hey y'all....remember me?

 Hey y'all!

I am back...does anyone remember me?  I moved to Israel and live in Jerusalem now.  I have gained quite a bit of weight (IMHO) although I was at my lowest last October after arriving here when I hit 112 lbs.  Now I weigh 132#.  My BMI is 22 but I feel fat...I guess mainly because I had accepted that wearing children's clothes was okay for me :)  And now I just feel kind of big.

And of course, like many before me, the prodigal bencher returns and is here for advice.  I was doing SO well and reached my intiial goal in January of 2010.  My surgery was June 2009.  After reaching my goal of 60#, I continued to lose to my low of 112# and officially hit the century club.  People told me I looked WAY too thin....so maybe I just need to get used to a little bit of fat on my body, I don't know.

In the meantime, I developed a blazing hot case of reactive hypoglycemia that got worse when I was stressed.  And of course, we all know there's no stress when moving 6000 miles across the world, becoming functionally illiterate AND getting a divorce, right????  Oh yeah, throw in getting laid off, starting a new job in the new country and parenting my autistic son into adulthood.   Since I have been in Israel I have had two very LOVELY grand mal seizures - one on a bus and one in a store, that one landed me in an ER.  Both times I came out of it but didn't didn't become aware....until 2-3 hours later plus I lost my short term memory AND hurt myself both times.  It's weird to know you carried on conversations but have no idea what you said or did for a few hours.

My eating habits have been erratic mainly because I was eating as a response to the hypo.  Now, I want to get myself together and get a good diet plan mapped out as well as a reasonable exercise regimine.  I walked 1.5 miles to work for the first 8 months we were here (each way) and then moved closer and home is less than a quarter mile away so I really need to get back to hoofing it.  I just have a HUGE fear of having another seizure.  I have auras a lot....and they terrify me, especially now that it's just me and the Boy here.

So....that's my story and I'm sticking to it - I'll be a regular again if you will have me and hopefully with all of your sage advice (and some REALLY expensive protein) I can feel better again :)

Eli

I remember you and welcome back.  Wow, you have had some major life changing events!!

BMI of 22 sounds pretty good to me.  Are there just areas of your body you would like to work on?

Hopefully Jody will respond about the RH, she has it also.  From what I have read on the boards, you need to eat small meals spaced out to help it stay level during the day.  Always have something with you that will pull it back up. 

I don't know if you read on the Main forum or not, but Melting Mama has had the seizures.  Her screen name is now MM.  You might can find her on there and read her blog.

Come and hang out with us more.  There is a group of us now in maintenance - trying to get on and stay on the path.

Linda

Hi and Welcome back. We probably passed each other in the night, so to speak.

Have you been keeping up with your vits and protein? If not, that certainly would be a place to start. Get your labs done and get levels back to where they need to be. That could help the physical stuff you have dealing with.

There are a bunch of us working on maintainance so join right in. At 22 BMI, you have done great. That body image thing is hard, I guess in both directions, when we are fat and when we are thin. I got down to 111 but wasn't happy there. Up to about 119 and not happy there either. Trying to stay around 114-115.

Welcome Back!  WOW...you have made a lot of changes in your life and a few you didn't count on!  If you BMI is 22 now then were you below a normal weight at 112? 

Stick around for awhile!!

Hi!  Glad to meet you1
I too have RH (and regular Hypoglycemia).  The best thing to do is to spend some time listening to your body, so you can tell when your blood sugar is starting to drop. I'm getting some physical cues, and that's making it much easier to manage.

When my blood sugar is REALLY low, I have no memory of what happened during that period.  One particular incident involved me forgetting I had an RNY, and eating 2 large pieces of deep dish pizza before DH could stop me.  My blood sugar rebounded in about 15 minutes, but I felt awful for hours.  I have no recollection of going to the gym that day, I left all my clothes there, and the gym cut off the lock to my locker (that's what they say).  

My nutritionist told me to eat tiny meals every 2 hours, and all meals should contain some carbs, protein and fat.  If I leave out the carbs, I can still get really low sugar numbers.  I also carry protein bars, and have one as soon as I feel a twinge of low blood sugar.  (I had a hard workout this morning and twinging as we speak, so I had a tiny slice of pizza and a small protein bar)   The carbs get the blood sugar up, and the protein and fat, help from getting it too high, and also help with energy for the entire 2 - 3 hours.  

DH carries  peanut butter candy (minature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups) when we go into the wilderness on backpacking trips.  He'll give me one at a time if he feels that my sugar is dropping. - He's learned the cues as well.  The peanut butter cups work great when you're working out very hard, but it's not something I use except where a bad case of hypoglycemia could be dangerous.

Hey girl!
Melting Mama is also on FB as you and I are.
I wish I was at a BMI of 30 let alone much lower.
I know I look slimmer than when I was fat and I was FAT and now I'm not-nor am I skinny.
I track my protein and take my vitamins. I don't count calories.
And I am not at normal BMI or at goal especially for my short stature of 152cm/5ft and started at 120K/270lbs and am now at 77K/170lbs.
As for Protein Powder, yep out is expensive which is why I search the Net for deals with free delivery and cheaper pricing- usually BodyBuilders or MuscleHouse.
Send me an email and I'll try to send you the links. I aim for about 300SH a 2.7k canister. I usually go for chocolate-I don't care for fruit flavor.
You can ask your GP/PCP and dietician to write up that you need protein powder and you might be able to get a discount thru your HMO (kupat Cholim) pharmacy but without choices on flavor and size container. I speak from experience.
Call me if you want/need.
052-522-9372
077-2121-867
Mikimi in Israell

 Well Hello!  Welcome back - glad to see you!

Ok - I too have had a 'regain' - but you sound like you were underweight at 112 lbs.  Perhaps 132 is where you happy place is at.  I criticize yself in the mirror because of the places that have filled out... really where I didn't want it too...

My regain has been 10 lbs - from my goal of 125 to about 135 (bounce some under..).  I'd like to get back to 127-130, and my BMI there was 22 or so.  

I get the "feeling big" thing... having to change clothing sizes for some of my stuff.  Buying a little bigger size now - but I need to be comfy.  Yea, I never did get into children's clothes.

As far as RH goes... yours sounds much worse than mine - I can feel when its onsetting.  I can control mine through diet and know what triggers it (simple carbs).  So it also helps keep me in check.  But lately I'm finding that my triggers I'm aware of, aren't always the only ones...

I'm getting ready to go on a motorcycle weekend trip and am planning snacks "in case" I feel it onset.  Nothing worse than being on a motorcycle (driving) and starting to feel your sugar fall.  I've only passed out once from it - which was about 2 years ago and I NEVER want that to happen again.  

Glad to have you back!  Linda posts a weekly Maintenance post for us vets who need to either get back on track or just need to be reminded of what it takes to make our WLS successful.

Jody

Dang! Where did you go? Come back here!

--g

Here's why I was deactivated by OH "automatically "  ( by the 'puters ) when i  made a new account -  youre only allowed to lapse or deactivate ONCE  on OH .  if U havent posted for a while OH puters may assume thats a deactivation- they did for me. 

After I self-deactivated (once) I couldnt get back in without being automatically deactivated a few hours later .

I had to write OH member services explain the problem  and also set up a brand new account yet AGAIN   Don't think theyre doing it deliberately .or singling U out personally ... theyve instituted a lot of policies lately that shoot themselves in the foot regarding membership .

I think a LOT of former members who  were temporarily moiderated or who self deactivated over the facebook misunderstandings WANT to come back to OH but cant  thanks to OH's current policy .  How this makes sense for OH is beyond me ...

how long do you have to gone to be deactivated?  Back in 2010 and 2011 I was gone for about 5 months and never got disqualified - I was really sick with complcations and in the hospital and multiple surgeries, so using the computer would be impossible.  It sees crazy that a post op would lose membership due to complications following an RNY 2 years post op - seens rediculous.

there should be way to get the others back