YES. Yes I have. You can’t tell me you haven’t either.

Whether you’ve really thought about it or not, that first impression on a job search is vital to your employability at a company.

While it’s completely not fair, slightly illegal, when you interview for a job overweight – you’re being judged. Oh, but fat people can pull their weight in production, they can’t keep up, they’re slower mentally and physically… oh and lest we forget about the added insurance costs the overall company will face for having overweight staff members. It’s true, it’s about as legal to think about as hiring a mom with kids vs a person without kids. Everyone thinks – oh that person can’t give 110%, they can’t drop everything and do as I need… oh well they’re going to have more out of work days because they have small children.

Stop. You know its illegal. I know it’s illegal… but ultimately… it happens.

So. In this economy, if you haven’t already had your gastric bypass and lost your weight… whatever you do, don’t go jobless for 10 seconds. Because you will be subject to the 64 other people who also applied for the job, who are more physically able to work in your office. And, as a physical requirement, they can say well, it wasn’t the determining factor, but we need someone who we won’t question pulling their weight.

And yes, we can tell when a person is fat – just in phone conversation. It’s like the fat sticks to vocal cords and makes you sound different, sort of like a smoker with smokers voice.

So what can you do? Nothing. Good damn luck in this economy. Have your surgery, recover, and pray pray pray – you never regain your weight. Because if your employer knows you’ve had the surgery – and then regained your weight. They look at you like – um. What you’ve got no will power? How do we know you’ll be able to do a mentally taxing job anymore? How do we know you’ll be able to stand where we need you too?   I’m not kidding at all. Loss of will power – is also a characteristic that can get you looked over for a raise, promotion, etc.  In this economy, there’s always someone willing to go a little harder, work for less, and desperate to prove themselves.

*An additional note – you should be aware that if you have surgery and are remaining at the job, they will be wondering if you will stay. After all, it’s like you’re a new shiney person and have a new attitude on life. Based on my own history, and those whom I’ve been around – most people job hop 1-2 years post op. Most of the time for a better paying, equalized job. Because after all, the employer watched you cheat loosing weight, why on earth should they have to reward you for it. When you’re sexy, happy, and confident again – it shows. And your new boss will love it!

So. it’s been 8 years. They said my gall bladder may eventually have to come out. they said, it could happen anytime. Oh, and well my friends, it did. I thought it was bad greasy heartburn food (mom’s good ole greasy meals) that I’d had for dinner. The first night, I went to bed, woke up no problem. a few nights later, I wasn’t so lucky. I went to an ER, and nothing was found, no stones on the sonogram, no inflamation of the Gall bladder. As with many dr’s they were curious about my tummy, and if i’d messed up my surgery – so of course – they checked there too. I told them that wasn’t my problem, did they listen? No, they still ran a $2000 set of scans, labs, and bothersome annoyances that now i have to plead with insurance to cover. Nothing was found on this visit. Clean bill of health, and strangely, after the medicine wore off they’d given me at the clinic. No pain. Boy i felt silly. They sent me home with some nausea meds and more pain meds if needed. Nope, I don’t need them. And then I had dinner. Ugh, it started again. 3 or 4 days went by and the pain was managed with very low doses of pain meds, so I went on the previously planned trip, to TN for a shockingly short visit, and extremely long drive home. 2 days into the trip, I started getting nauseous…. and the pain started getting worse. I cried, i couldn’t sleep, I was miserable. I was unable to lift, sit, stand, lay, think, or move – with full pain medicine given. Came back, went to the ER again. This doctor was exceptionally crappy. Loaded me up on more pain medicine, sent me home. I saw a surgeon the next morning, he said I was classic gall bladder, symptoms in my upper right abdomen, progressively getting worse, clean labs, no infections, no stones on ultrasound…. but that this would only get worse if we didn’t do something about it, since it was now about 2 weeks from the original attack. I had a laproscopic procedure, not too bad. Not great. It could take a couple of weeks to get back up to speed, but for now, I’m at home resting until, the pain goes away, and we can see how helpful surgery was or wasn’t.

Here’s a great diagram:

the younger you are – the more regular the transition. I personally found that regularity, consitstancy, and on time delivery were experienced within a year – after surgery. Over the last 8 years, and 3 pregnancies, I have found that having babies while you are skinny is way easier than while you’re fat. The whole diet issue is huge, because I had 1 child 2 years post op, and she was underweight. 7 years post op I had an average baby – but gained 40lbs. Wow what a shock to the system. Anyway. in that department – i’d say most women 18-27 will be amazed at how things flow. (what a good joke? got to facebook and like mothernature

Anyway. for those of you – whom are younger, irregular, having issues down there… after surgery will be a time of shock and awe to your body. Give it a year, and things should average out. By the time you hit your goal weight, you’ll be able to talk with your OBGYN like an average person – because you will be of average weight. Be sure your vitamins are in check.

For those of you who are older, with complications, issues, or flow funk. I’m not sure this gets better until you’re goal weight. If it doesn’t, like the younger folks – talk with your OBGYN and remind her you’re normal now, so treat you with love and care and attention you need. Often I find people in this category – tend to get a surprise pregnancy – very quickly within 1-3 years of post op care. What sucks is when people in this category – who’ve had issues for so long don’t think about the “change” – and get pregnant right off the bat. So much for WLS – now you’re feeding two, and good luck it’s hard as heck to get the right nutrition immediately after WLS.

And last but not least, here are my notes on Flow. Appearantly – a Heavy flow is soaking a pad every hour for a period of 4 hours, if in that time you manage to score that goal – get to a doctor. There are bigger issues at stake.

In the mean time, the varied flow department should change. When you are up on all your vitamins, and your iron, and you’re hydrated – you – should have an easy flow. no major soakings, and not a light light period.

If you have a light flow, not when you’re supposed to, or it’s like 1/3 of your normal flow – you better get out the pregnancy checking stick.

If you’re spotting after WLS, this could be because of the HUGE change you’re body went through with surgery, malnutrition, and general life change. It’s possible, but you want to talk with you’re surgeon’s nurse first, then talk to your OBYGYN.

Alright, now you have officially read another yet sensitive topic regarding WLS aka Gastric Bypass from an official 8 yr post op GB patient!

so now, after years of having this, it’s like an amuzement for the doctor, and a great billing item too. Anemia. Constipation. Gall bladder. Headache. Blood Clot. Broken Pinky. 2 Babies. Everyone really gets excited bout having me as a patient. Then they start telling me stories of other GB patients they have and other conditions that have cropped up. I just look at them and say – my surgery went well, no complications. i’m too far out to have complications now. STOP it. Treat me as if i’m normal. Treat me as if i’m not a fat woman. Treat me as if You have other things to really check instead of – oh it’s because of your bypass. No it’s not Stop it I’m having flashbacks of being FAT. Yep. Like many people – Anytime I saw a doctor 10 years ago – oh it’s cus your fat. No it’s not. Stop it Check other things idiot. And you went to medschool for what again? oh orthopedic stuff, right. I’m here because my foot hurts, and you think you should check my stomach? Stop it. We should start a group for fat & GB people against doctor profiling. LOL!!!!

Now, mind you – if you are having pains, and or stomach issues – nausea, vomiting, extreme pain, or fever... don’t sit and wait around to see if it goes away. After having surgery – the first 2 or 3 years I had ODD pains, but had talked with my surgeon who explained that those pains were just part of it. However – it’s not normal if you’ve a fever, nausea, vomiting. So just because you read my post – please make sure you see a real doctor should you be questioning any stomach issues. The point of my post – is more of – the doctor’s are all curious as to my conditions – since i’m pretty far out. I’m surprised though – that my mom who’s 20+ years out doesn’t get the same grill. (or that she tells me).

• Oil. What are you cooking with? Olive is ok, Vegetable and butter is crap. Have you tried Coconut oil. It sucks for pan cooking, but if you use it in place of oil for baking, or other non-stovetop items – it works. It burnes quickly, and is in a solid state until it reaches 76 degrees. (I guess my house is always warm). It’s supposed to be the healthiest oil because it doesn’t convert to fat like the others. It also makes you think Island time….

• Grilling. That’s nothing new, Texans do it all the time. But what type of meat are you choosing? “natural” chicken at walmart? um. yes, it came from a bird, but that bird had anti-biotics, growth hormones, and shitty living conditions. Beef… Have you ever heard of a skinny cow… now think about the FAT cow you’re eating… think about what it really is going into your body – hormones, anti-biotics… residues… makes me wonder if because our meats have been tainted with hormones – could those be getting into our bodies, causing us to be FAT, causing our children to go into puberty early, and get fat just because the growth hormones are out of wack. Yuck. We’ve started eating grass fed beefs, and paying about $1 more per LB for no hormone meats, but buying less, and eating more veggies to compensate for the less meat.
• Steaming. I got a food steamer! Yeah! no added salt, just clean cooked veggies. Frozen, fresh, everything. Meat, eggs, apples, fish, lobster, shrimp, turkey, chicken, fajitas…. The only thing I’ve over cooked was broccoli. It’s great.
  
• Creams. I’m stuck on creams/dairy/cheese/milk based products. My mind says – cut them out. My body says… feed me… feed me… oh and don’t skimp on the crappy fat free yogurt…. neither walmart or target sell any full fat yogurt (ok maybe the baby yogurt) but along came the Greek God Yogurt…. my body says – feed me!
  
  We also keep milk in the house because well, we have two children. They technically don’t need to eat dairy, as they are given calcium supplements and eat a range of foods that have calcium – like broccoli, and ice cream. decisions, decisions.
• Drinks. Water thank you. We keep water in the fridge (not bottled water), we keep coffee and tea available… and the kiddos have fresh squeezed not from concentrate (minimal sugar added) juice, and milk as mentioned before. Water, water, water… at one point I was drinking 3 liters a day… then… well… now it’s more like .5 to 1 liter a day. Once your kidneys get used to – NO sodas – they will thank you.
• Baking. Bread is the enemy, but it also has nutrients. So we have sliced and deli type breads. I keep the portions small, freeze what we dont use and we are then able to A) save money on bread… and B) always have a bread available. We also like raisin bread, cake or brownies, bagels, croisants, donuts (yes – somehow donuts keep coming home, but not by my watch).
• Snacks. As much as I only want to type “see above”. I’d be lieing. We do however ration the portions, buy smaller (even though it’s not saving money), limit when one can have a snack – not before lunch, but after, not right before dinner, but after you’ve had a full meal.
• Serving style. They say you eat less if you don’t have all the food on the table to serve yourself 2nds. So I serve restaurant style. This way I know how much the kids have had, and I can make sure they get a little bit of all the varieties of food served for dinner.
• Amount cooks. No left overs for us. Seriously. I don’t want left overs. We don’t eat it half the time anyway. And, if I cook less, it means we have to choose other items to fill ourselves up. Think Fruit for dessert. Or a Veggie instead of 4 more bites of steak.

I know it seams hard core, but baking, steaming, grilling are how we eat now. It is hoping that we have a new life of healthy eating, healthy choices. That’s not to say we don’t eat out, or have binge days, those days will soon be a thing of the past. In the mean time…. I found this article to be amusing, and well, I don’t think choosing to eat healthy can be a mental disorder  (it’s probably the extremest who refuses to eat anything anymore because EVERYthing is not healthy in some way or form)….

http://www.naturalnews.com/029098_orthorexia_mental_disorder.html

Honey Says Happy 4th of July!

First off, this fourth of July is probably the first we’ve ever spent completely without any extended family. Heck, we’ve even brought my parents to my vendor’s excellent – e fireworks watching spots, travelled to our family in Alabama (which, was an option this year, until things changed, and then they weren’t even home). So. We did the next best thing, spent our time with our core family, then found a great sale on fancy steaks, and invited a couple of friends over. To our surprise, we had people confirm. It’s 4th of July – I thought we were the only people without plans. So. Cool. After a second run for steaks, we got the house ready and bam. Before we knew it, we were in the pool and had company over. Wish I’d taken pictures but there were a few other things on my mind at the time. Namely, my usual 15 – 30 minute cook time (steak + steamer) became a staggared hour – the corn filled up the steamer – then the veggies didn’t cook enough when it stopped the first time, by the second time, the veggies obliterated. I forgot little things like – salt, pepper, butter. You know those minor details that makes a meal edible. It was great though – most people ate what we served, and my daughter ate a plateful (steak included)…. And then Jenny made to die for brownie sundays. It was bad enough that I’d just ate steak and veggies till I couldn’t see straight, then we added the dunkan hines brownies with Blue Bell Ice cream and Nestle cookies on top. It took me an hour to recover (stuffed, sugars, beer, friends). Oh boy. Then we went to see another fireworks show. We mostly missed it but we tried. We know next time to just sit in the Walmart parking lot @ 75 & Spring Creek.

I’m very thankful to have had a 2nd successful preganancy. My daughter is healthy and great. She’s very different from my first (who was conceived a year out from WLS), I didn’t pack on weight until the last half of the pregnancy. Yep. I added 40lbs. Holy Cheesecake! 40lbs. I thought. Well it’s pregnancy weight… I’ll loose it, especially since we had job, move, lifestyle changes.

Well. My daughter is now a year old. And I actually weigh more, than I used to. Oh my. More? how is this possible? I’m eating healthy, walking daily, de-stressed, and drink a liter of water a day?! hrm.

So now, I have a toddler who exhausts me. A 3rd move this last month… and I think I’ve added more weight. My thoughts….

• A) I’m not trying hard enough.
• B) I’ve ruined my surgery
• C) the medicines i’m on are interfering with the ability to return to a healthy weight.

So what can I do? Well, this is where I need help. What does one do after they’ve had WLS, and gained weight… anyone else re-lost weight – and understood why they gained it?!

HELP!

#1. Eat Right. Well, for me. That means small meals, every 2 hours, no 6″ footlongs (4″ inches fits), no all carb plans, no hot chocolate and Harry and David’s Mints… only… the boring, tasty bland ole natural food for me. Can you see the excitement in my writing? Uh…. well… if I were a foodie, I’d probably write about the decadent flavors of some exotic fruit and healthy cheese temptation, or some garlic sauce that goes on my fish salad or who knows… yup… no…. i’m reverting to a PLAN B – that only a FT working mom, suburban legand, and marketing goddess can love… All Natural Protein Shakes - Yes of course DYMATIZE!, Fresh Fruit & Bread for breakfast, Lean Cuisine for 10AM lunch, 12:30 Meal Replacement shake (gotta love a strawberry protein shake)… 2:30 snack of vegetables that crunch, 5:30-7:30 Dinner with family.. FREE FOR ALL… This is my one meal with my family.. YES! i’m going to eat a whole wheat pasta, or Natural Pizza from Pizza Hut… and for that evening meal to satisfy the tastebuds… SOUP…. Not just any soup – DINTY MOORE BEEF STEW….

#2. Exercise. Yes. I will take the stairs not the lift  (we only have fork lifts at my office… don’t tell my bosses!)

#3. Diet Pills. Normally… I wouldn’t condone the usage of diet pills. But let’s get real here. I put on 7 lbs over the holidays… i got a turkey ball for a gut… fortunetly it’s only 7lbs…. but frankly…. it’s enough… that only a few lucky people will ever experience…. being proud they gained – only 7lbs…. I used to swing 30 lbs during the holidays…. you heard of the freshman 15? Mine was the freshman 150… Get my drift… So… I’m going to supplement… we have been testing a new product at the office… WOW…. um…. VIPER energy pills.. I used to think I knew what fat burners/weight loss diet pills were…. then I moved to the sports nutrition industry – where everyone has to 1 up the other – just before the product ingredients are illegal…. well… for once… Dymatize doesn’t just have a cool flavor… we’ve a KICK ASS energy pill. 1 pill last all day… and if you are lucky enough… you’ll be up all night rocking and rolling too… it’s enough to make you heart flutter, your hormones rage, and well…. i don’t recommend taking with alcohol (you won’t know you’re drunk – until your puking!)….. Screw all those diet aides or pills that cost hundreds of dollars… we’ve got one for $60 that will show you the moon… Sun… and world of energy… I don’t know… you try it… http://www.viperhardcore.com tell me what you think.

#4. Another thing to add to my 2009 new me program… for those of you who’ve read about my adventures of 2008 – I transformed… but this year… i’m going to TRANSMORPH into 2010…. it will be a blazing year… a triumphant challange…. and oh… OMG… excitement around every corner.. only because i’m AVERAGE…. I’m AVERAGE! I’m AVERAGE SUPER MOM! HEAR ME ROAR!

PS. Please follow the advice of your doctor, the warning labels on any products you may supplement with, and when you have burnt off 10 lbs… give me a holla!