All celebrations require food (and lots of it)

I sit here wondering why every event we celebrate involves food? Not "good for you" food, but high fat, high calorie, high sugar food. Of course I helped contribute to the "celebration" food. I baked up a storm again this year. Chocolate whoopie pies with kuhlua filling, rocky road tassies, cranberry almond bars, sugar cookies, spritzer cookies, red velvet whoopie pies with peppermint filling, chocolate mint-oreo bark, white chocolate peppermint bark, chex mix, and pig-in-the-blankets (I am sure I missed a thing or two there). Mind you this is scaled back from years past! The only difference was I ate zero, nadda, zelch, nothing, of the sweet stuff. I did indulge in the chex mix, which was high fat, but did have protein (nuts). I did eat exactly one pig-in-the-blanket, it just did not taste as good as it use to. Of course I was surrounded by temptation, but really it did not bother me at all. When I feel the urge to eat bad stuff I remind myself of the journey I am on, have far I have come, and the fact that I take ZERO meds, and am conquering my PCOS (it will never completely go away, but is such more more managable). I look back to when I was on weight watchers, and I still baked all this food for the Holidays, and I still lost weight. Christmas 2005 I lost 25lbs. between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That was after I had Kendall and still could succeed at losing weight. Wishing you all a blessed Christmas, enjoy your family!!!!!

Protein

Protein is so very important in our daily nuitrition, especially us WLS people. I am suppose to have 72 grams daily. At first I thought this may be tricky, but thanks to creative thinking and eggface (She's a blogger with super cool recipes). I eat tons of nuts, cheeses, and meat. I try and stay away from complex carbs, hardly ever eat breads, heck I don't have a lot of room for food anymore so I have to get the biggest bang for my buck!!! I basically live on a south beach type eating lifestyle (stage 2 & 3). I put protein powder in so many things!!! I make protein smoothies for breakfast with fresh fruit and fruit juices. I add protein powder to instant sugar free pudding, my favorite drink at Starbuck's is a sugar free vanilla protein latte. My new guilty pleasure is protein ice cream!!! I make several batches and flavors and then put them in my freezer in 1/2 cup containers. My most recent flavor is chocolate peanut butter, totally orgasmic!!! I use to love ice cream, a huge love/hate relationship. Well now I eat it almost every night and it is actually good for me. Anyone dieting should try it!!!!

Shelly's Peanut Butter Cup Protein Ice Cream

1 cup Milk (I use 2%)
2 scoops Chocolate Protein Powder
1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter, melted (I used Jif Creamy)
Optional: 3 or 4 Sugar Free Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, chopped

Nuke peanut butter for 25 seconds to thin. Mix together milk, protein & peanut butter. I used this gadget to mix it up. It makes it airy and lump free. Pour into ice cream maker. Follow your machine's instructions for freezing. 5 minutes before done add the optional chopped SF Reese's. You can eat it right away it is soft serve-ish but I like to put it in the freezer to set for an hour or so.

Check out her other flavors and other recipes, she is amazing!!!!
http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/

Slacking on the updates

Well of course I have been a total slacker when it comes to my blog. There is no excuse for it, except I am a busy stay at home mom to three kids, with a husband who works LOTS of hours ;0). So I am doing great, had my first blood work done and my numbers are excellent!!! My cholesterol went down 75 points and is currently at 157. That alone tells me how worth it this surgery was. I have so much more energy and I have been told that I look years younger!!! I am flying through sizes and have a tons of clothes to donate. So here are my most recent pictures:

Candy-Less Halloween

So we are quickly approaching my first candy-less Halloween. I couldn't be happier either. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed plenty of candy, especially twix bars and reeses, but I will eat some almonds and remember how great life is!!!! My kids are so excited of course. Addison is going to be a rockstar cat, Kendall is going to be a witch, and Kooper a dinosaur. Reid has been working like crazy so we are hoping he has the night off to go ghouling with us!

3 Times A Charm

So 3 times is a charm!!! Once I had Kooper I could not lose the weight. I actually looked pregnant and have actually been asked when I was due. As much as it hurt, how could I blame anyone for thinking that, I was hideous. We tried for a fourth for almost a year. My endo said the preganacy and weight gain most likely increased my side effect of PCOS, causing me to not ovulate (sorry I know TMI). I was beyond frustrated, I worked out like crazy, with no results. Well I shouldn't say no results, I did go down a size in pants, but my weight remained the same. My endo put me through various tests to find out if I had other "issues" beyond PCOS. I kept track of my food intake. I was eating right and exercising with no resluts. Talk about wanting to throw in the towel. Luckily exercising for me was my new stress reliever so I actually enjoyed it. I figured there has to be at leats one fat girl in every exercise class, so I will be her. I contined to see my specialist, she even put me on various prescribed weight loss drugs. I was never able to lose more then 5 pounds. I was doing twice a day injectables too. We did this for over a year. Finally I was in tears and told her I need to find a way. I want to see my grandchildren grow up. It was at that point I started to look into lapband. My mom asked me why not go for the whole kit-n-kaboodle, meaning gastric bypass. I said no way, that is the easy way out. My mom said not if there is no other way out. I pondered............

I started doing mega research on weight loss surgeries, the type, costs, side effect, recovery, ect. I went on many message boards, talked to others with PCOS who had gone through surgeries and what their results were. I did research on surgeons and hospitals in Michigan. I decided to go to a seminar of a highly recommened surgeon in the area. I sat through his presentation and then Reid and I met with him privately. At that point I was leaning towards lapband surgery. He told me that with my PCOS I would not get much success with lapband. That all the PCOS related "stuff" would be "cured", but only with bypass. He is the expert so I think I should listen to him.

Transformation

So I have not been doing too good on keeping up with my blog. It has been just over 6 weeks from my surgery and wow what a change, well in everything. I feel so much better and surely look better. Here are a few photos the day before surgery, August 3, 2009:

Here are a few photos from today, September 18, 2009:

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Remember to follow all of your surgeon's discharge instructions. I had to lift Kooper today, he is definitely more then 5lbs., I have an abdominal hernia. Does not feel too good. I did decide to go to my family reunion today. I am amazed at the recovery time!!! Heck 5 days ago I got major surgery, today I am hanging out with the extended Harper clan. Of course I am not near 100%, but I am not chained to the couch either. I have had lots of help with the kids since Reid is back to work. It is way too soon for him to get any vacation time, heck we won't even take the chance to ask. We have wonderful friends and family and are so grateful!!! The liquid diet is getting old quick, but I keep reminding myself it is only 2 weeks of the rest of my life!!! I enjoy the smoothies, but could pass on the broths, especially vegetable!

Mission Complete

Surgery is completed, happened without any big complication. My mom went with me, Marcia (MNL) and Reid manned the homefront and kids. I have been making freezer meals for almost a month now, so our freezer is stocked. Also we are fortunate enough to have my mom's group providing meals for us for 2 weeks, and then neighbors and friends after that. I am hoping to not have to cook until at least September (at least not for the family).

Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life. I cleaned the house like crazy, stocked the cupboards, and got plenty of ingredients for my two week liquid diet and two week pureed food diet. This will be interesting. I had to stop eating yesterday at 11pm, today is all clear liquids. We are heading out tonight. I am nervous, but excited too. I am going to miss the kids sooooo much. This is the longest I will have ever been away, except for my honeymoon (Addison was 8 months old).

Here is some history on my PCOS diagnosis and weight struggles. I tend to ramble, so read at your own discretion!!!!

My weight has been a constant struggle for me since I was a child. I started getting chubby during my parents divorce. My mom had me in Weight Watchers at age 12. I was very successful at the weight loss, but had to work so hard on it, eat so little to keep it off. I gained some weight back, but by 16 I was about average size. I think starting a job and joining dutch dance kicked my metabolism into gear. So I slowly started gaining and by 20 I was quite a chunker. I then again decided to join Weight Watchers and lost the weight very easily by dieting and exercising. Taebo was my savior. When I met Reid I was a size 4/6, but within a year I was bigger then I had ever been. Of course I was blissfully in love and happier then I had ever been, well except for the weight.

So during all this time I always had infrequent menstrual cycles, referred to as Amenorrhea. Got my first cycle at 12, never got it again until I was 16. I had spoken to my Dr. about this at 16, he put me on the pill, and I got Aunt Flo every 28 days like clockwork. Never really thought anything of it until at 21 I decided to quit the pill, mostly because of the side effects. At that point my period did not come, so at 6 months out I wondered why? I figured I was lucky to not have to deal with it every month and left it at that. So my best friend is getting married, we are at the hair salon gettin our hair done. I am under the dryer reading a magazine and the article I am reading sounds like me. i know it sounds crazy, unreal, but it was SO real. I am flabbergasted by what I am reading and excited. I know I am going to take this information to my doctor. It was an article about PCOS. All the syptoms were me, I thought finally an explanation on my weight struggles and lack of periods. So I asked the hair stylist to make me a copy, I tucked it in my purse and continued celebrating Amy's day (It was beautiful and awesome)!!!

Come the following Monday I call and schedule an appointment with my Dr., in the mean time I do all kinds of research on PCOS, and talk to my mom all about it. Finally the day comes to see my Dr., actualy I saw the Nurse Practitioner. She was very understanding, but remained optimistic. They had heard almost nothing about PCOS, but she told me she would talk to the Dr., and if he agreed she would run the test for proper diagnosis. She called me a few days later. She said the Dr. was extremely hesitant to run these tests, but she made the final push to get him to agree. Of course I did them ASAP, and the results answered my questions. I had PCOS!!! Of course it may seem I was excited to be diagnosed, I was not happy to have PCOS, but to finally have an "answer". My Dr. prescribed me metaformin to control my hormone levels, and spirlactone for hair growth (I never mentioned I had battled facial hair, which is a side effect). I started this regimen of meds daily for quite some time. I had improvements in the hair growth, but the menstural cycles were still very spiradic, and the weight troubles were still present. I went back to my Dr., with extreme frustations, at that point they referred me to an endocronoligist.

Specialist usually take a while to get into, so 4 months later I finally went to the endo, he changed my meds completely. Within 6 months I was getting my period about every 3 months, and doing well with the weight. Sometime in there I met Reid, and after awhile kids became a topic of conversation. When I was originally diagnosed my Dr. said I would probably never have children. Based on the research I continued to do I felt that there were ways I could have children. So I went back to my endo., talked to him and he said that I could probably have kids, with help of medications. I had started struggling with my weight more, contributing it to me being happy and not limiting myself so much. He ran some tests and decided to increase my metformin. The increase of the metformin caused me to get my period every month. I t was amazing!!! That alone get me excited, opening the door to children, but not anytime soon.

Of course mother nature had other plans. After the 4th month of a monthy cycle my period did not come. I started to experience heartburn (I never had it before), and other symptoms. Of course I never really thought anything of it until Reid's mom said, oh no I bet you are pregnant. I laughed and said, no way. Well the symptoms increased so we bought a pregnancy test, actually 6 of them. Wow they were all positive. I was scheduled to have my tonsils removed in 3 days, and did I mentioned our wedding was 6 months away? Of course all things happen for a reason and Addison was the best surprise we ever got!!! I got my tonsils out the following year and we pushed the wedding out a year. It was neat because Addison got to be our Flower Girl.

We decided to have a second child. I did not take metformin while pregnant with Addison, but started back up after breast feeding. We started trying for a baby and nothing happened. I was tracking my cycles, doing the basal body tempetures. After many months of nothing I went back to my specialist (Who I see twice yearly for followups and testing). He recommended clomid, being that people with PCOS can have issues even if they have had a successful pregnancy already. He wrote a recomendation to my Dr. I saw my Dr., and he made me an appointment for a month out. He said if I still was not pregnant we would start colmid. Of course I was excited, and mother nature was too. I became pregnant 4 days before I was to start clomid. I do believe in miracles!!! This time I stayed on my metformin during the entire pregnancy. It seemed to help a bunch with lots of side effects and so forth.

My cycles started back when Kendall was 5 months old. I knew my cycles so well, we got pregnant with Kooper the first month. I also think staying on the metformin kept things constsant, making it easier to get pregnant.

Insurance Fiasco

So I decided to get Gastric bypass surgery. Call the clinic, give them my insurance information, BAM surgery is scheduled, only in another world!! So I had to do lots of stuff to get my insurance to approve my surgery. We were on cobra since Reid was laid off. I had to undergo a psych evaluation, I passed with flying colors (I am sure some were surprised), had to have documentation of all the medications and diet programs I had attempted in the past 5 years, recommendations from the surgeon, list of my comorbidties (my BMI was under 40, which requires at least 2 pre-existing conditions), sleep test results (I have sleep apnea), and a written recommendation from my Doctor. My Doctor actually wrote the letter without any hesitation, I got it from my endo. She actually personally called me and told me that she usually will not write these types of letter for most patients, but out of all of her petients she said I try harder then anyone else. I have done it all and she feels that I can succeed with the WLS (weight loss surgery). So everything was submitted and then we played the waiting game. I am not a very patient person so I was calling my insurance company alot!!!! I am sure they were beyond sick of me :0). After about 4 weeks I got the approval letter in the mail. i had to wait until Barix got all the information straighten out so I could schedule my surgery. While waiting Reid interviewed and accpeted a new job. While this was awesome news, I selfishly thought about my surgery and wondered if it could still happened? Woud we be on cobra or have a new insurance by the time my surgery could get scheduled? At Barix they were scheduling 2 months out for surgery. Anyway Reid got his "packet" from his new job. I called Barix and told them his new insurance. They told me it did not cover WLS. Of course this put my wheels in motion, I talked to the office manager at my surgeons office and got her on board my ship. She worked with scheduling at Barix to get me in while Cobra was still active, before our new insurance took affect. She is great, a savior to me!!!!!

Countdown!!!

I have decided to start a blog to watch the transformation of myself into a new, better, smaller me!!!!

So I am less then a week away from Bariatric surgery. Tomorrow is the day Barix calls to give me the time I have to be there for surgery. I am so very excited about everything. I told Reid that I need to take lots of pictures this weekend and plenty of measurements.

Hear is a brief look into my life and my story......

I am 32 years old and happily married to the best guy ever, Reid. We have 3 wonderful children: Addison 6, Kendall 4, and Kooper 3. The kids keep us super busy, of course parenting has it's ups and down, but I am so thankful and happy with my family. Now being happy with myself is another story!!! I have struggled with my weight ALL of life. It has gotten worse with age and I am close to the biggest I have ever been. I have tried everything possible and to no avail here I am still HUGE and unhappy. I have a disorder called PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome). Many people are familiar with it, but many are not so here is some info on it:

What causes polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)?
The cause of PCOS is unknown. Most researchers think that more than one factor could play a role in developing PCOS. Genes are thought to be one factor. Women with PCOS tend to have a mother or sister with PCOS. Researchers also think insulin could be linked to PCOS. Insulin is a hormone that controls the change of sugar, starches, and other food into energy for the body to use or store. For many women with PCOS, their bodies have problems using insulin so that too much insulin is in the body. Excess insulin appears to increase production of androgen. This hormone is made in fat cells, the ovaries, and the adrenal gland. Levels of androgen that are higher than normal can lead to acne, excessive hair growth, weight gain, and problems with ovulation.

What is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)?
Polycystic (pah-lee-SIS-tik) ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a health problem that can affect a woman's menstrual cycle, ability to have children, hormones, heart, blood vessels, and appearance (obesity). With PCOS, women typically have:
high levels of androgens (AN-druh-junz). These are sometimes called male hormones, although females also make them.
missed or irregular periods
many small cysts (sists) in their ovaries. Cysts are fluid-filled sacs

So there you have it. My Dr. claims that the majority of my symptoms will go away and I will no longer have insulin resistence, so no weight issues (YEAH).