Laurie Unblocked: My Bariatric Journey

I'm about 2.5 months out from surgery at the time of this post. At home, things are smooth sailing. I make sure my groceries are restocked and stay on a schedule that works for me. Every couple of days I will try something that has been removed from my diet since surgery, such as a little steak or a different cooked vegetable. No complaints and it's feeling easier every day.  Now, going out of the house is a different story. I'm still trying to figure out how to make sure I get some food in me at appropriate intervals around a schedule that I don't set. It can be frustrating at times. There have been a couple of times when I had to eat earlier than others and then got to watch everyone else eat. There have been times that I struggled with questions as I stuck to mostly protein and refused a piece of birthday cake.  The things that have worked so far is making sure I have something safe with me. Traveling with protein shakes isn't my ideal solution, but it works. Rig...

I will admit, I am better about tracking my food after surgery than I was before. It seems immensely more important now to make sure I hit those protein and water goals when I can only eat a little at a time. I also notice how much more exhausted I am if I don't hit those goals.  I tried tracking apps and I just couldn't find one that felt right. Currently, the only goals I am tracking are protein and water. I can't each more than 3 to 4 ounces at a time and it's all protein and fiber, so there isn't much else to worry about. Most of the apps want way more information than that and it felt very overwhelming.  Then I looked at paper trackers that you could buy. I found printable ones online that could go into a planner or journal. I found entire books. None of those seemed right for me either. Some were too busy, some were not organized in a way that made sense to me. It was a bit disappointing, but led me to where I needed to be.  I used to really love scrapbooking,...

  I have never been a big one for plain water. It was my biggest concern going into this surgery. I had to give up all of my seltzers and replace them with boring, flavorless water? Would I be able to keep up with the daily water goals forever?  At the beginning of my journey, while making my pre-op changes, I tried to down bottle after bottle of plain water. I got bored very quickly and was tempted to grab something else. I really missed flavored seltzers. Adding fruit to my water helped, but it wasn't always very flavorful. I needed a better option.  Introducing.... WaterTok and all of the amazing water flavor ideas. I already had some Jordan's Skinny Mixes that I used with my seltzer and coffee. With disbelief, I saw these same flavor mixes being used in plain water ! Why did this never occur to me? In my stubborn brain mixing with seltzer = drink, but mixing with water = watering down. Boy was I wrong! WaterTok introduced me to sugar free water flavor packets and conc...

  I had my 6 week follow up at the surgeon's office last week.  Everything is going really well and there are no concerns about my surgery recovery or progress, except for my concerns about that scale. I know about stalls. I know that it's still a loss. I logically know all of the things, but it still stung looking at that number. Going into it I expected to see a big number. I'd only seen 10 pounds from my surgery date to my first visit and that surprised me with all the stories of big big losses that first visit. I accepted the fact that I was still having a lot of inflammation from surgery. I also conceded that I was retaining water and that was ok.  However, going into this next appointment I felt like this was it. I was going to see at least 10 more pounds. My clothes are getting loose and there are inches gone. I had a shirt on that had been very tight in the arms and it fit correctly. My sweatpants couldn't be trusted outside of the house because they were fallin...

After the chop. After I washed. I couldn't stand it anymore and impulsively chopped off all my hair.  I decided on Wednesday of last week that my very long hair was too much for me right now. It was always piled on top of my head because it was too heavy and too much to deal with. It took a long time to wash and condition, and forever to dry. I put off washing as long as possible because it was exhausting. Besides that, I was already seeing some hair loss every time I brushed and washed, which was frustrating.  So, it had to go. I had already pinned some cute shorter shag haircuts. I knew that hair loss was going to happen eventually but wasn't forever. I wanted something that could help hide the uneven growth as it grew back in. I did not have a regular stylist though, and that's where my problems began. My stylist had closed up shop and wasn't taking clients so I'd been letting it grow for over a year. I definitely should have taken care of that before I needed it...

Here I am about to go into surgery.  February 11, 2025 was the day of my gastric sleeve surgery. It took about 9 months from the time the doctor suggested the surgery to get to the actual operating room. Those months sometimes felt like the longest months of my life, and sometimes they flew by faster than I could process. I can tell you I went into it fully expecting to be found an unsuitable candidate.  I have struggled with my weight since my 20's. At 23 I was diagnosed with complete heart block and had a pacemaker put in that I have since been 100% dependent on. After that my weight started to creep up. I did lose weight occasionally, but not when you would consider it normal, and it was definitely not sustainable.  I had 2 pregnancies after my pacemaker surgery (1 before) and lost weight during each of my pregnancies. After delivery I would put weight back on. I had many difficulties during my pregnancies including cholestasis of pregnancy, which explained why I had d...