My turn to get back on track

Hello all! It's my turn to pick myself up and get back on the wagon so to speak. I had my VSG 1/14 and lost all my excess weight and then some. It was a bit of a ride that first year losing my grandfather and a lot of career challenges, but overall life was good and I loved the new me. It took me a little longer than I wanted to get the energy up for weight lifting but I was back in full swing and feeling amazing. 

And then it all hit the fan 1/12/2015, one year almost to the day from my surgery.

I had a sinus infection that didn't respond to augmentin so the doctor have me Levaquin and a steroid (Medrol dose pack) to reduce the inflammation an help the sinuses drain. I'd had the combo before with wonderful relief and no side effects. This time I wasn't so lucky. Halfway through the course of Levaquin I was adjusting position on the couch when I felt a searing pain in my right Achilles tendon. Having been warned of possible tendon issues that "only happens to people over sixty or athletes" (I am neither) I stopped the medication but the damage was already done. I won't bore you with all of the gory details, but I will say I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. I never did rupture a tendon, but I had every other adverse effect in the book which kept me out of work nearly 6 months and taken inactivity to a whole new level. PM me if you want to know more about Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome or Google it.

At this stage in my recovery every active day requires a day or two of rest. If I do too much (what would have been a semi active day before this) I am bed bound for several days. During my recovery I also relaxed big time on my eating. Carbs have crept back in and inched the door wide open. As a result of these nasty carbs I've got about 5-10 lbs I'd like to take back off; I had lost just a bit too much.

I can rationalize all I want about how and why the weight started to come back on, but it simply doesn't matter. I need to get back on track or more will come on, simple as that. I may be sad, angry, whatever with my illness, but eating clean is the single best thing I can do for my health. I know the basics. Since my body is still healing I won't go back down to 800 calories, more like 1000. 80 grams protein, 80oz water, no more than 100 carbs (probably 40 the first week or two).

I will say that I'm so thankful I did the VSG before this all hit. The first thing doctors would have told me for tendon issues and neuropathy is to lose weight. At 118, with no trauma to cause these issues the real culprit became clear much more quickly.

Thanks for the read! And for the accountability this forum brings.

~ Merrie

You've come to the right place for support.  That's really scary what happened to you.  I'm sorry to hear it.  Sounds like you've got a good plan going forward.  Stick around and keep us updated.

I've always been more of a lurker than a poster, but all of the lessons have stuck!  I think the first sign of me slipping off the wagon was spending less and less time even lurking on the boards.

As for what happened to me with the antibiotics, you're right, it is scary. After 5 1/2 months on short term disability I'm back in the office two days a week, working from home the rest of the time. Brain fog and fatigue made it pretty much impossible to do my job in the technology industry. I'm working slowly to build up stamina and get more mobile. Not sure when the pain and other symptoms are going to dissipate, but I can't wait on that to get my eating and weight back under control.

Thanks for the support and well wishes!

~Merrie

After 6 years of dealing with a chronic Achilles injury, I have read a lot about fluoroquinolone toxicity. I am so sorry for what you have been going through.  I wish you all good things while you work through this.

Ouch, 6 years is a long time to deal with any injury, even an Achilles one. I'm glad to know you have read about fluoroquinolone toxicity! You may have some picture of the non-tendon issues I've been dealing with. The brain fog is mostly gone - it was so bad for a while I couldn't concentrate on more than 30 minutes of TV or reading. That was the hardest part, especially being in the tech industry where my brain is kind of required :).  I'm getting there though, day by day.

I just go a rude awakening plugging into MFP my food for the day. Sigh, I've let go a lot with nothing else to do but eat. Hopefully being back in the office will help. I'm certain a lot of what I was experiencing was head hunger and boredom eating. If I get those under control 1000 calories shouldn't seem so restricting.

~Merrie

I am sure you will once again find your focus--not just regarding diet, but in all ways.  What a challenging road, but it sounds like you are traveling it as well as you can.

Thanks! It is a challenging road to put it mildly. During this stretch my family also had an emergency appendectomy (right when I was sickest of course) and a tonsillectomy (my youngest). All you can do is do the best you can. I'm trying to keep a positive attitude and be as pragmatic about things as I can. Yes, things suck sometimes, but it could be so much worse.

It's great to hear about your original success and that you know exactly what to do to get back on track.
Sorry to hear about your injury and how that severely changed your life!  Best wishes to a good recovery and nipping those 5-10lb in the bud!  You got this!

You have already taken the hardest step by saying enough is enough and now I want to get back on track.  Here are some steps I hope will help you. They helped me...  Also, be sure and join the Back On Track Together group link in my signature area.  

Planning/Preparing

Remember when we were preparing for surgery?  How many meetings, classes and such did we attend?  We were told the more prepared we were the better our chances were for success.  And they were right. Go through the house, car and work place and get rid of trigger foods.  Stock up on foods that will keep you on track. I removed every carb/sugar temptation and replaced it with lots of protein, veggies and fruits.  

Journaling

Get back to journaling.  This will help you identify when you feel like eating, stress factors and any triggers in your life.  Once you identify these factors, this will help you put tools in place to keep you from eating.  It became clear I was not taking time for me anymore. I worked my day job and then spent the rest of my time caring for my husband.  It was easy to reach for fast, prepackaged food.  Since I purged my home I have to eat clean as there are no other options LOL

Use a tool to track you're eating and exercise like Getting Started with Health Tracker

Once I started to track ever bite and drink it became clear why I had gained.

Goals/Rewards

Make a list of goals for yourself.  Make them realistic and small.  Some of mine were move more, purge all junk from my home, eat more protein.

Food

In general, a long term post-weight loss surgery eating plan includes foods that are high in protein, and low in fat

 calories, and sugar. Important vitamins and minerals are provided as supplements. (if you had a different surgery adjust this to your food plan)

Water

Water is our Best Friend. I have to say I never went back to pop or any bad drinks, however I was drinking tea like crazy. What is wrong with drinking tea?  I was either using sugar or 3 equals and 3 sweet n lows per 32 ounce glass.  So I was either pushing to be diabetic or get cancer.  I found once I started carrying a bottle of water around 24/7 (yes had one at my bedside) I lost the cravings for the sugar and I KNOW those artificial sweeteners are not good for me. Look I am old and if you add up all the artificial sweeteners I have consumed I am sure I am at the rat in the lab getting cancer threshold

MOVE!

I can't say enough about how key this was for me. The reason I kept my weight off for almost 10 years was no matter what I kept moving.  If I could not go to the gym I would walk. I loved Zumba, bootcamp workouts, lift weights. When I stopped, the weight came on.  So for me I am starting slow to avoid injury by walking and using some of the workouts on my Demand TV.  Find something you love to do and it won't feel like a pain in the *** to do daily.

Support

If it's an option "run" don't walk to a support group.

Keep me posted on how you are doing

I'll be sure to join Back On Track Together.  I'd been planning this for a while, I just needed the push over the edge so to speak and the scale gave me that last week! I'm back on MyFitnessPal, which I will use religiously. I find that tool alone does more to curb my eating than anything else.  Luckily I've been good on water and vitamins all along (though I will admit to a strong diet Snapple addiction - if I find my cravings for carbs persist this will be dropped from my plan). 

I only wish I could add moving back right now. It was financially imperative to get back to work ASAP. Unfortunately it's both mental stress and any real level of physical activity (think cooking dinner every night for a week) that will send me right back to bed for several days. I am very cautiously adding activity back into my daily life, starting with walking 10 minutes a day. Before my Flouoroquinolone Toxicity I was at the gym lifting weights with a trainer regularly, walking, and generally moving a lot on a daily basis. Not so much anymore, but if I don't push too fast I will get there.

I know OH boards will be super helpful in the support department!