - here is a link if you haven't check it out yet..... highly recommended. http://www.calorieking.com.au/today/

I have my own history available for members to view so check me out if you want to....my username is - ac1966

Below is a cut and paste from CalorieKing incase you can't get into my results and graphs:

Daily Averages
food calories:	842	cals
exercise minutes:	0	mins
exercise calories:	0	cals
net calories:	842	cals
fat:	20	g
saturated fat:	6	g
carbohydrate:	87	g
sugar:	53	g
protein:	32	g
fibre:	4	g
sodium:	1,187	mg
potassium:	760	mg
calcium:	570	mg
iron:	5.0	mg
zinc:	3.4	mg
cholesterol:	141.5	mg
effective carbohyrate:	58	g
water:	16	cups

We recommend that around 50-60% of your calories should come from carbs, 15-20% from protein and under 30% from fat.


So obviously because I am still building up my level of eating I am only averaging 842 cals / day when my break even point is 2000 cals, I will build this up as I go but that's what is allowed me to lose the 5kg last week. The graph suggests that what I am eating is fairly balanced and healthy - so I'm happy with that. The only thing I haven't got into properly yet is exercising, which I will commence in the next week or so.

I have also included a ticker graph for my blog which will hopefully be another visual reminder for me to keep working towars my goal.... I am a highly visual type of person and I think this will be of benefit! It details how much I have lost in kg's and what my BMI is...... I am almost obese (35 or less) and not morbidy obese (above 40 BMI)! I expect to crack the 20kg's lost mid this next week !!

So far so good, I am getting more and more confident that my decision to be banded was the right one, obviously time will tell and I will document my progress on this blog but so far.......... I am "jumping out of my skin" with how well it's all going and how easy it has been.

As they say this is a major lifestyle change, and the band is a tool, so far I am loving it!

Thanks for reading lots of love from

Reg Reagan xxxxxx

Day 6 - Back to Work and a Dietician Visit

Hi all,

Had a good first day back at work, not too many dramas awaiting me after my week off which was great!

Also visited my Dietitian this morning and on their scales came up with a 16kg lose since I went on the Optifast :) The Dietitian believes I am progressing well enough to start introducing some "mushies" into my diet a week ahead of schedule. I welcome this but will proceed with extreme caution as there's no way I want this band to slip......but am almost ready for a change after 3 weeks of Optifast.

Overall I am back to normal from a pain perspective and feeling great.......probably the 16kg's I have lost. I am feeling positive and highly motivated at the start of this journey and want to capitalise on my loss to date and really make every post a winner!

The wife and I had a nice Sunday afternoon at the Newcastle Brewery listening to a pretty good but mellow band....... while I was there I decided to reward myself with a couple of Vodka and Oranges. Normally I would have sucked down half a dozen pints but not anymore!
I reckon that a bit of a reward once in a while won't kill me - you've got to live as my dietitian told me this morning after I told her about my 2 drinks.

All is good and will update on my progression to mushies and how successful it is.soon ......

Love
Reggie xxxxx

Day's 3 and 4

Hi,

Day's 3 and 4 have both seen an improvement in my general mobility and ability to take in fluids such as Optifast etc, water however is still going down slowly with me struggling to drink 1 litre per day.

The aches and pains I had all over my body during day 1 and 2 have all gone which is great.
As I am on fluids only I am not racking up many calories per day, with me lucky to be consuming approx 700 cals, most of which is from Optifast. My carb intake is low as well so I thought I'd see if I was in ketosis and guess what? I am in heavy ketosis which comes up as a deep dark purple on the ketosticks (for those of you who know what I am talking about) - this means I am burning fat which is goood!!

Net result was a good loss from Day 3 to 4 of almost 1kg! bringing me down to 125 from 140kg since I started me pre-op diet on 20/7 so I am very happy...... but also very aware that this rapid lose will tapper off soon..... my weight loss goal per week is a reasonable 1kg, which I feel is very achievable.

As I am now feeling a bit better I am heading out this afternoon for a 30 minute walk, this will be the start of my exercise regimen. The aim is to drop the weight down to 100kg's by Christmas and start back into one of my passions - weight training early in the New Year. I going to Weights and did quite a lotof training as a young bloke.

Only negatives at the moment are that I am feeling a little nauseaus for some reason and slightly light headed - probably to do with the lack of food over the last 3 weeks!!!

The other thing I have my eye on is my Blood Pressure which has jumped post operation??? it was a consistent 140/90 pre-op and it is now sitting at 170/106 which suggests something isn't right or has recently changed driving the BP too high?

Beside that all is good and on plan for the Reg man, with me looking to return to work next Monday.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Love Reggie xxxx

Day 2 - As Stiff As an Older Fella!

Hi all,

Well I had a good nights sleep and have woken up a bit worse for wear today....aches and pains right across my entire body, it feels like I've gone five rounds with Iron Mike.

Still I am in high spirits and know I have made the right decision and this is to be expected day 2 after surgery, and will soon pass. I have just upgraded my drama/pain score to 4/10 :) I am taking the liquid panadol 240 medicine once every three hours and it is going OK.... will keep this up until nature takes it's course.

As far as the water intake goes I am working may way slowly but surely through a one litre sipper bottle but it's slow going! but I will get there by early afternoon, they weren't joking when they talk about restriction from the band and also the swelling from the operation - if I take anymore than a big sip I can feel that I have had enough and it starts to flush back. I haven't let this happen yet but if I did have too much water in one go I am sure I'd regurgitate it!

I had an Optifast shake this morning to add some goodness to my food equation, it went down slowly over about an 1.5 hours with no major dramas, this will make sure I am getting some "good stuff" into me. As well as this I had some Supradyn vitamin supplements which have been recommended by my dietician, these went down nice and easy.... I put them in the fridge last night as directed to ensure all the bubbles have dispersed.

Weight wise I thought I'd jump on the scales this morning, and found that somehow I'd put on 2kg's. I thought WTF, how can this be? I've been eating SFA for days..... but after doing some reading apparently this happens to most people postop, not sure why??

Anyway day 2 going along nicely :)

Reg Reagan checking out xxxx

Day One

Well Hellooooo!

It's young Reggy here freshly back from his Lap-Band Operation, and guess what? It was a piece of cake - well I shouldn't say cake because that's fattening, plus I couldn't eat cake anyway even if I wanted to at the moment.

The operation went well, no real dramas, the worst part was the guy putting the IV in, he took about 4 goes before he got a vein :( Once he had the drip in and turned on the "jungle juice" I was off into the land of nod. Next thing I remember is waking up in recovery, then going back to my room. I'd estimate 1 hour for the operation, 2 hours in recovery and you are done!

All in all the whole process was no where near as painful as I was expecting based on my research on the Lap Band Forums (I should have remembered that people who post in forums generally have an issue - otherwise they would be posting) I think this had me expecting much worse. I am able to report that on the "drama/pain scale" the whole experience rates as a 3.5/10 which is as I said above a piece of cake (I give that rating based on only one days experience with a lapband, so this may change moving forward......but I hope not!)

One positive was that during the pre op phase I was on Optifast and amanager to drop for 140kg's to 126kg's in two weeks which was great!

Caz, thanks for your suggestion on the dehydration, I am sipping my water like a champion.......and burping furiously as well, which is good supposedly!

Anyway time to have a rest, more to follow when I lose some more weight alone my lap-band journey! So far so gooood!


Love

The ever diminishing Reg Reagan xxxx